As in the Days of Noah

June 26, 2009

Recently I was spending some time with one of my daughters and at her request, we ended up watching one of her videos. When it stopped, the television defaulted to a Christian channel and they were showing a movie of Noah and the ark. She begged to watch it, so we watched some of it. It was a great example of what I would call “Biblical film making.” The dialogue was a little humorous in that the language was so archaic that it made King James English almost seem conversational. At the same time Noah seemed to always be looking off into the distance making profound statements with an air of wisdom about him. Regardless of Noah’s depiction, their depiction of the ark was actually interesting. They had an interesting view of how the ark was laid out and what life was like inside the ark both for people and animals. However, after the initial ark scene, I was totally unprepared for what was about to happen.

After the ark was loaded, Noah and his family were secured in the ark and soon the rain began to fall. As the rains fell the ark slowly began to be lifted and drift on top of the waters. At the same time the people outside the ark were panicking and frantically climbing to the highest places they could find to escape the water that was slowly overtaking them as a steady and unstoppable force. In the midst of this, there is a scene inside the ark where you can hear the muted sounds of screaming and shrieks from from all those that are lost outside the ark and frantically trying to escape the ever encroaching waters. As you hear these sounds, Noah’s wife has a look on her face of horror. Up until now the family hasn’t fully considered their predicament, and suddenly the full realization of what is going on strikes them. Noah’s wife looks to Noah and their eyes meet. Her expression is begging the question, “am I really hearing what I think I’m hearing?” Here Noah’s family is saved in the midst of cataclysmic destruction and yet the realization is finally hitting them that everything is real. Everything Noah had been preaching had been words up until this point, but now those words were reality and the terror of the reality was more than any of them anticipated.

I was so struck with that scene that I trembled on the inside. My mind raced to the Scriptures and I considered more and more how every time I pick up the Scriptures I am seeing such a clear declaration of the coming Day of the Lord. Whether it is the historical books, the prophets, the gospels, the acts of the early church, or the apocalypse of Revelation, there is a consistent and persistent declaration of the Day of the Lord in the Scriptures. It is almost as if there is a veil causing us to miss the preeminence the Day of the Lord has in the Scriptures and when that veil begins to lift, one is astounded as just how much of the Scriptures is given over to declaring that God is coming to the planet and that coming is something so dramatic that words fail in the description of it.

The prophets saw and declared this coming day. The Jews so anticipated that day that when John Baptist declared that Messiah was coming, they were baptized in repentance to prepare themselves for the day. In fact, the primary stumbling block for the first century Jews was that they were expecting the ultimate day of the Lord and not a coming that, in kindness, made available a redemption prior to that cataclysmic day. In Paul’s writings, we find that he motivated both himself and the saints he wrote to by exhorting them that they would be found in Christ on that day.

The coming of that day and the ensuing events were the cornerstone of the apostolic proclamation and the motivation to declare the gospel to the earth that as many as possible might be saved in the great day of God that was coming.  Remember that salvation Biblically is mostly presented as a future thing and what we have failed to perceive is that future salvation is not just salvation from hell, but salvation in the great Day of the Lord.  This doesn’t negate the present need of an encounter with God or of being born again, but rather our present experience of redemption and the indwelling presence of the Spirit, among other things, gives us assurance of full salvation on that day.

Every temporal judgment is a warning of an ultimate day of reckoning for the earth and those who have walked upon it. While we often focus on whether current events are judgments or not we miss the fact that any present judgment event is merely an illustration that is meant to point us to that ultimate day and warn us of a judgment that far surpasses anything we have presently experienced. Even the flood, as cataclysmic as it was, was not an event in itself, but rather meant to be an prophetic picture to shock and awaken us to the nature of what’s coming when God comes to the planet.

The issue of God’s coming is not an issue merely of an angry deity, but rather the issue of what happens when the One who is truly perfect and good comes into full contact with all the evil on the earth and in man.  The drama of that day is actually part of the love and kindness of God because the present evil that we tolerate is having horrific effects on creation that we don’t even recognize because we are so numb to it.  Since we are part of the environment and over it we can’t even see the full effects on our environment of the evil dwelling within us.  God is not content to see this destruction continue forever and so His coming brings a massive judgment that is rooted, not in anger, but in perfect love.

I have to believe that, like Noah’s family, this event may be a part of our creeds and theology, but that our hearts have not truly anticipated just how devastating and traumatic this day is going to be. The Scriptures clearly describe an event that man cannot endure and that even the earth can barely endure. Regardless of how literal your hermeneutic is, and the further I go the more convinced I am that the Scriptures are far more literal than we have imagined, as you read the prophetic scriptures concerning this day, anyone who seriously considers these events will come to the conclusion that this day is going to be beyond anything any of us have imagined.

Jesus said that the end would be “as in the days of Noah.” He chose the days of Noah as the example of the end. Just as in the days of Noah, men live totally ignorant of the impending judgment. Men scoff at the idea that God is going to judge all wickedness and restore the earth in purity and goodness just as He has promised. As in the days of Noah, God has made an ark of escape in Jesus that we might endure that terrible day when God comes to earth in holiness and in zeal to cleanse and redeem the earth.  And the real terror of that day is that, as in the days of Noah, the horror of what is coming will not be fully evident until the event is fully in motion and there is nothing that can be done. 

The real horror of the look on Noah’s wife’s face is that she only understood the magnitude of what was happening after it was too late to take any more action. By the time she fully understood what was going on it was too late to do anything about it.  It was too late to prepare any more.  It was too late to warn others, and it was too late to rescue any more souls.  The door was closed and the deluge had come and there was nothing that could be done to stop it.  So too the real terror of the Day of the Lord is going to be that we will only fully grasp it on that day and on that day it will be too late to prepare our hearts to face the fullness of God and too late to declare to others the need to repent that they may be saved in that day.  What has been done will have been done.  In that moment, the fog will lift and we will clearly see our lives and actions for what they were and the pain of regret, which for some will be an eternal terror, will be immense.

Just like Noah’s family in the movie, believers are living in intellectual assent to the idea that Jesus is coming but with virtually no understanding of just what that day is going to be like and no preparation for it. Our theology may be correct in our hearts, but in our hearts we live as though everything that day will destroy is actually permanent.  That day will literally shake the earth. Men will seek the escape of death because of the appearance of a holy God on the planet. We must begin to read the Scriptures simply, taking them at face value, and see that throughout the entire book there is a consistent declaration that God is coming to physically dwell on the earth among His people, and that coming will demand a complete judgment of all that is wicked and a restoration of the earth. We must also begin to see that all other themes in Scripture are in the context of this coming day and God’s purpose for it.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; – Isaiah 61:1-2 (ESV)

We are presently living in the year of God’s favor. It is the time period when salvation is made available.  God in His immense love and kindness has repeatedly, though His Word and through messengers each generation, warned us of the events to come and provided, at the cost of His own blood, an ark of escape in that great day.  However, this salvation makes little sense without the context of the day of vengeance against all wickedness, no matter how minor or how subtle,  that is coming. One thing is sure: Something is coming far beyond what we can imagine. We are presently blessed with a period of time to come under God’s mercy and allow Him to prepare us that we might stand on that day, but this blessing will be a curse in that day if we find, like Noah’s family, that it never was real to us.

If you are not right with God through Jesus Christ, I don’t have words that are strong enough to urge you to turn your heart to the cleansing in Jesus Christ that you might be prepared for that day. If you are already a believer, I would challenge you that you probably do not live in preparation for that day. Like Noah’s family, we have heard the message but we really haven’t anticipated exactly what that day will be. Most of us are expecting the inauguration of some sort of utopia and heavenly retirement age and this bears no resemblance to the way the Scripture describes this day.  While the end result is a cleansing and a perfect dwelling with God, we have grossly estimated the trauma of that process and the full purity of our God.

