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

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

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

“You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus Himself the chief Cornerstone” - Ephesians 2:20

Recently in some circles, there has been a lot of emphasis on Ephesians 2:20.  What I want to focus on though are those who have begun to use it as a prescribed leadership structure for New Testament Christianity.  They have taught that the church is to be governed by Apostles and Prophets and that the lack of that governmental model is one of the reasons for the church’s lack of advance (we will ignore the fact that the church’s lack of advance seems to be primarily limited to western nations).   The significant question that needs to be asked could be phrased this way, “is this a model for church government, or is it something altogether different?”

Now up front I have to be very clear about something so that what follows is not misunderstood.  I believe in the ministry gifts of the apostle and the prophet and this post is not for the purpose of arguing whether they are or are not legitimate gifts.  Apostles other than the 12 and Paul are listed in the New Testament and we find prophets named as well.  In addition, Paul lists apostles and prophets as valid ministry gifts in other passages (Ephesians 4:11, I Corinthians 12:28).   Based on the New Testament, if you want you want to discard the apostle or prophet that is fine but you need to discard the pastor, teacher, and evangelist as well to be intellectually honest because they are all listed together.  Nevertheless, I digress as the purpose of this post is not to defend the existence of these ministry gifts.  Rather we want to make sure we understand exactly what Paul was trying to communicate and whether or not this Scripture is being applied accurately.  So let us examine Ephesians 2:20 and see if it is in fact the correct leadership structure for the New Testament church or if it is something altogether different.

I have always been taught that if you can only find one verse that teaches a particular truth then that one verse probably does not mean what you think it means simply because God always establishes a matter with two or three witnesses.  This rule has proved to be true throughout my limited experience.  Whenever new ideas or new waves of doctrine are backed by only a single passage I have always found them to be ultimately untrue.  Applying this rule to this passage we find that the passage is not readily affirmed by other Scripture.   No where else does the New Testament expressly affirm that the Apostle and Prophet joined together are to be the leaders of the church.  The closest verse would be I Corinthians 12:28, but again this verse is not in the context of defining a leadership structure but rather in the context of defining ministry gifts.  Therefore it is a weak support to the idea that the apostle and prophet are to be the rulers of the church and, if we find that Paul was trying to communicate something else, then the argument that I Corinthians 12:28 is in support of Ephesians 2:20 falls away entirely.

We must ask the question now, does the New Testament define leadership qualifications in the church?  The answer is yes.  A sample scripture would be I Timothy 1:1-13.  Note that Paul focuses entirely on the character of the individual that is suited for leadership and completely ignores the ministry gifts that are suitable for one who is going to be a leader over a church.  This is significant in that it shows what was on Paul’s heart when he considered the issue of leaders over the churches.  Ministry gifts were not considered to be a factor in whether an individual was suited to leadership.  Now this is not to say that leaders do not possess ministry gifts like the five fold gifts.  In fact, it is safe to assume that those called to leadership will most likely posses at least one of these gifts as these gifts were given to build up the saints and what is the call of a leader other than to build up the saints?

However, what is important is that these gifts are not the measuring stick for leadership.  Far from there being a hierarchy consisting of the apostle and prophet over everyone else, Paul is looking for men of stout character regardless of what their ministry gifting may or may not be.  In summary, the point to be understood here is that when Paul is clearly discussing the call to leadership, the person’s ministry gift as an apostle or prophet, or even any five fold gift for that matter, does not even enter the picture.

So we have found that not only is there not another clear Scripture declaring the apostle and prophet to be the official leadership structure, we find that when Paul directly deals with the issue of church leadership he ignores, not only the gift of the apostle and prophet, but the entire five fold gifting.  Again, this does not mean that leaders would not necessarily have these gifts it just demonstrates that Paul did not see these gifts as a requirement for a leadership position.

The question that must be answered now is, “if this is not a governmental structure for the church then what is it?”  Paul’s letters were written as letters to be read in whole, not one or two sentence phrases to be read in isolation.  Unfortunately our method of Bible study is to find similar verses from different passages and use those verses to illustrate a single theme.  While this can be helpful, it can also get us into trouble when we begin to make individual verses mean what we want them to mean or use them as a proof text while ultimately taking them out of context.  If Ephesians 2:20 is read in context, we can come to a very different conclusion as to the meaning of the verse.  As we are going to examine the theme of the entire chapter, it might be a good idea to pause and read Ephesians 2 at this point.

In Ephesians 2, Paul begins with an overwhelming discussion of the redeeming love of God being demonstrated in individuals that were lost.  You can almost hear Paul bursting with excitement when he recounts how God had mercy on us when we were wicked and lost and has now raised us up gloriously in Christ.  As if that is not enough, Paul further emphasizes his point by noting that not only were the Ephesians rebels in their sin, but they were also Gentiles completely cut off from the covenant of Israel and yet God chose to reach down to them.  Paul them concludes the chapter by describing how God is going to make one glorious church out of both the Jew and the Gentile who have been united in Christ.

This chapter is incredible in that it demonstrates the depths of God’s love, His mercy, and His incredible plan of redemption.  You can almost hear Paul bursting with excitement trying to explain how marvelous this thing is that God has done in redeeming the most wicked individuals and then uniting both those that He had previously cast off and those that were of the covenant but still in need of a redeemer and making one glorious body out of them.  Paul is worshiping in this chapter as much as he is teaching.  There is hardly any enmity among men that is any deeper than Jew and gentile and yet God has resolved this enmity in Christ.  The topic of the passage then is God’s plan of redemption.  The idea of leadership or church government is completely absent from Paul’s thoughts other than to note that Jesus Himself is the absolute head of this new glorious structure.

There is one thing that is fascinating to note in Paul’s language and it seems to begin around verse 11.  Paul begins to make comparisons between two things that are supposed to be different, but are being united in Christ.  In several verses he will list two things that outwardly appear to be at odds, but within Christ are brought to unity and fulfillment.  This idea of two different things being brought into unity covers several verses.  Try to look at these passages from a literary point of view and see how Paul repeatedly makes two part comparisons.

• Ephesians 2:11 - Paul contrasts the Uncircumcised (or the Gentiles) with the Circumcised.
• Ephesians 2:12-13 - The Ephesians were at one point strangers and outsiders from the Messianic promises of Israel but now they have been brought near.
• Ephesians 2:14 - Jesus has made one body from two, destroying the dividing wall.
• Ephesians 2:15 - Jesus abolished the enmity between the two and from the two created one new man.
• Ephesians 2:16 - Jesus reconciled both to God in a single body.
• Ephesians 2:17 - He preached the glad tidings of peach both to those afar off and those who were near.
• Ephesians 2:18 - Through Him we both have access through the Spirit to the Father.
• Ephesians 2:19 - You are no longer outsiders but now are citizens.

You can see in these verses how Paul is clearly defining for the Gentiles how they have been brought near.  He is also clearly defining how Jesus intends to build a church by taking the two breeds of men that were formerly at odds and creating one glorious new things from them.  Nestled within this discussion we find Paul declare that these redeemed Gentiles are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus as the cornerstone.

So then Paul’s comments about the foundation of the apostles and prophets are made within the context of the gentiles being included with the Jews into one body reconciled within Jesus Christ.  In a sense, we could say that God is building a new body of believers consisting of two parts, Jew and gentile, built on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

The difference between Jew and gentile was a common issue in the New Testament as Christianity began to break way from Judaism as a distinct faith.  The disciples clearly saw it as a continuation of Judaism, but the unconverted Jews did not and so gradually Christianity came into distinction.  There was, therefore, another tension in the New Testament church that was directly related to the issue of the Jew and the gentile and that was the issue of the Old Testament revelation compared with the teachings of the apostles.  The Jews were creating division claiming that the apostles taught a new doctrine that was in conflict with the Law and the Prophets and so were trying to carry the Jews into heresy.

Understanding this brings Paul’s statement into clarity.  Not only was God building a body that brought two groups that were seemingly at odds, the Jew and gentile, together upon the single foundation of Christ, He was also building that body upon the full revelation of God which came through both the prophets, or the carriers of the Old Testament revelation, and the apostoles, or the ones carrying the doctrines of Jesus.   So what Paul is saying is that the revelation of the Old Testament and the revelation that we now call the New Testament, rather than being at odds at one another, are rather a single foundation built upon Jesus Christ as their cornerstone.

In other words, both the Old and New Testament revelations are built upon Jesus.  The gentile believers in Ephesians then were to properly understand that the church was being built upon a complete revelation of God which required both the Old and New Testament revelations.  This was to be the foundation upon which they built, all the while realizing that Jesus was the chief cornerstone of this foundation.  He was the one that it all built upon.

So rather than describing a leadership hierarchy, Paul was defining the foundation of their faith.  God gave revelation of Himself, first through the nation of Israel, and then a second time He revealed His Son through the apostles and this revelation, which may have seem outwardly at odds, was really in unison the revelation of His Son.  Thus, just as the two groups of people, the Jews and gentiles, which seemed to be at odds but were brought together in unity under Jesus, were being reconciled, so to the prophets and apostles were not at odds with one another but rather were part of a single, glorious revelation that provided the foundation upon which the church was built.

So does this foundation apply all to leaders?  I believe there is something significant here that we can learn with regard to leadership.  First, we must understand that gifts are not a qualification for leadership.  Character is the primary qualification for leadership.  While leaders should have some measure of gifting to serve, we are to be most concerned with the character of those that are put into leadership.  In our age, we promote on gifts and talents, but God is more concerned about the demonstration of His nature and so a man’s gifts are secondary in the Kingdom and not primary.

That being said, if the foundation of the church is the apostles and prophets then leaders in the church would do well to show some of the characteristics demonstrated by these men whether or not the leaders are specifically called as apostles or prophets.  A discussion of the nature of apostolic and prophet men is certainly out of scope for this post.  I would highly recommend Art Katz’s book Apostolic Foundations for exploring what it means to be genuinely apostolic and prophetic.

We can say though, in closing, that leaders should reflect the value system of the prophetic and apostolic ones that laid the foundations of the faith for us.  They should be terribly jealous for God and His glory as the prophets were and should have that same sense of destiny and eternality that the prophets had.  In addition, they should have a passion for Jesus that they would die for and a clear message that is focused on Jesus as were the apostles.  The study of what really constitutes apostolic and prophetic men is very deep and should be encouraged because it leads us into the deep things of the faith.

It is sad then that some men are using these verses merely to describe some sort of leadership hierarchy that Paul never intended.  This can be very dangerous ground because, while authority and leadership are very Biblical, God also does not care much for religious hierarchies.  It is critical that we understand the Word because often even good hearted men who are genuine servants of God can become enamored with doctrines like this that find little basis in Scripture.  Sadly, we find it seems like some who have adopted this teaching have often just resorted to title swapping.  For example, a God ordained leader may have been a “pastor” years ago (which probably wasn’t a valid title for his ministry gifting to begin with), perhaps a “bishop” after that, and now must be an “apostle” in order to be seen as a leader.  All the while the person’s ministry gifting never changed. They are still called and gifted and still don’t need titles to validate their ministry.

So in short, do we need apostles and prophets in our day?  Without a doubt.  Are they the God ordained duo that provides a leadership and authority structure over the rest of the body?  No.  Let’s get back to the Biblical pattern of appointing leaders based on character and stop considering gifting.  Will there be apostles and prophets among such a leadership structure?  Of course there will be, but there will also be teachers, evangelists, pastors, gifts of administation, and others.

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

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.

Let’s consider the American landscape for a moment in light of the events that occurred so long ago.  America finds herself in a very difficult place at this moment.  She is hedged in on all fronts morally, politically, militarily, and economically..  Could we safely say, though, that as the church goes, so goes the nation?  If so then the source of America’s ills can be found in the examination of America’s church.

God has been faithful to move on our land in spiritual awakenings and revival movements throughout America’s history.  America has even been used to birth major spiritual movements and send out significant numbers of missionaries and resources to impact the globe for Christ.  With all that said though, the sad truth is that the American church is looking more anemic by the moment.  While I am greatly encouraged by the number of believers I meet that are desiring an authentic display of Christianity in America, the sad truth is that the majority of us are lifeless and powerless.

The truth is that we quite possibly have gone the way of the golden calf.  We have not been content for the place of waiting on God until He brought something authentic from the mountain places of prayer and fasting, but rather we leap on any bandwagon that we believe will bring real revival.  Rather than embrace the difficult places are fathers tread, we seek new and improved shortcuts to spirituality and blessing.  When we should have been living in the awkward pain of waiting on God and acknowledging our own poverty of spirit and drastic need of God’s Spirit to bring awakening, we rather stood up as a body and declared, “we know not whether God’s time tested methods of revival will bring awakening and we want blessing now.”

We were not content to remain in that uncomfortable place while the law of God, or the requirement of God, was revealed that we might come into covenant with Him and labor for a great awakening.  Instead our hearts demanded an instant religious fix.  What makes this even more tragic is that there were priests ready to answer the cry.  We needed men to stand up as fathers and rebuke our childishness and lead us down the difficult road to maturity that we might have a true awakening in the land.  Instead, we found ministers aplenty that were deluded themselves enough to champion a new gospel that resonated with our fleshly appetites.

So, rather than casting aside the gospel, it was re-invented.  No longer does it serve the glory of God primarily and the glory of man only secondarily, it now serves primarily as an enabler to the appetites of man.  What drives my heart to grief is that this gospel has found its way through all spectrums of the body of Christ.  All our guilty from the liturgical church to the Pentecostals.  I weep most to see this infect that part of the body that would define themselves as being “Spirit filled.”

Consider the nature of Israel’s golden calf and you can immediately see the parallel.  Israel was not content with a God that came down from above.  They were uncomfortable with a God they could not see and touch at whim.  In short, they were uncomfortable with a God that they could not control.  The made a god then that they could see and touch and feel.

No more would they have to look above for God to come down to them and lay aside the flesh that they might embrace Him in the spirit.  Now they could have a god of flesh on parade before them.  Note that they made this god of gold.  Again, rather than depending on that which comes down, their idol was made of stuff that was entirely earthly.  They sourced their god from the ground, for gold is the stuff of the earth, buried deep in the soil.  This man made god was entirely of the earth.  For them there was now no need of looking for something that came from above.

Is this not our own great lack?  We continually make and invent God in our own image, according to our own standards, and for the satisfaction of our own desires. (Let us not forget those desires can put on a religious face.  The desire to “escape hell” can be just as much humanism as anything else.)  We do not like the tension of a God that is pre-eminently spiritual before He is physical.  We must lay aside the realm we are so familiar with and think we have so much domain over to humble ourselves and embrace Him in His realm.  We are more guilty than we know of worshipping a man made and man defined God that is altogether different from the authentic God who is self revealing.  The revelation comes of God comes down to man on God’s impetus.  Man does not ascend to the revelation of God of his own impetus.

The church has totally embraced the nation of America and some how so co-mingled the economic and political state of America with the church that we almost believe ourselves to be another ancient Israel - a nation where the political and economic structures are essentially a physical manifestation of God’s kingdom.  In this deluded state, we have joined the nation as it plunged into a materialism never before seen on the planet.  Our thirst for materialism has been so insatiable that we could never get enough and so we found cheaper ways to produce the good we wanted and used debt on a previously unheard of scale to enable purchasing when our own incomes were not enough.

The monumental tragedy in all this is that the church never stood up and divorced herself from the system.  Instead we have made God an enabler of our greed and thirst for self fulfillment.  Even when the “prosperity gospel” was not openly trumpeted, I fear our message more often amounted to a recycled tale of self fulfillment and self enabling through God.  The American dream became so intermingled with the church that I do not know if we can tell the difference anymore.  I wonder how strange the apostle Paul might be to us in his understanding and proclamation of the fundamental conflict between the values of this age and the values of the age to come.

We have stood proud in our might and our strength.  When the terrorists humbled us on 9/11, we immediately printed bumper stickers that said, “The Power of Pride” and immediately vowed to use military might to subdue any who would dare destroy America.  We determined that men would die in third world lands lest any more Americans die on our own shores.  I understand that sometimes nations are thrust into difficult decisions at a political level, but the issue is bigger than the question of military action.  The issue is that Americans have not humbled themselves in light of recent events, but rather become even more arrogant and brash in dependence on the the power of the flesh.

What then is the prime symbol of our strength and our wealth?  Is it not the bull?  Have we not made our own golden calf, planted it in lower Manhattan and then proceeded to worship it?  Could it be that God is now crushing our golden calf?  Could it be that God has finally had enough and, since we will not humble ourselves, He will now humble us?

When Moses came down the mountain, he ground the calf to power and the people were forced to drink the bitter remnants of their false god.  Could it be that we are now beginning to drink the powder?  We have trusted in our wealth and materialism.  Preachers have told us not to fear because no matter what may come to the world, God will keep us wealthy and happy all the while.  In short, they have told us to fiddle on while Rome burns, while the word of the Lord very well may be to call us to a Jeremiah generation that will weep and suffer with the people as they go through one of the most painful seasons in the nation’s history.

Our god was greed and Wall Street is merely a reflection of Main Street.  Wall Street is nothing more than an exaggerated picture of everyday America.  We see in it the ultimate magnification of our own greed and ideals.  We cheer it as it succeeds and then curse it when it falls.  Regardless, the American financial system is the gold that we made this bull out of.  Now, I fear God is going to force us to drink the power of our God and we are beginning to see that the taste is truly bitter.

While He could allow any number of external threats to humble us, and very well may do so yet, it should inspire fear that he seems to be letting us implode upon ourselves.  Rather than suffer the arrows of outsiders, we are being poisoned by the gold dust from our self made bull.  In short, God has put His finger on our calf and He is judging us by us.

Where are the prophets?  I trust that they have been on God’s holy mountain and will thunder in the nation once again.  A great preacher once said that prophets are, “God’s emergency men for crisis hours,” and if that definition be true, which history has so proven, the time for their arrival might now be at hand.  These prophets will have God’s voice, but they will also have God’s heart.  In the midst of the terror of the crisis as it deepens, quite possibly to a yet unseen depression, they will speak with clarity, power, and love.

God’s prophets will be called to set things right again.  They will thunder against our excesses and sin and call us back to our first love.  Once again the glory of God will become the great focus of the gospel over our own fulfillment, satisfaction, or titillation.  However, remember that these must also have the heart of God.  Moses personally administered the wrath of God but before he was qualified to do this, he stood in intercession before the entire nation lest God should destroy it.  God is looking for men with this kind of love.

We must love the nation so passionately that we plead for mercy before God to avert total destruction even while we may be called to administer His painful medicine.  Those who gloat over the destiny of the nation will have no part among God’s true prophets.  Justice and mercy must be found together.  Love and truth must be bound one to another.  In short, we must have the Father heart of God.  The Father heart loves to the end even as it does not hesitate to speak harsh words and administer cruel discipline when necessary.  Truly this is an hour that desperately needs the harsh words of the prophet and the judgments of God which seem cruel to us, but God is not going to give these things in the hands of men that don’t have a Father’s love for the people.

The young hotshots who long to “set things right” will be passed over.  God is not going to trust His tender bride at the hands of men who do not share His ultimate, selfless desire for the bride to succeed and be made whole no matter how grievous it’s sin.  Man may divorce God, but God never divorces man.  Preacher, you had better consider this before you step up to the holy desk and rail upon God’s people.  Make sure you have His heart of redemption before the harsh words fly.

Let us not forget the priesthood as well.  Was Aaron cast aside?  No.  Rather he was rebuked heavily but not given over to destruction.  True, a great standard and requirement must be laid upon the priesthood and there will be those who will be utterly lost.  However, let us likewise carry a heart that the Lord’s ministers in the nation might be reformed and ultimately redeemed and restored to a place of fruitful ministry among the people.  We must remain mindful that there is one who’s heart desires destruction and there is One whose heart desires redemption though He will bring painful discipline.  You must discern whose influence you are under.

