Typecasting

by Gary Batchelder

Introduction

We are now in the midst of a great spiritual battle. The Lord wants prevailing influence over people because He wants to bless and preserve them. Satan wants control because he wants to use them to fulfill his lusts and initiate people into his unholy army. God is bringing people to the truth that they may be free. Satan's biggest concern is to keep people away from the truth and inoculate them from the truth because when people step into the light Satan loses his cloak of darkness and with it his control.

One of the tactics Satan uses to keep souls from the truth is typecasting. Typecasting is a projection of impression upon a group or person that influences them to behave accordingly. Satan's projection is slanderous and totally self-serving. God's projection is totally the truth and purely out of loving concern.

This book will deal with how to be blessed and not victimized by Typecasting.

Satan typecasts humanity

GEN 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
GEN 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
GEN 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Satan comes to us in the form of a director, as in a play or a movie. He sets the scene, projects the impression that he desires of the characters involved, and then tries to get us to accept our roles and the roles of others as he would have them.

In this scene from the fall of humanity, Satan draws sketches of the three main characters: God, Eve, and himself.

Satan's Projection

1. Himself

Satan portrays himself as a liberator, one with such compassion for the victimized Eve that he would tell her the truth about herself and God without concern for God's wrath, a righteous instigator who is exposing the skeleton in God's closet. Actually, he is a liar, a slanderer only concerned with his own interests.

2. God

God is cast as a ruthless, loveless power-monger, one who is withholding vital wisdom from Eve because He is intimidated by her and Adam's potential. In truth all that God didn't want them to have was the full experience of evil because to fully experience evil one must be evil. Before the fall, Eve's knowledge of evil was the same as God's; knowing about it without living it. The closest God ever came to sin was creating beings with a free will, and Christ on the cross representing us and assuming the guilt for sin in man's behalf, yet himself without sin. God never has and never will experience sin like Satan and we have. If He ever did what a chaotic universe it would be!

3. Eve

Satan enticed Eve to see herself as God's victim, His ignorant little pet. Locked into God's imposed darkness she would never realize who she was or what she could do. She saw herself locked in a prison and saw the only way out through the door of unbelief and disobedience. Actually, she was on the outside of the prison and she broke in, bringing herself and the following generations into the horrible dungeons of despair and cruel confinement, a breeding place for all manner of disease and perversion. Thank God that Jesus came within our prison to break us out!

Eve accepted Satan's direction, assumed the role assigned to her by his words of corruption, believed the slanderous picture of God, and acted out the scene of disobedience. Then, seeing herself in the corrupt eyes of her new master, she felt the shame of nakedness. So was the beginning of a world chaotic under the influence of the evil director, their vision warped, weak, and undiscerning because of emptiness and death in the inner man.

Satan attempts to typecast Jesus

MT 4:3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
MT 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
MT 4:5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
MT 4:6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in [their] hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
MT 4:7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
MT 4:8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
MT 4:9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
MT 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
MT 4:11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

One main difference between the temptation of Jesus and that of Eve is that Jesus is fully aware of the nature of Satan. Satan could not hide under a veil of phony, concerned love.

In the first temptation, Satan tries to cast Jesus as one who needs to prove who he is to Satan's satisfaction. But Jesus didn't come to satisfy Satan, He came to satisfy the heart of His Father that longed to liberate the people in bondage to Satan. On another level, Satan tried to portray Christ as one who would independently exercise the power apart from the Father's direction, one desiring to be in command rather than under command. So, indirectly, the devil was trying to undermine the authority relationship between Jesus and His Father. Of course, the human hunger of Jesus was also a factor as Satan tried to use the very body of Jesus as his own ally.

All of the temptations typecast the Father as one who will not provide. Considering who these challenges come from they definitely imply unbelief in, and disrespect for the Father of this Son. God never meets the demands of unbelief to satisfy those who project them. He moves in loving faith, (Gal 5:6).

In the second temptation the devil attempts to cast Jesus as one uncertain of His Father's protection. If He would have jumped He would have been responding to Satan's unbelief. When one is certain of protection, no testing is required. To tempt God is to try to get Him to prove Himself, implying that somewhere in God is an insecurity that would prompt Him to act on a dare to prove to Himself and the world that he indeed is all-powerful. God knows He is God entirely; He has no need to prove it to Himself. His only need to prove it to us is in love for us, not to be a puppet on our strings of evil. There is no insecurity or weakness anywhere in His makeup. God responds to faith and respect which He can move upon without sacrificing who He is.

