Mega-Churches That Are Merely Storehouses

An evangelist from a third world country was having a time of fellowship with the senior Pastor of a chain of Mega-Churches from a Western country. Before they parted company, the evangelist made the following statement: “Your Local Churches are only storehouses, storing people for hell”. It was without doubt that the senior Pastor was very much offended. This incident happened more than 12 years ago.

To some people this might appear a shocking statement, but somehow I have reasons to believe that the evangelist was actually speaking the truth. In fact he had made a prophetic statement. With the present New Age movement Local Mega-Churches are mushrooming all over the world! These Mega-Churches not only have large worship sanctuaries they have ultra modern convention centers as well.

How to build a Mega-Church

If it is your “goal and vision” to build a Local Mega-Church then all you need is money and some imagination and creativity. Here are the steps:

1. Spend plenty of money to rebuild your present Church building and equip it with all the facilities (including facilities for youths and young kids) of a country club. Money spent will be recovered very quickly. People who wish to be members of any country club need to pay costly entrance fees and monthly subscription. They are usually wealthy people. But if they can get to enjoy all these facilities for free in a Church, there is no reason why they should not quit going to the country club. Furthermore, they receive all the blessings that a Church offer.

2. Send out faithful and persuasive Church members to invite people to join your Church. Remember not to ask about people’s religious background – whether they are Christians or not or whether they are members of any other Local Churches or not. Be extremely friendly and do their best to build a good personal relationship with new comers. Give them an impression that your Church is indeed an interfaith religious institution. Do not offend anybody. To lead new comers to say the “Sinner’s Prayer” is not advisable. This might frighten them away. Get them water baptized quickly. Make sure you do not mention “repentance” but encouraged them to treasure their new life in Christ. Whether they believe you or not and whether they need to confess their sins or not are not important issues. The important thing is to ensure them of their salvation – tell them they are now saved by the act of water baptism. Tell them all of them will go to heaven because they are now the Bride of Christ.

3. When the new comers begin to enjoy the fellowship of your Church slowly but firmly persuade them to give tithes. Put some fear in them. Show them the Old Testament Scripture about robbing God (Malachi 3:8). Preach a few sermons on the topic of tithing. If they are slow to take heed tell them their business might fail if they refuse to tithe properly and regularly. Tell them God might punish them and inflict them and their family members with incurable diseases if they continue to rob God.

4. Never preach repentance or end-time prophecies. Avoid teaching “hell” and the new birth. Instead, tell them they are wonderful, they are good people and God loves them as they are. Tell them their spiritual Church family is more important than their physical home family so than people come from broken families will not be offended. Show them genuine Christian love. You must ensure every sermon preached from the pulpit is an “itching ears” sermon or the sermon they love to hear.

5. Get them involved in a Church growth/development campaign. Statistics are made available by organizations specializing in studying the growth pattern of thousands of Churches all over the world with various cultures and customs. This is a good way to understand the behavioral pattern of the Universal Church. From these statistics a principle of growth is derived. Using this principle the Local Church will be able to discover the areas of strength and weakness. Spend time and energy on the weak areas and try to achieve a balance. The ultimate goal is to increase the numerical growth rate. It must be good if you believe Mega-Church means a “mega” number of Christians.

The Biblical New Testament Local Church

The “Church” is an “assembly of people” called out from the present world order to serve Jesus Christ and to be prepared by Him to become the collective instrument of the government which He will establish in the next age. The fact that Church people are Christian people called out from the world order means you can never let the world come into the Church to defile the Church.

The apostle Paul described the Church as “His (Christ’s) body” (read Ephesians 1:22, 23). Seen in this light, the Church is not an organization (much less a social club) but an organism. Each member of this body is directly related by personal faith to Christ, as its Head, and through Him to all the other members.

Here are some of my observations concerning the true Church of Jesus Christ:

1. Over the centuries, the true concept of the New Testament Body of Christ has been corrupted and distorted. The Church as it is known today bears little or no resemblance to the original model established in the New Testament beginning from the Book of Acts.

2. Many of those who consider themselves as members of today’s Local Church have no living, personal relationship with Christ, and are often at enmity with other professing Christians. Only a small minority of those who are currently called Christians are members of the Church which is described in the New Testament.

3. Members of Christ’s Body must remember what Paul said: “Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and, ‘Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.’” (2 Tim. 2:19, NKJV, emphasis added). In other words, the true Church has two distinguishing characteristics:

a. God, and God alone, knows all those who are truly His.

b. Everyone who claims to be member of His Church is required to demonstrate it by a life of practical righteousness and holiness.

4. You have probably heard this: “Going to Church does not make you a Christian just like going to a garage does not make you a car.” Only born again believers can be true Christians and therefore you cannot invite non-Christians and non-water-baptized people to be members of the Local Church. By careful study of the Book of Acts you will realize that every believer was born again and water baptized before they joined the Local Church. According to the Scripture unbelievers have the “spirit (unclean) who now works in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2). The Church being the temple of God is holy and it must not be defiled by any unclean spirit (1 Cor. 3:16).

5. The Church does not save and the act of water baptism does not save (please read my earlier Posting – “Understanding Water Baptism”). Therefore by going to Church does not make a person a Christian. Similarly by ministering the act of water baptism does not make a person a Christian. A person must repent and believe before he is qualified to be water baptized (Acts 2:38).

6. God ordained three structures to be built for His glory by His people - The Tabernacle of David, The Temple of Solomon and the Church of Jesus Christ. All three are related; but the first two are physical structures and the Church is a spiritual Structure. All three are built by divine pattern with divine provision and for a divine purpose. David got the pattern for the Temple of Solomon by the Spirit of God (1 Chronicles 28:12). Similar the spiritual pattern for the Church of Jesus Christ is given by the Spirit of God. Men are not called to build any Church, whether a mega-Church or a small Church without the inspiration of the Holy Spirit!

The New Testament Salvation

The whole process of the New Testament salvation consists of justification, regeneration, sanctification and glorification in this order. It is beyond the scope of this message to consider salvation as a continuous process. We shall consider salvation in its most basic meaning – the “initiation” act of entering a life of faith in Christ.

Basically, salvation means the translation of a person from the kingdom of Satan to the Kingdom of God. Therefore, being “saved” means being “salvaged from sins” rather than being “saved from hell” even though the latter is the result of the former.

Jesus is called the Messiah because He would save the people from their sin:

The angel of the Lord said to Joseph, “And she (Mary) will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

The New Testament makes it plain that the experience of salvation comes to each soul only as a result of personal response to the gospel.

Paul explained that salvation comes to a person through believing with the heart and confessing with the mouth the truth of the gospel:

“That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9, 10).

The born again experience that Jesus spoke about in John 3:3 is further made clear by the apostle John:

“He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in Hin name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:11 – 13, NKJV, emphasis added).

In other words, the active response to the gospel is personally receiving Christ. The result of this response of faith is becoming a child of God, or “being born of God”. Each person must make his own response; no person can make the response required from another person. Each person will be either saved or lose solely by his own response.

Entrance into the God’s Kingdom

Let me summarize the basic facts of the Gospel and the response which each person is required to make:

1. Christ was delivered by God the Father to the punishment of death on account of our sins.

2. Christ was buried.

3. God raised Him from the dead on the third day.

4. Righteousness is received from God through believing these facts.

If you are one of those who are afraid of offending an unbeliever by telling him that he needs to confess his sin, look at it the Scriptural way:

Paul said, “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death” (2 Cor. 7:9, 10, NKJV, emphasis added).

Conclusion

If you are truly convinced what the Scripture says about the Church, salvation and the born-again experience surely you will also be convinced that the way of building Mega-Churches is entirely of man’s idea without Scriptural basis and is an abomination to the Lord!

Secular Government Authority

I believe this is a very delicate subject to handle. There are divergent views among Christians. I am talking about the command of God for Christians to submit themselves to secular government authority, whether the government is good or bad, righteous or unrighteous.

Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome:

“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake” (Romans 13:1 – 5, NKJV).

There is a parallel passage of Scripture written by Peter:

“Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men – as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king” (1 Peter 2:13 – 17).

Notice that both Paul and Peter were ministering the Gospel during the Roman Empire. Jesus, as well as both Paul and Peter were executed under the Roman Empire. Therefore whatever they said they had to live it out.

Out of the above passages, we may select three statements that are particularly significant:

1. There is no authority but by the act of God.

2. They are God’s agents working for your good.

3. They are God’s agents for punishment.

The apostles addressed these words specifically to Christians. They stated that government is established by an act of God. How that government will affect Christians depends upon the attitude and conduct of the Christians.

If Christians are walking in obedience to the will of God, then the government and its officers “are God’s agents working for their good”. But if Christians are disobedient and not walking in the path of God’s will, then the government and its officers become “God’s agents of punishment”. In other words, Christians get the kind of government they deserved.

All authority is in the Hand of Jesus

After the resurrection of Jesus He came and spoke to His disciples:

“All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18).

Concerning Jesus Paul said, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Col. 2:9, 10, emphasis added).

Being the Head of all principality and power Jesus has all authority.

Government Authority and our prayer

Every earthly government has the authority to rule because God had appointed and given them the authority. We are not talking about the person (righteous or unrighteous) who occupies the seat of the office of certain government, but about the actual office itself. Both Paul and Peter said behind the office of the Government authority is God’s authority. Our relationship, as Christians, to the office ultimately depicts our relationship with God.

Because not all Governments are necessarily good Paul instructed Timothy to have the Local Church which he called God’s house (1 Tim. 3:14, 15) to pray for a good Government (1 Tim 2:1 – 4). We may sum up this passage of Scripture in a series of logical steps:

1. The first ministry of the Local Church in regular fellowship is prayer.

2. The first specific topic for prayer is the government.

3. We are to pray for good government.

4. God desires all men to have the truth of the Gospel preached to them.

5. Good government facilitates the preaching of the Gospel, while bad government hinders it.

6. Therefore, good government is the will of God.

The need to subject to bad Government authority

A question arises – What happens when an ungodly, wicked man or a persecutor is occupying a position of high authority in the Government? Let us consider two appropriate examples:

Jesus and Pilate

Jesus gave us a good pattern to follow, because He encountered the above problem!

Pilate confronted Jesus who claimed to be the King of the Jew. Jesus answered him:

“My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jew; but now My kingdom is not from here” (John 18:36).

Jesus revealed a very important basis spiritual principle – The Kingdom of God is never established by carnal weapons. It is not that we should not use carnal weapons. But, the Kingdom of God is not established by fighting.

All Christians are citizens of two Kingdoms – We are citizens of the Kingdom of God and also the citizens of our own country. As citizens of our own country it may be our responsibility to fight. But we are not establishing the Kingdom of God by our fighting.

The Lord said to Zerubbabel, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit” (Zech. 4:6).

In other words, there is only one power in the Kingdom of God – The Spirit of God.

Pilate told Jesus that he had the power to crucify Him. But Jesus answered him:

“You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin” (John 19:11).

Here is another remarkable statement made by Jesus. Jesus pointed out that Pilate had a lesser sin than the Jewish High Priest who delivered Jesus to him. The High Priest had no authority at all to do that. But, Pilate even though wicked, had the authority. Jesus showed that he had tremendous respect for secular authority – even for the authority used unjustly against Him! He did not resist Pilate.

Peter and other apostles and the High Priest

Peter and other apostles were put on trial by the Jewish High Priest. He said to them:

“Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name?” (Acts 5:28, emphasis added).

What a remarkable statement – The High Priest said “this name” instead of “Jesus’ Name”!
But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

The apostles had a specific mandate, a command of Jesus Christ to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). The apostles were merely obeying Jesus even thought the High Priest told them not to do. In a way, they were saying they could not stop preaching Jesus – “You can do what you like with us but we would not obey you”. Notice that they did not stage a revolution, stage marches nor hold protests, but just simply submitted to unjust treatment!

What did they do while submitting to the unjust authority? They sang, they preached, and they testified. By their submission they opened the way for God to help them – God vindicated them!
Christians and conscience

Let us refer back to Romans 13:5, “Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience sake”.

The question is, “What if the ruler (the one in authority) demands that I do something which I cannot do with a clear conscience"? The answer is, “I refuse to do it”. But, you submit by saying that “I would not do that, but you can do what you like with me”. You disobey the authority but you would not give up your submission.

Peter said, “And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed” (1 Peter 3:13, 14).

Concerning the faithful followers of Christ, John said:

“And they overcame him (the accuser of our brethren) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death” (Revelation 12:11, NKJV, emphasis added).

In other words, for them it is more important to do the will of God than to stay alive!

Deceptive Soulish New Age Teaching

Powerful deceptive New Age spirits are at work in the Church of Jesus Christ. As the present Church Age draws to a close, utterly vital is the need for discernment between God’s truth and Satan’s lies; between what is a genuine work of God and the counterfeit of the enemy. Invariably, the New Age teaching is always appealing to the soul. It ministers to the soulish part of man.

I suggest my readers refer to my earlier postings such as, “The three types of men” (posted on 28th. Feb. 2005) and “Soul and soulish activities” (posted on 7th. Nov. 2005). Briefly, the whole personality of a man consists of spirit, soul, and body. Before a man is born again, his spirit is in a state of death and it is impossible for him to relate to God. Instead he relates well to spirit beings that are also in a state of death – that is the evil spirits. When the man is born again, his spirit is quickened, or made alive by the Spirit of God. This enables him to relate to the true God.

Paul said, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely: and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23, NKJV, emphasis added).

Notice the following:

1. God Himself sanctifies the believers completely. Sanctification is a continuous process in the Christian walk.


2. It is hoped that our sanctification is complete and our spirit, soul, and body found blameless at the Lord’s second coming.


3. Sanctification process is considered complete if our spirit, led by the Spirit of God takes total control of our soul and body.


4. The spirit of a Christian consists of intuitive knowledge of God, and conscience.


5. The soul of a Christian consists of renewed mind, will and emotion.


6. A Christian is considered soulish if his mind is in various stages of renewal and his spirit man is not in total control of his soul and body.

Therefore, a soulish Christian will be easily deceived by soulish teaching of the New Age movement. In fact all New Age teaching and all religious teaching are in the soul realm. The Devil has no power to touch the spirit of the true Christian, but he has the power to touch and deceive the soul of the weak Christian which is not in full control by his spirit man. Matured spiritual Christians will not be deceived by the New Age Movement.

Psychology and the New Age Movement

It is beyond the scope of this message to study in details all the teaching of the New Age Movement. We shall only consider the gospel of “Self-esteem” and the gospel of “Inner Healing” which are commonly taught in the Local Church. Both of these teaching are based on human psychology which is the study of the human mind and human behavior – of the soulish realm. Therefore, psychologists can never understand things of the Spirit of God! But all true Christians understand things of the Spirit of God. Therefore, true Christian psychologist does not exist. It is a pity that most theological colleges and seminaries “Psychology” is a recognized subject. Most theologians fail to understand that psychology has given us a clearer understanding of the unredeemed human character, but it fails to give Biblical answers to the regenerated believers.

Concerning the Church of Jesus Christ, Paul said:

“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:12 – 14, NKJV).

Note the following observation:

1. The true Church understands things of the Spirit of God.


2. To the natural man (like the psychologist) spiritual things are foolishness because spiritual things can only be discerned by the Spirit of God.

Paul said further that the true Church has the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). If we, as a true body of Christ with the mind of Christ, the Local Church will not be infiltrated by New Age teaching!

