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?
Over the last several years, there have been a small handful of us in our sphere of influence who have realized how good the Gospel really is. We have realized how absolutely wonderful our Father is to send His Son to bear the sin of the whole world in His own Body that we might live as the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21).
It has not been without its frustrations, that is for sure.
We have run the proverbial gamut of popular Christianity — from the Assemblies of God, to some evangelical church settings, to seminaries, to houses of prayer, to a very popular charismatic church in California, to ‘organic church’, and now we have found ourselves on what seems to be the front lines of…well, I’m not quite so sure exactly what to call it.
I won’t call it a “move of God”, because I don’t believe God is necessarily ’moving’ or needs to ‘move’, as He is not stuck.
He is seated (Luke 22:69, Heb. 10:12-14) and I am one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17).
I suppose one could call it a “revival” of sorts, seeing as people are coming to life with the revelation of Jesus Christ and the fact that the mystery of the Gospel IS Christ-in-us, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27).
I guess in the same vein one could call what is happening worldwide a “great awakening”, because the Church of Jesus Christ is opening their slumbering eyes to the reality of the grace, love, and power of God that is freely given through Christ and that they are already complete in Him (Col. 2:8-10).
The intensity of the aggression that has come our way because of how loudly and blatantly we have challenged the status quo of Christianity has been unlike anything I ever learned about in ‘church’. It certainly was not anything I was taught growing up in ‘church’.
I have had people that I looked up to and respected very highly look down on me and condemn and criticize me as ‘rebellious’, ‘divisive’, ‘dishonoring’, and told from some very high-profile leaders in the church that we should “tread lightly and with fear” regarding the things that we are challenging, as well as told that we “don’t have a biblical leg to stand on”.
This is all utterly strange seeing as there aren’t many statements about the Christian life or who we are in Christ or what Christ accomplished that we don’t back up Biblically.
Although I suppose Jesus said that these types of things would happen:
“The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!” – Matthew 10:24-25
The depth of ‘reaching out’ that we have done to try and connect with some of the leaders in the ‘movements’ that have perpetuated the mindsets that we have so directly challenged is something that very, very few people are actually aware of. I am publicly letting the planet know that we have extensively reached out to many different leaders of many of these ‘movements’, and continue to do so, and unfortunately the response from their end has been less than favorable and in many cases, quite hostile.
I fully admit that the methods in which I have at times gone about preaching and delivering the message of the Gospel have made me come across as angry, bitter, frustrated, and annoyed. I also fully admit that I have felt a whole lot of those things simply due to the ridiculous amount of heat we have taken for the things we have been spreading, preaching, and demonstrating. It certainly has not been easy and I have done everything I know to do to repair bridges that I have burned in my lack of wisdom and frustration in dealing with people who have disagreed with me.
There have been very, very, very few people/leaders who have been willing to actually sit down and dialogue with us about the glaringly unbiblical issues that we have found to be taking place in a lot of the popular church practices/movements/ministries that have gained so much popularity the world-over…and there have not been hardly any leaders (save a small handful here and there, you know who you are, thank you..) who have been willing to act as leadership voices in our lives — we have had to rely very heavily on looking to the Scriptures and hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit within us who guides us into all Truth (John 16:13).
As the persecution has increased, so has our resolve to search the Scriptures, study the life and ministry of Jesus and the apostles, and make sure that the things that we have been sharing are true, because we place a high value on things like integrity and character (Acts 17:11).
While there have indeed been things that we have changed in terms of the delivery of the Gospel, for the most part, we have only found that the grace of God as revealed through Christ on the cross really is almost-too-good-to-be-true-news, and as such, it has only deepened our love for God, for each other, for His church, and for the world.
We have also continued to find, unfortunately for some, that the vast overwhelming majority of what is taught in most churches the world-over is not only not the Gospel, but is actually an extremely perverse mixture of law and grace that undermines the work of the cross and the forgiveness that God has extended to mankind.
I have challenged this mindset consistently, time and time and time again — and in many ways, I learned how much unbelief is involved in engaging in that type of ‘prayer’ from several leaders in the church today who seemed to have wavered on their previous position on this issue. They will remain nameless here for the sake of “honor” — but they know who they are. I do not apologize for calling out this kind of blatant and cowardly hypocrisy.