The reality is that this coming day is so dramatic that none of us can fully anticipate what is coming. Even those who give their hearts to prepare will, in some measure, stand like Noah’s family trembling under the weight of it all when it actually unfolds. Saints, that day is clearly described in Scripture if we only open our eyes to read it. Let us prepare our hearts in accordance with what the Scriptures really say while allowing our hearts to take the message to all those who are unprepared for this day. Malachi perhaps has the best summary of our predicament:

But who can endure the day of His coming, and who can stand when He appears? – Malachi 3:2a (ESV)

Gao Zhinsheng

May 22, 2009

Recently the Chinese government has re-arrested Gao Zhinsheng.  His crime is publicizing the kinds of abuses the Chinese government regularly inflicts on its own people. A website named “Free Gao” has published information about Gao including a video re-enacting Gao’s first imprisonment.  As you watch the video consider that this is the kind of reality that believers in many parts of China face each day.  They know that following Jesus may lead them into this kind of torture and yet they continue to evangelize passionately knowing that Jesus is the only hope for China.  Older believers even teach the younger ones how to escape the police and how to endure persecution when caught.

For most of us, China is a little unreal.  It is a place very far away possessing a culture we find unusual.  Sadly, China in the America mind is often merely a collection of labor and factories producing all our consumer goods at cheap prices.  It is the country that we both love and hate.  We love its low prices and efficient industry even as we decry the fact that it’s “cheap” and “communist.”

In the church, we often hear of Chinese Christians but their experience is also more of a detached reality for us.  Take a few minutes and allow God to knit your heart together with the Chinese, not only enjoying their stories of evangelistic success, but also sharing in their pain.

Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies. – Hebrews 13:3 (NLT)

Visit the Free Gao site and take a moment to learn more of what happens behind closed doors in China.   Remember, the saints there are part of our family.

Here’s the link: http://www.freegao.com/ .

The Anatomy of Deception

April 16, 2009

I wanted to make everyone aware of a new work available by Art Katz titled  The Anatomy of Deception.  This book was published posthumously from Art’s messages.   Recently a friend was kind enough to send me a copy of it before I was even aware that it was available for purchase and I am very grateful for his kindness.  Years ago Art’s writings were for me a deep drink of refreshing water amidst an arid land.  He gave perspective to yearnings in my soul and helped form the basis of a Biblical, New Testament theology in my heart.  After just spending a few moments in the introduction of this book, my heart was again stirred in a similar manner.  As I read through this work, Art’s words were again proving to be a deep drink of refreshing water.

In this Art takes aim at the critical issues in the church which, when unaddressed, lead us into deception and become avenues for even greater deceptions and delusions.  While manifestations of power are important to the church, Art takes aim at the deeper issues of our heart before the Lord and our life, both individually and together as believers, and demonstrates how, when these things are lacking, power can become a dangerous thing and ultimately even a means to deception.  This book is an excellent examination of things that we often fail to examine and in so doing cause great harm to ourselves and the church.  If you have a burden to see a church that is genuinely apostolic and prophetic, you would do well to spend a few hours in this book and let it test and try your soul.

In the days ahead, we are going to desperately need the kind of truth that is found in this little book, so I have to encourage you to get a copy of it and read it.  I also wanted to make a note of the fact that this is a relatively small book and I also found it to be one of Art’s easiest books to read.  In fact, if you’ve never read Art before this would be a fabulous book to begin with as it’s relatively short and very approachable while clearly communicating Art’s burden.

I wanted to add one last comment about the issue of signs and wonders.  Some saints might walk away from Art’s writings with a cynical heart towards the miraculous.  I want to encourage us all, as saints, to not become cynical towards signs and wonders simply because of their misuse.   Signs were an important component of Jesus’ ministry as well as that of the early apostles.  When we hear of God working in an extraordinary way, we should be like the Bereans who were both excited to hear of what God was doing and, at the same time, verified the word to be sure that it was true.

The reality is that we desperately need the power of God accompanying the gospel in our day and we must understand that God sometimes works in amazing ways through individuals that are imperfect and that imperfection does not necessarily invalidate the signs themselves.   In fact, we even see apostolic correction and tension even in the New Testament between Paul and Peter at one point.  My point here is to ensure that we properly apply Art’s message and do not let the enemy twist it so that we develop a cynical spirit.

That having been said, Art’s message may seem to some to be very strong but remember that when the pendulum swings too far in one direction we often need an equally exaggerated message to bring us back to the full counsel of the Lord.   While I have warned against developing a cynical spirit, at the same time realize that without the word Art brings in this book being applied, we will not have the ultimate depth that God requires and any signs in our mist will not be capable of having God’s intended effect and could even end up being tools in the hands of the enemy.

You can get a copy of The Anatomy of Deception at the Art Katz Ministries Online Bookstore which is located at http://artkatzministries.org/online_bookstore/.  If you have not read Art’s other major works such as Apostolic Foundations and the Spirit of Truth, go ahead and order those as well.  They will add a depth to your life will be greatly needed for the days ahead.  While you are visiting the Art Katz Ministries site you may want to sign up for updates because I believe there are also some other new works that will be coming out in the future that you will want to take advantage of.

Works such as The Anatomy of Deception are rare and valuable.

Politics and Government

February 23, 2009

Politics is like marrying and crying and laughing and buying. We should do it, but only as though not doing it – John Piper.

The Christian response to the recent elections has been somewhat troubling to me.  On one side, there are the despondent ones.  These act as though the Kingdom of God is almost subservient to the government and seem to believe that God is finished with America since the government is in the control of the “liberals.”  On the other hand there are those that are engaging in a bitter spirit of political contention.  They tend to appear to be more passionate about conservative talk show hosts than Christ, and are more energized by the liberal versus conservative debate than they are the eternal elements of the kingdom.  They seem to have forgotten that God is not a Republican, nor a Democrat, and that no system of man, moral or not, is a substitute for the coming kingdom and the coming King.

Please do not understand.  I know the moral policies that the government embraces are significant and have significant consequences.  I believe in passionate intercession for the nation and understanding the criticality of the hour the western nations are in.  Yes, we must vote and maintain a voice for righteousness.  By all means let us cry out that God might have mercy and overturn unjust laws and give us righteous leaders.  However, let us always keep this in eternal perspective and realize just whose kingdom we truly are citizens of.   I believe you will find John Piper’s post election comments to be a refreshing exhortation that is valuable in mainting the proper perspective.

Read on here for the rest of what he had to say:

http://www.worldmag.com/articles/14639

I have had some tell me that when they click the link, they cannot read the entire article.  Apparently the article is available if you are referred by Google, but not by other sites. Here is how to read the article:

• Go to Google.  Enter the following as your search: “Marry. Cry. Rejoice. Buy. john piper”
• The article will be the first search result.  Click on it and World magazine will display the entire article.  Yes, I know this is bizarre, but it works.

John Piper also wrote essentially the same thing before the election and you can read it at the Desiring God block by clicking on this link.

Greater Works than These

February 12, 2009

I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father. – John 14:12

Many of us have heard this passage preached many times with various interpretations of the passage.  While I do not want to try to evaluate what the proper interpretation of the passage is, I do want to propose that there is a nugget in this passage that could radically affect the culture of ministry that we operate in.

The Ministry Culture of Jesus

If you examine Jesus’ ministry, one thing that immediately stands out is how limited His sphere of ministry actually was.  While His ministry was spectacular, it is also amazing how He limited Himself to a specific area, refused the promotion of men, devoted only 3 years of His life to public ministry, and poured Himself into His disciples.  To understand why Jesus orchestrated His ministry in this way, it is critical that we examine how He launched the gospel through the disciples.

