The Path (Fire on the Mountain Series) (4 page)

“I had to stand against great evil in my time. The great evil in my time was built on religious zeal. The false prophets and teachers would cut themselves, beat themselves, and even sacrifice their own children out of zeal for the gods they served. These are the ones who think that God will only answer them when they have sacrificed enough. You are just beginning to face the same perverted religious zeal in your times. You must face it with the truth that God’s own sacrifice was enough, and He will answer us because of His sacrifice, not ours.

“The harvest that is the end of this age is the time when all the seeds that have been sown come to full maturity. All that has been sown in man will now mature. The ultimate conflict of man is the one that began with the first two brothers, and this began with the sacrifice. Cain brought the fruit of his own works, and Abel brought the blood from the sacrifice of the lamb. This remains the point of all the conflict that has unfolded, and that will soon culminate in the last battle.

“You must do the same in your time that I did in my time—you must confront the false religions, the false worship, and all that is based on the works, sacrifices, and self-righteousness of men. You must confront it by standing on the works of God. The cross is your message. It is the banner that those who serve the Lord, and not just themselves, will gather under.”

“I have seen how self-sacrifice can lead to self-righteousness. I have watched it turn devoted followers of the Lord into those who cause divisions and oppose the Holy Spirit,” I commented.

“There are religious conservatives who love the truth. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea are examples. Such as these can be some of the pillars of the faith and will be a great strength in these times. Even so, it was the conservative religious leaders that were the resolute enemies of the Truth Himself when He walked the earth. So it will be in these times.

“Those who use religion for personal gain or position will be of special use to the enemy. There are those in high positions in religious institutions who love God, but it is a rare soul that can keep from being corrupted by religious systems. There is no greater transgression or corruption of heart than to use the things of God to draw worship or devotion to yourself. This was how Satan’s fall began, and it continues to be what causes the most destructive falls of all—the fall from a high position. The higher you are when you fall the more people that will be hurt by it. When you think that this cannot happen to you, then you are in the most danger.

“To guard your heart against this you must understand the message of Enoch. Those who are walking with God, who are seeing His glory, cannot bear the thought of doing something so profane as using the things of God to draw attention to themselves. Self-promotion is not possible for those who ‘are not,’ because they have lost themselves in Him. Self-promotion reveals a basic delusion. It would be like the donkey Jesus rode into Jerusalem thinking all of the adulation was for it,” the Voice continued.

“The same is true of churches, ministries, or any religious institution that builds on self-promotion for advancement. Those that have been built on self-promotion rather than by the Holy Spirit will be some of the most deadly enemies of the truth in these times. Such advancement is the opposite of the way of true discipleship, the way of the cross, and this path that you are on now.

“It is my purpose,” the Voice continued, “to challenge all who are hesitating between opinions. It is my purpose to make the opposing positions clear. That is one way that you, and all who come here, will prepare the way for the Lord in this time. The world is entering the Valley of Decision, and all must choose between the light and the darkness. It has been a basic purpose of the evil one to blur all distinctions that God has made. However, those distinctions are about to be made clear by the messengers of power, and all will be forced to choose.”

“For you to be here now, the Lord’s return is obviously near,” I said.

“His coming is near,” the Voice replied while picking up the pace, “and there is much to be done.”

“You said that my destination is my home. How will going to my home help to prepare the way for the Lord?” I asked.

“Your home is His home. Your destination is the mountain. The mountain of the Lord is your home. Your home is where He is.”

“You also said we were going to the city of the Lord.”

“We are. His city is a city set on a hill. We are going to the mountain of the house of the Lord. That is the true home of all who love Him and do His will.”

“I’ve been to the mountain. I had some of the greatest experiences of my life there. It has now been almost twenty years since I was there. Has anything changed since I was there?” I inquired.

“Everything changes with time except for the King,” the Voice answered. “I know you have fought on the mountain. You climbed it and beheld the glory of the Lord. You have even seen what is in the heart of it, the heart of His kingdom, which is His sacrifice. Even so, there is much more to the mountain than you have seen.”

“Please, tell me how has it changed?” I asked.

“Throughout this age, the mountain has been in continuous battle. It is always under assault from the enemy because it is the greatest threat to his domain. The mountain is also growing just as Daniel foresaw, but you will recognize it. Through these years since you were there you have been helping to build it.”

“How is that?” I inquired.

“You helped some of the builders on their way to the mountain. You have helped more than you know to find the mountain, and they have been busy with the work of the Lord. You have more friends there than you realize,” the Voice said.

“That is encouraging. In recent years I have had many failures with the ones I had such hope for. It’s been hard not to wonder….”

“If anything you’ve done has made a difference” the Voice finished my sentence.

Again, the Voice stopped, turned, and looked me straight in the eyes, which I had learned he would do before he was to say something of great importance.

