Hey guys and welcome back to the salt not sweetener
podcast I am your host Danielle Townsend and
this is episode 24 and this episode is going
to be about rebellion and I have felt the Lord
heavily place this topic on my heart today you
know this past week God has really been giving
me opportunities to share my testimony and Thursday
night I I was really overwhelmed y 'all and I
was just taking a country drive to pray to the
Lord and Just trying to like sort out my feelings
and on this country drive I passed by a church
that was having an evening service And I felt
the Lord put it on my heart to go to that church
service and I did And it was a wonderful service.
And I, the Lord really spoke to me through that
service. And I was actually, it was a really
small group. It was like 15 people. And I was
actually invited to go out and eat dinner with
them afterwards. And when I did, I had a really
good conversation. And I was telling these people
about, we were just talking about God and how
good He was. And I was sharing with them some
testimonies of things that He did in my life.
And somehow the conversation landed on our favorite
scriptures. And for me, it was the book of Jonah
and the story of Jonah. And, you know, when I
said that, I got some really quizzical looks.
I was like, yeah, I know that's not everybody's
first. It's kind of a unique one. I told them
of how I related to Jonah. my period of rebellion
and rebelling against the Lord and I told them
about how heavily I related to the book of Jeremiah
and How I truly for a time my life rebelled I
left the Lord. I turned my back on the Lord I
thought I was just turning my back on the church
and turning my back on religion I was turning
my back on Jesus Christ and I had turned my back
on The covenants and the promises that I had
made with God and I had lived in active rebellion
and I was sharing with them about how I suffered
because of that, but also how the Lord redeemed
me and that was just a real opportunity to share
my testimonies. And I sat down today to start
reading some scripture and recently I've been
feeling called to read the book of Ezekiel. And
around the time when I gave my life to Christ
was the time when I was reading the book of Ezekiel.
you know, y 'all I've shared on here before when
I gave my life to Christ, I was deep in New Age
spirituality, I was deep in divination, I was
deep in witchcraft, I was in all of those things.
And reading the book of Ezekiel, specifically
chapters 13 and on, was really convicting for
me because it was spelled out for me in scripture
of how sinful my life was and how God is not
for that and how God does not support that. And
you know, we see in the beginning of the book
of Ezekiel where Ezekiel is having visions and
one of them is an angel and I've shared in a
podcast episode a couple episodes back in my
time of turning my back on the Lord how when
I was in a meditation in new age and I believe
that I spoke to an angel there is a vision of
an angel all of these eyeballs are very biblically
the same way it is described in the book of Ezekiel
is the same thing I experienced And after that
I went through a season where I truly felt like
I lost favor with the Lord You know in that in
that meditation in that vision. I had told that
angel that I was Open to other deities and open
to other spiritualities and just exploring in
short, I was turning my back on the Lord and
I was pursuing false gods and false idols and
I was uplifting myself and putting myself first.
And I'm here to tell y 'all today about what
that rebellion did in my life, but also about
how God is graceful and merciful and he can and
will restore you. But this podcast episode today
I really feel is more of a warning to those who
are an active rebellion. And this is also a redemption
to those who are trying to come back to the Lord
after a time period of rebellion But I really
feel today that the Lord is sending me to speak
to people who are in rebellion Who are rebelling
against the Lord and he has already made it very
clear to me that not everybody is going to have
ears to hear this message And I'm gonna read
you some scripture that the Lord guided me to
in just a moment He's already made it very clear
to me that everybody is going to receive this
well Not everybody is gonna have eyes to see
is gonna have ears to hear there are gonna be
some people who still choose active rebellion
but he is sending me anyway and You know, I'm
not unique and this the Lord wants us to create
disciples as our responsibility as followers
of Christ is to share the gospel to spread the
gospel to tell people about the Lord to create
disciples It's not just the pastor's job all
of us who have encountered Jesus, all of us who
have experienced the love of the Lord, the grace,
the mercy are supposed to be sharing that with
others and helping lead other people to Jesus
Christ, planting seeds. So this isn't like some
unique thing. All of us should be doing this,
but I've really felt the Lord give me a clear
understanding of who I am supposed to be target
audienceing. today in this message and who my
testimonies are really Meant to be used on right
now at this time because God will take all of
our past mistakes and mess -ups and Experiences
and turn them into powerful testimonies that
show the goodness of God Y 'all even in my rebellion
even in all my suffering. I am able to look back
and see how The Lord was a light and how he used
it all for my good So I'm going to read to y
'all. They and their fathers have transgressed
against me to this very day. The descendants
are also impudent and stubborn. I send you to
them, and you shall say to them, Thus says the
Lord God, and whether they hear or refuse to
hear, for they are a rebellious house, they will
know that a prophet has been among them. And
you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be
afraid of their words. Though briars and thorns
are with you, and you sit on scorpions, be not
afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their
looks, for they are a rebellious house. And you
shall speak my words to them, whether they hear
or refuse to hear, that they are a rebellious
house. But you, son of man, hear what I say to
you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious house.
Open your mouth and eat what I give you. when
I looked behold a hand was stretched out to me
and behold a scroll of a book was in it and He
spread it before me and it had writing on the
front and on the back and There were written
on words of lamination and mourning and woe and
that was what I read this morning Where I felt
the Lord guiding me So, you know today listening
to this that God is trying to speak to you whether
or not you soften your heart and it is in the
character of the Heavenly Father to send his
children to send people to speak on his behalf
to groups knowing that not everybody is going
to listen knowing that not everybody is going
to want to hear But understand that God is such
a loving father that He loves you and wants to
see you repent so much that He will send people
to you knowing that you're still gonna try to
reject them. Y 'all, I cannot tell you how many
times I look back in my rebellious time period
of my life and realize that God was sending me
people and God was sending words and God was
trying to get through to me. but I had hardened
my heart and I had refused to see it and that
right there is a testimony in itself of how good
God is how I'm able to look back and being like
wow even though I was actively in divination
I was actively in witchcraft I was actively in
sexual immorality I was in idolatry I was in
all of these things and God was still sending
people to me he still wanted me to turn back
to him That is how good he is. I want to remind
y 'all today about the story of Jonah. Jonah
knew that God was forgiving. Jonah knew that
God was merciful. Jonah knew that God was all
-powerful. And when God called Jonah to go to
Nineveh and to preach repentance to the Ninevites,
Jonah didn't want to go. Now I've done some historical
looking into the Ninevites, and I guess the Ninevites
were a scary group of people. They weren't above
sacrificing and a lot of violence. They worship
the fish god They weren't really a group of people
that you'd want to come up to and say hey, you're
wrong But the more I Look into that story and
the more that I read different biblical scholars
Perspectives on it because I've looked a lot.
