Come to Me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.[1]Jesus Christ
Weariness has become epidemic in America. The mental and physical exhaustion being suffered is evident on the faces of a great number of people nearly every day. Webster’s Dictionary defines weariness as: The state of being weary or tired; that lassitude or exhaustion of strength which is induced by labor; fatigue.[2]
Lassitude as used by Webster in the definition of weariness above means: uneasiness proceeding from continued waiting, disappointed expectation or exhausted patience, or from other cause.[3]
When I read “or from other cause” I paused. Certainly, unfulfilled expectations can weary you, as can unexpected events that bring with them negative results. Patience can be exhausted resulting in weariness and depleted strength or stamina to continue to persevere while waiting for a desired outcome.
However, when I read “or from other cause” my mind went immediately to weariness of the soul. What I see happening today in America especially in the individual lives of Christians is weariness of the soul.
“…we
must understand that the only road to peace and social justice is
socialism…With the exploiting classes there will never be peace.”[1]
“…it
is necessary to understand that every modern theory of social justice is
ideological. No matter how reasonable or rational it may be, every modern
theory of social justice is the rationalization of the interests of a
particular group or class.”[2]
He
has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to
do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah
6:8[3]
Justice for all! This statement is a great sound bite but
little more than that. Indeed, as it is used today, it is superfluous on the
surface and vacuous once a brief examination is undertaken. However, given that
Americans have been conditioned to respond to sound bite journalism and
half-truths and worse masquerading as fact-based news, this mantra has become a
dangerous, misleading, although effective ploy utilized by those bent on
destroying America.
For justice to be realized by all, at least two things are necessary foundationally: there must be a standard or system of justice available to all that is objective, that is, it is beyond the frailties and double-mindedness of man, and all parties interested in justice for all must recognize this objective standard as guiding principles for determining when justice has been exhibited. In other words, there must be law and the rule of law must prevail over all well-intentioned and/or misguided arguments based on emotions, feelings, or the ideology-du-jour.
In order for true justice to prevail and guide any people
in their shared lives, justice must be impartial, proportionally related to
behavior so that each individual receives his or her due, whether that due is
reward or punishment. This must be in accord with the objective standard agreed
upon as the guiding principles mentioned above.
America was founded upon Christian principles. Therefore, God’s moral law has undergirded the guiding principles of this republic even before the American Revolution. The Mayflower Compact, the first governing document of English settlers to America makes this clear. The Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the US Constitution and Bill of Rights follow suit in recognizing the God of the Christian Bible as Creator, Sustainer, Lord, and Law Giver. His immutable and timeless law is recognized as the foundation for America’s laws.
John Locke said, “The end of law is not to abolish or
restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom.” President John F. Kennedy
recognized that truth when he stated during his inaugural address that: “The rights of man come not
from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.” Sir William Blackstone, the
acclaimed English jurist and scholar of jurisprudence, wrote that:
“Man … must
necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator…This will of his Maker is
called the law of nature…This law of nature…is of course superior to any
other…No human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this: and such of
them as are valid derive all their force…from this original.”[4]
Additionally, justice has many different applications and
therefore must be understood within several different contexts, among them: commercial,
vindictive, retributive, punitive, and remedial justice.[5]
Commercial justice defines voluntary relationships, while vindictive,
retributive, punitive, and remedial justice defines involuntary relationships.
Theologian and Philosopher E. Calvin Beisner, offers this explanation:
Commercial justice requires
that if we desire what another has, we must offer something he prefers in
exchange for it, not acquire it by force or fraud – whether directly (picking
his pocket) or indirectly (using a law to take from him and give to ourselves
or others). Violations of commercial justice by fraud, theft, or violence bring
punitive and vindictive justice into play as correctives.
When one person violates
another’s rights (which are defined by justice), the injury is to be redressed
by vindictive, retributive, and punitive justice. Vindictive justice judges the victim right in his cause (1 Kings
8:32; Deuteronomy 25:1). Retributive justice
(from the Latin re, or “back,” and tribuere, “to pay”) requires the
offender to restore the victim to his status before the offense (Exodus
22:1-15). Punitive justice applies a
penalty to the offender as punishment for violating the law (Romans 13:4). In
crimes against property (theft or destruction), punitive and retributive
justice combine in the offender’s restoring what was taken or destroyed
(retribution, also called restitution) plus some additional amount
(punishment).
