“God is going to take over the White House… He is going to take over the Oval Office… because it belongs to Him and He is going to bring all things summed up into the fullness of Christ. He is going to take that Supreme Court. He is going to turn that inside out. He is going to pray that strong man off that thing and He is going to bring the synergistic anointing of intercession and the prophetic anointing to break, to judge, to decree…. I will march into that place and declare a decree the word of the Lord boldly… He is joining the kingly and the priestly anointing.”
– Dutch Sheets speaking at the “School of the Prophets”
[A timely reprint of a Sept./Oct. 2001 Discernment Ministries newsletter article by Lynn & Sarah Leslie*]
In the early 1980s we were led by the Lord to work in the Right to Life movement. From the beginning we knew that we could not become entangled in the popular Dominionist ideal of saving America through politics. But we had discovered through our research that the public had not been told the truth about abortion: its history, its methods and procedures, and its consequences. This was due to a well-documented conspiracy of silence on the part of the mainstream media and medical community. We naively thought that it would just be a matter of education – if people knew the truth they would repent.
Doors opened and opportunities presented themselves to us, in ways that we could have never dreamed. We stood before governors, presidential candidates, senators, representatives, pastors, doctors and other leaders. The Lord charged us to plainly present the truth. We quickly learned that speaking the truth made us a lightning rod. Some hated us because of our message. Some realized their sins and repented. We stood on a spiritual fault line — one could not be neutral in the face of life and death truth. A decision had to be made after hearing the truth.
But what came of our efforts? Why have you heard of no revival where multitudes repented during the mid-‘80s in a Midwestern state? There was no revival.
There can be no revival without repentance.
When we told Christians in the churches the truth about abortion we began to hear stories:
• Professing Christian women went to the abortionists, some more than once. One Christian woman explained that she had to cover up the sin of adultery. She feared harm to her reputation in her small town community. Another Christian woman asserted that her career, and the career of the baby’s father, would have been damaged if their affair had become known.
• A highly respected evangelical leader, who had been a prayer partner of ours, shared that she had previously worked in an abortion clinic. Startled by this admission, we inquired about her repentance. She believed that this was a ministry, she said, because she held the hand of the lady undergoing the procedure and prayed for the baby that was dying. Another abortion clinic worker told us that she was helping women who were needy. She felt we were in the wrong by being so “judgmental.”
• One day a troubled minister confessed that he had taken his girlfriend to an abortion clinic because he thought it was his duty as a good man to support his woman during this time of trial. It had never occurred to him that he had directly assisted in the killing of his own child. He was devastated for many days, but later backslid into the same sins that had led to his original act of immorality – pornography and fornication.
• We heard reports of Christian mothers who coerced their daughters to undergo abortions to camouflage their promiscuity. In several churches elders relied on abortion to cover secret sins in the church leadership. There were Christian counselors and pastors who recommended abortions. Some were simply silent. They didn’t speak out to defend the baby’s life, following the humanistic model for non-directive psychology.
• Occasionally we counseled women who had undergone abortions, but who had never been told the truth. Many of these women were emotionally devastated and experienced great loss. This included Christian women who had relied on IUD’s, abortifacient birth control pills, or otherwise consented to a medical procedure which caused their fertilized embryo baby to die before implantation in the uterine wall. Despite the obvious loss of life, we knew of only one Christian doctor who didn’t routinely prescribe these abortifacients. Other Christian doctors made referrals for abortions. One doctor privately told me that she feared the pressure of her medical peers.
• Christian teachers in public school classrooms believed it was their duty to teach children the intimate details about sexuality, including abortion — how to obtain one and the location of the nearest clinic.
These examples are noteworthy and astonishing for one reason: these people all claimed to be “pro-life.” They voted for pro-life candidates and supported pro-life legislation. Some believed themselves to be prophets, having a special anointing from the Lord for spiritual discernment. We were alarmed. Something was going terribly awry. People who were supposed to be against abortion were participating in the very sins that contributed to the problem. What had gone wrong?
We searched for answers. Gradually over a period of many years we began to understand that abortion was merely the tip of a massive iceberg. What was underneath the church’s participation in abortion? Some Christians were engaging in flagrant sins such as adultery and fornication. Lurking under those sins was often concupiscence, lasciviousness, uncleanness and inordinate affection. But we also found other, more troubling answers.