Self-Esteem

The BBC English Dictionary defines the word “Esteem” as “admiration and respect”. Therefore “Self-esteem” means “admiration and respect” of self. In Scripture the respect and admiration of self is motivated by pride:

“The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his own esteem. Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, and before honor is humility” (Proverbs 18:11, 12, NKJV, emphasis added).

The Bible teaches us to esteem others and not self:

“Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man” (Proverbs 3:3, 4, emphasis added).

“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself” (Phil. 2:3, emphasis added).

“And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake” (1 Thess. 5:12, 13, emphasis added).

Denial of self

Jesus did not teach his disciples self-esteem. Instead He taught them self-denial:

“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” (Luke 9:23, 24).

It is for the sake of self-denial that Paul said:

“Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:9, 10).

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).

The Bible never urges self-acceptance, self-love, self-assertion, self-confidence, self-esteem, self-forgiveness, nor any of the other selfisms that are very popular today. We are not called to accept self, but to turn from self to Christ! We are called to put self to death!

Inner Healing

We cannot talk about inner healing alone without referring to “Visualization”. Visualization is a major technique of Inner Healing. The real danger is, visualization is a very basic tool of operation in the occult realm and it has its foot very well into the door of the Church!

Inner Healing or “healing of the memories” can be a form of hypnosis. Psychologists use hypnosis to “regress” their clients back into their childhood or even into the womb (with the visualization of Jesus in their midst) in order to deal with early traumas. There is no Biblical basis at all in hypnosis and visualization. Visualization has its place, but if it is man’s method of influencing reality, it is unbiblical. It is one thing to visualize the sort of house we ask an architect to design or the garden we are planning. It is quite another to visualize all the seats in a Church to be full when they are empty, or little men with hammers within the body attacking cancer cells. The ends may be in God’s will, but the means to achieve the ends have to be His also. If it suits his purpose Satan can bring a counterfeit healing but in any event our departure into fantasy gives demons both the invitation and the opportunity.

Paul warned the Christians in Colosse: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh” (Col. 2:8, 23).

“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).

Imagination and fantasy may well seem harmless enough, yet the Bible describes them as evil. The practice of visualization in inner healing is seen as rebellion in the sight of God:

“For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry” (1 Samuel 15:23).

The Bible clearly declares that “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3) and that those who receive Him as Savior and Lord are new creations, for whom old things have passed away and all things have become new (2 Cor. 5:17). The past is taken care of on the basis of faith in God and the finished work of Christ on the cross – not on the basis of some psychotherapeutic process (inner healing and visualization) that must be engaged in to make God’s promises effective. In contrast, inner healing is based upon the premise that the past is still attached to us, buried deep within the unconscious, from where it determines our attitudes and actions.

The person who claims to be a Christian psychologist with an inner healing minister is not a Christian. The Christ that he imagines is a counterfeit Christ!

The Spiritual Babylon

Babylon, according to what John described in the Book of Revelation Chapters 17, 18 and 19 is not a physical city. Just as Zion was not just a city in Israel but in the New Testament it is a representation of the Church of Jesus Christ. Spiritual Zion is the true Church but Spiritual Babylon is the harlot Church. In the New Testament Babylon is a Church within the Church. It is an invisible body coexisting with the invisible Body of Christ. Babylon consists of believers in a fallen spiritual condition. But Babylon will be judged during the Great Tribulation.

Babylon according to John

John in the Book of Revelation named Babylon as the mother of harlots:

“Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, ‘Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication’. And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (Rev. 17:1, 2, 5, NKJV, emphasis added).

Take note the following:

1. The seven angels are sent by God to judge the world with seven bowls judgment(Rev. 16). One of these angels will judge the great harlot.


2. The great harlot is Babylon, the mother of harlots. Spiritually speaking, the mother of harlots is the harlot Church; harlots are members of the congregation who worship in the harlot Church.


3. “Many waters” or “sea of glass” (Rev. 4:6) symbolizes the crowd in every nation, tongue and people. Spiritually speaking, the great harlot is in control of the harlot Church throughout the whole world!

The Spiritual Bride and the Spiritual Harlot

An angel said to John concerning the Church of Jesus Christ towards the end of this age:

“Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still” (Rev.22:10, 11).

Notice that the Book of Revelation is written for God’s people, the Church. John was commanded not to seal his prophecies because it will soon be fulfilled. The angel told John, a time will come when there will be a line of separation and departure of ways and characters among God’s people. Those who are wicked will become more wicked; those who are righteous will become more righteous. The difference between those who are in darkness and those who are in the light will become more distinct as a testimony for all to see before the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is never the intention of God to confuse His people. He wants to make it very clear to us that the righteous will receive His reward but the wicked will miss it all!

The Old Testament Spiritual Harlot

The Old Testament prophets identified the harlot as backslidden people of God:

“Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees” (Jer. 3:8, 9, emphasis added).

Both Israel and Judah had committed spiritual adultery or spiritual harlotry and defiled the land by worshipping idols.

God said, “They have had a harlot’s forehead” (Jer. 3:3)

Notice that this can be identified with the forehead of the scarlet woman what John saw
(Rev.17:5).

Ezekiel said the same thing regarding Jerusalem’s harlotry:

“But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it” (Ezekiel 16:15).

Isaiah said Zion, the city of David, had degenerated:

“How the faithful city has become a harlot! It was full of justice; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers” (Isaiah 1:21).

The word “Zion” speaks of the Church in the New Testament. Therefore, in a way, Isaiah prophesied that a section of the Church will become a spiritual harlot!

The New Testament Spiritual Harlot

The harlot Church is a Church defiled by allowing the infiltration of the world into the sanctuary. This defilement of the sanctuaries of the Lord’s house was described by Jeremiah:

“We are ashamed because we have heard reproach. Shame has covered our faces, for strangers have come into the sanctuaries of the Lord’s house” (Jer. 51:51, NKJV, emphasis added).

“Strangers” speaks of “sinners” or “unsaved people of the world”.

In the Tabernacle of Moses or the Temple of Solomon strangers or sinners were allowed in the Outer Court. Only those who were set apart, received the blood sacrifice at the Brazen Altar and cleansed at the Brazen Laver, were allowed to come into the Holy Place.

In the New Testament Church as described in the Book of Acts, only born again, water-baptized believers were allowed into the sanctuary to worship the Lord. But in all of today’s Churches unbelievers are welcomed into God’s Holy sanctuary. Man’s rationalization says that, “by letting unbelievers into the Church and by letting them listen to the preaching of God’s Word they might believe and repent of their sins”. But, the truth is that the Word of God is Spirit and the spirit of the unbeliever needs to be regenerated and quickened by the Spirit of God before he can understand things of the Spirit. In other words, the person needs to be born again by the Spirit of God. In many cases unbelievers come to the Local Church to seek blessings instead of the Savior and Lord!

Babylon, the Harlot Church

Babylon is the Harlot Church whose members are all professing Christians who love the world. It consists of those who love the world’s favor than its reproach. It consists of those who have seen the honor of the world rather than its shame; self indulgence rather than self denied.

Babylon is all who professed to be Christ’s little frock but they denied Christ as the Chief Shepherd. They denied Him by the way they live and by their action and deeds. Babylon is any Church, any ministry, minister and any Churchgoer who love the world system. It is made up of certain pastors, evangelists, Bible teachers and multitude of Christians who have been seduced by the spirit of the world. It is a religion that has been polluted by worldly methods. The world is trying to turn God’s people into spiritual harlotry. The world is trying to make the Church to do God’s work with world methods. Ministers begin to copy the ways and methods of the world – in the area of music and choreography. People come to Church to be entertained instead of ministering to the Lord in praise and worship.

The Lord said through Jeremiah, “And my people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end” (Jer. 5:31)?

John heard the cry of an angel, “And he (an angel) cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, ‘Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury’” (Rev. 18:2, 3).

John heard another voice from heaven, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities” (Rev. 18:4, 5).

God is warning his people to come out of Babylon because God will judge Babylon!

