Wednesday, February 25, 2009

The Day God Divorced The Oneness Movement

The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD. And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah. Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. Jeremiah 3:6-15

I’m amazed every day at the view of some among us that so mirror the erroneous ideologies of God’s chosen people from ages past. After seeing the miracles of Egypt, their liberation at the hands of Moses, the 40 years of miracles in the wilderness, and the blessings that followed in the Promised Land, they came to believe that God was forever bound in marriage to them despite their actions. Just as ancient Israel, there is a growing entitlement attitude, spirit and doctrine among the Oneness Apostolic movement that says, “God is married to us in an unbreakable relationship that can never be ended because we are Jesus name, Spirit filled people.” For a church in right relationship with God and man, this would be true, but let’s look deeper into the dilemma of our day and see what is morphing from the ashes of the altars of modern Pentecostal philosophy.

There is a growing theory in modernized Pentecostal theology that we have somehow adopted a doctrine from the denominational religious world that says, “Once Saved Always Saved” in our mentality, and although we’ve damned for a generation the Roman’s Road dogma of, “Just accept Christ as your Savior,” and have disallowed the heretical mental gymnastics of “just accepting Jesus as our personal Savior,” we’ve now come full circle in Pentecost and declare in our spirits, “Once Married. Always Married,” and are determined that just because we have been baptized in Jesus name and filled with the Holy Ghost that we can never displease God to the point that he will not divorce himself from our presence, and that no sin, no attitude, no amount of disobedience to His word could ever cause God to file for divorce as long as we do a laundry list of do’s and don’ts! We’ve now begun to teach a doctrine that says I can never be removed from the body and bride of Christ no matter how I treat my brother or sister in the church or the world, and I can even eject people from the body of Christ if they disagree with my ideology and self-proclaimed autonomy. To a great extent we can come into a service, shout, worship…and yet we are divorced from relationship with the Groom that can influence our behavior. We worship until we feel God’s presence and can bask in it, but we never dive in deep enough to allow him to completely flood us and change our attitudes, actions and thinking. We are guilty of spiritual social drinking just to the extent that we don’t lose control of our services to the Spirit. Our services are no longer God’s services. They are our services. We control everything.

I once heard a preacher speak a remarkable statement, and that was this, “So often our worship is nothing more than allowing visitation rights of our emotions with a God we divorced a long time ago.”

I’ll sit and let that sink in for a second, because it is a phenomenal truth. Jesus told us the first and greatest commandment was one that every Jewish mother recited to her children every night as they went to bed and every morning when they got up. They were taught from infancy that they were to have no other Gods and that idolatry was an abomination.

And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. Mark 12:28-33

Somehow we’ve developed a New Age Pentecostal philosophy that God is already married to us. In Western Civilization, that concept won’t fly. Here an engagement precedes a marriage. In Eastern cultures, marriage vows began at the betrothal. Once a woman accepted a man’s proposal of marriage, she was considered his “espoused” wife…not his spouse, but a bride in the making. They were legally bound by contract and could entertain no other suitors. What husband-to-be would want his future wife going out partying with every guy in town? What man would want his bride-to-be selling herself to every man in town? Sorry, friend, that would be a deal breaker. The bride has to stay pure!

The only way to end an eastern marriage engagement was through a formal divorce! (Matthew 1:18-20) Still, we One God Pentecostals have allowed a spirit to get in the door that cries out that we are God’s people when so often the only knee we bow during the week is at the altar of progress, politics and promotion. We even have some among us that are bowing their knees to the spirit’s of Ba’al and Ashtoreth in these last days. If you aren’t familiar with these spirits, their modern names are power, control, violence, sensual spirituality, spiritualism and cowardice, and just like in Ahab’s court, they are even allowed to sit with the ministry at the table of the king!

The modern idolatry that Paul and even Jesus Christ warned of for the last days church was the god of “self-worship.”

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. 2 Timothy 3:1-9

Paul warns us here that there is a danger coming in the last days, and I’m going to say it again, Pentecostals, God wasn’t talking to secular religion here through his man. God was addressing his church, his espoused bride, these people who have gone down in the water in Jesus name and been filled with his Spirit. He is not addressing denominationalism, organized religions, or any movement that does not teach what the Apostles taught. We have to get off that cheap preferred “crystal meth” of Pentecost that says that every time we find a verse in God’s word addressing sin among His people all of a sudden Paul was addressing Trinitarians or some cult somewhere. Not so friend. He was talking to his church. He said they had a form of godliness but denied the power. You don’t get Godly by making a profession of faith and kissing a crucifix. These people had at one time had a relationship with Deity, but walked away from God.

How did they do that? It’s very simple. They had done the Pentecostal catechism of repentance and water and Spirit baptism only to take hold of the reins of their own life and beating the drum of pride, arrogance, prejudice and all the works of the flesh. You say, “But that’s impossible!” No, it isn’t. We need to stop preaching that an experience with God alone is enough to get us saved, sanctified and on a one-way ticket to heaven.

Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. Romans 11:18-25

We live in a generation that puts everything before God in our churches, from the pulpit to the pew, and yet we will not hear a voice of correction. You would not believe the hate-mail I receive from people who will not heed a voice of correction in their lives. Sorry to rub the fur the wrong way, but I’m not changing direction, so turn around. The mindset I battle is that they feel they are okay because they are married to a oneness organization, an assembly, a fellowship, and because of that they have somehow come to base their salvation on mere licensing with a particular organization and following a set of by-laws instituted by men. Please find that in scripture for me, because I’ve run into more than one voice among us preaching it like that!

This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Matthew 15:8-14

We live in a generation even in the church which teaches a false repentance that God cannot and will not hear. It is a lip-service repentance that says, “Forgive me God, because I know I have sinned…but my brother who I have also sinned against WILL JUST HAVE TO GET OVER IT!” That is so much the spirit of the Prodigal Son’s older brother.

I’ve said it many times before, and I will continue to say it until I die. It is possible to sin against God and not sin against your brother, but it is impossible to sin against your brother and NOT sin against God. We have a hard time admitting and coming to grips with that in Pentecost!

