41. Utmost Purity of Life

© Daniel Yordy – 2021
We return now to our service to God to call Him into our world that His glory might fill the earth, that God our Father might be known to all.

The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth; the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (Isaiah 40:3-5).

We are looking at the in-between, that is, our becoming a path prepared for God – Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth.

The last four chapters, then, have been a study of part of what is meant by “utmost purity.”

As Annie Schissler saw in her vision. – “These sons… must be extremely purified. This purification is of fundamental importance… This high, complete purification of the elect ones is equivalent to the opening of the doors inside them…”

The “opening of the doors,” as in, “God coming through to be seen and known.”

Let me bring back into the picture two ministries of Christ mentioned earlier in this text, John Hagee and Benny Hinn, and the video I watched briefly of these two praying together to call God into our world to do evil things against innocent people for the cause and victory of the most wicked opponents of Christ in our day. – But they thought they were serving God.

Do you see what a bind this places upon God? For they have the authority to call God into our world and God must respond. Yet God does not know and cannot do evil things.

I had thought I was wrapping up my use of the Shadowfell story as an illustration, but I see that I need it still. One of the most exciting parts of the moment of victory in the story was when the true caller, Neryn, faced against the false caller and her true call prevailed.

This is one of the clearest teachings of Scripture, the confrontation between the true callers of God and the false. Of course, in the Bible, they are called “prophets.” And that is why I insist on using Juliette Marillier’s story for my illustration. You see, because we have lived inside “Christian” thinking our whole lives, Bible words like “prophet” and ‘false prophet” are so encrusted with religious ideas inside the limitation of Christ that we need a fresh way of seeing them to discover what God really means.

But this chapter is on the purity of the true caller. You can see the horror inflicted on God by John Hagee and Benny Hinn because God is bound to them by His word, for Christ lives in their hearts. Yet because they live inside a mixture of impurity, they call God to do impure things.

And, of course, if we point a finger of blame at these two brothers in Christ, we are demonstrating very simply that we are as impure as they.

No consciousness of sins. – Take your brother with you, especially the one who offends.

Of truth, in the story, Neryn did her best to redeem the false caller from the trap into which he had fallen. She gave him a choice, and when he did die, Neryn was free of any responsibility for his death. At the same time, she had won the hearts of many of the men who had done wicked things for the evil king, and when she called, hundreds of those men stood with her.

She did not win the hearts of all, but she took many who had offended, with her into liberty.

I want to talk about impurity in our present lives, what it is, and how the purity of Christ replaces it. I want to be simple and plain, for all creation is at stake, and this is the point of this whole book, prepare a highway for our God. Remove all obstacles, open all doors, for God our Father, a meek and lowly God, is coming through.

And when He arrives inside our world, He humbles Himself.

Impurity is leaven, that is, dishonesty. It is pretending and fakery, putting forth things that are not true in order to hide lacks that don’t exist. It is rooted in Adam’s rebellion, hating a God who reveals Himself through human weakness, the built-up story-telling that we ought to be ‘better.’

And when the enemy attacks with his cute words and his false feelings, the one who gains some imagined benefit from speaking those words and feeling those feelings will ally with the evil one, even for a little while, instead of striking the enemy down.

Let’s start with self put-down. Then let’s go on to attachment to things in this world. Then let’s hit a brick wall head-on.

Purity is NOT human betterment. Jesus has taken you and me upon Himself with all our warts and disfigurements, all our failures and inadequacies. If we have to get something “right,” then purity will never come.

I have a problem, so often, when I lay out a series of “chapter titles” on topics I want to write about, I find that I have set the course of the travail of God with me. Before I get to a topic like this one, I find myself caught in the very difficulty that is required to cause me to see and to understand what I did not know.

Here are three descriptions of the one and only passage into life.

Narrow is the gate and pressed in is the way by which one is led to life, and there are few who find it (Matthew 7:14).

And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And the one hearing, let him say, “Come!” And the one thirsting, let him come; the one desiring, let him receive the water of life freely (Revelation 22:17).