The Leaven
• We walked into the home of some friends shortly after the dinner hour. A TV was blaring in the dining room. Several comic actors were making jokes about physical characteristics that we are ashamed to mention here. The routine progressed and the woman took off her shirt to reveal her underwear. Our friends continued on as if nothing was amiss. Because we don’t watch popular TV shows, we reacted to this. Was this the diet that Christians were feeding on routinely? Couldn’t hearing these things with their ears and seeing these things with their eyes tempt them to sin in their heart? (“Take hear what you hear” Mark 4:24). Didn’t Scripture command us to “mortify our members” (Col. 3:5)? And, “this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication” (I Th 4:3)? Even if it was just a TV show? Our friends replied that they responded to the evil in TV shows by sending money to a Christian organization that fought bad TV programming. They wrote letters to their congressman and lobbied against Hollywood.
• A friend of ours left the gay movement, repented, accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior, got married and had children. Several years later he began to minister to others, telling them how they might be saved and helping them out of the lifestyle. He soon learned that there was a great deal of money to be made if a Christian group fought anti-gay crusades in Washington, but little help was provided to ministries like his, that led men to the cross and salvation by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Christians loved to wage war against those “bad guys,” but neglected their duty to present the gospel to these tragic sinners. Our friend ultimately fled a large charismatic church which tolerated a gay pastor, covering up his sin, while publicly supporting anti-homosexual political agendas. We fled, too.
These two examples illustrate the extent to which Christians became influenced by the doctrine of Dominionism. This doctrine is a leaven, permeating everything. Rampant in Christian organizations and media for the past two decades, especially because it is a lucrative and patriotic theme, Dominionism is best known for teaching that America is a Christian country and that if we could only “fix” America politically everything would be a rose garden. As a consequence of this teaching, Christians began to work to restore the Ten Commandments and prayer in the schools, write letters to stop abortions, send money to stop pornography, and so forth.
According to author Al Dager, “Dominion theology refers to any number of philosophies of dominion within the churches which suggest that the world will be won to Christ by a revived Church before the Lord returns. It states, in essence, that Jesus cannot return until the Church has taken dominion over the temporal powers of the world system.” (The World Christian Movement, p. 114) Dominionism is taught by various branches of the church, including the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), Reformed and Reconstructionist, with different nuances and emphases. Its tenets can include the ideas that the church must: 1) conduct spiritual warfare in the heavenlies, 2) establish the King and His Government on Earth, 3) make disciples of all nations (including by coercion or consensus), 4) and the Church must exhibit unity or perfection before the King will return.
Dominionism was never a traditional doctrine of Pentecostalism, but gradually its leaven infiltrated everywhere. Dutch Sheets explained it:
“Ephesians 4 is literal, before the coming of the Lord Jesus. We will fully express Him in the earth. All things will be summed up in Him. They will come back under their proper headship. They will come back into order. The earth, the fullness of the earth, the eons, the times, the seasons, they are all marching toward an appointed end where they are literally summed up in Christ and I’ll tell you what blows me away – He is doing it in us and through us.”
At a “School of the Prophets” conference much was said about conducting spiritual warfare in the heavenlies. C. Peter Wagner boasted that huge quantities of new written materials are being published to promote the new doctrines for a planned “2nd Reformation.” He claimed that there are many apostle/prophets who have a “high level of contacts in the spiritual and natural world.” It was asserted that once these people are “aligned” in “government” then the church would be restored, revived and gifts would be “released.”
Revival, please note, would not come through personal repentance. Instead, revival would come by the church being “restored” to its proper “order.” Dutch Sheets clearly stated: “He [Christ] is not talking about us having to be perfect in the sense of sinless, but we are to reach full or mature. It is a word used of coming into adulthood.” The chief sins mentioned were disunity and divisiveness – referred to as a “Jezebel” spirit. The battle against evil was portrayed as a corporate battle to fight a big, bad spiritual enemy “out there.” Barbara Yoder explained this new focus: “…one of the things that God is wanting us to do is He is wanting us to change our center of thinking from self to corporate…”
The Salt
Historical Christian doctrine, employing traditional methods of exegesis, has taught that the enemy of every believer is personal sin, which is to be resisted. Two kingdoms are in constant conflict in this world – the “prince of the power of the air” and the kingdom of the Son of God. Each individual believer is required to take a stand in one kingdom or another. One kingdom leads to eternal life and the other leads to an eternal damnation in hell. The spiritual battle is against sin and darkness in the believer’s life. This principle is made crystal clear in Eph. 2:1-5:
“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience; Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
The NAR, a worldwide group of self-anointed, self-appointed apostle and prophets are conducting “strategic level” spiritual warfare, casting down “powers and principalities” they claim to have identified. The Scriptures, however, portray a different spiritual battle – one with eternal consequences for the believer. Christians are to resist sin found in this world: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (I John 2:15-16)
Christianity has traditionally emphasized the sanctification of the believer, a doctrine firmly rooted in the Word of God. Jesus Christ prayed that his followers would be kept from the evil one (John 17:14-17): “I have given them thy Word’ and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy Word is truth.”