In the third temptation, the devil tries to cast Jesus as one who wants power at the expense of principle, one who wants authority at the expense of relationship, one who would cast off holiness to gain dominion, (like Satan himself did to his own condemnation). The Father is cast as one who will not supply the Kingdom to His Son, one not worthy of exclusive worship.

In all of His temptations Jesus faithfully maintained in His heart and mind the true image of His father. From this image He knew himself in relationship and did not succumb to the evil typecasting. He was a person living beyond the power of mere humanity, a person living in the image of truth projected by a God of truth.

The Pharisees attempt to typecast Jesus

JN 8:48 Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?
JN 8:49 Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me.
JN 8:50 And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth.
JN 8:51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
JN 8:52 Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.
JN 8:53 Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?
JN 8:54 Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God:
JN 8:55 Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.
JN 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw [it], and was glad.
JN 8:57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
JN 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
JN 8:59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

The Pharisees had 4 images that they cast here:

God,
as one who didn't send Jesus, who went along with their persecution of Him,

Themselves,
as guardians of the truth, authorized by God to expose this heretic and free His deluded followers from His influence,

Jesus,
as a heretic, a liar, a Samaritan, one empowered and inspired by Satan, and one who assumed authority upon Himself without God's authorization, a self-made man,

Satan,
as the one who sent Jesus and who desires to take away the Pharisees' influence from the masses.

In reality God was the one who sent His Son, Jesus, and authorized and inspired everything that He did and said. Although He allowed it to be, He did not authorize the Pharisees in their persecution of Jesus. They were the self-made men. Their concern was not the truth but their own political positioning with the truth serving as something to hide behind. The evidence that Jesus presented was so overwhelming that only those with their backs turned to the truth could say that He had a devil. The Pharisees were the ones with Satan as ally. They were his marionettes and he was manipulating them behind the scenes. The Pharisees tried to project their own pitiful condition, (self-made, devil inspired, liars, not knowing God), upon Jesus. Since Jesus didn't want to be a liar like they were, He rejected their direction and clearly stated His true role: "I AM"!

Taking God's direction

1PET 5:5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all [of you] be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
1PET 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
1PET 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
1PET 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
1PET 5:9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
1PET 5:10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle [you].

Satan devoured Adam and Eve and subsequently the rest of humanity when he persuaded them to follow his direction and fall into his typecast image. He tried the same thing with Jesus but failed. Jesus maintained life and then died for us to release that life to us. In Him we have release from the position of being Satan's victim. In Christ we are resurrected from the death we have in Adam. Jesus fulfilled justice and paid the legal fees that we could walk out of our prisons of satanic control in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now we have the potential to live without being under the destructive and corrupting influence of malevolent directors, those who have no heart for us.

Some people resist the idea of anyone directing them. They reject the thought of being directed by God or the devil and think that they are running their own lives according to their own design. They attempt to typecast themselves into an image that appeals to them. The problem with this sort of independent attitude is that it perfectly fits into the devil's plans. Independence was the lure he used on Eve. Few people know that they are being controlled by the devil. He would rather work behind the scenes, making the person being believe that they are doing their own thing when they are actually doing the devil's will.

Sometimes the devil typecasts people into a religious role. He uses high-sounding moralisms and even scriptures to persuade a person to accept a perception of themselves that appears to be acceptable to God on the surface, but actually is far removed from what is revealed to be God's will in the Word and Spirit. There is a religious nature to the flesh which is referred to as heresy in Galatians 5: 19-20:

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

A heresy is an untruth that separates a person from the liberty and power that is in the truth. Jesus told the Pharisees that their tradition made the word of God of none effect, (Mark 7:13). Obedience and harmony with the truth always brings liberty; that state in which man is free to be want he was intended to be in the power of God. Truth is more than a concept, it is a person. Jesus said that He is the truth, (John 14:6). When we come to the truth we come to Jesus, the Word, (John 1:14), who can see through us:

HEB 4:12 For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
HEB 4:13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things [are] naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

A heresy will always appeal to base desires. It will exalt flesh and tend to make a person feel independent from God. It appeals to pride, causing its victim to feel superior to others, blinded by his own false glory. Satan doesn't mind it when people approach the truth with less than honest hearts because they will walk away empty of any improvement. A heresy can give a false feeling of control. Satan is willing to give you a feeling of power and control if you will give him the actual power to control.

