It is beyond me how anyone with half a brain could sit and listen to men like Perry Noble, Mark Driscoll, Rick Warren, or a hundred others in their blood line and not pickup on their falsehood. The only answer is “Strong Delusion.”

We read in Scripture of the strong drink that the nation will be made to drink of, and the drunken state that will be the result. “A second angel followed and said, ‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.’” What we began to experience in the circus church was a spectacle, and still is, but it has moved on to an intoxicated fisticuff.

I have followed loosely Ken Silva at Apprising Ministries and Christian Research Net, and Lighthouse Trails documenting of Perry Noble at New Spring Church in Anderson S.C., but have never commented, till now. After reading about the account of the leadership at New Spring, going way over the line, in their attack of James Duncan for his critique of Perry Noble, and Perry’s strong arm response of intimidation, a word of warning is overdue from this site.

In an interview with Chris Rosebrough of Fighting for the Faith Radio, James Duncan, a Professor at Anderson University advises all believers to start a discernment blog to warn of the imminent danger that is at hand; this is good advise. The interview, “Perry Noble’s Employees Assassinate the Character of a Critic,” needs to be listened to. Perry is a growing influence in the Seeker Sensitive, Mega Church movement and is charting the course for many market driven Churches. This man brings violence one step closer to the elimination of all Bible believing Christians, and he gets support for his deeds.

Also, on James Duncan’s own blog, Pajama Pages, James documents, in detail, how  these so called followers of Christ, tried to destroy him for openly criticizing Perry Noble.

Perry Noble, like Mark Driscoll, preachs a very worldly and flesh oriented message, and by so doing gather to themselves large followings of those who gravitate to the base nature of man, rather than to the Cross, where the flesh and the world are put away. Perry openly feeds his congregation the filth of the world, then tries to intimidate, by his crude rashness, anyone who would dare disagree with him.

This is the trend of Church Growth today, the blind leading the blind into accepting a false, flesh gratifying, Im O.K., You’re O.K. as long as you don’t take the Bible too serious, kind of Gospel.

Perry Noble, Mark Driscoll, and Rick Warren are the worst of the worst, but there are many others who exist on the fringes of their teachings and who have not ventured out of the closets yet, but they will come. They exist up and down Main Street, in your town and across the Nation, and have listened to these men and rehearsed their methods in their own Churches, and envy their success, and secretly desire their fame for themselves. They live and play on the edge of a dangerous cliff and promote the teaching of these men as if it were their own, and encourage their flock to graze ever closer to the edge, all the while saying it is good and healthy for their soul; Peace, Peace, but there is no Peace sayeth the Lord.

These men never blush for their wickedness, but encourage others to celebrate this new kind of freedom. The freedom they celebrate is freedom from the narrow way; it is freedom from the Cross, which is freedom from Christ.

Hag 2:12-14

“If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches bread or stew, wine or oil, or any food, will it become holy?”‘” Then the priests answered and said, “No.” And Haggai said, “If one who is unclean because of a dead body touches any of these, will it be unclean?” So the priests answered and said, “It shall be unclean.” Then Haggai answered and said, “‘So is this people, and so is this nation before Me,’ says the Lord , ‘and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.”

These verses speak loudly to a nation caught in its sin, and it speaks loudly to these American Churches. Where did the mentality come from that says, that if we put a Christian in the midst of the world we can make it holy; that by a Christian presence we can spread holiness? Where did the mentality come from that says that a Christian can maintain their purity when simultaneously mingling with impurity? Who said that we could keep an open relationship with the world and come away unscathed? It is a lie, it cannot be done.

Haggai here declares the same; it cannot be done. The pure person cannot by being with impurity and mixing with them impart his purity to them. But, to the contrary, if a holy person touches an unclean thing the holy person becomes unclean. To say it plainly: corruption and sin are more easily transferred to the righteous than righteousness transferred to the unrighteous. So the rule seems to be plain enough. Don’t think that an evil person living in the midst of goodness will commend that goodness to the evil person. The Spirit has declared that it is not so, but this is exactly what we see, routinely, in the institutional Church. We advertise, we promote, we poll neighborhoods, we beg and we plead that the world would please come and be a part of us, and they have, and we have become corrupted and unclean, deluded, because we now see as the world sees, and we see that the world’s ways and means have great promise for the Church. We have become an unclean thing and we don’t know how to repent, so the Lord will come to us in our darkest hour, and we will see our nakedness and be ashamed.

Repentance and shame is not in the vocabulary of these men, they exalt there shame and draw ovations from their flatterers.

As we watch the world tumble and turn, and the organized church slip into apostasy, words start taking on new value, meaning, and understanding, both for the worldly Christian and for those enlightened souls who recognize the fulfillment of end time prophecy. We have witnessed, in our generation, the grand sermons of talented preachers, with their endless chatter, flowing like a fermented mash, to inebriated crowds, bellying up to the bar for a round of worldly religion, and seen them stumble home, and still manage to confess, in the face of their sin, their creedal and national allegiance, then fall for the umpteenth time while convinced, by their pastor, that they can live in the world and not be of it. They are not only in the world, they are awash in it; it covers them; they have become to the “world,” just, the “religious world,” no different than those outside, just more cocksure that’s all.

The words of Scripture are very clear today.

2 Cor 6:14-7:1

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”

Steve Blackwell

The following response to my last post, by T Austin Sparks, Vision and Vocation, is just such a blessing.

There are so few who are hearing from the Lord these days, compared to the very large numbers who listen for words from men, to direct their way into eternity. We look for markers and road signs, and directions from fellow travelers, on our way to the Celestial City, and there are many who are leading away from that City, but not all. We call these markers, road signs, and directions “ministries;” those who are pointing the way. Most direct us onto the Broadway where life is easy, but a few point to the truth, to the narrow way, a way that demands that we focus on the destination, and not on the distractions.

Here is one that I am glad to know, who hears the Shepherd and is following.

_________________________________________________

Thank you for this message that has arrived in my email box. I had just posted what I have written below on someone elses blog. Then I finally read your email and it so encouraged me…it truly is the word for me today… so I thought I would post it again here. I have been greatly encouraged by your messages that have arrived in my email box but have not always commented. Thank you so much for them. Both yours and David Wilkerson’s remind me that it isn’t a time for me to be dwelling carelessly or to be holding the truth in unrighteousness….and that He tries the hearts of all men who say they love Him. …tries them?? Why does He try us when He already knows the thoughts and true motives of our hearts. BLESSED IS THE MAN WHO IS TRIED BY GOD’S JEALOUS LOVE…it is an act of our Father’s jealous love that every thought, every motive, every act and every idle word spoken, all that comes from the root of self be made known to ourselves by His Jealous Love so that we may nail this man of flesh, this man of sin who sits in the temple of God as though He is God, to the cross daily and hate him as much as God does.. .. No, we will not stand naked and ashamed on His Day, His great day that is so soon in coming. But we are not as those who walk in the dark that that day may come upon us unawares.

He is very determined to have a blameless and glorious bride. I remember that these many trials are really just His many graces to me.

I often say to Him. Father we both know that I do not love you and how I long to love you with your love and to love you fully. Only a dead man can love Jesus. There is nothing in us that we should desire Him. Isaiah was correct in saying so. There is nothing in our flesh that can possibly desire or even love Jesus. He is just too humble and too lowly for prideful men to love. It is vanity to even think we can love Him or serve Him with our love and our service. But He does say, ‘If you love me feed my sheep” And in many places in the gospels we are told that to love Him is to love one another, and then the greatest love is to be found in loving our enemies and even dying for them. It is to love those who hate us, revile us and persecute us for righteousness sake.

But how can we be made perfect in such an obedient love unless we willingly share in the fellowship of His sufferings and not as a victim but rather as a victor. It can only be done by sharing the same cup He drank from. We are not willingly surrendered men and women until we have had our agonising Gethsemane…and we really have cried to Him, “Father, please take this cup from me….it is just too painful, too devastating”….but then comes the true bride’s submission, “But Lord, not my will be done but yours”….after such a transaction His grace is made fully available to us to die just as it was to Jesus, and we are now born of His Spirit and are now victors….we now live a supernatural life..….what else can we do but surrender in submissive union with Him. …now an axe is finally taken to the root of self…..the fruit reveals the root….and this is the fruit ( fruit that is not of this world) His sheep feed from …..firmly grounded and rooted in Christ.

(Beginning Quote:)…” When the Cross has done its work there is liberation from all human limitations, and Christ breaks forth from the grave in a way which gives Him the mastery of the whole situation.
Those who have been identified with Him in His death are raised by Him to a life on a supernatural level, and through them He achieves such things as were before utterly impossible…”(End Quote)

Yes, I agree…make me a captive Lord, then shall I be free.

Blessings brother.

I believe that, for most people, the “thank you “ part of Thanksgiving is the most boring part. It has been relegated to mere ritual, where the most religious person is given the task of “saying the blessing,” and of course, including the words “thank you.” Little thought is given to whom we are giving thanks, or why, it is just one more hurdle that has to be cleared so that the next stage can begin.

Thanksgiving, like so many other events and holidays, has lost its significance with the passage of time. The bounty that America has produced was originally attributed to the providence of God, but today you rarely hear the word. The idea that there really is someone providing the things we take for granted is becoming more and more fantastic and illogical. And, for those of us who still believe in Providence, our degree of true faith is inspiring fewer and fewer these days.

During this time of year I reflect that our country was founded and built upon the knowledge and fear of God and His Word.

“On April 10, 1606 King James I granted the first charter of Virginia to the Jamestown colonists.”

“The following is how the charter opened up, giving the instructions for the Virginia Colony…”

“We, greatly commending, and graciously accepting of, their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of his Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God…”

There is a growing number in our nation today who reject the fact that this nation was founded on His prescripts given to us and discovered in the volume of His Word.

“Benjamin Franklin stated the following at the Constitutional Convention of 1787…”

“ God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel”

Solomon wrote in Proverbs 16:7,
“When a man’s ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.”

Today we are surrounded by enemies who have no fear of us, and again the question is, to whom are we giving thanks, and why?

“On reflecting where we are today, I present these words from the past, from Governor Samuel Johnston.”

“It is apprehended that Jews, Mahometans (Muslims), pagans, etc., may be elected to high offices under the government of the United States. Those who are Mahometans, or any others who are not professors of the Christian religion, can never be elected to the office of President or other high office, [unless] first the people of America lay aside the Christian religion altogether, it may happen. Should this unfortunately take place, the people will choose such men as think as they do themselves.”

[Elliot’s Debates, Vol. IV, pp 198-199, Governor Samuel Johnston, July 30, 1788 at the North Carolina Ratifying Convention]

“We are a nation founded upon the principals of God Almighty. It is His Word, the Bible that has helped govern the direction this nation would go. But fast forward to today, we no longer heed God’s Word.”

I give thanks that there still is a spark of liberty and love for The God of Heaven and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There are a few of us still who uphold the principals upon which this nation was founded. We do not forget that this nation has been blessed by God and God alone. But, do we not see those blessings disappearing before our very eyes. Can we conclude that God is not pleased? Yes, that is the Biblical conclusion.

That spark of liberty may be the spark that ignites the furnace of adversity in which the spirit of grace and thankfulness is proven.

God is the God of all our provisions, and He alone knows what we need. One of the greatest things Jesus said, is when He claimed equality with the Father by saying, “Before Abraham was, I Am.” If He merely wanted to establish His pre-existence He could have said “before Abraham was, I was.” Jesus is taking great liberty with that statement, and in it we go back to that day when Moses talked with God in the burning bush, and asked what name he should give the God who was sending him to the children of Israel. God told him to tell them that “I Am” has sent you unto them. Without getting into a detailed examination of God’s many names it is easy to see that the name “I Am” is an incomplete sentence, it has no subject, why? Jehovah (I Am) purposely left that sentence incomplete so that we could fill it in with what ever need we happen to have at the time. Jesus was reminding these Jews of God’s ability to fill every need that could arise, and that He himself is the fulfillment of our deepest desires and needs. Do you need strength, I Am your strength. Do you need healing, I Am your healer. Do you need provisions, I Am your provider. I Am_____________, you fill in the blank. But, today we just don’t get it. Jesus is still everything we need if we can unravel the riddle.

Whether we are abased, or whether we abound, Jesus still provides for our every need, and it is for this we give thanks. The Providence of God was at work in the founding of this Nation, and it is the Providence of God that is at work in its failure, if we refuse to understand to Whom we give thanks, and Why?.

Healthy, Devoted Relationships Part 2

This title is part of:

• The Trowel
• Download PDF

Related items:

• What to Do About “My Convictions”
• Healthy, Devoted Relationships
• A Revolution Without Dancing is a Revolution Not Worth Having

No one would argue the “hopelessness” of it. Trying to bring a group like those folks from Corinth to maturity in Christ? Not possible. That immoral city just down the road from Athens is world-renowned for its drunken depravity. And the “church” there? Well…there have been many magnificent successes (1Cor.6:9-11), but there is still so much junk lurking in the background. What to do? How would Paul respond to the news from Chloe that things weren’t well in the Church in Corinth?

How would you respond to a brother or sister who has been a Christian for maybe a couple of years—and still has a problem with vices and self-indulgence? What about brothers who are bickering with their brothers and sisters, and, believe it or not, taking them to court? What are we to think of those who are still so callous to sexual immorality that they decide to ignore it rather than oppose it? How would you respond to a brother or sister like that? Write them off? Blow them away? Back off and “not waste your time”?

Paul, no doubt, had to come to grips with some of these same possibilities.

It is worth paying very close attention to the fact that whatever it was Paul did… worked! Within six to nine months after he addressed the problem, he could write to the Corinthians and say, “At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter,” “you were all obedient,” “I have boasted about you, and you have not embarrassed me’’ and ‘‘I am glad that I can have complete confidence in you” (2Cor.7:11-16). That is pretty phenomenal success!

Let’s consider this idea of successfully making disciples of Jesus men and women who are still living weak, and even ungodly lives. Yet, while you read and pray through these thoughts from the life of the apostle Paul, bear in mind that the secret of Paul’s success was not in “what he did” as much as in “who he was.” Thus, you will find that many of the changes may need to be wrought in your own life if you are to be a suitable vessel for God to work through to bring about a miracle in someone else’s life.

There is no formula, only God’s ability to create out of nothing, to bring life from death. Many times God will let the one that you are praying for and helping to “teach to obey” Christ’s commands, your “Lazarus,” stay in the stench of death for a long time—just to clearly demonstrate man’s inability to raise anyone from the grave. God delights to glorify His name by rolling back the stone in front of our stained-glass mausoleums and in accomplishing the impossible in our lives. There is no magic formula, only the I AM. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make your heart a means of transportation for the Eternal God in mercy and power.

So, what is the Apostle Paul’s heart in dealing with still-worldly brothers and sisters?

Get Out The Big Guns, Right? Nuke ‘em!

It is definitely true that Paul dealt severely with “…anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater (job, possession, recreation or family worshipper) or a slanderer (“doing God a favor” by constant criticism and complaining), a drunkard or a swindler” (1Cor.5:11). He had such courage and conviction of God’s Truth that he could state very boldly “…for your meetings do more harm than good.” (1Cor.11:17) And “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ” (1Cor.3:1). He had the courage to take a stand and speak out against disobedience and perpetual babyhood. Your usefulness to God will be determined by whether or not you too are willing to pay the price of stepping forward and not idly letting men and women defame the name of the Lord of Glory, carelessly ignoring His Holiness and presuming upon His grace. Like Paul, our brother, “a man like us,” we must dare to get involved.

Now before we jump headlong into “Holy Spiriting (“exhorting,” “warning,” “admonishing”) one another daily so that none are hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” (Heb.3:13, 12:15), we must carefully examine the heart that Paul had for his family in Corinth. That, as it turns out, is by far the most important factor in growing others up into the Head.

Remember, “you who are spiritual should restore one caught in a sin gently” (Gal.6:1). “Spiritual” does not mean that you are smart enough to lead a Bible study, or that men made you a deacon, or that you brought twelve people to Christ last year, or that you preach at seminars (or on the street) “real good.” It means that you have progressed far along the untrampled path of being “conformed to the family likeness of the Son” (Rom.8:29; 1Cor.2:16). You are very much like Jesus in personality, thought life, patience, prayer life, servanthood to the least of your brothers and sisters, and attitude towards material things. “This is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did” (1Jn. 2:5-6).

The Holy Spirit says: “You who are spiritual (filled with the Spirit of Jesus) should restore such a one.” The point is not that you must be perfect in order to help someone mature in Jesus. It is just that it is essential to first examine your own heart, “get the log out of your own eye” and make certain that you have a heart that God can use to perform miracles through.

The Heart of One Who Helps Make Disciples

Here is the heart of Jesus in a human named Paul—a heart that God could use to do the impossible:

1) “So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you. For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved? I wrote as I did so that when I came I should not be distressed by those who ought to make me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you” (2 Corinthians 2:1-4).

“Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye and went on to Macedonia” (2 Corinthians 2:12-13).

“For when we came into Macedonia, this body of ours had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn—conflicts on the outside, fears within. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort you had given him. He told us about your affection, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever. Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while” (2 Corinthians 7:5-8).

Notice this about a man who God can use to transform not merely external actions, but hearts—yes, it was necessary to confront them, but he hated it! It did not make his day and give him an ego trip. Yes, he did rebuke them soundly. And to read only those parts of his letter, we might likely judge him harsh and unloving. But the fact is, that to catch your children playing in the freeway without getting the belt out is proof that you don’t love them (Heb.12:5-11). Nevertheless, a loving parent (or under-shepherd in Jesus, or fellow-christian) will hate every minute of the issue of discipline. They would never dream of bragging about how they did such a marvelous job challenging this rebellious one. It will likely remain their secret. That’s love (1Cor.13:4-7).

Paul was virtually devastated by this encounter with the Corinthians, even though they seemed well deserving of harsh rebuke. Though they must do it to stay in Fellowship with God and the saints (1Jn. 1:3-7), a man or woman of God will hate the idea of laying a charge down on the doorstep of a fellow pilgrim—regardless of how much they may seem to need it. Paul said that the writing of the letter was extremely “agonizing” to him. It caused him “great distress” and he literally wept “many tears” as he tried to pen this letter of rebuke and instruction.

Paul, if you recall, was given an “open door” to preach the gospel in Troas (2Cor.2:12). Yet, he was so distraught by his fear that the family in Corinth would reject his word from the Lord, his “oracle of God,” in his letter (lPet. 4:11), that he finally turned his back on the “open door” to go find Titus to see how his rebuke had been received. He had “no peace of mind,” “no rest,” “conflicts on the outside, fears within,” and even regretted having issued the rebuke. All of this pain was not diminished until, at long last, Titus reported to Paul that they still loved him and had “ardent concern” for him. Best of all, the great sorrow that his rebuke brought to the Christians in Corinth led them to a wonderful repentance and “innocence at every point” within six to nine months after he had written them concerning their worldliness.

Here’s the point: Of course, we have no right to be passive while others are jeopardizing their relationships with God and selling their Destiny in Him. Yet, if we can casually demolish someone, even concerning the most obvious sins, without weeping and anguishing, we’re not fit to say a word to them. Test your heart carefully. If you don’t have at least a desire to have compassion, then you do not have God’s permission to speak, whether you are “right” or not. “If I can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not unconditional love, I am nothing” (1Cor.13:2). Amen?!

2) “I call God as my witness that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth” (2 Corinthians 1:23).

“So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you” (2 Corinthians 2:1).

Paul, and every man or woman that God will work through, knows when to be wise and not press. Paul knew that there was much to do in this wicked city and in this worldly, immoral group of Christians. (NOTE: Luke 14:33; Luke 9:57-62; Matthew 10:32-39; Acts 3:22-23 are not contradicted by 1 Corinthians 3:1. The Corinthians’ response to truth is the key. See 2 Corinthians 7:8-16. This is a true disciple’s response to convicting truth—not argument, three more years of Greek word studies, and a yawn. Please read these verses carefully and you will discover that it is absolutely impossible that one who calls himself/herself a Christian could remain unchanged when challenged with the Word of God.) He also knew when to bite his tongue. There came a point where Paul knew that he must not “exasperate his children.” He elected to not return and make “another painful visit” to the Church there, even though, at that time, he still had no report that they had repented of the sinful areas that they were engrossed in.

The moral of the story is that there may well be things that we can say, observations that we can make about another brother or sister—true things, accurate things—and, yet, it might actually be sinful to say one word to them about it. Paul knew, as Jesus did, as we must learn, that when we are one with the Father through Jesus, we will not speak one word on our own. Ever. (Jn. 14:10-11, 24; 8:28-29; 17:21; Gal.2:20; Eph.6:19-20; Col.1:9; 1Pet. 4:11) All things that are true are not necessarily right or good to be addressed at that moment in time. Resign yourself to God that you are willing to do whatever He wants: to lovingly address the situation now, or bit by bit over six months, or that you are willing to never confront it at all and simply pray continually that God will use some means to help them leave that sin. You are not God’s policeman. Our God is like any good Father—He’ll not have others randomly disciplining His children (Ps. 50:21, Oba.1:12). There is a time to rebuke—possibly in front of all of the brothers (Gal. 2:11-14; 1Tim. 5:20; Acts 5:1-11). There is also a time to quietly wash the feet of even a known thief like Judas, as Jesus did, letting him continue as treasurer until the last minute. While remaining true to God’s Word and your commitment to representing God’s everlasting government, please be kind and tolerant and generous (Rom. 2:4; 2Tim. 2:25-26; 1Thes.5:14; Lk. 6:37-38). Learn, as Paul, to bite your tongue at times.

3) “Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm” (2 Corinthians 1:24).

“Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers. He was quite unwilling to go now, but he will go when he has the opportunity” (1 Corinthians 16:12).

Watch this mighty miracle-working Apostle who had seen Christ and, then, several years later, had been transported to a part of heaven itself (Acts 9; 22; 26; 1Cor. 15:8; 2Cor. 12:2). Even the Apostle Paul himself refused to put words in anyone’s mouth, make people conform, or do things just the way he wanted. Certainly God’s principles were never compromised (Gal. 2:14; Tit. 3:10; 1Cor. 5:9-13), yet, the mechanics and “how to’s” were not dictated. This is illustrated above by Apollos’ refusal of Paul’s strong directions (1Cor. 16:12).

Also consider the strong warning and pleadings of an acknowledged prophet of God named Agabus, along with a doctor (who penned a Gospel) named Luke—that were refused by Paul (Acts 21:10-15).

The principle is, of course, that we are not to dictate man-made rules about any spiritual area (“dating,” shorts, Bible study quotas, etc.)—no matter how logical they might be. Jesus, Himself, would not be an “arbiter” of externals (Lk. 12:14). As Paul said: Rules “lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence,” they bring “death,” and they have no ability to change a person’s heart, but only to modify their actions to conform to an accepted norm (Col. 2:23; 2Cor. 3:6).

Because God is the judge of the intentions of the heart, even if the actions are fine (Mat. 5:27-28), it is senseless to focus on behavior modification. Paul cried out with anguish to the Christians in Galatia: “Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” (Gal. 3:3).

Paul reminded the Corinthians very clearly that he had not and would not “lord it over” their faith, but rather, he had offered himself as a tool for them to enjoy and utilize in their pursuit of a deeper faith in Christ and more full walk in Him (2Cor. 1:24). Certainly “authority” is not an unbiblical idea by any stretch of the imagination (Heb. 13:17,7; 1Cor. 16:15-16; 2Cor. 13:10; 1Thes. 5:12-13), but the objective of anyone investing in the lives of others spiritually is to be a tool for them to find their own faith, not a hammer to make them after one’s own kind, as the Pharisees did (Mat. 23:15). By all means, give all a crystal-clear example that is worth emulating (1Thes. 1:6; 2:10,14; 1Cor. 11:1; Php. 3:17, 4:9; 1Tim. 4:11-16), but remember the words of Jesus, “You are not to allow yourself to be called teacher, father (“discipler”?, etc.) for you have ONE TEACHER—AND YOU ARE ALL BROTHERS” (Mat. 23:5-12).

4) “I wrote as I did so that when I came I should not be distressed by those who ought to make me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you” (2 Corinthians 2:3-4).

“Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one. I do not say this to condemn you; I have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you. I have great confidence in you; I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged, in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds” (2 Corinthians 7:2-4).

“I had boasted to him about you, and you have not embarrassed me. But just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting about you to Titus has proved to be true as well….I am glad I can have complete confidence in you” (2 Corinthians 7:14, 16).

Can you imagine having “complete confidence,” “great pride,” “great encouragement” and “refreshment” in a man who gets drunk during the Lord’s supper and wallows in selfishness, boasting and materialism? How would you feel about a person like that? What about a congregation that seems to be characterized by a wonderful spirituality like that? Would you write them off? Would you “shake the dust off your feet”?

Or, would you be so totally confident in them as to turn around and brag about them to others even before you had heard whether or not they had given those things up? (2Cor. 7:14-16). If you have the heart of Paul, who often had the heart of Christ, you will not criticize and complain about others’ shortcomings—but will actually brag about your family to others and be wholly confident in their future. God does good work! How are you doing? Will others see this quality in you? I have “complete confidence” that they will!

5) “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22).

“He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (1 Corinthians 1:8).

Here was a guy, named Paul, who had a lawyer’s education and background, knew the scriptures backwards and forwards, had received personal instruction from the Resurrected Jesus, participated in numerous miracles, and brought thousands of men and women to Christ (Phil.3:5, Acts 26:24; 23:6, Gal.1:14; Rom.15:18-l9; Acts 20:35). All of that, and yet he quickly conceded that he was personally unable to accomplish anything in anyone’s life.

Only God can create and cleanse and empower. Paul counted on God to turn his words of stone into the bread of life for his brothers and sisters. Paul knew that only Christ Himself could really reveal the Father and that only the same God who had made him strong could make them strong (Mat. 11:25, 27; Php. 3:15, 2Tim. 2:7; Col. 1:9-11; Eph. 1:17-19; 3:16-19; Acts 20:30-32; 1 Jn. 5:20). He entrusted his brothers and sisters entirely to the One who could “keep them strong to the end” and “complete that which He had begun in them” (Heb. 12:2, 11; 13:20; 1Thes. 5:23-24; 2Thes. 3:3; Jn. 3:21). Paul’s job was to faithfully plant seeds and water and certainly do all that he could do to lay down his life for them (1Thes. 2:8), yet, he humbly recognized that his theology, argument, persuasion or rhetoric could do nothing to transform or mature a soul (Jn. 1:1-12; Rom. 12:3). All he could do was bring the seed of truth in the vessel of a broken and pure life (2Cor. 4:6-7; 2 Tim. 2:20-21) and pray that the Lord of the Harvest would give increase in open hearts.

As for you and I? How could it be any different? Let us be faithful, faith-filled, courageous, relentless, and pure as the precious lamb—and prayerfully lay our burdens for others at the feet of the “Great Shepherd of the sheep.” He will “equip them with everything good for doing His will and work in them what is pleasing to Him” (Heb. 13:20-21).

6) “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2).

“We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world” (1 Corinthians 4:10-13).

“For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?” (2 Corinthians 2: 15-16)

There is no question that this courageous involvement in others’ lives, spiritually, is very expensive. There is no question whatsoever that the price of being useful to our God before He returns may leave us brutally treated, cursed, slandered or even hungry and thirsty (Lk. 6:24-26). There is no question that if we are “fools for Christ” rather than staunch or “preppy” or a franchise of religious machinery…that we will pay a high price.

Is it acceptable in practical terms in your life that you willingly “make yourself nothing,” “the scum of the earth”? If you dare to get involved in the impartation and serving others into the life and truths of God, you will certainly be a sweet aroma to those with good hearts. It is also true, if you’re really involved in God’s Business of changing lives and drawing them near to Him, that you will be the stench of death to those with unrepentant hearts. And that will cost you, as it did the Son of Man. As the mighty apostle, himself, exclaimed, “Who is equal to such a task?!” He did not, and we do not, take it lightly.

It is an awesome thing to be involved in warfare with the “powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (2 Cor. 10:3-4; Eph. 6:10-12).

Now honestly, when you read the title of this chapter, you had in mind that you would find a formula that would make possible this impossible task of maturing carnal Christians to Christ. Right? My prayer is that you will fully recognize that the “secret” lies in one thing alone: That your heart is hidden in Christ and that you are willing to die even for “the least of these”—“while they are yet sinners.” Your heart is as Jesus’: to purchase men for God, even with your own life, if necessary. There is the secret. Make that your full focus. Crave the God of the Word, the “Alive and active” Word of God, and the People of God, and you will have no more problem than Paul did in maturing carnal Christians. Prepare your heart.

As you forge ahead in laying down your life for your Lord and your brothers and sisters, risk the impossible and unpopular and let it be said of you in heaven, as it was of another mere man: (Acts 13:36)…

“THIS ONE SERVED THE PURPOSE OF GOD IN HIS OWN GENERATION.”

To “Preachers” and “Pastors” and “Authors” and “Music-Makers”

For all of those in ivory towers, never spilling blood for a Down’s syndrome child, never wrestling for hours to help a relationship in turmoil (other than by some ridiculous “appointment” or “session”), never losing sleep for twenty consecutive nights praying, or seldom helping in setting captives free in others’ personal lives, other than sterile attempts by a clinical speech, and borrowed words….

For those who speculate, pontificate, and hibernate when the war rages for the lives of young ones and teens, and they’re no where to be found in the daily trenches….

For those who have the nerve to SELL to God’s People, for $14.95 or $9.95 what they claim is from God, and therefore should be a gift to His Lambs….

For those who dispense wise words as talking heads, from pulpits (or couches) at some pre-arranged holy hour, but are nowhere to be found in openness and vulnerability, and risk for others in the days and evenings… the predictable cowardly, selfish, lazy (and often pseudo-spiritual) retreat to their “personal lives” rather than to where Life really is, on our knees and in the trenches daily for others….

For all of these and more:

“How vain it is to sit down to write, when you have not stood up to live.”

-Henry David Thoreau

“The Kingdom of God consists not of mere words, but of POWER” (1Cor.4:20).

For the sake of the truly saved believers in every denomination in the four corners of the world, as well as unsaved people who are honestly searching for the real Jesus, we need to reconsider carefully and Biblically what so much of the religious world has come to accept as normative.

Let’s all “grow up into the Head” and leave childish ways behind! Let’s not be duped by counterfeits of talk or emotion or group dynamics that have no lasting value. Let Jesus Reign, and the Body of Christ—the Kingdom of Priests, RISE UP and fulfill her Calling and Destiny! It’s time now! To “take up our cross daily” to come after Him is to “die daily” for others, just as was His Cross for OTHERS. Not ideas, or concepts, or emotion manipulating, or form, or gimmick, or program, or hierarchy, or word-crafting and then a disappearing act.

“God’s Intent is NOW, through the LIFE of Christ in His Daily Body, to make known His manifold Wisdom, even to the Principalities and Powers!” (Eph.3:10).

5/3/2002

J. Hudson Taylor dared trust God with his whole life, and found Him to be true to His word at every step and trial.

Today we are without the role models of men like J. Hudson Taylor, and God knows we need them.

Steve Blackwell

Blessed Adversity

J. Hudson Taylor

❦

“The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised.”
—JOB 1:21

A ll of God’s dealings are full of blessing. He is good, and does good, good only, and continually. The believer who has taken the Lord as his Shepherd can assuredly say in the words of the psalmist, “Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life” (Ps. 23:6). Hence we may be sure that days of adversity, as well as days of prosperity are full of blessing. The believer does not need to wait until he sees the reason of God’s afflictive dealings with him before he is satisfied; he knows that all things work together for good to them that love God (Rom. 8:28).

The history of Job should teach us many lessons of deep interest and profit. The veil is taken away from the unseen world, and we learn much of the power of our great adversary, but also of his powerlessness apart from the permission of God our Father.

Satan would very frequently harass the believer in times of sorrow and trial by leading him to think that God is angry with him. But our heavenly Father delights to trust a trustworthy child with trial. Take the case of Abraham: God so trusted him that He was not afraid to call upon His servant to offer up his well-beloved son. And in the case of Job, it was not Satan who challenged God about Job, but God who challenged the arch-enemy to find any flaw in Job’s character. In each case grace triumphed, and in each case patience and fidelity were rewarded.

The reply of Satan is noteworthy. He had considered God’s servant and evidently knew all about him. The arch-enemy had found all his own efforts ineffectual to harass and lead astray God’s beloved servant. He had found a hedge around Job, and about his servants, and about his house, and about all that he had on every side. How blessed to dwell so protected.

Is there no analogous spiritual blessing to be enjoyed now? Thank God there is. Every believer may be as safely kept and as fully blessed.

❦

Almighty God, help me to see that I dwell in the shadow of Your wings, and that I’m kept by Your power for a salvation that one day will be revealed for all to see. I praise You for the hedge of protection around my life. Keep me focused on You. Amen.

Anderson was applying this to the veracity of Scripture, but it can be equally applied to the veracity of our life as Christ witnesses. The validity of our testimony is directly related to our ability to show forth the truth of Jesus’ words in our life, to a watching world. It is this ability to walk as Jesus walked that made the Christian life so desirable to those early believers who witnessed the Christian life being lived with power to overcome the world and the flesh. Where do we see that exhibition of power today? The Church today has exchanged their testimony of power for an exhibition of theatrics and salesmanship, and empty promises of a better life. As the testimony of authentic Christianity has been running a deeper and deeper deficit, the slack has been picked up by religious salesmen who gloss over the true value of a holy life with the perceived value of a pretty building and a clever speech. But, when we compare the manufactured evidence and false witnesses with the genuine truth as forcefully presented in the Bible, the glaring errors become apparent. When the trustworthiness of these false witnesses is tested, even though their words contain ever so much truth the single glaring error of their life discredits their pretense of holiness. The mountain of truth they profess means nothing when their foundation is discovered to be shifting sand.

What is the glaring error that destroys all their contrived words of truth? Why do we hear so much about Christian’s not being able to judge others within the Church? Is there really value in the statement that if we haven’t experienced a certain thing we can’t judge it? Is there any real value in the Biblical statement that you can tell a tree by the fruit it bears? Really what value is the Bible if it cannot be used as a mirror to reflect the proper kind of life to be lived? What value is the Bible if it cannot be used as a mirror to reflect the proper kind of life of our brothers and sisters who say they share a common belief? What power did the testimony of the Apostles have apart from their separated life and holy living that was laid wide open for the investigation of any who might inquire? What would inquiry discover of the lives of the indulgent priest of today’s Protestant Church? There is no modesty of means of either the leaders or the layman. Today there is no Gospel for the poor; it is the Gospel for the rich. This is the age of the Laodicean Church and we have learned all our history lessons well. All the traditions of the Elders, and all of their vast excuses and justifications for having and doing all things as the world, have rolled downhill to our generation, and in these last days it is our responsibility to deal with it, and the glaring errors are apparent and many. But, there is this problem, it seems there is this code of silence in the whole broad spectrum of Christianity today that absolutely refuses to acknowledge, not to even mention dealing with, the problem.

What is the glaring error that destroys our testimony? It is the error of our life becoming indistinguishable from the world around us. The Church today has to resort to theatrics, celebrity appearances, worldly management skills, extreme marketing techniques, and ambiance to convince their audience that they are authentic Christians, when every aspect of what they project speaks just the opposite. Their method, means, and final results all signify that the world is very much at home with the Church, regardless that it uses a special holy language. Of course, the Church denies all of this, but if the two witnesses of our eyes and ears are not enough to convict us, then the statistics gathered by one of its own, George Barna, should do the trick. His data shows that the world and the Church have a close adulterous relationship. The Church is in full blown denial. The love affair is so intrenched that it all seems, quite natural.

Is it any surprise that so much stress is laid on the verses of the Bible dealing with “judging?” It doesn’t matter that the Bible repeatedly admonishes Believers to judge one another righteously, to discern false doctrine, and to promote allegiance to Christ by rooting out “error” from our midst. When error is the rule of the day then discernment and judging become very awkward to apply, and costly to practice. The Biblical statement that you can “judge a tree by its fruit” is still valid today even though we see nearly no fruit being produced. The produce of the institutional church consists of thorns and briars. A good “program” does not constitute good fruit, only Godly, holy, separated lives will do, the rest is only chaff and stubble. We can judge! We can mirror our life against the life of Jesus. We can judge our own life first, then search out those who desire a sanctified life without leaven or excuses, and judge each other. Apart from a holy, sanctified, and separated life there is no testimony of power in Jesus, there is no true witness to a world who sees our corrupt compromises; we are rightly called liars. If we judge ourselves, we will not be judged, by men or God.

Lies become entrenched, and prying them loose is only accomplished at great risk to the one doing the prying. The truth is not covered by stones, it is covered by boulders, and only a long lever and a sturdy fulcrum can break it free. The Spirit of God is that lever, and the Word is the fulcrum on which it turns. The critical application and constant effort is the mission of the true believer in this age of falseness and flattery. This was the mission to the Apostles and it is our mission, to expose the glaring error and offer the only solution, The Way, The Truth, and The Life.

What does, our sinful lifestyle and repeated failures, which is no less than a faulty testimony, reveal to a watching world?

1. That we are liars, or
2. That we are deluded.

And, what does our sinful lifestyle reveal to God?

1. That we are liars, and
2. That we are unbelievers and faithless, and
3. That we are false witnesses and give testimony that He is weak and doesn’t keep His word.

This is the reason that it is written that it is better to be “hot or cold” rather than “lukewarm.” We know what it means to be “hot”; it is a life that is on fire for God: separated, without spot or blemish, living a holy and sanctified life. We also know what it means to be “cold”; that is the unbelieving world who, ignorantly or openly, serves Satan. But, to be “lukewarm,” this is to bring suit against God in the court of a pagan world, and declare that He is not able to do the things that He has promised, and your life testifies to the fact, and God, the Creator of the world, is found guilty by the world, because of you. It would be better for you to live in unbelief, to be cold rather than lukewarm, rather than accuse God of doing wrong. Will not Hell be that much hotter for him who has denied God by choosing the beautiful lies of Lucifer over the author of life, Jesus?

A full life of perfection means nothing if it ends in failure and our name is blotted out of the Book of Life.

Rev 3:5
“He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”

A full life of perfection cannot be perfect if the leaven of the world is allowed to exist in some secret corner, and it certainly cannot be perfect if we repeatedly fall back on some antidote verse that reinforces our sin nature. Some will say, “After all, aren’t we all sinners anyway, ?” which appears to be another open door back into the comforts of the world. Others will say, “Didn’t Jesus die for our sins?” And, “Jesus loves nothing better than to forgive sinners!”

Rom 6:1-4
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

That newness of life is life without sin. It is the ever growing nearness to Christ by obedience to His demands to separate ourselves from the world and unto Himself. His demands are stringent for sure, His way is narrow, and His gate is strait (difficult).

Matt 7:13-14
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because* narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Luke 13:23-24
“And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”

The narrow way and the strait gate speak loudly that we are to resist the desires of the flesh, and not covet the things of the world. This world that surrounds us 24/7 is the very thing that seeks our life, to destroy us.

Josh 7:19-21
“Now Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I beg you, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.” And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done: When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.”

Gen 3:1-5
“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

We are only kidding ourselves if we believe that the world is not that unclean thing spoken of by Paul. God told Adam and Eve that they could eat of any tree in the garden, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now that we are outside the garden the Devil says we can eat of any tree in his garden except one, the tree of life, Christ. We gladly gorge ourselves on all that the devil has to offer, and pretend that we have been freed of any restraints to continue to eat freely of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Outside the garden we, Christians, are no longer free to eat of any tree. Our diet has now been severely restricted to one tree only. Unlike the garden where we had liberty, now we must put our head against the post and have that nail driven through our ear that binds us for life to our Master, to live within His confines, and to do His will. It is our only safe haven.

Ex 21:5-6
“But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.”

Safety is what we need in our short stay in this world, and it precisely that safety that we think we have, and that we take for granted because of sweet words of false teachers. Anyone who arrives at those pearly gates will not arrive without difficulty, having overcome many trials and test. Every hard won battle leaves its scars, and every scar is like a badge of honor, won for the glory of our Lord.

We must pick carefully the commitments we make, and to whom we make them, for not all that glitters is gold, and not all sweetness makes merry. Separation unto God is not a burden, it is a privilege. Touching not the unclean thing is our reasonable duty, seeing that we are so close to the finish line.

Rev 3:14-22
“And to the angel of the church of the Laodicean’s write,
‘This thing says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: “I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,* I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ — and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked — I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”‘”

Steve Blackwell