STRATEGY OF ALLIANCES (Part 2)
(c) Morris E. Ruddick
During the mid-70s, the Lord spoke a word to me from Jeremiah 51. It defined my calling as an intercessor, while also proving to be foundational to my Joseph-Daniel calling. That word was:
“You are My battle-axe and weapon of war: for with you, I will break nations in pieces; with you, I will destroy kingdoms and strongholds; … and with you, I will break in pieces governors and rulers. And I, the Lord, will repay Babylon and Chaldea.”
Jeremiah 51:20, 23, 24
In Part 1 of this post (http://www.strategicintercession.org/posts/StrategyofAlliancesPart1.htm), I touched on the issues of Unholy Gatekeeper Alliances; Relevance for Kingdom Business-Community Leaders; Moves of God and the Spirit of Jezebel; Sorcery-Infiltration Alliances and Tactics; and Joseph’s Brothers and Chaldea. We pick up with the section on The Alliance of the Ages.
The Alliance of the Ages
Chaldea and Babylon; Jezebel and Ahab; witchcraft and mammon; sorcery and idolatry are each simply different dimensions of the same alliance: the unholy alliance of the ages.
Babylon and Chaldea clearly represent the alliance of the gatekeepers of the world’s commercial and political infrastructure with sorcery, the occult. However, the world’s system as a whole is only a means to an end. That end is the employment of power through the unholy alliances of idolatry and sorcery; witchcraft and mammon.
The challenge is in bringing change, which begins with assuming responsibility. That will involve entering the gates and challenging these occult seats of power; to bring disruption that releases a shift of power. This spiritual shift of power was evidenced in the Apostle Paul’s exploits as he pioneered his way into the bastions of the evil one in the first century.
This is our Father’s world. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. What is commonly labeled as the world’s system reflects a misappropriation of God’s creation and the resources reflected by the Psalmist’s insight that the Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
The accomplishment of God initiatives for these days advance repossessing what rightfully belongs to the Lord. THAT will often involve instances of God-ordained alliances with gatekeepers of the world’s infrastructures, like Pharaoh and Cyrus, as the Lord sovereignly restores what belongs to Him in the accomplishment of His end-time purposes.
Turbulence may surround these agendas. Disruptions may hit economies of the world. The time of His power will indeed be accompanied by a time of His judgment. But the disruptions will provide opportunity for those with unusual calls of God, to be used uniquely for the Lord’s redemptive purposes within the midst of these domains referred to as the world’s system.
Over the centuries, the Lord has used counter-alliance emissaries to intervene in the affairs of men to strategically circumvent the countdown resulting from these evil alliances. There are ample examples in Scripture of heroes of faith, who break in pieces and destroy the foundations of these age-old, evil alliances. Examples like Joseph and Daniel and Ezra and Nehemiah, who by the Spirit of the Lord and the authority entrusted to them, reversed the power of unholy alliances. God’s ambassadors and emissaries, leaders in the business and political arena, have been and will be called to work along side secular gatekeepers in seats of power in the accomplishment of God’s purposes.
These age-old alliances between witchcraft and mammon; between sorcery and idolatry serve to entice and divide God’s people and undermine God’s purposes. Yet, “I will repay Babylon and Chaldea, says the Lord.” So the Lord will again intervene to bring judgment on those who entice his people into unbelief and idolatry; and those who seek to undermine and stymie His purposes. Extraordinary God-initiatives and changes can be expected within the world’s infrastructure where the occult has become the resident seat of power.
Likewise, God’s modern-day agendas to repay Babylon and Chaldea will also manifest where religious traditions of men align with the spirit of Chaldea and Babylon to rage against the initiatives released by the Spirit of God.
However, this judgment of repayment will be released only after the thrust of what Jeremiah saw as the cooperative efforts described by: “With you, I will break nations in pieces; with you I will destroy kingdoms and strongholds.”
The Role of the Josephs and Daniels
Modern-day Josephs and Daniels; and this entire move of God into the marketplace reflects God’s throne-room strategy designed to penetrate the world’s commercial and political infrastructures. The Josephs and Daniels cross boundaries that the traditional Church just doesn’t tend to venture into. The Josephs and Daniels are catalysts releasing the process of restoring God’s covenant principles and rule. Their role is in restoring and operating with a Kingdom perspective within the fabric of society.
Today’s Josephs and Daniels understand God’s concept of community: how business and community are designed to operate together as it was revealed to the patriarchs and outlined in Deuteronomy. The Josephs and Daniels understand the admonitions in Isaiah 58 to reach out to the hungry and the oppressed as a significant part of being community-builders. It’s where the Gospel of salvation and the social Gospel collide and become the Gospel of the Kingdom.
Today’s Josephs and Daniels will encounter confrontations with these age-old alliances. Yet, like Daniel, those who truly operate through God will be strong and will do exploits. They will operate in the authority and anointing that was evidenced when Joseph was elevated to sit along side of Pharaoh. The confrontations will be about the restoration of God’s Kingdom rule. The Josephs and Daniels will penetrate the heart of darkness and the seats of power that control what was originally designed to be a part of God’s Kingdom. The Josephs and Daniels will work along side the Pharaohs and Cyruses of our day to restore what God has all along meant for His own.
Additionally, this move of God in the marketplace will not only serve to create holy alliances between modern-day Josephs and Daniels and their gatekeeper counterparts, but it will see a mobilization within the business community that will result in:
- releasing the believing business community into the walk of God’s Kingdom;
- of releasing the anointing into their respective businesses to assume responsibility for their communities and resources, and of
- redeeming the believing community’s businesses, business people and finances for the Lord.
God’s anointed business community bears a unique calling. It includes spiritually liberating the common man by eliminating the gap between the sacred and the secular. Those so aligning themselves with God will see the walls coming down between business and ministry.
The role of God’s business community includes restoring the kingly, leadership function of God’s people through a strategy of holy alliances that counter and defeat the prevailing unholy alliances.
Historically, the Jewish people have developed community to an advanced, mature stature. It is community that eschews elitism and nurtures opportunity as it draws its members as a whole together. The Rothschilds created alliances sought out by the world and progressively and proactively enhanced the standing of Jews as a people. Community without cultivating-alliances falls far short of the Body maturity written of by Paul in Ephesians 4.
The Strategy of Alliances
Ariel Sharon’s autobiography “Warrior” illustrates how an alliance was mobilized to break the stranglehold of oppression that had crept into the seats of power; in this case, within Israel at the time.
The 20th chapter of Mr. Sharon’s book describes the need for the formation of the Likud party in Israel. The evolution of power within the Labor party had sadly digressed from the significant role its leaders had played in Israel’s war for independence. What had resulted in just three decades in Israel was the exclusion of anyone outside Labor’s members and support system from receiving the benefits that should have been afforded to all the citizenry. There was simply a bureaucratic stranglehold on jobs, housing, bank loans, education, social services and so forth. An unholy alliance, if you will, operated through the bureaucratic infrastructure.
The Likud party became an alliance of necessity for all those outside the Labor infrastructure. It included a host of diverse groups who previously may have been at odds with one another. These were groups who otherwise might not have taken the time to sit down at the same table. Yet the reality of the situation had a very real need for the power of unity that could only come from a “counter” alliance: a counter alliance to challenge the status quo.
The believing business community today holds a similar potential. It is the potential of overthrowing the bastions of unholy gatekeepers and penetrating key seats of power operating within the world’s business and political systems. Those called in this way, understand.
Anointed business leaders operate across boundaries that those in traditional ministerial circles too often would not consider breaching. Those genuinely called as Josephs and Daniels comprise a balance of administrative gifts of getting things done; with leadership skills that are not constrained by Pharisaical exclusivity and tradition; with a sensitivity and commitment to hearing God’s voice with a focus on the priorities of His heart. It begins with assuming the responsibility and cost of the mantle.
God’s move into the marketplace is the move of God for this hour. It is a move of God exceeding in significance and impact, the rise of the parachurch movement of the late 50’s.
We are entering the time in which the Lord will repay Babylon and Chaldea. Alliances will be key in setting the stage for this throne-room strategy. These are holy alliances that unseat the Jezebel’s and restore God’s kingdom rule. These are alliances that operate in simplicity, yet potency to challenge the status quo and barriers to God’s redemptive purposes for this hour.
An important aspect of this dynamic was recognized in an article carried in the Wall Street Journal (“Independent’s Day,” August 28, 2002) about how several smaller ad agencies teamed up to compete for the very large Chrysler account. The observation of the article was that independent business alliances are hot because they capture the creativity of the independent entrepreneurs, something that was seen missing in the stifling bureaucracy of the larger agencies.
The vice-like grip and pervasive nature of today’s unholy alliances of idolatry and sorcery are necessitating unusual action from God’s people. This is action reflecting an understanding of the times, with a knowledge of what to do. It is action that will require diverse groups aligning themselves and creating holy alliances to accomplish God’s purposes for this hour. It is action not constrained by political correctness, denominational purity or a watered-down Gospel.
Unusual alliances will therefore result. These will be alliances that begin at the level reflecting Jesus’ wisdom of sending His people into enemy territory, two by two. They will incorporate cooperative efforts between existing networks and coalitions. They will reflect alliances between businesses and ministries; alliances between modern-day Josephs and Pharaohs.
Alliances among God’s entrepreneurs will serve to harness the power of unity to push back the encroachment of darkness into arenas God intended for good. Over the ages, community entrepreneurs have been those called as pioneers to pave the way for God’s agendas. Community entrepreneurs today are modeled after the patriarchs, with their modus operandi outlined in the God-centered, entrepreneurial community principles found in Deuteronomy.
The need calls for not only just alliances within the business community; but alliances between the business community and those uniquely called intercessors, who have been anointed to understand the times. These will be alliances that pull down the barriers between business and ministry. They will be alliances at the community level, as well as alliances that penetrate seats of power at the national level. These will be holy alliances that connect God’s marketplace ambassadors for this hour, across the globe.
Judgment is clearly coming to Babylon and Chaldea. The process is underway as the Lord positions those with unique callings to serve together with Him in breaking nations in pieces, of destroying kingdoms and strongholds. The penetration of the world’s system by God’s modern-day marketplace emissaries is going to unfold with simplicity. It will be a simplicity marked with a sovereign coordination of strategically called individuals and groups. These are individuals and groups — entrepreneurs and business leaders — who form alliances which will break the stranglehold represented by Jezebel and Ahab, by witchcraft and mammon, by sorcery and idolatry. These are individuals, groups and alliances who as it was said of Daniel, are those who know their God and will do exploits.
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