Author Archives: Michael

The Bride of the Lamb

by Michael

In our American culture we have officially entered into the “Christmas Season” with the dawning of “Black Friday.” What an interesting title for what greedy men have made out of the birth of the Christ child with their final push at the end of the year to sell as much of their merchandise as possible. How opposite can a culture be from the nature of our Savior who turned over the tables of merchandise and money changers when He found them in the temple in Jerusalem and said to them, “It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves.” 

In great contrast have you ever wondered how the Church could be called the wife of the Lamb? The lamb is used by the Spirit in the scriptures to show us the nature of Christ. John in his heavenly vision (the Book of Revelations) saw a lamb as though it had been slain, standing! This is the very nature of Christ who came to this earth in all lowliness as a baby born in a stable for there was no room for Him because all the Jews had had come from afar and filled up the spaces in the local inns. He was born into poverty and the wise men who saw His star just knew that the King that they foresaw would be born in a king’s palace and that is where they showed up. The first shall be last and the Last shall be First. This is the nature of God’s only begotten Son in His love, true humility and lowliness. The profit Zechariah wrote,

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zech 9:9, ESV2011)

In the Book of Revelation we read,

Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. (Rev 21:9-11, ESV2011 – emphasis added)

There is so much to unpack here! The Bride, the wife of the Lamb… we know that the Lamb is Jesus Christ for John the Baptist saw Him coming and said of Him, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” But how can a Lamb have a Bride made up of humanity unless the Bride has the very nature and attributes of this same Lamb? In Genesis we read where God demanded that each being He created was commanded to reproduce after its own kind. The Bride is also likened by the angels in this vision to a holy city a NEW Jerusalem coming down out of heaven with the glory of God Himself with a radiance of a jewel clear as crystal.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. (Rev 22:1-5, ESV2011 – emphasis added)

These two analogies speak of the same thing in two different allegories. The bride of the Lamb is compared to a city with only ONE street which had one river that flowed down from the throne of God. It is also spoken of as having great purity and clarity. Today in Christendom we have many streets that come under many different names and not all their rivers are going the same direction much less are they flowing down from the throne of God. Another thing that strikes me is that John is carried away to a great high mountain and there he saw the New Jerusalem, the bride, coming down out of heaven. When Jesus was tempted by the devil at the end of his 40 days in the wilderness he was take away to a high mountain and shown all the kingdoms of the world…

And the devil, taking him up into a high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, “All this power will I give you, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.” (Luke 4:5-6, KJ2000)

These are two kingdoms that are adverse to one another. One is God’s kingdom, the New Jerusalem where Jesus and His Bride will rule for it is being prepared as a wife for the Lamb which was slain who yet now stands before God waiting for the perfection of His wife the Bride of Christ in all her purity and beauty. And the other kingdom is the one that belongs to Satan (also known as the Great Whore) where he gives its power to whomever he wishes if they will just bow down and worship at his feet (if we look deeper into the actions of those who rule in the kingdoms of men we often will find that demon worship is quite common among them).

Jesus knew that He had a kingdom which His Father was preparing for Him. But He also knew that it could not be taken prematurely by greedy hands. What was Jesus’ answer to this temptation? “Get you behind me, Satan: for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.” Satan’s playground is found in the things that men desire. Just before Jesus was to go to the cross we read the following,

And he began to teach them [the disciples], that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he spoke that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get you behind me, Satan: for you consider not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. (Mark 8:31-33, KJ2000)

Peter and many of Christ’s followers were falling under the desires of the carnal Jews who wanted to have a kingdom of their own here on earth. The Jews were looking for Him to use His demonstrated power to overthrow the Romans and set up a kingdom here on earth where they could sit with Him and rule over the affairs of men. Little do men, even religious men, know that it is as Jesus warned saying, “He who finds his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake shall find it.”

Even in Christendom men who rule desire the high places among their followers. Sad to say, in many cases Christianity has become “a haunt of every demon and every foul and hateful bird.” Sad to say, the humility of Christ is rarely found among Christian leadership today. Most Christian leaders love the high places in the congregation. How they love their elevated platforms! Whatever happened to the example and life of Christ that was found throughout the early church in the first century? They were known as the “People of the Way” and it was the pagans of Antioch that called them “Christians.” Oh, that all who claim Christ were truly the People of the Way. In those early years the Roman emperors and the leaders of the Jews persecuted and killed those who believed in Christ because they in their love and humility they were turning their world upside down. What do we have today? Our presidents and leaders pay honor and are willing hosts to those who are the high profile leaders in Christendom. How opposite is this thing called “church” from what Jesus set in motion by His very example and life? No wonder Jesus prophesied,

And shall not God avenge his own elect, who cry day and night unto him, though he bears long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:7-8, KJ2000)

The Shooting of Charlie Kirk

by Michael

Charles James Kirk was an American Christian political activist, entrepreneur, and media personality. He co-founded the conservative organization Turning Point USA which has become quite popular among young people who have been seeking an alternative to the left wing propaganda being fed them in their universities and the legacy media. 

You may have noticed that I haven’t got involved in political matters on this blog. By nature I would be considered a conservative. My time in the Vietnam war might have had something to do with that because I grew up in a family of liberal democrats. So was I until I was exposed to the corruption of the U.S. government. It was very much a downer to find out at the end of that war that 57,000 of our men and women died over there for nothing except to make corrupt politicians and the military-industrial-complex rich in exchange for the blood of our servicemen. Enough said.

I got home from that war in 1967 after three “cruises” over there in the Navy off the coast of Vietnam. The more I read about the political history of the U.S. and Vietnam, the more disenchanted I got with all that took place during that war. I was looking for answers and an alternative to the insanity that was happening all around me which continued after I came home. But I can now say that God used it all to get me to look beyond myself and anything this world had to offer.

The problem with most of us is that we keep looking for answers in this world. But what did Jesus say as He was being tried by Pilate?

“My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” (John 18:36, ESV2011)

The question is, what kingdom are we of who claim Christ? We who want to fight and use soulish means to advance Jesus and His kingdom are showing that we are not of His kingdom. Jesus had to rebuke Peter when he drew his sword in defense of his Savior. “Put away your sword, Peter. Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword.”

I think I had a two stage conversion to Christ. By 1968 We had started to attend an evangelical church in our neighborhood. Having been raised a Catholic, hearing the Bible preached from the pulpit was something new to me and the Bible was scratching an itch I couldn’t reach. By the summer of 1970 the Holy Spirit was hard after me and I was becoming quite miserable trying to be a “good” church Christian. I could read the Bible for myself, but I was missing the enlightening power of the Spirit and it was like reading a big city phone book. It was all disconnected. Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life, no man can come to the Father but by me.” Led by the pastor of that church, I had said “a sinner’s prayer” in 1968 but that was not enough. God wanted me to walk IN the Spirit and not just in religion so that I might hear His voice. Jesus said that after He died He would send us the Comforter and that He would lead us into all truth (see John 16:13&14). Until I received the infilling of the Spirit I had no idea what I was missing.