And He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life (Genesis 3:24).

“Utmost purity” is not human “betterment.” Utmost purity is piracy.

Life is purity. And life is available for only one kind of person, the kind that WILL NOT BE KEPT OUT!

Mighty angels with flaming swords raised against me? Who cares? Loss and ruin? Who cares? Leaping out of the frying pan into the fire? Who cares? Shunned by everyone sane? Who cares? Joining a so-called “cult?” Who cares? God placing barriers in my way? Who cares?

Life is for those who will NOT be turned aside. I will not turn aside.

The two times in my life when I had a “leading” from God to move to a certain place, the Albuquerque Farm and Blair Valley, both experiences lasted just under a-year-and-a-half and both ended with the community being shut down, that is, disaster. Who cares?

Now, the absolute truth is, I would never want to go through the path God took me through ever again. BUT – if that was the way into Life, I will not be found anywhere else. (I don’t worry about God doing that, however, for I have long since learned that He is kind. Present difficulties are all specifically designed for the present revelation of God through me.)

Twice in my life, I heard God say, “No, no, no,” every mile I drove. I had a choice. Heed that voice and go back to NOT KNOWING GOD? Or refuse it and plunge into loss and ruin and pain? Who cares?

If LIFE, if KNOWING FATHER-WITH-ME is on offer, what makes anyone think anything will keep me away?

People want to “hear” God speak to them before they do anything. And that is NOT wrong; in fact, it’s the only wise thing to do. But it’s also something I don’t know much about, for I am and have been very foolish. I have never heard God say, “Go here,” or “Go there,” but I have heard myself say, “Hi, I’m here,’ quite a few times.

What if someone said to me? –  “Daniel, sorry to bother you this morning, but we have just sold our house and put our stuff into storage. We’re half way to Houston. I hope you have a room in your house where we can stay, but we’ll walk together until God makes further provision.”

I would sing like I have not sung in years.

I have seen God provide WHEN we were actively building. But when we stopped the work and said, “Let’s not start until God provides,” then the provision ceased.

People are timid. And that’s fine. That’s how God made most. I am certainly timid towards people. But if the map of my Bible says – Here be life! Then it is not possible to keep me out.

It really is the simplest of questions. – What do you want? Not “What has God told you to do,” but WHAT DO YOU WANT?

God will never command you to find the water of life and to drink. In fact, He will put barrier after barrier in front of you. Life is only for pirates. Life is only for those who prize Life above all living and who will not be kept out until it is theirs.

Here is one of two definitions of LIFE in the Bible. – Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing—Life forevermore (Psalm 133).

Notice who it is that is inviting everyone to drink of life. – And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” The Spirit and the Bride together mean Christian Community.

For the first twelve years of our marriage, I dragged Maureen back and forth across North America in my determination to be part of LIFE. When we arrived at our home here in Houston, I had no more strength to “head down the road again.”

Then, four years later, when God opened the windows of heaven to me and I began to write, I determined that I would write my way into life. And from the very start, I set before my readers that the LIFE I required of God is Christian Community.

Utmost purity is one thing only; utmost purity is LIFE.

Why? Because not-life always rots and decays. Life never does.

Since the dream I shared with you in Chapter 35, “Calling God In,” the dream of resurrection life, I have begun to “know” life more clearly than before. Life is two things. Life is IN, and life is OUT. We start there, but then we discover a third smaller thing that is also life. Life is what happens to the guy in-between.

Here is the formula for life. Father^meChurch. I had to enlarge the font so that the little guy in-between would be easier to see.

Here is life IN. – To know Father through knowing Jesus Sent.

Here is life OUT. – Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! …for there the Lord commanded the blessing—Life forevermore.

Sam Fife preached LIFE, and he preached recklessly seizing hold of it no matter the cost. Buddy Cobb preached works, and by doing so stopped everyone in their tracks. For the two decades after that I remained in that fellowship, there were still many who held to the LIFE they had abandoned everything they had in this world in order to be part of it. But now, I don’t know if anyone in that fellowship remembers life any more.

