How is it Possible to Fall from the faith if we stay in our priesthood?

The question has come up from the younger saints about how it is possible to fall from the faith if we stay in our priesthood. They learned that the priesthood is their shield and that it is impossible for Satan to penetrate that shield. But when they see those whom they thought to be strong in the faith fall from the faith, and leave covenant, they question the priesthood and then doubt God’s ability to keep them.
So what is going on? Are we save in our priesthood or are we not safe? And what happened to those who said they were strong in their priesthood and fell away?

First of all, to answer your question about the strength of your priesthood, your priesthood , like everything else of the covenant, is dependent on 3 things:

1. Your participation. Take responsibility for your priesthood.
a. Your participation must be in word and in deed. There must be an outflow of the priesthood into your life. One cannot claim a strong priesthood and leave the altar and walk in sin (gossip, slander, backbiting). This person is lying when they say they love God, for they love themselves more than God.
b. You cannot approach the altar of Christ with doubt and sadness in your heart, or your priesthood is defiled.
2. Keeping the priesthood restricted to the work of the Spirit and restricted from the aspiration.
a. You cannot approach the altar with your own vision in mind, but be willing to lay down your life for the sake of Christ.
3. The power of God. God will empower your faith (that is the purpose of the priesthood) and fellowship with you (another purpose of the priesthood) if you keep your vessel pure.
God is a God of order. He does not dump on us His blessings and protection and say, “There, now you are blessed and protected because you are praying in tongues and offering sacrifices of prophecy.” His acceptance of our faith and prayers, and His work within the heart is dependent on our participation and our participation is dependent on how well we discern.

What I would like to talk to you about here is the devil’s part in all this. You didn’t think he was going to sit idly by and twiddle his thumbs while you are trying to prosper in God’s kingdom? He is very active and aggressive in his campaign to keep steal your faith and defile your priesthood.

When saints leave the faith it is not because they had a strong priesthood or that there is something lacking in the priesthood. It is because they allowed their priesthood to become defiled.

When you learn how this happens then you can learn how to prevent it from happening. We have been working through the inclination workshops for the past 7 weeks to track Satan’s movements to unveil how he works to undermine faith. The Bible says that the devil is our adversary, making his rounds, seeking out any weaknesses in any of us, and exploiting that weakness, robbing faith from the heart until we fall from the faith.

Here are the steps Satan takes:

1. Anger
2. Bitterness
3. Fury
4. Folly
5. Doubt
6. Sadness

Let’s read from the book of Hermas (for those of you who are not familiar with these scriptures, they are found in the Lost Books of the Bible) and a portion of the study guide to Inclination Workshop #7: The Inclination to Procrastinate: The Battlefield of the Mind:

2 Hermas Command 5:
7 But anger is unprofitable. If therefore anger shall be mixed with forbearance, the soul is distressed, and its prayer is not profitable with God.
14 And this longsuffering dwells with those that are full of faith. But anger is foolish, and light, and empty. Now bitterness is bred through folly; by bitterness, anger; by anger, fury. And this fury arising from so many evil principles, works a great and incurable sin (what is in the mind goes to the heart: Satan enflames the thoughts of the heart).
15 For when all these things are in the same man in which the Holy Spirit dwells, the vessel cannot contain them, but runs over: and because the Spirit being tender cannot tarry with the evil one; it departs and dwells with him that is meek.

2 Hermas Command 9:
8 Consider therefore this doubting, how cruel and pernicious it is; and how it utterly roots out many from the faith, who were very faithful and firm. For this doubting is the daughter of the devil, and deals very wickedly with the servants of God.
9 Despise it therefore, and thou shall rule over it on every occasion. Put on a firm and powerful faith: for faith promises all things and perfects all things…
10 …faith comes from above, from God; and has great power. But doubting is an earthly spirit, and proceeds from the devil, and has no strength.

2 Hermas Command 10:
1 Put all sadness far from thee; for it is the sister of doubting and of anger…’
2 …For sadness is the most mischievous of all spirits, and the worst to the servants of God: It destroys the spirit of all men, and torments the Holy Spirit…
18 Remove therefore sadness from thyself, and afflict not the Holy Spirit which dwells in thee. For the Spirit of the Lord which is given to dwell in the flesh, endureth no such sadness.
22 When therefore a man’s prayer shall be accompanied with sadness, it will not suffer his request to ascend pure to the altar of God…
23 Wherefore cleans thyself from sadness, which is evil, and thou shall live unto God. And all others shall live unto God, as many as shall lay aside sadness and put on cheerfulness.

So in looking at these inclinations: anger, bitterness, fury, folly, doubt, and sadness, the Lord is highlighting for us a number of things to assist us in our discernment: Firstly, that if we procrastinate and do not close the window of the imagination, our giving heed to the influence of these evil spirits grieves the Holy Spirit. And we know that it is a new covenant command of God that we grieve not His Spirit. Ephesians 4:30 “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

Procrastination has to do with taking lightly God’s commandments

Being in covenant with God, we take it not lightly when unclean spirits make their presence known; for what these things testify of is unbelief. For faith holds no anger, no doubt or sadness, but rather, it works temperance, longsuffering and all the virtues of Christ within, giving substance to our hope and rejoicing to our soul.

