What Would Jesus Do?

You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They'll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd.
(John 10:16 MSG)

As I write this the attacks in Paris is still being covered by news media everywhere.

As I am watching the news I am wondering one thing, what would Jesus do?  When I ask myself that question I remember the story of the good Samaritan.  A man had been beaten and robbed and left for dead on the side of the road.  One man went by and basically ignored the man.  Another also went by, he said yes I see your needs and kept going on his’ way.  Yet another man came upon the man, he saw the needs and instead of going on his’ way he stopped and attended to the man’s wounds and the rest of the needs.

There is a certain segment of people in the west who are playing a game of fear about the security and safety of their own.  They are wanting to close their doors to the refugees.  Like the story of the man on the side of the road they are walking by, seeing and knowing the refugees needs but do not want to stop and offer help.

Of everything I know about the true faith of Muslim People they are a peaceful people.

The group called ISIS is not a true Islam.  They are some radical bunch of hateful, murderous, and divisive people.

Are you the reader, going to be a follower of the crowd or are you going to be inclusive of people of the Muslim Faith.

I believe if Jesus were here on earth, he would be offering a hand up to the many who are hurting and running from terror in their homeland.

I realise that writing this post that it could invoke some controversy but I am willing to take that risk.

Let’s all love our brother and sisters even if they do not look like or speak like us.

Studying in these times

Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth.
(2 Timothy 2:15 AMP)

From the time we start school there is one theme that we are taught all throughout our school years, to get good grades we must study.  Yes, most of us complain how hard it is to study and how difficult it is to finish an exam on what we have studied.

We finally reach the end of grade twelve and we are now graduating and the next chapter of our learning starts with post – secondary education.  Then after all the hard work we leave with a degree, masters, etc.,

Somehow we have the impression that our study life is now over only to become aware that as we go through life we learn from life’s every aspect.  First job, marriage, then children.

The continuation of learning from life starts a new phase.  Retirement, children’s marriage, and the arrival of grand – children.

It is the same with our walk with God.  All through the scripture we are told to study.  The ten commandments, proverbs, sermon on the mount and the writings of the apostles,  Sometimes we ask how relevant is all these things.  We may not see the purpose immediately but somewhere down the path that the things we have learned become useful.

I am in my fifties and I am still learning new things as I study and read.  It is like the new day, fresh and vibrant.  Each time causing me to forge ahead to study and learn more.

I hope you will continue your studies in the scriptures it will bring about great dividends.

 

Evangelicals where are you!

Technorati Tags: Camping,rapture,May 21,Koran burning,evangelicals,study to show,2 Timothy 2:15,Luke 6:37

In the past several months there have been several incidents that have caught my attention which made me question asking what are pastors teaching behind their pulpits.  While pondering this my thought was, someone needs to go back to Sunday School and re-learn the basics and essentials of the Scripture.

During these events I watched and listen to the news media and how they were handling and presenting the stories behind the events.  I watched intently to see if there would be a spokesperson from the field of evangelicals, and to my dismay there was absolute silence from the evangelicals of North America.  I was to the point that I if asked what faith I belonged to I would consider lying about being raised in a Pentecostal, Evangelical background.  So here I am drawing attention to the one Bible verse that most seem ignore.

2 Timothy 2:15 -Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

In this 21st century it is not enough just to graduate from grade twelve because employers want is an employee who are well educated and always finding ways of keeping up with the trends that are changing not only the home but the workplace.  No matter what field you choose, it is going to be expected of you that you are on top of everything so you can stay ahead of the curve, so that you are not left behind while someone else are out there just waiting to take your position.

The verse I have used since started this blog really is relevant today.  When countries like the United States find themselves looking at an education system that needs to reform the system and getting the students the best education.

I live in Canada and the education system is also crumbling.

Now lets look at two events that should have raised red flags for all those who claim they are evangelical.

A so called pastor goes before the press and announces that he is going to burn a Koran and urges others to join with him. Now if this had been a leader in the Muslim community announcing he was going to burn a Bible evangelicals and others would have been in a complete stage of rage.

Christ gave us the correct answer of how we are to handle a person who we disagree with strongly.