Babylon, the harlot is falling

Babylon is falling and John’s prophecy in Revelation is going to be fulfilled before our very eyes. God is going to bring down every unspiritual lukewarm Local Church, every unspiritual ministry, every backslidden preacher and every lukewarm Churchgoer.

“I know your works and what you are doing; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth! For you say, I am rich, I have prospered and grown wealthy, and I am in need of nothing; and do not realize and understand that your are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked” (Rev. 3:15 – 17).

We are going to witness the fall of some of the harlot ministers who were polluted by the world. Mega-Churches with their multimillion projects to compete with the world are going to come crashing down. Some Churches and Church projects built by those who have no clear mandate from God are going bankrupt. Only the genuine spiritual ministry is going to pick up the pieces.

God is about to do a new thing in the backslidden Church (Isaiah 43:19). He is going to bring down the proud, the famous and the self-centered ambitious “men of God”. God is about to raise up humble and God-fearing ministers who seek the Lord to bring the Church back to repentance and holiness.

God said, “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray; they have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place” (Jer. 50:6).

A Call to Repentance

When God’s people were captives in Babylon they quit singing, they quit rejoicing and hung their harps upon the willows (Psalm 137:1 – 3) because they thought God had forgotten them. Babylon had taken away their harps and their songs. His people could not sing the Lord’s song in a strange land (Psalm 137:4). Babylon is a strange land for the true Church.

But God is calling the harlot Church to repent and to return to the Lord:

“Turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with morning” (Joel 2:12).

Joel, the prophet continued to comfort His people, “So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. Who knows if he will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him – a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God” (Joel 2:13, 14, NKJV, emphasis added)?

Spiritual Growth

The Bible has a great deal to say about spiritual growth, about Christians developing spiritually, about taking on stature and growing on to the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13). But we cannot talk about growing spiritually unless we also acknowledge that there is also some kind of spiritual retardation and stunted growth for some Christians.

Paul’s concern about the Corinthians was that they never seem to grow up:

“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ” (1 Cor. 3:1, NKJV).

Spiritual babes are carnal and not spiritual.

The writer of Hebrews said the same thing, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe” (Hebrews 5:12, 13).

Spiritual babies are milk Christians and are unable to take solid food.

Spiritual Growth is a Command

Spiritual Growth is a divine command. It is not optional whether you and I grow or not.

“You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen” (2 Peter 3:17, 17, emphasis added).

Notice the contrast that Peter brought out, separated by the word “but”. Christians have to make their own choice. They must choose for themselves, either be deceived by wicked influence of the flesh and the devil or grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

The food for growth

What is the thing that makes people grow? You are what you eat. In other words, what you put in your body is what you are. If you eat a whole lot of wrong things, your stomach will rebel against it. If you continue to do it your body will miraculously try to accommodate it and stores it up in folds of fat. This is potential heart attacks.

Similarly, the thing that makes Christians grow spiritually is the type of spiritual food they eat. What spiritual food you partake is what you are as a spiritual person. We cannot build our Christianity out of Christian view points from other people, view points of Christian book writers and view points of “Christian” film producers.

A preacher must first be partaker of what he feeds the sheep. He must check out to see if the food is good for spiritual children. He must feed them with the pure Word of God:

“…. As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2).

Only the pure milk of the Word would ensure healthy spiritual growth.

You cannot grow by eating junk food of religious spectacular teachings, soulish entertainment, unsound doctrines or “itching ears” sermons.

Those who do not grow are caught in the peripheral Christian world. They delight in talking about semi-soulish secular things. There is no flow of deep devotion that comes from their type of Christianity. If you talk about Jesus and the Bible you do not see any sparkle in their eyes. Talk about the business world, new management methods, politics and promotional schemes you will have great response from them. When you talk about spiritual things you will receive very little response. They will have just enough spiritual knowledge to satisfy their conscience as professing Christians!

If they want to grow they must eat the right food. That means they have to feed upon the Word of God on a regular basis.

Nothing can take the place of the Bible

Nothing can take the place of the Bible which is the Word of God. If you do not read your Bible you can be religious without being spiritual. If you delight in the Word of God you will find delight in reading Psalm 119 in which the psalmist wrote about the excellencies of the Word of God.

There is nothing in the Bible to say that by the laying on of hands you will blossom into maturity. God has not provided this short-cut. By the laying on of hands you may get healed; you may receive spiritual gifts; you may be ordained. But the laying on of hands has nothing to do with the development of your stature or character.

The only thing that is going to make you grow and develop spiritually is to feed on the Word of God which is your healthy spiritual food. The Bible contains all the right ingredients for growth. If you are a born again, Spirit filled, child of God; if you are constantly feeding on the Word of God and maintaining your prayer communion with the Lord; if you are walking and fellowshipping with the Lord, you will be growing automatically.

But most likely you are not going to see your growth yourself. But someone else will see it.

Paul wrote to Timothy, “Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all” (1 Tim. 4:15, NKJV, emphasis added).

“These things” are the things mentioned in the previous verses (12 – 14). These are doctrine, Word of God, godly conduct and spiritual gifts.

Christians must continue to grow, for otherwise they are likely to backslide. It is a tragedy for men and women who come to the door of the Kingdom of God and stay at the entrance. They have not tasted the benefits that are offered inside the Kingdom of God. They live forever at the door of the Kingdom. They have not gone inside to the place of God’s appointment and to take the mountain of treasures that God has offered them!

Secret of growth

Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin” (Matthew 6:26, 28, emphasis added).

Jesus Himself revealed the secret of growth, both physical and spiritual:

1. The Father gives food for growth, both physical and spiritual. He feeds us.

2. The lilies of the field provide an example how growth comes naturally and automatically. The lilies just drink up the rain and the sunshine provided by God – that is all. Lilies can do nothing by themselves.

Similarly in the spiritual sense, means you must expose yourself to the Word of God, drink in the Spirit that comes by the Word which contains all the healthy ingredients for healthy growth. No one can try to growth.

Many of us run from one “Deeper Life Conference” to another (even Advance Deeper Life Conference”; run to camp meetings and run from one Christian seminar to another. Nowadays there is no shortage of conferences, seminars and meetings to keep Christians so busy that they have no time to read the Bible. We try to get a fresh shot in the arms in all these conferences in order to grow. But, all we get is men derived knowledge.

Paul said, “We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him” (1 Cor. 8:1 – 3).

The Source and process of spiritual growth

He who loves the Word of God loves God and God knows anyone who loves His Word. But if you look toward men’s teachings for growth this is what Paul had to say:

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:6 – 8, NKJV, emphasis added).

When Paul said “… so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him” he meant growth is a process in our Christian walk. This process is Biblically referred to as “sanctification” and takes time. In fact it takes us a life in the sanctification process. We must always remember that growth is not a “crisis” but a process; but birth is a “crisis” which is instant. After we have experienced the “crisis” of our spiritual birth we go on with the growth process.

Sanctification through the Word of God was referred to by Christ Himself when He prayed to the Father for His disciples:

“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17).

God as the only source of spiritual growth is made clear by Paul:

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase” (1 Cor. 3:6).

Danger of failing to grow

If you starve yourself physically you are going to become weak, emaciated and eventually die. If you withhold from your spiritual life the things that made for growth and development, you are going to become spiritually weak.

When your physical body is run down because of the lack of nutritious food it exposes itself, in a way, to the attack of virus and germs. Similarly, if we do not maintain our spiritual relationship with God, immerse ourselves in the Word and the Spirit, we expose ourselves to some kind of spiritual infection.

That is why Paul said, “We should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but speaking the truth in love, may grow in all things into Him who is the head – Christ” (Eph. 4:14, 15).

Notice that we cannot speak "the truth in love" to one another unless we know the truth of God’s Word and have some truth to tell others!