Still, we will find a place of prayer, and repent because we know our attitudes are rotten and a stench in his nostrils, but we will not restore to our brother what we have taken from him, or make restitution for the hurt and wrong we have done, either as individuals, a body, or as an organization. We forget that Christ told us that if we go to offer our gift on the altar and remember that our brother has something against us, that we are to LEAVE OUR GIFT and go make it right with our brother. That’s telling me that all our gifts, offerings, work, and the cool stuff we do is meaningless to a God who has had one of his kids hurt! We as a people are now deaf to a God who has proclaimed…no forgiveness until you make something right with that dirty little word among us called “restitution.”

If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double. If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field; of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution. If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith; he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution. If a man shall deliver unto his neighbour money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the man's house; if the thief be found, let him pay double. Exodus 22:1-7

I could go into an entirely different direction here if time would permit, but there is no restoration without restitution. We seek God’s forgiveness, but if we really find God’s forgiveness we will seek our brother’s forgiveness. Nor will we ever see divine restoration without brotherly restitution. All we are looking for is a Pentecostal band-aid on our conscience, trying to convince ourselves we are right with God because we “repented” after spiritually raping and killing our brother…when we were never sorry we did it to begin with! Nothing kills like self-justification.

In 2008, we Oneness Pentecostal Holy Rollers have learned we can tear down our brother, our saints, even entire organizations and rip them apart, fire our rockets of retaliation off at each other and let the nuclear fallout kill hundreds of spiritual children and babes in the womb and still walk around in our new suits in our multi-million dollar churches and pretend all is well. No harm. No foul. What’s done is done.

I don’t think so.

How is it that a generation of people are now content to “feel impressed” by God about a subject when God hasn’t spoken to them? Where once God spoke openly and boldly to us, now his voice falls silent and we point our finger at inspiration and seek to find what God has “impressed” upon us when God stopped speaking to us the moment we rose up like Cain and slew our brother. Inspiration has many sources. It will never replace anointing and hearing from God will never be replaced by programs, protocols and preachers who no longer hear from God. Our problem is a sub-standard anointing. It’s not because God is pouring out less than what we need. It’s because we are not centering ourselves in the place where God will pour on us what we really need for this hour. A shallow walk with God and a shallow ministry will never prove worthy of a deep anointing. That’s why we can inspire people all day long from the pulpit, but we can’t shake, bake and break them with the words that flow from our mouths. We blame the audience, but the problem is the mouth-piece. Anointing oil is not cheap. The law of supply and demand works in the Spirit world as well. If you don’t have a demand for something, the price comes down…but if we need something the price goes up. Maybe God needs to turn down our supply and increase our demand as American Pentecostals!

And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. Revelations 6:5-6

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Revelations 3:15-19

Doctrine does not make us right with God. We are so quick to point out any other church’s false doctrine as a false hope that will not save anyone…yet neither will true doctrine, if the person teaching it has no relationship with the God who saved them. We need not let Acts 2:38 become a modern day Ark of the Covenant where we dance around it, feel the glory of God’s presence…then walk away unchanged having never let it get any deeper than our goose bumps. Jesus was trying to inform the misguided mind-set of the last days church that he does not correct us because he hates us, but because he loves us. Still, the spirit of this hour says, “Do not speak against us. Do not correct us.”

Now after 100 years of Pentecost in America, we’ve failed to become anything but another denomination when the Apostles and the early church in their time turned the entire known world up-side down in less than 20 years. We are missing something. We have the Holy Ghost, but we don’t have the fire. Now as God brings judgment on a nation that has turned its back on him, he’s looking to the church in this hour and is asking who has the goods? Who will repent for the sins of this nation and the sins of his church? If we will not divorce ourselves from the God’s of prosperity, programs, career, peer pressure, prejudice, pride, arrogance and apathy, we will find ourselves cast into the very judgment God brings on this nation.

And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. Revelation 2:18-23

The very fact that God is speaking to his people and telling them that he will cast them into great tribulation if they do not repent tells us the hour and time that he is speaking of in this passage. God has given the church in America a space of time to repent. Judgment will begin at the house of God and it will start with his ministers. Our ministers, like the priests of Israel, should be planting their faces between the porch and the altar and weeping for this generation and this nation, but we are not. We are not crying aloud, nor will we tell this people about their sins. We have let political correctness silence our pulpits, muzzle our ministries and even silence those who will speak out. We have become silent and have also silenced the voices among us that have called for repentance and change.

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. 1 Peter 4:17-19

Peter knew that there was a time of judgment coming. The early church lived every day as if God was coming back at any moment. Now 2000 years later, the burden of the body of Christ is on our shoulders. Will we carry it, or will we turn and serve the queen of heaven and pour our our meat and drink offerings to idolatry of self, wealth and sensuality and just what pleases us? We live in a generation that has forgotten the sacrifices of our forefathers and have taken to worshipping an image that is not the image of the True and Living God. Like the prophet of old who saw the angels with weapons of destruction and one with a writer’s inkhorn, God is sending out his angels to find every man and woman in our movement who is sighing and crying for the sins of the people and for this nation and he is marking them. Why are our prayer rooms silent? Where are the mourners? Where are our intercessors? Where are those who lay all night in prayer and intercession for this people. They have not died out, Pentecost. We’ve killed them off like the prophets of old and we have blood on our hands because of it.

And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people. Joel 2:11-18

We’ve been guilty of spiritual abortion and like Israel of old, God is ready to present us a bill of divorce. Not only that, but I recently received an article from a friend telling how Sister Nona Freeman spoke of God’s judgment on this nation for not taking a stand against abortion. I’m afraid it will go much farther than that, as even the Old Testament priests knew that this would happen. God has always been the avenger of the defenseless and any innocent blood that is shed in the land (Deut. 21:1-9).

We are not crying out for the sins of a nation and the sins of the church. Like impudent Israel, from least to greatest among us we’ve looked up to heaven and declared, “Where is our sin?” God already gave his answer all through his word. We cannot stand before him blameless as the only voice of truth in a land that has totally turned from his word. We have not repented for our leaders, our government, our people and the church. Restoration of this land hangs in the balances of the Oneness Pentecostal movement. Only our voices, our hearts and our prayers can turn the tide not only of an election, but of judgment from God’s throne.

