The Scourge Of Racism
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The Holy Spirit continues to stir my heart from last week’s blog, The Never Changing God, under the category, Call To Repent, to remind all of us gifted to preach the Gospel and truths of God’s Word that we are “appointed” by Him as were all who ever came before us (John 15:16; 1 Timothy 2:7, NKJV)! We, therefore, are God’s preachers since it is always the case that the one appointed serves the one who appointed him. Appointed by God, Christian preachers in service and message owe Him loyalty first and above all other loyalties to include churches, denominations and self. That the Holy Spirit would insist such a reminder be given indicates not a few have forgotten these truths.
In biblical use, to preach is to herald, proclaim or publish the words or message of God to the human audience He directs. Noah is identified by the apostle Peter as a “preacher of righteousness” and would be one of the earliest in the Bible (2 Peter 2:4-5, NKJV). Appointed by God, Noah preached warning those of his day their righteous Creator was about to destroy them in their wickedness and the evil world they had created (Genesis 6:11-13). After the flood, God would appoint and equip many men to publically preach His messages as prophets (authoritative spokesmen, seers and watchmen) primarily among His chosen people, Israel, but beyond them as well (Exodus 4:10-17; Jeremiah 1:1-10; Jonah 1:1-2; Mark 1:1-8).
In preaching to Israel, Moses foretells that God would raise up a Prophet like, but greater than him (Deuteronomy 18:15-19). This Prophet is the Lord Jesus Christ as the last of the Old Testament prophets He commends, affirms (Matthew 11:7-11; John 1:29-36, 3:22-36). Moses’ announcement came with a solemn warning that reaches right down to this hour concerning any prophet that presumed to speak (or preach) a word in God’s Name which He had not commanded or in the name of other gods--so much for ecumenicalism; all the other gods do not stand on the same ground and are clearly not saying the same thing as the God of the Bible (Deuteronomy 18:20-22).
Not only is Jesus Christ the Prophet of God, but He is also the Preacher and Apostle of God’s joyful good news of repentance, faith, salvation and the Kingdom to Israel (Mark 1:14-15; Hebrews 3:1-2)! After His death for our sins, burial, and resurrection, He sent the disciples of His inner circle He had made apostles out to Israel and the nations to make new disciples by preaching the Gospel about Him, repentance and faith in Him for the forgiveness of sins, the New Covenant and promise of the indwelling Holy Spirit as well as God’s Kingdom on the earth (Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 24:44-49; John 20:19-23; Acts 1:6-8, 2:1-40, 3:11-4:22)!
Then there is that Jewish apostle of Christ sent specifically to us Gentiles, Saul of Tarsus also known as Paul (1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Galatians 1:11-24; 1 Timothy 1:12-13). He tirelessly preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout Roman controlled Asia and Greek speaking Europe; always pressing to preach where Christ and the Gospel had not yet been preached (Romans 15:14-21). It is from him that we learn Christian preachers are an important fulfillment of God’s long ago announced plan to send heralds of His greatest message to the world yet; the Good News of salvation from sin by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ, His Son (Isaiah 49:6, 52:7; Romans 10:14-15)! Truly, God desires the salvation of all men (1 Timothy 2:1-6; Titus 2:11-15).
It was by Paul’s instruction too that we understand preaching is far beyond the wisdom and skill of men even well taught in public speaking. It is the required foundational spiritual gift from God to equip His appointed heralds to deliver His message of salvation in His power (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)! Such are apostles who run to the ends of the earth as heralds preaching the Gospel where it has never been preached, making disciples and planting churches and evangelists who irresistibly preach the Gospel and witness Christ to the unsaved wherever they find themselves. Also, apostles, evangelists along with prophets within the whole Body and pastor/teachers in the local churches preach the Gospel and expound God’s Word to equip His people for service and build them up to maturity in the faith (Ephesians 4:7-16).
The foregoing all being biblically true, it stands to reason that no professing Christian man or woman having declared themselves called of God to preach should conduct their lives in an ungodly manner (1 Corinthians 9:24-27) or preach where He has not authorized in all disobedience (1 Corinthians 14:33-37; 1 Timothy 2:11-15). Neither should any preach a gospel or any other message He has not commissioned from His Word; communication embodying suppositions of their own invention and fleshly wisdom as emissaries of Satan that deny biblical truth and even the Lord of our salvation. The consequences of corruption and falsehood are eternally severe no matter who you are as the original New Testament apostles warn (2 Corinthians 1:12-14, 4:1-6, 11:13-15; Galatians 1:6-10; 2 Peter 2:1-3).
