Prophetic Insights Before The Dark Days Come

"Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan
to his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7)

 

January 1, 2009

 

Could You Be One of the Five?

 

"They overcame [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death"
(Revelation 12:11).

 

During 2008 we recommended some movies and books that we had found helpful and strengthening in our own faith journey. The End Of The Spear was an especially stirring film, a vivid portrayal of five men who were martyred in Ecuador in the mid-1950s. For the sake of reaching with the Gospel the most fearsome tribe in the region, these men were willing to risk their lives as His witnesses. From our Father's perspective, a martyr is "a witness to the truth." A martyr's devotion to his or her King Jesus to willingly serve His Kingdom purposes is His privileged call for each of us who claim to belong to Him.

You may have spent too much time in religious complacency in pews and Sunday School classes that perpetuate always learning but rarely (or never) responding with action or change. If so, our Lord's Kingdom call, 'don't love your life so much as to shrink from death', may seem either too costly, or something He'd never ask of you. But keep this in mind. Because of His immeasurable love for you, our Lord Jesus is well aware of what it cost Him to fulfill our Father's will on your behalf. And He who was the willing Sacrifice for us has joyfully given His indwelling Spirit to those who have run to Him in repentance with a trust that's committed to His Lordship (Acts 2:36-38). It is because of His Spirit in us that our Lord and King commands His subjects as beloved bondservants to willingly fulfill His bidding.

We're speaking to you as a person who has a heart to fulfill your part in His Kingdom, rather than as someone who is content to fulfill a weekly duty. In Luke 14:26-35 Jesus speaks with the authority of One Who can call those with "ears to hear" to recognize the cost of belonging to Him. He presents the cost as willingness to forsake family, personal goals and any earthly things that would hinder clinging to Him: "Whoever does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple" (14:33). What do you think "ALL that he has" means? Think in terms of not only a willingness to sacrifice your life as did the men in Ecuador. Consider as well your daily worldly pursuits that give you satisfaction but have nothing to do with serving our King. His Spirit is well able to pinpoint any facets of personal idolatry that you've rationalized as "there's nothing wrong with this!" Do you have "ears to hear" Him?

 

A warning about misplaced confidence:
For the past 6 years we've lived in a 300-unit senior mobile home park. The average age of the residents is about 75. We've grieved that the message of the Hebraic Restoration has born no fruit here, and at times we've been very discouraged by this. However, as the multifaceted events of 2008 have unfolded, we can more readily understand why our Lord has had us living here — to witness the evil fruit of misplaced confidence.

Many of our park's residents attend a Thursday morning "Bible study" in which, as a number of the attendees have admitted, the "milk issues" of God's Word are repeated again and again to the contented listeners.  Most acknowledge that their religious participation has been confined to activities either under a steeple or directed by others who don't call for any response of changed life. In 2008 our Lord attacked the idols in which so many of these retirees placed their confidence — the gods of greed, religion, and misplaced trust in government. As they've painfully realized, their "fixed income" of provision through investments, pensions and Social Security wasn't as "fixed" as they thought. Many are plagued by worry and heaviness.

You who are younger need to learn a lesson from this older generation:

 

• This is the generation that failed to fight for the Bible and prayer to remain in public schools — now they are being judged.
Studies have shown that the increase in crime and immorality in this nation began to escalate dramatically when Bible reading and prayer disappeared from public education. The National Education Association filled the spiritual void with Humanism, disguised as a philosophy in which mankind is dependent only on Self and human potential. The mantra of this man-exalting "religion" is that there is no God and no moral absolutes. Only the fulfillment, satisfaction and achievement of Self matters.

 

• This is the generation that put their hope in Social Security and their own retirement accounts — now they are being judged. When Social Security began, there were 17 workers for every retiree. Now only 2.5 workers provide the funds for each retiree. Abortion has destroyed 50 million potential workers. The generation that allowed 50 million souls made in the image of God to be murdered in their mother's womb are now being judged. If you're a younger worker, do you realize that you'll NEVER get anything from the government when you retire, no matter how much you have to put in?

 

Now is the time to renounce the gods of greed and misplaced trust in government. These give you false hope that you can enjoy an "earthly heaven" of pleasurable retirement years — although in your heart you already know that won't happen. No matter what the government does about the Stock Market, our Lord will not let this bastion of idolatry go unchallenged. God has no problem with wise investments. Rather, He is challenging the god of greed in which spiritually adulterous people put false confidence.

 

Just as He warned and brought up short the Israelites when they pursued other gods, our Father is confronting His children today. Don't go on thinking you can keep pursuing your friendship with the world's goals and desires and still enjoy fellowship with Him:

"Do not love the world or the things in the world.


"If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—
is not of the Father but is of the world.
And the world is passing away, and the lust of it;
but he who does the will of God abides forever."
(1 John 2:15-17).

Can you picture our Father's sorrow if He sees that you have no love for Him in your heart because your passion lies with what the world offers? Seriously, can you picture how He feels? If His Spirit is in you, He has empowered you to do His will so that you can abide with Him forever. But you need to make a choice, one with eternal consequences. Please, use this series of Lifebytes to review areas in which you may be holding on to the sin of misplaced confidence and goals.

We want to encourage you to use this coming year to stay clean in Jesus! Rid your marriage through repentance of any and all pursuits and goals that make you an enemy of God (James 4:4). Fill in those unrighteous ruts with a way of life that evidences you love the King of kings and belong to Him. How do you know that what's happening now is not the beginning of the birth pangs of the Great Tribulation? Many of the signs of the end which our Lord Jesus forewarned in Matthew 24 are happening all over the world. Ask yourself, are you ready? Will He see in you a love-grounded obedient trust in Lord Jesus that reveals your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life?

NOW is the time for you and your spouse to live righteously in full fellowship with our Father and Lord Jesus through His indwelling Spirit. The Book of Revelation leaves no doubt about the unrepentant who choose live in sin. When the days of judgment come, they curse the Name of God; they refuse to humble themselves and repent (Revelation 16:9,11,21). Are you resolved and prepared as a couple to live as salt and light among those who thus far are living in darkness?

Resolve with us to grow as vessels of Christ's likeness available for His use.
Mike & Sue

 

 

December 20, 2008

Did Our God Establish "Christian Religion"?

 

Dear Friends,

We're writing today because we sense in our spirit a warning from our gracious Lord. The time is getting short for you and your family to realize that He is restoring the Hebraic foundations of love-grounded, obedient trust in Jesus for you to apply as your way of life. If you love your Lord Jesus with a zeal that yearns to see Him lifted up in the hearts of others and long to see the spiritual power of the early Church restored, please go through these videos and discuss them with your family and faith family. (You can also print out our Discussing How To Restore the Early Church series. As with everything at our website, it's free.)

 

We'd like to present some prophetic understanding of these times, and why the Hebraic foundations our Father commanded us to share are so vital for you. When the church establishment throughout Europe was as corrupt as the Israel that's recounted in Second Kings, our God sent what has come to be called "The Little Ice Age." This catastrophic phenomenon continued for several years, causing massive crop failures and subsequent famine. But the crop failures and famine were the prelude to what resulted in the death of over 30,000,000 people—the Black Death of bubonic plague carried by flea-infested rats. If not for the preceding years of the Little Ice Age and famine which weakened the population, the plague wouldn't have been as devastating.

 

So, how do the Little Ice Age and Black Death scourge apply to us today? The economic chaos around the world is coming about as our God takes on the gods of greed, religion, and misplaced trust in government. Do you doubt this? Through 10 plagues He confronted the false gods of Egypt, a biblical pattern by which all through the ages He challenges false gods. His holy and loving intent remains the same: to turn people away from the broad path of destruction, and back to His narrow way.

 

As with the Little Ice Age, the crop failures, and the plague during the Middle Ages, the worldwide economic situation is only the precursor to the Dark Days of Chastisement still to come. And tragically, so many who call themselves Christian but who willfully violate God's commands and blaspheme His Name by their sinful lives will suffer the same judgment as the world. But it doesn't have to be this way! He rebukes and chastens those He loves so that they will zealously repent and be restored (see Revelation 3:19).

 

The warnings of our Lord Jesus are timeless: "Because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved" (Matthew 24:12,13). Economic scarcity is God's way of rousing fear in those who don't trust Him but instead dread loss. Over time their dread of deprivation brings about cold, unloving hearts. Why does this happen? The worse the financial chaos, the more focused people are on self-preservation! This is becoming the growing attitude of many of the churched in this nation.

 

Yet the survivalist mentality is not a recent development, especially within western Christendom. For over half a century clergy have feared loss of parishioners who pay the bills, specifically the mortgage on the property. As we've noted previously, when churches became incorporated, they were able to obtain bank loans for building projects, whereas in previous generations, buildings were paid for by congregations in advance. Fearful to alienate the billpayers, many clergy eliminated the call to repent and watered down any message that would confront sin within the congregation. Some were influenced by humanist teaching in their university and seminary, choosing to believe the lie that there is no sin nature to confront nor is there a holy God Who cares to relate to people.

