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http://johnwhitener.com This will get you to my most used blog. Happy sailing!!!!

John

A Besieged City or a Citadel of hope

Leaders find themselves at the forefront of the struggle for victory while as they glance backwards the eyes of many watch and follow. David wore his calling with dignity and faith and yet there were those times when he found himself in “A besieged city.” The eyes watched him. How would he respond? castle-besieged

A besieged city, (Psalms 31:21) Not the kind of place you want to be in. The enemy is without and the mockers with in. Outside the walls the enemy pounds relentlessly, threatening to break in the gates. Your very existence is at stake. The sounds of clamoring armies fill the once peaceful night air and the smoke from their campfires remind you of what lays outside. Your soldiers are weary and fearful.

The have you surrounded! No way in and no way out. The supply chain is cut off, and no one is coming to the rescue. Those “dogs” outside howl in the night waiting, just waiting! It seems just a matter of time.

Inside the fortress, the babies have no milk, elders of the city rise up against you. It begins with mockery then turns to threats. You are not even safe within the walls of your domain. There is terror on every side, the city is forsaken and you are its “king.”

What was once a citadel of His presence has now become a prison. You are trapped. David returns to his chambers and begins an earnest dialog with God. This is no “Now I lay me down to sleep,” prayer, it is a gut wrenching, heart pounding cry for help. There is no way to go but up!

“I said in my alarm, ‘I am cut off from your sight.’ But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help.” (Ps. 31:22)

His final declaration all the while being surrounded by a host of enemies… “Love the Lord all you his saints. The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord.”

Four things here.

“Love the Lord.” Sink into his being and relish the divine love that was so clearly demonstrated to you when Christ died for you. Call back all the emotions you have spent on worthless imitations and give him the one thing you can give above all else, your love!

“The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.” A time of reckoning is coming. The faithful are not forgotten and neither are the proud. Those outside the gates will soon be scattered to the four winds, while those within her gates will be preserved.

“Take courage.” It is offered but must be taken! A gift offered does not benefit until it is received! Take it, grab hold to it, release you grip on lesser things and rally all your strength to hold on to what others so flippantly release.

The enemies stand calling your name, but the pleas for mercy ascend to heaven.

“My times are in your hand!”

All will be well!

A Besieged City or a Citadel of hope

Leaders find themselves at the forefront of the struggle for victory while as they glance backwards the eyes of many watch and follow. David wore his calling with dignity and faith and yet there were those times when he found himself in “A besieged city.” The eyes watched him. How would he respond? castle-beseiged

A besieged city, (Psalms 31:21) Not the kind of place you want to be in. The enemy is without and the mockers with in. Outside the walls the enemy pounds relentlessly, threatening to break in the gates. Your very existence is at stake. The sounds of clamoring armies fill the once peaceful night air and the smoke from their campfires remind you of what lays outside. Your soldiers are weary and fearful.

The have you surrounded! No way in and no way out. The supply chain is cut off, and no one is coming to the rescue. Those “dogs” outside howl in the night waiting, just waiting! It seems just a matter of time.

Inside the fortress, the babies have no milk, elders of the city rise up against you. It begins with mockery then turns to threats. You are not even safe within the walls of your domain. There is terror on every side, the city is forsaken and you are its “king.”

What was once a citadel of His presence has now become a prison. You are trapped. David returns to his chambers and begins an earnest dialog with God. This is no “Now I lay me down to sleep,” prayer, it is a gut wrenching, heart pounding cry for help. There is no way to go but up!

“I said in my alarm, ‘I am cut off from your sight.’ But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help.” (Ps. 31:22)

His final declaration all the while being surrounded by a host of enemies… “Love the Lord all you his saints. The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord.”

Four things here.

“Love the Lord.” Sink into his being and relish the divine love that was so clearly demonstrated to you when Christ died for you. Call back all the emotions you have spent on worthless imitations and give him the one thing you can give above all else, your love!

“The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.” A time of reckoning is coming. The faithful are not forgotten and neither are the proud. Those outside the gates will soon be scattered to the four winds, while those within her gates will be preserved.

“Take courage.” It is offered but must be taken! A gift offered does not benefit until it is received! Take it, grab hold to it, release you grip on lesser things and rally all your strength to hold on to what others so flippantly release.

The enemies stand calling your name, but the pleas for mercy ascend to heaven.

“My times are in your hand!”

All will be well!

Lordship

What does it mean?

Lordship, what is it? I suppose each one reading this article has their own idea, so did I. For years I embraced a concept that until recently I thought was correct.

First one must ask himself,”What is Lordship?” The dictionary says it can be referred to in two ways. One is as a title of a Lord, such as, ‘Your Lordship,” and the other meaning is that given to the domain of a Lord. What interests me is the second meaning, the domain of a Lord.