What is so amazing is that rather than seeking the largest public platform, Jesus poured Himself into the disciples.  In some cases, His ministry was limited to the 12 and in other cases it was the 70, and at times it included some other followers.  Regardless of the exact number, the point is that Jesus really only gave Himself to a small number of followers.  He also freely shared His power with them even when they were immature.  Not only did He send the disciples out with power, He even sent Judas out with supernatural power on him.  That alone should astound most of us.

Have you considered that Jesus invested His life in this small group of people and then He entrusted them with the propagation of the gospel to the nations?  If you think about it, it is almost inconceivable that Jesus would ascend just after His moment of triumph and leave the declaration of His victory to a handful of unstable followers.  If we are honest, we have to admit that we would consider Jesus’ ministry strategy to be ridiculous. 

How many of us would adopt that kind of strategy?  How many of us would repel the crowds that were ready to exalt us and instead invest in a small group that were struggling with proper theology?  How many of us would put power on a group of young men still struggling with their own egos?  How many of us, at the very height of victory, would step aside from visible ministry and instead give our spirit to others that they might be empowered to take the gospel to world and do great exploits?

Now, understand the point here and don’t read too much theology into it, but if you judge Jesus purely by ministry output you will see that the apostles superseded Him in virtually every way.  Most of them had much longer ministries, affected much wider areas, and produced more converts.  What was so radically different about Jesus’ value system that caused Him to minister in this way?  The answer has profound implications for just how deep our own ministry can go. Continue Reading Greater Works than These »

The Fall of Jerusalem

January 14, 2009

I have been considering the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD.  The siege and the ensuing conquest stands out as one of the most painful and graphic events in history.  In taking Jerusalem, it is recorded that the Romans killed nearly 1.1 million people.  The Jews were so starved that Josephus says they staggered around looking for anything to eat, even chewing leather.  It is even recorded that at least one person ate their own child.  Escaping Jews were crucified all around the city to the point that the Romans ran out of crosses.  The Jews, though bickering among themselves, desperately fought the Romans to the end in a losing battle.  It is said that the Romans, when they finally broke through to the temple area, were in such a passion of anger against the Jews that they did not even follow Titus’ orders but brutally slaughtered anyone and destroyed everything.  In the heat of this passion, a soldier threw a flaming torch into a room around the temple which started the temple burning.  Though Titus apparently did not intend to destroy the temple, the fire grew out of control and the temple was soon completely destroyed.  In the process, man, women, and children were burned to death and those that did escape were slaughtered by the Romans.  It is recorded that Titus refused to accept a wreath of victory for the conquest, saying that there was “no merit in vanquishing people forsaken by their own God.”

When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” – Luke 19:41-44

After solemnly considering these events, I believe this event has grave implications for us.  Consider just for a moment all the brutality, death, and destruction during the fall.  Consider that the area around Jerusalem, previously lush and desirable, was left practically a desert.  Why did Jeruslaem fall in such a dramatic way?  According to Jesus the city was going to suffer tremendously because it did not know the day of its visitation.  The city that rejected God in the flesh and condemned Him to a cross, just 40 years later was surrounded by a multitude of men on crosses as the Roman war machine steadily tore down the Jewish resistance.  They rejected one man on a cross and so were surrounded by the death of the cross.  Some translations in verse 41 show that Jesus wept audibly.  His heart was in pain because He knew what was coming.

What we must realize is that this event is a graphic foretaste of the end of the age.  One reason why we struggle with various prophecies in books like Revelation, Daniel, and the other prophets is because of the extreme nature of the events the prophet foretells.  The events seem so far beyond what we are accustomed to and so we tend to discard what the text actually says trying to ascribe symbolism to the text.  The fall of Jerusalem stands in contrast that that method of hermeneutics, instead demanding that we take prophecy literally.  In the fall of Jerusalem, God is gave us a foretaste of what the entire world will experience due to the global rejection of His Son.  If Jerusalem suffered so violently because it did not know the day of its visitation, how much more will the entire world suffer having not known the last 2,000 years of visitation?

We must realize that violent days are coming upon us.  The Scripture tells us that the earth will stagger like a drunkard.  If Jerusalem suffered so terribly for rejecting Jesus in their day, what is going to happen when God calls the entire world to judgment for the rejection of His Son?  What are the days going to be like when God unleashes the destruction, not just of one city, but of the world?  If one city could suffer so much for rejecting 3 years of ministry,  it should cause us to tremble at what the world will endure for rejecting 2,000 years of light.

We must begin to prepare out hearts for what is to come.  I do believe the Lord will keep us in the day of His wrath, although we will suffer to an extent just as Jeremiah suffered along with the others in Jerusalem in His day.  That being said, we must begin to trumpet a wake up call because the earth has no idea what is coming.  The earth has been lulled to sleep.  Humanity is in the same position as they were just before the great deluge.  The idea of such a flood was beyond their comprehension and so they ignored it until the rains finally fell and it was too late.  Let us not be like those that ignored Noah’s pleas, but rather let us be like Noah a preacher of righteousness preparing for the days ahead and warning men that they might be saved.

The best way to prepare our hearts is to begin to take the Word of God literally.  We must begin to read the Word and realize that there are things to come and those things are not exclusively symbolic, but rather are real events that must come to pass when God chooses to call the world to accountability for their treatment of His Son.  Yes, God is rich in mercy and even now calls men to repentance, but there will come a day when the fruit of the earth is fully ripe and God will swing his great sickle into the harvest of the earth.  Those that are His will welcome that day, but the earth though will experience the wrath of God against the great rejection of His Son.  What happened in Jerusalem in 70AD is merely a terrifying foretaste of what will come all over the earth in that day.  Let us live our lives in light of that day and let us warn others to throw themselves upon the merciful arms of the living God while He still delays His final days of reckoning with the earth.

One thing is for sure:  God is going to vindicate His Son, and I don’t think we have the slightest comprehension of what it will look like when God decides to vindicate His Son on a global level.

The Law – Part Five – Christ is Supreme

January 7, 2009

In the last post we attempted to put some definition around the New Testament law.  We are now brought to the climax of the law, which is the person of Jesus Christ.  As we have seen in these last installments, God’s requirement of mankind in the New Testament, far from being minimized, is actually filled up and maximized in the revelation of Jesus Christ.  As God has now indwelt man, He now has every legal right to make inner requirements of man that far exceed the Law of Moses.  We have seen how this dramatically affects our evangelism and our understanding of our own calling.

The Great Need of Mercy

You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. – Matthew 5:48 (AMP)

As we consider the requirements of God’s morality upon the inner man, we see that absolute need of Christ.  We see that there is no way any living human being will ever be able to assert any measure of morality against the standard of God, for we are all left completely helpless before His requirements.  When we finish the words of the Sermon on the Mount, if we have truly understood it, our hearts cry out, “What shall we do?”

The requirement of God is so deep, so vast, and yet so just that you and are are left without excuse and without hope before the judgment bar of God.  This is not without purpose however, for we are left in this great place that God may be all in all.  God Himself, in His own perfect love for man in our predicament, brings salvation through His own right hand in the person of Jesus.  By understanding the law, and its present application, we can understand more than ever the great need of the person of Jesus.  Jesus said, “those who are forgiven much love much,” and as the law of God penetrates our heart, our inner man should sing the highest praises to the One who has made a way for us to be redeemed from the just and proper condemnation of God’s law.

Let us now see that great paradox that God uses our very violation of the law to bring us into the demonstration of its requirements.  As the gospel is proclaimed in truth and power our hearts become heavy under the weight of condemnation and conviction.  This condemnation is just and true for we can never fulfill God’s requirements on us.  Many avoid this pressure point by lessening God’s requirements, but the solution is not to lessen God’s requirements, but to come into the reality of our spirit’s situation and then receive God’s solution.