 

The result? Decades of pew sitters have been seduced into entertaining the same fears that plague the worldly. Having forsaken God's call to trust Him and to love Him, they've given way to a deist view. They may acknowledge His existence but disbelieve that He will be with them in the midst of any and all affliction. "Gods" of greed and of misplaced trust in government programs and policies have replaced the loving dependence that is due only to our Lord. The entitlements that so many think are their right lure multitudes into compromising their reliance on the Sovereign God of heaven.

 

Another biblical element comes into play here as well. Love, a sacrificial agape love, should be the hallmark of those who claim to belong to our Lord Jesus. But that which the Word depicts as Christ's love in His followers is far from that which is shown by those who've compromised their relationship with God through spiritual adultery with the world. People who have been enticed and infiltrated by the world's values and ways perceive their tolerance for each other's sins to be their way of loving each other. But from God's perspective, through this delusion they are maintaining communal UNrighteousness: "For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you” (2 Corinthians 6:14,17).

 

 

Our God Did Not Establish "Christian Religion"! Man Did...

 

In the early 1900s, British Bible teacher Samuel Chadwick warned:

"The world will never believe in a religion in which there is no power.
A rationalized faith, a socialized church,
and a moralized gospel may gain applause,
but they awaken no conviction and win no converts."

 

Chadwick's century-old admonition has come true throughout Christendom in the United States. In our next Lifebyte we'll more fully address the false god of religion. Are you among those who believe that God established an entity known as the religion of Christianity? He didn't! Rather, our Lord established a new Covenant through which we may personally live in spiritual union with Him. Through reconciliation with our Father by the sacrifice of our Risen Lord Jesus, we can abide in covenant union with Him by the indwelling Spirit of Christ. God offers us a personal relationship with Him on our pilgrimage to our salvation. Never has He offered us religion; that's a ploy of Satan!

 

Throughout contemporary western Christendom so many clergy have relegated Jesus Christ to a distant historical time and place, subtly severing His intimate connection as the Head of His followers, His Body. Through their perceived position as educated bearers of biblical knowledge, many have also denied the Bible's declaration of truth. Several years ago a survey was taken among 10,000 clergy representing a variety of denominations, both liberal and conservative. Their responses:

Was Jesus born of a virgin? — 19% to 60% said "No."
Was Jesus the Son of God? — 57% to 89% said "No."
Is the Bible the inspired Word of God? — 57% to 89% said "No."
Do you believe that Satan exists?  — 14% to 62% said "No."
Was there a physical Resurrection of Jesus? — 13% to 51% said "No."

 

Do you understand the ramifications of these results? Preaching the Bible and believing what it says do not necessarily go hand-in-hand. If you regularly occupy a pew, you most likely believe that your pastor is there to serve God and His purposes. But as we've discovered from years of counseling and interaction with clergy, that's probably not the case! So many instead are serving in that position in order to secure personal financial security and acclaim. To ensure that their boat of security remains unrocked, many clergy have silenced the prophetic voice of God which would warn His people of their sin. God desires a holy, set-apart people who love Him with repentant hearts that are available for His use. Now consider your own faith community. Is there a prophetic voice in your fellowship family who is sounding His warning alarm?

 

The Communist mantra that “Religion is the opiate of the masses” is accurate. Religion is man defining his god and prescribing the religious practices and rituals by which he'll abide. Today's "Christian religion" with its over 23,000 diverse denominations and sects is the creation of man, not of God! Their common characteristic? To one degree or another, most compromise biblical truth with pagan religious practices of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Both the Roman and Greek religious systems were syncretistic, adapting whatever suited them from other religious practices and expressions.

 

From the pagan Greeks come the concepts of: • clergy • religious services in pew-lined temples that are errantly called "churches" • rhetorical discourses from a pulpit; preaching that's generally not applicable to personal life • set-apart choirs.
Pagan Rome then exerted its influence by elevating the role of clergy as an intermediary between God and man. An entire hierarchical organization from the Pope down to the priest developed. At the bottom of the heap was the common “lay” person, prevented from fulfilling his priestly, biblical role: "You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light" (1 Peter 2:5,9).

 

So much of Protestant religious expression has adapted the same pagan practices in one form or another, contributing especially to the destruction of the priesthood of ALL the followers of Jesus. There are no "lay" people in our Lord's Kingdom. All of His followers are priests before Him!

 

Our Lord has neither intended nor been part of the Christian religion. He is a God of personal relationship with His called-out ones, and over the centuries has repeatedly called His followers out of the religious establishment that has silenced them. Sadly, so many who have fled their bondage in one form of establishment have then created their own particular group with its own pharisaical rules and designated “creeds.” Each of the 23,000 different versions of Hellenism and Romanism is glued together by its own form of creedal persuasion rather than by the unifying power of the Holy Spirit and intimacy of loving, obedient trust in the Lordship of Jesus.

 

Again, our Lord desires a personal relationship with each of His followers who love and serve Him in Spirit and in truth. He's taking on the counterfeit god of religion. Judge for yourself. Are you His loving and obedient follower and servant, or are you serving yourself and your own interests through the god of religion?

 

We'll discuss this further in a forthcoming Lifebyte.
Serving Him with trusting love,
Mike & Sue

 

December 15, 2008

We ALL Need Communal Spiritual Power!

 

Dear Friends,
Many years ago I was riding home from a weekend retreat with a leader in his denomination. He was upset with me over my emphasis that a follower of Jesus MUST KNOW AND USE HIS SPIRITUAL GIFTS. Those in his denomination prided themselves in being diligent about teaching the Bible as content, but they were lax on applying some of its key points.

As we drove along he admitted that his life had no spiritual power. He'd been taught that spiritual gifts were only for the earliest followers of Jesus but had died out with the apostles. I said to him, "You know that I spent ten years in the Navy. What if you repeatedly asked me, 'What did you do in the Navy?', and my answer was always, 'I was in the Navy'? Would you accept that answer?" He replied, "Of course not! I know that each person in the military has a special duty or assignment. Everyone doesn't do the same thing!" After agreeing with him, I said, "Isn't that the same thing for followers of Jesus? We each have Holy Spirit-empowered assignments (gifts) to carry out in the Kingdom of our Lord. No one can do everything! There is a division of labor as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12, much like the different parts of our body carrying out their function on behalf of the other parts."

 

The topic of knowing and using your spiritual gifts has come up in recent conversations. Over the years we've marveled how unaware many followers of Jesus are in this area. Yet, the enactment of the Spirit's gifts through His people to bless others is what we as His people as well as the world needs to see. Our Lord working super-naturally (beyond natural man's ways) through His own is a testimony that the one true God of the universe is powerful!

Paul explores in such depth the body analogy of 1 Corinthians 12 because he is insistent that the family in Jesus realize the interconnectedness they have as His body on earth. The followers of Jesus in Corinth used to be pagans who were "influenced by their idols". Paul knew that ignorance of the truth leaves a void that can allow people to stray (verses 1,2). Therefore, within those for whom Jesus is Lord of their lives, the Holy Spirit has endued gifts for the common good of each person in their faith family. These giftings are intended to be identified, used and appreciated as the Spirit at work through a necessary "body part"! By this means of serving one another for His glory through our gifts, we go way beyond the world's way of seeking its own. We're passing into the realm of seeking each other's well-being (10:24).

Prior to acting alone, discussing problems or situations with each other in your family or faith community provides the opportunity for you to coordinate the working of the Spirit's gifts in each other. Just like the combined efforts of the organs working together that make up the human body, communal discussion enables the various gifts to cooperate together as a spiritual body. The Holy Spirit often uses the combination of gifts to give a more complete solution to the situation. See the diagram below from the Institute Of Basis Life Principles:

 

Many years ago in one of our newsletters we shared that one of the most frequent causes of tension in a Christian marriage was the lack of knowing each others spiritual gifts and using them. You can't appreciate and cooperate with God's work through your spouse if you aren't even aware that he or she has been gifted differently than you have!

Mike: If we want the same attitude as that of Jesus, we are commanded, "...in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others" (Philippians 2:3,4). As Sue's husband, one of my deepest concerns is to ensure that the Holy Spirit in her is neither grieved nor quenched if He can't use her gifts because of me. One of my greatest daily joys is to encourage Sue to use her gifts of exhortation and faith. Anyone who has met her notices the wonderful twinkle of joy in her eyes because the Spirit has not been hindered from using her to bless others. I never want to stifle that wonderful work in her, nor live in such a way that He isn't working out His gifting in me either.

