"If your eye causes you to stumble..."

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="129a11c3.png"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome to the Heart4God Website!"><U><B><IMG SRC="4b55a500.png" border=0 width="90" height="80" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Writings of Joseph Herrin"><U><B>Writings by Date</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id212.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Writings of Joseph Herrin Organized "><U><B>Writings by Topic</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.heart4god.ws/Audio/index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.heart4god.ws/Audio/index.htm"><U><B>Audio Files</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id690.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Videos"><U><B>Videos</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id323.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Writings of Others"><U><B>Other Authors</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id324.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id339.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Questions and Answers"><U><B>Q&A</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id328.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Heart4God Email List"><U><B>Heart4God E-mail List</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com"><U><B>Parables Blog</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id306.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="File Downloads"><U><B><IMG SRC="2b264140.png" border=0 width="100" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> <div> <B>"If your eye causes you to stumble..."</B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="c2827160.png" border=0 width="807" height="22" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Joseph Herrin (6-12-2000)</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Matthew 18:9</div> <div> "And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into the fiery hell.”</div> <div> (NAS)</div> <bR> <bR> <div> I have a brother-in -law who is a pilot and he told me about some training he went through in order to earn his rating to fly airplanes by instrument control. There are two broad categories of pilots; those who are VFR Visual Flight Rated, and those who are IFR Instrument Flight Rated. </div> <bR> <div> The VFR pilots are not qualified to fly planes in many types of inclement weather. They have only proven their capability to fly a plane when they can see clearly out the windshield. They require conditions of good visibility to take-off, land, and fly a plane. If visibility is poor, they cannot fly.</div> <bR> <div> IFR pilots, however, can fly in even extreme weather conditions. They are not limited to seeing out the windshield to navigate. They have learned to operate by the input received from the airplane’s instrumentation. </div> <bR> <div> As my brother-in-law was earning his IFR qualifications he had to don a hood that blocked forward sight and only allowed the pilot to look down at his instruments. While wearing this hood he was required to fly the plane demonstrating that he was not reliant upon the view through the windshield in front of him.</div> <bR> <div> I have not questioned him in depth about this, but I imagine that the first time that many pilots don the hood and attempt to fly by instruments that there is a fair amount of fear to deal with. When one has been used to receiving visual feedback of what is ahead of them, it must come as a shock to have this stimuli removed. The temptation to peek, or even to remove the hood must be formidable to many pilots. As with many things, this would undoubtedly become easier with experience and practice, but initially it would be daunting.</div> <bR> <div> This equates well to the current experience of many of God’s children who are being taught of God to walk by faith and not by sight. God has many of His children in very earnest training at this time. He is removing from them a dependence upon the flesh, the mind, and the physical senses. He is teaching them to walk according to the spirit as they are led by the Spirit of God.</div> <bR> <div> The scriptures are full of descriptions of the last days, and it is clear from these descriptions that those who are walking by sight will not survive unscathed. It is those who have learned to walk by the direction of the Spirit of God who will not only survive, but prosper and do exploits. The days will be such that visibility will be severely impaired. If you have not been qualified to navigate by the spirit, you will be grounded in the days ahead. An indication of this is given in the following scripture:</div> <bR> <div> Isaiah 60:1-2</div> <div> "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of [Yahweh] has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples; but [Yahweh] will rise upon you, and His glory will appear upon you.”</div> <div> (NAS)</div> <bR> <div> What happens to people who have been accustomed to walking by sight when they are thrust into darkness, especially deep darkness as the verse indicates? They become disoriented. They lose their bearings. They are unable to function. Many become terrified.</div> <bR> <div> Other descriptions of the last days state that everything that can be shaken will be shaken and that mens’ hearts will fail them for fear (Haggai 2:6, 7;Revelation 6:16). What could this shaking entail? We are given indications that earthquakes, floods, famines, pestilences, wars, invasions, economic upheaval and many other such things will occur to an extent which the world has never witnessed previously. The very things that many people cling to for stability, comfort, and direction in their lives will be cast down.</div> <bR> <div> Who will be able to survive and prosper in such a day? It will be those who have hidden themselves in God and who have learned to walk by what the Spirit of God is speaking to them, ignoring the report of their physical senses.</div> <bR> <div> One of the major news stories of last year was of the death of the son of one of our former presidents. JFK Jr. died in a plane crash and this incident, which held the attention of the media and the nation for weeks, is of prophetic significance.</div> <bR> <div> JFK Jr. was piloting a private plane on his way to the wedding of a friend. Your spiritual ticker should be dinging already with this imagery. He was carrying both family and friends along with him on the plane. JFK Jr. was only Visual Flight Rated, he was not qualified to fly by instrumentation. When he took off weather conditions were good, as was visibility. However, as he approached his destination conditions deteriorated rapidly. A dense fog arose and visibility dropped.</div> <bR> <div> It was reported that what happens to many pilots in such conditions is that they lose the ability to determine sense of direction. Particularly, they become confused as to whether they are climbing or descending. This is apparently what happened to JFK Jr. and he crashed into the ocean. It was further reported that even experienced IFR pilots had difficulty navigating on that particular day, but they were able to successfully land due to their ability to fly by instrumentation.</div> <bR> <div> Prophetically, JFK Jr. represents both the nation and many ministries today. Vehicles typically represent ministries in dreams, visions, and similitudes. A vehicle is a device that carries people to a destination. This is true of ministries. Yahshua gave ministers to the body to take them to maturity and to the fullness of the stature of Christ. </div> <bR> <div> Today, many ministries appear to be both high flying and moving forward rapidly, but many of the ministers sitting in the cockpits are flying by sight. When conditions deteriorate suddenly, both the ministers and those who have climbed onboard with them will find themselves disoriented and will be in peril of perishing. It will be true of these that “their eye caused them to stumble.”</div> <bR> <div> Due to the tragic death of those onboard the plane, it was reported that the wedding they were going to attend was delayed. This also has prophetic significance. Yahshua is anxious to come back for His Bride, but her failure to walk by the spirit is delaying the event and this failure will cause many to perish.</div> <bR> <div> I previously mentioned that God is training many in this day to walk by the spirit. This is uncomfortable, and even terrifying at times to those who have been accustomed to relying upon sight. It is common for the Spirit to be reporting that we are going in the right direction, while our senses are reporting that we are heading for a crash. At these times we are tempted to panic and to ignore the voice of the Spirit, but to do so would be tragic.</div> <bR> <div> God is speaking to His children to “keep the hood on.” Don’t give into the pressure to peek or take it off. The skills that you are learning will put you in good stead for the coming days. In this way you will not only preserve your own life, but you will be used to bring many others to their destination safely.</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>