This is part of a longer message I gave on January 21, 2012 in San Jose CA.

In it, I talk about the often-heard (albeit incredulously false) accusation that the grace we preach gives people a ‘license to sin’ and how ridiculous that is…as well as the fact that despite popular opinion, God is really not all that interested in your ‘sacrifice’ and how much you can give up for Him.

The full video will be up soon.

Growing up in church, I always found myself having more questions than those around me. I had no idea why we did the things we were told to do, and because I’ve always been naturally inquisitive, I just started asking why. Mind you, asking why was never something that anyone inherently told me was a dangerous thing.

I did not understand at the time that my asking ‘why’ was actually something incredulously taboo and that I would end up being shunned by a large majority of people throughout my life for doing so. I certainly didn’t know that asking ‘why’ is one of the most divisive and simultaneously liberating things that you can do.

Asking ‘why’ affords those whom you are questioning no options to retreat or deny the existence of a problem. Asking ‘why’ exposes faults in programming, wiring, and general design.

Asking ‘why’ makes you a threat to the status quo. 

But again, I never looked at asking questions as something to be viewed at in a negative fashion — my intention for asking questions has always and will always be to improve the state of something that is already existing.

In some cases, the only way to improve something that isn’t working is to scrap it entirely and start over. In others, all that is required are a few minor tweaks and changes to achieve optimal performance. At any rate, I always grew up with a drive for improving upon that which I saw in front of me.

If I had a toy that didn’t do the types of things that I thought it should do, I would usually find a way to either break that toy and reassemble in (often in a bit of a disfigured fashion) just so that it would work the way that I thought it should.

If I was working a job that had systems in place that were not efficient or effective, I would devise ways to change the system itself and implement one of my own that brought about more productivity and more of the desired results.

If I was in a church that was not preaching the Gospel the way I read it in the Scriptures, or if we were not seeing the kind of promised results from all of the fasting, prayer, and various other intensely exhausting activities that I used to involve myself in quite extensively, I would always ask why and go back to the Scriptures to find out if we were missing something.

Especially in the case of all the ‘crying out, praying and fasting for revival’ that I was doing, I found that the equivalent of what I was missing was kind of like figuring out that I’d been told my whole life that the world was flat only to find out it was in fact round.

It’s not an easy pill to swallow to admit that everything you thought you knew to be true was in fact a cleverly packaged and deceptively persuasive lie.

I have always been very results-driven. I believe that I was just simply created that way—and have found that when I embrace that reality instead of trying to ‘fix’ it (as many throughout my life have tried to change this aspect of my thought processing), I see a lot of things get done and generally I am more happy.

If William Wilberforce had not so aggressively asked “why” regarding the horrors of the slave trade, where would we be today?

If Martin Luther King, Jr. had not asked “why” in relation to the lack of respect given to African-Americans in our country several decades ago, what would this country look like?

If George Washington had not asked “why” regarding the oppression of the ruling government of his day and stood up to their tyranny, how would history have played out?

If Jesus had not asked “why” when so directly challenging the religious leaders of His day, what would have come of our faith?

The willingness to question that which is commonly accepted as ‘normal’ has always been something that has burned within me.

I’m not talking about questioning for the sake of questioning and causing problems. I’m talking about questioning for the sake of improving the state of what already exists.

I’m talking about questioning for the sake of increasing effectiveness, longevity, impact, and influence.

I’m talking about questioning for the sake of sparking a revolution when that remains to be the only option.

One of the most frustrating aspects of asking “why” is the inevitable “dishonor” card that is thrown at you. When someone knows that they have nothing to stand on and no authentic ability to ‘give an answer for the hope that they have’ (1 Peter 3:15), quite often they will rail at you with baseless accusations that you are ‘dishonoring’ or divisive.

This is actually a typical debate & distraction tactic that lawyers learn in law school about how to derail their opponent when they have backed them into a corner.

When one side of a discussion knows they have nothing to back up their points, they often will resort to mud-slinging and character assassination to try and discredit the one who has proved them to be in the wrong. It is the only way that they are able to save face…by trying to make you look bad since you have proved them to be incorrect.

I have seen this happen far more times than I wish to recall. Much of what we so publicly and openly question is undeniable if you actually look at what we bring to light…but the number of people who have been willing to lay aside their dearly held traditions and religious myths versus those who have called us every name under the sun to try and discredit our message is miniscule.

On the bright side, I’ve got many stories of people from around the world who have been initially very angry with us for being so forthright about the things that we have said and the directness with which we have challenged many popular mindsets. But their stories don’t end there. Those stories usually end up with them looking into it for themselves (many with the intention of trying to prove us to be in the wrong) and they find out that what we have presented is actually true.

Many of those people are very good friends of ours now. At some levels, I am very grateful for the scrutiny that much of what we have done has generated because it forces me to stay sharp and make sure that what I am saying can be proven through Scripture in its context and in light of what Christ has done.