Please download our workbook, God's Instruments For War — Discovering and Coordinating Spiritual Gifts as Weapons of Warfare. We encourage you as an individual, a married couple, a family, or a faith family: please, don't quench or grieve the Holy Spirit in you! Our Father and His Son have given His children the Spirit so that we can access His great, loving power and do our part in the spiritual warfare His Kingdom is confronting. Are you quenching and grieving the Holy Spirit either by struggling in your own power, or by disregarding how He would use you in the lives of others? If so, you'll discover a growing sense of apprehension and tension in your midst until a divisive spirit severs your relationships. Is this what you want? If not, then please go through our short workbook. It can help you determine what gift(s) the Holy Spirit has given you so that you can bless others as His hands, feet and heart.

If you have the gifts of evangelist or shepherd in particular, we'd love to hear from you, since these are the two primary gifts for the formation of a Hebraic home fellowship.
Mike & Sue

 

 

December 11, 2008

Unless The Lord Helps Us...

Dear Friends,
Picture the King of the universe, our Lord Jesus, beholding you with penetrating eyes and speaking forth to you the startling declaration made to His disciples seated at His feet: "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN" (Matthew 5:20).
• Evaluate your own life and that of your fellowship family. Is your heart's regard for personal and communal righteousness so low that He would warn you about how dark your "light" is?
Many of the Pharisees and teachers of the law had no love for either God or for their fellow travelers on their life's journey; therefore they performed acceptably on the outside yet had covetous, self-centered hearts of unrighteousness.

• How would you and those with whom you fellowship recognize that what you perceive to be "your righteousness" is in fact of your own making, not an obedient trust in Jesus that evidences His loving, indwelling Presence? Where does entry into the Kingdom of Heaven and a life that fulfills Kingdom purposes fit into your everyday and long-range choices and goals?

 

“If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath,
will you not take hold of it and lift it out?" (Matthew 12:11).
The first time this happens, you lift the sheep out of the pit.
The second time it happens, you cover the pit.
The third time it happens, you barbecue the sheep.

Does this application of our Lord's words offend you? If you've ever raised sheep as we have, it won't! Persistent, willful disobedience sets a perverse example for other sheep to stumble into pits of their own, causing grief to their shepherd.
The Gospel accounts as well as the epistles are replete with both personal testimony from our Lord as well as His direct command to do the will of His Father. Too often in western Christendom, the "sheep" have tried to rule the "Shepherd", expecting their desires to be granted as they presume upon His "grace". But that's not biblical grace; it's a deceived lie! Nowhere in either Testament do you find permission for someone to mentally agree with some creed or doctrine in order to be identified as one of His own, then live in spiritual adultery with the idols of the world to gratify their sin nature. That pit of man-centered deception is a recipe for roast mutton.

It's been 15 years since we returned from Israel with our Father's assignment for us to share the Hebraic foundations. During this time the Spirit of Jesus has guided us in making the varied facets of the Hebraic Restoration available in several useful formats. Some of these are stand-alone documents, such as our Newsletters, Lifebytes, and Teaching E-mails. Other materials, such as Discussing How to Restore the Early Church, Going to the High Places study guide, Jesus In Your Home videos (including our new Bytesize series), Certain of What We Do Not See, and Demolishing Strongholds contain interrelated segments that are a course of study to discuss and apply to your life. All of these materials are available for free at our website. Some of these you can print, others you can watch on your TV, computer or iPod.

We want to remind you of this because our Father has given the two of us the command to share the message of the Hebraic Restoration. Coinciding with this command, He directed us to, "Commit these [truths] to faithful men who will be able [competent, fit] to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2). A number of you have graciously let us know that you and your family have gone through one or more of our different teaching series and are reaching out to others and sharing with them out of your individual and communal love for Jesus.

We've recently heard from a church-planter in Kenya who is using Discussing How to Restore the Early Church with a group he has gathered together in Christ. Others are using the Demolishing Strongholds workbook and video series to reach out to others in their relational sphere, be it workplace or neighborhood. And still others are using Going to the High Places with those with whom they are already gathering for discussion. Someone recently wrote, "Your website contains a complete understanding of Kingdom living." This is what the Hebraic foundations are about: KINGDOM LIVING to the praise of the King!

Anytime we hear that others are sharing these truths, we rejoice, because Paul's counsel is at the core of our own motives: "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others" (Philippians 2:4; see also Matthew 28:19,20).

We've found that the Spirit has at times cut us off from those who expected us to be a "quick fix" ministry. NEVER do we want to be in the position of anyone looking to us for answers beyond that which a love-grounded, obedient trust in our Lord and His Word would bring about! While we realize that He uses His people as part of His loving arsenal of intervention, He hasn't called us to be enablers to get individuals out of pits again and again — especially pits that have been dug by their own pursuit of materialism, and/or personal laziness.

We know that you may currently be facing some heavy problems in your life, and that our Lord has powerful means of strengthening and comforting you to meet these if you will but follow through with what He shows you. He has blessed the two of us with the opportunity to address a huge number of life situations in the materials on our website. However, if you refuse to take the time to prayerfully go through the resources He has put in front of you to apply to your life, His descriptions are apt: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud” (2 Peter 2:22). The "dog and sow" know what they need to do to be clean and free but never get around to pursuing and persevering in the righteous ways they've been shown.

It's a lot easier to return to the comfort zone of familiar behaviors and attitudes, even if his complacency drives him into yet another pit. Sadly, this depicts the "Hardened Fool" of the Hebrew Scripture (Proverbs 1:32; 18:2). No matter how many times you help him, he goes back to his same ungodly ways. He may agree with you to your face, but fails to follow through with what he says he'll do.

Repentance Leads to Righteousness;
Righteousness to Answered Prayer;
Answered Prayer to Revival

If you've confirmed in your spirit that our Father is restoring the Hebraic foundations of relational priorities and love-grounded obedient trust, and you're earnestly applying these to your life, we want to enlist your help. First, we want to reiterate that the crises shrouding this nation and the world will not be solved either politically or economically. Only our God can deliver if He sees fit according to His will and purposes!

What is truly needed is a revival of great proportions that only the Spirit of the Lord can bring about. We're not referring to a man-made, man-initiated gathering. Rather, true revival is first a realization that something has died. That "something" is a responsive love for our Lord and obedience to His ways that has suffocated under a blanket of worldliness and idolatry of self. To revive this corpse takes repentance and return to the Lord of Hosts that HE might rule in your heart and in that of your family and fellowship family. Then you know that He hears your prayers and is responding according to His good will and purpose.

1. This revival will require your personal and communal righteousness.
2. It will require confidence in your spirit that you are born again into His Kingdom, a confidence that's confirmed by His Spirit as you see your Lord answering your prayers.
3. And, authentic revival will require intentional, set-apart intercession for the Spirit of our Lord Jesus to move upon this land and upon the nations of this earth.

Only through a true revival which coincides with His own yearning heart will our Lord be glorified as He releases His power. If you earnestly desire this to happen in your own life and in that of your family, then please be diligent in prayerfully pursuing what our Father gave us to share. He's impacting and changing lives all over the world by His Spirit!

We want to close with a quote from a mighty prayer warrior who loved and served His Lord faithfully, the late Leonard Ravenhill:

"Many present-day Christians seem to have experienced three stages: condemnation, salvation, and stagnation...
When the church gets divorced from the world and worldliness;
When we can ignore so-called Christian entertainers who attempt to combine Hollywood and holiness;
When we cease from strivings of the flesh and recognize that the Bible written yesterday is also for today and for tomorrow, and that it alone has the formula for revival;
We shall at least have started on the road to reformation in the Church, which must precede the true spiritual awakening which alone can save our generation."

If through His grace you earnestly and prayerfully love the Lord your God and live according to the obedient trust of His Word, you'll find that He'll strengthen you as you live out the Hebraic foundations that undergirded the teaching of our Lord Jesus. We'd love to see revival in this land, and we'd love to hear from you about how He's moving in and through your life to reach others for His glory!

Mike & Sue

 

 

December 5, 2008

Is Your View Of Money Sinful Or Biblically Solid?

Dear Friends,
You may have noticed over the years as you've read through your Bible that some parts are informational — you're glimpsing the historical backdrop of what was taking place. Other parts involve teaching, in which God gives His commands. You find as well the prophetic parts in which our caring and compassionate Lord warns His people when they've gone astray. In contrast to the other parts, the prophetic areas are intense and often filled with emotion! God speaks with deep determination through His prophets—sometimes imploring, sometimes berating, but always forewarning about the consequences if people press on in their sin.

You've probably noticed in this series of Lifebytes and recent e-mails that our Lord has called us to write in a prophetic mode. You may have found that these challenges to help you live daily in both personal and communal righteousness have made you somewhat uncomfortable. However, others from whom we've received feedback have thoroughly been enjoying the cleansing and renewed intimacy with our Father — our heart's desire and intent for all who use these materials!

