The Grand Imperative of the Occupy movement is “Abolish Empire and Establish Earth Community.”¹ The working preamble to their declaration of independence notes the newly created community will not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, sex, or anyway people want to have sex.  They also claim not to discriminate against religion, a claim no doubt believed by many in the movement, but this cannot be true and at the same time be true for the spirit of the emerging Earth Community.  The spirit behind the Occupiers’ earth community is one part New Age; which has some very divisive things to say about the religious.

Actually, the grand imperative might well be translated: ‘Occupy – Join or Die.’

The Occupy movement draws attention to its authority to create a world community by citing a “spiritual awakening,” and to its ability to usher it in on a “critical mass” of this shared spirituality now being attained.²  To understand what this spirituality demands requires we recognize the Occupiers’ Earth Community is a Gaia Community.

The goddess Gaia is the life force of the earth and the mother of all creation because she allowed humans to evolve.  Apart from those experiencing the Occupiers’ spiritual awakening are bad humans who deplete the earth’s resources, and threaten her life with pollution and climate change (still means anthropomorphic warming).  Although they are often industrious and hardworking, they are selfish because they resent having their property confiscated and given to those who won’t work.

The Occupiers’ concept of social justice can fix the inequity problem, but it cannot reconcile the bad people.

The irredeemable sin of the bad people is one which also prevents them from joining the coming community.   It is the sin of a special sort of idolatry.  If not recanted, they cannot ‘coexist’ with the Occupiers in the Earth Community (the bumper sticker is a lie). 

The first of the bad people are the Hebrews. After having evolved to walk on two feet and use abstract thought, they turned on Mother Earth and invented a male God.  They wrote an elaborate story where not only were they created in His image, but the earth was also created by Him. The Christians are an even worse lot.  Not only do they affirm the Hebrews account, they claim His son, also a man, came to earth and was put to death, but that Gaia had no power to hold Him, and He rose from the grave.

This, to Gaia worshipers, is Sacrilege.

According to New Age spirituality, this sin is so grievous that it prevents Hebrews and Christians from continuing in the evolutionary process towards obtaining the spiritual awakening that will eventually lead to “quantum transformation,” as Barbara Marx Hubbard put it.³   As a New Age high priestess, Hubbard also teaches on the fate of non-evolving Christians and Jews who fail sever their ties to their religion:

Then you have no more chances.  Incremental changes cease.  All those humans capable of cooperating to self-transcend will do so.  All those elements remaining in a state of self-centeredness, maintaining the illusion of separation, will become extinct.⁴

The ones who acquiesce their religious views as part of the community amalgam of interfaith spirituality will become part of a “universal species” that will be “beyond separation.”⁵ This is the next and final stage of evolution.  According to Hubbard, this is what all religious texts predicted all along, and was their sole raison d’etre (reason for existence). 

But it turns out that the ‘extinction’ process for Christians and Jews will need to be helped along in order for the evolving ones to finally transcend.  On this aspect of evolving, Hubbard wrote:

No worldly peace can prevail until the self-centered members of the planetary body either change, or die. That is the choice ….. They must surely die, or change.

It is a free choice. Evolution is good but it is not nice. Only the good can evolve. Only the God-centered will survive to inherit the powers of a universal species. Evolution empowers the horseman upon the red horse to kill that which cannot love God above all else and his neighbor as himself and himself as the son of God.

This act is as horrible as killing a cancer cell. It must be done for the sake of the future of the whole. So be it; be prepared for the selection process which is now beginning….

We, the elders, have been patiently waiting until the very last moment before the quantum transformation, to take action to cut out this corrupted and corrupting element in the body of humanity.⁶

This candid portrayal of the ‘universal species’ assisting in the selection process is from an unpublished work by Hubbard, a prolific author.  It is understandable why publishers would be reluctant to publish it, but copies of it are floating around on the internet.

In light of this Gaia spirituality backdrop, we are not to be surprised by the anti-Semitism on parade at the Wall Street chapter of the Occupiers, and at other Occupy denominations.  Protestors from New York to Los Angeles have railed against Zionist Jews for causing the 2008 financial plunge because they control American banks, and the Federal Reserve.⁷ It’s true that the Federal Reserve, fractional reserve banking, and our fiat dollar, by design, must eventually collapse, but the monetary policy plunging us into the financial abyss came out of Washington.

What about the Christians?

Here, we refer to Fundamental Christians, in the sense that they hold steadfastly to at least a few specific Bible doctrines as fundamentally foundational to the faith, and by their own confession are ‘separate’ from the world, and its coming Earth Community.  There is enough animosity openly displayed towards them in all arenas to satisfy the assumption of a standing contempt in Occupier circles. 

Still, the instigators of Christian persecution provide actual evidence.

Once aligned with his famous father’s views, the son of Francis Shaeffer now campaigns against what he calls “Fundamentalists” who are facilitators of Wall Street greed.  Franky Shaeffer has called on Occupiers to occupy at mega-churches and Christian publishing houses.  His complaints against Fundamentalist Christians include there propensity for favoring smaller government, and opposing high taxes, over regulation, and gay rights.⁸

The Christians are actually the ones who have been rescued out of this Nimrodal delirium of a human initiated kingdom of utopian, transcendent enlightenment, but the Occupiers are its captives.  (Nimrod united the people of the world, and had them build the Tower of Babble; to ascend to divinity by their own power.)

The New Age is one part of the spirit behind the Occupiers.  There is another less ethereal but more sinister part.

Kaput!

The word is a German term for dead, or finished.  We bring in the German language to briefly examine the Nazi connection to the Occupiers (though many of them are unaware of it). Notice, if you will, the importance of the concept of ‘community’ to the current world consciousness.  It is not a new idea.   

The idea of a special universal species uniting in a one world community has played out from Nimrod to Hitler, who vowed that even after his suicide it would one day come to fruition. In his last testament he wrote in his bunker before his took his own life, Hitler swore: 

From the sacrifice of our soldiers and from my own unity with them unto death will in any case spring up in the history of Germany the seed of a radiant renaissance of the National Socialist movement and thus of the realization of a true community of nations.⁹

The vision of the Nazi philosophy embraced far more than the German nation.

