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The Following Message Has Been Transcribed And Edited
For Clarity, Continuity Of Thought, And Punctuation By
The LEM Transcribing & Editing Team.
Every time a thought comes through our mind that is not God, it is not only adultery, it is sexual perversion. It is very serious business, that we take authority over our thoughts. God is not fooling around, it is not a small thing. It is not small thing to let a thought that is not from Him be revealed in your mind. It is not a small thing, it is a big thing.
The more we mature in Christ, the older we get in Christ, the more important, and the more He expects from us. The more He expects from us to discern it, get a hold of it, and kill it. Why? Because whatever thought is in our mind eventually is going to reflect in behavior. It is going to affect something. There will be a cause and affect. If there is a thought in our mind, it is doing something. It is not just an abstract thought. There is going to be a fruit of that thought. Somebody is going to get blessed or somebody is going to get cursed.
We are not children anymore, that we think that our thoughts are not affecting anybody, because they are. Neither are we children. We are entering into puberty as we had in a recent message. Even if our thoughts are passive in our mind, they affect people. Our passive thoughts affect people. I remind you that our state of mind, the state, the condition of the corporate mind of mankind, is producing this world that we see. It is producing this world that we see.
Just take a look at the world, and you can get a general idea what is in the minds of man. As you go from country to country, some countries are doing better than others. There was a time that the United States was doing a lot better than a lot of other countries. Right now it is not doing so well. Look at the minds of the people in the United States, and look at what is happening to the country.
The Lord was talking to me about this spirit of rebellion that is over the whole nation today. This is what He told me, years ago. You know, we think that we are so advanced because we are into Pentecost, we speak in tongues, we have all this deep doctrine. We think that the church is so advanced. I want to tell you something, the church is not very advanced, it really is not. He told me that fifty years ago, a hundred years ago, we did not have Pentecost, or it was not as widespread as it is now. We did not have the kingdom church, they did not have the reconciliation message. It was simple in their mind.
Did you ever read a book or see a movie of the settlers of this country, about the farmers from the Midwest. Did you ever see a movie about this? They believed in the work ethic. He never said a wrong word, they did not even talk much. They did not even talk much, they hardly ever said a wrong word. They made pictures and made jokes out of it, saying "yes" and "no." "Yes and no." People that did not talk. They did not get into trouble with their mouth. They worked hard, and they did what was expected of them. They went to church on Sunday, they said their prayers over the food.
Now to those of us in the kingdom church, some of us would say, "Wow, what a carnal life that they had." They had a humble heart, they thanked God for their food over every meal, and they meant it. They brought their children up morally and with a respect for law and order, with respect for elders. The woman respected her husband, and the children respected their parents. I want to tell you something, this rebellion that is on the country... children will never be obedient if the women do not respect the husband. We cannot expect our children to respect us or obey if the women do not respect the husband.
If the husband does not respect his elderly parents, your children will not be respectful of you. I speak that to you as a fact, not as a curse. They will not be. He said, "Look at these people, they were simple, humble in their hearts. They were walking in the fullness of what they had. The country was in a state of order, and it was under the protection of the Lord." We have ministries today that are in Pentecost, and that are in all this deep doctrine, and rebellion is raging in the hearts of the people. God cannot bless rebellion. We have got to get our mind straight. We think that He is going to bless us because we have all this doctrine, that we speak in tongues, because we give out tracts.
The first issue with God is law and order. Respect your parents, honor your husband, little children respect your parents, honor your husband, take care of your elderly parents. If you have a widowed aunt, you are responsible for your widowed aunt. He was blessing the country.
Children in the streets were respectful of any elder that walked down the street. Now they curse at them, they curse at their teachers, and have no respect for anything.
When we come into a condition like that, God will not bless no matter how much deep doctrine you have, no matter how much you speak in tongues, or give out tracts, or what ever else you are doing. That is good. I am not saying that it is not good. You cannot do anything without law and order. This rebellion must be, and will be put down. This is under the anointing, I do not know what is coming. This rebellion must, and will be put down. God will not have this rebellion in the church.
You should see the church in Nigeria, you would be amazed. The order that they are in. The church is functioning. It is very, very different than over here. They have their problems over there. This problem they do not have. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, it is a very serious problem. It is bringing judgment upon the country, it is bringing judgment upon the church. It is bringing judgment upon our personal lives.
I got a call from somebody yesterday, distraught, being persecuted in their job. I went though this. You know, I did not get this job for sitting on my behind. I have been through a lot. I am preaching out of personal experience. I have been abused by employers, abused, and I had to take it. Why? Because my Father said I had to take it. I had to deal with that abusive employer with a Godly respect.
I tell you this man was abusive. He was so abusive that one day another lawyer came over to me, because he could not stand what he had heard. He said "Nobody should talk to you like that." They do not do that, bosses stick up for the bosses. He really abused me, screamed at me in front of everybody, utterly humiliated me to the point that I walked out to lunch, and I said "Lord what do you want from me! How far are you going to let this man go?" He said, "Go back to work." I went back to work, and it got worse.
One day almost the whole secretarial staff rose up against me. Not only my boss, it went through the whole office. There was a spirit of hatred raging against me. I went before the Lord, and I said "Lord I am not asking you to get me out of here, because I have given up asking for that, but I am telling you it is pretty bad. I need some kind of relief." Two days later I got fired. He got me out, but I put up with that for a long time. I put up with that for a long time.
I want to tell you, God does not permit anybody to deal with rebellion until they have taken the victory over rebellion. He does not anoint you to deal with any sin unless you are victorious over that sin yourself. That is the way God works. I am sure you heard that in your old order deliverance training.
I heard it in that church. Do not go pray for somebody unless you have victory in that area. You are not likely to succeed. You are much more likely to succeed if you are delivered in that area. Glory to God.
Judgment is coming on every level. There is rebellion in the family, there is rebellion in the streets, there is rebellion against the police. How could judgment not fall? I remind you that California is the state that passed a law allowing homosexual marriage just a year ago. God is a righteous God. He knows exactly what He is doing. This rebellion is everywhere. Everything is our of order. The whole world is upside down. When there is rebellion, there is every evil work.
COMMENT: Why is there rebellion?
PASTOR VITALE: Rebellion is the condition of the natural man. The kingdom of God is taken by violence, and the violent take it by force. Man is violent, and rebellion is in our heart. That is what we are. A lot of people do not even realize that rebellion is there because they have been trained as a child. They grew up where they were loved, where they were trained in Christian ways, and the rebellion was repressed. The only thing that is going to keep rebellion down is repression.
The carnal mind of man is an animal, he is a wild beast. Lots of times we do not become aware of the rebellion in our own hearts until Christ appears in us. Lots of us think we are okay. Then Christ starts appearing in us, then all of a sudden, we see that there is rebellion. That is the whole point of the White Throne Judgment.
COMMENT: Is it also because the discipline has not been administered to the children and more so in the latter days?
PASTOR VITALE: Oh yes, because the carnal mind of man, fallen adam is wicked at his root. Children who grow up in a family, it does not even have to be a Christian family, if they teach you to respect your elders, decent behavior, and whatever is going to bring blessings into your life, they grow up with a developed self-discipline. When you are a child, and your parents discipline you, it is teaching you to discipline yourself, that by the time you are an adult you can discipline yourself.
If you reach adulthood, and you cannot disciple yourself, you will either be disciplined by Satan, the unconscious part of the carnal mind, through reaping what you sow, or you will be disciplined by the White Throne Judgment. Now the White Throne Judgment is highly preferable to Satan's discipline, because if you reap what you sow, frequently you do not understand that you are being chastened. Then you do not make the correction, you keep on doing the same thing, and you keep on reaping what you are sowing. Then the carnal mind condemns God for it.
The White Throne Judgment of Christ is revealed to you, it is told to you clearly. Sometimes directly from God, and sometimes from another person. God wants you cleaned up. He does not want you on a cycle of eternal torment where you sin, you are condemned, and you are judged, then you sin, you are condemned, and you are judged. Some people never learn. The White Throne Judgment reveals, exposes, and roots sin out. Jesus Christ is the only one that has the spiritual strength to root sin out of you.