We're gloriously amazed by the numbers of those whom the Spirit has been drawing to the website to use these resources He's given us. Most of the people are unknown to us but wholly known to our Lord! We hope you'll rejoice with us that over 71,000 files were downloaded from our website this past month. What is especially gratifying is that so much of the feedback we receive is from outside the United States. That's actually no surprise to us. When we were leaving Israel after our stay there in 1993-94 to carry this prophetic message back to the United States, we were warned by our Israeli Christian friends, “You’re going back to the hardest place on earth for this message to be received. Christians there don’t need God and they don’t need each other.” Over the intervening years, their sorrowful words have proven even more true.

Why do we say this? Ever increasingly, the Nicolaitan system of established religion and the individuals who rule it have become an idol unto themselves. Contemporary western church culture is steeped in an organizational framework that mirrors the business style of corporate institutions. What a tragic departure from the biblical pattern of extended spiritual family who fulfill the 54 "one-anothers" as brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. If the called-out ones of Jesus were about His business of strengthening and encouraging one another in His Spirit while they were serving the poor and needy as He did, don't you think that His Kingdom would be reaching more lives?

"Streams of living water" who cling in loving obedient trust to Jesus and live to fulfill God’s purposes on earth get noticed, whether by those who detest His own as "narrow-minded" or those who rejoice to see His Presence as they are His hands and feet and heart. On the other hand, most of the effort in corporate-style religious establishments is devoted to using people’s time, energy and finances to keep the system running. How tragic that Older Testament history has to repeat itself! God's prophet Jeremiah so earnestly warned his contemporaries to heed and obey God’s words and turn away from the soulish gratification of “following the dictates of their own stubborn hearts” (see 13:10). As with today, few had ears to hear...

While we were living in Israel, our Lord warned us that what we’d be sharing would not be readily embraced by those who were satisfied with western religious systems and practices. Only a relative few would recognize the Hebraic foundations as emanating from His Spirit until the “Dark Days of Chastisement” come on the United States. There’s little doubt that these days are soon coming, and may even be commencing as we write!

One of the keen joys as we've served our Lord in a ministry capacity over the years has been to discover others through whom the Spirit is flowing in the same direction. For instance, so often during our 11-year sojourn at a retreat center (1983-93) we'd send out a monthly teaching letter — only to receive one from David Wilkerson a few days later writing on the same theme He'd given us! This situation is repeating itself now, only this time from another source. In Lifebyte 58 we wrote about the dire consequences of loving money (1 Timothy 6:9-10). Right after we sent out that Lifebyte, we read an insightful book by Randy Alcorn entitled, Money, Possessions and Eternity. This book is the most exhaustive biblical understanding of money and wealth we've seen, packed into 500 pages (thankfully indexed and chaptered by topics).

Randy convictingly discusses the follower of Jesus' pilgrimage to salvation and the hindrance to the person who is saddled with an unbiblical view of money and wealth. This is a very user-friendly resource. Just by going to the table of contents you can find specific areas that apply directly to your life. For example: • Are you controlled by materialism? • Do you have a correct biblical view about tithing? • Are you in debt in any form, and is it nullifying your trust in our Lord? • Are you saving for retirement in accordance with God's Word? • Are you a leader in a congregation or ministry, and are you handling the finances according to God's Word?

The key issue is not whether you have a lot of wealth or even a little, but whether your view of it hinders your relationship with our Lord and your obedient trust in Him. Randy makes a strong biblical case that many Christians are heading for hell by permitting money and wealth to become idols which replace God in their lives. So many Christians in this country are tragically unaware that they've done this — and you may be one of these...

You may find the book at your local library or Christian bookstore. Or you can order "Money, Possessions and Eternity" but going to: http://www.epm.org/books/money_possessions_and_eternityDetail.php

Eager to meet each of you at our Lord's coming banquet,
Mike & Sue

 

December 2, 2008

Is Your Life A Balance Of Grace and Truth?
"Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17).

Statistics from these last elections have only confirmed that so many Christians have eliminated obedient trust in the one true God of the Bible as the solution to our nation's problems. This situation appears to be true even for most Evangelicals if you weigh in on those who were cited so often in the news. Who spoke of recognizing God's hand in chastising this nation? None that we heard. Rather, the politically minded among the Evangelical community seemed to pride themselves in promoting their agenda and candidates as the way to solve our problems, "needing a triumph of conservatives over the liberals." We all, of course, now know that didn't happen! Do you think our Sovereign God had a hand in this outcome? Yes, He did!

While the conservative/liberal political battle is at the heart of this nation's differences, this shouldn't be true for followers of Jesus. We need to be for our nation and for the world a balance of truth and grace because our Lord was the complete balance of grace and truth. And, if we are to become like Him in our sanctification, we need to humbly and responsively acquire this same balance at His hand. It's time for followers of Jesus to seriously scrutinize ourselves to see how we are doing in the balance of grace and truth. Why is this essential?

Truth without grace ceases to be truth. It becomes prideful, legalistic, and pharisaical.
Grace without truth becomes nothing more than tolerance for sin. This license to sin deceives people into thinking God is so loving that He has NO righteous standards. Ultimately, hell is nullified so that all are universally given a Pass to heaven.

Balance between grace and truth undergirds the simple statement, "Hate the sin, but love the sinner." By our Father's loving plan and design, every human is made in the image of God. Our Lord Jesus died for each one! But because of our innate sin nature, all of us are destined for hell — unless someone graciously relates to us the life-giving truth about the Covenant our Father offers us through Jesus. Then we can gratefully respond to the Spirit's prompting and receive that loving offer by trust.

How did the earliest Church keep growing despite persecution and suffering? Because people graciously kept sharing the truth about sin, about the hope of the Cross. They kept pointing people to Jesus and to the responsive repentance that turned them away from death. Those who responded turned toward the grace of forgiveness and loving union with the Spirit of Christ.
Tragically, today's "church growth movement", along with many other Christian institutions, disguises grace in false garb, allowing tolerance for sin as no one is called to repent. However, not having tasted the freedom that comes with repentance, countless thousands in the pew have not experienced the grace of forgiveness. Bereft of forgiveness from our Father, many are imprisoned in bitterness and unforgiveness toward others—the pandemic sin of western Christendom.

In the political arena, those who are churched but unforgiven and unforgiving despise their opponents and bad mouth them. But as a Spirit-filled follower of Jesus, you're called to lovingly and graciously share the His truth. Anti-people attitudes and actions have no place in your life!

To experience God's grace is to realize the wonderful extent
of His forgiving mercy toward you when you repent.
His grace also provides all the empowerment
you need to obey His truths.

If you haven't tasted the twin joys of both His grace and His truth, don't go on another day until you do.

You've perhaps been labeled as a "political conservative" just because you follow Jesus. The airwaves have certainly seemed to overflow with evangelicals joyfully claiming both Presidents Bush, Sarah Palin, and even Rush Limbaugh as one of their own! Yet, while each of these four individuals has shown himself or herself to be politically conservative, they acted as biblical liberals by not obeying God's commands. Why would a follower of Jesus want to identify with any of them?

• George H.W. Bush, the Evangelicals' choice, was defeated for his second term by Bill Clinton. You may remember that God told one of the noted prophetic men of our time on the day before the election that He was choosing Bill Clinton because he was "more humble than George Bush." Our God also made known to this prophetic voice the exact wording of specific headlines that would appear in major newspapers throughout the country on the day after the elections. This man mailed a letter detailing this information to key religious leaders on the day before the election.
If you can remember back that far, the senior Bush ignored economic problems in the country and was most known for numerous campaign speeches in which he referred to Clinton as a "bimbo". Not having learned from that sorry example, John McCain, a Senator for 23 years, detailed few specific plans for policy change but overflowed with verbiage berating Barack Obama. Sue and I live among a lot of war veterans, many of whom go all the way back to World War II. These men who had proudly served their country told us they were embarrassed that an older man like themselves, a war veteran, would stoop so low. Early in the campaign, most had been favorably inclined toward Senator McCain. By the end, almost all of them voted for Senator Obama.

• George W. Bush, soon after his election, traveled around the world calling for a war against Saddam Hussein to finish what his father had failed to do in Desert Storm — to fight until the other side surrendered. (You may not be aware that our laws require surrender to end a war. The senior President Bush, however, unilaterally ended the Gulf War. Thus, we're at war again in Iraq.)
During George W. Bush's international travels to gain support for another war, magazines began to call him "The Emperor of the World". All of this support-seeking was going on before 9/11. The President used 9/11 and the false accusation of "Weapons of Mass Destruction" to precipitate a war which has caused the needless deaths of thousands of Americans and British as well as Iraqis.

His term ending in distress and disgrace, the current President sadly will be most remembered for the delayed and insufficient response to Hurricane Katrina, and the thousands of African-Americans who were left starving and dying in New Orleans. If you're not a minority, you probably can't identify with the grievous racial prejudice that was displayed each night on TV during that traumatic time. He never asked them for forgiveness...