If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. 2 Chronicles 7:13-15

Holy Cows: Pentecostal Traditions mixed with Idolatry

In the nation of India, there is nothing more sacred than the Brahman cow. As a people that practice Hinduism, they believe in reincarnation and are steeped in idolatry, they believe that the cow is the reincarnation of their ancestors and is the highest form of life. The cow is a symbol of wealth, strength, abundance, selfless giving and a full Earthly life.

Unfortunately, we too have our holy cows. We call them traditions. We call them lineage. We call them dress. We call them standards (not talking about Biblical standards, although I'm sure some of my ultra-conservative, puritanical brothers and sisters will find something to critique about that statement) and our heroes.

I'm not against heroes. In the words of a great man of God who has gone onto his reward, I never critique young men for having heroes. I believe they have to have someone to look up to and admire, someone to imitate and try to be like. That's not idolatry. That's just part of youth. He was one of my heroes in my 30s when I so desperately needed guidance after a few ministers who didn't want to deal with issues in the ministry left me hanging high and dry against a backslidden preacher. For those of you who remember the "divine flesh" doctrine that cropping up among us in the 90's, some of us were dealing with it long after it ran its course and most of the apostolic church organizations took a stand against it and voted it out.

What I am against is turning our heroes into idols. Carved in stone. Infallible. Can do no wrong. Cannot be corrected. Self-ruling Giant of heresy.

These last two issues are what I am going to touch on here the heaviest. I will give Bible, as always, to prove my point. If you have an issue with it...I ask that you please don't go run and hide, post on a secret blog and slander me behind my back, but come out in the open and debate it like a Christian should. "No soldier ever battled any enemy so vicious as a coward."

In over 30 years in church, I have never seen a time as this where the world is sinning harder...and the saints are getting colder. I battle more in the church with young people who are suicidal, depressed, cold, carnal, backslidden...and the biggest thing I find when I talk to them is that they don't talk to their other church friends and family about it because they are terrified they will be ostracized, cut off from fellowship, because they don't fit their Pentecostalmold.

I guess they come to me because I'm the misfit, the odd-ball, the guy who never seems to date, and they know I have a prayerlife and a walk with God and that God does talk to me. Where are the other Apostolics? I had a young woman tell me last night she didn't think God loved her anymore, and that she wanted to die.

One of the hatefullest thing I've seen in the church in all my days was the way some of our churches will withhold fellowship with someone over some "holy cow." Preacher X doesn't like the way Preacher Y doesn't "MAKE" his young people dress like his young people, so they tell the church...don't fellowship with them. I watched for years as people I won to God were chopped apart by saints who snubbed them because they didn't become cookie-cutter Pentecostal saints over night..."her hair doesn't seem to be growing very fast...do you think she's still,...you know!" (snipping motion) I'm going to get down in the weeds, and for you folks who don't know anything about the Gift Ministries going on among us and how they developed, just hold fast. Much of the gift ministries we see today sprang up after the ministries of men like A.A. Allen and W.M. Branham, who held many tent revivals and healing crusades through the early to mid 1900's, before most of our times.

These men were mightily used of God, but in their later day fell prey to sin and in some cases false doctrines. Were they mightily used of God? Yes. Called of God? Yes. Were they fallible men? Yes. Did they fail God? Yes. Did that somehow negate the fact that they were called of God? No! Did it mean their sin was not a public shame? No.

And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do. But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Galatians 2:9-14

Understand this, Paul not only withstood Peter to his face because he was to be blamed, but the word of this matter was published in your Bible and mine for all generations to see which would come after them. Paul was Peter's peer one man told me and that somehow justified this. Let's go to other instances where great men were withstood to their face for doing wrong. I'll start with the oldest book ever written, the book of Job, chapter 32 (whole chapter).

So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God. Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job. Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken, because they were elder than he. When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, then his wrath was kindled.

And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid, and durst not shew you mine opinion. I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom. But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment. Therefore I said, Hearken to me; I also will shew mine opinion. Behold, I waited for your words; I gave ear to your reasons, whilst ye searched out what to say. Yea, I attended unto you, and, behold, there was none of you that convinced Job, or that answered his words: Lest ye should say, We have found out wisdom:

God thrusteth him down, not man. Now he hath not directed his words against me: neither will I answer him with your speeches. They were amazed, they answered no more: they left off speaking. When I had waited, (for they spake not, but stood still, and answered no more;) I said, I will answer also my part, I also will shew mine opinion. For I am full of matter, the spirit within me constraineth me. Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles. I will speak, that I may be refreshed: I will open my lips and answer. Let me not, I pray you, accept any man's person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man. For I know not to give flattering titles; in so doing my maker would soon take me away.

The Wrath of Elihu! That has a ring to it. I like that...someone rename this blog that! Any of you who don't know the word very well, understand that Job has just lost everything he has, his herds, his flocks, his wealth, his children...the only thing God didn't take from him was his idiot wife, and that will forever amaze me. (I can say that brothers. ;) I'm single. Do NOT try that at home! And yes I know Chris will have something to say about that!) His three "best" friends, have just spent what may have been hours or days berating him openly and publically, finding fault with him everywhere, but never pinning any sin on him, and his lovely wife has just told him to curse God and die! Job had answered their every accusation and showed them that they were wrong, HOWEVER, according to Elihu, he sought to justify Job (Ch. 33:32)before them, but he did find a couple things for which Job was to blame.

1.) Job claimed that his righteous was more than God's.

2.) He did not give Glory for his situation to God!

Why did Elihu, the youngest of them all, speak? ...because of the anointing....

Elihu also proceeded, and said, Suffer me a little, and I will shew thee that I have yet to speak on God's behalf. Job 36:1-2

Elihu finished his statements with these words:

Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict.Men do therefore fear him: he respecteth not any that are wise of heart. Job 37:23-24

Then as the young preacher gets through rebuking these four stubborn old men, (Job and his "three friends"), God IMMEDIATELY speaks out of the whirlwind to Job! Now I have often asked myself where the whirlwind came from.

There is no reference to it in the previous verses, so I will just say that that young cat, this hot-blooded, hot-headed, whipper-snapper preacher, Elihu, was the first preacher to ever preach up a storm...and I didn't steal that from any of your stupid tapes, CDs or books!

