Looking back at the 2008 Elections, I really did not think the Lord would have us Christians fighting a two-front war.
Now, by using the phrase two-front war, I’m not referring to its normal usage: warfare taking place simultaneously at two geographical positions. This strategic maneuver forces a combatant to split its armies, and thus reduces its odds of success.
But instead, I was referring to a two-front spiritual war. On the one front fighting us Christians are Satan and his forces.
Who do you think is backing the Islamic jihadists? Whose backing the homosexual agenda? Or abortion? Or national debt? Or illegal aliens? Or the dumbing-down of our children by school systems?
Hello! Is anyone home? Satan is behind these attacks.
Okay, so why do you think Satan has boldly gone on the offense against America? Maybe, he has inside info, right? What is it?
Satan knows that God is opposing America on a second front. That’s right! We Christians are caught in a cross-fire between Satan who hates us and God who loves us.
And guess what?
Though it looks like we believers should mount all-out efforts against Islamic terrorism, homosexuality, abortion, illegal aliens, national debt and the dumbing-down of our children by school systems, we better drop everything and seek God.
We need to know why God is opposing us. Is it our national sins? Or corporate church sins? Or personal sins?
If we Christians don’t find out the answers to why God is opposing America, our nation is doomed. Period.
Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. (Isaiah 55:6)
Swimming Upstream appears at this blog site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s a little of this and a little of that, all written to encourage and exhort believers in their Christian journeys.
Larry Who 
Three corporate church and personal sins we all struggle with are apathy, lethargy and compromise.
These in part are fed by our federal government-welfare state. You know, let the government handle the problem, not us Christians.
But also we prophetic Christians have bought into apathy and lethargy by our constant prophesying and believing that God is going to send America a gigantic revival. Or as some call it, the End Time Harvest Revival. So, what do we do? Wait and pray for “THE REVIVAL”. Just wait and pray. Wait. Wait. Wait.
I’ve been waiting 24 years for this to happen and it hasn’t yet…nor do I really believe it’s coming anymore.
We need to repent of apathy, lethargy and compromise; and then change our ways. If we don’t change, it’s not true repentance.
I’ve been away. Now I’m back. I have so much catching-up to do on your site, Larry. It’s going to take a while. But, whew, this post is so “right on.” SO right on.
seriouswhimsey,
It’s good to see you back where the corn grows tall and green tractors are plentiful…in Iowa.
are you sure it hasn’t begun.. really. I see seeds of true revival everywhere. Perhaps you are looking at the government, or the organizational church… but I tell you this… I feel Him breathing down my neck now, and I’m absolutely certain, I’m not the only one. I see Him working in the hearts of many, (of course it’s never the ones I want, but)How many does it take, Lord? One righteous person? Two? a Hundred?
I live with a constant mission of working with those around me, and I see changes. However, my boss could use some prayer!!!
Larry, you are so right. I read your article twice because it is true that America better realize that we cannot live as enemies of God and expect him to continue to bless this nation! His hand of protection is not going to always be with us. Alarm bells went off as I read about a Pastor in San Diego who was told by the police that he could not have bible studies at his home! Are we taking this matter seriously? For those who have ears to hear…the evidence of God’s judgment is all around us!
Cindy,
I agree with y0u about seeing a few seeds here and there. God is in the redemption business and answers prayers.
But the Revival prophecies which have been proclaimed for the last twenty years or so have proclaimed that cities and regions would turn to Jesus. The bigest revival in the history of Christianity, the End Time Harvest.
Sadly, this has not happened and I have lots of doubts about it happening soon…or ever.
We need to discover what we’re doing wrong and get back to doing things the right way.
I understand your discouragement–in fact, I feel it at times. But here are two things we can remember. One, twenty years isn’t very long in God’s timing. And two, history reveals that when revival comes, it begins small–perhaps a few people who meet to seek God, believe, and obey. When it begins to grow, it multiplies which means two times two is only four. But then, through multiplying over and over, the numbers grow and grow. So although it seems as though nothing has been happening all these years, the groundwork is being laid. We can’t afford to give up now. Elijah felt he was alone but God told him to anoint Elisha and there was a revival of sorts in the northern kingdom of Israel. Not a permanent revival but a revival that brought many to God. We don’t know what form this revival will take–our job is to continue to hear from God and respond to Him. That’s what He’s asked in the past and it’s what He’s asking now. The years have prepared us to hear Him amidst the conflicting voices. He has been preparing us. We’d like revival to come like a wind or earthquake–it might come as a still, small voice.