• So many at the Republican National Convention were wowed by Sarah Palin, and Evangelicals cheered her candidacy. However, did it cross their (or your) mind that she had abandoned her young family when they so obviously needed a mother at their side? Paul's words are timeless truth for mothers today: "But women will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love and holiness, with self-control" (1 Timothy 2:15). She forfeited her call to raise her children and sought fame in politics. Mrs. Palin may be politically conservative, but to a follower of Jesus her choices reflect a liberal interpretation of biblical truth.

• Rush Limbaugh, though politically conservative, has inspired generations of people to hate their enemies rather than love them and pray for them. The dark attitudes of bitterness and prejudice which Jesus warns His own to cast down are only fanned into greater flame as Mr. Limbaugh uses his nimble tongue as a club.

Please, don't connote political conservatism with biblical conservatism. The former is bent on self-preservation of the status of personal wealth and prestige. It perverts Truth into intolerance of anything that's unlike its goals and ways. Biblical conservatism, however, is bent on self-sacrificial living that seeks justice and mercy for the widows, orphans, poor and needy. A biblical conservative lovingly obeys God's commands and statutes without hesitation because they emanate from the King. Ask yourself if this resonates with your spirit: A true follower of Jesus increasingly manifests the balance of God's grace and truth in their ongoing life journey, and so reflects their Lord Jesus.


The chastisement that is coming on this nation will affect everyone. Find yourself in the cleft of the Rock as you prayerfully and willingly walk in personal and communal righteousness. Political action won't save this nation! Only the righteousness of Christ as His own live to serve and love Him and those He puts in their path can make a difference that will reap eternal results. Unbelievers in this nation desperately need to see the power of God at work in and through His own. When His power is manifested, the fear of God falls on people. And, fearing Him opens eyes, ears and hearts to come before Him in repentance and trust so that forgiveness can cleanse them and new life in Jesus begin. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding" (Proverbs 9:10; see also 2 Corinthians 7:1, Ephesians 5:21).

Pursue the path of personal and communal righteousness so that the chastisement that is coming will find you prepared to stand firm in Jesus as His representative. Please, don't take this warning lightly...

Servants in our most gracious Lord Jesus,
Mike and Sue

 

November 21, 2008

Are You "Democratic"? Is God?

Dear Friends,
The question, "Are you democratic?" isn't intended in the political sense. It's really our way to ask you to closely examine your thinking and response processes. If you live in the United States you've been raised in a democracy. But we'd bet that it's never occurred to you that living in a democracy could be hazardous to your faith! Does this shock you? Well, what we mean is this: Unlike kingdoms or dictatorships, democracies allow you the discretionary freedom to pick and choose.

Now consider your call as one who loves and follows Lord Jesus, a life of immediate obedience to the One in whom you trust. His indwelling Spirit stirs your will to obey and empowers you to follow through (see Philippians 2:13). A "democratic" way of life, on the other hand, caters to personal choices that satisfy your own tastes and preferences. For example, you get to elect the officials who satisfy your preferences. But it's this perceived 'freedom' to pick and choose that may be one of the greatest hindrances to both you living repentantly and serving our Lord's purposes in the Kingdom of God.

You don't get too far into the scriptural text before you realize that our God has spoken commands, laws and statutes which He demands that His people obey without hesitation! And don't deceive yourself into thinking that His commands are confined to the Older Testament and the Jewish people. His loving freedoms and boundaries within the Newer Testament consist of 1,050 commands! The God who has by grace filled those who love and follow His Son has made clear how that loving response is to be lived out. To know His ways is to obey them as did even Abel and Enoch: with a heart that loves to please our heavenly Father (Hebrews 11:4,5). Sadly, though, responsive obedience that follows through immediately is foreign to so many democratic-minded "Christians" in the United States. The motto of much of western Christendom is this: obedience is based on how you feel about it.

There is a certain category of followers of Jesus, however, who in general aren't in bondage to feelings-based obedience — those who have spent time in the military, especially if they've served in wartime. These men and women know what it is to obey orders without hesitation, and that obedience carries over in their lives as "soldiers for Christ". When people who've had military experience read the account of the Centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant (Matthew 8:5-10), they readily understand why Jesus proclaimed, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great trust." Obedience and trust in God are intertwined for those who love their Lord. As with Paul's designation of "soldier" to Timothy, Epaphroditus and Archippus, you can't have one without the other.

Regardless of whether you've served in the military or not, don't allow a "democratic mindset" to sully your obedient response to our Lord. Have you really internalized that when you use the word "Lord", you're proclaiming that He has absolute dominion over you? As LORD, He has the right to command you as His beloved bondservant, and your only acceptable response before Him is to immediately obey. (Out of His great heart of mercy, when we stumble and confess, agreeing with the Spirit that we've sinned and purposing to turn from it, then He does so graciously forgive and cleanse us. But resistance to obey really is SIN from His perspective, and needs to be dealt with accordingly through our repentance!)

Remember, nowhere in His Word is God represented as existing to meet our desires. Jesus is a righteous King who has the privilege to command obedience in the lives of His beloved even as He so graciously empowers us to do so through His abiding Spirit. It's through our loving, obedient trust that He works in and through us to fulfill His Kingdom purposes.

 

Are You Immediately Obedient To Our Lord's Commands?
Or, Are You A Democratic Thinker?

Forgiving Others: A Kingdom Requirement
A most blatant area in which democratic thinking deceives those who call themselves "Christian" into thinking they're OK with God involves bitterness and unforgiveness. Christian counseling in general takes a psychological view about forgiving others. In other words, whether you choose to forgive someone is based on how you feel about it and whether you think they deserve it. Kingdom obedience, however, calls you through the Spirit to forgive regardless of how you feel. When you purpose out of your trusting obedience to your Lord to forgive, then HE brings about the healing for whatever offense has hurt you.

The sin of ongoing unforgiveness has pointed countless thousands within Christendom toward the path to hell. What arrogant pride to think that YOU are forgiven a multitude of sins that you've willfully committed against a holy and righteous God when you are setting yourself up like God to WITHHOLD forgiveness from another person! That's like saying you've only committed a "mote" of sin against God when some other person (from your point of view) has committed a "log" of offense against you. Can you recognize how arrogant and ungrateful your  unforgiveness is? Forgiving others is one of our Father's stipulations for walking in Covenant union with us: "If you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins" (Matthew 6:15). If you aren't forgiven by our Father, how can you expect to enter His Presence in heaven? You can't!!!

The most common type of unforgiveness that we've encountered as we've been in contact with thousands over the years is the bitterness they hold against one or both parents. This prideful form of unforgiveness is pandemic among those who call themselves "Christian". And tragically, unforgiveness toward parents is the number one besetting sin among clergy, so you can be sure that it's a topic that's not being addressed to their congregations! Just think: If leadership made sure they themselves were free from unforgiveness, what impact they could make on those whom they could then exhort and admonish in Christ! Forgiveness in loving obedience to our Lord would become non-optional, calling for those who gather in Jesus' name to forgive their parents (and others) or face excommunication so that tolerated sin would not defile the spiritual family. Don't you think that if that occurred, there would be many more authentic testimonies of salvation among those who think they're "Christian" but intentionally violate Christ's commands? Keep in mind that it's inside church walls that people need to be saved as well as outside!

Let's consider another far-reaching command from our all-wise Father who establishes commands for His purposes on behalf of those He calls out as His own. The directive to honor parents is repeated at least 8 times in the Scriptures. As with all of the "holy, righteous and good" commands of our God (Romans 7:12), this one is for our benefit and even promises a blessing as we obey it! "'Honor your father and mother'—which is the first commandment with a promise—that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth" (Ephesians 6:2,3).

Are you inadvertently hindering someone else's obedience to this fruitful command? You are if you listen to someone's embittered tale about their parent(s) and commiserate with their bitterness, especially if you've been let down by your own parents and refused to forgive them. No matter how well-meaning you think you are, in God's sight you are acting as Satan's emissary to keep that person from heaven. You're not only refusing to confront them with their sinful unforgiveness, you're tacitly encouraging them to continue in it!

Forgiveness is one of the keys to authentic salvation (and we stress authentic because so many have given way to a counterfeit gospel in which they've acknowledged particular verses, repeated a prayer, and then been declared "saved" — yet are living in a way that brings down the name of Jesus). If you entertain slander against someone's parents when you're only hearing one-sided information, you're steering them away from a heavenly welcome and encouraging them to press on in pride — a condition that our Father declares He opposes (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5). Doesn't that grieve you?? Enough to confront the bitter so that they might respond in obedience to the Spirit and repent?

• If you're holding on to bitterness (unforgiveness) toward anyone, forgive them because you are commanded to by a holy Lord who will forgive you.
• Next, contact that person and ask forgiveness for your sinful attitude toward them that has kept you from being a blessing to them. (You're commanded to forgive them in your heart, but you're asking them for forgiveness for your unloving attitude.)
• And, continue to pray for God's blessing on them.
• As you walk in this biblical process of obedient trust, our Lord Jesus will heal your emotions.

