And
the world turned while men played. Years passed, yea even centuries, and men
played. Wars raged and other wars were planned and men still played. Children
died and men played. Disease crept into healthy bodies and murdered its hosts
while men played. Typhoons and earthquakes and tsunamis harvested millions of
lives and men still played. Marriages by the tens of millions failed and men
played. Adultery and all kinds of promiscuous behavior were practiced and men
played. Children turned to drugs and violence while men still played. Human
slavery and trafficking ran rampant and men played. Rich men robbed poor men
and all the while men played. Lies were spoken as truth and yet men still
played.
But
one day Jesus returned and men played no more...
There
is an on open self righteousness which emanates from the American culture and
psyche. We are born into that illusion, and if you will, that lie. We hear it
coming from the lying lips of politicians. We hear it from teachers. We hear it
from preachers. We are told that if we work hard we can achieve anything we can
dream. That is humanism in its highest form. And just like the phrase “the
pursuit of happiness” it makes us our own deity and designer of our own
destiny.
Here
is a revealing poster which desecrates all the sanctimonious attitudes of
western believers and unbelievers alike. It makes a mockery of almost all we
have been taught since we were born. And as believers, we should now know
better.
I grew up in the mainline Lutheran Church in which my mother was the choir director and my father attended at Easter and Christmas. I went through the three mandatory years of catechism and was confirmed as a member and took my first communion. I was absolutely as lost as Hitler no matter what the church said about me. After high school I entered a life of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. I quickly spiraled downward until in 1974 I conspired with several of my friends to rob a bank. We had chosen a rural bank which had one elderly guard and we were committed to kill the guard as we were agreed that we didn't want to go to prison for the twenty mandatory years that New Jersey law required. Before the robbery took place I was involved in a street fight in which my finger was almost bitten off (pretty tough fight, huh?). I ended up living on the street.
Since my mother was deceased and my father would have no part of me, who could blame him. So I hitchhiked to an exit on the Garden State Parkway, and then I stood outside the exit and hitchhiked. Four black men picked me up and drove me to the exit just off of Route #3 where this year's Super Bowl will be played. My aunt in North Jersey took me in. So in 1974 my mother's sister, who was an atheist, took me in to live. At the outset I was still healing from the injuries I incurred from the fight and I took some welding classes provided by the government. It was during that time that my brother took me to Broadway to see the play "Godspell" which even with all the things that it could be criticized for God used it to start a searching in my heart. I mean I reasoned in my heart that if Jesus was who He said He was I wanted to know Him. For the next several months everything I saw spoke to me about Christ. A bumper sticker on the car in front of me; a statue in a cemetery; a radio station I accidentally turned to; and finally a Billy Graham crusade on television. Now this was before the advent of "clickers" and you had to get up to change the channel. As I ate my sandwich I decided to wait to change the channel until after I ate. As I listened I became mesmerized by the topic he was preaching on because I had never heard it before. He was proclaiming that Jesus was coming again. I had never been told that before, and it put a totally different light on my search. If He was returning to this earth again it meant two things to me, first it meant that Jesus was real and alive. Not just a historical figure that taught us to love our neighbor, no, He was all that He claimed He was, God in the flesh. Secondly, if He was returning, what implications did that have for me? Needless to say I was consumed with the Spiritual reality about the Lord Jesus that transcended religion. I couldn't escape it and it was in my heart constantly. One night in March of 1975 I climbed up the face of Garret Mountain in North Jersey overlooking New York City and I said out loud "Jesus, if you are the Son of God and the only Savior, than I want to know you". The Scriptures declare that "whosoever comes unto me I will in no wise cast out". On that night the Holy Spirit revealed to me who Jesus was and by faith I became a follower. I had not hear an audible voice however what I did hear was unmistakable.
Now I was as theologically unsophisticated as one could imagine. I had never heard the term "born again" but when I first heard it I thought that was a great phrase because it described what happened to me, I didn't even know it was the Lord Himself that had said those words. My witnessing approach back then was to ask people "Do you know Jesus?" and when they said yes they knew Him I would respond "No, I mean really know Him. He is alive!". People would then look at me with the discomfort that something in me was unbalanced. My atheistic aunt would chide me that it was alright to let Jesus help you get off drugs but don't get fanatical about Him. But I couldn't help but be fanatical, after all, if it was true that everyone that dies will spend eternity in either heaven or hell what else really matters.
I went into Manhattan and purchase a King James Bible and brought it home. Since at first I could not understand many things I began to read the words in red. I would take the Bible out of its box, read the words in red, and place it back in the box. I remember how shocked I was the first time I saw someone write in their Bible! To say I was green is an understatement, but I was born again and would never be the same.
Today, almost 40 years later, I still claim Christ. I have been most imperfect through the years, but God's grace has always been my strength. It has been an amazing journey, but the best is yet to come. Praise the Lamb of God Who took away all my sins!
I
Sam.3: …And the word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no
open vision.
We live in a day where Bibles are
printed by the millions. The come with all kinds of colors and textures. They
come with large or small print. They come with notes and concordances. They
come with maps and indexes. They come with men’s names on them. They come in
all sizes and with protective coverings. They are bought as gifts or to add to
your collection. Would it be safe to say that almost every house where even one
person goes to church, and some where no one does, has more than one Bible? I
am speaking of America.
Men place their hand upon a Bible
to be sworn into public office including the Presidency. Many have a family
Bible as an heirloom. Secular bookstores sell Bibles by the scores. Christian
bookstores with engrave your purchased Bible for free. The Bible is the greatest
selling book of all time.
And
yet there are parts of the world where true believers do not have Bibles. They
must rely on a minister to read from his and sometimes he himself does not have
the entire Bible. Although the number is being reduced, there are still some
languages and dialects without the Bible translated into their own language.
For these and others the Bible is indeed rare.
Everything
we know about Jesus we have gleaned from the Bible. There are no longer any
living people who walked with Him upon this earth. Everything we know about His
teachings and how we should live is only in the Bible. Our entire belief system
is built upon the Bible. Even our so called interpretations should be
predicated upon the Scriptures. Without the Bible we could only make things up
as best we can, and considering the massive differences we have already our
faith would be useless.