The National Socialists world Workers Party is the fundamental embodiment of the Occupy movement.  The Nazis sought to create the Occupiers’ new Earth Community many decades ago, and it is the guiding, though occlusive, philosophy behind them now.

This explains why the Occupiers are not railing against Washington, the cause of the current financial problems, but they are instead screaming for more government control over banks and businesses.

In his book The Rise of the Fourth Reich, author Jim Marrs gives definitions for key terms pertaining to Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, allied together in WWII.  In defining fascism, Marrs explained:

In fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, the state gained control over the corporations. In modern America, corporations have gained control over the state.¹⁰

Marrs wrote that just prior to Washington acquiring General Motors, AIG, and de facto controlling interests in all of our largest banks.

We are witnessing the merger of state and corporation taking place at an astonishing speed.

Today, Capitalism and Democracy are Kaput. We don’t have unfettered Capitalism; we have socialist capitalism where the state props up business that should be allowed to fail, and starts businesses that go bankrupt leaving the tax payer holding the tab (e.g. Solyndra).  The tax payer has no real democratic process of redressing these grievances because representatives in Washington are shedding the Constitution and ruling by Executive Order.  The state takeover of the health care industry had nothing to do with providing affordable care and everything to do with controlling the masses in the Earth Community.  Individuals who seek to remain separate from that community will be denied health care.  It will be a part of the ‘selection process’ for weeding out the bad people.

Notes:

1 – 2. Zevin X. Cruz, Abolish Empire and Establish Earth Community, Occupywallstreet, New York City General Assembly, November, 2011. http://www.nycga.net/groups/demands/forum/topic/the-one-global-demand-abolish-empire-establish-earth-community-the-grand-imperative/
3 – 4. Barbara Marx Hubbard, Happy Birth Day, Planet Earth: The Instant of Co-Operation, (1986) p3. (emphasis added).
5. Barbara Marx Hubbard, “The Book of Co-Creation,” YouTube, uploaded by Penny Price Media on Februay 14, 2010. Video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNB5PrzWj0k&list=UUgfwjk0J1oVM0kv0GxRuSGg&index=18&feature=plcp
6. Barbara Marx Hubbard, “The Book of Co-Creation: An Evolutionary Interpretation of the New Testament: Part III, The Revelation: Alternative To Armageddon,” (unpublished manuscript, 1980) p. 56; 59. (emphasis added) [views available here and here]
7. Jennifer Rubin, “Occupy Wall Street: Does anyone care about the anti-Semitism?” Washington Post, October 17, 2011. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/occupy-wall-street-does-anyone-care-about-the-anti-semitism/2011/03/29/gIQA43p8rL_blog.html
8. Mark D. Tooley, “Wall Street Occupiers Urged to Target Chruches,” FrontPageMag.com. October 17, 2011. http://frontpagemag.com/2011/10/17/wall-street-occupiers-urged-to-target-churches/
9. Adolf Hitler, “Last Will and Testament,” quoted in Jim Marrs, The Rise of the Fourth Reich, (Harper Collins, Inc., 2009) p2. Kindle Edition. (emphasis added).
10. Jim Marrs, The Rise of the Fourth Reich, (Harper Collins, Inc., 2009) p6. Kindle Edition. [This source cite does not constitute a general endorsement of this work; and the reader is hereby cautioned that, while Marrs does provide a wealth of information on geopolitical history and events (much of it seemingly accurate as time permits to verify), Mr. Marrs is in gross error on an important point of Christian doctrine.  Particularly, this error is exemplified in Marrs' treatment of the unforgivable sin and the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, where he misrepresents what blasphemy of the Holy Spirit actually  means (p. 295; Kindle edition).].

New Spring Church has scheduled their new teaching series All In to start on January 8, 2012.  The slick Hollywood-grade promotional trailer is gambling themed, with a card player set amidst high stacks of poker chips on an alluring green table felt.  The voiceover informs “the game is a big deal, and it will cost you everything,” and the narrator goes on to explain the “risk is great” in the upcoming game to be played at church, but that “the payoff is even greater.”¹ We should note that in gambling, bets are made on uncertain outcomes with the goal of obtaining property or money.

While there are some card games where player skill influences the outcome, casinos structure the play so that the odds favor the House.  There are few successful, professional gamblers compared to those who play, lose, and build more casinos. 

So, what are the odds that this churchHouse will be dispensing sound Christian doctrine in the upcoming All In series? 

New Spring is pastored by Perry Noble who has an established track record of devising various ways for enlisting volunteers and crafting celebrity-styled programs to amass free labor pools and tons of cash.  Noble even went into the personal coaching business; selling his secrets on human resource management and building large lucrative organizations, where getting close to Noble started at $1,500 per person.  

To understand what the purpose of the All In series really is, we need to reveal a secret strategy.  Some of the covert details were actually released to the public back in 2007 by Rick Warren in an article published by the Christian Post, though some interpreting was still required.  The sneaky secret is New Spring is one of many celebrity-making mills that are disguised as churches. The state of the art lighting, sound system, and set designs are employed to create for the pastor the persona of a celebrity in the minds of the attendees. 

The mills employ, when they can’t get them for free, skilled technicians who use the art of stagecraft to produce hyper sensory-stimulation in audience members for the purpose of manipulating their emotions.  They sway how they feel about issues, or how they feel towards people.  Anyone who stands on their stage long enough, showcased as a star, can eventually be equated with stardom.  A celebrity is created, and celebrities attract large followings.