Using Your Discretionary Time For Kingdom Purposes
• How are you using your time to serve the Lord you love?
• Would He commend you or rebuke you?
In our Lord's sight, even the time we're each allotted every day is purposeful for His use. "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers" (Galatians 6:10); "Make the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:16).

We prepared a chart in our Teaching E-mail 18. Our Gift To You (December 13, 2005) to help you see how you render account to God in terms of using your time effectively. To return to our initial topic, democracies provide for a greater amount of discretion, both in time and opportunity, for you to choose what you want to do. Pleasure and comfort are high among most people's priorities, even in these times of economic stress. You want to maintain a certain level of comfort and enjoy a certain amount of personal recreational time. Most even within western Christendom put their own self-satisfaction first, while the interests of our Lord are secondary.

Discretionary time is that portion of your day when you have a chance to choose what you want to do. Included in this time might be reading, watching TV, taking a walk or nap, Bible study, sports, etc. How do you use your discretionary time? Is it to directly bless others, such as through intercessory prayer, calling someone to encourage them, visiting widows, volunteering in some way to help others? Or do you use it as "Bless Me Time", choosing to do something solely for yourself without concern for others? Please fill in the chart so that you can see how Kingdom-minded you are in the use of your time. Then prayerfully seek our Lord's input for ways in which you could bless others and bring joy to them, yourself, and your God.

Using Your Income and Wealth For Kingdom Purposes
"This is my money!" This attitude is the heart refrain of idolatry of so many within western Christendom. This self-indulgent mindset is your rationalization to buy things that are commensurate with your income (and even beyond. Witness the average $10,000 credit card debt of every person in the US.) The wealthier you are, the more expensive the material possessions you're able to justify. And you don't have to be among the "very rich" to do this! It's a personal frame of reference that stirs you to keep reaching for more and better and newer.

You probably don't see yourself as an "idolater", someone in a category whom our Lord must chastise according to His righteous character. That's why all those warnings and examples permeate the Hebrew Scripture — so we'll learn from them and walk instead in obedient trust rather than in compromised self-service (1 Corinthians 10:6,11!)

Our God commands you to be a steward over what you have, not an owner. He expects you to hold your wealth with open hands, to be used as our Lord Jesus directs. The world teaches and models otherwise: "I made this money, so I can use it as I want" (Religious compromise whispers that if you give your 10% tithe, the rest is YOURS. Not so! It ALL comes from the hand of the Gracious Provider to be used as HE wills it!)

Even your job has been given you by the Sovereign Father Who opens and closes doors according to His good will and purpose. Therefore this warning from ancient days addresses the inner pride of each of us if we think we're the ones who provided whatever resources we have: "You may say to yourself, 'My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.' But remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms His covenant, which He swore to your forefathers, as it is today" (Deuteronomy 8:17,18). It is God who enables you to acquire resources — sometimes in very creative ways! It is He who wants to direct you how to effectively use a portion of what He's given you to advance His Kingdom.

In order to do this you need open hands and a heart that responds to His prompting. Putting your trust in your savings, your ability to work, even your confidence that YOU are safe from the economic woes of others is idolatry — a spiritually adulterous love that's the root of all kinds of evil. That road only leads downhill as far as your walk in Jesus goes. The greed behind that love can tempt you to stray from your faith, piercing yourself through with many sorrows (1Timothy 6:10).

If you find that you fear what is happening in this economy, it's because you refused to be a steward over the wealth the Lord has given you (and compared to 95% of the world, each of us is wealthy!). You were stingy with that with which He entrusted you as a steward, and He is treating you just as He forewarned: "A stingy man is eager to get rich and is unaware that poverty awaits him" (Proverbs 28:22). Don't cling to that which you can see and touch. It's fleeting anyway, and the tighter you try to hold onto it, the darker your spirit will grow. "The lamp of your body is the eye. When you have a ‘good eye,’ [that is, when you are generous,] your whole body is full of light; but when you have an ‘evil eye,’ [when you are stingy,] your body is full of darkness" (Luke 11:34; see also James 2:14-26, 1 John 3:17).

Take a close inventory of all that you own. Was it our Lord's intent that you lavish yourself with that which He entrusted you? Or, were those purchases induced because your fleshly self was whispering, "I deserve this. I work hard. This is MINE!"

If you have been open handed with your wealth as a loving and obedient steward in the Kingdom, you have no need to fear. If you've remained free from the love of your money, our Lord's sustaining Presence is all you need according to His wonderful promises: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5b).

Call to mind again this truth that emphasizes the unity and fellowship of those who follow Lord Jesus with all their heart, soul, mind and strength — particularly those who have little besides their life-sustaining trust in God's faithfulness:

"Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people,
especially to those who belong to the family of believers" (Galatians 6:10)

Before You Purchase Your 'Wants', Give To Someone Else's Needs

Around the world, family members of those who've been martyred for their loving trust in Lord Jesus live in dreadful persecution and poverty. Most are not able to gain or keep jobs because of that trust. Some are sold into slavery, abused and violated. Voice of the Martyrs has set up a "Families of the Martyrs Fund" to provide greatly needed food and clothing, Bibles, and job training equipment such as sewing machines to encourage and strengthen and comfort our faithful family in Jesus. This day, before you even think of indulging yourself or those who have so little need for what you'd normally buy, please call VOM at 1-800-747-0085 and ask how to share a gift with the Families of Martyrs. Please, help someone in need as if you yourself or a beloved family member were suffering for His Name.

If you yearn to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, you can't live "democratically", picking and choosing which parts of His Word you'll obey and which you'll disregard. That is NOT the pathway to a heavenly welcome, but a counterfeit that straddles the world. Consider this truth with an awesome regard for Who He is: If our Lord isn't LORD of you and what you do, He isn't Lord AT ALL for you. Is your reluctance to obey Him with a heart of obedient trust the picture of Him that you want to present to those around you? Is that the picture you want HIM to see?

Please, don't mingle democracy with loving, trusting obedience.
Mike & Sue

 

November 17, 2008

"[Western Christendom] has not obeyed His voice, she has not received correction.
She has not trusted in the LORD, she has not drawn near to her God" (Zephaniah 3:2).

If you've read Lifebyte 59 then you've seen how God used me to confront sin among a number of leaders in a variety of Christian institutions. The tendency for many (perhaps you're among them) is to make an idol out of Christian institutions, and even the government for that matter. Don't be too quick to deny this! How often have you found yourself looking horizontally for others to meet your needs rather than crying out to your Father in trust for HIS answer and intervention? The same God Who used 10 plagues to confront the gods of Egypt is confronting the "gods" in which so many "Christians" have placed their trust: riches and religion. In other words, your idolatry may be shaping up as counting on the government to ensure your financial security and to your clergy to convince you that you're okay with God.

Consider this: Ever since the New Deal was established during the Depression in the 1930s, government policy has been robbing generations of children and grandchildren in order to provide the lifestyle to which you've become accustomed. Even now as the Treasury prints up more and more money for "bailouts", who do you think is going to pay for your greedy, self-gratifying lifestyle if you're among those who have given way to self-indulgence? Have you subconsciously presumed that some sort of "safety net" will be there when you've overextended your wants and now can't meet your needs?

Are you grieved to discover that your clergy leadership are as anxious and fearful as you are, trying to sustain their own position and finance all the programs and building costs? Their fear keeps them from confronting biblical sin and preaching repentance because that might offend those who give and turn off the financial supply. 

This nation needs to see the power of God at work among those who claim to be His! In Lifebyte 60 we'll pursue this in depth because where the power of God is manifested among His people who love and trust Him with all their being, the fear of Him falls on everyone.

An anecdote from my past captures the complacent blindness I see today among so many Christians:
My first assignment off Vietnam was flying cargo and ammunition from a supply ship off the coast to resupply the “gunline”— a group of destroyers off North Vietnam tasked with halting the flow of enemy supplies to the south. Late one afternoon I hovered my helicopter over the gun mount of a destroyer as it was firing its guns beneath me. The ship had run out of ammunition, and as fast as I was delivering it, they were firing it. Several days later as I entered the wardroom of our supply ship, the other officers congratulated me. My helicopter, with our ship’s name on it, had made the front page of Stars and Stripes newspaper. Someone had taken a picture of it as I'd hovered over that destroyer.

When I saw that picture I was livid! Forgetting Navy regs I berated the astonished officers with choice ‘Navy phraseology.’ In cleaned-up parlance my words went something like this: “You men are out here safe and secure on this ship, feeling like you’re doing your best for the war. Let me tell you the truth. I have to hover off the back of your flight deck waiting 10 minutes or more for the next load of ammo to be ready. That’s because you don’t see the men dying in the foxholes down south. You don’t feel the sorrow of their families when they receive the death notice. Those destroyers are running out of ammunition because of you! Vietcong supplies are getting south because of you! And you are killing our own men!”

