4.42 Correspondence with Steve Welch (6)

11. Mail (from Steve Welch)

Mr. Preuss,

Thank you for you ongoing guidance. I have read what you have written and found it all to be very insightful and full of truth. The topic of the Inner Word is very interesting and compelling to me. I honestly struggle with the discipline needed to engage in introspection to really hear the Lord. I am working on this. In your experience, who are some individuals that you believe have genuinely heard the Lord and written what they have heard? Are there any individuals that you know of that you would consider false prophets in this? I ask because I recently came across the website heavenletters.org and am not sure what to make of it. I feel though that it is most likely false due to the woman charging money and running "godwriting" workshops where she helps others hear God's voice. If I am not mistaken, there are some significant preconditions to be able to hear the Lord that many people do not fulfill. I greatly enjoy our correspondences and look forward to hearing from you again.

Steve

12. Mail (to Steve Welch)

Dear Mr Welch

You write about charging money. In "Meditation," Chapter 21 of "The Man-Made Church," I wrote about the books by Neale Donald Walsch:

>>Now today we can make writings available for free on the internet. So this would be an ideal way for somebody who likes to give things, especially spiritual things, away for free. But is this done by people who have such valuable information to offer? Have a look at the books of the author of the series "Conversations with God." In the book "Friendship with God" you find the following question raised, "Why didn’t you just put the books on the internet?" The subject had been the writing and the publishing of his books. And the author was surprised to hear such a question and therefore the question was repeated, and more specific, "Why didn’t you just make them available for free?" and then follows a very interesting discussion between the author and the spirit that gives him his inspirations. If you read this discussion you will also probably come to the conclusion that there is a lot of unbelief involved. People simply don’t believe God and that God can look after them very well. And of course there is this lust for material things. As so often the issue of money is decisive. And the issue is often side-stepped with neat verbal gymnastics. Read the chapter Two of that book and you will have a typical example. Maybe you are lucky and find it on the internet, not just to buy it, but also to read it for free. If you can’t find it on the internet to read for free then maybe you should remember the Didache, "But if he asks for money, he is a false prophet."

So what is the conclusion? If you find a highly inspiring piece of literature then this must not mean that the person from whom it comes is a highly spiritual person, it might just mean that he is open to receive highly valuable information. He himself might be also a person that is worth getting to know and to learn from him; but he might not be. So differentiate between the literary product on one side and the person who is the producer of it on the other side. Have a good look at the information contained in the product, often it reveals a lot about the producer. If you know how to measure faith you will have a big advantage. And check other information about the author. Be wise and don’t build your house on sand. Read all about the people who built their houses on sand in "Watch Out!" – another discussion in this series "The Man-Made Church." The main point is that the value of a man’s action is not determined by the gifts of the spirit he might display but by the fruit of the spirit. Not the miracles are decisive, decisive is what he does. Does he do what Jesus says he should do?<<

Your previous mail eliminated the one problem I thought you might have and that was that you might be carnal, but your reply showed that you are not carnal, but spiritual. There then remains a second problem and that is making bad confessions. In my last mail I suggested that you measure your own faith. But you do not seem to have started that and it brings with it another problem, doing the word – or rather not doing the word.

I am talking about scrutinizing your own thinking and speaking and writing; scrutinizing things that should show you that your belief needs improvement.

Read your last mail and while you read it, measure your faith, measure what you believe. "I honestly struggle with the discipline needed to engage in introspection to really hear the Lord."

So stop struggling and start to enjoy what you are doing and just stop making such statements. I think that is your only obstacle. You remind me of a person who told me, after I recommended to her to read the word of God, that she always gets tired when she reads the Bible. So her problem was not that she gets tired, but that she had the wrong thoughts and that she spoke the wrong words, that she hypnotized herself into the belief of getting tired and because she believed it and confessed it - she had what she was thinking and speaking.

Now in order to overcome this shortcoming, it is a good idea to force the mind to a reversion, and to do this by speaking the opposite, the opposite to the negative confession, that what one really wants. And that is why I recommended that you confess things like:

"I have the mind of Christ."

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

Thought reversal.

So when such a negative thought comes up in your mind, fight it by thinking what the word of God says about you.

Read your previous mails and you will find more examples. This does not mean that one cannot discuss a problem that exists. Jesus demonstrates this nicely in John 11. I wrote in Chapter 8 of "How to Measure Your Beliefs:"

"So we must feel free to speak the problem when something more important is to be done. When we want to explain a faith principle because someone asks us why we are doing things the way we are doing them, then we can explain to them exactly what the situation is. We then do not deviate from or give up our faith goal because we will still add it to our explanation. Our faith, which is in our heart, does not change for that reason."

Your immediate problem is now to just recognize what your problem is. Your problem is simply that you must stop writing inhibiting words about yourself. I am now carrying on getting this point through to you. In my mail before the last mail I wrote:

>>You repeatedly mention things like "I have continued to greatly struggle with reconciling" and "I am wondering if it is possible that I am reading the material in the wrong way" and "this inability to reconcile the message with other revealed texts has caused me much spiritual distress". These statements of yours cause me to ask you a question: to what church do you belong?<<

Now in my last mail I spend quite some time on this – pointing this habit of yours to write statements down which cause you to imprison yourself, to prevent you to act like the divine being that you really are. I suggested replacing negative statements with positive ones. And you react by agreeing with me fully, but you carry on doing the wrong thing.

So please read all your mails to me again and realize what your actual problem is and then, after you have written something, check it if it contains again negative statements and then take them out and replace them with positive ones.

And the same applies to speaking. After you have said a statement that restricts you, cancel it, say out loud, "I cancel these words, in Jesus’ name."

And then utter some words that express the opposite, like "I only speak words that agree with God’s will." And then comes the most important action to take, learn to control your thinking. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you when your train of thoughts dwells on something that is really given to you out of the kingdom of darkness. These guys know how to keep you away from really hearing God’s voice. They simply give you thoughts like this: "Steve, now spend a lot of time thinking of how much you continue to greatly struggle and about all your inabilities and that all this causes you much spiritual distress. Keep on thinking about all this. Just worry and complain. Just keep us company here in our kingdom of darkness." Now some extracts from B.D. NR. 3801:

To which spirit you turn, that one will rule you.

In the spiritual kingdom it is fought about you, and both the good as well as the evil powers seek to win you.

And therefore take care of your thoughts; be on your guard that they do not go astray; force your will in the right direction yourselves, and know that you find support at any time, if you let the smallest will for good come up in you.

Use your will right; strive for the good only; be just in thinking and acting, and turn your will towards God. Just direct you will right, and success will definitely be yours.

Extricate yourselves from the spiritual powers, which want to ruin you, through rightly directed will. I said that this making negative confessions is the only reason why you do not hear the voice of God, but there might be another one, but it is directly linked to the first, and that is that God does not speak to you because you fully agree with what God tells you and enjoy listening to him, but you do not do what he says. So why should he tell you something.

Steve calls those things which are not as though they were.

Frank

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