Before then I was totally miserable and terrible to live with. My wife had told me that unless something changed, she and the kids would have to leave me. She told me that the hate in me was killing her and the kids. THAT gave me a lot to think about over the next three months! Of coarse the enemy was telling me to commit suicide and do everyone a favor (if God had not moved on me the way He did I probably would have). It is no wonder that over 300,000 Vietnam war veterans have commuted suicide or died in strange accidents  after coming back home.

One day in July 1970 I came out of that Sunday church to find a handbill on the windshield of our car. It was an invitation to park meetings that some out of town “Jesus People” were having in our area. I figured, “what do I have to lose!” After going to two or three of these open air meetings, I finally found out what was missing in me, I had not yet been filled with the Spirit of God. I asked one of these young people what it meant to be filled with the Spirit. He told me that the law of physics states that no two things can occupy the same space at the same time. THAT I understood! He went on to tell me that as long as I was filled with myself, the Spirit could not come in. I needed to get down and humble myself before God and be emptied out of everything I was, everything I had, everything I even hoped to be. I had to confess every sin that I had committed as far back as I could remember and give it ALL to Jesus. He went on to say that if I would get real with God, He would fill the dark void in me with His Spirit. That evening in a coffee shop prayer room, I did just that and it was not a pretty sight.

Looking back on it, I think that I picked up a spirit of murder while I was in the Vietnam war. Since I left that war behind, I had been collecting guns and ammunition and dreaming of killing people that were against my political beliefs. The guns and ammo had to go along with all that was driving me to do evil. In short, I got delivered that night.

The apostle Paul wrote,

Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! (2Cor 5:17, AMP)

Sometime that night the Spirit of Christ came into me and I awoke in the morning with a new mind and a new heart. All that hate that had been driving me was gone and I was filled with Christ’s love for all men. Three months later my father-in-law came to visit. He took my wife aside and said, “What has happened to Mike? He doesn’t swear anymore!” As the Bible says, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” and I had been given a new heart (see Hebrews 8:10&11).

You might be wondering, “What does all this have to do with the assassination of Charlie Kirk?” I had not been a follower of his and not a big fan of political people in general since Christ set me free of all that had been driving me before. As a result, I have to stay clear of getting involved with politics least I fall back into my old mindset and make room for demons to take over again. Jesus warned us about such things when He said,

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.” (Matt 12:43-45, ESV2011)

In Proverbs we read, “Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.” (Prov 26:11, ESV2011). Dear saints, we must learn from what happened to this young man that shot Charlie Kirk. He had been meditating on killing Charlie “because Charlie was filled with hate.” That hate demon had found a home in him to manifest the will of the prince of demons. Except for the grace of God, that could have been me in 1970 taking the life of some left-wing politician or antiwar demonstrator.

When Jesus and the disciples were about to pass through a Samaritan village, those people turned them away because they saw that Jesus and the disciples were Jews heading for Jerusalem. (The Samaritans believed that they had the true place to worship in their “holy mountain”). How did Jesus’ disciples react?

And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, ‘Lord, will you that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elijah did?’ But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, ‘You know not what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.’ And they went to another village. (Luke 9:54-56, KJ2000)

What manner of spirit are we of? It is sad what happened to Charlie Kirk and many believe that he is now with Jesus in heaven. We should pray for his wife and children, but we should also pray that this young man that killed him that he might reach out to Jesus in his misery. Remember Jesus’ words to Nicodemus. No one is beyond salvation.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16-17, ESV2011)

“That whosoever believes in Him” would have eternal life. It is never too late. Remember the repentant thief that was crucified with Jesus? He called out saying, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:42-43, ESV2011)

(The above photo was courtesy of Janine Robinson on Unsplash)

In the Beginning Was the WORD!

by Michael

What Exactly Is the Word of God?

His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. (Rev 19:12-13, ESV2011)

What do you think of when you hear someone says, “the word of God?” Or they hold up a Bible for all to see at the same time, leaving you no doubt. Yes, the Bible is the word of God, but the Bible in itself alone is as dead as the extinct dodo bird. There is more to the Word than that, MUCH more! Consider this important passage,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. (John 1:1-4, ESV2011)

To hear some Bible preachers you would think that John wrote, “In the beginning was the Bible and the Bible was with God, and the Bible was God.” No, Jesus was in the very beginning of creation and He will continue to the very end. As for the Bible as we know it, it did not come into its prominence until after the invention of the Gutenberg press where it could be printed in mass and made available to all believers. Various great men–to whom we will be forever indebted–translated the Bible into their own languages. Some of them paid for their efforts with their lives.

Many of us have found out the hard way that the Bible can be deadly in the hands of manipulative teachers and preachers who emphasize their interpretations (and self importance) more than the need of believers to yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit as their Teacher. Paul addressed this very thing.

Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming [out] from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2Cor 3:5-6, ESV2011)

In the early 70’s when we were part of “the Jesus Movement,” before long we fell under the influence of a man with much personal charisma who taught us from the Bible. After all, he knew the Bible better than any of us, so naturally we submitted to his teaching. We eventually became his slaves, obeying his every word and desire. Eventually, what Paul said became true. Without the Spirit abiding in our teachers and within us as we read the scriptures, we became “all men most miserable.” What started out with us being led of the Spirit became controlling and demonic under the thumb of a man. What Jesus said of the Jewish leaders became true in our lives as well.

The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. (Matt 23:2-4, ESV2011)

To the unbelieving Jews He said,

And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. (John 5:37-40, ESV2011)

As I was sharing these thoughts with another believer regarding the work of the Spirit they told me how John chapter 16 had come alive like never before so I decided to read it once again. Low and behold, Jesus’ words fit right in with what I have been sharing.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (John 16:13-15, ESV2011)

Dear saints, don’t put your trust in everyone who quotes the scriptures especially when they say one thing and do another. Remember these words of Jesus,

But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matt 23:8-12, ESV2011)

Without Jesus alive within us by His Spirit, even as we search the scriptures, we will find no Life. This is not His will for He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. Remember, abundant life in the eye of God does not consist of the things of this world, but rather the ones that are of His kingdom.

