good morning my friends i'm pastor
steven brooks and welcome today
to our midweek bible study called
morning
glory today we're going to be in the
book of 2nd
chronicles chapter 5 and a little bit of
chapter six
we want to talk about the lord dwelling
in
a cloud of thick darkness a rather
interesting
statement made in the scriptures and we
want to
peer into that divine mystery praise god
let's pray heavenly father as we go into
your word we ask that your holy spirit
would illuminate the scriptures so that
we can understand them
enjoy them apply them to our lives and
enjoy the peaceable fruit of
righteousness
that comes by being a practitioner of
your word
now father we thank you we bless you we
give you praise
in jesus name we pray we agree and say
amen chapter 5
so all the work that solomon had done
for the house of the lord
was finished and solomon brought in the
things which is father
david had dedicated the silver and the
gold
and all the furnishings and he put them
in the treasuries of the house
of god verse 11 and it came to pass when
the priest
came out of the most holy place for all
the priests who were present
had sanctified themselves without
keeping to their divisions
and the levites who were the singers
also those of asaph and heman
and jedu uh judgethen with their sons
and their brethren stood at the east end
of the altar clothed in white linen
having symbols stringed instruments and
hearts and with them 120 priests
sounding with trumpets now the
temple has been completed it is now time
for the
dedication everything is in order the
priests
the levites who are the assistants to
the priest
and who carry out many of the temple
functions such as
the praise and worship uh guarding the
temple
many other things along that line
everything is in order the singers are
there
indeed it came to pass when the
trumpeters and singers were as
one to make one sound to be heard in
praising and thanking the lord
and when they lifted up their voice with
the trumpets and symbols
and instruments of music and praised the
lord saying
for he is good for his mercy endures
forever and i think that's something
that as we say
and we proclaim or even such a short
little statement that you could put to
your own
little tune or your own little song or
hymn
it does draw the presence of the lord
now as they were singing that and as
they were proclaiming that
the house the house of the lord which
would be the temple
was filled with a cloud and
this according to the hebrew scholars
the rabbis was known as the
shekinah god's presence coming in the
form of a cloud
now we know that god is not a cloud when
i was a young man
a young boy actually growing up in
church
and back in the days when churches had
sunday school
you know you would have sunday school
class first and then after that
you would all go to the general assembly
for the main message from the pastor
but you would have teachers teach you
know the children the youth the various
ages and so forth and i
i remember one time the sunday school
teacher
was teaching that we don't really know
what god is like
we don't know what he looks like he
could just be a cloud we really don't
know and we won't know until we get to
heaven
and of course you know me and the other
little kids just thought
wow maybe god's a cloud and then the
teacher said you know what when we get
up there
maybe we'll just all be like some kind
of ethereal vapor
we just don't know now of course when
you grow up
and you read the bible and you use your
brain and and you can see the scriptures
you realize
how foolish that type of thinking was
that type of teaching was
that somebody that didn't prepare for
the message
that was teaching us because we're made
in the image of god
that includes fingers hands feet uh you
know eyes
all of that uh so god is not a mist now
god is a spirit
uh but uh his spirit has form
and we uh are made in his image praise
god so
i i mean he's a being he's a person he
sits on the throne
and i've seen his hands i've seen his
feet so
you can't see his face one day we'll see
his face i'm talking about the father
but my friends god is a very real person
now the the house was filled with the
cloud so that the priest
could not continue ministering because
of the cloud the density of the cloud
the glory of the cloud for the glory of
the lord
filled the house of god
if you've ever been in that glory it can
do strange things to your physical body
you can lose strength you
you sense the realm of eternity which is
a timeless realm
it's a fascinating place to be the
priests they they just couldn't minister
they could not carry out
the duties there at the temple because
of this glory
praise the lord amen and in moments like
that you just
soak in god's presence you just enjoy
him
verse six excuse me chapter six then
solomon spoke
the lord said he would dwell in the dark
cloud i have surely built you an exalted
house
and the place for you to dwell in
forever
a place for you to dwell in forever now
the allusion here to the lord dwelling
in a dark cloud i think we can look at
it
through some different lenses and you
can get get some different insight but
let me just say this from a
from a technical uh point
when the priest went into
the holy place morning sacrifice
evening sacrifice there would be the
burning
of the holy incense in hebrew decaturate
that would be offered up twice daily
and it would burn for a long time we're
told about that
in the book of exodus chapter 30 you're
you're listed there
the five primary ingredients in the
incense but
as the rabbis teach there were also the
oral
instructions not just the written
instructions of what goes in it but also
oral information of what was to go in it
so technically there are actually 11
spices that herbs and spices that make
up the ketterit
and it was this beautiful incense now
instance is burned and so when the smoke
would go up it would release
the most phenomenal fragrance and
there's many reasons for that we know
that the incense is a representation of
prayer
but you have to understand also the old
testament
culture with all of those
sacrifices and all of that blood flowing
from all the animals that are being
slain
you basically have on-site a large
slaughterhouse you have all of these
animals that are dying
now they're going to be burned but still
you have that smell of all of that blood
and all of those activities so
that incense that cataract was a
phenomenal fragrance
that just knocked down any unpleasant
smells
and there are many
uh recordings about this incense that it
could be smelled
literally 20 miles away they said you
could smell it
in jericho as a matter of fact some of
the shepherds said that their
their goats would even sneeze when they
would smell that that incense burning
so it was very very powerful but
the lord the lord dwelling in the dark
cloud is a direct
uh reference also to the
once a year yom kippur day when
the high priest would of course not only
minister in the holy place but he would
go
once into the most holy place
and he was not allowed to go in without
bringing
the holy incense so he would carry holy
incense in there and there was a reason
for that
there was a special ingredient in the
incense that not only made it appear to
be miraculous in nature where it would
go straight up and in a like a like a
flight pole the smoke would go straight
up
but the secret ingredient
that was kept in there in the incense
it also allowed the high priest when he
went into
the most holy place it allowed the smoke
from the incense as it burned to go up
directly but then it would spread out
and it would come down in a very special
way the smoke would come down
and then it would form and cover the
area
right between the two cherubim that are
over
the mercy seat and
uh the rabbis argue a lot whether this
was really something god required they
the rabbis actually believed that this
was required they believe that
they have scriptural the way they look
