Economic Crash Course

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

Are you Jealous?

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?

A Solemn Prophetic Warning

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.

The Power of Faith

Faith is a significant issue in the Scriptures. We are told that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:16). We are told that faith is the door to access salvation and unlock the benefits thereof. Jesus is very clear that at His return He is going to be looking for faith on the earth (Luke 18:8). Paul exhorts us to walk by faith and not by sight (II Corinthians 5:7). Throughout the Scriptures faith is very clearly presented as the thing that operates the Kingdom of God. We cannot be redeemed without it. We cannot please God without it. We cannot even access God without it.

Why is faith so important in God’s economy? Why does He put such an emphasis on it? In this age of materialism and science where we trust only what we can inspect and verify with our hands, faith seems to be a superstitious relic to a non-believer, and the believer often fails to grasp its significance and operation as well. To really understand faith, you must go back to the garden to an interchange between Eve and the serpent that literally changed human history forever.

Spirit of Abortion

The pro-life campaign 40 days for life just ended. It was 40 days of seriously considering the abortion issue before God. Early in the 40 days I was outside a local abortion clinic just quietly considering the issue of abortion in prayer. As I was considering the issue of physical abortion, immediately the issue of the spirit of abortion and how it permeates our society and our lifestyle came to me. It was as if the Lord was saying that the most critical thing was to consider the spirit of abortion in my own heart that I could then have power on the issue of physical abortion. When we think of abortion we tend to think primarily of the brutal, physical act of abortion in the womb. However, this physical act is only the most brutal demonstration of a principle that is found throughout our culture.

At the root of the issue of abortion is the issue of pleasure and the free pursuit of it with no accompanying responsibility and no pain. This pursuit of pleasure becomes intense enough that we are willing to sacrifice even ourselves and others in our pursuit of it. I fear that this root runs much more deeply in us, believers included, than we know. Take a minute and just consider a few of the ways this spirit has quietly permeated our lifestyles.

I am God’s Wheat

The issue of martyrdom is central to a vibrant Christianity. Tertullian famously said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” The reality is that the church is called to martyrdom. The Greek word “martus” that is used in the New Testament can be translated in the English to “martyr” or “witness” depending on the context. For example, in Acts 1:8, Jesus called His followers to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth. The word for witnesses there is martus. We are called to be His martyrs. Whether or not we are forcibly killed for the gospel is actually a minor issue. Following Jesus requires an inward martyrdom from the word and it’s system. It requires a death to the ways of thinking and understanding that we were born with. In short, we must first be martyrs in our heart if we are to be true witnesses on the earth.

This concept is particularly difficult for western Christians. For one thing, the world is so appealing and comfortable that we find it difficult to root ourselves in an eternal reality. It is just too comfortable in this time and in this age. Secondly, western culture and the church have become intertwined in such a way that we sometimes assume our western culture is the equivalent of a Christian culture. While Christianity and Christian ideals have been a significant influence on western culture, we cannot consider western culture to be equivalent with a kingdom that Jesus clearly said was not of this world.

A Kingdom of Weakness

One thing is for certain. Jesus is coming and He is bringing His kingdom with Him. There is no doubt in my mind that this is at the top of God’s current agenda. While considering this, what causes me to tremble at times is to consider how radically different His kingdom is from our perception of what a kingdom should be. I think we often fail to realize that, in the limited demonstration we have of the kingdom, the kingdom is always disruptive. There is simply no way around that. It is a confrontational kingdom that confronts every other system and kingdom that has been, is, or ever will be. Yes, Jesus is coming with His kingdom, but His kingdom will not be an improvement an an existing structure, rather it will be a radical overthrow of everything that we have known up to this point.

What makes me tremble at times is to consider how confident we are in our understanding of the kingdom. Sometimes I think we almost have a chip on our shoulder as Christians expecting that Jesus is going to come at the last minute and vindicate our religious system collectively known as Christianity. In the midst of this I believe we fail to see that His kingdom is going to be completely disruptive, not only to the kingdom of the antichrist, but to the kingdoms that we live and participate in on a daily basis.