T. Austin- Sparks wrote:

“There is a heavenly background to everything in the Word of God, and it is that heavenly background which constitutes revelation that you and I need to know. If we are only seeing the things on the surface, then we have but an earthly thing after all, and that has been the trouble with God’s people all along. The great mass of Christian people today are not brought up on the language of the Holy Ghost in the Word of God. They are brought up on what so-and-so says. The things that are written in this Book have back of them something which cannot be seen, only as the Holy Spirit illumines it. Back of all things said, there is a spiritual reality and meaning for which we need a spiritual faculty. This Book can be an absolutely closed Book, though you may read it through and through, unless the Spirit of God illumines. But once the Spirit of God begins to illumine, this Book lives, it lives from end to end.” (1)

(1) https://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/spiritual_background_of_the_word_of_god_the.html

The Fellowship of His Sufferings

by Michael


And he that takes not his cross, and follows after me, is not worthy of me. He that finds his life shall lose it: and he that loses his life for my sake shall find it. (Matt 10:38-39, KJ2000)

Have you ever wondered what it means to take up our own cross if we are to follow Jesus? Wasn’t Him suffering and dying on the cross enough? What does it mean to “find” our lives? How about losing our carnal lives that we might find our spiritual lives as we follow Jesus? This is what our personal lives of the way of the cross is all about.

One Sunday in a church meeting after suffering much rejection at the hands of the world and its Christians, I heard the Lord say to me “Why do you keep seeking the Living among the dead?” How often I have hoped to find “the right church” where the people are living out what we read in the Book of Acts and where the voice of the Holy Spirit in them is more important to obey than the intellectual admonition of the man behind the pulpit. I read that we are all a kingdom of priests and the Spirit gives each of us as members of Christ’s body something that must be shared for the whole body to manifest the fullness of Christ. We are called to be a loving family with Jesus as our brother with us all manifesting His love for one another. This shows the world who Jesus really is.

My search has taught me the meaning of what Jesus meant when He said that to be one of His disciples, we must take up our own crosses and follow Him. So what happened to Jesus as He lived out His life obeying the voice of His Father in the leading of the Holy Spirit within Him? He told the disciples what would happen to Him for obeying His Father.


Then He charged his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. (Matt 16:20-21, KJ2000)

So as I pondered what it means to follow Jesus, I remembered what was said in the context of these words. Jesus asked them, “Who do men say that I am?” The disciples gave Him a variety of answers. Then He said,” Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” and Jesus commended him. But it was after He told them that He was about to go up to Jerusalem and suffer and die that Peter was correcting Him saying, “Be it far from you Lord!” To this Jesus said, “I rebuke you Satan, for you desire the things of men and not the things of God.” There is an old saying, “Everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die” and the disciples were of this mindset. They still had not received the Spirit of God which empowered them to be His witnesses of HIS kingdom.

Early in my walk with the Lord I came across the following verse where Paul prayed,

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (Phil 3:10, KJ2000)

In my enthusiasm for Christ I also prayed this as my own prayer. Little did I know what God was leading me into when He inspired that prayer. We all want to know the resurrection power of God, but what is “The fellowship of His sufferings?” Have you ever wondered why you never fit in this world and its people or even in your own earthly family? I had a totally dysfunctional family when I was growing up. My father was an alcoholic and my parents fought all the time. So, after I came to Christ and was filled with His Spirit in 1970, I found others who also who were one with Him. For the first time I knew the love of God among others who had come to Christ in that same wonderful revival that became known as “the Jesus Movement.” Many of them also came from broken families. We were not all perfect, but the love of God that was being poured out made us one. I couldn’t stay away from these precious saints. We were experiencing the family of God.

As time went on, the enemy came in and Paul’s warning to the elders of the church at Ephesus came to pass in our lives as well,

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears. (Acts 20:29-31, KJ2000)

The group that I was part of fell under the spell of one speaking smooth perverse things as he drew away disciples after himself. Of coarse what he taught was well seasoned with lots of scriptures. Why does God let this happen? Why do we end up experiencing so much rejection among our fellow Christians while we just want to fit in and be part of a spiritual family? Could we be experiencing “the fellowship of HIS sufferings?”

At the close of His earthly ministry we read about Christ’s “triumphant” entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey where the people cried out, “Hosanna to the son of David,” acknowledging that He was the Messiah. Oh, the fanfare and adulation! The disciples were thinking, “At last He is being given recognition and credit where credit is due and coming to Jerusalem to be its new King.” Some were also thinking, “I wonder what will be my position in His new earthly government? Will I be setting on His throne at His right hand?”

But Jesus blew the whole thing because He went straight to the temple and started turning over the money changers’ tables, turning the sacrificial doves and animals loose and making a mess out of the market place that had the blessing of the religious establishment. He told them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but you have made it a den of thieves (Mark 11:17, KJ2000). Jesus was calling a spade a spade. The power brokers in the that temple system were not going to allow that!

And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people were astonished at his doctrine. (Mark 11:18, KJ2000)

Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man does many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. (John 11:47-48, KJ2000)

Therefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious: and he that believes on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore who believe he is precious: but unto them who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the head of the corner, And, A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them who stumble at the word, being disobedient: to which also they were appointed. (1Pet 2:6-8, KJ2000)


So, what does it mean to fellowship with Jesus in His sufferings? The more we are conformed into the image of Christ and value the things of the Spirit and seek out the people that He does, the more the enemy will attack us and the majority of these attacks will come from the religious establishment just as it was with Him! Remember, one of the accusations against Jesus was that He mingled among sinners and publicans.

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.”And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:27-32, ESV2011)


This is where we will enter into the fellowship of His sufferings. The more we value the things He does and seek out those who are lost, the more we will be despised by the so-called righteous ones.


Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. (John 15:20-21, KJ2000)

The more I pondered the rejection we have suffered at that hands of religious people, the more the prophesies about Jesus became clear to me in a personal way. David prophesied,


Because for your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face. I have become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children. For the zeal of your house has eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached you are fallen upon me. (Ps 69:7-9, KJ2000)

Taking up my cross and following Jesus has taken on a much deeper meaning as my wife and I have had to bear the burden of the lies about us and the rejection we have found among the religious establishment. Remember, Satan was a liar and murder from the very beginning and like Jesus told Peter, “You do not know what spirit you are of” this can sometimes apply to those who persecute us without cause.


And they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled… Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death; But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses, and said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days. (Matt 26:57-61, KJ2000)

The temple was their power base and to speak against the temple or the High Priest was considered a death sentence. Yet, Jesus knew that that whole religious system was under the judgment of God and was about to end. As the disciples marveled at the temple buildings in Jerusalem, Jesus said, “See these buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another until it is all torn down.” By 70 AD the Roman armies came in and destroyed their temple and killed all the priests. Most of my experiences in today’s church system have taught me the meaning of taking up my cross and following Jesus.
I now see the wisdom of Jesus where I read,

But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. (John 2:24-25, ESV2011)

I am reminded of Jesus’ words of warning to the disciples and us.

