The word of God comes as water and life through the Spirit from Heaven, and it is this word alone that will nourish us and give us spiritual life. When people teach and preach the word of God and there is a reverential obedience to the word of God, and there is a desire in the people of God to be cleansed from all sin. As a result, we will see His life-giving rain poured out in abundance, and a wonderful revival takes place. However, as I look around at the conditions of the Church today, I cannot see revival taking place upon a massive scale worldwide. It is good to see it taking place in places here and there among those who are hearing the true message of the gospel of Jesus Christ preached, whether it happens for individuals, small groups, or gatherings; however, the main thing that I see taking place in Christianity as a whole is a growing apostasy from the true faith and a fleshly driven effort at revival. I see a growing intolerance for adherence to sound doctrine, and a turning towards more self-gratifying doctrines that satisfy the carnal mind and heart.
I look around at the many different organizations and ministries of Christendom who claim faith in the Lord Jesus Christ becoming more and more involved in a united effort to move towards an ecumenical faith that includes all religions. It is amazing how the scriptures are being rapidly fulfilled right before our eyes. Instead of seeing a massive worldwide revival in the church based on the true biblical doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are seeing a spiritual famine increasing in immensity. This was spoken of in the word of God by the prophet Amos:
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it." –Amos 8:11-12
Many Christians right now are starving for the living word of the Lord, and are not receiving it in the churches where they attend. I recently received an email from a dear Christian lady who was blessed to hear the messages that the Lord has given this ministry to share (for which I give God the glory for), and asked where she might find a local church where she could hear the same truths that the Lord had placed in her heart. This grieves me greatly to know that many churches are not truly feeding the flock of God. There are many churches in this country, and the number is steadily increasing. However, the number of local assemblies that teach and preach the true word of God and who seek to be led by the Holy Spirit's anointing are growing fewer and fewer. In terms of revival, instead of seeing many seeking the Lord with truly repentant hearts to be made broken and conformed to His will, and a turning from sin to the Lord to be cleansed and set apart unto holiness, we see those who arrogantly seek to devise their own methods of revival by decreeing and declaring into the heavens to God their fleshly will and purpose (ignoring His Sovereignty) while disregarding His Holy will and purpose, through the sensationalism of movie entertainment, and mystical revelations and confusing doctrines which have a surface appearance of spiritual depth, yet are anti-Christian in their nature and demonically devised. There are also legalistic assemblies who are spiritually raping and killing God's people, by enslaving them to toil and work for a salvation that has been freely given by the grace of God to all through genuine belief in Christ Jesus by faith. Such battered sheep are deceived into thinking their church attendance and work qualifies them to enter the kingdom of God; but only serves the efforts of men. God has an individual purpose for each of His children, and it is only as we seek to walk with Him daily that we can come to understand His perfect will for our lives. All who labor together in the body of Christ are able to work in harmony in their given gifts and callings as Jesus Christ's perfect body when we understand that it is He who is our Teacher and Great Shepherd, and we are all given to one another to lovingly serve His cause. We are all servants of Christ Jesus, and our devotion to Christ should not be given over to any man. When that balance is upset, we see manipulation, control, division, and rebellion taking place instead of harmony within the church. While the Lord still has a faithful few of His remnant who are caring for His sheep and still minister His loving truth, He has revealed that some of the men in positions of leadership in churches are extorting callings and gifts that were never given to them by the Holy Spirit; and there are others who have started out in preaching truth and have strayed into strange doctrines, and are joining with others who are of other beliefs (who practice idolatry). Instead of seeing any true revival, these men are promised in God's word to be partakers of the coming judgment of the Great Tribulation for misleading God's flock if they do not repent of these evils. Those who tolerate these leaders, allowing themselves to be deceived, are also rebuked of the Lord and will face the same judgment unless they repent of their willful ignorance.
"Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the Churches shall know That I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works" –Revelation 2:20-23
Christ rebuked the church of Thyatira for allowing a false prophetess under the influence of the religious spirit to teach among them and lead God's people astray. This rebuke applies to us today who tolerate this same religious spirit that influences false leaders in the church to abuse the sheep of Christ. The power behind this religious spirit is responsible for all false religions of the world today, and her judgment is soon coming (Isaiah 47, Revelation 17, 18). Despite the Lord's warnings, they are being ignored and there is less and less of a tolerance for the truth. Just as the word of God has said the masses are drawing unto themselves teachers who will teach them what their itching ears want to hear (2 Timothy 4:1-5). I have personally witnessed those in professing Christian ministries who say, "Doctrine divides but the "spirit" unites. Stop judging and simply love". However, if we undervalue the truth, we wind up following a false Jesus of our own making and hurting rather than helping people. These are the deceptive half-truths that the enemy loves to propagate. They always sound good, but it takes a thorough knowledge of the word of God and the discernment of the Holy Spirit to detect them. God is character is not only one of love, but of inflexible justice, holiness, and spotless righteousness. We must have a balanced understanding of God; for without this we can neither know Him truly nor serve Him. Love is said in I Corinthians 13:6, to not rejoice in iniquity, but the truth! So wherever there is not the whole truth of God, there can be no true love of God. You cannot leave out biblical truth and have true spiritual love. They go hand in hand. There is much talk about love without the truth, and a desire for unity, but what is this "spirit" behind such unity? That is the question. If it is not based on biblical truth, and if it does not lift up the name of Jesus Christ, it is an antichristian spirit.