Luke 6:37 - “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:”

In the end only Koran was set on fire but that was still one too many.

The next event started in May 2011 when a pastor/radio host declared that the rapture would take place on May 21, 2011 beginning around 6 p.m.

For those who have studied scripture know that this pastor, Camping, was way off the mark.

Christ in the scriptures gave us several warnings about this type of person and this type of prophecy.  Mr. Camping was declaring that at a very certain time an event would take place. Now, either Mr. Camping didn’t read the scripture in its entirety or was deceived himself trying to deceive others. Christ himself declared that He the Son of God didn’t even know the timing of when He would return to earth, but did tell of what it would look like on earth around that time.

Mark 13:22  For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.

Mark 13:23  But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.

Mark 13:24  But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,

Mark 13:25  And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.

Mark 13:26  And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

Mark 13:27  And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.

Mark 13:28  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near:

Mark 13:29  So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.

Mark 13:30  Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.

Mark 13:31  Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.

Mark 13:32  But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

May 21, 2011 came and left with no event happening where there was a rapture and people disappearing from earth.

There was a group of believers in scriptures called the ‘Bereans’.  They used every wakened moment studying the scriptures to see whether certain things we true or false.

Acts 17:11  These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

Acts 17:12  Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.

So once again I encourage everyone to study and get to know the scriptures so that it would be very difficult for those to come around wanting to deceive people.

As someone said, ‘if you don’t stand for something, you will fall for everything.’

Please find your Bible, dust it off, and use it everyday not just on Sundays.

p.s.  - you can know reach me with questions, thoughts at: rethinkingscripture@gmail.com

Coming Soon, the Greatest financial Collapse.

Foreclosures, unemployment rate above 9 percent, bailouts, stimulus, tax cut debates, great recession, just some of the words which have been in all headlines either in newspapers, cable news, and internet websites.

All of these problems are not just the fault of one singular event, but, many events combining together caused the greatest recession since the 1929 stock market crash. Like then, people are having their homes go into foreclosures.  Layoffs and jobs being eliminated has caused the unemployment rate to go above nine percent.

This recession not only caused people to lose their jobs, homes, and other assets, it also brought about some very large corporations to go into bankruptcy, be bought from another corporation.

Auto makers begin to show signs that they were also ready to implode causing governments to hand out stimulus money so that the auto industry could stay en tact so that they could re-organize and begin to take measures in their finances to start to rebuild their corporations.  General Motors after long months of agony came out of bankruptcy and then begin to offer shares on the New York Stock Exchange after being absent.

Over the years there have been many bubbles burst.  The tech bubble, housing, sub-prime mortgages, and probably a few that have not been mentioned.

It is my opinion that this recession of 2008 through 2010, maybe even longer, it is a taste of what is come, only difference right now is that intervention was not delayed to avoid another greater depression, greater than that of 1929 through the 1930’s.

Start preparing yourself, your family, and friends because there is coming a total collapse of all the world’s finance system.

Please read the following from the Book of the Bible, Revelation chapter 13 from the Message Bible

{11)  I saw another Beast rising out of the ground. It had two horns like a lamb but sounded like a dragon when it spoke.
{12)  It was a puppet of the first Beast, made earth and everyone in it worship the first Beast, which had been healed of its deathblow.
{13)  This second Beast worked magical signs, dazzling people by making fire come down from Heaven.
{14)  It used the magic it got from the Beast to dupe earth dwellers, getting them to make an image of the Beast that received the deathblow and lived.
{15)  It was able to animate the image of the Beast so that it talked, and then arrange that anyone not worshiping the Beast would be killed.
{16)  It forced all people, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to have a mark on the right hand or forehead.
{17)  Without the mark of the name of the Beast or the number of its name, it was impossible to buy or sell anything.
{18)  Solve a riddle: Put your heads together and figure out the meaning of the number of the Beast. It's a human number: six hundred sixty-six.

There are three things found in the book of Revelation.

First we see a new politic system that encompasses every nation.  This political system is controlled by one man, the man being the Antichrist.  He comes to power during a time of global unrest.  Back in chapter 6 the world is hit by famine.