The problem in that fellowship was that the life-IN was in-part, which meant that the life-OUT could only be in-part.

Before we can talk about life IN and life OUT, however, I want to make clear what I mean by the little “me” in-between. Here’s what I mean.

And so, being inside of this tent, we groan with great pressure of travail and grief, being weighted down, not that we desire to be unclothed [lose our physical bodies] but to be clothed, that what is dying may be swallowed up, drunk down and consumed by LIFE (2 Corinthians 5:4).

– Not only that, but even we ourselves, possessing the firstfruit of the Spirit, we also groan inside ourselves, eagerly expecting the placement and setting forth as sons, that is, the redemption of our body (Romans 8:23).

– For it is necessary for this decaying to put on, to enclothe itself with the inability to decay; and this dying to put on, to enclothe itself with the inability to die. Now when the decaying shall have put upon itself the inability to decay and when the dying shall have put upon itself the inability to die, then the word having been written will become, “Death has been swallowed up into and eliminated by victory” (1 Corinthians 15:53-54).

Let’s not beat around the bush. LIFE means not-dying. Life for me in-between means a body that does not die, swallowed up by life.

One of  the most God-filled moments in the history of the move of God happened a couple of years before my time when Sister Ethelwyn Davison led one of the convention praises in singing “We shall not all sleep – but we shall be changed – incorruptible. – And death and the grave are swallowed in victory.”

Over the last several weeks God has shown me exactly where life is found, the source of its entrance into ME. Here is what I wrote in Chapter 35, “Expectation and Authority.”

6. As Jesus stumbles forward, pushed each step of the way, He binds God to Himself by Covenant. God, You will raise me up – and all who belong to Me. God, I will rise from the dead, and YOU WILL include every individual person whom You have given Me. Father, LIFE, LIFE, LIFE – BUT not without these dear ones who love You rising with me as You raise Me up. I and the children whom You have given Me will rise together into incorruptible life, into knowing and revealing You forever.

Life is taking your brother and sister with you, especially those who offend, especially those who do and say things you don’t like.

Here is what I just wrote into The Jesus Secret II: Hebrews.

 – I Take My Brothers and Sisters with Me. I never speak against anyone who believes in Jesus and calls upon His name. I never hold any Christian in contempt. In complete contrast, as I seek to know God, so I require of God that they know Him also. As I walk in the favor of God, so I require favor for them as well. As I arise into life, so I insist that God would raise them up as well. I care not for their limited faith; I think nothing of their failed performance. They belong to Jesus; they belong to me. I will never accept life from God unless my brothers and sisters in Christ are enabled by God to receive that life with me. As I give an account of my life in the presence of God, so I present to Him all my brethren with me. I am my brother’s keeper; I am my sister’s keeper. I will not receive life without them.

So, when was the first time I heard such a word? I first heard it in April of 1977, during my first visit at Graham River Farm. – Take your brother and sister with you. Yet it is now 44 years later when I finally know what that means. Forty-four years of fiery swords turning against me every which way. Forty-four years of not backing off.

Life IN is knowing Father-with-me, sharing my life with me for the sake of others. Life OUT is Christian Community, brethren sharing life together. Life in-between is my physical body swallowed up.

You can have all the life IN that there is and never know life. You can have all the life OUT that there is and never know life. And you can have both in some measure of in-part and never know life.

Utmost purity is one thing only; utmost purity is LIFE.

Life IN, Father-with-me, is drinking of Jesus. Life OUT, Christ Community, is eating of Jesus. And being swallowed up by life, never to die, is the normal Christian life.

Isn’t that what your Bible says? I read it in my Bible forty-five years ago. – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Again, let’s not beat around the bush. It says, “Will NOT DIE, but will live forever.”

