Kudos to Glenn Beck for throwing out the battle cry for Americans' to come back to their roots of FAITH in GOD instead of government! Although his claim is to the Mormon, not Christian faith, he's actually doing more to call the nation to seriously reconsider its path and priorities then many professed Christians. Personally, I find it pretty sad indeed that the vast majority of God's own people have abdicated this all important responsibility.
Ahhhhh, but our God is One of many means and methods and He will always find someone willing to stand up for what is right, even if that someone doesn't necessarily possess and follow all the truth contained in His Word. Glenn is absolutely right, it's not at all about "politics", the ONLY hope for this or any other nation is the Lord Jesus Christ alone!
It's actually kind of ironic, while the Christian Church has become way too "politicized" - chasing and putting their hope in "parties" and "candidates", those outside the walls of biblical Christianity are finally realizing it's NOT about politics at all, but rather, all about GOD! Go figure...
Christians, please pray for Glenn Beck, that he will come to genuinely know and love the Lord. I have a sneaking feeling that he's not too far from the Kingdom! :)
Beck rally calls U.S. to turn back to faith
'It has nothing to do with politics; it has everything to do with God'
By Drew Zahn
8/28/2010
WorldNetDaily
Glenn Beck at Restoring Honor rally
WASHINGTON, D.C. – People of every race and color in red, white and blue T-shirts gathered in the nation's capital today for Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally only to receive a heavy dose, not of the radio host, but of Jesus Christ.
Anita Crane reported from the ground for WND: "The crowds are enthusiastic and orderly as far the eye can see, waving flags, wearing on their shirts the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and 'God Bless America.'"
Video of the rally shows crowds filling the grounds surrounding Washington's Reflecting Pool, Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument. An unsubstantiated radio report suggested as many as half a million were in attendance.
When Beck took the platform, he joked about the size of the gathering.
"I have just gotten word from the media," he quipped, "that there are over a thousand people here today."
The speakers, including Beck, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, representatives for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation – for which the rally was raising funds – and others, spoke glowingly of the promise of America, the accomplishments of its past, the soldiers who served their country and the foundation of the nation upon faith.
Beck focused on faith from the beginning of the rally, declaring, "America today begins to turn back to God."
Crowd members gathered from across the nation echoed the speaker's pride in America, as well as their concern that the nation has been drifting from its Founders' intent.
Rally attendee Debbie Emo came with two friends from Kansas City and told WND, "I believe our country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and we've let those slip."
Jim Allen brought his dog, Spot, from Tulsa, Okla., because he had heard Beck urge people to bring their "families."
"I'm here because I want the Constitution restored," he said.
Get "Taking America Back," Joseph Farah's manifesto for sovereignty, self-reliance and moral renewal
Juan Muicea, wearing a Declaration of Independence T-shirt, told WND, "I'm standing here for my family to bring honor back to the country, the basic principle that we have rights."
Muicea explained that he's not asking for "anything outrageous," just that the government would observe and honor its citizens' Constitutional rights.
Crowd attending Restoring Honor rally
Several attendees expressed worry over the expanding power of the federal government, arguing that its bailouts, corporate takeovers and health-care mandate are all evidence of a government operating beyond its constitutional bounds. And without the Constitution effectively enforced to limit its power, the attendees fear, the government has no check against tyranny.
"We're here because I'm scared to death that our freedoms are being taken from us," said Ann Kane, who came to the rally from Raleigh, N.C., with her husband and four of their six children.
Frank Stuber, grandfather of two, told WND, "I'm here from Chicago for my grandchildren, because everything is out of control."
Glenn Beck's proposed solution to their fears, however, may have caught some by surprise.
The radio host explained that when he planned the rally, he expected it would be "political."
But several months ago, surrounded by the crowds at another gathering, he grabbed one of his co-workers and said, "We're wrong."
Instead of a political rally, playing on patriotism to push for votes in the fall, Beck gave today's Restoring Honor gathering a heavily spiritual theme. He challenged the crowds to make the message of resorting honor personal, by living out the key virtues of 1 Corinthians 13: faith, hope and charity.
In turn, a variety of presenters introduced three individuals lauded for exemplifying these virtues: Rev. C.L. Jackson for faith, major-league baseball star Albert Pujols for hope, and Salt Lake City philanthropist Jon Huntsman Sr. for charity.
Beck challenged the crowd to take up a 40-day endeavor to demonstrate faith, hope and charity, and thus, to live out the final words of the Declaration of Indepenence: "With a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
"We must as a people strengthen our spirit," Beck declared. "Look to the top of the Washington memorial, [where it is carved] 'Praise be to God.'"
Dr. Alveda King was also on the platform, echoing the famous words of her uncle's "I have a dream" speech.
"I have a dream," Martin Luther King Jr.'s niece declared, "that America will pray and that God will forgive us our sins and revive our land."
After announcing media estimates that the crowd ranged in size from 300,000 to 500,000, Beck reiterated the rally cry that summed up today's primary message: "It has nothing to do with politics; it has everything to do with God."
With reporting by Anita Crane.
August 30, 2010
August 24, 2010
Are You a Christian or a Christ-Follower?
Preparing for the Emerging One Church of the New World
by Tamara Hartzell
February 2008
Are you a Christian or a Christ-follower? Believe it or not, there is a world of difference in the New Spirituality that is replacing the Christian faith in today’s Christianity. On the surface, Christ-follower may seem to be a more accurate term than Christian since Christians are followers of Christ. But you can’t always judge a book by its cover. When the New Spirituality’s transformation to Christ-follower has been accomplished, the difference between the two will be as significant as the difference between dark and light, or the broad way and the narrow way.