God basically in the Reader's Digest condensed version of the last few chapters asked Job, "Who do you think you are? Where were you when I made everything?" It didn't take Job long to cover his own mouth in shame and be silent, but God wasn't done. Imagine taking a tongue lashing from a young preacher and then God stepping on the scene and saying in actions, "Step back and let me finish this right!"

Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous? Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?Job 40: 6-9

When God finished speaking, Job repented, and then God turned his anger on Job's 3 "friends," not Job's 4 friends as I have had heard some preachers preachers preach.

And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job. Job 42:7-8

I always wondered why God wasn't upset with Elihu, like he was with Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. After much reading and rereading, I realized...sometimes when you are a preacher, you get all the hell and none of the blessings at time. You will get torn apart by the bystanders, critics and charlatans, and even be forgotten by those that are even righteous...but truth has a ring to it.

God turned the fortunes of Job however and gave him double of all he had before, when he prayed for his three friends. There is no record that God would have heard their repentance, only Job's prayer. I'll tell you why that is, or why I think that is. I am not saying that was God that told me, but it has been turning over and over in my mind and belly.

Lies are an abomination to God and when men find fault with a man who has done no wrong, I believe God places the first step of forgiveness in those situations with the brother or sister that has been lied on, because I have taught for years that it is possible to sin against God and NOT sin against your brother, but it is impossible to sin against your brother and NOT sin against God! I can and will give you Bible for it!

And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. Mark 11:25

Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Matthew 5:23-24

I wanted to go into how Samuel prayed for the people of Israel at Mizpah and God heard him, or how Judah's impassioned plea to spare his brother, Benjamin saved him from Joseph's wrath for all he had gone through at their hands as a boy in his late teens, but I don't have time. I believe I have said enough to get my point across in the Holy Ghost.

Silencing the Prophets

By Les Stone Published 07/14/2008

I had a preacher tell me once that any time I ran into a spirit of control, be

it on a government official, a saint, a sinner or a preacher, that it was

demonic.

As a movement we have supressed the prophetic voice of God in our

churches with programs and formalities for years. Only a few of our

churches have had ministry that let the Spirit lead their churches. The rest

seem content to follow what ever falls to them out of their organizational

headquarters, or whatever they plan for each service in advance.

Get ready Pentecost. It's coming. If God has to shatter every single one of

our organizations seperately and bring us down to nothing so that we learn

humility, unity, consecration and to reject the respect of persons, he will do

so. For over 30 years we have refused to work together as a whole, UPCI,

ALJC, PAW, Independants, etc., calling each other backslide, not holding to

holiness, legalists, I've heard it all. Now hear the word of the Lord. I will not

give MY GLORY to another!

The American Apostolic churches have been given a space of time to

repent. 2007 is over. Prepare for the judgment of God on the body of Christ

first. We have political power-players, envy, disunity, strife, bitterness,

hatefullness, men in pulpits that should be in pews and vice versa. God is

going to strip the American church. He's already sent men and women

among us as messengers to tell us to get right, restoring and activating ministries long dormant.

We are getting ready to see something we have never even dreamed of. It

has never even crossed our minds. As with Ananias and Sapphira, we are

getting ready to cart out the bodies of those who have withstood the move

of God in our churches for over 40 years.

I know that some of our movements don't preach against TV, but the UPC

just voted on broadcasting their last General Conference down in Tampa.

God's getting ready to make your whole multi-year debate over the subject

look like a fool's errand. You won't be able to beat the TV crews out of out

churches when God gets done.

The Wicked Ways of The Apostolic Church

By Les Stone Published 07/21/2008

I posted this as a comment on a friends blog. I hope it is

a blessing here too!

I find it amazing when we walk into church week after week and the

same three or four people are worshipping God while everyone else sits

fat, rich and happy...waiting on those 4 to worship the power down for

them to get their freebie blessing!

This year I have taken more spiritual abuse from apostolic saints and

ministers than I ever thought was possible but God was working

something in my life. I've become bolder, more sensitive, and in tune.

As a whole, we are still not a praying people. The scripture in 2 Chron.

7:14 does not say if the world, or the U.S., will humble themselves...it

says if MY PEOPLE WHICH ARE CALLED BY MY

NAME, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and

TURN from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and

will forgive their sins and will heal their land.

God's people have wicked ways? Yes, we've turned to our own ways,

our own careers, our own wealth. We've used the church as a whole as

out own bless me club and it's no wonder that the prophet saw the men

facing away from the temple worshipping Tamuz and the sun! We do

the what we want to do, when we want to do it and are totally devoid of

the leadership of the Spirit in the vast majority of our churches...we are

content to let talent lead us...after all God gave it to us right???

This nation is on a downward spiral, not because the people as a whole

are Godless. This nation is on a downwards spiral because the church

of the Living God will not HUMBLE THEMSELVES IN PRAYER

AND FASTING AND PRAY AND SEEK GOD'S FACE (NOT HIS

HANDS) AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS!

God's Plan

I've been through hell on earth the past several years, but God brought me through it and made me more sensitive to His presence and his voice. I've learned to operate on faith and trust him completely.

I know how Job felt when he lost everything and even his best friends tore him down and found fault with him, and how Joseph felt when he was beaten by his brothers, stripped, sold into slavery, lied on, imprisoned and forgotten. He walked into dominion at the call of the king when HIS WORD CAME. There is a current word of God for you in your life. Be specific in your prayers and wait on it.

I know what it's like to be hunted by a Saul who has rejected judgment and justice and while his anointing wained, he cast javelins to destroy.

Trust God to bring you through any storm. He's doing that thing which is appointed for you, as Job said, and many such things are with him.

Understand that your times are in his hands. Let him pull you out of that comfort zone into more truth and more power than you have ever known.

What will become of your dreams?

If they are God-given dreams they will come to pass, no matter what someone does to attempt to circumvent them. You can't stop a God-given dream. It may seem to be on hold or going backwards or even totally destroyed, but when it comes down to it, God is not a man that he can lie. If God promised it, it will come to pass!

Pastor was talking this weekend and said that you have to be careful who you share your dreams with, because if you tell them to someone who does not have a dream, they will resent you and even come to hate you, as in the case of Joseph. Even when it seems your dream is in limbo, you must learn to service and facilitate someone else's dreams.

