by
Vacirca
Vaughn
Scripture:
An attacker
advances against you, Nineveh.
Guard the fortress,
watch the road,
brace yourselves,
marshal all your strength!
2 The Lord
will restore the splendor of Jacob
like the splendor of Israel,
though
destroyers have laid them waste
and have ruined their vines (Nahum 1-2**).
**Note from Vacirca:
For further understanding of what I will share below, it would benefit
you to read Chapter 3, or even the entire Book of Nahum. However for this blog, I will post verses
1-2.
Goodness
gracious! It has been a harrowing few
months, but by God’s grace, I am still here.
In the last
six months, there has been a continued battle—not only for my life, but for my
destiny, and the destinies of my
loved ones. Oh, the devil was
busy—providing lovely obstacles to fight against, distractions to overcome, and
burdens that sure felt heavy. Yes, God is
in control and always will be. The devil
cannot test us without God’s say so, but God must have said so, because that
enemy has been taking me through consistent, but growing, challenges! I went through things that have tested my
faith, zapped my strength, commanded all of my attention and focus, while
stealing my time away from the works and tasks I’d been looking forward to
working on to completion. Some of the
things I am going through don’t even belong to me—but to those I am called to
help while they go through their
trials. The enemy has used several
things to fight me hard, but as
always, God takes what is used for my destruction to turn it around for good. And I don’t mean my own good only, but the
good of those He allows me to minister to as a result of having survived such
trials and having that testimony to share.
However…to
answer the many questions I have gotten through email and IM—the answer is no,
not much writing, editing, revising, reintroducing of my works these past few
months. No, I don’t even have a date for my next novel. And not so much contact with those who have
been supportive of my work and ministry.
Not even a lot of time to do what God has called me to do in order to win
those who do not yet know of my work—or my God-mandated purpose of using whatever
talent I have to win souls for Christ, while helping those already in Christ to
grow. To be honest, when did have time, I did not have strength! I
could not piece a sentence together if I tried.
I couldn’t even focus enough to pray for God’s help to try at
times.
During the
course of these past six months, I’ve had to move to Florida for a couple of
God-ordained assignments—which brought glory to God and some backlash from the
enemy. I thought I was to move to
Florida for a long time and start a new life, but guess what? That was not the case. Next, I had to move back to my home in NY for
another couple of God-ordained assignments.
Then back down south to Georgia for another set of God-led assignments—which
are taking place right as I write this blog.
Such
assignments included rescuing a friend in need as he went through a miserable
drag-out battle, for his family; trying to help relatives in Florida get saved
and delivered from the assignments the enemy had against them there; and then
helping my mom. Yes, called back to NY
to begin helping my mom care for an aunt—an aunt who happens to be her worst
rival—who has lost her mind due to diabetes-related mental issues. Of course, this aunt has been diagnosed with
diabetes-related dementia caused by poor monitoring of her blood sugar, as well
as other health problems. At least that
is what the doctors believe. Between you
and me, I think her continued refusal to stop mixing witchcraft/superstition
with her “Christian” [Catholic] beliefs have taken its toll. So, while finishing up in Florida, I was
called to support my mom—who is battling her own health problems—to assist in
caring for an aunt who sees demons everywhere, but fights us as we try to make
sure she eats right and takes her medicine.
This aunt also fights us because demonic forces have corrupted her mind
with deception to keep her in bondage—which is probably why she thinks everyone
is trying to kill her with voodoo. She
refuses to trusts us and believes we are devils trying to steal from her—on her
good days. On her bad days, she believes
that, but also lashes out verbally and sometimes physically. So yes, keep both my aunt and mom in prayer.
And sure, in
the midst of all of these issues, my other aunt—the aunt that was my favorite
one, the youngest of my mom’s sisters—passed away on March 31, 2015. I was crushed, knowing I had spent so much
time dealing with caring for my mother, and helping her care for her worst
rival—who essentially made our desire to help feel like utter hell—that I
neglected the one who had been there for me most of my life. So she dies of a stroke—quite possibly
without coming to Christ—and then things really
got hectic! My mother makes a
decision to move out of state to be closer to my brother—which was a good
choice—but of course, we needed to sell
her home. God must have agreed, because
He took a process that usually can take several months and pushed us on our way
within two months of her deciding to leave.
