The Lord Jesus gave me this open letter to pastors to write on February 19, 2005, so 18 years ago this month. I posted it again a year ago, and today the Lord Jesus led me to post it again. And I believe I am to share it with you today, Monday, February 6, 2023.
Open
Letter to Pastors
“’At last the time has come!’
he announced. ‘The
I am not an End Times Prophecy expert,
but if we follow the news, we can’t help but see the signs of the times
happening right before our eyes, not only in nature, but in government, in war,
in the decline of morals, in our economy, and in technology. The signs are
everywhere we look. I also see signs of the End Times in our churches. I
believe Satan has gotten many Christians in the
The
Lie: All one has to do is say a prayer to
receive Jesus as Savior and that person then has a ticket into heaven (bear
with me here) – like a man told me recently, “I don’t have to repent. I just
have to believe.”
The
Truth: Jesus said: “I
tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains
only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves
his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep
it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must
follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the
one who serves me.” (John
12:24-26)
“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far
from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by
men.’” “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of
heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many
will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and
in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will
tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 15:8-9; Matthew 7:21-23)
Nonetheless, many of our churches are
leaving that part out of the gospel message. The book of James says that if a
man claims to have faith but there is no evidence to support that such a faith
exists, then he really has no faith at all. James also says that even the
demons believe in God and they shudder. (see James 2:14-26)
The
Lie: We need to downplay our need to be
crucified with Christ and focus solely on God’s grace and love. Like a pastor
told me, “We have removed your logo from our newsletter because it does not
represent what this church is about.”
The logo depicted the crucifixion with
the cross of Christ empty and an arrow pointing to the cross stating, “This
Space Available” – based on Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but
Christ lives in me. …” The pastor suggested that instead we show a
bunch of coke cans with one empty. The church staff was concerned that the
message behind our logo might offend people. A friend of mine hit the nail
right on the head in a statement he made to me recently: “People want their
Easter without the cross.”
[Update 5/23/22: I am not promoting the
celebration of the holiday called Easter, only the celebration of what Jesus
Christ did for us on that cross and of his bodily resurrection.]
The
Truth: Jesus said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny
himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever
loses his life for me will save it.” (see Luke 9:23-26)
The Apostle Paul said: “What shall we
say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any
longer? Or don’t you know that
all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his
death? We were therefore
buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was
raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new
life.” (see
Romans 6:1-23)
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” “Brothers,
if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that
case the offense of the cross has been abolished.” (1
Corinthians 1:18; Galatians 5:11)
If we are not offending people by our
message, then perhaps we are not doing something right.
The
Lie: In order to get or keep people in our
churches we have to offer them a Christian version of what the world is
offering them in entertainment – like another pastor told me, “you need to be
thinking about whether or not your praise band will draw in large crowds of
people.” He wanted to talk with the members of our praise band about
considering whether or not they were in the right place of service, because he
did not feel they were good enough to draw large crowds, and that was important
to him.
The
Truth: The gospel is not about us or our
building or our band or our programs or even about our traditions. It is about
a cross. It is about death, and it is about life everlasting. Most of all, it
is about Jesus!!
The Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York
began with 20 some people in the early 70’s and by the late 90’s they had four
services each Sunday with about 1600 people at each service plus they sent
people out from their church to start 17 other churches. Do you want to know
their secret for church growth? Prayer! That’s it!!
They just called on God in humility and
in repentance and asked for a mighty outpouring of God’s Spirit in their midst
and God blessed. This is not to say that all people who call on God will have
large numbers of people in their churches, but rather that the secret to the
numbers of people in their church was that they called on God and he is the one
who drew the people there. They did not put their focus on what they could do
to draw large crowds of people, but rather the focus was on obeying God.
The Word says that no one can come to
Jesus unless the Father draws him (John 6:44). We are just to fish where Jesus
tells us to fish, and he supplies the fish. It’s not our job to draw the
people, it’s God’s job. We’re just supposed to obey God and leave the results
in his hands.
[Update 5/23/22: I am not promoting the
Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York as a model New Testament church or as
representing the true church, the body of Christ. What stood out to me then was
how they shared that their church gatherings were built on prayer and not on
human marketing schemes and gimmickry that so many are using today.]
The
Lie: The church is definitely going to be
raptured out before the tribulation (again, bear with me) and God is going to
spare us that kind of suffering that he is going to bring on the world. Now,
that may be true, but it may not be true.
I think the lie is in the fact that we
Christians in the USA feel we should somehow be spared what Christians
throughout the world have had to suffer for generations and are presently
suffering. We are spoiled. We think being a Christian means going to church on
Sundays, singing in the choir, teaching Sunday School, going to church socials
and living a good life during the week, and that one day Jesus is going to come
and swoop us all up to heaven and then all this bad stuff is going to happen
after we are gone.
The
Truth: What happened to “sharing in the
fellowship of His sufferings”? He is coming for His Church, no doubt, but let’s
be sure we are not filling people’s minds with false hopes of no suffering.
Honestly, I think there are a whole lot
more scriptures that support a post-tribulation theory than do support a
pre-tribulation theory of the timing of Christ’s return, and I would rather believe
I am going to have to live through the tribulation and that I will be
persecuted and perhaps even be martyred for the gospel, and then if Jesus does
rapture out the church prior to the tribulation – wow, what a nice surprise!
But, if I believe in this
pre-tribulation rapture and then it doesn’t happen that way, I am in for a much
bigger surprise, and on top of that, I am not spiritually or emotionally
prepared or equipped to handle it. I believe Jesus wants us to be prepared to
suffer for the sake of the gospel, not just enjoy our Christianity.
[Update 5/23/22: I believe in a
post-tribulation rapture but I don’t believe this is something we Christians
should fight over, for Jesus is going to return when he decides and not before,
so please refrain from arguing on this subject on my post. Thank you kindly.]
My purpose in writing this letter is
that, although many of you are telling your people the truth, many of you are
not, because you don’t want to offend people with the truth of the gospel,
perhaps because you fear their rejection or that your numbers will decline.
Jesus is coming soon! He wants people
to be ready for his return. He wants them to turn from their sins and turn to
God and believe the Good News! Please tell your people the truth before it is
too late!
Sue Love
Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ
I
Pray for Them
An
Original Work / June 4, 2013
Based
off John 17
“Glorify Your Son, that Your Son
May glorify our God in heav’n.
Father, You granted Him all power
And all authority over men,
That He might give eternal life
To all those whom now
You have given Him.”
“This now then is eternal life:
That they may know You,
Father, and Your Son;
That they may know the only true God,
And Jesus Christ whom the Father sent.
I have brought You the glory by
Finishing the work that You’ve given Me.”
“I have shown You to those whom
You gave to Me out of the world;
They were Yours. You gave them to Me
And they have obeyed Your words
And they accepted them. They knew
That I came from You, and they believed
With certainty, I was sent.”
“Holy Father, I pray for them by the
Power of Your name: Protect them,
So that they may be one as we are,
For they are still living in this world.
I have given them Your word;
Because of Your word, the world
Has hated them.”
“I pray they may have the full measure of
My joy now living within them.
Father, I pray You sanctify them
By Your word; truly Your word is truth.
As You sent Me into the world,
I send them to tell the world to repent.”
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