Moses called the priests to account and they inflicted great judgment, but Moses also set and restored the priesthood.  Immediately following, he made a fervent intercession that parallels the heart of Christ as he cried out that he would rather be damned than the nation destroyed.  Beloved, this is how we can test the heart of the prophet.  The prophets are holy and consecreated and have gained favor with God.  Legitimate prophets then use their God given favor as a tool to access God and obtain favor, not for themselves, but for those who have no favor with God.  This can be a great way to divide the prophetic.  Any prophet who uses favor and gifting for his own purposes should be cast out.  The genuine prophet has great favor, and possibly gifting, from God, but he always uses it to obtain favor and mercy for the people rather than himself.  In short he will willing to suffer with and for the people rather than be insulated from them.

Friends the bull of America if falling.  The trials coming will be tough to endure and God will make sure we receive the fruits of the false god we have been following.  Let us cleanse our own hearts and smash our own “bullish” idols that we have clung to.  Let us pray that God releases prophetic voices in the nation, with the heart of the Father, that can admonish the church and address the nation.  Let us soberly prepare for hardship. All the while, let our hearts be filled with thanksgiving and gratitude.

It is God’s glorious mercy that He is now divorcing us from the idols that destroy our hearts.  We will be eternally grateful for these days of pain as God finally separates us from our wordly lovers and exposes our adultery of the heart.  Let us receive His rebuke and cleansing, for it leads to life.  Let us wash ourselves and remain faithful to the end, all the while being consumed with His heart of redemption and snatching as many from the fires of delusion as we can.

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.

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?

I believe we can discern if our jealousy is pure or not very simply.  When you feel that burning within you to defend the Lord’s honor and name, especially publically, there is one quick test that will determine the authenticity of your jealousy.  Before you express your jealousy for the Lord publically (note this means others, not just the pulpit), make sure you have passed this private test.

The way to determine if your jealousy is a pure one is to examine the issue of jealousy and yourself.  Oh, I know you may be jealous for the Lord’s name where it regards that other man or ministry you cannot stand, but are you jealous for the Lord’s name in your own life?  Have you examined your own life, both your inward and outward life, and considered just how jealous you are for the expression of the Lord and His name in you.

You see it’s easy to see where all the others are wrong, but it is also easy to overlook things in your own heart.  When you do this, you can quickly give yourself over to a zeal that is superficially for the Lord, but also rooted in a zealousness for things that are more related to your own self, ministry, or church.

We must become jealous for the Lord within us.  It must begin to grieve us how the Lord’s name is demonstrated in and and through us.  Do others see a consistent witness of Jesus in you?  Are you jealous for those things in your life that defame His name?  I am not just talking about the “big sins,” I’m talking about all the little things that you are quite comfortable with, but are not to be found in His nature.  Beyond the visible things that others can see, what about the issues of the heart?

Do the things that you allow in your mind, heart, and imagination demonstrate a jealousy that the Lord would be demonstrated in you?  Are you jealous for your own heart and spirit?  Do you weep for your own sin that His name might not be defamed by your own actions?  Do not deceive yourself that your outward righteousness is enough to honor the Lord.  Jesus brutally attacked the Pharisees on the issue of outward versus inward righteousness. If our inward thoughts, fantasies, and motivations were broadcast for all to see would it bring honor to our Lord, or would there be reproach on the name of Christ since we call ourselves Christians?  We must become jealous for the demonstration of the Lord in our secret things as well as public things, as the secret things are what truly make the man.

Do not forget that all those little things that men do not see, all those little illicit imaginations you taste inwardly, may not be visible to other humans around you, but they are known in the spirit realm.  While humans may see you one way, the kingdoms of light and darkness know you as you really are.  We must be jealous for the demonstration of Jesus and His name, not only among flesh, but also among the powers and principalities that war against our Lord.  We are an embarassment to the Lord before the heavenly hosts (both light and dark) when we live inward lives that are not jealous for the expression of our Lord through us.

The powers look to see if we are demonstrating the Lord or not.  Saints, we must become jealous for the expression of Jesus within us before we can become jealous for His expression among others.  We must be honest with ourselves that we might be those who demonstrate an authentic Jesus both among men and among devils.

How many of us have a burning jealousy that Jesus be revealed in us in a way that is pure, holy, and complete?  To be perfectly clear, I am not talking about a burning that Jesus work through us in power or ministry, I am talking about the demonstration of His person, His nature, and His character in us.  It would do us well to sit down and read very slowly through the first verses of Matthew 5.  Are we jealous that these characteristics are our own?  Do we pick one or two that we feel good about or do we embrace all of them in their totality?  Do we cry out that we might not just demonstrate Jesus in a few areas, but that He is demonstrated in totality within us according to the measuring stick that He set forth in the Sermon on the Mount.

Saints, we desperately need spokesmen of righteousness.  We desperately need prophets who can stand against all the foolishness that is going on in Christ’s name in this hour.  We need those who will risk reputation, ministry, and personal comfort because they are jealous for the demonstration of the Lord among His people.  They are jealous that only that which is authentic is named of Christ.  They are jealous for that name that must be reverenced above all.  We must speak out and rescue the bride from those who are ravaging her.

These bold, burning spokesmen are an urgent need of the hour, but we must first go to the place of preparation if we are to be this kind of spokesman.  There is a progression of preparation we must endure.  First we must, as mentioned above, begin burning with a jealousy for the measure and purity of the Lord that is in us.  What are we demonstrating to the seen an unseen world and how jealous are we that it be pure and offer no reproach to our Lord?

Secondly, we must first weep for things that are currently defiling the bride and bringing reproach to Jesus.  No man should speak out before he has wept over these issues.  The place of weeping and brokeness brings the proper character and removes the strength of pride that would otherwise find its way in our rebukes, no matter how religious they may appear.  We must have both sides of God’s heart over the issues and He is both grieved and angry to see the enemy plunder His people.

God desperately needs those who can pass these tests of preparation.  I am looking for a generation of those who are burning with a fire in their heart for the honor of the King.  I am looking for those who can separate the holy from the profane that an authentic bride may emerge in this hour.  These are desperately needed, however they can emerge only after they have passed through this process.  The issue is one of honor and the only ones who can defend God’s honor are those who have renounced their own personal honor and made His honor, not just the issue of the church, but the issue of their own personal lives.

Such messengers will be of the calibur of John Baptist, but do not forget the lessons of his life.  Preparation may well exceed ministry.  Your ministry and speaking must move aside and make way for the exaltation of Jesus Himself, not matter what the personal cost.  Finally, the earthy end of one with great jealousy for Jesus and His bride may not be a pleasant one.

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/

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.

Stanley Frodsham - 1965

With great judgments will I plead with the population of this country. Great darkness is coming upon the countries that have heard my gospel but no longer walk in it. My wrath shall come upon them. The darkness shall be so great, and the anguish so sore that men will cry out for death and shall not find it. There shall be a lingering death, famine, and great catastrophes.

My wrath shall be manifested against all ungodliness. It shall come with great intensity. You have known My love but have not known My wrath, My severity. My judgments are literal and not a thing to be lightly passed over. Realize the severity of My judgments and My intense anger against the sin in My household. My judgments shall begin in My house. For I will cleanse My house that it be not partaker of My wrath against the iniquities of the cities. Before I visit the nations in judgement I will begin at My house. When I do cause My wrath to come upon the cities of the world My people shall be separate. I desire a people without spot or wrinkle, and such shall be preserved by Me in the time of My wrath coming upon all iniquity and unrighteousness.

I am going to prepare you for the coming days by a hard path that will cause you to cry out continually unto Me. For when the going is easy, men do not seek Me, but rejoice in a temporary blessing. And when that blessing is removed they so often turn this way and that way but do not come to Me. I am showing you these things that you may seek Me continually and with great diligence. As you seek Me, I will open up truths to you that you have not seen before; and these very truths will be that which will enable you to stand in these last days. As you are persecuted, reviled and rejected by your brethren then you will turn unto Me with all your heart and seek Me for that spiritual life you have need of. And when tribulation comes you will have that which will enable you to stand. For many shall be tossed to and fro. Men’s hearts shall fail them because of trouble on every hand. For these days shall be very terrible, the like of which has never been seen before.

When I visit My people in mighty revival power, it is to prepare them for the darkness ahead. With the glory shall come great darkness, for the glory is to prepare My people for the darkness. I will enable My people to go through because of the visitation of My Spirit. Take heed to yourselves lest you be puffed up and think that you have arrived. Many shall be puffed up as in the olden days, for many then received My message but they continued not in it. Did I not anoint Jehu? Yet the things I desired were not accomplished in his life. Listen to the messengers, but do not hold men’s persons in admiration. For many whom I shall anoint mightily, with signs and miracles, shall become lifted up and shall fall by the wayside. I do not this willingly; I have made provision that they might stand. I call many into this ministry, and equip them; but remember that many shall fall. They shall be like bright lights, and the people shall delight in them. But they shall be taken over by deceiving spirits and shall lead many of My people astray.

Hearken diligently concerning these things, for in the last days shall come seducing spirits that shall turn many of My anointed ones away. Many shall fall through divers lusts, and because of sin abounding. But if you will seek Me diligently I will put My Spirit within you. When one shall turn to the right hand of to the left you shall not turn with them, but keep your eyes wholly on the Lord. The coming days are the most dangerous, difficult and dark, but there shall be a mighty outpouring of My Spirit upon many cities, and many shall be destroyed. My people must be diligently warned concerning the days that are ahead. Many shall turn after seducing spirits; many are already seducing My people. It is whose who DO righteousness that are righteous. Many cover their sins by great theological words. But I warn you of seducing spirits who instruct My people in an evil way. Many of these I shall anoint, that they may purify and sift My people; for I would have a holy people.

Many shall come with seducing spirits and hold our lustful enticements. You will find that after I have visited My people again, the way shall become more and more narrow, and fewer shall walk there in. But be not deceived, the ways of righteousness are My ways. For though Satan come as an angel of light hearken not to him; for those who perform miracles and speak not righteousness are not of Me. I warn you with great intensity that I am going to judge My house and have a church without spot or wrinkle when I come. I desire to open your eyes and give you spiritual understanding, that you may not be deceived but may walk with uprightness of heart before Me, loving righteousness and hating every evil way. Look unto Me and I will make you to perceive with the eyes of the Spirit the things that lurk in darkness, that are not visible to the human eye. Let me lead you in this way that you may perceive the powers of darkness and battle against them. It is not a battle against flesh and blood; for if you battle in that way you accomplish nothing. But if you let Me take over and battle against the powers of darkness then they are defeated, and then liberation is brought to My people.

I warn you to search the Scriptures diligently these last days. For the things that are written shall indeed be made manifest. There shall come deceivers among My people in increasing numbers, who shall speak forth the truth and shall gain the favor of the people. For the people shall examine the Scriptures and say, “What these men say is true.” Then when they have gained the hearts of the people, then and THEN ONLY shall they bring out these wrong doctrines. Therefore, I say that you should not give your hearts to men, nor hold people’s persons in admiration. For by these very persons shall Satan enter into My people. WATCH FOR SEDUCERS. Do you think a seducer will brandish a new heresy and flaunt it before the people? He will speak the words of righteousness and truth, and will appear as a minister of light, declaring the Word. The people’s hearts shall be won. Then, when the hearts are won, they will bring out their doctrines, and the people shall be deceived. The people shall say, “Did he not speak thus and thus? And did we not examine it from the Word? Therefore he is a minister of righteousness.

This that he has now spoken we do not see in the Word, but it must be right, for the other things he spoke were true.”

Be not deceived. For the deceiver will first work to gain the hearts of many, and then shall bring forth his insidious doctrines. You cannot discern those who are of Me and those who are not of Me when they start to preach. But seek Me constantly, and then when these doctrines are brought out you shall have a witness in your heart that these are not of Me. Fear not, for I have warned you. Many will be deceived. But if you walk in holiness and uprightness before the Lord, your eyes shall be open and the Lord will protect you. If you will constantly look unto the Lord you will know when the doctrine changes, and will not be brought into it. If your heart is right I will keep you; and if you will look constantly to Me I will uphold you.

The minister of righteousness shall be on this wise — his life shall agree with the Word, and his lips shall give forth that which is wholly true, and it will be no mixture. When the mixture appears then you will know he is not a minister of righteousness. The deceivers speak first the truth and then error, to cover their own sins which they love. Therefore I exhort and command you to study the Scriptures relative to seducing spirits, for this is one of the great dangers of these last days.

I desire you to be firmly established in My Word and not in the personalities of men, that you will not be moved as so many shall be moved. I would keep you in the paths of righteousness. Take heed to yourselves and follow not the seducing spirits that are already manifesting themselves. Diligently inquire of Me when you hear something that you have not seen in the Word, and do not hold people’s persons in admiration, for it is by this very method that Satan will hold many of My people.

I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly, that you may triumph where I triumphed. On the cross I triumphed over all the power of Satan; and I have called you to walk in the same path. It is when your life is on the cross that you shall know the victory I have experienced. As you are on the cross, and seated in Me, then you shall know the power of the resurrection. When I come in My glory, the principalities and powers in the heavenly places shall be utterly broken. Fear not, for I have given you power whereby you may tread down the powers of darkness, and come forth victorious through every trial. As you are on the cross then you are victorious. It was on the cross that I triumphed over all the powers of the enemy. My life shall flow through you as you enter into these precious truths. Look unto Me, and appropriate My life. As your eyes and desires are toward Me, and you know what it is to be crucified with Me, then you shall live, and your anointing shall increase. It was not in My life that I walked upon the earth, but it was in My life when I was upon the cross that I openly spoiled principalities and powers.

I am showing you truths that shall cause you to overcome, to have power over the wicked one, truth that will liberate you and those round about you. You shall know also the fellowship of My sufferings. There is no other way whereby you may partake of this heavenly glory and reign with Me. “If we suffer with Him we shall reign with Him.” I desire to make those truths real within you. As you keep them before you, you will liberate many who are in bondage. You will have revelation of those who are in darkness and will have the keys to liberate the captives. Many seek to liberate, but they have not the keys. Upon the cross continually you will know the power of My resurrection that you may also partake of My glory. As you are willing to walk with Me and rejoice in your sufferings, you shall partake of My glory. Look unto Me for you have need of power to overcome the wicked one, and the bondages in other lives.

If you will indeed judge yourself you shall not be judged. As you seek My face and desire to be cleansed by Me in all truth and sincerity of heart I will judge you in the secret place, and the things that are in the secret place of your heart shall not be made manifest to others. I will do it in the secret place and no man shall know it. And the shame that shall be seen on many faces shall not be seen on your face. Therefore in love and mercy I am instructing you. And therefore I have said that if a man judge himself he shall not be judged. It is not My good pleasure that the shame of My people be seen by all. How can I judge the world if I judge not first My own house? Hearken unto these things I am telling you. If you will not hearken unto Me thy shame shall be evident to all.

I would have you consider My life on earth — the anointing upon Me was great and yet the temptations were great on every side; in one form and then in another, offering Me first the glory of the kingdoms of the earth and then reviling and persecuting Me. There will be great glory given to My people, and yet the temptations shall be intensified from every side. Think not that with the glory there shall be no temptations or persecutions. The glory of My church shall be great, and so shall be the temptations from the enemy to turn My people from My paths. I am warning you that when the glory shall be manifested, the temptations shall be great, until very few that start shall finish. First there shall be offered them great worldly possessions, and then great revilings and unbelief.

Consider your Lord, that as He walked so it shall be for you. There shall be need of great intensity of purpose. At times everyone shall rise up against you, simply to turn you from the course that I would put you in. It is written of Me that I set My face as a flint to go to the direction My Father had prescribed for Me. If you will finish the course the Lord has laid down for you, you will have to set your face as a flint. With great determination you must walk in the course laid down for you. Many of your loved ones and those who follow with you shall persuade you and try to turn you from the course. With many words that seem right in the natural will they speak to you. Did not Christ rebuke Peter who would turn Him from the course God had prescribed?

Understand these two things and meditate upon them solemnly — the persecution and the darkness shall be as great as the glory in order to try to turn the elect and the anointed ones from the path the Lord has laid down for them. Many shall start but few shall be able to finish because of the greatness of grace that shall be needed to be able to endure unto the end. The temptations and the persecution of your Lord was continuous. He was tempted by Satan in many forms throughout His entire life and even to the cross when the ungodly cried out, “If thou be the Christ come down from the cross.” Think not that there shall be a time of no persecution, for it shall be from the time of your anointing until the end. Difficulties, and great persecution to the end. The Lord must prepare you to be an overcomer in all things, that you may be able to finish the course. The persecution shall increase even as the anointing shall increase.

In paths of judgement and righteousness shall the Lord God lead His people and bring them into that place which He has chosen for them. For the Lord has chosen a place for His people, a place of righteousness and holiness where He shall encamp round about them. And all who will be led of the Lord shall be brought into this holy place. For the Lord delights to dwell in His people and to manifest Himself through His people. The holiness of the Lord shall be manifested through His people. Let the Lord lead you and He will lead you in difficult places. He led His people of old through a place where no man dwelt, where no man had passed through, in a place of great danger and in the shadow of death. The Lord will indeed again lead His people through such places, and yet He will bring them out into a place of great glory. Understand that the way toward the glory is fraught with great danger and many shall fall to the right or to the left, many shall camp on lesser ground. But the Lord has a place of holiness and no unclean thing shall dwell among His people.

Put your trust in Him and He will bring you into a place of holiness. He desires to bring His people into great glory — the like of which has never been seen for what the Lord will do for those who put their trust in Him. It is a place of darkness and great danger that separates His people into the place He would have them walk in. He will protect them from the voices that would turn them from His path. He will bring them through the dark places, and through the treacherous paths, out into the light of His glory. He will rejoice greatly over His beloved and cause you to be filled with joy unspeakable. He seeks to lead His people into a new place of grace and glory where He will indeed encamp among them. Put your trust in Him and He will surely bring you into this new place.

Fear not the days to come, but fear this only — that you shall walk in a manner pleasing to the Lord. In this time I am ordering and setting up My church and it shall indeed be pure, without spot or wrinkle. I will do work in My beloved that has not been seen since the foundation of the world. I have shown you these things that you may seek the Lord diligently with all your heart, and that you may be a preserver of His people.

Run not to this one nor to that one, for the Lord has so ordained that salvation is in Him and in Him alone. You shall not turn to this shepherd or to that one, for there shall be a great scattering upon the earth. Therefore look unto Him for He will indeed make these things clear to you. You shall not look here nor there, for the wells that once had water shall be no more. But as you diligently seek Him He shall increase your strength and your faith, that He may be able to prepare you for this time that is coming.

The truths that I have revealed to you must become a part of you — not just an experience, but a part of your very nature. Is it not written that I demand truth in the inward parts? It is the truth of the Lord expressed in your very being that shall hold you. Many shall experience the truth, but the truth must become a part of you, your very life. As men and women look upon you they will hear not only the voice but see the expression of the truth. Many shall be overcome because they are not constant in My ways, and because they have not permitted the truths to become part of them. I am showing you these things that you may be prepared, and having done all, to stand.

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.

History teaches us that this sort of attitude is dangerous. Anytime one view point tries to stifle any opposing viewpoint in this way, red flags should go up. When one considers the moral implications for society of acting from a Darwinistic viewpoint, even more red flags should go up. The issue is not that evolution cannot be taught or debated, but that the playing field must be level. There are very smart people that believe in intelligent design and they have a right to study, observe, and teach as much as Darwinists do. In fact, I find it odd that we forget that smart people have existed for a very long time. It is not just in the last 50-100 years that intelligent men appeared.