For all my Christian life I have never questioned the absolute sovereignty of Christ as supreme authority in my life. For me it is a given. However I recently have discovered that I was the one defining His Lordship. How? It went something like this. His Lordship basically extends to the limits of my surrender. He is Lord over what I yield to him. Thus the true definition of such authority is defined by me not by the Lord. Even my preaching reflected this as I admonished men and women for decades to yield themselves to Christ and make Him Lord over their lives. But now I must confess, for me Lordship was a concept that I misunderstood, and I don’t think I stand alone on this.

Over the past four years this man has been traveling a wonderfully new path. I say “new” because of its refreshing vistas and not because of its new content. The Bible has taken on a wonderfully delicious renewed meaning to me. Some old Puritans and holy men of God of past centuries have helped me see by uncluttering my eyes from modern day obscurity, but the freshness has come from God Himself. On this “new journey” of sorts, I have come to see that Jesus’ Lordship is not defined by his domain; it is defined by His Father. His creation does not draw up the boundaries of His Lordship. On the contrary it recognizes and relishes it or… it rejects it! Jesus is Lord and will always be Lord if you and I surrender to Him or not!

This has a profound implication not only in my life as His child but in all of creation!

Why do I say this? Because one day every man, every woman and child, will recognize the Lordship of Jesus Christ with crystal clarity. For some it will be delicious while for others it will be bitter. For those born again it will mean life and for those who have denied His sacrifice and offer for eternal life it will be death.

Paul made it resoundingly clear that in the last days all would see the Lordship of Christ. He wrote in 2 Thess. 1:7-10

and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

This passage clearly shows that in the last days Jesus will be revealed from heaven and His Lordship visibly seen by both the wicked and the righteous. It will be a day when Jesus is glorified in His saints.

This passage points us to two aspects of His Lordship. First the Lord who comes to deliver, heal and receive His own and second, He is seen as the Lord who forbids sin to be ignored or covered up and judges it with righteousness. It will be a time when the curtain is pulled back and Jesus’ supreme authority will be seen either as loving Savoir or righteous Judge. Regardless, His Lordship will be seen by all!

So, in conclusion, His Lordship surpasses far beyond what I yield to Him. He is Lord over all, over that which is rendered to Him and that which is not.

He is Lord if I confess it or not! My lips shall not be silent!

The Driving Force

Love or Fear

Paul was on a ship headed for Rome. The winds were favorable until…  Trying to make Rome on schedule they left Crete only to encounter Euroclydon, one very mean storm! Peace was rudely interrupted by stark terror. What had been gentle winds and placid seas had now become a churning cauldron of cross currents, monstrous waves and hurricane winds. Peaceful men were now terrorized! The gentle south winds had changed!

The picture here has a lot to say, but I will focus on only one; what is driving your ship, love or fear, the gentle breezes of love or the tempest gales of terror?

Some who read this think that life for the Christian is smooth sailing, kind of like a picturesque postcard of a yacht on the Caribbean Sea. In times it is just like the postcard but there are other times when our bad compass heading and our denial of what may lay ahead, thrusts us into a raging storm. The fact is, is that both await us on our journey!

Jonathan Edwards points this out in his work on “A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections.” He masterfully points out the exchange between love and fear and their use to “drive our boat” to its destination. Let me quote.

“For so hath God constituted things, in his dispensations towards his own people, that when their love decays, and the exercises of it become weak, fear should arise. They need fear then to restrain them from sin, to excite them to care for the good of their souls, and so to stir them up to watchfulness and diligence in religion. But God hath so ordered and when love rises, and is in vigorous exercise , then fear should vanish, and be driven away; for then they need it not, having a higher and more excellent principle in exercise, to restrain them from sin an stir them up to duty. No other principles will ever make men conscientious, but one of these two, fear or love: and therefore, if one of these should not prevail as the other decayed, God’s people when fallen into dead and carnal frames when love is asleep would be lamentable exposes indeed.”

“Hence God has wisely ordained that these two opposite principles of love and fear should rise and fall, like the two opposite scales of a balance; when one rises the other sinks.  Light and darkness unavoidably succeed each other; if light prevail so much does darkness cease, and no more: and if light decay so much does darkness prevail.”

So what does this all mean? What is Edwards saying here? I think it can be summed up in this; you will experience both, fear and love in this journey, but not at the same time!  They are incompatible with each other and one will take precedent over the other.  Smooth sailing winds are not found in a hurricane nor are violent winds found on calm seas.

The question we face now is which force is driving you? One takes the lead while the other decays. If our ship is driven by the winds of fear then Edwards says our love for Christ is absent.

Storms cause us to listen, re-evaluate, to change the compass heading!  Storms alert us!

But to what?

Jesus put it like this, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled neither, let them be afraid.”

There were 276 men on board and all were afraid except one, Paul.

Have you figured out why?

Between the Cliffs of doom

Staying on heading when distractions call

I believe that before us awaits the greatest move of God seen by humanity!  As evil accelerates and becomes more hideous with each passing day, so will the next move of God be. Is it not rational to think that if wickedness is increasing so would the power of God to overcome it? And if wickedness is greater than it was in the days of our fathers then would not God’s power also be greater than in the days of our ancestors?  So, with this line of logic I can only conclude that as evil increases so does God’s power and therefore I suspect that we shall soon see a revival that will clean house, rekindle holy passion, be marked by extraordinary signs and wonders, and firmly establish the church on the bedrock of the Word able to withstand all the fiery onslaughts of the Devil!  Our finest days as Christians are before us! But it won’t be a party!

On this path to our future there are two borders that must be avoided in order to reach the goal. Falling into either one would be disastrous. These two extremes lie in wait for the passer by.  They stay silent until approached and then when they are recognized it may be too late.  One border attempts to keep us bound to what we experienced in the past while the other invites us to throw discernment to the wind and accept whatever comes “in the name of the Lord.”  Let me explain.

Recently I read a verse that caused me to give considerable thought to our tendency to cleave to the past. In 2 Kings 18:4  it is written,

…And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it.

Now this strikes me as most amazing!  For centuries Israel had guarded this artifact from the days of Moses.  The bronze serpent was made to bring healing to the rebellious that had been bitten by snakes. Anyone who was bitten then merely looked upon this bronze casting would be healed. The impact of this statue was great and for generations the image had been preserved, until we reach 2 Kings 18.  By the time we see it here, it has been reduced to an idol and worshiped.  What was originally a powerful blessing from God had become an icon of days gone by, and even more. Israel was sacrificing offerings to “Nehushtan.” Times were hard, danger loomed like a dark cloud over the land and some found solace in the past. The same can be said for today.

Those who have seen and tasted of the good things to come, in past revivals often find it hard to accept any new move of God because the new doesn’t match up with the old.  We hold so tightly to our “serpents of the past” and judge everything not with the Word but with past experience. As we approach this “border” our hearts get a little bit harder, we become more critical and sometimes even mock or disdain what we see because it just doesn’t match up with the past. Our hearts, it seems, are more intertwined with Nehushtan than with God.  So we hit the “ditch” and are stuck in the mud while the parade passes us by.

But there are others who recognize the past for what it is, rejoice in it but refuse to be slaves of it. Their danger lies on the other side of the street. I will call this ditch “The gutter of deception!”  Here anything goes!  Their hunger is so intense that they rush forward with their foot heavy upon the gas without concentrating on steering their lives in truth! They are the “spiritual adrenalin junkies.” For them speed is everything throwing caution and wisdom out the window. Those who watch them are impressed with their zeal and recklessness for God. “Faith” becomes the buzz word among people and is used to excuse their lack of Biblical understanding. These are those who run after servants of the Lord who God powerfully uses in the miraculous and attempt to imitate their works. They go to all the conferences, buy all the CD’s while their foundation is brittle and easily cracked. They have forgotten that Jesus talked of those who healed the sick and cast out demons yet never knew the Lord. Their pursuit is more after the miraculous than the “Miracle Maker!” Deception lurks at the edge of the road!

The ditches are there but where does one find safety?  How does one release comparisons with the past and at the same time guard from spiritual naivety?  How shall we discern the real from the false?  I think there is a hint in 2 Kings 18:6. “For he held fast to the Lord.  He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses.” In other words Hezekiah kept his focus on truth, the middle of the road.  He maintained a firm stare on the path before him.

I remember taking Drivers Ed in High school.  They taught us that when you pass someone or meet oncoming traffic you should always look to the middle of your lane.  Stay fixed on the middle!  Don’t glance at the sides, you’ll get into trouble.  Even at night and in rain, you must keep you eyes on the middle of the road!   This advice has helped me maneuver difficult situations for many years and I think it will help us avoid the ditches as we approach a new move of God.

The road ahead will be one wild ride!  The cowards will cast aside their fears, the weak will become supermen and miracles will give ample evidence of the supreme power of the One who sits on his throne. A quiet authority and supernatural power will be the hallmarks of these end-day saints! They will be noticed and feared by multitudes.

These will be those who avoided the ditches and maintained their eyes straight ahead!

A Dangerous Shift

Recently I received an e-mail from a close friend of mine.  The following is what he sent.  It is a speech by Geert Wilders, a member of the Dutch Parliament at a recent meeting of the Alliance of Patriots in New York City.

I typically do not post the works of others but I thought that this was worth putting on my blog.  It’s long and provocative.  Get a cup of coffee and read what Mr. Wilders had to say to America.

John

Dear friends,
Thank you very much for inviting me.
I come to America with a mission. All is not well in the old world. There is a tremendous danger looming, and it is very difficult to be optimistic. We might be in the final stages of the Islamization of Europe. This not only is a clear and present danger to the future of Europe itself, it is a threat to America and the sheer survival of the West. The United States as the last bastion of Western civilization, facing an Islamic Europe.

First I will describe the situation on the ground in Europe. Then, I will say a few things about Islam. To close I will tell you about a meeting in Jerusalem.

