Posted: 04/03/2008 at 5:23pm | IP Logged

The SHATTERED PEOPLE
-Joseph Herrin (9-8-02)
 
Matthew 21:44
"And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on 
whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust."  
 
Mankind has no way of escaping the breaking process of God. 
Either man will agree with God that he needs breaking, and he will 
submit himself to this process, or he will resist it and the breaking 
will be incredibly more severe and without reward. The child of God 
can choose to fall on the Rock, which is Christ, and be broken, or 
the Rock will fall on them and they will be scattered as dust.
 
About four years ago I did one of the wisest things that a man can 
do. I asked for the judgments of God in my life. It was not because 
I was so wise that I did this thing, but because the Spirit brought 
me to the point of understanding that all of those who would go 
further with Him and be accounted as overcomers must undergo a 
crucifixion of their soul life. The outer man must be broken open to
allow the precious life of Christ contained within these earthen 
vessels to be poured forth.
 
About four years ago I had been reading a book by Rick Joyner (I 
believe it was "The Harvest") and in the book he spoke of a 
prophetic experience he had. In this vision he saw Christ on an 
island. On this island there were two distinct types of people. 
There were some glorious people who were involved in godly works, 
and there were those who were not glorified, and many of these 
were involved in all manner of evil works. Rick Joyner wrote that He 
saw Christ standing with a sword in His hand, and that people 
were coming up to Him, and as they did Christ would thrust the 
sword into the individual and then remove it. What happened next 
was remarkable.
 
Some of those whom Christ thrust the sword into would fall down 
and they would quickly die. When they were dead they would then 
arise and they would have the appearance of those on the island 
who were glorified. Others, however, having been thrust through 
with the sword of Christ would fall down and enter into great agony. 
This agony would continue on and on, and it was evident that 
some of these people went on for great amounts of time in the 
throes of death, yet not dying.
 
Mr. Joyner asked the Lord what the difference was between those 
who died quickly and those whose agony went on and on. The 
Lord replied, "Those who die quickly are those who ask Me to put 
them to death. Those to whom death is delayed are those who 
resist and seek to avoid this process."
 
After reading this book, the Spirit would not let me get away from 
this vision. I understood that there were many areas of my life that 
were not surrendered to the will of God, where my soul life pursued 
the things it desired. I also understood that this soul life had to be 
put to death in order for the life of Christ to be revealed in and 
through my life.
 
Mark 8:34-35
34 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to 
them, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, 
and take up his cross and follow Me. 35 "For whoever wishes to 
save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and 
the gospel's will save it." 
 
For a number of weeks I thought on this matter, and I clearly saw 
that standing between myself and a deeper experience in Christ 
was this place of death. My flesh recoiled from what it saw, and 
loudly made known its protest. Yet even more pressing was the 
desire of my spirit to go forward with Christ. To turn away from 
Christ was something I feared even more than physical and 
emotional suffering. The thought of falling short of God's will for my 
life was the most dreadful thought of all.
 
Hebrews 10:36-39
36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done 
the will of God, you may receive what was promised. 37 For yet in 
a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay. 
38 But My righteous one shall live by faith; And if he shrinks back, 
My soul has no pleasure in him. 39 But we are not of those who 
shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the
preserving of the soul. 
 
As I considered that this cross before me could not be avoided, I 
came to the conclusion that if I must go this way then I wanted to 
get it done quickly. I did not want a long agonizing death. I much 
preferred a quick death.
 
Shortly thereafter, my wife and I had a man, who is a Christian 
author, and his wife come and visit us in our home. They were very 
serious about their walk in Christ, and just before they left they 
asked if they could pray for us about anything. I replied 
affirmatively saying, "I would like you to pray that I would have a 
quick death." This couple understood my intent, and they became 
very serious. The husband asked me, "Are you sure you know 
what you are asking for?" I assured him that I did. This couple then 
asked my wife if she were willing to walk with me through the 
experiences the Father would lead me through. She also said she 
was willing.
 
