THE DEPRESSION HAS BEGUN

The DEPRESSION HAS BEGUN
-by Andrew Strom.

Ten months ago in November 2007 while preaching in Wisconsin
USA, I felt a strong unction from the Holy Spirit to speak about
the future of the United States and the imminent Crash. As often
happens under that kind of anointing, a real boldness came over
me, and for the first time I found myself clearly putting a "date"
on the coming financial Depression - something I had never done
before - except in the vaguest of terms. I found myself predicting
that tragically within six months America would be in Recession,
and within 12 months the actual Depression would begin.
(-This audio is on our website - http://www.revivalschool.com )

So let us look at the evidence. It is now ten months later. Has the
Depression begun? Sadly the answer has to be "Yes". In the last
two weeks the two largest mortgage giants in the world (Fannie
Mae & Freddie Mac) failed, the largest Insurance Company on earth
crashed (all taken over by the US Government), Lehman Brothers
went bankrupt (almost taking the entire financial system with it),
Money Markets reeled, the two remaining giant Investment banks
sought protection as "holding banks" - which means the end of
Wall Street as we know it, etc, etc. Stocks are in turmoil, Oil leapt
on Monday by the most ever recorded, gold is volatile - and on it
goes. -The most shattering two weeks since the Great Depression.
Meanwhile the US Treasury is seeking 700 billion dollars in a
forlorn effort to put Humpty back together again - tragically too late.

THERE ARE "JONAHS" on THE BOAT

Why is this storm hitting America at this time? There are certainly
many reasons - most of which we have discussed before. But let
me put something else before you that I believe God spoke to me
not long ago:- There are "Jonahs" on the boat - and they are
sending the nation down.

Who are these Jonahs? I believe they are the "prophets" of America
who will not preach the truth - who sleep comfortably in the bowels
of the nation while chaos reigns all around them. Too afraid to
deliver God's word 'Repent', they run the other way - toward smooth
talk and pleasant sayings - "Peace peace" when there is no peace.
And the depths of this great crisis can be laid directly at their door.

Yes - that's right. A big reason why the ship of America is sinking
is because her prophets ran away from their God-given task and
message at the crucial moment.

If only these prophets had preached the TRUTH when the nation
so desperately needed to hear it. If only they had begun - way
back in the 1980's - to call the lukewarm church to repentance,
to rebuke the people for their love of money, their greed, their sin.
But no - the siren call of "popularity" was too strong. The call of
"grace, grace", of mass acceptance, of big reputations and even
bigger offerings. And so they sold out. And now they sleep bliss-
fully in the midst of the ship, while the storm whips to fury all
around. How do you sleep, O Jonahs, who would not cry "Repent"?

And it is not just the "prophets" either. It is the televangelists too.
Caught up in a world of fakery, hype and money-grubbing unseen
in the church since the Dark Ages, these hucksters are spreading
their garbage to every Third World Revival nation around the globe.
Greed, manipulation and pride on a scale that only America could
generate. Where is your shame, O charlatans of greed?

And so God is forced to act. And just like Jonah, the storm will
not abate until the wayward preachers are thrown overboard. Until
America is rid of these international thieves and prostitutes, she
is finished. And she will not recover until they are gone.

You see, it is not just the leaders who are at fault here. It is also
the people, who "love to have it so". And thus until the heart of the
people is scourged and purged they will accomodate the "Jonahs" -
even seeking more of their ear-tickling fables to comfort themselves
in this time of breaking.

Until the heart of American greed is shattered - until her people
act of their own volition to throw these Jonahs overboard - this
storm will go on and on. In fact, it is about to grow a whole lot worse.

Mark my words, America: Until you remove these Jonahs, your
nation cannot recover. They have held the whole world in thrall by
their apostasy. And God cannot have it so any more. How long will
it take you to realize? How long will it take you to act?

THROW THE JONAHS OVERBOARD and be done with them!!
Only then will this mother of all storms subside.

Sarah Palin and Women in Church Leadership

Dr. Kluane Spake

www.kluane.org - spake@mindspring.com
Sarah Palin and Women in Church Leadership
 
Right now, many conservative Christian churches still don't allow women to preach in their pulpit or participate in governmental leadership. Most Conservative Christians believe that God has ordained the roles of men and women to be different in the Church.
 
On September 18, 2008, Gospel Magazine (the most widely distributed urban Christian publication in the country) was pulled off the shelves of more than 100 LifeWay Bookstore across America. The bookstores' owner, the Southern Baptist Convention, said the problem was that the five smiling women on the cover are women church pastors! Other churches still don't allow women leaders either - i.e. the Catholic Church and several evangelical groups (such as the Presbyterian Church in America still don't ordain women.