The practice of sensory manipulation is a time honored, and very effective, means of producing both servants, and wealth.  The same tactics employed today by a growing number of churchHouses were used by ancient Babylonian priests to impress initiates into their mystery religion. One extensively researched work by Alexander Hislop titled The Two Babylons gave this insight into the process:

Now the secret system of the Mysteries gave vast facilities for imposing on the senses of the initiated by means of the various tricks and artifices of magic.  Notwithstanding all the care and precautions of those who conducted these initiations [to keep the mechanisms a secret], enough has transpired to give us a very clear insight into their real character. Everything was so contrived as to wind up the minds of the novices to the highest pitch of excitement, that, after having surrendered themselves implicitly to the priests, they might be prepared to receive anything.  After the candidates for initiation had passed through the confessional [‘share’ time in small groups], and sworn the required oaths [covenants in churches], “strange and amazing objects,” says Wilkinson, “presented themselves. Sometimes the place they were in seemed to shake around them; sometimes it appeared bright and resplendent with light and radiant fire, and then again covered with black darkness, sometimes thunder and lightning, sometimes frightful noises and bellowings, sometimes terrible apparitions astonished the trembling spectators”  Then, at last, the great god, the central object of their worship, Osiris, Tammuz, Nimrod or Adonis [or leader], was revealed to them in the way most fitted to soothe their feelings and engage their blind affections.²

The use of lights, sounds, smoke machines, and even vibrating platforms has existed and was artfully used at least from the time of Nimrod.  What is striking is that the description is remarkably similar to the theatrics which take place in contemporary stadium churches. 

Our sneak preview began with the odds already heavily stacked against the church attendees, and in favor of the churchHouse.  While these facts don’t necessarily admit us to the secret production room where New Spring’s gaming schemes are calculated, it just so happens that another chruchHouse ran a teaching series that used exactly the same gambling theme, and exactly the same title.

North Point Church in Springfield, Missouri recently ran their All In series accompanied by professional movie trailers that featured a card player seated at the gambling table amidst high stacks of poker chips.  The videos from the series may be viewed on their website.  The speaker for the series was pastor  Tommy Sparger, who proved by his speaking skills to require all the stagecraft North Point could provide. 

The stage was themed in gambling, and it looked like the props were imported directly from a Las Vegas casino.  The message put forth was largely a financial one, with admonishments not to waste money on worldly pursuits (admirable), and encouragements to get out of debt.  The sincerity of the advice, however, was severely compromised by the usual accomplices to apostasy: ignorance and religious gimmickry. 

The ignorance will in large part be on the part of the attendees, and that is what makes this latest church scam very effective. The All In series pounds home the false teaching that the book of Malachi is written to the Church, and the laws and cruses therein pertain to it today.  

The gimmick is something called the Three Month Tithe Challenge. Odds are high that New Spring will center their All In series on this heresy, or a reasonable facsimile thereof. Every imaginable stretch is made to convince attendees that God commands the Christian to give ten percent of their gross income to the organization.  They claim that not only does the law stipulate this requirement (and conversely God curses the Christian for non-complaisance), but the requirement even predates the law. 

The focus of the All In series is to get attendees to commit all their time and resources to the organization in return for great rewards, or prosperity.  They are selling an investment, or product, and as with most products this one comes with a guarantee. 

No doubt whoever thought up the idea is now either licensing or selling the package, or kicking themselves for never copyrighting it because it’s spreading like a small wildfire. But they were not so smart as they believed.  What they saw as their master stroke for selling their argument not only turned out to refute it completely, but also proved that the organization itself did not believe it.  It only takes one examination of their argument and guarantee to see why this is so.

Notes:

1. New Spring Church, All In, 2012. http://newspring.cc/series/allin/ (accessed December 20, 20110).
2. Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, Third Edition (Loizeaux Brothers: 1916; 1943; 1959), 67.

New York City is not the biblical city of Babylon.  The melt-down experienced by Wall Street, along with the pain inflicted, and the coming complete collapse, is not the beginning of the destruction of Babylon.

The demise of the American dollar-brought on by congress, accelerated by presidents, facilitated by banks- is the reason we don’t encounter America in End Time prophecy; we don’t exist anymore.  There will be a land mass, many millions of people, and even perhaps the name “America,” but that will be both unrecognizable, and inconsequential to the future world stage.

Babylon will be rebuilt on a grand stage, be the economic capital of the world, and use a new world currency until the mark of the beast is required.  There is no difficulty in allotting time to refurbish (the city current still exists) Babylon to stupendous splendor.

The Time of Jacob’s Trouble, or what many Christians refer to as “The Tribulation,” is indeed seven years long; ending with the return of Christ and the setting up of the Millennial  Messianic Kingdom.  The catching away, or “rapture,” precedes the Tribulation, but nothing in the Bible mandates that the Tribulation immediately follow the Rapture.

In fact, the Antichrist is introduced in the Book of Revelation riding in on a horse and ascending, or rising, in power diplomatically, for a time; and is unarmed, carrying a bow, but having no arrows (Rev 6:2).  The gap between the Rapture and the Tribulation could easily be twenty-five years or so, more than enough time to build a last days Babylon.  This is not to say that two and a half decades would be required with today’s technology.

The time could be less.  Consider how fast new big box stores, and even shopping malls go up.  We’re talking about months, not years. And when the entire world is in concert without those pesky Christians, and the Holy Spirit, for a time, restraining them from rushing headlong into sin?  Take a look at Dubai, as a small scale example of construction marvels, and conveniently in the vicinity of Babylon.

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor – and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be – That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks – for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation – for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war –for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed – for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions – to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually – to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed – to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord – To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and Us – and generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

George Washington

Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (Mat 4:8-10)

The entertainment industry is one of several kingdoms of this world.  It is a kingdom of darkness populated by people who tell stories that are not true, and pretend to be somebody they’re not.  These actors, singers, dancers, and musicians devote their lives to perfecting the craft of illusion.  They work tirelessly to prefect their acts so that as entertainers they can consistently “sell it,” which means to make the audience believe that what they are witnessing, or hearing, is reality.  It is the art of deception, and the deception cuts both ways.