At other levels, however, the amount of frustration that can come with what we do is unlike anything I ever was prepared for growing up. It can really get under your skin when you have people from all over coming after you and saying all kinds of awful things about you and your friends — and honestly, it wouldn’t be so bad if those folks actually addressed the points that we have made time and time again.

So many think that the reason that we challenge the things that we do is because we have some kind of vendetta against a certain person or ministry.

It has absolutely nothing to do with that. 

It has everything to do with the fact that there are lies that are being perpetuated on a scandalously large international scale, and there is little to no responsibility taken for all of the lives and families who have been destroyed by those lies.

I seek to change that.

I seek to see tyranny brought to light and exposed for what it is, and in the process, to see captives set free and learn how to walk in that freedom that Christ has purchased for them. I know that at times I can get quite aggressive and have said things that have been out of line. I’ve been quite public about that and honestly, have seen very, very few people in ‘ministry’ be willing to admit their failures as fast as I have.

Usually I’ve seen quite the opposite — if not a blatant denial of failure, I’ve seen more often than that a direct disregard that anything could have even happened in which someone else may have been wrong. It takes great humility to admit error — especially when every word you speak and every action you take is scrutinized by thousands of people.

At any rate, let it be known that I have tried (and continue to try) time and again to reach out to the leaders of the ‘movements’ that perpetuate mindsets that I so publicly question and challenge. 

Let it be known to all that some of these well-respected leaders have point blank threatened me, others have told me God is going to judge me for “touching the Lord’s anointed”, and still other leaders have contacted friends of ours and told them to get us to take certain videos down (“Jesus Stands in the Gap” & our “Life Tape” video, especially…both shown below) like some kind of religious mafia.

Let it be known that we are time and again ignored and the Scriptures that we present shoved aside and denied.

Let it be known that our questions on many of the issues (read: almost all) that we have raised have NEVER been answered by anyone who perpetuates those mindsets.

Let it be known that there have been multiple times that several leaders from the “prophetic” movement have been quite nice to my face and told me that they would be happy to dialogue with me about the concerns that I have, yet not a single, solitary one of them has ever followed through…and in many cases, I was privately told that I don’t have Scriptural backing for what we’re preaching (despite the fact that we back everything up with Scripture in its actual context) and that I need to “be careful” or else.

Most of them just stop answering their phones or e-mails I have sent.

I believe very strongly in the principle of always being able to answer those who oppose what it is that I have to say by backing it up with Scripture. If I can’t back something up, I don’t say it — really, it’s quite simple.

Especially if I am questioning some dearly held traditions and mindsets that make a select few people at the top of a handful of ministry pyramids a lot of money.

So many tell me that I must ‘honor’ these people whose mindsets I challenge and question. I agree with that.

But let me ask this — does ‘honor’ not flow both ways? 

From what we have seen, the ‘honor’ that so many are talking about is not honoring at all. It is a top-down kind of ‘honor’ where only the guy at the top of the food chain gets ‘honored’ and everyone else has to bow down or get kicked out and have their reputation trashed as being ‘divisive and unloving’ just because they disagreed with what the “man of God” said and wrote some books about.

I do what I do because I love.

I assure you all that I don’t do what I do because I like having so many people think I’m a hateful, critical jerk who challenges everyone and everything he sees. I do what I do and I ask the questions I ask because they are the questions that are on the heart of every person who has honestly been in the situations that I speak out against.

Most people are just too afraid to admit it.

I question everything because that is what I see Jesus doing. I question everything because that is what Paul did when he realized the system he had built his entire life on was a man-made structure of religious rules and regulations that lead only to bondage and not to life.

I ask questions about the status quo of Christianity because the status quo isn’t working. I ask questions about the status quo because in many cases, the status quo is perpetuating the problems on our planet instead of fixing them like Jesus sent us to.

I ask questions because if we are not free to think for ourselves, we will all end up exactly the same and wanting to silence anyone and anything that doesn’t look exactly like us out of fear of losing control. Many mistakenly think that I want everyone to agree with me. I don’t care if you agree with me or not — what I care about is if you agree with what the Scriptures say on certain issues and what Jesus did regarding those issues.

Because at the end of the day, His opinion is the only one that really matters.

I sleep well at night. I don’t struggle anymore wondering if what we are preaching is true because I know it is — I have seen the fruit of it time and time and time again, and I can prove it time, and time, and time again.

Gone are the days of waiting for some arbitrary dream to come floating into my subconscious in order for me to feel like I have heard from God.

Nonexistent is the lie that I need to keep ‘pleading the blood of Jesus’ over my city, my bedroom, and everywhere I walk. I have no more fear of the enemy because I have been given authority over all of his power (Luke 10:19).

No more do I waste hours of this gift of life moaning and groaning on the floor of a prayer room somewhere begging for God to visit my city and “send revival”, because I live revived and He has already sent me.

I am His habitation.

I stopped crying out for a visitation the moment I truly grasped that He dwells in me. Forever absent from my life is the terrifying uncertainty of my salvation and the pressure to pray Jesus back to the earth.