Revelation 6:  (from the Message Bible)
{4)  Another horse appeared, this one red. Its rider was off to take peace from the earth, setting people at each other's throats, killing one another. He was given a huge sword.
{5)  When he ripped off the third seal, I heard the third Animal cry, "Come out!" I looked. A black horse this time. Its rider carried a set of scales in his hand.
{6)  I heard a message (it seemed to issue from the Four Animals): "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, or three quarts of barley, but all the oil and wine you want."
{7)  When he ripped off the fourth seal, I heard the fourth Animal cry, "Come out!"
{8)  I looked. A colorless horse, sickly pale. Its rider was Death, and Hell was close on its heels. They were given power to destroy a fourth of the earth by war, famine, disease, and wild beasts.

It is hard for most people around the world, especially industrial nations where workers are paid by even if it is just minimal wage. Can you see yourself waking up one morning when you turn on the news and the reporter says as of today bread will cost you one day’s pay for each loaf you buy.

One morning people woke up to find out that all of their savings and investments were totally worthless. The day was Black Thursday - October 24, 1929.

Many people became homeless.  Soup kitchens were opened around the nation to help those who could not afford to buy any type of groceries.

Numbers of suicides began to escalate.  Most were millionaire men.  They couldn’t handle the thought of being penniless, so they do what most will do in the greatest financial disaster even seen around the globe.

Now, this new charismatic leader brings forth a law that if the people want to buy or sell goods they will need to be given an marking either on the forehead, or on the right hand. This is the beginning of a new way to handle the economies.

Early scholars, before the rise of personal computers and the internet, believed that most of the plagues, sickness, and financial problems would be limited to one specific location.  With the advent of computers in every home connected to the internet it now looks like from these portions of scriptures that what the apostle John saw will be global.

Economies, trade industry, are so interconnected that if only one economy were to default it would send a tsunami of troubles, that this recession that started in 2008 will be a walk in the park compared to what is to come.

There is so much more that I could write about but that would be a very long discussion.

Will you be ready for this final economic disaster.

Remember, 2 Timothy 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (King James bible.

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When it seems like God has failed

Have you ever been in a situation where it seemed that no matter what you did proved to be fruitless.
The evangelical, charismatic, groups will declare 'God doesn't fail' it must be something wrong with you.  Maybe, you, a very weak faith.
Yes it is natural that men fail and fail others, leaving you with a distrust towards that person, or maybe a company.
Everytime you go through a situation that looks hopeless you put your faith and trust toward God.
You question everthing you believe in about God when maybe you face a terminal disease.  You pray in earnest asking God for a miracle of healing.  You follow your doctor's advice so that the disease that has attacked your body is expelled from your body and the doctor gives you a clean health slate.
I am writing this as to start a study about how people deal with the depression and feelings that just maybe God has failed you.
If you are reading this I am asking you to take a few minutes and post your comments about the situation where you had the feeling of being failed by God.  Write and share about the situation, how you were feeling and how was your mental health was during the crisis you faced.
Some crisis's may have been, divorce, no healing or miracle for that one with terminal disease.  Maybe you are a parent and have lost a child either through disease, accident, or while serving their country in a military action.
Maybe, you were a regular worshipper in your home church only to find out the clergy that has served the congregation with regular sermons etc., has failed morally.
So, I ask you as a reader to share with this blogger and others, about the time you did feel like God has failed you.

LEE GRADY on TRUE PROPHETS

I am posting a writing by Lee Grady.
Since I have been dealing with the five-fold ministry and about Apostles and Prophets I felt this letter was timely and needed to be read by more than just those on a certain email list.
Here is the letter by Lee Grady:

LEE GRADY on TRUE PROPHETS
My heart cries out for the American church to stop muddling,
muffling, cheapening, distorting and merchandising the pure
gospel. How we need to return to the simplicity of evangelism that
cuts to the heart, produces repentance and reveals the Son of God.

For several months I’ve been asking the Lord to make me his
trumpet. In my quest He’s shown me some of the qualities that
shaped biblical prophets into His mouthpieces. I pray all of us will
adopt these same characteristics.