So my next assignment begins—helping my mom move with my aunt—the one who fights us and thinks we are casting spells
against her, even as she does things to “protect” herself against us, the very
people who are trying to ignore our real feelings, and help her anyway in order
to obey God and do the right thing!
Whew, take a breath, girl. Calm down.
God is in control.
So here we all
are, in Georgia, sharing a small apartment, settling in close quarters, while I
continue trying to obey God and help both these women get settled. I am called to care for them and continue to
do what God says I need to do. Of
course, due to the loss of my other aunt, I am forced to realize that I am also
called to continue the real mission, which is to “stand in the gap,” fighting
harder for my family members who are unsaved.
While trying not to give up, I am still called to pray for these women
who continue believing that voodoo is a gift from God, and still fighting my
efforts to minister to them about Salvation in Christ. I didn’t mention the conflicts and separations
the enemy was putting between me and my friends, so I could feel alone while
going through this stuff. The only
friends that continued to be consistent in my life are those who needed my help
just as much as I needed there—like the one going through a divorce and custody
battle, and the ones who are struggle in their marriage. Let’s be clear, those friends I would
normally lean on need prayer themselves.
Of course, these friend did the best they could to be there for me too,
but at the end of the day, it was hard for a couple of them. I understood though, because when you are
miserable yourself, it is difficult to take on other people’s burdens
consistently. You need to be comforted
and nurtured yourself. So although the
friends I have tried to help, and I tried for them, we all needed to rely on
the Lord because He was the only one who could truly provide the help we needed
perfectly.
So was there
time for writing? No. Not much, at all.
But recently,
while praying with one of my good friends, I got a word from the Lord—one that
applied to both of us, and can apply to those who read this. I, since the Lord commanded me to get back to
my other work—this work—and share the revelation.
The revelation
came after I read again about Nineveh in the Book of Nahum, Chapter 2, and
later Chapter 3. As I wrote at the beginning of this blog, I
suggest you read all of the Old Testament Book of Nahum to understand what God
was sharing through the prophetic word given to Nahum about Nineveh. Before I get into the revelation I received,
let me share some info about Nineveh.
Nineveh was
first mentioned in Genesis 10:11 when we are told that the evil Nimrod, “the
mighty hunter,” went forth to the evil land of Assyria—one of Israel’s worst
enemies—and built Nineveh. So right
there, we know that these are people that would become not only enemies of
God’s people Israel, but God Himself. It
is later mentioned as a the flourishing capital of the Assyrian empire (2 Kings
19:36; Isaiah 37:37).
As some of you
will remember, Nineveh is the same evil city we first learn about in the Book
of Jonah. Jonah had been called to
preach to the people of Nineveh so God could intervene and save those lost
people (See the Book of Jonah, if you don’t yet know this story). You see, Jonah had been called by God to try
to save those people and he did, after struggling with his ordained divine
assignment. Those people were considered
very evil in the eyes of God, so evil that in Jonah 1:1-2, God has to call
Jonah to preach to it. It states, “And
the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ‘Arise, go to
Nineveh the great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up
before Me.’ The vast empire is again described in all of its “greatness” in
Jonah 3:3 and 4:11). And the book of
Nahum begins to really depict the great evil of this city.
The city is
called a “great city” not because it was filled with lovely people who
worshiped the Lord God. It was called
“great” because it was one of the powerful places on earth. However it is a place filled with great
evil. In a daily devotional entitled
“The Prophetic Perspective,” Jimmy
DeYoung writes about it Nineveh stating that “we must be reminded of how cruel
the Ninevites had been to the nations and peoples surrounding them. The Ninevites were a treacherous people.
Verse 1 of our extended reading (of Nahum 3) refers to Nineveh as the
"city of blood". Nineveh was truly a "city of blood" -
blood spilled by her uncontrolled lust and murder. She earned the title by her
treacherous practices of cutting off hands and feet, ears and noses, gouging
out eyes and lopping off heads. These
mutilated bodies would be impaled or flayed alive through a process in which
there skin was gradually and completely removed. God's judgment on Nineveh would bring relief
to all of her neighbors. Reading through Nahum 3 is like reading the
pre-written history of this treacherous land. There are a number of prophecies
found in Nahum 3 that have already been fulfilled.”
So Nineveh is
a city of great treachery—rich, but corrupt, idolatrous, and filled with people
who enjoyed immorality as a way of life—much like another Sodom and
Gomorrah. And like the people of Sodom
and Gomorrah, they faced the wrath of God.
