We are on the banks of the river beneath Michael’s calf for a few moments before Uriel speaks:
Uriel:
“Prepare your heart son of sorrow. We are going back to the prison again. Control your emotions. Do not commit us to battles that are strategies of delay. You have spent most of your life being foolish, emotional and brash. Such things are fine while you are young in the faith and foolish. It is time now for maturity and the perspective of the Holy Spirit.
You must learn to respect the choices of people and do not violate their free will.
If they choose chains, you cannot remove the chains. Only those who ask for help can be helped.
In areas where man has given ecclesiastical authority to principalities must you first find those obedient to the word and unite them in prayer around the words of the Son .
Do not go in your own strength against the will of an entire ecclesia.
Those who understand authority understand faith.
For as the Centurion displayed great faith, so must you display great faith. And as the Centurion understood authority, so must you understand authority and respect it.
For not even the Father violates the free will of mankind and the son has respected even the choice of Israel to reject him.
Watch now and take note of all you see and do not involve yourself.”
Me:
“If we are going back to that prison, it will be very hard for me to mind my own business. Even the thought makes me want war!”
Uriel:
“Wars are one and lost by those who know which battles to fight and which battles to leave. If you are disobedient, you will set us back son of sorrow. Refrain from your self-righteous arrogance and submit yourself to what the Holy Spirit commands us. Do you think it easy for Angels to stand by and watch the principalities wreak such havoc on man? And do you think it was easy for us to submit to the Father and the Son when man crucified our Lord? Submit sin of sorrow. The kingdom comes before your personal hunger for justice.”
Me:
“I will do my best.”
Uriel:
“No. Not your best. Commit to be obedient. Bow your knee before Jesus as Lord. You are not Lord. Neither are you savior. If you move to get involved you will make things much worse for these who are already in much pain. Trust the Holy Spirit. He knows what he is doing.”
Me:
“I will submit.”
Uriel looks at me suspiciously for a few moments and we are back in the prison.
Uriel:
“Do not get involved. You have no authority here.”
The first cell has a man chained to debt. He groans under the weight of it and calls upon God to rescue him but every time his chains are removed, he makes debt again and the chains reappear on his wrists and ankles.
Uriel moves on and I follow.
A well dressed man is chained to public attention. It frustrates and whips him along, simultaneously feeding his insecurity and feeding off his insecurity. He gathers people around him, whipping them into a frenzy about things that have little to no meaning. As he wins people’s hearts with his diatribe, they begin to line the walls of the cell with him.
Each person added contributes to the thickness of his chains.
I realize that he is a pastor and now can hear his conversation with those who are chained to the wall.
He says one thing with his lips but I can hear what his spirit says clearly.
His spirit says: ‘Serve me. Submit to me. Ignore the words of Jesus. Do not question my teaching. Do not start ministries that outshine me. Do not start ministries that mess with my budget for the church budget is my personal budget. Do not do anything that takes the focus off me.’
The cell fills up with new followers. One of them sits chained to a wall and asks a question about the commands of Jesus concerning feeding the poor.
The pastor answers convincingly, drawing the focus to worship and the local church. Saying that their responsibility is those in the church who might be hungry for the Lord will bring those who are hungry. He says ‘come unto me all who are weary’ and ‘draw near to me then I shall draw near to you’. This proves that those who are hungry must come. We are not to go out and find the poor.
But his spirit says it more plainly: ‘Don’t give me more work and especially not those ungrateful poor vermin who refuse to work. And don’t talk about Africa, there is no hope for Africa and only lesser ministers go to places like Africa and Brazil to be missionaries. Missionaries are very far down the ladder of importance. Serve me, I need to look good to my pastor friends at conferences and I need to be popular on tv.’
I shake my head sadly and follow Uriel to the next cell.
Now Uriel places his hand upon my arm and I understand this means that it is time for self-control.
A pastor sits in a very expensive car wearing a very expensive suit with a very expensive watch. He is chained to the wall with golden chains called greed.
The cell is huge, filled with thousands of people. An offering is taken up for the widows and orphans and he keeps ninety percent of it. An offering is taken up for the youth ministry and he keeps ninety percent of it. An offering is taken up for missions and he keeps it all.
Rage starts to build up inside of me.
I want to kill him with my bare hands. Hatred starts to rise like bile in my throat.
He teaches people that money is the blessing of God and I see how they start to equate the Father’s love with provision, paralyzing them to obedience.
They can no longer be obedient without setting conditions on God, treating Him like a business partner and not bowing before the Son as King.
I manage to control myself, meekly following Uriel to the next cell, my hands shaking with effort, teeth clenched with forced self-control.
The next cell is even worse.
The cell is filled from floor to roof with children in small wooden cages. They are dirty, most of them naked. Their eyes dart from left to right like animals. Hungry and cold, their entire being consumed by need.
Uriel:
“Human trafficking is empowered by those who do not understand how authority and ownership works in the kingdom. If the kingdom expands, this kind of hell is stripped from the earth. But many assume that the riches that come to them are for them.
Listen well son of sorrow:
In the kingdom, everything belongs to the kingdom for the expansion of the kingdom.
If the kingdom does not expand, evil does as it pleases.the kingdom is all.
The man in the previous cell has the blood of these children upon his hands for he has stolen and wasted that which was to be allocated to the expansion of the kingdom.
Judgement will be severe upon him. For under the guise of love and using the word of God as a tool for manipulation does he masquerade as an angel of light, just as his father the devil does the same.
There are many such as he, choking the kingdom for their own gain. Dangerous and vile, as blind as demons to the love of God for all mankind. They have wrapped the gospel around their financial corruption and lead many astray.”
I wake up as the car brakes for an obstacle.
The car gets moving and I nod off again.
Uriel:
“Take note of all you see for even when you disciple and raise mighty men yourself, will have those who chose this route. Do not tolerate this behavior son of sorrow. Inform the police and bring the full force of the law against such evil.
For to see evil and not do anything is to be complicit in its effects.
Heed these words son of sorrow and instruct all who read this to keep to the law and report those who break it. For only those who break the law need fear its consequences.”