SOME FATHERLY ADVICE ABOUT CHURCH MODELS/PARADIGMS: WARY OF THE “NEW” WITHOUT THE “OLD”

I read an article and viewed a short YouTube video recently on two different types of new church models or paradigm shifts that raised concerns. Here is the article: Prophetic Churches and here is the video: Future Church .

FUTURE CHURCH VIDEO: My first impressions on this future church model was this: Is it apostolic in nature and function? Is it duplicable everywhere? And what will it compromise to succeed?

It’s interesting that the fastest growing church is in Iran right now. China would be another example. This future church model would definitely not be duplicable in persecuted lands.

I understand the diverse nature of the body of Christ, and for that reason alone I remain open and teachable, but I’m wary of the prominence of the wisdom of man and an absence of the supernatural element in this sort of model. In other words, I  have reservations.

It has been my observation that throughout history this kind of wisdom based on the ingenuity of man doesn’t normally produce lasting eternal fruit of generational transformation. One person asked me: How is it determined to be the ingenuity of man as opposed to a strategy from God?

I didn’t want to be dogmatic about it, so all I said was that the strategy could’ve come from God, but I’m just wary of this sort of ingenuity that seems to be an aversion to 1 Cor. 1:26-29.

“For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.”

Time, experience, and growth in God should cultivate your discernment. The Bible, however, does show a clear pattern in which God does NOT usually use the best, the most talented, the smartest, or the most expected and likely to succeed in the flesh.

We must understand that principles when implemented by anyone will get results. The problem is not with principles per se, but the motivating power and ethics behind the principles. Whom do they honor and serve?

HEAR  ME CLEARLY

Again, I’m not saying that the aforementioned church strategy and model the brother received was not from God, but when you’ve lived for the Lord as long as I have, you are slower to embrace the newest, biggest, and fastest growing church strategy or methodology. Due to failures and bad fruit I’ve witnessed over the years, I’m slow to trust the next new thing, as it seems to always fizzle with time. I like to tell believers: God is not always doing a new thing but an old thing. The basics and foundations of the real faith will never change. And as I stated, with time, experience, and some maturity in the Lord, you can be trained to look down the road 10 or 20 years and calculate what it might look like then. This is the reason we need the voice of wise elders and fatherly-like ones in the Lord’s body and learn to be led by the Spirit of God and judge everything by the real anointing of the Spirit.

Personally, what my senses have been trained in is looking for the cruciform nature of Christ in nearly everything pertaining to the kingdom, and many of my judgments are based on that. The gift mix and grace in me looks through that lens most of the time. A businessman I am not. Haha! I don’t believe the church should primarily be run like a business. It is a house of prayer and a soul winning, disciple making organism fueled by the supernatural power of God.

So, what should we make of all this? The good news is that God’s great redemptive plan is enough to sanctify and bless any effort done in faith for Him. He will bless any model, paradigm, or strategy offered to Him in relational faith. He will fill every structure as much as He can. If a perfect church model or methodology was required, there would be no hope for any of us.

On the other hand, we should not presume upon His great grace and redemption to normalize error and continual practices which misrepresent His purposes in the earth, and which could harm the people of God.

PROPHETIC CHURCHES ARTICLE: I have a red flag on this one, too, folks. First of all, I’m always leery of the new buzz words floating around in this contemporary Christian age. Words like “shift”, “atmosphere”, and “prophetic” are overrated in Christianity. Although I absolutely love the emphasis on Spirit-inspired prayer and revival, and agree with many good points in this article, the Church has a propensity to entangle itself in excesses, abuses, and extremes. Yet in seasons of time it takes some extremity to move things from one ditch back to the middle of the road. I believe this is what the article prescribes. The challenge has always been to avoid moving from one ditch to another.

Study the life and ministry of Jesus and it will keep you out of error (John 5:30). Do nothing more and nothing less than what He is leading you to do. One size does not fit all here. As soon as you realize that, you will not fall for the next new fad, trend, or supposed new model of prophetic churches or other paradigms that many are touting today. Pray, and follow His leading.