The need to grow individually and corporately

We can never make the Word of God exhausted. In other words, we always have something to learn from the Bible no matter how spiritually grownup and matured we become. A preacher’s problem is not having something to say to the hearers, but it is to what God wants to say at an appointed time and season! A preacher must have the enough of the Word in him that he is ready to preach the Word “in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2).

Paul said, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and …” (Col. 3:16).

We need the anointing of the Holy Spirit. God does not let the Word of God yields its secret to lazy people. To have the Word of Christ dwell in us richly means hard work. Salvation comes by grace through faith and not by works (Titus 3:5), but knowing the Bible does come by hard work!

Paul said the Local Church as a Local Body of Christ needs to grow up together:

“… in whom (Christ) the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Eph. 2:21, 22, emphasis added).

Here the Lord reveals a very important spiritual truth that many Bible teachers and Pastors of mega-churches failed to understand.

The Local Church will never rise higher than the conditions of our homes. In other words, the Local Church will become an expression of the home life of its people! That is why, in the New Testament, the Bible tells us that sanctification starts in the Christian home situation (1 Cor. 7:14). Godly fathers and mothers sanctified the children.

This is in total contrary to what Rick Warren wrote in his book “The Purpose Driven Life”

“Your spiritual family is even more important than your physical family because it will last forever. Our families on earth are wonderful gifts from God, but they are temporary and fragile, often broken by divorce, distance, growing old, and inevitably, death. On the other hand, our spiritual family – our relationship to other believers – will continue throughout eternity. It is a much stronger union, a more permanent bond, than blood relationships” (Page 118).

The writer sounds convincing and logical. But, if you do not know your Bible well enough but blindly feed on man’s words and theory like the above you will be deceived. The truth is wholesome families form a wholesome Local Church; God fearing families form a God fearing Local Church. God delights to see His people reflect the glory of His Son, Jesus Christ:

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18).

When we continuously feed on the pure Word of God; when we commune with the Lord through the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will take the Word of God to change us to the same image that we see – the reflection of Christ, from glory to glory!

The Right Attitude And Motivation

This message is closely related to my message last week: “A Call to Excel unto Excellence”. If you have not already done so, please read last week's message before you continue.

In order to be fruitful it is essential that the believer serves God with the right attitude. One of the attributes of man given by God is the freewill to choose. For example we can choose to fear God:

“Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord” (Proverbs 1:28, 29, NKJV, emphasis added).

We have the power and ability to choose. We can choose to fear God. We can choose to praise God and to worship Him. On the same basis we can choose to serve God with the right attitude.

The Right Attitude

Our attitude when we face a task or an event will say one of two things: “I want to do this” or “I have to do this”.

But the majority of our attitude in life is on the “I have to” basis. It is quite a natural thing to do. We are in the habit of saying, “I have to go to bed, I have to go out, I have to go to Church” and so on. But if we choose to approach everything from “I want to” attitude it will be far more advantageous to us. When we say "I want to" we are not under compulsion to do anything. Instead we are set free to make our own choices.

“I want to” attitude generates opportunities

When we say “I want to do it” in any situation we will have the opportunities to do things otherwise seem impossible. This was the attitude of the apostle Paul:

Paul said, “… we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:3, 4, emphasis added).

Paul wanted to “glory in tribulations” because by doing this he had the opportunity to cultivate godly character.

Paul also said, “There I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10, emphasis added).

In other words, when Paul was weak he had the opportunity to experience God’s power.

An opportunity to demonstrate the grace of God

Jesus said, “But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also” (Matthew 5:39).

Certainly it is not an easy thing to do. No one likes to be slapped by anybody! But, the situation gives an opportunity for the person who is slapped to offer the other cheek. The fact is that you cannot turn the second cheek until someone hits the first one. Whether to turn the second cheek or not is your choice. By offering the second cheek you demonstrate the grace of God!

Opportunity generates enthusiasm

True enthusiasm is not jumping up and down with excitement. It is not just doing something eagerly and with great zeal. Enthusiasm is measured by two major factors – conviction and belief.

As an example, a salesman is enthusiastic if he has a deep conviction and a belief in the product that he is selling. In other words, he is totally persuaded and totally convinced that you need what he has to offer.

You will never “sell” Jesus Christ to any unbeliever unless you are enthusiastic for Christ. By enthusiastic for Christ means you are totally persuaded and convinced and believed that unless that person receives Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior he is going to end up in eternity of hell and damnation! The major reason why many Christians are reluctant to get involved in personal evangelism is because they lack true enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm develops creativity

Creativity means the discovery of new ideas and visions. A creative person has the courage to walk into undiscovered territories. A creative Christian is seeking after new visions while everyone else is hunting for "success" methods and formulae. The Christian who desires creativity would wrestle with God until there is a breakthrough in the realm of strategy in new concepts, new ways and new ideas – until the fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit brings forth new visions. In other words, he must be a prayerful person. His desire is to bring forth "Isaac" and not "Ishmael". Notice that "Isaac" is the product of God, but "Ishmael" comes from the "flesh" or if you like, the product of man's carnal nature.

Methods and formulae will not work because this is not how the Holy Spirit would work in the life of a local congregation of believers. In a large degree a lot of believers dropped out of Church life because to them it is boring and dull. Mostly, the false lies on their sides. They did not pray; they did not keep their own vision sharpened; they did not keep their spiritual sensitivity alive. The humdrum of routine and traditionalism in worship services affects their enthusiasm. What we need is the sensitivity of the Holy Spirit to lead us in the realm of creativity out of true enthusiasm. The key to have the sensitivity of the Holy Spirit comes from prayers and waiting upon the Lord. We may have to spend long hours on our knees to seek the Lord. We need to go through many "Gethsemane" experiences! There is no short-cut.

As mentioned earlier, it calls for a change to the right attitude in serving God. It goes from the “I have to” attitude to “I want to” attitude. Everything becomes an opportunity which will develop enthusiasm which will bring forth further creativity and good results which are pleasing to the Lord.

Vision and not ambition

Vision is God centered but ambition is self centered. An ambitious person will walk over people to get what he wants. It does not matter who he hurts and who he wounds as long as he gets what he wants.

A Biblical example is Absalom, David’s third son. In fact he was David’s favorite son. His ambition was to overthrow his father’s kingdom. He was admirable, able to win people’s hearts. He had “personality plus” but he was proud. He had great skill in looking for short cuts to get what he wanted. He was a man of reputation.

Jesus Christ, in contrast, “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7, NKJV).

God will not use a self centered ambitions man!

Disappointment develops discouragement

Let us look at the negative side. If we lack enthusiasm and continue on with the “I have to” attitude, then, everything becomes a threat – a threat to our time, a threat to our money, our family, our business and our leisure. Then we become disappointed with our Church life.

What is disappointment? It is something we often experience in our family, business and Church life. Disappointment happens when people or circumstances fail to meet the appointment of our expectation – dis-appointment.

If we do not deal with disappointment it will lead to discouragement. If we do not deal with discouragement it will lead to resentment. Resentment will lead to bitterness. Finally, it leads to poor results in our walk with God. Poor results are the results of poor attitude and good results are the results of the right attitude. Your attitude will determine the results that you bring forth in doing God’s work!

God knows our ability

Some Christians may feel that they lack the ability, gift or talent to serve God. The qualities that God looks for are commitment, faithfulness, diligence, resourcefulness and obedience and not ability.

In the parable of the Talents Jesus said:

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his good to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediate he went on a journey” (Matthew 25:14, 15, NKJV, emphasis added).

Jesus gave one person five talents because He knew this person could handle five talents. He gave one talent to another person because He knew he could only handle one talent. But the person who he gave one talent could not even handle the one talent properly!

You may say God is not a respecter of anyone or “regard the person of men” (Matt. 22:16). It is true in the area of judgment and acceptance. But when it comes to the delegation of responsibility God is a respecter of the person of men.