He lives in me. I am much less concerned about trying to get Jesus to ‘come back’ than I am concerned about seeing the church realize that He’s already in them so they can start acting like it.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me (Gal. 2:20).

The life I live on this earth and in this body I live by the faith of the Son of God…because I am one. I am not a slave crying out for mercy from an angry, judgmental father.

I am a son who demonstrates and models the King and the power of His Kingdom because He is love and that is what Love does.

Question everything that can not be proved. Challenge everyone, ESPECIALLY leaders, with questions that you know the answers to because they are rooted in the love and grace of Christ.

And if they can’t answer those questions…just be prepared to not flinch and stand your ground.

Because heat is coming your way.

I believe in you.

Rise up. Stand strong. Set captives free.

Long live the revolution.

There are often times that I am truly shocked at the level of deception that people can allow themselves to fall into…the kind where the lies that they believe have become so much a part of who they are — rather, who they think they are — that even upon being directly confronted with truth, they have to simply point-blank ignore it.

Is it the cost of losing what they think is valuable to them that causes so many to blatantly deny something even when it is right in front of them?

Have you ever thought about the level of pride and self-deception that had to be so prevalent in the minds of the Pharisees and religious leaders of Christ’s day? I mean, really thought about it?

How can their Messiah demonstrate such undeniable proof that He was who He said He was, yet they still denied Him? The question of how these kinds of things happened so frequently is something that has bothered and intrigued me for as long as I can remember.

To embrace what He taught, what He modeled, and what He called people to would mean that these respected, intelligent, well-educated, and well-liked experts would have to publicly and blatantly admit that they had it all wrong. And not only wrong in the sense of private interpretation of some things they believed…but also wrong in the sense of teaching many, many others a false view of God, His will, His ways…everything.

They would have to admit before all of the people of their day that they were leading people astray into mindsets and practices that would ultimately steal, kill and destroy.

They would have to admit to everyone who revered them that they actually were presenting a god that looked more like the devil than the One who gave them life.

Not such an easy pill to swallow.

I mean, what is it that makes people so adamantly deny that which is so plain to so many others? Some might say it is the nature of deception that one does not know they are deceived, and at some level I certainly agree with this. However, what I am talking about is something on a far different level than simply deception rooted in ignorance.

I am talking about the type of deception that seems to pervade so many in the church today — a kind of willing deception, the kind that requires an intentional hardening of the heart and a conscious decision to deny that which is right before you for the sake of staying complacent and not admitting your error.

That kind of deception is the type that I see more often than not. This unflinching, stubborn unwillingness that, in some sadistic way, creates in people a resolve to blatantly reject the goodness of God that they come into contact with. I have presented to countless people the notion that God is good, that Christ took the sins of the world upon Himself and that our Father is not a child-abusing sociopath who sends sickness or disease to teach some kind of moral lesson.

One would think that most would receive a revelation of the love of God as they see these realities not only in word, but in power and action as people are healed, delivered from demonic oppression, and set free from their sins.

Unfortunately, it is more often than not the other way around. A large majority of those who hear this Gospel not only reject it, but quite frequently will end up railing against it, thinking that they are standing up against heresy and doing God a favor.

I take no issue with wanting to stand up for Truth and pointing people back to the Christ of the Scriptures rather than the made-up Christ of their imaginations or church meetings. Obviously, a lot of what I do falls into that category. The problem that I see with so much of what many have called ‘standing for truth’ is that their points of view very rarely stand up to the scrutiny of Scripture in it’s covenantal or cultural context.

The opposing views always fall apart when bringing everything directly back to Jesus as a plumb line for measuring how to address certain situations (sickness, healing, praying for revival, “God’s will”, etc.) or adamantly neglect to address specific points that are made, and instead attempt to divert the discussion in another direction. These are classic misdirection techniques used often in debates and court rooms when one party knows they have been beat.

All of this being said, I have come to a point in my life and ‘ministry’ that I have grown to accept that the harsh reality is that, as it was in Christ’s day and in the days of the early church, that “everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:12-13).

As much as so many want to deny the existence of any type of evil, or even worse, act as if our enemy has no ability whatsoever to do anything anymore, there is no way to reconcile that view of life and our faith with the frequent times that Christ and the apostles wrote of the persecutions they endured and that we would endure as well.

After all, “no servant is greater than his Master. If they persecuted [Christ], they will persecute [us] also” (John 15:20). I mean, really think about it. What are the kinds of things that Christ endured from the popular ‘religious’ crowd of His day?

They denied the power that He had, they often accused Him of heresy and being demonized, and they willingly, intentionally chose to harden their hearts to the reality of what He was presenting from the Scriptures that testified of Himself. They really thought that they would find life in the texts that pointed right to Him, yet refused to come to Him to receive the very life they were searching for (John 5:39-40) because doing so would mean a complete undoing of everything they thought they knew.

The same is true today. How many bible studies have you been to where there are countless hours spent trying to dissect the Scriptures in order to find some ‘hidden nugget of revelation’? How many small group meetings have you been to where the leader spent weeks in the books of the prophets in an attempt to find some deep, hidden meaning or to ‘hear what God has to say’ concerning the coming year? And if you’re really honest, how many of those studies actually led to an increase in fruitfulness in your life?