Sometimes someone harms
another accidently. Then, remedial
justice requires the one who caused the harm to share the cost equally with
the victim (Exodus 21:35) but adds no penalty. But if he is negligent, he must
be punished by bearing the whole loss (Exodus 21:33-34, 36), restoring the
victim fully to his former state at his own expense.[6]
In the current climate of identity politics, gender
dysphoria, and Marxian and Critical Theories run amok, these requirements for
justice appear to be out of reach. That leaves us with a bare naked power grab
by certain people, or cast in Darwinian terms, a fight for the survival of the
strongest, where might makes right. In America today that means political power
financed by globalists who espouse anti-American ideologies. The ability to
force people to comply against their wishes and of the common good has defined
tyranny throughout the ages. Sadly, much of the American Protestant church has
been deceived and is supporting the multi-pronged Luciferian lunacy of the
leftists and other assorted God haters.
Aiding
and Abetting the Perversion of Justice
Recently the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) abdicated
their responsibility to proclaim God’s truth by adopting Critical Theory and
Intersectionality as guiding principles. Critical Theory and especially Critical
Race Theory assume what they set out to prove. It is at best, circular
reasoning on steroids. What it is at worse is a system for justifying racism
against whites. If that statement makes you nervous, you are probably
influenced by the now non-stop drumbeat of the white supremacy, white privilege
nonsense perpetrated by Critical Theory race baiters embedded in the Southern
Baptist Convention as well as many other denominations.
Critical Theory has already conquered numerous universities
as evidenced by the growing number of white privilege courses being offered to
students. The reason there is no uproar over this insanity is because college
freshman have already been indoctrinated with the socialist, leftist, Marxist
global citizenship lies such that by the time they enter college they have
become victims of mass mind control that makes the CIA blush over its
effectiveness.
Alex Newman, writing in the February 4, 2019 edition of the
New American says:
More than 20 years ago,
Hillary Clinton published a book called It
Takes a Village. The key takeaway from the book is that the raising of
children needs to be viewed as a collective responsibility, and that the
government must take a much more active role. More recently, MSNBC host Melissa
Harris-Perry did a segment going even further. “We have to break through our
private idea that kids belong to their parents or kids belong to their
families, and recognize that kids belong to the whole community…Of course that
idea is not new. In 1932, American Communist Party leader William Z. Foster, in
his book Toward Soviet America, outlined
similar goals. “Among the elementary measures the American Soviet government
will adopt to further the cultural revolution are the following: the schools,
colleges and universities will be coordinated and grouped under the National
Department of Education and its state and local branches,” he wrote. “The
studies will be revolutionized, being cleansed of religious, patriotic and
other features of bourgeois ideology. The students will be taught on the basis
of Marxian dialectic materialism, internationalism and the general ethics of
the new Socialist society…Indeed dictators have long understood that shaping
the minds of children is the surest method of keeping power. As Nationalist
Socialist (Nazi) tyrant Adolph Hitler put it, “He alone, who owns the youth,
gains the future”…Education, it turns out, is the secret weapon of those
seeking to build what they frequently refer to in public as a New World Order.
And they not only admit it, they boast of it in public. The very future of the
United States as a free and self-governing republic hinges on the outcome of
this battle.[7]
According to the Socialists-Communists in the U.S. Senate
and House, as well as Socialists-Communists in every level of government and
even in the U.S. Judiciary, American’s who believe in the rule of law, in the
God-given rights of Americans, in liberty and freedom, in limited government,
and State’s rights to tell the U.S. Government to “take a hike,” are prime
candidates for re-education. That means many Americans must be indoctrinated
with an ideology that sees religion, by which is meant true Christianity, and
patriotism, by which is meant nationalism, as “bourgeois.”
The questions I have for all those Protestant and SBC
leaders and the growing number of confessing Socialist-Communist Evangelicals
such as Tim Keller and David Platt, is this: How do you legitimately espouse
such demonic nonsense and think you are being true to the gospel of Jesus
Christ? How can you adopt Critical Theory, Critical Race Theory,
Intersectionality, Social Justice, homosexual and even transgender propaganda
and believe you are remaining faithful to the Scriptures? What people who hide
behind and fly the flag of “inclusion” are really doing is waving the white
flag of surrender to culture and the demonic hordes that have carefully crafted
American culture for the last one hundred plus years. People who believe they
are Christians and who see no conflict with their support of Critical Theory,
Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, Big Gay, and every other interest that
sets itself against the truth of God, have become useful idiots for the enemies
of Christ and of the freedom and liberties we enjoy as Americans.