While we struggle under the weight of our own condemnation and the black hell of hopelessness closes in on our hearts which have been awakened to God’s law, God comes in like a shaft of light and presents Himself as the ultimate sacrifice and rescue from our own black heart.  We see Him in that instant as the liberator from all that we are and all that we have become.  This experience is slow for some and quicker for others, but for all there is that moment when light dawns and we see that the very One who has condemned us by making just requirements of our heart, now offers Himself to us as the very redeemer for our blackness.  At this moment, we are born again as we grab onto the glorious hope of God whose love is so vast that He is, in that moment, both the One who condemns and the One who rescues.

God’s plan is so glorious though, that it continues from there.  Being liberated by His glorious love, the natural response of the human heart is then to love Him desperately, passionately, and completely for His act of redemption from our own condemnation.  In the wisdom of God then, it is the pressure of our condemnation that forms in a heart a love for the God who rescues us and this love then naturally begins fulfilling the first great commandment of God’s law to love God with all our hearts.

You see, it is the knowledge of the depth of our depravity and condemnation that leads us to the heights of love.  We become those with the capacity to fulfill the law only once we have been awakened to our birth position as those under the condemnation of the law.  Only the wisdom of God could take the very thing that condemns us and sets us at odds with Him and use it as the seed of eternal love and holiness in His redeemed people.  Once again, we find that God is all and all and that Jesus is worth of supreme adulation for His great redemption.  He alone provides mercy for our sins as we stand helpless before the judgment bar of God.  Let us love Him desperately for the mercy He provides and then vigorously share that mercy with others understanding that God uses the tool of condemnation as the key to open the door to divine mercy. Continue Reading The Law – Part Five – Christ is Supreme »

The Law – Part Four – The New Testament Law

January 6, 2009

In the last post, we discussed how a proper understanding of God’s law affects our evangelism and saw that our evangelism is a strong indicator of our theology and also has serious implications for the future vitality of the church itself.  As we have discussed the New Testament law in this series, we have made a few observations.  One is that Jesus extended the reach of the law by pressing it past man’s outward behavior into the thoughts and intents of the heart.  We have also noted that Jesus came to complete God’s law that it might accomplish the thing that He gave it to accomplish.

In addition, the point has been made repeatedly that it is critical that we live in light of the fact that we are still under a divine law and in light of that, we must acknowledge that God continues to have the right to place demands upon on.  While we have examined these characteristics of the New Testament Law, we have not examined what the declarations of the New Testament law are.  We have seen clearly that the scope of the law extends to all things, and we have seen that the depth of the law presses it deep in the heart of man, but is there a clear list of the directives of this law?  Well, though it receives little attention, Jesus clearly details for us the requirements of the New Testament law.

The Definition of the Law

In a very real sense, the Sermon on the Mount could be seen as a law giving moment.  Just as Moses ascended a hill and descended with the written requirements of God, so to Jesus ascended the hillside and clearly spoke forth the code and law He came to bring.  In that sense, we should see the Sermon on the Mount, not just as a nostalgic ideal, but as the present requirement of God.  God does not simply give us instructions and values that we might then live “under grace” in the commonly understood meaning of the term.  We can never discount grace, and we will address it in the final post, but God desires that grace become something that empowers us to live within that which He demands.  To understand the New Testament law, the Sermon on the Mount then is the proper starting place so long as we can begin to see it as Jesus’ parallel to Moses’ directives given from Sinai and not just as an idyllic sermon that is not actually binding on every day life.

While the Sermon on the Mount is perhaps the foundational passage for the New Testament law, there are a few other passages we should examine.  These passages are all familiar, but we have not considered these passages to be as weighty as they truly are.  Consider Jesus’ answer to one seeking salvation:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.  These two commandments sum up and upon them depend all the Law and the Prophets. – Matthew 22:37-40 (AMP)

Notice that just before the cross, Jesus affirms this requirement to His disciples:

If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love and live on in it, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commandments and live on in His love…This is my commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you.  No one has greater love than to lay down his own life for his friends…You are My friends if you keep on doing the things which I command you to do…This is what I command you: that you love one another. – John 15:10, 12-14, 17 (AMP)

Again, we are familiar with these Scriptures, but we must ask ourselves if we see these passages as Jesus’ requirements for His people or do we see them as cute phrases and New Testament ideals? I fear that because of a misunderstanding of grace that we do not consider the full weight of these passages.  In these passages, Jesus is putting a requirement on us and defining the way that He expects His people to live.

No one would deny that believers often fail to experience the full materialization of the promises recorded in Scripture, but could is be that we fail to obtain some of the benefits of the gospel because we have not esteemed the requirements of the gospel as such? Perhaps if we saw these commands as just as binding upon us as Moses’ Law was on the nation gathered around Sinai, we might become a radically different people.

The Weight of the Law

We began by pointing out that Jesus filled up the law and turned its requirements inward that He might deal with the very root of sin rather than merely prescribe good behavior. That consideration alone has the power to greatly alter our understanding of Jesus’ statements. After coming into that understanding, we have now considered some of the direct commands that Jesus gave to believers.

Now, we must ask an honest question which is who can fulfill such a law? While we are rightfully grateful that Jesus freed us from the outward bondage of Moses’ law, we fail to consider with much gravity the requirements of the law Jesus instituted. While Moses’ law was full of outward obligations that one might follow in some measure, Jesus law completely supersedes all outward observances and leaves men under greater condemnation than before.

If we honestly examine what He required, we must say, “who can fulfill such things?” for Jesus’ law is all encompassing. Can we not honestly say that every mode of life comes under the requirement to love God with all that we have and then extend love to others just the same as we would love ourselves? Beloved, this is a weighty requirement indeed. Moses’ law at least had specific requirements and limited scope, but Jesus’ law decrees that every thought, every desire, and every action are to be with regard to the supreme love of God and love of one another.

Can anyone among us have the audacity to declare that they could fulfill such a law? Can you see now that when the Spirit gives unction to preach such a law that there is no man who can stand in smug, self-righteousness? Saints we need to pray that God puts power on us again for the proclamation of this gospel. We have awkwardly proclaimed, at the same time, both the conviction of the Mosaic Law and the freedom from it, but we have not pressed men with the Law of Christ.

The reality is that God has not changed His demands upon man; He has only now intensified them in the revelation of Jesus. In the revelation of Jesus, He reveals what he created man for all along. You see, God does not intend to have a people that can merely follow a few moral axioms or fulfill religions ceremonies, He desires a people that are a physical display on earth of Himself.  This is what it means that man is made in the image of God.

We are made in His image and so He presses upon us the same law that He Himself demonstrates in all that He does. He makes a requirement on us that no man can possibly fulfill, and yet He has every right to demand it because He made us in His own image that we might live as a physical demonstration of Himself and spread the knowledge of God by our very living.  This requirement should crush all our righteousness and drive us to Christ both for forgiveness and for transformation to live in this manner, but tragically our gospel proclamation seems to have lost the weightiness of both of these values in its rush to declare us free from Moses’ prescribed diet and ceremonies!

Because we have lost these values, our evangelism is weak and anemic and our proclamation to the saints is hollow.  We are content to gaze horizontally at our own righteousness and not gaze upwardly that we might demonstrate Him; the very thing to which we are called!  We are content to demonstrate something a little better than other men rather than putting on display the glory of God and that is the fundamental issue. Continue Reading The Law – Part Four – The New Testament Law »

The Call to Dunkirk

January 2, 2009

Saints, why do we continue to send Christian children to schools that are dedicated to challenging our values? Honestly, I do not believe there is any way we can keep our kids short of taking drastic measures with their education and socialization.  We must begin raising children in Christ infused greenhouses or they will all be lost.