The commander of the supply department quickly escorted me out of the wardroom. In the passageway he said, “What you did in there was wrong, but what you said was absolutely correct.” He asked me to accompany him down to the cargo holds. That day we redefined how cargo was moved aboard that ship. In one day we increased our speed of delivery from 9 tons an hour to 126 tons. Our new motto became: “No one dies because we didn’t care.”
Until the larger purpose of that supply ship had been clarified, the officers carried out their duties with a goal no larger than their own comfort and safety. Many of God’s people live with this same myopic view of their Christian lives. They don't feel the burden of a loving God who desires the salvation of ALL mankind, nor do they grieve with Him over their loss.

"But if the watchman sees the sword coming
and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people
and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them,
that man will be taken away because of his sin,
but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood" (Ezekiel 33:6).

You've probably been indoctrinated since youth to put your trust in institutions—institutions whose purported goal is to help make your life better. This parameter is how you measure their effectiveness—in what they do on your behalf.
In the religious arena, the efforts of the congregational leadership can provide the guise of success even where the vitality of Jesus isn’t real. That’s what is so deceptive about it. You think their efforts are pleasing God because of all the activities and programs they manage. Yet, beneath the programs and social entertainment lies an emptiness that you won't admit. Confidence in institutionalism deceives you into feeling good about yourself even if it has nothing to do with obeying God's will or having an intimate relationship with Him as Lord of your life.
A dear friend was preaching in England a few years ago when he asked the congregation this: “If Jesus Christ were dead, how long would you keep on doing what you are doing?” The people were convicted as they realized and admitted that everything would go on just as it had. The institution provided all that they needed or wanted to meet their social and religious needs. Is this true for you?

"When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you TROUBLER of Israel?"
(1 Kings 18:17).

As with Jesus, all who are called by God to speak prophetically for Him are troublers to the religious and government leaders who are concerned only with perpetuating and maintaining their system. Again, the god of ALL religion is Satan no matter what label is attached to it. Religion sets its own way of trying to reach their god. But the God of the Bible is the God of intimate relationship Who reaches out to set apart by love those who embrace His Covenant. The God of His Word is the God of purpose who has called you out of the world's ways to love Him and serve Him by your obedient responsiveness to His Spirit. And the particular work to which He has called you as part of His body is Kingdom work as a "living sacrifice" (see Ephesians 2:10; Romans 12:1 for example).

In Lifebyte 59 I detail why I was called the "enema" by so many who refused to repent. I needed those many years of refinement BEFORE our Lord could entrust Sue and me with the message of the Hebraic Restoration. If you embrace these scriptural truths that out of His grace He is again making clear, you WILL receive a prophet's reward (Matthew 10:41). You will be refined until the character and motivation of Jesus compels you to represent Him to the world in the way His whole Word portrays Him.
That depth of intimate trust and reliance thrusts behind you any dependence on crowds of others in religious establishments who ignore one another's compromise with the world's values and fears and activities. Instead, you'll hunger for and find solace in every divine encounter with the Spirit of Jesus within you.

"The prophet, along with my God, is the watchman...,
yet snares await him on all his paths,
and hostility in the house of his God" (Hosea 9:8).

If you're putting into practice the Hebraic foundations, then you're being recruited as a prophetic voice in these days of chastisement. Don't let your voice be stilled! The ones who will oppose you the most are those who call themselves "Christian" yet by entertaining unconfessed sin are used by Satan to attack authentic followers of Jesus (see 2 Timothy 2:25,26).
Let them attack, because the Bible forewarns this will occur. But He has called His servants to be humble before Him, knowing that each of us too was at one time similarly compromised. Don't despise anyone! Even your attacker is made in the image of God, and our Lord died for them as well.

However, this next point is crucial, as your children and others close to you are observing and will be influenced by your decision. Don't remain in fellowship with those who embrace darkness and refuse to walk in the light, for that's not the kind of fellowship that God is calling for (1 John 1:5-7). Our Father is calling for those with ears to hear to follow through in obedient trust in Him and heed His command: “Therefore come out from them and be separate. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you” (2 Corinthians 6:17).
Go find those who have ears to hear! "I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest" (John 4:35). Don't exchange being one of our Lord's available and prepared harvesters just so you can enjoy complacent fellowship with the unrepentant. Flee the darkness of religion and its self-gratification so you can be about our Master's business—the salvation of mankind!

Be a prophetic voice to rescue as many as will hear.
Mike & Sue

 

November 13, 2008

Are You REALLY in Fellowship With Our Father and His Son Jesus?
Sadly, So Many Are Deluded...

If you've read our last e-mail and Lifebyte 58. Will You Be Among Those Our Lord Chastises? (Part 1), then you're aware that our Lord has commanded us to help followers of Jesus live repentantly. As we've earnestly sought His heart in prayer, the seriousness of the revelations the Spirit of Jesus has been giving us are overwhelming. That's why we must begin this e-mail with this sober warning:

Few who are reading this e-mail are in fellowship with the Father and Jesus
according to the parameters of His Word.

Our Lord is grieved far more than an unrepentant heart can understand. You may be of the understanding that our God is above "feelings". Yet how He mourned when His beloved people of Jerusalem and Judea chose to compromise their faith with spiritual adultery and intentional sin:
"I was crushed by their adulterous heart which has departed from Me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols; they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations" (Ezekiel 6:9). Our Lord's heart was broken that His people had deliberately chosen other gods and other priorities instead of Him as their chief and foremost love. They pursued their own strange religion by adapting pagan beliefs and customs that violated God and His ways and commands. As well, their eyes yearned with covetousness for that which was so desired by the evil nations around them.

COMPROMISE with the world is an abomination to our Great God and King! And don't be deceived with complacent thoughts that YOU'LL never depart from Jesus as Lord of your life if your own heart and eyes stray. The writer to the Hebrews addressed throughout his letter those whom he called "holy brothers, partakers of the heavenly calling" (3:1). Yet this man is all too aware that walking in Jesus as Lord and High Priest is a lifelong pressing on in the hope and confidence that He avails His "house", His people (3:6). Three exhortations jump out in this very important chapter to encourage each person and each faith family to help one another stay on His path to avoid the "deceitfulness of sin" (3:13): 1) Christ is a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end (3:6). 2) Beware, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God (3:12). 3) For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end (3:14). 

Would you say that you have even a glimmer of love for Lord Jesus? If so, please don't take lightly what our Lord is giving us to share with you. Most of it concerns your relationship with Him! As the most recent series of Lifebytes the Lord is giving us to share with you will testify, HE IS HURT. HE GRIEVES FOR HIS PEOPLE! It's not so much over what this nation has done as how you as His purported child defame Him by tolerating sin in your life. Are you among those who are bringing down the name of Lord Jesus? Are YOU a factor in why chastisement will be coming on this whole nation?

So very few contemporary congregations address the tragedy of sin among those who bear His Name. At our Lord's prompting, future Lifebytes will reveal the range of tolerated sin that has become so acceptable within western Christendom — and within perhaps YOUR life in particular. But for now, please realize that where you misplace your trust and confidence and how you align with the world's values and goals are the sins that the vast majority of "Christians" in this nation have in common.

Have you positioned yourself as one of His own based on something you agreed with or did years ago? Yet are you currently unwilling (or unable) to live as one of His "called-out ones" — the true meaning of the word "church"? To be His church, inhabited and empowered by His wondrous Spirit, means this:

You have accepted our Lord's call and power
to live with such love-grounded, trusting obedience
and with such separation from the world's ways
that the world system hates you.

Didn't our Lord guarantee this parameter to ALL His called-out ones? "If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you" (John 15:19). Does those who are controlled by Satan hate you? Do you hate the ways of the world?

As our Lord begins to increasingly chastise this nation, please be careful and alert that you haven't given way to two misplaced confidences:
(1) In government programs and policies rather than pursuing a path of repentance.
(2) That you feel affirmed because you sit in a pew alongside others who are unrepentant—those who have no regard for communal righteousness.

If your confidence lies in either of these arenas, then your identity as the family of Jesus is nonexistent. Your decision for personal and communal unrighteousness is why chastisement is coming. And, worse is yet to come. Our Lord is combating the 'god-likeness' with which many self-acclaimed "Christians" treat their government in times of trouble, desperately hoping that answers to their distress will come forth from elected officials. And, our Lord wars against Satan's counterfeit Christianity, a man-made and man-centered religion that condones and excuses unrepentance among Christians.