Founding
Father John Adams was right when he wrote in a letter to the Massachusetts
Third Division in 1798, that: “Our constitution was made only for a moral and
religious people, it is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” This
explains why the Socialist-Communists in our governments, their allies in the
media, and Big Gay hate the rule of law and hate any reference to the Founding
Fathers and our governing documents: they are not a moral people and they will
not abide by any moral code that calls their behavior immoral, wicked, and
evil.
I encourage
every freedom loving American to begin to tell the people described above that
we will not tolerate their continued attack upon this nation’s principles and
follow that up with action. What is happening in your local community will
determine the necessary action items for you. I also suggest you utilize your
network of people to grow an organization of resistance to the creeping
Socialism-Communism in our governments and in our churches. If you will not
stand up and fight back now it may be too late in the very near future.
[1] Celia Hart, The Flag of Coyoacan, edited by Walter Lippmann in August 2004.
Repreinted in Marxist.org Cited in Carl Teichrib, Forcing Change, Volume 4, Issue 8, p. 1.
[2] William E. Murnion, “The Ideology of
Social Justice in Economic Justice For All,”
Journal of Business Ethics, p. 848, 1989. Cited in Teichrib, p. 1.
[3] All Bible references are taken from The
New American Standard translation (Lockman Foundation, 1995).
[7] Alex Newman, The New American, Rescuing Our Children, February 4, 2019, p.7.
Mike Spaulding was ordained to the ministry in 1998. Since then he has planted two Calvary Chapel churches – Calvary Christian Fellowship, St. Marys, Ohio, in 1998, and Calvary Chapel of Lima, Ohio, in 2005, where he currently serves as pastor.
Mike holds a B.A. in Organizational Management, a M.T.S., and a Ph.D. in apologetics. He is the author of #MTPGA (Make the Pulpit Great Again): 12 Things Christians Can Do Right Now; Random Thoughts From a Disciple of Jesus Christ: Commentary on America’s “Hot Button” Issues; Matthew: A Commentary for the Remnant Body of Jesus Christ, Volume 1; and Mark: A Commentary for the Remnant Body of Jesus Christ, Volume 1. He is a contributing author to Social Injustice; The Evangelical Dictionary of World Religions; and Daily Devotions with Calvary Chapel Pastors. Mike is a frequent conference speaker and has appeared on broadcasts including Worldview Weekend Radio with Brannon Howse, The Hagmann Report, Caravan to Midnight and Ark Midnight with John B. Wells, and Five In Ten on Skywatch TV.
Mike is the host of Soaring Eagle Radio (www.soaringeagleradio.com), Dr. Mike Live (www.drmikelive.com), and cohosts The Kingdom War Room with Dr. Michael Lake (www.kingdomintelligencebriefing.com) .
His teaching ministry is featured on the radio program “The Transforming Word,” heard on radio stations throughout the Midwest United States.
Mike has been married to his lovely wife Kathy for over 36 years and together they have four daughters and six grandchildren.
You may contact Mike via email – pastormike@cclohio.org or by writing him at the address below. You may follow him on Twitter – @ccpastormike
Dr. Mike Spaulding P.O. Box 3007 Elida, Ohio 45807
“The beginning of true liberty is Jesus Christ. And therefore, the first
and last target of all subversion is biblical faith. Hence it is that the
Church has been the first target of infiltration and subversion; and is the most
subverted institution in the United States today.”
— Dr.
R. J. Rushdoony
The United
States of America is on the verge of political, social and moral collapse.
While many Christian leaders are diligently praying for America’s Third Great
Awakening, wickedness and immorality seems to continue to spread unabated
across America with no apparent end in sight. How did this happen and who is ultimately
responsible for preventing its demise?
The reversal of
everything that our Founding Fathers stood for politically, socially and culturally
began in earnest in the mid 1900’s, when America was invaded and infiltrated by
a civilian army whose allegiance and loyalty were elsewhere. Their goal was to
destroy the Judeo-Christian Constitutional Republic that our Founding Fathers
created and replace it with a socialist/humanistic state to be ruled by a
handful of judges. Therefore, if we are to defeat this enemy, we must
understand their strategy in order for it to be countered.
Joseph Stalin
shows us the tactic that they would use in order to undermine our nation: “America is like a healthy body and its
resistance is three-fold. Its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life.
If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within.”