Therefore, let all of the appointed preachers of God repent to whatever extent you are coming short of His will while there is still the opportunity since the foretold judgment in His house is already underway. Caught in sin, how shall you escape? If the biblical Gospel and sound doctrine purely proclaimed are no longer enough to make disciples, form or sustain churches, then clearly we are in (and you must accept we are in) the foretold perilous paradigm of the latter days (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3; 2 Timothy 3:1-5, 4:3-4). Resist the evil temptation to slander God, compromise or corrupt His Word to satisfy your personal thinking and ambitions in spiritual weakness to build a following.
Rather, stand as aspiring strong men and great women of God in the image of Christ preaching His Word as it is written regardless of the cost and to the end that you may please God and gain an eternal reward! Get a copy of my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics to learn what being an aspiring strong man and great woman of God in the image of Jesus Christ is all about because it is for preachers too! It is available directly or by order wherever books are sold and in our Strong Man Store at www.thestrongmanofGod.org.
Because Jesus Christ and His message are an offense to a hostile world, His faithful preachers have suffered as He from the 1st century (John 10:31-39, 19:1-22; Acts 4:1-3, 5:17-32, 7:51-8:3, 12:1-4, 26:1-29). Suffering in some measure up to and including death for His Word as absolutely spiritually, morally and ethically true is the lot of God’s appointed faithful preachers who would rather suffer than compromise or corrupt God’s Word as it is written (John 15:18-16:4; 1 Corinthians 15:29-34)! Indeed, willingness to endure even severe persecution for the Word preached is one of the sharp differences between faithful preachers and those that are not in Christian history.
Faithful preachers of the Word of God beginning with the Gospel have themselves first been brought to salvation and spiritual regeneration by it! They intimately know and love the indwelling Person of the Word, Jesus Christ (John 1:1-5, 14-18), the Holy Spirit and Father with all submission and obedience (John 14:15-24). As a result, they also love and keep God’s written Word (Psalm 119). Their obedience includes confessing and repenting from their sins as they occur so they might continue to enjoy unbroken fellowship with God (1 John 1:5-10). The apostle Paul was greatly humbled by the magnitude of God’s grace and mercy to save him and all sinners. His faithful and diligent service to God as His appointed preacher was a manifest token of eternal gratitude (1 Corinthians 15:9-10; 1 Timothy 1:12-17).
It is out of such a spirit of humility and gratitude for personal salvation that the apostle Paul exemplifies and is God’s enduring template for the zeal and service He expects from all of us as aspiring strong men and great women of God in the image of Christ and His appointed preachers. His faithful service as a preacher of the Gospel is one reason he is so passionately direct about God’s authorized declaration of destruction for the one who preaches another gospel other than the one God has given (Galatians 1:6-9). The other reason is his question of whether he (and by implication all Christian preachers) are preaching to persuade and please men or God (Galatians 1:10)?
If it is true with God and men that one appointed is to serve to please the one who appointed him as surely it is, then Paul and us after him appointed by God to preach His Word in the Gospel and otherwise are to please Him with the mind of Christ to the point of even considering ourselves His slaves in all faithfulness (Philippians 2:5-8). And right here is where the wheels have come off for many genuinely God appointed preachers throughout history to this very hour. For to their disgrace through any number of motives not the least of them being men rather than God pleasers, many Christian preachers have willfully compromised and corrupted God’s Word in all falsehood and deceit.
A perfect example of this in action is the not so subtle satanically inspired transformation of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday into a day of good works in this 21st century. No accident or product of natural progressive community evolution, it has come about as the polite, but purposeful effort of secular individuals and morally tolerant professing Christians and preachers to separate King from the offense of his spiritual roots as a Christian preacher of biblical morality; the ground on which he stood to call white America to do right by its black and other disenfranchised citizens. While King did preach service to humanity, he did so explaining the biblical motives of Christians to serve and his own in stepping up to help his people and others hurt by America’s failure to live up to its ostensible Christian heritage as he did in a message he preached two months before being assassinated.1
To morph the totality of Dr. King’s biblically rooted cause and message into only a day of do good works in the community is to white wash over the deeply oppressive and blatant evil of American racism he challenged as an appointed preacher of God. No, King and his preaching in the matter of Civil Rights for black Americans cannot be successfully surgically removed from its biblical moral underpinning anymore than the preaching of John the Baptist who rebuked Herod for his adultery and other evils or the Lord Jesus who preached against the hypocrisy of Israel’s religious leaders (Luke 3:15-20; 11:37-54), Martin Luther who called the Catholic Church to reform its corrupt practices or Europe and America’s abolitionists who advocated slavery’s end.
