PART 1: New Wine Revelation or Demon Intoxication

by Karen Connell

Many of you may know that in Biblical typology, “new wine” is a representation of “new or fresh revelation” from God to His people. The Bible has much to say concerning this and it is important to understand, because there is an abundance of “personal revelations” that have come forth within the past 2000 years of church history, which have become the basis for many “false moves of God” and “false doctrines.” Therefore, it is crucial to understand the “kind” of “wine” (revelation) and “wine skin” a spiritual revelation is coming from.

The following article is an excerpt from Chapter 5 of my book, ANATOMY FOR DECEPTION: If Possible Even the Very Elect Will Be Deceived, in which I discuss the subject of “new wine”.

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The first type of wine we need to look at is defined by the Hebrew word “tirowsh” (tee-roshe’) which means “vintage” or “sweet wine” (CWSD 3196). Jesus called it new wine. “And no one puts new wine (tirowsh) into old wineskins. The old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins. That way both the wine and the wineskins are preserved” (Matthew 9:17, NLT, parenthesis mine).

I find it interesting to see that the old wineskins burst from the pressure of new wine. A “wineskin” represents an individual, a church or a denomination and “new wine” represents a fresh, new or present spiritual understanding of God’s truth poured into each one. I call this a “now” word or a word in “due season” which has new understanding or a new perspective on God’s truth. His Word says it is “present truth.” This word exposes sin or simply reveals something that was not previously known or correctly understood before and made plain now because it is needed now to help perfect and mature God’s people in the season they are presently in. “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth” (2 Peter 1:12, KJV).

In the command to “be established in present truth,” the verb tense refers to becoming “stable” or “steadfast” and being continuously “established” (Strong’s 4741). There are many unstable believers out there who are not established in the truth of God’s Word because pride rose up and resisted His present truth. In other words, pride made them not honest and teachable when present truth was given to them. Prideful resistance, as a consequence, always causes great pressure within an individual, church or denomination that leads to double-minded Christians and church splits. In order to alleviate this pressure, an old wineskin must be willing to be renewed. That is, it must be immersed in the water of God’s Word in order to confirm that the wine is truly His new wine and not something false. Seeking God to confirm what we hear from the Scriptures brings a unity with Him and others of like faith which that releases the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Thus God’s anointing is like the oil that ran down the beard of Aaron the Old Testament priest in (Psalm 133:1-2). His anointing permeates the wineskin (the individual, church or denomination) and makes it soft and pliable so it can receive the “new wine” of new spiritual understanding that will be able to remain in the wineskin. This soft and pliable wineskin will not burst under the pressure of hearing something new or unfamiliar.

Anytime we honestly seek God to confirm what we are hear through His word, He gives us His anointing. This is the ability to receive and maintain His “new wine” of Spiritual revelation and understanding. Without honestly studying His Word, there is no anointing from the Holy Spirit to teach us all that we need to know. Instead of seeking God for truth when something new is heard, people often look for Scriptures to back up what they already believe or want to believe because they are not open to God’s present truth. Many also run from church to church and from conference to conference hoping to receive a “word” from God through a prophet or teacher. When a dried up wineskin does not soak in His Word to personally receive fresh revelation, it is open to being destroyed by deception. Therefore, new wine is not some “new teaching” of men or some “new spiritual” experience proclaimed by ministers. We must beware of teachers and prophets who try to use Scriptures to justify some new spiritual experience or revelation that is not firmly and clearly established in the Word of God.

There are many false teachers and prophets who are writing a myriad of books that contain many supposed Scriptural justifications for false teachings and bad theology. What does not actually appear in a Scripture, which should be used to justify a new revelation or teaching, is what they simply read into it! Therefore, if readers do not know their Bible, they are good candidates for deception because assumptions, implications, possibilities and opinions have replaced sound hermeneutics in much of our modern Christian teaching. In other words, much is pulled out of context to justify a personal opinion or some innovative revelation made by false teachers. When the Holy Spirit, the Revealer of Truth, is not the teacher, the natural academic mind takes over and produces unstable teachers and erroneous theological doctrines as “some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:16, NKJV). Martin Luther, a great reformer, warned about this very thing:

“Woe betide all our teachers and authors who go their merry way and spew forth whatever is uppermost in their minds, and do not first turn a thought over ten times to be sure it is right in the sight of God! These think the devil is away for a while in Babylon, or asleep at their side like a dog on a cushion. They do not consider that he is round about them with all his venomous flaming darts which he puts into them, such superlatively beautiful thought adorned with Scripture that they are unaware of what is happening.” (Luther’s Works 37, pg.13-18)