Solveig,
I absolutely love studying past revivals and how they have changed our nation. The Great Awakening. Second Great Awakening. Businessman’s Prayer Revival. Azusa. Latter Rain. Healing. Etc. Etc.
But we need to remember, these were sovereign moves of God which brought in great truths. Yes, people prayed, but these people were moved by the Holy Spirit to pray.
Could we see another revival today, like the ones in the past? Yes, of course. The Lord is the Boss; and it’s up to Him
Now here’s a little something to check into: name the revivals before October 31, 1517, the day Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenburg, Germany?
My thinking is that people are looking for this “Great Revival” while God is trying to bring us reformation instead. Reformation will take years and years, and will be messy, messy, messy. As in stinking, rotting, dirty mess!
I’m kinda pressed for time right now, but two names come to mind instantly–names I know only because they are connected to the Reformation. Jan Huss who became father of the Hussites, Taborites, and eventually the Moravians (Czechoslovakia). And John Wycliffe, translator and father of the Lollards (England). I’m sure there were many others, however. Revivals within the Catholic church by godly people who sparked revivals in their communities and surrounding areas. History of the time didn’t record everything as it is recorded today. I imagine opposition by the organized church was local, too.
As for needing reformation rather than revival, you could be right–but again, as you said, God is sovereign. I knew a gal, now deceased, whose town in Indiana was touched by a revival in the early 1920s. The entire town changed, but I won’t go into details here.
However, the point I want to make is that it’s not up to us to bring about this revival. We simply need to follow God’s leading in the big things and the little things.
I should add that I agree with much of what you said. I, too, think it’s likely God is coming against America because we’ve strayed. It would by easy to point to specific sins, but how about failure to seek God. All sin is a result of failure to seek and honor God. Once people turn to God, other stuff falls into place–even though it might take time.
I hope and pray for revival… administration is needed to keep from chaos, but we don’t need new churches… seems to me the infrastructure is there, it’s the hearts of the people that need to restructure, which I honestly do see happening.
I’d love to see churches unite… which we in our community are making great strides in… doctrinal differences shouldn’t seperate the fact we all live for Christ.
For example, we have a homeless shelter in town that takes families… that was built entirely from the greater church commmunity, and that is who volunteers to go in and feed them…
yes, I see a multiplying effect… that we must come together organicly in God’s time.
An amazing movement here, doesn’t need to stop at the city limits. In fact, it doesn’t. The government in no way can move or control the Spirit.
Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open the doors… what do you see?? PEOPLE. I refuse to believe no one else is moving in the Spirit. If you pay too much lip service to evil, it wins… you can’t ignore it either, you have to live in hope. Who are we to have a say in how Christ comes back? I believe it was Jesus who said we should be loving the needy instead of condemning them.
I am not so studied in this…. so I am probably way off.
And then again, perhaps you’re right on.
Cindy,
“…seems to me the infrastructure is there…”
Wolfgang Simson wrote a book entitled, “House That Change the World.” He states early on that the only thing wrong with Christianity is the church system. From this premise, he writes the whole book.
Ok. I think I failed to clarify my point.
When disaster strikes, who steps in immediately to help? Church organizations. Because they are there, on the front lines. When disaster strikes, and the post tramatic stress sets in, who is still there? the Church.
The government will never be able to take care of its people in the hospitality that the people of Christ do. The church infrastructure isn’t necessarily set up for revival… WE are.
There is a place for both until God says otherwise. There is a NEED for both, as a building can’t reach past where its congregation is not willing to go. How far are we willing to go?
I had someone steal from me once. I knew it was her and I was mad. But the Spirit whispered, to graciously give her more. This girl, so moved by Christ’s generosity, changed a little. She didn’t go to church, but I don’t think it was the goal. This girl has grown and somewhere in her heart she has that soft spot, given in a tender moment, by the King himself. Plow the soil.. lay out the ground work.
Had I turned her in for $16 in merchandise I didn’t need, it would have placed one more brick on the wall built around her.
How can we expect God to step in, when he already has, and we still feel the need to trample on the sins of others. These lessons were taught to us, yet we still look to the skies waiting for Jesus to come again. When we do this we miss out on this amazing gift here on earth. It is important for us to take our eyes off heaven and let heaven gaze on the world through us.
God will do what God will do. We have to take care of business otherwise.
Cindy,
I love the Church. But the Church that I love is not a building; it is a living organism with Christ at the Head.It is the actual Body of Christ and walks on this earth.