Not so subtle either in this King Day service emphasis is the growing wider effort to spin “real” Christianity into a salvation by works which is very plainly not taught in the Bible (Romans 3:21-4:4; Ephesians 2:8-10). Yet, many preachers have embraced this false gospel of works undergirding the King Day and other assorted heretical doctrines applauded by the world. Moreover, a great number of preachers even trample on God’s Word in rejection after preaching it by leading the people to disobey it in practice seeking to please them rather than God. This latter thing is especially prevalent among preaching pastors in the tradition minded churches of manmade Christianity the religion in spite of God’s rejection of such folly (Mark 7:1-23; Luke 6:46-49; James 1:21-25, 4:17). The guilty should immediately repent!
While I could wish too with some of his godly black American preaching contemporaries such as Rev. Howard O. Jones that Dr. King and other preachers around him had preached the Gospel as intensely as the biblically rooted moral imperatives of the Civil Rights Movement,2 nevertheless, faithful preachers in these latter days understand we must do so with the “whole counsel of God” as was done by our example, Paul, in the 1st century (Acts 20:17-27, NKJV). And like him too, we must be ready in what is shaping up to be the closing opportunity to publicly preach unfettered in the West to suffer for it to the end, not being ashamed of Christ, the Gospel about Him or the whole counsel of God in His Word (Matthew 10:16-39; Mark 8:34-38; Romans 1:16-17; 2 Timothy 1:8-12); in the power of the Holy Spirit, pleasing God in preaching to lost and wavering souls so that many may be saved (Jude 20-25). The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, “Who is on the Lord’s side?”
1 Dr. King preached a message entitled, The Drum Major Instinct at the Ebenezer Baptist Church on February 4, 1968 in which his text and content regarding serving hu-
manity was taken from Mark 10:35-45. The sermon can be heard as a sound recording and easily found for purchase online.
2 Howard O. Jones, For This Time (Chicago: Moody Press, 1966), 59-61.
Black preachers have been part of black history from slavery. Any attempt at even a sample list will certainly appear as though someone noteworthy was purposely overlooked. Instead, I am going to narrowly focus on one pastor-preacher born in the 19th century that in the midst of the professed biblically conservative predominantly white Christian denomination he was part of called out its racism. I and some contemporaries I will cite stand on the shoulders of men like Rev. Francis Grimké, a former slave who stood on the Word of God as written to make the biblical case that racism in the house of God is sin. He was rebuffed, but as a true hero of the faith did not back down.
I recently learned of Rev. Grimké in an October 6, 2022 article written by white Anglican, P.C. Kemeny, a professor of religion and humanities and dean of the School of Arts and Letters at Grove City College, PA that appeared on The Gospel Coalition Web Site.1 Beyond Rev. Grimké’s impressive academic credentials obtained in his rise up from slavery, it is his heartfelt devotion to Christ and the Word of God uncompromised that captured my admiration. As part of an ostensibly biblically conservative Presbyterian denomination he wrote an article in 1912 charging members to behave more in line with Scripture as it concerned relating to their brothers of color (1 Peter 3:8-9).
According to Dr. Kemeny, while Rev. Grimké’s call for repentance fed revival in his article was embraced by the denomination’s magazine editor, his rebuke of biblical inconsistency in the toleration and practice of racism within the ranks was rejected. As Rev. Grimké had no doubt deduced, this outcome was due to the continuing sinful adherence of white church members to the prevailing cultural norms of systemic racism rather than the teaching of Christ plainly presented in the Bible. He called out this inconsistency in his unpublished essay Dr. Kemeny writes, arguing “evangelistic efforts should turn people ‘away…from all their sins;’ ‘even those that are dear to them as racial prejudice.’”