I've I've heard a lot of different perspectives
with the book of Jonah, I guess You know, Jonah
already understood that God was in the business
of forgiveness and of giving people second chances
and of not immediately condemning or immediately
striking down. And a partial reason Jonah didn't
want to go to Nineveh was because he was like,
watch, I'm going to go and tell them that destruction's
coming and you're going to forgive them. there's
no point in going I know you're forgiving God
I know you're going to forgive them and that's
actually stated more near the end of the book
of Jonah when for that time period the Lord spares
the Ninevites because they repent we do know
later on in scripture that the Ninevites do get
got for a little while they do see the wrath
of the Lord because they turn back to their ways
um we know that repentant is a change of heart
it's not just feeling guilt or just feeling sorrow
and these people did eventually turn back to
their ways but in that time period we do see
that Jonah says to the Lord in prayer he's like
I knew this was gonna happen I knew I was gonna
declare um that you you were about to take him
out and that you would forgive them and Jonah
was getting really upset and petty and God had
to you know kind of teach him and he used the
leaf that was giving shade and then taking that
away and just he went through and really kind
of revealed Jonah's heart to himself you know
the way that we respond to the way God moves
and works really tells us a lot about ourselves
and that was a really revealing time for Jonah
but we see that God called Jonah saying hey go
preach to these people go tell these people that
I'm about to destroy them they need to repent
and Jonah said no I'm gonna do my own thing.
And what Jonah did is he went and he got on a
boat and tried to sail off to the other side
of the world. Like he just he started running
away from God's calling. He said no to God and
started running in the other direction. And he
got other people involved. He was getting on
other people's boats and it was when he was sleeping
at the bottom of the boat that a storm started
going crazy and the people on the boat were freaking
out thinking like dude we're gonna die. And they
were like trying they were they were trying to
figure out who angered Because you gotta keep
in mind these people on the boat these these
were all people that Were followers of the Lord
God some these people were pagans they had their
other gods They had their other other beliefs
going on right so they were trying to figure
out like the spiritual side of this like Who's
mad right now? Why is this happening and they
started casting wads? You know and they they
recognized that it was Jonah's fault And they
start asking Jonah, like, who are you? What's
going on? And Jonah was like, all right, I'm
gonna be real with y 'all. I follow God. I'm
a follower of the Heavenly Father and I disobeyed
him. So yeah, there's a storm going on right
now because he's mad that I'm running away. I've
angered the Lord. And they actually at first
try to keep Jonah on the boat and try to save
him because they're like, well, what do we do?
He was like, I'm gonna be real with y 'all. Throw
me in the water. like he was like if you want
to please the situation toss me off the boat
and at first they didn't do that they helped
him get away further they kept him on the boat
and they were trying to do their thing to keep
getting away but eventually the storm got so
crazy that they were like okay we've got to throw
them in the water and they threw Jonah aside
and you know they were the storm resided they
were good It worked out for them, but what happened
is a big fish came and swallowed up Jonah. And
he was in the belly of that fish for days. And
once he was in the belly of that fish, he was
forced to sit and reflect. And in that time,
he was repentant for his disobeying the Lord.
And when he repented and he was crying out to
the Lord, the Lord caused him to be spit up from
the belly of that fish. And when he was spit
up, the Lord spoke to him. and the Lord gave
him the same command that he ran from in the
first place which was go to Nineveh and tell
him what I'm telling you to tell him and this
time around because he was repentant Remember
y 'all, repentant isn't just feeling guilty and
recognizing you did wrong. Repentant is a change
of heart, meaning you can no longer defend that
thing, which means that you're going to start
taking different actions, okay? So this time,
because Jonah was repentant, he agreed and he
went and he did what God told him to do. And
we see that the people of Nunavut believed him.
And because they believed him and they repented,
God decided to spare them in that time period
and then we see that Jonah goes and gets salty
He's upset that God spared them. He was like
see I told you I told you this was what was gonna
happen I knew I was gonna come here and waste
my time and say all this stuff and then you were
just gonna spare him anyway and God used that
as a little bit like a teaching moment where
God gave him some shade from like a leaf and
The next day that leaf was gone and Jonah started
getting I might as well just die Lord, why'd
you take this away and God was kind of getting
real with him of why are you so upset? I took
that away when you never had to work for it in
the first place That wasn't your leaf. That was
my leaf. I was just allowing you to use it. Why
are you mad? Why are you mad? Like, you know,
that was just a time of revealing Jonah's heart
to him and God using that as a moment to work
on him and I related when I was talking to those
people the other night that to the book of Jeremiah
because we see in the book of Jeremiah that God's
people have become rebellious. They are idolizing
they they are Really putting their fleshly desires
number one They are doing a lot of things that
they shouldn't be doing. They're listening to
false prophets They listen to a lot of false
prophets We have a problem modern day now with
a lot of false prophets speaking from personal
experience y 'all I was a tarot card reader we
see it in the mediums we see it in the psychics
we see it in the The astrologers, we see it in
the horoscope readers, the natal chart people,
we see it in the tarot readers, oracle card readers,
we see it in the people who are saying that they're
speaking from the Lord, but if you held what
they said to the Bible, it does not match scripture
whatsoever. It goes against the word of God.
