Prophetic Insights
Thunder and Lightning
Dreamt during the night of August 3-4 that I was singing about thunder crashing and lightning flashing, to the accompaniment of a large orchestra.
"For just as the lightning comes from the east, and flashes even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather." (Matthew 24.27-28)
"And he (another strong angel) cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars, and when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices...and (he) swore by Him who lives forever and ever...that there shall be delay no longer." (Revelation 10.3 and 6)
The West continues to wage its crusader-war against the ever-burgeoning armies of Islam. Can this "war on terror" ever be "won"?
In the 1300's as the armies of Islam intimidated Europe, Francis of Assisi "invaded" the Saracen battlelines in Syria, armed only with bare feet and a devotion to Jesus Christ that some deemed "fanatical". (He offered to throw himself into a fire to prove to the Muslim captains that his Saviour was the true God.) Francis walked from Italy to Syria believing it was "better to create Christians than to destroy Moslems".
In his classic volume "St Francis of Assisi", G.K. Chesterton writes, "If Islam had been converted (in the 1300's) the world would have been immeasurably more united and happy; for one thing, three quarters of the wars of modern history would never have taken place."
"It was not absurd to suppose that this might be affected, without military force, by missionaries who were also martyrs. The Church had conquered Europe in that way..."
The Kingdom of God will not be brought onto the earth by guns and tanks, nor by hyper-faith and mega-churches. It will be birthed out of the blood of holy martyrs.
"And they overcame him (the devil) because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death." (Revelation 12.11)
It is impossible that sub-christian culture, morality and (military?) action will bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth. At the last, it is the King who will bring His Kingdom. In the meantime, we must at all costs live lives in accordance with genuine Kingdom principles...along the following lines:
"The great obligation of the Christian, especially now, is to prove himself a disciple of Christ by hating no one, that is to say, by condemning no one, rejecting no one. And how true that the impatience that fumes at others and damns them (especially whole classes, races, nations) is a sign of the weakness that is still unliberated, still not tracked by the Blood of Christ, and is still a stranger to the Cross."
(Karl Rahner via Thomas Merton)
Resistance Movements
"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard…It is like the dew of Hermon…there the Lord commanded the blessing." (Psalm 133)
During the 1960’s in New Zealand there was a significant surge of desire for "community" which expressed itself in all kinds of communal experiments…both secular and sacred! To some extent I think that it was probably a bit of a reaction against the 50’s phenomenon of the "nuclear family"…mum and dad and one and a half kids. Many of my father’s generation who had fought in and survived WW2 had had a complete gutsful of the enforced community of the armed forces. They came home determined to close the front door of their quarter-acre, pavlova-paradise bungalows on the world and try to forget about "out there".
Nevertheless, I’m pretty sure that the hippie and "Jesus freak" revolutions of the 60’s and their (for the most part doomed) experiments of living in community were indeed prophetic. They represented genuinely God-motivated attempts to recover something which is going to prove absolutely essential as we plunge more into these Last Days.
Biblical and Church history is full of a fascinating variety of God-ordained communities. For example, during Elijah and Elisha’s prophetic ministries we get fleeting glimpses of prophets and their families living in community…or "schools" as some versions of the Bible call them. (1 Kings 18:4, 2 Kings 2:3, 5, 7 and 4.1) I suspect that at that difficult time of tension and hostility between Israel’s kings and her prophets, it was necessary for the Lord’s seers to stick together in order to survive.
In the Church’s first generation we are told that the Believers "began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need…and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart." (Acts 2:44-46) Again this holy communism occurs against the backdrop of dramatic and dangerous conflict between Jesus’ disciples and the political and religious establishments of that day.
A similar socialistic surge took place in the 300’s as Christianity increasingly was absorbed (seduced?) by the Roman Empire and many men and women fled to the deserts of the Holy Land and Egypt to live in community. They recognised that assimilation (compromise?) was infinitely more dangerous than persecution. So, they formed themselves into communities to resist seduction, guard the purity of the Gospel, and to impact society creatively through works of mercy and night-and-day prayer.
Today there are an amazing variety of Christian communities in existence, most noticeably within the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran Communions. Many of them are quite ancient and respectable…others are very modern and out-there on the fringe of Christian teaching and experience where the lines can get a little blurred!