The truth is that there is a structure to this universe we live in. There is a God who has and deserves all authority and reverence. Satan is not on top and neither is man. We can fight and rebel against God's position, against His wondrous glory and love, but all we are doing is destroying ourselves. The fact that man is made in the image of God really irritates the devil. He likes to get man to act like him, rebellious and independent. When man goes along with it he is separated from his true image plunges himself into realms of unnatural poverty. When man hears God and allows the Spirit of Truth to influence him he finds out what it means to be a human, empowered and set free in the fellowship of his Divine Friend and Father.

God as a typecaster

God is also a typecaster. The difference between His typecasting and that of those following the thought of Satan is that His is always the truth. Unlike the roles cast for people in movies and plays, the role God has for us does not involve pretending. We are cast to be ourselves as seen by the One who sees all things clearly. One who finds Himself in God finds his real self. Through His Word, His Spirit, His works, and the works of His people God desires to bring all people into their rightful roles as members of His royal family. He has promised that if we would humble ourselves He would exalt us. To humble ourselves is simply to cast off the typecasting of Satan and that of the world he controls and acknowledge that God is God, that He is the Lord of the universe and deservedly so, that we are His under subjects and privileged to be in His presence and under the influence of His words.

Humility is not beating oneself down to appease a sadistic God as Satan would have the world believe. It is accepting from the heart a lesser position under the King, grateful to be a part of His royal court. If God didn't resist the proud He would have to resign His position as the Supreme Being and give it to the deceived ones who desire to be over Him. God must acknowledge and be true to who He is. When we allow Him to be who He is it is called humility, and for humility God gives us grace. Grace is the openness of God to share His secrets of power, joy, peace, freedom, and all that would bring humans to a full realization of their potential and purpose.

God, and those agencies that truly reflect Him, deal with those that don't know Him in several ways. Among many things they reveal the reality of God's existence, mankind's lost, sinful condition, the reality of God's love, salvation through Christ, and the certainty of eternal judgment for rejection of the light. God, in His mercy, shows the unsaved the truth about the typecasting they are living under and offers them a new part; His perception. Those that accept the truth about God, that bow before Him in humility accepting His supremacy, that believe and receive the Resurrection who is Jesus Christ, (John 11:25), are brought from death into life. He takes on a journey of wondrous exploration in the treasure house that is their life in Him all those that enter through the Door. They discover the true light, who He is, and who they are in Him.

Our Brazen Serpent

JOHN 3:14,15 (Amplified)

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert (on a pole), so must- so it is necessary that- the Son of man be lifted up (on the cross); in order that every one who believes in Him- who cleaves to Him, trusts Him and relies on Him- may not perish, but have eternal life and (actually) live forever!

Numbers 21:5-9(Amplified)

And the people said against God and against Moses, Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water, and we loathe this light (contemptible, unsubstantial) manna. Then the Lord sent fiery (burning) serpents among the people, and they bit the people and many Israelites died. And the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord, that He may take away the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent (of bronze), and set it on a pole, and if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the serpent of bronze (attentively, expectantly, with a steady and absorbing gaze), he lived.

It would seem an unusual thing that Jesus would draw as a type of Himself the brazen serpent that was raised up in the wilderness. Most people would associate a serpent with Satan. In using this type Jesus is revealing the depth of His role as our substitute, our savior. In order to understand our selves we need to see ourselves in relation to the role of Jesus.

In Numbers 21:5-9 we see how the people murmured and God punished them by sending poisonous snakes among them. They asked Moses to pray and ask God to take away the judgment. In a sense, what happened to the people in the physical realm is a reflection of what was happening to them in the spiritual realm. The serpents in the spiritual realm are demons that influence people to rebel against God and the truth. They were injecting the poison of spiritual death causing them to be overpowered and act out one of the symptoms of satanic control: rebellion. God reflected to them in the natural what was happening in the spiritual.

Their reaction was to go to God's minister of mercy, moses, and plead that the serpents be taken away. Moses went to the Lord and the Lord didn't take the serpents away, but He did neutralize the power of the serpents. His answer was to make an image of the curse itself and to put it up on a pole. Whoever would look at the brazen serpent would be healed of the effects of the venom, they would live. The power of the serpents was defeated, their influence was neutralized, and their ability to infect with death and its symptoms was brought to an end.