We see a lot of people doing a lot of that. Just
as prevalent as it was back then is prevalent
now. And these people... in the book of Jeremiah
were putting their faith in those false prophets
and what they had to say they were putting their
faith in their own works and their own things
and you know every so often um they would go
and have like a short repentance or they would
go and say okay yeah what i did was wrong or
what i did was bad but they would always turn
right back to what they did you know they didn't
actually have a change of heart they were actually
pursuing the relationship with the heavenly father
you know once they felt like they were in the
clear they would go back to doing what they were
doing before and god like literally the first
30 chapters in the book of jeremiah y 'all is
just the lord warning them saying stop doing
this stop doing this the lord sent them multiple
prophets he sent them jeremiah which was like
the final prophet before all this stuff started
going down crazy And God was just sending them
warning after warning after warning time after
time after time saying like if y 'all don't turn
from this I am going to allow your enemies to
conquer over you. I'm going to allow your land
to be taken from you I'm gonna allow you to be
dispersed. I'm good You're gonna have to serve
these other people and it's gonna be a long time
coming back Like God is warning them saying y
'all are gonna lose everything if you keep doing
this Y 'all are gonna lose it all yet they didn't
listen instead they chose to listen to the false
prophets because at the same time that God was
sending them prophets saying what you're doing
is wrong repent you need to deny your flesh you
need to put first you need to put God first and
put yourself second don't be taking the shortcuts
don't be taking the easy ways don't be taking
the idolatry ways don't be giving to greed don't
be given into lust don't be giving in to all
of this false stuff Put your faith in the Lord
Or you will be destroyed God is showing you grace
and mercy right now, but he's not going to show
you that grace that mercy forever that will run
out But then they had false prophets in their
ears saying no God loves you God God loves you
and everything that you're doing continue doing
this You're gonna be totally fine. Your enemies
aren't gonna conquer over you Like, God's grace
is never going to run out. God's mercy on you
is never going to run out. You can continue doing
what you're doing. You have a reason for it.
I'm paraphrasing right now. But these were the
voices that they had. They had the voices that
were telling them straight up biblically. But
it had an ending that they didn't want to hear
of. If you continue down this path, there is
destruction afoot. And then they had another
voice saying, no, keep doing what you're doing.
God loves you. He won't allow that to happen.
He won't allow this to happen. You're good. Keep
doing it. It'll work out in your favor. And they
put their faith in those voices because those
voices didn't require them to change. Those voices
didn't require them to do better. Those voices
told them what they wanted to hear. Those voices
comforted their flesh. And we know from reading
scripture that the flesh and the spirit are enemies.
What your flesh wants to do, your spirit does
not want to do. What your spirit wants to do,
your flesh does not want to do. And we know That
Jesus has said multiple times to deny yourself.
We need to take up our cross and follow him.
Jesus never says entertain the flesh, satisfy
the flesh. He says deny the flesh. Deny yourself.
He who loses his life will save it. Jesus told
that rich man, if you want to follow me, sell
everything you own. And that man was not willing
to do that and turned his back. These people
in the book of Jeremiah listen to the sweet voices
that told them Everything they're doing is fine.
They're perfect the way they are. It's all defensible.
You're good Everyone else is just a liar and
because they continue to listen to those lies
and put their faith in those lies They ended
up having to serve the Babylonians. They ended
up being split They end up having all of that
time But we see that the mercy and the grace
of God in the book of Jeremiah where he allowed
this to happen in hopes that one day They would
turn to the Lord Because once they were in this
low low place now They need a Savior and now
their hearts are finally humbled enough to say
okay. My way isn't the best way I'm gonna turn
to God Because when everything when they were
able to continue doing what they were doing and
trying to make things work for themselves They
didn't need God like that. So God allowed them
to be putting themselves into a position through
their rebellion that they needed him and once
they did that he could have their hearts again.
So there is still redemption in that story because
we do see after the book of Jeremiah that God
eventually does rebuild the temple and he does
take the Babylonians out of that place of power.
But what has to happen is the humility and the
humbling of their hearts. And I want to share
with y 'all from personal experience and there's
still some more scripture that I'm gonna read
with you that that is what the word did to me.
I turned away from him y 'all. I believed I was
turning my back on the church because I was raised
in the, I was raised going to church and I was
raised in more, you know, in Catholicism there
are a lot more religious requirements than maybe
like a non -denominational, which I attend now.
And in my mind, I was really more in religion
than I was in relationship. And when I look back,
I didn't have that solid relationship with Jesus.
I didn't view him as a savior. I didn't view
myself as someone who truly needed saved. Did
I view myself as a victim? Yes. But I defended
everything I did and I didn't see the things
I was doing that were sinful as sinful. I didn't
truly, I viewed myself as needing a savior from
other people, but not needing a savior from myself.
And that was the real big problem. Which shows
when you look about kind of the Jews problem,
right when Jesus came was They were looking at
the Messiah as someone to save them from the
Romans and save them from other people but Jesus
came to save them from themselves and They refused
to believe that they needed a Savior in that
way they wanted the Savior that was gonna come
through and take out Rome and elevate them and
When I look back now, I'm like dang. That's what
I was looking for because you know, y 'all know
I grew up in addiction and I grew up around like
a lot of narcissistic behaviors and there was
a lot of emotional manipulation there was a lot
of in my friends and in my relationships and
I felt like I was constantly getting taken advantage
of or suffering or made to hurt in all these
different ways and I viewed myself as a victim
of a lot of unjust things and there were a lot
of things I faced that were harsh and traumatic
and you know that I empathize with other people
when they experience that. And after a long period
of time, I didn't realize but a lot of that started
to turn into anger that I directed at God and
misunderstanding of why. Why would you let that
happen? How is this good? How are you going to
use this for my good? How is this? How is that?
And my view of the world slowly started being
a warped situation. Where I just viewed everyone
else as the enemy and me as a helpless victim
and of course, I wasn't perfect I had a reason
for why I do everything else and when I really
took myself out of the bubble I realized that
that is everyone else that everyone else can
make up that same justification When I'm sitting
here thinking I am the biggest victim in the
world boohoo. This person did this thing to me
I'm sure they're saying they're thinking well,
I did it for this reason. I have this pain I
have this trauma or I I needed this to be done.
I needed this It makes me think of you know Forgive
and judge to the measure that you want to be
judged And the Lord really had to get real with
me on that one this past year where it was like
I'm making up all these excuses for myself Why
can't I make up these excuses for other people?