For years, I attended a church that would NOT allow me to speak at a public meeting, preach to a group in my home, teach a Sunday School class to adult men and women, take an offering, introduce a song, or say a public prayer. They were nice people - doing what they believed was right - that "Biblical order" demands that men alone were chosen to lead in Church government authority, and they alone should run the show!
 
It's odd that it seems okay to many of these same Conservative Christian types to support Governor Sarah Palin as potential Vice President -- when most of them don't even think that a woman should exercise co-leadership in her marriage, let alone lead her country!
 
Whether she wins or not, the question is why are people willing to vote for her as Vice President and still think that a woman is not qualified to serve as pastor of their church?
 
We must ask, IF the Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, is supposed to be "UNDER" her husband and to be submissive to him (as so many theologians claim), then how can she independently lead America? Will her husband actually be making all the decisions? Will McCain be her "covering?" Will she just be some "man's" puppet or figure-head? Or, maybe her husband will relinquish his authority "over" her, so that she can do her job. Or, perhaps she is well able to stand firmly in her right to serve fully to her capacity?
 
With almost multiple personalities, the extreme Christian Right seemed ecstatic when Sarah Palin was invited to be on the McCain ticket. That was because she is a Christian! But how can she go along with their expectation to remain subservient," compliant, accommodating, submissive, and deferential to all men -- and still fulfill this assignment of Vice President of this great country? 
 
This continued gender bias is a PRIORITY question for all of Christianity. I know! I write this as a woman pastor who has fought a career-long battle to shatter the "Stained Glass Ceiling" for gender equality. I've surveyed hundreds of churches to determine their use of women in leadership - and even though some say that it is okay, they usually don't implement it. OF course there are numerous pastors who champion women's rights to lead, but statistically they are few and far between.
 
And of course, during the last decades, there has been a great rise in successful female pastors, evangelists, Bishops, etc. They have endured in spite of it all.
 
Hierarchical tradition has long maintained that "Women should keep in their proper place," or as Martin Luther coined, "A woman's place is in the home." That saying is not anywhere in the Scripture, it's a quote from Luther!
Then there was Calvin, who taught that a woman was created in the image of God... "Though in the second degree."i Calvin was certain that women had absolutely no place of impact in society. Earlier Augustine wrote his theory in De Genesi ad Litteram IX.5, cfVII.3,1 that said the woman was only to be a helper for childbearing, but in every other case another man would be a better help.
 
Limiting and prejudicial ideas against women in leadership have endured in various forms for centuries.
 
We can no longer ignore the fact that thousands upon thousands of educated people flatly reject the Gospel because they refuse to accept these ridiculous kinds of preconceived, prejudicial ideas that barrier abilities and squelch potential of another human being.
 
In this era of heightened gender awareness and sexual revolution, the church must address this issue of discrimination. That's why we must re-examine Church history that ledgers continuous biased bigotry and closed mindedness against women in leadership.
 
Praise God! This truly is a cultural, political, social, and theological dilemma! This issue of equality has long gone fully addressed. Sure, some of us women are labeled "exceptions," but we still don't get invited to play golf with the guys!
 
The doors of full opportunity within the Church have been generally closed to most women. Often, a woman can have ten times the capability as a man, and not be given full recognition. Trust me when I say that even slightly egalitarian ideas are often labeled by many as feminist or a "Jezebel spirit!"  If a woman should happen to have ministry success, it is usually met with condescending disapproval and even hostility. Secret subterfuge. Indifference. Or, at best, nuances of patronization.
 
Thankfully, Jesus was the ultimate rebel! He defended women, revealed truths to them that He had not told another, and appeared to them first after He died. The way He valued women was a concept that shook that culture to the heart.  Paul insisted in Galatians 3:28 "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Jesus Christ." This is a core-essential emphasis. No human being is excluded from service to God.2
 
The question is, can women make independent Church Leadership decisions regardless of their reproductive organs?
 
Win or not, Governor Sarah confronts the Church with a great predicament! We are being forced to confront long held standards. Church leaders at large must re-evaluate their staunch posturing against sincere and capable women leading.
If Sarah Palin is elected Vice President, will she (as a Christian leader and a political leader) be able to preach in a Southern Baptist pulpit? Or, in your church? WHAT? Are you open to women preaching in the pulpit? Leading governmentally?
 
Palin could potentially become President of the United States of America - and have authority over EVERY SINGLE PERSON in America (male and female). Does that mean that God can equally use both women and men in society, church, and home?

Lord God, we excitedly enjoy watching this unfolding reformation of change.
 
 
 
1 Calvin, "Commentaries on the First Book of Moses called Genesis" 1.2.18, vol. I, trans. John King (Grand Rapids, MI): Eerdmans, 1963.
 
