Monthly Archives: January 2009

AND?

What are you doing now? What doors is GOD opening for you (not self opened doors like a blog… anyone can have a blog?)

Examples…. how has God changed you in those 17 years?

No really… I am interested. (rebuildingruins commenting here.)

Thirteen years ago, on my birthday and one month before meeting Honey, I sat down at my table with a legal pad, pen and Bible. I drew a line down the middle of a page, from the top to its bottom.

My plan was to write all of my accomplishments on one side of the page, and my failures on the other. Sort of a balance sheet for my first half-century of life.

After fifteen or twenty minutes, I quit. I saw no accomplishments for the dreams the Lord had given me as a young Christian. None. I only saw my failures and false starts.

What a birthday bummer!

So, I checked out the Bible and other books, hoping to discover men who accomplished things for the Lord after their 50th birthday.

Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Caleb and Job were late bloomers extraordinaire. All were over eighty when they finally kicked it into gear. And what about Simeon and Anna? Then, there was the apostle John on the Isle of Patmos. And also, Smith Wigglesworth and Grandma Moses.

You see, the Lord does not ignore late blooming geezers like me.

Maybe all of my accomplishments for the last seventeen years – at best – can be summed up in my blogging. And of course, you’re right, anyone can blog which can be ascertained by the 163,702 different WordPress Blogs.

But I have not finished the race, yet; and I’m still out on the course, chugging along.

So, what has the Lord changed in me over the last seventeen years? I now have endurance, oodles of it.

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. (James 1:2-3)

In my vision, I was walking through the countryside. It was a beautiful, sunny day, no clouds in the sky. The countryside was filled with green trees, rippling books and rolling hills. As I walked, I heard voices saying, “Hey, come to our church. We are free. We are truly free.”

I turned to look toward the direction of the voices.  They were coming from a dark, dingy cave with bars covering the entrance of the cave. Hands were sticking through the openings between the bars, waving at me, trying to get my attention.

I thought to myself, how can this be. These people are in a dark, dingy cave and I’m out here in this beautiful light, enjoying myself, and they think that they are free. How can they be so deceived? (Spoken by Roberts Liardon in the early 1990’s.)

For about four years, I was a part of a dark, dingy cave, much like the one Liardon described in his vision. It’s not that we did not pray; we had a morning intercessory prayer meeting which met for three and a half years – every morning. It ‘s not that we did not fast; a twice a week deal. It’s not that we did not study the word; we did. It’s not that we did not walk in the charismatic gifts; we excelled in them. We danced. We sang the latest worship songs. And we loved Israel and celebrated Shabats on special Friday nights.

And yet, it was  a prison with a steeple on the roof.

How could this be?

The number one reason was the so-called  “covering and accountability” teachings. Under this teaching, a person like me had to have a covering (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher) over him that watched over him, corrected him, checked him out, and supposedly kept him in the right timings of God. The coverings would know when I was ready to be used by God. It was up to them to hear God’s voice for my life.

My duty was to submit and be accountable to my coverings (pastors). After all, they were God’s servants, placed over me. To do anything less, would have been an act of rebellion on my part.

So what happened?

A woman in another town spent weeks fasting and praying for my deliverance. Eventually, my eyes were opened and I left the church?

What did my coverings (pastors) say when I told them? “You are out of the will of God and God will never use you again. Don’t leave.”

That was seventeen years ago.

Martin Luther nailed his 95 Thesis to the All Saints Church in Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31, 1517.  His biggest complaint was the selling of indulgences to free people from Purgatory. A popular Catholic saying was, “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from Purgatory springs.”

Luther’s 95 Thesis was quickly translated from Latin into German. In two weeks time, the thesis spread throughout Germany. And within two months, it had spread throughout Europe. Most everybody in the church world heard about Luther’s 95 Thesis.

So, what do you think many people were thinking and saying? Probably something like this: “You know, this guy Luther has some good points, don’t you think? But, you know, he’s wrong about my church and my priest. Father O’Who is a godly man who cares for us sheep.”

And yet, the people in every church, with good priests or bad ones, were in deep bondage to a church system. The people had no voice. No significance. No chance to speak what was in their hearts during a church service. No fellowship during the fellowship service. At best, they were bumps on a log waiting for the head frog to croak out a sermon of sorts. And to top it off, the bumps on the log had to pay for the church, for the clergy, and for everything.

Thank God for Martin Luther. Thank God for Calvin. Thank God for Zwingli. Thank God for the revelation that “we are saved by grace through faith” and not through our works or church affiliation. But there’s more!

There’s the royal priesthood of believers, a chosen generation, a holy nation, His own special people (1Peter 2:9). And there is the “perfect man” status (Ephesians 4:13).

And the royal priesthood and the perfect man will never be achieved in the traditional church system with a built-in separation between the clergy and the lay people.

We need new wineskins!

Now and then, I receive a comment on my  So, What’s The Lord Saying Or Doing daily posts that touches me in one way or another. But the comment by francisdrakeprivateer on 1/1/2009 knocked my socks off. Read it for yourself:

“The church is an institution that satan has set up to prevent christians doing the work of the Lord.”

This is a prophetic word that the Lord gave me about 10 years ago at a spirit filled meeting of christian businessmen. I was simply asked by a friend for a definition of the church, and these words came out of my mouth. I was as shocked as he was to hear it with such clarity, but we both instantly knew that it was the rhema word of the Lord.

Whenever I mention it now, the response is either anger and offense, or a recognition of what the words actually say.

The clue is in the word “institution”. Sadly this includes virtually all churches. The church of Jesus Christ was an organism. It has been converted into an institutional organisation with an earthly system of heirarchical government. This gives rise to the idolatry of, “I must depend on (or obey) my pastor”. This attitude cuts us off from clear hearing of what the Lord calls us to do.

There is no biblical precedent to expect one man to give direction to a whole load of other believers as to what they are personally called by God to do.
Placing another man between us and God is abdication and the spirit of antichrist.
Anti christ means “another anointed”. Another very telling word for pastor is “vicar,” still used in many churches. This word is quite open about its meaning, “substitute”. The pastor or vicar is a substitute for God.

Therefore this Satan inspired institution has been highly successful at emasculating the saints.

So, what are your thoughts on francisdrakeprivateer’s words?