Thursday, July 16,
2015, 6:28 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Fully Ready.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read James 1:1-18 (NASB).
Various Trials
(vv. 1-4)
James,
a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To
the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.
Consider
it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the
testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect
result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
All throughout our lives we face various trials, some light,
and some most severe. Right now I believe the world is going through a time of
major testing. I can’t say with absolute certainty where this present time fits
with regard to the time of tribulation spoken of in scripture, but I do believe
prophecy of scripture is being fulfilled daily before our eyes, and that the
signs are everywhere that the beast of Revelation is rising, is conquering
kingdoms and peoples, is persecuting and killing Christians, and is presently
at work in bringing about the ruin (downfall) of sovereign nations, families,
morals, and the church, etc. And, I do know that the US government,
particularly the White House, is part of this “beast,” and is instrumental in the
collapse of many nations, including our own, and in bringing the world
underneath the rule and authority of this beast and its one-world government
and religion.
A few weeks ago the Lord Jesus spoke to me and showed me
that we were in the religious phase of this takeover of the world. Now, that is
not to say that this has not been going on for a long time. It has. Yet, what I
believe he was showing me is that there has been a sudden surge in what the
Lord recently showed me was a “paradigm shift” taking place within the church. All
of a sudden President Obama is speaking out about how the church, and the
world, need to work together toward making the world a better place, and how we
need to encourage progress by seeking the ideas of others, partnering with
them, and not just holding on to our own ideas alone. He, in essence, is
promoting a one-world religion where we partner together with people of all
faiths to work together toward social justice. He spoke of a church burned to
the ground and it rising again like a phoenix rising out of the ashes, which is
a reference to the death of the old order of things so that, out of the ashes
of the old order, a new order of the ages can rise, and this is happening now.
Rick Warren has been preaching this ecumenical message on a
global stage for some time now with his P.E.A.C.E. plan and his purpose driven
message, which he has taken to the world, and not just to the church. He is not
preaching the gospel of salvation, but an all-inclusive social gospel which
brings all religions together. The Pope has now come center stage with the same
(or similar) message of global unity among all people and religions and of a
social gospel and social justice. Included in this “social justice” is redistribution
of wealth and all of us fulfilling our “societal roles.” The terms “cooperation”
and “unity” are big buzz words in this ecumenical (across all faiths) movement,
but it is not unity with Christ or with his word or with his gospel, but it is
a uniting of all people of all faiths through us accepting and/or tolerating
all religions, and us all working together to make this earth (world) a better
place. And, this is being forced on the people of the world through threats,
through violence, through political pressure, and through manipulation and
shame tactics.
Yet, we should rejoice that we are being tested, so we can
be made complete in Christ.
Tossed by the Wind
(vv. 5-8)
But
if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and
without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without
any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and
tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive
anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
If we desire wisdom, understanding and knowledge from God,
we need to ask God, but we need to ask in faith without doubting God and his
word. We need to take him at his word and not put his word to the test by
questioning whether or not what God says is true. We need to believe what God
says is true, and that he will do what he says he will do. Remember that when
Eve was tempted of Satan (the devil), in the Garden of Eden, he got her to
question (doubt) God and his words to her and to Adam, and that is what many
false teachers are doing today, i.e. they are getting those who say they are
Christians to doubt God and his word, to bring it into question, and to begin
to believe humans over God, because what humans are saying sounds good to ears
which long to hear pleasant things.
Since the Lord Jesus put the phrase “paradigm shift” into my
mind I have been doing some research, not on that particular phrase, but with
regard to the direction the church is headed globally. It began with a video I
watched about Rick Warren and concerning where he got his start with all that
he has been doing here in America and across the world. It was astounding to me
how this whole “shift” has been building for some time now, and the path it has
taken, and how vast it is with regard to the people involved, including possibly
as many as half a million pastors worldwide. I can personally attest to the profound
influence Rick Warren and his purpose driven movement have had on pastors across
America, and across denominations, and I can tell you that it is not good, and
it has been a huge reason the church has taken such a massive nosedive over the
past 20+ years.
Evidently, this whole movement began in the mid-1980’s with
a man by the name of Peter Drucker, who was a business man, and not a believer
in Jesus Christ, but who got interested in the concept of the mega church, and thus
he put his business knowledge to work in developing marketing schemes for the
church, and in order to move the church toward a social gospel (social justice)
and the ecumenical (global - across all religions) movement. He mentored Rick
Warren and another man named Bob Buford. Bob Buford was instrumental in the
formation of the Emergent Church, and Rick Warren, the Purpose Driven Church,
but both are truly “emergent” (of a paradigm shift) movements within the
church. Bob Buford ended up forming an organization called the Leadership Network,
which has had a profound influence on the “paradigm shift” taking place within
today’s church.