2  See my book, "From Enmity to Equality" for a detailed theological study of what the Bible actually says about women.

God's Friend and Yours
Dr. Kluane Spake -  Your Online Pastor

BECOMING A TRUMPET OF THE LORD

Becoming a Trumpet of the Lord
by Lee Grady (Editor Charisma Magazine) www.themordecaiproject.com

While listening to an old Billy Graham sermon, I was challenged to be a faithful herald of the pure gospel.
 
A few weeks ago I watched a vintage Billy Graham sermon from the 1950s that aired on television. I said to a friend who was with me that I rarely hear the gospel articulated today as clearly as we did through this amazing evangelist. A few days later, for my birthday, my buddy sent me three recorded Graham sermons that are now available on DVD.
 
Last weekend I watched one of the messages, from Graham’s 1971 crusade at McCormick Place in Chicago. The shag haircuts, huge afros and bright polyester fabrics in the audience looked odd, and the music performed before the sermon was almost prehistoric (Norma Zimmer from The Lawrence Welk Show!). The cultural references included a mention of the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar and a remark about Ocean’s 1970 hippie ballad, “Put Your Hand in the Hand.”
 
But when Graham held his big Bible in the air and preached about the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in that packed arena (still the largest exhibition hall in the country), nothing seemed outdated. The sermon might as well have been recorded yesterday. His message, in fact, seemed more relevant than a lot of the Christian books, videos, blogs and PowerPoint-enhanced teachings we circulate in 2008.
“My heart cries out for the American church to stop muddling, muffling, cheapening, distorting and merchandising the pure gospel.”
Listening to Graham stirs something deep inside me: a passion to preach, and to be a herald of truth to my generation. My heart cries out for the American church to stop muddling, muffling, cheapening, distorting and merchandising the pure gospel. How we need to return to the simplicity of evangelism that cuts to the heart, produces repentance and reveals the Son of God.
 
For several months I’ve been asking the Lord to make me his trumpet. In my quest He’s shown me some of the qualities that shaped biblical prophets into His mouthpieces. I pray all of us will adopt these same characteristics.
 
1. A prophet is bold. True prophets have steel backbones and foreheads of flint. They do not cower when the majority disagrees with them. Like the apostle Paul, they are compelled to preach because a holy restlessness churns inside them. They are possessed by God, and they must release the fire inside. Will you pray for this boldness and say with Isaiah, “Here am I, send me” (Is. 6:8, NASB)—even when you know you will be opposed?
 
2. A prophet stays biblical. So much of what is passed off as prophecy today resembles what you might find in a daily horoscope. The so-called “prophetic movement” in the contemporary church has been tainted by silly fads and charismatic witchcraft. One prophetic e-mail list sent out a word recently saying that dormant angels were being awakened out of the walls of our churches. (That’s not remotely scriptural.) Another predicted that God would begin to speak to people through the names of candy bars and blue jeans.
 
So much of our prophetic verbiage sounds like warm and fuzzy fortunetelling. This type of “imitation prophecy” can titillate and thrill those with itching ears, but it is pablum designed for babies who don’t want to grow up. What we need is a word we can sink our teeth into—true meat that is the Word of God.
 
3. A prophet does not compromise. Nathan was willing to confront King David’s sin, even though the prophet was on the palace payroll. Yet today, we practice the “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” rule. We prophesy what people want to hear so we can get an honorarium and an invitation to return. This has caused some whole groups of prophets to collectively follow each other into a ditch.
 
Beware of the herd mentality! Don’t just swallow and follow! You cannot go along with something just because everyone else is doing it or preaching it. Stay close to the Lord, develop keen discernment and listen to the nagging voice of your conscience.
 
4. A prophet is compassionate. Some prophets today refuse to confront because they are too nice. Others speak rashly “like the thrusts of a sword” (see Prov. 12:18) and their words are delivered with a bitter, vindictive spirit. Neither of these prophets will receive his reward. We must speak the truth, and we must do it in love.
 
Most people think Jeremiah was angry and judgmental, but actually he wept when he confronted Israel’s sins. It is not enough to prophesy the Lord’s word—we should aim to speak with His tone of voice. We must be willing to intercede for and identify with those we confront.
 
5. A prophet stays pure. When Moses made the tabernacle, God told him to make silver trumpets that were “hammered work” (Num. 10:2). If we want to speak for Him, we must be willing to endure the smelting process. (In other words, prepare to be hammered!) Before Isaiah could be an effective prophet to his nation, his lips had to touch burning coals from God’s altar (see Is. 6:6-8). We must be willing to visit the uncomfortable furnace of sanctification.
 
God is not so much interested in the booming voice, the rousing delivery, the charisma or the technological savvy that we expect today from celebrity preachers. What matters most is pure content, and that can only flow through a pure vessel.
 
6. A prophet faithfully embraces the call. Jonah tried to flee as far as possible from Ninevah, but the God of the second chance used a strange vessel to get the prophet back on course. It involved a visit to a fish’s stomach, where Jonah spent three days in darkness, stewing in digestive juices. When the fish vomited him on land, he was better prepared to speak heaven’s words.
 