Very smart people have lived for literally thousands of years; some accomplishing feats that still baffles modern historians. All these people were free to speculate about the origins of the universe and were free to allow the idea of God a place in there scientific theories.The more we observe about the universe, the more incredibly complex we find living organisms (including ourselves) and scientists should be free to research and debate the fact that there is obvious design present.

This is not really a post to debate Darwinism vs Intelligent Design but rather to highlight the fact that a free society should encourage and tolerate the debate. This should be a major wake up call as to how free our educational institutions really are. Far from being “free” thinking areas, it seems to be clear in certain areas that an agenda has been adopted and that opposition to that agenda is not tolerated. Even in a “tolerant” and free society we are finding that there are those among us with very specific goals for what is and is not tolerated. So long as Darwinists try to silence the debate, it keeps me wondering why they are so frightened of competing theories? What skeletons are hiding in the closet anyway?

I went to see “Horton Hears a Who” the other day with the kids and some of their friends. While this may seem to be just another children’s movie on the surface, there is actually a much deeper message in Horton that we must communicate to our children and others around us. I very rarely say this about a film because most films are not worth the time spent to watch them, but it looks like God is speaking to a generation through Horton. Read on to see why.

In the book, Horton is protecting a tiny group of people that no one else can hear.No one else believes they exist as real people because they cannot see them or hear them and so they persecute Horton who can hear them and tries to protect them. Horton, on the other hand, protects them with the motto, “A person’s a person no matter how small.” I think you can see very clearly where this is going. The “Who’s,” blissfully ignorant of how small they are and the fact that the big world outside does not believe they exist and would just as quickly destroy their home as protect it, clearly symbolize the unborn. You can see the analogy in the popular media as abortion proponents continually argue that the “unborn fetus” (i.e. baby) is not really a person. Why is it not a person? Science has proven that the unborn baby has brain waves, a heart beat, and it can move and feel. There is just one thing an unborn child cannot do and that is speak so that you and I can hear it.

 While the tiny Who’s symbolize the unborn, Horton then can be a symbol of a life movement that is willing to pay any price from mere ridicule, to personal loss, to protect the lives that no one else believes in. In the film, Horton drops everything and focuses himself on protecting the Who’s even at his own personal expense and even when no one else believes it is worth it.Check out these two excerpts to hear Lou Engle speak about the significance of the film:

Because the message is getting out about the symbolism of the film and because there were some pro-life demonstrations at the opening, much has been made about the fact that Dr. Suess did not write the film as an allegory for the life message. While that is no doubt probably true seeing as the book was written long before abortion was legal or even common, that does not mean that God cannot divinely take the message of the book and use it to speak to a generation.Regardless of what Dr. Suess’s intentions were, the book can be used as an excellent tool to teach children the value of life in a presentation that is on their level. The message gets even more profound if you read the second Horton book, “Horton Hatches the Egg.” In this book, Horton finds a bird who does not want to be bothered by the responsibility of sitting on a nest and hatching an egg, so Horton agrees to sit on the egg. While the bird selfishly relaxes far away, Horton endures all sorts of trials to protect the egg and make sure it hatches.

When you put these two books together, you get a very profound messages. First, we must protect all life because, “A person’s a person no matter how small.” Then, the second book gets to the root of the abortion issue and that is the issue of selfishness compared with sacrifice and responsibility. Like Horton, in an age that disregards life, we are called to sacrifice with the spirit of adoption to save a generation whose parents will abandon them for their own personal pleasure. Regardless of what the intent of the original books was, these messages are very clear in the books and thankfully the message comes through in the film as well. For that reason, these books can be used to help enforce the values that are being instilled in our children through a resource that is very much on their level.

Now for the only negative parts. The film is not perfect. In the film Horton is ridiculed and called names that are not in the book. This is a sign of our times and I seriously doubt most children or parents will even blink an eye, but as God reveals to me more and more the power and significance of our words, it is sad to see our language slowly grow more crass even on a production aimed at children.The film also takes a cheap shot at home schooling. The chief villain in the film, the kangaroo, early on declares that her child is “pouch schooled.” It’s clearly a dig at home schoolers that is unnecessary. In fact, I have read a few reviewers who felt like the film makers were trying to make the kangaroo look like a rigid, home schooling fundamentalist that is out to oppose the free thinking Horton. While I can see how they come to that vantage point, if the “pouch school” comment was taken out I do not think you would get that impression.

With those negatives being said, I still believe that God is speaking to the nation through this film. As the film was produced by unbelievers it is not perfect, so it should not be analyzed as a Christian film, but that does not mean that God cannot speak clearly through it. Sometimes we go too far and try to see God in all sorts of films that we should be embarrassed to even see, much less promote, and other times we miss something God is saying because the package is not perfect.

All in all, I think we should promote the film, and make sure we promote the message to others. Many will walk out of Horton without giving the message a second thought, but if we spread the message of the obvious symbolism in the movie and the value that, “A person’s a person no matter how small,” we may find adults that would never consider the life message beginning to re-consider their values. Sometimes taking a truth and presenting it through from a child’s presentation can make the truth hit home in a way that other presentations do not. After the film, also make sure the sit down with your children and the book and make sure they get the message. Then follow it up with “Horton Hatches the Egg” and you will have some great material for teaching children the value of life, sacrifice, love, and responsibility.

The call to deny yourself is central to the Christian faith. Although it is something we do not like to talk about, denial of ourselves is a fundamental requirement of following Jesus. Most of us read this verse and immediately consider the obvious things that we are called to turn away from. Most of these things are external and obvious sins of the flesh.

The problem is that in our basic understanding of this directive, we often fall short of what God is actually aiming at. We are so used to external religion that we read this statement and our mind immediately filters through all the fleshly, outward things that we need to contain or even purge from our lives. While this is helpful to be sure, this is just the first stage of what God is wanting to do and if we do not push beyond the outward observance of this commandment we will miss something that is vital if we are to truly know God. Missing this thing can be the difference between living as a nominal Christian and living as one that knows God.

Art Katz used to say that “God is other.” The statement sounds so incomplete and it leaves us wanting to ask, “other than what?” We long in our hearts to make a comparison when the whole point of the statement is that when dealing with the issue of God, there is no comparison. This is what it means when the Scriptures say that God is Holy. To be sure holiness includes the aspects that we traditionally consider like purity of heart and action, but the word used in the original language is intended to convey that God is apart, He is totally different than us. In other words, “God is other.”

When we say that God is holy, we are saying that He is totally apart and different from us in every way and this difference is so great that we have no point of comparison for Him. The difference is that great. The shocking thing is that God then invites us to be holy which means that we must become something that is totally other and totally different from the way in which we were born. This is the goal to which Jesus’ command of denial is aiming at. As we already mentioned, the denial of external sins is a given so we do not need to spend any time on that issue. The internal denial is where I fear we fall too short.