Far too many have compromised what they know to be true for the sake of pleasing people, maintaining ‘ministry relationships’, and money. It all boils down to fear.
I have seen many close to us waver and shrink back for the same reasons. It has been quite tempting at time to do so ourselves simply because of the incredible amount of pressure, intimidation and witchcraft that so many who profess the name of Christ operate in and under.
If the things that we have spoken about the error of ‘crying out for revival’ and for God to forgive all the terrible sins in our nation are indeed true (and they are), then yes, that does mean that there are millions the world over who have been sold a bunch of lies…and yes, there are a whole lot of leaders who would have to humble themselves and admit their error for there to be true “repentance” (a change of mind that leads to a change of lifestyle) in the church today.
Do I understand and acknowledge that there were indeed many “revivals” that began with a bunch of people fasting and praying and “crying out to God”? Sure.
But I also know that many of the people who began that way, in their later writings had spoken and said that if they had known at the beginning what they knew near the end of the ‘revival’ about the character and nature of God and the indwelling Christ, that they never would have wasted so much time sitting in a building praying for God to ‘show up’. I’m talking about people like John G. Lake and even those who were involved at Azusa Street.
I have read the original Azusa Street papers and if you do the same, and you will see consistently that the ‘revival’ spread because people left the building and simply did what Christ had told them to do 2,000 years earlier — not because of all their ‘crying out’.
You have the spirit of the resurrected Christ in you (Rom. 8:11, 1 Cor 6:19, Col. 1:27), how much more ‘revival’ can you get?
I have told many people and many leaders who have opposed (some quite vehemently and violently) this good-news-Gospel of the Kingdom of God within us (Luke 17:20-21) and the finished work of the cross (Heb. 10) — that we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way.
The easy way would be for these who are teaching lies about my Father and the wonderful work of His wonderful Son on the cross to submit to true meekness and humility and actually engage the questions we have presented, exercising their professed maturity by their willingness to dialogue over these issues rather than consistently trying to dust them under the carpet.
The easy way would be for the shepherds in the Body of Christ to admit that they don’t necessarily know everything or have all the answers and that maybe, just maybe, they have missed something by just “going with the flow” of all the popular doctrines they’ve been taught and been teaching for most of their lives.
The hard way would be for us to just continue doing things the way we have been doing — publishing materials, videos, writing articles, and spreading messages of freedom, deliverance, grace, and good news to the broken, the hurting, the exhausted, the hungry, and the lost.
Truth has a way of setting people free (John 8:32). Once people realize how bound they have been — slaves to a mindless system of religion that demands their obedience or there is swift condemnation and punishment — the natural reaction is for them to rise up as deliverers themselves, as they are quite familiar with the workings of the system and the mindsets that had once held them captive. They actually become quite adept warriors in the Kingdom of God!
So in all reality, the hard way really isn’t all that hard after awhile. There’s an interesting multiplication effect that happens after a period of time, and interestingly enough, it only seems to be gaining speed and spreading everywhere.
Sure, there are angry e-mails, dirty looks, mean phone calls, slander, gossip, misunderstanding, baseless and bold accusations, and things that are flat-out fabrications from people who don’t have a clue what they are talking about.
But let’s be real here — it’s not nearly as bad as some who have gone before us have endured (2 Cor. 11:23-29).
I have learned the value of the tipping point.
We’ve been preaching this stuff for awhile now. And it is indeed gaining influence the world over.
The world will know that Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient for all men for all time (Heb. 10, 1 John 2:2) and that it is as simple as receiving Christ’s atoning sacrifice for sin and believing on Him that will transform one’s life from the inside out (Acts 16:31, 2 Cor. 5:17-21).
They will know that God doesn’t demand some legalistic system of confess/renounce/repent, grovel/fast/pray over and over (again, Hebrews 10…), and that in fact as believers, we don’t even need to confess our sins to God after we get born again (for more on this, click here and here)! If you don’t think that’s good news, then you seriously should check your self-righteousness meter!
The world will know how Jesus perfectly met God’s standards — that He perfectly modeled the character and nature of God (Heb. 1:3, Col. 1:15), and how He took away the written code (the Mosaic Law) that was written against us!