This subtle separating of terms is being implemented in preparation for the Emerging One Church of the new world, for which Christian is too narrow and exclusive. Christian clearly says that followers of Christ are in the Christian faith (true Christianity), but Christ-follower inclusively allows for followers of Christ to be in any religion.
Accordingly, Christians are people of the faith, clearly set forth in the Word of God, but Christ followers will be people of faith—that is, any faith or religion. Christians believe that the right doctrine and theology—in other words, the right faith—are essential for salvation, but Christ-followers will believe that doctrine and theology are irrelevant because what you do is more important than what you believe. Christians believe there is only one truth, clearly set forth in God’s Word of truth, but Christ-followers will believe there is truth in every religion.
Inevitably, with unity at all costs becoming the foundation of the world and churches, Christian is already becoming a brand of shame. In the emerging new world, Christian says that you are intolerant, divisive, religiously bigoted, judgmental, and legalistic. In other words, Christian says to the world that you believe when God says there is only one way to God and none other that God actually means it. The world never has tolerated this faith very well.
Christ-follower, on the other hand, will become a badge of honor. In the emerging new world, Christ-follower will say that you are undogmatic, unifiable, open-minded, accommodating, and flexible. In other words, Christ-follower will say to the world that you believe God is inclusive of those whose way to God is different than the way given to us in His Word. It will say that you are tolerant of the other religions in the world and that you believe they can be just as right as Christianity. The world will tolerate this faith, or spirituality, just fine. Why wouldn’t it?
The New Spirituality of the Emerging One Church
If the New Spirituality’s emerging transformation to Christ-follower describes you and your beliefs, then no doubt many, if not all, of the following New Spirituality beliefs will ring true with you, especially if you can identify with the Emerging Church movement.
“‘THERE IS NO RELIGION HIGHER THAN --TRUTH.’… [Truth] must be underlying every world religion… Therefore, that a portion of truth, great or small, is found in every religious and philosophical system …”
“[E]very man should be free to worship God in his own way.… His own God-illumined mind will search for truth and he will interpret it for himself. The day of theology is over and that of a living truth is with us.”
It is “the pride of mind which sees its way and its interpretations to be correct and true, and others’ false and wrong.”
“The teaching of Christ is not obsolete and out of date. It needs only to be rescued from the interpretations of the theologies of the past …”
“Christ's major task was the establishing of God's kingdom upon earth. He showed us the way in which humanity could enter that kingdom … the way is found in service to our fellow men …"
“It is through supreme service and sacrifice that we become followers of Christ and earn the right to enter into His kingdom, because we do not enter alone.”
“The need is for vision, wisdom and that wide tolerance which will see divinity on every hand and recognize the Christ in every human being.”
“The true Church is the kingdom of God on earth … composed of all, regardless of race or creed, who live by the light within, who have discovered the fact of the mystical Christ in their hearts.”
“The message of God is clear. No matter what the religion, no matter what the culture, no matter what the spiritual or indigenous tradition, the bottom line is identical: We are all one.”
“…Christian people are to recognize their place within a worldwide divine revelation and see Christ as representing all the faiths and taking His rightful place as World Teacher. He is the World Teacher and not a Christian teacher.… They may not call Him Christ, but they have their own name for Him and follow Him as truly and faithfully as their Western brethren.”
“The Christ has no religious barriers in His consciousness. It matters not to Him of what faith a man may call himself.”
“[‘The Christ’] has been for two thousand years the supreme Head of the Church Invisible … composed of disciples of all faiths.… He cares not what the faith is if the objective is love of God and of humanity.”
These New Spirituality (New Age and New Gospel) beliefs are bringing humanity and its religions together in interfaith unity. They are foundational to the Emerging One Church (the universal religion of the new world) which is indeed “widely desired and worked for” in both the world and today’s Christianity:
“[R]eligions though diverse in their theologies and forms of worship … and though differing in their methods of application of truth, are united in three basic aspects …
“When men recognize this and succeed in isolating that inner significant structure of truth which is the same in all climes and in all races, then there will emerge the universal religion, the One Church, and that unified though not uniform approach to God … Theologies will disappear into the knowledge of God; doctrines and dogmas will no longer be regarded as necessary, for faith will be based on experience, and authority will give place to personal appreciation of Reality.…
“The history of religions, the foundations of doctrine, the origin of ideas and the growth of the God idea are being subjected to research and study. This leads to much disputation; to the rejection of old established ideas as to God, the soul, man and his destiny.”
“Today, slowly, the concept of a world religion and the need for its emergence are widely desired and worked for. The fusion of faiths is now a field for discussion. Workers in the field of religion will formulate the universal platform of the new world religion. It is a work of loving synthesis and will emphasize the unity and the fellowship of the spirit. This group is, in a pronounced sense, a channel for the activities of the Christ, the world Teacher. The platform of the new world religion will be built by many groups, working under the inspiration of the Christ.
“Churchmen need to remember that the human spirit is greater than all the churches and greater than their teaching. In the long run, that human spirit will defeat them and proceed triumphantly into the Kingdom of God, leaving them far behind unless they enter as a humble part of the mass of men.…
“The churches in the West need also to realize that basically there is only one Church, but it is not necessarily only the orthodox Christian institution.” (Bold added)
“This the church has hindered down the centuries, and has not helped because of its fanatical zeal to make ‘Christians’ of all peoples and not followers of the Christ. It has emphasized theological doctrine, and not love and loving understanding as Christ exemplified it.”
