Category Archives: Religion

January 4, 2009 · 8:34 am

Has The Church Been Built By Satan Or God?

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?

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Filed under America, Christian Conservative, Christianity, Christians, Church, Emergent Church, Faith, Gifts of the Spirit, God, Home Church, Inspirational, Kingdom of God, morality, Prayer, Prophecy, reformation, Religion, Spirituality

January 4, 2009 · 8:15 am

So, What’s The Lord Saying Or Doing? (1/4/2009)

It is my belief that we Christians depend too much on what an individual pastor or an individual prophet or another anointed person thinks that he (or she) is hearing from the Lord, rather than trying to hear for ourselves or listening to many different voices from all over the Body of Christ. Dependence on just an anointed few is a guaranteed recipe for failure.

So, each day, I invite you to write what you believe the Lord is telling you, showing you, or doing for you. Testimonies. Short teachings. Prophetic words. Scriptures. Prayers. Whatever you believe that the Body of Christ needs to know or will be blessed by hearing. Try to keep your words under 250 words. And if you need to, attach a link to your site for longer messages.

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January 3, 2009 · 8:36 am

So, What’s The Lord Saying Or Doing? (1/3/2009)

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Filed under America, Christian Conservative, Christianity, Christians, Church, Election 2008, Emergent Church, Faith, Gifts of the Spirit, God, Home Church, Inspirational, Kingdom of God, morality, Prayer, Prophecy, Religion, Spirituality

January 2, 2009 · 10:56 am

Humor Helps, Doesn’t It?

A cheerful heart is good medicine…(Prov. 17:22 New Living Trans.)

Probably, the greatest grace the Lord has placed on me is my sense of humor. I see humor in most everything, even bad news and bad situations. My wife accuses me of having “gallows’ humor”, as in having a noose around my neck with the executioner ready to trip the trapdoor and me laughing at his outfit.

So with that background in mind, check out this Dilbert comic here.

So, What’s The Lord Saying Or Doing? (1/2/2008)

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January 1, 2009 · 9:33 am

So, What’s The Lord Saying Or Doing? (New Year’s Day, 2009)

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December 31, 2008 · 8:26 am

Islamic Terrorists Vs. Radical Christians: New Game. New Rules. (PART 13)

india-terrorist16

Click on following links for earlier articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 , Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 12 and Part 12.

How to be a Radical Christian (viii).

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. (Matthew 5:44)

This is one of those divine ironies of scripture: loving your enemies while you are fighting them.

On the one hand, America must fight the Islamic Terrorists with everything that our armed forces can possibly muster up in order to protect innocent people in our nation and in other nations. It’s either fight or be slaughtered. The latter is not a viable option.

But at the same time, believers are called to love our enemies and pray for them. How can this be accomplished, right?

He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. (Luke 1:17)

If you’re old enough, maybe you remember the hunger strikes in Belfast, Ireland, during the 1980’s. That was when numerous IRA prisoners at the British Maze prison made demands of the British government, and then went on hunger strikes until their demands were met. Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister; and she was not a weak-kneed leader. She refused to negotiate. The results were that ten young men starved. Many more were prepared to die, but then a miracle happened.

Parents of the remaining prisoners stepped in and had their sons hooked up to life support systems without their sons’ permissions. These parents loved their children too much to watch them slowly die. The hunger strikes ended.

Consider how much power parents have over young men. Children want to please their parents, especially in Middle Eastern Islamic cultures.

So, radical Christians need to pray and fast for the spirit of Elijah to come upon the parents of the Islamic terrorists so that these parents love their children enough to dissuade them from suicidal ventures.

So, What’s The Lord Saying Or Doing? (12/31/2008)

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December 30, 2008 · 5:04 pm

Islamic Terrorists Vs. Radical Christians: New Game. New Rules. (PART 12)

india-terrorist15

Click on following links for earlier articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 , Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10 and Part 11.

How to be a Radical Christian (vii).

Blessed is he who considers the poor; the Lord will deliver him in a time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive, and he will be blessed on the earth. You [the Lord] will not deliver him to the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness; You [the Lord] will sustain him on his sickbed. (Psalm 41:1-3)

Looking at the Bible, the #1 way to be be blessed by your financial gifts is to obey the voice of God. If God tells you to give a person or a place, do it. You will always be blessed by your obedience.

The #2 way is probably different than what you have been taught. If you believe that you are automatically blessed for giving tithes and offerings to a church or a ministry, you’re wrong. There are no New Testament scriptures which endorse this theology. None at all. All of the scriptures that back up this teaching are in the Old Testament and refer to giving to the Temple or the Temple’s storehouse, and not a New Testament church.

But instead, all through the Bible, there are countless numbers of scriptures which promise a blessing for giving to the poor.

If I bestow all my goods to feed the poor…and do it in love, I will profit from this action. (1 Corinthians 13:3, written in a positive sense)

Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. (Luke 12:33)

And when he [Cornelius] observed him [the angel], he was afraid and said, “What is it, lord?” So he [the angel] said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.” (Acts 10:4)

He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will pay back what he has given. (Proverbs 19:17)

Radical Christians will give radical-sized gifts to the poor. They will do this in love and without calling attention to their deeds (Matthew 6: 1-4). These unselfish acts will provide a measure of protection for themselves, their families, and their neighbors.

Me, God and Tattoos

In my early days of being a Christian, I was a little judgmental. Well, actually, I was more than a little judgmental, I was a Pentecostal Pharisee, wearing a black robe with extra-long phylacteries and fringes. And as with all good Pharisees, I was constantly on the prowl, looking for people who fell short of my godliness.

One of my favorite Thou Shalt Not’s was found in Leviticus 19:28 –

You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord.

Tattoos! God hated tattoos. And if God hated them, so did I.

Now, this wasn’t something that I proclaimed aloud. It was a quiet, inner hatred, just under the skin, festering and waiting to expose itself on the right person at the right time and in the right place.

But alas, God had some divine appointments for me.

First, I worked with a couple of men who had a few tattoos. Small dragons. A few girl’s names. Mom. Pretty common stuff. I gritted my teeth and kept quiet.

Secondly, I worked with a man that was covered with tattoos from his neck to his toe nails. He had dragons, demons, signs of demons, and other dark-side tattoos all over his body. It took all of God’s grace and, probably, six or seven angels to keep me from preaching about the sin of tattoos to the man.

Finally, I met two young Christian men who loved the Lord. They were outstanding singers who could worship like few that I have ever met in my life. I loved them.

But then, on a warm day, they took their shirts off. And oh no! They had Christian tattoos all over their backs and upper arms. A Christian tattoo – what a paradox, right?

Not knowing what else to do, I sought the Lord on the problems of these two young men. As I waited on the Lord, I heard the Holy Spirit speak, “These two young men are not the problem; you are. You and your judgmental attitudes. I love them and so should you. As far as their tattoos go, this is between them and Me. So stay out of it.”

Hmm! I got the hint. We no longer live under the Law. We live under grace where God looks at men’s hearts; and tattoos, that’s between God and them.

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