We have talked about fornication and sexual sin appearing in the next generation. I have seen it, I have seen it in people, I have seen it in movies, I have seen it in literature, that the child that is the product of sexual sin has either a rebellious spirit, because rebellion is involved in sexual sin. I watched the movie, "The Thorn Birds" not too long ago. I think there were five children in this family. The oldest son had a problem, and no one knew what it was. He was always distressed, he was always upset, and he was rebellious towards his father.
It turned out that he was not this man's natural son, that he was an illegitimate son that the wife had when the husband married her. He did not know it, but his spiritual inheritance, that rebellion and adultery, was manifesting in his personality. A lot of us know about that, but how many of us know that rebellious activity, not necessarily sexual sin, but rebellion against parents, against husbands, against elderly parents when you are an adult, will be revealed in your children, or in your children's children, or their children's children?
That is what is happening in this country today. There is an explosion of rebellion. Who could know where it started, how many generations back did it start? We have people whose hearts are filled with rebellion.
COMMENT: I do not understand what you are saying about... inaudible... but what is a wife.. how can she submit to a husband who is insane, raping her daughter, refusing to get help. Does she not have to stand in righteousness? She is submitted unto him, and unto the Lord, but she cannot submit unto him as a insane man to protect her children.
PASTOR VITALE: What you say is true, but how you do it is another story. I think if a man was raping your children you should leave him. You see, God cannot sin. This is a big misunderstanding. God cannot sin. God can do what a carnally-minded man can do, and for the carnally-minded man it is sin, but for God it is not sin.
If a wife were to disrespect her husband or stand against him, that is sin. If it is the righteousness of Christ in her doing it, it is not sin. You can tell that it is the righteousness of Christ by the fruit.
A lot of women today are in rebellion against their husbands. They think that it is Christ, and it is not. What they are really doing is that they are seeing a problem in their husband, and they are battering their husband with their mouths.
COMMENT: In the event of what many young women are going through right now, they live with addictive husbands, crack, cocaine, etc., that to me is another form of insanity. How would you handle that situation?
PASTOR VITALE: In a case like that, you have to get your personal instruction from the Lord. There is a very fine line. There is a difference between disrespecting and dishonoring your husband, than standing in righteousness. A lot of women cannot tell the difference. From situation to situation, I would not know the answer myself. You have to give God a chance to move. The tendency is to try to do it ones self by taking hold of the authority in the relationship. That is not acceptable to God. If you do not know what I mean by taking hold of the authority, it is hard without a specific example.
Even if a woman wanted to take over something that is typically a male role, it is the spirit that she is doing it in. It is very hard to explain this to anyone or to explain it on the tape.
There are two states of mind that we could be in. One state of mind is that there is a woman that recognizes that there is a problem in the family. When ever I give these examples, I understand that people do not make these conscious decisions. Unconsciously she decides she must defend her family, she must defend herself and her family.
She rises up, and she can do anything, from shouting at her husband to.. I hear that some women are hitting their husbands, to throwing him out of the house. Well, we know that calling him names is not right. You should know that.
They think that it is acceptable in this condition, but it is not acceptable to do that out of your carnal mind. It is a very fine line, but the same woman could be anointed by Christ to rise up, and say to him, for example, I have never lived with a drug addict husband, to say to him, "This is not acceptable behavior, and I am not going to permit you to do it anymore."
Now whether that means she locks him out of the house, calls the police, I do not know. It is the spirit that says the words. If it is a spirit of rebellion against your husband, it is not acceptable to God. Do you understand what I am saying?
There is a difference between rebellion and a spirit of righteousness. Both spirits can perform behavior that to the carnal mind looks the same.
COMMENT: Rebellion says to me "I want my own way, and I am going to enforce it." I do not see rebellion as being something where you protect the order in your family, and you protect your children.
PASTOR VITALE: Rebellion is against authority. What you just described, if I remember what you said correctly, "I want it my way, and I am going to do it." That is pride. That is arrogance.
COMMENT: What I am saying is that when you act upon it, it is rebellion.
PASTOR VITALE: If you are saying it to an authority, that may be one motive for rebellion. There are many motives that will result in rebellion. Rebellion is the denial of someone's authority.
COMMENT: I was thinking of the story "Mutiny on the Bounty" where the captain that was in charge, he was saying that he was acting righteously, and the other men took over. I did not see that as evil.
PASTOR VITALE: I really do not remember the story, but it is my understanding that there must be some procedure on the ship to deal with an insane captain. I know I heard that somewhere. There has to be an authority, there has to be a circumstance under which someone else in authority can put him down.
To my recollection that is what they did, that the mate or the next sailor in charge, he put him down, he followed orders. He was vindicated at the trial. Yes, he was vindicated at the trial. He followed procedure to get rid of the insane captain. Rebellion would be taking matters into your own hands.
COMMENT: Inaudible.
PASTOR VITALE: Oh no, the other man was vindicated. Rebellion is an uprising against authority. God has established all authority. It is a rising up within yourself and confronting them on their own level. Usually, it does not stop there. Usually, it puts them down, and puts the person up. It puts the true authority down.
COMMENT: This is far fetched, I was thinking about that XXX XXXXX situation, these people just followed him and lined up to die.
PASTOR VITALE: What does that have to do with rebellion?
COMMENT: They should have rebelled against that evil, and they did not. They lost their lives they lost their children, completely brainwashed.
PASTOR VITALE: Well, they were brainwashed.
COMMENT: They gave authority to where it did not belong.
PASTOR VITALE: That is a problem too. God help me to explain this. They gave authority to where it did not belong, but even if they rebelled against that authority, that would not have been rebellion. It would have been a Godly resistance to tyranny. Under no circumstance should that be expressed as a screaming, yelling rebuke. They should have got up and left.
There is a difference between challenging someone's authority and going away. To rebel against authority is to try to put one's self in the position of authority.
COMMENT: I do not know if any of these people were able to do this emotionally, because they were in a bondage of fear. They were completely brainwashed, they were not at a position where they could, like you say, rise up, say that I am angry at such and such and leave. I do not think they were at that level.
PASTOR VITALE: I do not understand how that relates to this conversation. We are talking about rebellion. Now, you are bringing another issue in that they were brainwashed. Now, we have two issues here. Let me repeat it for you. Rebellion is against authority. What it does is it raise one's self up, and puts one's self in the position of authority, and puts the true authority under one's self. That is what rebellion does.
One can do that with one's mind. One can do that in one's mind without it affecting the person in authority. The person in authority may not yield to it. The person who rose up in their mind put themselves in the position of authority, and put the other person down. As far as the Lord is concerned, the act is completed. That is what rebellion is. If these people want to get out, all they had to do is walk away.
The fact that they could not walk away is another issue. The issue, let us not get off the issue. The issue is that had they walked away it would not have been rebellion. I am glad I could explain that. Glory to God. Anybody else have a question?
I see this in the church. It is very common that people do not really understand what the manifestations of a particular spirit are. Something else that is grossly misunderstood is accusation. Accusation. Somebody can come to a person, and accuse them of having a particular problem, and another person in a spirit of righteousness, and possibly in a spirit of love, can say to them "Do you know that you have this problem? It needs to be dealt with." It is the same words. In one person, it is a spirit of accusation and in another person, it is a spirit of love or a sprit of righteousness.
There are many people who hear a Godly correction, and they turn around and accuse you of accusing them. What amazes me is that I see this in people that have been in deliverance for years, that they really do not understand what each spirit does. It amazes me, I have trouble understanding that. I do not know why it happens. I find that it happens.
Does everybody understand what accusation is?
It is also possible to reveal somebody's sins by a spirit of witchcraft. What is your motive for revealing a person's sin? Are you accusing, well I just jumped around. Let me go back to accusation for a minute. Why are you accusing the person? Why would anybody be manifesting a spirit of accusation towards somebody? Does anybody have any idea why anyone would manifest a true spirit of accusation to somebody?
COMMENT: To lift themselves above the other person?
PASTOR VITALE: Well, that is part of it. What would be the other part of it?