But
the Scriptures are not just information. Jesus said His words were life and
they are spirit. That makes the written words of Scriptures different than any
other written words. This is a great mystery but filled with glory nonetheless.
Now an unredeemed sinner cannot understand the Bible except as it pertains to
who Jesus is. The Spirit of God can use Scriptures to open a lost heart and
enlighten that sinner as to Jesus being the Savior and Lord of the entire
world. That is exactly how I came to Christ. In fact, after I was born again it
took a while before I understood much of the Bible but the Holy Spirit was a
patient guide and teacher.
The
Scriptures are no longer received as the Word of God. They are now sermon
material, good advice, stories with lessons, Judeo-Christian ethics, and
something to defend against unpatriotic enemies. And that is the reason why
they no longer change people, because in the end, all those things are just
unbelief.
I
know people who will say, if asked, that they are believers in Jesus Christ and
they are headed for heaven. They believe in grace and they can give an
acceptable form of the gospel and most go to some local church which falls well
within the acceptable parameters of the evangelical community. They have been
baptized and they have given money and time to support their church which also
supports missions. They carry their Bibles to their church on Sundays and open
it to the passages requested by their pastor and many even attend a Bible study
class on Sunday mornings. There are multiplied millions of such people who live
in America.
But
there is something wrong. Very wrong. Like I have said I know many of these
people. Most seem nice and are responsible American citizens. They keep up
their house, they pay their bills, and they raise their children to be responsible
and moral and even to become professing believers. They can and will converse
with you about politics or the economy or sports or the weather or a number of
topics. But if you look deeper than those kinds of superficial exchanges you
will find that they have little if any genuine hunger for Christ and His
kingdom.
They
will gladly give you their opinion about Miley Cyrus or higher taxes or the
current president, but rarely if ever will they, or can they, discuss what
Jesus has ministered to them recently. If you speak of being broken before the
Lord their expression reveals a combination of bewilderment and suspicion. They
are uncomfortable hearing or discussing such sacred things, and that kind of
sharing is done on a spiritual level about which they are completely
unfamiliar. And if while sharing something deeply spiritual and personal you
get a little choked up they are extremely uncomfortable since they have no
common reference point with which to process such a display.
That
requires a basic and fundamental question about the essence of the faith that
claims to know and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. How personal is it and what
does the word “personal” mean? Is the Christian faith something that can be
acknowledged and embraced by nodding to a certain set of doctrines? And after
acknowledging personally the veracity of those doctrines what should be the
fruits of that confession? When I was confirmed in the Lutheran Church as a
teenager we had to finish three years of catechism and then about 10 of us were
confirmed as members of the church and we took our first communion. In effect
we were publicly acknowledged as true believers in Jesus Christ. But many if not
most of us were not. The year was 1969.
And
how can I say I was not a true believer? Because after being born again in 1975
I had no doubt that I had been born again and had been lost before. And how
could I be so sure of the difference? Well there are millions of believers who
have similar testimonies. You see before 1975 I had no hunger for Christ and
the things pertaining to His kingdom. I did not read the Bible, I did not pray,
I did not discuss Jesus, I did not witness, I had no interest in missions, and
in general nothing had really changed. I was a member of a church and that was
the extent of my spiritual life. But is that what is a revelation of an authentic
experience with the Risen Christ? Is that a legitimate testimony of being born
again and walking in the Spirit?
We
are faced with quite a spectacle in the acceptable community of the faith here
in America. It has been birthed over many, many decades and other generations
have seen this spectacle although this generation has not only seen it in great
volume, but this spectacle has now been embraced by the evangelical community.
There are many millions of people who have as much hunger for Christ as did I
before 1975 and they also have been baptized and accepted or confirmed as true
believers in Jesus Christ. I hope you can see the problem. I hope the problem is
revealed to you in such a way it shakes your being. This is not just a problem…this
is a shocking crisis.
And
let us be honest with ourselves as well. We who can understand what I am saying
and can see what has happened? We have become inoculated to this situation. What I
mean is that we know and live with and even are related to some of these people
I have described and we no longer have an urgency and passion in our prayers
and dealings with them because we have allowed familiarity to strip us of what
should be deep concern. And over the decades these kinds of professing
believers who really express almost not hunger and thirst for Christ have been
assimilated into the church and are treated as full blown believers whose faith
is within acceptable parameters. And it is very difficult to remain active
inside that kind of compromised culture and not be compromised ourselves. But
if you step outside the safe and inoculated atmosphere of the institutional
church you should be able to see more clearly what has happened and the dire
circumstances that many church members may be walking in but who remain unaware
and ambivalent to it all.
Am I
suggesting I know who is a true believer and who is not? Of course not. But
what I am saying that something is very wrong and the situation has many
profound and tragic implications. And do we even care about these people
anymore, or have we grown so accustomed to the pitiful state of the faith that
they are allowed to walk among us without strong prayers or tearful overtures?
And here is the ultimate implication. Is it possible that many millions of
church members who are defined by my description will ultimately be revealed as
being unregenerate? Are we willing to embrace their passive profession and let
the chips fall where they may in eternity?
I
have found so many of these same people who are aggressive in their judgments
of unsaved people. They speak all kinds of harsh words about people based upon
a miniscule knowledge of who they are and their circumstance. Just recently a
man named Richard Sherman made a spectacular play to win the game and send his
team to the Super Bowl. A few minutes later a reporter shoved a microphone in
his face and Sherman went off about his prowess and his opponent’s lack of it.
For about 40 seconds he was over the top. The reporter was a white woman and
Sherman is black with long dreadlocks.