And they will also know how the devil lost his power and authority over mankind at the cross of Calvary:
“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” – Col. 2:13-15
I continue to be amazed at how vehemently people who profess to be Christians will defend their pet-doctrines that have little to no basis in Scripture…or in some cases, Scripture taken entirely out of it’s context or centered around a singular verse.
But I suppose that is indeed the nature of pride, yes? Refusing to admit one’s error even when it is staring you straight in the face?
I don’t do what I do because I have a ‘need to be right’, or because I’m ‘rebellious’, or because I am ‘dishonoring’ or because I ‘pursue conflict’.
I do what I do because I know that Jesus Christ perfectly satisfied the wrath of God towards sin and that there is now no condemnation for those who come to Him, because I have been set free from the law of sin and death through Him (Rom. 8:1-2).
I do what I do because He has transformed my life from the inside out, and while I continue to grow every day, and never will act or speak as if I have ‘arrived’, there are certain things that I know for sure to be true. That is not called ‘arrogance’.
That is called ‘confidence’.
It is truly a shame that any time a person starts to get confident about what the Bible says about who they are in Christ in a ‘church’ setting, that there are so many who feel the need to pull them down and belittle them because of their own insecurities.
Faith will always look arrogant to those who are steeped in and surrounded by unbelief and fear.
There is a reformation at hand. A returning to the simplicity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 11:3) and a rejecting of the condemnation and fear-based lies that have been preached from the pulpits of the world for far too long.
It cannot be stopped.
We will not be silent (Matthew 10:27).
Repent (change the way you think!) and believe the Gospel, friends!
It really is good news!
“Unless therefore I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture, or by the clearest reasoning, unless I am persuaded by means of the passages I have quoted, and unless they thus render my conscience bound by the Word of God, I cannot and will not retract, for it is unsafe for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand, I can do no other; may God help me! Amen!” – Martin Luther
First of all I want to apologize for the lack of original postings lately—Laura and I have recently moved to San Jose, California from Redding and there was a lot that happened over the last few weeks in preparation for the move. Now that I have some time, I want to share some things that are very raw and very real, and I know there will be those who read this that will take offense to what I have to say.
However, if I were still seeking to people-please and make sure that everything that I have to say was done so in such a way that everybody would openly welcome the ‘harder’ words that need to be brought, I would not be living the true Christian life (Galatians 1:10).
There are many of you who will read this who have very little experience in dealing with ‘persecution’ for your faith and for the life you have chosen in Christ. I would encourage you to look into 2 Timothy 3. If you are not being persecuted (mostly by “church” people), you are probably doing something wrong. If you aren’t being persecuted by that obnoxious ‘religious spirit’, you’re not a threat to the devil and you’re not living the true Christian life.
There are others who will read this that will be extremely encouraged because it will help you to understand some of what you have been dealing with and how to press through it.
Many Christians are under the impression that if what you are doing is truly from God, that the fruit of your life will speak for itself and you will be well-received because it should be self-evident that God is with you…whether it is because of the miracles performed through your hands, the consistency of your life and ministry, the character and integrity that you walk in, or the clear passion you have for the Kingdom of God…these things are all good fruit. However, I want to make it very clear with what you are about to read that unfortunately, that is very far from the Truth.
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The reality is that there are 1 of 3 things that will happen if the things that you are doing and the Power of God that is displayed through your life is more than that of those who are around you or in leadership ‘over’ you.
1.) They will humble themselves, admit that you are doing and walking in something that they are not, and come to you and ask you to help them step into the same kinds of breakthroughs that you are seeing. These people are humble enough and able to recognize the Spirit of God on a person in such a way that, because they don’t get their identities out of what they do, they aren’t ashamed to say that their way isn’t working the way they’d like it to be.
2.) They will put you on a pedestal and treat you like you are “super-anointed”. This is what happened most recently with Todd Bentley. We all know how well that turns out.
