M____ wrote:
Hi Mike, I can’t begin to tell you how much your teaching on my question of Naboth’s vineyard, Ahab and Jezebel has blessed me.  It really helps!  It clarifies and solidifies so much of what I have been learning from Christ as he works through you.  Oh, the depths of His Wisdom and Might! M____

Hi M____,
Thank you for letting me know that. It is so encouraging to know that there are those few out there who are getting it. It is such a blessing to know that your efforts are bearing fruit somewhere.
Your words of gratitude remind me of the one healed leper who took the time to come back to thank Christ for his healing. Believe me, not one in ten takes the time to do what you have done here.
One of the keys to understanding all scripture is to remember that “As you have done it unto the least of these My brothers, you have done it unto Me.”

Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

When Ahab, through that symbol of all spiritual and doctrinal perversion, His wife Jezebel, killed and robbed Naboth, He did that to Christ.
Another key every bit as important is to remember that the bad guy is not someone else. The bad guy in any of the parables of the Bible is the first Adam in Mike Vinson and the first Adam in each of us. Only if we see that beast in ourselves will we ever get rid of that which “withholds” the coming of Christ within us.

2 Thess1:7  And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
2 Thess1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Thess1:9  Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
2 Thess1:10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

What the whole world misses in these verses is that Christ has to first “come and be glorified in His saints” while they are still in this corruptible flesh. His “flaming fire” must first do its work within us. Only if we see this Truth can we understand what Paul means when he talks of the revealing of the “man of sin” in the next chapter. It is this “revealing of the man of sin sitting on the throne of God, declaring himself to be God” within each of us that “letteth” or “withholds” Christ’s coming to each of us. Christ cannot come to us until we see the need for Him in our lives. And we cannot truly see the need for a savior until we see that we are ruled by an inner beast, a man of sin, the son of perdition. Once we see this process at work then “the eighth” man can come on the scene. It is this eighth man who “is of the seven and goes into perdition.”

Rev 17:9  And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads [ all on one beast] are seven mountains [ in the life of that one beast], on which the woman [ the false doctrines of Babylon] sitteth.
Rev 17:10  And there are seven kings [ in the life of this one beast]: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space [Rev 22:6  And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.]
Rev 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
Rev 17:12  And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. [ These too, are all part of this same beast]
Rev 17:13  These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
Rev 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

We have all made war with the Lamb and those who were with Him, and we have all, thankfully, lost that battle. God uses His elect to bring in His elect.
Judas was the ‘son of perdition’ because Judas betrayed Christ. Until we see Judas in ourselves, until we see that “all that is in the world, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life” is all within each of us, until we see ourselves as betraying Christ, we will never dethrone that man of sin. We must all, like the apostle Paul, come to see ourselves as “chief of sinners.”

1Ti 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Paul, like Christ, had taught these Thessalonians that the kingdom of God is within you.

2 Thess2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2 Thess2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth [ Greek – katecho – 2722] that he might be revealed in his time.
2 Thess2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [ Greek – katecho – 2722] will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2 Thess2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: [ within each of us]
2 Thess2:9  Even him [ the man of sin within], whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2 Thess2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2 Thess2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2 Thess2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

If we see “had pleasure in unrighteousness” to mean overt sin, then we have already forgotten verse ten which speaks of “all deceivableness of unrighteousness.” Those who “believe not the Truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness” come as “angels of light.” They always appear as extremely righteous and moral men. But they always hate the doctrine of Jesus Christ in some way. We all have done so to whatever degree that we have resisted the Truth of God’s Word.
I feel that I am preaching to the choir, but I am very thankful that God is opening your eyes to see that the mysteries of the kingdom of God are all within you.

Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them [ the multitudes of Christianity] it is not given.

And it is the fact that they lack the knowledge of this next verse that keeps them in that blinded state:

Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

All of Christ’s parables concerned “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.” And the secret of that kingdom which has been and is still hidden from all but a few is the fact that that kingdom and its king are all within us.

Col 1:26  Even the mystery [ Greek – musterion – secret] which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

I trust that God is revealing “the things of the spirit” to you.
Mike