Well
that short exchange sent off a firestorm among all kinds of people. Many were
offended and outraged, and many came to his defense even though they thought he
may have made an heat of the moment mistake. But here is my point. I have
spoken to professing believers who witnessed that incident and some were
outraged and judged Sherman harshly. They said he was way out of line and acted
like a thug. Some black people receive the term thug as related to the “n”
word. But still they were very visceral in their judgment of Sherman. But when
I told them Sherman had apologized it did not dilute their judgment. When I
told them that Sherman had come out of the deep ghetto it did not dilute their
reaction. When I told them that Sherman received a scholarship to Stanford
University and graduated with a 3.9 grade point average it meant nothing to
them. When I asked them if they had watched any other interviews with Sherman
some said they had not but that did not temper their feelings. He was a thug. And
when I said he had made a mistake the reply was that he had made a BIG mistake.
This is from professing believers.
I am
astounded and taken aback by such indiscriminate condemnation and complete lack
of mercy or redemption. But do you see how the natural man reacts when he is fortifying
his religious brand? Morality is the mortar by which the fleshly man builds his
religious house and the sins and failures of others often provide more bricks
for additions to that house. And those bricks are cemented in by the mortar of
that person’s own self serving view of his own morality and Biblical prism. And
when that is the case then where is any spirituality? Where is the
understanding, to say nothing of the passion, to represent the Person and
teachings and Spirit of Jesus Christ?
There
is a large segment of the evangelical community who see and understand Jesus
through doctrinal and moral eyes and have no real understanding or revelation
of what Jesus actually taught and how He lived and, yes, how and why He died.
And if we take that painfully to its logical conclusion they see another Jesus.
This is serious business and we must address it while striving sacrificially to
remain broken and humble ourselves. There must not be any hubris as we open our
eyes to what is happening in the Spirit. People’s souls are at stake and what
we see and do must all be to glorify Jesus and not highlight any of us. In fact
as we understand the vacuous nature of the church we should also examine ourselves.
We still have far to go and we must beseech the Spirit to enlarge our hunger
and thirst for Christ as well as our capacity to love and serve Him.
I will have been saved for forty years next year. And within that forty years there have been times when I was cold toward God. I knew it and of course so did He. But I could not be happy with that kind of life. I knew something was wrong and sometimes I extended that condition but I could never escape that conviction within regardless of how small I tried to make it. I had been with Christ intimately and in the sweetness of worship and obedience, but now He seemed very distant. He was still there but I wasn't. And yet there are people who can live their entire life like that but with seemingly no conviction at all. That is a profound inconsistency concerning a true believer.
So
how personal does the faith have to be before it is the true faith? Deeply and
profoundly and observably personal and it should lead all of into a humility
which renders us broken and submitted before Him. Anything else is just
religion wrapped in morality.
Vito Coreleone: “How
did things ever get so far? I don't know. It was so -- unfortunate -- so
unnecessary.”
Are we looking for too much of a utopia? Are we
taking the Scriptures far too literally? I don’t mean our worthless theologies
which proclaim our orthodoxy because we say the Scriptures are inerrant. If there
ever was a paper doctrinal tiger it is that one. Who cares what you say you
believe ABOUT the Scriptures. How do the Scriptures dictate your life is the
ultimate theology. But if we allow the present state of Christianity to
influence our interpretations of Scripture then we can find much contentment in
lowering the bar. In fact most church members would be bewildered by the suggestion that things have drifted so far.
But if we truly receive the Scriptures as
God-breathed and God’s eternal Word, then we must ask ourselves are we asking
too much. Do we have our head in the clouds and is that kind of theology over
the top and completely unreasonable? But instead of holding fast to the
supernatural essence of Jesus and His teachings we have created a theology of
situational ethics and futuristic events which affect nothing in our lives. And
if perchance someone holds us to the teachings of Jesus in their literal form
we consider that person as unbalanced and even unreasonable.
So are we expecting too much from us who say we
follow Jesus? I mean do the multiplied millions who claim His name set the
standard? Is there a danger when we read the words of Jesus and apply them
literally to our lives? Is that a destructive wildfire which harms the norm? If
God could erase your memory and you recalled nothing about Scripture at all except
that Jesus was Savior and Lord and you began to read through the New Testament
without commentary, what would you think? We have become so inoculated to the
words of the New Testament that even the most startling exhortations do not
move us anymore.
And why is that? It’s because they have all been
diluted and explained in terms that have been influenced by the culture, and it’s
also because none of your fellow believers seem to do what they say literally.
So we can read a verse like:
Matt.6: 19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where
moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust
doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
And as we read those words we have a buffer already built
in by the secular and the ecclesiastical culture which allows us to make them
some spiritual guidelines about how you view money but surely not literal in
any sense. If we would take those words as a literal exhortation how could we
exist in this western culture? It would be way too fanatical and so we dilute
them to suggest a heart attitude rather than a specific obedience. This is just
one example of how the church has bowed to the culture and incorporated all
kinds of fail safes as we interpret Scripture.
Lk.14: 33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not
all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
This verse sums up a teaching from Jesus that
exhorts us to count the cost before becoming His disciple. And just what cost
would that be? Is Jesus suggesting that we should present that cost in a
sharing of the gospel? In fact is that cost a part of the gospel? And does that
cost include more than giving up cigarettes and swearing? So a man can “accept
Christ” and begin to “go to church” and stop being a adulterer and stop getting
drunk but he can still strive for material things and corporate advancement and
save large amounts of money for his retirement? He can take out a mortgage for
a house which exceeds his needs and take out a car loan which also exceeds his
needs and still he has “forsaken all”?
Sometimes when I read the words of Jesus I wonder if
we really know what being a disciple is these days. The modern definition and
revelation of being a disciple or a follower of Jesus is without personal cost.
Give up a few obvious sins and “poof” you are in. Look around and see how
everyone else lives and follow suit. And if and when you come across these “problem”
Scriptures just remember they surely cannot mean what they seem to say
literally. Come on, let’s be reasonable.
Matt.5: 43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love
thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good
to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute
you;
And verses like these also fall by the wayside and
are compartmentalized. They might mean your cantankerous neighbor but they
cannot mean America’s enemies. You see, even God’s Word must bend to the
patriotic culture. And when we do not even pretend to take God’s Word literally
then we make the Bible a book of religious writings which when used properly
can have an advantageous affect upon your life. And then these writings can
lend themselves to a variety of messages that comfort and soothe the conscience
and add some religious garnish to a life lived well within the cultural norms.
