Restoration Ministries International
Sharing the Hebraic Foundations of the Earliest Followers of Jesus
Preparing Today's Followers of Jesus to Fulfill Their Part in His Kingdom

"Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10) 

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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)

October 29, 2009
70. Purge Yourself of Greed Before the Dark Days of Chastisement Come

Dear Friends,
We want you to know that Lifebyte 70. Purge Yourself of Greed Before the Dark Days of Chastisement Come, is available. We began writing this Lifebyte during our travels over the past five weeks. During this time we met with relatives and their friends, and we were overwhelmed with how much greed epitomized so many of their conversations. All of them were "churched people", yet few demonstrated any awareness of how sinful that motivation was. The sin of greed dominated so many, yet sadly they were oblivious to its unrighteous influence in their lives.

We've shared in previous writings that "What a person truly values is often reflected in what comes out of their mouth first, or what they speak about most often." One woman we were introduced to told us within the first 30 seconds of meeting her that she and her husband had "made a killing" on selling some property. Later, in speaking with her husband, we learned that all their children were divorced. He was deeply saddened by these broken marriages, but she just accepted it as a normal part of life. Greed does have generational backlash...

In one way or another, each of these greed-bent churched families were suffering the consequences of their sin. Paul's warning was certainly validated in these families' lives: "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs" (1 Timothy 6:10). As we prayed concerning those we encountered, the Holy Spirit prompted us that we needed to warn any of you who may be affected by the sin of greed. In light of our last Lifebyte encouraging you to live in spiritual power as you love and obey our Lord, we know that no one can live an empowered life that brings glory to Him if they are dominated by a desire for money or what it can purchase. Jesus warns that each of us is faced with a choice of eternal import: "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money” (Matthew 6:24).

As we've shared often: The Hebraic foundations help equip you to do your part in fulfilling our Lord's purposes in His Kingdom as you love and obey Him. But keep in mind that Kingdom living is based not so much on what you do, but on having a Kingdom way of thinking. Your mindset is first dominated by your love for our Lord Jesus and what pleases Him. Out of this goal flows spiritual power to do His will—you're prepared to represent our King at every opportunity!

We make this suggestion at the end of Lifebyte 70, but we also want to make the same suggestion in this e-mail:
"If you’d like to be inspired by the true story of a humble farmer God changed and empowered to uplift the welfare and dignity of others through Jesus, we recommend the movie, Faith Like Potatoes. (It may be available at your library for free.) After you watch it, you’ll want to see the Special Feature where you learn more about how God is currently using Angus Buchan, the farmer. May his life’s motivation be yours for the praise of our Lord Jesus!"

Please, use this Lifebyte to scrutinize your own motivations and discern if any vestiges of greed are found there. Our desire is that your way of life and fellowship with others be filled with testimonies and grateful worship as the hallmark of your gatherings and ongoing conversations with your faith family.

Your servants in advancing His Kingdom,
Mike & Sue

September 16, 2009
69. What God’s People Must Do To Regain Spiritual Power (Part 2)

Dear Friends,
Lifebyte 69, the last in our series on spiritual power, is attached. If you haven't gotten around to reading any or all of the previous three, relax! We're going to take some family time for the next few weeks, so you won't be getting anything else from us for a while.

Also, we wanted to again thank you for your prayers on our behalf. I (Mike) finished my last appointment at the VA hospital. The results of all the tests this past summer for the most part were inconclusive. As one doctor said, "Your case is a mystery." So thank you!!! And, if you don't mind, please keep praying. When doctors can't tell you what started the illnesses and why they ended, we know that our Father is responding to prayer to keep the debilitating attacks (and satanic assault!) from recurring.

In our last e-mail in which we introduced Lifebyte 68, we mentioned how very important it is for you to rid yourself of soulish dominion. Soulish dominion is the intense self-preoccupation that shuts out all other input except what's going on in your mind, will and emotions. It's behind ALL the demonic strongholds and the sinful attitudes and behaviors they habitually arouse which hold us captive under the dominion of our soul. These keep us from the rule of the Spirit of Jesus in us because we shut off His quiet voice and pay attention to the lies and fears and deceits shouting Him down.

Even after we’ve demolished our spiritual strongholds, soulish dominion reigns until the old ruts of behavior and attitude have been filled in by the truth and commands of God's Word as He works righteous responsiveness in us through His Spirit. In fact, unless those old familiar patterns of sinful attitudes and behaviors are replaced by righteous responses, people's lives tend to get much worse! To fill in the old ruts of attitude and behavior requires the help of others who are willing to confront us so that we may change.

The attached Lifebyte discusses how the spiritual power of our Lord can be regained. We realize that if you're still captive to soulish dominion, the information will be meaningless to you. As long as your soul rules, your spirit will not respond to the Spirit of Christ. You won't experience the power He promises His followers: "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father" (John 14:12).

Soulish Dominion: Which Way Does Your Index Finger Point?

You may be finding it hard to recognize that you are still under soulish dominion. Maybe this will help. We used the Finger Diagram below in our book, Growing Relationships Through Confrontation. Think about its application as to whether you may still be agitated by soulish dominion. When you've been hurt by others or have a problem in a relationship with someone, which way does your finger point? Does it point at them, blaming them for your emotional suffering? Or, does it come alongside them, recognizing that the two of you must work through the issue together?

The Bible affirms that our Father uses negative circumstances as one of His ways of  transforming us into the character of Jesus. The Word also affirms that our God is Sovereign in all matters. Nothing happens to us that He doesn't permit: "In his heart a man plans his course but the LORD determines his steps" (Proverbs 16:9); "A man’s steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?" (Proverbs 20:24). It's your full trust in His loving sovereignty that provides the foundation for you to get through painful situations, and to release through forgiveness those who have hurt you.

Satan had to get permission from God in order to test Job. And, boy did that "blameless and upright man who feared God and shunned evil" get tested, to the point of losing everything but his life! Jesus revealed to Peter, "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat" (Luke 22:31). Our Lord didn't say He would stop the sifting, but only that He would pray so that Peter's faith would not fail. Everything that has ever happened to us, every person who has ever hurt us, our God knew about and didn't stop. Why? Because He uses suffering to produce in us the character of Jesus (see Romans 5:3-5; 1 Peter 1:6-9, 2:21).

Remember the progression of how strongholds form:
1)  Satanic-inspired THOUGHTS are introduced into your mind.
2)  Entertaining these thoughts brings on EMOTIONS.
3)  Giving in to emotions eventually leads to taking some sort of ACTION.
4)  Continual participation in this behavior causes you to develop a HABIT.
5)  Once a habit is developed, a STRONGHOLD is built by that spirit.

If you're to become free of soulish dominion you've got to win the battle in your thought life. The question for us who follow Jesus isn't, "What would Jesus do?", but rather, "What would Jesus think?"

How To Respond to Those Who Hurt or Irritate Me
[adapted from the Institute in Basic Life Principles Seminar]

Below is a sequence that displays how your sin nature normally deals with others when you have interpersonal tension or they hurt your feelings. Notice how different (and redemptively) our Lord would have us respond to these situations. Follow your sin nature response from top to bottom, then do the same for our Lord's way of responding. There's nothing in common! That's because His way comes from the rule of His Spirit in your soul.

His Reaction                     Your Sin Nature               Jesus' Way of Responding
1. He reacts to me                    Defend myself                     Examine myself "Blindspots"
2. He plans revenge                Discredit him                     Discover his needs and wait
3. He prospers                     Envy his prosperity           Rejoice in God's goodness
4. He encounters setbacks           Rejoice in his downfall          Quickly meet his needs problems
5. He is convicted                     Cover up my problems      Seek his counsel and prayer


We've shared previously the words our friend Bert in Israel spoke twenty years ago: "You can never walk in thefulness of Jesus until you wash the feet of Judas." This truth has helped us often to overcome our sin nature's response to hurt. In the years to follow, with the help of our Lord, we and others who've cared enough to confront us have been freed from soulish dominion of past hurts. We can never heal ourselves from the hurt — that's the work of our Lord. But we CAN purpose to cast down any unforgiveness against anyone and appropriate His peace in so doing.

Since we've been freed from soulish dominion, we've experienced the Spirit of Christ within us in His power. He has brought forth from our hearts a deep, loving appreciation that He would use us as He does. But first we each had to be freed from the dominion of our soul that caused us to respond to people and events contrary to our Lord's will. We had to turn away from believing the unChristlike thoughts, agendas and feelings that this evil reign induced. Then we had to TRUST that our Lord's thoughts, purposes and our response to them from His wonderful love for us. This is the ONLY path for anyone who yearns to experience His spiritual power flowing through them for His praise and glory!

So please, don't nullify the grace He offers you to live free of the rule of spiritual strongholds and the motivations and behaviors they taught you. Signs of your freedom from soulish dominion are that you're merciful to those who once hurt you and  you've forgiven them from your heart. Another indicator is that you can put your fingers together and say with joyful anticipation of what our Lord Jesus can do, "We have a problem!"

Lifebyte 69 shares the foundations to the spiritual power of the Kingdom of God on earth. It reveals our Lord's plan for its expansion — a Kingdom without clergy. It is a Kingdom in which He alone rules the souls of His followers, a Kingdom in which the mutual cooperation of the gifts of His Spirit reveals the unity of His followers.

Please don't read Lifebyte 69 if your soul is still in captivity to any of the hindrances we've discussed in Lifebytes 66 thru 68. Rid yourself of these with the help of others who care for your sanctification — setting you apart as holy on your ongoing life transformation into Christ's likeness.

Striving with you for His glory,
Mike and Sue

PS "The strange opposition that I met with from Satan, in the study of the following discourse, hath put an edge upon my spirit, knowing that Satan strives mightily to keep these things from seeing the light..." You may be surprised to know that this quote from Thomas Brooks in Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices was penned over 350 years ago! We just finished reading this, reprinted by Puritan Paperbacks, and recommend it for his insights into spiritual warfare. Try Amazon.com or Christianbook.com for the best price!

September 11, 2009
68. What God’s People Must Do To Regain Spiritual Power (Part 1)

Dear Friends,
The next Lifebyte in our series on spiritual power is available. One of the main topics we discuss is that of Soulish Dominion. We first heard the phrase from our friend Exie the night we arrived in Jerusalem in 1993, but recently the Holy Spirit has opened up some new understanding about it for us to share with you.

The enemy's battleground against followers of Jesus is our soul — our mind, will and emotions. When we habitually entertain unChristlike thoughts in our mind, or consistently pursue our own will or agenda rather than God's will, or tenaciously cling to feelings that block our availability for our Lord's use of us, we're under the control of soulish dominion. Our soul rather than the Spirit of Christ in us becomes the determining focus of our lives.
And, consider this:

ALL demonic strongholds, and the sinful attitudes and behaviors they habitually arouse, hold us captive under the dominion of our sin nature-controlled soul.
Even after we’ve demolished the strongholds, soulish dominion reigns until the old ruts of behavior and attitude have been filled in by the truth and commands of God's Word as He works righteous responsiveness in us through His Spirit.