Why is everyone else is the bad guy? I'm the
one with the reason I'm the one with the justification
I'm telling y 'all that the source of my rebellion
was I felt like there was a lack of justice and
a lack of control in my life I felt like I was
dealt with unjustly and I felt like God wasn't
dealing the justice. I didn't even see it that
way because I wasn't going out trying to hurt
people. That wasn't my way of trying to get justice,
but I was trying to avoid the constant cycle
of pain. That's why I turned to divination. That's
why I started putting my faith in that is I felt
like I had information that could help me avoid
painful situations and that I could just uplift
myself. And I also felt like I could use that
as a career path to help other people, too. But
I see that those desires and those needs were
deeply rooted in a past history of, like, feeling
like I had dealt with things unjustly. And that
was also why I stopped giving thanks to God,
or I never fully tried to give things to God,
is because I felt like he wasn't dealing with
it the way I wanted to deal with it, and because
I didn't understand his ways. I didn't understand
what he allowed. and I turned my back on him.
I've shared that testimony of when I had that
meditation, I said, I'm gonna, because once I
got into new age spirituality, I started learning
about other, I'm using quotation marks of other
deities. I now recognize that these are all just
demonic spirits. If it's not from God, who's
it from? It's demonic. about that time I viewed
them as deities. I was interested in learning
about them and I was interested in learning about
the meditations and all these different things
and how you're your own manifestor and you're
in control of everything. You know as someone
who I had felt like a whole lack of control throughout
my life New Age virtuality to me was like, oh
my gosh I can have control. I can create things.
I can do this. I can do that I don't have to
like wait on someone else's timing. I can just
do it whenever I want to do it When I when I
look at it now like New Age spirituality y 'all,
you know, there's fruits of the spirit New Age
spirituality is like anti fruits of the spirit,
you know God has really been developing self
-control in me New Age spirituality is like the
lack of self -control because what brought me
in was the fact that you can manifest it like
that You can create it like that That's what
a lot of witchcraft is because witchcraft is
about control and doing what you want to do and
executing your will At the root of it, witchcraft
is executing your will over God's will. And that
is rooted in impatience. That is rooted in a
lack of joy. You don't have true joy or gratitude
for what God has already done in you or is doing
in your life, and you're trying to bring in more
and create more. Really, witchcraft in New Age
is like anti -fruits of the spirit. Now, I'll
say that the Lord was developing the fruits of
the spirit in me while I was still in New Age,
and I've talked about that. very over time but
what draws you in i've heard it in my testimony
and a lot of other people's testimonies at the
root of it is seeking something that is not christ
-like um that is not brits's spirit you're so
sick of waiting on god's timing witchcraft provides
for you your own timing you're so sick of waiting
on answers well you know this provides for you
you can go seek out whatever answers from the
demonic sources that you're going to I rebelled
from the Lord y 'all because I did not understand
his ways. I was angry and I blamed him for the
bad things that happened in my life and I felt
like I had been a victim most of my life and
this was my opportunity to create my own happiness
and do what I wanted to do and I felt like I
wasn't hurting anybody and all of these things.
There's a really popular celebrity that I really
used to look up to and like I loved her a lot.
um I listen all of her music like I knew every
one of her lyrics and you know the past couple
The past year, especially I've really started
recognizing because I know she used to call she
used to admittedly call herself a Christian And
when I wasn't reading my Bible when I wasn't
listening to my discernment When I didn't really
have relationship with Christ anyone could told
me they were a Christian and like quoted some
scripture Or done some nice things and I would
have believed them and now I'm saying more like
the Lord has really helped me to see and discern
and I pay a lot more attention to people's words
and the way that they live their lives and you
know this artist I used to love her music and
last year I started listening to a new album
that she had and there were so many songs that
were just straight nods to witchcraft where it
was undeniable and I felt a real conviction listening
I couldn't listen to her songs anymore you know
there was one where she was talking about having
cards laid out on a table and talking about the
Fool, and the Fool is the beginning of the Tarot,
and is the beginning, it's called the Fool's
Journey in the Tarot card, like in the Major
Arcana, and she was talking about being gathered
with a coven around a sorcerer's table, and I
noticed some people, those are play on words.
But to me as someone who's in New Age spirituality
and that was my life the fact that she could
use those words in those ways and throughout
that was talking more about prophecies throughout
more songs prophetic words and I start noticing
even in past songs where she's talking about
a lot of deals with the devil and a lot of different
things like that where I'm really starting to
recognize that you know Satan knew scripture
too and we know that that he quoted scripture
and twisted scripture too. He did that to Jesus
and you can't be lukewarm and I felt really convicted
listening to that where it was like I could tell
that maybe she had one foot in but there is definitely
one foot out and these were not glorifying the
Lord lyrics and we know that it doesn't matter
how many works you do that does not mean that
you have a relationship with the Heavenly Father
and there was a new album that like recently
came out that I couldn't even listen to like
three songs further I tried to give another chance
and I couldn't do it y 'all I just had to pause
and take a moment because I needed to regroup
with the direction we were going in and just
laying the Holy Spirit guide me back and the
root of where I was going with this is there
are so many influences out there right now that
seem to be Christ -like that actually lead you
very far away from the Lord Because with example,
if I started listening to every one of these
songs or every one of these lyrics or even maybe
looking more at the way this person lives their
life, when it comes to maybe some of the good
works that they do, sure, I see the good works,
but in the messages that are being spread at
the root, are they glorifying God or they glorifying
self? And it's so easy to be led away and led
astray by things that sound similar to scripture.
Or by people who say that they're rooted in scripture
and there's a personal testimony I'll share with
that in a minute But where I was going at was
I was listening to an interview with this person
the other day because they had just recently
had a new Album and they they had said in this
interview that you can create your own happiness
and like That was an immediate red flag and I
know that a lot of people would probably hear
that and on the surface level defend that because
that is the day and age that we're living in
is put yourself first do what makes you happy
YOLO I grew up in the era where everyone was
saying you only live once YOLO young wild and
free do what you want to do just pursue whatever
makes you happy but that's not what scripture
says scripture says to deny your flesh we know
that joy will be found when you seek first the
kingdom of heaven that will be added on to you
and as someone who spent my entire life trying
to create happiness for myself seeking it in
the world seeking it in relationships seeking
it in money seeking it in trips seeking it in
vibes and all these things and I would find some
real high highs and some really good feeling
moments but eventually there is a dissatisfaction
and there is a you need more or you need different
or you need something else but i have never had
that once i started finding my joy in jesus christ
now that's not saying that i'm completely satisfied
with every situation in my life but there is
a joy that doesn't run out there's not those
low crashes there's not those depleting because
i know that i am rooted in the lord and i've
heard so many other christians share that testimony
and we know that that is scriptural We know that
Jesus is the light that he is the source of all
things good and happiness is a good thing and
when I was listening to that like I I just My
heart like hurt for so many people that I know
are listening to that and will take that Because
you cannot create your own happiness, but it's
just simple things like that that don't feel
too harmful that just feel like a simple idea
that when you are actually starting to take root
in that and pursue that, you're going to find
yourself in a direction that is not leading you
towards Christ. Because pursuing Christ isn't
pursuing ourselves or pursuing our own desires.