1. A prophet is bold. True prophets have steel backbones and
foreheads of flint. They do not cower when the majority disagrees
with them. Like the apostle Paul, they are compelled to preach
because a holy restlessness churns inside them. They are
possessed by God, and they must release the fire inside. Will you
pray for this boldness and say with Isaiah, “Here am I, send me”
(Is. 6:8, NASB)—even when you know you will be opposed?

2. A prophet stays biblical. So much of what is passed off as
prophecy today resembles what you might find in a daily
horoscope. The so-called “prophetic movement” in the contemporary
church has been tainted by silly fads and charismatic witchcraft.
One prophetic e-mail list sent out a word recently saying that
dormant angels were being awakened out of the walls of our
churches. (That’s not remotely scriptural.) Another predicted that
God would begin to speak to people through the names of candy
bars and blue jeans.

So much of our prophetic verbiage sounds like warm and fuzzy
fortunetelling. This type of “imitation prophecy” can titillate and
thrill those with itching ears, but it is pablum designed for babies
who don’t want to grow up. What we need is a word we can sink
our teeth into—true meat that is the Word of God.

3. A prophet does not compromise. Nathan was willing to confront
King David’s sin, even though the prophet was on the palace
payroll. Yet today, we practice the “you scratch my back, I’ll
scratch yours” rule. We prophesy what people want to hear so we
can get an honorarium and an invitation to return. This has caused
some whole groups of prophets to collectively follow each other
into a ditch.

Beware of the herd mentality! Don’t just swallow and follow! You
cannot go along with something just because everyone else is
doing it or preaching it. Stay close to the Lord, develop keen
discernment and listen to the nagging voice of your conscience.

4. A prophet is compassionate. Some prophets today refuse to
confront because they are too nice. Others speak rashly “like the
thrusts of a sword” (see Prov. 12:18) and their words are delivered
with a bitter, vindictive spirit. Neither of these prophets will receive
his reward. We must speak the truth, and we must do it in love.

Most people think Jeremiah was angry and judgmental, but
actually he wept when he confronted Israel’s sins. It is not enough
to prophesy the Lord’s word—we should aim to speak with His
tone of voice. We must be willing to intercede for and identify with
those we confront.

5. A prophet stays pure. When Moses made the tabernacle, God
told him to make silver trumpets that were “hammered work” (Num.
10:2). If we want to speak for Him, we must be willing to endure
the smelting process. (In other words, prepare to be hammered!)
Before Isaiah could be an effective prophet to his nation, his lips
had to touch burning coals from God’s altar (see Is. 6:6-8). We
must be willing to visit the uncomfortable furnace of sanctification.

God is not so much interested in the booming voice, the rousing
delivery, the charisma or the technological savvy that we expect
today from celebrity preachers. What matters most is pure content,
and that can only flow through a pure vessel.

6. A prophet faithfully embraces the call. Jonah tried to flee as far
as possible from Nineveh, but the God of the second chance used
a strange vessel to get the prophet back on course. It involved a
visit to a fish’s stomach, where Jonah spent three days in
darkness, stewing in digestive juices. When the fish vomited him
on land, he was better prepared to speak heaven’s words.

~From "Becoming a Trumpet of the Lord" - http://fireinmybones.com

Keep Studying and be happy

Who do you follow, and why?

When attending evangelical services ask yourself why do I attend. Do you attend and follow because of gifts being promoted, or because of the Word being expounded.
Lately in the evangelical movement there is a trend that has embedded itself within the movement. The following of gifts.
Gifts in their rightful place are not wrong, but within the wrong can do much harm.
If you listen, read, or hear, most evangelists, prophets, and others of the five fold ministry the highlight of their advertisements is the gifts, Miracles, healings, personal words of prophecy. People are chasing the extremes and not chasing the giver of the gifts. If you are chasing personal words of prophecy to help you plan your life than you are chasing a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
These gifts should operate as a compliment to the preaching of the Word. Unfortunately the Word has been given a back seat to gifts, and the showing of strange and curious happenings.
The apostle Paul did not encourage the gifts to be at the forefront, but the Word and the doctrine of the Word be foremost in our lives. Even Paul had times of seeing the gifts working in his' ministry, but he encouraged people to follow him as he followed Christ. Notice he did not encourage people to run and follow the extreme.
Christ also had gifts working throughout his lifetime of ministry, but still he told his' followers to live by the Word.
The evangelicals need to move back to the place where the Word is foremost in ministry and in people's personal lives.
So, again, the question is, Who do you follow, and why?

