Where is the Church of God?

The Church of Jesus Christ has come so far from the Church of Acts, where apostles worked works and believed in God, and held no loyalty to anything but their God.

It seems that Christians nowdays are willing to go back to the Old Testament to justify their lifestyles. How do I say this?

A few days ago, I got an email from a person I know that goes to a large Church of our faith near Sacramento. It was something political, against Obama, talking about how he must be the AntiChrist. I replied to all that mentioned something to the effect of "The AntiChrist will be someone whom even the elect will be deceived by". Someone that I sent that to, begun writing me back, telling me how I should support my government no matter what it does, because we are fighting against evildoers and our country is a rightous one, etc etc etc.

I wrote back to her and told her that God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but he would rather that they turn from their ways. She replied that it was hard to reconcile the OT to that kind of logic. A few days ago, my own parents said something of the same thing.

Why have Christians turned away from the fundamentals of Christ? Where is the Church of God? Why do supposedly Christian people think that it's okay to send the heathen to hell for all eternity? We don't live in the Old Testament anymore. We live in the New Testament... and Jesus said to the woman who was condemned, "let he who is without sin cast the first stone". Yet Christians nowdays want the vengeful God of the OT, not the merciful God of the NT. They themselves sit at ease in Zion and think that they have their salvation locked up.

Their definition of Revival is... "everyone getting the holy ghost, and the church rises up, and votes out all the liberals, and we run this nation as a CHRISTIAN nation just like it's founders intended". The Church of Jesus Christ is not anything like that. The countries of this world, including this one, are under the control of the devil, according to the Bible. God GAVE that power and glory of the countries to satan, they are delivered to him until the time comes. Why do we want to pretend that we are doing God's work by killing muslims? There is a wave of revival going on in Iran right now... sure, Christians are murdered and persecuted there, but people are getting saved too! Why do we want to bring the power of God down to be used to kill humans, when God would rather have them saved?

I remember in the Bible, John and James, who wanted Jesus to destroy Samaritians with fire because they wouldn't allow Jesus to pass through. Jesus said that "the son of man is not come to destroy mens lives, but to save them". Christians nowdays are not worthy of that title. If you aren't "Christ like"... you aren't "Christian". That's what Christian means. So if you are willing to give a pass to killing people just because they are muslim, then you are not Christian. If you label innocents as "collateral damage", then you are not Christian. If you want to continue wars against anyone because they threaten your way of life, you are not Christian. If you want to be Christian, you should seperate yourself from this world, not be "entangled" in the bondages and the affairs of this life.

I'm obviously not talking about going off to live in a commune. I'm talking about actually having a Christian attitude, an attitude that is Christ like. Forget the OT, and what it says about Israel's extermination of wicked races. We don't live in that time anymore, we live under God's mercy... and if you aren't willing to display God's mercies, you aren't willing to receive God's mercy. Ponder that for a while.

Where is the church of Jesus Christ? Where are his followers? Where are those that are willing to stand up for what is right? They are few.

A powerful passage, and a key to Revival

This is one of my favorite passages in the Bible:
Acts 4:²¹So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done.
²²For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed.
²³And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.
²⁴And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:
²⁵Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
²⁶The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
²⁷For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
²⁸For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
²⁹And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
³⁰By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.

Why do I love this passage? Because of the results that it got:

³¹ And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
³² And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.
³³ And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

A story of Amazing Revival. But how did this happen? Lets dissect the elements:
Verse 21: Threats from the authorities. This is what Jesus had endured. And they stated to the authorities that they weren't going to stop preaching Jesus. And yes... preaching JESUS is the key.
Verse 23: They told their fellowship about the coming persecution.
Verses 24-26: Quoting the word, the prophecy of David in the 2nd Psalm. You have to have the word of God if you want Revival.
Verses 27-28: Bringing the word to bear on your situation. Showing that the word applies to you, now.
Verses 29-30: These are the kickers. The Apostles do what Hezekiah did. Remove themselves from the situation, humble themselves and show that they are not involved, but that they are simple tools in the hands of their God. The authorities are not opposing THEM, they are opposing GOD. And what's more, is that the Apostles take it for granted that they aren't going to back down, aren't going to shirk... they simply ask for BOLDNESS in speaking the word, and GOD'S POWER: Not for themselves, not for their egos, not for anything except for God's glory. And of course that all this would be done in the name of JESUS, the name above all other names.