A common description of the effect that the applause and the adulation of crowds have on a performer is that it is intoxicating.  The feeling is equated to a rush that propels the performer to a high place, and many have said that it is addicting.  What is rarely admitted is that the rushing feeling, and the high plateau to which the performer is elevated to, actually satisfies their desire to be worshiped.  To better understand this transaction, we might think of this in terms of worth-ship, or of being highly valued.

This value-added experience comes at a cost.  Value must also be added to the performance which appeals to the senses, and the senses must be gratified at increasingly heightened levels.  This is because human senses  become calloused when over-stimulated, and scrubbing away the flesh for it to become sensitive anew always leads to debasement.  Think of what took place in the Coliseum in the years of the decline of the Roman Empire.

Today, all over the world, entertainment in almost every venue has been debased to wholesale sensuality (although not yet complete bloodsport).  Famous singers and dancers take to the stage and perform nearly naked emulating sex acts to deceive the crowds into believing that they are the participants.  They will even occasionally perform bump and grind dances  with fans, and exchange same-sex kisses with other ‘artists’  to better ‘sell it.’

Fans readily pay a fortune for this voyeur gratification.  In this part of the transaction, the performer is deceived into believing that they are more important than they really are due worshiping fans.

What all these little performing gods have in common is that in order to be elevated in the entertainment kingdom they must serve the god whose kingdom it is.

They must worship him in return for success and stardom.

How an individual performer strikes this bargain varies.  Some actively participate in their own deception, not wishing consciously to admit to serving Satan, while others unabashedly seek after him publically and tout the signs and symbols of their devotion.  Anywhere along this spectrum, to one degree or another, performers’ bodies are adorned with pagan or demonic tattoos, and they flash the satanic hand sign with extended tongues.

It is stunning to witness an otherwise innocent looking young actress flash, by way of some unknown prompt, the satanic hand with two-fingered horns and a wet tongue as her eyes instantaneously turn from luring engagement to a barbed-wire, demonic dazzle.  How good the performance, or how well the deception?

The willfully ignorant and less convincing express the horned-hand and extended tongue  gesticulation as rebellion to the idea that they shouldn’t do anything they want for pleasure.  The Devil’s devotees do it to show their allegiance to Satan outright, and to communicate with other adherents in worship.

It’s a way of honoring Satan for their success, but he demands more than symbolism.

The very successful in Satan’s entertainment kingdom are those who submit to become his messengers.  They must not only oppose Christian doctrine, they must go on to preach Satan’s gospel for him.  Satan’s gospel at its core has always been a twisting of the scriptures, and it explains why his children often adopt the Christian label and pretend to speak as Christians.

Under the guise of Christianity, these pretenders preach the anti-gospel which imitates or opposes the Gospel of Truth. This opposition to God’s word often comes in the form of opposites.

One of God’s fundamental designs for humanity is marriage.  The opposite of God’s design of marriage and procreation is homosexuality, and so it is a mainstay of Satan’s gospel.  In addition to attacking man who was made in the image of God, It opposes God by attacking hierarchal order.  Before the open proclamation it receives today, it was covertly the supporting spirit behind feminism which challenges both the authority and the identity of the head of the household.

There is even a larger reason behind the attack on marriage. Satan’s goal in demolishing marriage is to destroy the core unit of society thus breaking down order and civilization.  Nothing is more effective overall at destroying society and plunging civilization into depravity than widespread practice, and socially accepted, homosexuality.

One need not be religious to understand why this is so.  It may be followed logically.

Hierarchical design points to God, and turning it upside down elevates the antithesis. This swicth inculcates in the human heart an argument which justifies almost any sinful behavior a person desires to practice.  This explains why many who are not homosexuals applaud and support homosexuality (Rom 1:32).  If doing what is opposite of what was intended by design and function by performing something of the most intimate nature with another person for pleasure is to be celebrated, then what the supporter desires to do with another person, or perhaps too that person, is easily covered under the same license.  (It follows that what offenders do to property is even of less consequence.)  In most cases, it is the reckoning of lessor infractions passing under the bar.

By accepting homosexuality as equal to heterosexual marriage, by accepting the opposite,  a vast array of other sinful practices are elevated from the dark pools of wickedness and accepted into the light of day;  and nearly unlimited license is created for everyone else to do what is opposite of good, which is evil. This may be the largest facet of the sin’s palatability, though not its core diabolical essence. Essence, however, points to origin.

Because it is authored by the prince of darkness, an honest understanding may entertain its consequences, but reason alone can not vanquish it.

The result is man finds lawlessness reasonable. Despite the fact that laws may remain on the books, society eventually gets to the point where no crimes are punishable.  Consequently, all manner of hatred, such as racism, rises up.  Eventually, even hatred of an honest day’s labor prevails, and a looting mentality is manifest, and feet are swift to shed blood.

This present darkness.

Today, what looks like a civil society is a thin veneer covering a seething caldron that erupts more frequently in riotous behavior.  Soon (and very soon), the whole world will be awash in wickedness and ready to welcome the  Wicked One (2Th 2:8).   To accelerate the destruction of what is left of a moral civilization; homosexuality must be preached by Satan’s children if they are to glory in his kingdom.

The splendor performers receive in Satan’s kingdom, the adulation from fans, the lavish material wealth with which to pursue their every pleasure, is tragically a very poor trade. Satan’s purpose is to rob, kill, and destroy, and he will gladly waste there little lives in flesh so as to have their souls in hell.

The only thing these little gods mean to him now is to assist in preparing the world for his coming, short-lived, reign as Antichrist where he will be openly worshiped as God; his original desire that led to his fall, and consequently the desire of all who are fallen.

The pretenders dutifully preach.

Performer Miley Cyrus is an entertainment minion who wears the Christian label.  Cyrus preaches that there is no Christian prohibition against homosexuality.   Of course, Cyrus strongly supports same-sex marriage, and reportedly preached to Perez Hilton, of Carrie Prejean fame, the sermon: “I am a Christian and I love you — gay or not. Because you are no different than anyone else! We are all God’s children!”¹ Cyrus claims to speak on behalf of Christ, and preaches a message that unrepentant sinners want to hear.  It is a lie.  The Bible does not teach that all are the children of God, but to the contrary it clearly states that some are the children of Satan.  The religious are especially singled out as the Devil’s progeny in scripture.