3.) They will harden their hearts, ignore the fruit because they don’t necessarily agree with the method or the package it is coming in, or the fact that “how could God do something like that through them that He isn’t doing through me?” (pride)…and then they will try to control you and if they can’t control you, they will try to shut you down and crucify you. This usually starts through gossip and slanderous remarks that must be pushed through and dealt with in the heart of the person on the receiving end of these false accusations. The people who do the running-of-their-mouths usually have little to no relationship with the person seeing more breakthrough, but they will talk to others as if they know everything about them. It is the spiritual equivalent of a shoe-shiner trying to tell a brain surgeon how to do brain surgery.
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Unfortunately, #1 seems to be the least frequent thing that happens, followed by #2, with #3 being by far the most frequent occurrence. Keep in mind I am talking about other “Christians” here. Those who profess the name of Christ as Lord and Savior and yet seem to have a strange inability to recognize Him in and through another person. Jesus was clear that there would be many who professed Him as Lord but yet their hearts were far from Him (Matthew 15:8, Mark 7:6).
The persecution that you should be receiving for walking in the Power of God is from the religious elite around you who are near to your sphere of influence. Those who look on the outside as if they are in right standing with God and in many cases, in a very good relationship with God…yet there is a subtle, yet extremely deceptive hypocrisy about them.
The message they bring and the lives they live do not match up. They speak to those “under” them about the ways and lives one should live in the Kingdom of God, yet their own lives do not match what they preach. Therefore, the majority of what comes out of their mouths is nothing but nice-sounding theory.
Jesus made no apologies for aggressively, unashamedly, and in most cases very harshly, calling out their hypocrisy.
In public.
Matthew 23 is a good example.
A Gospel that does not work outside the four walls of a church building, simply does not work.
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If the miracles were all that was needed to bring and effect change in the lives of those who heard the message of the Kingdom, then Jesus never would have had to say this:
“Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent (change the way they think).
“Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.” “
- Matthew 11:20-24
“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
- Luke 10:8-16
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When you are dealing with hardened mindsets, it does not matter what the fruit of your life or ministry looks like. Jesus didn’t rebuke “religious spirits”. He rebuked religious people. The reason for this was that they were hypocrites in that they knew that what Jesus and the disciples were doing was from God and could not deny Him or the miracles that He was doing—yet because it didn’t come in the package that they expected or one that they could control, they tried everything to shut Him down. The Pharisees knew FULL WELL that Jesus came from God.
This is evident in John 3 with Nicodemus: “He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” -John 3:2
Right there, I point out again, that healings and miracles themselves do NOT change the mindsets of those who come against what God is doing. The issue is an issue of fear of man. Nicodemus ‘came at night’ (John 3:1) because he wanted to put his trust in Jesus but he was afraid what his religious friends would think.
“And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.” -Matthew 21:45-46
“For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” -Galatians 1:10
“The fear of man brings a snare….but he who trusts in the LORD shall be safe.” – Proverbs 29:25
I have dealt with this in almost every church in which I’ve put myself “under their authority”. I placed myself in situations where I was seeing more consistent breakthrough than those “over” me. And those “over me” knew the fruit of my life and ministry. They knew many, many people were being healed.
And I certainly used to think that that should be enough to convince them that there was no malice in my heart towards anyone and that the fruit itself should testify that what I was saying, teaching, and doing were true as it is outlined in the Word (When first of all, the whole issue of “being under authority” is nowhere in the Word in the way that it is taught in churches today. Most people say that to control their congregations).
But I was wrong.
Every time.
Jesus clearly said we would be able to determine whether a person was false or true by their fruit. In the context, He is explaining the difference between a true and a false prophet. (Matthew 7) A false prophet is simply one who does a whole lot of talking but doesn’t have the fruit to back up what they are going on about. Jesus cursed the fig tree because it was not bearing fruit. (Mathew 21:18-22 and Mark 11:12-14).
What is interesting is that Jesus didn’t know that there was no fruit on the tree until He got closer to it. It had leaves on it—which, when dealing with fruit-bearing trees, they usually will have fruit if there are leaves. Jesus got close to the tree, anticipating fruit because of what the tree looked like from afar. But upon a bit of a closer look, He found out that the tree was in fact a “false prophet”.
It boasted of something from a distance which could not be validated up close.
I have no problem telling people of the miracles that I have witnessed and that which has been accomplished through me. In fact, I will not even often talk about that which has not been done through me, because we’ve all played the ‘telephone game’ where things get twisted up and exaggerated.
