Beloved Intercessors,
Loving greetings from the Midwest! Philip and I are on the road traveling home from our “unplanned” trip to Michigan for my uncle’s funeral and to Niagara Falls for our Father’s purposes at Rainbow House of Prayer. We expect to be back on the road toward Blue Mountain Christian Retreat on May 13, with intermediate stops for fellowship with ETH Branches along the way. We greatly appreciate your prayers!
In the meantime, it’s our hope to get the second quarter letter ready to send to you. If you receive this prayer letter by email, click at the bottom of it on the link to “Update Profile,” and make sure that you are subscribed to receive the quarterly letter.
Hiss and Hearse: Adam and Eve’s “His and Hers” disobedience brought death to our race. Believing the hiss of the serpent led them to the hearse!
In the Disney movie “The Jungle Book,” Mowgli, the “man cub,” has become offended with his friends. Kaa, the python, has been wanting to make a meal of Mowgli, and seizes the opportunity to persuade him that he has the answer to Mowgli’s problem. He begins to sing a hypnotic song to Mowgli, and every “s” sound is drawn out into a hiss:
Trussst in me, jussst in me
Shut your eyesss, trussst in me
You can sssleep, sssafe and sssound
Knowing I am around
Sssleep into sssilent ssslumber
Sssail on a sssilver missst
Ssslowly and surely your sssensssesss
Will ccceassse to resssissst…
By the end of the song, Mowgli has gone to sleep and his previous resistance to Kaa has disappeared. Kaa lured him into a hypnotic spell and wrapped him in his coils. In case you haven’t seen the movie, a tiger, who also wants to eat Mowgli, intervenes and the boy escapes. What an illustration of the attempts of the forever loser to take us to Hell with him!
The hissing ssserpent sssingsss hisss deccception, appealing to our lussstsss, our sssensssesss, our ssself-importance (pride), our offensssesss! He knows that if he can ssseduccce usss to sssin, we’ll be on our way to the hearssse! The wages of sin is still death! Believing the hiss leads to the hearse!
For Many, the Hearse Leads to Hell: Every now and then, I like to watch (mostly listen) to testimonies of people who have had a near death experience or a visit to Heaven and/or Hell. The more Hell experiences I hear, the greater my concern for souls becomes. The more we travel, the more I notice that people are oblivious to eternity, and that they are clueless of the eternal consequences of their choices and actions.
In all of the Hell experiences, each individual is completely alone in their agony, yet is aware of the multitudes of others who are suffering the horror, torment, pain and intense heat. It is worthy of note that some indicate that they “became” their sin or their fear. What they entered into of the hissing of the serpent in their earthly lives entered into them and became personified for eternity. Oh, if only they had loved the truth more than they loved the lies that appealed to their fears, appetites, and offenses! The truth is that Jesus became all sin for all of us so that we could be redeemed and set free from the lies of the hisssing forever lossser (2 Corinthians 5:21)!
Covetousness: The Hebrew word for “covet” is chamad (Strong’s #2530). It means to desire or to delight in. The first place the word is used is in Genesis 2:9 “And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant [chamad] to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” It’s not wrong for something to be pleasant to you—but it is wrong for you to desire something that belongs to someone else!
Another word that is translated “coveteous” is batsa (Strong’s #1214), which is also translated “greedy.” Jeremiah 6 is God’s lament over Jerusalem, their oppression, and how they have been given to coveteousness. He’s ready to wipe them all out and turn their houses over to another. They fell for the hiss and then came the hearse!
1 Timothy 6:9-10 puts it well: “But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and [into] many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
Jesus warned us about the deceitfulness of riches and gave a strong word of caution in Luke 12:15, 21, 29, 30. “15. And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. 21. So [is] he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. 29. And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. 30. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.”