Jesus rebuked the religious Pharisees, who claimed to speak for God and actually opposed Him, this way:

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (Joh 8:44)

The performer’s gospel knows no such verse or passage, and she is listened to and adored by her fans who worship her as a little god.

Cyrus also bares about on her body the marks of paganism, and not the marks the Apostle Paul referenced which came from the stripes laid upon him for preaching the truth of God’s Word (Gal 6:17).  Cyrus has tattooed on her rib cage a dream catcher.² Originally of Chippewa design, the ornament became a popular display for much of Native American culture.  Accounts vary as to exactly how it functions, but in essence it protects a sleeper from bad dreams by catching them in a circular web where they remain until the light of day causes them to vanish.  Good dreams are allowed to travel down feathers hanging from the catcher to reach the protected sleeper.  Would someone who spoke on behalf of Christ, and really believed in Him, go this far to seek this sort of protection?  Deception.

A deal with the Devil must follow his prescribed course. Cyrus has recently had one of her fingers inked with the symbol that stands for homosexual equality to heterosexual design.    But what is penned from the fount of truth? The Bible says:

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, (1Co 6:9)

This verse has two references to homosexuality, and the phase ‘abusers of themselves with mankind’ comes from a single Greek word arsenokoitēs which translates “sodomite.” These inherit the kingdom of darkness, and eventually will be cast with it into the lake of fire that burns forever; along with the fearful, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, and idolaters.  And all liars (Rev 21:8).

Notes:

1 – 2. Daily Mail Reporter, “Now that’s dedicated support! Miley Cyrus gets her SEVENTH tattoo… an inking on her finger in recognition of gay rights,” Mail Online, August 1, 2011.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2020715/Miley-Cyrus-gets-tattoo-finger-recognition-gay-rights.html

The gimmicks employed to keep funding the Apostasy continue to sink to new lows. The book of Malachi is clearly addressed to Israel, stating in the opening verse it is: “The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi” (Mal 1:1). Further, it specifically singles out priests of the Levitical priesthood and the “sons of Jacob” for rebuke and correction (Mal 3:6). Nevertheless, the leadership at North Point Church in Springfield, Missouri claims the book is, instead, written to the New Testament Church.  They further claim that the tithes, which were always food, are representative of money; and the storehouse, which was always a food storehouse, is representative of the local church.¹ With this eisegesis of reading a false meaning into the text, they then conclude that the “ordinance” (Mal 3:14; 7), or law, of tithing applies to Christians and their gross income.²

After digressing into cold, black and white balance sheet figures, North Point rallies back into nebulous spirituality by claiming that “as New Testament believers, we worship the Lord with the tithe, or ten percent.”³ That claim cannot be substantiated with scripture because it isn’t true, so North Point has come up with an astounding gimmick to entice attendees to give them their money.

They call it the 3 Month Tithe Challenge.  The audience of prospective tithers are distributed tithe challenge cards by the ushers so that they can sign up to tithe for ninety days “risk free.”⁴ The ushers are instructed to stand at the exits with five gallon buckets to collect the cards when the audience is dismissed (no pressure there).  North Point claims by this challenge: “We are going test God for you,” to prove His promise of blessing the Israelites in this regard has been transferred to the Church.⁵

Pastor Tommy Sparger states in the video series All In, and it is repeated in their advertisement, that North Point will repay the tithes at the end of the challenge to anyone not completely satisfied with the results, no questions asked, but upon reading the Challenge Agreement it is easy to discover this is by no means a money back guarantee.

The agreement participants must assent to states for the challenger that:

At the end of the 3-month period, if I am not convinced of God’s faithfulness to bless my life as a result of my obedience to His Word, then I will be entitled to request a refund of the full amount of contributions made during that 90-day period.⁶

In the video series, Pastor Sparger emphasizes what he purports as  God’s promise to today’s tithers of making the remaining 90 percent of a person’s money exceed the buying power of the original 100 percent, and also the blessings God would bestow which would be overflowing and exceed existing capacity to contain them.

These aspects of Pastor Sparger’s pitch seem quantifiable, and so his legal department changed the terms to ‘God’s faithfulness,’ something they gamble few would be willing to brazenly challenge, and they enlarge the requirement of performance to the totality of ‘God’s Word,’ making wide an ‘obedience’ clause North Point can easily escape through.

Notice the challenger is nowhere promised a dime back from the challenge.  If, in an isolated case, North Point should find itself unable to wiggle out of honoring their guarantee, the guarantee is that the challenger will only ‘be entitled to request a refund,’ and a request is something that may either be approved or denied at the discretion of North Point.

Pastor Sparger, to lighten the mood, admits that he is afraid of the liability North Point is exposing itself to with the tithe challenge, and at one point left open the option of God not only having to work supernaturally, but also to work “magically” to bring the expected, overflowing increase.⁷ It will be remembered here that it was Pharaoh’s magicians (sorcerers) who by means of enchantments used magic with their rods to imitate Moses’ sign of the Lord’s calling (Ex 7:11-12; 4:1-5).

Here is what North Point has unwittingly accomplished with their gimmickry.  While they profess to align themselves with the terms set forth in Malachi; including, the provision cursing disobedient Israelites for robbing God by withholding the tithe (Mal 3: ), North Point proclaims to be ready to take back the tithe from God after it has been given Him.  That is the 3 Month Tithe Challenge on its face.

Beneath this slick tithe campaign is another implied confession that North Point knows full well that Christians are not under this ordinance of the law, subject to neither its blessing or cursing, and they have no authority to extort ten percent of their incomes from them.  This is deduced by the fact that North Point does not take the cursing in Malachi seriously for themselves.  It appears that the only terms in the law North Point recognizes are the ‘blessings,’ and that of increasing the leadership’s salaries and building their empire.