If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they would not have sin: but now they have no cover for their sin. He that hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no other man did, they would not have sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this comes to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law,
They hated me without a cause. (John 15:18-25, KJ2000)


So, my dear fellow saints when you are rejected and falsely accused it is all part of taking up the cross He has for us that humbles us, dealing with the natural man within us and offending the proud. Have faith and remember Christ’s words.

But when they persecute you in this city, flee into another: for verily I say unto you, You shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man comes. The disciple is not above his teacher, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his teacher, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness, that speak in light: and what you hear in the ear, that preach upon the housetops. (Matt 10:23-27, KJ2000)

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, (Matt 10:16-17, ESV2011)

And finally what Peter wrote:

But if you suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are you: and, Be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good behavior in Christ. (1Pet 3:14-16, KJ2000)

Are Christians Called as Pioneers or Settlers?

by Michael

(Photo by Randy Faith on Unsplash)

Consider these verses of scripture.

We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. (Heb 13:10-14, ESV2011)

One time after failing to fit in and get along with Christians in many different churches, I cried out in frustration, “God! I don’t fit! I just don’t fit!” To my surprise He replied, “YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO FIT!” Abraham was a pilgrim and sojourner in a strange land where he even had to buy a plot of land to bury his wife Sarah when she died. If we are to find our place in HIS kingdom, we will not find a place in any other kingdom until we finally find our rest with Him. Yes, let us go to him outside the camp!

I recently found an amazing parody that explains my experiences in Christ. It was in chapter three of an insightful book by Brennan Manning, Lion and Lamb, the Relentless Tenderness of Jesus (Fleming H. Revell Company, Old Tappan, NJ, 1986)

There are two visions of life, two kinds of people. The first group sees life as a possession to be carefully guarded. They are called settlers. The second group see life as a wild, fantastic, explosive gift. They are called pioneers.

These two types give rise to two kinds of theology: Settler Theology and Pioneer Theology. According to Wes Seeliger in his book, Western Theology, the first kind, Settler Theology, is an attempt to answer all the questions, define and housebreak some sort of Supreme Being, establish the status quo on golden tablets in cinemascope. Pioneer Theology is an attempt to talk about what it means to receive the strange gift of life. The Wild West is the setting for both theologies.

In Settler Theology, the church is the courthouse. It is the center of town life. The old stone structure dominates the town square. Its windows are small and this makes things dark inside. Within the courthouse walls, records are kept, taxes collected, trials held for bad guys. The courthouse is the settler’s symbol of law, order, stability, and—most importantly—security. The mayor’s office is on the top floor. His eagle eye ferrets out the smallest details of town life.

In Pioneer Theology, the church is the covered wagon. It’s a house on wheels, always on the move. The covered wagon is where the pioneers eat, sleep, fight, love and die. It bears the marks of life and movement—it creaks, is scarred with arrows, bandaged with baling wire. The covered wagon is always where the action is. It moves toward the future and doesn’t bother to glorify its own ruts. The old wagon isn’t comfortable, but the pioneers don’t mind. They are more into adventure than comfort.

In Settler Theology, God is the mayor. He is a sight to behold. Dressed like a dude from back East, he lounges in an over-stuffed chair in his courthouse office. He keeps the blinds drawn. No one sees him or knows him directly, but since there is order in town, who can deny that he is there? The mayor is predictable and always on schedule. The settlers fear the mayor, but look to him to clear the payroll and keep things going. Peace and quiet are the mayor’s main concerns. That’s why he sends the sheriff to check on the pioneers who ride into town.

In Pioneer Theology, God is the trail boss. He is rough and rugged, full of life. He chews tobacco, drinks straight whiskey. The trail boss lives, eats, sleeps, fights with his people. Their well-being is his concern. Without him the wagon wouldn’t move; living as a free man would be impossible. The trail boss often gets down in the mud with the pioneers to help push the wagon, which often gets stuck. He prods the pioneers when they get soft and want to turn back. His fist is an expression of his concern.

In Settler Theology, Jesus is the sheriff. He’s the guy who is sent by the mayor to enforce the rules. He wears a white hat, drinks milk, outdraws the bad guys. The sheriff decides who is thrown into jail. There is a saying in town that goes: those who believe the mayor sent the sheriff, and follow the rules, they won’t stay in Boot Hill when it comes their time.

In Pioneer Theology, Jesus is the scout. He rides out ahead to find out which way the pioneers should go. He lives all the dangers of the trail. The scout suffers every hardship, is attacked by the Indians. Through his words and actions he reveals the true intentions of the trail boss. By looking at the scout, those on the trail learn what it means to be a pioneer.

In Settler Theology, the Holy Spirit is the saloon girl. Her job is to comfort the settlers. They come to her when they feel lonely, or when life gets dull or dangerous. She tickles them under the chin and makes everything okay again. The saloon girl squeals to the sheriff when someone starts disturbing the peace.

In Pioneer Theology, the Holy Spirit is the buffalo hunter. He rides along with the covered wagon and furnishes fresh meat for the pioneers. Without it they would die. The buffalo hunter is a strange character—sort of a wild man. The pioneers can never tell what he will do next.

He scares the hell out of the settlers. He has a big black gun that goes off like a cannon. He rides into town on Sunday to shake up the settlers. You see, every Sunday morning, the settlers have a little ice cream party in the courthouse. With his gun in hand the buffalo hunter sneaks up to one of the courthouse windows. He fires a tremendous blast that rattles the whole courthouse. Men jump out of their skin, women scream, dogs bark. Chuckling to himself, the buffalo hunter rides back to the wagon train shooting up the town as he goes.

In Settler Theology, the Christian is the settler. He fears the open, unknown frontier. His concern is to stay on good terms with the mayor and keep out of the sheriff’s way. “Safety first” is his motto. To him the courthouse is a symbol of security, peace, order, and happiness. He keeps his money in the bank. The banker is his best friend. The settler never misses an ice cream party.

In Pioneer Theology, the Christian is the pioneer. He is a man of daring, hungry for a new life. He rides hard, knows how to use a gun when necessary. The pioneer feels sorry for the settlers and tries to tell them of the joy and fulfillment of life on the trail. He dies with his boots on.