The first attack occurred on our “spiritual
life” when the Supreme Court invented the fictitious legal doctrine of “separation of church and state” which
removed the LORD from His place as the highest authority in our nation. (See
Romans 13). The second wave began when the Left unconstitutionally began to use
the federal courts to attack our morality. After God’s law was removed as the
foundation for American moral law, the sex / drug revolution immediately
followed. America then began cascading into moral free fall. Abortion,
legalized sodomy and gay marriage were all forced upon the nation by the
Supreme Court.
The last wave
was (and is) an attack upon our patriotism. This is the strategy behind the
Colin Kaepernick protests. I fear if this last thread of resistance is severed,
America will fall on the ash heap of history. Herbert Aptheker, Editor
Communist Magazine Political Affairs, identified whose neglect was allowing
this to happen: “Neglect of parents [and
pastors] to teach our youth Christianity and Americanism has made the communist
talk of deceiving American youth much easier.” Therefore, the course
objective of Americanism: A Course in
Citizenship and Ethics is to restore America’s 3-fold cords of patriotism,
morality, and the spiritual life that has historically made America strong and
great, thus restoring our American Republic.
If we are to
pull America back from the brink of judgment and destruction, this movement
must begin and be led by the churches and pulpits of America. – Charles Finney,
The Father of Modern Revivalism had the following to say in his article The Decay of Conscience (1873)
“Brethren,
our preaching will bear its legitimate fruits. If immorality prevails in the
land, the fault is ours in a great degree. If there is a decay of conscience,
the pulpit is responsible for it. If the public press lacks moral
discrimination, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the church is degenerate
and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses its interest
in religion, the pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in our halls of
legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so
corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the
pulpit is responsible for it. Let us not ignore this fact, my dear brethren;
but let us lay it to heart and be thoroughly awake to our responsibility in
respect to the morals of this nation.”
I have interviewed hundreds of pastors over the last 25 years in an attempt to get them to engage the culture and the society outside the four walls of theirs church. My efforts were met with nothing but frustration, as many seemed more interested in building their own little kingdoms rather than advancing the Kingdom of God upon the Earth. I asked the LORD “What would you have me do? The LORD responded: “Write down the 12 lies that you have heard come from the mouth of a Christian leader and then refute that lying spirit.” [See 2 Chronicles 18:21 & 1 Kings 22:22]. From this conversation, the curriculum: Americanism: A Course in Citizenship and Ethics – The Social, Moral, Religious and Political Duty of the Church was born. For the next 12 weeks, join us as we address that 12 Lies that the Christian church has embraced as truth.
Dr. John Diamond
Dr. John Diamond is a nationally recognized teacher,
motivational and inspirational speaker, author, theologian, and Christian
apologist. He is the Founder and Director of Peacemakers Outreach, a non-profit, faith-based organization that is dedicated
to pursuing reconciliation through video, social media, and biblical education. He is passionate, high energy and dynamic speaker
whose subjects makes him relatable to both young and old, from the new believer
to the most seasoned pastor. His teaching style makes him able to communicate
the most complex issues in a way that is accessible to even laymen in the
faith. John’s sermons, teachings, and speeches have made him known as an
articulate defender of truth and biblical morality.
He is a seasoned
author who has written several books including An Appeal to Heaven: A
Cry for Divine Justice and the 3-part discipleship series titled Unifying
the Body of Christ. He is now being recognized as one of the nation’s
experts in the areas of Christian Unity, Discipleship, Outreach, and Biblical
Citizenship. This has made him an increasingly sought-out church and conference
speaker as well as radio show guest. He travels widely across the nation
working with a variety of evangelical churches and Christian organizations. His
newly created educational materials and curriculum include several small group
DVD studies such as Faith Training and The Mystery of
Christ that educate, emphasize and expand upon the four-basic doctrine
of the CM&A doctrines of Jesus Christ as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and
our Coming King.
His 14-part DVD series titled Americanism: A Course
in Biblical Citizenship and Ethics has made him known as one of the
leading experts in the relationship between the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms
of men. His book An Appeal to Heaven is being widely
recognized as the only biblical solution for the restoration of legitimate
biblical government by emphasizing the 3-fold role of Christ as King,
Lawmaker and Judge. (Isaiah 33:22).
Dr. Diamond is
presently the Executive Director of Peacemakers Outreach. He holds a Masters in Theology and a Doctorate in Christian
Education. In January 2013, he created the first American Citizenship School
which led to the forming of the American Christian Leadership Alliance (ACLA).