at the scriptures is that
you had to have that secret ingredient
in there there's a lot of
discussion on what that ingredient was i
go into detail on that in my new book
which will be coming out uh in a few
months down the road from now
but my friends that cloud would settle
between the two cherubim
and it would block the high priest from
directly looking at in essence the lord
who dwelt between the cherubim so it's
not like the high priest could
you know walk into the most holy place
and say well lord look at you there you
are right there dwelling between the
chairman
now god i always wondered what you look
like well
we we know that it was actually the
presence
of the lord so but even still he could
not directly see that because of the
smoke
that would form in that area and veil
out that presence but even still the
glory the
the radiating presence of god it was not
only going through the holy places going
through the whole temple
and even the priest couldn't minister so
that's that darkness also the lord's
dwelling in darkness or he's actually
dwelling in the smoke of that cloud
from the incense that's going up and
it's all forming
right around the mercy seat there on top
of the ark of the covenant
praise the lord now it is out
of these places of the deeper communion
with the lord in the thick
dark cloud where
that glory affects your thinking
it affects your ability to prophesy
it affects your ability to hear
and it's a place of receiving
very accurate ministry
i've had too many phone calls
lately from other pastors asking my
insight
asking what i think about certain past
scenarios of the whole line of prophets
that missed it with president trump
they've asked me what i thought so i
and i've i've told them and they they've
they've said well you know
you know stephen you should share that
you know what you're sharing with us
with other people so that they can
understand because i was sharing some
things they said
that they they had never really thought
about before
so we're going to touch on that today a
little bit let me let me back up a few
months and give you an example
i went out to california to minister
there was an associate pastor that i was
talking with during dinner
the evening before i was going to
minister
and he was he was so
wired about trump getting re-elected so
this was before
the election but he was so adamant
that trump was going to get reelected
and he said it's going to happen
it is absolutely going to happen and uh
i tried to temper his
enthusia enthusiasm a little bit by
basically saying well
unless god has told you it's going to
happen you can't really say that
now i expressed
on one of my programs i think a morning
glory program that
it looks like he's going to win but i
also said i don't have any direct word
from the lord it just looked
looks like i mean when you look at the
massive crowds
trump was drawing and you look at the
enthusiasm
and the heavy momentum he had and and
the stock market going through the roof
it's really hard to beat a sitting
president when you when you have all of
those things going
nevertheless um we have a different
president
right now now the the debating about
whether or not he's
you know mr biden is there through
cheating
you know or through uh wrongdoing uh
that's a different discussion so i'm not
i'm not going to really even get into
that
you know well i see a fraudulent
president well they had fraudulent high
priest
you know you could actually it actually
got so bad with the um
with the temple situation you could
actually buy the office of the high
priest and so
uh political corruption religious
corruption
it's nothing new on the earth but
nevertheless
uh what so many were thinking and what
so many were focused on within maybe we
could say the conservative party
or also primarily within the church
was that trump was going to get
re-elected and it looked like he would
but you know unless god had given you a
firm word you couldn't
you couldn't make a declaration like
that although many did
so i was talking to this associate
pastor and he was so gung-ho
that trump was going to win and i tried
to temper his enthusiasm just a little
bit
should it go in a different direction
because like i said you have
no thus saith the lord but he was like
oh no he said prophet so and so said
that he's going to be elected
and it's going to happen i said well
uh what prophet uh what prophet are you
referring to
and he named the prophet i said oh i
said now you do know that he's been
wrong on many other things
i mean he he has said that this is going
to happen
that's going to happen and then that's
going to happen and none of it ever
happened
none of it ever happened well yes but he
was right on that one and he's going to
be right on this one though
i said well that that's i i hope he is
but i said you kind of have to not be so
um
like uh going crazy over it need to calm
down
but he wouldn't he was so amped up about
it
[Laughter]
now look in order to try to help him
should things go in a different
direction and we all know they did
isn't it funny isn't it funny that all
the prophetic voices
your your odds of getting it right or 50
50. i mean there's only two choices
and for so many that have still gotten
it wrong um
uh there's a lot to ponder concerning
all of that
but back to my associate pastor friend
um he's not my associate pastor but he's
a friend
um as we were talking i said listen can
i share a story with you
that might help you as we're about to
see who's gonna
uh you know what's gonna happen in the
election
he goes okay and so let me take you just
for a moment also those of you that are
watching back to the year
uh 2008 an election year
and you know we were also rolling into
a recession uh in the nation we didn't
really know it at that time
it was about to really unravel but you
know another
fierce election and at our
ministry we had a different ministry
office at that time
at our ministry offices we my wife and i
we were inviting our ministry partners
and we were inviting other
praying christians within the community
the spirit-filled community to come so
that we could pray
for god's man to be elected and of
course we're praying along the line of
god
give us a president who will protect the
unborn
give us a president and you know you
only had one option because the other
one doesn't believe in that
lord give us a president that loves
israel and will stand with israel and
you only had one option because the
other one
greatly despised israel and so we're
praying you know
for this man to be elected in a sense
and so this this went on for quite some
time as we're getting closer and closer
to
the election in november okay
so we got to the last prayer meeting
that we could have before
you know it's time to vote and on the
last prayer meeting
on the last night and the room was full
of people
people all over praying on their knees
and you know i'm the head of the prayer
group this is at my ministry office
but we had people from different
churches different
spirit-filled uh churches and ministries
they're praying
and right at the end of the prayer
meeting after after we'd all prayed for
quite some time
i had an anointing to look up something
quickened me to look up
because i was looking down praying and
when i looked up
i saw jesus walk right through the wall
he had a white robe on i've seen him
before he knew exactly who he is plus
the moment you see him you'll always
know who he is he
unmistakable the glory the the kingly
anointing
no mistaking the son of god so he walked
into
my room into the office in that big room
we were all praying
and he walked over to me and he he
looked at me
and he reached out and put his hand on
me on my shoulder and he said thank you
i he looked at me eye to eye he's
standing up i'm kneeling down
he said thank you for praying
but it's not going to go the way it's
not going to go the way
that you want it to and i knew exactly
what he meant by that it meant the other
guy is going to win
now that doesn't mean it was his his
god's will for that other person to win
but for whatever reasons and that's a
different message in and of itself
reasons certain things go the way they
do
for whatever the reasons were uh it's
this other gentleman is going to win but
he thanked me for praying
i said bless you lord i said praise you
lord thank you
and he turned around he walked away
and just as only god can do right
through the wall and disappeared
and i pondered just for a second and
then i looked over
to my left and there was a young man
smiling he had a grin like this
oh he was smiling he was looking at me
and when i looked over at him he was
smiling and he said
stephen he said i saw him he said the
lord walked right through the wall
he i saw him walk over to you and talk
to you
and then there was some kind of exchange
and he turned around and
walked back he said i saw him i said
well obviously you did
amen so the lord had opened holy spirit
had opened his eyes and he saw that he
was
he thought that was phenomenal and it
was
praise the lord he didn't know what the
lord told me and i didn't tell the
people there
but um so anyhow having had that
experience
i tried to share that with the assistant
pastor at this church in california i
said look
we can have our persuasions we can have
biblical reasons for the way we're
praying and we can even be praying
accurately in agreement with god's will
but it doesn't mean that we're going to
get what we want because sometimes
there's other factors involved and we
have to be aware of that and i told him
what happened and how the lord told me
it's not going to go the way that you
want it to
but you know thank you for praying and i
told him that and he
he seemed to listen a little bit but it
didn't really damper his don't you watch
pastor stephen
trump's going to win trump's going to
win all these bad guys all these corrupt
officials they're going to jail
probably within just a couple of days
and uh he was
he still had that that edge he was wired
well i went back just a couple months
after that you know that that hasn't
been that long ago
and uh the last time i saw him he he
looked
like wham somebody had deflated him he
was like a balloon
that had gotten totally deflated why i
knew because i knew that was going to
happen
you have gotten so worked up that if it
doesn't work out
there's going to be like now that
prophet said you know that now
now people are frustrated uh and
although this man is an associate pastor
um and a nice guy a
great assistant a great worker it's not
like some ministers though really have a
lot of spiritual depth
where things don't you know it shook him
it shook him and he was like uh
he didn't really like want to say well
you're right stephen but he was kind of
like
he was just so deflated he looked like a
totally different person
my friends you have to become familiar
with this dark cloud going into it into
the
very presence of god and getting very
very still
very very very quiet in order to
pray accurately hear accurately how
about this
even ask god the right questions how
about this next time here's a novel idea
next time we roll around to an election
um
how about asking god this before even
and this is what i've learned even
before really praying
lord i'm praying for this person why not
just ask god god
uh after it's all said and done who's
going to win anyhow
who's going to win
[Laughter]
what if god told you the other person
maybe you could call him the bad guys
going to win
or the bad gal what if god said well you
can braille you up that person is going
to win
that's fascinating jeremiah jeremiah
told the king and jeremiah told all the
people of israel
you can do everything you can you want
to prophesy against
what i'm saying and you can you can you
can get
hundreds of prophets and line them all
up and all prophesy against what i'm
saying
but we're all going into captivity now
now that's not what i'm saying
and that's not what i'm saying the
american church is going to happen or
anything like that
but jeremiah basically said i've heard
from god and
we got a bunch of clowns over here
acting like prophets and they're saying
something completely different
and we're all going to find out
unfortunately you guys are going to find
out the hard way
because you're going to you're just
digging you're digging the pit deeper
by trying to live in a fake reality and
thinking this is all going to go
a hopeful direction and it's not it's
not too much sin
too much sin in israel you're doing
worse things than what the
heathen nations are doing and so this
judgment
this ruler is going to come in and he's
going to conquer
and there's nothing you can do about it
so
uh very very interesting how god works
with people or even with nations that
are in
a form of covenant with him so sometimes
it's good to
just ask lord before i invest three
months of prayer in this
is what's the end result going to be am
i supposed to even be
pouring my heart out like this when it's
not even going to uh
i mean can you imagine jeremiah saying
well lord you know what i'm just going
to pray for uh
judas king anyhow maybe you'll just find
a way to get us out of this
no it wasn't going to happen jeremiah
knew truth and just was brave sports so
why
why go in the wrong direction praise the
lord very interesting things to follow
uh and to consider now
here's an interesting verse exodus
chapter 23 let's jump back to the torah
exodus 23 verse 2 you shall
not follow a crowd of prophets oops
that's not what it says is it that's
maybe a modern day translation that uh
has been read lately let's jump to the
real thing verse 2
you shall not follow a crowd to do evil
you shall not follow a crowd be very
careful about crowds
even if it's a crowd of prophets
because you can create this bandwagon
platform
that can get momentum and can get
generated
and i i think there's a couple of
reasons why we had
a a prophetic crowd
that was going in the wrong direction
i would say first of all is because
people
within the body of christ they wanted
answers what's going to happen
what's going to happen who's going to
win what's going to be the outcome
and you know because the two that were
you know mr trump running and mr biden
running whoever is going to win they
have diametrically opposed
agendas so especially with
former president trump because he's an
outsider he's not a politician
so you know those who are in politics
it's
it's not about the people it's about
them uh patting their own pocket
and serving their own interests we all
know that but
um whatever the outcome is going to be
it's going to be
dramatic so people are wanting to know
and this created
a a great pool for information we want
to know
we want to know and so if you were
willing to step forth and give forth
your voice people were listening to why
because there's so many clambering for
an answer
and it was very quiet out there until
you had certain ones that started to say
god told me that trump's going to win
again he's going to get reelected
and that began to get momentum and then
others really
didn't pray and so they jumped on that
bandwagon before you know it you have
this big consensus of prophets
not all of course there were those that
stayed quiet
i stayed quiet because the lord never
told me anything
he didn't say anything to me so i just
stayed quiet kept on teaching
stuff like that or it now look if i
would have wanted to have said something
i could have been all over all kinds of
tv shows
i've kind of been on talk shows pastor
stephen what has god told you about the
election who's going to win
is trump going to win god hasn't told me
anything well we don't have time for
that we need to find somebody that's
going to give us the word of the lord
around here
and trust me there are there they're
lined up
by the hundreds that even if they don't
have a word from the lord
if you're going to give them a platform
oh they'll fabricate one they'll make
one up what would you like to hear
i'll say it because it will increase my
ministry
it will give me exposure that's
that's that's crazy stuff
that's crazy stuff and um
i'll be honest i think a lot of these
talk show hosts
they're to blame for whooping it all up
you know
and uh giving these people a platform
that didn't deserve a platform
uh did not have a true word obviously
because it didn't come to pass
now you had a 50 50 chance you can't
even get that right
so um you know these are things that we
have to consider
and be aware of because another election
is going to come around again
but even more importantly um
[Music]
a lot of this was actually taking the
prophet's ministry
way out of bounds please don't ever
forget my friends that the for
the first and foremost role of a prophet
is not to go around prophecy prophesied
you know saying this says the lord
this and this and that and that all
kinds of prophecies flying left and
right
the primary role of a prophet is to
preach and teach
the gospel that's the primary role of
anyone
that would be called to the fivefold
ministry office whether it's apostle
prophet evangelist pastor teacher is to
minister the word
now yes any truly ordained ministry
office
will have supernatural equipment with it
but that's secondary
what's primary is the ministering of the
gospel so when you're
trying to take a prophet and just having
prophesied this prophesy that
and they're not even teaching anything
from the word it's just always let's get
him up having prophesy
what's going to happen and you know
that's all that's all it is that's uh
that's a way out of balance way out of
line usually ends
uh in a train wreck somewhere and
somebody's going to get a bunch of mud
on their face
and sometimes you can see it coming from
a long distance away
and so you've even have now you've had a
lot
that have apologized to the body of
christ and one particularly you have a
beautiful
repentance and apology he basically said
for decades
i have always been known as the prophet
who does not go along with all the other
prophetic voices
and he said i've always have been very
accurate
because i refuse to like listen to
what's everybody else saying
and i'll base my prophecy upon that and
i'll tie into that and then i'll get
more exposure
he said i've always veered away from
that but he said this time he said i got
pulled into it
and i got sucked into it and i was going
around telling people god told me that
trump's going to get reelected and he
said i've never done it before and the
one time i did it he said it
bit me really bad and he said i've
learned and i'll never do it again
i thought i thought his repentance was
very clean very pure
but as i also anticipated a lot of the
other
prophets who prophesied that trump was
going to win that god told them that
he's going to get reelected
you know not not but not later that
right now you know
now they're they're shifting the the
line in the sand saying well we met but
later that
maybe he'll come back four years later
eight years later then now they
re-alter what they say and they try to
you know
cover themselves for having blown it and
so um
but that's what i thought some would do
uh you have those just like the ones
that
have uh remember y2k 1999
the year is going to end we will not be
able to roll into the year 2000 because
the computer codes cannot
have another zero rollover so all the
computers are gonna shut down
and we're gonna go back into the stone
age and stuff like that and books were
written on it and
uh and messages were preached and the
books were selling by the hundreds of
thousands if not the millions and
it was a hot topic and as we all know it
was as they say a big nothing burger
it did nothing happened nothing all the
stupid books written all the messages
conferences y2k conferences nothing
happened
all of the uh uh what what do you call
that food tribulation food you know
all the foods that people bought because
y2k is going to end everything and
millions of dollars spent on you know
food supplies and all of this stuff so
it's just total craziness and uh very
very few of the ministers that hyped
that
and preached that actually repented most
of them were like
well we should we were wrong but we sure
made a ton of money
oh but here's the thing you disqualify
yourself
from really getting the access into the
dark cloud
oh yeah there'll always be a tv show
that puts you on
if you'll speak along their political
line or along their religious line and
you're willing to say what they want to
hear you say
they'll you'll get on and you could you
can keep on going but you can't get into
that cloud
you don't know how you you don't you
don't have access into that holy of
holies
where you can find out what's really
going on praise the lord and that's what
we want to be able to do now
um here's a major mistake
that happened with why so many prophets
missed it
and this is the core reason why a lot of
prophets missed it
let's take an evangelist as an example
for what i want to share with you
if you have an evangelist who is a
street preacher
and he wants to win the lost and he
walks around on the street
sharing jesus with drug addicts
prostitutes
he's passing out evangelistic
asking people to read them and give
their heart to christ
and there are times he wins them to the
lord but yet he himself
he's able to identify with those people
maybe he's a little rough himself around
the edges you know maybe he's
a former druggie got saved got delivered
and
all that's cool and so that's his realm
he has an anointing as a street minister
he's a street evangelist
now the anointing can be in different
levels
let's say that you have a a man or woman
who's called into the ministry
office of an evangelist that means they
do it full time
they're not working 40 hours a week you
know at a corporate job and then
going around ministry no they they are
called by god
placed into a ministry office of an
evangelist and they do it full-time for
a living they go from church to church
meeting to meeting and every time they
go they preach the gospel
and people get saved and so you can have
an evangelist doing that full-time
uh has a full-time schedule that's
booked he's
ever he's somewhere every sunday winning
the loss to christ
maybe he wins 20 or 30 at every service
to the lord
and maybe sometimes he has a good
meeting and he'll win 200 people to the
lord
and so what would that be higher level
anointing
let's go higher you have a stadium
that seats 100 000 people
let me ask you a question you have a
stadium that seats 100 000 people
can you take the street preacher can you
take the street preacher
and put him in the stadium and have him
minister
and draw thousands to christ
no it's not the same anointing
what about billy graham could you take
billy graham
and have that stadium filled and
by the way there has to be a pool a draw
also you get it's not like they just
show up
there has to be an anointing that pulls
them and the street preacher they're not
gonna you're not gonna have a stadium
full of people
show up to hear the street preacher but
billy graham
oh they'll show up and you have a
hundred thousand people in the stadium
and he talks for 30 minutes he just
not for two hours he talks for 30
minutes concludes
his sermon which was a very simple
sermon concludes it with a prayer
and an invitation to come forward and
receive christ and they
start coming from all over and they come
by the thousands
and they come by the thousands what is
that
global level anointing
global level anointing street preacher
yes
evangelistic anointing on him yes yes
uh another minister that maybe ministers
50 times a year
and maybe at the end of the year he's
won 1500 or 2 000 people to the lord
that's wonderful but i mean
billy graham's going to do that in one
service now he's going on to his reward
in heaven
but what i'm trying to say is there are
different levels of anointing
in all of the ministry offices including
the prophets office and so
the problem that we saw with this
election
was that we had all of these prophets
and let me say this
some of them you get them one-on-one
with you
they can prophesy really good when i'm
talking about prophesying i'm talking
about ministering to you
uh getting glimpses of your future uh
having words of knowledge
and so they can minister to you one on
one really good
and some of them you could put them in a
church of 300 people
and they can minister very very well
have good results but here's the problem
many of them thought that they had an
anointing
to minister to the nations to speak
over a nation they thought they had that
anointing and they didn't
they did not they thought they would
they thought they did
and obviously they didn't because what
they said was wrong it didn't happen
so there are very few
prophets on the earth that have the
authority and the anointing
to give utterances that affect nations
or that are that are spoken to
national leaders there's very few
prophets
with that with that kind of anointing oh
no there's hundreds of them pastor
stephen we saw that in the last election
there's hundreds of them
there's hundreds but they don't have
that kind of anointing
and here's the problem they all thought
they did they thought they did
they thought they could stand up because
they were given these platforms
because those that ran the platforms
were desperate for answers what's going
on
he says he has an answer get him up here
and he gets up there
thinking he has an anointing to speak to
the nation and and to speak over the
whole world
and he gets up there and does all this
stuff nothing happens he's wrong
why it doesn't have the anointing to
stand in that capacity
can i give you a silly example totally
true 100 true
i had a neighbor one time invite me and
my wife over
for dinner at her house she's a single
lady
she wanted to invite us over because
we're neighbors for dinner so we went
had night nice food she gave us some
nice food
but she seemed um she seemed to be cut
from a different cloth
and she was spirit-filled christian but
she seemed to have some
quirky ways and uh
as we you know as you eat you know
you're gonna talk you're gonna have
conversation
we seem to kind of be uh colliding on
certain things and doing things
differently
and then i asked her a question that
gave me insight into why
she thought what she thought she thought
that
everybody in the body of christ who is a
christian
is a minister i said now why do you
think that
she said my pastor told me that she said
we're all
ministers i said everybody is
she said yep all of us i said well i
know paul said that we all
have the ministry of reconciliation but
that which is winning the loss to christ
but the five-fold ministry office
apostle prophet evangelist pastor
teacher
you have to be called by god and placed
by god as a minute
into that office and thus you are a
ministry gift to the not only to the
body of christ but to the world
she said i don't believe in that she
said i believe we're all we're all
ministers
i said let me ask you a question if i
were to take you to africa
to one of the large meetings they have
over there sometimes the meetings were
over a million people
and reinhard bonke is just about to
minister
uh to a crowd of three million people
you're telling me that you could have
him go sit down in a chair
and you could stand up and do exactly
what he does and when a million to
christ which he did in one service
you're telling me that you can do that
she said yeah
she said i can do that no i didn't tell
her this
i'm glad i had food in my mouth and i
was chewing it when she said it
but i'm having dinner with a fool
my wife and i are eating dinner with a
fool
who has no wisdom what is wisdom the
ability to recognize
difference difference in a situation
difference
in people difference in the level
of an anointing praise the lord she had
no wisdom
she actually thought she could do what
one of the world's greatest evangelists
could do
she's not even called into the ministry
totally totally deceived
totally deceived that for some reason
that's a really bad prophetic bug
that floats around in a lot of prophetic
circles we're all ministers
well if you are show me your full-time
schedule how many churches do you preach
at i didn't preach in any how many
meetings you have scheduled i don't have
any
but i'm a prophet no you're a puppet
and you've been propped up with a bunch
of goofy stuff and there's no proof in
the pudding
and there certainly isn't any ministry
gifts well i prophesy
well it doesn't come to pass because
you're speaking out of your own soul of
shrimp
praise the lord wisdom the ability to
discern difference
i had a man join my church some years
back um his name was joel he's
he's in heaven now he lived his life out
passed away
i remember that after the first
time he ever came to my church
um he uh you know i was teaching and
after
i could tell he was like puzzled he
seemed puzzled and then after
uh two times he still still seemed a
little puzzled and then the third time
he
had come after that's after that message
he came up to me
and he said he said pastor steven i want
to ask you a question
and he said i don't understand it i said
well go ahead
he said when i have sat in other
churches
and i've heard the preachers there who
were who were good men
but when they preached it's very
different from your preaching
i said well what do you mean it's
different he said well i guess the best
way i could describe it
is like at the other places when i sat
in the other churches
it'd be like i was in ninth grade
at very beginning level of high school
maybe like ninth grade
but when i sit in your cer in your
services and i hear your teaching
i feel like i'm sitting in like a
master's class at university
maybe i'm getting ready to take you know
phd courses or something
he said it's different he said i don't
know he said i don't understand
it i said it's the anointing i said joel
it's a different level of anointing
there's a different level of anointing
upon the teaching he said
he said well that's it he said i
couldn't put my finger on it but he said
that's what it is
you've got a bunch of prophets that
think
um they're they're they're ready to push
elijah out of the way i'm telling you if
elijah and enoch
and moses all stood up on the platform
they'd say use three stand back i've got
the word
there are some they're that dumb they're
they're they're that
in love with themselves and they don't
know they don't have it
and what happens when you do that you're
going to end up with mud on your face
publicly uh maybe before millions of
people
making making a fool of yourself because
you think you're something
that you're not
[Music]
there are some there are some prophetic
voices right now
there are they are so deceived they not
only have not
altered course they've dug in their
heels and said
god said that this thing shall not be
god said that trump is coming back and
that pence will come back with him
and this thing is and i mean they're
making it worse
pence has said hey i'm done with
politics i'm never coming back
oh god said he'll be back no i have a
feeling most republicans don't want him
back they don't want pence back ever
[Laughter]
praise the lord so summer some of these
prophetic voices are trapped
and instead of just realizing hey i was
wrong they're so stubborn and they're so
prideful and
so deceived they're making it worse by
trying to just like
you know but god said they get real
angry when they say it and you know like
that that's going to make it authentic
no it just
shows that you're off you're off
praise the lord mm-hmm praise god well
there's grace
maybe even humor in a lot of this i'm
glad we're not back in the old testament
days i've been wrong before on certain
things and
you know then later you know you you
grow in grace you grow in wisdom
so it's not like we're back in the old
covenant where we stoned somebody if
they were
wrong but we also have to be careful
because we can hurt those
if we are wrong uh those that are young
in the lord
that that don't understand these
dynamics
how can they all say that and be wrong
well you know there's reasons why
one of the reasons well the main reason
why they they didn't have the anointing
to minister on that level they thought
they did but they didn't and
those that shouldn't have gave them
platforms to get
out there and speak to millions of
people and
that came back on the host too that gave
them
those platforms to do that because it
was all wrong
praise the lord glory to god hallelujah
i think
i think we need to meditate on these
types of things the lord
is in that cloud of darkness you have to
be willing to go into that cloud to
uh get through all of the
silly stuff sometimes it's like kenneth
hagin said many years back
he said eat the hay spit out the sticks
and those of you uh that been in the
church particularly in pentecost or
charismatic church for any time
you know there's plenty of sticks flying
all over the place
you can't digest that you can't even eat
it so spit it out
but eat the hay keep on going now
here's another take away from all of
this while
i follow politics in a sense i want
you know i want to see good leaders
godly leaders those that have biblical
values
moral values things that any christian
would
endorse or appreciate we have to also
understand that
on the right or in the republican party
there is almost like a new religion
that i would call conservatism now
those those that would be democrat they
know exactly where they stand
they love killing babies and they don't
shy away from that they are abortionists
to the max and if you're a democrat
you realize that's part of your party's
mantra we
abort babies and i believe uh
of course that is a sin but that's what
they embrace
they have no problem with selling baby
parts if they can get away with it
they have no problem with doing anything
like that and
they're all for gender confusion
and if a young boy thinks he's a girl
they have no problem with giving
permission for a doctor
to uh cut off his male organ or for a
young girl to have her
genitalia mutilate it because she thinks
she needs a change
this stuff is embraced by the democratic
party
to the degree if god said it's good they
agree that it's bad and if god said it's
bad
they embrace it as good and they're very
vocal about that
public about that that's just uh
out there for anybody to see that's not
something that's debatable that's just
something that they embrace the anti-god
anti-israel anti-bible anti-morals
and on and on that's that's their stance
now on the right you have those
that don't go for that we like
we like law we like order we don't like
violence we don't like
abuse of those things but you have to
have law and order or you're going to
have
a a barbaric world in which you live
but on the right there is what is
forming what i would call like a new
religion called conservatism
and i've been to uh large
republican rallies i've been around you
know republican leaders and stuff like
that but
my friends you have to realize that the
only thing truly that can save
america is repentance and a turning back
to god
not by being conservative but yet you're
still
unsaved or still living in sin
and so that's the problem that america
faces right now on the right i feel the
lord will deal with the left
i don't even really think in some ways
that's the issue i think the issue is
the lord dealing with the right
and those on the right getting their
hearts right
because i've stood amongst many
conservatives
and you just look around and you can't
help but realize most of these people
they're not saved
now they may have conservative values
they may want
small government they may not want to
get taxed
90 of their income so they have some
common sense which is like
hey you know government's out of control
but at the same time
you need christ praise the lord he's the
only answer not conservative government
do i believe in conservative government
yes
but you can be conservative
and yet still not belong to the lord and
that's what we're seeing
and that's why our nation is having a
lot of the problems
we're having we had the senate runoff in
georgia
you had a radical man on the left a a
pastor actually mr warnock
running against an established
republican
senator and you would think oh this is
an easy win
she should be able to beat him because
she
is conservative in value but you know
what he won
despite his what we would call radical
ideas hatred for the military
um many things that he's upset about
with our nation
he won why
because although she's conservative
there's crookedness there
and if we call it what it is
she was directly involved in insider
trading
and you should go to prison for having
done that
but these people just like those on the
left
that have these ways of getting away
with things
and not having justice done they they
know how to pull those strings and
they know how to avoid all of that
because they kind of cover each other
but my friends being conservative
does not make you right with god being
right with god is being found in christ
begins there with salvation in christ
and then
adhering to his commandments well i'm
conservative i'm good enough to go to
heaven
no nobody's good enough to go to heaven
unless you've had your sins washed away
if you can be conservative and go to
heaven on your own then christ died in
vain there was no purpose for his
sinless sacrifice but he died to save
sinners
and every human living on the planet has
the adamic
sin nature in them thus they're gonna
they're gonna need a cure for that
and salvation in christ is the only cure
not being conservative
praise the lord i have a feeling that
the lord will deal
with the left but on the right
we can't just say we have conservative
values
and uh he would make a good president
well he he's
he's living with his girlfriend he's not
even married
that's not the answer the answer is that
we must
get back to god and live the principles
of the bible
praise god hallelujah of course have
christ in her heart
so my friend sometimes the answer is a
little bit different than what we
perceive
praise the lord hallelujah we must
we must go into the presence of the lord
which can be uh oh yes we must go into
the light
well sometimes you go into the thick
darkness the cloud of darkness
that's where he's at dwelling between
the cherub glory to god there's many
divine puzzles divine mysteries but
these are things that we should enjoy
and should look into and pray about so
that our prayers are on target
thank you lord jesus so that our heart
is in the right place
[Music]
it's an unusual thing i fly a lot
every time i get on an airplane isn't it
nice
think about this that there's no smoking
and as wild as the democrats
are the dem you need both
you need it takes two wings to fly the
plane
and the reason i talk about there's no
smoking
on airplanes it's not because you know
you're
riding on this you know flying machine
that's carrying
you know thousands of gallons of jet
fuel that
are highly explosive no the reason
there's no smoking
is because a democrat not a republican
not a republican
a democrat basically said uh
i don't want to be breathing all this
smoke this is not good to be
sitting in this you know tube with all
these people breathing all this smoke
because people used to smoke on planes
all the time
but so he began to work and craft a law
that basically banned
smoking on airplanes can you imagine
going on an international 13-hour flight
and the whole thing's full of secondhand
smoke oh
how disgusting that would be well that
was a democrat that fixed that for us
so both parties can contribute but
really christ
is the answer praise the lord and
since i believe primarily the lord is
going to do some special things
particularly through the youth
to dramatically affect the left
i believe that the right needs to look
to the lord
not in just external ways of saying
we're conservative in value
while you know doing all kinds of crazy
stuff
no it needs to be real we have to
practice what we preach
if you preach conservatism why are you
using so much profanity
so these things are very very real
praise the lord
my friends this is my take in the
nutshell on some of the things that have
uh
you know passed over the last few months
as many have tried to move on quickly
and forget about it and cover it up
but these things if they're not
addressed they'll happen all over again
let me say this any prophet
that has an anointing to prophesy
to a nation or over nations or to a
national leader
the moment they start prophesying
you can tell there's a difference just
like that man sat in my church said
stephen your teaching is different it's
it's he said it's on a different level
than other types of teaching i've heard
that's not to put down the other
pastors they're ministering the word too
but can't you see the anointings on
different levels
and we have got to get more accurate in
the judging of this
in the judging of prophecy and so so
much to do with that cloud
revolves around that darker anointing
praise the lord hallelujah we've got to
become familiar with that
you should be able to recognize the
sound
not just the words oh i hear the sound
and i can tell god's moving boy
there is so much hype
in the pentecostal churches right now so
much brass
huh and remember um when the golden
shields
that solomon made were taken away
well his son said well they're all gone
uh sure i sure like those shields and so
he remade them
in brass you can shine brass up it
almost looks like gold but it's not gold
and it certainly it doesn't have the
same value or worth not even anything
close to it
we've got to get back to the gold
standard which is the glory
having been in the cloud coming out of
that cloud
and speaking and also being able to have
it come out of the cloud being able to
hear
the distinctive difference in levels of
anointing
you know every move of god has had these
challenges
back in azusa street there in los
angeles when william seymour was the
pastor
he would go upstairs and pray and he
would at times let the meetings keep on
running
down below and with any
global awakening like that where you're
having people literally come from all
over the world to get into your meetings
and they would they would often have 3
000 people in the services but the
people are coming from all over the
world because of the move of god going
on
you're going to have a lot of guest
pastors and so
sometimes out of courtesy uh pastor
seymour would let
an unknown guest pastor stand up and say
something
and uh and he wouldn't always be there
in the service often he would be up
above praying
well there was uh one time he was up
above praying and so some of the elders
were running the service and there was a
guest
minister from another country and he
wanted to
he wanted to get up and do his thing and
so
um they let him go up and let him greet
the crowd and
say what is on what was on his heart
well he took that moment for his
that was his moment to shine and he as
they say took the microphone
and they don't really didn't have
microphones back then but you know that
was his hour to grab the mic
and tell everybody how great he is and
what he knows and so he
he's talking and talking and talking and
one of the old
pentecostal mothers sitting on the front
row
a member of the zeus street very close
to william seymour
after about 20 minutes she just said out
loud
she said mister can't you see that you
don't have any anointing
and we all know that
praise the lord said it in front of all
the thousands of people
mister can't you see that you don't have
any anointing
and we all know it
[Music]
wow
let me see if i can delicately say this
and conceal it
because i am in ministry full-time and
uh ministry is a lot of it's networking
you get to meet people get to know each
other and stuff like that and although
there's
thousands of ministers it's amazing how
everybody kind of gets
to know each other you cross paths or
stuff like that
there was one of these prophets that was
just saying trump told me
god told me trump is going to win again
and
he was prophesying like a steam engine
god said this and god said that
and boy people were eating it up and he
was getting lifted up and churches all
over
come over here and say it over here and
uh boy he was
he was having a high water moment i was
always thinking the whole time this is
not going to end good for him
why because i've seen him behind the
scenes
i've seen him when there's no tvs and
the tv's not rolling
and the camera's not rolling i've seen
him what he's really like and my wife
and i
thought
wow this is a very hurting individual
who has a real identity problem he
doesn't really know who he
is and he's very insecure
in who he is and these people are out
here pumping him up
they don't know that the real person
really struggles with insecurity
and uh i hope his ministry
continues he has gotten he has fallen
from such a height in a sense where
he took it really hard he apologized but
as i thought he wasn't going to take
full responsibility he apologized and at
the same time said
it didn't happen because trump did what
he was supposed to do and i repent for
being wrong but
all of that is you know he needs healing
so the the this stuff of trying to act
like you're somebody when you're not
uh you're setting yourself up to get
hurt
and if if you're a minister and you're
empowering
somebody to do that um
you could if there is that they're
younger ministers
you're dealing with something where you
could they could get destroyed and that
this is uh
these things should not be done they
should not be done if nobody has
anything
we should all sit quiet well somebody's
got to say something no
nobody should say anything if they have
not heard from god
nobody should say anything the problem
is is that
we've had too many that that are like
well
this is my time this is my opportunity
and so um we've we've got to learn
how to get into that dark cloud hear
from the lord
or be quiet as well as to have the
hearing ear
that can discern true anointing in its
different levels the different
frequencies on the different anointing
levels who praise god
hallelujah when a true prophecy
is is true man it'll
it it'll have a zing to it praise god
you know let me say this in closing
there are a lot of well-known political
figures
that you'd be surprised
how god gets prophets to them to true
prophets
not fakes true ones now there are there
are the goofballs that even tried to
pull this on
you know i've got to work for the
president yeah get in line with the
other 2000 i think they do too
but there are those prophets that do get
words for
the president regardless of his stance
on
uh on you know ethics or morals he still
if he's in the office god it's amazing
what god will do
even for some of the ones that are
really sinners
uh stop and think about how god tried to
work with ahab and
would send prophets to him and this is a
guy that's a murderer
so uh but yet he's he's the one running
the ship
so god cares about the ship so uh
it's very very interesting how god can
get
prophets to leaders but often those
aren't really known or really celebrated
for the true authority they carry praise
to lord so we need to be
more more demanding
of precision
with what is coming forth and also what
we allow ourselves to hear
praise the lord praise the lord
i have sat in meetings before
where occult power is operating through
a compromise minister and everybody's
going
this is god and i'm thinking no that is
a familiar spirit
working through that person with with
valid
wonders but they're originating from the
dark realm
and uh it'll blow up eventually and it
does
and it does it's uh i i've and i've seen
it happen
so we're gonna have to get more precise
we're going to have to get more precise
and we're going to have to be insistent
that we eat the finest of the wheat and
not
eat barley by the way barley was rough
you would feed your
mule your donkey the barley you would
only eat barley
if uh there's not too much else in the
pantry
praise the lord now father we thank you
we give you praise father i don't want
to scare your people
but i do want your people to know that
we have to be selective in our hearing
and in spiritually what we're putting
into our
spirits just as we have to be selective
in the food that we
take into our bodies and we we need to
know what's on the
on the label thank you father
we thank you for wisdom we thank you for
the ability to
go into your presence into the dark
cloud and to receive
the unveiling of mysteries of what's
really going on
now we thank you for insight for peace
and we thank you for great stability we
give you praise father in jesus name
amen and amen
you know you can go on the internet and
you can see some of the world's leading
financial advisors
talking about the debt problem of
america
the financial demise of america i know
yes there are there are a lot of
problems there's a huge debt 30 trillion
dollar debt
all of this and that and as they're
talking about how bad it is you notice
they have left the country they've moved
to
puerto rico to hide out and observe the
collapse
from a distance and you have those
from the silicon valley that are ready
at a moment's notice to get on their
private jets
and fly to their bunkers and their food
storage
uh bunkers way down at the bottom of the
world in new zealand
they're all so strong in their own
strength
but you know what god's not done with
america yet
and god is going to preserve this nation
it's going to get a little shaky and
it's going to get
very very interesting but we're on the
verge of a move of god's spirit
and it trembles the devil uh
when he even considers
something like this but my friends get
ready for the glory praise the lord
and i'll also say this regardless of any
type of a shaking or bursting of any
type of a bubble and
there's probably about nine to ten
bubbles
that we have right now in our nation you
have stock market bubble
you have stocks that are trading the
hundreds of dollars in value
they're not worth it and you you could
have a stock trading at four dollars a
share
uh that's a multi-billion dollar company
with no debt
and it's at four dollars and others
other stocks that that are trading
at hundreds of dollars a share that are
loaded with debt
and uh it's just it's just a crazy it's
a crazy bubble and you have bubbles in
other areas
commercial real estate and stuff like
that so i'm just saying if a bubble pops
regardless of what happens the covenant
will work for you
and it will override circumstances even
their job
layoffs your covenant child of god
you're going forward
you're going ahead and the light the
glory will
be seen on you
praise the lord hallelujah so because
the glory is going to be resting on you
you must demand a higher standard of
truth
your spiritual diet must be clean must
be pure praise lord i'm not just saying
listen to me there's many many
plethora of good excellent ministers
that are out there
that are very solid in what they're
saying praise the lord
but sometimes a hype is actually
celebrated particularly here in america
we have it's almost like a celebrity a
blinding celebrity status
and uh i will say this mixed in with
that is a lot of sensuality you'd be
shocked at how much
sensuality and worldliness is in
that celebrity christianity and uh
i'm not saying there's something wrong
with being well known or you're
you know having a large ministry but
you have to be careful there's there's a
balance in there with fame
and also humility there's a balance in
there with prosperity
and also just not getting carried away
with worldliness
praise the lord we thank god for the
holy spirit who helps us to catch
that right balance now if you're
watching today's program
and you don't know jesus as your lord
and savior and maybe you thought
i don't want to accept christ because
i've seen too much hypocrisy in the
church
let me say this you'll have plenty to
hang your hat on
by looking at the church with our
mistakes our errors and our flaws
and we don't we can't we don't say it's
okay it's not right
but we're just saying all in all though
those in christ
do have forgiveness of our sins and uh
we are not perfect the church is not
perfect but the church is
forgiven so if you want to
receive eternal life it comes through
christ
and you will be added to the church but
we're all
human and until we go home to be with
the lord
we will not be able to come into that
full completed perfected state
but we will continue to grow in the lord
grow in his wisdom
his anointing his grace his
understanding so
don't let the failure of others
hold you back from making your own
personal decision to receive christ
and by the way many sinners use that as
an excuse
it's only an excuse well that preacher
he was wrong or
he did this wrong but you know what
we stand in the finished work of the
cross
so come on over and receive christ today
if you're ready
pray this prayer after me just say lord
jesus i'm a sinner
but you died to save sinners like me
jesus come into my heart wash
all of my sins away save me now
write my name in your book of life and
jesus i give my heart to you
and from this day forward lead me and
guide me
and all that i do in your name i pray
amen and amen those of you that have
just prayed that prayer for the first
time you now belong to jesus find
find a christian who's mature in the
lord
who can help you get water baptized
that's
that is your next step water baptism
is an expression of your commitment
to live for jesus it's where you make
your public confession i have given my
heart to christ
and you identify with that through water
baptism
so find a mature believer it doesn't
necessarily have to be a minister
but find somebody who's mature in the
lord
who can lead you in water baptism
praise the lord now let's all take holy
communion grab some unleavened bread
hallelujah and grab some grape juice
let's pray over it
father we thank you for the communion
the body and the blood of the lord jesus
we consecrate the bread and the juice
now we thank you
we thank you this is the body and the
blood of christ our savior
we thank you father god for deserting
the ear
we thank you for access into the most
holy place where you dwell thank you
father the cherubim
still around you the seraphim circling
around you
we give you praise father god thank you
father help us to never
follow a crowd in a sense where the
crowd would go into evil
or would go into error regardless of who
is consummating that crowd who
who's in the crowd help us to think help
us to pray
help us to hear from you
thank you father god we bless you father
we ask that you would bless the bread
the body we thank you we receive the
lord's body now in his name
amen let's partake
father thank you for the blood of jesus
we asked if we've
committed any sins that you would
forgive us and wash all of our sins
away thank you father we ask that you
would lead us away from temptation
we ask that you would deliver us from
the evil
one in jesus name we pray
amen and amen let's receive the blood of
christ
praise the lord hallelujah glory to god
praise the lord thank you jesus let's
take a look at that scripture one more
time in closing
then solomon spoke the lord said
he would dwell in the dark cloud
praise the lord well i pray that you
will
dwell in the dark cloud with the lord
hallelujah a lot of light
a lot of light there in that darkness a
lot of illumination
there in that dark cloud i see you as a
receiver
of divine insight thanks for watching
i'll see you back
next time bye