And how do you reconcile all of those countless hours spent studying the books of the prophets and the old testament law with Jesus’ statement that “the Law and the prophets were until John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:13) and that now, the message we should be learning to understand is regarding what Jesus called “the kingdom of God”?

The old way of thinking has been done away with. Nailed to the cross.

Obsolete, according to the writer of Hebrews (Heb. 8:13). Does that mean we just should ‘throw out the whole old testament’, as some have slanderously been saying we are preaching? By no means.

What it does mean is that we should allow the old testament to function in the capacity that it was always meant to — to point us to Christ…not to give us a plan or method for ‘holy living’. “The strength of sin is the law”, after all (1 Cor. 15:56).

Have you ever tried to tell a child to NOT do something? How did that work out for you?

Paul wrote of these same issues to the Galatians. The Message translation hits this square on. Please do not just glance over the following passages, as we have grown accustomed to doing, thinking we know it already:

“The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right: “The person who believes God, is set right by God—and that’s the real life.”

 

Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping, a fact observed in Scripture: “The one who does these things [rule-keeping] continues to live by them.”

 

“Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse.

 

And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham’s blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive God’s life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing—just the way Abraham received it.” (Gal. 3:12-14, The MSG)

Paul states very clearly above — trying to keep the Law of Moses IMPOSSIBLE. And no, God doesn’t want you to “try your best”, either. All of our attempts to ‘live a holy life’ are to God as filthy rags.

How well has that worked out for you so far? Kill your pride and admit that you can’t do it! That system is ‘self-defeating’ and leads to a ‘cursed life’. Do you realize that the only ‘curse’ that believers can even be subject to is the self-imposed one of trying to live up to the standards of the Law of Moses?

“If such is the case, is the law, then, an anti-promise, a negation of God’s will for us? Not at all.

 

It’s purpose was to make obvious to everyone that we are, in ourselves, out of right relationship with God, and therefore to show us the futility of devising some religious system for getting by our own efforts what we can only get by waiting in faith for God to complete his promise.

 

For if any kind of rule-keeping had power to create life in us, we would certainly have gotten it by this time.” (Gal. 3:21-22, The MSG)

As stated earlier, I am not saying that we should simply ‘throw out the old testament’. What I am emphasizing here is that we should allow the old testament to function according to God’s design, not some controlling, legalistic pastor’s. Paul goes on to say that we have already arrived at our destination, which is Christ and embracing His work by faith, resulting in direct, complete, uninterrupted relationship with God.

“But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God.

 

Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ’s life, the fulfillment of God’s original promise.” (Gal. 3:25-27, The MSG)

The reality of all of this is extremely simple. Christ fulfilled the Law because we couldn’t. Christ became sin to take ours away. We are no longer sinners, we are saints. We are not ‘sinners saved by grace’. We were sinners. Then we were saved by grace through faith. We are born righteous, born of God, born in Him, and in Him we live and move and have our being.

So why do so many willingly deny it? Why are so many blinded to the goodness of God in that He perfectly fulfilled the Law through Christ?

I believe it to be just as it was in His day…because there has been erected a man-made system of rules, regulations, and self-righteous traditions that make the Word of God (Christ Himself) of no effect (see Matthew 15).

To embrace the true Gospel of the grace of God as given to us in Christ, we must abandon our own self-righteousness and believe by faith that He has made us righteous. No amount of self-effort, ‘holy living’, repentance, ‘crying out’, massive corporate prayer meetings, fasting, or ‘rending our hearts’ can make us clean in His sight.

Why?

Because we are already clean through the word He has spoken over us (John 15:3).

Believing that actually requires faith that His work was sufficient — that He really meant it when He said “it is finished”…that the writer of Hebrews wasn’t joking when they said that Christ’s sacrifice was sufficient “once, for all time”. It’s a whole lot easier to look at our own works and mistakes and allow those things to cloud our perception of how our Father sees us.

I certainly don’t think that I will love my children any less when they screw up, nor will I “withhold my presence” from them. Quite the opposite.

What makes us think that God is any different? The reality that we believe to be true usually ends up being the one that manifests the most in our lives. Many will say that they believe that God is good, that Christ’s work was complete—however their actions will reflect the polar opposite.

Could this be just the same as it was in Christ’s day? That “these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me…teaching as commandments the traditions of men”? I believe so.

At any rate, why even bring up these things? Why ask the hard questions?

Because everyone is thinking it but so few are willing to open their mouths about it out of fear of losing friends or respect amongst their peers.

And so we are back to the beginning — back to the rampant deception that has enslaved so many — and all of it rooted in fear of man.

The question becomes then, what are you going to do about it?

Have I poked and prodded at anything that you know has held you back from standing for what you know to be true? Have you stayed silent when you knew you should have spoken up?

Do you go to church every Sunday and hear your leaders speaking what you know to be lies, yet you sit there squirming because all you have been taught to do is submit and “honor” them?

