Spiritual Backburning

On March 31, 2015, on the slopes above Ridgecrest Con­ference Center, near Asheville, NC, where The Church of God holds its General Assembly, a forest fire with 100 foot flames burned 740 acres, destroyed a home and damaged five others. Firefighters put protective fire lines around some struc­tures as a precaution. This firefighting technique is known as backburning. Backburning occurs when firefighters determine that the best way to inhibit the progression of a bushfire is by burning back towards the oncoming fire. This removes fuel from the path of the fire, which can stop its spread or reduce its impact on structures. Without backburning, the auditorium in which the General Assembly is held might not be standing today.

Spiritual backburning is a biblical theme from Genesis to Revelation. Genesis 2:8, 10 reads, “And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed... And a river went out of Eden to water the garden...” But the devil started a fire to destroy this beautiful garden. “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said... of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die” (Gen. 3:1-4). The devil’s tongue was the match which ignited this fire. “...Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire... and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell” (James 3:5, 6).

But God promised the woman’s seed would defeat Satan. “And the LORD God said unto the serpent... I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:14, 15).

The destructive wildfire of Satan spread through the Old Testament as seen in the history of the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, Israel in the wilderness, the apostasy in the days of the judges and the kings, etc. But in the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi prophesied, “Behold, I will send my mes­senger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple... But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver... (Mal. 3:1-3).

At the beginning of the New Testament, John the Baptist and Jesus Christ fulfilled this prophecy. John was the Lord’s “messenger” who prepared the way for Jesus Who would use backburning to fight Satan’s wildfire. John said, “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matt. 3:10-12).

Jesus said, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matt. 11:12). Satan’s fire was still burning violently in the days of John and, as a result, the kingdom of heaven was suffering. An example of this was John being beheaded as Satan tried to take the kingdom by force. But Jesus started a backfire. He said, “I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?” (Luke 12:49).

Both fires are still burning today. The wildfire of Satan is destroying many lives, but Jesus is fighting this forest fire by baptizing “with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” The prophets foretold of this Holy Ghost fire which would burn up everything which would otherwise fuel the destructive wildfire of Satan.

This spiritual backburning has a purifying effect in The Church of God. Zechariah prophesied, “...two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God” (Zech. 13:8, 9).

Isaiah predicted, “he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning” (Isa. 4:3, 4). As the song, “Going Back”, says, “It’s coming down to ‘in’ or out.” Those who are in Zion will be “left in” or left out, “in Jerusalem” or out of Jerusalem, “remaineth” or removed, “holy” or “filthy,” “written among” or written off, “living” or dead, washed clean or “washed away.”

 

Holy Ghost fire will purify The Church of God and thus make Her ready for the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ. “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7).  “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:13, 14).

 When He returns, His backburning will overcome Satan’s wildfire. “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10).

 Paul tells us that He will come “In flaming fire taking ven­geance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gos­pel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 1:8). This “flaming fire” is described in explicit detail in the book of Revelation: “fire was cast into the sea” (8:8); “out of their [the horses’] mouths issued fire... the third part of men killed, by the fire” (9:17, 18); “And if any man will hurt them [the two witnesses], fire proceedeth out of their mouth” (11:5); “If any man wor­ship the beast... he shall be tormented with fire...” (14:9, 10); “power was given unto him to scorch men with fire” (16:8); “she [Babylon] shall be utterly burned with fire” (18:8); “every shipmaster... cried when they saw the smoke of her burning” (18:17, 18); “her smoke rose up for ever and ever” (19:3); the beast and the false prophet “were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone” (19:20); “fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone” (20:9, 10); “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (20:15).

 As the Church shall be purified by fire, so it shall be with all God’s creation. God said of His creation, “It is good.” So shall it be again. Paradise lost will be Paradise found. “Look­ing for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:12, 13). “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth... And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:1, 5). “And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal... on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse...” (Rev. 22:1-3).

 When I pastored in Bismarck, North Dakota, my son Terry was 10 years old and my other son, Dale, was 12. My State Overseer, Tom Queener, went out of town one weekend and his son Shane who was 11 years old spent the weekend with us. On Sunday, the boys asked to go to the park near the par­sonage. A short time later they ran into the house and said that there was a fire at the park. So we called the Fire Depart­ment. That night we had a glorious service and Shane got under conviction and went to the altar. Terry thought, “Oh, no! He is going to confess to what happened at the park.” While Shane was still in the altar, Terry told his momma that Shane and Dale had rolled up grass in paper pretending it was ciga­rettes which they lit and accidentally set the park on fire. Terry begged his mom to not tell me. My wife, thinking it was just a small fire, said, “OK.” The next morning the Fire Marshall wanted to speak with the boys. I told him that they were at school. After he left, I saw headlines in the newspaper, “Five Acres Burned in City Park. Three Juveniles Suspected.” My wife then told me what had happened. Bishop Queener and I purchased trees and the boys planted them. A few weeks later, grass all over town was brown from the sun, except for the park, which had the greenest grass in town. The park was fully restored and more beautiful than it had ever been. So it shall be with God’s creation.

 We have a foretaste of creation’s restoration, “as a fire­brand plucked out of the burning” (Amos 4:11). “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). Now we must obey the words of Jude, “And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire” (v. 23). We are firefight­ers, first responders, pointing the only way of escape by God’s evacuation route through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But many will say, “I will not leave my house” and will perish in the fire which was meant for their salvation.

 

E. ROGER AMMONS 

General Evangelism Coordinator Preacher/Singer/Musician Available for revivals (no church too small or too far away). Also available for District Evangelism Seminars and convention boosts.

924 Tri Circle NE Cleveland, TN 37312

Email: rammons@thechurchofgod.org

Phone: (423) 310-1042