He has served as the Director of Discipleship at Bible Community Church in
Columbus, Ohio. He is a veteran of the United States Air Force.
The covenant of marriage is a testimony of love for God and the love a man and a woman share. It is a testimony to our love for God because He created marriage and said that it was good for a man to cleave to his wife.
The covenant of marriage has weathered a lot of storms over the many years since God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep, and from his side create woman whom Adam named Eve – the mother of all the living.
Marriage as God created it was never meant to be a burden or to create hardship. God’s design for marriage is that it becomes the standard bearer for what true companionship looks like.
What should be apparent to people and especially to Christians, is that companionship’s foundation is spiritual. That’s what Moses was describing when under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he wrote: “For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 3:24)
God’s reasoning is very clear – two is better than one.
Now this raises a question. Namely, in what way or in what context are two becoming one better than one alone? In other words why did God determine that man and woman are better together than alone? What are they better at? The answer to that question gets to the real heart of the issue concerning marriage.
God designed marriage for a purpose, and He has determined that two are better than one in accomplishing that purpose. That being true, then it is wisdom manifested to pursue and gain understanding of what God’s purpose truly is concerning marriage.
Many people in America today would likely answer that God has designed marriage to bring happiness into the lives of men and women who make this commitment to one another. I believe they are right in thinking this for God does desire that His sons and daughters find happiness in their lives.
But I think there is something even greater than happiness that God desires for His children through the covenant of marriage. What if God desired marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?
What if God designed marriage to draw us closer to Him? What if God is inviting men and women who come before Him, making vows and promises of love, commitment, and companionship, to draw into a most holy and righteous relationship through the challenges, struggles, joys, and celebrations that marriage certainly affords?
What if marriage in God’s eyes, is part of the grand plan of sanctification for those who choose this path?
Indeed, one Reformation era writer says that marriage is a perpetual exercise of mortification. That word mortification is an old Puritan word meaning to die to sin, and specifically to deny the desires of the flesh that ruin us all if we indulge them.
The Bible states it this way in the KJV: “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” (Romans 8:13)
Friends, if the purpose of God in marriage is simply to make us happy, then what do we do 2 years in, or 10 years in, or 30 years in when suddenly we determine that we just aren’t happy anymore? If happiness is the litmus test then most people would need a new marriage every 3-4 years.
The truth is friends, the philosophical movement called the age of Romanticism high jacked the biblical view of marriage and took it places that God never intended it to go. Love became all about emotions and as we all, well know, emotions are a very untrustworthy gauge of almost everything.
Love, friends, is a gift from our great God and it is designed to be best expressed in the covenant of marriage. But love must have a constant companion. That companion is holiness, and holiness is most beautifully expressed in our relationships with others.
I want to share with you a brief excerpt from Francis Schaeffer found in his book The Mark of the Christian. Schaeffer writes:
In John 13:21 Jesus said “We are to love all Christians “as I,” Jesus says, “have loved you.” Now think of both the quality and the quantity of Jesus’ love toward us.”
“The point was that, if an individual Christian does not show love toward other true Christians, the world has a right to judge that he is not a Christian. Here Jesus is stating something else which is much more cutting, much more profound: We cannot expect the world to believe that the Father sent the Son, that Jesus’ claims are true, and that Christianity is true, unless the world sees some reality of the oneness of true Christians.”
“Let us be careful, indeed, to spend a lifetime studying to give honest answers…But after we have done our best to communicate to a lost world, still we must never forget that the final apologetic which Jesus gave is the observable love of true Christians for true Christians.”
“This is the whole point: The world is going to judge whether Jesus has been sent by the Father on the basis of something that is open to observation.”
“The Christian really has a double task. He has to practice both God’s holiness and God’s love. The Christian is to exhibit that God exists as the infinite personal God; and then he is to exhibit simultaneously God’s character of holiness and love. Not his holiness without his love: that is only harshness. Not his love without his holiness: that is only compromise.”
“…we should never come to such difference with true Christians without regret and without tears. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Believe me, evangelicals often have not shown it. We rush in, being very, very pleased, it would seem at times, to find other men’s mistakes. We build ourselves up by tearing other men down. This can never show a real oneness among Christians.”
Schaeffer is right in stating that love, true biblical love, without holiness becomes compromise.
The Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12:
9 Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. 10 For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. 11 Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? 12 And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.