How did things ever get so far? When we replace the
Word of God with our milquetoast interpretations then the faith veers way off
course. When our theology replaces our life-ology then our faith becomes paper.
When Jesus the Living Being is replaced by jesus the caricature and when prayer is
replaced by organizations and when worship is replaced by music then we have invented a faith unlike the true faith. All of these
things have led the church far astray from what is the true expression of the
faith which follows Jesus. And after so many years rare is the person who knows
something is very wrong, and rarer still is the person who fasts and prays and
seeks the face of the Savior with such diligence and passion that he or she
will not be denied.
Oh dear brothers and sisters, is there any chance we
could be painfully honest and allow the Spirit to remove the scales that have
covered our eyes? We stand so far off course that a minor adjustment cannot
even begin to set our feet upon the path which bears His mark.
Gal.6: 17 From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in
my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
Let us go ahead and place our lives against that
litmus test. Do we bear His marks in our bodies? Do we even know what it truly
means to bear His marks in our bodies? Do we even desire to know what that means?
Can you not see just how shallow and hollow and self serving we have made the
faith that claims His name? What do we do least in our lives? We must sleep and
we must work, but after that what consumes us? Is it television? Is it music?
Is it eating? Is it driving? Is it fellowship with others? What do we do least? I would guess that time alone
without distraction with God in prayer, meditation, and worship is somewhere near
the bottom of the list.
It is true that Paul did not have the distractions
that we now deal with. That is very true, However Paul did have something that
changed his life and made other things subservient to this one thing. Paul had
an experience with Christ. He could not deny that He had met the Living Christ.
And that initial encounter drove Paul to seek more encounters. And with each
encounter Paul desired more. And each encounter changed Paul in tangible ways.
It would bring to his remembrance his first encounter with Christ; It would
both satisfy and also create more of a thirst for more of Christ; It would
energize his faith and infuse it with more of Christ’s life; it would remake him to be
a little more like his Savior; It would make the things of this world appear as
worthless as they are; and it would make Paul long for heaven.
So in light of those things what is wrong with the
church that most professing believers do not experience that which Paul did?
There must be two possible answers.
Perhaps many church members have had no authentic
experience with Christ. It is entirely possible that literally millions of
evangelical church members have never really been born again. Oh, you say, but
who has had a Damascus Road experience like Paul? Do not underestimate the
power and ministry of the Spirit. Who can be translated from the kingdom of
darkness and the blindness of that kingdom into the kingdom of God’s dear Son
and have their eyes fully opened and yet not manifest a change? God does not
rely on the Road to Damascus to regenerate souls. But I fear that many church members
have had no spiritual experience with Christ and therefore cannot really have
any hunger to meet with Him again. They have not met with Him at all yet.
Secondly many believers who actually had a life
changing experience with Christ and who can give testimony to that wonderful
event no longer seek Christ and therefore their lives and hearts have grown
cold. Yes they feel a kind of exhilaration on Sunday mornings but their spiritual
lives have been dormant for some time. They no longer run to get alone with the
Redeemer and bathe in His presence and be broken by His Spirit and walk back
into the darkness of this world changed once again. They know the creeds and
they appreciate their church and they support missions but they do not walk in
the Spirit fresh from His throne room and with an anointing to live His life
with Whom they meet regularly and with great passion.
Their faith has become a religion. Yes, they have
been redeemed and yes they love the Lord Jesus, but the freshness and the power
and the hunger have all fled. They now walk as card carrying evangelicals who
know on which side of all the moral causes they should stand and they know what
sins they should avoid and they even know the difference between being lost and
being saved. They are in Christ to be sure. But where is the fervency, the
passion, and the relentless hunger for more of Him? Where are the tears that
sometimes accompany a personal visitation of the Spirit Who ushers them into the
unmistakable presence of Christ which not only cannot be denied, but which
overshadows them and literally transforms them anew and afresh? And the next
day the go about their earthly tasks with a longing to get away and be with Him
once again. And when they leave their jobs that longing becomes excitement as
they drive home.
And as they do what must be done at home they have
an appointment of glory almost raging through their beings, They are not
interested in television or exercise or anything else that isn’t necessary.
They long to be with Christ and while they perform the tasks of Martha they
have Mary’s place in their hearts. And as they steal away to be with Him they
once again bow before Him and offer themselves as living sacrifices. Oh yes, it
may not be as long a time as they would like, but it is a time separated just
for Him. And as they place their head upon their pillows sometimes they
literally smile. They have been with Christ today and with that they find sweet
slumber in His hands.
Do you believe that even generally describes the spiritual lives of most
believers? And what kind of faith do we really have if we claim that the things
of this world that Paul did not have keep us from our Savior? Go ahead, and change
places with the Apostle Paul. Would we even dare to suggest such a thing? So
Paul’s life is filled with “in much
patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in
imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; in labours
more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths
oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I
suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings
often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own
countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the
wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness
and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often,
in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh
upon me daily, the care of all the churches.”
Distractions? And yet with all these things and more this
apostle lived on meeting with the same Jesus he had met on that dusty road. And
have we no shame? Can we even mouth the words of some excuse? Are we that self
centered that we are not even convicted as we read words like that? No one can
believe the Word of God and not spend much time with Christ in prayer and
meditation and worship and repentance. No one. Knowing the Bible and all its
teachings without spending uncommon time before the Lord is like a glove
without a hand. It might be smooth and pretty but it is lifeless.
We have many, many Bibles. We have read many, many
verses. We have heard many, many sermons. But without a revival of spending
time alone with God our knowledge just puffs up and has no manifestation in our
lives. In fact, without a deeply committed prayer life we have head
knowledge of God. We can claim we are not atheists, however we cannot claim we
live differently than do they. And that, my dear friends, is a pitiful state
indeed. It is so unfortunate and so unnecessary.
And how did things ever get so far?
It’s because we
became content withwhatwe know instead of seekingWhowe know.