The Law – Part Three – Evangelism

December 24, 2008

In the last post in this series we discussed the issue of genuine repentance.  At this point we must discuss a related topic which is the issue of evangelism, so let’s take a moment and examine evangelism in light of the New Testament law.  Evangelism is always a critical indicator of what our practical theology is.  I use the word practical because most of us would assent to correct doctrine if we were given a test on proper belief systems, however often there is a great gulf between our mental theology and our practical theology.  Our practical theology is on display in the way that we live and interact with others.  In our daily living we demonstrate what we truly believe rather than what we may simply assent to or think that we believe.

Beyond our theology, there are also three things that evangelism uniquely reveals.  First, it reveals how we view man’s interaction with God.  The way that we communicate the context and requirements of the gospel reveal how we practically believe that man and God relate.  Secondly, it reveals how we view ourselves.  In our interactions with others and the sharing of our “testimony,” we reveal in a great measure how we view ourselves in general, and in particular how we view ourselves before God.  Thirdly, our evangelism reveals what we think about others.  The way that we relate the gospel to others, or whether we relate it at all to others, shows how we view those who are presently dead in sin.

The Effects of the Law on our Gospel Presentation

As we have demonstrated, most believers have a decidedly Old Testament understanding to God’s law rather than the New Testament understanding that Jesus clearly laid out in the Sermon on the Mount.  While many might dispute that point, the reality is that our methods of evangelism illustrate this disconnect perhaps better than any other place.  Let’s examine a few characteristics of western evangelism that illustrate the great ignorance of the church with regard to the law.

To begin there is the issue that we have already covered which is that we know only how to apply the law to outward behavior, rather than to the inward motives of the heart.  This brings several problems both to our gospel presentation and also to our own understanding of ourselves.  For one, because we are so outwardly focused, we tend to be quite ignorant of our own inward depravity.  The depravity, or wickedness, of man as it is inherited from Adam is one of those things that we might be able to check off on a theology quiz, but it is not a doctrine that we believe to the point that it affects the way we view ourselves and others.

Because we do not truly grasp our own inward depravity, we are at a loss to press the gospel upon another individual who appears to be relatively moral outwardly.  We are at a loss for words when they fail to have an interest in a salvation that they do not see the need of.  Why do they not see the need of salvation?  Because we have largely presented them with an outward salvation over an inward one and this flows from the fact that we do not articulate the inner requirements of God’s law, only the outward requirements of a law that, once they are saved, we argue against lest we embrace “legalism” over grace.

Because we do not truly understand, or perhaps even believe, in the depravity of man, we are also tempted to justify wicked behavior in both ourselves and others.  As we noted, the people we present the gospel to often have a level of moral conduct that is very similar to our own.  When we try to present the need for Christ, we fail because we do not know how to properly convict the heart at the root of the issue.  We struggle and stumble to present to an individual their great need of Christ because the reality is that we are not really convinced that the person is all that bad, mostly because we have not ever considered ourselves to be “that bad.”

In fact, from this lack of understanding of depravity has arisen various modes of comparison, such as “good person” compared with “bad person” and the idea that some sin is worse than others.  True, some sin has more extensive effects in this age, but in the eternal age, all wickedness is evil.  We fail to understand this because we fail to see unredeemed man, “good” or “bad” as essentially wicked.  We fail to see them as essentially wicked, because we do not clearly see how the law of God cuts beyond behavior into the very essence of each thought and impulse of the heart.  The proof of man’s wickedness lies not in what impulses he restrains and what impulses he allows, the proof of man’s wickedness is that fact that the evil impulse arises at all within his being. Continue Reading The Law – Part Three – Evangelism »

The Law – Part Two – Defining Repentance

December 22, 2008

In the first post in this series, we introduced the idea of the law in the New Testament by referring to Jesus’ statements in the Sermon on the Mount.  Now that we are considering that the law was not discarded by Jesus but rather fulfilled so that God might accomplish through the law that which He desired to accomplish, we must address the issue of repentance.  If you remember from the first post, the critical understanding that Jesus brought is that while the law given to Moses was primarily an external law, the law in the New Testament was to be an internal law.  While this may appear to be a superficial point, it has deep implications for how we, as believers, live with regard to the law.

Defining Repentance

Repentance is a fundamental concept to the Christian faith.  John Baptist and Jesus both began their ministries preaching repentance.  With such a clear precedent, we can likewise expect that the church in our day should be preaching repentance as well.  So, if the church has a requirement to preach repentance, and many churches do preach repentance, why is it that it seems to have so little effect?  Well, a significant part of the problem could be whether or not we actually know how to define repentance.

When we define repentance in the church at large, what we generally have in mind is turning from sinful behavior to holy behavior.  Different streams of theology would define exactly what that looks like in practice a little differently, but that is the essence of the understanding that commonly persists.  The problem is that there is a fundamental error in this definition of repentance and that is that this is a distinctly Mosaic view of repentance and it is at odds with the New Testament directive regarding repentance.

New Testament Repentance

Remember now, that the critical issue is that the law in the New Testament goes right into the heart of man whereas the Old Testament law focused on external behavior.  New Testament repentance then is not focused on external behavior, but on the inward life of the heart.  If you do not understand this, you will never understand the ministry of Jesus.  This understanding is crucial to seeing how Jesus could minister to tax collectors and prostitutues with greater success than He could minister to moral, religious individuals.  When you can see outward evil in your life, it makes it easier to accept inward depravity.  Conversely, when you believe your outward morals to be sound, it makes it harder to receive the message of inward depravity.

In light of this, a true New Testament repentance preacher will bypass externals and pierce men directly in their heart.  This sort of preaching may well expose the life long church-goer as a man more in need of repentance than the town drunk because the root of iniquity can exist in a religious man just as strongly as it can in an irreligious man.  In fact, at times it can persist even more strongly in a religious heart as it provides fertile ground for the sins of pride and self-righteousness.

The New Testament message properly sees external behavior as a secondary issue that is at best a symptom of sickness of the heart.  The call to repentance is not primarily a call towards behavior modification, but rather the call to repentance is to dig deep within.  It is a call like unto Abraham’s whereby each individual is called to take their own personal Isaac, which is their own inner morality, up the dark mountain of sacrifice.  Once on that mountain, you must bind him to the altar, and allow God to replace your treasured Isaac with Himself.  Once would think that this is elementary.  Who would not want God’s rule over him?  Who would not think that God is the most perfect one to rule and reign in a man’s heart?

Saints, if nothing else illuminates for you the depravity of man, let this one example illustrate for you the sickness of the human heart.  There is no battle known to man, even to Christian men, that is akin to the battle one faces when God comes into take over.  The very One we should welcome with open arms we resist with all our strength.  This is the issue of heart repentance.  This battle shows our inner animosity towards God no matter how moral our outward behavior.  Praise God that He alone can conquer such a heart and fill it with His own Spirit.

Genuine repentance bypasses everything external and requires this sort of turning within a man.  The call for repentance goes deep into the essence of the man, confronts him with the supremacy of God and the right of God to rule the individual and then calls for that man to turn whole heartedly from his own life, religious or not, to a life consumed by God.