Like Jonah, the American church has been running from our evangelistic mission. We charismatics get excited about prophecy, angels, healing, visions, dreams, gold dust and prosperity, but when it comes to winning souls we’re not interested. Like Jonah, we’ve boarded a ship for Tarshish—and we’ve put unbelievers in peril by our disobedience.
 
Now is the time for us to reclaim our role as trumpets for the Lord. May we take up the mantle of Billy Graham and speak to our generation with boldness, biblical integrity, character, compassion, purity and faithfulness.

REVIVAL? NOT!

Revival? Not!
by Terry Somerville www.totalchange.org

I'm back from much needed holiday. Over the last few months many of you asked for my thoughts on the Lakeland Revival. I hadn't visited the meetings myself so I released several teachings to help believers test things out. I had heard good and bad reports from ministers I know, and because some of Todd Bentley's teachings were way off I urged caution.

In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. 2. Corinthians 13:1

Well, now we know. It has become established that there has been much exaggeration and hype about resurrections etc. (Google words "Robert Ricciardelli" and "Lakeland" to find 1st hand reports.) Apparently Todd was cautioned on this and increased the numbers he reported! This is usually called lying. Now we are hear that Todd and his wife are separating. Dear Lord, help Todd and your church!
So what do we make of the whole Lakeland Revival mess?

1. Trust Jesus, Not Preachers or Meetings
If you have received from the Lord through Lakeland don't allow your faith to be in crisis over this. You received by trusting Jesus not Todd Bentley or a meeting! I remember some members of my congregation having a faith crisis when Jimmy Swaggart was exposed because they were saved in his meetings. I had to teach them Jimmy does not save. Jesus does!
For from Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
Romans 11:36


2. Jesus Comes Wherever Two or Three Gather In His Name
God moved for some in Lakeland because Christians gathered in expectant faith! When will we get it? It's not a special place or person. It's a special savior! It is faith in Him that brings results. What is different about Lakeland, or any special meetings is that Christians expected God to move. But truly, God will move whenever we have such faith!

I remember planning special meetings at our church for an international revivalist. A huge crowd waited expectantly but he didn't make it. But, we didn't need him! Faith and expectancy was so high that Jesus moved in our midst in an amazing way! So why not every week at church? Good question! Could it be our hearts are on something else?

3. Christian - Get Your Own Anointing
Many people travel a long way to "get the anointing and take it home." There's some huge problems with this teaching. Yes, anointing can rub off, but God wants to make you a river, not have you sponging off someone elses anointing. This is what a Christian is all about!

Going to a meeting somewhere does not qualify you to receive. It may stir you up and be a time when the Holy Spirit gets to your heart. But it's faith in the full work of the cross that works, not the meeting ! God wants every Christian to walk in their own anointing, not depend on someone elses. Thats the amazing thing about being a Christian. The cross of Christ accomplished everything we need for life and godliness. Believe it.

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
John 7:38

4. Do We Take Home Some Mystical Power Or Use Faith?Even when some one "brings the revival home" and a church "gets it" it's not a mystical substance you brought back with you. It doesn't work that way, it's mainly about faith. Look at what happens. Someone went to the 'revival" so everyone expects God to work. Guess what? Jesus was with you wanting to work His power all along, but you didn't believe it till you experienced it yourself. Now that you've seen it, and friends trust you at church, they will receive it too! It's time for the church to trust Jesus from the beginning, instead of waiting for far away meetings.

When we first heard about the renewal beginning in Toronto we had no money to go. We prayed in faith "Jesus, give everything you are doing to us too." That night it came without any travel, any contact, any impartation of anointing. It was simple faith. We have Jesus.
But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
I John 2:27

4. There Are No Special Places, Just Believers Gathering!
The teaching that we have holy locations, and holy buildings (churches) and that we must make a pilgrimage to them to receive, is actually pagan idolatry mixed with Old Testament temple worship. Of course God may meet you at these places, but God will meet the sincere believer in any setting.

We are not a people of holy buildings, and holy places. We are individually and corporately the temple of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is not waiting for you to go to Florida to meet Him. The reason outpourings happen in certain places is because believers are believing and receiving at that place! When will Christians actually believe they are the temple of God where ever they are?
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
I Corinthians 6:19

5. Listen to Your Listener, Know By Your Knower
Many Christians have said they felt something was wrong in Lakeland, but couldn't put their finger on it. This is the Holy Spirit bearing witness to your spirit by a lack of peace. When we let the peace of God rule in us it means He is acting as an umpire calling "fair ball, foul ball" If it's foul ball, test it out. Listen to the umpire even if you don't understand the call!
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Colossians 3:15