In fact, unless this last step is taken, as we warn in our book Demolishing Strongholds, people's lives tend to get much worse. Jesus warned what might happen after a demonic spirit has departed, leaving a vacancy which the Holy Spirit has not filled: "Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first” (Luke 11:26).

How do you know when you're no longer captive to soulish dominion? A key indicator that we've seen over the years is that you develop a merciful and forgiving heart toward those who once hurt you or let you down. This is especially true as you are empowered by the indwelling Spirit to change your attitude toward your family members and relatives. Whereas you were previously critical of them, irritated by them, or quick to pass judgment on them, when you’re free of soulish dominion you’re able to realize that they’re in reality captives to the same strongholds that you've now been freed from.

Your heart becomes burdened to see your relatives become free from the soulish dominion that keeps them vulnerable to Satan’s relationship-destroying lies. This change of perception on the part of the freed has proven to be THE major sign that soulish dominion is gone.

Soulish Dominion is the Root of Communal Unrighteousness

If you’ve read any of our writings or seen any of our videos on communal righteousness, then you realize that this parameter is our Father’s preeminent feature for fellowship with others. Just being around others who take part in religious practices with you is not biblical fellowship! There’s the obedience factor in the life of those who claim to love Jesus as Lord of their lives. Jesus so often connected belonging to God with hearing Him — and hearing means obeying (John 8:42-47).

Even an uneducated blind man was able to confront the self-righteous Pharisees with the well-ingrained truth that “God does not listen to sinful men!” This man then continued with the obedience factor: “He listens to the godly man who does His will” (John 9:31). To love Jesus, then, as Father God calls us to (John 8:42), we must remain free from unrepented sin and obey our Lord’s commands.

If we claim fellowship with those who choose to continue in sin, then God will not listen to our prayers. While many modern doctrines rampantly disregard sin as they promote a perversion of grace that excuses it, God never separates “belief” from “obedience”. In fact, it is this distinction between “practicing righteousness” or “not practicing righteousness” in our daily lives that indicates whether we are children of God or children of the devil (1 John 3:7-10).

So, are you welcoming the unrepentant — those who excuse or rationalize or try to hide their sin — into your times of worship before our holy God? Have you considered that from His perspective, this compromise with the world’s ways labels you an enemy of God? (James 4:4) He has called you and set you apart for righteousness, not for toleration of sin!

In essence, out of love for one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, we must remain free from unconfessed sin so that the prayers of others in our faith family can be heard by our Father (1 Peter 3:12; James 5:16). That’s the kind of relationship Jesus was referring to when He reiterated that “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8:21).

People within religious systems who have been freed from soulish dominion often find they can no longer stay within the denomination or faith community which is still held captive. But is their freedom welcome news to those still in bondage? No way! Rather, many find themselves driven out by demonic ostracism through coldness or deceitful slander by those clinging to the chains of soulish dominion within them (2 Timothy 2:26).

The demons will make sure that agitation rules so that those who are free of soulish dominion are excluded from influencing others. And, some who are now walking in freedom find they have to leave before they’re seduced back into their old sinful patterns of attitude, thought and action.

Please, there's much more to read on soulish dominion in this Lifebyte, as well as a discussion of the heart soil in authentic followers of Jesus which produces lasting fruit. If you haven't become totally free, then you have limited your ability to be about fruitfully advancing the Kingdom of our Lord.

Remember: Spiritual freedom is our Lord's way of binding His followers together in love. This is our hope for each of you!
Mike & Sue

September 3, 2009
67. How Christendom Forsook Spiritual Power (Part 2)

Dear Friends,
Lifebyte 67, the next installment in our series on spiritual power, is available for download. It's been painful for us to write these Lifebytes on how so much of Christendom lost its spiritual power. We are exposing the events and circumstances that Satan has used over the centuries to destroy Jesus' emphasis that impelled His first followers: "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness..." (Matthew 6:33). Lacking both a Kingdom focus and the need to walk in His righteous steps, Christianity became a system of organized religion. By adopting unbiblical pagan practices, compromise ensued, and forsaken for the most part were both spiritual power as well as a sacrificial willingness to act boldly to extend the Kingdom of God.

Through research and revelation the Holy Spirit has made clear how demonic influence has created the 38,000 competing denominations abounding today. This disunity and division is Satan's plan, not our Lord's. After we acquaint you with how Satan may still be influencing your thinking about the Kingdom, you'll discover in subsequent Lifebytes the path we ALL need to take as we serve our gracious King in His Kingdom purposes.

This Lifebyte focuses on a Kingdom way of thinking that His beloved servants need in order to do their part in expanding that Kingdom on earth. Over the centuries the enemy of our souls has introduced throughout Christendom unbiblical thought processes in how we consider the truths of God. We discuss this at depth because the way most people today process information comes through means established Christendom adopted centuries ago from the Hellenists. This unbiblical pattern has hindered many today from understanding the Kingdom of God and has caused all too many to live without reliance on His spiritual power. And tragically, so many among the "churched" don't even miss the power Lord Jesus promises His own!

We realize that the transformation into "Kingdom thinking" is very hard for those who have spent any considerable time in the "Christian" religious system. Why? Because the depth of personal dedication to the indwelling Spirit of Jesus requires motivation that is either nurtured or destroyed depending on how you've been taught or discipled. Again, the methods and thought processes that Christianity has adopted from Hellenism have stymied the heart motivation that's needed to be wholehearted about the Kingdom on behalf of our King.

Our King commands that we deny ourselves — our own agenda and goals and inclinations — and be totally committed to following Him and fulfilling His purposes. Isn't this the point that Jesus makes for all of us who claim to belong to Him as Lord of our lives?

"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world,
and is himself destroyed or lost?
For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words,
of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory,
and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels" (Luke 9:23-26; see also Matthew 13:44-46).

Our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world grasp the depth of this passage from the moment they put their trust in Jesus. They have counted the cost! However, for us who don't face persecution because of our obedient trust in Lord Jesus, compromise with the world's ways and values is all too easy — and all too common. Toleration for sin in ourselves and in others within our faith communities as well as the distortion of biblical truth in so much of religious programming has hindered the majority of "Christians" from the self-sacrificial devotion that "losing your life" for Christ entails.
To labor in His Kingdom as our Father calls for requires total abandonment to His will. "Religion" never demands this, and that's why it's so difficult to become Kingdom-minded without developing a "Kingdom mindset" and crying out to Jesus for the grace only He can give.
In Lifebyte 34. The Abrahamic Covenant: Groundwork For The Hebraic Restoration, we discuss the funnel the Holy Spirit gave Mike in a vision many years ago.

We've noted previously how important it is to stay off the sides of the funnel, which represent unconfessed sin and spiritual strongholds, and come to the center through repentance and demolishing those strongholds. Only in the center can you move down the funnel and grow in increasing Christ-likeness. Only in the stem of the funnel can you fulfill the words of Jesus in Luke 9:23-26, above.

It's also in the stem of the funnel that we develop the spiritual "eyes" of His perspective so that we can understand why our Lord has each of us where we are, whether in our neighborhood, our job, our school: "So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view" (2 Corinthians 5:16a). To participate in the work of His Kingdom requires that we stop seeing the world around us through our mind, will, and emotions which focus on how we think about it, our agenda regarding it, our feelings about it. Instead, we're called to view it through our spirit so that His Spirit can guide and empower us according to our Father's will. This is crucial if we are to assess our neighborhoods, workplaces, and schools from our Lord's vantage point — as opportunities for us to make Him known and to expand His Kingdom. He always places His people where they can do His Kingdom work. Most are blindly unaware of His desires and purpose and therefore are trapped in motives that align with the world (James 4:4) rather than the King (Romans 12:2).

So, as you go through this Lifebyte we encourage you to diligently examine if your way of thinking aligns with that of our Lord's Kingdom. Or, does Satan have a foothold in your thought processes hindering you from becoming "Kingdom-minded"?

And, please remember us in prayer...
Mike & Sue

"In the last days, God says,
I will pour out My Spirit on all people...
Even on My servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy" (Acts 2:18).

We've written previously that the synagogue probably originated during the Babylonian captivity as people gathered at the home of a prophet. It was evident, as seen by their distressing circumstances, that Israel's religious leaders had led them astray in regard to an uncompromising way of life and undivided devotion to the One True God that would bring them His protection and blessing. The religious shepherds who looked only to their own earthly interests brought darkness upon the flock of Israel (Ezekiel 34), resulting in God dispersing the people among the heathen nations. Far from their homeland, the refugees recounted how God had sent prophets to warn them again and again, but they'd refused to listen. Maybe it was time to pay attention to what the prophets had to share: "Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7).

We today who follow Jesus need to understand the prophetic times we live in. God uses the various gifting of His people to prepare them to serve His purposes. In that way we build up each other into maturity in Christ: "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:11-13). There's little doubt that the dominance of clergy over giftings within congregations is the fruit of the Nicolaitan spirit that rules westernized Christendom today. But our Father is not sitting idly by as those He has given to edify the body of Christ are being squelched. The counterfeit god of man-centered, system-dominated "Christian" religion is now in God's cross-hairs.

People have for so long looked to their clergy for all their spiritual input that the enactment of biblical prophecy is foreign to them. Yet, the Bible is replete with accounts of our Lord both speaking to His people through His prophets and warning them through prophetic words. There are prophecies yet to be fulfilled, a number of which are coming to fruition in our day. The Hebraic Restoration is just such a prophetic fulfillment (Acts 3:21). Before our Lord ever revealed to us the Hebraic foundations He was assigning us to share, He'd been preparing people both in Israel and in the US to prophesy to us, "You do know that God is sending you back to the United States with a prophetic message for His church, His called-out ones." We didn't know that at first, but the Spirit made increasingly clear that disseminating prophetic messages was His plan for us.

It is our desire that you become comfortable with our Lord's use of prophecy, since it permeates both Testaments. While you're familiar with Bible studies and Sunday morning sermons, these methods are limited in helping you to press on in Kingdom living. They educate you through conveying information, adding to your head knowledge. But you've also been influenced by your previous experience in the education system in which you were graded on content you've memorized. You may think that the more Bible knowledge you have, the better Christian you are. However, that's far from the truth. God commends us for what we put into practice (Matthew 7:24), not for what we know (Matthew 7:26).

