Greetings in the name of the Holy One, Jesus. I hope you had a great Fourth of July, celebrating your freedom here in the United States. Freedom is fragile, and man can easily fall into bondage, either by rulers or his own hands. Bondage comes in many forms; however, it comes from the kingdom of darkness. Jesus came to give us freedom, and when we bond ourselves to Him, we can have total freedom. As Christians, we should be totally free no matter the circumstances around us. It doesn’t matter if you live in a socialist or communist country or even in prison. If you will strive to live like Jesus, you can still be free in those places. Jesus says,
“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”
—John 8:36
Sin, however, will always put you in bondage no matter where you are. Sin takes you from the hands of God and gives you over to the hands of the evil one. Many, many, walk daily in bondage, including Christians who seem to have it all together. There are sins of commission (the ones we know we’ve done), and there are sins of omission (those we do not see or those we do not think are sins). Both of these types of sins can keep us from the fullness of Jesus, which is our freedom.
Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
—Psalms 24: 3-5
A Christian with a pure heart strives to know Jesus and be like Him. “All who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure” (I John 3:3). This is something WE must do; God cannot do it for us. There are some things God cannot do. That may surprise you, but it’s true. When we think about God and His almightiness as individuals, we must affirm that our full salvation is sure. We are instructed to work out our salvation with reverence and concern ourselves with pleasing the Father in every way we can. Not just, “I have accepted Jesus as my Savior,” but “I have accepted Him as my Master and Lord.”
This distinction was brought to my attention by a vision my wife, Michelle, had recently, and I would like to share it with you. Her account is as follows:
On Monday, June 28, 2021, I was standing in my kitchen and was caught up in the Spirit. I saw Jesus sitting at a dinner table alone. He was the anointing personified. The anointing of Him was so great it appeared thick, almost like water flowing from Him. At that moment, a sensation of a spirit of death moved in, and a terrible feeling came over me, and then these words came: “Sin cannot sit in the presence of Jesus.” And it wasn’t as though Jesus or the Father were saying, “Too bad; you sinned. I’m not going to let you sit here.” It was that the sin literally couldn’t get in because of His anointing. The sin was repelled along with the person associated with it. And the weight of sin was great and ominous. “The wages of sin is death,” I heard.
Jesus was sitting alone. The sadness I felt at that moment brought to mind Revelation chapter 5, wherein John wept because no one was worthy to open the scroll. The words and impressions continued: We are not seeing miracles at the level we should because the sin of the Body of Christ is too great. The sin ranges from unrepented daily sin to the sin of abortion. I saw an outline of the United States.
I’m not sure if the vision ended or if I turned away from the weight of it. It was jolting. I asked the Lord if this was a word to just me, and the impression was that it was for the Body of Christ as a whole. More words and impressions came: The weight of the sin of abortion in this country is staggering. The unrepented sin of the Body of Christ and the sins that so easily beset us have been met with a calloused conscience and continue to march on – this must be stopped. Prattling off Scripture to Him is not going to cut it in the face of sin. Sin cannot stand in Jesus’ presence.
For me, I remember I used to pray every night for God to forgive my sins. Somewhere along the way, I only asked for forgiveness when I did something blatantly wrong. I have made an immediate adjustment.
As a side note, I only sensed that ominous, spirit of death one other time, and that was one night many years ago when I was involved in the New Age religion without a relationship with Jesus. At the time, visible demonic presences had been moving in on me, and I had no idea what to do. It was only a few days later that Jesus appeared to me, taught me how to cast out demons, and changed my life. Praise God! —Michelle Byerly
Michelle’s vision is godly, scriptural, and sobering. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). Please don’t read anything else into this Scripture except what it says. It doesn’t say blessed are those who thought they could get away with this or that or thought whatever they chose to do is okay—whatever the “this or that” may be. A pure heart toward God is remorseful and repentant of the least little thing that may go against His nature. I’m not saying that we have to do works or follow laws to be saved, so please don’t even go there. I’m asking how pure is your heart toward God? I’m asking myself the same question because we are all in the same boat.
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble.
—II Peter 1:10
Note that Michelle only felt that dark presence once before, and shortly thereafter, Jesus came. Visible demonic presences are moving throughout the earth like never before. The prophecies of the Scriptures are being fulfilled. Be Ready!
Nashville’s Impact America Crusade is only days away (Aug. 3-5). We are still trying to meet the budget. Thank you so much for those of you who have been faithful to give. If you want to get in on helping to win souls here in Nashville, give online here so the funds will be available: donorbox.org/partner-with-us-19.
Also, we thank you for praying for and giving to Prophecy and Promises Ministry. We continue to pray for you; you give us much strength.
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