6. Those Who Say "Don't Criticize, Accept Without Testing" are WRONG!
Don't listen to such people. They are deceived! We are explicitly told to test everything. See my article on testing.
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
I Thessalonians 5:21

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
I John 4:1


7. Our "Spirit Filled" Church Is A Prisoner Of Consumer Culture
One look at the current crop of Holy Spirit ministry tells us the church is under a terrible stronghold of consumerism. Much prophetic ministry has sold out to trashy sensationalism to get a following, rather than directing the Body Of Christ into fidelity with Jesus. The anointing and blessing of God are treated as a product being marketed. "Come and get it!" Attendance and financial gifts are the price of purchase. Revival has become the "sacred cow" of the church. The one who has it wins! We are serving the IDOLS OF THE LAND

Hearts Are Not Right
Yes we are forgiven and belong to Jesus, but our hearts have not been right! We have been serving success, size, fame, youth, money! It seems every new teaching or event is just more of this! Believers must begin serving Him with holiness of heart. Where is the cry of repentance? Where is the desire for TRUE HOLINESS?

It is time for something different. A Church set free from serving the gods of the pagan nation around us. A return to the complete good news of the gospel. Jesus provided all at the cross! He died for forgiveness and eternal life PLUS everything we need for life and godliness. Don't seek it from the culture but from Him. Repent and seek Him! It's full LIFE , and the good news is you qualify now by faith only! It's not men and meetings and anointings, it's trusting Jesus completed work and love! Enter in.
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Ephesians 1:18-19

8. Apostolic Covering Is Not Working
Over the last number of years God has been causing the church to recognize apostolic ministry. Yet the sad truth about the current apostolic trend is they seem to be producing mans hierarchies - an old wineskin! It is not working! Also, the idea that apostles, or any man is a "spiritual covering" or "father" and provides protection is not biblical. Often it has degenerated into mere control and, as we have seen, can end in failure. Hierarchies don't usually produce the genuine relationships needed in the Body Of Christ.

And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
Matthew 23:9

Jesus is our total covering. We have only one Father who is in heaven. We need brothers and sisters in Christ, a real body that grows and depends on one another.

Conclusion
A new day is coming in His church, and the troubles with the Lakeland Revival gives us all the more reason for seeking the Lord with profound earnestness. Millions of believers are done with Christendom. (the temple style, hierarchical church since Constantine) We are ready to have our pre-conceived ideas of church exposed and torn down. No more hype and flash from leaders in captivity to our consumer culture! We want the genuine, the Kingdom.
We are looking for the pure DNA of the Lord to be revealed in His people.
We want real loving brotherly relationships with our fellow believers,
We want true elders in the faith to step forward.
We want the gifted ministries to mature the Body of Christ, rather than be mixed with worldly motives.
We want the fullness of what Christ purchased at Calvary to be manifest in us.
We want to be fully empowered in this hour, to preach the good news, cast out demons, heal the sick, raise the dead and disciple the nations

WHEN CHRISTIANS COME OUT OF THE CLOSET

When Christians Come Out of the Closet
by Lee Grady (Charisma Editor) www.themordecaiproject.com

Singer Ray Boltz’s shocking announcement that he’s gay offers us a chance to adjust our attitudes.
How should we respond when a fellow Christian embraces a gay lifestyle? Do we give him a hug and tell him we wholeheartedly respect his decision? Do we just keep quiet and pray? Or do we grab a Bible and offer a stern lecture?
 
I know it’s an uncomfortable subject, but I’m delving into it because recording artist Ray Boltz has come out of the closet. The 55-year-old singer, winner of three Dove Awards from the Gospel Music Association, told the world last Friday that he just got tired of fighting his same-sex feelings. He told the Washington Blade, a gay magazine, that he now lives “a normal gay life” and feels liberated.
 
I am sure the gay community rejoiced that Boltz has joined their side of this debate. Now they are waiting to see our response. Many of them expect Christians to yank Boltz’s music off the radio, stage bonfires with his CDs and send cryptic death threats. (Hint: None of these is the right reaction.)
 
“It’s easy to get angry at the people who are making wrong choices, but self-righteous anger does not produce the character of Christ in us or anyone else.”
Best known for a string of Christian hits in the 1990s including “Thank You” and “I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb,” Boltz told the Blade that he disclosed his repressed homosexuality to his wife and four grown children in 2004, the year he retired from his music career. He quietly moved to South Florida and began dating. His divorce from his wife of 33 years was finalized this year.
 
His confession was brutally honest: “I’d denied [my homosexuality] ever since I was a kid. I became a Christian. I thought that was the way to deal with this and I prayed hard and tried for 30-some years and then at the end, I was just going, ‘I’m still gay. I know I am.’ And I just got to the place where I couldn’t take it anymore.”
 
When I first heard Boltz’s announcement I felt betrayed, the same way I feel when a famous preacher admits to an affair or when a good friend leaves the faith. I’ll admit I immediately began composing a biblical lecture in my head.
 