"This Emerging One Church (universal, new world religion) is captivating today’s Christianity that has been easily fooled into believing that the Word of God is insufficient and irrelevant for our global-minded world. This goes hand in hand with the view that the “traditional” Christian faith is a “failure” in today’s world. As a result, no time is being wasted in replacing the scriptural faith of Christianity with the “loving understanding” and New Spirituality faith of the Emerging One Church. In its growing relativistic zeal to make Christ-followers and not Christians, today’s Christianity is joining the interfaith work of building the platform of the new world religion.
by Tamara Hartzell
February 2008
Are you a Christian or a Christ-follower? Believe it or not, there is a world of difference in the New Spirituality that is replacing the Christian faith in today’s Christianity. On the surface, Christ-follower may seem to be a more accurate term than Christian since Christians are followers of Christ. But you can’t always judge a book by its cover. When the New Spirituality’s transformation to Christ-follower has been accomplished, the difference between the two will be as significant as the difference between dark and light, or the broad way and the narrow way.
This subtle separating of terms is being implemented in preparation for the Emerging One Church of the new world, for which Christian is too narrow and exclusive. Christian clearly says that followers of Christ are in the Christian faith (true Christianity), but Christ-follower inclusively allows for followers of Christ to be in any religion.
Accordingly, Christians are people of the faith, clearly set forth in the Word of God, but Christ followers will be people of faith—that is, any faith or religion. Christians believe that the right doctrine and theology—in other words, the right faith—are essential for salvation, but Christ-followers will believe that doctrine and theology are irrelevant because what you do is more important than what you believe. Christians believe there is only one truth, clearly set forth in God’s Word of truth, but Christ-followers will believe there is truth in every religion.
Inevitably, with unity at all costs becoming the foundation of the world and churches, Christian is already becoming a brand of shame. In the emerging new world, Christian says that you are intolerant, divisive, religiously bigoted, judgmental, and legalistic. In other words, Christian says to the world that you believe when God says there is only one way to God and none other that God actually means it. The world never has tolerated this faith very well.
Christ-follower, on the other hand, will become a badge of honor. In the emerging new world, Christ-follower will say that you are undogmatic, unifiable, open-minded, accommodating, and flexible. In other words, Christ-follower will say to the world that you believe God is inclusive of those whose way to God is different than the way given to us in His Word. It will say that you are tolerant of the other religions in the world and that you believe they can be just as right as Christianity. The world will tolerate this faith, or spirituality, just fine. Why wouldn’t it?
The New Spirituality of the Emerging One Church
If the New Spirituality’s emerging transformation to Christ-follower describes you and your beliefs, then no doubt many, if not all, of the following New Spirituality beliefs will ring true with you, especially if you can identify with the Emerging Church movement.
“‘THERE IS NO RELIGION HIGHER THAN --TRUTH.’… [Truth] must be underlying every world religion… Therefore, that a portion of truth, great or small, is found in every religious and philosophical system …”
“[E]very man should be free to worship God in his own way.… His own God-illumined mind will search for truth and he will interpret it for himself. The day of theology is over and that of a living truth is with us.”
It is “the pride of mind which sees its way and its interpretations to be correct and true, and others’ false and wrong.”
“The teaching of Christ is not obsolete and out of date. It needs only to be rescued from the interpretations of the theologies of the past …”
“Christ's major task was the establishing of God's kingdom upon earth. He showed us the way in which humanity could enter that kingdom … the way is found in service to our fellow men …"
“It is through supreme service and sacrifice that we become followers of Christ and earn the right to enter into His kingdom, because we do not enter alone.”
“The need is for vision, wisdom and that wide tolerance which will see divinity on every hand and recognize the Christ in every human being.”
“The true Church is the kingdom of God on earth … composed of all, regardless of race or creed, who live by the light within, who have discovered the fact of the mystical Christ in their hearts.”
“The message of God is clear. No matter what the religion, no matter what the culture, no matter what the spiritual or indigenous tradition, the bottom line is identical: We are all one.”
“…Christian people are to recognize their place within a worldwide divine revelation and see Christ as representing all the faiths and taking His rightful place as World Teacher. He is the World Teacher and not a Christian teacher.… They may not call Him Christ, but they have their own name for Him and follow Him as truly and faithfully as their Western brethren.”
“The Christ has no religious barriers in His consciousness. It matters not to Him of what faith a man may call himself.”
“[‘The Christ’] has been for two thousand years the supreme Head of the Church Invisible … composed of disciples of all faiths.… He cares not what the faith is if the objective is love of God and of humanity.”
These New Spirituality (New Age and New Gospel) beliefs are bringing humanity and its religions together in interfaith unity. They are foundational to the Emerging One Church (the universal religion of the new world) which is indeed “widely desired and worked for” in both the world and today’s Christianity:
“[R]eligions though diverse in their theologies and forms of worship … and though differing in their methods of application of truth, are united in three basic aspects …
“When men recognize this and succeed in isolating that inner significant structure of truth which is the same in all climes and in all races, then there will emerge the universal religion, the One Church, and that unified though not uniform approach to God … Theologies will disappear into the knowledge of God; doctrines and dogmas will no longer be regarded as necessary, for faith will be based on experience, and authority will give place to personal appreciation of Reality.…
“The history of religions, the foundations of doctrine, the origin of ideas and the growth of the God idea are being subjected to research and study. This leads to much disputation; to the rejection of old established ideas as to God, the soul, man and his destiny.”