Dr. Kemeny concludes on the sad note that the white Christians of Rev. Francis Grimké’s time missed out on the opportunity to respond to God’s prophetic call through him to greatly needed repentance from the sin of racism and revival. Dr. Kemeny challenges 21st century conservative professed white Christians to consider whether they will also miss out on God’s prophetic call through today’s voices including my own that has declared His judgment standing on the shoulders of Rev. Grimké.2 I have been crying out to conservative white evangelicals for many years to repent from racism and seek revival in this Blog and my latest book, The Scourge Of Racism.3 Too, this Ministry presents the willing with the Lord’s call to return to Him through our Strong Man Of God Online Rally.4
1 Read Dr. Kemeny’s article, Missed Opportunity: Francis Grimké on Racism and Revival.
2 See the October 8, 2023 post, Racism A Reason For Church Judgment, under the category, Instruction along with the one on October 15, 2023, In Judgment, Grace, Mercy And Revival, under the category, Glory To God! Some of the contemporary name recognized black pastor-preacher voices God is using to address the issue of racism in conservative evangelicalism and beyond include Rev. William Dwight McKissic, Sr., Bishop Wellington Boone, Dr. Crawford Loritts, Dr. Voddie Baucham and Dr. Tony Evans whose latest sermon series contains the message, The Sin Of Racism.
3 The Scourge Of Racism print version is available in the Strong Man Store, all major internet booksellers and brick and mortar bookstores. The just released E-Book is avail- able at major E-Book sellers. Watch the book trailer.
4 Hear and respond to the Lord’s gracious call to return to Him through this Ministry’s Strong Man Of God Online Rally, Return To The Lord, on YouTube.
Originally Posted January 10, 2014
Welcome to the New Year 2014! The New Year like many things new provides a sense of freshness, excitement, anticipation and the promise of great benefits to come. While writing my December 2013 blogs, the Holy Spirit renewed great joy in me concerning God’s New Covenant with Israel that in “the exceeding riches of His grace” He has opened up to Gentiles willing to enter into its terms and conditions through the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:4-9, NKJV)! The surpassing greatness of God’s New compared with the Old Covenant include superior promises that bless those who enter into it with Him both now in this present age and endless ages to come!
Why have some professing Christians and their leaders during the course of my thirty plus years of service to the Lord accused me of being too serious and strict; my biblical instruction, naive? Isn’t it because they are not very serious about the Lord nor seek to fully obey His Word as it is written? In the shallow waters of faithless superficiality through manmade Christianity the religion, compromise or the corruptions of falsehood, these accusers resent anyone who with zeal to proclaim and live out the light of biblical Christianity exposes their darkness. But praise be to the triune God, only faith and full obedience to the end have been and will be rewarded (Numbers 14:20-24, 30-38; Hebrews 3:5-19, 10:35-39)! Anyone that believes to the contrary is deceived.
Truly, what the Lord led me to write in The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics and to reiterate in the following edited 2011 blog repost, the Bible as God’s Word is a lost book to many insincerely professing American Christians. Statistics on Bible study and other measures of biblically taught faithfulness compiled by those such as The Barna Group sadly still support my Spirit empowered assertion. Just as the many insincere 7th century BC Israelites for whom the Book of the Law became lost as they went astray from the Lord, so, too, many insincere professing Christians today who are willfully disobedient to the Word; living and doing as it pleases them.
Professing Christians and especially the men who are God’s chosen leaders in the home and churches beginning with every guilty pastor and elder must repent from abandoning God’s Word as it is written in disobedience! Sirs, as I challenge you in my book, it is time to stop hating the faithful and join us as a king Josiah to the church you serve. Otherwise, since as the Lord’s servant and yours I have been permitted to look ahead in His prophetic Word, I will tell you what I see: I see that your visions of grandeur and perpetual earthly legacy born of ego, pride and selfish ambition are about to be dashed against the rocks as God’s judgment in the churches continues and intensifies (2 Chronicles 34:19-25; Jeremiah 25:32-38; 1 Peter 4:17-18)!
In continuing disobedience, your eternal future is not any better than your destroyed earthly legacy unless you do repent (1 Corinthians 3:5-17)! Why should the men you shepherd view the instruction in my book as somehow new? And why are you so fearful of its contents? I write nothing in my book that is not already written in the Book of books! But again, since the Bible uncorrupted is lost to you as the direct source material of your instruction and equally important example, you scorn and scoff at anyone or anything faithful to God and His Word that shows your shortcomings and corruptions instead of repenting so His Spirit-fired revival might come to you. Know this going forward: only the repentant will enjoy God’s peace in what is coming (2 Chronicles 34:26-28)!