I was upset that Boltz chose to stop fighting same-sex temptation after all those years of marriage. I was sorry to learn that he feels “closer to God” since he embraced his suppressed gayness. Most of all I was annoyed that his decision sends a distorted message to our culture that Christianity doesn’t offer the power to overcome sin.
 
But as I asked the Lord to share His heart with me about Boltz’s situation, I realized that our corporate response to this is as much about a right attitude as it is about right doctrines:
 
1. We must weep. The prophets who called ancient Israel to repent for apostasy did so through tears. Not only did they declare the word of God, but they also spoke with His tone of voice. I pray we will refrain from speaking God’s words to gay people until we have wept long enough to internalize His heart for them.
 
It’s easy to get angry at the people who are making wrong choices, but self-righteous anger does not produce the character of Christ in us or anyone else. Weeping, on the other hand, tenderizes us. It adjusts our self-righteous attitudes.
 
It’s not enough for us to preach to people. We must pray for them first. When they meet us, they need to see our moist eyes, not scowls and pointed fingers. Compassionate prayer bathes our message in God’s mercy. It requires us to humbly identify with sinners as we recognize that each one of us battles some form of brokenness or addiction.
 
2. We must love homosexuals. Preachers are fond of making grand declarations of God’s hatred of homosexuality, and we are prone to cheer them on. But Tim Wilkins, a recovered homosexual who is now director of Cross Ministry in Wake Forest, N.C., pleads with Christians to tone down the angry rhetoric. He says that every time a preacher makes a demeaning remark about homosexuals in a sermon, he wounds 70 percent of his listeners who either (1) silently deal with same-sex attraction themselves; or (2) have family and friends who do.
 
A 2007 Barna survey showed that 90 percent of young non-Christians and 80 percent of young churchgoers believe Christians display “excessive contempt toward gays and lesbians.” Could this be one reason we are not reaching large numbers of homosexuals with the gospel? If we don’t show genuine love, we can expect them to ignore us.
 
It was Jesus’ offer of friendship, not a sermon, that brought the hated tax collector Zaccheus to repentance. When Jesus called the little guy down from the sycamore tree and said, “Today I must stay at your house” (Luke 19:5, NASB), He erased all the rejection Zaccheus had endured from the moralizers who had condemned his thievery. (And Jesus didn’t get more popular with religious people when He made this new friendship.) Perhaps we need more hospitality and fewer sermons!
 
3. We must contend for the faith. Ray Boltz’s disappointing decision represents a national trend. Many people today are embracing homosexuality as an appealing alternative. They are listening to teachers, psychiatrists, talk-show hosts, Hollywood celebrities, sympathetic family members and even some mainline Christian ministers who say sexual orientation is totally genetic—and unchangeable.
 
These people have bought the lie that says a person who feels same-sex attraction must always be controlled by those desires. Not true! Jesus paid the ultimate price so that we can have freedom from every kind of sinful behavior.
 
We don’t have the right to compromise God’s Word, no matter how many people decide to come out of the closet. But let’s remember that the message we are called to proclaim to the world is not “Homosexuality is wrong.” That’s a true statement, but it has no power to change anybody.
 
The gospel we must shout from the housetops is that Jesus loves all of us, no matter our condition, and that His forgiveness can heal our brokenness. I pray Ray Boltz will soon discover that truth in a fresh way—and I hope he’ll write many more songs about it.

SPIRITUAL CHURCH (EKKLESIA)

Spiritual Church (Ekklesia)
by Ron McGatlin www.openheaven.com

We are as explorers moving day by day further into a new land – a land we have never before seen, filled with things we have not yet known. Almost every day of our journey reveals awesome sights about which we may have heard but were unable to understand or even imagine until our eyes feast upon it, and all of our senses are quickened as we examine it with great excitement. Suddenly, what we have only read about and could not fully understand now makes perfect sense as we partake of and experience the reality of that which has previously been only a promise.

The future has come to us now. The glorious reality of God and His kingdom reality is presenting itself more as we reach each new horizon and partake of the previously unseen spiritual reality of God. Truly our eyes are lifted up unto the hills of God far above the darkness of the fallen world unto the heavenly order descending from above. Truly what God has prepared for those that love Him had never entered our natural minds until this blessed day in which the Holy Spirit is revealing it to a new generation of maturing sons of God.

We are more than being revived. We are being made alive in areas where we have never lived before. Our spiritual senses and spiritual lives have been so dulled by centuries of natural living and natural reasoning and understanding that, though we were alive, we were as dead being blind and deaf to supernatural spiritual reality.