True prophecy is revelation from God, and we want to anchor some important points pertaining to its function. First, our Lord Jesus is King of an ever-expanding Kingdom. As King, our Lord reveals His will: "For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:b; see also 2 Peter 1:21). Biblical prophecy is Divine revelation that helps you to know His will, or to warn you when you're not in His will. Listen to Paul as he opens the eyes of your heart regarding prophecy: "Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. ... Everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort ... Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy..." (1 Corinthians 14:1,3,39).

How commanding do Paul's words sound to you? And why shouldn't they be, since he knows how essential it is for the family of Christ to partake of this spiritual gift, whether by speaking or hearing. True prophecy brings forth the very words of our Lord. But not all are eager to hear what He is saying. The rebellious who want their own way and those who are still controlled by their sin nature and/or strongholds despise the thought of hearing direct guidance from our Lord. Hearing implies obedience, and those who are disobedient already in their heart have no intention of following through in what they hear!

If you're embracing the Hebraic foundations that the Spirit has been quickening to your life, then consider this: "You are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone" (Ephesians 2:19,20). The construction of God's "spiritual house" didn't just take place two thousand years ago. (See 1 Peter 2:5.) This very process of "living stones" who are being built up on the gifts of apostle and prophet continues as the Hebraic foundations are being restored.

Our Lord has permitted NO ONE to just teach the Hebraic truths He's restoring as if they're only an academic subject. Each person must rely on and be guided by the Spirit of Jesus Himself (Matthew 18:19,20) in order to make the various facets of the Restoration their way of life. Then, out of that way of life, they can come alongside others with what our Lord is restoring. Each of you will need prophetic guidance as to how our Lord wants to you live these truths out in your home, your workplace, your faith family. There is no canned program, no one-size-fits-all. There are no creedal hoops you have jump through — only a trusting and love-motivated heart that's determined to obey His revelation.

When you hear a prophetic word, it's important that you don't just ditch it because it sounds contrary to your own inclinations: "Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good" (1 Thessalonians 5:19-21). A true prophecy will always align with God's Word. And, in the biblical pattern, our Lord will use two or three others in Him to confirm it (see 2 Corinthians 13:1; 1 Corinthians 14:29). You'll recognize and appreciate biblical prophecy and other forms of revelation our Lord uses, such as words of knowledge or wisdom, if you have full participation in your gatherings: "When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for strengthening" (1 Corinthians 14:26).

We seem to be reliving some of the darkest moments of history. Sadly, too many in this nation are relying on the schemes of men to restore the pleasure-bent lifestyle they've grown accustomed to. You've noticed that from Wall Street to Main Street to Pennsylvania Avenue, no one is calling for repentance for the sins that got us into this economic mess. Instead, the income of hardworking taxpayers is being poured out like "government play money" to the same greed-based financial and business leaders who precipitated this catastrophe. Future generations yet unborn are being robbed of their livelihood. But our Lord isn't waiting for our posterity to curse us for the financial misery they'll inherit from our greed. He will chastise this nation for its sins until enough of us repent in humility. Are you clean before Him?

We want to recommend to you David Wilkerson's book, Hallowed Be Thy Names. During the times of chastisement and stress coming on this nation, we believe you will be greatly encouraged by a thorough discussion of various Names of God. Each chapter not only enlightens you, but clears any misunderstanding you may have about our Lord and how He intends to use you.

We end with this thought: "Where there is no revelation, people give in to their sin nature" (paraphrase of Proverbs 29:18).
Mike & Sue

February 14, 2009

Quit being an 'Ahab'!

Dear Men (and their companions in their life journey in Lord Jesus),
Would you like to be regarded in the heavenlies as a man who "walks with God"? Both Enoch and Noah were faith-filled men who enjoyed a loving relationship with their Lord and obeyed His commands. And, both of these men chose to live as men who pleased Him (Genesis 6:9; Hebrews 11:5). Your own "walk" with God, your halak in Hebrew, is characterized by your ongoing pursuit to please your Lord in all you think, do, and say. Through His Spirit our faithful Lord has both called you and empowered you as His own to walk with Him in love-grounded, obedient trust.  

But this kind of walk is surrounded by all kinds of obstacles, whether the allure of the world's wicked ways, temptation through your own sinful desires, or demonic interference in the unseen realm. In particular, the covenant of marriage that is set apart by our Father to represent His spiritual union with His Church is undergoing ever-increasing attack. Mutual wounding and subsequent unforgiveness are convincing many within Christendom to discard their vows and sever their covenant. The rampant divorce serves a twofold demonic plan: to bring down the name of our Lord and to prevent future generations from being raised to walk in Christ.

While the widespread dissolution of marriage didn't occur overnight, it HAS grown to epidemic proportions during the past 40 years, coinciding with the rise of the feminist movement in the 1970s and beyond. Both of these events have leapt to the forefront of western culture as an outgrowth of an insidious demonic entity we wrote about in Lifebyte 62, the Queen of Heaven.

We've talked with a number of couples recently and recognize the challenges you're facing as you're striving in the Spirit to align your marriage according to God's Word. The two of us were raised in homes that were ruled by Queen of Heaven dominance. Our Lord has used our own painful experiences to help us understand the depth of determination it takes in Christ to be sanctified from all vestiges of the Queen of Heaven entity. When you're no longer under the influence of that unclean control spirit, your marriage can then increasingly reflect Christ's likeness to others who need hope in Him.

God is surely long-suffering, repeatedly sending people with prophetic warnings to turn away from following gods that appeal to their sin nature. Worship of ANYONE or ANYTHING other than Himself is, in His words, "an abominable thing that I hate!" (Jeremiah 44:4). But ancient Israel, as with so many churched and unchurched today, ignored both His warnings as well as the lessons to be learned from their forefathers. There ARE dreadful consequences when we bring reproach to His Name by compromising biblical obedient trust with man-focused, man-pleasing religious pursuits. Our gracious Father declares these warnings so that people will humble themselves, fear Him with holy reverence, and walk in His ways out of grateful love for Him (Jeremiah 44:10; Deuteronomy 6:5).

Rather than separating themselves unto the God of Israel when they fled to Egypt out of fear, the Jews continued in the wicked pursuit of demonic idols that had brought God's chastisement upon them in Judah. They relished their spiritual adultery, forsaking the God of their fathers in unfaithfulness (Jeremiah 44:1-3). Please don't think that we're just reviewing ancient history here. Mankind's sin nature still seeks self-rule and freedom from the boundaries of God's Word and His good commands. That wicked influence about which we're warning is mightily at work today, tearing apart homes and destroying the lives of countless children both born and preborn.

Note this. The Queen of Heaven demonic idol against which Jeremiah so forcefully thunders allures not only women who manipulate and control their households and husbands. If you recall, the prophet also decries MEN, both husbands and fathers and governing officials, who not only gave way to wickedness themselves but also encouraged it in their wives (Jeremiah 44:9). Jeremiah reveals that in order for the demonic Queen to dominate, it takes men ducking their God-given responsibility to keep their families undefiled: “When we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands know that we were making cakes like her image and pouring out drink offerings to her?” (Jeremiah 44:19). This spirit would lose its control if only men would live up to what our Lord requires of them.

Then as now, the MEN retorted with self-serving excuses and bitter accusation against God. Denying that their provision came from His hand, they attributed their former food and prosperity to the demonic Queen (44:17). Rather than humbling themselves and taking ownership of their unfaithfulness to the God of Israel, they blamed their poverty, famine and suffering on their neglect of this idol (44:18). Their words as well as their actions proved that despite being called God's people, their deceived hearts had divorced them from His covenant. His holy name would no longer be named by them (44:26).

The Queen of Heaven Seeks Men Who Have Sinful Motives

Do you see? That pervasive feminine-control spirit has produced a western Christendom that surveys in the United States refer to as "totally effeminate." The Queen of Heaven looks for men who are bitter, or who fear man rather than God, or who seek personal prestige at all cost. I (Mike) spent a number of years as a counselor to clergy, and discovered that these three attitudes, especially bitterness, dominated these men and opened their teachings to the influence of the Queen of Heaven. Their Sunday sermons were pleasant and easy to listen to, not convicting. During a gathering at our retreat center, the entire group of clergy admitted that they watered-down their sermons in order to make them enjoyable.

In order to maintain their position of influence, clergy whose lives are overshadowed by this entity attract around themselves "Ahabs", men they can manipulate and bend. I discovered over the years that many clergy would often place men younger than themselves in leadership positions so they could control them. They were especially on the lookout for men whose wives controlled their households. It's no surprise that contemporary Christendom has produced generations of married men who are self-centered, irresponsible "Ahabs".

Let’s be clear here. In order for a woman to rule over her family, a MAN has failed to fulfill his God-given responsibilities. Remember Adam’s sinful response when he was confronted by God? He gave excuses and ducked, blaming his wife. Because of Ahab’s childish dependence on his wife, Jezebel controlled the tribes of Israel through her schemes and witchcraft. You may want to review Lifebyte 27. You Must Be Born Again: Life Begins in the SPIRIT (John 3:8), in which this issue is further developed.

Some men are trained to be Ahabs by mothers who either belittle men in general or coddle their sons as perpetual young boys, never holding them responsible to become mature men. Others don't start off as Ahabs, but events in their lives cause them to choose the path of irresponsibility. We've encountered men who were doing well in leading their families until they lost their job. Some were unable to keep up with growing expenses so their wives had to pursue outside jobs. Still others slipped into the grasp of the Queen when they entered the Wounded Stage and let themselves be overcome by debilitating self-pity and despair. And some discovered that retirement produced a loss of purpose and meaning, so their wives took control. In each of these situations, the wife gave up being the man's supportive life partner (ezer) and began to "mother" him.

"Fear of man will prove to be a snare,
but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe"
(Proverbs 29:25).

Christianity in the United States has become dominated by an effeminized culture which has been reinforced by feminine dominance in public education. Males are being indoctrinated into making pleasantness the hallmark of a Christian man, with even Lord Jesus consistently portrayed as docile and sweet. Yes, a man of God must be considerate, and full of compassion and mercy (Titus 3:2; James 3:17). But when a man lets himself be controlled by fear of rejection, he will do all he can to be likable. Rather than standing for his convictions, he makes himself an Ahab, a spiritual chameleon who conforms to whomever he's with. But appeasement and approval come at a dreadful price for his family. They lose their spiritual covering of protection and are exposed to the compromise of whatever winds of spiritual or cultural fancy come along. It's not long before the primacy of God's Word and standing firm in His Spirit become subverted as "legalistic" and "intolerant", leaving his children with total disregard for any authority at all in their lives.

Take a moment and ask yourself:
• Are you generally pleasant-natured and easy to get along with? 
• Do you act this way in order to be accepted? 
• Do you speak up for your convictions when they're challenged by others? 
• Are you fearful of speaking the name of Jesus among unbelievers? 
• If you have children, who usually disciplines them, you or your wife?
• Who generally leads your children in spiritual discussions, prayer, and Bible study? 
• To whom do your children turn for the 'final word' on a matter? 
• Does your wife really respect you, or does she dominate you? 
• When others interact with you and your wife, do they respect her and her convictions more than they do you?