You need the leading of the Lord and much grace to follow the model of what this article or video are extolling. Again, although I do believe and espouse to several key points in both the video and article, the bottom line is that unless God gives you divine unction you would not have the grace to do what they are saying. Additionally, I also have some reservations about several things in both the video and the article, the biggest of them being the transformation of the church to an enterprising juggernaut (in the video). When the dollar becomes preeminent, history has proven that the church loses its passion for prayer, soul winning, and discipleship.

A friend of mine offered this bit of wisdom: “And while I do like some of the points made in the article it drips with idealism. I have never found idealism (no matter how good it sounds) to be very practical or applicable in its fullest sense.”

May the Lord give you great wisdom and understanding concerning the times we are living in. There are many substitutes for the true grace and wisdom God may be wanting to give you. May you be sober, watchful, and prayerful and live your life with great urgency and an awareness of the wisdom and counsel of the Holy Spirit. The Church and the nation are moving toward greater change and tumultuous times. Just be sure what you are doing is Spirit-led and Word-based, and not consumer driven and image based. Kingdom culture and relationship based Christianity with the Word as our foundation combined with the moving of the Holy Spirit is the emphasis of the Lord in this hour.

Be a support to us and follow our blog and help spread these messages. Also, consider subscribing to our ministry YouTube channel for weekly 15 minute Face to Face video impartations on the Spirit-filled life from my wife and I.  

Our books are forerunners to personal holiness, the move of God, and the return of the Lord. They also combat the departure from the faith and the turning away from the truth we are seeing in our day. 

Also, this ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those who believe in the mandate and message of revival and restoration that this ministry carries. Again, if this article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a tax-deductible contribution through our Paypal button to help? 

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Thank you, and may God’s richest and best be yours.

THE TUMULTUOUS 2020s: THE LEFTIST NARRATIVE, DIVORCE CHRISTIANITY FROM THE BIBLE

Secularized America is steeped deeply in gross darkness. Our youth are Satan’s prized trophy. Without effectual fervent intercession and a compassionate convicting message confirmed with miracles, most don’t stand a chance to ever experience true conversion and receive the life of God.

The lies of the fake media are shaping the minds of Americans, especially our youth. They’ve been lied to about their identity and who they are. They’ve been lied to about history, politics, racism and socialism. They’ve been lied to about creation, God and religion—brainwashed into seeing Christianity and Judaism in a bad light while taught Islam and other Eastern religions are good.

I have friends who work in the secular field, and they tell me that more and more young people they work with have completely lost their identity and are yielding to homosexuality, lesbianism, and transgenderism. One man told me that every other student in his drivers education class is a transgender.

AMERICA IS SICKER THAN YOU THINK

This unclean spirit has disconnected many of our youth (although it has affected all ages) to their natural instincts and connected them to confusion as they cling to another of like gender, hoping to fill the gaping hole of emptiness in their hearts. Tampering with your DNA and who your Creator made you is simply spiritual rebellion that stems from entertaining these unclean spirits, which the lies and ideologies in our culture have unleashed.

You can talk about the abuse they’ve experienced or the pain, the neglect and the emptiness they feel, and sincere believers can’t help to be moved with compassion, but we didn’t have this sort of confusion and highly visible perversion a generation ago. In fact, we’d be appalled back then if we could foresee what would be so prevalent in America today. Do we even understand that all these things signify one of the last stages of the death of a culture? Read Romans 1.

People might say that homosexuality has been around for thousands of years, but what about gay marriage and transgenderism?

This is a part of a much larger picture and grand Satanic strategy to continue to infect and further break down the moral base of our society, harass and weaken the church, and separate more of America from the moral absolutes of the Bible and what this nation was founded upon. Our first president, George Washington, said that the issues of virtue and morality are indispensable. Satan is no longer hiding his cards.

