The Nero Spirit

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                                              FINANCING THE PURSUIT
                                                Robert Henderson

As we have shifted into an apostolic agenda to reform society, many parts of the devilish hierarchy have been awakened to resist this endeavor. It’s not that we haven’t had apostles or that which is apostolic up until now. It is simply that we haven’t had apostles bent on reformation of society and the reclaiming of the seven mountains: religion, family, business, government, education, arts/entertainment and media. As these mountains or spheres are recovered for the kingdom of God and the agenda of God is released in them and through them, society will begin to reflect the splendor of who our king is. This is what the devilish hierarchy of principalities and powers are here to resist.
 

In a visitation of the Lord, I was made to know this was the driving force behind Nero in the first apostolic age. During that era there was an entity called the “ecclesia.” This is the same Greek word that Jesus used in Matthew 16:18 to describe His people - the church who are empowered with kingdom authority to bind and loose with keys from Jesus Himself and completely reform society and establish kingdom rule in it. However, the word “ecclesia” was not a religious term but rather a secular one. It spoke of the elders who sat in the gate of a city and made decisions and decrees that determined what society looked liked. This governmental entity called the “ecclesia” was also led by a military group called “apostles.” The word apostle was a naval term that spoke of the commander of a fleet of ships, the fleet itself and the colony that fleet was sent out to establish in the name of the king. So you had a governmental people led by a group of military commanders released in the earth to take over society and its cultures.
 

I was told that this greatly disturbed Nero. His strategy against this military/governmental people bent on reforming society and making it a reflection of their King and His culture was to persecute it into silence. This is documented historically. As a result, Nero unleashed great hostility, anger, blasphemy and outrage against this apostolic entity called the church. The word of the Lord to me was just as the spirit that drove Nero against the first apostolic age had been unleashed, so it was being unleashed against this apostolic age that is now bent on reformation. Whenever an apostle, the people connected to him, and those flowing with this revelation enter the fray, they will have to contend with this Nero spirit. In the article “The Nero Spirit,” I shared some of the characteristics that we could expect to fight against as we engage this Nero spirit with the mountains of society hanging in the balance and outcome.
 

One of the strategies of this spirit is to cut off finances from those who are warring to see society reformed. Yet as with everything -if we know how to war and use the authority that God has committed to that which is apostolic, we can see this spirit broken and the finances we need released. I have spoken with many apostles that are engaged for the reformation of society and it seems that many of them are feeling and experiencing the onslaught of these spirits against the finances they need to win this war. Ephesians 3:10 tells us that the intent of God is to use the church or the ecclesia to cause the principalities and powers to witness and experience God’s wisdom against them:
 

to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known  by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.
 

So through the wisdom of God, we are to war against these powers that are seeking to resist the ultimate agenda of God in the earth, which is the reformation of society. As God flows through this governmental people called the church - led by the military group called apostles - these powers that fight against the manifestation of the kingdom in the earth will fall.
 

To understand this warfare we are in, we must know that Jesus by His work on the cross has disarmed these princes and powers that now occupy and rule regions and territories. Colossians 2:13-15 tell us that Jesus’ work on the cross accomplished amazing feats. The least of which is not the undoing of the principalities:
 

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
 

To “disarm” means to slip out of clothing and to be divested. In other words these wicked and evil powers that dominate regions were stripped of their authority that they were clothed with. So if Jesus stripped them and spoiled them by His work on the cross, why are they still in power and influence? One major reason is the cause: the sins of people in a given region from generations gone by and now have re-empowered them through the principle of alignment. Whatever we align with or agree with we empower. Jesus taught this when He said that if two or three “agree” it will be done by the Father in heaven. (Matthew 18:19) Whether it is with God or the devil our agreement empowers that one’s purpose in the earth.
 

When the devil comes to tempt he is not simply seeking to get someone to commit an act, he is seeking alignment with that person so that he can be empowered. Sin is simply aligning ourselves with that which is against God. When we do, we open the door to potential satanic influence and work in the earth. This is what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. Their sin created an alignment that empowered a devil that had been cast down. Through their alignment, they gave Satan rule over what God had given to them. So if we are to bring down the principalities and powers from their place, we must first break the alignment created by the past and present sins of people. To do this we must flow with the manifold wisdom of God through the prophetic that releases the authority of God and undoes the web that the devil uses to stay in power even though Jesus has stripped him. Once these alignments are broken by the wisdom of God being made manifest through the governmental people called the church, we can pull the powers down that resist God’s agenda in the earth with a little finger.
 

As we do this, all that is resisting God’s purposes in the earth realm will be removed. This devilish hierarchy will try to demoralize, paralyze and discourage in many different ways with the resistance of finances being one of the chief ones.
 