Have you chosen to live apart from the holy and righteous ways that our God has made clear in His Word to bring Him honor and praise? Then you have categorized yourself with the "lawless": "The man of lawlessness... will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God" (2 Thessalonians 2:3,4). Consider that "God's temple" may likely be you and the collective body of those who have departed from authentic relationship with Lord Jesus, the One Who built His "house"! He is against the lawless spiritual adultery of those who bring His name down and those among clergy leadership who indulge the sins of people rather than bringing forth God's perspective on their iniquity.

Note how determined this body of called-out followers of Jesus was to have a clear conscience. They yearned to enjoy continued fellowship with Lord Jesus as well as live in such a way that others would respond to His Spirit: " For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter" (2 Corinthians 7:11).

• Do you have this same intensity to walk free of sin through ongoing confession and repentance?
• If you aren't this intense, please get on your knees and cry out to the Living God for a heart that beats in time with His and grieves over disrupted fellowship with Him.
• Do those with whom you fellowship yearn with intensity to walk in His holiness, wholly available to respond to His Spirit within?
• If those with whom you "fellowship" turn against you for your loving joy and eagerness to delight our Lord in your obedient trust, don't stick around! They don't yet have "ears to hear" or hearts ready to understand. Pursue communal righteousness within your family and extended spiritual family no matter what it costs you. The responsive joy of your heavenly Father will be worth it!

 

Before You Buy A Christmas Present...

Please, before you doing anything in preparation for the worldly, self-focused, paganized holiday called "Christmas" in this country; before you join hosts of others in the greed-bent, sinful example you're setting for both your children and those who have yet to encounter Jesus as Lord; please consider what we have to say.

Be certain through His Spirit and His Word that you and those you love truly belong to our Lord. As fast as you can, we encourage you to read the novel "Safely Home" by Randy Alcorn. Prayerfully scrutinize your own life in light of this bold contrast between those who practice Christian religion and those who are clinging in love to their wondrous King in spite of the ultimate cost.
At the same time, you may find yourself convicted that much of what has been considered acceptable in American Christendom has little to do with a love of and for Christ Jesus that propels His authentic followers to risk all for His Name's sake. You can purchase a copy online by going to: <http://stores.epmstore.org/Detail.bok?no=144> .

NOW is the time to be absolutely sure you're not deceived into thinking that compromise with the world's ways is okay with God. He's eager and delighted to forgive you when you truly repent, but do you really know what you need to repent of? He's made clear to a number of people, including the two of us, that which is abhorrent in those who call themselves by His Name. We'll be sharing these insights in forthcoming Lifebytes.

Before You Purchase Your 'Wants',
Give To Someone Else's Needs

Around the world, family members of those who've been martyred for their loving trust in Lord Jesus live in dreadful persecution. Most are not able to gain or keep jobs because of that trust. Some are sold into slavery, abused and violated. Voice of the Martyrs has set up "Families of the Martyrs Fund" to provide greatly needed daily goods, Bibles, job training equipment such as sewing machines — that which will encourage and strengthen and comfort our faithful family in Jesus. Today, before you even think of indulging yourself or those who have so little need for what you'd normally buy, call VOM at 1-800-747-0085 and ask how to share a gift with the Families of Martyrs. Please, help someone who is in need as if you yourself or a beloved family member was suffering for His Name.

[As we've done previously, we are offering as many free copies of our pamphlet Prodigal Church to you for making any size gift to Voice of the Martyrs. Just e-mail us your snail mail address and tell us how many copies you would like and can use].

"For by the grace given us we say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you" (Romans 12:3).

Your servants that we may all live repentantly,
Mike & Sue

 

November 5, 2008

“Help My people to live repentantly.
If they have ANY unconfessed sin,
then they have NO fellowship with Me or My Father.
Repentance is the glue that binds the heart of those
who call themselves “Christian” to Me and My Father.
If they choose to live without repenting, they have no part of Us.
Show them the deceit of living with unconfessed sin yet claiming to be in Me.”

Dear Friends,
The above command was recently imprinted on my spirit by our Lord. I had been spending several weeks seeking guidance as to what Sue and I can do to help prepare His followers for the dark days of chastisement that are coming on this nation. You're probably aware that we don’t have an economic problem in this country — we have spiritual problem. Grievously, it's the lukewarm, the in-name-only kind of Christians, who are precipitating this chastisement. Why? Because of the pandemic number of those who identify themselves as belonging to Christ but habitually live with unconfessed sin.

We've stated this before but it bears repeating:

If you have unconfessed sin in your life,
you have NO fellowship with the Father or His Son, Jesus.
In fact, ALL your prayers go unanswered.
This truth is found throughout the Word of God,
yet it seems to concern few who call themselves "Christian".

The Spirit has been guiding us to prepare a series of Lifebytes to help those of you who desire to live repentantly and redemptively The first, Lifebyte 58. Do You Want To Be Chastised By Our Lord? (Part 1) <read> <download>, is available. It's time for us who follow Jesus out of grateful love for Him and pursue righteousness in reliance on His Spirit to be diligent and militant about our Lord's unchanging command:

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves,
and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land”
(2 Chronicles 7:14).

No organization like the Moral Majority of years past is needed for this to come about. The above passage was their clarion call until Ronald Reagan invited Jerry Falwell to the White House; then it all turned political.  What's needed, however, are repentant people who are earnestly praying so that our God, in answer to the prayers of the righteous, will bring this nation to its knees in repentance. Repentance — the key to our Lord delivering us from our stubborn, weak-willed selves. Just read the Book of Judges, which our God made sure was written so that we today would recognize both His unchanging character as well as the disobedient tendencies of our forefathers. No political election is going to change things. The principality that controls this nation, and so much of contemporary Christendom, is "DECEIT".

Deceit is the heart of Satan's character. Jesus tells us plainly, "When [Satan] lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44). The Bible makes clear that all the governments of the earth belong to Satan. So why would any Christian place his trust in a government no matter what its policies and promises?

This nation is in the midst of a spiritual crisis. Only the prayers of righteous people can make any difference. The Lord was willing to spare Sodom if 10 righteous people could be found (Genesis 18:32). We don't know what number of righteous people are needed to perhaps avert the coming chastisement. But we urge you, according to the love in you for Jesus, to consider how critical righteousness is in the face of such overwhelming evil in this nation:

"The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Elijah was a man just like [you and me].
He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, a
nd it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. A
gain he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops"
(James 5:16-18).

Our Father gave ALL His children this passage of Scripture to encourage us in our prayers. Righteousness is manifested in two forms: our imputed covering in Christ and our living in love-grounded obedient trust that evidences His Spirit within. Knowing that before our holy God you have no unconfessed sin makes it possible for great things to happen! Join us in determining to live repentantly and praying earnestly for this nation and those who are in authority over it. Our Lord can accomplish in response to prayer that which no human endeavor can no matter how good it seems. Prayerfully go through these series of Lifebytes on repentance. Be squeaky clean before our God as you pray and watch what He can do to heal this land.

A last comment:
If you've read our Hebraic Article, I Hate Nicolaitanism, than you know that you must flee the Nicolaitan religious establishment if you’re to live according to God’s requirement for communal righteousness. Be certain that others with whom you plan to fellowship are in fellowship with our Lord BEFORE you choose to fellowship with them. Remember, "fellowship" assumes that our Lord is present in your gathering and that His purposes are being accomplished. While social outreach and interaction with those who have yet to walk in Jesus as Lord is a needful responsibility and privilege, it isn't "fellowship"!.

Take seriously Paul’s warning to Timothy about those who love pleasure rather than loving God (2 Timothy 3:4,5). The people to whom he's referring aren’t “pagans”! These are folks who have a form of godliness; they may even live piously and practice religious activities. However, as Paul notes, they deny the power that’s needed to live in true godliness — the power that only the indwelling Spirit of Jesus can give.
Paul leaves no room for doubt in his command regarding spiritual counterfeits: “Turn away from these. Have nothing to do with them!” (3:5). Their compromise will taint your own faith walk and tempt you to compromise as well. Thus is the name of Jesus brought down among those who observe you.

You know if living repentantly isn’t emphasized and upheld in your faith community. Disregard for communal righteousness is both unedifying as well as sinful for you and your family. Either abide by Matthew 18:15-20 and remove the unrepentant, or get out yourself!

Eager to help our Father's children live repentantly,
Mike & Sue

 

June 28, 2006

“These truths will not bear fruit until the ‘Dark Days of Chastisement’ come upon the United States... The children of today will not become grandparents before I chastise the United States... When a woman becomes President, it will be a sign that all this is about to happen... When the chastisement is over, 50 million people will be dead.... At this time, continue to share the Hebraic foundations. When these things take place, more hearts will be responsive.”

Our ministry is threefold:
1.To share the Hebraic foundations.
2.To lead in a manner that keeps institutionalism out. Our Lord made clear we were to never let this ministry develop so that we have a staff to manage; there’s justthe two of us.
3.To contend for Jesus in the midst of so many who call themselves “Christian” but serve anti- Christ purposes.