We cannot stop Satan from presenting to the mind his gifts, but if we procrastinate in our response, the gift is then deposited in the heart.

Secondly, there is also a warning given, that the Holy Spirit will depart when Satan’s gifts are accepted into the mind and heart. This does not mean that the Holy Spirit comes and goes each day, but that the Holy Spirit will not remain in a vessel that continues to yield to unclean spirits.

We know that the Lord is longsuffering towards the children of promise, and so He gives us the knowledge by which to make distinctions for righteous choices, and exhorts us to continuance of faith whereby no inclination of Satan might gain control over us. It is our responsibility to heed His council and depart from that which is destructive to our faith.

And thirdly, we are shown that the presence of these pernicious spirits results in the ineffectiveness of our prayers before God. Our prayers must ascend pure before God, for nothing that bears defilement can enter the presence of the Most High King. 1 Peter 3:12 “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” And so we do not mingle with unclean spirits, for being earthly; anger, doubt and sadness speak of a mind consumed with the cares of the world, rather than the things of God. And so we heed the council of God’s holy apostles: 2Corinthians 10:5 ‘Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ’

And so as the Lord speaks of putting on cheerfulness, we are reminded of Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.” Which speak of the strengthening of our faith thru the pattern of rehearsing, reflecting and reciprocating, for when the mind is consumed with the Grace and Truth of God, the lips also shall overflow with His Charity.
By strengthening our faith we draw strength from God. [end of workshop quote].

Going back to our original questions, “How it is possible to fall from the faith if we stay in our priesthood? Are we save in our priesthood or are we not safe? And what happened to those who said they were strong in their priesthood and fell away?"

The question is not in the strength of the priesthood, but what the person is busy laboring with. We tend to take people at face value when they say, “I am laboring at the altar offering many sacrifices of prophecy daily, I am having dreams and visions, and overcoming,” yet they fall away.

Satan does the same thing, he says what he thing you are looking to hear. But what you don’t see is the seeds of anger, bitterness, fury, folly, doubt, and sadness that are daily received into their minds and allowed to stay there and germinate. Taking again from our Workshop Study Guide The Inclination to Procrastinate:

“Procrastination is in not immediately dealing with the thoughts of the mind, weighing them circumspectly, and directing our minds as we ought. Did you know that Satan stands each day with gifts at the passage of your mind, waiting for you to accept what he offers? Each gift is packaged so as to attract your attention, so that you will stop and gaze and consider the value of what he is presenting to you. Right or wrong, just or unjust, pleasure or displeasure, increase or decrease, opportunity, flattery, the honor of man, oppression, escape, promise, dreams. . .

It would be interesting if we had a device that could calculate all the lovely presents Satan offers each day. And then another device that lets us know how long it takes for us to realize what is happening and to then reject the gift, refuse the inclination to turn aside into the broad way. We do have scripture that outlines for us what happens when we accept Satan’s gifts, and how they go from the mind . . . to the heart; for Satan enflames the thoughts of the heart...” And then we read those scriptures quoted above from Hermas.

In closing, it is not the priesthood that is weak, but the person that is made weak by allowing Satan to plant thoughts in the mind that then festers in the heart. If you ask those who fall away from the faith what drove them to make this destructive decision, and to give place to the devil in the manner in which they did, you will always hear it said in one way or the other that there were things bothering them for the past few months that led them in stages, first through anger, then bitterness, then fury, then folly, then doubt, and then sadness. They allowed Satan to plant these seeds into their minds, shared these seeds with others and allowed Satan to enflame their hearts. All those who accepted these seeds are enflamed in the thoughts of the heart and are also led astray. This is a defiled priesthood. Their prayers and sacrifices were not ascending up to God pure and God did not receive them. And once departed, their prayers and sacrifices do not ascend up to God pure and God does not receive them.

Being in this state, separated from God’s government, truth, and Spirit, the person has to work faith to prove a tether still exists (when it does not), prove that the inspiration of aspiration is grace (when it is not), by using spiritual experiences as a measure. Dreams and visions do not save us, nor do they make a priesthood.

This misuse of dreams and visions to justify faith happens when there is a long standing breach in a person’s understanding of Christ and how spiritual growth takes place. A person often reaches for spiritual experiences for justification as a shield to cover their nakedness. But God reveals the hearts, that faith is not present.

This misuse of dreams and visions to justify faith happens when people build faith upon relationships rather than the Lord Jesus Christ and they need visions and dreams to continue to seal the relationship and strengthen the bonds. The visions and dreams are used to support the decision to defend a relationship rather than defend the faith.

Finally we have Apostle Peter’s warning, “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness” (2 Peter 3:17).

In Christ,
Chief Teacher Maria
Second 8th Week Apostolic Institute of Theology