It's pursuing being more Christ -like, seeking
for the Kingdom of Heaven, setting your mind
on the Heavenly Father. pursuing that and all
of these other things will fall into place and
I'll tell y 'all that when I was taking step
after step after step into new age I was listening
to voices that at times sounded Christ -like
when I I was eating up there was a there was
a I'm doing quotation marks prophetic person
i was eating up the things that they were saying
on tiktok y 'all like i i loved to listen to
their words and they would call them channel
messages that i didn't see them with a tarot
card i didn't see them with an oracle card the
things that they were saying would sound very
accurate and they were always giving god they
were saying god told me god said this god spoke
this and because i I knew that prophets were
a thing. I believed to have a prophetic gift
myself from the Lord But I wasn't scriptural
based. I wasn't holding these things to scripture.
I wasn't praying to God. Is this person from
you? I wasn't looking deeper I wasn't testing
the spirit and I was eating up the things that
this person was saying and They weren't the only
voice I was listening to but when I think to
my book of Jeremiah moment I was listening to
that false prophet that was giving me comfort
because they were telling me, keep doing this
and do this and do this. And like, you know,
God's so pleased with you and you're going to
have blessing in your life. And you're going
to all of these things and all the people do
wrong. You are going to be struck down like all
of these things. And I was just so adamantly
believing, yeah, this is this is a prophet from
the Lord. But then, you know, I was also listening
to terror readers and other people and I was
doing my own readings and my own meditations
and things like that. And when I gave my life
to the Lord and I stopped listening to all those
voices in general, like I shut out any kind of
prophetic word, any kind of anything, I shut
down all my social media, like I was trying to
avoid anything and only communing with God through
a prayer and scripture reading. And he actually
really had to work on me to get me open to even
entertaining the idea of how he does send people
with prophetic words, because I have a lot of
trauma in regards to that. and I had to recognize
and realize I was listening to someone who wasn't
from the Lord and the more I was praying to the
Lord like to reveal things to me the Lord started
revealing this person to me and this person actually
married a very popular witch on TikTok like who
does a lot of love spells and all these witchcraft
things and does a lot of tarot card reading and
this person actually started selling a lot of
TikTok tarot readings and oracle card readings
and became and started selling spell work where
they um do protection but like label it saint
work and different things and the lord openly
revealed to me that this person was in witchcraft
and that this person wasn't divination they were
heavily um and that was a really big confirmation
word be to god that he revealed that to me and
but i started looking back and i started realizing
if i would have been biblically literate if i
would have prayed for an understanding of the
Lord. I would have seen that a lot of things
that this person was encouraging me to do were
things that were of the flesh and were things
that were fleshly desires and things that so
clearly, although they sounded good to the ears,
when I held them up to scripture, they were not
Christ -like methods in Christ -like ways. I
wasn't always being told to go hurt other people,
but I was being told consistently to exalt myself
and to put myself first, and just being okay
to continue in divination and continue in tarot
reading and continue in crystals and all that
kind of thing. I wasn't being told to go in the
other direction, right? And if that was from
God, I would have been told to put down the divination.
I would have been told to put down the witchcraft.
I would have been told it doesn't matter why
you're doing it, you shouldn't be doing it, point
blank, period. And the Lord had to really reveal
to me that I had been listening to a lot of other
voices in that rebellion And I'm not blaming
my decisions on those people at all. I made the
decisions that I made But the voices that you're
listening to are so important And testing the
spirit behind the voices that you listen to is
so important because sometimes these messages
are so small And you think how can this be hurtful?
How can this lead to separation when you start
implementing that in your daily life? You see
just how much separation that can create Y 'all
trying to create your own happiness Trying to
do something you are not going to be able to
do that scripture tells us That Jesus is the
vine the father of the vine dresser and we can
do nothing apart from him We cannot have endless
happiness endless joy endless love if he is not
the source if he is not what we are tapping into
We cannot create that for ourselves You might
be able to find a temporary high but there is
going to be a crash There is going to be a low
there is going to be a lack There is going to
be a seeking for more and needing more if you
are not Founded and rooted in Jesus if he is
not pouring into you And I want to say today
too if you have found that you are in a position
right now where you are trying to do things apart
from him You can go to him and start working
with him any moment any hour Do it. I did it
Well, I spent years starting to develop and cultivate
and grow a new age tarot reading thing for myself
Social media platform all of those things and
when Jesus when I realized that all of that was
apart from him And I listened to what he wanted
me to do. Obviously. I was called to shut it
down. I Deleted the courses I had I deleted all
the videos. I deleted the email accounts like
anything that glorified tarot reading and all
of that and the Lord helped me to build something
new hand in hand with him this podcast alone
is something that I honestly didn't consider
pursuing myself but building it with the Lord
step by step I'm telling y 'all today that rebellion
turning from the Lord because it's not what you
want to do It feels good to the flesh to do what
you want to do Whatever reasons might be something
deeper and more painful where you feel like something
is just so unjust or because you can't Understand
why this thing was allowed to happen or because
you can't grasp this thing why he would allow
this You want to rebel and go in the other direction
because you feel like Well, you've been trying
and you haven't seen the works. I'm gonna be
real y 'all. I used to say that I used to say
well I've been I tried the Jesus way I tried
but did I really though Because the whole time
I was going and I was going to church every Sunday,
but I was still fornicating I was still having
sex before marriage. I was still cussing all
the time. I was still gossiping about people
I was still putting myself around people that
were not pursuing a relationship with the Lord.
I was having bad influences Bad company corrupts
good morals. I was still idolizing things. I
was still idolizing jobs. I was still idolizing
money. I was still idolizing substances. I was
still willfully sinning in a lot of different
areas of my life, finding reasons to defend it.