"Let this peple turn to you, but you must not turn to them" (Jeremiah 15:19).

There is a certain consequence wen you yearn to be true to Jesus in all that you say and do. He'll put you into situations in which you must choose either to be faithful to Him, or to give way to fear of man and go along with unrighteous conversation or opinions or activities. Everyone, and we mean EVERYONE who counts himself a follower of Jesus goes through testing — many times. Tests reveal whether we're all talk or responsively obedient (2 Corinthians 13:5). Each test God gives us is designed not to destroy us, but to verify the genuineness of our trust in Him (1 Peter 1:7). Our Lord wants us to live as His light, exposing the works of darkness and pointing to the Source of that light so that others will be drawn to Him.

Erwin Raphael McManus, in his book The Barbarian Way, which we recommended to you a while back, comments on where pleasantness has led westernized Christianity today:

"Domesticated Christians are far too willing to abdicate the battle for the soul of the world.
Civility focuses our energy on all the wrong places.
We spend our lives emphasizing our personal development and spiritual well-being...
In contrast Jesus calls us to a different way. He tells us this is a battle of kingdoms...
To see from a kingdom perspective is to know that there is a conflict of invisible kingdoms
and that people's lives are forever changed by what happens in the unseen.
We are called to be warriors of light in dark places." (italics added)

Again, McManus admonishes, "We spend our lives emphasizing our personal development and spiritual well-being..." We've followed our Lord Jesus for over three decades. Sadly, the most common testimony we've heard in congregations has been what we call "dumping out the garbage pail." Week after week it seems that people share the same type of testimony, "I used to fill in the sin, and now I don't." We're delighted that our Lord faithfully convicts and strengthens His own to overcome nagging sin. But we grieve how sorely absent among so many of the gathered are testimonies to the glory and faithfulness of our Lord as they join Him in advancing His Kingdom!

It's no small thing that God's Word calls for soldier hearts committed to lifelong service to their King (2 Timothy 2:3,4; Philippians 2:25). But few men are being challenged and encouraged to live as mighty soldiers for the Captain of the host! So few Ahab-oriented clergy promote the steadfast warrior spirit that's needed for Kingdom service. Therefore the testimonies that are shared as a result of their teaching are more fitting for Ahabs — self-focused, dumping-out-the-pail over and over again. Absent are testimonies of the Goliath-slayers who delight our Lord and endure in His strength.

When you testify how God has used you in the lives of others, this isn't bragging. When you respond to His prompting with the understanding of His grace and empowerment at work in and through you, your testimony brings Him glory. A testimony that glorifies our Lord draws attention to what HE has done through you as His waiting and available vessel. Paul returned to Jerusalem and Antioch on several occasions to encourage fellow Jesus-followers about what God had done among the Gentiles through him. But the servant-nature of Paul also caused him to limit his testimony to that which bought praise to His Lord: "I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done" (Romans 15:18). Be prepared to fully and boldly serve your Lord when He calls — and do so with a humble servant's heart that rejoices when your King is exalted!

"This is what the LORD Almighty says:
'Look! Disaster is spreading from nation to nation;
a mighty storm is rising from the ends of the earth'''
(Jeremiah 25:32).

You can't help but be aware that all around the world a spiritual battle of immense proportions is raging! On the surface it looks like an economic crisis, but in reality, the warfare that's in the spiritual realm is far greater than any of us can comprehend (see Isaiah 55:8,9). We all live with an extremely incomplete understanding of what God is doing. Most of our awareness of Him is based on how His actions affect us personally. But there is a larger divine plan unfolding that is impacting every nation on earth. And, if our God is dealing with nations, then He is also taking on the demonic principalities that control them.

Thankfully, our Lord isn't calling any of us to understand everything that's going on throughout the world! However, we do need to know and obey that which He holds us responsible for as revealed by His Spirit and in His Word. And, a key responsibility for you married couples is making sure your marriage aligns with His purpose for you together so that He can be seen at work in your midst and be praised.

We've written previously that as our Lord is fulfilling His promise to restore the Jewish people to the land of Israel, He is also revealing the Hebraic foundations to us Gentiles. We're living during the first generation in which all people groups may indeed be able to access the Gospel of the kingdom. When that happens, as He promised, the end will come (Matthew 24:14)!  But if you're entertaining a self-serving Ahab spirit, complacently enjoying your slice of the world's pleasantness, then you're probably cringing at the thought that the end may be approaching. However, those of us who have responded to His call and labored in Kingdom service look forward to the return of our King. No affliction or difficulty past or present or still to come can compare to the joy of seeing Lord Jesus face to face!
"For God, Who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed" (2 Corinthians 4:6-9).

+++++++++++++++++++++++

"This is what the LORD says: 'Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD...
But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him'" (Jeremiah 17:5,7).

Please, don't let your hopes rise and fall over whether Washington is going to restore the greed-based comfort and "entitlements" that so many in this country are accustomed to. Everything our government leaders are planning and doing is a sin against God. These 'Ahab' leaders are violating the Word of God by heaping ponderous financial burden on the children of tomorrow in order to feed the greed of today.

If you're following Jesus as the only Lord of your life, don't put your trust in the solutions of deceived government leaders. So many within both the Administration and westernized Christendom have proven themselves to be 'Ahabs', more concerned with pleasing people than with obeying and pleasing God. If either of these systems was concerned with the requirements of our Lord, there would be a widespread call for repentance throughout this nation. You don't hear them sounding that call, do you? While they may not want to be obedient to God's commands, make sure you and your family do, no matter what it costs you.

Both Israel and the United States currently have the world's attention. Tragically, these two nations are placing their trust in human leadership to get them out of their difficulties. And, the deceived leaders of these two nations trust in their weapons (see Psalms 20:7) and their past reputation. Both of these nations will be brought to their knees in God's own time and way. You can be sure that He will accomplish this in such a manner that no one will doubt it is He who is orchestrating it.

But let's narrow our focus here. If you're a man who would like to be found faithful to our Lord, it's time that you, your wife and your family heed His warning — a warning He is giving from a heart of love that's yearning for repentance! "This is what the LORD says: 'Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions'" (Jeremiah 18:11). Please, out of love for our glorious Lord, examine your life closely. Repent if necessary, and rid your marriage and your home of ALL that our Lord considers sinful. Especially make sure that NO vestige of the Queen of Heaven influence is found between you and your wife.

Men, we can't speak strongly enough to warn you how our Lord hates the Queen of Heaven influence and anything that has to do with it. Make sure you aren't in any way an Ahab within your own home. As long as YOU sit back as an Ahab, your wife won't be able to rid herself of the Queen's controlling influence. If you've grown up in a home with a dominant mother, or if your a wife is a daughter of a divorced mother, you need to be all the more determined in your sanctification from these influences. You need to experience just how powerful the Spirit of Jesus is in changing the both of you so that your marriage can reflect Him.

Possibly, just possibly, our Lord will honor His promise to Jeremiah IF enough of us choose to live repentantly: "If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned" (Jeremiah 18:7,8). Do you want our Lord to relent? Then let's make living repentantly, forsaking ALL sin so that we can freely love and serve our Lord, our daily goal.

Trusting the only One Who changes lives and marriages,
Mike & Sue

February 9, 2009

Men, it's time for duty!

Dear Friends,

One of the most fascinating points about the parables Jesus relates is their timeless nature for all generations. For example, let's look at Luke 17:7-10 to discover what He's telling us today to apply to our lives. This parable presents a servant who has labored hard all day in his master's field. When he comes in for the day, however, his work isn't finished! He's called upon to make supper for his master, and get cleaned up and serve him. This is part of his duty as a servant/slave. His master owns him and has the right to command his obedience.

Now take note of a key element of this story. There's no room for a begrudging attitude nor even an expectation of gratitude from the master, since both the slave as well as the master recognize the nature of their relationship. When the slave has fulfilled all his responsibilities to his master, then he can consider his own needs and refresh himself. Jesus, our Master and Lord, concludes the parable by emphasizing to all of us the correct and righteous attitude we need to have as we fulfill our part in His Kingdom: "So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do'" (Luke 17:10). Did you notice the heart response of humility that's captured in doing the duty we're called to carry out? Having been cleansed by our Father through confession and repentance, we are "set apart and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work" (2 Timothy 2:21).

A vital relational component has been forgotten or neglected by so many Christians today: the God-given reality that fulfilling our duty to our gracious Lord is necessary to authentic, biblical faith. This responsive obedience factor of our trust walk defines the wisdom that permeates God's Word: "Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock" (Matthew 7:24). The "duty" of responsive obedience separates those who talk about their religion from those who interconnect their trust with action: "Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works ... As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead" (James 2:2:18,26). God's Word repeatedly directs His called-out ones to practice wisdom in their lives. And what is wisdom? Fulfilling our duty to our beloved Lord by obeying His good and righteous commands!

Many years ago a study exposed the woeful fruit of Nicolaitan clergy: lethargic and spiritually unproductive passivity in their congregants. Clergy-dominated services produce spectators rather than eager participants whose duty is to strengthen and edify one another as is expected of those called-out by the Spirit: "Whenever you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a teaching, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification" (1 Corinthians 14:26). Because so many choose to rely on their clergy person to "do all things" for them, their spiritual lives are vicarious. They depend on what they see God doing in other people's lives or on what they read. Their identity as "Christian" is found in the size of their congregation, the popularity or perceived piety of their clergy, or the intensity of their allegiance to their denominational creed. Beyond the scope of their awareness is the intimacy of identifying with their beloved Master in purposefully fulfilling His commands in loving service.

In Lifebyte 32. God’s Warning For Today — “The Many Faces of Idolatry”, we offer an anecdote that represents a large part of westernized Christendom:

Several years ago the senior pastor of one of the larger congregations in Connecticut
came on a personal retreat to our center for a few days.
I was interested in how biblical processes operated on such a large scale so I asked him,
“How do you get people to participate when there are so many in your congregation?”
“We don’t want participation,” he answered. “As the church grows,
we hire new staff.” At that time they had 21 paid staff.

The sense of Kingdom duty to our beloved King has all but disappeared from western Christianity. Perhaps you are one of those who has never responded to His call for duty as a soldier, a farmer, an athlete (2 Timothy 2:3-6).  What's so depressing is how many older men have fallen prey to self-imposed "retirement" from that which our Lord commands of them. Just a few years ago we traveled throughout the country doing seminars on the Hebraic foundations. How our hearts grieved that we found only a few older, non-clergy men who were serving others in any kind of leadership capacity in their faith family.

Most heartrending for us was a particular memory. As we finished our research in Israel, our Father told us that the entire Hebraic Restoration rises or falls on whether older men take on their biblical role as elder/shepherds of His children. All our Spirit-directed and -empowered efforts over these years ride on this one factor:

Whether older men can throw off the years of being deceived by man-centered, man-serving religion
and serve in their God-given duty to Him in the lives of younger people.
This is the wisdom His Word calls for, the obedience that fulfills
purposes and evidences authentic faith.

What can we learn from the history of Christianity?
First, we realize that there were no clergy in the early Church. The Church our Lord Jesus is building is not based on religious leaders intent on self-fulfillment as they tell others how to live. Far from it! His own appraisal of those who served themselves in their religious profession was, "Hypocrites!"

From the time of Moses (Exodus 3:16) our Father has always selected older men, family leaders, to represent Him to their extended spiritual kin. The Newer Testament continues this pattern as older men, wise elders (zakenim), were looked to for guidance for each extended faith family (Titus 1:5). Their ultimate purpose was to serve their beloved Lord in His Kingdom work, and to help each person in their care to press on toward the narrow gate. And isn't this what our Father is restoring to us today? Faithful and compassionate older men of wisdom who will care as shepherds for His spiritual flock? This is the God-given duty of every older man in Christ to be true to his Lord in this privileged responsibility, whether to just one younger man or to several. Remember, our God's words are not "divine suggestions"!

The history of Christianity openly discloses that professional clergy didn't appear until persuasive, anti-Semitic Hellenist philosophers entered Christendom in the second and third centuries. These men, many erroneously revered as "Church Fathers", introduced and securely affixed the pagan practices that make up most of contemporary westernized Christendom: a young, seminary-trained clergy class; steeple-adorned buildings lined with pews; a pulpit (often elevated) to set apart the clergy from the rest of the congregation; trained choirs that forestall spontaneous praise by the flock; celebration of "Christian" holidays with trappings and practices that originated as heathen observances.

Tragically displaced were the wise older men who led the children of God as family leaders. No longer did those who faithfully walked in Jesus' steps gather together in one another's homes to pray, fellowship, share in communion, discuss for application God's Word, and encouragingly uphold communal righteousness — practices that eventually became cause for persecution and death at the hands of the religious regime. What was at one time extended spiritual family with Jesus as their Head became a hierarchical organization run by a religious ruling class.

The extreme anti-Semitism of so many "Church Fathers" was a curse thrust upon the children of Abraham, the man promised by God to herald blessings upon the whole world: "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3). For example, seeds of virulent hate were sown in the widely read Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew. Penned by Justin Martyr (AD 160), one of the most respected Church Fathers, this brief document claimed that the Jews richly deserved to be destroyed for crucifying Christ. God was through with Jews, claimed Justin. His gracious promises to Israel now applied only to Christians, while His curses were pointed directly at the Jews. (Tragically, such revisionism totally missed the biblical reality that our sins hung Jesus on the cross. We all richly deserve curse apart from the atoning blood of the Lamb.)

As long as the institution of Christianity has "cursed" the children of Abraham, it has been "cursed" by God as He promised. He never has forsaken Abraham's sons (Romans 11:1,2)! In fact, we are living at a time when two very great promises have been fulfilled — the nation of Israel was restored in one day during May of 1948 as prophesied (Isaiah 66:8); and Jerusalem was returned to the Jews in 1967 after nearly 2000 years of Gentile control (Luke 21:24). The "curse" of Hellenist pagan/philosophical influence and Romanist organizational hierarchy is being exposed to those who want to restore the biblical foundations of relational priorities and obedient trust as a way of life.

But what is holding back many from fleeing this curse? Too many of you men have been duped into passivity by relying on clergy to fulfill your God-given spiritual responsibilities within your family. You can't believe that God could allow people to taste the curse of religious distortion for so many centuries. But consider this poignant example of what God has thrust upon all but a remnant of Jews for so many centuries because of their unbelief: "God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they should not see and ears so that they should not hear, to this very day" (Romans 11:8). Stony refusal to bow before Messiah Jesus has veiled Jewish eyes even now: "I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery [this truth which God formerly concealed but has now revealed], brothers, lest you should be wise in your own opinion. Hardness in part has happened to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in" (Romans 11:25).

If you were Jewish, how would you react to realizing what God has done to you for all these centuries? And don't think, as many Gentiles do, "That's the Jews. I became a Christian when I was 6, so I'm "saved" no matter how I live!" Your life proves if you're abiding in authentic belief, or if you are playing religious games. Beware the presumption of unbelief — thinking that labeling yourself Christian is sufficient in God's sight even while your life denies His Lordship over you (Romans 11:20-24). Far too many Israelites relied on being God's "chosen people" yet by their sinful life choices disqualified themselves as His own.

The history of Christianity reveals further proof that God can allow a curse to continue for centuries. By the 4th century, the politically-aligned Romanized church institution had far removed itself from the biblical foundations of Lord Jesus and the apostles. Neither the Bible nor the early Church writings substantiated the "throne of Peter" as papal authority, nor the elevation of the apostles or others who followed Jesus to be revered and prayed to as "saints". The Hebrew Scriptures overflow with references to "saints" being those who live in obedient trust in God as His set-apart people. That is the underlying apperception behind Newer Testament writers referring to Jesus' faithful ones as "saints"!

However, because of strident anti-Semitism in Christendom, God allowed the Roman Empire political system that had conquered much of the world to become the pattern for the Church hierarchical organization. Pontifex Maximus, the title of the pagan god-emperors, became the Roman Pontiff, the Pope. It wasn't long afterward that the organized Church and all of the Holy Roman Empire plunged into the Dark Ages. For over 1,100 years God permitted the Bible to be hidden in Latin, a language understood only by the very few scholarly ecclesiastics. For all these years God allowed His Word to be kept from everyday people.

Please don't fret about what God does according to His own will. He doesn't have to justify Himself to anyone! But you do have to render account for fulfilling your duty to Him as His beloved called-out one. Even as it's our Father's timing to restore the Jews to Israel as He promised, He is at the same time restoring the Hebraic foundations to Gentile followers of His Son. How is He going about this? Our Lord is recruiting mature men in particular to help restore the Hebraic foundations of His earliest followers — His relational priorities and call to obedience to His Word and to His Spirit. The highest call of a man in the earliest church was to shepherd our Father's children as a wise biblical elder (zaken). This role as a faithful family leader was reserved for wise older men in Christ and is being restored among extended spiritual families today. Younger men, it's time to prepare yourselves so that you can fulfill this privileged duty that God is calling you to when you come of age and have been sufficiently prepared by the Spirit of Christ within you.

"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a road in the desert and rivers in the wasteland" (Isaiah 43:19).

Are you among those who've been deceived by your religious leaders into believing that God no longer brings forth revelation to His people? Many denominations have stunted the spiritual life of congregants by declaring that God ceased revealing truth to His people when the Biblical canon was complete or when their own denominational creed was established. How tragic! Such teaching nullifies the command of God for husbands to love their wives by seeking His rhema, His revealed will, for them (Ephesians 5:25,26). Followers of Lord Jesus find spiritual nourishment through "every word [rhema] that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). As you seek Him earnestly through prayer and in His Word, His Spirit brings forth those promptings and words of His will that direct your path. Isn't that revelation?

Our Father is presently revealing and restoring the truths that enabled the earliest followers of Jesus to be so spiritually powerful and relationally intimate. When you embrace that which our heavenly Father is restoring, you're not only revitalizing your own spiritual life. You're also strengthening and encouraging through your relational influence those He desires you as a wise elder to lead as extended family in Christ. He is calling His people to be poured out as streams of living water (John 7:38,39) in the wasteland of darkness and despair around us. If the Spirit of Christ is abiding in you, you are privileged with an awesome responsibility of loving obedience! You can't go on ignoring your duty to Him as a called-out soldier by living in the passive complacency into which religion lulls you.

You older men and women have experienced failed expectations from your years of Christian religion. Our generation and subsequent ones were duped into thinking that someone else, whether public schools, youth groups or Sunday school classes, would pass along moral and spiritual values to our children. How wrong we all were! As we've traveled around the country sharing Restoration truths, there's hardly a grandparent we've met whose family has not been touched by divorce. So, what can be done?

The pain and sorrow of children from broken homes has not gone unnoticed by our Father. He is recruiting faithful men of wisdom and compassion whom He can use to care for His suffering ones and help undo this societal catastrophe. As He dispels the curse of Greco/Roman distortion of biblical truth, He is revealing the foundations embraced by those who first trusted Jesus. Father God is looking for men who love Him foremost and are humble enough to obey Him no matter what the cost—even to leaving the accursed clergy system behind in order to walk in His power as authentic elders. Are you one of these called-out men?

Over the years our Father has guided and empowered us to produce materials that will prepare you to shepherd His children. All are a free download at our website.
1. Pastoring By Elders <http://www.restorationministries.org/html/pbe.html>.
2. Jesus In Your Home Video Series (especially Section 4. The Home Fellowship) <http://www.restorationministries.org/html/JIYH.html>.
3. Restoring the Early Church <http://www.restorationministries.org/html/rtec.html>.
4. Our 50-lesson series, Discussing How to Restore the Early Church <http://www.restorationministries.org/html/RTEClessons.html>.

If you're a man whose heart yearns to gratefully serve our Lord, then we encourage you to use any or all of these materials. As you know from your study of Scripture, our Sovereign King doesn't accept excuses from anyone. This is His divine timing as He is restoring the Jews to Israel according to His promises and is bringing to light the Hebraic foundations upon which Lord Jesus is building His Church. You don't want to be standing at the Judgment Throne having wasted your years hiding in religion rather than faithfully fulfilling His will as He extends His Kingdom on earth. But keep in mind that there's a cost — one that every person who has walked faithfully in His steps in obedient trust has faced: "You will be hated by all men because of My name...In your endurance you will gain your souls" (Luke 21:17-19, literal translation).

This rejection for standing firm in the Lord Jesus of the Bible won't necessarily come from the world at large. In fact, as with the earliest believers, those who are enmeshed in organized religion will be the ones who self-righteously toss you out and even persecute you: "They will put you out of [your faith community]; but an hour is coming that everyone killing you will think he is offering a service to God" (John 16:2). We've personally experienced betrayal and repudiation in our service to our Lord. There have been 'Demases' (2 Timothy 4:10) among our relationships who couldn't face the rejection that comes with living wholeheartedly for Jesus and sought to compromise with the world's standards. And we've known 'Hymenaeuses and Alexanders' (1 Timothy 1:19,20) who shipwrecked their faith. They were so concerned with being accepted by the world that they ignored their conscience and brought down the name of God by their sinful lifestyles.

"I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth" (Job 40:4).