Do we truly consider the fact that man is fallen? Do we consider the fact that Eve’s great mistake in the garden was deciding that she could have the capacity to define things like what is good and what is evil when God had clearly said she did not have that ability when He commanded her and Adam to avoid that tree? She, and man with her in his fall, took on a capacity that is not ours to have.

If you are going to know God, God must be known as He is, not as we thinking Him to be, not as we wish Him to be, and not as we ourselves are. This is foundational and yet I fear lost on us as we develop theologies and paradigms for life and ministry that amount to us outlining and explaining God in models that man can understand. We have great difficulty dealing with the unknown and unexplainable and so we are very uncomfortable with a God we cannot explain, outline, or diagram.

In the pursuit of the knowledge of God then, we must enter the school of inward denial. Just as the prophet said that a day was coming when the external law of God would be written on the inward hearts of men, so too the denial of one’s self must proceed from external observances to the inner realm of the heart

If you are going to know God, He will bring you to the crisis point where you begin to deny your inner self. God will come in such a way that He conflicts with your emotions and you will have to learn to trust and know Him by your spirit beyond what your emotions will say. There will come a point where your emotions will scream at you to either do something or not do something but God will put the opposite inclination in your Spirit. This is the place of denial. You must begin to trust the impulses of God’s Spirit over your own inner emotions.

God will not leave out the will and the intellect, but likewise will challenge each area of your soul. God will present a truth about Himself or a course of action that defies your own logic or previous decisions you have made. Will you be able to deny yourself and embrace the voice of God or will you limit your knowledge of God to your own understanding?

This is the most painful place of denial because you are reaching the place where you have to deny the essence of who you are in order to learn to build your life around God Himself. This is the most painful place of denial. It is easy to see that certain “sins” are harmful and certain things must be denied as we can see God’s wisdom in His prohibitions about certain practices.

However, can we proceed with God to the place where we deny our inner man in the things that we do not understand or even find offensive? Can we reach the place of confidence in God where we begin to trust His voice above our own? Can we trust His voice beyond our own understanding and expectations? If we are going to know God, we must know Him first and foremost in our Spirit. One thing is for sure. God is going to bring us to the place of inner conflict and turmoil that we might tear down all that is built on human understanding and begin to build on the foundation of Himself.

I fear that we underestimate the damage done in the fall. There is within us a deep rebellion against God and that rebellion is deeply rooted in us. Even when we acquiesce to God, we still have within us a root that wishes to choose between good and evil and make moral judgments. We do not wish to follow God blindly or give up the right to evaluate His statements in our heart before adopting them.

If we are to come into a deep and true knowledge of God, we must come into the place where we allow God to tear out this deep root of unbelief and He will do that by bringing us to crisis points, not in external practices or sins, but in the inner man where we will be required to deny our emotions, decisions, understandings and even our own nature in order to begin to live in the Spirit out of the flow of life that comes from God and is necessarily in opposition to our own human understanding.

The four living creatures that gaze upon God constantly keep screaming, “HOLY!” as they circle Him. They are constantly finding something different and other about God. Though they are not sin stained and pure as can be they are still finding God to be totally different and apart from their own understanding and reality.

As fallen men that have been redeemed, we likewise are going to have to reach the place where we gaze upon God and embrace His holiness even though the embrace of His holiness is going to by necessity require the denial of ourselves because God at His core is “other” in every way and to live in the Spirit means to live off of God and not off of our own human understanding.

Are you ready for the pain of deep self denial as you embrace the knowledge of God over your own understanding? Are you ready to make decisions when your emotions rage against them or conversely make decisions when your own emotions and understanding give you no confirmation? This is all in the process of coming into the knowledge of God. God will deal with you as a father as he longs to bring you into this place with Him, so do not fear. He sees the pain of this thing but it must be done so that you may be freed from the bondage of human understanding and be free to explore the place of the knowledge of God. You will feel at times like you are going mad, but you are not. You are learning to live from a higher reality and understanding than your own and that is going to make all the difference in how deep you can go in the knowledge of God.

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.

In the garden, the serpent brought a chilling question in Genesis 3:1, asking Eve, “Did God really say…” This questioning of what God had spoken was the door that opened Even to an interchange that quickly led her to trust her own perception over the command of God. The serpent led her to a place where she could place confidence in her own perception and her own ability to discern things over the commandment of God. In that moment, she could no longer trust God absolutely. Doubt had been planted in her heart and she acted on it with disastrous results.

Eve was in an environment that is very different from the one you and I are in. She was untouched by sin and rebellion. The Scriptures are also clear that she had daily interaction with God. Considering the fact that she was created without a fallen nature and had a heart without the deep root of sin, her fellowship with God would have been very open and personal without the barriers that we experience.

This is what is so amazing about the human heart. God gave the human heart so much of His own nature that even in her fellowship with God where He was affirming His unique relationship with her and Adam on a daily basis, she could still be brought to a place where she lost confidence in what God said. Being made in the image of God, she carried around a capacity to make decisions that she was not fit to make. She carried a capacity to question God and in fact put herself in the place of God by making judgments about good and evil that she was not qualified to make. This capacity alone shows us how incredibly unique man is and how incredibly we are made in His image. So we see, that daily fellowship with God was not enough to keep Eve from questioning what God said and that question led to the greatest downfall in history, the fall of the human race. This fall has left it’s ugly, evil shadow over all humanity ever since then.

God always deals with the root of an issue rather than the fruits are results of it. Jesus was so ruthless on religiosity because good works are meaningless if they spring from a heart that has evil roots in it. The violence of the cross is a dramatic illustration that the roots in men’s hearts from which their thoughts and actions spring, even the “good” ones, are not good enough and must be violently torn out and replaced with a new root from God Himself.

One of the most deadly roots in us came from this interchange with Even. It is the questioning of the Word of God. We consider the Word of God based on human understanding and based on what we perceive and can grasp and then make a judgment on whether or not what God said is truly worthy of our obedience. I fear we probably do this far more than we know.

In the western world, we are so ingrained with the scientific method that we approach all of life, including spirituality, from that vantage point. In fact the great argument of the atheists in our generation is that they cannot scientifically measure and perceive God therefore He must not exist. This is a root that has come to us from Eve and it is a very root of Satan and it must be pulled out.

God’s solution for this root of unbelief is faith. If we are going to become all that God created us to be, we must have an absolute confidence in God’s nature whether or not there is a measurable and observable justification for our confidence in Him.. Faith is the ultimate test of our confidence in God and it is tested in the absence of physical reinforcement not in the presence of it. Faith is the thing that uproots the unbelief and rebellion that is deeply rooted in our heart