Resisting and Receiving God's Spirit, Experiencing His Teachings

The Letters of Isaac Penington

To Nathaniel Stoner

IT is a dangerous thing to resist God's Spirit; and yet, very easy for a man so to do, who has nor received a true understanding from the Lord, nor is acquainted with the leadings and outgoings of Him who is pure. He that is tender and truly sensible may discern when he resists, when he quenches, or when he grieves the Spirit of the Lord; but he that is not truly enlightened, nor in the true sense, cannot do so. The Scribes and Pharisees, who were interpreters of the law, and very strict in outward observations and ordinances, who blamed their fathers for killing the prophets, and said, if they had been in the days of the prophets, they would never have dealt with them as their fathers did; yet, concerning these, said Stephen,  “You stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do also resist the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do you.” For until the stiff will and stiff wisdom is brought down in a man, he cannot but resist God's Spirit, and fight for his notions and practices, according to his interpretations of the scriptures, against the testimony of God's Spirit and power. Paul walked according to the letter of the law was blameless, yet he resisted the Spirit which gave forth the law. Those who would be found not resisting God's Spirit,  must know the Spirit, receive the Spirit, live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. He who is indeed turned to the redeeming arm, to Christ the power of God, and gathered into the power, and dwells in the Spirit and power of the Lord Jesus, and is taught and led by Him from path to path, and from pasture to pasture, as the Lamb, the Shepherd, goes before and guides him; — he is preserved from grieving the Holy Spirit, which moves and draws, instructs and quickens, all that are born of God. But, he that is only in the letter [the Bible], and in the form of godliness, out of the inward life and power, he is of that birth, mind, nature, and spirit, which cannot but resist God's Spirit. He knows not, he heeds not, His drawings, His movings, His light, His life, — the way thereof, — either in his own heart, or in the hearts of others; and so, walks in a way of rebelling against and resisting Him, who is the only Saviour and Redeemer of the soul. See Job 38:1-4, and 24:13. Oh that you might learn to wait correctly to learn these things, and come into the true sense and discerning of the Spirit and power of the Lord, that you might not any more resist it, neither in yourself nor in others. The Lord open your heart, and lay your spirit low before him; that you may come into a right sense and judgment, concerning the state of your own soul; and may experience the Lord manifesting things to you, as they truly are. 

I. P.

15th of the Fifth Month, 1671

POSTSCRIPT

O FRIEND! 

Wait to receive an understanding from the Lord, that you may come truly to know, whether you have resisted God's Spirit, or not; that you not lose the advantage of making peace with your adversary, while you are in the way with him.

I would not have you deceived about that virtue, life, and power which redeems the soul. For, there is no other Redeemer besides the Lord Jesus Christ, and he redeems by the grace of his Spirit, and by faith in his blood, which cleanses from sin; which blood is sprinkled on the consciences of those that believe,- and that, not in the darkness, but in the light; as is said in 1 John 1:7. “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin." Under the law, the blood of bulls and goats was sprinkled outwardly on the outward things, which sanctified to the purifying of the outward things; but under the gospel the blood of the Lamb is sprinkled inwardly, upon inward and heavenly things. See Heb 9:13-14, 22-23, 10:22, and 12:24. Oh that you truly understood  the difference between your own claiming of Christ's blood to yourself, and the Lamb's sprinkling it upon you, and washing your soul within! Rev 1:5, and also, between your own believing, according to your own assumptions of things, and His giving you to believe in the light of his Spirit! and, between your own praying in your own spirit, and his giving you to pray in his Spirit!

Ah! the Truth of our God is precious! the knowledge of his Christ precious! It is a precious thing, to have the Son revealed by the Father to the renewed in mind. God himself is the teacher, in the new covenant of all the true disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ; and, Oh how the teachings of his Spirit differ, from all the knowledge and learning men can attain unto of themselves! The Lord give you the true understanding; and to know what it is to begin your religion in his Spirit; and batter down and bring to nothing the understanding in you, which is not true; that you may not find your soul deeply deceived at last, as to the true knowledge of Christ and mysteries of God's kingdom, -- and so, perish forever! This, in very dear, true, and tender love, from him, who most sincerely and heartily wishes well to you.

I. P.

17th of Fifth Month, 1671

[This is from the Missing Cross to Purity:  Resisting and Receiving God's Spirit, Experiencing His Teachings]

The True Knowledge of Christ

"The true wisdom, the true light, the true knowledge of Christ, is like the manna in the wilderness; it daily comes down from heaven, and must daily be gathered fresh.  The true light springs from the life; and it must be held in the life, in the vessel which the life forms, in the new bottle, in the new understanding; not in the fleshly part, no, not in the natural part for as the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit, I Cor 2: 14, so neither can he retain them."

--Isaac Penington


I Corinthians 2: 14:  "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:  for they are foolishness unto him:  neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."