Paul talks about this in Romans 15:18-19. I would have no problem if someone wanted to follow me around to testify to the validity of the statements that I make about my life and ministry.
I would have no problem with someone coming to be a “fruit inspector” and they would indeed find fruit and not just a bunch of leaves. Unfortunately, much of what I hear from many, many people looks like a bunch of leaves and they won’t let anyone get close enough to check if there is any fruit behind the leaves.
The reason the Pharisees wanted to kill Jesus was because as soon as He showed up on the scene, the first thing He did was go around saying things like, “You have heard it said…this. But I tell you….this.” When He would say “You have heard it said…” He was referring to all the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
He was publicly, unashamedly refuting what was called their “yoke”—their interpretation of Scripture. Rabbis in Jewish culture would do this each time a new rabbi came on the scene. The first thing they would do would be to refute the teaching of the other rabbis in town, and then present their own interpretation of Scripture (their “yoke”). This was why so many rabbis had such animosity towards one another.
When Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29-30), what He was actually saying was “Take My interpretation of Scripture and learn from that. In so doing, your soul will be at rest. Why? Because my interpretation of Scripture is easy. I mean what I say and I say what I mean. There is no reading between the lines. It’s extremely black and white, and no nonsense.”
You will notice that He says this directly after the Scriptures I mentioned above where Jesus pronounced woe to the unrepentant cities. Why? Because He was presenting them with His ‘yoke’ and the fruit of it was undeniable, and yet people still chose to harden their hearts and came against what He was doing because His life and ministry demanded that those around Him change the way they were thinking (repent) to a point of action. The same thing happened w/ the apostles all throughout Acts.
So when Jesus showed up and started refuting the ‘yokes’ of other rabbis, it was different in that His teaching was “with authority…not like their teachers of the Law” (Matthew 7:28-29). Crowds would gather to Him quickly because His teaching was authoritative and showed a clear understanding of the Scriptures that was simple, yet extremely effective in producing good and unquestionable fruit.
It was to those who should know better, and did know better that Jesus rebuked as hypocrites. Those who proclaimed a message that was not validated by their actions or their lifestyles or their ability to discern between good and evil.
The Word says “be angry and sin not…don’t let the sun go down on your anger” (Eph 4:26). It is vitally important that when you are dealing with attacks from religious folk that you bless them, that you pray for them, and that you demonstrate that you are well-able to continue living your life just as effectively and in the same kind of freedom with and without them.
God is not bound to an institution and nor should we be.
The Bible does not say “don’t be angry”.
Jesus got very angry with those who were out to shut down that which God was clearly doing amongst the people…because they were allowing their own fears and insecurities to convince them that Jesus was a threat to their position and their power. As such, He did threaten their empire and that is why they sought to kill Him. Because people were leaving the controlling and manipulative power that the religious elite had placed over them and embracing the freedom, Power, Love, and Truth that Christ not only taught and proclaimed, but demonstrated and lived.
It was their own fear of losing their position that drove them to harden their hearts to the freedom Christ so freely offers all who will receive and follow. They got their identities out of what they DID, not out of who God said they already WERE.
I have had a lot of experience with this kind of persecution from “church people” because of “what I carry”. As I have said, I can only share what I have learned in and through those experiences. While I have seen many, many people healed…and in most, if not all of those cases, I was seeing more happen than everyone around me…this kind of flack comes with the territory.
Many have seen the fruit of our lives and that which we have done. While it may not be wrapped up in the comfortable, easy-to-swallow package that most healing ministries come in, it certainly has and continues to be effective in setting captives free. I am not, never have been, and never will be interested in being politically correct.
My methods will continue to offend those who don’t know me (or care to know me) and who are more concerned with maintaining control over a status quo, system, and method rather than setting people free and empowering them to do what Christ has commanded.
I write all of this because many who will read this are in a very important and exciting, yet at the same time very precarious position.
Jonathan was David’s armorbearer. He loved David like a brother–He supported all that David did and even warned him when his own father was coming to try and kill him. He knew that what David stood for and what he was doing was right in the eyes of God and it even bore witness in his own spirit that what David was doing was right and effective.
Jonathan made a decision to stand beside his father because he chose to rank his attachments to his position, his comfort, and his family over that which he knew in his heart was right. He did it all in the name of honor and love.
