Our prayers may be imperfect, but the power of prayer does not depend on the person who is praying. The power of prayer comes from the one who is listening. That is how our prayers can be powerful.
Three kinds of wine and wineskins
One of the parables of Jesus was about old and new wine, and about old and new wineskins (Lk 5:37-39). At the time of the first coming, the old wine represented Moses’ law and the old wineskins represented the hearts of the priests who taught Moses’ law. The new wine represented the gospel of heaven and the fulfillment of the Old Testament. The new wineskins represented the hearts of Jesus and his disciples who taught the gospel of heaven, not the hearts of the priests of Israel. In addition, there was one more type of wine available at that time—the maddening wine of adultery. The maddening wine was the teachings of the viper-like Pharisees who were sitting in the holy temple of Jerusalem.
That being said, what are the old wine, new wine, old wineskins and new wineskins of today?
In the second coming, the old wine is the gospel of the fulfillment of the Old Testament by Jesus and the old wineskins are the pastors who are teaching this from their hearts. The new wine from the time of the first coming is now 2,000 years old. What is obsolete and aging is now disappearing (Heb 8:13). The new wine is the word of revelation of the fulfillment of the New Testament (Rev 10). The new wineskins are the priests of the 12 tribes who teach these words from their hearts. Moses’ law, the gospel of heaven, and the hidden manna are each the spiritual food that are given at the proper time. The wineskins of each generation are those who put these teachings in their hearts.
The maddening wine, however, is different from these other types of wine. What is the maddening wine of adultery which makes all nations drunk and causes them to fall (Rev 18)? What is it that can intoxicate the kings of the earth (Rev 17:1-2)?
Physically speaking, wine comes from grapes and grapes come from a vine. Jesus told us he is the true vine where the holy spirit descended (Jn 15:1), and so the true wine represents the words of the spirit given through Jesus. On the other hand, the gentile vine is a wild vine that represents a gentile pastor on whom an evil spirit descends. Deut 32 says that the wild wine is the venom of serpents and the deadly poison of cobras. Accordingly, Jesus called the teachers of the law and the Pharisees a brood of vipers (Matt 23). They were the wild vine and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Likewise, today according to Rev 13, the organization of the dragon invaded God’s dwelling place in heaven and led all the nations to be deceived and intoxicated with the maddening wine of adultery. By seeing their actions, which fulfill Rev 13, we know who they are. The maddening wine of adultery represents their lies, and its wineskins are the pastors who belong to Satan. Any pastor who takes Satan as his bridegroom commits sexual adultery. These pastors have no choice but to speak the words the evil spirits have given them—the maddening wine of adultery.
The one who has seen the physical fulfillment of Revelation knows this very well. Thus, it is only through the one who knows the words of Revelation and who saw and heard their fulfillment, can people distinguish good from evil or good people from evil people. The tree where the holy spirit descends and the tree where the evil spirit descends (Matt 13:32-32; Dan 4:20-22) are the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, respectively. They represent two kinds of pastors.