The same thing seems to be characteristic of the leaders who have embraced others of different faiths into their fellowship; they all preach worldly, watered down messages. They have an atmosphere that glorifies the leader, but not God. They may mention Jesus Christ and some of the truth of scripture, but important truths in God's word are not made to seem as relevant. They emphasize certain truths and ignore others, in an effort to please everyone; regardless of their faith and belief. Instead of convicting and convincing through the preaching of the full gospel to salvation, in their church services the lost are made to feel better about their sinful state. Truth is replaced by strange new experiences and awakenings of a new spirituality! We see a new concept in these wayward churches that say we must look like the world in order to draw the world and bring about revival! The Lord has said that we are to "love not the world, nor things of the world, for if ye love the world, the love of the Father is not in you." –I John 2:15. Give the whole truth of God's word and let the Spirit of God draw whom He will. Once the flesh has decided to take over instead of waiting on the Spirit, the Lord is no longer in control, but it is the hand of man that works to accomplish a goal that will prove to fail. It is not by man's might, nor by his power, but by the Spirit of the Lord that all things will be accomplished for Him. He will always get the glory; not man.
The Lord has already told us in His word what we are to do if we want Him to give us true revival. If you look at some examples of true spiritual revival in the New Testament, you will see a similar pattern in each one of them. In every revival, the true word of God was heard and received. The apostles preached the gospel of Jesus Christ and unless you are preaching and teaching the same truth today, you will not have true revival.
"Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." – Acts 2:41
"Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand." – Acts 4:4
"But the word of God grew and multiplied." – Acts 12:24
"And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region." – Acts 13:49
"And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord." – Acts 11:21
"So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed." – Acts 19:20
In each of these passages, the "word" of God caused many to believe. This is the true doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ; the gospel that has the power to save and bring about a true spiritual harvest. Only the truth will set us free. Not mystical or extra-biblical revelations that sound deep and spiritual, but hearing the true words of the gospel; the truth that tells you of the Savior's love for us that was so great that he took the condemnation of God upon Himself on the cross in atonement for our sins; was resurrected from the grave and ascended into the heaven; so that now through the grace of God and faith we can be reconciled to God, and have eternal life. It is imperative that Christians study the word of God daily, for the Lord has told us to "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." – 2 Timothy 2:15
It is also important that we place ourselves under the preaching and teaching of those will give the uncompromising word of God. We cannot afford to allow ourselves to be deceived by placing our confidence in men. In these last days, the people of God will be known for being led by the Spirit of God and the word of God; because to know God is to know His Word. If you are not grounded in both, you will easily deceived by the growing subtle trickery of false doctrines. Our confidence should be in God's word only. We have to compare what we are being taught against the word of God to see if it stands. The unsaved who hear the true word of God preached, will be able to come to a true saving faith in Jesus Christ because faith only comes by hearing the word of God; not sensual babble indoctrinated by demons. Any doctrine that seeks to mix half-truths of the word of God with carnal opinions, assumptions and ideals has tainted the word, and it becomes a doctrine inspired by demons. But when the whole truth of God is preached and taught, the Holy Spirit begins to work dissecting the heart to reveal the true depravity and uncleanness before a Holy God. The Holy Spirit will draw whom It wills. That is what it truly means to be "slain in the spirit". That is one of the elements of a true revival. Such a one will cry out to the Lord to be made clean and whole and into the image of Christ. It is only in the heart that has been truly touched by the Lord that will wonder that such a holy God can look upon their depraved soul with a heart of love and pity; and that soul will then cry out, "What must I do to be saved?" The child of God that is humble in heart will always seek to be more like their Father. They have a sanctifying hatred of sin and to be purged daily of it, and their cry is "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." They would rather have all of their unclean thoughts and ways and the true discovery of their state healed by the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, rather than to deceive themselves. That is evidence of a true revival that has taken place in the heart; and that sort of revival took place on a massive scale by the power of the Holy Spirit of God in the early Church. That is all that will ever bring about true revival.