So, community has always been a big part of Christian history. But what of the future? Well, I’ve been around just long enough not to get too hard-and-fast about the nitty-gritty details of how exactly God may work things out. But in broad terms I’m reasonably sure different kinds of communities are going to be essential before too long so we can survive and thrive in an End Times’ world. The kinds of communities needed in different countries will vary greatly according to the physical and spiritual circumstances. For example, some will be very loose associations of households…retaining the independence of their own homes, but sharing some of their possessions, being more available to help each other, and spending more than the usual "church-time" fellowshipping, praying, and serving God in the community.
Others will be quite "monastic"…Believers living together 24/7 at close quarters and holding "all things in common". (Acts 2:44) Liberated from the rat-race of the competitive pursuit of material possessions and liberated to a lifestyle of radical obedience…even martyrdom!
I frankly admit my prejudice on this subject. My brief taste of monastic life in the early 70’s was tough but sweet in the extreme. What I recall most of all was an intense sense of freedom to practically major on the majors and minor on the minors when it came to pursuing the Lord. Today I occasionally dream of a House of Prayer being brought into existence on a couple of hundred acres with room for everyone, from hermits all the way across the spiritual spectrum (Pentecostal monks and nuns??) to extended families for mum and dad and the kids. We shall see!
Many sincere Christians in these Last Days cling to the belief and hope that the Church will be raptured to Heaven as life here on earth becomes more difficult and tumultuous. Why pursue this line when the Scriptural case for such an event is just so totally threadbare? I suspect it’s because many Western Believers are so firmly locked into our ferociously individualistic, consumer society that they are unable to conceive of surviving in an economy thoroughly under the thumb (scanner?) of the devil. But these Last Days will not be the first time that the Church has survived and thrived living in such a hostile environment. Community…the Body Christ experienced in action…is God’s secret weapon for such seasons in history. At the very least we all ought to be prayerfully pondering all the possibilities!
Footnote: Some sincere Believers expect Israel’s Temple to be rebuilt and the Old Covenant sacrifices reconstituted before Jesus can return to be this world’s King of kings and Lord of lords. I have no such expectation.
However I am most definitely looking for the construction of the New Covenant Temple in the city of Jerusalem. It will be a living structure (community) made up of Born-again Jews and Gentiles built together into a House for the coming King by the Holy Spirit. The sacrifices of this Temple will not be sheep and goats…but holy martyrs. During the last hours of the final and terrible siege of Jerusalem (Zechariah 12,13,14) the blood of these martyrs (greatly reinforced by living in community) will flow and mingle on the ancient city’s narrow streets. Such a mingling will at the very last makeup for one of the Church’s (our) grossest stains…"christian" anti-semitism!
"And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 2:4-5)
"The whole building…is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit." (Ephesians 2:19-22)
What Time Is It?
I dreamt early on the morning of 6/6/06 that I was changed into an eagle. As I flew higher and higher, I found that I was able to emit an eagle's scream-like call. I also knew that this sound was being heard a long way off.
I was later drawn to two portions of Scripture...Isaiah 40.31 and also Revelation 8.13, "And I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, 'Woe, woe, woe, to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound.' "
* "And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit (the abyss) was given to him." (Revelation 9.1)
* "And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice...saying to the sixth angel who had a trumpet, 'Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.' And the four angels...were released, so that they might kill a third of mankind." (Revelation 9.13-15)
* "And the seventh angel sounded; and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying, 'The kingdom of the world had become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever. And the nations were enraged, and Thy wrath came...' " (Revelation 11.15 and 18)
NOTE
The geographic position of the Euphrates and Iraq and Iran.
The Two Witnesses, who have the authority of Moses and Elijah, appear on the stage of history between the sounding of the sixth and seventh trumpets.
So, what time do you think it is?
West Laid Waste
“Although it is almost unbelievable to imagine this country (the United States of America) being laid waste, yet that is very probably what is going to happen.”
In our present-day “Christian” lust for the latest, greatest revelation, there is an horrific danger; that like so many pigs at the feeding trough, we trample into the dirt the oracles from the lips of the genuinely sent prophets in previous generations!
I am convinced that one such is Thomas Merton (1915-1968). Born of an American mother and New Zealand father, he became “famous” as the Cistercian monk and hermit, Father Louis, at Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky, U.S.A. His autobiography “The Seven Storey Mountain” is a modern classic.