In Settler Theology, the clergyman is the banker. Within his vault are locked the values of the town. He is a highly respected man. He has a gun, but keeps it hidden in his desk. He feels that he and the sheriff have a lot in common. After all, they both protect the bank.

In Pioneer Theology, the clergyman is the cook. He doesn’t furnish the meat. He just dishes up what the buffalo hunter provides. This is how he supports the movement of the wagon. He never confuses his job with that of the trail boss, scout, or the buffalo hunter. He sees himself as just another pioneer who has learned how to cook. The cook’s job is to help the pioneers pioneer.

In Settler Theology, faith is trusting in the safety of the town: obeying the laws, keeping your nose clean, believing the mayor is in the courthouse.

In Pioneer Theology, faith is the spirit of adventure: the readiness to move out, to risk everything on the trail. Faith is obedience to the restless voice of the trail boss.

In Settler Theology, sin is breaking one of the town’s ordinances.

In Pioneer Theology, sin is wanting to turn back.

In Settler Theology, salvation is living close to home and hanging around the courthouse.

In Pioneer Theology, salvation is being more afraid of sterile town life than death on the trail. Salvation is joy at the thought of another day to push on into the unknown. It is trusting the trail boss and following his scout while living on the meat furnished by the buffalo hunter.

The pioneers and the settlers portray in cowboy movie language the people of the law and the people of the Spirit. In the time of the historical Jesus, the guardians of the ecclesiastical setup, the scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees had ensconced themselves in the courthouse and enslaved themselves to the law. This not only enhanced their prestige in society, it also gave them a sense of security. People fear the responsibility of being free. It is often easier to let other people make decisions or to rely on the letter of the law. Some people want to be slaves.

After enslaving themselves to the letter of the law, such people go on to deny freedom to others. Jesus described them this way: “They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s solders, but they themselves are no willing to lift a finger to move them” (Matt. 23:4).

Jesus wanted to liberate His people from the law – from all laws. Under His word we become free people, people of the Spirit and the fellowship of free people grows up, as in the New Testament, beyond all kinds of theological disagreement.

It is in Galatians 5:1 that Paul writes, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourselves to be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. If we are not experiencing what Paul calls in Romans 8:21, “the glorious freedom of the children of God,” then we must acknowledged that his World has not taken sovereign possession of us, that we are not fully under the way of the Spirit. (end of excerpt)


Abraham was a pioneer and those who walk by faith as He did, following the Spirit of God, are also pioneers for he is the father of our faith. This is what it means to be the sons and daughters of God.


By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. (Heb 11:8-10, ESV2011)

An Exchanged Life

by Michael

Have you ever thought, “What a raw deal. We are all being punished for our sins in this less than perfect world because Adam and Eve blew it? Paul wrote about this to the saints in Rome:

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned… For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many… For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. (Rom 5:12-17, ESV2011)

T. Austin Sparks wrote:

“He that has My commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves Me…“.

How this may apply I do not know. I trust it does not seem hard; it is not meant to be hard. It is intended to bring us into possession of the secret of things… spiritual enlargement is a question of obedience, progress according to obedience. But obedience is not an enforced response to a law in pain of judgment. This is the obedience of love, consecration and devotion. Obedience is the active side of faith. Faith and obedience are two sides of one thing and cannot be divided without destroying completeness. And obedience is the proof of faith, and faith is the demand for obedience. (1)

We who have believed into Christ and were immersed into His death by baptism have also been raised into HIS newness of life in His Spirit. It was His agape love for His Father that motivated Jesus His whole life even when it meant that He would die a terrible death on the cross. For He knew that it was not only His body that was on that cross, but all the sins of fallen man down through the ages. He was the Father’s perfect sacrificial Passover Lamb for the sins of the world.

In Genesis we read of Abraham living out this act by faith with his and Sarah’s only son.

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, ‘My father:’ and he said, ‘Here am I, my son.’ And he said, ‘Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’ And Abraham said, ‘My son, God will provide himself a lamb…’ (Gen 22:6-8a, KJV)

The Father has always wanted many sons and daughters to love and walk with Him just as Adam did before his fall. But Adam and Eve’s fall and being cast out from the face of God in the garden was not the final end of that thought in the mind of God. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in [Grk. eis – into] him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, ESV2011). Through the sacrifice of Jesus, He traded our eternal death for His eternal life.

It is important to know that verses in the New Testament which speak of our initial act of saving faith often miss the depth of meaning that is behind them because of poor translations. We don’t just believe in Jesus in some kind of mental ascent, but the gift of God of saving faith places us into Christ by the Holy Spirit. Even that favorite verse of evangelical Christians, John 3:16, misses that depth of what salvation is by saying we only have to believe in Him much like we might believe in a certain political figure or our football team. The gift of salvation is an intimate act that places us IN Jesus Christ and His Spirit within us teaches us all things (See 1 John 2:27). Paul wrote,

Know you not, that so many of us as were baptized into [Grk. eis] Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of [His] life. (Rom 6:3-4, KJ2000 – emphasis added)

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Gal 2:20, KJ2000 – emphasis added)

But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. (Gal 3:22, KJV – emphasis added)

Even the righteousness of God which is by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe… (Rom 3:22a, KJV – emphasis added)

We who have been crucified with Christ have met the end of our old, weak, adamic natures and we now have been raised in total newness of Life. This means that we no longer have to access our Christian walks by our own weak faith that so often fails us, but we now can live by the same faith by which Jesus lived in a loving relationship with His Father! For “without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (Heb 11:6, ESV2011 – emphasis added)

In Christ we are all called to live in HIS life, walk by HIS faith and do HIS works not our own least any man should boast. This is what Paul was talking about when he wrote,

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through [Grk. en in] him who strengthens me. (Phil 4:12-13, ESV2011– emphasis added)

 

Entering into God’s Rest

...the one who enters God’s rest has himself rested from his own works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest… (Heb 4:10-11, ISV144– emphasis added)

This is so hard to believe isn’t it? God rested on the seventh day of creation. In John chapter one we read that the Word, Jesus Christ, made all things in the beginning and without Him was nothing made that was made. He did it all by merely speaking everything into existence. And the Word of God still speaks! Jesus told the disciples,

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. (John 14:15-17, ESV2011– emphasis added)

For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait [in God’s rest] for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. (Gal 5:5-6, ESV2011– emphasis added)

Yes, faith which abides in Christ will find its outworking through God’s love in us. It is here that we can truly rest and cease from our own religious efforts. Peter often tried to do his own “good” works because they seemed like the right thing to do at the time (calling fire down from heaven on a Samaritan village, cutting off the ear of the high priest’s servant, etc.) As a result he often received a rebuke from Jesus. There are many Marthas in Christendom, but few Marys who have “chosen the better part” resting at Jesus’ feet.