“Today, slowly, the concept of a world religion and the need for its emergence are widely desired and worked for. The fusion of faiths is now a field for discussion. Workers in the field of religion will formulate the universal platform of the new world religion. It is a work of loving synthesis and will emphasize the unity and the fellowship of the spirit. This group is, in a pronounced sense, a channel for the activities of the Christ, the world Teacher. The platform of the new world religion will be built by many groups, working under the inspiration of the Christ.
“Churchmen need to remember that the human spirit is greater than all the churches and greater than their teaching. In the long run, that human spirit will defeat them and proceed triumphantly into the Kingdom of God, leaving them far behind unless they enter as a humble part of the mass of men.…
“The churches in the West need also to realize that basically there is only one Church, but it is not necessarily only the orthodox Christian institution.” (Bold added)
“This the church has hindered down the centuries, and has not helped because of its fanatical zeal to make ‘Christians’ of all peoples and not followers of the Christ. It has emphasized theological doctrine, and not love and loving understanding as Christ exemplified it.”
"This Emerging One Church (universal, new world religion) is captivating today’s Christianity that has been easily fooled into believing that the Word of God is insufficient and irrelevant for our global-minded world. This goes hand in hand with the view that the “traditional” Christian faith is a “failure” in today’s world. As a result, no time is being wasted in replacing the scriptural faith of Christianity with the “loving understanding” and New Spirituality faith of the Emerging One Church. In its growing relativistic zeal to make Christ-followers and not Christians, today’s Christianity is joining the interfaith work of building the platform of the new world religion.
August 5, 2010
SAY GOODBYE to the UNTOUCHABLE PREACHERS
Major KUDOS to J. Lee Grady for this very true and much needed word to the church. Good for him! Christians, please don't send your hard earned money to these wannabe "celebrity" TV preachers!
SAY GOODBYE to the UNTOUCHABLE PREACHERS
-by J. Lee Grady.
God is shaking His church and removing corruption. But we share the blame for giving charlatans a platform.
Al Capone once controlled all of Chicago. The notorious 1920s gangster bribed the city's mayor, bought the police and presided as king over an empire of casinos, speakeasies and smuggling operations. He dodged bullets for years and lived above the law— and earned the nickname "untouchable" because no one could bring him to justice.
Before Capone finally went to prison in 1932, he justified his crimes by saying: "All I do is satisfy a public demand." He didn't take responsibility for the pain he caused because he knew mayors, policemen, community leaders and bootleggers supported him the whole way.
"There is no way we can know how many unbelievers rejected the gospel because they saw the church supporting quacks who swaggered, bragged, lied, flattered, bribed, stole and tearfully begged their way into our lives—while we applauded them and sent them money."
I hate to compare any minister of God to a gangster. But the sad truth is that today there are a handful (well, maybe more) of unscrupulous preachers who share some of Capone's most disgusting traits. They are notoriously greedy. They are masters of deception and manipulation. They have bought their way into the charismatic religious subculture and used their uncanny hypnotic ability to control major Christian TV networks.
And, like Capone, their days are numbered. Justice will soon catch up with them.
These false prophets probably all started out with a genuine call from God, but success destroyed them. They were lured away from true faith by fame and money, and when their ministries mushroomed they resorted to compromise to keep their machines rolling. Now, in the midst of the Great Recession, God is closing in on them.
But before we rejoice that these imposters are being removed from their pulpits and yanked off the airwaves, let's hit the pause button and reflect. How did these false preachers ever achieve such fame? It couldn't have happened without help from us.
We were the gullible ones. When they said, "The Lord promises you untold wealth if you will simply give a thousand dollars right now," we went to the phones and put the donations on our credit cards. God forgive us.
We were the undiscerning ones. When they said, "I need your sacrificial gift today so I can repair my private jet," we didn't ask why a servant of God wasn't humble enough to fly coach class to a Third World nation. God forgive us.
We were the foolish ones. When it was revealed that they were living in immorality, mistreating their wives or populating cities with illegitimate children, we listened to their spin doctors instead of demanding that ministry leaders act like Christians. God forgive us.
We were the naïve ones. When they begged for $2 million more in donations because of a budget shortfall, we didn't feel comfortable asking why they needed that $10,000-a-night hotel suite. In fact, if we did question it, another Christian was quick to say, "Don't criticize! The Bible says, ‘Touch not the Lord's anointed!'" God forgive us.
We have treated these charlatans like Al Capone—as if they were untouchable—and as a result their corruption has spread throughout charismatic churches like a plague. Our movement is eaten up with materialism, pride, deception and sexual sin because we were afraid to call these Bozos what they really are —insecure, selfish, egotistical and emotionally dysfunctional.
If we had applied biblical discernment a long time ago we could have avoided this mess. There is no way we can know how many unbelievers rejected the gospel because they saw the church supporting quacks who swaggered, bragged, lied, flattered, bribed, stole and tearfully begged their way into our lives—while we applauded them and sent them money.
When well-meaning Christians quote 1 Chronicles 16:22 ("Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm," NASB) to cover up corruption or charlatanism, they do horrible injustice to Scripture. This passage does not require us to stay quiet when a leader is abusing power or deceiving people.
On the contrary, we are called to confront sin in a spirit of love and honesty—and we certainly aren't showing love to the church if we allow the charismatic Al Capones of our generation to corrupt it.
SAY GOODBYE to the UNTOUCHABLE PREACHERS
-by J. Lee Grady.
God is shaking His church and removing corruption. But we share the blame for giving charlatans a platform.