In case you haven’t noticed, this is America today: Drag queens in our schools. Pedophiles in our Boys Scouts. Increased and intensified discrimination against true Christianity. Students wear satanic T-shirts to school but cannot pray in the name of Jesus. Teachers won’t read or discuss the Scriptures with students for fear of parental prosecution. Counseling transgenders or gays is forbidden. Teenagers can get abortions on demand without parental permission. In my area, witches are cursing churches and now incanting the queer spirit over our region while many lukewarm Christians sleep and slumber through it all.

Things that were shameful and kept hidden not too long ago are now flaunted and paraded in the open. If not for a holy praying remnant that serve as the final firewall and salt and light in our nation it would be hopeless. Neither Republicans nor Democrats nor Independents nor socialists can deliver the soul of this nation.

Satan is the god of this world (see 2 Cor. 4:4), and the prince of the power of the air.

“Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 6:12).

Still too many believers have become desensitized and dulled to the madness of this antichrist spirit, and too many pastors and church leaders remain silent or have yielded to gross compromise. The battle for believers is now for a unified kingdom and a church that will stand as one.

TWO SIDES

There are two sides to this matter. One side is exemplified by the recent remarks of the gay mayor from Indiana named Pete Buttigieg who proclaims unashamedly that his Creator made him gay, and if anyone has an issue with that, they should take it up with him. And now he wants to have a national discussion on what is a scriptural Christian. We should take him up on that one, although it might be a trap.

The liberal left is now making this a religious thing. It’s a new attack. Just watch. The plan going forward is to divorce Christianity from the Bible. They won’t tell you that now, but that is their strategy, especially as we get closer to the next election.

The leftists are desperate and in a frenzy because they can’t stand the thought of President Trump being elected for another four years. Look for another false narrative they’ll serve up to the American people about Trump’s connection to Bible-believing Christians. Their true colors are now being seen by many Americans, and their strategy will backfire and fail.

Here’s the other side on this matter: If you stand up to the LGBT agenda, society will ask for your head a la John the Baptist. Most recent case in point is the young Australian rugby player who was fired for essentially quoting Galatians 5:19-21, and saying that sinners, including homosexuals, are headed toward hell if they don’t repent. To add insult to the injury of being fired, instead of defending him, the most visible charismatic leader in Australia published an article condemning the brother for being unloving. This is so typical of our day, and one of the reasons the church has little power and authority. How can the church stand when we are so divided on the most basic scriptural issues of sin and repentance?

TIME FOR HOLY ZEAL

Shouldn’t we all be rallying behind our fearless brother in support of his statements? Shouldn’t we applaud him for boldly voicing his faith? Shouldn’t we proclaim with him the Word of God and tell the world that our God, who made us male and female, is deserving of all our loyalty and worship? Instead, too many professing Christians, even in so called Pentecostal/Charismatic camps, promote a false Christ and persecute those who proclaim the one true God.

This is the antichrist spirit that separates Christianity from the Bible and has opened the door to seducing spirits who are deceiving multitudes.

All professing Christians need to wake up and come out from this Babylonian system, and stand in solidarity when such condemnation is heaped on our brothers and sisters who are standing for truth, morality, and righteousness. The world expresses outrage at our stand for righteousness, and many in the church find fault with the righteous and accuse them of being unloving, condemning, and even homophobic. This should not be.

Where is the honor and the zeal for God’s house and God’s holiness? Where are those who are jealous for God’s name? Where is the spirit of the early apostles who in the midst of intense persecution proclaimed, “It is better to obey God than man?”

Be a support to us and follow our blog and help spread these messages. Also, consider subscribing to our ministry YouTube channel for weekly 15 minute Face to Face video impartations on the Spirit-filled life from my wife and I.  

Our books are forerunners to personal holiness, the move of God, and the return of the Lord. They also combat the departure from the faith and the turning away from the truth we are seeing in our day. 

Also, this ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those who believe in the mandate and message of revival and restoration that this ministry carries. Again, if this article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a tax-deductible contribution through our Paypal button to help? 