This turning from a life where man is obsessed with himself, which may or may not be moral and religious, to a life where man is wholly given over to God is repentance in the Biblical sense.  Many of the problems in our churches arise because we are dealing with individuals that have never truly repented and part of the reason they have never repented is because they have never heard a proper message of repentance that has the power to cut through their soul and their behavior to the essence of what God is after.  If we are to see men genuinely repent, we must begin to proclaim a message of genuine repentance to them. Continue Reading The Law – Part Two – Defining Repentance »

The Law – Part One – Introduction

December 22, 2008

Do not think that I have come to do away with or undo the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them. – Matthew 5:17 (AMP)

I was reading through a message by John G. Lake on the question of Sunday or Saturday worship and found in it some startling insights into the relationship between the law and the believer.  As I considered what John was saying the implications of what he was saying hit me, and what hit me was far beyond the question of whether or not our primary worship gathering should be on a Saturday or a Sunday.  As I continued to ponder this issue, I began to realize that what I was seeing was so simple and so clearly the gospel and yet at the same time, I believe there is something here of the relationship of the believer to the law that has been lost.  I believe it is vital that we understand with a new clarity the appropriate relationship between the believer and the law because it vitally impacts many different areas.  With that in mind, I’ll break out these thoughts across several posts so that each can be digested separately.  Each part of the series will build up to the conclusion, so you’ll want to read through each one to participate in the complete conversation.

The Mosaic Law

The first thing we must consider is that the Mosaic Law, as a means to the sanctification and redemption of God’s people, utterly failed.  There are obviously many purposes for which God gave the Mosaic Law, but for one He gave it that men might demonstrate whether they had the ability to adhere to even an outward display of righteousness.   God dealt with men on the basis of outward behavior during this time and men fell woefully short.  When the Israelites were given over to judgment, it was not just the judgment of a nation, but the judgment of systems of external morality.  It was not just the failure of the Jewish nation; it was the failure of mankind to keep covenant with God by virtue of man’s own will.

What we find then is that outward requirements were incapable of dealing with inward corruption.  While this may sound like an elementary principle, we will find a little later that most of the church has not yet fully grasped this issue.   Seeing as the law could not produce a righteous man then, we must see that the law is powerless to do anything but demonstrate that man has a corruption that cannot be cured by himself.  As an aside, the astute reader might notice that to fully grasp this statement is also to bring a question around much of our present evangelism.  Our evangelism primarily revolves around telling “lost” people, whom the Bible actually calls dead not lost, that they need to make a decision of their will to choose Jesus.  Without exploring this topic here, if the wills of the ancient Israelites did not have the capacity to choose good even in the face of the demonstrations on Mt. Sinai, what makes us think modern man’s will has the capacity to make a choice that brings salvation?

The Sermon on the Mount

The Sermon on the Mount, the height of the gospel declaration, gives us insight into the operation and direction of the law in the New Testament.  As quoted at the top, in Matthew 5:17, Jesus makes the bold claim that He has come to fulfill the law.  Most of us read that merely in the sense that Jesus is ending the Mosaic law, but if you look at the Greek word for fulfill, which is “pleroo” you will notice the meaning includes the following: “to make something full, or fill it up, or render it full or complete.”

Jesus follows this in verse 18 to say that nothing will pass away until the law has been accomplished.  In other words, the law was given for a purpose that has not yet been accomplished.  What is that purpose?  The purpose is to have a people set apart, or sanctified, unto God.  The law was given towards that purpose, but it failed to accomplish it and thus God injected Himself into the process in the person of His Son in order that God’s law might be extended and come to its marvelous conclusion.  Do we consider that God is looking for an accomplishment to His law, or are we so eager to loose ourselves from the Mosaic requirements that we consider that the great accomplishment of God’s law?  Saints, God has in mind something more grand and glorious than our liberation from a ceremonial law.  His law is going to accomplish something of eternal significance.

Jesus continues from this statement to declare that the righteousness of the people must exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees (vs. 20).  In other words, God is about to require a righteousness greater than those that best understood, best kept, and publicly contended for the Mosaic law.  Now this created a very real problem for the people of God listening to Jesus.  Not only was there no one who could obtain righteousness under the law, but now they find that God is going to require an even greater righteousness of the people.

Jesus then explains that statement by giving examples of the righteousness that God requires (vs. 21-32).   He begins each shocking new example with the phrase, “you have heard that it was said” in which He makes examples of what we would consider to be “major sins.”   In order to be perfectly clear, Jesus does not use the example of “small sins,” (as if there were such a thing) but rather he uses the blatant sins like murder and adultery so that no one will misunderstand Him.

Jesus then continues to destroy every man’s hope for righteousness by looking at the most holy among then and declaring, “You have looked at a woman and become sexually aroused and that is the same as the adultery for which you would convict a brother.”  He looks then to a religious leader and declares, “Your anger with a fellow Jew is the same act before God as the one who murders another.”  The audience is now spell bound.  What will Jesus say next?  Their very hope of standing with God, the law, now that it has been expounded by Jesus has been found to be their greatest enemy.  Furthermore, Jesus is filling up and completing this law that it might come to God’s glorious conclusion, but in that filling up the requirement of the law is enlarged.

What we miss is that Jesus is introducing the basis here for the New Testament law.  We sometimes are so pre-occupied with the desire to be free of modes of worship and kosher foods that we fail to see that while Jesus did liberate us from the Mosaic Law, He also brought it to fullness and brought into place a complete law which we fail to examine or consider. Continue Reading The Law – Part One – Introduction »

What is Apostolic?

December 18, 2008

I realize that title of this post is a little misleading as it is a question that cannot be answered in a single post.  In fact, books have been written on this subject and I would propose that there are still books that need to be written on this subject.  Up front I have to say that, as always, I highly recommend Art Katz’s classic Apostolic Foundations when seeking illumination on the apostolic church.  So, while I cannot examine the subject in one post, I want to add a few thoughts to the discussion and perhaps even re-direct our common considerations of the apostolic and the prophetic.

I have to admit that recently I have become a little weary of the phrase “Apostolic and Prophetic.”  It is probably because the phrase seems to have become yet another buzzword.    At the moment it seems like everyone is posturing their ministries to make sure they are “Apostolic” or “Apostolically aligned,” and, while I am not criticizing for that, I have to wonder if we have lost something in the mix.

Most definitions of what is “apostolic” seem to revolve around leadership structures or functions and I believe this is where we go astray.   For example, if someone leads a large enough group then they are apostolic or if they can plant another fellowship and send out individuals then they are considered apostolic.  I believe it is fair to say that if we examined most of our present teaching and our actions around the words “apostolic and prophetic” it would revolve around authority structures or functions.  The question I think we need to ask is what if that is not the essence of the apostolic and the prophetic?  What if they are defined by something entirely difficult than a leadership role or a function?  What if there is something entirely different to be demonstrated in these gifts that we are missing but is very necessary?  Could it be that the very progress of the church is impaired for want of a correct understanding of these terms?

For those of you, like me, that get confused or wearisome of some of the apostolic and prophetic rhetoric, for a moment let’s lay aside all that we have previously known and examine this for a moment and see if God does not open up something entirely different. Continue Reading What is Apostolic? »

The Issue of Dispensational Thinking

December 2, 2008

My heart has been stirred lately on the issue of dispensationalism.  Proponents of dispensationalism would argue that it has been taught in the Scriptures since the New Testament.  For the sake of clarification, what we need to examine is more what we might call the effects of the dispensational theology that was initially formalized in the 19th century.  Now many might wonder why it is significant to examine this issue.  Others might point out that more recent dispensationalists seem to have moderated their position and perhaps corrected the errors of earlier dispensationalists.  While that may be true, that is not the fundamental issue.

One of the crisises that may well be brewing in the church in America is that the average churchgoer has little appetite for theology.  Now, lest you think I am promoting intellectually driven seminaries (some would call them “cemeteries”) or large, dusty books written by well educated men debating nuances of doctrine let me explain myself.  Theology is simply the study of God.  It is what we believe about God.  Now, the core essence of God is perceived by the Spirit and transcends human understanding.  It is important that we understand that, or we will be given to boxing God into human models of understanding.  With that being said, God gave us a capacity to think and to know.  This capacity is modeled after His capacity because we are made in His image and yet it is far beneath His capacity.