Al Capone once controlled all of Chicago. The notorious 1920s gangster bribed the city's mayor, bought the police and presided as king over an empire of casinos, speakeasies and smuggling operations. He dodged bullets for years and lived above the law— and earned the nickname "untouchable" because no one could bring him to justice.
Before Capone finally went to prison in 1932, he justified his crimes by saying: "All I do is satisfy a public demand." He didn't take responsibility for the pain he caused because he knew mayors, policemen, community leaders and bootleggers supported him the whole way.
"There is no way we can know how many unbelievers rejected the gospel because they saw the church supporting quacks who swaggered, bragged, lied, flattered, bribed, stole and tearfully begged their way into our lives—while we applauded them and sent them money."
I hate to compare any minister of God to a gangster. But the sad truth is that today there are a handful (well, maybe more) of unscrupulous preachers who share some of Capone's most disgusting traits. They are notoriously greedy. They are masters of deception and manipulation. They have bought their way into the charismatic religious subculture and used their uncanny hypnotic ability to control major Christian TV networks.
And, like Capone, their days are numbered. Justice will soon catch up with them.
These false prophets probably all started out with a genuine call from God, but success destroyed them. They were lured away from true faith by fame and money, and when their ministries mushroomed they resorted to compromise to keep their machines rolling. Now, in the midst of the Great Recession, God is closing in on them.
But before we rejoice that these imposters are being removed from their pulpits and yanked off the airwaves, let's hit the pause button and reflect. How did these false preachers ever achieve such fame? It couldn't have happened without help from us.
We were the gullible ones. When they said, "The Lord promises you untold wealth if you will simply give a thousand dollars right now," we went to the phones and put the donations on our credit cards. God forgive us.
We were the undiscerning ones. When they said, "I need your sacrificial gift today so I can repair my private jet," we didn't ask why a servant of God wasn't humble enough to fly coach class to a Third World nation. God forgive us.
We were the foolish ones. When it was revealed that they were living in immorality, mistreating their wives or populating cities with illegitimate children, we listened to their spin doctors instead of demanding that ministry leaders act like Christians. God forgive us.
We were the naïve ones. When they begged for $2 million more in donations because of a budget shortfall, we didn't feel comfortable asking why they needed that $10,000-a-night hotel suite. In fact, if we did question it, another Christian was quick to say, "Don't criticize! The Bible says, ‘Touch not the Lord's anointed!'" God forgive us.
We have treated these charlatans like Al Capone—as if they were untouchable—and as a result their corruption has spread throughout charismatic churches like a plague. Our movement is eaten up with materialism, pride, deception and sexual sin because we were afraid to call these Bozos what they really are —insecure, selfish, egotistical and emotionally dysfunctional.
If we had applied biblical discernment a long time ago we could have avoided this mess. There is no way we can know how many unbelievers rejected the gospel because they saw the church supporting quacks who swaggered, bragged, lied, flattered, bribed, stole and tearfully begged their way into our lives—while we applauded them and sent them money.
When well-meaning Christians quote 1 Chronicles 16:22 ("Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm," NASB) to cover up corruption or charlatanism, they do horrible injustice to Scripture. This passage does not require us to stay quiet when a leader is abusing power or deceiving people.
On the contrary, we are called to confront sin in a spirit of love and honesty—and we certainly aren't showing love to the church if we allow the charismatic Al Capones of our generation to corrupt it.
August 1, 2010
WE CAN'T ESCAPE THE HARD TRUTHS
An excellent message by Carter Conlon of Times Square Church (bolded emphasis is mine)...
WE CAN'T ESCAPE THE HARD TRUTHS
by Carter Conlon
In John 6:53, Jesus said to His disciples, “Unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood you have no life in you” (paraphrase). Although they had experienced His power and miracles, many of them were offended and said, “This is a hard saying, who can hear this?” The Scripture says that they turned back and walked with Him no more.
The disciples who resisted the truth ran from it, but ultimately they could not escape it. Every one of them would die and eventually appear before God, only to find that Jesus meant what He said. It did not matter how often they went to the synagogue or how much they prayed. Without the life of Christ in them, they had no real life.
WHAT ABOUT MERCY?
The early church was in its infancy, moving together as one body with one purpose in the earth. The Scripture says that as they were together praying, the place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost (see Acts 2). They were speaking the Word of God with boldness. People were selling their possessions and bringing the money for the apostles to distribute so that no one would be lacking. Those were exciting times!
Then we come to Acts 5:1−11 and the story of Ananias and Sapphira: “But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.
Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.”
As a young Christian, I used to be somewhat perplexed by the severity of the judgment of Ananias and Sapphira. After all, hadn’t Peter done worse? They lied about the price of the land, but Peter had lied about knowing Jesus, which seems to be a much more severe offense. Peter had received forgiveness, and doesn’t the Scripture say that those who have received mercy should be merciful?
Yet here is Peter pronouncing their sentence of death, which in the natural doesn’t make sense. We know that God is just and His judgments are right, so there must be something dangerous here for the individual believer and the church as a whole, a great truth which you and I need to understand today.
PRETENDING TO BE WITH THE PROGRAM
I believe the key to understanding Acts 5 is this: Ananias and Sapphira were pretending to be with the program when, in fact, they were not. It is very dangerous to pretend to be fully obeying the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit. I believe Peter received mercy for his actions because he was young in the Lord, and he acted out of fear. It was a momentary thing; he did not understand and was not yet formed in the power, strength and truth of God. Peter was not moving with the church as a body as Ananias and Sapphira were.
