“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Psalms 11:3
While the collapsing of America has been slowly plodding since it’s inception some 246 years ago, in these past few decades, and especially these past two years, it has accelerated to breakneck speed. Like a speeding locomotive, too heavy and too fast to stop.
Historically, every failed Nation or civilization has indeed gone through what America and Western culture is currently going through. The key phrase here is “every failed Nation or civilization.”
What America is currently undergoing is the rapid decline of our freedoms of the many for the sake of individual liberties of the degenerate and the immorality of the few. Those with political power will ride the inevitable cultural implosion to greater power and dictatorial control. This is by design and not by coincidence.
Again, this is not a new paradigm but a “rinse and repeat” cycle of history and what happens with apathetic, contemporary people unwilling to learn from past historical mistakes. The treasures of historical knowledge has been purposely engineered out of our educational institutions, and unwittingly to the average American citizen and student.
This, by no means, excuses the average American citizen but is a sad and factual commentary of our collective willingness to seek pleasure and policies of appeasement in exchange for governmental control and free goodies.
In reality, we’ve all chosen to worship America and all its bounty rather than the God of Heaven, Earth’s only Redeemer.
“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Psalms 11:3.
Unfortunately, 21 Century Christianity has been too preoccupied with Church. You may not think so, but darkness does, and the Lord of Darkness celebrates our easy relinquishment of the Church’s Kingdom of God duties and responsibilities. If the Church had been occupied with the Kingdom of God as an occupying force for King Jesus, we would not be this far down the river, and perhaps the “foundations” could’ve been repaired.
Our task was to occupy until He came — To preach the Gospel of the Kingdom, to bless the world with the rule and reign of God’s Son. Not hasten the day of destruction because of our misguided disengagement, our pre-tribulation theory, and premillennial exfiltration madness.
As surely as the sun rises in the East, our future leaders will be as degenerate, morally vacant, and deranged as the voters that vote them into power. Our ignominious milestones of the first this, or the first that; the first gay Senator, first transgender Congressman, first Islamic-Extremist Representative, and our first LGBTQUIZ President, etc. will become the millstone of slavery around every citizen’s neck; rich or poor, black or white, gay or straight, liberal or conservative.
Unapologetically, the only option for recovery and change is to turn away from our individual and corporate sins, repent, and turn wholeheartedly to God — without delay, seeking His forgiveness for our willful disregard of His laws, and the greatest gift given to all humanity, that is Jesus Christ, God’s only way of salvation.
Without the Church’s acknowledgment of Jesus Christ as Lord and King, America’s greatness will undoubtedly collapse, and not even Donald J. Trump or Ron DeSantis can make America Great Again.
It is my hope and prayer, as I’m sure it is yours also, that our better days as a people and a Nation are yet before us. But this is all up to God and not up to a politician or political party. The two things that can change the fate of this Nation is a repentant Church and praying Saints.
This is Part 2 of my first two-part article about the plight of 21st Century American Christianity.
My “fued,” if you will, is not against the true Church or authentic Christianity. It is an article of warning, challenge, and calling out believers that have been sold a false god, making them into a lesser child.
Nehemiah prays for God’s children…
“Behold, we are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we now are slaves. And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress.” Nehemiah 9:36-37
Politicians, Legislators and Presidents will not return us to a Great People or a Great Nation, but confession and repentance of God’s People will.
Nehemiah continues…
“But they- our ancestors behaved presumptuously; they rebelled and did not obey your commandments. They refused to obey and did not recall your miracles that you had performed among them. Instead, they rebelled and appointed a leader to return to their bondage. Nehemiah 9:16-17
Jeremiah laments…
Death Is on the Prowl
God ‘s Message yet again:
“Go stand at the crossroads and look around. Ask for directions to the old road, The tried and true road. Then take it. Discover the right route for your souls.
But they said,
“Nothing doing. We aren’t going that way.”
I even provided watchmen for them to warn them, to set off the alarm. But the people said,
“It’s a false alarm. It doesn’t concern us.”
And so I’m calling in the nations as witnesses:
“Watch, witnesses, what happens to them!”
And,’ Pay attention, earth! Don’t miss these bulletins. I’m visiting catastrophe on this people, the end result of the games they’ve been playing with me. They’ve ignored everything I’ve said, had nothing but contempt for my teaching. Jeremiah 6:16-19
We’ve exchanged the Glorious Gospel for a seeker friendly message so as to build our Churches in numbers rather than faithfulness to God and His ways.
We’ve changed the blood of the New Covenant, the precious blood of our Lord and Savior, into that of the blood of animals, and we therefore proclaim people sinless by emotions rather by repentance and faith. We teach tolerance but not obedience. We preach the Love of God trumps all other attributes of the one and only True Living God of Scripture. Who’s wrath against sin and those who make sin their lifestyle still remains. Though they know it or not, their day of judgment is being held back.