DONATE 

Thank you, and may God’s richest and best be yours.

THE TUMULTUOUS 2020s: THE DECADE GOD’S UNDERGROUND CHURCH ARISES IN AMERICA

Someone recently asked me what I see for America and the church’s future. Right now, I am seeing the beginning and mushrooming of an evolution of sorts concerning both the nation and the church. Not everything is as it appears.

Here’s a powerful word from the Spirit of God that I’ve shared before:

“Do not look at the TV and larger media ministries to try to understand what I am doing in my body today. They have a part to play, but they are the visible to the eye veneer of the body that people see. Those who are carnal and immature see the outward appearance and are impressed, thinking that these are the height of ministry and where the Spirit is concentrating today. But they are mistaken.

See what I see, many small churches and ministries investing in relationships, walking in love, pouring their lives into each other; this is where the Spirit is moving today. There is a revolution taking place in my body, a revolution of relationships, discipleship, and love. This will affect whole communities and economies.” —John Fenn, Church Without Walls International

I believe God is giving the church, and subsequently the nation, a few more years of grace before a new season dawns. The church will remain under divine discipline until then as God awaits an earnest and heart-felt response. He is separating the wheat from the chaff. There must be a greater distinction between the world, the false and worldly church, and the true disciples of Jesus Christ through the work of the cross. Both His severity and kindness are manifesting simultaneously (Rom. 11:22) as people choose whom they will serve. A large segment of the church is being upbraided for her worldly ways and worldly thinking and her departure from the real faith.

PREPARATION AND JUDGMENT

God is preparing an underground church and a loving, consecrated people against a greater time of trouble and harvest yet to come. This is a necessary work, and more importantly, a manifestation of God’s mercy to the masses, because when the church is judged and cleansed, that is when we have the greatest impact on the world. Conversely, when there is lack of judgment in the church, it means a widespread judgment to the masses and mercy reserved for only a small righteous remnant.

“For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God, and if it begins first with us, what shall the end be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And ‘If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (1 Pet. 4:17-18).

As a nation, America will either rise from its original God-design purpose for her or become a byword. Although I believe God is using President Trump in amazing ways, he is not the savior of this nation. Let us not be foolish and misplace our trust. A demonic assault has been unleashed in our land, and it is manifesting in an irrational hatred toward everything that is pure, holy, and right.

Let’s not stop watching and praying because we now have a president who is a friend of the church, and the nation seems to be on an economic upswing. Don’t be fooled. There are many enemies of America and the church who are lurking in darkness and want nothing more than the death and destruction of the Christian values and liberties we hold dear. It is the biggest hurdle to socialism, globalism, humanism, and a one-world order.

MANY OF GOD’S PEOPLE ARE YAWNING

Seducing spirits are speaking lies, and doctrines of demons are rampant. Perilous times keep intensifying. Hurricanes, floods and fires rage, and volcanoes are on the brink of eruption. The frequency of the earth’s tremors and quakes is accelerating, too, as creation groans, but still so many seem unfazed. If it doesn’t affect them personally it seems so far away and unreal. In spite of all these disasters the real spirit of repentance is rare these days. What will it take to wake us up?

“My people are yawning at My intentions and will,” says the Lord.

There are still too many hirelings, misguided pastors and ministers who are still entangled in the spirit of the world, dealing with various forms of immorality, pursuing forms of materialism or flirting with some other darling lust. Some are bored in their callings and lack true communion with God. The absence of the presence of God and His holy fear is glaring in many places, and sheep are starving for the true word of life. Holiness has been replaced by hype. Appearance has been exalted over anointing.

On the other hand, it’s been very encouraging to witness struggling pastors of smaller churches who are laboring in obscurity, pressing into God in the Spirit and taking an uncompromising stand for the Lord—while others are growing increasingly discouraged and compromising for growth, or they’re just giving up and quitting. Meanwhile, many pastors of mega-churches who have a platform and means to make an impact on their community and nation have grown comfortable and self-congratulatory in their false success.