The reformation that Martin Luther helped to usher in (1517) did not change the wineskin (church structure); it changed the message. In fact, the wineskin (church structure) is still basically the same as the Catholic Church was then and is now whereby a select clergy minister and the lay majority sit.
When I talk reformation, I’m talking about the pew sitters becoming the royal priesthood and doing the work of ministry, not just an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher.
The reformation I see coming means freedom to the pew sitters…and also to the apostles, prophets, etc. Everyone will be allowed to be what God has ordained them to be.
When the final true revival comes, it will be because congregations have realised they have been robbed, robbed of what God ordained them to be. They will realise that they have been robbed of their personal Holy Priesthood by the men and women in robes or dog collars which they asked to stand at the front. Robbed by those who tradition alone calls priests or ministers, and who have orchestrated the church’s walk for over a thousand years.
When that same pew fodder finally gets out and puts Elijah’s mantle on and enters the battle, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE CAPTAIN OF THE HOST OF THE LORD ALONE, rather than another man, then we might see some butts kicked, (spiritually speaking I mean).
As Larry rightly says, Luther changed the doctrine but not the wineskin. Until the wineskin of church structure bursts, the saints will always be labouring under a burden of manmade leadership ideology, an ideology that didn’t originate in God.
I feel sad for America. King Obama is on the throne now. His clear and declared intention is to do in one presidency, what has taken sixty years to achieve in the UK. ie destroy a nation by deception and the infantilising of its people. The “Land of the Free” becomes the Land of the Feeble, like Britain, everyone kept in the spiritual, social, financial play pen so they don’t get hurt.
The promise of the Labour government which came into power in the UK after the war was that their new “Welfare State” would take care of everyone from the cradle to the grave. ie the state would become Mummy, Daddy, Nanny, Nurse, God etc. (or pastor priest vicar etc)
The UK is now in a state of acute moral degeneration. Socialism is the biggest vote purchasing scheme imaginable. Keep throwing money at the lazy and undeserving and they cease to be productive or responsible.
The constant cry in the UK is, “why doesn’t the Government do something”. The idea of anyone personally doing anything, through a simple sense of mature responsibility has long gone from most of this nation. In fact most such actions are now illegal!
My prayer for a long time has been for the massive collapse of our Welfare State. (I am hoping that we may just be seeing the first shoots of that disintegration. Only time will tell.)
There is a distinct connection between strong Church leadership which makes decisions on our behalf, and strong state leadership which also makes all decisions on our behalf.
It is called “Abdication”, it is an “Ahab” spirit, a spirit of immaturity which refuses to take responsibility for personal decisions and risks. It is evident in the Israelites when they demanded a king to rule over them. God said that it was rebellion against his personal reign over them. However they insisted, despite Gods most stern warning. God said that when the king that they choose becomes a tyrant, “don’t come to me about it as I won’t listen to you”.
Likewise I don’t think he listens to those who protest about tyrannical church leadership. “You chose that system, don’t complain to me!” Its like expecting a crocodile not to eat people!
(The very reason I exited the church system)
The Saints have adopted the same spirit in demanding “strong leadership” to make the decisions for them instead of getting before God and learning to hear His voice and do His will.
The voters have demonstrated the same heart as the church in demanding a “Big State” to rule over them and take the decisions for them. The two are very connected, the same demonic power is very clearly at work. Its purpose in both cases is to create a passive people.
To quote Larry,-
“Three corporate church and personal sins we all struggle with are apathy, lethargy and compromise.”
WHATEVER HAS HAPPENED TO THE RISK TAKING, PIONEERING AMERICAN PEOPLE?
The saints, vast numbers of which voted for social welfare both in the UK and the States, MUST take personal responsibility for their walk before God, instead of letting their Pastor or minister carry it on their behalf. I believe that God is challenging the Saints to come out into the wilderness, away from the safety of their cozy congregations. I believe he is challenging the Saints to take risks in their walk without the safe “covering” of church leadership. I believe Christ is saying, as he did to Peter when he was in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, “come”.
It is time for the Saints to get out of their manmade boat, the church, and walk over the water with Jesus.
Come and discover the “Covering” of Christ himself rather than another man.
Then we will experience Revival. There will be mistakes on the way, but those who don’t make mistakes usually don’t make anything.
We could learn a little from this prayer of Sir Francis Drake, who most might just dismiss as an Elizabethan pirate!-
“Disturb us Lord, when we are too pleased with ourselves. When our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little. When we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us Lord, to dare more boldly. To venture on wider seas. Where storms will show your mastery; Where, losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes; And to push into the future, in strength, courage, hope and love.” (SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 1577)
not all pew sitters are the same. not all pastors care about power. I say this because I am trying to tell you… I have seen it.