By Jacob helping the butler and baker with their dreams, he set into motion events that brought his dreams to fulfillment. He stayed, forgotten in prison, for two more years after he assisted these men in their dreams and it was four more years after he was placed on the throne, before his father and brothers came to Egypt and bowed before him, bringing the fulfillment of his dream from God. Nothing can stop a God-given dream!

Go Beyond "The Norm"

One morning on the way to work I listened to Rev. John Hopkins on a CD I had bought a long time ago. He was speaking on the subject, "Beyond Normal." He is a former missionary and field manager to south and central America. I remember the service very well, because I remember how people sat on him while he ministered that morning down in Florida. He was talking beyond most of them.

Something he said hit me like a hammer, and that was that there is a place in God you have to get to where you become so broken that all the issues you are facing in your life are dealt with. He stated that until you reached that point, those things will continue to rear up their head against you and hound you. That's very true. He spoke of being in a spirit of brokeness for a week. I've been there for three years. It makes me wonder how many issues I had to give to God. Some days I feel like I'm a million miles from where I should be. Then I come to the realization that because of Him, I am closer now to what God is making me.

The Bible says that when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes his enemies to be at peace with him. In Corinthians it also says that God is ready to render judgment against all disobedience when our obedience is fulfilled. I think that is something every believer chases in their walk with God. Few there be that find it.

Still there is that echelon I see that never seems to touch him. They come to church and go home and never let him speak to them. They are Sunday morning saints. They may even go during the week, but nothing ever seems to happen in their lives. They travel through life, unphased by the things around them. It seems like such a "blessed" existence until you look into another level. Self-will is a killer. It is the one thing in a believers walk that God will not touch unless someone else lifts them up in prayer. They walk through life oblivious of the things going on around them in various strata, because they have all that they want. They don't want anything else. They desire nothing beyond the natural. They are content to keep the blinders on their eyes daily, never stepping out of the norm, never hungering for anything more, never feeling anything.

They seek a world of ballance that is encapsulated in the mundane, the real, the tangible...the carnal. They have determined that the desires of their heart can be satisfied with what they see and what they can grasp. Control. Living life the way they always have even before they came to God, just now they have a list of things they don't do so they are content that they will make it to heaven on their laundry list of things they did in their lives to "be right." Ever learning yet never able to come to the knowledge of the truth that we are so much more than what we see with the naked eye.

Friends told me last night that I must be very patient. I don't feel patient. When I want an answer, I want it right now. Be it from man or God. He has a sense of humor. He waits, sometimes giving the answer in degrees and watching my attitude change. We all deal with that.

What hurts most is watching those you love self-destruct and being forced to watch at a distance as they do something you know is wrong, both scripturally, morally and ethically. You are forced to sit and pray and put your faith in God that his Word is true and that all things work together for good to those who are the called according to his purpose. As I wrote in my Bible back in June 1990...TRUST GOD!

Failures

It's amazing sometimes how our thinking doesn't go along with what God intends and desires for our lives. We face tests and trials and decisions every day. Often we fail and in our own way of thinking, we feel we have become a failure, when God is actually standing there watching all the time, knowing our end-results.

One of my former pastors reflected on this in a message I heard recently. He said that our failures are nothing more than the grace of God allowing us to fall on our faces to reveal to us flaws and imperfections in our lives that he wants us to work on. Self-revelation is sometimes a hard teacher, but it's things he knows about us that are hidden deep within that he wants to bring out in the open so he can help us correct them.

It's not always the obvious flaws in us that everyone sees that are the most damaging. The superficial, God can clean up in a moment of time. It's the hidden man of the heart that he desires to reveal, cleanse and perfect. If he didn't allow the storm, trial or test to come along to reveal those things in us, the chance of our own self pride taking over and feeling we had come to perfection and maturity before our time would be a great risk to our life. Pride comes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. His tests and trials keep us humble and show us areas we need to correct.

I've learned a lesson about this site...type it in WORD first then post it. I lost two hours of blog text and probably the best message and notes I've produced to date. Hopefully, like Jonah, the word of the Lord will come a second time.... ;)

Starting Over After the Storm

But I trust in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God. My times are in thy hand:

Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. Psalms 31:14-15


Welcome. I had not updated many of my sites, articles and blogs in a long time and recently I figure it is time to do so. It's interesting to write even while I rebuild my life, because I often get to go back and read stuff I wrote and things God spoke to me in a trial, a storm, a situation that at the time might have seemed like a desperate hope, but looking back I can see that it came to pass and God was faithful to his promise, his word, his prophecies over my life.

To my special friend who no doubt could be reading this soon, I am praying for you, and will continue to do so. Only God knows if you are unreachable. I trust the word given me, yet I hold onto faith that the God who called me, protected me and restored me can also do the same for you. He is the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for Him?

Let God pull you from your failures and turn you back to the true and living God, who will abundantly pardon and forgive your sins if you will but call on him. I know you left God and stated that your "journey has begun," but the road you are on only leads to destruction. Turn to God and choose life.

For those who are just getting acquainted with me or who followed the link to this page from my profile, yes, God has brought me through a storm. I can only pray that something in what I say here on this site will somehow uplife you, encourage you and start you on a road to restoration. No matter whether you've been through a devastating divorce, spiritual abuse, a financial emergency, a medical disaster or some other traumatic storm in your life, God will bring you through.

Recently, my pastor asked me where I wanted to start out in the ministry now that things have started calming down in my life in January 2008. I told him jail/prison ministry is as good a place as any to start over again. I had not preached for 12 years until God brought me back out of the rushes and a desert place and restored my walk and my calling. I am in the process of writing a book about my time out of church as a backslider and God's restoration of my life and ministry even while going through a divorce that devastated me emotionally. Out Of The Rushes should be published in the coming year.

I want to thank all my friends from "the Zone," ASN, and EA, those who I grew up with, and those who have been so kind and helpful, especially those of you who have been through things similar to what I have been through. Your kindness in lending an ear during the time of my deepest pain encouraged me to keep going on when everything and everyone I loved was destroyed. Those of you who are struggling to restore and rebuild damaged areas of your own lives, hearts and ministries, I pray you will find comfort in the things I post here.