Yes, saving faith works through God’s love within us from a position of emotional rest. Without His faith working in us we are only left with dead works at best.

Whoever has my commandments and keeps them [whoever hears my commands and does them], he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” (John 14:21, ESV2011)

And at the very end He prayed for us saying,

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. (John 17:20-23, ESV2011)

Being one with the Father and the Son as Christ’s body is abiding in His rest.

(1) https://austin-sparks.net/english/books/008167.html

photograph above by:  joan-gray-NkkjoQeA63c-unsplash(1)

Precious Stephen, the Martyr of Christ

by Michael

Stephen was chosen by the apostles to be a servant [deacon] of the Hellenist widows in those earliest days of the Church. Of him we read, “And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.” It also says, “And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people” (Acts 6:8, ESV2011). Not bad for somebody that was given the task of “waiting on tables.” But there were corrupt men of the local synagogue in Jerusalem who were jealous and hated him and they brought false witnesses against him. “But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking” (Acts 6:10, ESV2011). “And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel” (Acts 6:15, ESV2011). Stephen was facing death by stoning because of the false accusations that were being spoken against him so Stephen gave them a history lesson to show them what was in their evil hearts.

But it was Solomon who built a house for him [the first temple]. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,“‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?’“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” (Acts 7:47-53, ESV2011)

Did they repent when they heard these things? Not hardly!

Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:54-56, ESV2011)

They were experiencing demons in their hearts, but Stephen was in the presence of Jesus and the Father. You see, this is what happens when we are no longer of this world because we seek God with our whole hearts. We become so heavenly minded that we are despised by those who build temples and religious systems with their own hands and minds and call it “the church.”

An Experience I Had in Alaska

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. (Ps 91:11-12, ESV2011)

Last week I met with eight brothers and sisters in one of their homes and we all shared what the Lord had put on our hearts that evening after we had a meal together. For some reason I shared with them what happened to me while living on a remote island off the west coast of Alaska. I had been going through depression for many months after going through a terrible and ugly church split and on top of that the economy took a dive and there was not work to be found where we lived. I finally found work in Alaska but even that job which I had been hired to do in a wilderness area of Alaska was not going well because of a union dispute.

So one day I left the camp and decided to hike around one end of the island along the seashore. Because the tide was coming in I could not go back the way came so I tried to go over the 1500 foot high ridge that was on the crest of the island. I saw a red fox climbing up this steep mountain side and thought, “I will just follow him and find a way up the mountain and back to where I came.” This was a big mistake. You see, foxes can go where a man cannot.

The little path I was on as I followed him traversed what became a cliff face and it got narrower and narrower as I climbed until it was about half as wide as one of my feet. Below me was a crevasse in which I could see huge boulders that were at the foot of the mountain where it met the Arctic ocean. If I had fallen there, no one would have ever found me. I could not go on any further so I slowly started backing up until the path until it was wide enough to turn around. At this point my foot slipped and I started to fall head over heels down this rocky cliff face, but all of a sudden my feet landed and stuck fast on a rock. All I could do was stand there and shiver from fear. Eventually, I was able to crawl on my hands and knees until I could get down to the narrow beach from where my assent started. Once there, I had to move forward through the boulders that were at the base of the mountain until I found a more gradual tundra covered slope. Walking on foot deep tundra is very exhausting, but eventually I was able to get over the ridge top and back to the camp from where I started.

As I told this story to the group a sister named Holly spoke up and said, “Michael, though you were cutoff from your family and fellow Christians and felt all alone on that remote Island, God was with you.” I had not felt His presence for years after that very decisive church split in 1982, but Holly’s words spoke deep into my heart and I finally saw that though I felt cutoff from God for almost 14 years, He had never left me and even saved my life. It was as though He had sent an angel to stop my fall and help me down off the steep mountain. As I meditated on this and was praying this morning the following verses came to mind.

​For the LORD will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage;

For justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.

Who rises up for me against the wicked? Who stands up for me against evildoers?​

If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.

When I thought, “My foot slips,” your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.

(Ps 94:14-18, ESV2011 – emphasis added)

My feet slipped on that steep mountain, but His steadfast love kept me from falling to my death.

After Holly spoke those words at that home meeting last week, Jesus’ presence flooded my heart. It was like Stephen being faced with the devil in those religious Jews who were about to kill him for his faithful testimony,but he didn’t see the Devil, HE SAW JESUS! Since then I have had no fear of man, only Christ’s love.

The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.​ The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip. The wicked watches for the righteous and seeks to put him to death. The LORD will not abandon him to his power or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial. (Ps 37:30-33, ESV2011 – emphasis added)

What a loving and mighty God we serve as brothers and sisters IN Christ. Amen!

What Does it Mean to Be the Body of Christ?

by Michael

People join themselves to different denominations and churches for many different reasons. But is this a manifestation of what it means to be one IN Christ? Is Christ divided? No! He is one with the Father and with all those who are in His body, members of one another without man-made walls and divisions.

For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they who live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them, and rose again. Therefore from now on know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet from now on know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2Cor 5:14-17, KJ2000)

The Word of God, Jesus Christ, by His Spirit is active in those who are His to separate the grip of our souls that seek to have preeminence over our spirits.

For the WORD of God is living, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in HIS sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of HIM with whom we have to do. (Heb 4:12-13, KJ2000)

Many contribute the above passage to the power of Bible reading, but the Bible alone can not accomplish all that this passage is speaking of. Only the living Word of God can. Many Christians in the world are still living according to their own fleshly, soulish wills, intellects and emotions (their souls). There is no division of soul and spirit in them. Their old man has not passed away. The true believer has been crucified with Christ and risen again in newness of life, the Life of Christ. The problem arises after our spirit has been made alive IN Christ and our old soulish nature does not want to play second fiddle to Him. Paul wrote about this in the book of Romans.

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that which I would not, it is no more I that does it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. (Rom 7:18-25, KJ2000)

Paul went on to write about the solution to this dilemma.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death… For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Rom 8:1-9, KJ2000)

The problem in Christendom is not being members of the right church organization. The problem is that many Christians today are not experiencing first-hand the Life of Christ within because they have yet to be filled with His Spirit. If we don’t have the Spirit of Christ within, we are not His nor are we yet members of His body, obeying Him as our Head.

Once we are alive IN Christ we see all of mankind differently than we did before. Like the blind man said after Jesus prayed for him a second time, “Now I see all men clearly” instead of seeing them like he did at first–as “trees walking.” We are given spiritual sight when we are made alive by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is in this state that we cease to know men and women after the flesh, but see them as the Spirit of God sees them.

But after faith is come… you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Gal 3:25-28, KJ2000 – emphasis added)

What is faith? When I was a young Catholic I was told that because I was baptized by a priest I was now a member of “the Faith.” Faith is not a man-made institution, nor is it a mere mindset that we conjure up by “positive thinking.” Faith is a divine gift that comes into us from the Father that enables us to draw near to Him in a loving relationship and see things the way He does. It is here that He floods us with His love. In Him we see everyone and everything as Jesus does.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Heb 11:1, KJ2000)

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having a high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb 10:19-22, KJ2000)

For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Eph 2:8-9, KJ2000)

Faith is a miracle. With hearts filled with His faith, we can boldly enter into His presence as His children. Here we can pray according to His will and know that He hears us and will answer.

In Jesus’ final prayer on earth we read:

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me. (John 17:20-21, KJ2000)

It is here in divine oneness with the Father and the Son that we have our testimony before the world as Christ’s living body, directed by Him as our Head. Of the newly born-from-above church of the first century the Spirit in them made all the difference and their witness had power, “…These that have turned the world upside down are come here also.”(Acts 17:6, KJ2000)

The True Church of Christ Is a Living Organism

But [we] speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, who is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body being fitly joined together and knit together by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. (Eph 4:15-16, KJ2000)

It is by being joined together in His Spirit as a living organism that we find the supply of Christ, just as any member of our mortal bodies gets its supply. If you cut off a member of your own body it dies and can no longer function neither does the rest of your body function as it once did. We need every member of His body to function in the fullness of Christ (see 1 Corinthians 12:12-19). The effective working of the measure of every part makes for the growth of His body. Satan seeks to divide us and destroy Christ’s body and negate its witness to a dying world. Jesus said, “The thief comes not, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10, KJ2000)

Bind Us Together, Lord
Bind Us Together
With Cords That Cannot Be Broken
Bind Us Together, Lord
Bind Us Together
Bind Us Together In Love

There Is Only One God,
There Is Only One King
There Is Only One Body,
That Is Why We Sing.

Bind Us Together, Lord
Bind Us Together
With Cords That Cannot Be Broken
Bind Us Together, Lord
Bind Us Together
Bind Us Together In Love

Made For The Glory Of God,
Purchased By His Precious Son;
Born With The Right To Be Clean,
For Jesus The Victory Has Won.

Bind Us Together, Lord
Bind Us Together
With Cords That Cannot Be Broken
Bind Us Together, Lord
Bind Us Together
Bind Us Together In Love

You Are The Family Of God,
You Are The Promise Divine;
You Are God’s Chosen Desire,
You Are The Glorious New Wine.

Bind Us Together, Lord
Bind Us Together
With Cords That Cannot Be Broken
Bind Us Together, Lord
Bind Us Together
Bind Us Together In Love

Hymn written by Bob Gillman

Love One Another and So Fulfill the Law of Christ

by Michael

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. (Isa 43:18-19, NIV)

In my former blog I wrote about my disappointments and the finding of very little face to face, Spirit led fellowship among the believers in the area where we live. In doing so I was trying to measure “church going” and home fellowship times in the past with what seems to be lacking here. Ideally believers should function as a properly functioning family, for we are the family of God. Can you imagine the father in a family forcing his wife and the kids to rearrange all the chairs in the living room every Sunday morning and having them sit there facing forward while he stood in front and lectured them for an hour? Not only that but what if he had them sing songs that were written during the Great Reformation hundreds of years ago, then take up a collection for his pet projects when it was all over? Is this being a family? Not really and this methodology for the gathering of His saints is not found anywhere in the New Testament. This is all a collection of man’s traditions.

In my last blog Susanne in Germany wrote a comment that gave me much hope. You can read it here. https://awildernessvoice.blog/2023/07/26/michael-where-are-you/#comment-17675 She shared the above passage from Isaiah and asked me to consider that God may be doing a NEW thing in these days to bring us back into alignment as the Body of Christ. It was through the above passage that He said so clearly to me, “Forget the things you experienced in the past! I am doing a NEW thing!” Him doing a new thing had never entered my thinking because I was so focused on the old things He did before. By constantly remembering what He did in the past I was missing what He is doing in the here and now.

One thing I have observed is how most church leadership is occupying almost every moment with their own plans when the believers come together. According to the New Testament God desires to do and say much through EVERY member of Christ’s body, not just the few paid professionals. The system that dominates church gatherings today quenches the Spirit in believers and it turns them into passive observers. The Spirit in them is drowned out or even doubted because what they are hearing inside doesn’t always go along with what is being dished out in their sermons and Bible study groups. The churches are filled with people who are like dead or paralyzed organs in a sick body. This is totally contrary to the teachings of the New Testament where Jesus promised, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” (John 16:13, ESV2011). This includes, “I am doing a new thing.” Jesus said, “It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. (John 6:63, KJ2000) In John chapter one Jesus is spoken of as the Word… He is the living Word and He still speaks through His Spirit. He often speaks to me through verses in the Bible, but not always. When I met my dear wife I heard Him say, “If you let this one go you will never find another one like her. She will go the distance,” Find that in the scriptures! Yes, after 57 years we are still together. Don’t get me wrong, having a good foundation in the scriptures helps us discern what is His voice and what is not. Jesus said,

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:27-28, KJ2000)

So What Is this New Thing He is Doing Now?

In Revelations we read that God is not like us. We tend to find something that God blesses and try to make it happen over and over again. God might have been in it initially, but God makes ALL things NEW and He is very imaginative. He is the Creator, isn’t He? He still creates!

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Rev 21:5, ESV2011)

As Susanne gave us this passage from Isaiah to consider in her comment she said how God uses the internet and phone calls for fellowship quite often and this might be part of the NEW thing that God is doing in this technical age we are in. There is no way I could have spent hours on the phone talking to a saint in a foreign country in the past. It would have cost way too much, but now we have apps that make that possible for free! Through this He is breaking down those religious walls that promote spiritual passivity in the gatherings of His saints spoken of above. Pastor Wonderful no longer controls the microphone. God is using internet blogs, chat rooms phone apps, emails and phone calls where we can share what we hear the Spirit saying and hear about what He is doing in our lives though we live hundreds of miles apart. In the 1800’s it took Hudson Taylor six months to get a letter in China from England! When I was in the Navy in Vietnam it took two to three weeks to receive a letter from my wife and for her to get my reply. Through these technical tools we are able to love and support one another like is supposed to happen in the New Testament Church. Even with the posting of the previous blog I have experienced some great emails, calls and comments that were very edifying not only to me but to some of the brothers and sisters I know. Many have said how blessed they have been by reading the comment sections on our blogs. Yes, face to face fellowship would be even better, but that seems to be lacking these days so God had to do a new thing.