How much longer will you do the polar opposite of what the disciples of Christ did when facing similar situations — honoring man before honoring God?

How much longer will you sit idly by while lies are peddled for profit and truth is scorned for the sake of comfort and complacency?

Is there not a cause burning within you? Is there no sense of fiery indignation at the sight of the state of bondage that your fellow man or woman resides in because they do not know the freedom that you know?

Will you rise from the chains of the status quo and stand, defying the tyranny and manipulative schemes of controlling ‘leaders’ who care more about their pocket book than your freedom?

I for one made that decision long ago. It is not an easy path, and it certainly is not a choice that lands you winning popularity contests.

The difference is that I sleep a lot better at night than I did when I was in the people-pleasing boat.

If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ (Gal. 1:10).

I have peace internally while externally, the enemy exerts his best yet futile efforts to distract and frustrate…rather than having internal turmoil at my own inaction and apathy in the face of what I know to be destructive.

I’d much rather deal with the former over the latter.

I don’t sit there squirming in a pew while some pastor stands before hundreds of people spewing lies about the goodness of God and the sacrifice Christ made on our behalf…because I have chosen to defy those things.

I have chosen to stand aggressively and adamantly against them because I know that they come from the father of all lies. I have decided to denounce all that which hinders freedom and rebel against everything that would enslave the very ones that Christ was sent to free.

We can guise our faith in smooth-sounding sermons and happy holiday programs all we want — but at the end of the day, all those programs, books, and podcasts will not change the world. What will change the world is a group of people who actually take their faith seriously enough to do something about it…and that does mean standing up to the monstrosity that is masquerading as the church today.

With so many praying for change…crying out for ‘revival’…whatever language you want to put it in, the reality is that deep down everyone knows that what they are doing is not working.

You wouldn’t pray for revival if you inherently believed that what you were doing was legitimately effecting change and positively impacting the lives of those around you.

I don’t pray for revival because I know that what I’m doing works and sets people free.

My mission is to revive those who are dead — I am revival.

I know who I am and what I am here for.

Do you?

The pressure that we all face to be just like someone else is one of the most detrimental cancers infecting the church today.

If we think about the fact that all throughout Scripture, we are referred to as the “Body” of Christ, the notion of trying to force your own personality or methods on other people really becomes quite foolish.

Paul spoke on this in his letter to the Corinthian church when mentioning how strange it would be for certain parts of the body to insinuate that they don’t need each other.

I need you to be good at being you, and you need me to be good at being me. My eyes are awful when they are trying to hear and my elbow has an atrocious sense of smell.

Each part of the body is wired to and created to function in a specific capacity, and at the same time, they do NOT function well in other ways.

I am convinced that as the representation of Christ’s body on this planet, we must collectively figure out a way to see all of His members functioning in what they are created to do.

We must stop trying to discourage the knuckles from acting like the knuckles, and we must stop trying to impose our crazy ideas that the mouths should act like the eyes.

Would you get upset if your barista wasn’t using her foot to prepare your coffee in the morning? Of course not! Why?

Because your feet weren’t created to function that way. Nor was your nose created to digest your breakfast sandwich.

I use these bizarre and mildly humorous examples to illustrate a very real issue that has been plaguing the church as a whole – we’ve got a whole lot of people that are wired to function in a very specific, and NECESSARY capacity, trying to impose their own methods, opinions, and functions on other parts of the Body who simply are NOT created to function in those ways.

I am speaking on my own behalf in this regard as well. We all obviously have a natural bent towards our own ways of thinking. At the same time, until we figure out how to let each other be who God has created us all to be and to stop trying to get others to be just like us, we will remain ineffective, complacent, frustrated, angry, bitter, and oh…did I mention ineffective?

With such a wonderful privilege to partner with the Spirit of God in bringing His love, power, and freedom to the world around us, is it really worth it to continue wasting our time meddling in childish games of trying to get everyone to be just like us? The Greek word for ‘evil’ all throughout the New Testament can be translated to mean ‘fruitless labor’ or ‘toil’. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or a whole lot of time to figure out that expecting someone’s finger to act like their spine is pretty fruitless.

I need you to be just like God created you.

And you need me to be just like God created me.

Let’s resolve to all work together as His body and let each part do what it’s good at.

I wanted to put this out to let you all know that I will have a small eBook coming out soon! It will be a compilation of some of the things we have already put out in the past as well as some new material and some heavy editing of the older stuff.

It will be called “Welcome to the Revolution: an Introduction to Freedom” and will be focused on helping to pull people out of the destructive mindset that we need to continue petitioning God to ‘send revival’ through massive corporate fasting & prayer.

I will be releasing it on the Amazon Kindle store to help spread the Good News to a wider audience as well as to help generate some passive income.

Also, I wanted to give you all a heads-up that I will not be posting much in terms of new articles or videos for quite some time.

I am taking a hiatus from the ‘online ministry’ to focus on some other projects for awhile.

I am working on a few books as well as trying to figure out the best & most efficient way to do the “What if God was Really Good?” documentary.