Kristy, Joe, Mindy and Rhonda...your friendship means A LOT to me, the long hours you have spent with me on the phone, yacking my ear off, pestering me, praying for me, reading my articles, critiquing the fire out of me and encouraging me have definitely left their marks on my life and ministry. (I'll start therapy because of your friendship next week....just kidding.) I pray that God uses you as never before in the restoration of ministry and those wounded ones who the world and even Pentecost have cast aside as outcasts. If God calls a minister, he will establish them!

To the new converts God has blessed me to reach, I pray you find encouragement in my words here and that your homes, families and walks are uplifted and strengthened and built up in what I say here. If I can make it through what God brought me through, you too can go through anything. The focus is not on you or me, but the God who sees all and who is our shield, buckler and strength. No matter what some say, YOU CAN LIVE FOR GOD NO MATTER WHAT! Don't listen to anyone that says they can't or that someone else
made them backslide. That's a lie from hell. I had someone I love tell me that recently. Send it back to where it came from in Jesus name! May God bless and keep you.


And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wonderously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. Joel 2:25-26

When God decides to restore you and your ministry, he isn't going to ask anyone's permission...not from you and not from hell. He won't even ask the church or your pastor. He will draw you with cords of love and mercy. Know this, that hell knows exactly what you have been anointed with. The enemy will flaunt it in your face as he did with me. he will tell you what he is going to do with you, but take confidence in this truth. If he's telling you he's going to do it he is lying. If he already had the permission to destroy you he'd have already done so.... When the devil tells you you are going to fail, or you're going to die, or you are going to fall, stand on this prophesy, "What he said he will do will never happen!" The devil always overplays his hand and gives away the secret of what he is incapable of doing.

Take comfort in the fact that if God called you, he will make a way for you. He will open the doors that you need to walk through. Never doubt that and let your faith grow as God walks with you through the fires of trial and testing.

I learned through it all that no matter what the devil or any man may say about you, God is going to bring you to a desired end. It is possible to keep on loving when even those you love the most attack you, try to destroy you, or turn their back on you. We know that all things work together for the good of them that are the called according to His purpose. Our job is to seek his face, find out what his purpose for our life is and start walking. Give God the glory in your firey trials.

Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. Luke 6:22-23

Against All Odds

Yesterday on my way to church I was discussing all the things that God brought my family through as a child, through a major recession where we were scarcely better off than my ancestors were during the Great Depression prior to World War II. Unknown to me, my pastor was going to preach about the very same subject, unknown in my discussion at the time. I explained how there were times when my parents, my brothers and I first got into the church that we had no groceries in the house and another family of new converts we had met in a neighboring city had showed up with bags of groceries on our doorstep to have a cook out. Other times they would be in the same dire circumstances and we would show up on their doorstep with sacks of groceries for a picnic, only to find they didn’t have a single moldy crumb in their refrigerator. God always provided, no matter how bad the times were.

I remember as if it were yesterday, my father coming out of my parent’s bedroom where he had been praying and telling my mom, “Get the kids ready. God just told me to take the Oldsmobile and give it to Kevin.” Mom was flabbergasted. We were broke most of the time and months of trying to sell the extra car we had sitting in the front yard by the highway had been fruitless. Dad couldn’t even give it away. Times were that hard. We had changed signs 3 or 4 times ranging in price from $2,400 all the way down to $800 and finally $400. Not one single bite. Not even a nibble.

We drove the half hour to Kevin’s house, which wasn’t much more than what we lived in, a shack with tar paper still showing on the sides where a tornado went by and ripped up his shed and pulled siding off the house but did no damage to anyone in the home. Kevin was a minister, and the son of a UPC preacher. Our families were fairly close. When we pulled up that short, steep, muddy driveway, he walked out to meet us. My dad rolled down the truck window and greeted him and told him God had told him to come give him the old white Oldsmobile sitting in our front yard. Kevin grinned, his wife, a close friend of my mom, burst into tears and ran inside. We didn’t know why until Kevin told us later inside.

What we did not know at the time was that while Kevin had been praying that day, God told him he was going to give him a car. He’d blown up a whole series of vehicles. They lined his back yard fence out there in the country where he lived, old vans, trucks, a couple VW beetles, a Fiat. Kevin’s luck with vehicles was as good as my fathers and even my own. If you could keep one running long enough to find another one, then God was truly on your side!

Kevin had been so sure that God had spoken to him that he told his wife…who immediately told him he was nuts and that it was not going to happen. They were broke. They had no money and his last car had bit the dust hard. She came and apologized to him in tears after we left. Anyone else out there ever had that great gift of faith, when you know that you know that you know that there is no way out? I’m trying to stop learning my lessons the hard way and start accepting when God makes me a promise!

The rest of you that don’t have any problems just jump to another article if you never have no problems, never go broke or never have something come rushing in on you like a freight train.

Months later Kevin went with dad to a vehicle auction to try and find another vehicle. He had nearly nothing in his pocket to buy a car with. His wife (being the staunch believer that she was and a good Pentecostal preacher’s wife) told him that he was not going to find a car and that he didn’t have enough money. Cars were going high that day and it was starting to look like his wife was right, when they came up to the car Kevin wanted. Dad raised his hand and bid everything Kevin had…a whopping $350. The auctioneer rattled on and no counter-bid came. He called again, rattling on like a Kentucky Colonel…and no one bid. Kevin broke into a big grin when the auctioneer banged his gavel and sold him an 80’s model Dodge Diplomat for $350. The car wasn’t even 10 years old and looked clean inside and out. He got in the glove compartment after going to pay for the car and found out that God not only blessed him with a nice car…but the paperwork in the glove compartment revealed it had a new engine and transmission put in it 3 months before pulling it out of the government fleet! God knows how to provide.

I realized when I came back to God in 2003 that it was not going to be easy. Living for God is a fight if you are an honest believer. The Bible says that those who will live Godly will suffer persecution. Trials test our faith on a daily basis, and for some people it isn’t a financial battle. Sometimes it is health issues. Other times the devil weaves a trap for you to try and bring you down. I’ve lived through times like that, when it seemed all the forces of hell were trying to silence me, shut me up, shut me down and destroy me. I know what it’s like to have someone file false charges against me and try to put me in prison, I’ve seen God step on the scene in prophecy and state that it would not happen. I’ve learned that when God speaks things happen. There is nothing he cannot do and he has never lost a battle.