I wasn't praying to the Lord every day. I wasn't
denying the flesh. I wasn't truly trying to surrender
my way to the Jesus way. I wasn't seeking him
in scripture. I wasn't doing any of that, yet
I said, well, I tried the Jesus way. I tried
His way. Well, I've been patient. I pray every
so often, Lord, but I wasn't doing what He was
telling me. That's the thing, y 'all, is communication.
Prayer is a conversation with the Lord. And yes,
you can talk, but you also need to listen. And
when the Lord gives you an answer, you have to
deny your flesh and accept that answer. When
He calls you to something, you say yes. And that
was my biggest problem is when he would call
me to things I wouldn't want to say yes Because
I didn't immediately see how it would all pan
out and I didn't have it all spelled out to me
Because it might make me uncomfortable or because
it might take a little bit longer. I didn't want
to take that way I wanted the fast -paced way
at the root the rebellion. I was in this selfish
Rebellion is selfishness And it is not gonna
lead you anywhere, but separation It doesn't
matter what you gain on this earth if you lose
your soul And I want to share with y 'all some
scripture someone who had it all and in rebellion
Lost it all in his name was Saul You know that
the people were getting the Israelites were asking
God we want a king give us a king they themselves
demanded a king and God finally said okay fine
I will I will pick a king for you and God chose
Saul and this is talking about rebellion there
is so many different we can see so many different
examples of rebellion in the scripture And Saul's
rebellion was one where God placed him in the
high place. At one time, he had God's favor.
He had God's anointing. God had chosen him. But
in his rebellion, he lost the favor. He lost
the grace. He lost the mercy. And eventually,
he lost it all. He lost his life. Because we
see Saul. Saul is put as king. and God is giving
him orders and I'm paraphrasing y 'all the story
off memory but Saul was ordered by the Lord to
go and take out the enemy saying God is gonna
be with you take them out do not take anything
for yourself leave it all destroy it all kill
it all And Saul disobeys that. Saul does partial
obedience. He goes and conquers the people. He
goes and conquers all of that and lays people
out like God told him to, to take the land, to
take the people. But then he starts seeing some
things, some material things that look really
good to him. You know, the sheep, the animals,
those things are looking really good to him.
There's some material things are looking really
good to him and he's like I'm actually gonna
take the best of these but his way of Defending
it and like pushing off this thing, but I'll
use them as offerings for God. So they're like
not mine They're God's but we're gonna go ahead
and take these and then there were some lives
that he spared He was not called the spare. He's
taking people prisoner instead And God had sent
a prophet to talk to him saying you blatantly
disobeyed you were blatantly in rebellion Partial
obedience is still disobedience and Saul had
multiple instances of Partial disobedience or
like full disobedience. He chose to people please
Instead of doing what God called him to do and
we know from reading scripture time and time
again That if you are doing things of Jesus way,
the world is gonna hate you Jesus told us that
a lot in the New Testament We see it in the Beatitudes
right? Blessed are you when you're mocked or
reviled persecuted for my sake? We know scripture
tells us that you are not gonna be more beloved
than your master than the person that came before
you than your teacher If we were doing things
the Jesus way The world is gonna hate us. They
might call us ignorant. They might call us Judgmental
they might call us mean they might call us cold
They might there's gonna be a different way to
spin it out of every mouth But the world is going
to find a reason to not like you when you when
Jesus is being shown through you okay but we
have to make the conscious decision to choose
the jesus way anyway to choose god's way even
if that means that there are going to be people
who persecute us who mock us who hate us who
lie about us who slander us who do all of these
things but you know there there's the option
that the flush wants so bad, which is to just
people please and to water it down and to start
making compromises and start getting lukewarm
just to keep everybody happy and to limit the
drama and limit the conflict and sing kumbaya.
And there are a lot of people who give into that.
I'm one of those people who gave into that for
the longest time. For the longest time. And that
is not what the Lord calls you to do. We like
to, the world masks that as well. Keeping everybody
comfortable in that way is actually the best
way to love somebody. And that's actually the
kindness thing you can do. If you're gonna show
kindness, Christ like love and Christ like kindness,
that's the way. And I used to believe that, but
that's not true. That's not true. Because sometimes
the most loving thing you can do is say that
this is a sin and you need to break away from
that. It's calling it out when the Lord tells
you to call it out. The most loving thing you
can do is show an example of how Christ lived
set apart He spoke with sinners. He dined with
them. He sat with them, but he was not then he
did not copy them He didn't blend in with them.
He led them away. He didn't fall into it Okay,
then Saul had two different directions. He could
go in is he gonna people please his kingdom?
Or is he gonna do what God? told him to do because
God gave him that position so the only person
who's gonna be able to take him out of that position
is God but in his mind he started treating it
as if the people put him in that position he
started bending to the people's will he started
bending to his own fleshly will his own fleshly
desire we see in the book of Solomon we see King
Solomon okay King Solomon had a problem with
that too right a bending to the will of people
he bent to lust a lot And when you bow to the
people instead of God, you got a real problem
there. Because that's what he started doing.
He started bowing to his own flesh. He started
bowing to the people instead of God. And God
put him there and God took him out. He, and I
know we're speaking in retrospect, he should
have remembered that since God put him there,
the only person that will take him out if he
is continuing to obey the Lord is the Lord. that
the people, it doesn't matter whether they are
mad, salty, happy, whatever, they aren't going
to take him out of somewhere that God has appointed
him to be. But since he decided to continue on
in his own messy mess, in his rebellion, for
whatever reasons he justified, he recognized
that his time as king was going to come to an
end, and it was made clear to him that God's
favor on him as a king was no more. And God showed
his favor to David and anointed David to be king
one day. And we see how Saul was doing the most
at David, was throwing spears at him, was talking
crap to him, was plotting, scheming, scamming,
how he was chasing David down trying to take
him out. Jealousy, envy, all of these things.
Because once he knew that he lost the favor of
God, his eyes were looking out of, who's God
raising up to take my spot? And how can I take
them out? That's... what his mind was set on.
And I want to read to y 'all just a little bit
from 1st Samuel that calls out rebellion. Okay.