As we read in the Book of Jonah, the people of Nineveh did repent. The Bible states, “God saw their works, that
they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had
said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it" (Jonah 3:10). However, the Book of Nahum shows us that 125
years after the days of the prophet Jonah, the people not only returned to sin,
but had gone beyond every level of depravity that can be found in mankind. Eventually, God did what He had Nahum say He
would do—God brought the Assyrian Empire to its fateful, harsh end when it was
conquered by the Medes in 625 B.C.
In Jonah 3:4, Nineveh
was called a “exceeding great city of three days' journey” that also conducted
itself with “great evil” that literally cried out to the Lord God Himself. It was so rich because of its prime
location—right on the “Fertile Crescent,” the left banks of the Tigris River. It was a place that occupied a central
position on the great highway between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, thus
uniting the East and the West. In
another article entitled “Nineveh: The Wicked City,” posted on http://www.mpumc.org/, it states about
Nineveh, that, “…its wealth flowed into it from many sources, so that it became
the greatest of all ancient cities. The
Assyrian Empire, at its greatest under Ashurbanipal, reached from Egypt to
southeastern Turkey to Iran, including all the fertile river valleys of the
Nile, the Jordan, and the Tigris and Euphrates. This was the largest empire yet
seen in the world; and it got there using a new military weapon: terror.”
Worse than
that, this was a city that worshiped several demonic forces, especially evil
spirits from those very waters. I’ve
written about the Marine Kingdom and their forces in this blog. We have learned that Satan’s kingdom is divided
into three main strongholds: the stronghold of the heavens (Ephesians 2:2); the
stronghold of the earth (John 12:31 and 2 Corinthians 4:4); and the stronghold
of the sea or waters (Isaiah 49:24-26 and Job 26:5). The stronghold of the waters is called the
Marine Kingdom. If you want to know
more about the evil Marine Kingdom and the vile demons that reign there, you
can certainly return to my entry, dated 11/13/14, entitled “Take Back
Your Life Series, Part III: Coming Against Demonic Attacks in Dreams”. Another good source about this
evil kingdom is the web article “Exposing the Kingdom of Darkness,” which could
be found on this link:
I don’t want
to make this article about the Marine Kingdom, but I will share a few
things. The Marine Kingdom was described,
in the article I mention above, as “the greatest kingdom of all evil demonic
kingdoms. Marine kingdom is the most wicked, most populous, well organized
kingdom, far away from other evil kingdoms, that exits in the air, land and
outside this planet… Marine evil spirits have greater influence over mankind on earth; more
than every other demonic evil spirits. It is because, about 70% of the world is
covered by the sea (water); and that makes them to have greater influence on
mankind. Also, mankind cannot do without water (water use-ages).” Revelations
13:3 also depicts the vile evil creatures that reside in the sea that will war
against
Having learned
such things about this evil kingdom of Satan, it is easy to believe that the
ancient Assyrians of Nineveh were also being controlled by the evil spirits of
this kingdom. It is the reason why these
people of Nineveh were so idolatrous, prideful, treacherous, and sexually
immoral. They worshipped the very demons
of this marine world that are responsible for these behaviors in man.
We too are
being idolatrous, prideful, rebellious, sexually immoral, and murderous. We are no different as a country than
Nineveh. Unlike the Ninevehs of the Book
of Jonah, however, we have not repented, or turned from the evil we operate
within. We too appear to be influenced the evil kingdoms of Satan upon the earth. As a result, we as a people have erected our
very own Ninevehs in our own lives.
Why would I say that?
More
importantly, everything that is depicted in the ancient city of Nineveh, seems
to be going on right here in this lovely, vast empire called America! Not only that, but it appears that many of
us—like Nimrod—have gone off to build Ninevehs in our own lives. I say this because the Lord has revealed that
we all seem to be operating under the influence of Satan’s Kingdom on the
earth—even the Marine Spirits.
Christians everywhere are beginning to lose faith. Christians are compromising, and being very
prideful about it, refusing to repent and becoming apostates to the Kingdom of
God.
And the Lord
showed me, during that time praying with my friend, that even as a Christian, I
also had built a Ninevah in my life.
What was the Ninevah in my life?
Disobedience. Grumbling.
Refusal to do things God’s way.
Just like
those pesky demons that had controlled original Nineveh.