When Salt Loses Its Savour
Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. (Matt. 5:13)
During the years we spoke against abortion many Christians entered politics. They fervently believed, and often quoted, 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” This verse, under the influence of the leaven of Dominionism, took on a political meaning, Notably, it is often quoted with these important words omitted: “and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways.”
What happened to the Christians who entered politics? Most soon compromised their highest ideals. Some even backslid into their old sins. They became salt that lost its savour. They started with earnest hopes of witnessing of Christ to others, but soon political realities realigned everyone into an “us versus them” world, where political opponents on issues became enemies. Would someone who truly stands consistently for Christian principles ever get elected (or stay in office) in our secular and pluralistic society? The political process demands coalition building, consensus, compromise, cutting deals, agreeing to take only a half loaf instead of a full loaf, agreeing to take the lesser of two evils, and supporting issues with which one disagrees.
Political Dominionism puts false hopes in coalition building. It teaches that that our depraved society will be changed simply by changing a few laws, or planting a few leaders in key positions. It trusts in horses and chariots — methods of man, not God.
The Prophet Who Couldn’t Warn
• A prayer partner began urging us to attend some revival meetings at the home church of a major signs and wonders leader. She believed that this man was a prophet with an extraordinary gift of revelation. He was setting up a model city-wide church in his area. We didn’t know about the Latter Rain at the time, but there was a check in our spirits. Several weeks later the story of a persecution of a Christian family who lived in this man’s hometown hit newspaper headlines across the state. The persecution was of such a nature as to establish a legal foothold from which to harshly persecute other Christian believers with similar convictions. Sarah phoned our friend. Surely this prophet had seen the significance of this man’s persecution! Surely he would rush to this family’s defense in their hour of trial! Our friend replied that the prophet only concerned himself with “deep spiritual matters.” Sarah replied sarcastically, “He must have both his head and his feet in the clouds.”
Only later did we learn of the new brand of hyper-spiritual Gnosticism that kept Christians fighting imaginary “principalities” (Acts 8:4-6) but ignoring real life sins and dangers.
Had this “prophet” supported the persecuted believer (who was a man of strong biblical convictions), he would have risked alienating other churches in his newly forming city-wide group of pastors. Spiritual Dominionism, as taught by the apostle/prophets, offers the false hope of unity on earth. This unity requires that the gospel of salvation be watered down so that no member of the fragile coalition will be offended. Just like political Dominionism, spiritual Dominionism caters to the lowest common denominator.
2 Peter 2:7-8 contains an intriguing reference to Lot: “And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds”). Lot lived among the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. He was continually bombarded and inundated with the perversity of that city’s heathens. Not unlike our culture today, which comes across undisciplined TV and computer screens, technology, magazines and films. Lot, was charged by the angels to warn, the classic duty of a prophet: “And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law” (Gen 19:14). Did Lot fail to communicate his message, resulting in the deaths of his two sons-in-law?
The New Testament reference is very respectful of Lot, calling him righteous. Even so, he was apparently unable (to use the lingo of the signs and wonders crowd) “to operate fully in his spiritual gift.” He had become ensnared and entangled in his seductive culture, the sins of the world. Jesus referred to this condition as thorns where the “care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful” (Matt 13:22). Immersing oneself in a culture of carnality and sensuality does not produce fruit in the believer. It is a stumbling block to declaring the Gospel and warning of the wrath to come. Perhaps there is a reason so many are rushing to embrace the new doctrines. Our flesh always finds it easier to fight battles outside ourselves.
There is a reason why the new super-apostle/prophets have trouble sounding a real warning. Dutch Sheets explains:
“We are on a journey now with that unfolding where… all that has been messed up through the Fall, all that has happened to try to get things off its path, it is on an assured, definitely assured, path of restoration — till we get back to the right constitution of this — the way that we were made, and intended to be, from the start. So we are in a process of all things being restored, reconstituted to this stated declared order and purpose.”
This utopian doctrine does not sound the warning to flee the wrath to come. This message promises the false hope of a “restoration” of the King through a “revival” that refuses to teach repentance. In spiritual Dominionism there is no wrath to come! (Except a judgment to be executed by the new super-church on those who don’t “bow the knee” to whomever they deem to be “King Jesus.”)
The message of the new apostle/prophets and other Dominionist teachers tickles the ears. It creates an enemy “outside” rather than confronting personal sin. It is an inevitable consequence of a church saturated for years with a psychologized gospel, which turned tables on sin and began to look for excuses, compromises and rationales. The new “sins” include insufficient faith, disunity, divisiveness, poverty, unhappiness, and disease. We did not witness a single example of heartfelt repentance of a concrete biblically-based sin while watching some excerpts of the “School of the Prophets” conference. Yet a vast group of prophets-in-training were being “activated” to “restore.”
“See, This Is New” (Eccl. 1:10)
A pivotal doctrine taught at the “School of the Prophets” conference holds that the church is evolving. The claim was made that there is a progressive revelation of God throughout church history. The 20th century which began with speaking in tongues, progressively received new revelation each decade thereafter: latter rain, deliverance evangelism, charismatic movement, faith (name it and claim it) movement, the prophets, then the apostles, and a coming “saints” movement for the new millennium. The leaders claim that there is new “knowledge” with each successive generation that supersedes old knowledge, and a “reconstitution” of all things. They call this new doctrine “synergy,” which is the occult term for precisely the same concept of attaining to a new order on earth (the New Age).
A related doctrine taught at the “School of the Prophets” conference is also a prominent tenet of the New Age movement. Popularized by Thomas Kuhn in his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, which is widely cited in New Age literature, the philosophy states that not only is our knowledge of truth evolving, but truth itself is evolving. The apostle/prophets have adopted this doctrine. They claim to possess new revelation — that their knowledge of God’s truth is evolving. Their mantra is “God is doing a new thing.” But, significantly, they have adopted doctrines that are so far removed from orthodox Christianity, that it is apparent that they also believe God’s truth itself is evolving. They employ a bizarre method of exegesis, taking partial Scriptures wildly out of context and making preposterous applications. To back up their new doctrines, they have resorted to citing Gnostic sources. This is the ultimate consequence of placing a higher emphasis on personal revelation than God’s Truth — the Bible.
Many rock-solid Scriptures refute these false apostle/prophets. The Bible teaches that God and His Word do not change. (See Is 40:8; Matt 24:35; Ps 119:89; Matt 5:18; 1 Peter 1:23-25.)
Are These Guys Serious?
The bride of Christ, according to these new doctrines, is wearing combat boots. She is to gear herself up for military/spiritual warfare. “We are up against the greatest war that we have ever been up against and we ain’t seen war yet,” proclaimed Barbara Yoder at the School of the Prophets. There is no mention of the bride wearing white. There is no intention of sanctification by cleansing and washing with the water of the Word. Rather, these leaders are building an army. Their rhetoric is filled with military words and analogies. Perhaps this wouldn’t seem so alarming if it weren’t for the realities we see each day on TV [in 2001, ed.], of a religious/political group who took violent doctrinal rhetoric to the next step. C. Peter Wagner’s statements after the terrorist attack on September 11th were downright chilling. He aligned the spiritual warfare activities of his strategic apostolic command with the real warfare activities on earth at NORAD in Colorado Springs and boldly pronounces “apostolic declarations” about war:
We have now entered a time when the church is called to war. God has prepared us for this moment, and we must be obedient. Life cannot be the same. As the President told us, we will be back in business, but it will not be business as usual. The status quo will not do. It cannot be just a coincidence that we at Global Harvest Ministries did a conference on “The Future War of the Church” last week in Virginia Beach and that we are doing the West Coast version of it next week in West Covina, California. Neither can it be a coincidence that just a few months ago Chuck Pierce and Rebecca Wagner Sytsema released The Future War of the Church (Renew). This is a book that gives the church a blueprint as to how to pray and how to move into the new battle that began with the twin towers. [see HERE]
Enough is enough. These so-called apostle/prophets are scary. They are also deceiving the sheep with their leaven. It is time to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Jude 3,4)
Are these new apostle/prophets “denying Jesus”? It is becoming increasingly evident that they are following a Jesus of their own imagination. They are putting obstacles in place of worship – pillars of self-anointed, self-appointed apostles and prophets who claim to possess extra-biblical divine revelation, and to whom every local church must eventually bow. They are building databases on believers, enabling them to have confessional booth knowledge of private lives. They are forging alliances with leaders in government, including the United Nations. They are building ecumenical structures with interlocking boards of directors. They are laying the foundation for a state church.
Make no mistake about it: this foundation is not the Rock, Jesus Christ the chief cornerstone. These apostle/prophets are setting up a new priesthood which interferes with the priesthood of all believers. Their 2nd Reformation will reverse the first Reformation and turn the church back towards bondage. Believers are taught that they need super-charged anointings from select leaders in order to become mature in the faith. The apostle/prophets claim to have new divine revelations from the Lord which supersede the Word of God. These leaders are building upon the sand, not the Rock.
Isn’t it time to renounce these leaders? Isn’t it time to put a huge divide between them and us? Isn’t it time to tell the world that these people do not represent authentic biblical Christianity? Do we have to wait for them to actually put on combat boots before we realize the horror of what could happen if their war rhetoric turns into reality?
It is time to gird up our loins and be prepared to turn the other cheek. Much of their war rhetoric is directed against those who oppose them on biblical grounds. These men are on record, making threats against those who are not in agreement with them. Dutch Sheets “prophesied” that the “Jehus are coming!” against the Jezebel spirit. That so-called “Jezebel spirit” is anyone who still stands on the pure, unadulterated Word of God – especially anyone who dares write or speak against the self-anointed, self-appointed “elect.”
The Case of the Missing Doctrines
(or, How To Be A Salty Christian)
(or, How To Be A Salty Christian)
30 years ago we were saved in the midst of a genuine revival. It was called the “Jesus Movement” because it focused on Jesus and the cross. Although there is evidence that the revival may have been “engineered” in the beginning, it grew rapidly because it taught a gospel of repentance. This revival was characterized by hippies turning away from a life of sin (drugs, alcohol and promiscuity) to Christ.
When we were first saved we were taught several doctrines which are no longer widely taught in evangelical and charismatic churches today. We were taught that we would be tempted to go back to our old life of sin unless we began practicing these doctrines. They would protect us from evil, guard our faith, and keep our walk holy. These doctrines stemmed from a proper understanding of the believer’s place in the world. Here are some examples:
“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” (Rom 6:11-12)
“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” (James 4:4)
“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” (Titus 2:11-13)
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” (Col 3: 1-3)
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Rom 12:1-2)
“As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance; But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.” (I Peter 1: 14-15)
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” (II Cor 7:14-18)
“The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.” (Rom 13:12-14)
These Scriptures have to do with separation and non-conformity. A believer is to be separated from unbelievers and idolaters, and be consecrate holy unto the Lord. A believer is not to conform to this world, with all of its lusts, but is to conform to the perfect will of God. These two principals kept many a baby Christian from returning to their former friends, former lusts, spiritual errors and previous manner of sinful life. Please note the last Scriptural reference above. Here is a clear example of spiritual warfare. These verses do not call for a believer to cast down high powers and principalities, or to set up governments and kings, but to cast off the works of darkness (sin) and put on holiness, which is an armour against the lusts of the flesh.
How does one put on holiness? It is time to return to a simple faith and trust in your first Love, Jesus Christ, who died on a cross so that your sins might be forgiven. Read the Bible every day employing traditional methods of Bible study. Stay away from the wacky exegetical style of “replacement” theology employed by the signs and wonders prophets. Instead take each verse and ask the Lord to show you in your heart where you need to apply it to your life. What is God plainly saying? Are you convicted? Do you need to ask the Lord for forgiveness? Do you need to make some changes in your life? Even if you look “peculiar” in the eyes of a worldly church? Are you willing to walk the narrow way, even if you are very alone on that path? “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Ps. 119:105)
The Revival That Wasn’t
During the last half of the 20th century, at the same time period the apostle/prophets claim God was doing mighty restorations and revivals, America aborted tens of millions of babies. Babies became inconveniences, not blessings. There was a moral landslide into filth. And, as we poignantly documented at the beginning of this article, Christians slid right along with the rest of culture. Old doctrines that used to be taught disappeared, or evolved to become more palatable for modern life. The culture became de-Christianized, and in many cases outright pagan. Christians gradually stopped acting as salt and light, by saturating the culture with their positive effect of holy living and righteousness. Instead they adopted the leaven of spiritual and political Dominionism, which may have assuaged their guilt, but did little to spread the Gospel message.
There was no revival.
There is no revival.
There can be no revival without repentance.
“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15)
*This article, is published online here: http://www.discernment-ministries.org/Newsletters/NL2001SepOct.pdf, as well as several other locations on the Internet. Several minor modifications were made to this re-published version. A radio interview related to this topic is transcribed partially here: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?tag=discernment-ministries and http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=4573. Also listen to a radio interview 11/1/11 on the topics in this post: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/rapturereadyradio/2011/11/02/tonight-matters-with-chris-and-jim .