COMMENT: To cover up their own guilt?
PASTOR VITALE: There is another part of it. Can you see the other side to it? Anybody else have any idea?
COMMENT: Just to cover their faults?
PASTOR VITALE: That could be true, but let us see what XXXX has to say.
COMMENT: I had a brother who...inaudible... I said, "You are an alcoholic, you are taking those keys, you are threatening the lives of yourself, and any other person..."
PASTOR VITALE: That is not accusation
COMMENT: What would you call it?
PASTOR VITALE: I would call it a statement of truth. It is truth, that is what I would call it.
COMMENT: Are you saying that accusation is a lie?
PASTOR VITALE: Accusation is the spirit which the words come forth from. That was not a spirit of accusation, that was a spirit of truth. It is not sin. It is not sin. Let me tell you this. A spirit of accusation is used to bring someone into submission to them, it is used to take authority over somebody, it is used to put somebody down so you can be lifted up. You said half of it.
It is a spirit of warfare in a spiritual battle of the mind. That is what a spirit of accusation does if it succeeds in what it intends to do, to bring you into submission.
COMMENT: If I already said it to my brother, would I not be trying to bring him into submission, not to me, but into submission, into his own submission?
PASTOR VITALE: Now, the way you just said it, it was not doing that. What you do afterwards, I do not know. Exactly as you said it to me, that was truth. If you went beyond that, if you tried to pressure him to do something that he was not convicted to do, then it can become witchcraft or Jezebel.
The statement, by itself, the statement was not accusation.
COMMENT: If were to go and tell him, "You need AA or you need help," that would be accusation or...
PASTOR VITALE: No, that is truth. If it is true, that is truth.
COMMENT: Would that not be pressuring him?
PASTOR VITALE: Not if it stopped there, not if it was not taken any further.
COMMENT: In other words, I left it in his hands. If I say, "This is what you need to do, what you do is of your own, this is what you need to do."
PASTOR VITALE: Right. That is acceptable.
COMMENT: In that case, if you go to pressure him, what do you mean by pressure?
PASTOR VITALE: Some people not understanding, and some people understanding, will go to somebody, and say, "Now, I want you to go to AA, and I want you to do it. Why have you not done it? I want you to do it, it is the right thing to do. What about your wife, what about your children. I want you to do it tomorrow, I do not understand why you have not done it!" That is witchcraft.
COMMENT: Also the constant nagging of a person.
PASTOR VITALE: Be very careful, you can cross over the line, and it can be witchcraft. We are free in Christ to communicate with one another as long as it is a respectful communication that is not propelled by an ungodly spiritual power. Do you understand what I said? Words are propelled by spiritual power, and it is a spirit whether you know the Lord or whether you do not know the Lord. Either it is a spirit that has no pressure attached to it that really wants to help the person, or it is a spirit that wants that person to do what you want them to do. That is not a godly spirit.
COMMENT: If my brother is at my house, and he has had alcohol, I put away the keys so that he cannot drive home in that condition. Is that perceived as a spirit of control or witchcraft?
PASTOR VITALE: Let me put it this way, if it were my brother, and I knew that he had an alcohol problem, and he was in my house... He had the liquor from your house is that correct?
COMMENT: Not necessarily.
PASTOR VITALE: In such an event, before I poured the drink, I would tell him "I am giving you this drink on a condition. I want you to know that if I feel that you are too drunk to drive, I will not return your keys to you." What you have done is given him the choice of drinking in your house or not drinking in your house.
If he comes to your house drunk, I would get a hold of him when he was sober. Call him, talk to him, write him a letter, anything, and say to him, "Brother dear, I am putting you on notice the next time you walk in to my house drunk I will remove your keys from you, and I will refuse to return them to you. You now have a choice whether or not to come to my house." That is not witchcraft. People are entitled to have choices. Everything in life is a choice except when the Lord apprehends you.
Under normal circumstances, not when the Lord apprehends you, everyone is entitled to have a choice. Even if the choice they choose will be destructive to them, they are entitled to their choice.
Even that, you know, comes to a point that where it goes over the line. In our society if someone is trying to commit suicide, we will take the weapon away from them if we can. There is always a point where it becomes godly to intervene, but we have to be very careful because it is a fine line.
COMMENT: Then, it is according to our speech, and the things that we say is the vital part.
PASTOR VITALE: It is the spirit behind our speech. Speech is very important, and a lot of people need instruction on how to express themselves. God has brought me many people that really... they could be very upset, they could be the victim, they could be hurt. They could be very upset by what was done to them, and they really do not know how to deal with it so they become very aggressive.
I am going to repeat this law again to you. I believe it is the law of righteousness, and I believe of God. We saw it by evidence by our president recently. When rebellion or ungodliness of any kind arises, the issue, that which hurt you, is no longer the issue. The ungodliness must be dealt with.
The rebellion must be put down, the witchcraft must be stopped. The uprising must be put down. We do not deal with issues in the midst of rebellion. There were members of the black community that came to the president, and they were making all kinds of demands while this rebellion was raging in the streets. He would not even talk to them about it. Do you negotiate when someone has hijacked you, when someone has kidnaped your Ambassadors to another country? You are not supposed to negotiate. Some nations do. You are not supposed to negotiate.
The raid on... some Arab criminals kidnaped an Israeli plane. They were holding all these people as hostages. They sent in their highly trained forces, I do not know what they called them. They sent the military force against them, they did not pay...I do not know what they wanted. Anyone that is moving in a spirit of righteousness does not yield to ungodly force. It does not glorify God. It is against a natural law.
No matter what has been done to you, you must pursue your justification in accordance with the rules of civilized people. It is true that the words are important. Once you get your words straight, it is also the spirit behind the words, because it is possible to say the right words in the wrong spirit.
I know a lot of people, the Lord has brought me a lot of people, over the years, that have come to me, and said something along these lines, "Well, I said it to him, but I said it to him in a very clam voice. I was very polite, and I was very nice to him. I cannot image why he got mad at me." It is because the words that you said were terrible. The words that you said were manipulative. The words that you said were interfering with a situation that was none of your affair.
It is not enough to speak softly, when your words are ungodly. You have to get the combination by the grace of God. If you do not have the wisdom to use the right words, ask, God will give it to you, or He will send someone to teach you. You need to have an ability to speak Godly words, and, by the grace, of God to do it in a true spirit of reconciliation. If it is a problem that you are trying to resolve, a lot of people that have been raised in witchcraft, that used witchcraft to accomplish their ends, that is all they ever knew, that is all they ever saw in their families. That is the only way they know how to get things done.
They really need to get an education, because even if you are using soft words, manipulation is manipulation. What is manipulation? Let us talk about manipulation. I do not think we went back to witchcraft yet, we were dealing with accusation. Does anybody have a question on accusation? We are going to move on.
What is manipulation? Manipulation is a spirit. It is a spirit, and spirits express themselves through words. Manipulation is a spirit that tries to get you to do something that the person speaking the words wants you to do. It does not always have to be an ungodly thing that they are trying to get you to do. Some people just manipulate, because that is the only way they know how to get their needs met.
For example, the need a room for a visiting relative to stay in, they have two choices. If you need something that I have, if it be a piece of fruit, if it be a painting on the wall, if it be a bed for the night, if it be counsel, if I have something that you need, you have two choices. You can come to me, and say, "Pastor Vitale, you have something that I really need, is there any possibility that you can loan it to me or give it to me?"
You can be honest, or you can come to that person, and you can say, for example, "Wow, I am really just dying for a piece of fruit. I have not had a piece of fruit in six weeks, wow I just do not have money to buy fruit anymore, oh boy would I like a piece of fruit."
Then I have a choice, I could say, "Here, have a piece of fruit." In that event, I would be enforcing or enabling your ungodly way of getting what you like. How would I be enabling you? I will be giving you the response that you wanted from me. The next time you will do it that way again. Or I could say, "Oh really, wow you have not had fruit for six weeks?" Brethren, the Scripture clearly says to us to speak plainly, speak plainly. Say what is on your mind, because there is a follow-up to this spirit of manipulation, and it is rooted in pride.