The Europe you know is changing. You have probably seen the landmarks. But in all of these cities, sometimes a few blocks away from your tourist destination, there is another world. It is the world of the parallel society created by Muslim mass-migration. All throughout Europe a new reality is rising: entire Muslim neighborhoods where very few indigenous people reside or are even seen. And if they are, they might regret it. This goes for the police as well. It’s the world of head scarves, where women walk around in figureless tents, with baby strollers and a group of children. Their husbands, or slaveholders if you prefer, walk three steps ahead. With mosques on many street corners. The shops have signs you and I cannot read. You will be hard-pressed to find any economic activity. These are Muslim ghettos controlled by religious fanatics. These are Muslim neighborhoods, and they are mushrooming in every city across Europe. These are the building-blocks for territorial control of increasingly larger portions of Europe, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city.

There are now thousands of mosques throughout Europe. With larger congregations than there are in churches. And in every European city there are plans to build super-mosques that will dwarf every church in the region. Clearly, the signal is: we rule.

Many European cities are already one-quarter Muslim: just take Amsterdam, Marseille and Malmo in Sweden. In many cities the majority of the under-18 population is Muslim. Paris is now surrounded by a ring of Muslim neighborhoods. Mohammed is the most popular name among boys in many cities. In some elementary schools in Amsterdam the farm can no longer be mentioned, because that would also mean mentioning the pig, and that would be an insult to Muslims. Many state schools in Belgium and Denmark only serve halal food to all pupils. In once-tolerant Amsterdam gays are beaten up almost exclusively by Muslims. Non-Muslim women routinely hear ‘whore, whore’. Satellite dishes are not pointed to local TV stations, but to stations in the country of origin. In France school teachers are advised to avoid authors deemed offensive to Muslims, including Voltaire and Diderot; the same is increasingly true of Darwin. The history of the Holocaust can no longer be taught because of Muslim sensitivity. In England sharia courts are now officially part of the British legal system.. Many neighborhoods in France are no-go areas for women without head scarves. Last week a man almost died after being beaten up by Muslims in Brussels, because he was drinking during the Ramadan. Jews are fleeing France in record numbers, on the run for the worst wave of anti-Semitism since World War II. French is now commonly spoken on the streets of Tel Aviv and Netanya, Israel. I could go on forever with stories like this. Stories about Islamization.

A total of fifty-four million Muslims now live in Europe. San Diego University recently calculated that a staggering 25 percent of the population in Europe will be Muslim just 12 years from now. Bernhard Lewis has predicted a Muslim majority by the end of this century.

Now these are just numbers. And the numbers would not be threatening if the Muslim-immigrants had a strong desire to assimilate. But there are few signs of that. The Pew Research Center reported that half of French Muslims see their loyalty to Islam as greater than their loyalty to France. One-third of French Muslims do not object to suicide attacks. The British Centre for Social Cohesion reported that one-third of British Muslim students are in favor of a worldwide caliphate. Muslims demand what they call ‘respect’. And this is how we give them respect. We have Muslim official state holidays.

The Christian-Democratic attorney general is willing to accept sharia in the Netherlands if there is a Muslim majority. We have cabinet members with passports from Morocco and Turkey.

Muslim demands are supported by unlawful behavior, ranging from petty crimes and random violence, for example against ambulance workers and bus drivers, to small-scale riots. Paris has seen its uprising in the low-income suburbs, the banlieus. I call the perpetrators ’settlers’. Because that is what they are. They do not come to integrate into our societies, they come to integrate our society into their Dar-al-Islam. Therefore, they are settlers.

Much of this street violence I mentioned is directed exclusively against non-Muslims, forcing many native people to leave their neighborhoods, their cities, their countries. Moreover, Muslims are now a swing vote not to be ignored.

The second thing you need to know is the importance of Mohammed the prophet. His behavior is an example to all Muslims and cannot be criticized. Now, if Mohammed had been a man of peace, let us say like Ghandi and Mother Theresa wrapped in one, there would be no problem. But Mohammed was a warlord, a mass murderer, a pedophile, and had several marriages – at the same time. Islamic tradition tells us how he fought in battles, how he had his enemies murdered and even had prisoners of war executed. Mohammed himself slaughtered the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza. If it is good for Islam, it is good. If it is bad for Islam, it is bad.

Let no one fool you about Islam being a religion. Sure, it has a god, and a here-after, and 72 virgins. But in its essence Islam is a political ideology. It is a system that lays down detailed rules for society and the life of every person. Islam wants to dictate every aspect of life. Islam means ’submission’. Islam is not compatible with freedom and democracy, because what it strives for is sharia.. If you want to compare Islam to anything, compare it to communism or national-socialism, these are all totalitarian ideologies.

Now you know why Winston Churchill called Islam ‘the most retrograde force in the world’, and why he compared Mein Kampf to the Quran. The public has wholeheartedly accepted the Palestinian narrative, and sees Israel as the aggressor. I have lived in this country and visited it dozens of times. I support Israel. First, because it is the Jewish homeland after two thousand years of exile up to and including Auschwitz, second because it is a democracy, and third because Israel is our first line of defense.

This tiny country is situated on the fault line of jihad, frustrating Islam’s territorial advance. Israel is facing the front lines of jihad, like Kashmir, Kosovo, the Philippines, Southern Thailand, Darfur in Sudan, Lebanon, and Aceh in Indonesia. Israel is simply in the way. The same way West-Berlin was during the Cold War.

The war against Israel is not a war against Israel. It is a war against the West. It is jihad. Israel is simply receiving the blows that are meant for all of us. If there would have been no Israel, Islamic imperialism would have found other venues to release its energy and its desire for conquest. Thanks to Israeli parents who send their children to the army and lay awake at night, parents in Europe and America can sleep well and dream, unaware of the dangers looming.

Many in Europe argue in favor of abandoning Israel in order to address the grievances of our Muslim minorities. But if Israel were, God forbid, to go down, it would not bring any solace to the West. It would not mean our Muslim minorities would all of a sudden change their behavior, and accept our values. On the contrary, the end of Israel would give enormous encouragement to the forces of Islam. They would, and rightly so, see the demise of Israel as proof that the West is weak, and doomed. The end of Israel would not mean the end of our problems with Islam, but only the beginning. It would mean the start of the final battle for world domination. If they can get Israel, they can get everything. So-called journalists volunteer to label any and all critics of Islamization as a ‘right-wing extremists’ or ‘racists’. In my country, the Netherlands, 60 percent of the population now sees the mass immigration of Muslims as the number one policy mistake since World War II. And another 60 percent sees Islam as the biggest threat. Yet there is a danger greater danger than terrorist attacks, the scenario of America as the last man standing. The lights may go out in Europe faster than you can imagine. An Islamic Europe means a Europe without freedom and democracy, an economic wasteland, an intellectual nightmare, and a loss of military might for America – as its allies will turn into enemies, enemies with atomic bombs. With an Islamic Europe, it would be up to America alone to preserve the heritage of Rome, Athens and Jerusalem.

Dear friends, liberty is the most precious of gifts. My generation never had to fight for this freedom, it was offered to us on a silver platter, by people who fought for it with their lives. All throughout Europe American cemeteries remind us of the young boys who never made it home, and whose memory we cherish. My generation does not own this freedom; we are merely its custodians. We can only hand over this hard won liberty to Europe’s children in the same state in which it was offered to us. We cannot strike a deal with mullahs and imams. Future generations would never forgive us. We cannot squander our liberties. We simply do not have the right to do so

A new year marked by new intensity

Hello dear friends

We have finally made it back home to Guadalajara, Mexico.  The trip to the USA was precious.  What makes it so is to see our family and friends. Time in the various churches that support this work was more I think for our benefit than for theirs. To those of you we had the priveledge of seeing, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR LOVE!

Upon arriving we spent the first few days unpacking and trying to get our legs back “under us.”  That trip is long and grueling and it seems it takes a little longer to recover than before. After all I think this was number twenty for us.

We have begun the first week of a new semester at the Institute and it was blessed by having one of our graduates who presently lives in Puerto Rico and works with YWAM, to give the students a challenge! Mauricio and his wife Karla left promising careers to become missionaries.  We are so proud of them both.

This new year has much promise!  Despite the news we have a “NEWS” from heaven that ignites our uncontainable joy!

The History of Christianity is spotted with bright lights of unusual intensity and extreme courage with the lives of men such as Horatius Bonar. Recently a friend of mine sent me this work for the benefit of our students. I think it more benifits myself and its content forces me to re-evaluate my posture in 2009. Although the content seems to be more aimed towards those of us divinly selected for the ministry I have put it here for the benifit of us all.   I would hope that it blesses you like it has me.  Read it slowly!  Take time to taste it!  This is not “junk food” to be gobbled up and washed down with a coke.  Enjoy it!  I most certainly have!

Ministerial Confessions

by Horatius Bonar

We have been carnal and unspiritual. The tone of our life has been low and earthly. Associating too much and too intimately with the world, we have in a great measure become accustomed to its ways. Hence our spiritual tastes have been vitiated, our consciences blunted, and that sensitive tenderness of feeling has worn off and given place to an amount of callousness of which we once, in fresher days, believed ourselves incapable.

We have been selfish. We have shrunk from toil, difficulty and endurance. We have counted only our lives, and our temporal ease and comfort dear unto us. We have sought to please ourselves. We have been worldly and covetous. We have not presented ourselves unto God as “living sacrifices,” laying ourselves, our lives, our substance, our time, our strength, our faculties, our all, upon His altar. We seem altogether to have lost sight of this self sacrificing principle on which even as Christians, but much more as ministers, we are called upon to act. We have had little idea of anything like sacrifice at all. Up to the point where a sacrifice was demanded, we may have been willing to go, but there we stood; counting it unnecessary, perhaps calling it imprudent and unadvised, to proceed further. Yet ought not the life of every Christian, especially of every minister, to be a life of self sacrifice and self denial throughout, even as was the life of Him who “pleased not himself”?