Originally Posted July 24, 2011
One of the most remarkable signs of the times pointing to Christ’s near return is His propheti-cally insightful rhetorical question about the spiritual climate of the world at His coming found in Luke 18:8. His question comes at the end of a parable He gives to encourage men of faith to never lose heart but to always persist in prayer with God. He asks, “when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” While we would be tempted in pride to say yes, Christ’s knowledge of the future and the now observable steady decline of authentic, biblical faith among professing believers confirmed by statistics, points to a sobering no to His question.
Christianity’s march from the 1st century to this hour closely spiritually parallels Israel’s march from Egypt to Babylon. Significant in both is the setting aside of God’s Word. In Israel’s case, the Book of the Law was lost in the Temple complex only to be re-discovered by priests who had been ordered to restore the Temple by a faithful king named Josiah. After having the lost book read to him, the king repented before the Lord and feared His righteous judgment for the spiritual situation was far worse than he had thought. They did enjoy a temporary revival (2 Kings 22-23:27).
The fact that I and many other authors are writing books calling Christians to turn back to God’s will, way and Word is evidence that the Bible is lost in many hearts and churches. Physically, the printed pages are everywhere. Indeed, the Bible is the best-selling book on the planet! But due to a lack of genuine faith leading to real repentance, conversion, salvation and obedience among other reasons, the Book is lost to many in plain sight.
I rejoice to have been commissioned of the Lord to write The Strong Man Of God: Back to Basics. But it is heart-breaking to see the faces of men I teach who profess to be Christians, acting as if what I am teaching about being a man is a new discovery. The teaching of my book is and has been in the Book, the Bible, God’s unchanging Word that is to fire our faith and obedience even until Christ’s return. We need to find God’s lost Book once again. You can begin in my book that for the sake of our men, families and communities we might enjoy at least a temporary revival.
The march to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the end of this world as we have known it under the dominion of evil is moving just as it has been foretold in the ‘“Scripture of Truth,’” (Daniel 10:18-21, NKJV). As part of this march, I stand in awe of the sovereign God who in wisdom has given men the knowledge to develop technologically at a faster pace in the last 200 years than at any time in all of the millennia before. The telegraph to computers and cell phones, the first automobile to space flight, modern appliances and robotics; all attest to this truth in serving the divine end time purposes and proving that still--regardless of technological progress, man’s chief problem is sin since its works through him have not abated, but only intensified (Joel 2:1-11; Revelation 9:13-21).
With the merciful heart of God, we do not rejoice at the foretold troubles coming upon this world because of sin. However, Christians are not supposed to be falling apart either. Indeed, many professing Christians and their leaders are even in denial and behave as if everything is going (and should continue) as it always has. They fear the future and do not by faith “look up” (Luke 21:28, NKJV) as God intends--having given us His prophetic Word as advance knowledge--because they in disobedience love this present world and their carefully laid plans and dreams rooted in it (Luke 9:23). As I present in this edited 2013 blog repost, God has raised up this Ministry among others to call the weak to His strength as those alone that will endure to receive the promised salvation.
Originally Posted October 6, 2013
It is so very heart breaking to see people all over our nation and world coming unhinged at the slightest provocation; unglued and falling apart at the seams leading to acts of rage and violence in these times of stress. It appears that the natural self-control and fear of consequences resident in most human beings that serve as a restraint to injury to self and others is dissipating and the Bible gives us an important reason why. I do sympathize with the provocations and stresses of life in this world that can lead to the mental and emotional states of mind persons get to that cause them to become unhinged and unglued.
However, the Word of God plainly teaches that these things are so in these latter days because He is allowing mankind in the main--that has spent much of nearly the last two millennia rejecting the Gospel--to now have it their way in the face of His coming wrath (Romans 1:18-32). God (who alone has been evil’s Restrainer) is permitting lawlessness through the venting of humanity’s natural sinful impulses and the instigating, pressuring work of demons to steadily increase and eventually commonly “abound” out of control because this is the kind of kingdom men as sinners choose when they reject the righteous Kingdom of God (Matthew 24:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12; 1 John 3:4, NKJV).
To add to the misery of the God haters and rebels in these latter days, the God of creation that created it for man, is causing it to convulse violently against its fallen rulers in anticipatory birth pains of its restoration in peace under the immortal sons of God (Mark 13:8; Luke 21:10-11; Romans 8:19-22)! As a result, anxious fear about what is coming upon the earth will also be added to the life stresses that are causing people to now fall apart and soon, to die from mass heart failures (Luke 21:25-26). Sadly, among such persons are many professing to be Christians.
It is in this context of the present stresses and those foretold still to come that God has called forth our strong man of God cause. We are not just about a book and brand. Jesus Christ is the Strong Man of God demonstrated by His life, death and resurrection to immortality! Men from Adam’s son, Seth, have known the strength and blessing that comes from calling “on the name of the Lord” (Genesis 4:25-26, NKJV) and the Lord Himself has commanded men to “be strong” from ancient times (Deuteronomy 31:23, NKJV).
Now, though, it is at “the ends of the ages” that calling on the name of the Lord and being strong in the strength He supplies to His faithful and obedient ones is of the utmost prophetic urgency and absolutely imperative (1 Corinthians 10:11, NKJV). For as I have written previously (in blogs and my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics) and will continue to proclaim with Scripture in the face of the world’s escalating stresses as well as hatred and persecution of Christians, only the strong in Christ will persevere to the end and eternal glory (Matthew 24:13; Mark 13:13)!1
The strength supplied to His aspiring strong men and great women of God in the image of Christ is nothing short of divine power through the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 3:14-16)! Thus, God’s strength is not a human emotion or moment of euphoria. God’s power is of the real, continuing spiritual substance of His eternal being that created and upholds the universe! And so, the great apostle writes again, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might,” the source Scripture for the slogan of Strong Man Ministries: Making Men Eternally Strong (Ephesians 6:10, NKJV)!
In His strength combined with the whole armor of God which includes the “shield of faith,” aspiring strong men and great women of God are expected to stand against all manner of adversity as well as “the wiles” and attacks of the devil and his “spiritual hosts” working through willing human agencies in these evil days just as our Lord Jesus did (John 16:32-33; Ephesians 6:11-18; 1 John 5:4-5, NKJV). Christians from a biblical perspective, then, are not supposed to become unhinged, unglued or panicked to the death during the course of what we see happening in nor defect from Christ seeking escape from suffering to the world.
We stand firm in our trust in Christ and the very real supernatural strength our God supplies to us as aspiring strong men and great women of God. We also continue to act as a moral people walking in the righteousness of Christ and to the bitter end proclaim and witness the Gospel about Him and His coming Kingdom. Unless, therefore, there is a Holy Ghost fired movement such as ours to help men and women professing to be Christians become aspiring strong men and great women of God in the image of Christ, many will perish in the swift rolling tide of increasing lawlessness, troubles, demonic activity and the violent convulsions of creation coming upon this world with divine permission. In spite of this, a “falling away” is foretold (2 Thessalonians, 2:3, NKJV).2
Nevertheless, in the meantime, if we restore many men, their families and communities for even a short season before the darkest days arrive, it has all been worth it. So, we preach the Gospel compelling men to come to Christ and in coming to Him, become strong men of God in His image (Romans 8:29)! Pastors and churches that are guilty this is your cue: get out of the way; stop resisting us in this mission clinging to your comfy lives supported by the mindset of manmade Christianity the religion in the old paradigm of God’s permitted temporary existence. Repent if you will and in this new paradigm where Christianity the religion of men in their own strength is plainly revealed to be marked out for divine destruction (Isaiah 47:8-15; Revelation 18:1-8), stand with and welcome our cause, Ministry and biblically rooted message (Acts 4:23-31; Romans 8:31-39; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17; 3 John 5-8). The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, “Who is on the Lord's side?”
1 Purchase my book at any major internet bookseller or the Strong Man Store on our Web Site, www.thestrongmanofgod.org.
2 See the February 2, 2014 blog, The Falling Away, under the category, Bible Prophecy to learn more about this coming event.
Like the proverbial sweater that unravels from one loose thread, so, the disobedience of one pastor, group of elders, other church leaders and teachers unchecked leads to the disobedience of the many spreading eventually to other churches and beyond. As it is written, “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened,” (1 Corinthians 5:6-7, NKJV). Yet, in these latter days first one then another among those serving as leaders and teachers in American churches have backed away from full obedience to the Word of God on some issue for any number of evil motives.
These disobedient men (and now women in keeping with the rebellious times) continue to loudly profess their undying love for Jesus while they openly parade their disobedience; deridingly labeling those of us sent by God to cry out against their sin “Pharisees” and my personal favorite, “narrow minded.” (Thank You, Jesus, my detractors confirm I have entered “by the narrow gate” as You have taught—Matthew 7:13-14, NKJV!) On His side the Lord has given a definition and set the standard for the real demonstration of love for Him as I write about in this week’s blog. You will note that this blog and the four that follow serve as my uncompromised stand for the family and men as God’s chosen leaders embodied in the cause of the strong man of God and building toward the pre-first release in June 2011 of The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics.
Originally Published February 2011
One of the four distinctive characteristics of the strong man of God I have been led of Him to teach and write about in the forthcoming book is that he obeys God to the death. As perfectly modeled by Jesus Christ--the Strong Man of God, steadfast obedience to God's Word is driven by a love motivated desire to please Him and do His will! It is not about being overly strict or legalistic to obey what is plainly taught as God's will in His Word. It is about truly knowing and loving Him. Since He intimately knew and loved His Father, Jesus Christ set His heart to obey His Word and do His will in everything even to His death on the cross (John 3:35, 8:29, 48-58, 10:30, 14:30-31, 18:1-11).
Every man that will follow Jesus Christ and be a strong man of God in His image displays the same characteristic of obedience to the Word of God unto death. The motive for such obedience is the same as it was tor the Lord Jesus: love for God. The Lord Jesus very directly and clearly taught those who would be His disciples, “If you love Me, keep My commandments,” (John 14:15, NKJV). It is so simple and plain that even a little child can understand this. Yet, in these near the end of this world system days, in and out of churches all over America are professing Christians that claim to love the Lord, but are willfully disobeying His Word.
In no way is this disobedience more apparent than in what is going on in so many professing Christian homes and the churches where God's Word on male and female roles, marriage and family has been cast aside and discarded as outdated. This is done to keep in step with the world and because God's Word is seen as an impediment to personal freedom, ambition and happiness. The fact that this rejection of God's Word is causing devastating family and social ruin does not seem to bother the rebels taught as they are by demons (1 Timothy 4:1). It is also laying the groundwork for the ultimate fulfillment of Psalm 2:1-3--a prophetic Word given by God millennia ago.
Whoever is on the Lord’s side does not take their instruction from Him and demons too (1 Corinthians 10:21-22)! Indeed, every aspiring strong man of God in the image of Christ and on His side faithfully honors and obeys His Word bound up in seven major pillars as it concerns human existence and social organization in this present age.
1. Man the creature has been created by God with purpose--Genesis 1:26-28.
2. Marriage has come from God as a gift to man and instrument for fulfilling His pur-
poses in this present age--Genesis 2:18-25.
3. Marriage is intended by God to be a lifelong commitment between a man and a
woman. Divorce is acceptable only on the grounds the Lord gives in His written
Word--Matthew 19:3-9; 1 Corinthians 7:10-16.
4. All sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman is sin before the Lord--
1 Corinthians 6:9-7:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8.
5. God has permanently ordained in this age that a married man is the head of his
wife and family--Genesis 2:7-8, 3:16b; 1 Corinthians 11:3, 8-9; Ephesians 5:22-24;
1 Peter 3:1-7.
6. In God's order, male headship is to be honored beyond the home and especially in
the churches which belong to Him--Matthew 16:15-18; 1 Corinthians 14:33-40;
1 Timothy 2:11-15.
7. Children are a blessing from the Lord even when they come outside of the marital
bond. Their lives begin at conception and they are not to be murdered in or outside
of the womb--Psalm 127:3-5, 139:13-18; Matthew 19:13-15.
These seven pillars erected from God's Word are indisputably plain and straight forward. Therefore, any man--president, apostle, prophet, bishop, pastor, preacher, priest or teacher--that teaches otherwise is not operating on the Lord's side no matter how much they profess to love Him. For He has taught our love is shown by our obedience (John 14:15, 21-24). The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
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