One of the reasons why we get discouraged is because sometimes we become competitive. We try to compete with the person next to us. The right thing to do is to do our best with our God given ability. Not many of us are called to be “mighty” man of God. Not many of us are great preachers. There is actually no competition in the Kingdom of God.

The Right Motivation

The thing that keeps us going in serving God effectively is having the right motivation. Motivation to a large degree controlled by attitude.

There are three forms of motivation:

1. Motivated by fear

Many Christians feel threatened and challenged when they are motivated by fear – fear of being punished if they fail to do something to “please” God.

They go to Church because they fear death, they fear hell, and fear punishment from God. There is nothing wrong with reverent fear of God because the Bible teaches us to fear God. But, some Christians have an unhealthy fear of God. They think that if they come to Church regularly, pay their tithes and serve God He will have mercy on them. They have the “give out of fear of poverty” attitude. Some of them are self centered givers – they give to get.

For example, many believers are motivated by this:

“There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty” (Proverbs 11:24).

2. Motivated by incentive (reward) system

This form of motivation is common in the business world. If you reach certain target in your sales and achievement you will get a reward in the form of a bonus or in the form of a free, all expenses paid, holiday. This is actually a form of professional bribery.

Motivation by fear and reward are often used by parents toward their children. It is common for a mother to say to her son, “If you are a good boy and eat up your vegetables you can have some ice cream”. Or the mother could say in a threatening way, “If you do not eat up your vegetables you will get no ice cream. The boy is being brought up and motivated to practice professional bribery!

Many Christians have a heaven-or-hell Christianity – heaven for reward and hell for punishment. If we are serving God just for a place in heaven the motive is wrong. If we are serving God to avoid hell the motive is also wrong.

3. Motivation based on love

Jesus had never used any of the above two forms of motivation. Instead He said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15).

Once again we come back to the “I want to” and not “I have to” attitude. We want to serve God because we love Him and we have a heart for Him!

The only right motivation in the Kingdom of God is the motivation that is based entirely on Love - Love for God, love for our own families, love for our fellow believers and love for our neighbors!

A Call to Excel Unto Excellence

Every Christian is called to excel unto excellence in the things of God. God desires that every believer be fruitful in his Christian walk. The apostle Paul said every Christian needs to seek to excel for the edification of the Church:

“Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel” (1 Cor.13:12, NKJV, emphasis added).

The Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3 – 9)

The Parable of the Sower was the first of many parables of Jesus. It was one of the two parables that Jesus explained to His disciples. It is beyond the scope of this message to expound the parable of the sower. But, we can establish an important spiritual principle from it.

The Sower was God and the seed was the Word of God. All genuine Christians are good ground for the Sower to sow His seed.

Jesus said, “But others (seed) fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Matt. 13:8, NKJV).

The seed was the same, the ground was the same and the Sower was the some. Why then some ground yielded a hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty?

Jesus’ explanation is in Verse 23:

“But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Emphasis added).

Notice that fruitfulness or productiveness of a believer is directly proportional to his degree of hearing and understanding of the Word of God. Jesus also brought out two aspects of hearing the Word of God.

1. What you hear

“For assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it” (Matt. 13:17, emphasis added).

2. How you hear

“Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him” (Luke 8:18, emphasis added).

So we see it is entirely up to us, and not up to God, to determine whether we want to be 30, 60 or 100-fold Christians. The responsibility falls on our own shoulders. He who gives diligence 30% of what he hears will bring forth 30% fruit.

The spiritual principle is the percentage yield is directly proportional to what you take heed or to the degree of diligence that you give to the Word of God. Jesus had established this principle elsewhere:

“For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38).

Church Leadership Management

Simply put it, management means getting things done. Expand this a little bit, management means getting things done through people. Leadership means the management of people. Church leadership means the management of Church members.

The Autonomy of the Local Church and believers

Both the Local Church and the individual believer are autonomous. This means the Local Church is self governed and self-led (hopefully by the Holy Spirit) and responsible for itself. It means a Local Church cannot tell another Local Church what to do! We can apply this principle on the same basis to the individual believer – the autonomy of the local believers. This means every individual Christian is responsible for his own life.

A day will come when all of us will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and we will have to give an account of our lives before God (2 Cor. 5:10). It is no good to say before God on judgment day with excuses saying: “Well, I did this because my Pastor told me to”! A Pastor or leader should not make any decision for those he leads. If he makes decisions for them then he is responsible for them if things go wrong. A Shepherd will lead, will feed, will counsel, will guide, will direct, will encourage and will exhort. But he must not override the autonomy of the local men and women of God. They are responsible for their own lives and decisions.

Nehemiah as an example of excellent spiritual leader

Nehemiah was a cupbearer of the king during the Babylonian captivity. He was a Jew. He heard news regarding the state of the city of Jerusalem – the city of his forefathers. The city was broken down, the wall was crumpled down and the gates were burned and in desperate need of repair. Nehemiah had a God given burden and vision to go back to the city of Jerusalem to rebuild the wall and to repair the gates. He got permission from the king to be released for an appointed time.

The importance of time

We cannot talk about efficiency, leadership and management unless we address the subject of time. In the business world time is the money, a very expansive commodity. We cannot apply this principle to the Church, but nevertheless, time is valuable. Every one of us has an appointed time. Jesus made reference of time over and over again.

He said to his brothers, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready” (John 7:6).

He knew when it was time for Him to go to the cross. He knew that he had a specific period of time in which to accomplish a job – to train 12 men, to carry on from where He would leave off.

Paul said we need to walk in wisdom redeeming the time (Eph 5:16; Col. 4:5).

Facing opposition

Nehemiah had an adversary by the name of Sanballat. But, Nehemiah overcame his adversary and completed his job with determination (More on this later).

Paul said, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12).

In other words, all true Christians will face opposition. There will be difficulty time, and problems. There will be many circumstances we will have to overcome.

Important Leadership Principles

Nehemiah had an adversary named Sanballat. He posted five mocking questions to Nehemiah and the Jews:

“But it so happened, when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant, and mocked the Jews. And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, ‘What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish – stones that are burned?’” (Nehemiah 4:1, 2, NKJV, emphasis added)

I attempt to build 5 leadership principles from these 5 mocking questions to enable us to be more efficient and effective in the economy of God.

1. What are these feeble Jews doing?

In other words, did Nehemiah and the Jews know what they were doing? Nehemiah had a job to do. He had an objective, a goal to accomplish – to rebuild the walls and gates of Jerusalem and to complete it at an appointed period of time.

A leader must also ask himself, “What I am doing and why I am doing it; where am I going and why I am going there?” If a leader does not know how is he going to lead others?

In the business world there is an expression that is often used – plan your work and work your plan. In other words, set your goals and work your plan toward the goals.

A Biblical principle is that we need to be men and women of vision. Vision is revealed by God through the Holy Spirit. We must know what God has called us to do in a specific time and purpose. Then we set a goal toward reaching the vision.

Nehemiah was a man of vision and he set about a strategy in which to accomplish his objective and vision. Similarly, in leadership we need to understand that the Christian life is one of strategy. Unfortunately, many Christian leaders instead of seeking strategy they seek after “success” methods of others. Many methods fail because what are successful to some might not be successful to others. In other words you cannot copy someone else’s method. Method is not strategy. Our God is a God of strategy and He reveals His strategy to us by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, vision is simply God’s revealed strategy. It is unique for a particular purpose and time.

2. Will they fortify themselves?

We are talking about facing oppositions and obstacles here. We must anticipate obstacles and problems that we are going to face in achieving the goal of our vision. We do not wait for them to arrive and then look around for a solution. In fact we must welcome oppositions knowing that oppositions, difficulties and problems are our stepping stones for success!

Paul said, “I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation” (2 Cor. 7:4).

He further said, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in need, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10).

He also said, “.... but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:3, 4)

Paul knew that without all these problems he would not develop Godly character.

As I shared with my readers last week, it is God’s will that all believers be overcomers. You must overcome or you will be overcome! But, you cannot be an overcomer unless you have got obstacles to overcome.