We need so much fire and holiness in the pulpits of America right now, but all we seem to be getting is smoke and noise as men are caught up in their own self-importance and image. We have some of the largest churches we’ve ever had in the history of our nation and yet the greatest departure from the true faith. What a paradox! Many professing Christians don’t have solitude with God, hardly read their Bibles any more, or bear any kind of Christian witness, but seem to only depend on  what their favorite elevated preacher says.

And so the moral landslide continues and antichrist legislation keeps forcing its hand in our land while our more visible superstar preachers and slick televangelists boast of their empty paper exploits while reveling in their creature comforts and raking in their millions. My point is that we are barely making any kind of impact on the culture of sin.

I weep at the deception of it all and the many preachers who are actual enemies of the cross of Christ and bound for destruction and perdition.

TANGIBLE FRUIT OR A NUMBERS GAME?

Where are the testimonies from these celebrity ministers of massive repentance resulting in genuine conversions of lasting fruit, mighty baptisms of the Holy Spirit, and notable deliverances from those who have death-gripping addictions? Instead, most of American Christianity glorifies the hype of noisy conferences, emotionally stimulating popcorn services and hipster preachers who never speak of sin, true holiness, and repentance. God has only a faithful remnant who are seeing beyond the surface and who hear the rumblings of a massive change and shaking that is coming.

It’s all a numbers game that some of these mega ministries and churches are playing, and it’s the money that seems to matter most to these men with mega egos. I’m sure a few of them actually love people, but most of them really have no ground strategy. The small guy that’s making a marked difference at a grass roots level is not esteemed nor fully supported.

I know many of my former students and friends who have such a strong anointing to impact our culture, but many in the body of Christ are duped into supporting the popularity of elevated ministries who teach, teach, teach, but can never provide a quantitative account of transformed lives. They have millions of dollars in support but little fruit to show for it. It’s time to address this farce and inequality and reevaluate our giving and direct it toward those who are most worthy.

I know of sacrificial missionaries who work in gospel-starved areas among the unreached, ministries who are saving young victims of sex trafficking, those who are building hospitals for the sick and elderly and orphanages for the fatherless, and Christian organizations who support the persecuted church and families of martyrs. Most of these ministries operate on such a minimal budget in comparison to others with multimillion-dollar budgets who teach those who’ve already been taught. Let’s be honest with ourselves. We are a teaching-saturated culture with minimal tangible fruit.

And what are we teaching? A sugar-coated, feel-good word that keeps the church self-centered, anemic, and ineffective while thinking they are in revival. The power of redemption has been removed from the gospel, and our nation is paying for it. I’m afraid the fake love and tolerance gospel has come home to roost.

SOUND THE ALARM

Do I sound like an alarmist? Perhaps, but a loud alarm is necessary to wake up the sleepy, yawning church.

The book of Revelation is alarming to me when I read of the death, destruction, and judgment of the nations. The Bible is not all peace and happiness, but full of warnings and casualties. And such an alarm must be sounded in this hour if we are going to give birth to real change.

History remembers mighty moves of God, not megachurches and mega-ministries who are not known in hell. Are there any great mega churches and mega ministries? Perhaps a few, but not many. I’m afraid most of them have only added to the deception, providing an appearance of false success—a facade to hide all that’s wrong with the American church with most having no impact on the culture of sin.

May God’s underground church arise in America.

Be a support to us and follow our blog and help spread these messages. Also, consider subscribing to our ministry YouTube channel for weekly 15 minute Face to Face video impartations on the Spirit-filled life from my wife and I.  

Our books are forerunners to personal holiness, the move of God, and the return of the Lord. They also combat the departure from the faith and the turning away from the truth we are seeing in our day. 

Also, this ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those who believe in the mandate and message of revival and restoration that this ministry carries. Again, if this article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a tax-deductible contribution through our Paypal button to help? 

DONATE 

Thank you, and may God’s richest and best be yours.