Making of a Prophet

I am going to use someone elses writings but feel it is appropriate to the subject about prophets and the rest of the five-fold ministries.

Here is the writing of T. Austin-Sparks.

THE MAKING of A PROPHET
-by T. Austin-Sparks.

Prophetic ministry is not something that you can take up. It is something that you are. No academy can make you a prophet. Samuel instituted the schools of the prophets... But there is a great deal of difference between those academic prophets and the living, anointed prophets. The academic prophets became members of a profession and swiftly degenerated into something unworthy.
All the false prophets came from schools of prophets, and were accepted publicly on that ground. They had been to college and were accepted. But they were false prophets. Going to a religious college does not of itself make you a prophet of God.

My point is this - the identity of the vessel with its ministry is the very heart of Divine thought. A man is called to represent the thoughts of God, to represent them in what he is, not in something that he takes up as a form or line of ministry, not in something that he does. The vessel itself is the ministry and you cannot divide between the two.

THE NECESSITY for SELF-EMPTYING

That explains everything in the life of the great prophets. It explains the life of Moses, the prophet whom the Lord God raised up from among his brethren (Deut. 18:15,18). Moses essayed to take up his life-work. He was a man of tremendous abilities, "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians " (Acts 7:22), with great natural qualifications and gifts, and then somehow he got some conception of a life-work for God. It was quite true; it was a true conception, a right idea; he was very honest, there was no question at all about his motives; but he essayed to take up that work on the basis of what he was naturally, with his own ability, qualifications and zeal,
and on that basis disaster was allowed to come upon the whole thing.

Not so are prophets made; not so can the prophetic office be exercised. Moses must go into the wilderness and for forty years be emptied out, until there is nothing left of all that as a basis upon which he can have confidence to do the work of God or fulfil any Divine commission. He was by nature a man "mighty in his words and works"; and yet now he says, "I am not eloquent... I am slow of speech..." (Exodus 4:10). There has been a tremendous undercutting of all natural facility and resource...

We go through times of trial and test under the hand of God, and it is so easy to get into that frame of mind which says in effect, 'The Lord does not want us, He need not have us!' We let everything go, we do not care about anything; we have gone down under our trials and we are rendered useless. I do not believe the Lord ever comes to a person like that to take them up. Elijah, dispirited, fled to the wilderness, and to a cave in the mountains; but he had to get somewhere else before the Lord could do anything with him. "What doest thou here, Elijah?" (I Kings 19:9). The Lord never comes to a man and recommissions him when he is in despair. 'God shall forgive thee all but thy despair' (F. W. H. Myers, 'St. Paul') - because despair is lost faith in God, and God can never do anything with one who has lost faith.

Moses was emptied to the last drop, and yet he was not angry or disagreeable with God. What was the Lord doing? He was making a prophet. Beforehand, the man would have taken up an office, he would have made the prophetic function serve him, he would have used it. There was no inward, vital relationship between the man and the work that he was to do; they were two separate things; the work was objective to the man. At the end of forty years in the wilderness he is in a state for this to become subjective; something has been done. There has been brought about a state which makes the man fit to be a living expression of the Divine thought. He has been emptied of his own thoughts to make room for God's thoughts; he has been emptied of his own strength, that all
the energy should be of God... That was the great lesson this prophet had to learn. 'I cannot!' 'All right', said the Lord, 'but I AM.'

A great deal is made of the natural side of many of the Lord's servants, and usually with tragic results. A lot is made of Paul. '
What a great man Paul was naturally, what intellect he had, what training, what tremendous abilities!' That may all be true, but ask Paul what value it was to him when he was right up against a spiritual situation. He will cry, "Who is sufficient for these things?... Our sufficiency is from God" (II Cor. 2:16; 3:5). Paul was taken through experiences where he, like Moses, despaired of life. He said, "We... had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead" (II Cor. 1:9).