The supernatural works of God were foreign and appeared impossible to us. We relegated all current supernatural to only demonic sorcery. The supernatural gifts of the Spirit that should have been part of our daily lives were not functioning. Our natural animal instinctive living led us to look unto our own ways devised by our prideful natural minds to provide for our natural appetites, while the world died spiritually and drifted into a realm of deep darkness far from the light and life of spiritual living in God.

We made church into a human endeavor of natural functions and developed religion in an attempt to reach God with our natural efforts. We took a devious shortcut to life and developed religious forms and ways to eliminate the costly real way of the cross of self denial and acceptance of spiritual reality. In bypassing our personal cross experience, we missed the resurrection life of Jesus that came to move us out of our natural ways and into the supernatural spiritual ways of resurrection life in God.

Praise God we have come to a new horizon, and the brightness of the light of God has appeared. Forerunner scouts have returned to the camp of explorers with glorious reports of real spiritual life of God just ahead, and we are moving out at first daylight to experience the real assembling of God with His people in spiritual gatherings with God.

The Ekklesia church is not a natural thing it is a spiritual reality. The Ekklesia is made up of spiritual beings called out of the natural world and into spiritual reality gathered unto God in the Spirit - a spiritual gathering of living stones – an assembly of Spirit God, Jesus, many angels, and spirits of just men made mature in Jesus. All of our questions about headship, structure, and organization of church are dissolved as the Ekklesia comes together in the Spirit in the heavenly New Jerusalem on earth as it is in heaven.

Heb 12:22-24: But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

For many centuries the church has been, for the most part, a gathering of natural beings with only occasional visitations of the Spirit touching the spirit within mankind. For the most part, natural effort went into performing religious rituals and praying mostly faithless prayers to a perceived distant God. It became a lukewarm church primarily concerned with social order and well-being. Skilled orators preached from a level of a higher caste than the ordinary laity who sat quietly at weekly meetings. Some received a sense of guilt and need for repentance of their sins, while others day-dreamed or fought to stay awake.

Probably no one even thought or dreamed of a gathering of spiritual beings on earth together with an innumerable company of angels, God the judge of all, Jesus the firstborn, and spirits of just men made perfect. We are so accustomed to living in the natural earthly side of our natural/spiritual being that the concept of the spiritual heavenly Jerusalem gathering on earth is hard for us to even think.

I believe God is speaking to His people today to step out of our natural side into our spiritual being side and look over the next horizon into the gathering of spiritual beings with Christ Jesus, Father God, holy angels, and spirits of others redeemed by the blood and living in the better things of the spiritual realm. The Holy Spirit brings all this to pass. Our spirits come together with the Holy Spirit and the entire God family and multitudes of angels.

Can we see it? Can we allow the reality of the spiritual Ekklesia to enter into our minds? Can we prepare now to come together in our next gathering as spiritual beings and not as natural people? No longer filled with conversation and considerations of natural things but filled with spiritual things – waiting upon the Spirit, instead of natural planning. This is moving into the next horizon of the reality of walking in the Spirit, abiding in Him and He in us. This is God dwelling with His people. The light of His glory will fill the room, and our hearts will knit together with God and one another.

2 Cor 6:16: ….. For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people."

Rev 21:3: And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.

Rev 21:23: The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.

Supernatural will become natural in spiritual gatherings. There will be no need for pumping and hype, no need for natural human intervention and control. The Spirit of God will rule as the headship of Christ Jesus becomes fully evident. It is the family of God from heaven and earth coming together, worshiping the One who sits upon the throne in perfect harmony – multitudes of angels blending their voices with the spirits of justified men in heavenly melody rising to high crescendos and flowing as a mountain stream lightly through the valley and suddenly flowing with great strength and joy into a glorious waterfall to again come into deep pools of fresh sweet clear life in perfect peace - heaven and earth in perfect harmony praising God upon the throne.

Mat 18:20: "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."

John 4:23-24: "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

A SPIRITUAL CITY ARISING IN THE EARTH

A Spiritual City Arising In The Earth
by John Belt www.liveinhispresence.com

"You also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." I Peter 2:5

We are spiritual stones being built up into a dwelling place for God in the Spirit. He has promised that if we abide in Him we will bear much fruit for His Glory.
 
"Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: 'Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.'" Isaiah 28:16

 
I had a vision recently and saw a most crystalline city of God arising in the Spirit. I believe God is raising this city of His glory throughout the world. It was so beautiful and sparkling, resplendent with light shining forth and dispelling the darkness. If we can see with spiritual eyes, this is what God is raising up (Ephesians 1:18).
 
It has form in the Spirit but is not a natural man-made structure. It is a fearsome thing to the enemy. But it is a glorious thing to the sons and daughters of God! It was composed of crystal, but again it is a spiritual reality. It is a picture of God replicating on Earth what is already in Heaven (Luke 11:2).
 
The spiritual realities of the Kingdom of God are being built and established at this time. This city is not of human hands but is made up of spiritual stones in Jesus Christ. He, being the foundation stone, is a glorious stone that holds all things together.
 