In contrast, Ananias and Sapphira were not afraid—theirs was calculated deception. They deliberately deceived others, and they thought they could deceive God. When we begin to make excuses for what we know is wrong, we eventually get to the place where we think we can deceive God. We mistakenly believe that our deception does not matter to God, since we are part of the New Covenant. We believe that an incredible blanket of grace and mercy covers everything—and that is true—but it doesn’t apply to the willful sinner. God was saying at that time, “Before this church really gets going, I have to set the record straight—there is still a judgment of death on willful deception.”
The irony is that Ananias and Sapphira could have chosen not to sell their land and still been part of the church. Or they could have said, “Here is half,” and it would have been fine. The real issue was that they pretended to be something they were not.
WEAKNESS IN THE CAMP
Pretending to be righteous brings into the church the same weakness that Achan brought into the camp of Israel, a hard truth recounted in Joshua, chapter 7. As Joshua was leading the Israelites in to possess the Promised Land, he gave them specific instructions. “And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it” (Joshua 6:18). In other words, do not embrace the fallen value system of the wicked; do not think it is going to offer you any security. We would be wise to heed these words today. This system offered no security to those outside the kingdom of God.
After a phenomenal victory over Jericho, Joshua led the Israelites forward to a small town called Ai. The scouting party sent by Joshua reported back that the men of Ai were few, so Joshua sent in only a few thousand men to attack the town. The Israelites suffered a resounding defeat at the hands of the small, defenseless city.
The defeat was so severe that Joshua fell on his face and cried to the Lord, “We would have been content to dwell on the other side of Jordan!” These were words that Joshua probably never imagined he would say, for they were the very sort that caused the people to live for forty years in the wilderness. But God said, “Joshua, get up off the ground, there is an accursed thing in the camp and it has brought this weakness that you see” (Joshua 7:10, 13 paraphrase).
In order to find out what the “accursed thing in the camp” was, they drew lots. This system in the Old Testament was divinely inspired by God, and the lot fell to a man named Achan. “Now Joshua said to Achan, ‘My son, I beg you, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.’
And Achan answered Joshua and said, ‘Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done: When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it’” (Joshua 7:19−21, NKJV).
THE WRONG FOCUS
You have to wonder what was in Achan’s heart. As in Acts, chapter 5, the Scripture in Joshua, chapter 7 talks about a time of power and supernatural provision. Achan had to have known that the God who gave them victory over Jericho would provide for them. Yet we can picture Achan as he clambered with the rest of the army into the ruins of a society that had lived apart from God and trusted in gold and silver. Suddenly his eye falls on a garment from Babylon, the likes of which were highly sought after in the commercial trade of that day. These garments often had golden threads interwoven in them, signifying the perishing society’s view of success and prosperity. The threads formed images of men and cattle, with the cattle representing prosperity. When Achan saw the garment, he coveted it, and said, “I want this for my life. I am not content to be just a little part of a larger body moving into the Promised Land. I want to be successful—I want to be noticed!”
Jesus said, “The light of the body is the eye…if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness” (Matthew 6:22−23). The moment we look on something that God forbids, a flood of darkness comes along with it. Once Achan saw that garment, he also saw a wedge of gold only half a step away. Can you imagine trading the power of God for a pound of gold? Once we have a wrong view of success, we also will apply a wrong measure of how to achieve it. We are living in a world where everyone wants to stand out; everyone wants to be the big player. But in order to get there, we think we need a little more than everyone else.
Along with the wedge of gold, Achan saw about five pounds of silver coins. Note that he buried the silver deeper than the gold and the garment. In the silver coins, Achan saw something that he thought would bring him success and happiness, but he did not understand that the silver was a betrayal of God Himself. Interestingly, Judas sold out the Son of God for a handful of silver very close to the same measure as Achan found.
Achan failed to see that he was selling out the glory of God and in so doing, bringing weakness into the camp of Jesus Christ. Likewise, we are in a position of theological and practical weakness in our generation. Today many “Achans” are standing in pulpits, giving a wrong value system to the people of God while building up each man’s individual image. Once this is done, there is an immediate movement to gold—money must be involved.
Achan’s focus was on himself, his own security, and his own plans. He forgot he was only a small part of something much bigger than himself. This wrong focus led Achan and his whole house to ruin—sadly, he did not go alone. His sons, his daughters, his wife, and even his cattle all went into darkness with him. Likewise, when you as a Christian begin to focus on yourself, you are opening the door to destruction in your own home. Look away from your own needs and seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; God says that He will add them to you.
A DOOR OF HOPE
The writer of Hebrews says, “But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13).
In the Lord there is always hope. The Lord says, “...I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her” (Hosea 2:14). He is talking about a bride who had given herself to other lovers. She was adorned with things that were not the righteousness of Christ—garments and jewelry that were given to her through these other pursuits. And in the Valley of Achor, which is where Achan and his family were put to death, the Lord said that He would speak comfortably to her.
Similarly, we are all going into the wilderness. Everything that this society has known and trusted in is about to perish; it is all going to crumble. But those who have an honest relationship with Christ will stand! He is going to open “...a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt” (Hosea 2:15).
God is saying, “I will not let you go, because you are My church, My beloved Bride. I am going to bring you into a place of trouble where I will strip you of all garments, adornments, gold, and silver—the entire value system of a perishing society. In that place of trouble I will open a door, and bring you through it with a song in your heart and My name on your lips. You will no longer call Me Master, which implies restrictions on behavior and things given. You will call Me Ishi, which means husband. You will love Me with all your heart, and walk with Me in the coming days.”