My church history knowledge is based on limited teachings, however, I was told one the reasons the church fathers sat down to create doctrine, a church in structure, was because all the teaching and saving that was going on at the time, the orphans and the widows were not being taken care of. This was highly important to Jesus. That I am certain.
As far as the reformation, sure indulgences is what its known for… but there were 94 other thesis’. Luther had a genuine concern over the pastoring of people into the personal connection with God. Lutheranism may not look like what Luther had envisioned as a church, nor does christianity look like what Christ envisioned.
Like our fore- fathers, we’ve messed it all up. But I can’t on my own feed and house 100’s of homeless every week. Christ came to be our ‘mediator’… Luther understood this… please don’t disrespect the man.
when we begin to worship alone it becomes gnosticism. I’m for power to the people, my Pastors can’t stand before God on my behalf, but I know they care, are wise and can offer support when the poop hits the fan… because they have. I can’t disrespect them either.
nor would I disrespect the members of any congregation I’ve been a part of. there are great christians out there… for us to be judge and jury is not a place we should be. That is God’s job alone.
francisdrakeprivateer,
Many would consider your words extreme, but not me. I agree wholeheartedly.
My sadness is that it will take years and years, and much suffering before we believers walk into our divine destinies. Old ways die slowly.
cindy,
Although I admit to being a radical, I myself have no problem fellowshipping with Christians who attend traditional churches, nor do I have a problem fellowshipping with pastors of churches. These are my brothers and sisters in Christ.
But at the same time, I know that the traditional church system does not work and will never work in the way the Bible teaches. Now, if you toss in what’s just over the horizon for America and heading our way quickly, we need to change our ways of doing church. And change now.
So, I have no problem with the good things churches are doing and have done. Churches have historically been the ray of lights in cities. But once again, we have a new wind blowing in America…and all believers will have to make up their minds whether to raise their sails and go with the wind or throw out an anchor and stay put.
Hmm! Solvieg certainly has me puzzled!
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Cindy,
My comments have nothing to do with how nice any particular pastor or saint is. Some most definitely are lovely people. I too have seen it and experienced it, and like Larry have had excellent fellowship with them.
I am pointing out that the system they are in, has no trousers on. It is naked as far as the bible is concerned. However it is fully and gloriously clothed as far as world philosophy is concerned.
Not all Pastors care about power, true. However when we demand, like the Israelites, “give us a king”, or “give us a Leader” then by doing so we automatically give that person the power, whether he wants it or not. WE IMPOSE IT UPON HIM. Satan knows this and usually engineers it, that at some point he WILL use it, just because it is there waiting to be used.
Read about King Saul. He positively didn’t want the job, he even hid when Samuel came. It didn’t take long before that inherent power that came with the kingship turned Saul into a tyrant, just as God warned. Yet God had said that there was none like Saul in the whole of Israel!
Even the best are polluted by hierarchical systems because of the spirit behind it, which is why God rejected it, and why we should also reject it as the governing system of the church of Jesus Christ.
Larry,
May I continue with a little bit more of “extreme” before I go. I am sorry to be a little long winded but I am making up for not commenting for weeks!
Moving onto what I said above about Government Welfare . Such an idea is obviously all about the State playing God to the people. It is all about them offering us our “Human Rights”. This notion has been argued by leftists for decades, as if they are the only ones both able to defend it and promote it further. (More’s the pity that it wasn’t Human Responsibilities)
Every desire, including killing babies, is presented as our Human Right, and even the church stands vigorously defending it as if it is all Gospel stuff.
When I was reading the Book of Revelation a few weeks ago, I sensed that the Holy Spirit was nudging me.
The letters to the Seven Churches, are often seen as a prophetic symbol of the Seven Ages or Eras of the church running up until this present age.
Such a notion therefore puts us right in the age of the Laodicean Church, ie the last church before the return of Christ.
That being the case the Lord led me to check out the meaning of the word “LAODICEA”in Greek . The answer was a shock. It shows that Laodicea means “THE PEOPLES’ RIGHTS”.
Now I find that both interesting and amusing. The obsession with Human Rights in the 20thC has been written in the bible for 2000 years.
However when taken in context of what else the Apostle John says, it shows that human rights produces an indifferent church full of self satisfaction in being rich and wanting nothing. However just read about today’s church in Rev. 3 v14 etc.,
francisdrakeprivateer,
Wow! Very interesting. You are always welcome to express yourself.