Faith, belief, repentance, and obedience to The risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ is mankind’s only escape from the wrath of God. For who needs to be saved from a God of Love? And, if we only preach God’s love and tolerance, what becomes of the shed blood of Jesus Christ? And, for what purpose does his death serve if God is only Love?
Our Country was found on Christian and moral principles, and by the rule of law. America became a people of renown, of freedom, liberty, and justice for all.
Our Nation was lost because we pastors and churches have abandoned our Christian principles and our moral standing under God and before the nations. We’ve abandoned the preaching of the cross and the resurrection of our only Redeemer. Sadly, the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his birth have become nothing more than semi-religious holidays.
We have full churches, but empty Christians. We have Christian couples fornicating, but freely worshiping. We have Christian marriages adulterating but actively serving. We have Christian youth sexually experimenting with their bodies, but attend warm gatherings and rallies for Christ. We’ve trained them with double standards, one set for school and the other for church. Our youth of tomorrow are the double standards of today’s adults. And all this is just fine?
Our Nation is lost not because the ungodly sin, but because the righteous practice, tolerate, and preach a distorted and confusing relationship with God!
The condition of the Church is directly related to the condition of our pastors; to the messages they preach, and the duplicity they tolerate. All in exchange for notoriety, fame and market share of transient Christians, and the unsaved seeking a friendly Sunday morning message. We’ve become more excited about a new visitor rather than a new saint.
One Wednesday evening service my Senior Pastor allowed me to preach a message titled: “Children of A Lessor God.” When I stopped preaching, people were weeping in their seats and falling on there knees at the alter. My Senior Pastor and I had to literally and carefully step around and over our repentant brothers and sisters, and began praying for them one by one. Others came forward to assist us with prayer or join their brothers and sisters.
After things quieted down, I will never forget what my Senior Pastor said:
“There is no way you can preach that way on a Sunday morning.”
I was both confused and shocked! It is precisely why our Churches and Christians are in the state that they are in because we don’t preach the Truth of God’s Word nor preach Christ Crucified to redeem sinners from God’s terrible wrath.
When we refuse to preach the weightiness of God, people will not experience the weightiness of their sins, and God then becomes less in their lives.
We have become children of a lesser God and therefore have a lesser Church, lesser Nation, and have become a lesser people.
Many years ago, between 1975 – 1978, I was attending two churches. The Walnut Creek Christian Reformed Church was the church my parents brought my siblings and me to. The second church, Concord Christian Center, was the church my girlfriend attended, which I visited from time to time.
At the Walnut Creek Christian Reformed Church, they read the Ten Commandments each Sunday service. The Ten Commandments were presented as God’s goodness and grace to his people. The Reverend taught in an expository manner, being faithful to context and textual meaning.
At Concord Christian Center, there was no reading of God’s law and, honestly, very little reading of the Scriptures. The worship part of the service was the highlight, with a full course band, singers, and highly emotional songs. The pastor’s messages, while loosely based on Scripture, were mostly topical, centering on physical blessings and prosperity. This church adopted the high school that I would eventually graduate from in June 1978.
At CCC, several marriages ended. Many of the divorced married other ex-spouses within the church. Fornication and adultery were not uncommon. While CCC may have been a fun and exciting place to worship and fellowship, the people there became lesser as God was lesser. This is one of my pivotal experiences that lead me to preach on a Wednesday evening service, “Children of A Lesser God,” back in 2007.
So, just as the Israelites wanted to go back to Egypt, our nation is headed back to Europe, the very place our founding fathers had fled. The ancient Israelites wanted to go back to Egypt, to return to slavery under a new Pharaoh. We seem to be headed into a new style of slavery by unelected bureaucrats, technocrats, and globalists. We want this 21st Century enslavement because we see ourselves as a lesser people.
It’s up to God’s people to stand strong as His Chosen People, as His Holy Nation and a Royal Priesthood of True Believers! We must shake off our false identity as Children of a Lesser god and be His Children of The Great and Mighty God, God of the Angel Armies!
Do you want to be a great people, a great man, or a great woman? A great nation? Then reject the lesser god of your life, cast him off like a worn-out shirt.
If you’re attending a church that emphasizes a false and fake gospel, a tolerant love guru, a genie god, or a Geico god, where it’s “so easy, a caveman can do it.” Find a God-honoring Church that worships God in Spirit and in Truth. A Church that aids you in becoming a Child of The Great God of Creation.
You cannot build a healthy Church by feeding the flock from your personal intimacies with God. They’ll end up living their faith vicariously through your faith without actually living by faith.
God’s people must encounter God as who he is in their lives, families, neighborhoods, and jobs, more than what they hear in a Sunday sermon. They need to encounter the weightiness of God in their lives rather than a theological supposition that tickles their intellect but does not move them to worship.