We see this in the life and combat of Gideon in the book of Judges. As Gideon was raised up to be a deliverer and judge, he had to break the powers of the Midianites and their kings that were oppressing and ruling over Israel as a nation. God gave him the strategy to do so by joining 300 men to him who through the breaking of pitchers, the blowing of trumpets and the shouting of voices caused the enemy to be found in disarray and defeated. Though it seemed silly, it was the wisdom of God displayed to the rulers against which Gideon was at war. (Ephesians 3:10) As the army of aliens fled, Gideon and his 300 pursued the two kings and their armies. These kings represent to us the principalities and powers that Gideon knew had to be broken in order to secure peace and the establishment of the kingdom in Israel.
 

The 300 were the “ecclesia” or the governmental people of God under the leadership of Gideon - an apostolic man who was a military commander. As they pursued these kings to finish the job so that these kings could not re-establish another army to come again against Israel, they were tired, weary and worn-out but yet pursuing. Judges 8:4-6 shows us the condition of the army and Gideon’s request to the people of Succoth and Penuel:
 

When Gideon came to the Jordan, he and the three hundred men who were with him crossed over, exhausted but still in pursuit. Then he said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.” And the leaders of Succoth said, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?”
 

Succoth and Penuel answered Gideon this way because they were still under the influence and domination of Zeba and Zalmunna, the principalities and powers that had ruled Israel. Their influence restrained these two cities, the leaders and their people from giving to Gideon and his men provisions to finance the pursuit.

This is what many apostles and prophets are encountering as they pursue the pulling down of these principalities and powers that are set to resist the reformation of society. People that should be financing the pursuit are missing the opportunity and the army of God or the ecclesia associated with the apostolic and prophetic, find themselves weary and yet pursuing because of the lack of funds and finances to empower them. This can be demoralizing and is a tool of these powers to stop the inevitable -their downfall and the arising of the kingdom rule of God in their place.
 

The names of these two kings are very significant. Zeba means “slaughter”. We must realize the brutality and viciousness of these devilish entities. Whoever aligns themselves with these powers against the apostolic of God and His kingdom will suffer the aftermath of such a move. The alignment with Zeba can produce untold sorrows and trouble because the door has been opened through this alignment.
 

The name Zalmunna means “to deny shade”. This speaks of this power’s attempt to stop the apostolic from being established in a region or nation. One of the purposes of the apostolic is to provide sanctuary and covering for folks to operate under once they are in alignment. Zalmunna’s purpose is to stop the apostolic from being established within a region, area or even nation. If kingdom power and authority is to be released there must first be the pulling down of these principalities and powers. This does require the financing of the pursuit.
Once Gideon had taken down these two kings, he returned to Succoth and Penuel and dealt with those who had taunted him and not help finance the pursuit to bring these principalities and powers down. In other words they had no joy or part in the victory that had been won for the whole nation. They received judgment instead of rewards because of the alignment they chose during the battle and the pursuit. (Judges 8: 11 – 17) We must be very careful to be rightly aligned during these battles.
 

There is a different outcome though for those who will finance the pursuit of these principalities and powers. When Paul was in prison and he wrote to Timothy in II Timothy 1:15-18 where he spoke of those who wouldn’t finance the pursuit and those who would:
 

This you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain; but when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me. The Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that Day—and you know very well how many ways he ministered to me at Ephesus.
 

Paul said that all those in Asia had been so influenced by the devilish hierarchy that they had turned away from him. He names Phygellus and Hermogenes as those who in particular would not finance the pursuit and were not with him. He then speaks of Onesiphorus who is said to have “often refreshed” Paul. The word “refreshed” means to cool off and to relieve. Whatever this Onesiphorus did, it caused Paul to be relieved. Remember how Gideon’s men were exhausted and yet pursuing? So was Paul. As an apostle of the Lord, Paul was consistently engaged with principalities and powers of regions. He was in a pursuit to pull them down. He said he did not wrestle with flesh and blood, but with these principalities and powers. (Ephesians 6:12) Onesiphorus was not like the men of Succoth or Penuel. He did share his bread and refresh the apostle and therefore empower his pursuit against the powers of hell. As a result, Onesiphorus received mercy for himself and his household. II Timothy 1:16 clearly shows a generational blessing coming on Onesiphorus because of his financing of the pursuit of the apostolic:
 

The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain; but when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me.
 

As Onesiphorus financed, refreshed and sought Paul out to do so, he secured mercy over himself and his household for generations to come. Whoever will break free from the intimidation of the principalities and powers and align themselves with the apostolic through their giving will experience the blessing and mercy of God for generations to come. Mercy is that which flows out of covenant. So as Onesiphorus aligned with Paul through his aggressive ministry to him, he was blessed and so was his lineage.
 

God rewards those who finance the pursuit against powers of darkness. As we do, may the blessing of the Lord flow down on us and those who belong to us. We - our children, grandchildren and even those we won’t live to see - will be blessed because we financed the pursuit, refreshed the apostolic and prophetic and empowered the pulling down of darkness that hindered the reformation of society. We will partake of the joy of the victory and not the judgment of defeat.

 

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