I declare to you, if you are enabling somebody by giving them the response that they want, the day is just around the corner that you come into some kind of dispute with them, and you say to them, "Why are you feeling like this, why are you saying these things, do you not remember when you asked me for a piece of fruit?" They will say, "I never asked you for a piece of fruit. Why would you expect anything from them, that was all your idea to give me the piece of fruit. I never asked you for it." Do you know what I am talking about? You are the only one that does not know what I am taking about.
There are a lot of people that will use this method to get their needs met or obtaining what they want when it is very obvious what they are asking you for. They do not want to come out and ask you for it. They want you to offer it. Then, they do not have to say, "Thank you." It is very ungodly. Very ungodly behavior, watch for it.
i am at a place right now, to the best of my ability to do so, I will not respond to manipulation. If you want something from me, ask me for it. If you come with that kind of attitude, I am going to say "Oh really, is that not interesting." That is what I am going to say to you, anybody in the room or out of the room. This is going into the realm of the spirit. That is where I am, I do not respond to manipulation. It is not Godly.
Years ago you could not do that. Your mother would rebuke you if you were a child and say, "Say what you want, speak plainly." All these problem these people have, they were supposed to be taught as a child. They are leaning this ungodliness from their own family, talk about a curse. There are no excuses. I am not condemning anybody, nor will I entertain any excuses. Does anybody not understand this? I am not condemning anybody, but neither will I receive any excuses from anybody.
If it is manipulation, I call it what it is. If there is any power within you to change, my counsel to you is to start to work on it, because it is ungodly behavior. You are not going to enter into the kingdom with it. We are supposed to be living in righteousness. Like I said earlier, we have all this doctrine, we have the gifts of the spirit, we speak in tongues, if you go back a hundred years ago, a handful of people had more character than a whole church today.
We are sorely lacking character in the church today. I am telling you God wants us to have the whole "ball of wax." If we can only have one thing, character is the most important. Character, commitment, trustworthiness, honesty, decency, respect, honor, consideration.
I had breakfast with my parents the other day, I was holding the door open for them, my elderly parents. Then this family started coming up to the diner with these little kids, they were really cute. I guess the little girl was about seven, and she was trotting up, she was all full of beans. My parents are walking through the door. They are old, the little girl stopped, she looked over her shoulder at her older brother. He looked like he was seventeen or eighteen, and she waited. I went inside, and I cried. I do not see many children that are raised like that. I had sunglasses, and a few tears came down my face.
Our children are being destroyed, they are not being taught. They are growing up like animals. They are growing up like animals. Nobody is teaching them. When I see a child or a young adult that has some semblance of manners, I cry. We are turning into a nation of savages.
Does any one not understand what manipulation is? You have a question on manipulation?
COMMENT: I was just thinking along the doctrine, Is that manipulation when you are trying to give a point of view that you know is Godly, that you would like to pass on to them. I cannot see it as manipulation.
PASTOR VITALE: It is not manipulation.
COMMENT: How do I say it? I forgot the word you used before.
PASTOR VITALE: Maybe it is witchcraft if you are pressuring them.
COMMENT: The words are not coming to my mind. Like, for instance, somebody believes in the rapture. Would it be manipulation to start telling them.
PASTOR VITALE: No, we are free to express ourselves as long as it is Godly communication. You state your case if they are willing to listen. If they are not willing to listen, and you force it on them, it is witchcraft. It is not manipulation, it is witchcraft.
COMMENT: Is it wrong to try to change somebody's mind?
PASTOR VITALE: No, that is mind control.
COMMENT: If you know something about the rapture, and you are trying to teach it to somebody else, you are trying to change their mind about that. I do not see that as manipulation.
PASTOR VITALE: It is not manipulation. Manipulation is not to speak plainly, to give hints, to try to get someone to do something without taking the responsibly of saying "I would like it."
COMMENT: Controlling, right?
PASTOR VITALE: Can you do it? Can you help me? Why will people do this?
COMMENT: Fear, rejection?
PASTOR VITALE: Fear of being told "no." Well, we have to learn to accept "no."
COMMENT: That was one member of my family, I used to go through that a lot.
PASTOR VITALE: With manipulation?
COMMENT: Yes, when she would say what she would like, how she would like, and I know it is not, I do not know, I just tell her, "What is it that you want?"
PASTOR VITALE: Well, that is good.
COMMENT: I might have done that too in the past.
PASTOR VITALE: That is okay, there is no condemnation in it.
COMMENT: When something like that is manifesting at me, manipulation is manifesting at me, what do I do, rebuke it?
PASTOR VITALE: No.
COMMENT: Not in front of them. I would never do that.
PASTOR VITALE: I believe that as long as we are capable of doing it, God wants us to communicate to the person in a Godly manner. We only pray behind closed doors, when all face-to-face communication has failed. I would say to the person...well, of course, you go from incident to incident, and it all depends on your relationship with the person. Right now I am pretty much saying "ah ha, ah ha."
Sometimes I feel the Lord is leading me, and I will say to them, "Are you asking me something? Is there something I can do for you?" Face them, God wants us to communicate in a Godly manner. We cannot communicate in a Godly manner unless we are taught how. Going over all of these abuses of communication is what God is doing tonight.
We are talking about abuses of communication that a lot of people will avoid communicating, because they do not know how to deal with the abuses.
I want to tell you these abuses end communication. Accusation will break down communication, and turn the communication into a warfare. Where the other person has to defend themselves or attacks back at you, that is the end of the Godly relationship. Manipulation, you never had a Godly communication because you have dishonestly. Manipulation is rooted in dishonesty. That is what it is. You are not being honest in to what your motives in telling me how long it is since you have had an orange. You know you want that orange. You are being dishonest.
COMMENT: Can you explain how people try, not that God can be manipulated, in prayer when people would pray about that they want a certain thing, without saying only if it is in God's will. They are praying for what they would like to happen, or what they think is God's will. Is that a form a of manipulation?
PASTOR VITALE: No. God cannot be manipulated. That is witchcraft. See, all of these spirits are very close. This is an interesting message tonight. They are all very close. Witchcraft, manipulation. mind control, Jezebel, Leviathan. They are all very close, but they are different. Let us put it on the board here.
COMMENT: While you were doing that, I was just thinking how many communications in marriage cause havoc when husbands and wives say, "You should have known what I was thinking. You should have known how I felt." When it is impossible.
PASTOR VITALE: Especially with men. Men do not understand how women think, they do not understand how they feel. You have to tell them. Communication is a big problem in our society, and it is a big problem in the church. Because you know something, before God you have no right to be offended in any way if you have not done your part, and you part is to communicate your need or your feeling. That is your part.
You cannot be upset at someone because they did not know what you wanted. So far there is accusation. We have said that accusation brings the person it is directed towards into submission. It is a warfare spirit. It is a hostile war-like spirit.
Then we talked about manipulation. Accusation - hostile, warlike. Manipulation - passive. Does anybody not know the difference between hostile and passive. You do not?
COMMENT: I do not know passive.
PASTOR VITALE: Passive? Passive, how am I going to explain this. Manipulation is a passive warfare. It means a warfare without aggression. The Scripture in Daniel where it says "With peace, he shall destroy many." You are not familiar with that Scripture. Have you hear it at all in the church? You have not. "By peace, he shall destroy many." To destroy with peace.
When someone accuses you at all, usually if you are sensitive at all, you are aware of that attack coming forth, you rise up, you have to defend yourself or come back at them. When someone tries to manipulate you or works a passive warfare against you, you do not feel that kind of attack. They are peaceful, they are loving , they are kind. They usually start off by flattering you. They say, "Oh, what a beautiful...," ...of course, this is an exaggerated example... "Oh, what a beautiful, what a lovely fruit arrangement you have. You most have spent an hour, oh how lovely, you are so talented. I have not had fruit for a month."
Do you hear what I am saying? A lot of people, depending on what your upbringing was can respond more readily to hostility. They know how to deal with a spirit of accusation. They just come out punching, and beat that person to a pulp, people in the world. Of course, the church never does that. People that have been raised in a house where there is a lot of accusation, a lot of fighting, they can deal with hostile aggression. They can deal with it. They do not know how to deal with a person that is nice.
The person whose tendency it is to use a passive war-like technique very likely will be highly offended if someone gets angry at them. Now, some people do not know that they are being manipulated. They just know that something inside of their stomach when that person comes into their house, and goes through that whole scenario with the fruit bowl and the orange, something inside just twists over, and they are mad. If they are the kind of person that was raised in an aggressive family, they will turn around, and they are capable of being nasty to that person asking for the orange.
"What do you think this is, a give-away soup kitchen?" The aggressive person's reaction to the passive manipulation. Let me take it this way. If we have an aggressive person manifesting accusation to another aggressive person, the second aggressive person will come back, shoot back and accuse them. They will say, "Oh yeah! I want what you got. You think I got pride, you have rejection." That is two aggressive people.
Then you have a passive person dancing around trying to get an orange out of you, that will not admit to you that they would like, and orange. They do this to another passive person, then the other passive person says, "Oh, would you like an orange?" Then they go in the other room, and they say to their husband, "That XXXX I cannot stand her not coming out and asking me for an orange! She just danced around and flattered me for ten minutes, and she made me give her that orange. I do not like it." That is to her husband, not to XXXX. Everybody following me?
COMMENT: Inaudible.
PASTOR VITALE: A lot of people do it. Then, you get the person that passively tries to manipulate an aggressive person. Usually a passive manipulator is very deep into denial. The aggressive person goes and pulls that orange bowl bit on an aggressive person. The aggressive person says, "What is the matter? You do not have any food in your house?" The passive person that is deep in denial that will not confess at all what she has done, she will say, "Oh that XXX all I did was complement her on her fruit bowl, and she said terrible things about me. She thought that I wanted one of her oranges. I did not want one of her oranges."
COMMENT: Inaudible.
PASTOR VITALE: We have aggressive against aggressive, passive against passive, and passive against aggressive. Nobody is communicating. Anybody not know what I am talking about? It is really funny when you look at it this way but, you know, people live like this? People live like this.
COMMENT: I do not know what you call this, but when I was in the second grade a girl came home from school with me, and my mother had just made a cake. Cake is a cake. She says, "Oh, what is that?" I said, "A cake." I thought, "Oh my, she wants some, and we are in the depression now, and if I give her one my mother is going to have a fit." I said, "We do not ever eat that until supper time."
PASTOR VITALE: She is passive, passive. That was passive, passive. It is called socially acceptable. Having a passive reaction is socially acceptable. Being aggressive even when you have been really wrong, being aggressive is never socially acceptable.
COMMENT: What does it mean?
PASTOR VITALE: Being aggressive? That would be coming into somebody's house, and saying, "Give me one of your oranges!" Demanding, accusing, attacking. To be aggressive is to be on the attack. Getting what you want through attacking. Do you know there are people in this world that get what they want by attacking?
We have accusation, manipulation, let us go on. We will take witchcraft next. Witchcraft is a passive weapon. Witchcraft is passive. It is usually done behind closed doors. Sometimes it is done to people's faces. Well, I guess witchcraft can go either way. I guess witchcraft can be passive or aggressive. Witchcraft can be done behind closed doors, praying for somebody for something that they do not want. Making a judgment on somebody's life out of your carnal mind and praying to achieve that end.
That is witchcraft. You are trying to influence somebody's life in an area that they have not invited you into. You have crossed over into the line of their personal space. You have injected yourself into their life without their permission. That would be the passive witchcraft.
We also have an aggressive form of witchcraft that appears in personal relationships, where you pressure somebody to do what you want them to do. There are many ways that you can pressure somebody. You can pressure somebody passively by asking them the same thing in a very calm, soft voice, never raising your voice. Every time you see them you say, "Did you do it? Did you do it? Why did you not do it? You know it is good for you."
It reaches a point where it becomes witchcraft. Now, you can communicate with somebody, but you come to the point where you cross over the line, and you have asked one time too many. Or you have told one time to many, and you have crossed over the line of their personal space. That also is passive witchcraft, face to face.
Then we have aggressive witchcraft when you get into a conversation with somebody, and you can be obviously pressuring them to do what you want. "You should do it, you better do it, why will you not do it? I told you do it, why will you not listen to me?"
Now let us look at this closely. If a mother is doing it to a, child it is not witchcraft. If you child is refusing to clean up their room, and you take their hand, and make them pick up a shirt and put it in the drawer, that is not witchcraft. Authority plays a very important role. That is a small child. Authority is playing a very important role. If you are an equal to somebody, not necessarily equal, if you have no authority over them.
You do not have to be equal in age or equal in rank. If there is no authority issue here, that is witchcraft. It is an aggressive form of witchcraft when you are doing it to their face through words. Did you have a question?
COMMENT: Yes, I know this lady, and last year her mother was sick in the hospital. She was coming home to live with her. Her mother needed an aide. She was a lady minister. I told the lady minister that I work for a health agency that has home health aide to go and take care of your mother. I gave her the name and address of the agency.
She knew that I was a nurse's aide, that I take care of people. At the time I was working, I had a job. I gave it to the lady minister, and she told me that she wanted me to work for her mother. She said, "I want you to work for me." I told that I already had a job, and I felt to say that if it was God's will. She had her mind set up already that she wanted me to work for her mother, without questioning if this is God's will. I felt something coming from her like a control.
PASTOR VITALE: Let me see if I understand hat you said. She wanted you, she did not ask you if you were willing, she understood that you had another job.
COMMENT: I am not sure if she did.
PASTOR VITALE: She just wanted you, and she did not stop to think about it. That is a manifestation of witchcraft, together with pride. That is really ignorance, brethren. I do not mean to insult anybody. There is a lot of ignorance in the church. It is a word that Paul used, it is in the Bible. If you find yourself to be ignorant, please to not be offended by me, make the correction, and do not be ignorant anymore. Ask God for wisdom, and do not be ignorant anymore.
That is ignorance to just assume that the person will want what you want. That is what she was doing. She was just assuming that it was okay with you. Assumption is very dangerous.
COMMENT: I was thinking, "My God, if she does want me, and does call me, what should I do? Leave this job? I was a little bit like, "I do not know what to do." If I said "no" to her, would she reject me? All these thoughts were coming into my head.
PASTOR VITALE: She was so caught up in herself that she never stopped to think...selfishness is also operating here. She was so caught up in herself she never stopped to think that maybe you were not sharing her thought or maybe that you had another obligation.
COMMENT: That is dangerous.
PASTOR VITALE: It is dangerous. It is damaging to the person you are doing it to, on their end. It is damaging to the relationship that you have with that person. It is damaging to yourself, because you are setting yourself up for rejection. If you say something like that without stopping to think that the person would be in agreement for any reason, and it turns out that they have to say "No," you have set yourself up for rejection. Then you are hurt.
We have to communicate, and we always have to keep in mind that people have lives, and relationships apart from us. They have obligations, they have feelings, they have problems that you many not even know about. There could be a million reasons why they could say "no" to what you want to do. It has nothing personal to with you at all.
We have to communicate, and ask if they are in agreement. These are all social skills that we are supposed to learn as children, but there is something wrong in our society. The kids are not learning it. There are a lot of adults around today that have never learned this. Something has been going wrong from a couple of generations in our society.
COMMENT: I see beyond social skills. I see it as more than...inaudible... in other words there are some things that you cannot have, as a way of life. I am not expressing it as I have it in my heart. I am going to have to pass on that. I just wanted to say that.
PASTOR VITALE: It is true. Not to be able to accept a "no," is a form of immaturity. Everything that built up to the "no," she would have never had to accept the "no," if she would have stopped to say to xxxxxx. You see, in her mind she was blessing xxxxxx. She was blessing xxxxxx in her mind. That was a blessing in her mind. If she would only have stopped, and say "xxxxxx, I would like to bless you, is it possible, can you do it?" That is selfishness, again I am not insulting anybody. Selfishness is a big plague in the nation.
I am not saying selfishness like your sister would be saying it to you if you were having a sibling rivalry fight. That is not what I am saying. Selfishness is concern with one's self to the exclusion of other people. That is what it is, that is what selfishness is. I am not insulting you or calling you a bad word.
What this woman was doing was she was so concerned with her needs, and that she wanted you, that she completely forgot that you are an individual in your own right. That is what she did, she dehumanized you.
COMMENT: I told her that there are a lot of aides there who maybe can help you out. I did not tell her this after she asked me that. I just told her.
PASTOR VITALE: She did not even take that hint, right?
COMMENT: No, no. Right before I told her that there was an agency, and that they had aides that they can help your mom out, she said, "Yes, but I want you."
PASTOR VITALE: She still wanted you. That is immaturity. There are a lot of immature people around. That is okay. We will grow up.
COMMENT: A lot of families are in havoc, because either the father or the mother insist that the son become a doctor, the daughter become a lawyer. Even wives manipulate the husband, praying to the Lord, "Have my husband go for that higher position," causing a lot of pressure, and havoc in the homes.
PASTOR VITALE: As far as the children go, I think parents to some degree have to guide their children. I know a lot of children would not go to school if their parents did not insist on it. There has to be a point where you let them make their own choice. Of course, it is the same thing with religion. The spirit of rebellion in our country today saying, "Do not raise up your children with any religion. They can choose what they want." We here know that, that is ridiculous.
Parents have a certain right to insist on certain standards in their children. Of course, it reaches a point where you cannot force them to be a doctor or a lawyer, whatever. That is their choice. We have to be very careful with these lines. The lines do shift in accordance with the relationship of authority. Authority does make a change. When one person has authority over another person, they can do things without sin that someone else cannot do. We have to be very careful. The lines are movable, you have to seek God continuously.
The Lord desires up to have a gentle spirit.
The agape love of the Lord Jesus Christ is a gentle spirit. Would you? Will you? Can you? Now, of course, anyone listening to this tape do not rise up and say that means you cannot ever rebuke in a sharp tone, because we are talking about two different issues. If someone is addressing you in an ungodly manner, it is Godly to rebuke.
For what purpose? To put an end to the ungodliness. As soon as the ungodliness, as soon as the insurrection is put down, as soon as the ungodly spirit is not manifesting, you should return to a gentle spirit. Does anyone not understand this? Insurrection must be put down. Must be.
COMMENT: Can it be put down if it is between a husband, and a wife? Can a wife?
PASTOR VITALE: No.
COMMENT: She cannot put a husband down when he is out of order?
PASTOR VITALE: No. Not unless... well, there are always exceptions. If the man has a knife to her son's throat, yes she can hit him over the head with a vase. People sit in these meetings, and they listen to these tapes, and they say that I said things that I never in a million years would agree to. That is why I have to put these things on the tape. I do not know what carnal mind is going to get hold of it, and think something that I never meant.
No, if you husband is about to jump out the window, you stop him. If he is about to kill somebody, you stop him. If he is wreaking the house because he is drunk, you call the police. If you are having a husband-wife argument,, and if he is being unfair to you, if he is not seeing the situation accurately, you have no right to rebuke him. God will not bless it.
What do you do? God honors you as a human being, He does not want you abused in any way. What do you do? For the moment you submit to the man, you submit to the authority, stop fighting. Then you go pray, and when there is a calm time between the two of you, you pray, you petition the Lord, because you cannot rise up against the authority.
You petition the Lord, you tell Him that you feel you have been abused. You ask Him to set things right, and you always ask Him for correction if you are wrong. Then you wait for God to move, He will move in a moment of clam. He will calm the agitation in your husband's heart. I do not know how long it will take. He will open a door for you to speak to him in a Godly manner, and to tell him how you feel. Beyond that, you have to wait for the Lord to move.
Now there is also another circumstance. The lines are very fine. It is possible that Christ will rise up in you, and tell you to stand up against him. You better make sure that it is Christ. If it is not Christ, you are in rebellion. We should not have to rise up, and stand against our husband until every other attempt at communication has failed. That is a last resort, to stand against our husband. That is a last resort. We are to talk, we are to communicate, we are to be respectful, we are to submit.
If it is not working, you are to petition the Lord. If He tells you or He moves on you to stand against him, you stand against him.
Now let me clarify this. When I say stand against him, you can stand against somebody in a Godly way. You can say, "Husband, I really have to do this. I really have to go to church, I am sorry that I cannot go with your blessings, but I am sorry it is something that I have to do, and I am going."
Now if it is Christ that put that word in you to say, you are okay. If the Lord speaks to you, and says He wants you to do it even if he is not in agreement, and you turn around, and say "Husband! You are wrong, and you do not know what you are talking about. I am going, and that is that!" That is not acceptable to God. Even when you have God's sanction to stand against your husband, your form of communication to him must be Godly. It is never acceptable to talk to a husband in that tone of voice.
It is not acceptable for a child to talk to a parent in that tone of voice. It is not acceptable for a woman to talk to her husband in that tone. I want to tell you something, I want to tell you something shocking married ladies. There is no where in the Scripture that says your husband has to deserve your respect. We are told that Sara called Abraham "lord." I cannot find any Scripture that says, "I do not have to respect him, because he does not deserve it."
You have to respect the office, a husband is an office. A husband is a high office in a family. Richard Nixon said that. No matter what you think of Richard Nixon, it was one of the better things that he said. No matter who is in the office. No matter what you think of him, no matter what your opinion of him is, no matter what he did, so long as he is in the office, respect the office. Why? Because we cannot live without law and order.
We cannot live without authority. Why? Because we are fallen, we are criminal, and our whole society will come down on every level without an authority, without an order of authority, and without respect of that authority. As long as that person is in that position, you respect them. Why? Because they are in the office.
Richard Nixon was taken down. You do not have to respect him if you do not want to. As long as he was president, he was entitled to the respect of the people. It is very important as the whole country goes into a tail spin.
Did anybody ever stick a knife in your back, and say, "Oh, I was just kidding." Anybody ever do that to you? "What are you getting all upset for, I was just telling you a joke? I told you that your hair looks ugly, you got fat, and you look ugly I am just kidding around." Anybody ever do that to you?
COMMENT: Inaudible.
PASTOR VITALE: You have to look at the motive behind it. That is not a joke, XXXX, that is not a joke. We are into the end time ministry of Christ. Every word that comes out of a person's mouth comes out for a reason, Why would somebody say that to you? It is a hostile remark. Do you know that tickling can be a hostile move? It is a hostile remark. It is a hostile remark to make comments like this, whether you know it or whether you do not. Ignorance is no longer acceptable to the Lord, He wants us to start dealing with this. We are to be a harmless as a dove.
COMMENT: If you had a spirit of rejection, you would automatically twist every word around to make it wound you. Other words, it is the spirit that you bring to any situation within you. I heard one person say, "If you have not got a goat inside you, then nobody can get your goat." As Jesus would say, "The enemy comes, but he has nothing in me." There is no since pulling the strings to be pulled.
I know I said a lot of things, I had no hurt to my girlfriends without meaning anything, and they said it to me. There was no maliciousness, it was just fun. It was just that you were so well known of one another that you could do this way without them thinking bad of you. "Will she think bad of me, will she think that I am trying to hurt her." It just was not there.
PASTOR VITALE: You are looking at this very carnally, and we are talking spiritually here. I will have to ask you to ask the Lord to help you get spiritual, because you are taking this as a very carnal thing. We are not talking rejection here or getting somebody's goat. We are talking about spiritual roots. We are in a whole different ball game than what you just said. If you would like, before you leave, I will pray for you that the Lord will help you to understand this.
I am not trying to say anybody is trying to be malicious or trying to hurt you. We are trying to discern the carnal mind of man. Christ would never say something like that to anybody. Maybe to the carnal mind of man, it is a joke. I personally do not think it is a joke. I do not think we should talk to each other like that. Maybe somebody was doing that, that is the way they were raised. Christ would never do that.
We have a world filled with people that are doing things, and saying things, that to their understanding they do not mean you any harm. They are hurting a lot of people. Then they are turning around to the person, and saying, "It is your fault because you have rejection, or you have a goat to be gotten." Why did they say it? Because they are carnal. The spiritual root of what the carnal mind says is never okay, because the heart of the carnally-minded man is desperately wicked, who could know?