Yet he still died without honor, in a dishonorable way, in a battle he shouldn’t have even been fighting in, next to a dishonored king who had lost his authority because of his inability and adamant refusal to recognize the ‘anointing’ on David’s life.
That was an extremely sobering revelation when it came to me. While Jonathan was a great guy for David to have around to encourage him, lift him up, and even provide tips “from the inside” for David to excel and evade persecution from Jonathan’s own father, he is not the kind of friend that anyone really looks for.
Because when it all came down to what Jonathan would do and whom he would follow, he chose position, comfort, and family over the opportunity that was presented to him from God, through David, to stand with the next, true king of Israel. He chose instead to “honor his father” (which certainly is a Scriptural command)…even though what his father was doing was way out of alignment with God’s will.
“Honor” at the expense of doing what God has already given us to do is not honorable. It is still disobedience to the Word of God.
God does not require us to be loyal to that which is wrong.
I believe very strongly that many who will read this are in the same position now as Jonathan was faced with 1 Samuel chapter 20. I would suggest reading through it prayerfully.
Jonathan certainly had the opportunity to leave with David…yet nowhere does he even think of doing such a thing because he is so wrapped up with ‘honoring his father and his authority’. He paid dearly for his decisions later.
What it comes to now is that you are faced with a very important decision:
Will you allow that which you have seen for yourself and know to be true and right in the eyes of God (albeit quite different from what those around you are teaching) to be overridden by your position, your ‘family’ at church, and the comfort of having so much at your disposal there?
Or will you stand up and say that enough is enough? Will you choose instead to follow the road less traveled and embrace a life in the Kingdom of God that the Pharisees of our time will persecute with the same intensity they persecuted Christ? Will you dedicate your life to demonstrating consistently that the Kingdom of God is one of Love, Truth, Justice and Power…regardless of the guaranteed persecution that will come against you because of it?
Will you remain silent and “submissive to authority”, even when those in authority are wrong? Again, God does not require us to be loyal to that which is wrong. Acts 5:29 is clear on that. (“We must obey God rather than men!”)
Or will you fight against the deception that has lulled so many to sleep—that all is well and good when in reality many things are very far from that?
Jesus did not come to bring peace. He is peace. He came to bring a sword and division (Matthew 10:34, Luke 12:51). Right from wrong. Truth from lies. Light from darkness. And as He is, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17).
Many have come against us and accused us of “not walking in love”. This is what perfect love looks like:
“In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” – 1 John 4:17-18
If you are fearful of what may happen if you stand up for what is right and come against that which you know in your heart to be wrong, regardless of the possible repercussions to your position, your ‘family’, and your comfort, you are not walking in perfect love.
Love confronts error to bring Truth–Jesus did it everywhere He went and He was the perfect manifestation of the Father’s heart and His will. And again, as He is, so are we on this earth. It is an issue of “do unto others what you would have them do unto you”. If you were steeped in deception, you would want someone to have the boldness to tell you so and help pull you out of it.
That is why I do so much of what I do. That is real love. Doing to others what you would have them do to you because you love God and love them. In this, the whole Word is summed up.
Some who read this may think I am making a big deal about nothing, or just splitting hairs, but this is truth that is life to those who hear and death to those who ignore. In comfort, we can afford to gloss over some things, but not on the front lines of the battlefield that we face day after day in the ever-increasing supernatural life of the Kingdom that we have chosen to embrace.
Will you side with those who are more concerned with appearance, methods, forms, rules and regulations and maintaining their own religious empires, or will you pursue with that which you know to be true and bearing good fruit?
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit.
The choice is entirely up to you.
- The Blueprint of “Renewing Your Mind” 11/24/2011 Brandon
- Decisions that Define Us – Graham Cooke 11/23/2011 Brandon
- Incomplete Vs. Complete Forgiveness 11/25/2011
- 20 Rob Rufus Quotes On Law vs. Grace 11/23/2011
- Organic Church Introduction 01/30/2012
- Dead to Sin and Alive to God! 11/10/2011
- Five Ways Jesus Revealed Grace 02/01/2012
- Do Everything Jesus Said? 01/29/2012
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