We have been slothful. We have been sparing of our toil. We have not endured hardship as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. We have not sought to gather up the fragments of our time, that not a moment might be thrown idly or unprofitably away. Precious hours and days have been wasted in sloth, in idle company, in pleasure, in idle or worthless reading, that might have been devoted to the closet, the study, the pulpit or the meeting! Indolence, self indulgence, fickleness, flesh pleasing, have eaten like a canker into our ministry, arresting the blessing and marring our success. We have manifested but little of the unwearied, self denying love with which, as shepherds, we ought to have watched over the flocks committed to our care. We have fed ourselves, and not the flock. We have dealt deceitfully with God, whose servants we profess to be.

We have been cold. Even when diligent, how little warmth and glow! The whole soul is not poured into the duty, and hence it wears too often the repulsive air of ‘routine’ and ‘form’. We do not speak and act like men in earnest. Our words are feeble, even when sound and true; our looks are careless, even when our words are weighty; and our tones betray the apathy which both words and looks disguise. Love is lacking, deep love, love strong as death, love such as made Jeremiah weep in secret places. In preaching and visiting, in counseling and reproving, what formality, what coldness, how little tenderness and affection!

We have been timid. Fear has often led us to smooth down or generalize truths which if broadly stated must have brought hatred and reproach upon us. We have thus often failed to declare to our people the whole counsel of God. We have shrunk from reproving, rebuking and exhorting with all patience and doctrine. We have feared to alienate friends, or to awaken the wrath of enemies.

We have been lacking in solemnity. How deeply ought we to be abased at our levity, frivolity, flippancy, vain mirth, foolish talking and jesting, by which grievous injury has been done to souls, the progress of the saints retarded, and the world countenanced in its wretched vanities.

We have preached ourselves, not Christ. We have sought applause, courted honor, been avaricious of fame and jealous of our reputation. We have preached too often so as to exalt ourselves instead of magnifying Christ, so as to draw men’s eyes to ourselves instead of fixing them on Him and His cross. Have we not often preached Christ for the very purpose of getting honor to ourselves? Christ, in the sufferings of His first coming and the glory of His second, has not been the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, of all our sermons.

We have not duly studied and honored the Word of God. We have given a greater prominence to man’s writings, man’s opinions, man’s systems in our studies than to the Word. We have drunk more out of human cisterns than divine. We have held more communion with man than God. Hence the mold and fashion of our spirits, our lives, our words, have been derived more from man than God. We must study the Bible more. We must steep our souls in it. We must not only lay it up within us, but transfuse it through the whole texture of the soul. The study of truth in its academic more than in its devotional form has robbed it of its freshness and power, engendering formality and coldness.

We have not been men of prayer. The spirit of prayer has slumbered among us. The closet has been too little frequented and delighted in. We have allowed business, study or active labor to interfere with our closet hours. A feverish atmosphere has found its way into our closet, disturbing the sweet calm of its blessed solitude. Sleep, company, idle visiting, foolish talking and jesting, idle reading, unprofitable occupations, engross time that might have been redeemed for prayer. Why is there so little concern to get time to pray? Why is there so much speaking, yet so little prayer? Why is there so much running to and fro, yet so little prayer? Why so much bustle and business, yet so little prayer? Why so many meetings with our fellow men, yet so few meetings with God? Why so little being alone, so little thirsting of the soul for the calm, sweet hours of unbroken solitude, when God and His child hold fellowship together as if they could never part? It is the lack of these solitary hours that not only injures our own growth in grace, but makes us such unprofitable members of the church of Christ, and that renders our lives useless. In order to grow in grace, we must be much alone with God. It is not in society, even Christian society that the soul grows most rapidly and vigorously. In one single quiet hour of prayer it will often make more progress than in whole days of company with others. It is in the ‘desert’ that the dew falls freshest and the air is purest. So with the soul. It is when none but God is near; when His presence alone, like the desert air in which there is mingled no noxious breath of man, surrounds and pervades the soul; it is then that the eye gets the clearest, simplest view of eternal certainties; it is then that the soul gathers in wondrous refreshment and power and energy.  Nearness to God, fellowship with God, waiting upon God, resting in God, have been too little the characteristic either of our private or our ministerial walk. Hence our example has been so powerless, our labors so unsuccessful, our sermons so meager, our whole ministry so fruitless and feeble.

We have not honored the Holy Spirit. We have not sought His teaching or His anointing. “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.” (1 John 2:20). Neither in the study of the Word nor the preaching of it to others, have we duly acknowledged His office as the Enlightener of the understanding, the Revealer of the truth, the Testifier and Glorifier of Christ. We have grieved Him by the slight put upon Him as the Teacher, the Convincer, the Comforter, the Sanctifier. Hence He has almost departed from us, and left us to reap the fruit of our own perversity and unbelief. Besides, we have grieved Him by our inconsistent walk, by our lack of circumspection, by our worldly mindedness, by our unholiness, by our prayerlessness, by our unfaithfulness, by our lack of solemnity, by a life and conversation so little in conformity with the character of a disciple or the office of ambassador.