Read Nehemiah 5:1 – 13 you will notice that Nehemiah overcame all obstacles and oppositions.

3. Will they offer sacrifices?

Nothing is achieved without cost. Excellent personal leadership, excellent personal achievement and excellent personal management are accomplished at cost.

We are called to deny self in order to follow Jesus:

Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24).

John said, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for our brethren” (1 John 3:16).

This does not mean we ought to die for our brothers, but we at least make ourselves available for our brothers.

Nehemiah laid down his life for God and his fellow Jews when he rebuilt the broken down walls and gates of Jerusalem.

4. Will they complete it in a day?

In other words, will they finish what they had begun? We are talking total commitment here. Our commitment to the Lord’s work must not be motivated by fear, or reward, but by love alone.

Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15).

The right attitude is – We do the Lord’s work because we want to and not because we have to.

Nehemiah rebuilt the broken down walls and gates of Jerusalem because he wanted to and not because he had to!

5. Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish – stones that are burned?

Our work is going to the fire of testing! We have to let every area of our personal lives be tested to see whether or not we have the overcoming quality.

The areas that people will want in us as spiritual leaders are dependability, commitment, faithfulness, loyalty, reliability and trustworthiness. These qualities are developed in us through the trials and testings that God will lead us through. Like gold tried in the fire we will come out as lively stones, resurrected from the broken down rubbles that God can use – excelling unto excellence that we might be excellent in the Kingdom of God. God wants us to be fruitful – not 30% or 60% but 100%!

“And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for they perceived that this was done by our God” (Nehemiah 6:16, NKJV, emphasis added).

God gets the Glory in every excellent thing that we do!

To Overcome Or Be Overcome!

All believers have two choices, and only two – to overcome or be overcome. In other words, we are either overcomers or undergoers. If we are overcomers we will stand victorious in Christ, and if not we will be deceived by the New Age movement with even knowing it! Seeing that we are living in the last of the last days we must make this decision now!

A Call to be like Jesus

All believers are expected by God the Father to be more and more like His Son Jesus Christ as they journey through their Christian walk. Jesus was and is the ultimate overcomer. He has overcome the world!

Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

If we want to be like Him we must learn to be overcomers.

Paul said, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).

Paul was writing to the Roman Christians. It is obvious that if Christians do not overcome evil, evil will overcome them!

The Christian life is never easy. Why? There are many reasons, but the primary reason is that many Christians are confused believers. We often fail to understand the purpose of our salvation and the purpose of our destination after we are saved. It is not easy to answer questions like – Why am I here? What I am doing? Why I am doing it? Where I am going and why I am going there and so on?

Beware of confusing "Biblical" Teaching

In order to be overcomers we must know the Scripture and seek to understand what God is teaching us through His Word. Do not accept every teaching from the pulpit without confirmation from His Word. Beware of preachers who preach from books or other people’s material without the revelation from the Holy Spirit. Even if their teachings sound logical and Biblical you are likely to be confused by wrong emphasis on spiritual things derived from questionable theological doctrines! Nowadays believers are looking for credentials. Highly qualified theologians are more welcome than Spirit filled and Spirit led preachers without credentials. Many believers are under a curse because they trust in man’s teaching rather than trusting the Lord (Jeremiah 17:5 – 8).

The following are some common areas of confusion:

1. Holiness and Righteousness

Holiness is not the same as righteousness. The clearest answer is simply this – Holiness is what God is, righteousness is what God does. Therefore, Holiness is what we become, righteousness is what we do.

Peter said, “But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15, 16, NKJV).

Christians are to be holy because God is holy. But, many do not know the principles of holiness and righteousness.

What causes a lot of pain, a lot of suffering, a lot of discouragement and a lot of frustration in the lives of God’s people is that they try to be righteousness without first being holy. Therefore an important spiritual principle is, “We must be, before we do”!

That is why when Jesus began to train His disciples He started in the areas of Beatitudes (Matthew 5). He taught His disciples on the quality of being. And then out of the quality of being he instructed them in the area of doing.

Concerning the coming of the day of the Lord Peter said, “Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat” (2 Peter 3:11, 12, NKJV, emphasis added)?

In other words, first of all God wants you to be someone who has holy conduct and godliness. Then God wants you to do – looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God. Basically what God wants believers to do is to do the work of an overcomer to preach and share the Gospel – to fulfill the Great Commission. This is the only way to hasten the Second Coming of Jesus Christ (Matt. 24:14).

2. Salvation and Destination

Do not try to understand the teaching of men – even renowned men. If you do, you will be confused! Try to understand fully the teachings of John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, “Reformed view” and the Arminian view you will know what I mean. Theologians, Bible Scholars are still very much divided over the doctrine of predestination and the doctrine of freewill! They are divided because they are confused. The truth is both the Calvinist and the Arminian views are correct. God uses both predestination and freewill!

The right thing to do is to be simple – go back to the Scripture and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you how to understand the Bible View!

One of the most important spiritual principles is:

God has not called us to be saved. He has saved us that He might call us.

In other words, salvation is not our calling but our beginning (2 Tim. 1:8, 9). Our calling is our destination – to where we are going. Where are we going? We are going to the conformity to the image of Jesus Christ. We are called to His kingdom and glory, we are called to virtue and maturity, we are called to inherit son-ship (to be the true sons of God), we are called to perfection – that is the destination of individual believers and the destination of the Church of Jesus Christ!

Concerning Christian perfection Paul said, “…till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; ….” (Eph. 4:13, emphasis added).

3. “Many are called, but few chosen”

Jesus said, “So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen” (Matthew 20:16).

Peter said, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

But we know that not all will come to repentance and be saved. Why? Not because God does not want them to. But because some choose to reject, choose to tread underfoot what is offered to them! So then we see that predestination has a lot to do with our destination and not with our salvation. After we have exercised our freewill and chosen (made the right choice) to be saved we are called to maturity and perfection. But not all will arrive! Few will have the determination and the commitment. Therefore Jesus said, “Many are called, but few, chosen”. Notice that the word “chosen” refers to our freewill to choose!

The Benefits of the Overcomers

John heard a loud voice from heaven during his exile on the island of Patmos:

“(V. 7) He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. (V. 8) But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:7, 8, NKJV, emphasis added).

The following conclusions can be drawn from the above two verses of Scripture:

1. The description of verse 7 is in direct contract with the description of verse 8.

2. The overcomer belongs to God – he a true son of God! He shall not face the second death. Being a son he shall inherit all things. Whatever belongs to God belongs to him! This is a wonderful promise of God!

3. A person who fits one or more descriptions listed in verse 8 does not qualify to be an overcomer. He does not belong to God and so he is not a son of God. He inherits nothing except the Second death. His destiny is “in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone”!

4. The phrase “All liars” in verse 8 means all categories of liars; there is no exception. God intentionally includes liars of every conceivable description. A person who willfully rejects the Truth of God’s Word is a liar. A person who claims to be an imitator of Christ but fails to be a doer of the Word is a liar. A self-proclaimed prophet whose prophecies are found to be false is a liar. A preacher or Pastor who compromises God Word is both a liar and a deceiver. A good example is the preacher of the New Age doctrines. Any true Christian who constantly upholds the truth of God’s Word will not be deceived by the New Age doctrine. Therefore everyone, either he is a preacher, Pastor, or a member of the New Age church, is not qualified to be an overcomer! Anyone who is involved in the New Age movement cannot be an overcomer! Anyone who is deceived by false doctrines cannot be an overcomer!

The Overcomers in the Seven Churches

The first thing we notice about the Seven Churches described in Chapters 2 and 3 in the Book of Revelation is that there are overcomers in all these Churches, including the two Churches (Church in Smyrna and Church in Philadelphia) which receive no rebuke from the Lord. This means that all Churches need overcomers.