Where is the Wise?
The Death of Voltaire

The Downfall of Babylon

Isaiah 66: 15-16: "For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many."

Jeremiah 51: 27-32: "Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers. Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion. And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant. The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwellingplaces; her bars are broken. One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end, And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted."

Jeremiah 51: 54-58: "A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans: Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered: Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God of recompences shall surely requite. And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary."

Babylon is a spiritual city whose influence covers the whole earth. The king of Babylon is Satan. The gates of this city are the strategies of Satan. These strategies of Satan are destroyed by the power of the Holy Ghost--the Holy Ghost Fire that flows freely through those who are truly surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ (see Intercession and Paga).

Jeremiah 51: 58: ". . . her high gates [long-term strategies] shall be burned with fire [Holy Ghost Fire]."

Babylon the Great

The Hidden Streets of Babylon

The Babylonish Church

This is from "Babylon the Great" - The Missing Cross to Purity:

"BABYLON is the spiritual fabric of iniquity; the mystical great city of the great king of darkness; built in imitation of Zion, painted just like Zion, that it might be taken for Zion, and be worshipped there, instead of the true, eternal, ever living God, and King of Zion."

"And here, in this there is a great difference between the vessels of Zion, and the vessels of Babylon. The vessels of Zion, they are weak, earthen, foolish, contemptible to the eye of man's wisdom, (which cannot look for any great matter of excellency there); but the treasure, the liquor of life in them, is precious. The vessels of Babylon make a great show, appear very holy, very heavenly, very zealous for God and Christ, and for the setting up of his church and ordinances all over the world. Thus they appear outside; but they are sepulchers; there is rottenness within. Under all this there lodges an unclean, an unsanctified heart; a heart unsubdued to the spirit and power of the gospel, while it makes such a great show of subjection and obedience to the letter."

"But their souls never knew the fire in Zion, and the furnace in Jerusalem; by which the very inwards of their spirits must be cleansed, before the pure eye of life is opened which can see Zion."

"And it is a spiritual city, a mystical city, a city built by the working of the mystery of iniquity, 2 Thes 2:7. whereupon she is called mystery. Rev 17:5. It is not a city of plain wickedness, but a city of sin that is hidden; of sin keeping its life under a covering, under a form of godliness; of sin reigning in the heart under zeal, under devotion, under praying, believing, worshipping, hoping, waiting, etc. Where sin lies hidden within under these, there is Babylon; there is the mystery of witchcraft; there is the painted throne of Satan; there is spiritual Egypt and Sodom, where the Lord of life is daily crucified. This is the city, the mystical city, the spiritual city. Rev. 11:8."

--Isaac Penington

Babel--"1. The site of a tower reaching to heaven whose construction was interrupted by the confusion of tongues, according to the Old Testament. 2.a. A confusion of voices or sounds. b. Noise and confusion."

Babble--"1. To utter meaningless, confused words or sounds."

Babylon--"A place characterized by great luxury and often corruption."

--Webster's II New Riverside University Dictionary

Joshua 7: 20-21: "And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it."

II Timothy 2: 16: "But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness."

A Pile of Rocks--something much more alive in Christ than a Babylonish church.

The Hidden Streets of Babylon

Apostasy - Isaac Penington

"Christ foretold of false prophets, Mat 7:15. "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." The Lord sent true prophets under the law, and gave them true visions to declare; Christ sent true apostles and ministers under the gospel, and gave them the truth which they should preach and propagate; but then there were false prophets, false apostles, and ministers to come after, who were never sent by Christ, nor ever received the truth from his spirit. Now these do not come to gather into the life and truth of Christ, but to scatter from it; and so either to begin or uphold an apostasy. And, said Christ, beware of them; for they come very subtly; they come in sheep's clothing. They get the garment of the sheep upon their backs, even that very garment which the sheep did wear; but they have not the nature of the sheep, but the nature of the wolf, which is ravenous after the life of the sheep. Mark: where there is the garment without, but not the nature within; where there is the form of godliness, but not the power; where there are scripture words and practices, but not the spirit of life from which they came; there is the false prophet! there is the wolf! there is the apostate! there is the seducer from Christ!"

--Isaac Penington, "Concerning the Apostasy from the Christian Spirit and Life"


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Matthew 7: 15-23: "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

II Peter 2: 1-3: "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not."

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"Babylon is the spiritual fabric of iniquity; the mystical great city of the great king of darkness; built in imitation of Zion, painted just like Zion, that it might be taken for Zion, and be worshipped there, instead of the true, eternal, ever living God, and King of Zion."

--Isaac Penington, "Babylon the Great"

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Acts 3: 23: "And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people."

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A.W. Tozer:

“The fact is that, we are not producing saints. We are making converts to an effete type of Christianity, that bears little resemblance to that of the New Testament. The average so-called Bible Christian of our times is but a shallow display of true sainthood. Yet, we put millions of dollars behind ‘movements’ to perpetuate this lower form of religion and attack the man who dares to challenge the wisdom of it.”