I thought I
was doing everything God had told me to do—sacrificing my own desires to help
others, putting my own needs aside, and doing
it relying mostly upon Him…
Wasn’t I?
No!
God had to use
the Book of Nahum to speak into my heart to show me that there was a “Nineveh”
in my own life.
The truth was
that like the original people of Ninevah, depicted in the Old Testament, I was
not willing to do what God had, and was still, calling me to do—not without a
fight. I had done the work He had been
calling me to do, but I had done it like Jonah—reluctantly, after several times
trying to fight it, and while judging those I had been called to assist.
During this
time of “helping others” as God had called me to do, I was a Christian. I never stopped believing that Jesus died for
me on the Cross, nor did I stop trying to walk with faith in Jesus. So, I was still a Christian. Being a Christian, however, had not stopped
me from conducting myself as a non-Christian several times as I struggled to
perform the tasks God had put in my path.
My Christianity had not stopped me from getting into conflicts with my
family members, speaking my frustrations carelessly upon those who were going
through enough already, all the while making all kinds of demands and
ultimatums. I would fly off the handle
in annoyance several times. I would
bring up the sacrifices I had made, and had fussed about what God had
instructed me to do. To be honest, I was
sick of everything and everybody and had treated my assignments just as Jonah
had treated his own—
With a stank
attitude!
Now I’ve
written about being like Jonah in this blog before (“Are You a Modern-Day
Jonah” 11/27/13) so I am not making this about him. My point is not so much as Jonah, this time,
as it is about how I managed to allow a modern-day Nineveh to be erected in my
own life!
Of course, I
thank God that I had not murdered people and placed their rotting heads on
poles. Nor had I been involved in any
orgies as a prostitute. But to the holy God
I serve, I might as well have. I had
gone to a place of reluctant, grumbling obedience, which to a God who said He
loves a “cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:6), I might as well have been
engaging in the acts of those who lived in Ancient Nineveh. It was true that I hadn’t been physically living in that city where the
people had grown to be so evil—even after repenting to God—that they were
spoken of across several generations
and centuries. Regardless, I was living spiritually in a
way that represented just how rebellious and disobedient I could be.
I may have
been doing what I knew God had called me to do on several levels, but I wasn’t
do it His way. I had not been a cheerful giver (2
Corinthians 9:7); I had not been operating with a strong spirit due to a
cheerful countenance (Proverbs 15:13); and I had not been avoiding quarrels and
foolish talk while doing God’s work, nor had I tried to instruct those who came
against what I knew to be true with patience and gentle humility (2 Timothy
2:23-24). I had not avoided having such
anger towards people I had been called to assist, at times, that I felt I
actually hated them—which was just as bad as murder, if you ask God (1 John
3:15). I had not represented the Lord
in the works that I had done because of the way I was doing my work.
So, I had to
repent for my failures again.
I had become as the Marine Kingdom-ruled, vile people of Nineveh. I had become self-righteous, prideful, and
someone who boasted about my works—just as the people of that “great
city.” I had built up a Nineveh in my
own life and I had no choice but to accept this revelation.
Yet, even
though I had to repent, I also had to rejoice because the Lord showed me that
these behaviors were not just behaviors, but spirits that had been attacking me
and the works the Lord wanted to use me to do. I had to rejoice because the Lord still loved
me—after all my foolishness—to patiently correct me again. I had to rejoice
because the Lord showed His love in His correction, and rebuke, which confirmed
for me that I was still loved by God (Proverbs 3:12). I also had to rejoice because after
meditating on that scripture, God took the time to share with me why I was
suffering so much, even when I thought of myself as obedient. The same loving God refused to allow me to
perish from lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6).
He taught me that I was suffering because of the Nineveh in my life—just
as the children of Israel had suffered at the hands of the true Nineveh that
had come against them. However, through the Book of Nahum, Chapters 2 and 3,
God showed me that He would rescue me by defeating the “Nineveh” in my own
life—and the demonic forces that were leading me to build one in my own
life. God showed me that I, just like
the children of Israel in our Bible, had been suffering a lot more testing and
trials because of the way I had gone about fulfilling what I was being called
to do for His glory. Because of the way
I had not done my tasks His way, I
had been stripped of my God-given splendor.
Yet, because He loved me, He wanted to restore me—just as He had done
with His children of Israel. God
reminded me of this, even as I declared Nahum 2:2 over my life, which states, “Even
though the destroyer has destroyed Judah, the Lord will restore its honor. Israel’s
vine has been stripped of branches, but he will restore its splendor.”
So just like
the people of Israel, the enemy, and his forces, had tried to strip me of my
honor in Christ; the devil had tried to stripped me of my God-given branches
that were spawned from the seeds God had planted within me Himself. But, God let me know that, once again, He
would get me back on track. He was going to do a work in my life. He was going to fight that “Nineveh” in my
life. God let me know that not only
would He destroy my “Nineveh” and destroy those evil spirits that had been
influencing me to live this way.
I know I am a
child of God, but the enemy’s forces attack the children of God. That is why we are told to watch out for the
principalities, dark powers, rulers of darkness, and the spiritual wickedness
of high places (Ephesians 6:12). As I
mentioned earlier, we battle against demonic forces in the air, the land, and the sea. And just like those influenced by those
demonic forces that Bible warns us about, I was being attacked, and at times,
influenced by these forces of darkness that were tempting, trapping, and
testing me.
And,frankly,
it was due to my own fault. I had failed
to keep my eyes on the Lord and His Word.
I had failed to obey His Word by grumbling, lashing out in conflicts,
and by choosing to battle that which was not of God in my own strength, rather
than with the strength of God. This of
course led me to feel overwhelmed, frustrated and angry.
But, praise be
to God, He promised to destroyed the forces that had built a Nineveh in my
life. In verse 13, God let me know that He was the enemy of anything that was
sent by Satan to destroy me. In that
scripture, God tells Nineveh, “I am your enemy!” says the Lord of Heaven’s
Armies.
“Your chariots
will soon go up in smoke. Your young men
will be killed in battle. Never again
will you plunder conquered nations. The
voices of your proud messengers will be heard no more.”
The “armies”
of Nineveh—the demonic forces that have ruled those who are in Nineveh—would be
defeated by God Himself.
So ask
yourself, as you read this article, if there is any Nineveh in your life? Anything that is against God has the power to
take us into our own Nineveh. Are you
involved in any sexual immorality? Then
you are living in a Nineveh of your own.
Are you involved in any conflict or quarrel that has been left
unresolved? Are you in a place of unforgiveness? Pride? Disobedience? Doubt? Then you are in a place of Nineveh, being
influenced by those same Marine spirits that ruled the people who lived in the
Nineveh of the Bible.
If you are a
person that has been living in a spiritual Nineveh, then it is time to
repent. If you are unsure, then I
suggest you pray to God to show you if you have allowed the enemy to cause you
to erect a spiritual Nineveh in your life.
Once you do know the truth, refer to the Word of God and see the Book of
Nahum and declare this evil place in your life defeated by God. Speak this upon your own Nineveh, taken from
Nahum 2:2, that “Even though the destroyer has destroyed Judah, the Lord will
restore its honor. Israel’s vine has
been stripped of branches, but he will restore its splendor.”
May God defeat
every spiritual Nineveh in your own life, even as He perfects you in your walk
with Christ. May God restore you even as
He transforms you and sanctifies you according to His perfect will.
Prayer against
Nineveh:
“Father God, I
thank You for Your love, patience, and deliverance through the Blood and Name
of Jesus Christ. I thank You Jesus and bless
Your Holy Name. I thank You Holy Spirit
for unlocking the truth so it may be used for Your glory. Lord, I repent for any disobedience, pride,
unforgiveness, immorality, occult practices, sexual sin, or any type of sin
that has caused me to open the door that allowed demons to lead me to erect a
Nineveh in my own life. I ask for Your
forgiveness for my sins. I ask You,
Lord, to cleanse me with the Blood of Jesus and sanctify me with the fire of
the Holy Spirit. I ask You to soak me in
the Blood of Jesus and give me a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Right now,
Lord, I pray for your to defeat the Ninevahs in my life, and the lives of my
loved place. Please keep me from
returning to sins that You have delivered me from. I ask now that You go before and tear down
the Ninevahs in our lives that are not of You.
Please tear down every evil stronghold that has hurt me. Please, Lord, I ask You to deliver me from
demonic forces that have influenced me.
Please give me a fresh anointing of Your Holy Spirit and baptize me afresh
with the Holy Spirit. Please continue to do Your works through me for Your
glory. I surrender to You, Lord God, and
ask that Your perfect will in me, through me, and around me be done for Your
glory. I
thank You, Lord. In Jesus’ Name, I pray. Amen.
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