I also am working at getting our design/consulting business off the ground and focusing a lot more on leadership development and establishing a much more solid financial foundation for my wife and I as we move forward.

Many of you are probably not aware that we do not have our own place to live and have been sharing living quarters with other people since shortly after we were married. We’ve had some great times and some pretty terrible times as a result – and things have never been better than they are now!

However, after more two years of marriage and little to no privacy, we have decided that it’s time to put ‘full time ministry’ on the shelf at least until we have a more solid income flow on a regular basis.

It is one thing to deal with the stresses of the ministry. It is an entirely different thing to deal with them in tandem with the financial stresses that have accompanied this kind of lifestyle.

We have been largely just been supported through donations for the last few years, and while it has always worked out, there are a lot of things that have simply not been possible for us to accomplish and do because of what at times has been a staggering lack of funding and support.

I’m not writing any of this to ‘guilt trip’ a single, solitary person…and especially not to try and manipulate anybody into giving anything.

What I have found is that there are many people who erroneously believe that we have had a huge amount of financial backing that has enabled us to have the freedom to do what we’ve been doing for the last few years — and I want to put that to rest because it simply is not true.

We  have always had more than enough to get by — God is faithful.

We are honestly just at a point that we do not want to have to deal with the stresses on our emotions and relationship in waiting for finances to come in through donations because they have been (up until this point anyway) quite few and far between.

All of that to say, if you would like to help support us in these endeavors to achieve financial freedom, you may do so here.

But I wanted to put it out there to let you guys know that we certainly could use & appreciate all the help that we can get!

Anyway, there is a good chance that if you e-mail me pertaining to some theological issue or church situation that I will not respond.

I am learning to really hone in my focus on the projects at hand and as such, I simply am not able to address all of the questions that I get on a regular basis. If anything, I will probably forward them on to some trusted friends who will help you through your questions.

Most of the common questions that we receive can be answered by looking through this resource/FAQ page that I put up a few months back. It certainly isn’t comprehensive but for the most part you should be able to find what you are looking for.

We love you all and thank you for your continued support and prayers! Talk to you soon!

- Ryan &  Laura

I am convinced that what many people have defined as ‘prayer’ is one of the biggest idols and hindrances to seeing the Kingdom of God advance and be demonstrated in the church today.

People seem to get so tweaked out when I mention the fact that Jesus never emphasized many of the things that are so heavily emphasized in churches today, but the undeniable reality is that much of what is taught in our churches on the subject of ‘prayer’ and many other topics for that matter is actually the complete polar opposite of what Jesus taught.

On the subject of prayer specifically, not only is it the polar opposite, but it is something He specifically instructed people NOT to do!

Here are some passages of Scripture that you probably won’t hear taught much from pulpits because it so blatantly exposes things that occur and are encouraged in churches all over the world every day:

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues (church buildings of the day) and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.”

- Matthew 6:5 (NIV)

So the first thing Jesus mentions on the topic of prayer in the Sermon on the Mount is what NOT to do.

That’s interesting seeing as so many people are so against the notion of preaching against bad mindsets because we “don’t want to be known for what we’re against, we want to be known what we are for”.

I agree with that sentiment.  But the reality is that if you are for something, you also have to be against the opposite of what you are for.

If I am “for” love, that must mean I am “against” hate.  If I am “for” freedom”, that must mean that I am also “against” bondage.

If I am “for” right ways to pray, that must mean I am “against” wrong ways to pray.

Again, how can I say that there are right and wrong ways to do it?  Because Jesus did.  He clearly outlined the characteristics of wrong ways to pray…and one of the first qualities of that was often exhibited by the religious elite of His day — those hypocrites LOVED to pray.  Check out the Message translation of the above verse:

“And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?”

- Matthew 6:5 (MSG)

Sound familiar?

Ever been to one of those (zillions of) prayer meetings where everybody is jumping on the microphone shouting their prayers at God, trying to get Him to do something?  I know that I’ve been to more than I can count.

It’s not a new practice. It’s something that was going on even in Jesus’ day with the Pharisees and teachers of the law who thought they were earning brownie points from God with all of their prayer meetings.

This is the mindset I am addressing.  The very same one Jesus had to address in His day because there was so much nonsense being paraded around and called “prayer” when it was little more than human performance trying to earn something from God.

Let’s keep looking at what Jesus said:

“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

- Matthew 6:6 (NIV)

 

“Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.”

- Matthew 6:6 (MSG)

Here Jesus clearly draws a line in the sand between what God is looking for and what the religious elite of the day had been perpetuating.  Have you ever been in those kinds of meetings where a bunch of people around you are praying loudly or with a lot of eloquent, perfect-sounding speech and you felt guilty or condemned because you had this thought go through your head:

“You’ll never be able to pray as well as them…listen to how holy they are…listen to how well they can pray…you can never measure up to that standard, etc…”

I’m here to tell you point blank that is the voice of the devil and his entire goal is to get you to try and perform in prayer or for God to try and earn something instead of learning to rest in the grace that God has for us.