While this capacity must necessarily operate below the revelation of God’s Spirit to man’s spirit, it is still a vital part of our makeup.  Because of this it is vitally important how and what we think about God.  When we do not think rightly about God, it causes great loss to the believer and ultimately the church.  We must become very jealous for the issue of theology.  We must always be careful not to reduce God to diagrams and systems of theology that man can comprehend, and we must remain ever vigilant of a concept of God that is man derived and man comprehended.  With those proper guardians watching over our heart, we must then make every effort to allow God to reveal Himself to us that we might think great thoughts about Him.  We must also be ruthless in discerning and rejecting thoughts and ideas about God that are untrue.  These ideas can taint the lens through which we view the world causing us to miss God’s revelation and fall into error.

Now with that being said, let me set a few caveats in place.  Dispensationalism, like any other movement or doctrine, does exist across a wide spectrum.  An examination of every particular flavor of it is certainly beyond the scope of a blog post, so let it suffice to say that we will examine specific effects of the results of dispensationalism thinking rather than examining every individual dispensational tenet.  I am not attempting to paint all dispensationalists as heretics with a single broad stroke, but rather want to examine specific ideas that have been associated with or have come as a result of various streams of dispensational thought.

I also acknowledge up front that I am not an expert in dispensational theology, so theologians of that persuasion may have addressed some of the issues that I raise; however my primary concern over specific tenets of doctrine is the effect of this way of thinking on believers at large.  So, again, I am dealing with the effects of ideas and ways of thinking over specific beliefs and have no desire to paint a broad stroke of “heresy” on anyone.  In that spirit, just because we see some dangerous ideas, let us not label everyone from here on that uses the word “dispensation” as a heretic.  Let’s continue in Christian love and charity contending for proper ideas and thoughts about God, but not allowing ourselves to execute improper judgment on individuals simply because of the use of a single word or phrase.  With these warnings and caveats out of the way, let’s now examine the effects of dispensational thinking. Continue Reading The Issue of Dispensational Thinking »

Two Powerful Quotes

December 1, 2008

While working on a new post, I came across two powerful quotes I wanted to pass along.   Both are worth some time and consideration.  Thanks to Becky over at IHOP for posting these.

First from John Piper, Hunger for God, p. 14 -

The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of the triviality we drink in every night. For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18-20). The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but his gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable.

The Second from Allen Hood, The Excellencies of Christ -

Satan the adversary, the ‘bringer of light,’ opposes the advances of the Gospel primarily through the realm of ideas and deception.  The object of his deception and the subject matter of his deception is who?  It is Jesus.

That is why for the first four-hundred years the Church fought vigorously for the Person of Christ, to the shedding of blood to the laying down of their life.  There is a reason why they could not worship at the emperor’s altar.  Beloved, if Jesus is just a good teacher, if He just shows you the way to God, then they can easily worship at the altar of the emperor.  Yet hundreds and hundreds of thousands of believers year after year after year were led to the lions, were filleted alive, were skinned alive, were run through, were crucified upside down, were hung on crosses, they were burned and set on fire.  Why?

Because He is not optional.  He is the unique, supreme, revelation of the Living God.  When you have Him you have it all.  When you do not, you do not.  Satan will oppose that revelation over everything, and he will do it through the most popular polished people on the globe.  He does not mind feeding the poor.  He minds the testimony of Jesus who is the only King who will return and set the poor truly free… [The testimony of Jesus Christ] is the subject matter that will enflame our hearts and set us on fire and make us fearless before the most powerful men and women of the earth.

The Prophet’s Cosmic View

November 19, 2008

Bryan Purtle wrote an excellent article on the Prophet’s Cosmic view.  We desperately need this kind of understanding so that we might have a more complete picture of the prophet and what God desires.  Take a few minutes and read it.  It’s worth the time to let God speak to your heart on a issue that is vital in our day and time.  We desperately need to recover and demonstrate this reality.

http://pilgrimagetozion.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/the-prophets-cosmic-view/

Powerful Message from Abortion Survivor

November 12, 2008

This is an excellent message from the mildly handicapped abortion survivor Gianna Jessen.  It is one of the most striking presentations against abortion that you will ever hear.  That being said, there are other elements here to consider.  In this address she is speaking at Queen’s Hall, Parliment House in Victoria, Australia.  In other words, this is not a church it is a public forum. No doubt many in the audience are hostile to her views.  Her topic was abortion and she spoke the day before a debate on decriminalizing abortion in the province.  However, beyond her impassioned plea for abortion, she demonstrates something that really moves my heart.  Though abortion is her topic, she utilizes the opportunity to make confrontational statements that engage the conscience with regard to the issue of Christ and human morality.  Without using these specific words, she calls them to the fact that their very humanity demands Christian morality.

In an age where, sadly, the church is losing young people at a rate that will threaten its very survival without some sort of awakening, she is a powerful example of how a young person can use their testimony and their gift to confront men with the gospel.  As I mentioned, the setting is not a church and she’s not a preacher, but I dare say she exposes the heart more in these 15 minutes than most preachers in America do in their 45 minutes on Sunday.  Though my words are awkward in this post, I hope you can see what I’m driving at.  My heart burns for a generation that will present an authentic witness to the earth of Jesus.  They will be preachers that confront men and drive the wedge of Christianity right into their consciences with no regard for the superficial civility of society that embraces barbarisms such as abortion.  As you watch this brief message, please cry out with me that God would give us 10,000 Giannas who do not just address abortion, but serve as prophets to men’s souls and are not ashamed of the issue of Jesus, the most divisive issue in history.

Part 1

Part 2

Economic Crash Course

November 4, 2008

No doubt the economy is one of the biggest topics around right now.  That being said, what is startling is how little the average American really knows about our economic system and how it really works.  This was startlingly obvious recently when the bailout bills were being debated.  The reality is that if the average citizen really understood what the nation was facing, they would be terrified.  That terror would in turn lead them to alter their lifestyle and this lifestyle subsequently would even further negatively affect the system due to its inherent flaws.  That leaves us with a system that is fatally flawed being run by power brokers who have a massive investment is maintaining the status quo for as long as possible.   Tragically, this is terribly irresponsible.  We are like those on the Titanic that are swaying to the music on the deck rather than saving those in the icy waters on the hope that we will be dead and gone before the ship sinks and forces us into the cold, icy waters.  I believe our current refusal to deal with these issues is criminal with regard to what we are going to be leaving our children.  Sadly, politicians and power brokers do not communicate the reality of things because they know they cannot get elected on that platform, and apparently no one has the leadership and character to stand up to the nation and tell us that we need to make some hard decisions and make some sacrifices or risk a certain catastrophe.

If nothing else, the year 2008 has shown the cracks in our economic foundations.  Sure, many will tell us that it is patched, but it like applying a patch to the Titanic.  We are still steadily taking on a lot of water.  Do not believe that this is limited to Wall Street either because Wall Street and Main Street have become inseparably joined.  If we are going to be leaders, as believers and as citizens we must educate ourselves about the risks our economy faces and the immense challenges that are coming.  We must do this to prepare ourselves and our families.  We must be wise and prepared for the days ahead.  We do not prepare out of fear, but out of sobriety that we might be prepared when the financial system that has been built by the ingenuity and greed of man begins to collapse.  How tragic it will be if believers are swallowed in the collapse rather than being lighthouses that can rescue their neighbors and demonstrate a life established on eternal realities!

