Mr. Vinson,

I hope this letter finds you well and in good health, and that your family is blessed w/ the same.. I have read that your work is slow and I hope things are easing up for you. I admire the faith you have in God to come through, even if at the last minute, and you’ll have food on the table and all your bills paid.
I want to thank you again for your reply to my last letter to you. It certainly helped me to understand what really goes on in life, and led me to search for more and deeper truth. I have come to realize who the beast truly is, where he is, and to whom he is obedient. He has been empowered by that old serpent… and this ever present truth has crushed me each day since I realized it. I understand where heaven really is now. I understand where the kingdom of God is, and who it is that sits on the throne that is rightfully Christ’s. All this undeniable truth has me in a place of misery (fire?) like I’ve never experienced before. There are many times when I think that death would be most welcome, that it would be relief. And then I’m reminded that if I don’t face it here, I’ll have to face it later. Somehow, that isn’t much of a relief when it gets so… hot? I am assured that this too shall pass, but as I said, that’s not a lot of comfort at these times.
At the risk of being full of self pity, I realize that all I have been is a fake, a counterfeit as far as being a servant of Christ. The volume of the deception that has been years in the making, is overwhelming. To see and understand that I am a son of the devil, a child of the adversary… how does one explain how painful it is? I understand that coming to know the truth is all in God’s time; each man in his own time. I’m having trouble putting into words what I desire to say. It’s getting to where I can see myself on almost every page of the Bible. Before this new understanding, I could only see me here and there once in a while. It always seemed to apply more to someone else; someone “out there”. True understanding and acceptance of the truth certainly comes at a price, doesn’t it? There are a few moments from time to time that I have a little peace w/ this, but they are few and far between. After all these years of thinking I had a relationship w/ Christ, only to see the truth as it is now… how does one explain the shock they experience when they first realize the truth of who they actually are and who has truly been calling the shots all of their life? According to what I understand, this “suffering” and “wrath”  is all because of God’s love for us, which is something else I only thought I understood. I am coming to see that very few actually understand what God’s love really is.
I don’t know what my point really is. I suppose I’m just looking for some comfort from someone who has been through the first stages of reality, and lived through it to come out on the other side far better for the experience. We are instructed to take counsel, and anything you have to say about this will be greatly appreciated. I could just go on and on, but I realize you are a very busy man, and I won’t take up any more of your time. A heartfelt thanks to all who make the IWWB site possible. My hope is that God continue to use you all for His glory.
Take care, and God bless you all. Thank you so much for all you do.

A____

Hi A____,
Thank you for your words of gratitude and encouragement.
You say:

I’m just looking for some comfort from someone who has been through the first stages of reality, and lived through it to come out on the other side far better for the experience. We are instructed to take counsel, and anything you have to say about this will be greatly appreciated.

I appreciate your choice of words when you say “someone who has been through the first stages of reality, and lived through it to come out on the other side far better for the experience.” I also appreciate your concern for our need for work. Just so you know, we are doing fine and are not behind on any bills as yet. The reason I mention that at all is first to set your mind at ease about my welfare, but also to make the point that our trials and tests in this life are ongoing by God’s design. These are the very instruments of God’s work of salvation in our lives, and it is knowing that truth that gives us the ability to rejoice in the fact that God has seen fit to work with us while we are still in these corruptible vessels of clay. Our trials are His love for us.

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

That verse sounds so negative to the natural man, while it brings joy to the heart of the spiritually minded man of God.

Mat 5:11  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Mat 5:12  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

As with all of God’s Word, we naturally tend to comprehend the outward application of these two verses. But as we mature in Christ, we become aware that our worst enemy is this whole world is not those men who are outside of us, but those men who are within. It is the beast within with the armies of the Adversary within each of us, who ‘revile us and persecute us and say all manner of evil against us falsely for my name’s sake’.
 
It is true that others will persecute us and say all manner of evil against us, but the real danger is the adversary within who wants us to question whether we really are the sons of God.

Mat 4:3  And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

It is the inward question of ‘Who do you think you are?’ that casts doubt within ourselves of ever becoming rulers with our rejected Lord. It is the inward thoughts that Joseph no doubt endured while being stripped of his coat of many colors, and being cast into a pit by his very own brothers, followed by being sold into Egyptian slavery, that causes us all to fall victim to that spirit of the Adversary, which is constantly challenging our claim that we can actually know Christ and His Father, and be their elected and special sons.
But if the spirit of Christ really is in us, then it will witness to us that we are the sons of God, and like Joseph we will endure to the end and be given dominion over all the powers of Egypt, which are still there within our dying flesh.

Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

“The Spirit itself ” is the word of God:

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Now that we know what is spirit, we are now empowered to “try the spirit” which questions whether we are really the son of God. We can now answer those who ask, “How do you know that what you believe is really the truth? You thought you knew the truth before and you always ended up seeing that it was all of men. How do you know that what you believe now is not just another doctrine of men?” The answer within us, for our own confirmation is

Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

This is what the “words that I speak unto you [ which]… are spirit,” teaches those who are given the faith to believe them:

Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

What Christ has said in that verse is what He tells us again, on the night of His apprehension to be crucified.

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

We really can “know God… and Jesus Christ,” and when we do, not even rejection and crucifixion by this entire world, can separate us from that knowledge and that love.

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

These ‘angels, principalities and powers’ are both within and without, but it is the inward doubts which give us our challenges. Man can kill the body, but not the soul. Read the recently posted letter entitled What is The Soul? If we “know God and Jesus Christ,” then we have life that no one can take from us.
One other comment you make which I feel compelled to address is this.

I have come to realize who the beast truly is, where he is, and to whom he is obedient. He has been empowered by that old serpent… and this ever present truth has crushed me each day since I realized it.

It is a good thing to have our old man “crushed to powder.” We must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, but that must be seen for the wonderful blessing that it is. In other words, as the beast within us is crushed to powder, he dies daily and we become empowered to rule and to overcome that beast within. He becomes our servant instead of our Lord. Potipher and the captain of the Pharaoh’s prisons, became Joseph’s servants who had only the day before been Joseph’s masters.

Gen 41:40  Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.

That is the “power over the enemy” which we have been given.

Luk 10:19  Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

“Serpents and scorpions” is Bible- speak for lies and false doctrines. Truth will always rule over falsehood in the end, and you will be victorious in the end.
I will close by repeating these very truthful words of scripture:

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That is the Truth, and “He that has begun a good work in you will finish it.

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform [ it] until the day of Jesus Christ:

Your brother in the Christ,
Mike