In other words, people need to encounter the Lordship of Jesus and not just the flannel board Jesus in Sunday School.
If we fail to present God as God, people will settle for a lesser god, full of winks, giggles, and thumbs-up to their sins.
David wrote:
“Fear the Lord, you holy people who belong to him. Those who fear him are never in need. Young lions go hungry and may starve, but those who seek the Lord’s help have all the good things they need.” Psalm 34:9-10
Our fear of the Lord should lead us into a healthy worship of Him so that being His children becomes our most meaningful identity.
Sometimes, even in America, we live as though there are many gods, even though we profess the Truth of Scripture. Our actions dictate our true beliefs and not simply what we profess. We cannot escape it. We belong to what we fear and to whom we obey.
Belief in the One True and only Living God requires obedience and not just belief. Demons believe yet shudder in fear. Even the Name of God’s Holy Son, Jesus of Nazareth, invokes fear and dispels demonic tactics and oppression. Darkness always is dispelled by light, and no shadow can hide from God’s brightness.
I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, “don’t be afraid of your own shadow.” This means to be extremely timid, nervous, fearful, and easily frightened. This is to live a life of fear worship rather than God worship.
So, we have become what we worship. We worship what we fear, and when we only believe and remain passive to God’s will, we cease to worship God.
The God of Creation and Author of our Eternal Redemption must be obeyed, or we’ll become quiet rebels, worshiping lesser gods. The proof of our false belief is in the quality, or lack thereof, of our true obedience. We become what we worship and a slave to what we fear.
Do you want and desire the Fruits of Heaven?
Start listening to the One who occupies the Throne of Heaven and obey His Word, even if it leads to your death; death of reputation, death of comfort, death of self, and yes, even the death of your body. For “obedience is better than sacrifice,” as it is written in 1 Samuel 15:22:
“But Samuel replied,
“What is more pleasing to the Lord…
…your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice?
Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.”
When you act as though the Evil One has equal power to The Eternal One, you have ceased in both belief and obedience to God and have become a slave to your fears and false beliefs. Sickness, disease, divorce, betrayals, these suddenly have more power than God. The fear of these things eclipses the Fear of the Lord, and therefore these “things” become the center of your life, thought, and action.
There is NO contest between the Eternal One and the Evil One. God always was, is, and will be. The Devil, well, he has a beginning and an ending. Not even his puny acts will outlast the earth. And even the Devil’s original coup d’etat against the throne of God was a failure, and his kingdom is built on lies and falsehood. Yet, more believers are motivated by fear of man and evil than they are the Fear of the Lord and His righteous judgments.
Matthew 10:28
“Don’t be afraid of people. They can kill the body, but they cannot kill the soul. The only one you should fear is God, the one who can send the body and the soul to be destroyed in hell.”
We become controlled by what and by whom we fear; the clearest evidence is in our actions and responses to all diseases, betrayals, etc. You know it, God said it, and the devil, if you fear him rather than God, well, he delights in it.
Act like Children of God Almighty, the God of the Angel Armies, rather than children of a lesser god, who is the god of fallen angels and the Father of Lies.
Your actions tell the world who your true Father is. No matter how many Church services you attend, you cannot escape it.
Read I Samuel 15 again, but from the Message:
22-23 Then Samuel said,
“Do you think all God wants are sacrifices— empty rituals just for show? He wants you to listen to him! Plain listening is the thing, not staging a lavish religious production. Not doing what God tells you is far worse than fooling around in the occult.
Getting self-important around God is far worse than making deals with your dead ancestors. Because you said No to God’s command, he says No to your kingship.”
Maybe the consent “No” from God is because of your consent disobedience to Him. After all, He is not called the Everlasting Father for nothing; if you call him Father, does he not have the right to treat you as a true son or daughter?
Whenever God disciplines you or brings hardship into your life, sometimes you blame the Devil, chalking it up to evil. When you doubt God’s goodness and wisdom during hardship, you become a victim and fall prey to the lies of the Devil. This false belief thwarts God’s hand in your life, and you reject your son-ship. You need to STOP DOING THAT!
Do you think God is impressed by your lavish religious productions — your empty rituals of a weekly 90-minute Church Service compared to a 10,000-minute week of worldly influence? A 90-minute Church creates Christians that can only last for 90 minutes in the world!
To the many pastors that occupy America’s pulpits. Your constant grandstanding and oratorical solos have robbed the Church of prophets, apostles, pastors, teachers, and evangelists. Your job is to disciple and Sheppard people into ministry, not become the ministry. Many rather preach to attract and keep people, rather than preach to equip and send people.
Many pastors end up becoming the sole arbiter of the Word of God. This has created a Nation of dependent-class Christians whose only requirement is to tithe in support of career-focused pastors and church-centered budgets. God’s Church has become a den of weak vessels. There is more power when the People of God discover firsthand revelation from the mouth of God through their reading of Scripture than a thousand of your feel-good sermons!