COMMENT: I just remembered what my girlfriend was telling me. She was telling me, she was making a joke about it at the diner, and I was offended by it, even though I knew she was joking. I do not think she meant it, I do not know what was in her heart. What he said she would repeat it to me.
PASTOR VITALE: To some people this is just a way of life. They do not mean anything malicious by it. You have to ask yourself if you have not meant anything malicious about it, why have you said it? Why have you said it, and why have you put somebody in a position where they have to fight off rejection. Why would you say it if you know that it could hurt somebody? It is not a joke.
COMMENT: Satan is the prince of the power of the air, and he has a way of twisting every word around to offend you. I remember one of my girlfriends father said about her engagement. He said, "Oh, it is a fluke." She was highly insulted, she did not know what "fluke" meant. He was not insulting her at all. I cannot remember the meaning of the word "fluke" at the moment. It had nothing to do with hurting her..
PASTOR VITALE: Why would he say something like that to her?
COMMENT: It was a special kind of stone or something out of the ordinary like that it meant to him. Then later on, she heard the word in another conversation, and then she realized what he had said to her.
PASTOR VITALE: Well, if it was a misunderstanding, it was a misunderstanding. We are not talking about that here. If someone uses a word, that happens to be a lot with a particular person I have in mind, it has not happened in a while. Sometimes people that come from another country or another geographical area, and they will not be familiar with the expressions of your area, or the slang of your area. They will get offended. Well, that is one situation. In such a circumstance then, there was no harm done
I do not know what people in your family say, I know that there are people in the world that will... I know that there are men that go to woman, and say, "Look at this ugly one here." Did you ever hear a man say that? That is not funny. That is not a joke.
Now, that is not the same thing as a misunderstanding. We are talking about two different situations. We have to be very careful to distinguish between different sets of circumstances. This is a big error to cross over the line and confuse different sets of circumstances. What kind of an error is it? It is going to cause you to be confused. It is going to cause you to misunderstand. We have to get our mind straightened out by the grace of God.
That is what we are doing here. We have to get our mind straightened out. We have to stop jumping from one situation to another. We have to keep out mind on the issue that we are talking about. Why? Because it is just going to cause problems in communication if we jump from one issue to another. It is going to cause problems in communication.
Any other questions on this before I go on?
COMMENT: How do I handle something like that? Like when my girlfriend XXXX was making fun of me. Well, not making fun of me but when XX told her about me spacing out, I kind of manifested at her a little bit. When something like that happens to me again. Let us say that if I ran into her or I ran into him again, and he was making a joke of it or something, I am very sensitive in that area, how do I handle it so that I do not manifest at him or her?
PASTOR VITALE: I do not know whether you would be willing to do this or you would be able to do this. What works for me, I know a lot of people cannot do this, it is to deal with the issue. I would turn around, and I would say, "You know, you hurt my feelings when you said that." (End of Tape 1)
Tape 2
You do not fight about it. You do not make an issue over it. You make your statement, and you withdraw. I feel bad. Always make it, an "I" statement. There is such a thing as an "I" statement. If you turn around, and say to somebody, and you say, "You hurt my feelings, or you did this," right away you are initiating an argument. If you turn around, and make it an "I" statement, and you say, "You know, I feel bad about what was said. My feelings were hurt," Do not attack. Do not give them any opportunity to misinterpret it as an attack. "Me I was hurt, I feel bad. I would like you to know that you hurt my feelings." Then let it got.
Now we have a lot of people in the world today, in the church, that will do that, and they think because they do that the other person has to give them the response that they want. If the other person does not give them the response that they want, then they get mad and start using witchcraft on them to bring it to pass.
There are people who think, if they say, "You know, you hurt me," the other person does not believe that they have hurt them, or any reason for an apology. Then they use witchcraft to bring that apology forth. No. You make your statement, and you have to be willing to accept whatever happens. If the person says, "I am sorry that I hurt you." Well, praise God.
If they just look at you, and say, "Uh huh." You did all you can do. A lot of people have ungodly reactions. The whole world, and most of the church, is filled with ungodly reactions. It is true. She is talking about Christians.
COMMENT: He was not a Christian but she was. I manifested at her. Well not manifested, I gave her a look.
PASTOR VITALE: Every manifestation. Let me say this again. Every manifestation is sin. Everything that is not of Christ is sin, but there is sin, and there is sin. If you attack somebody, if you wound them, if you use your carnal mind which is your sword to cut their heart out, that is a very serious sin. You have killed your brother. If you manifest rejection, yes rejection is sin. Why? Because it is not of Christ. It is a sin that only hurts yourself. It is a sin that you may not have control over. Rejection is a very high principality that you have to be very high in deliverance to start to wrestle with that thing.
Now to say to somebody, "You wounded me by saying an unkind think to me," and putting in the same category as a person who says, "Oh, I manifested I had rejection, is not the same thing. It is not a terrible thing to be rejected. That is what I am telling you. DO you understand what I am saying to you?
COMMENT: Inaudible.
PASTOR VITALE: That is not rejection, that is hatred.
COMMENT: Why do I feel not hatred but resentment?
PASTOR VITALE: All of this wickedness. I never used to understand why rejection was such a serious problem until the Lord showed me. I would say to myself what I said to you. Okay, I am rejected, who am I hurting? I am the only one that is hurt. It is not such a bad sin. Rejection holds within it, and opens the door to every evil work. Retaliation, resentment, hatred, bitterness, murder, wrath, revenge, all that is justified by rejection, That is the danger of rejection.
COMMENT: I asked the Lord to forgive me for feeling this way.
PASTOR VITALE: You do want to rebuke those manifestation when they arise in you.
COMMENT: I do not want to hate anybody or have bitterness. I guess because when I was young I was made fun at. My father used to put me down on how stupid I was, and I would never amount to anything. He would manifest, and just put me down like I was not smart, that I was just dumb. Then I was not very good in school. Then I would put myself down because I wanted to be smart. For someone to say that to me, that I space out, reminds me of that. I am thinking that they must be thinking that I am stupid, inferior, or I am not intelligent.
When somebody sees that in me, I start to feel that if they see that in me, and I saw that in myself when I was young, I hated that part in me. Then my father put me down. I do not know , is it pride?
PASTOR VITALE: No, it is rejection. You need ministry in that area, it comes very slow.
COMMENT: A lot of people have insulted me, they said things about me that I just forgive them for. I felt bad about, but I would not hate them for it. With this particular person when he said I spaced out, I felt like if he said something else I would not feel this way, because he said that.
PASTOR VITALE: Your father said the same thing to you?
COMMENT: Similar, but the same.
PASTOR VITALE: It was touching off an old wound that you had with your father. That is all. He touched a sore spot. Remember, we are not to condemn ourselves we are to work on it.
COMMENT: That is what it was when I manifested?
PASTOR VITALE: It was rejection.
COMMENT: Okay. I understand.
COMMENT2: Would not the Lord be bringing that out to light as a sore spot to be delivered from it?
PASTOR VITALE: Definitely, if you can recognize what it is. That is a high principality that you are up against. It has to be resisted. You might be battling with a principality like that for years before we get delivered. We get gradual relief from it. We may not get deliverance from it, but if every time that manifests, you rebuke it, and refuse to agree with it, it will get weaker, and weaker.
Not many people get delivered from rejection. Some people do. I have been battling it for years. I can tell you that I have had victory that when it arises up, I immediately forgive the people, and bless them. The Lord has taught me to deal with it. It is still there, it has not come out.
I know someone who claims to have gotten deliverance from rejection. Let us go on here. We have dealt with accusation, manipulation, and witchcraft. Let me clean off this board here.
We also have Jezebel. Everybody knows that Jezebel is associated with witchcraft. Anyone that has been in deliverance knows that she is associated with witchcraft. What does she do that witchcraft does not do?
Let us review witchcraft. Witchcraft exercises ungodly authority. Some people would call it pressure. We said if it is a parent pressuring a child to do something, it can be acceptable. If it is two people where there is no authority involved, one pressuring the other is witchcraft.
Witchcraft is the assertion or the exercise of authority upon someone you have no authority over. That is a good definition. Thank you Lord. Witchcraft is the exercise of authority over somebody that you do not have the God given authority over. That is what witchcraft is. Hallelujah.
Jezebel is the exercise of authority not only over someone who you do not have any God given authority over, Jezebel is the exercise over someone who has the God given authority over you. Can anybody not see the difference? Let me say it again. Can you see the difference? I want to say it again. I feel to say it again. Witchcraft is the exercise over someone that you do not have any God given authority over. Jezebel is the exercise over someone who has a God given authority over you.
It is the same pressure, it is the same trying to force somebody to do something when they do not want to do it. Whether they do not want to do it for a Godly reason, or they do not want to do it for an ungodly reason, it is pressure upon somebody to do something that they do not feel to do.
In the case of Jezebel, you are pressuring somebody that has authority over you.
Jezebel can be passive, or it can be hostile, hostile or aggressive. It is passive. Jezebel can be praying prayers. Jezebel can be passive in that it can be manifesting when two people are talking ill about someone that has authority over them, in a conversation. That is probably what happened today. As I was driving here, I told you when I came in I was speaking about something that I do not think that was in anybody's mind here. I was answering the question.
Somebody was saying today or recently that this ministry has not grown. Somebody somewhere was speaking to another person saying that this ministry has not grown. Using that to demean, to deny the authority of this ministry, and God answered them through me saying, "That is not true that the size of the local group has not grown, but we have defiantly expanded, we are all over Nigeria."
We are in several other states, North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania, Arizona, California, Michigan, probably another couple of states I am not thinking of right now. Maine, definitely, thank you. Anyone whose carnal mind is looking at these meetings, and speaking ill about this ministry, by saying that it has not grown, your lie has been rebuked. God has revealed it to me, and He has answered you. That is a spirit of Jezebel.
Why would somebody be talking that way about this ministry or anybody? Why would a woman be talking that way about her husband? They are trying to bring them into submission. They are trying to bring whoever they are talking about down from the place that God has put them. Why? So that they can exalt themselves over that person, that they can have an excuse to deny the God given authority, and set themselves apart or above from it. That is the motive of Jezebel.
Now with witchcraft someone, for whatever their reason, might be pressuring someone who has no authority over them. Maybe they are just a busy body. I do not know. Why would anyone pressure somebody to do something. I guess there are many reasons. I guess they would benefit in some way.
When it comes to Jezebel, the reason is to put them down from the place where God has set them, to free themselves from that authority. That is what it is designed for, to free themselves from that person's authority.
They will justify separating themselves from that authority by demeaning that person. It operates a lot along the line of accusation. Then we have mind control. Now this I have taught on before. Does anybody know the difference between mind control, and witchcraft? Anybody remember the difference between mind control, and witchcraft? I will tell you.
Witchcraft is a pressure that is exerted upon some one where there is no authority issue. It is a pressure to make them do something. Witchcraft affects behavior, it is trying to change somebody's behavior, or cause them to do something. Mind control effects one's thinking. Again, there is no authority issue in regards to mind control. It is a pressure that is exerted on someone's mind to change their mind against their will.
For example, we can have somebody in a police state. We can say to them, let us go back to the Spanish Inquisition where they said to the Jews, and the Bible believing Christians. Who said? The Spanish government said to the Jews, and the Bible believing Christians, "We want you to stop practicing your religion, and we want you to become Catholic." That is what they said, that is recorded in history, that is what they said to them.
Some Jews and Bible believing Christians said "okay." That was witchcraft, they stopped practicing their religion. Half of them...I do not know if my figures are right, but some of them that stopped practicing their religion, said, "okay, I believe what you tell me. Roman Catholicism is the preferred religion, and I am becoming a Roman Catholic." That is mind control because they changed their mind. They changed they way they worshiped, they changed their whole spiritual life.
There were other Jews and Bible believing Christians that on the surface became Roman Catholics, but in the privacy of their own home they continued to worshiped. The Jews worshiped Jehovah, and the Bible believing Christians remained Protestant in their heart.
Witchcraft was worked upon them, they changed their behavior, but mind control was not worked on them. They did not change their minds. We have had accusation, witchcraft, manipulation, Jezebel, mind control. What was that other one that I said was worked on me. "Are you not lucky. there is food let..." I guess that is manipulation, but did I not call it something different?
COMMENT: Manipulation with accusation.
PASTOR VITALE: Manipulation with accusation. Lord, is there anything else you want us to deal with tonight? The only ting that is on my heart right now is this issue of identifying the problem, and identifying the spirit. You are doing yourself a great disservice. You are doing yourself a great disservice more than the other person that is involved if you are not discerning the problem.
We have to be discerning the spirit, and we have to have an accurate understanding of what the problem is. If we do not have that understanding, how are we going to get through this life if we cannot look at an issue an analyze the issue. Go before the Lord, and say, "Father what happened here? What really happened?" Now if we cannot do that, we are in a great disadvantage, because if we cannot do that our reaction to the problem must be ungodly. How can we have a Godly response if we do not even understand what happened.
COMMENT: Why should not the question or the fact just put out so that you can identify the problem?
PASTOR VITALE: Some people look at facts, and they do not understand them. If the facts are all before you, and you do not understand them, something is not functioning properly in your mind. That is what it means. In other words, if there is a child, and he is going to school. I put this up on the board, "mind control." This is a reality in our schools today.
The little boy cannot read. I know someone right now that is going through this with a child that she is raising. The child has had all kinds of intelligence tests, she is a very intelligent child but she cannot read. There are learning disorders, they cannot read. One disorder they see the letters backwards. There is a spiritual counterpart of learning disorders. If you cannot identify the problem, if all of the facts are put out in front of you, and you cannot understand what happened, you have a learning disorder in your mind in regard to spiritual things.
The first thing you have to do is ask the Lord if you have a learning disorder. If you have a learning disorder when it comes to spiritual things, what is the first thing you do? If you know that when all the facts are put out in front of you, and you still cannot understand what happened, stand still. Stand still. Does that not make sense? Better to stand still then to draw all kinds of wrong conclusions.
Wrong conclusions, and wrong solutions. Stand still, see the power of God in your mind. To have a learning disorder, to have a spiritual learning disorder, and to not stand still, well what would that mean? Why would one not stand still when they know they have a learning disorder, with all the facts put out in front of them, and they still cannot figure out correctly what happened. Why would someone not stand still? Why would someone charge in and still draw all kinds of conclusions, evolve all kinds of solutions to problems that they do not even understand?
I would think we would have to be dealing with pride here. If that is what you are doing , not only do you have a learning disability, you cannot look at all the facts and correctly understand what had happened, but you have a disability that you cannot even understand, that if you cannot comprehend the problem how can you possibly come up with a Godly solution?
You have a learning disorder in regard to evaluating the facts, then you have a learning disorder because of your inability to stand still when you do not even understand what happened.
COMMENT: I am just thinking of a situation with my husband, with a very pressured day. He was completely out of order. The Lord woke me up, and told me "I want you to go outside, and make up with your husband." I said, "Lord he is a 100% wrong. I am not going to do it, besides I do not feel like doing it, I have to do it time and time again when I was wrong. He said to me, "I did not feel like going to the cross, I went out of love." I got up, and went out to my husband. I said, "XXXX I forgive you for what you did to me."
I felt that I carnally speak in any which way I know is right, but the Lord had me say, "I forgive you." Then my husband said, "If you really mean it, you will sit, and watch TV with me." I did it. When we went to bed that night, I gave him a quick peck on the cheek, but I still felt that anger, and bitterness in me. I gave him the quick peck on the check, and I rolled over, and I started sobbing. God cleansed me of the anger, and bitterness. My husband said to me, "What is the matter." I said, "Everything is all right now."
I knew I had walked in obedience, and the Lord took care of the emotions. Even though I was 100% wrong, the Lord told me to make up with my husband.
01/27/04kml
3/27/04-Ab FinalEdit