Friends two is better than one but a cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart. This is a marvelous truth from the Scripture and it is applicable most especially to marriage.
Sanctification is a lifelong process whereby God makes us holy. How does He do that? He does that through the transforming events of everyday life. Marriage as those of you who have been married for a while understand, calls us to an entirely new life of selflessness. When God said the two shall become one He really meant it.
Once married, your thoughts and your actions are refocused from self to your spouse. As a pastor I can testify that many issues couples face in marriage that threaten their commitment to one another, are centered on the inability to make this transition from self-focus to spouse-focus. Wives are to honor, to respect, and to love their husbands, and husbands are to love their wives as Christ loves the church. That, friends, is the epitome of selflessness and it is a very tall order because our flesh fights against that.
So the question becomes this: can a man or a woman love and honor one another that way without Christ being their mutual focus? Can men and women become one as God intends them to be, without the third strand which is Jesus Christ? The answer is simply no, they cannot.
Schaeffer again:
Marriage is wonderful, but unless both are children of God through faith in Christ, and unless both put Christ first as Lord in their lives, then a marriage can never be what the Lord meant marriage to be. This would always be true, but it is doubly true in a day such as our own which is so filled with confusion and tensions. It is only when each one puts Christ first that there can be a sufficient base. And though at first it might seem as though this would be disruptive to a marriage – to have even Christ put before the other one – yet it is not this way. This is so because, if we put Christ before the other person, we will then be able to love and be thoughtful of the other person in a way that would not be possible if that person was not put first.
Friends, the marriage relationship in which Christ is the third strand cannot be quickly torn apart. With Christ as the foundation and focus of your marriage you will experience the deep rivers of the fruit of the Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
You will understand the wonderful blessing it is to take responsibility to tenderly nurture the other’s heart; always watching over it to protect it and to defend it.
The beauty of Christianity is love. Love is expressed most clearly by the Father in Christ. For those who follow Christ, marriage is the most radical test of whether or not we, His followers, are becoming more like Christ every day.
Christians must understand that marriage is a testimony to the world of what pursuing God looks like. Marriage as God intends it to be, is a soul-deep companionship that grows stronger and deeper, year upon year, as we are drawn closer and closer into intimacy with Christ.
May God bless you, dear listener, as you embark on this great adventure of holiness. May your marriage point each other to what you need most of all in life – God’s love and active presence day by day.
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In one of the apostle Paul’s last letters — the one he wrote to Timothy — he gave some vitally important words of caution and warning. 2nd Timothy 4, starting at verse 2: “Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts, shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned to fables.”
Then, he added, “But watch thou, in all things, endure
afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”
I have been working in full time ministry for nearly 20 years now. I remember when I began, I was astonished at the many churches that were no longer enduring sound doctrine. The “seeker friendly” movement, which morphed into the “Emergent Church” movement was on a “fast track.” Mega churches were springing up with massive buildings. So large, in fact, they call them “campuses.” And many of these mega-churches have MULTIPLE campuses in various areas of their cities, because one building will not hold all those who want the feel-good, false “love gospel” message that is preached there.
I was saddened in
those early days of this work, to see so many formerly rock solid, Bible-based,
Scripturally sound churches DEvolve into nothing more than “happy fun
time.” A “feel-good experience,” where
one could go and see a show, lift their hands in mock reverence to God, dance
and sway, while being promised all manner of prosperity, health, wealth, and a
life of abundance. “Your BEST life
NOW.” This is just SO contradictory to
everything God’s Word says about the Christian life. Sin is no longer a word allowed to be spoken
of in many churches, and if it IS spoken of, it’s only to say that once we
simply say a prayer or walk an aisle (or worse yet, just raise our hand “with
all eyes closed and all heads bowed”); we are “good” with God.
We can then go
about our normal lives as usual. Except
now, we are told, we are assured of heaven… just because we repeated a few
words and sheepishly raised our hand while no one was looking. COME ON folks! Talk about biblical illiteracy. Talk about wolves in sheep’s clothing….
HIRELINGS lulling fat and happy fools into a false sense of eternal
security. This is so sad.
But you know, we
cannot put all the blame on the pastors.
They’re just giving the people what they want. Look again at the Scripture from 2nd
Timothy: it says THE PEOPLE will not
put up with sound doctrine any longer, and so THE PEOPLE heap up for themselves
teachers to tell them what they want to hear, to soothe their itching ears.
It is the great
apostasy, the great “falling away.” And
I have watched it begin as a tiny sprout many years ago, and I’ve watched it
grow, blossom, flower and then re-seed itself many times over the years… Today it is so prevalent in Christendom that
one is hard-pressed to find a faithful congregation of true believers
anywhere. I guess that’s why God’s Word
says there will only be a small “remnant” that stand firm to the end.
During my time in
ministry, I have seen the old timers, the pastors who were faithful in teaching
the WHOLE counsel of God’s Word grow older and retire from the ministry… or
in many cases, be FORCED OUT of their ministry by church boards and elders —
only to be replaced by somebody younger, more “hip,” more “in step” with the
culture and times we are living in. In
other words, a more CARNAL “pastor.”
These “cool” new pastors often use Hollywood films on their big
projection TV screens to illustrate their sermons… they make off-color jokes
from the pulpits. They wear t shirts and
ripped blue jeans as they speak, to appeal to the average “Joe six-pack” in the
audience. They have a “hot” worship
team, complete with electric guitars, drums, smoke and mirrors and in some
cases even laser light shows. “It’s all about the EXPERIENCE,” they
say.
Friends, I’m not
some old fashioned stick in the mud.
I’ve been around. And I can tell
you, this ain’t “church.” At least not a
biblical church. It MAY be a “synagogue
of Satan.” But it’s not church, and it
most certainly is not God-honoring.
There is NO reverence for Him; no fear of God there at all. I have seen youth leaders take their group
of kids to R-rated movies as their Youth Group “activity” for the week; I have seen pastors hold community events
called a “car smash,” which apparently the kids love… they get an old car,
put it in the middle of their parking lot, and let the kids destroy it with
baseball bats, spray paint, and tire irons.
This is their “entertainment” for the evening — a way to get kids to
“come to church.”
I’ve seen pastors
dress up like Hollywood movie characters, or the Easter Bunny or Santa
Claus. I’ve seen the bounce houses and
carnival games and rock concerts… nowadays, they will do ANYTHING to get kids
— AND ADULTS — to come to church, and KEEP coming to church… KEEP RIGHT ON
filling those collection plates. Just
don’t DARE tell them what the Bible REALLY says…. are you KIDDING? That’s MUCH too harsh. That’s no fun. Who would want to hear THAT?!
So when it comes to
doing things of any real significance; when it comes to being SALT AND LIGHT
and IMPACTING our society and culture with what our society and culture is
in DESPERATE NEED OF — the TRUTH, for heaven’s sake — they are all
AWOL… oh NO! They CAN’T “go there!” People don’t want to hear about sin and evil,
or the consequences of sin and evil in their lives. They don’t want to be CONVICTED in their
hearts. They want to be COMFORTED and
entertained. And they call this “going
to church.” Preach the WORD? Are you kidding? Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all LONGSUFFERING
and DOCTRINE? WHO in the world wants
THAT?! Endure afflictions for the sake
of the Gospel? “NO, thank you. I’ll take a
large coffee, please, and if it’s not too much trouble, please make sure the
service is over with by noon, because we need to get home to watch the game.”
If you want to know
why our world is the way it is, it’s because professing Christians have given
up. It began at least a generation or
two ago — and maybe longer. But at some
point, we stopped taking God and His Word seriously. And the Great falling away began. Instead of serving CHRIST and HIS KINGDOM, we
began seeking after things we perceived to be “good, fun, enjoyable,
entertaining.” Instead of afflicting the
comfortable and comforting the afflicted, we BECAME the comfortable,
…and we like it that way. So as for
those old time preachers who just want to preach the “hard stuff,” “hit the road, Jack, we’ve decided to go a
different direction.” Yes, indeed,
they have.
Over the years I
have known countless faithful men of God who have been run out of town by these
congregations that no longer wish to hear the truth. I, myself, have been “disinvited” from more
churches than I can count. But let me
tell you about a friend of mine who has recently experienced this at his church
in California. His name is Pastor Justin
Hoke, and he is a faithful truth-teller, a watchman on the wall. He doesn’t allow political correctness to
dictate his message. He speaks the WHOLE
counsel of God’s Word — out of love for the lost, and to inform those who
profess Christ of the spiritual culture war we are SUPPOSED to be fighting
— as we stand our ground against the enemy and his demons.
He recently put a
message on his church sign stating common sense, simply TRUTH. The sign read: “Bruce Jenner is still a man.
Homosexuality is still sin. The
culture may change. The Bible does not.” According to a news story by
PulpitAndPen.org, LGBT activists swarmed the church recently, claiming the sign
was “hateful.” They later vandalized the
sign. And less than a week later, Pastor
Hoke made the following announcement on his Facebook page:
“As of today, I am no longer the pastor of
Trinity Bible Presbyterian Church. After
much prayer and counsel, I have decided that it is best to briefly communicate
what has taken place. 1) I was informed by our other elder that he
felt he could no longer follow my lead as pastor. 2) I
was informed that essentially all but one couple in membership would leave the
church if I continued as pastor. 3) Our
other elder and the couple felt that those who left would likely return if
I would leave.”
Pulpit And Pen
commented, “Apparently, the public
outrage was enough to cause discontent within the local congregation, which
appears to value the opinion of men more than the Word of God. May it not be said of us.” I should note that this came after the pastor
gave one of the most powerful sermons I’ve heard in a long time, entitled “Love Warns.” In his sermon, Pastor Hoke noted that to
“accept and affirm” what the culture embraces, but which God’s Word calls
abomination is NOT to love those trapped in sin; but rather WARNING the
wicked of their need for repentance and forgiveness by the shed blood of Christ
is the definition of truly LOVING your neighbor. It was an incredibly powerful message he
gave. And then he was immediately
tossed out of his role as pastor. For
simply telling the TRUTH, straight from God’s Word.
I’m reminded of the
prophet Jeremiah, known as the “weeping prophet,” because he wept for the
nation of Israel. God sent him to
declare His Word and Truth to the people, and sound the warning regarding all
their iniquities. But the people did NOT
want to hear. Instead they demanded, “Jeremiah, tell us something GOOD for once…
tell us what we want to hear!”
Let’s read just a
little bit from chapter 7 as God explains things to Jeremiah: “But
this command I gave them: ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall
be My people. And walk in all the ways
that I command you, that it may be well with you.’ But they did not obey or incline their ear,
but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and
went backward and not forward. From the
day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have
persistently sent all My servants the prophets to them, day after day. Yet they did not listen to Me or incline
their ear, but stiffened their necks. They did worse than their fathers.”
And so God
continued, “So you shall speak all these
words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but
they will not answer you. And you shall
say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their
God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from
their lips.”
Does that not sound
like America today? Truth has
perished. It’s DEAD! Evil is called “good” and good is called
“evil” and we LIKE it that way.
And anyone who DARES defy the celebration of sodomy or speak TRUTH on
this matter is virtually crucified by all — even those you would THINK would be
on your side — the “church” people.
Indeed, we are at a place and time now where even those who profess to
be people of God will no longer endure sound doctrine. Instead, they heap up for themselves teachers
who tell them what they prefer to hear.
I can tell you,
from PERSONAL experience, being a watchman on the wall puts a target on your
back — for Satan to aim at, AND, sadly today, for many church-goers to aim at
as well. You WILL be persecuted for
speaking truth. It is SO SAD realizing
just how many — I dare say, the VAST MAJORITY of regular church-goers today —
have NO IDEA what the Scriptures actually say; nor do they have any intention
of finding out, of “studying to show themselves approved.” They would rather just attend the weekly
meetings at their local “Religious Service Provider” … as long as it’s a
message that makes them feel good about THEMSELVES.
In the Gospel of
John, Jesus said, “IF YOU HOLD TO MY
TEACHING, you are really My disciples.
THEN you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” You see,
every church-goer claims to want to follow Jesus — until they find out
where He’s taking them. If the truth be
told, they don’t really want Jesus, nor do they want His TRUTH. They just want the benefits. They just want to feel good. But apart from Jesus you can’t even know the truth… and unless you HOLD to His teaching,
you are not His disciples at all. So if
you’re not serious about being His disciple, then by calling yourself a
“Christian” — you are actually taking the Lord’s name in vain. So stop it.
America is in the midst of serious judgment. We are a nation of depraved minds. God has sent strong delusion upon our people
because we refused to hear and heed His Word.
If you want to know WHY the world is in such a mess, I can tell you. We have deserted our Heavenly Father, and shunned His Son. America will never be great again, unless we turn back to God, — who promises if we do, THEN He will heal our hearts and our minds, and our land. America needs Jesus. And men and women of true faith and courage, willing to preach the Word — in season and out. Reprove, rebuke and exhort with all longsuffering and SOUND doctrine. Unfortunately, in our world today, TRUTH sounds like HATE, because our people hate the truth…