And again – I am come that you might have LIFE and that you might have it beyond all measure and comprehension!!! And again – Just as the Father has life in Himself, so He has given to the Son to have life in Himself – He who has the Son has the LIFE. And again – Truly, truly, I say to you, if you believe into ME, you will NEVER die!”

Life has no death in it. People who “go to” heaven have to DIE in order to “arrive there.” Sorry, but that ain’t LIFE, and I ain’t interested. To find myself in the heavens only, “with Jesus” but without a physical body, would be the saddest thing I could ever know. I would accept it with tears, yes, but not willingly.

For forty-four years, ever since I knew it was true, this has been my cry. – We groan with great pressure of travail and grief, being weighted down, not that we desire to be unclothed [lose our physical bodies] but to be clothed, that what is dying may be swallowed up by LIFE.

I want to live. I want to KNOW Father-with-me; I want to walk together with you in Christ Community; I want my body transformed into life that knows no lack or loss ever. I want to LIVE!

Let’s now go back to our authority in calling God into our world. When Neryn called in the Shadowfell story, the “good folk,” no matter how mighty they were, had no choice but to come to her call and to do what she required. Neryn had all authority over them.

The entire path of the story, then, is her horror at the thought of having such authority and her desire never to use such authority for her own advantage. And the primary point of the entire three books was the purity of heart that was proven in Neryn every step of the way.

If God were at your command, what would you require Him to do?

Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: “Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons; and concerning the work of My hands, you command Me (Isaiah 45:11). – You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession (Psalms 2:8). – Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full (John 16:23-24).

If you could command God, what would you command Him to do? What would fill you with joy?

God has given us the authority to call Him into our world, and when we call, He must respond according to our faith.

This life thing has become more real to me in the last few weeks than it ever was.
One of our children brought concern to our hearts, yet, though I did try, I could not become depressed, for all I could see was Father-with-me for the sake of this one. And so I commanded God, “God, I call You into his life, BE all around him, BE the hound of heaven on his tail, BE all provision, BE all life inside of him.” And I knew faith in God like I’ve not known it before.

Then, I saw the perfect property that just came on the market, less than two miles from where our son and his wife, Kyle and Shelbie, bought their property. Except this perfect property (and I mean “perfect” in providing for our present needs) costs twice what we could afford.

And so I immediately turned to finagling with God to get Him to enable me to MAKE IT HAPPEN. And that’s the brick wall I spoke of earlier.

I have tried to control God for forty-four years, and I have never succeeded once. Yet I have known His enabling presence every step of the way more than most. But here I am, after forty-four years of trying to get God to DO WHAT I WANT and never succeeding, hard at it again.

Here is the secret place of LIFE. – You have to take your brother with you.

I want to share something incredible with you, something I have only discovered now. In March-April of 1985, I had argued with God in bitterness against John Hinson, and God sided with me, coming to Brother John in a dream, telling him what I told God He ought to say.

Twelve years later, in March of 1997, God spoke to me, “Son, you passed the test,” because I had refused to place any blame or fault upon Brother John Clarke.

Twelve years later, in March of 2009, God placed four men of great offense before me. And I knew without any question that if I wanted to KNOW Christ in union with me, I would also know Christ in union with them. (This is why I have stalled out again in writing my life story. I haven’t found the courage yet to plunge back into God contending with me.)

Twelve years later, in January to March/April of 2021, I know what it all means – take your brother with you.

As I wrote in “Expectation and Authority,” AND WE ALSO are committed to doing the same for our brothers and sisters. – AND WE ALSO are committed – to receiving one another, regardless of any and all offense, in the same way that Jesus receives us.

When you and I, in the agony of our human pain, receive Father with us as sharing all our human confusion fully with us for the sake of others, and when we receive this one who has so hurt us into the Mercy Seat of our hearts and placed Father and them together, completely free of us, and when we proclaim to God, “You will raise me up AND my brother or sister WITH ME.”

LOOK OUT! For our God is rushing through us into our world. And our bodies cannot remain as they are, for LIFE transforms them.