You cannot build a healthy Church by feeding the flock from your personal intimacies with God. They’ll end up living their faith vicariously through your faith without actually living by faith.
Christ Jesus is the only True Manna from heaven, not your recycled sermons.
Start teaching the people to read God’s Word and hear and obey His voice!
I dare you to become lesser, so they may become greater.
This is why God says No to your “church business” and Yes to the power of the Kingdom Gospel and the people who obey it! This is why so many para-church ministries are taking up the cause of Christ, and so many so-called “religious leaders” are taking up the cause of church.
You are not raising Children of God but creating children of a lesser god, with no greater expectation than donations and attendance!
Start saying “yes” to God and obey His voice so that you may become children of God, The God of the Angel Armies, rather than children of a lesser god. After all, we can only access God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son. He has proven Himself obedient through all His actions, even death on the cross.
The church shouldn’t orbit around pulpits but around King Jesus and Jesus as King to all Nations! His command to go into all the world, “..teaching them to obey all things that I have commanded you…” It was not mere rhetoric but a divine command by the King of Kings, Lord of Lords of the Gathered Ones! We are to make disciples of peoples and nations and expand God’s Kingdom, not churches.
Repent of your religiosity, and people worship. Break off your fear of man, or go the way of King Saul.
Teach us to become Children of God Almighty, dependent on Him for identity, purpose, and calling.
Until the “world” has been removed from you, you are no good to the Church or world. It is all about your proximity and not your prosperity! It is not what you have but rather where you are.
“Proximity,” definition: nearness in place, time, order, occurrence, or relation.
Life comes to us in seasons. It unfolds like a story. Until we move with the Spirit of God, according to our individual story and cooperate in the seasons he has ordained, we will be of little eternal use to God. Our proximity needs to change from running away from God, to drawing near to him. And, at times this may be what’s behind the difficult seasons you go through. Remember the story of Jonah? He could not out run God, and his running from God was making him awful company.
Sometimes “surviving” is an ordained season from the Lord. Sometimes he takes us, one by one into the wilderness to remove worldliness from us. While simply living at “survival mode” may not be our choice, it may indeed be the season the Lord has ordered. We should not look to be removed from the world, rather we should look to have the world removed from us. A trip through the Land-of-Not-Enough (survival) sometimes leads us to the Land-of-Worshiping-Him.
Why did God want his people to be set free from Egypt?
Was it so he could lead them into the promised land, flowing with milk and honey?
Nope!
It was so His people may come to the wilderness to worship Him there!
Exodus 7:16 (New International Version)
“Then say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the desert.”
God chose a unique people to show the world that he is a unique God. His first step was to bring his people into the desert. A land of just surviving, so that his people could learn to live in the Land-of-More-Than-Enough. The Land-of-Just-Surviving, trained his people not to forget Him, while they were to live in a land of worldly treasures. Since they so quickly refused God’s process of removing Egypt from them and the reproach of a “slave mentality,” God allowed his people to linger for a generation in the Land-of-Not-Enough, living at a basic survival mode with God as their sole (soul) provider.
Stop using the methods of the world to transform his people. We are not meant to be a “subculture” but a counterculture. We think we need to resemble the world in order to reach the world? God forbid!
We have got to maintain our worship of God. Our only hope in doing so, is to get the world out of us. You cannot use the same tools the world uses for worldliness and expect to be transformed into a spiritual people.
2 Corinthians 10 (New Living Translation)
“We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God.”
1 Peter 2:11 (New Living Translation)
“Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.”
Unauthorized acts of Righteousness
I would caution you to be careful of what you parrot when reading books of men, and mimicking the ways of “rock stars.” There are many worldly ministers and authors who are too accustomed to worldly ways to be of any spiritual good. It may seem good here on earth and may produce results, but will it be recognized in heaven and will the “results” be eternal?
It’s not the ministry outcome, which should be measured, but rather it’s method. If it is a worldly method, no matter what the result or outcome, it is lawlessness and an abomination to the Lord. The definition of “lawlessness,” is unauthorized acts. In the biblical sense it means “unauthorized acts of righteousness.”
Wow! How can righteousness be considered evil acts? Let’s take a look…
Matthew 7: 21-23 (ESV):
I Never Knew You
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
You see, your proximity is far more important than your prosperity, far more important than your talent, your “bling-power” or your religious glittering image. Proximity has to do with the nearness of your relationship with God. Not your talent, not your “anointing,” and not your wealth!