MESSAGE INWROUGHT by ACTUAL EXPERIENCE

You see, the principle is at work all the time, that God is going to make the ministry and the minister identical. You see it in all the prophets. The Lord stood at nothing. He took infinite pains. He worked even through domestic life, the closest relationships of life.
Think of the tragedy of Hosea's domestic life. Think of Ezekiel, whose wife the Lord took away in death at a stroke. The Lord said, 'Get up in the morning, anoint your face, allow not the slightest suggestion of mourning or tragedy to be detected; go out as always before, as though nothing had happened; show yourself to the people, go about with a bright countenance, provoke them to enquire what you mean by such outrageous behaviour.' The Lord brought this heartbreak upon him and then required him to act thus. Why? Ezekiel was a prophet; he had got to embody his message, and the message was this: 'Israel, God's wife, has become lost to God, dead to God, and Israel takes no notice of it; she goes on the same as ever, as though nothing had happened.' The prophet must bring it home by his own experience. God is working the thing right in. He works it in in deep and terrible ways in the life of His servant to produce ministry.

God is not allowing us to take up things and subjects. If we are under the Holy Ghost, He is going to make us prophets; that is, He is going to make the prophecy a thing that has taken place in us, so that what we say is only making vocal something that has been going on, that has been done in us. God has been doing it
through years in strange, deep, terrible ways in some lives, standing at nothing, touching everything; and the vessel, thus wrought upon, is the message. People do not come to hear what you have to teach. They have come to see what you are, to see that thing which has been wrought by God. What a price the prophetic instrument has to pay!

So Moses went into the wilderness, to the awful undoing of his natural life, his natural mentality; to be brought to zero; to have the thing wrought in him. And was God justified? - for after all it was a question of resource for the future. Oh, the strain that was going to bear down upon that life! Sometimes Moses well-nigh broke; at times he did crack under the strain. "I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me"
(Num. 11:14)... A terrific strain was going to bear down upon him, and only a deep inwrought thing, something that had been done inside, would be enough to carry through...

With us, too, the strain may be terrific; oft-times there will come the very strong temptation - 'Let go a little, compromise a little, do not be so utter; you will get more open doors if you will only broaden out a bit; you can have a lot more if you ease up!' What is going to save you in that hour of temptation? The only thing is that God has done this thing in you. It is part of your very being - not something you can give up; it is you, your very life. That is the only thing. God knew what He was doing with Moses. The thing had got to be so much one with the man that there was no dividing between them. The man was the prophetic ministry.

He was rejected by his brethren; they would not have him. "Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?" (Ex. 2:14). That is the human side of it. But there was the Divine side. It was of God that he went into the wilderness for forty years. It had to be, from God's side. It looked as though it was man's doing. But it was not so.
These two things went together. Rejection by his brethren was all in line with the sovereign purpose of God. It was the only way in which God got the opportunity He needed to reconstitute this man. The real preparation of this prophet took place during the time that his brethren repudiated him. Oh, the sovereignty of God,
the wonderful sovereignty of God! A dark time, a deep time; a breaking, crushing, grinding time; emptied out. It seems as if everything is going, that nothing will be left. Yet all that is God's way of making prophetic ministry.

-SOURCE: http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/001004.html

We need people who do the work without the titles. Do the work and titles will come next without anyone trying to force titles upon themselves.

Fighting for Faith

Jud 1:3-4 MSG

(3) Dear friends, I've dropped everything to write you about this life of salvation that we have in common. I have to write insisting--begging!--that you fight with everything you have in you for this faith entrusted to us as a gift to guard and cherish.
(4) What has happened is that some people have infiltrated our ranks (our Scriptures warned us this would happen), who beneath their pious skin are shameless scoundrels. Their design is to replace the sheer grace of our God with sheer license--which means doing away with Jesus Christ, our one and only Master.