Evidently Peter Drucker had a fondness for mysticism, too, which
then Bob Buford adopted, and which is central to the present-day emergent
church movement. I became aware of this mysticism through a loved one getting
involved with the teachings of John Eldredge, who writes books for men, which
are taught in many churches primarily in men’s groups. His books are filled
with heresy and false teaching and mysticism, yet under the guise of
Christianity. And, then I saw similar teaching being presented in another
movement, which is the “missional” movement, or the Tangible Kingdom, which is another
branch of the emergent church, and which was adopted by a local pastor for his
church plant. There were immediate red flags that came to the forefront in my mind
as I began to read through this “Tangible Kingdom” literature, as I saw so many
deceptions and manipulations of truth. I tried to warn those who were getting
involved in this, but they would not listen.
The people (including many professing Christians and pastors
of churches) who are buying into this emergent (paradigm shift) movement are
wearing what I will term here “spiritual sunglasses,” which block their eyes
(perception, judgment, discernment) from seeing the Light (Christ, truth,
righteousness, holiness), i.e. they are spiritually blinded by Satan to the
deceptions and manipulations of truth which they are accepting as truth. So
many, many within today’s modern institutional church movement have been
snookered into accepting these false teachings as truth, because they are not testing
or they are refusing to test what they hear against the Word of God to see
whether or not what they are believing is true. So, they have become partners
with evil in adulterating the gospel of Jesus Christ, and through receiving and
holding on to what is corrupt, impure and which includes what is foreign to the
gospel. The modern church of today is being played for a fool by master
manipulators.
Humble Circumstances
(vv. 9-11)
But
the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; and the
rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will
pass away. For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and
its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the
rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.
I believe the institutional church in America (the USA) is
under divine judgment by God Almighty because she has partnered with an evil
government, which is also deceiving, manipulating, and playing games with
people’s minds, hearts and lives, and because she has partnered herself with
these false shepherds of the sheep who are leading them astray, and because of
her refusal to see the truth and to repent of her adultery and to return to her
first love, Jesus Christ. I also believe God is calling his true church to come
out of “Babylon,” i.e. this government-controlled (led) institutional
ecumenical adulterated church so that she does not share in her sins and in her
punishment. A building is not a church, and a human-based business (corporation,
organization) called “church” is also not church. The true church is not any of
that, but is an organism, with Jesus Christ, not man, as the head, and with the
Holy Spirit, not human marketing schemes, as the inspiration.
The Word of Truth
(vv. 12-18)
Blessed
is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will
receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot
be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is
tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has
conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth
death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and
every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with
whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. In the exercise of His will He
brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first
fruits among His creatures.
When we stand strong against these lies and deceptions, and
we expose the lies, and we proclaim the truth of God’s holy word, and the
gospel of Christ according to Christ and his NT apostles, and we refuse to be
partners with this ungodly, unholy modern church movement, we will be hated,
rejected, mocked, and targeted for extinction, etc. We will be called
disunifiers, bigoted, hatemongers, intolerant, unloving, and un-Christ-like, and
we will be persecuted and perhaps even put to death for our faith. But Christ’s
(God’s) word never changes, and God does not “shift” like this emergent
movement, but he and his word are the same yesterday, today and forever. So, return
to him and to his unadulterated word.
Fully
Ready! / An Original Work / June 19, 2013
Based
off Acts 20-22, 26; Mt. 28:18-20; Ac. 1:8
Why are you weeping and breaking my heart?
I’m fully ready to suffer for Christ.
If I must die for the sake of His name,
I am convinced it will not be in vain.
Glory to God and to His Son Jesus,
Who has redeemed us; bought with His blood.
May I speak to you? Jesus came to me;
Asked of me, “Why do you persecute me?”
He said, “Now get up and stand on your feet.
Go, and you’ll be told all I have for you.
I have appointed you as a servant,
And as a witness; you have been sent.”
“Go into the world and preach the gospel.
Open the blind eyes. They will receive sight.
Turn them from darkness to the light of Christ;
From power of the evil one to God,
So they may receive forgiveness of sins,
And a place among those who’re in heav’n.”
Resources (not an endorsement): http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=1686;
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2005/11/how-leadership-network-created.html;
https://watchpraybeready.wordpress.com/tag/religious-pluralism/
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