This is 1st Samuel in chapter 15, and this is
where the Lord rejects Saul. And we're going
to start at verse 19. It says here, Why then
did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did
you pounce on the soil and do what was evil in
the sight of the Lord? And Saul said to Samuel,
I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone
on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have
brought Agag, the king of Amalek, and have devoted
the Amalites to destruction. But the people took
of the spoil sheep and oxen, the best of the
things devoted to destruction to sacrifice to
the Lord your God and Giggle. And Samuel said,
has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings
and sacrifices? as in obeying the voice of the
lord behold to obey is better than sacrifice
and to listen than the fat of rams or rebellion
is as the sin of divination and presumption is
as iniquity and idolatry because you have rejected
the word of the lord he has also rejected you
from being king y 'all For rebellion is as the
sin of divination your rebellion is just as bad
as witchcraft Rebellion is just as bad as witchcraft
Witchcraft is your own control Executing your
will over God's will that is what rebellion is
it doesn't matter the reason and Rebellion will
always lead to loss relationship with the heavenly
father it will always lead to separation and
I'm speaking from experience y 'all when I even
though my life wasn't amazing and I was because
when I started listening to the New Age direction
y 'all I started seeing like my life falling
into pieces things that used to just work out
even though things seemed to be working out,
I wasn't having as much of a blessing as I used
to be seeing. And after I hit that time of when
I openly kind of turned from the Lord and turned
to New Age, turned to other deities, turned to
witchcraft, turned to divination, turned to all
those things, I started seeing real fallout like
I had never seen before in my life. Like in the
past, yes, weapons formed against me, but I guess
those weapons weren't... always prospering eventually
they would fall i would really feel the damage
because i wasn't living a life surrendered to
christ i wasn't really being covered in the blood
of jesus i wasn't standing in my authority i
wasn't handling things in the christ -like way
meaning that i was getting partial results if
i'm if i'm not truly submitted or surrendering
to the lord of course i'm not going to get the
expected results right if you're one foot in
and one foot out you can expect that with the
results but when i was both feet out Man, the
weapons appeared to be prospering. I had seen
pain and just suffering and loss like never before.
I was made to be in a position where finally
I looked around and I was like, you know what?
my own works got me to this point new age spirituality
listening to all these voices that aren't from
the Lord got me to this point and I have two
options now to continue down this path and I'm
just putting on band -aids and it's gonna get
worse and worse and I'm gonna be on this hamster
wheel or I can submit my will to God and even
though his ways aren't my ways give him my heart
and watch what he does When I chose that path,
he showed me grace and mercy and love and he
has rebuilt my life He has done things I could
never do for myself. He has opened up doors.
He's giving me revelation He has done things
I you would not be able to tell I went through
what I went through if I wasn't telling you the
testimonies And I'm here today to tell you that
that is where rebellion will lead you. It's not
an if it's a win If you are turning from the
Lord to turn to these things, it's not a Are
you going to suffer? Are you going to be turned
over? It's when are you about to suffer and when
are you going to be turned over? And it's what
are you going to do when you get there? So many
people you can hear so many people who have rebelled
Went through suffering and then turned to the
Lord will tell you the same thing I'm telling
you there are so many people in the Bible where
you can see where their rebellion leads, where
they're putting themselves before the Lord leads.
It makes me think of, and it's been a while since
I've read the scripture, I believe it's in the
book of Acts, where there's a husband and a wife,
and God has, you know, he's taking care, this
is after Jesus has already went to the cross,
resurrected, ascended into heaven, and his apostles,
his disciples, are going around and just spreading
the gospel and doing the works of the Lord, and
they're trusting on God to provide. when it comes
to their finances. And God is working, stirring
up the hearts of people around them to sell portions
of their land or sell parts of their businesses
and bringing the money to the apostles, to the
disciples. And there is a husband and wife who
sell a portion and they have a load of money
and they decide in secret to lie. Basically to
lie to the disciples and say oh we actually only
made this much So that way they could keep a
portion for themselves when they knew that that
wasn't what they're supposed to do That was their
act of rebellion and the husband came up first
and Spun the lie and said that to him and God
struck him down He died right there and he was
carried out and then his wife a couple hours
later came in and said the same thing and The
Lord struck her dead right there For lying and
going against what God told them to do and um
again I'm just quoting off a memory but one of
the disciples had said back to them they were
like before we came this land just sat idly and
you you weren't like you weren't selling it no
reason like you you were just chilling day by
day and now all of a sudden that God wants you
to do something with it and give the money now
you want to keep it now there's something you
want with it now there's And that was a self
-reflection moment for them Look at Judas when
he rebelled and when he betrayed Jesus look at
where he ended up Not repenting We see time and
time again in the Bible that rebellion is gonna
lead you nowhere and a lot of us Choose to only
worry about what we can get here in the flesh
just here in the world because we don't see eternity
so that's part of the thing about faith is walking
by faith we don't see with our eyes right now
everything that happens when we die we don't
see eternity with the heavenly father and we
don't see eternity and separation so we just
think about what can we get now that keeps us
comfortable now what can we do now that keeps
us satisfied now what can we do now and when
you're when you're seeking first the kingdom
of heaven When you're doing things to Jesus,
well, you're not thinking so much about this
life. You're thinking about the next. You're
thinking about the Heavenly Father. So a lot
of things that we're doing here and now aren't
meant to get us ahead here and now, but they're
meant to further the Kingdom of Heaven. When
you're looking at the world, you're looking at
just right here and now. You're looking at maybe
two years in the future, maybe three years in
the future, but you're not doing things for eternity.