The Bible relates several stories of the greedy and coveteous and the woeful end they experienced. Achan in Joshua 7 couldn’t resist taking the things that God had called cursed at the battle of Jericho and ended up being executed by stoning along with his family (whom we can assume were complicit in hiding his crime). God condemned the entire nation for his sin! One man’s transgression impacts more than just that one man!
Gehazi in 2 Kings 5:20-27 was greedy for the offerings that Naaman brought to Elisha to “pay” for his healing from leprosy, and Gehazi received the disease that Naaman lost because of his greed. Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit in Acts 5:1-11 to keep some of the money from the sale of their property and dropped dead at Peter’s feet. Believing the hiss leads to the hearse!
Niagara Falls: We have just come from Niagara Falls, NY. I’ve been studying the history of that city as it is the location of our Rainbow House of Prayer. The entrepreneurial gifts that God put into those who came there became warped by coveteousness and greed. One “get rich quick” scheme after another goes bankrupt and lies in ruin. In the late 1970s, the world heard about “Love Canal” and the toxic waste that seeped into yards and basements, burning children who played there and causing birth defects, but that’s not the only toxic dump. The founders of Niagara Falls welcomed industry to come and take advantage of cheap power from the mighty Niagara River, and many chemical plants took root there and poisoned the environment. Organized crime put down roots there, controlling commerce, politics, human trafficking, and drugs. Seducers and deceivers spun stories to attract business, and daredevils hazarded their lives for fame and fortune among the thrill seekers.
To Be Redeemed for God’s Glory! But that was not God’s plan! Psalm 29:3-4 declares, “The voice of YEHOVAH is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: YEHOVAH is upon many waters. The voice of YEHOVAH is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.” That amazing group of waterfalls thunders with the voice of the Lord. Ezekiel 1:24, 43:2, and Revelation 1:15 speak of how the Lord’s voice sounds like many waters.
Furthermore, Niagara Falls pictures the outpouring spoken of in Joel 2:28-29. “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit” [when quoting this passage in Acts 2:17-18, Peter adds the words, “and they shall prophesy”!]. Claren McQueen tells us that the Hebrew word shaphak means to pour, not only like from a vessel, but like Niagara Falls!
God intended that Niagara Falls would magnify Him! He is bringing intercessors and prayer warriors there to silence the hissing of the forever loser and render his works null and void! Nothing is too hard for God! Every toxic thought, word, deed, and substance is being neutralized by the Blood of Jesus Christ! Stand with us as we contend for the Glory of the Lord to be poured out there and in all the earth!
The Lord Delights in Showing Mercy: “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy” (Micah 7:18). When we repent, it brings great delight to the Lord. It delights Him to restore us to a position where we can fulfill our purpose that He put in us, and He is delighted to laughter as the enemy of our souls is “foiled again”! The same applies, and perhaps with greater delight for the Lord when we repent on behalf of the sins of others like Daniel did in chapter 9. He’s searching for intercessors who will cry out on behalf of those who are careening toward Hell, believing the lies of the hissing serpent—the forever loser. Believing the hiss leads to the hearse!
Isaiah 53:9 mentions that the “Suffering Servant,” that is, Jesus, had no deceit in His mouth. He is the very embodiment of TRUTH, and He, the truth, sets us free! Hallelujah!
1 John 2:15-17 in the Passion Translation says, “Don’t set the affections of your heart on this world or in loving the things of the world. The love of the Father and the love of the world are incompatible. For all that the world can offer us—the gratification of our flesh, the allurement of the things of the world, and the obsession with status and importance—none of these things come from the Father but from the world. This world and its desires are in the process of passing away, but those who love to do the will of God live forever.” Listen to the Truth and you will have Life forever!
Pray for the Outpouring! Here’s a picture of Niagara Falls for you to hold before the Lord in prayer, declaring His promise of the outpouring of His Holy Spirit on all flesh. Beloved, it is time!
Please also pray for the outpouring of God’s provision for His vision for this ministry. Let’s prophesy the Truth and watch the lies disintegrate!
Your handmaiden and servant,
Sharon and Philip