Romance on the Dance Floor

The other day I was chillin at a bar with the homeboy and I witnessed a rare sight for these times. There was a couple dancing. But it wasn’t just the fact that they were dancing together that caught my attention, it was how they interacted with one another, how they gazed at each other, how lost they were in one another. It was as if nothing else around them even existed. It was just them on that dance floor, or it might as well have been.

Romance is so hard to find these days. In a culture where people fuck one another for their own pleasure, it has become a dying breed, yet romance is what most people crave. I know I do. You see, romance happens when two souls are knit together. This desire has become more and more apparent as of late, and the more I meditate on this, the more I see the massive dichotomy between romance and our culture, and it grieves me. It grieves me to see so many young people closing off their heart to one another because of past hurts, false ideas, obligations, etc. I want to see the spark of romance lit once again. Not just for myself but for an entire generation. I want to see more lovers out on the dance floor.

This S***, is it Really Just Me?

Let me rant for a bit. When you feel like s*** most people tell you that you’re doing something wrong, or that in some way shape or form it’s you. But why can’t it be that which is around you. Why can’t it be the culture around you? Why can’t it be the people around you? Why is it always something that you need to change about yourself? What if it’s not just you? What if it’s something else apart from you? And so what do you do, you white-knuckle it, you tough it out because after all it’s just me and not the things around me that are causing me to feel this way. And yet nothing changes. You try the internal things. You try to change yourself, you try this, you try that, you get spiritual, you get practical, but at the end of the day it’s all the same. So, is it really just me or is it the things around me?

(Note: I don’t usually feel this way. For the past month or so I’ve been a bit of an emotional mess. This is came out as a result of how I was feeling yesterday… But thank My Father that I Am still seated on the Throne lol)

A Dream too Big to Dream

Look… I want you to look into your heart and find the impossible.
Search it out and find a dream too big to dream.

Abraham was given a dream, a promise, an impossibility, so what did he do?
He BELIEVED.
He saw from afar the promise of a child, and though his wife was barren, he believed.
Moses saw a people led out of captivity, a dream, a promise, so what did he do?
He believed.

You see, the heart is the wellspring of life, the seat of eternity.
The heart is the throne of I AM.
You’ve been grafted into the vine and all of His promises are yes and amen in Christ.
Do not lose heart and allow the grand crescendo of the eternal I AM play out in your life.

But wait. Why one? Why not several? Many? A life full of impossibilities?
Look at Heaven, the land of wonders, the land within.
Are you starting to see the promise?
The promise of all promises?
The Land of Promise itself?

These men, of whom the world was not worthy, saw the promise, by faith.
Now here we are, partakers of the Promise, grafted in, at the right hand of Power, the King of the Land of Promise.
Here we are, a gateway to the Land of Promise, the realm of impossibilities.
So by all means, dream an impossible dream, give way for the Land of Promise to burst out of you, and watch the impossible become a reality.
For what is impossible with man is possible with God.

Powerless Christianity

“The kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.”

I see a lot of talk these days… Words here, words there, let’s discuss this, let’s discuss that. But let me ask you this, where is the power? Why are so many “believers” still in bondage? Since when did discussions solve anything? I thought the anointing broke the yoke, my mistake… Where is the power of the Holy Spirit? When did being a pansy become the mark of a son of God? I thought the righteous were as bold as a lion… When did the church of the Almighty become a pity party? When did the saints of God join themselves to unrighteousness? You go from one demon to the next only to end up in greater bondage.

Perhaps I’m being too harsh. Perhaps we need to sit around and sing kumbaya all day and comfort one another’s demons. Maybe if we keep saying “it is finished” people will begin to change. Maybe we should keep pretending like the fruit we’re picking isn’t rotting away… I’ll say this though, just because you know a word doesn’t mean you know the Power.

Where is the power of God on the earth? Where are the Ones who are led by the Spirit of God? Where is the army of the Lord that will consume this earth in the All Consuming Fire? May it all burn to the ground that Light would remain…

Fire for the Ungodly

Throughout this past year or two it has come to my attention that there are false gospels rising throughout the land, leading people astray, calling this present moment “The Lord” (though it is ever fleeting and the Lord always IS), leading people into self-indulgence and immorality, professing to know God, yet denying Him by their actions, feasting on the filth of Jezebel. They profess “freedom in Christ” yet they are slaves to their lusts, and in their “freedom” they entangle the weak and lowly convincing them that it’s all “in love”. Unrepentant men who love the darkness and refuse to come into the glory of the Light, lest their deeds be exposed. For such is the Fire reserved, and now is the time of Fire.

I was a part of a ministry called Ekstasis ministries for about 2 years. At first it all seemed nice and dandy but when I moved (with my wife at the time) into his house to learn from him in a more intimate way, he started sharing things that “the Lord” had been revealing to him. He released some of this content in the first “Garden Intensive,” making mention of “sexual freedoms” that Adam and Eve had in Eden, yet encouraging us not to jump to conclusions… He then spoke of this in Texas (which I was not physically a part of but saw a video of later on) saying things alluding to the possibility of “sexual freedoms” being an expression of love, and shame is what keeps us from exploring that, yet always saying that we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. These teachings persisted and still do till this day… Then came the accusations… Accusations about molestation, immorality, adultery. He denied these accusations, calling them slander and persecution, yet till this day these people stick to their story, even worrying about the students still involved with his ministry. I myself have confronted him about some of these “accusations” that I heard from a person involved, yet it was denied.

I’m writing this to bring to light some of the things that are being taught in Ekstasis Ministries. Silas has gone astray into his own lustful fantasies, deceived yet unable to see it, teaching what is blatant error as if it were truth. I myself delved into these lies to some degree but am fortunate enough to have friends who know God and the Truth that called out these teachings for what they are, demonic. As Paul says, “you can’t partake of the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons, lest you provoke the Lord to Jealousy.”

Since the time I left Ekstasis Ministries, I have not kept in contact with many of the other students. Even so, my heart goes out to them… I desire that you not come into bondage, but into the true freedom that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

There have been several people that have confronted Silas other than myself, yet to no avail. My desire is that he come back to the Light, to the knowledge of the Truth. To my knowledge we’ve all had a similar experience when talking to him, we hit a wall… he denies it all, he says he doesn’t live in the past, he indirectly justifies the “things he didn’t do.” Unteachability and arrogance are not a fruit of the Holy Spirit, seems more like the boastful pride of life. It’s a fruit ripe for the making of a cult leader. What then is there to do than deliver them over to their own lusts… Let the flesh be burned that the spirit may live.

I’ll leave you with some passages.

2 Timothy 3:1-9

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. 6 For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, (Does this remind you of someone?) 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. 9 But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.

2 Peter 2

1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men 8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.
Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, 11 whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in [e]the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, 13 suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you, 14 having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; 15 forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16 but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.
17 These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the [g]black darkness has been reserved. 18 For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, 19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. 22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

Jude

1 Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,
To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: 2 May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.
3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. 4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5 Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
8 Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. 9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are [j]destroyed. 11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. 12 These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.
14 It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, 15 to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” 16 These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.
17 But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, 18 that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” 19 These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on some, who are doubting; 23 save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen

Ekstasis Culture – A Rising Cult

First off let me say that I was a student of Silas’ for about two years. The reason I am writing this is to inform the Body of the things being taught in Ekstasis Institute (an offshoot of Ekstasis Culture), or more specifically by Silas Valentine.

Silas has strayed into error, and dare I say heresy, on certain aspects of his teachings. The first and most prominent is the idea of relationships and marriage. To be blunt, he has strayed into immorality and adultery. There have been several accusations from women that have been part of, and some that are still part of his ministry. He has denied these accusations, saying that they are slander, persecutions, denying that those things ever happened, and even passing some evidence off as being part of his counseling session and his methods being different from other people (I was personally shown a naked picture of him with his penis out that he sent to one his students, which I confronted him about later on and he explained away as part of his, “counseling session” and denied further accusations of which I was informed by this student).

Apart from denial, he excuses this behavior through his teachings. They are most apparent in his Garden Series but are elaborated and spoken of throughout his classes/teachings. I’ll write a few points he makes…

– Egoic Attachment – The idea of egoic attachment says that it is the ego (false self, perceived self, “the I apart from the Am”, the self that was crucified with Christ) that is attached to things, people, etc; and this egoic attachment is seen in marriages. He says that the reason man doesn’t share woman and vice versa is due to this egoic attachment. He justifies this in many ways, such as by saying that “love is not jealous”, “there is no longer male nor female in Christ…”, etc. He has whole teachings on this subject, which hold some truth to them, but nevertheless are thwarted to justify immoral behavior.

– He uses the passage where Jesus says that we are no longer given in marriage in the kingdom of God. He elaborates by saying that marriage is a man-made tradition, a type and a shadow of Christ and the church (of which there is no doubt that it is, yet Hebrew 13:4 says to honor the marriage bed…), and goes onto say that Jesus was the fulfillment of the purpose of marriage. This is then used against marriage today (though not said outright).

– He says that Adam and Eve had to have had sex with not only one another but their children in order to populate the Earth.

– He used the idea of an “expression of love” being open to the person expressing love, and alluded to the idea of love being expressed in a sexual way outside of marriage.

– He uses the idea of “the moment” to deny any remembrance of these events, and says he, “doesn’t live in the past”.

Those are a few examples. There are several problems that myself and others have seen with these teachings. First off, there are a wide array of scriptures warning against immorality and adultery. To name a few, Galatians 5:19-21, 2 Timothy 3, 1 Corinthians 5, Hebrews 13:4, 2 Peter 2, Revelation 2:12-29. A couple of people that have talked to Silas and confronted him about some of these things feel like he has twisted certain teachings and spiritual truths in such a way that they support his own vices. It is known by these people that he has had issues with lust in the past that he has never really fully dealt with.

These teachings can also have destructive consequences on the people that have embraced them. I can testify of this from experience. When my wife (at the time) and I were introduced to these ideas, we were quick to reject the ideas presented to us by Silas but were conflicted because of the position of authority (as a teacher) we had placed him in in our hearts. Though initially rejected, we tolerated the teachings, which in turn allowed these “seeds” to sprout into destructive ideas which no doubt had a major role to play in our break up… I am not the only one that has been affected though. I have spoken to several ex-students that have also embraced these teachings at some point (whether to a small or larger extent) that have seen consequences in their personal lives and their relationships as a result. Another problem is that though this type of behavior is said to be “an expression of love,” it denies intimacy between the people involved, perhaps the most vital aspect of love, especially in romantic relationships. Not only that, but it is evident that using such teachings to coerce your female students into having sexual acts with you is downright manipulation. It’s not love, it is taking advantage of people… There are many other things that are clear signs of a cult (arrogance, unteachable, a lofty view of self aka boastful pride of life, disconnected from other members in the body in any sort of intimate way, etc.), but I wanted to point out the main issues.

I am writing this to inform people of the teachings being put out by Silas Valentine. It grieves me that there are people that I know that are still involved with this ministry. I understand that he is seen with such high esteem by his students, but if you are reading this I want you to consider the things I am saying. My heart is that people be set free, free indeed, not using freedom to entangle yourself in further bondage. If we tolerate these acts of immorality, it won’t be long before it spreads… a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough…

I want to end by encouraging people that have been affected by Ekstasis Ministries in such ways, whether big or small. If you have a story to share, please do. It doesn’t have to look like this… maybe it’s just by speaking about it to those around you, your family, the community you’re a part of, etc. You have a voice. Ultimately, your voice may not only help you, but others that have been affected as well.

Revelation 2:19-21 (The risen Christ speaking)
“‘I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. 20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality…”

A Foreign Land

I sit here as in a foreign land. As in a land sojourned by an alien race. They speak of forein concepts which I have no comprehension of. “Work,” they say, yet all I’ve ever known is rest. It is a cursed people. A people longing to bring everyone under their same shackles. They say they want to bring you freedom yet all that they do screams, “slavery!” A people who think they are free yet they are slaves to their own devices. Wake up! Come away with me into the land of milk and honey! Step out of the false comfort you call routine and enter into the realm of endless adventures! Though you are from a foreign land, you are my brothers and sisters. We were once not too far off you see. Born of the Holy One. Citizens of the City of Peace. You were taken from your home, decieved by a snake. Bit by the serpent and now the pains of labor run through your veins. Open your eyes! A sacrifice has been made! Drink my friends! Drink deep of the shed blood of the Holy Lamb of God. Drink of his Holy Blood which cleanses you of the serpent’s venom. Open your eyes and see. You yourselves are not citizens of this foreign land. Your home is a Heavenly one. Come away with me my loves, into the garden of Love.

Who do you say that I AM?

When you think about yourself, what do you think about? Maybe you think about the flesh-bag you see when you look in the mirror. Maybe it’s the conglomeration of your past experiences. Maybe you look at insecurities that you feel and identify in those… or maybe you look at your accomplishments. But are any of these things really you? Well let’s see…

The self-perception is what people see themselves as. As mentioned above, it can be a wide number of things. Here are a few to give you an idea; your work title, your body, your past (things that you’ve done and have happened to you), your family, your nationality or ethnicity, your wealth (as displayed by various biblical figures, i.e. the rich young ruler), your social status, your success, your relationships, your social group. All of these things have something in common, they are temporal in nature. Fleeting and passing away. Yet you are not a temporal being, you are eternal.

That may leave you with a question… “Who do you say that I am?”

In the letter to the Galatians Paul makes the statement, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). One of the things that Christ came to do was to crucify your old self-perception. He came as sinful flesh to die as sinful flesh and rise a new man, that we would partake of this Resurrection (remember peeps, He is the Resurrection). We are a new creation! Romans 6 and 2 Cor. 5:16-17 will shed some light on that. You are one with Him. That was His High Priestly prayer, that we would be One with Him, the Father, and one another. He who is joined to the Lord is ONE Spirit with the Lord. We are ONE with Him. It is no longer you that lives (in other words, your old self-perception based on your works aka your filthy rags) but Christ who lives! Your being is not dependent on what you’ve done but on what He did. As He is so are we in this world!

What does this mean? You are Love, Light, and Life!

All of that other stuff is based on your works. All filthy rags before the Lord. When the winds come and the rain falls, your house will surely fall if that is your foundation. Why do you think people get so downtrodden when they lose their jobs, houses, friends, family, etc? Because they’ve built their house on a faulty foundation. But when your foundation is the Rock of ages, no storm can destroy your house, no circumstances can steal your joy. He is Eden, and we are waking up to the realization of the garden of pleasure that lies within. So what do you want to identify in, on your temporal works which are fleeting and passing away, or on the Ancient of Days, the Great I AM?

When we live from the place of the realization of our union with Him, life becomes effortless… I recently met a new friend who saw my blog… He read the caption that lists the fruits of the Spirit and commented that some of them are hard to perform. I’ll say this, if you try to be patient, kind, have self-control, etc, out of your own efforts, than yes, it can be hard. But when you realize that you are ONE with His Spirit, you will naturally bear these fruits. “I Am the Vine, You are the Branches.” When you are grafted in your awareness to Him, than His Life is your Life. His being flows through your veins. You ARE LIFE. To live from this place is to live from effortless pleasure. Your life is no longer about toiling and working the ground, but it is an effortless expression of the Christ! Jesus asked Peter, “who do you say that I Am,” to which Peter replied, “you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” And so I’ll leave you with a similar question, who do you say that you are? The answer to that question depends on what you identify in, the temporal or the Eternal, and may very well determine the experience of your existence.

One

Ephesians 4:5

ONE Body
ONE Spirit
ONE Hope
ONE Lord
ONE Faith
ONE Baptism
ONE God
ONE Father

Sweetly Bitter, Bitterly Sweet… To You

I remember the time that you brought up that dreadful word.
Why did I agree? Why did I go along with the stupid game. I never had. Why this time…
Only, to you it wasn’t a game. You were done, over it all, over me, or so it seems.

You come to me with stories about how things may still turn to be, like a Disney fantasy or a beautiful fairy tale, yet I see something different.
I see she who was once mine off seeking another.
You want this to “work out” in the end? It’s hard to say whether I want that at all anymore.

Yet your specter still haunts me wherever I go. Around every corner, behind every book, in every minute insignificant thing that no one in their right minds would give any shits about, there you are. I walk through a door and I remember the times that we’ve walked through there together, or I see the cracked window, the room, the dog, the blanket, the house, the holidays etc etc… All of that on top of the countless memories of times with you, the good and the bad… and then there’s the pictures. The cherry on top, the slap on the face. We looked so happy together. Why did it all have to end like this? Was it really worth it?

I know you ask yourself that question. You doubt yourself. Should I have left? When you asked me if you were making a mistake, I told you that you had to figure that out yourself. Honestly, it’s hard to think otherwise. I could go on about how this “word” is commonplace in your family, how it was so easy for you to bring it up, blah blah blah; but what does that all matter.

The fact of the matter is that I love you but I feel bitter towards you. I want you back yet at times I don’t. And it’s not really that I don’t, just that the bitterness of it all make the hurts and the pains hurt all the more. Yet I wish you were here. I wish none of this would have ever happened. I imagine you with your head on my shoulder, the warmth of your body, the smell of your hair, the affections of your love, and I can’t help but wish you were still here…

I know it wasn’t all your fault. I was to blame too. I should have never said “yes” to that word, divorce. One “I do” was enough. I just wish your heart would have returned, or rather never have left, as mine never did.

Though I may at times feel anger towards you, bitterness, resent, those things will pass… Know that I love you, now and forever. If you need me, find me, call me, whatever it is. I’ll be there, or I’ll at least do my best to be. I do miss you, so so much. Take care, okay? Find joy, find happiness, find love, find what makes your heart come alive. And remember, my heart is for you, never against you, regardless of what I may say or do, I love you, and that will endure.