It’s not “what you do” as a Christian or minister of the Gospel; it’s not how many demon butts you kick, how many prophetic words you speak or how fluent your prayer language is. It’s not how many show up for your concerts or sermons; how many people make a decision for the Lord because of your fine singing, powerful preaching, or earth-shattering-mighty-works of God. If it is not done in accordance with the will of our Father in heaven, it is unauthorized acts of righteousness and it stinks to high-heaven. Only those who do the will of the Father, are those who know and are known by the Father in heaven. You can’t practice righteousness apart from intimately knowing God as “Father!” No matter how warm and fuzzy it makes you, and your audience feel.
You are so lost…
Lost in yourself, lost in your ministry and lost in your “so-called good works.” How lost are you? Worse yet, how lost are your disciples? Those you’ve taught, those who follow your every move and ministry trick. It may not be the stage of life you learn of your errors, but the throne of God, at Judgment Day. Repent of your lawlessness. It’s not about just doing it right, but by knowing God as Father and then doing His will, His way.
Which is better, a Worldly Church or a Churchy World? Get the world out of the Church and you will have a Church which will change the world. Our value to the Church is our clean hands from worldliness. A corrupt pastor can only corrupt, no matter how pretty and charismatic he may be, underneath and behind the scenes, he may be falling apart, but before the Church he’s Johnny-on-the-spot.
It has been too long since Christianity has produced authentic saints of God. Men and women who’ve not bowed to Baal (worldliness), nor kissed his feet, that is to tolerate sin within and without. You become what you worship, and you’ll eventually act out what is within your heart. It is far better to confess to a brother in this life now, rather than it being exposed in the Halls of Heaven and at the Throne of God.
If seasons of survival, living in the Land-of-Not-Enough, are the surest way towards righteousness and clean hands, then let us all travel there for a season of change. It is our part to wash our robes.
Revelation 22:14 (The Message)
“How blessed are those who wash their robes! The Tree of Life is theirs for good, and they’ll walk through the gates to the City. But outside for good are the filthy curs: sorcerers, fornicators, murderers, idolaters—all who love and live lies.”
Job 17:9 (New Living Translation)
“The righteous keep moving forward,
and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger.”
Jonah 2:8 (New International Version)
“Those who cling to worthless idols
forfeit the grace that could be theirs.”
Mark 8:36 (New International Version)
“What good is it for a man to gain the whole world,
yet forfeit his soul?”
Where in the Heaven are you?
Find a trusted friend and let him know where you truly are, so that you may find the needed rest for your weary soul.
Jeremiah 6:16 (TLB)
“Yet the Lord pleads with you still: Ask where the good road is, the godly paths you used to walk in, in the days of long ago. Travel there, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, “No, that is not the road we want!”
Yes, it is the road you want. It only takes twenty seconds to do the right thing.
Become so heavenly-minded that you’ll do earthly good. Maybe you’ll be recognized in heaven!
Accurate scientific facts and astrophysicist theories tell us a different story than what the government “spins” daily through the news media, colleges, and universities. Here are a few facts:
The earth spins on its axis at approximately 1,000 MPH, all the while traveling around the sun at a constant speed of 67,000 MPH, and the sun rotates on its axis every 24.47 days. These dynamics, not what man does on the earth, cause climate variations. In other words, variations in climate have more to do with the myriads of exposures the earth experiences during its orbital travel and the sun’s various solar-dynamic radiation, including the sun’s solar flares.
We live on a spaceship called Earth!
When you drive your car from the West Coast to the East Coast, let’s say, traveling about 60 miles per hour, how many climate variations would you experience during the several-day journey?
Answer: Dozens!
The earth’s orbital path of travel around the sun takes 365 days. One complete orbit consumes an astounding 92.9 million miles!
So, let me ask you: What would you expect to happen to the earth as it travels 92.9 million miles yearly at a constant speed of 67,000 miles per hour?
Doesn’t it make sense that hundreds of weather anomalies, variations, and changes would occur on planet earth?
Do you have to be an astrophysicist to understand this?
Nope! Your ability to use your God-given common sense, which is your best weapon against the propagandists. Trust your mind more than you trust governments and Hollywood, and yes, even your tenured professors.
Nothing can be done to control the earth’s constant and unstoppable force and climate variations as it rotates and orbits its designed path around our star. Any attempt by the government to “spin” these facts and blame humanity is an intentional and engineered scheme to control and enslave the masses.
Understanding astronomical fact and how our solar system functions should bring freedom of thought and liberty, as well as disarms the climate change alarmists and governments seeking to control our economies and lives.
Why believe governmental authorities that constantly demonstrate their ineptness and inability to govern?
Everything centralized, beginning from your local HOA to local, state, and federal authorities, seeks to divest you and me of our independence and freedom and amass to themselves unmitigated centralized power.
Firstly, they try to enslave and control our thought. Secondly, our free speech. Thirdly, our ability to defend our house and home. Fourthly, our Southern borders. Fifthly, our healthcare and transportation systems. Finally, they centralized our economic engines, destroying the middle and wealthy classes, rendering us all impoverished and entirely dependent upon the State.