Someone needs to hear the scripture today, and
I'm pulling this out the depths of my mind right
now Jesus have once told a man let your let the
dead bury the dead And there's a man that wanted
to follow Jesus and Jesus said yeah, you can
follow me He's like, but hold on let me let me
go bury my father first and he's like now let
the dead bury the dead Saying don't worry about
that worldly thing right now. We'll worry about
the spirit. Come follow me So I'm speaking to
y 'all today who are in active rebellion Who
maybe maybe right now you the Lord has been pulling
at your heart and you've noticed him trying to
talk to you Do not ignore God Don't do it. I
did it and look at where I ended up for a time
period. I was living in my car in the desert
With no money to my name unsure of if I was gonna
have food to eat the next day with my enemies
conquering over me with people mocking me with
people making fun of me with people online stalking
me and harassing me with lies on my name that
were crazy no friends I was talking to I wasn't
talking to my family at the time I couldn't like
even pay like to go take a shower like anything
like I felt like I had lost everything And that
was where rebellion got me. Because so many good
things I had in my life before then, I didn't
realize were gifts from God. So when I turned
my back on Him, He took those things away. And
I am warning you today that in your rebellion,
that is what is going to happen. I used to say,
no, not me. No, not me. I have good intent. God
won't do that to me. If He really loves me, He
won't do that. He won't do that. Those are the
fake voices. And we see that from the book of
Jeremiah and I remember at that time When I was
really In my scripture every day and this was
a weird period of time where I was trying to
leave behind tarot reading and I was trying to
seek first the kingdom of heaven and going all
in with that and I remember the Lord putting
it on my heart This is one of the where I was
really getting used to hearing from him and putting
aside the cards and putting aside all of those
things instead trusting in the Lord and what
he was revealing to me and There were a couple
people who at that time were going very hard
against me who were mocking me who were lying
about me who were Trying to keep me from giving
my life to Christ. They were taking active steps
to keep me in rebellion They were taking active
steps to, the big thing is they were taking active
steps to prevent opportunities from coming my
way. They really wanted me to get worse and worse
where I was at. It was like kicking me while
I was down. It was like twisting the knife that
was already at me. And if they had the life,
they had to deceive, whatever they had to do,
they were doing it. And I felt the Lord really
tell me to... it was a weird way for me to handle
it because the way I wanted to handle it was
to defend myself and put all the truth out there
and to like Reveal them and expose them and all
those things and God told me to give it to him
and trust in him and to have boundaries but also
Show the love of Jesus and to warn these people
And this was at least like a year ago now that
this had happened But the Lord had told me to
warn just as he's telling me to warn today to
warn those people about the deception that they
were listening to and that they think that they're
protected and that they think that they're good
to keep doing what they're doing, but one day
God is going to flip the script and turn it around
and to repent and to turn away from this rebellion
before it's too late. And what I mean by too
late is before the suffering really starts kicking
in and before they lose things that were given
to them from God. and they have to rebuild again
when they turn to the Lord. And I haven't been
checking in on those people. I haven't, so I
can't tell you where their lives are, like everything
that's going on. I don't intend to check in on
those people. I don't intend to be watching those
people. God's, I did what I was called to do
and I have focused since then on my life. But
what I'm saying is do not ignore the warnings
I ignore the warnings and I suffered for it and
Yes, God used all of that for my testimonies
and he used that to teach me He flipped those
around like God is using it all for my good But
I'm saying now have ears to hear and eyes to
see and humble your heart be receptive to the
people that the Lord is sending you I Didn't
want to be receptive I looked at all those other
people like they were stupid or they didn't know
what they were talking about. You know I actually
looked at some of those people like they were
my enemies. When I was in new age and like there
were some Christians that were just trying to
show the love of Jesus to me and just trying
to like talk about God to me and everything I
was upset when I realized that they were praying
for me. And I was upset that that they were doing
all these other things because I didn't want
what they wanted for myself They wanted me to
be surrendered to the Heavenly Father and they
want me to know the love of Jesus and they want
me to Live life his way and at that time my desires
were I want to do what I want to do I want to
live my life my way and all these things and
I could tell that God was hearing their prayers
and I was upset because I was like To me they
were evil to me they were warfare because i felt
like they were executing their will over mine
and then once i now know the love of jesus i
was like oh my gosh no i am supposed to be submitted
to jesus and it is his will over mine glory be
to god he worked on their hearts to pray for
me my view has so much been shifted and skew
like now that i am biblically literate now that
i know the love of jesus christ now that i am
submitted to it So I'm a walking testimony today
of what Jesus can do in your life when you do
submit because he turned my life around in days.
I remember writing down in my journal on I believe
it was it was September 28th I give my life to
Jesus Christ. I remember that day writing that
down and it was October 8th that I had been miraculously
moved back to my hometown and God had worked
a lot of miracles in my life and I look back
and I'm like oh my gosh I was less than two weeks.
surrendering and there was a lot leading up to
that of me reading scripture. I'm not saying
it was I just wrote that down in my journal and
all of a sudden it happened because there were
leaps of faith of throwing away all my tarot
cards, throwing away all my oracle cards. There
were opportunities for me to go backwards in
that time period that I denied and there were
leaps of faith. It wasn't just this. I'm saying
I read it down in my journal and it happened.
It's not what I'm saying, but I remember writing
down that I submit my life to Christ and then
taking the actions and submitting, obeying what
he was calling me to do and walking by faith
and humbling my heart. And in doing that, within
weeks, he was already rebuilding me and he was
doing amazing works. So I'm here to tell you
that grace and mercy can be shown once you humble
your heart. But I'm also here to tell you that
that grace and mercy will run out. If the Lord's
not able to get through to you in the life you're
in now, you best believe He'll allow you to be
turned over to the consequences of your own actions,
in hopes that then you will see that you need
God. I pray that this episode blessed you, and
I don't want you to feel any judgment and will
sing this because I'm telling you that I was
in the same boat, but I pray that you hear that
I was in the same boat. and to not continue down
that path. Y 'all, those very people that tried
to keep me where I was, God still has me praying
for these people very frequently. randomly bring
them the mind for me to pray for them pray that
they're healed pray that they submit their lives
to the Lord pray that they see the goodness of
God pray that they submit their ways to his ways
and pray that they become champions for the Lord
I pray that these people have testimonies and
that they are used by God in big ways and if
you're looking for somewhere to start someone
might need to hear this today if you're looking
for somewhere to start start by praying for your
enemies Start by praying for the people who have
persecuted you because then that opens the door
for forgiveness and that also really humbles
your heart. Praying for someone who's caused
you pain and suffering and praying that they
are healed and that they are used by God in mighty
ways and that they know the love of Jesus and
that they are able to show the love of Jesus
to other people. Praying that is softening your
heart. and is humbling yourself. Whether or not
you realize it, and that's a really good space
to be in, and I recommend you to do that. I pray
that this episode blesses you, and I thank you
so much for listening to this episode. I'm your
host Danielle Townsend. This was the Salt Not
Sweetener podcast. I do ask that you subscribe
to this podcast and share this episode with someone
that you feel is needing to hear it. Share with
someone that the Lord is putting on your heart
to share it with. Share it on your social media.
Help me get this podcast out there and help people
who need to hear this message hear this message.
God bless.