In the past few years evangelical leaders such as Al
Mohler and Ravi Zacharias have spoken at Mormon gatherings. Mohler spoke at
Bringham Young University and Ravi Zacharias spoke at the Mormon Tabernacle in
Salt Lake City. In perspective, this would be akin to allowing 100 years to
pass and then evangelical leaders speaking at and befriending the followers of
Sun Yung Moon. And this kind of compromise doesn’t just tarnish their
reputation. No, there are many more serious repercussions. It is much more
serious than smoking cigarettes or going to an R rated movie or even becoming
dependent upon prescription medication.
This kind of compromise literally rips the very
fabric of the gospel. It opens doors the Spirit never meant to be opened. It
lends credibility to institutions built upon spirits of antichrist. It makes friends
with the enemies of Christ. It is a compromise that ultimately may lead souls
into eternal damnation. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints denies
the deity of Christ and preaches a salvation of human works, to say nothing of
a plethora of weird and absurd doctrines and practices. And all cults long for
acceptance and membership as mainstream. And the LDS has found such partners
among many evangelical leaders.
For hundreds of years the true church fought hard to
keep its distance from the Roman Catholic Church. Even while loving its
membership the true church openly taught about the grievous errors taught and
practiced by the Roman Church. But little by little the walls began to crumble.
And now the walls hardly exist and that kind of information about the RCC is
hardly mentioned in evangelical pulpits for fear of losing members.
But no one could ever have foreseen what is
happening today. The Roman Catholic Church at least believes in the Trinity and
the deity of Christ. But now we are supposed to befriend cults? Who will be
next? Will Mohler and Zacharias speak at Kingdom Hall or a Christian Science
reading room and accentuate the “common ground” we have with them? This is a monstrous
betrayal of the faith. Before I go further let us examine what the Word of God
teaches us about being friends with such organizations.
Matt.16: 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God.
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in
heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will
build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
This confession that Jesus was the Son of the Living God
is the foundation to our faith. There is nothing greater nor anything higher than
that truth. Anyone or any group that denies that Jesus was God in the flesh and
that He is just as much God as the Father is a spirit of antichrist. Even those who
embrace a oneness theology still teach that Jesus was and is God. This is a
non-negotiable truth and cannot be compromised, diluted, or accepted by
anything but a clear and convincing confession.
Matt.10: 32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him
will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my
Father which is in heaven.
Anyone or any group that refuses to confess Jesus as the
Living Son of God is rejected by Christ. And if He rejects these heretics so
must we. There is nowhere in the New Testament where we are given license to
cozy up to those who teach damnable heresies. I will address the reasons why
this is happening further in this post.
Acts
20: 28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the
flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the
church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in
among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw
away disciples after them.
The Holy Spirit is revealing the future coming of
ravenous wolves who not spare the flock but lead them away from Christ and draw
them to themselves. Now who can fit this description better than Joseph Smith?
Here is man who supposedly received special revelation about a host of things
including that Jesus and Satan were brothers born from a relationship God the
Father had with an angel. And that man’s error now imprisons millions of
people, and that man’s false church has been exceedingly successful at making disciples
of Joseph Smith.
II
Cor.11: 12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off
occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be
found even as we.
13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ. 14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the
ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
Paul says he will cut off those false apostles and
deceitful workers. And verse 15 speaks about these heretics being projected as
ministers of righteousness. That means they stand for morality in all its
forms. They are pro-life and pro-traditional marriage and they embrace the Ten
Commandments. And so do the Mormons. However Paul calls them false apostles
because they preach another Jesus. But Paul rebukes the Corinthian Church
because they do not reject these heretics but in some way accept them.
II Cor.11: For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we
have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not
received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this
beautifully.(NASV)
These so called leaders in the faith today bow
before the leaders of this cult and tacitly refer to the major differences in
doctrine and theology and yet call them friends and co-laborers. I will reveal
what labor they are engaged in together.
II Pet.2: But
there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false
teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying
the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of
truth shall be evil spoken of.
Again, who fits this description more than Joseph
Smith? He brought in many damnable heresies and many have followed his
pernicious ways. This cannot be seen as commonplace and just a major
disagreement. This kind of falsehood removes the foundation of the faith and
attacks the Lord Jesus Himself. They are enemies of Christ and His cross. This
is a monumental deception which emanated from hell itself and was brought into
the world through this one demon possessed man called Joseph Smith.
The Scriptures are clear. We as believers are to
have no dealings with false teachers and cults. Our only dealings with
unbelievers must either be on a non-spiritual way (co-workers, Little League,
etc.) but we are not to have any alliances with unbelievers. But to speak at a
cult gatherings, offer an impotent aside about doctrinal differences, and then
claim they are friends is an astounding infidelity as it pertains to God’s
Word. It is almost unbelievable. But there is an underlying reason for these
unholy partnerships.
What would possess ordained men who are considered
as orthodox to shake hands with cultists in their own buildings? Why would they
show respect to their leaders and profess much common ground with heretics? How
could they say they are friends and even co-laborers? The answer is very simple
and profoundly diabolical. It is a common morality and patriotism which
provides the glue which cements a relationship between the spirits of
antichrist and believers. And this kind of deception is nowhere to be found on
most discernment blogs.
Read through the discernment blogs and see if you
find nationalism or moralism listed as a deception. In fact most blogs are
involved with that kind of deception because they do not “discern” them as
compromise or deceptions. This is a very serious deception because it is not
obvious and it is embraced by men of God who millions of people admire. But evangelicals
speaking at Mormon institutions is just the tip of the iceberg. There is much more
to come.
Joel Osteen said he believed Mormons are
Christians. Millions of evangelicals voted for Romney for president because
they esteemed his economic and moral values a higher criteria than his view of
Jesus. That in and of itself should expose the heart of the evangelical church.
While claiming to espouse Scriptural inerrancy the evangelical church has lost
all sense of the gospel. How can two walk together unless they be agreed? How
can preachers tell young people not to date unbelievers when they are courting
Mormons themselves? This in outrage and yet who is outraged?