One Anothering

Let’s consider that famous passage that is so often misquoted to support the typical Sunday church meeting system. How often do we hear, “Brother, we are not supposed to forsake the gathering!” In Hebrews is says,

And let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as you see the day approaching. (Heb 10:24-25, AKJV)

We see the phrase “one another” twice in this passage. When does the body of Christ join in and do all of this one anothering?” In today’s church system, rarely.

Have you ever done a study on how many times in the New Testament it says we should be doing things with and for “one another?” Let’s take a look.

If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. (John 13:14-15, AKJV)

A new commandment I give to you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another. (John 13:34-35, AKJV) Also see John 15:12&17.

Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; hold to that which is good. Be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another; (Rom 12:9-10, AKJV)

Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loves another has fulfilled the law. (Rom 13:8, AKJV)

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. (Rom 15:5-7, ESV2011)

I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. (Rom 15:14, ESV2011)

Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you. (Rom 16:16, ESV2011) See also 1 Cor. 16:20 and 2 Cor. 13:12.

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. (Gal 5:13, ESV2011)

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal 6:2, ESV2011)

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Eph 4:32, ESV2011)

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (1Thess 5:11, ESV2011)

But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. (Heb 3:13-14, ESV2011)

And this passage sums up the fact that we who are Christ’s are ALL called as His kingdom of priests (see Rev. 1:6)

And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Col 3:14-16, ESV2011)

These are just some if the verses where we are instructed as to what we should do when we come together, whether in person of by electronic means. How many of these admonitions actually happen in today’s church gatherings or when we communicate with one another in His body? Do we wash one another’s feet? Do we teach and admonish one another in all wisdom? Do we exhort one another every day and come together to share in Christ? Do we encourage and build one another up? Do we by His love serve one another? In Christ’s love do we prefer one another? If the body of Christ was rich in fulfilling these admonitions what a witness we would be to the unsaved and the world around us!

Jesus, stir us up by Your Spirit to love and good works with and for one another in your body, Make a way in the wildernesses we live in and give us streams of your Spirit to drink from. Amen

(The above picture of a forest spring was taken by Michael Clark. All underlinings of scriptures were added by me for emphasis.)

Love to you all,

Michael

Michael, Where Are You?

by Michael

***Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash***

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. (Heb 11:13-16, ESV2011)

This passage above speaks of where I have emotionally been for the past few months, “desiring a better country, that is, a heavenly one.” Frankly, I have not had any inspiration to write. I have asked myself many times, “Why did we moved to east Texas from northern Idaho?” Logically, we moved here to be near two of our kids, six grand kids and five great grands and visiting with them has been a blessing. But I have to ask myself, “What is it that God has for me to do while here and where is His family IN Christ?”

Since we moved here we bought a very nice house that is walking distance to a very large lake with lots of fish to be caught. But in this area the humidity off the Gulf of Mexico is very high and the summer months are hot and muggy. This is hard on those of us who have lived just two hours south of Canada most of our lives. The winter months were tolerable, but these summer months for the most part keep us cooped up in air conditioned spaces.

The main thing that bothers me is that it has been hard to find any real fellowship in the Spirit even though we are surrounded by hundreds of churches and thousands of church Christians. It reminds me of lines from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean…

We have even tried going to a couple of Sunday churches and it has all been so two dimensional. They are like “painted ships upon a painted ocean” stuck in the doldrums where there is no Spirit breath or motion. And they call this part of America the Bible Belt? Jesus did not die on the cross so everyone can have a Bible. He died to blot out our sins that separated us from God so that we too could rise again in newness of life and enjoy our fellowship with the Father and the Son IN THIS LIFE! (See John chapter 17). The poem continues with a familiar verse,

Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.

What a contrast! Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well,

“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” (John 4:10, ESV2011)

The ancient mariner had killed an albatross on their voyage which was a sign of bad luck and the crew reacted against him.

Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung…

Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus. (Acts 5:41-42, ESV2011)

I believe that He is a husband to the widows and that He places the orphans in families just as it is written. There is hope.

After a long voyage and perils at sea the Mariner’s ship finds its way back to his home harbor…

We drifted o’er the harbour-bar,
And I with sobs did pray—
O let me be awake, my God!
Or let me sleep always.

And now this spell was snapt: once more
I viewed the ocean green,
And looked far forth, yet little saw
Of what had else been seen—

Like one, that on a lonesome road
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And having once turned round walks on,
And turns no more his head;
Because he knows, a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread.

But soon there breathed a wind on me,
Nor sound nor motion made:
Its path was not upon the sea,
In ripple or in shade.

It raised my hair, it fanned my cheek
Like a meadow-gale of spring—
It mingled strangely with my fears,
Yet it felt like a welcoming.

Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship,
Yet she sailed softly too:
Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze—
On me alone it blew.

Oh! dream of joy! is this indeed
The light-house top I see?
Is this the hill? is this the kirk [Scottish for church]?
Is this mine own countree?

We drifted o’er the harbour-bar,
And I with sobs did pray—
O let me be awake, my God!
Or let me sleep alway.

The harbour-bay was clear as glass,
So smoothly it was strewn!
And on the bay the moonlight lay,
And the shadow of the Moon.

The rock shone bright, the kirk no less,
That stands above the rock:
The moonlight steeped in silentness
The steady weathercock.

And the bay was white with silent light,
Till rising from the same,
Full many shapes, that shadows were,
In crimson colours came.

A little distance from the prow
Those crimson shadows were:
I turned my eyes upon the deck—
Oh, Christ! what saw I there!

Each corpse lay flat, lifeless and flat,
And, by the holy rood!
A man all light, a seraph-man,
On every corpse there stood.

This seraph-band, each waved his hand:
It was a heavenly sight!
They stood as signals to the land,
Each one a lovely light;

This seraph-band, each waved his hand,
No voice did they impart—
No voice; but oh! the silence sank
Like music on my heart. <end>

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1Thess 4:16-18, ESV2011)

There is hope, for those in Christ there is an “Easter rising.” Even this poem speaks of the resurrection of his ship mates that died at sea.

I know that there are others of you who can relate to my struggles. God has allowed me to find fellowship with other saints by phone, email and a rare visit from afar, but it is a manifestation of the living body of Christ here locally that I miss. Paul wrote to the Colossians,

May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col 1:11-14, ESV2011)

It fits! Bless you all in the fellowship of the Father and the Son,

Michael