The Pharaoh Which Knew Not Joseph
by
Justin Mangonel
The Final Feast Theology Series
Like a watchman on a wall, I feel the burden of the word of the Lord upon me to deliver a message to the leadership of His church. The trumpet that I sound is both a warning and an admonition given by the grace of God, to those who have ears to hear what His Spirit is saying to this generation.
Originally, through Joseph, God gave the children of Israel, favor with Pharaoh. YAHWEH prepared a place for His people to grow into a great nation and gave them Pharaoh as a provider and a protector. This however, as prophesied, was only for a time and season. As the years passed, there arose a new King over Egypt which knew not Joseph, which did not give heed to the great mercy that God had shown his nation. That Pharaoh began to oppress the people of God. In fact, he began to make the children of Israel serve as slaves in the slime pits of Egypt. Through fear, he even caused their male children to be put to death so that they would not grow to manhood and rebel against him. Pharaoh forced God's people to make the bricks that built his treasure cities, monuments, fame, wealth and power. The people of God cried out by reason of their harsh bondage and God heard their cries. He sent Moses and his brother Aaron to Egypt to speak a simple message to Pharaoh
Unfortunately, Pharaoh did not listen to the Word of God, but resisted His will. You see, the people of God had become a source of wealth and power to him. He did not want to let them go, for he would suffer loss to his kingdom. Because the Pharaoh of Egypt did not listen to the Word of God as spoken through Aaron by Moses, God laid waste in successive judgments to the kingdom of Egypt. What had once been a rich and powerful nation was destroyed and never again rose to greatness. Let those who count themselves wise among you note this fact: God brought His people out anyway.
There have arisen Pharaohs in this generation, which do not know Joseph. These "Pharaohs" are the leadership of today's Christian Church. They have strayed from the knowledge of how Jesus (who is typified by Joseph) gave them their power, position, wealth and prestige. They have built their ministries, their kingdoms, upon the backs of the Children of God who have been made to serve in bitter bondage. But I say to you this day by the Word of the Lord, He has heard their cries, and He is about to send deliverance to them.
The message that God has given me for the leadership of the Church is this,
“Let my people go that they may serve me”
This is a spiritual work brought on by God's compassion for His people. There is a cry arising from among His children for deliverance. The pastors, teachers, prophets and apostles of this generation have put the people of God under harsh bondage and have made them to serve with rigor through a spirit of legalism and a spirit of fear. By usurping God's authority, they have caused His children to fear and distrust the voice of their Father. God's children are prisoners of the doctrines and traditions they have be taught. They live by man's limited understanding, rather than by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
God is saying to all those who lead His church, let my people go....And the warning is this:
“To the extent that you resist the moving of the Spirit of God, God will lay waste to your ministry, and if you will not let His people go, God will destroy it and bring His people out, anyway.”
The leadership of God's church has become haughty, and like little pharaohs, has resisted the Spirit of God. They look not upon the Spirit of God as someone they must obey, but as something they must control. It is foolishness for those who lead God's church to gainsay or resist His Spirit. He is sovereign, He is all powerful, He is all knowing and none shall stay His hand.
The people of God have been taught by you, not to trust His voice, but to trust yours instead. Because of your teaching, they have put their faith and trust in you instead of the leading of the Holy Spirit. You have usurped God's position in that you have substituted yourself as the source of the knowledge of good and evil for His people. You have said that you teach only the Word of God, but instead, you have taught your particular theology and have elevated it to the status of scripture. Instead of directing them back to the Tree of Life, which is direct communion with God, you have force fed them from the forbidden fruit and have caused spiritual death to come upon many. Out of fear of personal loss, you have sought to quench the Spirit and have endeavored to keep God's people weak. While God wanted to give them the bread of life from heaven in abundance, you gave them mere morsels as you saw fit. If the Holy Spirit led them contrary to your understanding, you counseled them to deny God's Spirit and follow you. Thus, your teachings and views came between them and God as an idol and an object of false worship.
There is coming a move of God upon this world that will sweep man's theology away, and cause every vestige of legalism to crumble. It will destroy the fear that you have instilled in God's children. It is a time of change, and those who resist this change will find themselves destroyed by it. Furthermore, those who reject this change shall persecute it, just as the Pharisees persecuted Jesus. Reject the pride that has infused you through trusting in the teachings and traditions of man. Humble yourselves now and open your hearts and minds to the Spirit of God.
This move of God's Spirit cannot be put in an old wineskin, or it will burst. It must be put in a new, supple and elastic wineskin, so when it expands, the new wine will not be lost. The old theology you have taught your people, and the old understanding you have given them is not enough. They must learn to hear and obey the Spirit of the Living God. It is only then that He will be able to lead and guide His church into the understanding which will enable them to contain the new wine of this visitation.
We are living on the threshold of both judgment and mercy. God has shown through His prophets that He is about to judge America. He has shown them there will be much pain and suffering for both believers and non-believers alike. Many in that day will question God saying,
"God, how could you permit this to come upon your people? He will say to them...You have not listened to My Holy Spirit. You have gone your own way according to what seemed right to you. You have disobeyed My heart and will in rejecting My leading. Therefore, I have brought forth this judgment upon you."
In this judgment, God's people will obtain mercy, because they will have been brought to a place of humility before Him. In their pain and suffering, they will seek His face early. God will then hear from heaven and bring restoration to His people.
There will arise a great persecution against those who choose to follow God's Spirit. This persecution will not come from the world, but rather from the church. Most of the leadership of the church, like the Pharisees, will turn against and rend those who follow Jesus. However, God will send swift destruction to those of His church who oppose the moving of His Spirit. This destruction will not be a physical destruction, but will be a spiritual darkening of their understanding. It will be an apostasy from the things they know to be true. For as they yield to the demonic realm and resist the moving of God's Spirit, they will persecute the very God they profess to believe in. They will reject the light of the Holy Spirit and they will slip further and further away from Him into outer darkness. This is the great falling away.
Through much tribulation, a people will be born who will stand up as a great army of God. They will move as one, but there will be no leader among them but the Holy Spirit. These people will not have the "form" of religion, but they will exhibit the substance thereof which is Jesus. They will stand before, and be accountable to no man but God. After this company of people has been born, the dragon, which is Satan, will stand up to resist and persecute them. He will have it in his mind to devour that which God has brought forth. However, like David, God's Spirit will come upon those people and they will rend the beast. Like Samson, they will carry away the very gates of the enemy and set them on a hill to make a show of them openly for the entire world to see.
God Promises:
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
II Chronicles 7:14
The time is now. We must humble ourselves and start to hear the voice of God. If we do not, we will be swept away by the events that are to come. God is saying, "Let my people go!" It is up to you as the leadership of His Church to let them.