How very different are God's ways from man's! Our Lord doesn't choose those who are great by the world's standards to do His will (Luke 10:21). Rather, His instruments are people who appear foolish to the world, and those who don't think God could ever use them (1 Corinthians 1:26-30). These are the ones now being recruited to do their part in restoring the Hebraic foundations.

When we were finishing our time in Israel, we visited a small, rustic retreat center near Latrun, a few miles outside Jerusalem. About 4 AM on our final morning there, I (Mike) climbed upstairs to the rock-hewn chapel to gripe to God about why He had chosen us to share the Hebraic foundations. Full of self-doubt and inadequacy from our past, we sure wouldn't have recruited us! I poured my heart out to my Lord Jesus as the darkness was swallowed by the dawn, reminding Him of how much I had failed Him. “Why don’t you use my two brothers?” I lamented. “They’re really reliable, while I’ve been like a spiritual yoyo before you.” Suddenly, the Spirit of Jesus diverted me to a little devotional booklet on a nearby stool. I opened it to the lesson for that day:

‘"Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.’ Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for Us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’ (Isaiah 6:5-8).

Only the grace of our glorious King can open blind eyes that are focused on inner guilt and past failure, and then widen them to see both His forgiving love and purpose for His selection. Sobbing uncontrollably, I whispered, “You do this to everyone you recruit!” As a result of this intimate and joyous encounter, I’ve made an important discovery in my walk with my Lord Jesus: I am without doubt totally unworthy, but thankfully, His use of me depends on HIS worthiness and plan! That wondrous realization has stirred in me a greater determination to encourage others to be prepared and available for God’s use of them! A repentant heart makes all the difference to our Lord.

The mission for which our Lord was recruiting us was established on His call to Isaiah, which became rhema for us through His Spirit: ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for Us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’  This call to awaken others to His restored foundations has not found a large, receptive audience. You may want to read verses 9 and 10 of Isaiah chapter 6, verses apperceived by Jesus in Matthew 13:14,15. Our Father was recruiting us to a difficult ministry — to share with many who refuse to hear as stubbornly as did Isaiah's Israelites. There was a purpose for our Lord so often summing up His parables and dictating Revelation letters with this warning, “if you have ears to hear, then hear!” This repeated phrase is an imperative, a command, a non-optional directive that means to listen closely with the intent of following through in obedience. In other words, take action according to the will of our Father — do your duty!

We came back to the United States as the Church Growth Movement and its deceit that downplayed sin and the biblical necessity to repent had begun to gain widespread acceptance. The essence of its success appealed to the flesh's desire to compromise with the world: "Because God is ALL loving, He accepts you and wants you to be happy." That definitely was not the message He gave us in Jerusalem! He commanded us to remind followers of Jesus of their duty — their responsibility as His beloved Kingdom bondservants — to serve Him in their marriage, their family, and their fellowship family. To most people today, duty is a negative four-letter word. So many who have been deceived through false gospels consider themselves "Christian" but don't have the Spirit of Christ. Therefore they're not able to discern the truth of love-grounded, responsive obedience to God's good and gracious commands and ways (1 John 2:3-6).

Thankfully, our Lord warned us while we were at Latrun that what we’d be sharing would not be readily embraced by those who were satisfied with religious systems and practices. In fact, only a few would have ears to hear about the Hebraic foundations until the “Dark Days of Chastisement” come on the United States. You probably have little doubt that this season may soon be upon this nation.

We share this last point if you have ears to hear and a heart intent on obeying our Father's will: Don't be plagued by a false expectation that because these truths emanate from our Father, people in your relational arena will welcome you and receive them. Far from it! As many of you have already found, to stand steadfast in Jesus and His Word is a choice that often leads to isolation for a while. That happens not because you have made yourself inaccessible, but because you've been rejected by those who don't want to hear about their responsive duty to our Lord that's part and parcel of a love relationship with Him. Yet if you've chosen to follow Jesus in Spirit and in truth, can anything be greater than being true to our Lord no matter what it costs you? (Revelation 12:11)

Rejoicing with you in our life journey with Him,
Mike & Sue

January 26, 2009

The Purpose Driven Presidency

Dear Friends,
We realize that this e-mail is coming soon after our previous one, God Requires Love, Not Tolerance. We also confess that we enjoy sleep as you do! But, when the Spirit of our Lord keeps us up praying through the night and prompts us to rise long before dawn to write, we do it! So, here is another Prophetic Insight for you to prayerfully consider.

For several years now we've been contacted by various people who've been deeply concerned about Rick Warren's books, The Purpose-Driven Church and The Purpose-Driven Life. Because of recent communications prompted by President Obama's request for Rick Warren to do the Inauguration invocation, we felt our Lord wanted us to warn ALL of you. Rick Warren founded Saddleback Church in Southern California and for many years has been leading the way in today's Church Growth Movement.

To better understand the connection between President Obama and Rick Warren, we first need to review some American history. Prior to the Great Depression of the 1930s there had been other economic depressions in this nation. With each of these financial calamities the President would call for a period of fasting and repentance until God delivered them from the condition that had been brought on by their sins. These disasters followed a pattern similar to that found in the Book of Judges: widespread toleration for sin, God's judgment that brought about repentance, and His subsequent merciful deliverance.

With the Great Depression of the 1930s, however, this pattern was broken by then-President Franklin Roosevelt. Refusing to yield to the humility of heart that had impelled his presidential forefathers, Roosevelt replaced the God of the Bible with the 'god' of government. Because the government can print as much money as it wants — even without the means to back it up — Roosevelt instituted far-reaching social programs that borrowed money from the future. The plan seemed well and good. People could get out of their current crisis by placing the financial burden on their children and their children's children. Decades of borrowing from future generations became an entrenched policy, so much so that current generations have come to expect the entitlements of their greed-based, self-serving prosperity.

Commonly accepted practices that ignore or defy God's Word cannot prosper. Such is the case of robbing the yet-unborn to satiate their parents: "Children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children" (2 Corinthians 12:14). The ways of the world are utter foolishness to our holy God, who grieves the murdered 50 million aborted children who could have helped pay this debt. We previously wrote that when Roosevelt instituted the Social Security program, there were 17 workers to provide the funding for each retiree. Now there are only 2.5. Nobody is going to pay this debt back, NOBODY.

For the sake of greed we've doomed our children to economic chaos. Most Americans today share a common desire that aptly depicts the self-centered focus of this culture: a fervent desire that the total collapse of this nation and its economy won't happen in their lifetime! Yet how despicable in God's sight is this narrow-minded perspective!

It is evident that President Obama is a purpose-driven man. Americans expect this trait if he is to lead them out of the current crisis. While being purpose-driven may be admirable, that characteristic falls into deception when it gives way to the pathway of Rick Warren (and many others in the Church Growth Movement). What do these two men have in common? Both set aside the holy commands of God's Word to advance their own agenda.

This President has imitated the man-powered approach of FDR and set aside the humility of repentance that presidents of previous generations called for. Rather than calling for national repentance, President Obama is going to rely on the 'god' of government to solve the current crisis. As driven as he is to get this nation out of its economic mess, no man's purpose can stand against God's as He challenges the idols of government, greed and religion.

Religion: Purpose-Driven Man's Testimony To His Own Success
The real key to the success of Rick Warren and the Church Growth Movement of which he is a key leader is to persuade people to set aside Biblical absolutes and agreeably tolerate everyone and everything. That means never confronting people with the depravity of their sin and their absolute need for Jesus as their Savior and the Lord of their lives. Meeting earthly felt needs and providing emotional satisfaction underlies the success of Saddleback Church and those modeled after it.

The Purpose-Driven Church and The Purpose-Driven Life distort God's Word by removing any emphasis on the reality of sin and man's carnal nature, making "Christianity" palatable. God's love is never balanced with His holiness. His command for righteousness is overridden by a call to accept sin and welcome all as accepted, even those who have no concept of repentance or guilt or righteousness. That way, "customers" — unbelievers and seekers — are attracted into pews, never confronted by their sin and never made to feel that repentance is needed to come into God's holy Presence.

We encourage you to go to <http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/2003/1-purpose.htm> and find a thorough exposé of Warren's goals and methodologies. Why are we recommending this? Warren's rules for church growth instruct us to "never criticize what God is blessing." That sounds right — as far as it goes. But the God Who is holy, righteous and just is deceptively cloaked by a representation of a deity who accepts everyone just as they are, without confession of their own depravity and without turning from that darkness into the light of His Lordship. Warren teaches that God Himself is so tolerant that He blesses everything and everyone. Much of Warren's goals and methods are derived from Peter Drucker and Robert Schuller. Both deny God as He is represented in the Scriptures, choosing instead to promote "people-friendly" policies and programs that define as acceptable even that which nullifies God's Word.

Peter Drucker is the legendary management guru behind many of today's corporate success styles, and in recent decades, has deeply influenced those who ascribe to the Church Growth Movement. What is attractive about Drucker's methodology is that it offers statistical proof of "success" — you can count nickels and noses as a sign of your accomplishment. Also, Drucker emphasizes the need for compromise and tolerance in order to produce a sense of community. Clergy from many nations have implemented Drucker's marketing approach to "doing church", finding that a promise of salvation without identifying with the self-denying cross of Christ produces far greater favor and acceptance.

The other person who has strongly impacted Warren's ministry is Robert Schuller of Crystal Cathedral fame. Warren incorporated Schuller's "people-pleasing" methods to produce the phenomenal growth at Saddleback. Both Warren and Schuller distort Scripture by quoting only passages or even partial verses that emphasize only the "loving side" of God. By eliminating emphasis on the holiness and righteous justice of God, they effectively remove any holy fear of Him and His chastisement and judgment when man continues to violate His standards.

This combined influence of Drucker and Schuller on Warren focuses on the "customer's perspective" in order to achieve success. This means you do whatever it takes so that people feel satisfied — the same approach that Corporate America relies on to entice people to come and buy. As evidenced by their expansive congregations, Schuller and Warren realized that when this process is applied, they're successful — that is, if success is measured by vast numbers of satisfied "customers".
Through surveys, congregational leaders can easily discover the "felt needs" of the unbelievers in their local community. Armed with this information, they can then develop services that attract "customers." Yet grievously, those who are lured in and deceived through this methodology are not exposed to the unchanging standard and requirements of God's Word. Rather, they're inoculated against the authentic Gospel by the passages they find palatable instead of being taught the rest that's not so pleasing to their flesh!

In Lifebyte 61, Does Your Marriage Reflect Your Covenant With Our Father? (Lesson 1), we asked you to discuss your own view of the Bible and its veracity and absolute authority in the life of a Jesus follower. If you've prayerfully done this, then you've discovered God's perspective: The entire Bible is His inerrant and authoritative Word to guide you into a life that pleases Him. He has given His beloved children His Spirit to empower them to live in trusting obedience to His Word out of love for Him. Anyone who chooses to truly follow Jesus can never alter God's holy Word. Those who disguise His Word to make it more palatable to the sin nature open themselves to Satan's deception, as those of the Church Growth Movement have done. Deceiving themselves as well as others, they have blurred the line between what God calls right and wrong.

