Tag: Repent

Operation Rapture –The Defeat of Christian Triumph & World Influence – By Thomas J. Koester

Because the Great Commission was not the Great Recommendation!

First, let me say that “end-time” prophecy does indeed matter, and having a clear understanding, at least as clear as possible, of end-time events is essential to healthy Christian living. In other words, future and near-future prophetic events should not cause fear but rather hope.

Also, our eschatological views, no matter the variance, should not cripple our testimony and mission of preaching the gospel to all people and at all times. Just as Paul charged Timothy:

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” – 2 Timothy 4:1-2 (ESV)

Our end-time, prophetic views should purify us, not scare us, or for that matter, scare people into believing the truth of Jesus Christ. Also, our hope is not only in heaven, but in Christ, and it’s when He is the center and focus of our hope that we become pure, as he is pure.

“We are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” – 1 John 3:2-3 (ESV)

So, in light of this, let’s discuss the impact of today’s end-time, prophetic views on Christianity, and our mission and influence.

It is quite possible that the premillennial dispensational view was a design, a philosophical invention, to neuter the effectiveness of the Gospel. Was it designed by men or demons?

Pre-tribulation rapture and premillennialism are a few of Christianity’s great deceptions, and it became popular at the turn of the 19th century and spread like a virus into the 20th century.

It began with a Jesuit Priest named Manuel Diaz Lacunza (1731–1801), whose false eschatological teaching influenced John Nelson Darby, (1800–1882), and others. Later, C.I. Scofield (1843–1921) popularized the premillennial and dispensational views, and Dr. Scofield’s notes, sermons, and commentaries were actually published on the pages of the Bible. Scofield’s Reference Bible is still available and in print today! The Scofield Reference Bible had sold over two million copies by the end of World War II.

I really encourage you to check these things out for yourselves. Please check out the following link, as well as the links and references at the end of this article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scofield_Reference_Bible

The Apostles and the early Church Fathers did not teach this end-time interpretation and theory. In modern times, men like Charles C. Ryrie, born March 2, 1925, along with Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye, are but a few of the modern-day prognosticators and purveyors of end-time prophecy. They are responsible for the unintended consequence of Christianity’s focus on millennialism, and away from the Great Commission of Christ, and the preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God in the here and now.

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” – Matthew 24:14 (ESV)

I have read a lot of these authors, teachers, and pastors, and I am not rejecting or denying their faith and belief in God. I am only pointing out how their focus of millennialism, whether it be pre, post or nonexistent, has distracted mainstream Christianity from the gospel mandate in reaching the lost world. If Christianity remains so focused on vacating earth and end-time theological theory, America will grow dark like Europe, as Christianity has left Europe’s shores years ago.

“Operation Rapture” has created a defeatist attitude, which has gripped mainstream Christianity and taken it off the task and messaging of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It abandons the present reality and proclamation of the Kingdom of God, pushing it off into the distant future, and rejects the here and now the presentation of the Kingdom of God, preached and taught by Jesus Christ himself, some two thousand years ago.

Furthermore, it repudiates and marginalizes the great tribulation and suffering, which most of our Christian brothers and sisters are, and have been undergoing presently, and for past decades. Please read the following letter excerpt, written by the late Corrie Ten Boom in 1974:

“In China, the Christians were told, “Don’t worry, before the tribulation comes, you will be translated – raptured.” Then came a terrible persecution. Millions of Christians were tortured to death. Later, I heard a bishop from China say, sadly, “we have failed. We should have made the people strong for persecution, rather than telling them Jesus would come first. Tell the people how to be strong in times of persecution, how to stand when the tribulation comes, – to stand and not faint.” I feel I have a divine mandate to go and tell the people of this world that it is possible to be strong in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in training for the tribulation, but more than sixty percent of the Body of Christ across the world has already entered into the tribulation. There is no way to escape it. We are next.” – Corrie Ten Boom (written 1974)

“Beam me up, Scottie!”

It really bothers me when I hear my Christian friends bemoan the trials of this life and their worries of apocalyptic doom, yet the only good news out of their mouths is that of the rapture, “Operation Rescue.” This defeatist attitude and their longing for ‘the airlift’ into the heavens has neutralized Christianity’s spiritual and cultural impact on the earth.

We want to be “beamed up to heaven” rather than impact the earth for the glory of God and for the sake of the Gospel. The Church benefits the believers, while the Kingdom of God benefits the world. The Church equips believers to expand the Kingdom of God rather than to expand Church buildings.

Now, we’ve all learned that Islamic-jihadist terrorists are beheading Christians, as well as other non-Islamic believers, and doing terrible atrocities, even to their own people. And this horror has touched and is touching our own shores and heartland.

If this were not hideous enough, we’ve recently learned that Planned Parenthood, right here, in the “good ole US of A,” is heinously dismantling and harvesting partially aborted babies for their organs, tissue, and limbs! Do they do this while the baby is still alive? But, don’t you worry about a thing, it’s useless tissue anyway.

Had enough?

Do you want to be “raptured,” or do you want to make a difference?

Jesus Prays for His Disciples:

“I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is the truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes, I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.” – John 17:15-19 (NKJV)

Make no mistake, I believe in a soon and coming appearing of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, the taking up of the saints; his judgment and reward for his children, and eternal judgment towards those who’ve rejected the Gospel and the Only Living Truth, Jesus Christ. However, this should stir us towards preaching the Gospel, not whining and crying for the return of Christ and Operation Rescue.

While mainstream Christianity is preoccupied with the rapture, its mission and influence are disappearing from the earth! It certainly has in Europe and is now fast becoming invisible here in America.

“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.” – John 4:35 (ESV)

Are we lazy Christians? Shouldn’t we understand by now that we are “Operation Rescue” to a dying world, which needs to hear about the only hope and message hidden within your hearts and souls?

Jesus Christ came to earth, born as a man, to redeem those born under the law of sin and death that he, through your testimony and preaching, may save those who are perishing. The sowers have been sowing the seed of Truth for centuries, and now the easy work of harvesting is yours.

Yes, your redemption is drawing nigh, but so is the condemnation and eternal judgment of those whom you’ve failed by not preaching and living the Gospel!

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” – 2 Corinthians 5:10 (ESV)

Saints are being murdered, beheaded, and imprisoned throughout the world. Yet, your belief of a pre-tribulation rapture and premillennial eschatology seems to have forgotten them, and they feel left behind and forgotten by the Western Churches! And the world, well, they’ve not seen hide nor hair of the present Kingdom of God, and the glorious economy of the Risen and ruling King of Kings. You’ve kept kicking the can of God’s Kingdom down the road instead of announcing, its existence and the power of His Kingdom!

Mainstream Christianity has corrupted herself in the prosperity messages of Heaven now, Kingdom later, and that persecution and tribulation are for those poor souls “left behind.” You’ve been duped and led astray by false shepherds; gathering to themselves many disciples and lining their pockets with loads of your money and celebrity acclaim. Don’t you see? Their perversion and the false messages are designed to appeal and to attract you; corralling you into their tents and away from your true calling and mission!

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” – Matthew 5:10-12 (ESV)

“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted…” – 2 Timothy 3:12 (ESV)

Are we foolish Christians? Have we become so weak in our understanding and faith that the suffering life of Christ is not good enough for us? Maybe our opposition and fear of tribulation and persecution are because we have refused to live the crucified life and preach the crucified and risen Savior. We have become addicted to the single attribute of love and have rejected the Wrath and Vengeance of God, His Justice, Holiness, and Righteousness.

The world needs to hear the truth of their condition before the arrival of The Righteous and Holy God. Salvation through repentance of sin and belief in the Son is their only access to the Father and everlasting life.

Our trivial handling of God’s grace and his love has produced a God, which requires no repentance or sorrowfulness of our sins.
The only remedy against the wrath and anger of God is the belief in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Only believing in Christ Jesus will God’s righteous and holy anger be averted. The world, and yes, even your neighbor remains under God’s wrath unless you venture out from your comfortable living and abandon your distraction with your ex-filtration. You are the rescue, and your “Ops” is to infiltrate the world with the message of salvation.

The Great Commission was not the Great Recommendation!

If God is all Love, then what did God pour out on Christ Jesus? And what is waiting for, and held in reserve for those whom you’ve failed to speak the only remedy against God’s wrath? Your “Love Card” only presents a tolerant God who winks and giggles at sin and compromise. Yes, God is love, but only to the believer, those who love God.

“The person who does not love does not know God because God is love.” – 1 John 4:8 (NET Bible)

“You are like unfaithful wives, flirting with the glamour of this world, and never realizing that to be the world’s lover means becoming the enemy of God! Anyone who deliberately chooses to love the world is thereby making himself God’s enemy. Do you think what the scriptures have to say about this is a mere formality? Or do you imagine that this spirit of passionate jealousy is the Spirit he has caused to live in us? No, he gives us grace potent enough to meet this and every other evil spirit if we are humble enough to receive it. That is why he says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’” – James 4:4

Through belief and teaching of Pre-Trib Rapture, Premillennial Eschatology, Dispensationalism, Prosperity Preaching, and the Love Card, we have turned the only Gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ into a Golden Calf, and we call it Yahweh.

Pray for our Brothers and Sisters in Christ throughout the world, who’ve been in great tribulation for years, and have been “Left Behind” by Christianity, preoccupied with leaving the world, rather than occupying and transforming it.

“But cowards who turn back from following me, and those who are unfaithful to me, and the corrupt, and murderers, and the immoral, and those conversing with demons, and idol worshipers and all liars—their doom is in the Lake that burns with fire and sulphur. This is the Second Death.” – Revelation 21:8 (TLB)

“Surely we are not going to be men who cower back and are lost, but men who maintain their faith until the salvation of their souls is complete!” – Hebrews 10:39

Please listen to the video message from Corrie Ten Boom: (You will have to confirm your age, do to the content of the video)

Notes & References:

For further study, check out the following sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Lacunza

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Irving

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Nelson_Darby

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scofield_Reference_Bible

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._I._Scofield

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Caldwell_Ryrie

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennialism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispensationalism

Dispensationalism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dispensationalism is an evangelical, futurist, Biblical interpretation that understands God to have related to human beings in different ways under different Biblical covenants in a series of “dispensations,” or periods in history. – WIKIPEDIA

*All Bible quotes are from:

http://www.BibleGateway.com.

My Own Prison – By Thomas J. Koester

Maybe you’re not aware, but you’ve always held the keys to your own prison.

The song, My Own Prison, written and sung by Scott A. Stapp, from the band, Creed; album, My Own Prison, released 1997.

The song’s lyric starts out:

“A court is in session, a verdict is in
No appeal on the docket today
Just my own sin
The walls are cold and pale
The cage made of steel
Screams fill the room
Alone I drop and kneel

Silence now the sound
My breath the only motion around
Demons cluttering around
My face showing no emotion
Shackled by my sentence
Expecting no return
Here there is no penance
My skin begins to burn…

… I cry out to God
Seeking only his decision
Gabriel stands and confirms
I’ve created my own prison”
Scott A. Stapp

The song is actually about self-condemnation and being tormented from past sins. I think that many of us suffer from the same struggle, only we’re not brave and honest enough to put it into lyrics for the world to sing.

No, we’d rather hide our self-hatered, lock it up inside our minds, and in our own prison, all the while holding the keys to our own cell. This is the definition of an unforgiving soul, a soul that hasn’t accepted forgiveness from God.

You see, the lack of forgiving others stems from an unforgiving self. When we refuse to forgive ourselves, we lack the ability to forgive others. More pointedly, we reject forgiveness because of shame, shame so deeply held within our being that it becomes our identity. Living too long with shame like that will soon turn your inner prison cell into a stronghold. A stronghold that will even lock out God’s forgiveness.

Did you know that your unforgiveness to yourself and the laundry lists of unforgiven people become building blocks for an inner fortress, where self-hatred will fester and thrive? It’s true, and it will keep you locked up for a lifetime!

We become deceived into thinking that our unforgiveness is justified due to the seriousness of not only our own sins but also the sins against us. So we die within our own prison cells due to a hunger strike, starving ourselves from God’s rich mercy and grace.

When we refuse to forgive, we end up owning the offense, or more accurately, the offense owns us. The offender, well, they may have moved on, yet we are the ones that are needlessly imprisoned because of our own stubbornness and pride.

Maybe you’re not aware, but you’ve always held the keys to your own prison.

Your forgiveness is the only key to unlocking your prison door. It’s the only way in which you, yourself, can be forgiven. Maybe you haven’t realized that God’s forgiveness is conditiononal. Maybe you don’t care. Maybe no one ever told you.

“Your heavenly Father will forgive you if you forgive those who sin against you, but if you refuse to forgive them, he will not forgive you.” Matthew 6:15 – Jesus of Nazareth

Don’t forfeit God’s mercy and grace any longer. Don’t remain shackled to self-loathing, loathing of others, bitterness, and anger.

There was a reason why the Inaugural Speech of Jesus was a scripture passage he read from in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 61, verse 1:

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the suffering and afflicted. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted, to announce liberty to captives, and to open the prison doors, setting them free.”

Do you see, my dear friend?

Jesus came to forgive you. He came to bring you good news for your sad and broken heart, to set you free from captivity, and to release you from your own prison.

It starts with you accepting God’s forgiveness of all your sins; all washed away by the sacrifice of Jesus, nailed to the cross. The Cross is where all your sins should forever be and not in your own prison of guilt.

The reason for this season is that you might forgive yourself, accept God’s forgiveness, and then you’ll be able to forgive everyone who hurt you.

Here’s what I humbly suggest…

Log off Facebook, LinkedIn, X, Nextdoor, etc. Quiet the noise in your head – let your heart speak for once. Listen carefully to its pent-up cries for help. Cry out to Jesus, God’s Son, to forgive you. Even asking for his help to do so. Confess with your heart and mouth of your failures and sins. Believe in your heart that Jesus was crucified and raised to life for you to seek you, save you, heal, and restore you. Ask him to help you turn from all your sins.

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. – Romans 10:9-11

Don’t give shame and pride another moment of keeping you in your own prison. Amen

Finding Your Way Back to God – By Thomas J. Koester

“Today, if you hear God’s voice, do not harend your heart.”

Our Nation is suffering from terminal cancer, which has metastasized throughout its culture, society, and every sector of government, education, corporations, media, and institutions.

Do you think any president, left or right, or political party can heal her?

If you do, you’re part of the problem, and I think you need a second opinion.

Our Nation is at stage-4 cancer, and very few are on their knees in intercession to our only Healer and Redeemer.

“…So it will be when the LORD begins to heal his people and cure the wounds he gave them.” Isaiah 30:26.

But this promise to heal and restore only comes after the Nation confesses and morns their sins and turns from their wicked ways.

Our Nation and its people are in denial about its moral rot and spiritual decay.

We think that the right politician will solve America’s problems, when in fact our problems are not political, but profoundly spiritual.

However, the True and proven Man, Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, is rejected as our only King and Sovereign, and His Lordship abandoned in exchange for earthbound political might of lesser gods.

There is no man whereby his promises, no matter how lofty and spiritual, can bring about true peace and national redemption.

Only the contrite heart of a broken nation and acknowledgment of our corporate and individual sins as a people will real spiritual change come. Only the True God of Heaven, who’s no politician and whose power and authority are not dependent on the elections or political whims of any people or nation.

The prophets are pleading for repentance and a return to holiness, or all is lost, and our only hope for healing will come from a dark season of judgment.

Prepare yourselves and get your houses and churches in order. We’ve not much time. Those whose God is The Lord and are found on their knees before our Great King will survive.

Our finest hour is upon us, but you’ll only shine in the coming darkness if your heart is right with God and if he is your only God and Savior.

God bless and heal America, but only! if we as your people turn from our selfishness and rebellion.

Find your way back to God so that our national cancer can be healed!

Standing In The Gap – By Thomas J. Koester

Can one man or one woman make a difference?

Standing in the gap for our nation has nothing to do with complaining, talking, podcasting, or even simple prayers. The word “Intercessor” is made up of two words:

(Inter) meaning: “between” and (ced) meaning: “go.”

To intercede literally means to go and get between God and the need. It means to actually stand in the empty void until God steps in and fills the need.

It is real labor and a deep spiritual endeavor and undertaking of intense pleading, repenting, and even arguing before God on behalf of others, who are either unwilling or unaware for the need to repent or change. Sometimes, this means going to a logistical place and filling the breach in a wall until restoration and revival begins.

Several years ago, a pastor commented about his disappointment with the decision by the Supreme Court, which redefined marriage. His concern, as I’m sure is the concerns of many pastors across the nation, was lawsuits and possible jail time for refusing to officiate certain marriages.

“Maybe I’ll just refuse to do any marriages,” the pastor sadly opined.

Standing in the gap, or becoming a true intercessor is not to abandon culture or society, or to abandon marriage rites altogether, but is to “go between,” even if it means lawsuit or jail time.

Standing in the gap is costly, and true intercession is not a quiet and passive endeavor, but stepping in and between the offenses of men, or even the offenses of a nation and the God of justice, righteousness, and holiness. It is indeed costly!

Daniel was such a man, which bravely stood in the gap of his time.

If you recall, prayer and worship, in public or in private to Jehovah, or any other god for that matter, was outlawed by King Darius. Unscrupulous men of the King’s court had encouraged the King to enact a law (sounds familiar) forbidding any prayer or worship for thirty days.

Daniel, being a continual intercessor for the return of his banished people to Israel, refused to cease his prayers to God. He faithfully prayed three times a day towards Jerusalem near his window, as he had regularly done. But these crafty men had set up surveillance, waiting for the man of God to violate the King’s edict. Having arrested Daniel, they brought him before the King.

Regrettably, as the King had been unknowingly coerced by these evil men to enact the law, the King had no other option but to pass judgment on Daniel, sentencing him to death by caged ferocious lions.

Even in this, Daniel did not waiver in his commitment to intercede or to even apologize for his violation of the new law.

Spoiler alert — When Daniel was tossed into the lion’s den, the lions acted like kittens. When King Darius saw that Daniel’s God had saved him, the King realized that he was duped by the men in his court, and so orders the immediate release of Daniel. The King, now being furious with the men of his court, orders them to be immediately tossed into the lion’s den, where they were instantly torn apart and devoured by the lions.

God saves and protects his intercessors! Did you hear that? God saves his intercessors!

WHERE ARE THE DANIELS OF OUR DAY!?!

Where are the pastors who are willing to go to jail because they stood in the gap against the gods of our culture?

Where are the everyday men and women who’ll stand in the gap for the dismembered unborn!?!

Where are the men and women who will stand in the gap for the fatherless, homeless, or alien, illegal or not in need of salvation?

Where are the evangelists and preachers proclaiming God’s redemptive word in the streets and marketplaces?

Where are the voices of 70.6% of 318 million Christians in America!?!

The darkness is so vivid that even the smallness of true faith can brighten a single city!

WHERE ARE THE FAITHFUL OF THE LAND?

Where is the authority of the believer?

Our silence and passivity have reached heaven. The cries of the unborn and the blood of their partially born dismembered bodies have reached the eyes and ears of the God of Creation. The lost and abandoned children of our cities and towns have reached the courts of God. America’s sins will not go unpunished.

If the sinners will not repent, it is time for the people of God to repent in their stead and stand in the gap, even for the unrighteous acts of our great land!

In all of this, God is still looking for men and women to stand in the gap; to risk time, treasure, and talent; and, if necessary, blood, sweat, and tears for the Good News of the Kingdom.

Diabolic means to “divide” (di) and “abolish” (abolic) – di-abolic. To divide and abolish. It is literally the opposite of the word intercessor!

Can you not see what is happening before our very eyes? Every sector of our culture and society is being divided and abolished, including history, children, family, marriage, sex/gender, education, justice; race, religion, etc.

The evil in our nation is diabolic and is a serious spiritual virus, spreading like an airborne pathogen, infecting the very soul and foundations of our nation and people.

Intercessors in our nation, cities, towns, and villages must stand in this gap and reestablish what darkness has divided and abolished. Fill in the gaps of the moral and spiritual holes in our nation’s walls.

“So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.” Ezekiel 22:30

Can one man make a difference? According to Ezekiel, one man or woman can!

Christ made the difference by his standing in the gap between the just wrath of God against the sins of mankind. Christ was hung on a vertical alter, pointing all people towards the God of Heaven.

Because of what Christ achieved, God exalted his Son to the highest honor and now sits on the right side of God’s throne.

You, too, are seated in heavenly places with Christ and because of Christ.

Do you know how much authority you have in Christ at this very moment?

Be that man or woman, young or old, and stand in the gap on behalf of the lost and our land.

Silence the diabolic and divider with the heart of an intercessor and stand in the gap! AMEN

The Good The Bad & The Phony – By Thomas Koester

Don’t Be The Bad, And Certainly Not The Phony!

Even in writing this, I am plagued with the thoughts of acclaim and “likes,” but I must admit that I am not worthy of the calling of God, nor am I capable of carrying it out. It is only with God’s grace and mercy on my life that this is written, along with learning from the mistakes I’ve made while being tested.

The following words fall heavily upon my soul and motives, and I hold myself to the same scrutiny and examination.

Being addicted to the approval of others is a nasty and deadly trap. Using people and ministry to satisfy my approval addiction is like a cocaine addict using heroin to kick his drug habit. The lack of significance can only be resolved by becoming insignificant to applause and accolades until your soul is so quiet that you hear only God’s approval. It is only necessary to have the confidence and support of your Heavenly Father. The applause of heaven is far greater than the applause from men. Heaven’s applause will echo for eternity.

Did you know?

1,500 pastors leave their ministries each month due to burnout, conflict, or moral failure.

Doctors, lawyers, and clergy have the most problems with drug abuse, alcoholism, and suicide.

70% of pastors don’t have any close friends.

75% of pastors report severe stress, causing anguish, worry, bewilderment, anger, depression, fear, and alienation. The list goes on and on.

This stems from the stress of being a resource and reservoir rather than a funnel. It is far healthier teaching people to hear directly from God and how to read and study the Bible rather than being the “Bible Answer Man.”

The movie, “Bruce Almighty,” comes to mind, staring Jim Carrey, Morgan Freeman, and Steve Carrel. Chaos ensues when God allows Bruce to take over for a while. Bruce, in his excitement with unfettered power of God, checks the “yes” box to everyone’s prayer requests throughout the entire world, causing global chaos! Bruce learns he’s not equipped to be God, and in the end, he surrenders the power back to the Almighty.

“All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Matthew 5:37. (NIV)

Perhaps all your yeses and nos came from the wrong place. And your ministry has become a coffin rather than a platform.

And this is exactly what’s killing our pastors at the rate of 50 per day. We’ve expected our pastors to be god and to answer all our questions with “yeses.”

We are like the wilderness children of Israel, who were too afraid of God and stayed, trembling in their tents, crying to Moses, “Speak to us yourself, and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us, or we will die.” Exodus 20:18-21.

Their “no” to God was a “yes” to Moses, and it nearly killed him. His frustration built up over time until he exploded with anger, disobeying God and striking the rock. Moses became disqualified from entering the promised land.

Not much has changed. And like the children of Israel, we’ve failed the test as a people and have burdened our pastors like they’ve burdened Moses. It is a two-way street, to be sure, but pastors need grace too!

However, clerical abuse is like domestic violence. The wife can not leave her abuser; his abuse validates her wounded psyche, body, mind, and soul. Our pastors need to relinquish power back to God. They need to allow The Almighty to be God to their congregations.

Pastors need to let their people feel the weight of God as He is, so they can genuinely encounter the Lordship Jesus Christ. God’s grace must become the motivator for both the pastor and the congregation. We need to bring our pastors back down from the mountain and directly seek the presence and heart of God as obedient sons and daughters.

And so, both the pastor and the congregation need to do their part. We must let our pastors off the hook and allow them to be human. And pastors need to cease their co-dependency and enablement of weak believers by usurping God’s role in their lives.

When the only acclaim sought after by the pastor and congregant is, “well done, my good and faithful servant…,” with no other obligations or legalities, the congregation can reach maturity. The workload becomes lighter and not heavier. If we are motivated by the applause of men, we have our reward, and it goes no further than the dust of the earth. The gravitational pull of pride keeps it from heaven and creates an imbalance in the life of the pastor, and so affects the entire body.

Your mission is not to be the “man,” the pastor, or preacher, but to be the son, in strict obedience to the Heavenly Father, and to carry out His work in His way, in Spirit and Truth. Your authenticity as a servant of God is your sonship to Him. The strength of your ministry flows from the depth of your belovedness in the Father-heart of God.

The burdens you receive from the heart of God, in Christ Jesus, are always light. The limitations and expectations from the people are always heavy. You are God’s servant and not the people. The people belong to God, and God belongs to the people. Ask God for balance and be brave enough to establish reasonable boundaries. Redistribute the ministry to the people so that the Holy Spirit can distribute and apportion gifts accordingly.

The Church is under a kingdom economy and not a democratic order. If you want the Prince of Peace, relinquish the governance to His shoulders. Isaiah 9:6.

Don’t settle on becoming a traditional church pastor, aspiring to build a Mega-Church, but rather, aspire to be faithful with the little God has given you. Therefore, allow His favor to exponentially grow the Kingdom of God and His Royal Economy in and through you. The Good News is the Kingdom of God, and it must be good news to you, too! Then, when Godly order has entered your own life, the reign of peace will begin, and the lost and lonely will hear and see its message.

The Church needs to cease its favoritism of the attractive and wealthy and its addiction to celebrities. They may give you resources and bodies to build a cathedral, but the Spirit of Christ will not inhabit it. We have had many King Sauls as pastors and desperately need King Davids.

It’s all about the fulfillment of Isaiah 6 and those humble yet daring souls who’ll serve the least and the last.

I was in a meeting several years ago in Antioch, California. There was a long line of men and boys waiting for a sumptuous buffet. Naturally, it was always the teenagers that fought to be at the head of the line. We offered our thanks for the food, and then I announced:

“Okay, the beginning of the line is at the end.”

You should have seen their faces! I will never forget it. The following week, the line formed again, and all the boys were clamoring to be last! So that night, the first became the least, and the last became the proud. The guys at the end of the line revealed their foolishness, and the guys at the head of the line showed their humility as they gained understanding.

Are you a good, bad, or phony pastor?

And this is how God works. He’s constantly changing things up, even though He remains the same. We want greatness or the privilege of being first, but genuine humility will always prefer anonymity and silently promote others rather than themselves. A humble man is always searching for the will of God and is brave enough to obey it, even though it comes with risk to his reputation.

“… but emptied himself by taking on the form of an enslaved person, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:7-8

Pastors, we are called to the way of the cross and not just lectures behind the lecterns.

Church, we are called to the way of the cross and not just benchwarmers or spectators.

If you settle for doing things you do not need God to come through, you are burying the talent that He’s entrusted to you. Raw talent and seminarian training are not an indication of true anointing. True spiritual talent and anointing are birthed in a humble heart and a contrite spirit. His effort is not to be seen or even heard, except for the character and nature of Christ being exalted through his humility.

There is more power in the death of reputation because it leaves room for God’s power. It allows the Church to become transformed into the radiant bride, and the world will see her beauty through her actions. But egotism stops the process of authentic spiritual transformation. When the body of Christ engages the Great Commission, doing all the work of the ministry, true maturity reaches every soul that participates.

True pastoral talent and anointing are to serve and equip the children of God to do the work of ministry, which you tirelessly and at a high cost, hoard for yourself and your glory.

You may think you are carrying the weight of the Church, but it is the weight of your ego, which is weighing the Church down and keeping her from her beauty and spiritual growth.

A lingering question remains: will all your work stand the fiery test? Will it burn up like wood, hay, or stubble?

“Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually, there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely.” I Corinthians 3:12-15 (MSG)

As goes the pastor, so goes the congregation!

The answer to this question is between you and God. Just understand that your church is a vehicle, and where you are headed in your private life is where the church will end up.

It is better to be ashamed before men than to be ashamed before God.

Be the good, not the bad, and certainly not the phony.

Jonahitis – By Thomas Koester

A True Story of Hoarding Grace

I was at a restaurant with my wife in Pacifica, California, during a summer evening many Sundays ago.

We sat at a beautiful table, ready to enjoy dinner. Our table faced directly towards a floor-to-ceiling plate glass window. On the other side, less than 100 yards, was the Pacific Ocean pounding the surf. The sun finally broke through the coastal fog around 6:00 PM. Beautiful, majestic; our hearts filled with praise and gratitude towards God.

Outside, slightly to our right, were fishermen casting their lines into the surf. Suddenly, one of the fishermen caught what looked like a 30-pound striped bass. Awesome, praise God! What a catch! Several minutes later, another large bass. All this beauty is a gift from God.

The table to our right was seated with two men, one man slightly older than the other. I could tell that it was their first date. As their conversation carried into our booth, I was annoyed, angered, and critical. My wife could sense the tension and change in my attitude.

Suddenly, beauty faded. Gratitude left. Praises ceased. My sense of awe was dwarfed into awfulness.

What are “they” doing here?

God, they’re soaking up and wasting all this beauty. GOD… …the beauty – the ocean – the sunset is lavished on them. Do something!

Judgment rose within me. They are “those people” who bring God’s judgment on us all. I tried to block them, ignore them, wish them gone, hoping they’d finish their meals and leave. Then, it hit me. Yea, it shouted from inside my mind:

I want; no, I can’t wait for God’s judgments on ‘those people,’ they’re destroying our country!

Then a voice inside me said:

“This is my time of grace for the lost…”

His Spirit touched my heart, and immediately He gave me insight and the grace to see my sin.

He continued:

“…My Grace comes for the Lost, even the vilest sinner; yes, even for those two men, who for a moment were, by my choosing, your neighbor.

I lavished them with my glory, the works of my hands, and my breath over the waters that they may see the mighty waves pound the sand. I hooked those great fish to those lines that they might know I provide. I, not you, broke through the clouds and, at just the right moment, displayed my splendor and majesty to the crowd.

And you, my dutiful son, did not lift one finger to welcome or even offer a “good evening, gentlemen.” You, my son, are lost. You’ve quickly forgotten the depth from which I drew you, the vileness of your own sin, which, let me remind you, has been fully pardoned and atoned! Should I not have compassion for those whom I choose?

You’ve forgotten I came not for the righteous but for the sinner. I came not for the well, neither the well-to-do nor the do-gooder. I came for the lost, the vilest, the better. I’m not too weak to save the homosexual or promiscuous heterosexual. I see no degree, no difference between the sins of men.

You’ve questioned my judgment! Do you want me to withhold grace for judgment on those whom you choose? There already exists an appointed time of judgment for the rebellious, the coward, the unbeliever, the faithless, and the murderer, those who love to live a lie. But it is not now. I have my “Grace Agents” all over the world, commissioned to seek and save the lost.

You suffer from Jonahitis!

You think you can sit comfortably beneath my heaven, waiting for judgment to fall on the unrighteous? You are on the wrong team. You’re cheering for judgment! I don’t know you because you don’t know me. You’ve lost touch with my heart. You better draw near; you better search me out, humbling yourself and repent from your wicked bout.

You’re correct about one thing; judgment is coming; it’s nearly here. The world, and yes, even the United States, will get a taste of what’s near. But this judgment is not for the lost, the homosexual or adulterer, not for the murderer or thief, liar, or cheat. It’s coming for you. You, who call yourselves by my Name, refuse to say “good evening, gentlemen” or hello, neighbor. You, who are amazed by my amazing grace, only to keep it hidden and selectively gracing only the attractive and well-dressed, the sinless and smell-good-people.

It’s the people who attend my Sunday worship services, raising their hands in awe, lowering their heads in sweet repose, singing me “love songs” of sweet devotion, and giving such melodic lip service. You can sing and worship all you like. I want your obedience and not just your sweet “I love you, Lord.”

You’ve sat too long in those cushiony pews. You’ve basked in my presence long enough! Now, GET UP. GET OUT. Ask me for my heart and eyes, and I will place them into your hearts and minds.

Then, once again, you will remember. You will feel what I feel and see what I see and cry for the lost sons and lost daughters. You will no longer see homosexuals or prostitutes, murderers, adulterers, liars, and cheats. You will see the lost and hurting, broken and needy.

Let me unveil something new to you, “repentance with action,” yes, righteous deeds will only revert my day of disaster against my Church. Stop your prim and pose services, your judgments, and the stingy hoarding of grace.”

If you recall, Jonah’s sailing companions were fearful and terrified of the sea’s great fury! They feared for their lives and prayed in a hurry. Only finding Jonah asleep in the hull, they shouted and roused the man of God from his slumber, “What have you done, and what god have you angered?”

“I serve the Lord God,” said Jonah; God said I must go to Nineveh and preach all over. But the people of Nineveh are vile and sinful, “said Jonah. They’re undeserved of God’s grace, so I’m off to Tarshish after this nine-day-cruse for some rest and some peace.

I know this God who chases me, churning up the seas and bringing you to your knees. He thinks I’m not smart or wise to his ways; if I go to Nineveh, he’ll forgive, and he’ll save! So why should I bother and upset my vacation plans? If the sinners go unpunished, why save and heal the land?

Your disobedience and running are threatening our lives; you, not we, have brought God’s judgment to light; here cast in your lot, and let’s see if it’s so!

The lot fell to Jonah, and they tossed him over the bow; he hit the water, sinking to depths far below. No prayer could be heard, no pleading was pled, he sternly and steadily held in his head, no confession, and no repentance to bring change to his dread. He hits bottom, surrounded and tangled in seaweed and mire; he offers a faint cry, higher and higher; a great fish appears, swallowing him whole and entire.

The wayward prophet calls out to God;

“When my life ebbed away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.”

O Church, wake up! You’re asleep in the light God’s anger is coming, but not for the lost. We’ve been headed in the wrong direction! The world cries for a Savior, and we cry for heaven. We spend dollars and hours prettying our sanctuaries, staining our stained glass windows, and tuning our instruments. We Christianize our music, our cars, and our shops. We invent new ways to heavenize everything we touch.

We think we can vote in morality by Christianizing our politics or changing our Nation’s future with “born-again-and-again” candidates. We’ve forgotten that God appoints the rulers we deserve according to our righteousness, and then His judgment will swerve.

You say the homosexual, the transvestite, the tattooed and the pierced; the thief and robber, the liar and cheat have brought us Katrina, Northridge, and Ike. The earth shakes and quakes because the sinners are unrighteous? No. We’ve got it wrong! The earth shakes and quakes, rumbles, and floods; it becomes hotter or colder because we’ve left things undone! Judgment is coming because the righteous practices unrighteousness.

It’s because of the sins of “omission.”

We’ve omitted God’s grace from our neighborhoods and marketplaces. We’ve omitted God’s grace from our downtown, uptown, and the lowdown; from the down-and-outers, underachievers, and meat-eaters; from our dinner tables, family rooms, boardrooms, and horse stables. Grace can’t be found, not because sin abounds, but because we want judgment to fall against the unrighteous!

We yearn for the rapture, “operation exfil.” Christ yearns for a victorious and triumphant bride! Her beauty and rightness are her righteous acts and deeds.

Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?”

“Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!”

Then the LORD said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?” Jonah 4:9-11

Should we be angry that sinful people flourish? Or shall we feel what God feels and offer them Christ, in us, their only hope and glory?

God, heal us from our Jonahitis!

Superman – A Message For Pastors & For Those Who Love Them – By Thomas Koester

The Freedom of Being Real

Are you exhausted? Running on empty? Has your physical and spiritual odometer cycled over too many times?

If so, you may be a Superman Pastor.

Your identity and significance must be in your sonship and not in your pastorship. Being a son and a brother in Christ is far more relatable. Being relatable keeps you grounded, humble, and approachable. “Leaping tall buildings in a single bound, being more powerful than a locomotive, and speeding faster than a bullet,” is for Superman, not pastors.

“Look! Up in the Sky! It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane… It’s… …No, it’s just Pastor Dave.

Just be who you are, a beloved son, father, brother, and husband. If you’re going to be a faithful shepherd of God’s children, you need to be faithful to your wife and children first. You need to be faithful to your sonship as God’s beloved son and protect that relationship. Let God do all that superhero stuff.

Never use your intimacy with God as a vicarious impetus for others to synthesize. In doing this, you and your congregation will both become lost and distant from God. People will hunger for your intimacy at the sacrifice of their connection with God.

Instead, teach them how to be intimate with the Father-heart of God until their Father-hunger for God surpasses their father-hunger for you.

Won’t this lighten your load?

Won’t this save your marriage?

Won’t this free you up to be your children’s daddy?

If not, maybe your cape is showing.

As some of you have retired or have left the pastorship, you may find yourselves lost because you’ve been trapped in a service and performance role with God and others. This was never God’s doing, but the writ of men and the corporate structure of many churches.

Did you know that the word “religion” actually means to “re-bond” with God? The Latin word comprises two parts, “re” telling again and “ligare,” pointing to bind or to bond.

We Protestants are constantly harping against other religions that faith in God is not a religion but a relationship. But, in tossing out the word religion, we’ve tossed out the significance of the word. Rather than genuinely encouraging and leading people into intimacy and sonship with God, they’ve learned by our actions as pastors and enter into performance roles, as presented by the World’s false religions.

So many pastors have lost their intimate bond with God because of the performance and service trap. So, they end up helplessly modeling burnout, depression, and, believe it or not, loneliness.

Many pastors feel they must keep up the “superhero” role at all costs; that is, they must appear spiritually superior and altogether when in the public view. And, if he’s incredibly talented, he will maintain this unrealistic role even in front of his family. Being a “Clark Kent,” or just a normal guy is too risky for the sake of his job.

What happens to a man when he calls his darkness light?

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your vision is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness—how deep is that darkness! – Matthew 6:22-23

When a pastor calls his darkness light, he cuts himself off from God and others, and the duplicity becomes more and more costly. He loses his support from is family because the hypocrisy becomes unbearable.

If a pastor, and for that matter, any of us, satisfies our father-hunger with God and not with the ministry or titles, we will grow as true sons and daughters of God. It will therefore be the fruit of our lives, which will benefit others, and encourage them to bear their fruit by connecting to the True Vine, Jesus Christ.

The average pastor cannot maintain a pastor’s schedule, manage all the demands of human needs and interaction, attended meetings, weddings, funerals, and remain human. He’ll either suck it up, put on his cape and pretend to soar, or he’ll take on the humility of Christ.

A good and wise pastor will understand that his heart and identity is far more important than is superhero reputation and notoriety. His true strength is in allowing his humanness to be seen from time to time and not his cape.

In other words, take on the humility of Christ and the burden of Christ. Did you know that bearing your cross is a very public affair? Jesus bore the weight of his cross in public, and, at the moment where he had lost his strength, a simple man aided him and carried his cross for a distance.

Pastoring is not maintaining an Olympic-style dash from crisis to crisis, and it’s not meant to be a solo act. It’s teamwork; it should involve the aid of well qualified and faithful elders and deacons. After all, the ministry of the Church is meant for the Church and not because of the Church. By each of us, you and me, joining in the ministry, we will grow in our faith and collectively reach maturity in Christ as a healthy body.

A superhero pastor has no time for teamwork, it’s just easier and less complicated to do it all himself.

Since scripture has defined the Church as a body, the concept of real and healthy ministry is when the entire body functions together, when each member does its intended and gifted part.

When we act properly like a body, we can create a safe and healthy community where pastors can thrive within healthy boundaries. Maybe then pastors can cease leaping tall buildings in a single bound.

There is so much more to talk about on this subject. But, until then, pray for your pastors. Become more involved. Give them grace. Take better care of one another. Visit one another. Pray for one another. Support your pastor, and not just with financial gifts, but with your time too.

After all, aren’t we all children of God?

Only in DC Comics will you find a Superman.

The Wasting of Humanity – By Thomas Koester

Narcissus: “a youth who fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool and wasted away from unsatisfied desire, whereupon he was transformed into the flower.” Greek Mythology

Several months ago, I watched the movie “The Giver,” with my wife, Toni. While this movie was about a futuristic society, it is relevant and a wake-up call for all of us today. We are quickly becoming the society depicted in this film as emotionless, colorless, and vaccinated against thinking and reason. Yes, the film depicts families performing daily and routine vaccinations before leaving their “family units” for predetermined vocations on behalf of the Collective.

I recommend watching the movie trailer before reading on…

We have allowed ourselves to become programmed by the programmers. Whenever we accept “truth” from others without research and discovery we enter into another level of being programmed.

Not only are we losing our critical and analytically thought processes, but we are losing our language, and therefore our ability to communicate clearly and creatively.

In a similar way, we are losing our spirituality. Rather than connecting directly to God, through Jesus Christ (The Word) and the Holy Spirit (Teacher, Comforter, and Guide), we limit our connections to the Godhead by extensions of corporate worship of 15 to 20 minutes per week. Our spirituality is lived vicariously through our spiritual leader’s personal intimacy with God.

We’ve abdicated our inherent rights as sons and daughters of God to personally hear His Voice, not as “new revelation,” but rather a deeper intimacy. We value pastors as to how well they can hold our brief attention, rather than teaching us to feed ourselves on the Word and voice of God. Too many pastors have assumed the role of the Holy Spirit, which further alienates us from the Third Person of the Trinity. Whom, by the way, is the real Gift-Giver.

There is no process to practice ministry, as the ministry has become nothing more than spectating and being ministered to. There is little, to no outlet for functional ministry being practiced by the average believer, and so we remain giftless.

This reminds me of the days long ago when the government removed wood shops, metal shops, mechanic shops as well as home economics from public schools. Children are left with no physical application or the opportunity to learn a trade. The advantage of tactile learning has vanished.

Many churches have done the same thing. They’ve removed all of the application and ministerial outlets for members to exercise their gifts as they learn the truth, therefore becoming perpetual students and not masters of their unique spiritual gifts and service to others.

Many teachers, not all, have become programmers also. They dispense pre-selected and government-approved curricula to the masses. Classrooms are no longer a place of free-thinking of free ideas and ideals. God is not welcomed there, also. Excellence is shunned and replaced with fairness, and high standards are lowered to mediocrity, so no one fails.

Common grammar school literature of the 16th century could not be read, nor comprehended by the average high school student of today.

Progressively, technology and the internet are replacing fundamental human contact and interaction. Technological corporations are sanitizing the meaning of life and are reprogramming the masses to “living” for pleasure and consumerism. Our lives and interests are becoming nothing more than algorithms, measured by impersonal machines, reporting to corporate mongrels who fight for a greater market share of our existence.

Our divine purpose and uniqueness have been replaced by political usefulness; mere polling data for those in power to gain greater control over our individualism until it too vanishes.

Utopianism is impossible in a fallen world. As soon as it is politically achieved, it immediately turns into despotism. But the tyrannical of every generation wants its opportunity to do it better; with utter ignorance of past failures and abandoned hindsight, they press forward with backward thinking and demonic ideology. Their deranged ideology creates a deranged society and a warped and selfish culture.

And so, are there any humans out there? Do you feel anymore? Do you love people, or only the device, which you use to connect yourself to them?

Is your skin stained with enough ink yet? Do you have any more natural skin left? Are you pierced enough? Are you satisfied with all your selfies plastered throughout social media? Are your relationships about what you can get until you can’t get anymore?

We have made our outer bodies into billboards of our own inner selfishness and self-worship. Our self-absorbtion has absorbed most of our humanness.

It would appear that the more technologically we’ve become as a society, the more primitive we’ve become as a culture. It seems that technology, as wonderful and useful as it is, is diminishing our humanity towards one another and to nature.

The number of tattoos, piercings, abortions, and Botox is not an indicator of a progressive technological society, but a society that is regressing into tribalism and primitivism.

Are people, you know, humans; are they disposable, like the unborn, infants, and the elderly? How about relationships? Are you a dumper, or are you a dumpee?

People are challenged to dump ice-cold buckets of water on themselves and others or ingest Tide pods or dance outside their moving vehicles, which are appearing more and more unintelligent. I challenge you to think and act for yourselves so that you may act wisely and think kindly towards others.

Our humanity is at risk, and if it is lost, our humaneness towards one another will end. Our loss of humaneness always starts with a loss of saneness.

Narcissus: “a youth who fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool and wasted away from unsatisfied desire, whereupon he was transformed into the flower.” Greek Mythology

Our culture is fast becoming a collection of “flowers.”

“She looks at herself instead of looking at you and so doesn’t know you.” – Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black) by Marie-Henri Beyle

As a society, we can not peer into the mirror for too long before we’ve become wasted and unsatisfied. When we spend too much time looking at our own images, we tend to build our lives around ourselves. We merely seek relationships with people who remind ourselves of ourselves and that look and act as selfishly as we do. The over adornment of tattoos, body piercings, self-obsession, and body emphasis is proof that our culture is transforming into nothing more than a bouquet of flowers.

And this is how historians will say America was lost.

The more we look at and emphasize ourselves instead of each other, the less we know one another.

We can only rediscover our original humanity in the Creator and in Jesus Christ. God created us in his image, which time and again we’ve lost, but Jesus Christ is the Image Restorer and the Restorer of Life.

Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Deuteronomy 8:3 (NLT)

We can do this. We can become less distracted with ourselves and become more attracted to God and to one another.

If we feed ourselves more on what God is saying than on what others are texting or tweeting and preaching, maybe, just maybe we can save America again.

Killing Religion – Thomas Koester

Religion has never raised the dead. To the contrary, religion puts people in the grave.

Religion is the focus of human effort. That kind of focus leaves no room for faith. It leaves no room for the divine power of God.

You can not change the truth of who you are on the inside by your actions on the outside. Your heart must be changed. Religion can not change your heart; only a relationship with God can do that.

Religion is a ritual of observances that can lead you away from God to a god. This is why religion in and of itself is dangerous. It can lead to an empty life full of observances, rituals, and legalism.

Religion must die; after all, it murdered the Messiah. But God made good use of it to usher in redemption through the death of His Son. However, religion does not belong in any actual house of worship, nor does it belong in the life of any faithful follower of Jesus Christ.

Lately, there’s been many “religions” being thrown around, bullying lost and broken souls, for which Christ came to heal and rescue. Don’t become infected by religion or traditionalism as I did. Get cured of it and become Agents of Grace instead of Religion.

Some people invest their trust in doctors, scientists, and vaccines. At the same time, others invest their faith in a miraculous cure, prayer, and repentance. God can work in both because God is not confined to religious institutions. Religion wants to own God; it wants to control our perception. It seeks to become the sole arbiter of biblical interpretation and, therefore, regulates God.

So don’t be a pushy religionists. Be an agent of hope and grace. Exercise your faith in the explosive power that raised Jesus from the grave. Religion has never raised the dead. To the contrary, religion puts people in the grave.

Jesus Christ conquered religion the morning he rose from the grave. He left the grave clothes of the old religious order in the tomb and provided us direct access to God the Father through his glorious risenness.

The best way to kill Religion is to love the Religious into a relationship directly with our Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, his son.

In The Gospel of Luke, chapter 12, Jesus warns the crowd:

“Guard yourselves against the yeast that puffs up the Pharisees—hypocrisy, false appearance, trying to look better than you are.”

You see, your goodness is not good enough. Only the goodness of Jesus is good enough to save you and change your life. You can not change the truth of who you are on the inside by your actions on the outside. Your heart must be changed. Religion can not change your heart. It can change your outer appearance, but not your heart.

God’s grace is sufficient to save the Religious out from their Religions.

Because Jesus lives, we live — free from religion and free from the traditions of men.