With this in mind, I want to offer an excellent tool to educate yourself.  Chris Martenson has put together a free video class that explains both how our economic system works and the challenges it faces in the years ahead.  He is not alarmist, nor is it full of propaganda.  He remains serious and let upbeat and stays very factual.  He uses easy to understand language so that you can clearly understand what is going on.   In fact, if you and your children understand his material, you will know more about economics than the vast amount of Americans and you will be well prepared for the days to come.  His class is also broken up into short topics and videos (3-20 minutes in length) to make it easy to view a little each day and still grasp the material.  For the sake of yourself and your family, please view this material and pass it along to other believers that we might be prepared for the days to come.

Here’s the link to his presentation:

http://www.chrismartenson.com/crash-course/chapter-1-three-beliefs

What’s At Stake This November

October 17, 2008

This is not a political blog, so I typically avoid political content.  However, the election in the US this November is going to have grave consequences.  Every election they say that “this is the most election of our lifetimes” in order to try to get out the vote, but this time it may actually prove to be a turning point in this nation.  One thing I fear is that God is going to finally give the nation over to a leadership that embraces the kind of morality that we have slowly adopted as a nation.  In years past we have had a tension where the Presidency and the Congress were often at odds and it tended to result in relatively slow change.  We are now staring at the possibility that one ideology will control both the Presidency and the Congress and therefore be able to change the nation in a way that previous administrations were not.  The reality is that neither candidate is an ideal choice, but the truth is that one candidate has an agenda that should be enough to cause us to be on our knees and at the polls.

What is at stake the election, beyond the economy (which I’m convinced neither candidate can fix), is the Supreme Court.  One candidate will ensure that infanticide (a.ka. abortion) will be cemented in our culture.  We must raise our voices.  The reality is that many Americans care more about their pocketbooks than the blood the nation spills by the day.  The problem is that God’s priorities are not ours.  The shed blood cries out from the ground.  God may turn a nation over to its own lusts this fall, but let us pray that He may have mercy on us yet.

Every voter should read (and forward) the article below on to others.  This post clearly details better than I could just what the key issue is this November.

http://www.heisatthedoor.com/wordcast/?p=272

The End of the Bull

September 30, 2008

In a prayer meeting recently, a parable came to me.  Let me be clear that this is not a prophecy, but merely a parable. Recently, I was considering the golden calf that Israelites worshiped in the desert.  This calf provides a picture that could be very significant to us in our day.  To best understand what follows, before you proceed you must read Exodus 32.

To begin with, let’s make a few observations about the worship of the calf.  First note that Moses was in the place of prayer and fasting upon the hill in the wilderness when the itching for the calf began.  Note also that Moses was receiving the Law, or the requirements of God when the people became restless and demanded an idol.  Note also that this calf was setup by the priesthood.  A foreign priesthood did not come in, but rather it was Aaron who led the construction of this calf when the mood of the people called for a false god.  Note that once Aaron setup the calf, he did not lead the people away to another god, but rather declared the calf to be the god that lead them out of Egypt.  In other words, he did not replace God, he merely redefined Him.  Note also that worship to the calf included many of Israel’s religious practices such as burnt offerings and peace offerings, but that the worship focused on sensual pleasures and frivolity.  Let’s take a look here because I believe these events form a parallel and a parable for what is taking place in the nation at this moment. Continue Reading The End of the Bull »

Fireproof

September 29, 2008

Sherwood films has done it again.  After the excellent film “Facing the Giants,” they have delivered another excellent film that explores the value of marriage and the requirement that a personal relationship with Christ undergird any true expression of love.  We must support films like this that are produced by real Christians and contain a real Christian message.  Besides all the social reasons for supporting the film, it just may impact your walk and your marriage.  Let’s make sure we support this film with our dollars. Thank you Kendrick brothers for producing another excellent film and demonstrating that believers can be authentic and excellent in the media.

Are you Jealous?

September 5, 2008

I have been deeply moved the last few days over the issue of Jealousy for the Lord and for His name.  Are we truly jealous for the name “Jesus” and the demonstration that are attributed to His name?  As the world continues to use that precious name as nothing more than an expletive and ministers use it for their own purposes, I wonder if we are truly jealous for His name or if we have slowly become desensitized to it all. Recently I have watched some videos of various ministers and ministries that have simply made my heart sick.  The antics on stage, if not blasphemy, were probably as close as you can get and yet the crowd loved it.  In all of this I wondered, where are those that are jealous for the Lord and for His name?  As I noticed the crowd laughing and taking it all in, I wondered where are those jealous for the bride?  I mean this is Jesus’ wife we are talking about and these men are making a spectacle of the Lord before His own bride and she is drinking it all in. In a dream I had recently there was both a deep anger and a deep weeping over things.

Something within is burning and asking the deep question, are we not jealous for Him?  I understand there are differences in ministry styles, personalities, and giftings and we have to give grace to different members of the body, but I was observing things that were clearly demeaning to the Lord and His people and they were being opening attributed to the Lord and His Spirit.  They were allowing the Lord, His name, and His Spirit to be demeaned and mocked by men claiming to be ministers.  Where are those who will stand and separate the holy from the profance?  Where is the holy jealousy that caused Jesus to overturn money tables?

As I considered this issue of jealousy,  I began considering what a pure and holy jealousy really is.  After all, many are “jealous for the Lord,” but what they often mean is that they are jealous for their ministries, or their own perception of how things should be.  Often “jealousy for the Lord” is really the desire to criticise and tear down those you do not agree with.  Seeing then as jealousy for the Lord is an urgent need in our time and, at the same time, there is much jealousy that is not truly jealousy for the Lord, how are we to discern the difference? Continue Reading Are you Jealous? »

Two Excellent Articles

August 12, 2008

I have a few things I need to post that I have not gotten down yet.  In the meantime, I wanted to pass along two excellent articles.  These are from “The Burn 24-7″ which is a prayer and worship ministry that is also focused on missions.  I had the chance to hear their founder when I was at the last Luke 18 Project Leadership summit and was very impressed.

The first article is on Urgency and Legacy, two things that are sadly lacking among us.

http://theburn247.com/blog/2008/06/13/urgency-and-legacy/

The second article highlights the fact that we tend to focus on ministries and techniques, while the whole end of it all must be God Himself.

http://theburn247.com/blog/2008/06/13/he-wants-this-more-than-we-do/

A Solemn Prophetic Warning

June 5, 2008

The days we are living in are very serious. We must prepare for the days ahead. They will be days of great glory as God visits His pure church and days of great terror as judgment comes and evil increases. We must stay so very close to the Lord that we may endure and overcome (note Jesus’ message to each of the 7 churches at the beginning of revelation).

I recently came across this prophecy from Stanley Frodsham. Stanley was involved in the Pentecostal movement in the first part of this century. He knew Smith Wigglesworth who actually performed his wedding. I am not posting this in response to anything in particular, but just because I think it is incredibly valuable for us to heed this word and allow God to speak to us through it. It is truly preparation for the days ahead. This is very long for a blog post, but read on. It is worth it. Continue Reading A Solemn Prophetic Warning »

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

May 23, 2008

I can’t believe I’m posting another film. I have some other things to post, so I’ll try to get them up soon. I just stumbled on this film called “Expelled.” Basically it’s a documentary that is now in theaters starring Ben Stein (!). The film examines the bias against intelligent design that is now the de facto standard in main stream academia. I have observed this before such as when a court ruled that there could not even be a sticker on science text books mentioning that evolution was a theory and that other theories existed.

While I have not yet seen the film, this is a serious issue. I have noticed that leading scientists who are Darwinists no longer debate on the merits of their theory but rather have adopted an elitism that holds any possibility of God to be absurd and therefore any scientific theories involving intellegent design to therefore be absurd as well. Rather then debating evidence and merits, they choose a rigid platform that allows them to treat dissenters as if they are not even worthy of consideration. They no longer debate point by point but try to push their agenda by presenting that there is no debate at all and anything other than Darwinism is beneath the consideration of any civilized person. Continue Reading Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed »