Saturday, July 1, 2017, 5:55 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Pray, Pray, Pray.” Speak, Lord, your
words to my heart. I read Luke 19:37-46
(ESV).
Don’t Be Silent
(vv. 37-40)
As he was drawing near—already on the way down the
Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and
praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed
is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd
said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell
you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
We have many Pharisees in
today’s church gatherings, as well, who are trying to silence the Lord’s
servants and witnesses. Some of them are pastors or elders, and some of them
are politicians. They are all part of a movement sweeping across the globe
which is diluting the gospel message to make it more appealing and acceptable
to the world, and as a precursor to a one world religion, which is accepting of
all religions as viable. Their goal is to get the people of the world to all
come together and unite as one voice and one heart in breaking down all which
divides us as the people of the world. Their message is one of tolerance
(lenience, broad-mindedness) towards all religions, and towards certain chosen
sinful lifestyles.
Basically, if you hold on to
the truths of scripture, and of the full gospel message, as taught by Jesus
Christ and his NT apostles, then you are tagged as intolerant, bigoted, hateful
and as a religious extremist who must be silenced, reprogrammed, or eradicated
from the planet. It isn’t as though they come right out and state that they are
speaking against evangelical Christianity, though, at least not in so many
words, but it is obvious to anyone who is really paying attention to their
words. For, when they give a description of hate speech, a bigot, of intolerance,
or of a religious extremist, it includes the gospel of our salvation and its
messengers.
The gospel divides people as
saved and as unsaved, as believers in Jesus, and as non-believers, and as those
who are promised eternal life with God, and as those who are not, and that does
not set well with these hypocrites, liars and deceivers. It also confronts sin
in sinful humans, and it calls for repentance, warns of judgment, and promises
eternal life for the penitent. None of that fits with the one world religion
agenda, so the gospel is changed to “gospel lite” so as not to offend anyone,
and we are outcasts.
Jesus Wept (vv.
41-44)
And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept
over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the
things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the
days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around
you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down
to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave
one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of
your visitation.”
Jesus is grieved over his idolatrous
church, which has fallen prey to these liars, deceivers and hypocrites
(Pharisees). The church is the body of Christ, with Christ Jesus as its head,
and we are to follow Jesus with our lives, not man in his deceitful scheming. And,
yet, the church, which is God’s holy city, has now been trampled upon by those
who would destroy it, and these false shepherds of the people have largely been
successful in their campaign against what God has established, but God has the
final word in this. Amen!
I am not certain of the beginnings
of this present campaign to destroy the church, and to transform it away from
Christ, and his gospel, and to turn it into a business, which is marketed just
like any other business, but I suspect this has been going on a long while, and
that it has come in slow and subtle stages (1). Satan works like that. He is
very sly, cunning and crafty, and patient, too, in how he works in stealthy ways
in slowly introducing lies into the church and into the gospel presentation.
The lies are blended so well into the truth, and they sound like truth, and so
the naïve listener accepts the lies as truth a little bit at a time until they
can’t discern what are lies.
I was first introduced to
this global campaign as early on as 1999, though I did not recognize it fully
for what it was until maybe 2004 or after, though there were signs that
something was wrong about it early on. It began seemingly innocent enough, and
the bulk of the teaching seemed biblical, but over time I began to notice a
pattern about it, and how it was so widespread, and how it was
cross-denominational. And, then the Lord made me aware of many of the sinister
aspects of it, and of its overall message. It has many messengers, but one of
the primary ones was/is Rick Warren. Slowly it began to unfold, and I came to
realize that its overall goal was to break down the gospel, to turn the church
into a business, and to silence those who were still preaching the gospel
according to Jesus.
Over time, more and more
names were added to the list of those who are promoting this global one world
religion agenda, for that is really what it is.
A House of Prayer (vv. 45-46)
And he entered the temple and began to drive out those
who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a
house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”
This is what has taken place
in the church, particularly here in America, though I know this false grace
(and peace) message is being spread across the globe. They have turned the Lord’s
house, his church, his body, into a den of robbers; into a marketplace. And,
the world is their target customers. So, they use worldly and sensual means and
methods to attract the world to their meetings, and they push aside those who
are still holding on to the gospel as taught by Jesus and his NT apostles, even
to the point of trying to discredit them or even to invite them to leave and to
go “someplace else” which will be a “better fit.”
So, in order to market (sell)
the “church” to the world, they have altered the gospel to where it barely even
resembles the gospel anymore. They have turned the narrow road, which few
travel, into a broad road, which all can travel, and which leads to
destruction, not to eternal life with God. They teach that all one has to do is
to acknowledge who Jesus is or even that he existed and then to accept his
forgiveness for their sins, and then they have heaven guaranteed them, but they
don’t have to change their lifestyles. In fact, they teach that Jesus is
pleased with them no matter what they do, and that he smiles on them even when
they are trapped in gross sins and rebellion. The hope they share, though, is
no hope, but a lie, and a trap.
For, Jesus taught that if we
want to come after him, we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily
to sin and self), and follow (obey) him. He said that if we hold on to our old
lives (of living for sin and self), we will lose them for eternity. But, if we
lose our lives (die to sin and self), we will gain eternal life. Paul
reiterated the same message when he said that Jesus died that the righteous
requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk (in lifestyle) not
according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. He said that if we walk
according to the flesh, we will die (in our sins), but if by the Spirit we are
putting to death the deeds of the flesh, we will live (with Christ for
eternity). And, John said that if we say we have fellowship with God, but we
walk (in lifestyle) in darkness (sin), we don’t live by the truth (See: Lu.
9:23-25; Ro. 8:1-14; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; cf. Ro. 6:1-23; Eph. 4:17-24).
So, we need to turn the
church, the body of Christ, back into a house of prayer by repenting of our
sins of idolatry and spiritual adultery, and by following our Lord in
obedience, and by praying in the Spirit with all kinds of requests to God for
the church, his body, and for its members (parts).
Pray, Pray, Pray / An Original Work / September 6, 2012
Based off Various Scriptures
Pray that eyes may
enlightened be,
So they may know Christ.
Pray that they may Him better
know,
Strengthened by His pow’r.
Pray that they may grasp
How wide and long
And high and deep
Is Christ’s love.
Pray that they may be filled
To the fullness of God’s
love.
Pray with thanksgiving.
Pray for an open door for me,
So I may share Christ.
Pray when the gospel is
proclaimed –
Shared with clarity.
Pray words are given me so
I declare the gospel
fearlessly.
I pray for you to be active
Sharing your faith, too.
Pray continually.
We oft not know for what to
pray,
So we ask for help.
The Spirit intercedes for us
–
Words cannot express.
Just keep on praying for the
saints
With all kinds of requests to
God.
Pray they may have faith to
Please their God in ev’ry
way.
Pray with joyfulness.
(1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJkVvFfZpbQ
(This is NOT an endorsement of the producers of this video or of all its content.)
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