DON'T WAIT TOO LONG
Beloved, this is not the time to be running from the hard truths; instead, it is time to stand in the truth of God. The hour is late, the rains are coming. I feel almost like Noah just before the rain started. If you are in the wrong place, get out of there! If you are doing wrong things, trust God for the power to stop. Don’t be found where you shouldn’t be; don’t be doing what you shouldn’t be doing. Don’t let your value system be intermingled with the system of this world. Put it all away, for it’s time to get right with God.
Achan was too late. Joshua said, “...My son, I beg you, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me” (Joshua 7:19, NKJV).
Perhaps if he had come forward in the beginning, he would have escaped the judgment. But, instead, he had to be singled out from among three million people before he finally came clean.
Imagine standing before the throne of God one day and hearing Him say to you personally, “Tell me, son, what did you do to have your name taken from My lips? I gave you every opportunity for freedom, every chance to walk in truth. Everything was there—the power, the covering, the cleansing, the anointing. Tell me, what did you do?” What fearsome words on that day! As for Achan, I think at that point he knew that mercy was past. He had waited too long.
Beloved, don’t wait too long. We live in one of the most perilous times in history. If ever there was a time to fully embrace the heart and will of God, it is now! If you are in a place where you should not be, do not play games with God. Get right with Him. The covenant is for honest and sincere people. God reveals hard truths and brings us into an awareness that we are in trouble because He dearly loves us. He is saying to us, “Once you and I are in agreement about these things, I will open the door before you, and you will walk through that door with a song. You are going to love Me and know how much I love you. All you need to do is choose to walk through that door of hope, no matter how fearful it may seem. Trust that I will give you the strength, and you will never have to look to your own resources again. It will be My power that sustains you.” Praise God!
Carter Conlon
©2010 Times Square Church
WE CAN'T ESCAPE THE HARD TRUTHS
by Carter Conlon
In John 6:53, Jesus said to His disciples, “Unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood you have no life in you” (paraphrase). Although they had experienced His power and miracles, many of them were offended and said, “This is a hard saying, who can hear this?” The Scripture says that they turned back and walked with Him no more.
The disciples who resisted the truth ran from it, but ultimately they could not escape it. Every one of them would die and eventually appear before God, only to find that Jesus meant what He said. It did not matter how often they went to the synagogue or how much they prayed. Without the life of Christ in them, they had no real life.
WHAT ABOUT MERCY?
The early church was in its infancy, moving together as one body with one purpose in the earth. The Scripture says that as they were together praying, the place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost (see Acts 2). They were speaking the Word of God with boldness. People were selling their possessions and bringing the money for the apostles to distribute so that no one would be lacking. Those were exciting times!
Then we come to Acts 5:1−11 and the story of Ananias and Sapphira: “But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.
Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.”
As a young Christian, I used to be somewhat perplexed by the severity of the judgment of Ananias and Sapphira. After all, hadn’t Peter done worse? They lied about the price of the land, but Peter had lied about knowing Jesus, which seems to be a much more severe offense. Peter had received forgiveness, and doesn’t the Scripture say that those who have received mercy should be merciful?
Yet here is Peter pronouncing their sentence of death, which in the natural doesn’t make sense. We know that God is just and His judgments are right, so there must be something dangerous here for the individual believer and the church as a whole, a great truth which you and I need to understand today.
PRETENDING TO BE WITH THE PROGRAM
I believe the key to understanding Acts 5 is this: Ananias and Sapphira were pretending to be with the program when, in fact, they were not. It is very dangerous to pretend to be fully obeying the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit. I believe Peter received mercy for his actions because he was young in the Lord, and he acted out of fear. It was a momentary thing; he did not understand and was not yet formed in the power, strength and truth of God. Peter was not moving with the church as a body as Ananias and Sapphira were.
In contrast, Ananias and Sapphira were not afraid—theirs was calculated deception. They deliberately deceived others, and they thought they could deceive God. When we begin to make excuses for what we know is wrong, we eventually get to the place where we think we can deceive God. We mistakenly believe that our deception does not matter to God, since we are part of the New Covenant. We believe that an incredible blanket of grace and mercy covers everything—and that is true—but it doesn’t apply to the willful sinner. God was saying at that time, “Before this church really gets going, I have to set the record straight—there is still a judgment of death on willful deception.”
The irony is that Ananias and Sapphira could have chosen not to sell their land and still been part of the church. Or they could have said, “Here is half,” and it would have been fine. The real issue was that they pretended to be something they were not.
WEAKNESS IN THE CAMP
Pretending to be righteous brings into the church the same weakness that Achan brought into the camp of Israel, a hard truth recounted in Joshua, chapter 7. As Joshua was leading the Israelites in to possess the Promised Land, he gave them specific instructions. “And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it” (Joshua 6:18). In other words, do not embrace the fallen value system of the wicked; do not think it is going to offer you any security. We would be wise to heed these words today. This system offered no security to those outside the kingdom of God.
After a phenomenal victory over Jericho, Joshua led the Israelites forward to a small town called Ai. The scouting party sent by Joshua reported back that the men of Ai were few, so Joshua sent in only a few thousand men to attack the town. The Israelites suffered a resounding defeat at the hands of the small, defenseless city.
The defeat was so severe that Joshua fell on his face and cried to the Lord, “We would have been content to dwell on the other side of Jordan!” These were words that Joshua probably never imagined he would say, for they were the very sort that caused the people to live for forty years in the wilderness. But God said, “Joshua, get up off the ground, there is an accursed thing in the camp and it has brought this weakness that you see” (Joshua 7:10, 13 paraphrase).
In order to find out what the “accursed thing in the camp” was, they drew lots. This system in the Old Testament was divinely inspired by God, and the lot fell to a man named Achan. “Now Joshua said to Achan, ‘My son, I beg you, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.’
And Achan answered Joshua and said, ‘Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done: When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it’” (Joshua 7:19−21, NKJV).
THE WRONG FOCUS
You have to wonder what was in Achan’s heart. As in Acts, chapter 5, the Scripture in Joshua, chapter 7 talks about a time of power and supernatural provision. Achan had to have known that the God who gave them victory over Jericho would provide for them. Yet we can picture Achan as he clambered with the rest of the army into the ruins of a society that had lived apart from God and trusted in gold and silver. Suddenly his eye falls on a garment from Babylon, the likes of which were highly sought after in the commercial trade of that day. These garments often had golden threads interwoven in them, signifying the perishing society’s view of success and prosperity. The threads formed images of men and cattle, with the cattle representing prosperity. When Achan saw the garment, he coveted it, and said, “I want this for my life. I am not content to be just a little part of a larger body moving into the Promised Land. I want to be successful—I want to be noticed!”
Jesus said, “The light of the body is the eye…if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness” (Matthew 6:22−23). The moment we look on something that God forbids, a flood of darkness comes along with it. Once Achan saw that garment, he also saw a wedge of gold only half a step away. Can you imagine trading the power of God for a pound of gold? Once we have a wrong view of success, we also will apply a wrong measure of how to achieve it. We are living in a world where everyone wants to stand out; everyone wants to be the big player. But in order to get there, we think we need a little more than everyone else.
Along with the wedge of gold, Achan saw about five pounds of silver coins. Note that he buried the silver deeper than the gold and the garment. In the silver coins, Achan saw something that he thought would bring him success and happiness, but he did not understand that the silver was a betrayal of God Himself. Interestingly, Judas sold out the Son of God for a handful of silver very close to the same measure as Achan found.
Achan failed to see that he was selling out the glory of God and in so doing, bringing weakness into the camp of Jesus Christ. Likewise, we are in a position of theological and practical weakness in our generation. Today many “Achans” are standing in pulpits, giving a wrong value system to the people of God while building up each man’s individual image. Once this is done, there is an immediate movement to gold—money must be involved.
Achan’s focus was on himself, his own security, and his own plans. He forgot he was only a small part of something much bigger than himself. This wrong focus led Achan and his whole house to ruin—sadly, he did not go alone. His sons, his daughters, his wife, and even his cattle all went into darkness with him. Likewise, when you as a Christian begin to focus on yourself, you are opening the door to destruction in your own home. Look away from your own needs and seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; God says that He will add them to you.
A DOOR OF HOPE
The writer of Hebrews says, “But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13).
In the Lord there is always hope. The Lord says, “...I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her” (Hosea 2:14). He is talking about a bride who had given herself to other lovers. She was adorned with things that were not the righteousness of Christ—garments and jewelry that were given to her through these other pursuits. And in the Valley of Achor, which is where Achan and his family were put to death, the Lord said that He would speak comfortably to her.
Similarly, we are all going into the wilderness. Everything that this society has known and trusted in is about to perish; it is all going to crumble. But those who have an honest relationship with Christ will stand! He is going to open “...a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt” (Hosea 2:15).
God is saying, “I will not let you go, because you are My church, My beloved Bride. I am going to bring you into a place of trouble where I will strip you of all garments, adornments, gold, and silver—the entire value system of a perishing society. In that place of trouble I will open a door, and bring you through it with a song in your heart and My name on your lips. You will no longer call Me Master, which implies restrictions on behavior and things given. You will call Me Ishi, which means husband. You will love Me with all your heart, and walk with Me in the coming days.”
DON'T WAIT TOO LONG
Beloved, this is not the time to be running from the hard truths; instead, it is time to stand in the truth of God. The hour is late, the rains are coming. I feel almost like Noah just before the rain started. If you are in the wrong place, get out of there! If you are doing wrong things, trust God for the power to stop. Don’t be found where you shouldn’t be; don’t be doing what you shouldn’t be doing. Don’t let your value system be intermingled with the system of this world. Put it all away, for it’s time to get right with God.
Achan was too late. Joshua said, “...My son, I beg you, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me” (Joshua 7:19, NKJV).
Perhaps if he had come forward in the beginning, he would have escaped the judgment. But, instead, he had to be singled out from among three million people before he finally came clean.
Imagine standing before the throne of God one day and hearing Him say to you personally, “Tell me, son, what did you do to have your name taken from My lips? I gave you every opportunity for freedom, every chance to walk in truth. Everything was there—the power, the covering, the cleansing, the anointing. Tell me, what did you do?” What fearsome words on that day! As for Achan, I think at that point he knew that mercy was past. He had waited too long.
Beloved, don’t wait too long. We live in one of the most perilous times in history. If ever there was a time to fully embrace the heart and will of God, it is now! If you are in a place where you should not be, do not play games with God. Get right with Him. The covenant is for honest and sincere people. God reveals hard truths and brings us into an awareness that we are in trouble because He dearly loves us. He is saying to us, “Once you and I are in agreement about these things, I will open the door before you, and you will walk through that door with a song. You are going to love Me and know how much I love you. All you need to do is choose to walk through that door of hope, no matter how fearful it may seem. Trust that I will give you the strength, and you will never have to look to your own resources again. It will be My power that sustains you.” Praise God!
Carter Conlon
©2010 Times Square Church
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