I heard a message last year about When God Has Faith in a Man. It changed my life, because God does wonders that build our faith all the time…but it is our stand when times get rough and even impossible that builds God’s faith in us. I think often of the words of God to the angels as he stood in Abraham’s tent in the plains of Mamre.

And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. Genesis 18:17-19

If you can put yourself into the promises of God’s word, then understand that that thing you are going through, that thing you are facing, that battle, that test, that trial, that circumstance…it cannot destroy you. The Lord is bringing you into your destiny to show you his glory. Trust him and let him mold you into his plan. Trust God. He will establish his church against all odds, against all forces of hell, nature, politics, trouble and trial.

Broken Priorities In An Unbroken Church

stand in amazement at the broken priorities of this generation. We live in a world that will brutally murder the unborn, but will insist that we save baby seals, not cut down forests because of a spotted owl or drill wells on land where we have found a species of snail we've never noticed before and don't even know if it is endangered or not...so we stop all use of the land. The cry of this nation and this generation is simply, “What’s In It For ME?”

We live in a generation that has bowed their knee to the god of "ME" and chosen to worship the creature more than the Creator. Sadly enough, this is not just the cry of the world, but the cry of the last days church. As a people, we are self-centered, self-indulging and by comparison to the first Apostolic church, we are rich, increased with goods, but we are wretched, poor and naked.

I recently came from an Encounters Men's Conference in my state, and so much of what God has dealt with me about the past year came across the pulpits during those three days. We live in a generation where our saints and even in some cases our ministers are passionately uninvolved. You can get everyone on board for a church luncheon, but can’t get a hand setting up for service, cleaning the buildings, mowing the grass or doing anything remotely related to real work. We are a generation that chases the pleasures of the flesh over the consecration of the Spirit. Our banquet halls and conferences are full…our altars are empty. Our pews are full on Sunday morning…and vacant on Sunday night or during midweek service.

We’ve given up the concept of a “Church” for that of larger crowds, better music, more flexibility…and while our speakers pump the loudest music and best rhetoric over the platforms and audiences…our prayer rooms lay silent broken only in some cases by the weeping of one lonely saint. If we have one intercessor in any given church…some dear sweet elderly sister or senior saint, we are doing better than most.

We are a generation of men who are passionately uninvolved, until the cries from a pulpit entreating men to get involved in ministries of the church fall on deaf ears, stony hearts and cold faces. Gone are the days when grown men ran weeping to our altars gripped by soul-ripping conviction and fear of a judgment to come.

The coldness is not in our audiences. The stony heart is not in our pews. Sin has always been sin. Generation to generation, sin has not changed. Our message has not changed.

We have changed.

Gone are the all night prayer meetings where grown men and women wept and groaned for lost souls, gripping the pew and the altar in deep-seated, burning passion of conviction. The people in our pews are not weeping because the people in our pulpits are not weeping!

Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people. Joel 2:12-18

Ignoring the Voices of the Age

I don't think anyone that knows me would ever mistake me for someone who walks to the beat of a normal drummer. God pulled me out of my own paths and plans long ago to put me someplace I didn't understand but he was insistent on. I've learned any time I set my plans, God changes them. It's a fact of life and I've learned to adjust.

Despite the hell of the last 4 years of my life, I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey. While all hell was breaking loose in my life and even my favorite preacher was telling me how I was going to fail and go to prison and how he'd file charges against me himself if he had his way about things, God was sending saints and ministers to me to deliver words of prophecy to me that what I was told was not true and now 4 years later I look back on it with a smile and realize that even when our glamour boys say something...God still trumps glamour queens and princes of the pulpit.

Three years ago, God dragged me kicking and screaming to a state and a region I had absolutely no desire to go to, ripped my family from me and through the pain, showed me His hand in my situation and taught me how to trust Him even in the face of certain defeat. While some plotted to destroy my family, God was sending prophecy again, both through my pastor and dear saints in various churches, that he had his hand in the situation and was going to bring my kids home. At that time, some people came to me telling me to buy a home and settle down in one of the most expensive regions of the US, but I felt a check in the Spirit and refused to follow the voices of the hour. One person even went so far as to tell me that "God told them" to tell me to buy a home and that I wasn't listening. (Six months later they let their home go up for foreclosure after insisting I buy it.)

Just last month God blessed me with my first home at 1/3rd of the price I would have paid for it 3 years ago. It has me busy with remodeling, which impacts my writing time, but for those who are pleased, be warned, I'll be back rubbing fur the wrong way soon enough. Get ready to turn the cat around.

My computer is still packed away while I mud walls, hang drywall, run electrical wiring, run copper and plastic plumbing and basically relearn all those skills dad taught us as kids that I've tried so hard to forget, but can't seem to rid myself of...thank God! I'd hate to think what it would cost to pay someone else to do everything I've done the past 3 weeks. I still believe in a God who still talks to men and knows the ups and downs of the markets and societies and nations. He still knows how to bring correction to a nation and still protect and bless his kids!

God has calmed the storms of my life, despite watching my now ex-wife backslide, divorce me, go into sin and leave the church. Her pastor still won't speak to me after that one because of the prophesy I gave him 6 months prior to it coming to pass. Maybe he'll stop telling everyone how evil and misled I am. Yet while he was telling everyone that I was bitter for losing everything I loved in life, God was blessing me with a beautiful young wife and an 8 year old son whose dad had abandoned him and who desperately needed a father in his life. Maybe after the second part of that prophesy comes to pass my former pastor will change what he says about me, but I won't hold my breath. God still knows how to fight our battles if we let him, even when it is against a brother in error. He never promised us a rose garden, but he did promise that we, his children and servants would condemn ever voice that rises against us in judgment. That's our heritage. Read Isaiah 54:17

The Spirit of Prophecy hit my pastor 3 weeks ago and God spoke to our congregation so adamantly that because of our worship He had come down into our presence and he would grind all our enemies under His feet -- All this on the heels of America turning rampantly to liberalism and ungodliness. I still believe America reached a tipping point at the polls this year, not just because of their sin, but because the Church would not speak justice and judgment. I've been watching certain issues and key points in the Spirit regarding this of late. When you go to ministry for judgment of sin and instead you get partisan Pentecostal politics...rest assured, JUDGMENT is on the way.