I can’t think of any more significant damage done to America and its freedom and future than the seizure of a Free Press. The Press, and now Social Media, has become the unelected 4th branch of government and controls the flow of information and ideas.
This is precisely why Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin continued their reign of ideological control and advancement because the “Press” had become the government’s propaganda tool.
The mass media has accelerated the progressive erosion of our liberties. Around 1839, public education was created, giving the government control of educating our children. These two pillars of our society began the slow takeover by the left in the mid to late 19th century. It didn’t take long, did it, folks?
In less than four generations, we went from the Constitutional Republic to Democratic Socialism. Whether you believe it or not, we’re dangerously close to becoming a communist regime. I think we are one midterm election away from becoming a failed nation.
The vanguards of a free society are knowledge of history, mathematics, the sciences, language/communication, and the arts. The progressive left has destroyed the journalistic integrity of the “Free” Press. Our nation’s watchdog should be a free, independent, and unfettered press, but tragically, the Free Press was corrupted decades ago.
Today, the main protagonists of climate lies are public education, universities, colleges, and the mass media.
Nearly ninety percent of the tenants of Socialism and Communism are significantly advanced and are in place. It happened while we were asleep in the light and mesmerized by our consumption and technological toys.
“Democracy is indispensable to socialism.” – Vladimir Lenin
“The goal of socialism is communism.” – Vladimir Lenin
“Our program necessarily includes the propaganda of atheism.” – Vladimir Lenin
“While the State exists, there can be no freedom; when there is freedom, there will be no State.” – Vladimir Lenin
We are a constitutional republic and not a democracy. The climate is in God’s control and not the government’s. Do not live in fear, but be informed and live as Americans who trust God and not man.
Continue to pay attention – fight against the lies of the Left and protect your liberty against the fearmongers and Socialists. And please vote this November!
When reading the title of my article, you have to admit; like me, you immediately thought of the hit song by Huey Lewis and the News, or the movie, Back to the Future. Maybe the last thing you thought of is Christianity or the Church.
According to the Founder of Christianity, we are to be known by our love for one another. The world would know that we are Jesus’ disciples by our love. But as you may be aware every Sunday morning, we all gravitate to our favorite flavors of Christianity and tasty preferences of religious delights.
As believers, our doctrine and affiliations should not separate us. We are to be known by our love for one another, regardless of whether we agree or disagree with lesser tenets of the faith.
Love for one another trumps knowledge, prophecy, and tongues. Love trumps Calvinism and Arminianism. Love trumps Premillennialism and Postmillennialism.
Love trumps and destroys bitterness and anything that may divide us. Well, it should, and if it’s not, it means that our love is just a religious pose. Real agape love is powerful and life-changing. It’s dynamic and alive, not at all static or passive.
If Jesus Christ were to walk into our town of Copperopolis on any given Sunday morning, we’d all leave our Church buildings and gather where He is. He, and not the differences in our denominations should be the focus.
Jesus Christ is not a Baptist nor a Pentecostal; He’s not a Presbyterian, a Catholic, or an Independent. He is the where, the who, the way, and the why we are His followers. He is not a denomination, a religion, or a building.
Where is the Church of Copperopolis? Where is the Church of your town or your city?
Jesus Christ is the Great Shepherd of one Church, and we need to act like it, putting aside our petty and religious differences. Let’s save our towns, county, and states and seek and save the lost. They are everywhere that we’re not. They need to witness our love for one another!
We must love one another in front of the lost. We need to show them what they’re missing. They are missing the power of authentic agape love!
We have to love beyond the borders of our denominations, beyond the enforces of sectarianism and the supremacy of the elitists. Without Love, we have no authentic identity as disciples and no real gospel power.
Let the love of Christ Jesus compel us towards unity and love for one another.
Otherwise, the world will be without a witness and the real Power of Love!
Isn’t it true that there are a ton of things that people are allergic to? Wheat, nuts, milk, eggs, bees, cats, dogs, etc. How about being allergic to asking for help?
You see, that’s my problem, I may not have food allergies, but I am allergic to asking for help. I have a terrible time asking for it, and this can cause a lot of pain in my life; you know, like backaches, neck pain, and all kinds of body aches and anxieties.
Therefore I amass too much for my shoulders to bear. We are to share one another’s burdens; this is true, but the burdens we do take on must be within the boundaries of God’s will. And this is where I get into trouble. I resist God’s will for lack of patients and a sense of urgency.
In Fall 2013, I loaded myself up like a pack mule. I can’t count how many times my wife, Toni, would be frustrated seeing me loaded down with stuff. Like a macho man – okay, like a macho idiot, I try to move or carry everything in one trip.
Well, I was off on a business trip, with my loaded backpack, luggage in my left hand, and several shirts and a coat in my right hand, headed downstairs in a hurry.
Suddenly, my left foot scuffed the carpet enough at the midpoint landing, causing my left foot to skip a few steps. My 255 pound body, backpack, and luggage caused my left quadriceps to snap like a dried twig and shred apart. The momentum flung me like Superman the rest of the way to the first floor! I nearly cleared the entry way, landing half my body into the dining room! The entry and dining room floor is solid oak.
Being allergic to asking for help nearly killed me. After the surgery, it laid me up for three months. Which, by the way, gave me ample time to learn an important lesson…
…Go for lighter burdens!
Jesus said: “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matt 11:30
“Are you tired and burned out on religion? Then come away with me, and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me, and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matt 11:28-30
So, I take this time to reflect and reset my attitude and train myself to trust the will and purpose of God, and taking on the easy yoke of Christ. I desperately need the lighter burdens of his call on my life. I need the freedom to be a child of God once again, and not the “big independent guy” that looks like he’s got it all together.
To be more than what I am called to be as a son, brother, husband, and father is where pride will gain the upper hand, and ignoring actual shouts of “no” or “too much” from within. If I refuse, the false self and poser will lead to my destruction. Any person in ministry and in life, must live and act within the constraints of true and genuine humility or become a destructive force against their community, family, and their own life.
Jesus preaches to the crowd…
“Say only yes if you mean yes, and no if you mean no. If you say more than yes or no, it is from the Evil One.” Matt 5:37
Nothing but the Cross
“Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. It would help if you had forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.” Gal. 6: 1-3.
It’s all about burden sharing, a little of mine, for a little of yours.
Oh, and by the way, take care of your allergies, especially your allergy, asking for help!
“Here lies a faithful parishioner that never missed a Sunday morning service.”
Matthew 18:19-20
Amplified Bible
“Again I say to you, that if two believers on earth agree [that is, are of one mind, in harmony] about anything that they ask [within the will of God], it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in My name [meeting together as My followers], I am there among them.”
When the Church comes together in perfect unity, we form an abode or a habitation for the presence of God. It is our connecting and unity that creates the Church and not a building. What fills the Church is, therefore, not sinners but saints. Each is filled with the Holy Spirit and the likeness of Christ. We know we have achieved this when we have unconditional love for one another and respect and honor for those who are our servant-leaders.
This is not about the perfection of both the saints and those who lead. It’s about perfect love and devotion to Christ and his teaching. When we are devoted to Christ and his ways, grace, mercy, and love prevails. When we focus on the failings of one another, and especially those who must give an account to the Lord for their servant-leadership, there is no abiding presence of God. Unity is thwarted, the glory of God departs, and we simply become a building of brick and mortar.
Christ will not fill a building, no matter how pretty or architecturally pleasing it may be. He fills his people and, in a special way, when they gather in unity of faith, love, and sound teaching.
When we have unconditional love and forgiveness towards one another, and when we honor those in authority over us who must give an account to God, Christ dwells in our midst. Even when our gatherings are as few as two or three and have no building to gather in—we are the Church.
The concept and identity of the Church, which, by the way, is living and active, is not summed up by Sunday services. The reason why Christ said, “where two or three are gathered in my name there am I in their midst,” is not meant to be concealed by a building or regulated by a 90 minute service, but to become a mobile spiritual habitation of the glorious presence of God. Therefore, we are to be missional, just as Christ was during his earthly ministry. Right? Jesus didn’t set up shop at some local corner with a sign on the window, advertising, “open for business.” No! He went to where people gathered!
Stop “going” to Church and become the Church! Start loving, honoring, and preferring one another. Keep forgiving and loving one another as Christ has forgiven and loved you. Serve one another, as actually serving the Lord Jesus Christ. Do everything out of love and respect for the Lord. Devote yourselves to studying and reading the scriptures and practicing the presence of God within your own hearts and souls so that you may become a whole and a holy people when you gather. When the world sees your love for one another, they will believe your message!
Ministry is not meant for the minister. Rather, ministers are to teach the Church to minister first to one another and then to the world. Our individual and corporate maturity depends on each person operating in the spiritual gift given them by the Holy Spirit. The gifts given by Christ to the Church are offices, such as apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, and teachers. These offices are to train and equip the Church to do the work of ministry.
The officers are not meant to do all the work but to empower the church to carry out the work of ministry so that we all may reach maturity. An immature Church is one who produces spectators, which only increase from transient, church hopping attendees that are only devoted to themselves, and introverted church programs.
To the immature church, tithes, gifts, and offerings are only needed for self-sufficiency and to sustain the ministry strictly for the ministered. The tragic reality is that many churches simply send 10% of their revenue from tithes to missionaries rather than sending out people on a mission. Jesus Christ didn’t die to create token churches. Churches are not meant to become cemeteries of dead saints, scattered in the landscape, or sitting in church pews disengaged from ministry.
Did you know that recent studies have shown that sitting is more deadlier than smoking? Sitting around as Christians and as a church community is deadly to our testimony and our future glory.
An alive church is one that reproduces apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, and teachers. An alive church recognizes the expansion of the Kingdom of Heaven rather than the expansion of their sanctuaries. The alive Church sends people out and evangelizes new converts to take their place.
Time, talent, and treasure are outwardly focused on inwardly spirit-filled saints, gathered with an outward, unified conscience of obedience, and a call to “mission impossible,” rather than a mission for dead saints.
Letters in Red (said by Jesus): “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them.” – Matthew 18:18-20 (NKJV)
Become alive in Christ. Live life to the fullest in Christ. Aid and pray for your pastors. Pastors, train your congregations, and do not just preach at them.
Could you imagine if all churches became equipping, training, and sending churches?
I think Christ died outside the Temple, so the entire world would see his atonement and would know of his sacrifice.
I think Jesus wants the whole world to see his Church, also outside the Temple, outside of brick and mortar buildings, so all the world would see and know of his love.
We must become more than a location, more than a building on East 3rd and West. 4th Street. We must become a living body.
If not an active and living body, we’ll become nothing more and a pretty building with a tired minister of perpetual ministering to over-ministered people with no mission; landscaped with clusters of graves and headstones. The epitaphs will read:
“Here lies a faithful parishioner that never missed a Sunday morning service.”
That sounds a little, like the servant, who buried his master’s talent into the earth because he was afraid and so risked nothing. Matthew 25:14-30
Be a living body and not a tired old minister preaching to the chior.
The COVID-19 virus caused the emptying of 21st-century Christianity’s churches and cathedrals.
While the empty tomb of our Lord and Savior is, and forever, will be the main power source of Christianity, the Social Distancing edict might have inadvertently caused a miracle. Due to COVID-19, maybe empty church buildings will also become, in a small way, (a) power source for modern-day Christianity. Maybe our closed buildings will mean an opening to global evangelism.
The empty tomb meant that the old religious order of continual animal sacrifices was over. It means that the old order of the priesthood was over. It meant that the veil, which separated you and me from direct access to God, was torn down. And very importantly, it meant that where two or more are gathered, there in their midst is the very presences of God, and no longer confined to the temple made by man. It means that even when we are alone, and without each other, that God is with us and in our very own hearts.
God’s people no longer needed priests. God’s people no longer needed animal sacrifices to make atonement. God’s people no longer had to experience His favor and presence by proxy. And, God’s people no longer were confined to a temple made of bricks and mortar.
Because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are free of all the religious trappings and traditions of men and of the consequences of the law. We are free to be the Church wherever we gather, even as few as two people!
Let us capitalize on our present situation and be convinced, once and for all, that we, as God’s people, are the Church. We are the living church. We, you and I, are the bride of Christ. Our church buildings, plain or palatial, were never meant to be the representation of the world.
Although, sadly, Church buildings had become the identity of Christianity. It is my hope that God’s people will be recognized as the Church and regain her position as the living bride of Christ and the center of Christianity.
One Sunday, Toni and I visited a church in Oakdale, California. When we arrived, we walked in and learned that the Church was emptied except for a few people who were preparing a luncheon, later to be enjoyed by the returning congregation. Rather than their typical service, the Church was in the downtown square, assisting their local community. We were actually pleasantly surprised and not at all offended by the empty sanctuary.
Do not be overcome because we cannot presently occupy a building, but celebrate that with or without buildings that we are the Bride of Christ, and that we’re meant to deliver the Gospel of the Kingdom to every nation and to every people. In doing so, our proclamation will hasten the ending and will launch the new beginning that we’ve all been longing for.
For the past 1700 years, Christianity created and built ornate cathedrals with spires and steeples pointing to the heavens.
Let the truth be known:
“Church steeples can be traced back thousands of years to Egypt and pagan worship. Roman Emperor Constantine and his “Edict of Milan” in 313CE made the Empire officially neutral with regard to religion. Eventually, Pagan and Christian symbols were eventually merged at the Council of Nicea in 325CE, and new doctrines and dogmas were set up by the Holy Roman Catholic (meaning universal) Church, and strictly enforced, under penalty of death.”
Since then, this building emphasizes that along with Christianity, continually orbiting ornate and palatial constructs, we’ve ceased going into all the world with the Gospel and instead invited all the world into our buildings. Over time, the contrast between Christianity and “worldlism” diminished. Rather than the world becoming more influenced by Christianity, the world’s influence had crept into our churches and has negated our need for faith and the Great Commission.
Let’s pray that this COVID-19 virus heals Christianity from its obsession with buildings and steeples and instead goes out, even as few as two-by-two, to all the peoples.
God’s blessings and power to the true Living Church and Bride of Christ – Amen
Call To Courage 