Innovative, novel or other kinds of “creative” teaching often promotes academic respectability, credibility and advancement in the body of Christ; and financial reward, prestige and popularity have become the rewards for these kinds of Scriptural interpretations. Therefore, “new” experiences, “new” teachings and “new” revelations are often highly esteemed and sought after by deceived Christian academicians. But revelations from Jesus Christ, who is the God of truth and called the Word of God, are never contrary to or apart from the Scriptures. “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, (so) you (can) know all things… the same anointing teaches you concerning all things… the anointing which you have received from Him (is to) abide (remains) in you…” (1 John 2:20,27, NKJV, parenthesis mine).

Any individual, church and denomination that is given a new Spiritual understanding (new wine) needs God’s anointing to know and be taught all things from His Word. Then they will not receive some intoxicating deception from the devil. Martin Luther is a good example. He was a Catholic priest who received his “new wine” revelation of being saved by grace. His “personal wineskin” was made ready to receive this “new wine” because he prayerfully spent time to be immersed in God’s Word. But this was not the case for many leaders in his denomination. They refused to immerse themselves in prayer and in the study of the Scriptures to see if Luther’s new wine of “salvation by grace alone” stood the test of Scriptural accuracy. In other words, the Holy Spirit could not anoint their prideful understanding because they refused to seek truth. Instead, they made up their minds according to what they always believed. Not to mention the loss of personal gain that would have affected them if the truth were to be accepted. If we also have our own agendas or go to the Word of God with a made up mind, all we will ever see is what we have always seen and understood. We will not grow in the knowledge that comes from Jesus Christ, who is the Word of God. “You therefore, beloved, since you know this before- hand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked. But grow in the grace and knowledge from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever” (2 Peter 3:17-18, NKJV).

The Holy Spirit’s anointing is for those who are humble and teachable – for those who honestly want to know the truth. Therefore an old wineskin can be made ready to receive and retain new Spiritual understanding as revelatory truth from God if pride is not an issue. When God pours out His new wine of new understanding within us, great joy and strength is the result. We also hear His Holy Spirit make clear to us what we need to know so we can be delivered from deception and confusion. “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” (John 15:11, KJV).

Again, when pride keeps defiling iniquities working within us, we cannot rightly discern what God is presently saying to us. Then we become dried up and filled with confusion. Christians who do not realize they have lost the ability to discern correctly are bound up with this Ephraim type characteristic (as previously discussed concerning the “Ephraim typology”). “The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hid” (Hosea 13:12, KJV).

When we are not free to discern error and what God is saying because of pride, our human reasoning will embrace many good sounding ideas and deceptions. When our understanding becomes clouded, the truth we do understand cannot bring freedom because of an internal pressure that comes from the confusion of wrong perceptions about the truth. For example, I personally have tried to pour God’s new wine into those who are dried up and bound up. But their pride rose up and often caused them to blow up in frustration and confusion because they were bound by a spirit of deception. “But we belong to God; that is why those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception” (1John 4:6, NLT).

The old dry wineskins in the Catholic Church, in Martin Luther’s day, reacted the same way. They wanted to put Luther to death as a heretic because of the “new wine” revelation and understanding he tried to pour into their dried up wineskins. Pride in their old wineskins caused such pressure that a church split resulted into a new wineskin called the Protestant Church. If God is not allowed to restore and renew an old wine skin so it can receive His new wine, He allows the old one to be destroyed and raises up a new one that will receive it. In addition, when pressure builds up within an old dried-up wineskin, it rejects the wisdom of God and manifests demonic wisdom. The Apostle James said, “This wisdom is…even devilish [demoniacal]. For wherever there is jealousy [envy] and contention [rivalry and selfish ambition], there will also be confusion [unrest, disharmony, rebellion] and all sorts of evil and vile practices” (James 3:15-16, AMP, parenthesis mine).

If people get angry when you give them the truth in love, for their own good, it is usually because they do not want to receive it. God’s wrath will then be upon them and rightly so because His truth is His freely given gift which is meant to set them free. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them” (Romans 1:18-19, NKJV).