Walk in the Light
As we walk in the light as He is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another and the Blood of Christ washes us from all sin (I John 1:7). It is in this place that we are able to be part of this City of Light that God is raising up.
 
We now walk with Him, in communion with Him, just as Adam walked with God in the Garden before the fall, but in even deeper measures because God now dwells inside us as we are living tabernacles of the glory of Christ.
 
"I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture." John 10:9
 
He has opened the door of Heaven to us that we may come in and go out finding true spiritual food, true riches, dwelling with Him in the place prepared for us before the foundation of the world (Luke 16:11).

As we learn to value the anointing of His Spirit that He has given us, we are able to abide in Him and He in us. With this, His light will permeate us and shine through us.
 
High Praises of God & Two-Edged Sword
"Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
And a two-edged sword in their hand,
To execute vengeance on the nations,
And punishments on the peoples;
To bind their kings with chains,
And their nobles with fetters of iron;
To execute on them the written judgment--
This honor have all His saints.
Praise the LORD!" Psalm 149:6-9
 
What are the high praises of God? The high praises are those praises that take us to a different place of experience with Him. These are the praises that God inhabits and in turn deposits within us the glory substance of the Kingdom of Heaven. These praises lift our feet to be like hinds feet on His high places. As we praise Him He lifts our feet to these high places.
 
"He makes my feet like the feet of deer,
And sets me on my high places.
He teaches my hands to make war,
So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
You have also given me the shield of Your salvation;
Your right hand has held me up,
Your gentleness has made me great.
You enlarged my path under me,
So my feet did not slip.

I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them..." Psalm 18:33-37
He causes us to experience the spiritual reality that we are seated with Him in the Heavenly places far above all darkness, hindrance and demonic activity. The high praises take us upward and cause us to experience ascension in our spirit, connecting us with the heart of God. This spiritual revelation becomes reality to us and we realize all things are under our feet just as they are already under His feet.
 
These praises also cleanse the heart and the atmosphere surrounding us, ushering in the Prince of Peace to come and rule over us (Isaiah 9:6). It is here that we find the power of the double-edged sword.
 
"For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Hebrews 4:12
 
In this place with Him, we are no longer just quoting Scriptures. The Word of God is now activated within our spirits because we have entered into a unity dynamic with the Lord. Our hearts become one with Him in this place. This is where authority and dominion over all spiritual opposition is made manifest in us.
 
With this light, the double-edged sword of the Word of God now cuts through the darkness, releasing a binding execution on the enemy. This is an honor that all of His saints have access to!
 
Faith & Patience
It is through faith and patience that we inherit the promises of God (Hebrews 6:12). This is our destiny. And faith with patience is the means by which His promises are obtained. The characteristics that embody faith and patience are required to see promises manifested in our lives. These characteristics are expressed and released through our mouths and our actions. Complaining is not one of these characteristics, but rather thanksgiving.
 
"As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving." Colossians 2:6-7
 
Doubt is not one either, but rather believing to the saving of the soul (Hebrews 10:39). If a man can be wise in his words, he is like a perfect man and the body will fall in line with our words. Our faith comes into the equation (James 3:2).
 
As Jesus said so many times, "Your faith has made you well, whole, and etc" (Matthew 15:28, Mark 10:52, Luke 8:25).
 
Jesus did not recognize confession as much as a spiritual reality that was manifesting from the hearts of men and women who were desperate for His touch.
 
Faith being released from the heart and by the spoken word is an asset that God has given to us, having been created in the image of God. We should wisely speak so that none of our words fall to the ground (I Samuel 3:19).
 
It is not that our faith needs to be increased as much as we need to use what we already have, even though we continue to sow these seeds of faith in our hearts. Return will come as we use what we have already received.
 
Our faith is also not to be lifeless confession without any depth of intimate communion with God. The Lord does not want robots. He desires people who are intimately connected to the life stream of His heart.
 
Cities of Light
The City of Light is made up of the people of the Light. As we learn to walk in the Light, we shall see spiritual houses and cities raised up in every place and region of the earth. As we follow the Lamb wherever He goes, not man, we will see His Kingdom established in the earth and His Name made known.
 
"These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb." Revelation 14:4
 
Our unity will be established before His Throne. Unity is never because we agree on everything but because we have sought after God, have found Him, and have lost sight of ourselves in the glory of His Presence (Psalm 133:1).
 
Of course, the foundations of what we believe are intact. But when we are before Him, seeing His face, we forget about trivial matters and opinions. He becomes magnified over everything else. This is where we are one in Him. It is only as we abide in His words and are caught up before Him that He is found in us and we discover His love in our hearts for one another (John 15:5-8).
 
It is here that we discover the destiny, our place in the glorious shining city of Light, that He is raising up in this time.