Effete: “having lost character, courage, strength, stamina, or vitality.”

--Webster’s Third New International Dictionary

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I Corinthians 2: 15: "But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man."

I Corinthians 4: 5: "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God."

Mark 4: 21-22: "And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick? For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad."

Romans 8: 9: "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."

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Luke 11: 30-32: "For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here."

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Shiloh
By Tim Shey

Brutal deathdance;
My eyes weep blood.
Pharisees smile like vipers,
They laugh and mock their venom:
Blind snakes leading
The deaf and dumb multitude.

Where are my friends?
The landscape is dry and desolate.
They have stretched my shredded body
On this humiliating tree.

The hands that healed
And the feet that brought good news
They have pierced
With their fierce hatred.

The man-made whip
That opened up my back
Preaches from a proper pulpit.
They sit in comfort:
That vacant-eyed congregation.
The respected, demon-possessed reverend
Forks his tongue
Scratching itchy ears
While Cain bludgeons
Abel into silence.

My flesh in tattered pieces
Clots red and cold and sticks
To the rough-hewn timber
That props up my limp, vertical carcase
Between heaven and earth.
My life drips and puddles
Below my feet,
As I gaze down dizzily
On merciless eyes and dagger teeth.

The chapter-and-versed wolves
Jeer and taunt me.
Their sheepwool clothing
Is stained black with the furious violence
Of their heart of stone.
They worship me in lip service,
But I confess,
I never knew them
(Though they are my creation).

My tongue tastes like ashes:
It sticks to the roof of my mouth.
I am so thirsty.
This famine is too much for me.
The bulls of Bashan have bled me white.
Papa, into your hands
I commend my Spirit.

Ethos
February/March 1997
Iowa State University

Genesis 49: 10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”

The Legends of Africa

A couple of days ago I hitchhiked from Reed Point, Montana to Selby, South Dakota. From Reed Point I got three rides to Billings. I was walking just east of Billings when I got a ride all the way to Selby.

This guy's name was Corey and he was from Ashley, North Dakota. We took I-94 to Miles City and then took U.S. 12 through southwest North Dakota. We stopped in Lemmon, South Dakota where Corey bought me supper at a Chinese restaurant.

Corey was a Christian and we had a good talk about the things of God. We talked a little about the Book of Revelation and I told him that I thought that Isaac Penington had the best interpretation on some of the things written in Revelation. I told Corey that he should read Penington's "Babylon the Great" for a better understanding on the Book of Revelation.

We drove through Standing Rock Indian Reservation in north central South Dakota and then he dropped me off in Selby on U.S. 83.

Corey and his wife have a business called The Legends of Africa; his wife is originally from Kenya. They sell products like Shea Butter, soap and other things. Corey gave me a small container of Shea Butter, which was a blessing because my hands were cracked and sore from the dry, western climate that I hitchhike in. I put some of the Shea Butter on my hands, and within twenty-four hours, the soreness was virtually gone. Now forty-eight hours later, there is no soreness. My hands are healing up very well. I am very grateful.

After Corey dropped me off in Selby, I walked all over town looking for a junkyard so that I could crawl into a junked vehicle and get some sleep. It was not cold, but the ground was wet and muddy. I didn't want to set up my tent on the wet ground--and there was still a lot of snow in some places. I finally walked to this gas station and talked to the lady that worked there and she said that I could sleep in the cafe. I slept on the floor of the cafe that night and then headed to Pierre, South Dakota the next morning.

The Legends of Africa

Babylon Revisited - Counterfeit Christianity

Tower of Babel

Genesis 10: 8-10: "And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord."

Genesis 11: 1-9: "And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of the earth."

Isaiah 39: 5-7: "Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."

Jeremiah 28: 14: "For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the beasts of the field also."

Jeremiah 51: 6-8: "Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence. Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed."

Revelation 17: 14: "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful."

The Lord led me out of the church back in 1991. I have visited some churches in my hitchhiking travels. There are good churches out there, but I would say that 80 to 90 % of the churches that say they are Christian are horribly conformed to the world (the spirit of Bablyon).

Revelation knowledge is the Rock that the church is built upon; the church is not built through the inventions or precepts of men. We need to be submitted to Christ everyday so that He can reveal His will to us. Satan cannot defeat this personal revelation knowledge. The people who are into the letter of Scripture and are not into the Spirit of God are already pawns of Satan; these people study Scripture and reject Christ (the anointing). "Come out from among them and be ye separate."

Those who abide in Christ (the Presence of God, Zion) are the only ones who will overcome the spirit of Babylon (confusion). "The anointing breaks the yoke of sin."

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Excerpt from "The Hollow Men" by T.S. Eliot:

"We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar.

"Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

"Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
Remember us--if at all--not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men."

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"Babylon the Great" by Isaac Penington