That is what Jesus was addressing. The religious elite of His day had turned prayer into a show for those who were watching. It is the same today.

Let me state once again, I am NOT saying “don’t pray”!

What I am saying, is that your prayer life is something that should be between you and God in the same way that the intimacy you have with your spouse is between you and them.  Can you imagine what it would do to your relationship with your spouse if you started broadcasting all the details of your intimate conversations to everyone in your church?

That is what Jesus was talking about.  Don’t be duped into letting your prayer life be on public display for all to see.

Have you ever wondered why there are so many prayer meetings and yet seemingly so few actual answered prayers?

It’s because of this.  Jesus said clearly: “…they have received their reward in full”.

Let’s keep going.

“And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them, for your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”

- Matthew 6:7-8 (NKJV)

 

“The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant.  They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need.”

- Matthew 6:7-8 (MSG)

So here Jesus states that it is the heathen, the pagans, the people of the world, who pray with ‘vain repetitions’ and think they are ‘prayer warriors’.  Meaning, repeating the same phrases over and over, ‘bombarding the gates of heaven’, thinking that it will get them better results.

Jesus clearly says to NOT do this, because our Father in heaven already knows what we have need of even before we pray!

How people can think this isn’t incredibly good news is absolutely beyond me.

The only time that people don’t think this is good news is when they legitimately believe that they need to convince God to do everything and that without all their important prayer meetings, the world would fall apart.

Colossians 1:17 says that Jesus holds all things together, not all of the so-called ‘prayer’ meetings that happen around the world every day.

What this really boils down to, friends, is that much of what has been called ‘prayer’ today, is not prayer that pleases God.  Much of what is called ‘prayer’ today is more along the lines of the prayers of the religious hypocrites and pagans of Jesus’ day.

It denies the work of and words of Christ openly, defiantly, and plainly.  It is undeniable when one looks at the verses above.

Jesus then goes on in the passage to talk about a simple way to pray — where your focus is on God and who He is, trusting in His faithfulness instead of our ability to work really hard at trying to stay faithful.

You are now probably wondering, “Okay, what next?”

Listen to this free audio series called “A Better Way to Pray”. 

I promise you that it will change your life completely if you listen to it and put it into practice.  You will start seeing that your prayers are answered much faster, and with a lot less stress and work on your part.

Here are some video clips:

A Better Way to Pray (Part 2):

A Better Way to Pray (Part 3):

Also, if you are wondering what many ask — about 2 Chronicles 7:14, please go here and here.

Your life will never be the same. Be blessed and be free!

This is an article by Harold Eberle.

“The world is getting better!  Start off the year with this optimistic view.

As I travel around the world and minister, I find Christians in my own country very pessimistic. I don’t see it in Africa.

In fact, in poorer regions of the world I meet Christians with incredible hope and vision. Even in the midst of poverty and oppression, they have confidence that the Kingdom of God will expand and eventually will take control of their countries.

Here in North America I see the opposite. Christians seem to have so little faith.

It makes me mad. I think it is a demon of pessimism. Don’t submit to it. Resist him and he will flee from you.

A quick dose of the truth will help you see clearly. Just glance back in time and take a few snap shots of how life was at various moments in the past.

As an American, I can glance back 200 years and see the conditions of my country in the early 1800’s. Of course, there were some godly individuals laying the foundations of our government, but the moral and ethical climate of America was tragic.

The enslavement of tens of thousands of Africans was a curse upon our culture. Thousands of Chinese people also were being brought into our country to serve as forced laborers.

Several of our early presidents owned slaves. President Jefferson is known to have fathered several children through his slaves. The native Americans were being forced off of their lands and many murdered. Pioneers who pushed into the West had almost no churches to attend until years after their settlements were established.

A recent book entitled Sinners in the Hands of an Angry Church, draws on the church membership records of that time and reveals that the percentage of US citizens attending church then was much smaller than it is today. It also reports that the age of sexual consent in some states was 13 years old.

History books also tell us that alcoholism was at its highest rate in our country’s history. Things were not better morally, ethically, nor spiritually at that time in our history. The good old days were not so good.

Glance back further and look at the whole world 2000 years ago.

Around the time Jesus came into the world, the Roman Empire was controlling civilization, which centered around Europe and Northern Africa. Most of the Roman and Greek peoples worshipped many gods, such as Zeus and Venus. Even the Roman emperor was considered a god, and people throughout the Empire had to pay tribute to the emperor, recognizing him as divine.

Outside of the Roman Empire people in most of Africa, Asia, and Australia worshipped nature, demons, and their own dead ancestors. Here in North America the people had no revelation of the coming Messiah, and in South America millions worshipped a bloodthirsty god who demanded human sacrifices, often numbering in the thousands in one ceremony.

When Jesus came to the Earth, there was only one tiny little nation located in the Middle East that had a revelation of the one true God, and even its citizens were living in a time of great doubt.

All of the rest of the world was lost in darkness. As the apostle Paul wrote: “…formerly you, the Gentiles…were at that time separated from Christ…having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:11-12). That was the condition of the world 2000 years ago.

