I wrote this article in 08 and it seems that at times I feel there needs to be a refresher to be spoken on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ.  After reading this article you feel a bit different when you hear someone tell of a vision or prayer or conversation with God.  This is important stuff, very important, for without it, you are missing the very key that it takes to enter into the Kingdom of God. Let me explain by re-posting this message.

James Banfield

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Circumnavigating The Name of Jesus Christ

James Banfield 08/03/08

For the past few months I have been noticing a subtle change in language among some of the brethren around us. Some of it is happening within this very group. I welcome all researched opinions in this blog, but I think you will discover, that there is something even more sinister than you can imagine at work here.

The people, our brethren, our sisters in the Lord are doing it without even thinking what is actually being done and not done. They are; “Circumnavigating the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ”, and think that by going directly to the Father it is better and that it is the cool thing to say right now in this age. This is incredibly far from the truth.

The devil is out to kill, steal and destroy, but the brethren are not even aware that the devil is trying to kill, steal and destroy Christ's Deity as the Son of God, yet he is ever so slightly, so surgically taking Jesus Christ out of the general language of God's people.

About a month ago I heard the voice of the Lord ask me a question to an article that I had read. The article said, “Father smiled on me”, further on it said, “Father would help me” and again it said, “Through Father he will guide me through it.” And the voice of the Lord said to me, “Where Am I?” I began to see more and more of the Lord being discarded out of conversations, His Deity being denied, his place as the Son of God being challenged by omission by people circumnavigating Jesus Christ and addressing the Father directly.

Look at John 1:1-14 ; John the apostle, to make everything perfectly clear, said “The Word” was in the beginning, “The Word” was with God, and “The Word” was God, The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made. (The Word was the Creator). Going a little farther down in John 1: to verse :10 He was in the World, the world was made by Him and the world knew him not. He came unto his own (Priests of the Temple) and His own received Him not. Going a little farther to verse :14 and “The Word” was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of Grace and Truth.”

The Apostle John made it very clear that “The Lord” was “The Son of God”, “The Word” is “The Creator”, and “The Word” manifested himself in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.

Matt 10:33 “but who so ever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.”

The Son is the Creator of all things. So if you deny the deity of the Son, deny the Son, you have in essence denied the very Creator who created you. You deny the creator, you deny your own existence and therefore the creator will deny you to His Father, as per Matthew 10:33.

John 14:6 “Jesus said, I am the way, the Truth, and the Life, no man cometh to the Father but by me” Note: some translations say “Through me” This is because Jesus is our mediator, our High Priest so we go through Him. This says very clearly every man must go to Jesus and then to the Father. By going past Jesus you are by-passing His rightful place as the mediator, our High Priest.

Mark 16:17 “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In My Name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues.”

The Name of Jesus is the most powerful name in all Christiandom, is it not? Why would you leave out His Name in anything? Where is the Glory to the HEAD? When messages are sent out and it's nothing but The Father this and the Father that concerning the business of the church, where is the Glory and Honor given to the Head? Jesus Christ? The Father is not the Head of the Body Jesus Christ is. Jesus is the head of the church. The Cornerstone of the church.

Those who are discerning, know that New Age is deceiving, even though it seems to be positive and non-judgemental, it is far from the truth. Let's just say point blank, new age is a tool of the devil to discredit, deny, and divide the christian nation on the deity of Jesus Christ. It focuses on worshiping the Creation, not the Creator.

Hebrews 4:14 “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. “ Jesus is Our intercessor, we go to Him and he goes to the Father.

1 John 2:1 “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.”

So we see that everything goes through The Son, for he is our 'High Priest” who does interceed for us.

“We Cry Abba Father;”

Galatians 4:4-7 “But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law. To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth The Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. “ ... This verse says quite plainly we can cry out “Abba Father” but we are to realize that (1) God sent The Spirit of His Son into our hearts which gives us that opportunity through his Son to cry out Abba Father and ... (2) we can cry out Abba Father only THROUGH HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST! Granted, We can say Abba Father because the Spirit is in Us, and yes we can go directly to the Father and say 'Daddy' as some would have it. BUT, we must remember that is through The Spirit of His Son that we have that right to say Abba Father and that it is Through Jesus Christ that we are heirs. It seems that some of us have forgotten that. This is what the Lord has been impressing upon me to bring up.

Matthew 6:9-13 “After this manner therefore pray ye; Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name (Giving Respect to the Father) Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil; for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the Glory , Forever, amen.”

Granted, it looks as if Jesus himself says to pray to the Father directly, and so he does, because We have been given permission by Jesus to do so. But only in prayer. All other requests and petitions must go through Jesus Christ, for he is our High Priest, our Mediator between the Father and Us. Remember, we have The Son's permission, who is the Christ to pray directly to the Father. But only in Prayer do we have that permission to do so. All else goes through HIM, Jesus Christ.

The Lord said in John 10:9 “I am the gate/door” .... even here it tells that you must go through the Lord.

Is The Lord and the Father interchangeable? “Even though the Lord said in John 10:30 “I and my Father are One”, they are still separate and not interchangeable. Look at what Paul said in 1Corinthians 12:4-6 about the One God but the three separate administrations but the one God. This also shows that Jesus is the Son and all things go through him.

It is a sad thing to by-pass Jesus Christ ... for if we get into that habit of omitting him in our conversations, then we will also begin to omit him in our thoughts and begin to deny him his rightful place as the Son of God and the gate, the intercessor, for we can enter in the kingdom only Through Jesus Christ. Amen?

Believe it or not what we are dealing with here is “The Spirit of Anti-Christ” and yet the people don't know it, and don't even realize it. That's the real problem.

Remember when you were a teenager and every other word out of your mouth was a cuss word, and when you realized what you were doing, you couldn't stop doing it, could you? You didn't even think about it ... .you just kept cussing. And when you tried to quit doing it, look how hard it was to quit doing it!

It is the same with the Anti-Christ Spirit. We entertain that anti -christ spirit when we do not give The Son of God the glory for what HE did for us. Even when we omit His Name in our every day conversations. Now, we might think that by saying the Father did this for me and the Father did that for me is ok, but in truth, The Lord Jesus did it for you, not the Father. It is not until the very last day when all is said and done that the Son will hand over everything back to the Father, for now, the Son is still the head of the church an d therefore should still receive his due.

Here are some more scriptures that deal with the Anti-Christ and that anti-christ spirit.

1 John 2:18 “Little Children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that anti-christ shall come, even now are there many anti-christs: whereby we know that it is the last time. (19) They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been with us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out, they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”

1 John 2:22-23 “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is anti-christ, that denieth the Father and the Son. (23) Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father; (But) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. “

1 John 3:23 “And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the Name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.”

1 John 4:1-3 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (2)hereby know ye the spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: And this is that spirit of anti-christ, where on ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

1 John 5:13 “These things have I written unto you that believe on the Name of the Son of God: that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the Name of the Son of God.”

2 John :7 “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an anti-christ.”

I cannot explain the hurt that I hear in the spirit when I see messages that say, The Father this and the Father that, leaving out Jesus Christ totally. To leave out Jesus Christ is to deny him, to deny him is to deny the creator, to deny the creator is to deny your own existence which is why the Lord said,

Matthew 10:33 “But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. “

Remember Mark 16:17-18 And these signs shall follow them that believe; IN MY NAME shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

Remember to go through the most powerful name in all Christendom, The Name of Jesus Christ.

Amen

In Him

James Banfield