This was a watershed day in our lives, and I understood that some 
threshold had just been crossed over. Our Father was not long in 
answering this prayer. The Spirit quickly began to lead me down 
roads that can only be described as the valley of death. For a 
period of eighteen months I was subjected to one experience of 
suffering after another as the independence of my soul life was 
dealt with. Many were the instruments of death during this process. 
I was cast out from my place of ministry in the body of Christ when 
I refused to compromise in obedience to God. I was rejected by 
family members and saints alike. My family went through a 
stripping process from all of the things of the world. Things I had 
accumulated in disobedience through debt were all removed. Our 
path was very painful, even to the extent that my wife said she 
regretted ever agreeing to go this way with me, yet she remained 
nonetheless.
 
The end of this intense death experience found us living on a street 
bearing the prophetic name of Kingsbury, where the King was 
separating away and burying the soulish powers that had ruled in 
our lives. The community we lived in at this time equally bore a 
prophetic name, for it was called "Payne City", and great was our 
pain in this place. Never had I felt more vulnerable or helpless than
during these many months of dying. Even as a man on a cross is 
unable to deliver himself, so I too was at the mercy of God. 
 
For months my heart felt like it was being torn apart and I wept 
many tears in my distress, yet before we had gone far down this 
path the Father spoke prophetically to me and said, "Though the 
path will seem long and sorrowful, seemingly without end, when it 
is over it will seem to have been but a moment in time that passed 
swiftly by." As I now look back on this experience, it does appear 
to have passed swiftly, and the sting of it is no longer in my 
memory. It is like a mighty firestorm has passed over me, and I 
am now filled with peace and joy to know that I am still standing, 
and I have not been destroyed. The only things that have been 
consumed are those things that bound me.
 
I have no illusions about having been completely delivered from the 
evil in my soul and flesh. Even now the Father is doing a further 
refining and purifying in my life, yet it is not with the former 
intensity that was required to shatter the strongholds that had 
gone uncontested for so long.
 
As I have traveled the path before me the Father has allowed me 
to see that there have been many others who have been 
experiencing similar fiery trials. I have had the honor to correspond 
with numbers of these saints, and it is evident that a brokenness 
has come in their lives that is now allowing the sweet savor of 
Christ to come forth, when formerly it had been hindered. 
 
All of us are like the seed of an oak, or even the seed of a grain of 
wheat. The life within the seed is there with all of the potential to 
grow into the pattern of that which it came from. Yet the outer 
shell restricts this life from coming forth. Even as a seed must fall 
into the ground and die, being subjected to freezing, flood, heat 
and pressure, resulting in the outer shell being broken open, so 
too must the lives of the saints be subjected to great stress in 
order for the life of Christ to be revealed.
 
Christ Yahshua said we had but two options: we can fall on the 
Rock and be broken to pieces, or the Rock can fall on us and 
scatter us like dust. Recently, the Spirit revealed this truth of the 
necessity for brokenness in a most poignant way. I know of a man 
in his sixties who has been a child of God nearly forty years. There 
was much hardness in this man's life, and the outer shell of his 
natural man greatly constricted the flow of the Spirit within him. He 
was prone to speak very cutting and hard words to members of his 
family, wounding many of them.
 
About a year ago this man had to undergo major surgery, and he 
nearly died. After his surgery he was left in a very weakened state 
physically, and emotionally. His natural strength was abated, and 
in his weakened condition the Spirit was able to move in his life 
and to express qualities of meekness, gentleness, humility and 
love. In his vulnerability and weakness he expressed many words 
of regret towards his past hardness, and the failures of his life. He
called up family members, and with tears he spoke of his regret 
over his hardness, and he asked forgiveness of those whom he had hurt.
 
Over time this man's strength began to return, and as it has so 
has the former hardness that was a characteristic of his natural 
man. He has returned to speaking hard and injurious words to 
those around him. As I contemplated this I saw clearly why the 
Spirit must bring all of God's children to places of brokenness. We 
all "have this treasure in earthen vessels", even the very life and 
Spirit of Christ. Yet this life will be as a bottle of precious and 
costly perfume that has never been opened if we protect it and do 
not allow it to be shattered. The scriptures give us a beautiful 
picture of this.
 