So many Christians today miss this. They don’t realize how far the world has advanced.

They forget that today Christianity is the largest religion in the world, with 5,000 to 10,000 new born-again Christians every hour. However, when the news media brings some tragic event into the living room of their homes, they lose sight of the big picture.

They immediately fall for the lie that everything is going down hill. They forget that the same television is broadcasting the Gospel to every corner of the Earth for the first time in history.

I recently heard a sincere believer ask, “Is America going to collapse like the Roman Empire did because of moral decay?” How foolish!

First of all, the Roman Empire did not collapse because of moral decay. The city of Rome was destroyed in 410 AD and usually the date 476 AD is assigned to the fall of the Empire. But consider the conditions of the Empire in the Fifth Century, compared with any time earlier in its history.

…we need to consider why the Roman Empire fell in the Fifth Century. Daniel the prophet gave us the answer when he interpreted the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 2:31-45). Daniel explained that a “Rock” would come into the Earth at the time of the Roman Empire and eventually that Rock would grow into a mountain which would destroy the Empire. Daniel also made it clear that the Rock was the eternal Kingdom of God.

According to Scripture what destroyed the Roman Empire? The expansion of Christianity. And that is exactly what happened. When the vast majority of those in the Empire embraced Christianity, the whole culture changed. The emperor no longer could demand to be worshipped.

By the Fifth Century, almost all of the temples of the false gods had been turned into Christian churches. Certainly there was still evil in the Roman Empire, but the savagery of the masses watching people being murdered in the Coliseums was eliminated. Christianity changed the culture. Good overcame the Roman Empire.

The same thing happens today when Christianity comes into a country where false gods are worshipped and/or dictators rule. When Christianity flows in, people take on Christian values. When people realize that they are created in God’s image, they begin to want to rule themselves rather than serve a dictator. When people recognize that we all are created in God’s image, they put an end to murder and slavery. Wherever Christianity goes, values and societies change.

Of course, today there are still terrible atrocities going on in the Earth. But we must not lose sight of the bigger picture. Many Christians are fixated on abortion, which is, indeed, the curse of our generation. However, we must not fixate on this. The battle is not over. We still can change things.

God has not given up. Neither have I!

Christians sometimes compare today’s baby slaughter with those which happened in the days of Moses and Jesus.

Babies were murdered en masse, but Satan did not succeed either time in stopping the deliverance which God had planned. Moses came. Jesus came.

The Evil One will not succeed this time either. [This generation] will lead the Church into the full promises of God.

Consider from another perspective this scourge of abortion.  Everything Satan does ultimately brings his defeat.

Killing the Savior brought salvation for the world. With that revelation, consider the tragic outcome of today’s abortion crisis. Who has been removed from the Earth? The babies of those who believe in abortion. Those people are without a generation to fill their shoes.

Of course, God is grieved over the slaughter of the unborn. Of course, we must show compassion to people who have been involved in this holocaust.

But do not be fooled: God will turn all things around for His glory and victory.

Whenever someone asks you, “What is this world coming to?” give them the truth: “It is coming to the feet of Jesus!” It is happening rapidly—very rapidly.”

- Harold Eberle

“Whenever someone tells me that Isaiah 53:4-5 is talking about spiritual healing and not physical healing, this is what I say:

Prophesied in Isaiah 53:4-5.

Fulfilled in Matthew 8:16-17.

Reaffirmed in 1 Peter 2:24.

It is very hard to pray in faith for healing if you question God’s desire to heal.

If you pray, “God if it’s your will, heal this person!”, you might as well add on, “and if it’s not your will, kill them.”

“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” – 1 John 1:5

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.  I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” – John 10:10

  Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
 Who forgives all your iniquities,
         Who heals all your diseases,

Psalm 103:1-3″

- Brandon Lee 

So many ask “Who are you and what do you stand for?”

- We have a passion to reveal to people how they are desperately loved by God and the fullness of what Christ’s sacrifice on the cross means for us and the rest of the world.

- As a byproduct of that, we help people figure out what they are passionate about and help propel them into that so that they can be salt and light to their spheres of influence.

- We stand for freedom and we fight for it.  We resist openly all forms of tyranny, oppression and systems of religious and spiritual control and abuse.

- We do not tolerate mindsets that enslave people to those systems.

- We believe Christ came to set captives free, not to create a system of man-made religious captivity and indentured servanthood.

- We live to preach and demonstrate Truth without compromise and the unconditional love of God as revealed through Jesus Christ.

This is our vision.  This is our passion.  This is who we are.

You will never be free of something that you believe is part of you or your identity.

i.e.

“I’m an alcoholic”
“I’m a sinner”
“I’m obese”
“I’m bored”
“I’m a sinner”.

You are the righteousness of God in Christ. Your mistakes and your struggles do not define you.

You are like Jesus (1 John 4:17).

Stop identifying with things that He has removed from you (Col. 2:11-15).

He has freed you from the bondages of legalism, religion, and sin.