On the 27th of February, 1962, Thomas Merton journaled this prophesy,
“Although it is almost unbelievable to imagine this country (America) being laid waste, yet that is very probably what is going to happen. Without serious reason, without people ‘wanting’ it, and without them being able to prevent it, because of their incapacity to use the power they have acquired, they must be used by it.
“Hence the absolute necessity of taking this fact soberly into account and living in the perspective that it establishes -an almost impossible task.
“Preeminence of prayer.
“Preeminence of compassion for all living things … for the human race in its blindness.
“Weariness of words except … in the simplest and most direct kind of communication.
“Preeminence of … meaningful suffering, accepted in complete silence, without justification.”
If this word is indeed from God and is “alive” for the United States 44 plus years on, then it is equally directed to all Western nations … including Britain and New Zealand. In these Last Days there definitely are battles to be fought and a war to win. But,
“Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6.12)
But we all (both church and state) absolutely must engage this final struggle along God’s lines,
1. Prayer; not aggressive rhetoric wrapped in a flag, which really depends upon our own (limited?) financial and military resources.
“And He (Jesus) said to them, ‘It is written, My House shall be called a house of prayer …’” (Matthew 21.13)
“But this kind (of demon) does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” (Matthew 17.21)
How might the Muslim world have viewed the post-9/11 West if instead of going to “war on terror”, we (Nineveh-like) had covered ourselves with sackcloth and ashes to repent before God and the world for our own sins.
“When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.” (Jonah 3.10)
2. Compassion; not self-serving stereotyping and demonizing of people-groups and religions we covertly despise or feel intimidated by.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son … for God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.” (John 3.16-17)
3. Truth speaking; not slick press releases fabricated by spin doctors employed by wealthy oligarchs.
“God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few.” (Ecclesiastes 5.2)
“When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise.”
(Proverbs 10.19)
4. Being a Western Christian does not exempt us from participating in the ongoing, redemptive sufferings of Jesus. On the contrary, such suffering is a significant part of our Calling, especially when it comes to spiritual warfare,
“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body (which is the church) in filling up that which is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.” (Colossians 1.24)
“And if one member (of Christ’s body) suffers, all the members suffer with it …”
(1 Corinthians 12.26)
This includes those yet to be saved, who are destined at some future time to become as much a part of Jesus’ earthly Body as we now are!
It is never a Christian act to kill those who threaten to kill us! No matter how cunning or abstract or subtle the “theological” justification!
“But I say to you, love your enemies … in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5.44-45)
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”
(Galatians 6.7)
It would be abject foolishness to expect anything else. Rain does not fall up? Rivers do not flow back into the mountains? If we permit ourselves to hate others; that hatred will be visited upon us. If we make aggressive war on other nations for our own selfish purposes, that war will finally be fought in our own backyards, and also tear our own children from our arms. If we build a nuclear shield, disdaining His overshadowing (Psalm 91.1-8); then what we have constructed to rain down upon others, will in all probability fall on us.
“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty … He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge … you will not be afraid of the terror by night … of the pestilence that stalks in darkness. For you have made the Lord, my refuge, even the most High, your dwelling place.” (Psalm 91.1,4,5,6,9)
“Because of their incapacity to use the power they have acquired, they must be used by it.”
FOOTNOTE
"It should be remembered that the enormous nuclear arsenals of the United States and Russia still exist...With massive arsenals (US possesses about 12,000 nuclear weapons and Russia 16,000) still on hair-trigger alert, a global holocaust is just as possible now, through mistakes or misjudgements, as it was during the depths of the Cold War."
(Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States, 2005)
Fabulous Views
“Fabulous views, too little vision.”
So ran the headline for an editorial column in a recent edition of “The Sydney Morning Herald”. The essay lamented a long-term lack of forward town-planning, summed up by the juicy comment, “Sydney stumbles into the future looking backwards.”
I took this to be what I call a “secular prophecy”, because I do believe it speaks plainly of the general condition of the Western Church in our day. We are so full of an astonishing array of views…opinions, ideas and notions. In other words, we have “fabulous views”, but sadly there is little doubt in my mind there is much “too little” of what our God would consider vision! And this lack has not been diminished or remedied at all by the current fad so many churches have for creating and trumpet-ing forth jazzy, voluminous, even grandiose “vision statements”.
As I pondered all of this and prowled and prayed around the house where I am staying, (which by the way does have “fabulous views” of Sydney Harbour) my mind was turned to the Psalms…especially 42 and 27.
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God…when can I enter and see the face of God?” (vs. 1-2)
“Hear my voice when I call, O God; be merciful to me and answer me. When you said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, Lord, I will seek’. Do not hide Your face from me.” (vs. 7-9)
My heart was truly pierced anew by these words. As a youngish Christian back in the 70’s, I was for quite some time possessed by the strong desire to literally see God! As odd as it may sound now, I often used to go outside at night, kneel on the wet grass, stare open-eyed into the darkness, waiting to see the Lord. As time went by and I became “more experienced?” and “wiser?” I came to regard this activity as being both naïve and arrogant. Sadly, I had “grown up” content to splash about in puddles, rather than dive into the mysterious and awesome depths of the great I AM.
Now I have decided to abandon being “experienced” and “wise”, and deliberately return (literally “be converted”) to my youthful naivety. For I now believe that if any of us does presume to speak about “vision”, then we must speak of nothing less than Epiphany…the manifestation of the Divine Reality…God’s appearing in manners, times and places sovereignly chosen and ordained by and for Him. Forgive me if I sound a bit cranky, but I’ve been around the block a few times and I’m just so weary of hearing (and singing?) all about us…who we are, what we’re doing, where we are going. Now I do understand that these are important issues…but do they really qualify as vision? What about God? What about Jesus? What about the Holy Spirit? I want to see His face. I want to hear His voice. I want to know what He’s doing and where He’s going. That’s vision! The rest is secondary…consequential.
“When You said, ‘Seek My face’” (Psalm 27:8) Here is the very Word of God. He does want us to really and truly seek His face…no matter how naïve, or strange or impossible a mission others may judge it. And if God calls us to do something, He is not taunting or mocking or out to frustrate us. If He calls us to do something, He knows that we can do it…with Him.
Then all that is required of you and me is that we respond, “When You said, ‘Seek My face’, my heart said to You, ‘Your face, Lord, I will seek.’ Do not hide Your face from me…” (Psalm 27:8-9)
After I preached this message yesterday to a gathering of pastors, one publicly asked me, “Okay …but tell us how to do this practically?” I replied, “I can’t help you. This is something we have to do alone.” Because when you do hear God saying, “Seek My face”, then it is your heart that has to reply, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”
God bless you and help you in this Last Hour for He is indeed saying today, “Seek My face.”
“Seek, and you will find.” (Matthew 7:7)
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)
“Restore us, O God; cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved!” (Psalm 80:3)
“Mercy and truth go before Your face.” (Psalm 89:14)
“Seek His face evermore.” (Psalm 105:4)
The True Centre
"Thus says the Lord God, 'This is Jerusalem; I have set her at the centre of the nations, with lands (the earth) around her.'" (Ezekiel 5.5)
So far as God Almighty is concerned, the city of Jerusalem in Israel is the centre of this His world. This is extraordinarily interesting when you observe how for the past 2000 years the various Christian churches and
denominations have relentlessly made other places and cities and nations their centre. E.g. Rome, Canterbury, Geneva, Plymouth...etc etc?
But so far as salvation-history is concerned, Jerusalem has ever been the centre and focal point for the Lord's redemptive action. The Lamb of God was prophetically offered up and resurrected through Abraham and Isaac where Jerusalem would one day stand, with the Old Covenant Temple at its heart.
"Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you." (Genesis 22.2)
"Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David." (2 Chronicles 3.1)
It was in Jerusalem that the Lord Jesus paid our redemption price in full with His own shed Blood. It was there that He proved beyond all shadow of doubt that He was truly who He said He was by His resurrection from the dead.
"Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow and the third day I reach My goal. Nevertheless I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem." (Luke 13.32-33)
It was in Jerusalem that the New Testament Community was born through the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the initial handful of Jewish followers of Jesus. To Jerusalem He will return, and there occupy His millennial Throne "to rule all the nations with a rod of iron"; the "King over all the earth" who will "teach us His laws, and we will obey them ... settle international disputes; all the nations will convert their weapons of war into implements of peace." (Revelation 12.5; Zechariah 14.9; Isaiah 2.3-4)
Before that Day there must occur at the very least the determined beginnings of a massive realignment of the whole Christian Community with God's geographic purposes. I.e. Jerusalem must increasingly be acknowledged doctrinally and organisationally as the centre of the world and our spiritual and physical capital, headquarters and base. Such a
massive realignment will finally be enforced anyway by the King during the time of His actual reign.
"And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts (armies of Heaven), there will be no rain on them." (Zechariah 14.17)
"Furthermore, I withheld the rain from you..Then I would send the rain on one city and on another city I would not send rain; one part would be rained on, while the part not rained on would dry up." (Amos 4.7)
"I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it (My vineyard)." (Isaiah 5.6)
We should not be even slightly startled nor perturbed if immediately before His return the King begins to withhold His rain (natural and spiritual) from those of His People (especially their organisations) who stiffneckedly refuse to accept His earthly capital city as their own. And contrarywise, those who embrace the momentary humiliation and
inconvenience of not being the false centre of everything (ecclesiastical power, status and wealth), can anticipate the rain of His presence and power in unprecedented abundance.
"If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, then I will give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit."(Leviticus 26.3-5)
Last Days's Prophetess
"The world is in flames. The battle between Christ and the antichrist has broken into the open. If you decide for Christ, it could cost you your life. Carefully consider what you promise. The world is in flames. The conflagration can also reach our house."
These are tough, truly prophetic words for our day. But they were not uttered in our day, nor by one of the legion of glib, modern-day "prophetesses"...teetering on high heels, lip gloss and jewellery sparkling on floodlit podiums.
This cut-to-the-bone oracle was uttered in Europe in 1939 as the dark, satanic clouds of Hitlerian nazism were relentlessly blanketing that continent. (Presaging the great Tribulation of the Last Days.)This genuine prophetess was a brilliant Jewish scholar who sacrificed a stellar academic career to become a Christian contemplative. (A night-and-day prayer!)
Edith Stein (Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross as she was known in the
Carmelite convents where she lived the last nine years of her earthly life!) was born in eastern Germany on the Jewish Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) in 1891.
She was murdered by gassing on Sunday, August 9, 1942,
in Auschwitz concentration camp.
Edith died an Old Testament and a New Testament martyr. Before she offered her life to the flames, she prophesied,
"More than ever the Cross is the sign of contradiction. The followers of the antichrist...desecrate the images of the Cross and they make every effort to tear the Cross out of the heart of Christians. All too often they have succeeded even with those who, like us, once vowed to bear Christ's Cross after Him.
Therefore, the Saviour today looks at us, solemnly probing us, and asks each one of us, 'Will you remain faithful to the Crucifed?'
"Carefully consider what you promise. The world is in flames. But high above all flames towers the Cross. They cannot consume it. It is the path from earth to Heaven. It will lift the one who embraces it in faith, love and hope into the bosom of the Trinity."
The greatest threat to the Church in these Last Days is not terrorism nor is it p/c, trendy, liberal government. It is Christianity minus the Cross; Christianity reduced to a flabby, effete programme of self-fulfillment and personal success and happiness.
"But we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness." (1 Corinthians 1.23)
"For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." (1 Corinthians 2.2)
"But may it never be that I should boast, except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." (Galatians 6.14)
"That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." (Philippians 3.10-11)
"And they overcome him because of the Blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death."(Revelation 12.11)
Polluted Rivers
"And the word of the Lord came to me saying, 'What do you see, Jeremiah?' And I said, 'I see a rod of an almond tree.' " (Jeremiah 1.11)
I note with sadness the infection of more and more of our New Zealand rivers by an alien growth called "Didymo". Locals call it "river snot", because it appears as a disgusting, viscous weed which swiftly covers river beds. According to Biosecurity New Zealand the invasion (Didymo came from overseas) was first detected in October 2004 in two rivers in Southland. By September 2005 five more rivers were contaminated as this pest moves north. Biosecurity NZ says that eradication of Didymo is "unlikely". Officials are concerned that this is going to sabotage New Zealand's "clean green" image overseas, possibly destroy world-famous trout fisheries, and jeoparise hydroelectric power generation.
A few years ago I dreamt I was speaking to a significant prophetic figure visiting New Zealand from the USA. I talked to him with my back to a beautiful river full of sparkling, pure water. I asked this prophet when he was going to visit here. He answered me staring fixedly at the river, "Why would I want to do that?" He was clearly saying that the Church in New Zealand should value what God has given us, over and above what He has given other nations.
At this time I'm sure we have failed to do this well enough, and as a result God is warning us through our natural rivers that our spirutal rivers are polluted with alien growth.
Obviously I'm not saying that the NZ Church should shut out overseas ministries and prevent them visiting and sharing in God's work here. Nor am I saying that NZ Christians should stay at home all the time. All over the world there really is only "one Body and one Spirit...one hope...one Lord, one faith, one baptism." (Ephesians 4.4-6)
But just as individual Believers have unique personalities and specific paths of obedience, so too does the Church in particular nations. This integrity of the Holy Spirit must be treasured, guarded and served with our utmost passion. Anthing less really dishonours the King and Head of the Church, Jesus.
Sadly, I believe it is probably too late to clean up our spiritual rivers here in New Zealand. Too many overseas ministries have been invited and have travelled here outside the Will of God and for the wrong reasons and motives. Promoting yourself, your ministry, your church, your denomination is not a good enough reason to issue or accept an invitation. The doing of His Will must be unassailably ultimate. Anthing less risks spiritual contamination with disastrous consequences...loss of purity, loss of fruitfulness, loss of power.
And yet God may yet work a miracle for us, especially if He sees a renewed determination on our part to esteeem and protect His Presence, rather than ourselves and our agendas!
"And Elisha went out to the spring of water, and threw salt in it and said, 'Thus says the Lord, I have purifed these waters.' " (2 Kings 2.21)
Prophet of Doom
A particularly nasty term often employed to dismiss God's prophetic servants is, "He's a prophet of doom." What the speaker really means is that the prophet is refusing to "toe the party line" and "play the ecclesiastical game". So he needs to be disqualified quickly and all dialogue as to what God might actually be saying, brought to a grinding halt. So, the term or title "prophet of doom" has over a long period of time become a badge of dishonour and approbrium.
But it has not always been so. In fact "prophet of doom" is a highly accurate description of prophetic responsibility; a good testimony and honourable epitaph. In the medieval Church the word "doom" did not describe gloom, negativity and destruction, but rather the Last Judgement of the Lord Jesus Christ. And a prophet is called to be a proclaimer of
this "doom" par excellence. More than all others he is called to constantly remind the whole human race (including the Church) that history which had a beginning is going to have a definite ending. And its Last Day will be the one on which God Himself judges us all; dividing the righteous from the unrighteous, and recompensing everyone.
"Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed." (Acts 17.30-31)
"His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (Matthew 3.12)
"Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master. And cast out the worthless slave into ther outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 23.21 and 30)
A lot of bad, sad and mad behaviour occurs in the Church because of a quite widely held view that Christians can get away with it. But no one is going to get away with anything. From the great "man of faith and power for the hour" to the sweetly smiling, venom-tongued gossip in the front pew, we will all be required to give an account of ourselves to the One who is all-seeing, all-knowing, and the just Judge.
"I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead." (2 Timothy 4.1)
"He gave Him authority to execute judgement, because He is the Son of Man...and His judgement is just because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." (John 5.27 and 30)
Mideast Murder
I recently dreamed that I was praying with a Messianic (Jewish Believers in Messiah Jesus) Congregation in Israel. I saw an "order of service"; the title of the sermon was, "How to Handle a Time of Transference (great change)". Then word came into the meeting that, "A murderer is on the way!" Everyone left the building; there was an atmosphere of apprehension and anticipation. Instead of fleeing, the people (and most especially the women) began to seek out "the murderer".
"I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling (like men crazy with liquor). Judah will be beseiged as well as Jerusalem." (Zechariah 12.2)
"The devil...was a murderer from the beginning." (John 8.44)
"As servants of God we commend ourselves in every way...in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and the left." (2 Corinthians 6.4 and 7)
"Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hands." (Psalm 149.6)
I recently dreamed that I was praying with a Messianic (Jewish Believers in Messiah Jesus) Congregation in Israel. I saw an "order of service"; the title of the sermon was, "How to Handle a Time of Transference (great change)". Then word came into the meeting that, "A murderer is on the way!" Everyone left the building; there was an atmosphere of apprehension and anticipation. Instead of fleeing, the people (and most especially the women) began to seek out "the murderer".
"I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling (like men crazy with liquor). Judah will be beseiged as well as Jerusalem." (Zechariah 12.2)
"The devil...was a murderer from the beginning." (John 8.44)
"As servants of God we commend ourselves in every way...in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and the left." (2 Corinthians 6.4 and 7)
"Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hands." (Psalm 149.6)