We are overcomers because there are things for us to overcome – there are obstacles or oppositions for us to overcome. We need to overcome the devil, our adversary:

Peter said, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world” (1 Peter 5:8, 9).

We also need to overcome persecution:

Paul said, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12)

The following are some observations concerning the overcomers:

1. The overcomer is someone who “has the ear to hear what the spirit says to the Churches”. This phrase appears in the description of all the Seven Churches. In other words, all overcomers are sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit and consequently receive the counsel and revelation of the Lord even in the Local Churches.

2. The overcomer will “eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God” (Rev. 2:7).

3. The overcomer will be given “some of the hidden manna to eat. The Lord will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receivers it” (Rev. 2:17).

4. The overcomer “shall not be hurt by the second death” (Rev. 2:11).

Notice that this is consistent with Revelation 21:8.

5. The overcomer who keeps the Lord’s works until the end will be given “power over the nations” (Rev. 2:26) and the Lord will give him “the morning star” (Rev. 2:28).

6. The overcomer “shall be clothed in white garments, and the Lord will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but the Lord will confess his name before God the Father and before His angels” (Rev. 3:5).

7. The overcomer will be made “a pillar in the temple of God and he shall go out no more. The Lord will write on him the name of God and the name of the city of God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from God. The Lord will write on him His new name” (Rev. 3:12).

8. The overcomer will be granted “to sit with the Lord on His throne, as He also overcame and sat down with God the Father on His throne” (Rev. 3:21),

Notice that the reason why Jesus sat down with God the Father on His throne is because Jesus overcame everything while doing the Father’s Work when He was with His disciples. This means the only qualification for a believer to sit with the Lord on His throne is to be an overcomer!

Conclusion

John said, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:4, 5, NKJV)?

Only born again believers are able to be overcomers. He who fails to become an overcomer lacks the faith to believe that Jesus is the Son of God! Therefore, his born again experience is questionable!

A Call for the Ministry of Elijah

The last two verses of the Old Testament say:

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse” (Malachi 4:5, 6, NKJV, emphasis added).

In other words, the reason God sent Elijah in the last days (before the day of the Lord) is to minister to the fathers and cause them to repent and to reconcile with their children.

Notice that “turn the hearts” suggests the ministry of Elijah is a ministry of repentance, reconciliation and restoration. It is not a coincidence that the ministry of John the Baptist at the beginning of the New Testament was also the ministry of repentance. The angel of the Lord appeared to Zacharias and spoke to him that John the Baptist should do the work of Elijah:

“And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:16, 17, emphasis added).

Notice the two-fold ministry of John the Baptist. He was sent primarily to “turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God”. Secondly, with the spirit and power of Elijah, he would “turn the hearts of the fathers to the children”. The purpose of the ministry of John the Baptist was to “make ready a people prepared for the Lord”.

The Old Testament Prophet Elijah

Elijah was sent by God to confront Ahab who “did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him” (1 Kings 16:30). Ahab, together with his evil wife, Jezebel committed spiritual adultery. Not only they themselves worshiped Baal and Asherah, but they also led all Israel to commit spiritual adultery with them.

Elijah challenged 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah at Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:20 – 40). Only the true God would answer by fire and consume the sacrifice. The prophets of Baal and Asherah failed in their attempt. Then Elijah called upon his God by saying:

“Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again” (1 Kings 18:36, 37, NKJV, emphasis added).

The Lord answered Elijah and the people saw the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice. They fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God” (Verses 38 and 39).

As a result of the Mount Carmel encounter Elijah did turned the people’s hearts back to God.

Some Mega-Churches are committing Spiritual Adultery

There is an urgent need for the ministry of Elijah in the last days. Many Churchgoers have been deceived by “big” ministries in mega-churches all over the world. Christians are now committing spiritual adultery with New Age pastors. These pastors are promoting the New Age movement. They are telling gullible and naïve so-called Christians that they must preserve love and unity at all costs, even at the cost of being unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Anyone who does not unite on a global scale for the common good of the world is considered having the anti-Christ spirit. The New Age Movement will usher in the one-world government and one-world money system.

Many New Age ministers and New Age Local Churches are experiencing Satanic “blessings”. They are seeing prosperity; they are seeing growth; they are seeing excitement and happiness. That must be from God – there is so much love and unity and things are going on well.

We are living in the days when the out pouring of Satan’s spirit of deception is much greater than the out pouring of God’s grace, His anointing and His Spirit. Why? Well, the New Age Church is devoid of the truth of God’s Word. They are lukewarm. Jesus is saying to them:

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot, I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ – and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:15 – 17).

We are living in the days when Amos’ prophecy is being fulfilled:

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it” (Amos 8:11, 12, NKJV, emphasis added).

It is true that Amos’ prophecy was meant for complacent but rebellious Israel during the reign of Jeroboam, the king of Israel. Nevertheless, the Lord is also speaking the some thing to the Church today because many Local Churches are equally complacent and rebellious. God will cease from speaking to the Local Churches because of their involvement with the New Age movement. He will allow them to do their own things!

Christians should heed Paul’s warning about committing spiritual adultery:

“For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted – you may well put up with it” (2 Cor. 11:2 – 4)!

A Call for Modern Day Elijahs

God is looking for modern day Elijahs; He is looking for people who will have the courage to rise up to oppose spiritual adultery; He is looking overcomers who are willing to go in the spirit of Elijah to oppose false teachings, false doctrine and doctrines of demons.

Look at the courage of Elijah when he confronted Ahab before the Mount Carmel encounter. Elijah was obedient to the Lord when the Lord commanded him:

“Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth” (1 Kings 18:1).

This was what happened when Ahab met Elijah:

“Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, ‘Is that you, O troubler of Israel?’ And he answered, ‘I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the Baals” (1 Kings 18:17, 18).

Any true Christian goes in the spirit of Elijah to confront the New Age Church is likely to be named, “The troubler of the Church”! Then he should say to the New Age pastor, “I have not troubled the Church, but you have, in that you have forsaken the truth of God’s Word and have followed the New Age teachings”!

God’s Blessings for those who go in the spirit of Elijah

A careful study on the life and ministry of Elijah will convince us that God blessed Elijah in at least five different ways:

1. His Provision

The Lord provided food and water for Elijah through ravens he proclaimed a drought:

“And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there” (1 Kings 17:4).

After the brook had dried up, the Lord provided food and water through a widow at Zarephath by miraculous means (1 Kings 17:9 – 16)!

2. His Protection

After Elijah had executed the 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah, the Lord protected him from the murderous Jezebel (1 Kings 19:1 – 10).

3. His Peace

In the midst of a severe famine in Samaria and when the Lord commanded Elijah to present himself to Ahab he just obeyed with the peace of the Lord with him (1 Kings 18:1 – 18). Even Obadiah, a servant of Ahab was afraid to inform his master that Elijah wanted to meet him (1 Kings 18:14).

4. His Presence

When Jezebel was running after Elijah with the intention of killing him, the Lord revealed Himself to him in many forms – in strong wind, in earthquake and fire. But the Lord was not in the strong wind, in earthquake and fire (1 Kings 19:11, 12). He was the still small voice that Elijah heard!

5. His Power

The power of God was with Elijah when he proclaimed a drought for three years and six months. The power of God was with him in the Mount Carmel encounter.

The same God who blessed Elijah will also bless the modern days Elijah!

Paul was sent forth in the spirit of Elijah

The apostle Paul was sent in his missionary journeys in the spirit of Elijah. Read Acts 14 about the persecution that Paul endured. For example:

“The Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead” (Acts 14:19).

This was what Paul said about his ministry:

“We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed. But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulation, in need, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumult, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fasting; by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things” (2 Cor. 6:3 – 10).

Clearly, all the five blessings (mentioned above) were with Paul throughout his ministry.

Jesus said, “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Mark 13:13).

Believe me beloved, he who goes in the spirit of Elijah will be hated by the New Age Pastors and the New Age Church!