The sweet “tirowsh” wine represents the wisdom or revelation of God which the Apostle James says is “good fruit.” In other words, God’s wisdom is manifested through the fruits of the Holy Spirit. “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy”(James 3:17, KJV).

Therefore, God’s Spirit of wisdom does not manifest through spiritual drunkenness because drunkenness in any form is a bad fruit of the flesh. It is also a sensual manifestation of demonic wisdom working through the flesh. “When you follow the desires of your sinful (fleshly) nature, your lives will produce these evil results (bad fruit such as): sexual immorality…the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group…envy, drunkenness” (Galatians 5:19-21, NLT, parenthesis mine).

New “Tirowsh” wine was used in the tithe offerings of God’s people. Sweet and freshly squeezed from the grape, it was the only wine ever used by the priests in their tabernacle ministry. Thus the natural state of “tirowsh” wine remained unaltered. But the intoxicating “yayin” wine was altered. “For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the grain, of the new wine (tirowsh) and the oil, to the storerooms where the articles of the sanctuary are, where the priests who minister and the gatekeepers and the singers are; and we will not neglect the house of our God” (Nehemiah 10:39-11:1, NKJV, parenthesis mine).

God said also that “tirowsh” wine is not to be shared with those who do not know Him or worship Him. “And the sons of the foreigner shall not drink your new wine, for which you have labored” (Isaiah 62:8, NKJV). Notice how “tirowsh” wine was something the people of God put in some time and effort to acquire. Those who do not want to spend time and effort to study the Word of God will not be blessed with acquiring His new wine. “But those who have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord; those who have brought it together shall drink it in My holy courts” (Isaiah 62:9, NKJV).

This wine is also related to celebrating in God’s holy courts of praise. I see this as the communion wine that represents the shed blood of Christ. In other words, this new wine represents the communion of true unity among the cluster or those who are truly in the body of Jesus Christ. “Thus says the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, ‘Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it:’ so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all” (Isaiah 65:8, NKJV). The cluster represents true unity among God’s people. But it is always destroyed by another kind of wine – by what is deceptively false.

The other kind of wine, called “yayin,” is related to drunkenness and deception. “Wine (yayin) is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise” (Proverbs 20:1,NKJV, parenthesis mine). There are ministries and ministers who once had the new wine, who started out and walked in the uncompromising truth of God. But at some point they began to receive and then cling to what is false, to an intoxicating mixture of truth and error, that caused the glory of God’s wisdom to fade like a flower in their lives. “Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower. But they also have erred through wine (yayin), and through intoxicating drink are out of the way; The priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink, they are swallowed up by wine, they are out of the way through intoxicating drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment” (Isaiah 28:1,7, NKJV, parenthesis mine).

The words “intoxicating drink” comes from the Hebrew word “shaker.” It means to be “fully satisfied with a stimulating or intoxicating influence” which is a “sedative for those who are dying and bitter” (CWSD 7941). Beauty in Scripture symbolizes God’s wisdom. Mixture, that causes drunkenness, destroys His wisdom. This explains why the priests who ministered to God in the tabernacle were forbidden to drink “yayin” or “shakar.” Therefore, those who partake of mixture, an intoxicating drink, will never have the beauty of the Lord as a reality in their lives. We have all seen beautiful looking men and women who have had their natural beauty ruined when they became drunkards. The same holds true with the Spiritual beauty of God’s wisdom. When the new wine of truth is mixed with error, which is a compromise with deception, this mixture produces a clash of pressure between opposing views that will cause a wineskin to be destroyed. The new wine of truth will then be lost and the old wineskin brought to ruin. Thus a wineskin that is not willing to comply with God’s renewing process will lose the beauty of His wisdom and fade like the flower of Ephraim. “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. The old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins. That way both the wine and the wineskins are preserved” (Matthew 9:17, NLT).

We as God’s people need to become honest and teachable. We must allow the Holy Spirit to instruct us not only about the issue of being drunk in the spirit but more so on any error or false teaching we may hold. God is constantly refining His people to free us from any unwanted sediment in our spiritual understanding because this sediment is the underlying cause for compromise, confusion and deception. When “new wine” is not shared or used, but instead held on to and stored away, it becomes fermented and ends up as “yayin” wine. The same holds true for Christians who receive the living water of God’s Word. Many do not share God’s Word with those who are thirsty, and only keep it for their own self-centered use, using it as a means to claim promises and blessings thus consuming it upon their own lusts. “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns — broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13 NKJV).