We have had little of the mind of Christ. We have come far short of the example of the Master. We have had little of the grace, the compassion, the meekness, the lowliness, the love of Jesus. His weeping over Jerusalem is a feeling in which we have but little heartfelt sympathy. His seeking of the lost is little imitated by us. His unwearied teaching of the multitudes we shrink from as too much for flesh and blood. His days of fasting, His nights of watchfulness and prayer, are not fully realized as models for us to copy. His counting not His own life dear unto Him that He might glorify the Father and finish the work given Him to do, is but little remembered by us as the principle on which we are to act. Yet surely we are to follow His steps; the servant is to walk where his Master has led the way; the under shepherd is to be what the Chief Shepherd was. We must not seek rest or ease in a world where He whom we love had none.

We have been unbelieving. It is unbelief that makes us so cold in our preaching, so slothful in visiting, and so remiss in all our sacred duties. It is unbelief that chills our life and straitens our heart. It is unbelief that makes us handle eternal realities with such irreverence. It is unbelief that makes us ascend with so light a step into the pulpit to deal with immortal beings about heaven and hell.

We have not been sincere in our preaching. If we were, could we be so cold, so prayerless, so inconsistent, so slothful, so worldly, so unlike men whose business is all about eternity? We must be more in earnest if we would win souls. We must be more in earnest if we would walk in the footsteps of our beloved Lord, or if we would fulfill the vows that are upon us. We must be more in earnest if we would be less than hypocrites. We must be more in earnest if we would finish our course with joy, and obtain the crown at the Master’s coming. We must work while it is day; the night comes when no man can work.

We have been unfaithful. The fear of man and the love of his applause have often made us afraid. We have been unfaithful to our own souls, to our flocks, and to our brethren; unfaithful in the pulpit, in visiting, in discipline in the church. In the discharge of every one of the duties of our stewardship there has been grievous unfaithfulness. Instead of the special particularization of the sin reproved, there has been the vague allusion. Instead of the bold reproof, there has been the timid hint. Instead of the uncompromising condemnation, there has been the feeble disapproval. Instead of the unswerving consistency of a holy life whose uniform tenor should be a protest against the world and a rebuke of sin, there has been such an amount of unfaithfulness in our walk and conversation, in our daily deportment and talking with others, that any degree of faithfulness we have been enabled to manifest on the Lord’s Day is almost neutralized by the lack of circumspection which our weekday life exhibits.

We need men that will spend and be spent, that will labor and pray, that will watch and weep for souls!

My resolution for this year is to be such a man! To spend and be spent for the victory of souls!

May the Lord bless you all!

In His Grip

John

Gold, moth and Artexerxes

Gold

The continuing financial crisis has hit us all. Ministries are faced with challenges that before never were seen. Families, businesses and even the Church are wondering what will happen. Now, every body it seems is competing for their slice of the “bail out pie.” The problem is we are looking for help from the very system that got is here in the first place. It’s insane! Our gold has shown us it’s not priceless nor is it limitless! It too is tarnishing

But over 2000 years ago words were written that give me hope! I’ll come back to that in a minute but for now come with me to a land that suffered a most hopeless scenario, Israel. Its capital lay in ruins for decades and now the temple had been re-built by a handful of retuning Jews. It was now time for the temple to be restored to its full purpose!

Then… enter Ezra!

The Temple was complete, the infrastructure in place, now Ezra is sent by the Lord to return to Jerusalem and reestablish the order of worship. After all the building had a purpose and now that purpose would be reinstituted after years of neglect. Ezra was on his way home with a divine mandate, but he wouldn’t go empty handed!

Artexerxes

The King Artexerxes being moved by the Lord was compelled to financially underwrite the entire project. Not only did he give vast sums of money but he told all his subjects to assist Ezra with all diligence, he set free all those who wanted to return to Jerusalem to do so and he exempted Ezra and his people from taxes. All of this from a PAGAN KING!

For me this is absolutely amazing and encouraging. God moved upon the heart of a pagan king to finance the work of God. Our Heavenly Father will achieve his purpose on the earth and touch those He wills to become His instruments to do and finance the work.

Moth

Now if God can touch the heart of a pagan king can He not do the same with men and women today? Absolutely! I wonder how God would so move upon the hearts of his people with such power and urgency to reach the nations in these last days. Could it happen by Him opening our eyes to the truths that Jesus spoke over two millennia ago? Could it happen that the scales from our eyes would be yanked away and discover that Jesus knew what He was saying when He said to the rich kid, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven…”

Our could it be that in the midst of the market losing its value the words of the Lord reminds us to not lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasurestin heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Mat 6:19-21)

Were these just empty words carelessly said by a charlatan or were they the words of the King who controls all things by the power of His might? Did He not give us a sure path through the economical uncertainty we now see?

Later in Luke He describes a man who built bigger barns to harbor his grain only to see his project finished and then given to some one else because it was his time to die. Are we not guilty of building bigger barns for rotting grain, grain that daily loses its value in the stock market? Rust and moth have found their ways into our most protected vaults and we have no other option but to stand and watch it all be blown to the wind. Or, is there another option, one which we have ignored to our chagrin?