This scene is a perfect type of the role of Jesus Christ, the defeat of Satan, and the liberation of humanity. Our representatives, Adam and Eve, submitted to the serpent and were bitten, receiving in themselves the vehicle of his influence: spiritual death. Satan works in death as God works in life. All the war, suffering, misery, and sickness in the world are a result of satanic venom flowing in the system of men and women. A person who is bitten by a poisonous snake lives the rest of their life in misery, under the power of the venom, in fear of their impending death, (Hebrews 2:15). Unless there is an antidote, the venom destroys the victim. Jesus Christ is seen three times in this incident. He was with the Father in sending the serpents. He was seen in Moses as a type of mercy, an intercessor who received the way from God and raised the antidote up on the pole, (He laid His life down of His own choosing, no one took it from Him, John 10: 17,18).

He also was seen in the brazen serpent:

GAL 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed [is] every one that hangeth on a tree:
GAL 3:14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

DEUT 21:22 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:
DEUT 21:23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged [is] accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance.

IS 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
IS 53:5 But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
IS 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

1PET 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

2COR 5:21 For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Jesus became a symbol of the curse itself to save us from the curse. He did not sin or die spiritually, for all that was necessary was to be the spotless Lamb of God and to be hung on a tree. As the scripture said, anyone who is hung on a tree is accursed of God. Any other manner of death would not have fulfilled the Word of God and brought the wrath of God upon Jesus for our sake. Jesus, in His great love for us, endured the cross with the combined evil of the world laid upon Him, and endured a temporary separation from His beloved Father, (Matthew 27:46). What an unfathomable great price for him to pay, considering how much His spotless heart hated sin and loved His Father! The Mystery is how Jesus loved us so much that He would pay such a price and how His Father loved us so much that He would allow Him to!

When Jesus died, the power of sin died as well, (Romans 6:6). Those who receive this antidote, Jesus, the brazen serpent, will find the effects of venom inherited from Adam neutralized. Satan will no longer have dominion over us because the power of God has made us alive and we are dead to sin, (Romans 6:11-14).

Receiving the antidote

JN 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

The Israelites had to look at the brazen serpent or they would die of snake bite. Just gathering around the pole was not enough. They could write songs about the brazen serpent, listen to others testify of their healings, build massive buildings and organizations in the name of the brazen serpent, yet they would die if they didn't see it!

The power of Jesus is absolutely effective in taking away the ill effects of spiritual death. But it doesn't flow to those who cannot or refuse to see Him. To see the Son is to see Him in the light of the Holy Spirits revelation. The light of man and his witty theology does not illuminate the brazen serpent. False light gives false impression. The Holy Spirit has the only light that will allow us to see Jesus as He really is, (1 COR. 2:9-15).

When the Holy Spirit illuminates Jesus to a hungry, teachable soul they see that He is their salvation. When they accept the fact of His substitutionary work and its relevance for their life and open their heart to it, the power of the resurrection flows in and does away with spiritual death and its symptoms.

11 Peter 1: 3,4 (Amplified)

For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that (are requisite and suited) to life and godliness, through the (full, personal) knowledge if Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue). By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promise, so that through them you may escape (by flight) from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature.

When we see the reality of whom Jesus is, and our relationship to who He is, we are receiving the Gospel. Gospel means "good news" is that we can escape the prisons of lust and greed that lock us into the world's corruption and partake of the divine nature. He has called out of the serpent's system by His own glory and excellence (virtue) and given us promises that are backed up by the power of the Almighty. If we embrace the words of the Lord with our heart the moral power of the divine nature is released within us, setting us free from Adam's post-fall bondage. The only way to trust someone's word is to know them. When we open ourselves to the person of Jesus, the Spirit of God will show us His glory and then the words of promise that He gives will be easily acceptable. As we follow through on His promises by the power of His Spirit we partake of God's nature, living in His peace, joy, love, and absolute freedom.

Shepherds, Sheep, and Typecasting

1COR 3:18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
1COR 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
1COR 3:20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
1COR 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1COR 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
1COR 3:23 And ye are Christ's; and Christ [is] God's.

To glory in men is to take the word of man over the word of God. Those teachers of religion who want to make slaves of God's people give the impression that some part of God's provision is exclusively theirs. In promoting themselves, they suppress the growth of God's people and discredit the providence of God in Christ. And yet, in these scriptures people were lifted up in pride over teachers who didn't give such an impression. Paul, Apollos, and Cephas all had their hearts in tune with God's will, not being lords over God's heritage, but examples. The Corinthians were exposed to good teachers and teaching and yet allowed Satan to typecast them into sectarian camps, following the flesh of the teachers rather than the Spirit of Christ which the teachers commended them to.

In 1 Cor. 1: 11-13, the Corinthians were even chastised for making a sectarian camp unto Christ! Some followed Him in a party spirit, reducing His ministry to that of a political leader. In a sense, they made an idol out of Jesus, just as the Israelites eventually did with the brazen serpent, (2 Kings 18:4), because they followed him in a spirit of idolatry. To follow Christ we must follow Him in the Holy Spirit which will cause us to receive all that comes from Christ, (John 16:13-15), and to separate the treasure from the vessel, (Ephesians 4:7). Those who separate into sectarian camps desire to have an appearance of greater wisdom. The desire to be wise to be wise caused the fall in the beginning and still causes the masses to be deceived, in church and out of church. A desire for truth and righteousness causes people to see and receive freedom and fulfillment. Wisdom is not an end in itself but is best in purpose when it is followed to the person of God. Those who desire to have a "loyal following" and those who follow teachers in anything but the Holy spirit are both working to defeat the purpose of God; to bring us into one in His power, (John 17:20-23). Wisdom is what happens when one dwells on the Truth.

The way to wisdom that leads to Truth is the way of the fool; the way of one who disqualifies himself and the corrupt world around him as sources of true light and comes to God empty and hungry, (Luke 1:51-53). If the illusion of worldly wisdom is brought to the altar of sacrifice, God answers by fire and supplies His own impeccable insight in its place.

Ephesians 1:17-23 (Amplified)
(For I always Pray) the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation - of insight into mysteries and secrets - in the (deep and intimate) knowledge of Him, by having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints - His set-apart ones. And (so that you can know and understand) what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His (own) right hand in the heavenly (places), far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named - above every title that can be conferred - not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and world which are to come. And He has put all things under His feet and has appointed Him the universal and supreme Head of the church ( a headship exercised throughout the church), which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all - for in that body lives the full measure of Him Who fills everything everywhere (with Himself).

A heart flooded with light sees and receives the ministry of Jesus as His life flows to us. We see the depth and glory of what He has in us as His inheritance. We see His power in and for us as demonstrated by the resurrection of Christ. We have risen with Him if we open our hearts to Him. We are cast as His body, a manifestation of His perfect love and power, and He is our head. If we will be open to the Head and all the direction and revelation love that He generates in and through us, the lost victims of Satan's miscasting will see the way out of their tragic plots and the way into God's benevolent provision.

JAS 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
JAS 1:23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
JAS 1:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
JAS 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth [therein], he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

2 Corinthians 3:18 (Amplified)

And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.

We must continue in His word. Many a church, a revival, an individual Christian has begun by the light of God's casting only to forget and settle into the mundane roles mandated by the "other" directors, (Satan, "organizers", profiteers, the "dignity and order" obsessed). What is begun in the Spirit cannot be completed in the flesh to God's satisfaction. Many pastors have unwittingly been used of Satan to cast their sheep into paralyzing roles of "pew-sitters", not realizing that a pastor's role is to be an example that inspires the people to find the depth of God for themselves. Many pastors are content just to have control, not motivated by love for God and those in his charge. They think the sheep exist to serve them and their fleshly egos. Their idea of the duties of the "diligent shepherd" is shielding the flock of God from the move of the Holy Ghost and guarding their own political position by means of psychological manipulation. In some this manipulation is in the form of "man pleasing", diplomatically coddling to the fleshly whims of the people rather than acting in the Shepherd's love, standing and fearlessly projecting the council of God even at the risk of carnal opposition. Some suppress real growth and keep at a distance those who promote it for fear of losing the preeminence, the "most spiritual" position. Some desire great prominence, rising on the backs of the "little people" who are deceived and starved by the persuasive personality.

God is raising up shepherds who have a heart for the sheep, shepherds who aren't jealous of a sheep's love and commitment to Jesus, realizing that their job is not to be married to the sheep but to espouse them to Christ, ( 2 Corinthians 11:2 ). God is bringing up shepherds who actually know Him and what He wants, who will not typecast the sheep in roles to please their own power lust or to please the flesh of the sheep, but in roles chosen by the Lord.

God is casting people to play the great scenes of these last days. These parts require more than any of us can produce in our own ability. We need the wisdom and power of the Great Director. As we listen closely to Him and act on his direction, He supplies the grace needed to be good and faithful servants and enter into the joys of our Lord.

There can be no greater role!