Our Lord Jesus confronted the religious leaders of His day for doing this very thing to the Word of God: “Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?" (Mark 12:24). They did not understand the power of God to change the hearts of people, so they altered His Word to suit their own purposes. This is what is behind the Church Growth Movement today...

To undergird their devious methodology, leaders of the Church Growth Movement needed an erroneous translation of the Bible that supported their own deception. Eugene Peterson met their needs when he wrote The Message. His translation of the Newer Testament in particular is blasphemous in its alteration of the truth! Yet, this version is frequently cited as a proof text by Rick Warren and many other Church Growth clergy.

Through the paraphrased conversational style of The Message which glosses over the truth, Warren avoids the convicting Scriptures that would offend his "customers." Like Peterson, he goes through great pain to de-emphasize Biblical absolutes, readily watering down the holy commands of a righteous God. Why? Because the absolutes of holiness and righteousness in the lives of those who would truly follow Jesus only hinder Warren's goal of community at all cost — the same goal and methodology that are behind the entire Church Growth Movement.

We are living in the times Paul was warning about, times in which people refuse to hear the truth. Rather, they want a "gospel" in which their worldly desires can be appeased even as they're deceived into believing they're acceptable to God:

"For there will be a time when they will not bear with sound teaching,
but according to their own lusts they will heap up for themselves
teachers who tickle their ears; 
on one hand they will turn their ears away from the truth,
and on the other hand they will be turned aside to myths"
(2 Timothy 4:3,4, literal translation).

In light of Paul's admonition, look at an example of Peterson's "people-friendly" translation of Matthew 18:15-17:

"If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you've made a friend. If he won't listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won't listen, tell the church. If he won't listen to the church, you'll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God's forgiving love.

Examine this passage in your own translation. You confront a follower of Jesus over his sin, not because your feelings are hurt! This isn't a personality issue, it's a matter of him recognizing his sin and repenting. That's the loving command of Christ — to restore the fellowship of the one who has sinned with both Himself and with those in His family. It's because of our Lord's holiness that He commands us to remove the unrepentant from your midst.

Our Lord clearly understood the need for communal righteousness, which is lost to the purpose-driven clergy of today. An accurate translation of the above passage commands the faith community to remove the unrepentant person in order to maintain communal righteousness. They were not against the unrepentant person, rather they were for the righteousness that resulted in their prayers being answered and our Father receiving testimonies of praise to His faithfulness. The one who continues in disobedience yet stays within the congregation could tempt others to stray, and would allow his unrighteousness to defile communal worship.

From our Lord's perspective, upholding His holiness is far more crucial than a man-propelled desire to be "people-friendly." Lord Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of His day because their hearts were far from Him, having substituted manmade teachings for the unchanging commands of God (Mark 7:6-8). Other examples of Peterson's gross distortion of God's holy Word in The Message can be found at this website: <http://www.crossroad.to/Bible_studies/Message.html>.

The Hebraic Restoration is Obedience-Driven, not Purpose-Driven/Outcome-Based
We've shared often that if we're to align our motives with those of the early, faithful followers of Jesus, we must be obedience-based, not outcome-based. This means that you must seek the will of God as to what HE wants you to do — the factor that Lord Jesus says identifies us as His brother, sister, and mother (Mark 3:35). You can't just envision some outcome you think is good and then ask Him to bless it. It's our Lord's will, His outcome that He's calling you to pursue. Being obedience-based means you daily seek the rhema of God for His specific will for you, then follow through in the power of His Spirit (Deuteronomy 8:3; Luke 4:4). Being obedience-based leads you to embrace the "altar experiences" our Lord uses so that you can continue to rid yourself of the motivations of your sin nature and take on the character of Jesus. As you hunger to become more like your King and Lord, you find that you're increasingly more willing to lovingly obey His every command.

In contrast, a self-focused, purpose-driven motivation has taken over much of western Christendom. Because of its popularity and great acceptance, many religious leaders, worship leaders, and Christian publishers and music producers have become outcome-based and purpose-driven using Warren's standards. By embracing and promoting a self-created outcome, they can freely adopt the ways of the world to accomplish their goal. They become peddlers of the things of God, using marketing as the means to carry out the will of God. But, anytime a worldly method or goal is adapted to gain a preconceived outcome, the unalterable holiness of the Word of God is forfeited. Paul recognized the widespread evil practice of "Christian" marketers and contrasted their insincerity with the holy motivation of serving God's purpose: "For we are not, as so many, peddling the Word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ" (2 Corinthians 2:17). An obedience-based follower of Jesus comes from God to share what God has given Him.

In the preceding verses Paul affirmed the importance of being obedience-based — of fully representing Jesus as He is presented in the Bible. No matter what the cost, we are to live as the representation of the Biblical Christ and His Word. Neither can be altered for marketability to those who are bent on hell:

"For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved
and among those who are perishing.
To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death,
and to the other the aroma of life leading to life..."
(2 Corinthians 2:15,16a).

To Be Obedience-based You Must Stay Repentance-Driven
Many of you out of Spirit-impelled obedience to your beloved Lord have had to flee Church Growth Movement congregations. You've been branded by them as "intolerant", "troublemaker", "unloving." We want to encourage you. Press on into pursuing a life that's pleasing to our Lord Jesus, and know that you're in good company! Deceived mega-congregations try to get you to discard the unalterable foundations of God's Word so that you'll find unity in joining a worldwide marketing movement. But this flesh-appeasing deceit is a dangerous snare that opposes Biblical faith. Rather, we urge you to continue to uphold personal and communal righteousness with those who are abiding in love and repentance in His Spirit, even if that's currently just a few in your relational arena. We'll be writing more about this soon...

As we noted in our last e-mail, those who are walking in this deception don't need to be forcefully combated. They need the prayers of righteous people whom our Father will answer, since He is powerful enough to change the heart of anyone! And, while you're praying, would you please lift up the two of us before His Throne? Even as our Lord has called us to expose these demonic forces, we're facing tremendous opposition, both physically and on our equipment. Please, pray for us...
Mike & Sue

P.S. Have you ever thought about this? What if God could find 10 righteous people in each city in this nation. He was willing to stop His destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18) if 10 could be found, and their societies were certainly no worse than ours. Do you think there are 10 righteous people in each city in the US? Would you be one of those whose prayers and obedient, loving trust would stir Him to relent?

January 22, 2009

God Requires Love, Not Tolerance

Dear Friends,
During the Inauguration we found it hard to pull ourselves away from the TV. We were encouraged to see an individual who has overcome so much in life take on the responsibility as the President of this nation. The crowds demonstrated much hope, yet we're well aware that we as followers of our Lord Jesus can never put our trust in a man.

The method of leadership which Mr. Obama seems to be choosing is one of making wise plans through open discussion. If you've been making the Hebraic foundations your way of life, you too have used this method. This is how you prayerfully establish the biblical applications (halakhahs) for a life that pleases our Lord. The cornerstone of this method is found in Matthew 18:18-20:

“I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth
agree about anything you ask for,
it will be done for you by My Father in heaven.
For where two or three come together
in My Name, there am I with them.”

Yet, as we watched all the festivities, in our spirit we also recognized that this presidency may be the precursor to the persecution of the followers of Jesus in this nation. But be assured that if this happens, it won't be a bad thing! We've written previously about China and how the followers of Jesus grew dramatically in both spiritual depth and number after they began to be persecuted by their government. When the church buildings were closed down, persecution separated those who were comfortable with religious form and ritual from those who would follow Jesus even to death. Authentic faith really began to spread when those who trusted Jesus started to meet in homes as family in Him.

How does this tie into the Obama presidency? In Matthew 13:24-30 Jesus relates the parable of the man who sowed good seed in his field while his enemy surreptitiously sowed weeds. While there seems to be much good in President Obama's style of leadership, the weeds he sows may eventually lead to the persecution of the followers of our Lord. How might this happen? Unless something changes, what will come from the Obama presidency is pressure to be tolerant of everyone and everything. It's very much akin to the present-day rule of "political correctness"—you're forbidden to say or do anything that riles others by the world's standards.

Sadly, this nation is primed for the rule of tolerance, especially among church goers. For some time now, those who have enjoyed spiritual lethargy have been trained by their clergy to tolerate sin both in themselves and with each other. Compromise has become an accepted way of life within many segments of the organized church system. Anyone who confronts the sin of another is branded as "intolerant" or "legalistic." Over the past few years we've asked church goers from a variety of denominations about the last time they heard a sermon denouncing sin, and a subsequent call for repentance. Few could remember. In fact, most have never heard a sermon that identifies sin in their midst and God's standard to repent! This is especially true among those who ascribe to or have been influenced by the people-friendly "Church growth movement." Some segments of this corporate-modeled system have even written manuals decrying ever mentioning "sin" because that might make those who attend feel bad about themselves and not return!

One example in particular stands out. Satan has been using the increased tolerance for divorce throughout Christendom to deter people from being true to God's Word. Remember, He hates divorce (Malachi 2:16), since it breaks covenant promise and defiles His purpose and plan for marriage to produce Godly children. Yet, throughout Christendom no one is being found guilty of the sin of divorce. The person who breaks the marriage covenant is guilty of sin, unless by review of the elders the actions of the other spouse are so despicable that there was no other recourse. Does repentance stir our Father to forgive? Absolutely! But "Christian" books and articles penned especially by divorced women acclaim how much happier a divorced woman can be, or how much more satisfying a second (or third) marriage is. We've encountered women who have blasphemed our Lord by proclaiming that God told them to divorce their husbands so they could serve Him better! Yet for the most part, tolerant religious leaders have remained silent. Why? Because they lead this nation in divorce!

Let's take a moment to look at this nation from our Father's perspective.
Every day multiple thousands die, yet so few among the churched (never mind the worldly or "backslidden") are being welcomed in heaven. Can you envision how grievous this is for our gracious God Who accepted the sacrifice of His own Son so that ALL who trusted in Him could be welcomed into His Presence? Instead, He witnesses droves of self-serving, compromised church goers who are deceived into thinking they belong to Him because they embrace certain religious rituals, creeds and programs.

But people who've never embraced the scriptural stipulations of His Covenant, beginning with repentance, have no viable relationship with Him. Consider this: How can people repent in response to God if no one is warning them about sin and their need for repentance? From our Father's view, the painful testimony of much of Christendom in the United States is self-satisfaction with self-serving, self-focused religion.

And the bitter fruit of deceived lives? The refusal to bear His sorrow for those who are plunging headlong toward hell. How this grieves His heart! Yes, our loving Father mourns. Revisit in the Older Testament the recurring voiced pain He endured through adulterous Israel — and picture how even more painful is the spiritual adultery of self-proclaiming "Christians" who bring down His Name by their sinful life choices.

A condition of embracing our Father's Covenant is to love Him. The Hebrew word for the love He commands is ahav, a passionate desire to cherish your Beloved and to be in His presence. This kind of love overflows with emotional connotation. It's a responsive devotion which produces the fruit of obedience. The Hebrew letters of ahav mean “a window into the Father’s heart.” If you truly live in Covenant with Him, our Father reveals to you His very heart. Are you carrying with Him in your spirit the burden of His heart, the salvation of ALL mankind? If not, then be jolted that you aren't walking in Covenant union with Him. Please look again at our Hebraic Article, The Gospel of the Covenant is the Pilgrimage to Salvation. What may you be missing in your relationship in Him?

A little background. We were finishing our time in Israel, having been given the Hebraic foundations by our Father. I (Mike) perched quietly on the rock wall in front of the church building called Dominus Flevit, which commemorates where Jesus wept on the Mount of Olives overlooking the city of Jerusalem. I could feel our Father's deep sorrow as He impressed into my spirit one of His purposes for sending us back to the United States: to address the tragic consequences for children of divorce. I recognized at the time that I didn't fully understand the extent of the problem.

Shortly after our return we read a newspaper article that was based on a 35-year study of children whose parents had divorced. The one factor they all had in common was that they never felt they could intimately belong to another person. Even 35 years after their parents' divorce, most are still plagued by an inability to belong. Not long ago, another fact emerged from Christian pollster George Barna's surveys that augmented our realization of our Father's grief for the children of broken homes. Church goers — people who claimed to be living in Christ — had a higher divorce rate than unbelievers, and clergy were in the forefront of occupations of those who had broken their marriage covenant.

Stop for a moment and try to envision our Father's response to this gross toleration for severing marriage covenants. Picture His grief over the devastated children of divorce who go through life emotionally handicapped, feeling expendable in their relationships. Remember, the Author of marriage intended that this covenant fully reflect a couple's Covenant with Him, and that a husband and wife help each other grow into Christ's likeness together as a mirror of Lord Jesus' love for His Bride, the collective Church. But throughout Christendom, especially in western culture, marriages are being severed and children are being doomed to both emotional misery and the role modeling of expendable, impermanent relationships.

It's not that the children of divorce aren't in proximity to other people. Many do marry. But to intimately belong to another person means that you're free from ALL emotional prisons (strongholds) that you've erected to protect your mind, will and emotions — your soul. This is one of the reasons our Father impelled us to write Demolishing Strongholds: so that others could experience the true freedom which only Jesus as Lord of their life can give. And the greatest of these freedoms is to love Him and to freely love others without regard for whether you are loved in return. This is the essence of the agape love enjoined in a follower of Jesus and made possible by His transforming power (Matthew 22:37-39; Ephesians 5:25).

Tolerance Isn't Love; It's The Fear Of Confrontation
National "Tolerance" Will Ultimately Lead To Persecution

We want to affirm that a follower of Jesus is never allowed to be intolerant of another person. God doesn't allow His people to be against other human beings who are made in His image and for whom Jesus died (see Ephesians 6:12). Instead, He calls us who would be true to our Lord to be for the salvation of ALL mankind as declared in His Word. This very goal is what separates us from the ways of this world and evidences that our Father has revealed His heart to us.

A striking example of standing for something rather than fighting against is found in the trials of Daniel, Shedrach, Meshach and Abednego, who stood for their convictions and impacted an entire heathen empire. To the world, a follower of Jesus will always appear "intolerant." Even if you don't overtly say anything "Christian", the very fact that you don't go along with your old sinful ways makes you appear intolerant. Paul speaks of this transformation in us who once embraced the ways of this sinful world (see Colossians 3:1-11). Peter also references this repudiation of the old in order to live according to God's ways (1 Peter 4:1-4), concluding, "They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you" (v.5). It doesn't matter how people respond to your faith; your first response must be with the love that the Father and Lord Jesus have for them.

Never lose sight that our Lord is holy. If we are to live true to Him and His Word, then we must embrace ALL the commands that lead us to live righteously on His behalf. We must rid ourselves of ALL toleration for personal sin so that we may experience authentic fellowship with Him in Spirit and in truth (see 1 John 1:5-10). Try this. Using your concordance, look up the word "rid" and see the array of sins that He calls us to flee. Then purpose to responsively do that out of your love for Him and your desire to please Him.

As soon as you begin to establish biblical applications (halakhahs) for your way of life, you will appear intolerant to others among the churched as well as those enslaved by the world.
There is coming on this nation an insidious battle. It will be over whether you will be tolerant of sin. Countless studies reveal that inside every human is a desire to be accepted by others. Thus, few are willing to confront, so most people lean toward tolerance. Toleration of unrighteousness offers a false sense that you belong to others: "I'm OK, you're OK, we're all OK." It doesn't matter to most who inhabit pews on any given Sunday morning whether the person next to them is out of fellowship with our Father because of unconfessed sin. But throughout so many congregations in this nation, unconfessed sin is a testimony to tolerance rather than the authentic love of Jesus that confronts sin so that repentance and restoration might take place (see Matthew 18:15-17).

Being willing and able to biblically confront is acquired as Christ-like character is instilled in us through applying His Word out of love for Him and for others. It is for our Lord that we stand firm in our biblical applications (convictions) and face the rejection and hatred with which the world will respond to us (see John 15:18,19). As we wrote in our book Growing Relationships Through Confrontation, confrontation doesn't pit you against another person. Rather, biblical confrontation causes you to address those factors that are detrimental to the relationship — things that are hindering your love from growing. Is the Spirit at work in each of us who follows Jesus prodding us to experience what our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world have found, that the life of a Jesus follower is confrontational by its very nature? Even your refusal to participate in sinful pursuits confronts people with a righteousness they don't want! Yet your holy stand coupled with your Father's love for them may plant a seed for future harvest. 

How May President Obama's Emphasis on Toleration Lead to Your Persecution?
As well intentioned as President Obama seems to be to lead this nation out of its economic mess, it is also his stated intent to sign policy that proliferates the murder of unborn babies, and to make this nation fully accept homosexuality — an abomination in God's sight (see Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; 1 Corinthians 6:9). These two hideous sins will be the spearhead Satan uses to foster tolerance at all levels. Someday soon it will be illegal to be against either abortion or homosexuality, for objection to these will be (and even now are) considered crimes of hate. On the heels of prohibiting biblical exposure of these as sin in God's sight will be the toleration and promotion of all types of sexual perversion.
Don't think that those who are among the churched and their leadership can or will stand up against this evil. Many Protestant clergy have already given way to adultery and divorce themselves, while numerous Catholic seminarians and clergy are plagued by homosexuality.

The call to be true to Jesus will fall on those of us who have left "religion" behind out of loving obedience to Him and His Kingdom purposes. We have 'joined Jesus with a willingness to suffer outside the religious system so that we can live holy lives through His blood. With hearts filled with love for Him, we've left the religious camp, willing to bear the disgrace He bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come, the heavenly one He has prepared for His followers' (paraphrase of Hebrews 13:12-14; see also Hebrews 11:8-10; 12:22).

Are YOU Burdened for the Eternal Destiny of Others?
This proves you've experienced our Father's heart!

You may download the September-October 2008 Mission Frontiers, "Today's Iranian Revolution: How the Mullahs Are Leading the Nation to Jesus." We're sharing this so you may be encouraged by the fruit of what one man in Christ can accomplish when he's burdened for the souls of others. For the time being, most of those who are applying the Hebraic foundations to their lives are isolated and scattered. But, as you will learn from the article, ALL of us who would be true to our God must have a heart like that of Haik Hovsepian.

In the late 1960s Haik received a call from God to go as a missionary to the northern province of Mazandaran in Iran with the specific purpose of starting a work among Muslims. That was no easy call! Yet many years later, as oppression has fallen upon the Iranian people by the Mullahs, thousands are now turning to Jesus. Haik's seemingly small work paved the way for those who are now following Jesus with all their heart. It's crucial as we live according to the Hebraic foundations of the earliest followers of Jesus that we heed Zechariah's words, "Who despises the day of small things? Men will rejoice..." (4:10). It's time that each of us, in some small way, be burdened with our Father's burden — the salvation of others. This is our privilege and duty to Him: to leave behind always looking for the blessings of His hand to benefit our lives here on earth. Rather, let's purpose to grow in spiritual maturity and begin to fulfill His purpose for us as Kingdom servants.

Keep at the forefront of your motives this glorious focus:
Through His death and resurrection, our Lord Jesus opened the gates of heaven — the gates to eternal life with Him and our Father! He made it possible to live in His Presence forever! Based on this wonderful truth Paul could write with assurance, "After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:17,18). This is where our true encouragement must lie. Each of us needs to look beyond our grateful delight in the things our Lord does for us each day. Purpose to focus on eternity with Him, and to be burdened for everyone else to whom we can reveal the Good News of Jesus.

Your pilgrimage to your salvation goes far beyond your own concern with where you end up for eternity. Your journey is enmeshed with our Father's heart for where others end up forever — heaven or hell. Haik Hovsepian's burden for the souls of others paved the way for the thousands who are right now becoming followers of Jesus in Iran. You need to be that one person today who aches with our Father's burden for those you can reach in your own relational sphere.

Yes, you can! Cry out to Jesus until His cross becomes yours (see Mark 8:34-38). Oppression on an order never before seen in this nation is coming in the near future. It's then that your investment in the lives of others as Jesus' representative will produce the fruitful harvest we see in China and Iran today. It's time for you to rise up with His loving power and do your part in expanding the Kingdom of our God!!!

"The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" (James 5:16)

As our Lord's people, we're called to continually live repentantly and righteously so that we may see His spiritual power released in response to our prayers. Cling to that great Biblical promise that our God will act on behalf of the righteous! We don't need to wage political warfare to fight against President Obama and his stance on abortion or homosexuality. This President doesn't need the Christian Coalition battling him, for as the attached article shows: Every time Christianity becomes political, it is devastating for all. The political connection of Christianity in fact hinders the salvation of many.

Instead, President Obama needs the fervent prayers of righteous people so that the world can see the power of our Lord to change his heart. "The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; He directs it like a watercourse wherever He pleases" (Proverbs 21:1). Tolerance of sin is never an option for a follower of Jesus. Repentance which yields to our Lord answering the prayers of the righteous is our only effectual recourse. If persecution accompanies fervent prayer and love-impelled obedience, then let it be so. But don't let us lose focus on what we have — eternity with our Lord forever.

Mike & Sue

P.S. Our niece Chestina shared this wonderful sequence about joy with us recently:
Jesus first,
Others second,
You last.

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.