God is outraged! God sends His only begotten Son to
suffer unspeakable wounds inflicted upon His body and the Father watches as
His Son suffers and dies for His enemies. And now those who have become benefactors
of that immeasurable grace through His immeasurable sufferings and death offer friendship
to those who desecrate the Son of God? Can there be anything more worldly than
denying Christ? And we are commanded not be a friend to the world, but today preachers
of the gospel walk into temples that are worshiping idols and instead of
rebuking the entire system they offer an olive branch? Just what Bible are they
reading??
And again, with all the strength I know how, I
openly expose nationalism and its Siamese twin of moralism as idols of religion
and not part of the kingdom of God’s Dear Son. To embrace blasphemers because
they pledge allegiance to the same fallen nation is blasphemy in and of itself.
To join hands with doctrines of demons because they are pro-life is a disgrace
to Christ and a massive confusion to the body of Christ. It diminishes the
gospel of Christ and makes the incarnation of no importance. How deep was God’s
self humiliation when He came in the likeness of sinful flesh? And we mock that
inconceivable journey of love when we join with those who actually do mock it.
This Trojan Horse called nationalism and moralism
has done much damage to the body of Christ. And those who profess to be discerners
and watchman remain blind to this diabolical evil. Many of them are
participants in the entire religious system. And even while unholy olive
branches are being offered and unholy bridges are being built these watchmen
are asleep and do not see how nationalism is the mortar by which these bridges
are being built. When I was born again ( another lost term) in 1975 no one
could have ever imagined that evangelical preachers who are considered orthodox
leaders would stand in Mormon pulpits as invited guests and throw pleasantries
to blasphemers.
But these unholy olive branches are being offered
more and more with each passing day.
They are not God's olive branches, but they are the flowers of deception.
Prayer is more than just muttering some words and
then attaching Jesus’ name to the end. And true prayer that God hears must be
offered in a humble and contrite spirit. The prayers today which are wound
around taking authority and casting down principalities and declaring things
are no more than self serving diatribes. Prayer used to be a sacred place where
we meet with a Holy God and a Risen Christ and we ourselves were changed. And
after much repentance and worship we made our requests known unto God with a
benediction which said “Thy will be done”. And we were not ashamed to leave it
all in God’s hands. Today men and women approach God and demand that He do this
or do that and shower them with material things. That is not prayer. That is
self righteous foolishness.
We are invited to come boldly before the throne of
grace to obtain mercy and grace. So many use prayer as a vehicle to get their
own way and to wield power that they know not of. The power they seek can only
be found in the humility and brokenness they exhibit before our Great God. The
King has pointed His royal scepter toward us and we can come before Him and
speak. This is a great and sacred privilege which above all should change our
hearts. They that come and command God as their servant have a self serving
caricature of the Thrice Holy Creator. This is no “Polly want a cracker” time
where we sit on the heavenly Santa’s lap and recite a list of our wants and
desires. A true time of prayer is a holy place where we present ourselves upon
His altar and the Spirit takes our lives and makes them a living sacrifice.
Anyone who has really entered into a true time of
prayer considers his requests as secondary. To be sure God answers prayer, but
when we truly wait upon the Lord in His very presence we are changed into His
image. Can we truly bow before the Risen Christ and remain unbroken? I think
not. Yes there are times when we can speak with our heavenly Father while
driving or at work or at other times, in fact all times. But when we walk away
from the temporal pressures and get alone with God and seek His face without
time restraints, well, there is the holy ground. It is those times when we must
become the wet clay that begs to be remolded. It is in those times when the
Spirit pulls back the veil a little more and we are overwhelmed by what we see
and experience.
Oh, just a tiny glimpse of our Lord and Savior and
we are humbled beyond words. Suddenly the cares of this world seem so trivial
and the burdens we have carried slide right off. We have been with Christ and
the effects of that visitation are life changing. Oh that we would spend more
time sitting at His feet and gazing at His face! This is not eastern mysticism.
This is a sanctified and hallowed place where the Spirit works His ministry
within our hearts. This is where the purist of worship comes forth with the
Spirit as our Worship Leader. And this is where we are once again surrendered
to Christ as our only Lord. Prayer is a colossal gift of grace. No one deserves
it but few truly practice it.
After the Industrial Revolution many cultures began
to be transfixed on material things and earthly success even more than before. It was now
possible through hard work and inventions to elevate one’s earthly existence and
be surrounded by material comforts. And in that process work and recreation
became the two standards by which people measured their life and happiness. The
country known as America was founded upon the entrepreneurial spirit, and the
Revolutionary War itself was over money. And once America was free from the
bondage of England’s taxes it experienced prosperity like no other in history.
And as prosperity and material accoutrements grew
among the people the time people would spend in prayer was depleted. In fact
prayer now became almost non-existent in the Sunday gatherings except for a few
token prayers offered by one of the church leaders. And prayer in the lives of
church members dwindled down until it is now an embarrassment to our God. And
most people who even do pray do it quickly and at convenient times. The times
which call men to separate themselves and spend elongated times before God have
all but vanished. And yet every church still claims to believe in prayer. That
is such a hypocrisy. And in a stunning display of self affirmation most
churches even teach about prayer from time to time but still prayer remains a
token among them.
Preachers are supposed to be given to prayer and the
ministry of the Word. But most western pastors spend much time on the phone,
much time a lunches with others, much time in church meetings, much time on
golf courses, much time planning, much time at staff meetings, and much time
looking for sermons. But if the truth were known just how much time the average
pastor spends in prayer that man might be considered a heathen.
And when we do not labor in prayer and sacrifice
other endeavors in order to pray than we reject God’s presence and power and we
openly reveal that we believe we can do all things through our own strength.
And what difference do we have from those who do not know Christ? And by living
for ourselves we have forfeited the most vital and life changing power every
offered to a believer. How many baptized church members have no idea what it means
to be in and experience the very presence of the Lord? How many believe that
God comes only through good worship songs and He comes in a little better when
those songs go up a key?
Let us be honest since we do not wish to lie to God.
The cares of this world have done battle against the prayer lives of God’s
people and through many decades the cares have muscled out any fervency and
sacrifice in prayer. And the results have been disastrous and widespread. Like
a plague, the results of a lack of prayer have forced the church to resort to
all kinds of entertainment and new and exciting and false teachings. Instead of
the power of prayer the church now feeds upon the power of personality and the
power of nationalism and the power of the ecclesiastical construct. And now the
well oiled church machine is started up every Sunday morning and cranks out a
service which satisfies the multitudes for another week. That is not the Christian
faith; that is a religious machine.
But the prayer closet remains open for all who
desire to meet and even dine with the Risen Christ. Imagine Jesus came back to
earth for a week. And like Willy Wonka He sent out only one hundred invitations
for believers to attend a dinner in His honor. And imagine you were one of the
one hundred who received an invitation. But the dinner would be 1000 miles away
from where you lived. Now I ask you, if you truly believed it was the real
Jesus who invited you would you think it was too much of a journey. Would you
think the expense of travelling would be too great to go? Or would you do
anything you needed to do in order to get to that dinner? Of course you would
walk if you had to in order to see and dine with Jesus.
Well that invitation has been given to all true
believers. Jesus has offered an open invitation to His followers to come and
dine with Him. And you and I have received that invitation. Do we talk about?
Do we teach about it? Do we reminisce about it? Do we agree that it is
wonderful? Do we make plans over and over to go? Or do we actually go and dine
with the Risen Christ? You see this issue of prayer is more than just a
perfunctory exercise which can find a convenient slot in our busy lives. And
then when we say a few words we say “Amen” and walk away feeling like we have
fulfilled a religious obligation.
True prayer takes place in the realm of the Spirit.
It is a great mystery that is filled with glory. There is much we cannot know
about prayer this side of heaven. But His presence, like the shekinah that
dwelt between the cherubim, reveals itself when we pray. This is not transcendental
meditation. This is not astro-projection. This is a profound sacredness which
we have carelessly called prayer. It is a meeting on earth between He who
dwells in the throne room of heaven and His pilgrim follower. The Lord’s Prayer begins
with “Hallowed be Thy name”. Prayer is a time for worship and bowing before the
Risen Majesty and allowing His presence to change your heart. It is a glorious
mystery and it should be what we crave. The place of true prayer in many ways
is a true season of escape from this temporal world and transports us into the
eternal realm. And although we still have this clothing of flesh our inward man
is awakened with spiritual life when we are in His presence. Besides life
eternal with Christ in heaven, the Word of God and prayer are the two greatest
gifts of grace.
Bibles have made a lot of money for people. But
since prayer is not a financial commodity it remains an historical curiosity. The
carnal man never realizes that the treasures of Christ await him in the prayer
closet. So instead of Christ he seeks wealth, political power, national
allegiance, and material goods. But there are a few, a very few, who know that
He from whose face the worlds fled, meets with His own around the world in the secret
place of the Almighty called prayer.
But before you enter into that place you must go
with humility, brokenness, and a sense of your need of Him and His grace. And
when you have a true visitation of His glorious presence and His all consuming
holiness you should be shaken and changed by this incredible truth -
One of the many, many things that is unsavory about
politics is how each side can viciously attack the other when some scandal or
shortcoming is exposed. And the sides just as viciously defend basically the
same shortcomings or scandal when it occurs within their camp. It is predicable
and hypocritical. The word “by-partisan” is a joke when it comes to politics.
When examining the other side there is 20/20 vision, but when evaluation their
own side the eyes go blind. This is how it has always been and it reveals the
fallen heart of man as well as the vacuous nature of politics.
Within the evangelical community we have what is
known as the discernment wing. There are thousands of blogs and newsletters and
books and sermons which deal specifically with the slide to apostasy within the
community of faith on many different levels. Although my blog deals with such
things frequently I do not consider myself primarily a discerner. I am a pastor
at heart. But I do speak out about the emergent church and the purpose driven
model and false teachers from Joel Osteen to Rob Bell to Rick Warren and
everywhere in between. But there are literally many thousands of men and women
who consider themselves as discerners or a catch-all moniker a “watchman”.
Many of these men and women do a very good job of
exposing error and falsehoods within the church. I have benefited from such
information many times and I am sure others have as well. It is impossible to
know all about everything as it pertains to false teachers and false teachings.
These days many things come aboard very subtly and slowly infiltrate God’s
truth until it has been changed. And many of these evil spirits look and sound
very spiritual and sincere. We need discernment in these days of itching ears
and false teachers.
But there is a blind side to all this discernment.
You will be hard pressed to find discernment sites which openly rebuke and
repent of things they themselves do or are in some way deficient. Where are the
posts about how our prayer lives are an affront to Christ? Where are the discerning
voices crying aloud about our lack of love? Where are the discernment posts
that expose us for the hedonists we have become? I am not speaking about the
liberal and the emergent and the mega church crowd. I am speaking about us.
Yes, us.
Does discernment stop at the door that has our name
inscribed upon it? Are we immune from an authentic and painful rebuke as it
pertains to our own spiritual walk? Is discernment about error only for the
Osteens and Warrens but we subtly give ourselves a clean bill of health just
because we know the approved list of false teachers? Let us be frank. If we see
clearly the sins of others but are measured and even blind to the depth of our
own spiritual need then we have become politicians who are adept as castigating
the other side but circle the wagons to defend our own orthodox camp.
And that kind of discernment, albeit true and
beneficial in warning about wolves, is also detrimental to our own pursuit of
Christlikeness. In fact, in many ways the evil one uses our own needed
discernment against us. As we see spiritual apostasy, and as we are able to
identify and reject Biblical error, there arises within us a sort of self
righteous contentment and reinforcement. And feeding upon our discernment about
others we lose the passion and pursuit of Christ which should be filled with
personal humility and a steady diet of repentance. While we call Osteen and
Warren and Driscoll to repentance we stand in great need of repentance
ourselves.
This is serious issue because it is a clever
deception and it also becomes a debilitating influence upon us all. To whom
much is given much is also required. So we who by God’s grace have had our eyes
opened to many things must never divert those same eyes from seeing and
addressing our own spiritual errors. I do not speak primarily about doctrine
although we have become very selective about our doctrines. But in general we
have allowed ourselves great latitude about our own spiritual condition. We can
copy and paste some exhortation from a dead man of God or some devotional from a
Puritan and we enjoy it. But do we strive and labor to enter into that which we
paste? While we rehearse the commitment exhibited by Wesley against the shallow
nothingness of the modern preacher are we ourselves cut to the quick and go
before the Lord in sincere repentance?
Oh that God would set us free from ourselves! Oh
that our hearts would be pure before Him and not filled with all kinds of self affirming
sin which shackles our walk before Him. Oh to be so filled with His Spirit that
we could rebuke in His love without any hint of self righteousness. Oh that the
Spirit could hold up a spiritual mirror that would reduce us to the abject
servants we should be. Oh that we could experience the kind of humility which
breaks us completely and remakes us in the mold of our Suffering Servant. Oh
that God would set us free from ourselves. Yes, that man in the mirror has been
my most relentless enemy and how many times dear God have I embraced him and
not You? And have I not felt smug so often because I am not like those liberal
doctrinal miscreants. And how many times when I do rebuke those who need rebuke
do I delight in the affirming comments on my blog or FB page and I walk away
feeling so good about myself? Oh if the truth were known would I not be deeply
embarrassed before men and yet I am not embarrassed before You?
Why do I not speak with great eloquence about my own
sin? Why can I hide behind my written doctrines and yet just Your Sermon on the
Mount is a monumental indictment of my discipleship. Lord, I so often play the
harlot in my heart. It is no secret to You and yet I am able to set it aside
and speak to others? How often do my words about others hide the apathy I so
often exhibit about following in Your steps? I do not wish to become
immobilized by my sorrow or my confession about my own sins and shortcomings.
But I do wish to be personally surrendered to all of You. I know I need more
time with You and with a contrite heart to carefully walk the path upon which
You walked. I abhor the self righteousness which crops up in my heart and which
can so easily be covered by the sins of others. It is all to my shame.
And I reach out to all my brethren who do the work
of God in the area of discernment. Let us, not just them, fall on our faces
before our Wonderful Redeemer and cry out to Him in confession and repentance.
Let us allow the Spirit to light a fire in our hearts which consumes our flesh
and burns away all that displeases Him. Can we not pursue with abandon and
great vigor a desire to be like Jesus? Is not that the greatest calling of all?
And if we turn our discerning hearts toward ourselves will we not see that the
little foxes have been given such license and we have played the fools? Look and
see! The evil one has distracted us from our holy calling even while we were doing a
service to the body of Christ.
I bow before the Risen Christ as a dead man yet
filled with worship. But oh to be like Him! OH TO BE LIKE JESUS! When I worship
Him and experience the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and as that same Spirit has
given me such gracious glimpses of the Lamb of God, I wonder what it would be
like to be like Him in thought, word, and deed. No wonder I am not asked about
the hope which lies within me. No wonder my life does not yield such
incandescence that those lost in darkness must either be drawn to Him or shield
their eyes and turn away. So how is it I can walk in this world with the lost
all around me seeing or feeling nothing? There should be a word more potent
than repentance for ones such as I.
Release the hounds and uncover our nakedness! We
have made holiness a doctrinal word and not a broken pursuit. We have defined
love is ways which we have already met. We have presented grace in embarrassing
words of men’s theological acumen. We have worshiped the Bible and rebelled
against its teachings. We have talked about hell with dry eyes and a doctrinal
hubris which must make the angels ashamed. We have patted each other on the
back as if we have offered anything which actually cost us anything. We have
created words like “orthodox” or “fundamental” or “Spirit-filled” in order to
elevate ourselves in our own eyes. And we have taken the Lovely One who gave us
everything we are or ever hope to be and we have made Him some doctrinal marionette
who dances to our American lifestyle and approves our compromised hearts.
And we have taken lost sinners, made them repeat
some words, and then openly lied to them. And ordained preachers stand
relentlessly behind pulpits and spew damnable lies and caress the flesh of
their listeners. We have mocked the Holy One and used His name to support our
own agendas. We have built large and advanced buildings by leveraging debt
through the same institutions we claim are not of God. And we have made the
gatherings a place of fund raising and theatrics and announcements and a few precious
minutes of worship and a few precious seconds of prayer. And men and women who
have not spent one moment with God, and men and women who are practicing
adultery, and men and women who have never known God feel right at home and
blessed. What kind of unholy travesty are we attempting to hoodwink God with?
It all has become such a game. And this post is a
self exhortation that makes me know that I cannot, I must not, you must not allow our uncovering
of the false to satisfy our calling to the true. We should not sit down in the
stagnation of orthodoxy and wait for Jesus to come. In fact, the church has
been sitting and waiting for so long we need a revival just to be enlightened
to all the things about which we have no knowledge because they have been lost to us. And prayer,
its value – its practice – its sacrifice – its calling – its holiness – its power
– its life changing essence, has all but been lost except for a few convenient scraps. Our wicked generation
cannot bear to retreat from entertainment or work or the business of our earthly
lives in order to seek His face without time restraints or a passion which
captures the entirety of our minds.
I agree with and appreciate so much of the
discernment that flows freely among those whose eyes have been opened. But just
being against false teachings, and just being non-violent, and just being
against nationalism, and just being pro-life, and just being for Biblical
marriage, is not nearly enough. We are on a path which leads to Him. Read the
Sermon on the Mount and see how many of the things I just mentioned are in
there. Most are not. But there are a wealth of commands and exhortations and
teachings which have all but been ignored but which were spoken by the One we
claim as Lord.
It is time for repentance and a new and vigorous
house cleaning among the “orthodox” community. And we who have Biblical systematic
theologies must enlarge our coasts and see that to be a disciple of Jesus
requires more than some written affirmations. It requires our lives.
Lk.14: 33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not
all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
And after we set out on that course perhaps we can
discern others much better.