When the world deviates from judgment and justice, take notice, but when the church does, look out! God still knows how to stack a deck in your favor. If you need a confirmation on that, get with me and I'll show you my court records from 3 different states and CD audio from a few of our golden boys condemning or defending me over Pentecostal pulpits. Sorry, but when God says, "Case dismissed," the whole organization can take a hike along with DA's, judges and accusers, friend!

When God says yes, step out of the ranks and charge hell with a bucket of water, friend. The flames may not go out, but they won't kindle on you either! Isaiah 43:2

I go to court for custody of my daughters this month after 2 years of legal wrangling and their mother, a hardened, church-hating, backslider refusing visitation and contact despite a hard-coded court order giving me joint custody and very liberal visitation.

I'm looking forward to the fulfillment of that prophecy.

Where are the Armorbearers?

My sincere prayer is that God sends laborers into our metro regions with the spirit of Jonathan's armor bearer, "Do all that is in thine heart: turn thee; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart."

Now it came to pass upon a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines' garrison, that is on the other side. But he told not his father.
And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron: and the people that were with him were about six hundred men;
And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, I-chabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD's priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone.
And between the passages, by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines' garrison, there was a sharp rock on the one side and a sharp rock on the other side: and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh.
The forefront of the one was situate northward over against Michmash, and the other southward over against Gibeah.
And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.
And his armourbearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart: turn thee; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart.
Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over unto these men, and we will discover ourselves unto them.
If they say thus unto us, Tarry until we come to you; then we will stand still in our place, and will not go up unto them.
But if they say thus, Come up unto us; then we will go up: for the LORD hath delivered them into our hand: and this shall be a sign unto us.
And both of them discovered themselves unto the garrison of the Philistines: and the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves.
And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armourbearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will shew you a thing. And Jonathan said unto his armourbearer, Come up after me: for the LORD hath delivered them into the hand of Israel.
And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armourbearer after him: and they fell before Jonathan; and his armourbearer slew after him. 1 Samuel 14:1-13

We live in a world that is captivated by the latest wizardry in total nonsense. No matter if it is the latest style of fashion, or some idiot getting married in a black dress and thinking they have started a new fad, people like to stay "cutting-edge." From the latest news from Hollywood, to the newest diets, medicines, face creams, vehicles and computers, our society seeks after the newest, the most up to date, the trendiest of the latest and finest.

Even the lifestyles that were once well known by their Biblical terminology have been given a nip and tuck face-lift, to fit in with our modern era, as if changing the name of something will somehow lessen the impact of the stigma of the actions now being portrayed to society as lifestyle choices.

I'm sorry, but I believe the Word of God is just as up to date, just as relevant and cutting-edge as anything society can throw at us today. Why is it that we no longer call sin, SIN? Now it is only a lifestyle choice, pop culture, "extended family," a sexual preference. This type of thinking and philosophy has even spilled over into the church and is causing spiritual birth defects in those denizens of religious society we call the preacher and pew dweller.

Anyone with one eye and half sense can see that when you walk into an Apostolic church in this hour, we aren't the straight-laced, rock-solid, never changing church of our grandfathers. Our preaching has to be high-tech and relevant to the times, nothing wrong with that, but the attitudes of those sitting between the porch and the altar have experience a paradigm shift in the past 20 years. Things frowned on by minister and saint alike just two decades ago have become common place in our churches. Everything from the world's style of dress, grooming, adornment and philosophy can readily be found in about any church in the movement on a regular basis. It's no longer popular to be Apostolic, and that factor alone is what is going to make the church stand out.

My major point of contention is that our bible colleges have churned out young preachers and singers for the past 30-50 years, yet today they are slipping in attendance. Hello, Pentecost, but if we throw our cream of the crop through the preacher-mill of a college, where are they? 30 years of generating what we thought were our next generation of young ministers has vanished into the melting pot of church societal evolution, until we morphed from a body of believers with young men desiring to be used of God, to a generation of men and women seeking only the lime-light and who can be most popular, find a position in the biggest church around, or sell the greatest amount of CDs or preach the most conferences.



If our young men are really called, then why has bible college attendance dropped? Why must those who have completed their education head for the biggest, most well established works in our land to fade into the crowd and find secular work where there is safety in numbers? If that was a prerequisite for getting our best and brightest spun-up quickly for service in the great un-churched cities of America and the world, where are they today? Why is it that we still have a hard time finding more than one or two men or women to go be missionaries in most of our foreign countries, at least in those where we have an established presence?

Why is it that our metro churches struggle because we can't get enough of our young Pentecostal Peacocks to slip off the Armani suit and tie and Stacy Adams shoes long enough to set aside their aspirations of the glory of being the assistant pastor of any of the biggest churches in our movement and put on some work close and step out into our metro works where some of our great men of God and their wives are struggling alone to build churches in cities where the population ration to Apostolic preachers is astronomical?

Is there something wrong, young Apostolic Men and Women, with putting on work clothes and hitting the streets with a church that can't afford to pay you and accepting the "Call to be Second," and joining forces with already established home missions works and instead of leaving ministers and their wives laboring alone to do something, providing the support and assistance that some of our men of God greatly need? How do we expect them to build a work with new converts who may not be effectively shaped and equipped to really help in a harvest for a year or several years down the road?

Is there a problem, young men, with stepping out of your hiding places in the masses of mediocrity sitting in our mega-churches and large churches and setting aside the relative perceived safety of numbers and accepting the call to go out by twos as Jesus directed? How about more if need be?

We need to start pulling our concept of relative ministry straight out of the Word of God again and get away from new found traditions. Why should we support a bible college or several colleges if they will only send our young champions to already established works, instead of filling the shoes of laborers in cities where many of our metro missionaries and home mission pastors labor alone with just a spouse or no one at all? Does this concept fall on deaf ears? Where are our young men and women? Where are our armor bearers? Where are those called to be second?

Understand that in scripture there were rites of passage for the ministry. Service was a prerequisite, not just knowledge. There had to be training yes, but experience was a mandate in more than a few situations.

Where are our armor-bearers of Pentecost that will stand beside the ministry and go up against the garrisons of our metro regions and let the call resound once again? "Do all that is in thine heart: turn thee; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart."