Golden Ministries Newsletter

I had a blessed Christmas with my family and the Lord protected me with many miracles as I traveled through the ice and snow. I am starting the New Year with a deeper commitment in time and fellowship with the Lord and there is expectancy for change. The Lord also spoke to me that this is a year for salvation. Many souls will come into the Kingdom of God and I want to be part of that.

ETH YOUTH RETREAT

The End Time Handmaidens and Servants Winter Youth Retreat was awesome. I think I reached some of the deepest levels of worship I have ever reached there and that is saying a lot. We touched heaven. Many youth were delivered and touched and many re-committed their lives to the Lord. Out time there always seems to be too short but there are two great times for the youth coming up. One will be at the ETH 30^th World Convention. This will be the final World Convention and it will be in St Louis, Missouri. You won’t want to miss that. The other will be the Summer ETH Youth Retreat and both will be an excellent opportunity to press into the things of the Lord. These provide times of break through and serious change. You won’t want to miss any of it.

COMING TRIPS

The Lord has dealt with me to go back to India and the Philippines, please keep this coming trip in prayer. I am asking the Lord for the exact dates and details. I know I need to go to India and it’s looking like leaving March 13^thfor 4 weeks at this time but that is not confirmed. And from there go on to the Philippines for a few weeks. There are two possible side trips that I need confirmation on before I mention them. Please keep this in prayer. Being in God’s strategic place and His strategic time is very important and not being side tracked to what looks good but is not God. I believe many souls will be saved. If you feel led to give your seed into these trips I believe it is fertile ground. Just ask the Lord and do as He leads you to do.

TEACHING ON SALT part 1

There is so much information concerning salt and the Covenant of God associated with it in the Bible that starting a teaching on it could be little overwhelming. Understanding the Covenant of Salt will make many things in the Bible clearer because though it is only mentioned a few times it is indicated many times. I will start with basic overview information in part one and continue with a deeper study in part two. I have discovered that the enemy Satan uses salt as well. I am not surprised because for everything the Lord has the enemy has a counterfeit. That is why I am going to be very careful to ground everything in the written Word of God as well as the revelation of God.

From the covenant with Abraham to the covenant with David, through the New Testament and even now we see the Covenant of Salt. Salt is and always has been a symbol of covenant. It was a commonly understood practice in the Middle East to use salt to seal a covenant. Sharing salt was considered a very serious thing and whether intentional or not a binding covenant was created when salt was shared. Sharing salt (or eating a covenant meal together or sharing a table) was also associated with coming under someone’s roof or the ‘covering’ of their personal covenant with God. Which is why breaking such a covenant was considered to carry eternal consequences, Isaiah 24:5-6.

For example, if you were in trouble with the king and he was going to have you beheaded, and you could trick him into tasting salt while he was sentencing you, then not only would the king have to let you go but protect you AND your family as long as you lived. No matter what you did to him he could not break that covenant on his part or he would bring an eternal curse on himself AND his family. It was considered a very serious thing. So when you see people making an agreement in the Old Testament especially during the Patriarchal times they sealed the agreement with a meal. They tasted salt together thereby making an eternal covenant with each other.

Unlike today where you make an agreement and it is not binding on your children or grandchildren, the covenant of salt was considered to continue from generation to generation, Genesis 17:7-9.The Covenant of Salt is not an agreement or a promise. These you can make and later walk away. These types of covenants are if you do this then I will do that. If you do not do your part I will not do mine. But the Covenant of Salt says regardless of what you do I will do my part faithfully. The Covenant of Salt is a relationship, bonding covenant that is binding spirit, soul and body. Therefore it was often understood that friends held this covenant like Jonathan and David. That is one of the reasons the betrayal of a friend is so serious, because they walk in an eternal covenant together. (This also helps in understanding curses and blessings handed down from generation to generation and why the Bible says Proverbs 27:10 Do not forsake your own friend or your father's friend.) Because of these relationship ties there came to be strict rules regarding hospitality, bringing someone under your roof (which would indicate eating with them, sharing salt with them and bringing them in under YOUR covenant with God.)

The covenant the Lord made with Abraham or the Abrahamic Covenant was a covenant of salt. We know this by understanding the culture of that day and what was done. The Lord God Almighty made an ‘eternal’ covenant with Abraham using the guidelines of the day so that Abraham could understand. Only a Covenant of Salt is considered to be eternal. It is said in James 2:23 That Abraham was called the Friend of God. That is a Covenant of Salt position that has been handed down to us, as Galatians 3:13-14 says that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Through Jesus Christ we become a partaker in the blessings of this eternal covenant of Abraham.)

Another example: KJV 2 Chronicles 13:5 Ought ye not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? Again we can see that this is an eternal covenant, the words forever or all generations are indications of a Covenant of Salt.

We see that the covenant God made with the Levites was an eternal Covenant of Salt. KJV Numbers 18:19 All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the LORD, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the LORD unto thee and to thy seed with thee.

Let’s look at another aspect of salt in the Bible. NKJ Leviticus 2:13 'And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt.

The Israelites were not permitted to offer any sacrifices unless that sacrifice had salt with it and that salt made the statement of their eternal covenant with God. Because of that we know that all of the grain or flour that was offered had salt, which is how we know that the Showbread or Bread of Presence inside the Tabernacle or Temple had salt, which is a type of the Communion Bread now representing the Body of Christ broken for us. We will talk more about this and how it affects the church in part two of this teaching. But for now we see the salt (the statement of our eternal covenant with God) in the tabernacle in the Showbread on the Table of Presence.

So in the Tabernacle the salt was with all sacrifices, in the Showbread and thirdly salt was in the incense. NKJ Exodus 30:34-36 And the LORD said to Moses: "Take sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, and pure frankincense with these sweet spices; there shall be equal amounts of each. You shall make of these an incense, a compound according to the art of the perfumer, salted, pure, and holy. And you shall beat some of it very fine, and put some of it before the Testimony in the tabernacle of meeting where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you.

This incense was also taken behind the veil into the Holy of Holies in the golden censer where the High Priest went once a year. Lev. 16:12 The Lord wanted the salt of our eternal covenant with the Lord God Almighty to be a part of every aspect of our worship and sacrifice to Him. He wanted us to continually remember the responsibility of the covenant relationship and its requirements. Now we are the temple. NKJ 1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? And the Lord wants the statement of His eternal covenant and relationship with us in every aspect of all that we do.

Let’s look at an example of the Covenant of Salt in the angels visit to Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah. The angels come to see if Sodom and Gomorrah need to be destroyed. Lot begs them to come stay at his house because he knows there is danger in the night. A violent mob surrounds Lot’s house demanding the men because they want to sexually abuse them. Then Lot goes outside by himself to talk to them. You’ve got to wonder what he was thinking here. There’s an angry, violent mob and he’s going to have a chat with them by himself. Why would he so carelessly risk his life for strangers? Well let’s read and see.

They shared salt. Now at the cost of his own life and everything he holds dear Lot must protect them. How seriously does he take this? NKJ Genesis 19:8 "See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof."

We see that Lot offers them his daughters. That’s terrible. What a horrible father he was. Was he? We see how extremely evil the place was and yet his two daughters were still virgins. So he must have taken very good care of them. So why offer them to an angry mob now? “This is the reason,” he says and expects the men to understand, “they have come under the shadow of my roof.” The have come under my covering and covenant with God. We tasted salt together. At the risk of my life and all I hold dear I “MUST” protect them. It’s hard for a western mind to comprehend but it was that serious.

Let’s look at another example. Joshua defeated the enemy at Jericho and is going from victory to victory. Then in Joshua chapter 9 we begin to read about a different enemy Gibeon. History tells us that they were the fiercest warriors of the land and a very intelligent people. They were also one of the largest kingdoms but they were afraid of Israel because how could they fight against God. They had heard of how God parted the waters and fought for Israel. The walls of Jericho did not fall out or in but went straight down into the earth as archeologist have discovered. That’s scary.

So they developed a plan. (The enemy has a plan to get you into a binding covenant. That is why often when praying for someone that is legally attacked by the enemy or curses I break past covenants they have made by the new covenant that overrides all other covenants; the Blood of Jesus. We have the right to do this but it isn’t automatic. We have the Blood of Jesus and we must actively use it.) They would pretend that they had come from a very far land, which they would evidence by their water being stale, their bread moldy and even their sandals would look old and clotted with dirt. They would flatter the Israelites and tell them they desired to worship their God. They would trick them into making a Covenant of Salt with them. NKJ Joshua 9:6 And they went to Joshua, to the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, "We have come from a far country; now therefore, make a covenant with us."

Now remember Israel wasn’t the only ones who used the Covenant of Salt, it was common practice in the Middle East at that time and in some places it still is. NKJ Joshua 9:14-15 Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions (food); but they did not ask counsel of the LORD. So Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them to let them live; and the rulers of the congregation swore to them. They ate with them thereby sealing an eternal Covenant of Salt with them.

Then they found out that they were really the next kingdom they were supposed to destroy. What could they do? Nothing. They had made a Covenant of Salt with them before God. They should have inquired before the Lord but they didn’t. It was binding. But the people lied you might say. Remember once the Covenant of Salt is made no matter what the other party does or has done you still have to keep your part of the bargain regardless, even if you were tricked into making the covenant to begin with. These Gibeonites knew that from the beginning.

Then the other kingdoms of the land saw that the biggest most powerful warriors had made a covenant with the Israelites and they were furious, so five of these kingdoms joined forces to destroy Gibeon. The Gibeonites sent word to Joshua to come save them. Save them? No way. Joshua’s worries were over. The other kingdoms would destroy these pesky Gibeonites and he would be free from them, except for one thing. The Covenant of Salt demanded he protect them to the death. What did the Lord say about all of this? KJV Joshua 10:8 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.

The Lord is saying that even though Joshua was tricked He is honoring the Covenant. Not only did the Lord honor the covenant and rain hailstones on the enemy but after Joshua and his men traveled all night to get there and fought all day, in verses 13 and 14 we see that this is the battle the Lord held the sun still for 24 hours and did not let it go down. It is amazing that God held the sun for 24 hours but it is also amazing that Joshua’s men who had already marched all night and fought all day were able to fight another 24 hours. That doesn’t mean that God liked it or that it was His plan at all but once it was made He honored it. It was legally binding in the natural realm and in the spirit realm. God’s people need to come to an understanding of the legalities of the Kingdom of God.

Okay God honored this Covenant of Salt but surely after Joshua died it expired, didn’t it? Well let’s look and see. KJV 2 Samuel 21:1 Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites. Saul as king of Israel attacked the Gibeonites and killed them. Wait a minute that is hundreds of years after Joshua. But the Covenant of Salt is eternal and there were still consequences for breaking it. It brought the curse on them. For how long? Until they do something to stop it. How often we as Christians walk in the curses of broken covenants with the Blood of Jesus readily available to remove the curse and all we have to do is apply it but we don’t.

Let’s look at another scenario where the Covenant of Salt is indicated but not named specifically. We all love the 23^rd Psalm but this verse has often confused people. NKJ Psalm 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.

First we notice that ‘you prepare a table’ means we’re going to eat together. From our study of the Covenant of Salt we know that sharing salt means a binding eternal covenant relationship. Now this particular statement was referring to a custom in Israel. Israel had been occupied by enemy troops many times. During these times enemy soldiers would break in and take whatever they wanted often hurting or even killing the people in the house. But because of the seriousness of hospitality and bringing someone under your covenant covering certain customs were set in place. If you were my dinner guest I would set you in the corner (the hardest place to get to) and I would set with my sword on and my back to the door. That way if the enemy came in he would have to go through me to get you.

The seriousness of the Covenant of Salt demanded such measures. But who is the person in this Psalm taking that position? It is the Lord. Then why do we ever get hurt? Because we leave the covenant position either by un-repented sin, trying to do things ourselves or not keeping the covenant relationship. Let’s go back to the example of the Gibeonites. As long as a person from Gibeon was in Israel they were protected by Israel because of the covenant. But should a person from Gibeon decide to move to Moab, Israel is not required to follow them and protect them there because they have left the covenant position. We must be very careful to remain in protected covenant position with the Lord and if for any reason we find ourselves out of that position we must do whatever is necessary to get back into the protected covenant position, from repenting to applying the Blood of Jesus, otherwise the enemy has legal access. There is no protection outside the covenant position.

So salt speaks of God’s eternal covenant. Let’s look at a few scriptures about salt in the Bible. NKJ 2 Kings 2:21 Then he (Elisha) went out to the source of the water, and cast in the salt there, and said, "Thus says the LORD: 'I have healed this water; from it there shall be no more death or barrenness.' "

Elisha cast salt in the water with the decree of the Lord and the water was healed. I remember once in India the Lord revealed to me a person had poison in their water as well as a curse in their water and in their land. As I began to describe the symptoms the Lord was showing me they verified that this was true. The Lord had me send an elder with salt to put salt in the well and pray over the land and the curse and the poison were removed just like with Elisha.

NKJ Ezra 6:9-10 And whatever they need -- young bulls, rams, and lambs for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the request of the priests who are in Jerusalem -- let it be given them day by day without fail, that they may offer sacrifices of sweet aroma to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and his sons. When Ezra was returning to build the temple in Israel he knew they had to have salt in order to offer sacrifices to the Lord. There must be no sacrifice without covenant.

This scripture is interesting because the priests were to literally throw the salt on the sacrifice. NKJ Ezekiel 43:24 'When you offer them before the LORD, the priests shall throw salt on them, and they will offer them up as a burnt offering to the LORD.

NKJ Ezekiel 16:4 "As for your nativity, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. Salt is known to be antiseptic and cleansing. It made the skin of the baby strong to endure the harsh desert weather. At times the Lord has had me use salt in such a way. At one place in India the river was full of the blood of ancestors and sacrifices coming down from Tibet. The Lord had us pour salt in the water and proclaim the demonic flow of blood to be stopped. What do you do to stop the bleeding when a tooth is pulled but gargle with salt. In this instance it had a cleansing antiseptic application that stopped the demonic blood.

Matthew, Mark and Luke quote the Lord saying this. NKJ Matthew 5:13 " You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

Or you are the representation of God’s covenant in the earth. You should taste like the Lord, look like Him, act like Him because people need to see Him in you through your covenant relationship with Him. If you have lost this flavor of His covenant in you; you have lost the relationship, you are useless. These ones will be attacked easily because without the covenant relationship there is no protection. They will be cast out of the presence of the Lord and trampled under the feet (ways) of men. They will be overcome and put under worldly ways.

Mark puts it this way NKJ Mark 9:49-50 " For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another."

He is saying the fire of God will come on everyone. For some it will bring fiery judgment and for some fiery glory. Those, whose life is a sacrifice to the Lord seasoned by their Covenant of Salt with Him, will have the glory part of the fire. This salt (covenant relationship with God) is good. But if the salt loses its flavor (if the Christian has no covenant keeping ability and no covenant relationship with God, keeping his life on the altar as a sacrifice and not hording it only for himself) how will he be able to change that? Have salt in yourselves (have a sacrificial covenant relationship with God in everything you are and everything you do.) and (then you will be able to) have peace with one another, unity.

Paul says, NKJ Colossians 4:6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. Let your speech be with grace, seasoned with your covenant relationship of God. That means you are going to protect His interests and represent Him well at all times leaving your life on the altar before Him because to serve only self or show only the face of self is breaking covenant. The Covenant of Salt is a two-way covenant. It is not only God’s faithfulness and protection for us but also our protection of His holy name and our faithfulness to Him. Harming the one you have made covenant to love and protect by your actions or words (misrepresenting Him) is breaking the covenant. You represent Him and when you don’t represent Him well in what you say and do you are in danger of breaking covenant. If you walk in covenant relationship you will only represent him well and speak in a way that glorifies His name. You represent Him in all you say and do because by your covenant you bear His name.

Names were often changed when God made a covenant with someone to show the change in that person and who they could be because of the covenant. Abram became Abraham when God cut covenant with Him. David became King David. Simon became Peter and Saul became Paul. James and John became Boanerges, that is, "Sons of Thunder". Covenant changes who you are, walking in it changes who you become. The Lord has given me many names on my covenant journey. As a matter of fact the first time I ever heard of a Covenant of Salt was many years ago when the Lord made a Covenant of Salt with me. I had never heard of such a thing so at the time I told no one. I was delighted when I saw it in scripture and the Lord began to reveal it to me. It has been a process.

NKJ James 3:12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh. Unfortunately many Christians show the covenant of God mixed with flesh and worldliness. This confuses the nonbelievers. How many times have I heard people say I will never go to church because of something I saw a Christian do, heard a Christian say or an attitude a Christian had. Just yesterday I was told ‘so and so’ will not go to church because the harsh attitude of a Believer there. Then they added, “How can he be a Christian?” They did not talk to this man but watched him from afar. But his actions and attitude turned seeking hearts away. We need to be very careful to walk in covenant relationship and to grow in it, representing the Lord and protecting His interests well. The thing that turns people away the quickest is hardness of heart and harshness in a believer.

Newsletter – Covenant of Salt Part 1

Greetings In The Name Of Jesus Christ Our Lord

ETH YOUTH RETREAT

COMING TRIPS

TEACHING ON SALT part 1