Mark 14:3
While He was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, and 
reclining at the table, there came a woman with an alabaster vial 
of very costly perfume of pure nard; and she broke the vial and 
poured it over His head. 
 
John 12:3
Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and 
anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the 
house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.   
 
Alabaster is a white, marble-like mineral that people used to store 
ointments in. While the alabaster vial remains sealed and 
unbroken, the contents are completely hidden, closed off from the 
world. When Mary broke her alabaster vial we are told that "the 
house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume." If we want our 
environment to be filled with the fragrance of Christ, then we too 
must be broken vessels.
 
This breaking does not seem joyous at the time, but sorrowful. It 
involves pain, yet those who humble themselves before God and 
make themselves pliable in His hands will find that the breaking is 
more easily attained than if they had resisted and were hardened in pride. 
 
I believe the time is nearly up for the saints of God and the nations 
to humble themselves before God and to ask for His judgments. 
Precious few have availed themselves of the opportunity. The 
Father has sent many warnings of judgment to come. He has 
given the church time to repent, and she has not availed herself of
the chance before her.
 
Apocalypse 2:21
"I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her 
immorality."
 
The hour to fall upon the Rock and be broken is nearly at an end. 
All that remains is for the Rock to fall upon the people and to 
scatter them as dust. Turn to God while there is still time. Much is 
being shaken in this hour, and a greater shaking is to come. Seek 
God while He may be found. Do not turn away from Him in the 
hour of mercy.
 
As I end this article, to my remembrance has come a prophecy 
that Hollie Moody shared with the body of Christ on October 6th, 
2001. The word was entitled "A Closing Door". Below is an excerpt 
from this word.
 
"I have been under a tremendous burden this week, but especially 
today. It has been building up and intensifying within me. The Lord 
has been showing me a door opened a crack, but slowly closing. 
 
When I asked what this could mean, I felt the Lord replied that 
after the terrorist attacks on America on September 11th, He 
allowed a period of grace and mercy towards not only America, but 
also other nations who were also troubled and shaken by the 
tragedy which occurred on our shores. Now, the door I saw in this 
mini-vision was closing, and was almost totally closed. 
 
In the vision, I cried out to the Lord to keep the door open just a 
little longer. I tried to reach into the space between the closing 
door to keep it from closing completely. I was weeping and crying, 
pleading for a little more time. 
 
"I granted a little more time," the Lord replied. "I heard the cries 
and saw the tears of many after your country was attacked. I then 
waited for the cries and tears to turn to true and lasting repentance. 
While many truly repented, there were so many of My children who 
remained unmoved. And they remained unchanged...
 
"This is a troublesome time. I am shaking mightily all things and 
all people. He that endures to the end, the same shall be saved." I 
then saw vast numbers of people stooping down to the ground and 
picking items up from the ground. With their arms full of bits and 
pieces of what they had picked up, the people came to the Lord. 
They put the items in their arms on the Lord and began to build
something with these items. I watched and beheld as a beautiful 
building began to emerge. 
 
"I am the foundation upon which all other things must be built," the 
Lord said. "My people are broken. When they bring the broken 
pieces of their hearts and lives to Me, and begin to build upon Me, 
I will put the brokenness back together and raise up a glorious and 
victorious Church. My Church shall stand triumphant when it is 
built upon Me. I will have a people called by My Name. I will have 
a Church." [end excerpt]"
 
A broken and shattered people are those whom the Father can use 
to build His glorious church. If you have been resisting the 
brokenness, then do so no longer. The door is nearly shut. The 
opportunity to fall on the Rock is almost fulfilled. How grievous it 
will be for those upon whom the Rock falls. He will scatter them as dust.
 
~SOURCE:  http://heart4god.ws/id212.htm
 

Posted: 04/06/2008 at 12:24am | IP Logged

Sharon,

Thank you for posting this.  It is an excellent piece, and the message so essential to the true Christian life.

RE