You will notice that those of the early Church who were partakers of this true spiritual revival were said to have all things common:
"And all that believed were together, and had all things common;" – Acts 2:44
Those who hear and receive the true message of the gospel of Jesus Christ are baptized into the same faith by the same Spirit of God. A combination of different faiths and beliefs will not bring about a true revival of God. Only the true word of God can generate a true saving faith. When we begin to see other faiths being accepted into the body of Christ in an effort to bring about revival, we are seeing spiritual idolatry taking place, just as it did among the Israelites during the preaching of Jeremiah. The word of the Lord, through Jeremiah spoke judgment against the idolatry of the Israelites who were making cakes in worship to a false goddess called the queen of heaven.
"The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger." -Jeremiah 7:18
"Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, saying: Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows. Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them." –Jeremiah 44:25-27
God is just as displeased toward idolatry today as He was then. We are clearly warned in His word not to fellowship with those who partake of idolatry, for we serve a "Holy God" who will not tolerate it in any form. God's standard for holiness among His people is far higher than we are led to believe in many churches. He want a purified body, a holy Bride. When we attempt to bring the world into His sacred place of worship, we are compromising His revealed purposes. The same is true of consenting fellowship between believers and unbelievers; His holiness is profaned.
"Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now [are ye] light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit [is] in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove [them]." Ephesians 5:6-11
"Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners." –I Corinthians 15:33
"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." – 2 Corinthians 6:14-18
Because our Lord God is "Holy", we are to be holy as He is. He has made it clear in His word that He will not share His glory with any other. "I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." –Isaiah 42:8. That is the word spoken from the True Living God! There needs to be a trembling at the word of God. By heeding His Word and refusing to compromise our fellowship with those who practice idolatry, we are received of God as His true people. We are then true witnesses to the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. We may be among the few, as the Lord's remnant always has been since the beginning of time, but we have the Spirit of the Living God within us to be a glorious witness to the world. Our light and testimony through obedience to God's word concerning separation will prove a faithful witness to those who will come to God in revival. It cannot come by any other means than the work of the Holy Spirit. Again, anytime the flesh seeks to accomplish something that only the Holy Spirit can, we see deception at work that causes a hindrance to God's plan and purpose for our life. By the strivings of human effort more harm is being done than good. You will see the fruits of such a false revival; people who think that they have truly heard and understood the gospel and only need say a prayer to be saved; when in essence there has been no true work of repentance wrought in their heart because no true word has been given. The fruits of false revivals are barren fruit because the Holy Spirit is not present and/or the whole truth of God's word is not given. It is a sensationalistic revival driven by the flesh. Jude says, false teachers and preachers are like "clouds without rain, blowing along by the wind." (Jude 1:12) Clouds without rain are just sitting there looking as if they will pour, but nothing comes of them. They just look as if they have substance of the Holy Spirit to rain down on others. Furthermore, Jude says they are blown by the wind; here today and gone tomorrow. As my dear mother recently said, only what you do for Christ will last.
We are witnessing a great spiritual battle taking place. We are seeing apostasy increasing within the church, and many giving way to spiritual delusion. We are seeing pseudo prophets who are foretelling peace, peace to the masses and who are popular and well received by those in the Church. We are seeing more and more assemblies who are gathered together in the name of "mammon" seeking to look more and more like the world and preaching on how to achieve success in your life using worldly means and whose music has a massive drawing appeal to the world's youth. Ministers of Christ Jesus must continue to expose these false heresies of ecumenicalism and world-wide revival. There are many precious sheep who are being deluded by these wolves. The greatest thing we can do is to continue, by the open door of opportunity given by Christ Jesus, to preach nothing other than the full gospel of Jesus Christ, giving God only the glory until the Lord comes. The Lord is going to rescue His lost and deluded sheep from these barren ministries. Not one sheep will be lost. True ministers are to be prepared to minister as they have been called and chosen to these battered and confused sheep. Minister to them the love of God. Minister to them the word of God and let us always call out to the Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ, and as we have been cared for of Him let us also in service to God care for them with the love of the Shepherd. Let us serve God well in this as we receive opportunity. May the gift of discernment be desired and given to all of those in the body of Christ to ward against false doctrine and lying spirits of error. I pray that the Lord will fill His church to overflowing with His love and holiness, making our calling and election sure. It is my prayer that as a result that although it will not be on a massive scale some souls will be brought into the kingdom of God before we are raptured on high, and the dreadful time of Jacob's trouble commences. May many souls as possible be won by our true witness into the kingdom of God, and may we all in the body of Christ be preserved blameless until our blessed Lord's appearing. Looking forward to the day when Christ will come and bring restoration to His nation Israel and to the earth, where He will rule and reign in the glorious millenium, and once evil has been finally put down God's people will enter into eternal rest forevermore.
"And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock; Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment. And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats. Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet? And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle. Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad; Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle. And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it." -Ezekiel 34:1-24
© All rights reserved, 2005