Saints now is the time to take His words seriously! Its time to take a stand of faith! This is the test, what shall we do with our money? Our money has turned into jello that cannot be contained in our hands. What we valued highly is now showing its weakness. Jello is most illusive, but treasures in heaven are solid and eternal.

Obedience with the right heart

Am I purposing that we simply take our crumbling investments and cast them to the wind or recklessly give it all away and then think that God will “bail us out?” Do we look at His promises as a kind of “celestial bail out plan?” If so, we are in for some serious problems. If you do it with that intention I think you will just lose everything and be worse off than before. Our motives for such an act are worthy of careful examination. Jesus didn’t give us His promises just to rescue us but to guide our lives in His will and His will is that we store up our riches in heaven!

Then what should we do? Each man, each woman must go to God and determine His will is in this. Is it time to make a transfer of grain from earthly barns to heavenly accounts? And if so then how should it be done? Here is my suggestion. If you are directed to respond to Jesus’ words and give to heaven, then it should be done with the deepest conviction that this is His will and that He honors this bold step of faith. It should be given as a confident and deliberate step of absolute trust in God and His word. It must not be done lightly.

In some ways it’s like the man who was walking the mountain edge at night and slipped over the edge. In the darkness he held to a root for dear life. After several minutes, his strength ebbing away he cried out to the Lord, “Lord rescue me!” The Lord spoke, “Let go!” The man resisted fearing he would plunge to his death. Several minutes passed with each one stealing his strength in his arms. “Let go,” the Lord said. Finally when he could no longer hold on coming to the end of all his strength he let go… only to stop securely on a ledge six inches from his feet. Safety was six inches away!

We have tripped in the night and many are holding on to a root for all they’re worth. The Lord says, “Let go.” “My words are truth.”

I just can’t help but be sure that if I walk in His word He will protect and provide. He will make a ledge there under my feet.

For over twenty five years we have banked everything on this certainty and today the ministry Fire from Heaven stands as a bold testimony of His eternal faithfulness to His word.

We are in times now when we will be forced to consider if God’s word is true.

This is that time!

Jabba the Hut and Ethnic Religious Diversity

It was years ago when I sat in a movie watching the famed “Star Wars.” Harrison Ford broke on the silver screen with aplomb as well as another character, Jabba the Hut. Remember him, that fat slimy slug that took up a whole half of a room to sit to eat and belch simultaneously? Remember the bar he owned? The weirdo’s of the universe found their favorite drink there. It was a bizarre place, kind of like Los Angeles.

Recently I was in Jabba’s home town, Los Angeles and there can be no doubt that his creation was inspired by some writer walking the boulevards of Hollywood. Los Angeles is a very interesting place. It is filled with diversity. Entire communities exist around a national identity. There are the Chinese, the Mexicans, the Koreans, the Muslims and a host of others who live in conclaves of cultural isolation. They speak their native languages, eat their native foods and worship their native gods. For many, the God of Abraham, Jacob and Isaac and Jesus Himself is merely an addition to the list of native deities. Jehovah is just another name in the pantheon of gods. It reminds me of Israel and the mixture that she experienced during a very difficult period in her history.

It is found in 2 Kings 17. The king Hosea was captured and taken to Assyria by its Shalmaneser. The entire population was overrun and transported to Assyria leaving behind all their wealth for the occupying force. The Bible says that “This occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt.” But the towns of Samaria would not be vacant for long. The king had an idea!

He then sent a vast number from his overcrowding cities to occupy Samaria. They came to those towns and lived in houses they did not build, enjoyed the crops they did not plant and drank from wells they did not dig. With their families they brought their customs and their idols. They had their language, their politics and their idols, and this just didn’t sit well with Jehovah God! The fact is, they did not recognize Jehovah for who he was!

Lions out of no where

All of this resulted in a rather bazaar thing. Seemingly out of no where lions appeared and attacked many. This was not just one or two incidents but rather enough to garner the attention of the king. People were being eaten by wild lions. Paradise had a dark side.

It was decided that these attacks occurred because the people did not know the customs of the god of the land so the king’s response was to get a priest from the host of prisoners and send him back to Samaria to teach the people the law of the Lord.

His success was at best “muted.” They learned about God but it was mere superficial knowledge. They were merely entertained with the thought that there was another god to add to the list. So, “They feared the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.” It was worth it to just stop the lions!

The unknown author of Second Kings goes on to say in 2 Kings 17:40-41 “However they would not listen but they did according to their former manner. So these nations feared the Lord and served their carved images. Their children did likewise and their children’s children – as their fathers did, so they do to this day.”

I read that thinking that things haven’t changed very much since then. My impression of what I saw in LA and in many other places as well is that you can fear God and at the same time serve your idols! You can be respectful to the Lord with tokened expressions of recognition and all the while be running hard after your idols. And let me add something else. You don’t have to be born in another culture for this to happen. You can be a home grown USA, blue collar worker, and still give pittance to God while you serve your idols.

It disturbs me to realize that I have the potential to embrace idols and fear God at the same time. Does it disturb you too?