The Stench

After 2 years this is more evident than ever.

It is a warning to all the leaders in the body of believers in which you serve. I’m tagging people that I’ve subjected myself to and to ones I’ve allowed to have influence over me. It is a warning to the church.

I was at the entrance of this dark cave that had a flickering glow deep down inside. I started walking toward this glow and it started stinking really bad. It smelled like burning feces or smoldering sewer. As I approached a bend in the wall, I stayed very close it. The stench, if possible, got worse. There was a sulfur smell included in this. It burnt the nose as you breathed and if you did so with your mouth, it choked you.

I then was able to see this figure. It was void of shape but had a shape. This is hard to describe. It was stirring a pot of “soup”. It was a thick substance with lumps of stuff in it. The cauldron was breaming to the top with this very thick stuff. I was amazed at the strength of this form stirring and the sturdiness of the stick or beam it was stirring with.

Slowly, I began to realize that the substance being stirred around in the pot were things that have been left dormant in the lives of believers. Things never dealt with. Anger, resentment, jealousy, hurt, anguish, vindication, justification, rivalry, rebellion, prejudice, animosity, ignorance, and more. The list kept growing and growing. These were the lumps in the midst of this ungodly smelling stew.

As I began to slowly walk backward a being held me there and said, “You have to sound the alarm.”

I cried out, “How?”

The being said, “You have a voice.”

I asked him to explain what I was seeing.

He said, “The form you see before you is Pride. The strength He is using to keep everything stirred up is Fear. The stick he is using is Justice.

“Say on,” I spoke.

“Are you so void of understanding? Because pride is very seldom dealt with by many in leadership who refuse to humble their own selves and deal with it in their own lives, it is allowed to exist in their body of believers they are assigned to. Pride is a strong man and gets his strength from Fear. That is how he keeps things stirred up to keep the focus away from himself. So yes, the leader deals with the small things but not effectively because they don’t get to the strongman. They just deal with the results not the cause.

“It’s like praying for relief of pain but not praying for healing of the cause of the pain. The stick of justice in this instance is there because of offense. You see, the one offended seeks justice instead of forgiveness and mercy. They say things like, “I can’t let the hurt go because I can’t forgive the one that hurt me”. This gives strength to pride because they fear they won’t receive justice in their offence. Which only gives thickness to the stick of justice. This is not godly justice. This justice seeks judgment against another. Pride keeps it stirred so that it can continue to grow in strength.

“You must begin now to deal with the root of all the contention. It is pride. If the leaders don’t begin to humble themselves then righteous judgment will be passed. Pride has to be dealt with before any of these others can be dealt with. Once pride is dealt with you can break down his strength which is fear. Once fear is dealt with you then can deal with the stick of justification. Then once all this is dealt with the cauldron is no longer being stirred. Then you can begin to deal with the actual lumps in the stew.

“If you don’t begin to deal with this properly the stench will begin to make you sick. It keeps things from coming to you. Sinners won’t come the way you want them to because they already stink in their own sin and don’t want the stench of this on them as well. God’s presence doesn’t come the way He desires to abide because He can’t stand amid this stench. You say we have God moving in our body constantly.”

I brought this up to the One who held me in that place. He replied, “Stand and see.” Then I woke up.