“Some who you think of as great failures you will find on the mountain. Some have been diverted from the path, but they will find their way back. All that you taught them they will remember, and it will help them. When I began to feel the same way—that I was the only one left—I became useless to the Lord, and He had to remove me and give the rest of my assignment to another. Your labor has not been in vain, and you must not trust in appearances for judging success or failure. You will have to wait for the Judgment Day to know either of these.”

“Thank you. I know this is true. I know this is just self-centeredness and maybe even self-pity for me to think like that,” I replied.

“It is worse! To think like that will lead you into a delusion that is as deadly as any other deception. Remember that we are all total failures and, in ourselves that is all that we will be. We must seek and build on His victory and what He is building. If we look at what He is doing we will always be encouraged, and always rejoicing. If we look at ourselves, we will always be depressed. Don’t go there again. It is a departure from this path. It is what cut me off from my own purpose, and it will cut anyone off who falls to it,” the Voice continued emphatically.

“I see this, but what about self-evaluation? Didn’t Paul write that we should test ourselves to be sure that we are in the faith? Aren’t we told to judge ourselves lest we be judged?” I asked.

“There is a place for guarding your own heart and for being watchful over your own soul, but would you want your evaluation of yourself or the Holy Spirit’s evaluation?”

“The Holy Spirit’s, of course,” I answered.

“There are many things that are obvious that we should be able to judge easily about ourselves. What we can do we are expected to do. The deep things we must leave to the Holy Spirit. What the mature learn is to seek the conviction of the Holy Spirit, to want His correction, and to become ever more sensitive to Him. As Solomon wrote, the wise love correction. The mature take correction as evidence of God’s love for them, not rejection.

“The self-pity that you have slipped into at times, and that I stumbled over, is rooted in rejection. Rejection is a deadly enemy because it is a basic deception. Your God will never reject you. He will never leave or forsake you. That is the truth you must never let go of.”

We walked on for a while in silence. I felt like I had gone through deliverance. I knew everything he said, and I had taught most of it. However, I knew I had come very close to falling because I had drifted from some of the truths I had been so adamant about in my own teachings. I thought about how the Apostle Paul had told Timothy to pay attention to his own teachings, and how I needed to do the same. If I had not gotten back on this path when I did, I would very likely have stumbled just like Elijah had. I would have ended up useless for the purposes of God, and maybe even opposing them. I was overwhelmed by God’s grace.

After a time, the Voice continued his instructions.

“The mountain will soon be the focus of the whole earth,” he began. “Soon, all who are not building it will be seeking to destroy it. The mountain of the house of the Lord will soon challenge everyone on earth. The ultimate battle is close at hand, and the mountain will be the battlefield. You must lead all who come to this path to the mountain. They must find their place on it. That is how you will help prepare the way for the Lord.”

“I have been fighting battles my whole life,” I offered. “Most of them have been with myself, as you have again helped me to see. I would much rather be fighting for the mountain. Fighting on the mountain was hard. Climbing it was hard. Seeing what was in the heart of it was hard, but it was also the best time of my life. I am so glad to be going back!”

“The battles you fought with yourself were also important. If you had not fought those, you would not be here now,” the Voice explained.

The path continued to get wider as we walked. I was about to ask about this when we broke out of the forest into the open. There was a beach in front of us, and a large luxury cruise ship was offloading passengers nearby. The place felt familiar, and then I recognized it as the same place from which I had entered the wilderness before.

“What are we doing back here?” I asked. “I thought we were on the path to the mountain?”

“This is the path to the mountain,” the Voice said, pointing to the place where I had entered before.

“I know, but I have already been through that part of the wilderness, and I sure do not want to go through it again. Did we just walk in a big circle? Did I fail the test of this wilderness so that I must go through it again?”

“You did not fail. This is the next test, and it is a bigger one. You cannot go further until you have brought others as far as you have gone.”

“So I must go through the same trials again?”

“Yes, but they should be much easier for you this time, though the journey will likely be more difficult.”

“How will the trials be easier, but the journey more difficult?” I asked.

“It will be easier because you will not forget to drink the living water. It will be harder because you will have these with you,” the Voice said, pointing to those getting off of the ship.

I turned to ask the Voice another question, but he was gone. As I stood there looking at the people getting off, an officer of the ship began to walk toward me, followed by a few dozen people.

“We are ready to go,” the young officer said.

CHAPTER THREE

THE CHOICE

I
looked at the young officer and then at all the other passengers. Hundreds were on the beach, and I assumed that several thousand more were on the ship.

“You said you were ready to go. Where are you ready to go to?” I asked the young officer who seemed to be representing the group.

“We’re going to the same place every sojourner has sought—the city that God is building.”

“How do you know me, and why do you think I can take you there?” I inquired.

“We know who you are, and we were told that you know the path that will take us there,” one of the passengers said.