To the church member. Do you really know and understand the orginal faith that was delivered to the saints during the first century after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? I would venture to guess and say that most would say no to the question.
That faith looks nothing like the faith we are hearing about from the evangelical pulpits in the western hemisphere. Faith today is about what one can get materially from God.
Faith today does not mention that you may have to deny yourself and pick up your cross and carry it daily. Faith is not something that if you don't receive something that you prayed for, shows a lack of.
Faith in the Jude epistle was speaking about true doctrine.
I need to ask, how did we end up in the place that we are in. It is more than likely we are here because of selfish wants. Preached to us by shameless preachers that have entered the midst of the body of Christ. They have corrupted the true message with a message of greed. There is no longer a message of repentence, but one that extols that it is o.k. if you continue in the sins that you were to turn away from. Everyday we read and hear of ministers in the pulpit being involved in scandal after scandal and everyone says it's alright we forgive you. And the scandal keeps on going.
We need some fighters to stand up in the body of Christ and to start to say no to certain so called apostles, evangelists, bishops, etc., that we are tired of this and we are not going to take any more.
Begin to demand that Christ be the center of all messages and the community of Christ. Remember, Christ is the head of the church, not a human man or women on earth. We are his' body and the body cannot function without the head. So what we have is a body jerking around, moving, making noises, but the head is detached. It reminds me of the chicken after the head is chopped from the body. It continues to roll around on the ground making all kinds of cackling until it finally realizes its lost its head and lays down and dies.
I encourage to read the Epistle of Jude and other scripture about that faith Jude spoke of.

The True Government of the Body of Christ

Over the next several posts I will be commenting on the True Government of the Body of Christ.
It is not an organization made by man. Its roots are found in the writings of Paul the Apostle.
The government which we see in the evangelical church of today is not what was seen or known in the early years of the Church after the Day of Pentecost.
Terms and titles that men use are bantered about without much thought.
Ministers giving themselves titles and offices are now status quo. Titles are taken to feed ones' ego and not the will of God.
Paul wrote that all ministries have one and only one reason for a task to be accomplished. That task is found in Ephesians 4:(12)

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
(13) Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

There is very little unity found in the earth. All one has to do is listen and read to various ministries to realize that fact. Everyone is looking out for one thing and one thing only, themselves
The Body of Christ needs to turn and go back to the scriptures and begin to allow the head of the body of Christ be the true Head, being The Lord Jesus Christ.
The favourite titles lately to have are: Bishop or Prophet. The scriptures have much to say about these offices those titles refer to.
Just because one has a gift of prophecy does not make that person a prophet.
The title Bishop sounds lofty, but according to scripture and doing a word study the word bishop and pastor are inter-changeable.

1Ti 3:1-7
If a man desired the pastoral office, and from love to Christ, and the souls of men, was ready to deny himself, and undergo hardships by devoting himself to that service, he sought to be employed in a good work, and his desire should be approved, provided he was qualified for the office. A minister must give as little occasion for blame as can be, lest he bring reproach upon his office. He must be sober, temperate, moderate in all his actions, and in the use of all creature-comforts. Sobriety and watchfulness are put together in Scripture, they assist one the other. The families of ministers ought to be examples of good to all other families. We should take heed of pride; it is a sin that turned angels into devils. He must be of good repute among his neighbours, and under no reproach from his former life. To encourage all faithful ministers, we have Christ's gracious word of promise, Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world, Mat_28:20. And he will fit his ministers for their work, and carry them through difficulties with comfort, and reward their faithfulness. (Matthew Henry Commentary)

I would strongle recommend to the reader to go back and read the certain portions of scriptures.
Here they are:
a:) 1Co 12:28-31 KJV
b:) Eph 4:11-13 KJV
c:) Rom 12:1-21 KJV
d:) 1Ti 3:1-16 KJV
Those are just four portions of scriptures, but there is alot within those writings to keep one studying for many hours and days.
My prayer is that the Holy Ghost would begin to move among those in the Body of Christ and show them how Jesus Christ looked ahead in time and saw how the Body of Christ and its' government an hierarchy

(2 a : a ruling body of clergy organized into orders or ranks each subordinate to the one above it; especially : the bishops of a province or nation b : church government by a hierarchy
3 : a body of persons in authority
4 : the classification of a group of people according to ability or to economic, social, or professional standing; also : the group so classified should look like.)

Join me in study and prayer what God really wants for His' government over the True Church.
Until next time, Happy Studying.