The proof is in the pudding. What happened? The place was shaken. The requests were honored. EVERYONE was filled with the Holy Ghost. The word of God was spoken with BOLDNESS. Everyone had unity. Great Grace was upon them all. Miracles and signs and wonders were done!

This is one of the most powerful prayers in the Bible. And I think the key is all in verses 29-30.

Midian and Revival

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds. And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them;
And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the LORD.
-Judges 6:1-3, 6 KJV

Summary: Right before the harvest, Midian would come and pluck the harvest out of Israel's hands just before they could enjoy it's fruits.

Now anyone vaguely familiar with the Bible and the some of the more common symbolism therein, knows that a "Harvest" is also an increase in souls. That's how this story of Israel and Midian applies to us.

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
-Matthew 9:36-38

So what does "Midian" mean? What is it, that will attack revival and attempt to pluck this harvest out of our grasp before it has begun?

Midian: Contention, Strife.

Look it up yourself. The Bible is full of richness and meaning, this would be uncanny if it were accidental.

But I will often try to view the Church and the walk of faith that Christians pursue how the enemy of our souls would like to view it, or at least how best I could perceive it... and if I were him, I would try to stop revival before it even started, in any way I could. And here in Judges 6, we see a prime example, time after time, of how the enemy stopped the harvest: By causing dissension, contention, strife, to come in and disrupt what God was trying to do.

The balance of a church can be delicate at times. A church is the people of God. People are not perfect, they are flesh, carnal. Even if you look at the best times when we are not being carnally minded, you have spiritual gifts, and positions, titles... and these things could cause pride if you have them, jealousy if you don't. That's aside from the tares that have been planted in the harvest to slow it down. If the enemy can get in there with a few individuals who are susceptible to his wiles, then he could cause strife in the church... and if he can cause strife in the church, then he might be able to distract people enough from the things of God to forestall revival.

And it's small, pointless things that he will utilize, oftentimes. Differences of opinion. Pride. Jealousy. Envy. Lusts. It won't be a direct assault upon the people, because that would get them to pray and get strength. He'll try the classic military tactic: divide and conquer.

So when you start to experience Midian.... or division, strife, dissension, then focus even more on God, because revival could be just around the corner!

Zeal vs. Passion

Zeal is a powerful thing.

Passion is more powerful.

What’s the difference? This is not to be a replacement for a dictionary by any means, but this is my opinion.

This verse sums it all up in my opinion:

For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
Romans 10:2 KJV

NOT ACCORDING TO KNOWLEDGE.

Zeal is something attributed to those people that have not heard from God. It is doing something that you know you should, because you have heard it of your fellow man.

This is why Fundamentalist Muslims can blow themselves up… because they are zealous. Likewise, zealous Jews today follow after the law, but it is not according to knowledge, it is what they know is right.

Can I tell you of a situation where Israel, while wandering through the wilderness, was being morally compromised by Midianitish prostitutes?

And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor. And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.
Numbers 25:5-8 KJV

The Bible specifically calls this “zealous”.

Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.
Numbers 25:12-13 KJV

Why was this demonstrating the zeal of Phinehas? Because he learned from Moses, and he did what was required. This is not a wrong action by any means; this was a great thing that he did because he staved off the plague that Israel was experiencing. However he did it upon learning from Moses.

Zeal can be ignorant, and misdirected, because it’s learned from your fellow man. Zeal can also be violent. Zealous Muslim fanatics will learn from their Imam what should be done, and will do it with great fervor. Saul persecuted Christians with great zeal, because he learned from Pharisees and the High Priests what should be done.

Passion is from God. Passion is knowing what is right because you have gone straight to the source. Passion is zeal “with knowledge”. When Saul (“destroyer”) traded his name for Paul (“worker”), he traded in his zeal, learned from the Religious leaders, in for Passion, learned from God.

Whereas they seem to be synonyms, and a dictionary or thesaurus would seem to prove this correct, I cannot agree completely with this. Passion even comes from a root word that means “to suffer”, as in the “passion” of Jesus Christ. Passion can mean to be martyred, while zeal often does the martyring. Paul martyred many Christians, but when he became one, he became a living sacrifice, until he was finally killed. Passion.

I want to be passionate about God and his works. I want to know him. Not just know what he says.

What is Revival?

Revival is a sovereign move of God. It's where his spirit comes down and inhabits a place, and everyone in the area is suddenly aware of his presence, even if they are not sure what it is.

Revival is rare and precious. It's not created by man, it's not organized or planned for... it's completely God, he is the only one that brings it in. It is so precious that it is not given out except in extraordinary circumstances.

There is one and only one reason that God sends revival, and only two ways that can come about. God sends revival when people need it, and prove they need it... that is the only reason.

People can need it for two reasons:

Persecution or troubles is 99% of the reason: People fear for their lives. People are facing horrors... disease, economic ruin, attacks on them... this is the reason why we in America don't ever experience revival. We have 911 for emergencies, religious freedom from persecutions, antibiotics and hospitals for diseases, military to protect us, etc. This is why the third world can and does experience revival. This is why most revivals happened before a hundred years ago.

However, there is one other reason, the other 1% of the time that revival happens. And it's out of pure hunger. You may have all that you have. You may have medical insurance, food in your cabinet, a job. But you still hunger God. This is an extraordinary circumstance, and it's likely that not one in a hundred million people alive today have experienced this. That's how rare it is. But if the people want it bad enough, God will answer. How do you know the people want it bad enough? Because they pray. They fast. They put off the junk in their lives, the unholiness, the sins, the lukewarm junk.

This is the revival that I want. Persecution will come! The infastructure is in place already for Christians to be herded into camps, and "disappeared". Persecution will come, it's somewhat begun already. But I don't want to wait for that to happen, I don't want persecution to be the cause of revival. I want hunger to be the cause of revival. And I want my hunger to be seen, so that others can see that it's okay to hunger.

Honestly, my dream is that my church will be the very first Church in America to experience this revival, and that it will spread like a fire all over North America. Not because I desire any sort of carnal preeminence, but because I want my hunger to be shown. I'm tired of living in the closet about this. I'm tired of keeping my feelings hidden about revival. There is an undercurrent of people in the US who are beginning to want this, and they need an instructor, a leader who is willing to stand up and say that I AM NOT WILLING TO SEE MY GENERATION DIE ANY LONGER! And that will inspire them to stand up.

Even if it costs my life. And I pray it will, because I want God to use me up, and when I have nothing left to give to him, when I have given him my whole life, I want others to see that I'm not afraid to die for him.

The Lottery

So recently there was a $300+ million dollar lottery given out to the poor folks that buy lottery tickets. And I could not help but hear God’s voice…

Now I don’t know if it was a real promise, or if it was meant to get me thinking along this thread, but it seemed as if I heard him say that I could win that if I played.

I don’t play the lottery. To my logical mind, it’s a waste of money. As the joke says, “The Lottery is a tax on people that are bad at math”. Aside from that, I feel it’s against my morals, as it is gambling.

Now God is God, he is completely sovereign. To him nothing is impossible or even difficult. Therefore, if he genuinely told me that I would win if I played, then I would win. It’s a 50-50 shot… either I play and win or I don’t play and don’t win. That’s how I view it.

But it got me thinking. What would $200 Million dollars (after taxes) do for the kingdom of God if I got it? Spending the money on myself is not an option… “for you are bought with a price”. I’m owned by God, and everything that I have is owned by God. I am his “doulos”, slave, bondservant. I have his name on me, his spirit in me, his blood over me, and his law written on my heart.

Therefore, what would I spend it on? What causes are “of God”? I would give money to my home church where I serve, of course. I would give money to overseas missions. I would give money to worthy causes that I feel are doing good. But $300,000,000 is a lot of money. Where would it go, so that it could have a positive effect, and yet not corrupt or lead the recipients into affluence, laziness or corpulence?

Then it hit me. God already provides for those ministries that need it. Nobody needs any more money. God doesn’t give us more than we need usually, because this leads to a bloated bureaucracy… he doesn’t give us “too much” because then we are not faithful with what we have. A $30 million gift to the missions department might give $29.5 million to the missionaries, but they really needed a bigger building. Every dollar should go to reach the lost.

I know of churches that have overspent on God’s provisions, and are now in financial bondage. They sure do have fancy carpet and high technologies and nice cherry wood pews… but the church is having no more effect than it did when it was in it’s previous building. Is this us being faithful with what God has given us?

I’m reminded of Pharisees and the sepulchers…

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
Matthew 23:27, KJV

I’m not calling anyone hypocrites, but building a beautiful church building when your city is poor and wretched, strung out on drugs and crime… when people need to be reached… is squandering the resources of the church in the worst way.

Could it be that God has given us all we need already, and if we were but faithful with what he had given us, then he would be faithful to give us our cities? Is this not the focus of the message of Christ?

I also remember the disciples admiring the temple.

And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!
Mark 13:1, KJV

What is the purpose of a beautiful building? I fear that this is an indicator of us “rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing”.

The Church has no need of money, or winnings from the Lottery. I certainly don’t. The Church has gotten along just fine, and will continue to do so. More resources just mean we don’t depend on God when we should, and that is the foundation of our faith.

Entangled in this life....

The Bible speaks in many, many places about wars, and compares the Christian walk and lifestyle to that of a soldier, going to battle daily.

Something struck me the other day, and had remained on me….

Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. - 2 Timothy 2:3-4, KJV

Isn’t that picturesque? Can you just imagine someone being “tangled” in the affairs of this life? Can you just see the living vines and creepers in a jungle, and they have some poor soul in their grasp, slowly tightening like the grip of some terrible constricting snake?

It’s very appropriate when you talk of the world in this manner. I do feel that we as Christians do get tangled in the things of this world too often. That being said, how many times do we truly take that to heart? Do we ever really seek to become untangled from the things of this life that demand our attention? I know that I, for one, have become ensnared by many things… hobbies can turn into obsessions, television shows can become “must see”, slowly the time in our life is taken up until there is not enough time for the things of God. Like a sponge, the things of life will demand every drop of spare time we have, until family is dry, church is dry, spirituality is dry, and we are still left unfulfilled.

I have had a number of hobbies in the past few years… at one time I was over-enamored with my car, and joined an online forum for owners, spending enough time there that I was asked to become a moderator for the site. What a stupid hobby! Making a Honda Civic go faster and look nicer. I never got my heart really into it, but I was entangled in it. I had become so entangled that I was given responsibilities, and I couldn’t let those go… then I was reminded of the words of Jesus:

And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead. –Matthew 8:21-22 KJV

Those that don’t have the call on their lives can tend to it.

The phrase “Pick your battles” is a very common cliché`, but it becomes very true here. There are battles everywhere in life. You need to pick what battles you intend to fight as a Christian. If you want to battle abortion and other evils, and try to legislate righteousness then do that. You should pick your battles… pick what you will put your resources and time into.

Just as a tree needs to be pruned to grow in the direction it needs to grow, to produce the most fruit, we as Christians need to be pruned, so that we will produce the most fruit. The tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is “hewn down and cast in the fire”. If we desire to “please him that has chosen us to be a soldier”, then we must not entangle ourselves with many of the extraneous affairs of this life.