North Point currently has two service locations, or campuses, and entertains about 4,500 people regularly. They did some number crunching using studies showing average interest payments on credit card debt and pondered the happy circumstances that would prevail if North Point received those payments.  Consequently, integrated in their tithing teaching is loose financial strategy for getting out of debt and making due with less.  They are right to point out the numerous products and services that eat away household incomes and that are largely unnecessary and even harmful.  They undermine their credibility here by adopting the same marketing techniques that lead many into serious trouble, and even ruin, to make fulltime dues payers for themselves.

The weightier issues, though, are the sophomoric preaching, if it can be called preaching, that passes for biblical teaching, and the misuse of scriptures that will produce real harm in the lives of the simple.  For example, ten percent of a starving student’s income cuts a lot deeper than ten percent of, say, a comfortably salaried person at a large enterprise like North Point, but they are demanding ten percent across the board.

There are very predictable and crushing consequences from this sort financial exploitation, and its attendant wickedness, and they are outlined in the conference series the Church of What’s Happening Now at TheNewsBeats.com.  Here we address North Point’s claim that not only is tithing required of Christians by the law, it is also a timeless biblical principal for obtaining God’s blessings that predates and supersedes the law.⁸

North Point calls to the witness stand one Abraham whose story is told in the book of Genesis.  They are able to establish that 430 years before the law Abraham did indeed give a tithe, or ten percent, to Melchizedek.  A cross-examination on the incident, however, produces evidence that sufficiently discredits North Point’s case and calls for it to be thrown out.

Firstly, Melchizedek blesses Abraham before he gave a tenth of all, establishing that the blessing certainly wasn’t contingent on the paying of the tithe (Gen 14:19).  Secondly, Abraham did not give any of his own money, but gave a tenth of the spoils of war (Gen 14:16; Heb 7:4).  Thirdly, there is no record of Abraham ever meeting Melchizedek again, or ever repeating a tithing transaction of any kind.

Ostensibly, North Point may reasonably argue that a person must attend a church only once, and that after waging a successful battle campaign, and then give a tenth of the spoils obtained from the concurred enemies, and the religious figure they appear before should be in character on the order of Melchizedek, the king of Salem (peace), and the priest of the most high God (Gen 14:18). To sum, Christian tithing in terms of biblical law is illegal, and a short perusal of Pastor Sparger’s messages easily disqualifies North Point as a depository for war spoils (Sparger is no Melchizedek).  These are a few things the innocent would do well to learn before too long.  Another is that the Raiders of the Messianic Kingdom know no shame in building their empires on earth.

Notes:

1. “3 Month Tithe Challenge,” North Point Church.http://northpointchurch.tv/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=258&Itemid=243
2.  “Frequently Asked Giving Questions,” North Point Church http://www.northpointchurch.tv/images/stories/giving/NPC%20Giving%20FAQ%27s.pdf
3. “3 Month Tithe Challenge.”
4 – 5. Pastor Tommy Sparger, “The Risk and the Reward,” North Point Church. (Video 2011). http://northpointchurch.tv/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=224:all-in-week-1-|-the-risk-and-the-reward-|-2/12–2/13&Itemid=192
6. “3-Month Tithe Challenge Agreement,” North Point Church. http://northpointchurch.tv/images/stories/giving/webtithe.pdf
7. Pastor Tommy Sparger, “The Risk and the Reward.”
8. Ibid.

California has passed a law that requires textbook publishers to celebrate historical contributions made by homosexuals to society that also carries a strongly implied censorship clause.  As with previous laws that guarded against educational materials negatively reflecting on a person because of their race, school boards are now restricted from purchasing any instructional texts that reflect adversely on homosexuals, and the parade of sexual deviants in tow, because of their sexual proclivities.  Publishers must also seek out figures based on these sexual orientations, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans, for inclusion into history texts as positive examples.  The law, SB 48 signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown,  also applies to school sponsored activities and instruction.

The thrust of this sweeping law is this: public deliberation and debate on the subject is over, and dissent will no longer be tolerated in what is become a state controlled media.

The result this law will have is easy to foresee.  No publisher with a market as large as California public schools, the largest purchaser in the U.S., is going to risk millions of dollars in sales.  No homosexual who was either famous or infamous will be objectively treated in the texts.  From vignettes to profiles, individuals will be celebrated for their contributions that will often amount only to remaining militantly homosexual, and homosexuality is what is going to be celebrated.  School children are going to be indoctrinated, and inducted into the lifestyle as never before.

This inclusion has already taken place mostly in Language Arts where history is more easily revised and even invented.  Works by women, minorities, and deviants purported to represent contributions to society have been collected in anthologies for English classes; whether such contributions are small, miniscule, on nonexistent until the moment they are published for use in schools (e.g. due to the mandatory distribution of a work in a large school district, the person is now a famous author).

Purposely selecting these materials to reflect diversity has resulted in a minutia of literary works collected not on the basis of their ability to edify, but on the basis of being different, and being diverse is usually demonstrated by an attack on political and religious views that preceded or opposes them. That attack will now intensify.  At large, history is going to be revised, free speech is going to be abolished, and the state view is going to prevail.

In light of the encroaching shadow of darkness falling over the land, it is appropriate here to preempt the textbook publishers with a history lesson.  The following is a brief account of how the word “homophobia” became a neologism for tyranny.

In the homosexual campaign for ascendancy to privileged status under the law it is interesting to track the evolution of the word homophobia.  Back in the 1980s and early 1990s the homosexuals were fresh from their victory over the American Psychological Association in having their aliment removed from DSM II as a psychological disorder.  It wasn’t enough.

The claim made by the homosexual lobby for equal and indiscriminate treatment under the law was a lie.  It would not be enough to censor civil discourse to prevent the expression that homosexuality was a perverse and disgusting proposition from which citizens may choose to withdraw themselves and their services from promoting.  Sin is very intolerant of righteousness, and the worse the sin the greater the intolerance.

The goal was not only to silence the free expression of ideas and religious convictions; it was to extinguish the holders of those convictions by forced conversion.  The previously sick set out to identify normal people as sick in order to cure them.  A person intolerant of sinful behavior and who could not recognize it as good on moral grounds was diagnosed by an army of new armature psychologists as having the psychological disorder of phobia, or an unnatural and unhealthy fear of homosexuals.  To twist the screw, it was claimed that the root of the fear was in a person discovering that they were a homosexual.

It was a wildly successful campaign.  The only way a person could prove they did not suffer from homophobia was to quickly welcome and associate with as many homosexuals as possible.  This surpassed merely accepting the lifestyle and proclaiming it to be normal and good; it translated into celebrating that lifestyle.  The homosexual lobby was ecstatic, but it still wasn’t enough.

Nothing less than the complete elimination of everything and everyone that could remind the homosexual that their behavior was a sin had to be accomplished.  Terrorizing churches was having its effect, and many were falling to the takeover, but activists were on the wrong side to the law.  To jump the fence, homophobia had to be elevated to become a crime.

Today, homophobia no longer means fear; it means hate, and most expressions of disapproval of homosexuality are sought out for prosecution as a hate crime.  It will not be enough.

As the new standard for curing society of homophobia has been elevated to a legal requirement, so too, a new standard for celebrating homosexuality must also follow.  In the future, it will no longer be enough to recant; one must convert as proof of truly celebrating the lifestyle.  On this course, the time is coming when the rites must be taken publicly in approved settings.  It will become a part of the new curriculum for diversity classes and sensitivity training, and will be a requirement for obtaining diplomas, degrees and credentials.  No one from the age of five years old and enrolled in a public school or registered at a government licensed child care facility will be exempt.

Eventually, Christian schools that do not conform to these federal regulations will lose their accreditations, and then be outlawed.

The contemporary evidence for this forced induction can be seen in the rise in the application of psychoanalytical criticism to the literary works and letters of famous figures from history.  Some literary critics have gone as far as to determine that Abraham Lincoln, Jane Austen, and Jesus Christ were homosexuals.  Individuals from history with outstanding character, moral standards, and even deity are particular targets to establish the perversion as a constant and estimable behavior the practice of which enables individuals to make valuable contributions to society.   This psycho revisionism is an attempt to imbue the practice with the attributes of their literary victims, and these are figures who are also targeted because they cannot personally refute such nonsense today (except for the Alpha and Omega whose refutation stands in the Bible).

Actually, homosexuality flourishes in proportion to increasing societal depravity.   The historical evidence that the widespread practice and acceptance homosexuality is the apex of cultural debasement, and that forced induction is the means favored to expunge any hint of witness that the practice is immoral, is best presented by the condition and fate of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The extent to which the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah were given over to homosexuality was such that the Lord likened it to a loud cry “because their sin is very grievous.” (Gen 18:20).  The Lord sent two angels to deliver Lot and his family out of Sodom before destroying it with a rain of brimstone and fire from heaven.  The angels met Lot at the city gate at sundown, and were persuaded by him to spend the night in his house instead of in the street as they had planned.

Lot feared the abuse from the Sodomites that awaited travelers would be in store for these specimens of holiness, these masculine personages set apart for use by God, and for that reason he brought them under his roof (Gen9:8).  As a resident of Sodom, Lot had been vexed by the filthy licentiousness of the wicked citizens, (2Pet 2:7) and astutely assessed the danger.

Indeed, it came to pass that while his guests had only finished dinner, and before they could retire; the polarization of good and evil had aligned the inhabitants of the whole territory into a wicked frenzy.

The homosexuals, from old men to young, had come from every quarter and surrounded Lot’s house; demanding the angels be turned over to them so that they could be sodomized.  Lot interceded by offering even his own daughters to ward off the attack, but the Sodomites would have none of it; they turned on Lot himself, for calling their behavior wicked, and pressed in upon him promising to do worse to him than to his guests for having the audacity to judge them.

As the crowd pressed against Lot they also attempted to break his door down, but here the angels interceded by pulling Lot inside the house and shutting the door.  There comes now, in this historical record, the most astonishing evidence of this wretched depravity of evil that makes the coexistence of good and evil mutually exclusive.  The intervention of the angles included one more act; “they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great” (Gen 19:11).  What does the record bear, what is the account left us as warning?  Even after being struck blind, the Sodomites “wearied themselves to find the door” to induct the angels into homosexuality (Gen 19:11).

The spirit of homosexuality is nearly this pervasive today in its persecution of the righteous to the extent that it extends itself to grope in the darkness seeking to silence, or convert and induct, any with godly opposition to the sin. This latest textbook law is the declaration that California has become as Sodom, and is the groping of homosexual activists for the door of the private Christian school.  What will be the effect on Christian schools when all state instructional texts carry gloss pieces on homosexuals, bisexuals, transgenders, and how will they retain their national accreditations if they don’t use those texts?  The writing for those texts has already begun, and the writing for tyranny is on the wall.

A few may have approached this session with a little trepidation.  With the fortifying and abounding already set forth, some may have expected this practical example to include instructions for standing on a milk crate and operating a bull horn.  After faithfully attending the previous sessions and studying the materials, you will be happy to know that you can relax now. We’re taking the day off to go fishing.  The instructions that follow are intended to help you with what new fishermen need most: baiting and casting the lines. This applies to more than just the novice.  Even seasoned fishermen continue to look for new ways to tie an enticing lure.

First, a word of caution: understand our trajectory.  It is a simple observation to make that our culture is highly resistant to anything godly.  Many have responded to the challenge by seeking inroads with vehicles of relevancy into the court of the unsaved.  They have designed friendly products tailored after the amusements that the world already offers to get attention and gain acceptance.  They compete on the world’s terms, and so have mostly created worldly and ineffective amusements.  We’ll not follow that failure here.  The delivery vehicle is licensed to negotiate today’s highways, but the content is the high-octane, one hundred percent Word of God.

In order to get the most millage from our example, we are going to entertain an environment where it is difficult to share the gospel.  While that describes most places today, we will add some obstacles and constraints to force our ingenuity.  This is not the method for every tough situation.  Fishing holes very as do lakes and streams.  Many may be able to use this exact method, and others will see it as a primer for their own ingenuity.

The assigned fishing spot is a public high school campus with significant challenges.

The student body is fifty percent foreign born, and there are some culture issues.  Less than twenty-five percent are from two parent homes, and many are being raised by other relatives, or are in group homes. The parents divorced, deserted, or are in prison. The areas they live in are gang infested.  There is violence, drug abuse, and alcoholism.

Tens of girls on campus are pregnant with their second child, and most are not married.  School fights are common, and bloody.  There are anywhere from thirty to sixty students on parole at one time who must check in at the campus parole office regularly.  Many of these offenders committed violent crimes.  There are gangsters on campus who force girls into prostitution and manage their schedules.

There is a large heavy metal following dressed in black with satanic symbols on their clothes and backpacks.  The school psychologists have caseloads that include ones who have been observed drawing scenes of mass murder and carnage.  Many of the students are on suicide watch.

Alcohol poisoning is competing with all other reasons given for students to go to the nurse’s office.  Drug use on campus is so rampant that a walk through a hall way can often leave one’s clothes so permeated with the smell of marijuana that upon returning home the scent aggravates the person’s dog.

Staff members have been assaulted and targeted for assassination, and guns have been confiscated.  There are two resident police officers and the number fluctuates to as high as eight or more depending on threat levels.

Our assignment: is to send students to the library to read and write down Bible verses.  It must be done legally, voluntarily, and despite the fact the school librarian may have thrown the Bible in the trash.

First, they will need to be sent to a different library.  Here is where we include the desire to at least start the assignment.  There just so happens to be a fast food restaurant chain in the western United States that is very popular among teenagers.  It consistently makes about the best cheeseburger on the planet.  One of the founding family members became a Christian, and praised God for their success by printing Bible verse references on the bottoms of their food wrappers and beverage cups.

We now have our new library.

Let’s remember that teenagers have veracious appetites, and the disadvantaged don’t eat as much good food as they should.  Fortunately, our library sells gift cards, and for a small sum they can be purchased in an amount equal to the price of a popular combo meal.

Next, the instructions for completing the assignment must be well thought out.

We will design our assignment with two parts, really two assignments, for reasons that will become clear as we go.  For the part one; the student is instructed to go to the restaurant and eat, and a disclaimer is included that tells the student they may stop there, and that nothing else is required.

For part two; the instructions go like this: 1) Save the wrapper from the cheese burger (or save the cup from a drink), 2) At the bottom there is a secret code of a few letters and numbers together, 3) type them into Google.com and search, 4) You will find a sentence of words, 5) Write down the sentence, 6) Give it to me (during: passing period, nutrition, lunch).  If you follow these instructions in Part Two, I will send you back for another cheese burger.

The instructions are typed, cut to fit the size of the gift card, and taped inside the cardboard wrapper of the gift card.  The amount of the gift is also written inside.

This assignment is designed to appeal to teenagers’ desire to solve mysteries and uncover secrets, and fits our technological lifestyle.  Even if they don’t own a computer, their friends have cell phones with internet access, and the school libraries have computers.

Even for those who only get to search the verse and read it, and either decide for the time not to proceed, or get distracted, the mission is accomplished.  For those who do the second part there is a tendency for them to read the verse to you to prove their accomplishment.

Here is why our assignment is designed the way it is.

The courts have ruled that students may share their faith at school so long as it is not during instructional time, and for that reason you have protected them by stipulating they deliver the verses during non-instructional time.  You don’t want them getting into trouble for witnessing to you.  No doubt, you have noticed a turn around.  You are preaching the gospel, and yet you are the one being proselytized!  This protects you.  Of course, you have an opportunity to clear up any misunderstanding they may have regarding a verse.

Because part one is a free gift, with no obligation, and part two is voluntary, the most you could reasonably be faulted for is feeding hungry teens and offering an activity designed to keep them out of trouble for a while.

This brings us to when to give the assignments. It is best to give them on Fridays, and especially before a three day-weekend.  If you ask these teens what their plans are for the weekend, most will confess to either going to a party, or hoping to find a party, and no plans beyond that goal.  That is two days and nights for trouble to find unsupervised or minimally supervised teens in bad environments.  Having a little project like this one may be something that gets them out of the wrong place at the right time.  I have it on good authority that this sort of project can be very successful.

A project like this would be helped with a protocol to follow.

First and foremost, pray over every person before giving the card out.  The Lord may redirect you.  Second, only give a card to someone you have established a relationship with.  This is so they can know you’re legit (a relationship can be established in thirty seconds).  Thirdly, verify literacy level meets the requirements (you might not have your glasses handy and require a short note be read to you). Fourthly, give the card with the explanation that it’s a weekend, and they are going to need a plan, and something to eat.

The very exciting thing about a project like this is that it can place so many lines in the water.  You never know when, or which one, is going to hit.  And remember from our study, someone else may be the one who gets to pull that line out with a soul on it.

We conclude our conference series with a few words of caution and advice.  We should have an aching heart for the lost, but we must also be discerning.  Our admonishment from scripture is to be both gentle, and wise (Mat 10:16).  You are being sent forth in the midst of wolves (Mat 10:16), and unfortunately it’s been my experience to find that many are in sheep’s clothing.  We are to know no man by the flesh, but we are to try the spirits to see if they are of God (2Cor 5:16; 1Jn 4:1).

We are to be acutely aware of the battle ground. Remember, the first to show up on the scene in the parable of the Sower were the fowls of the air (Luk 8:5).  These birds represent the emissaries of Satan, and we should expect them to be devouring after us. (Luk 8:12).  We need to be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.  Study God’s armor for the Christian found in Ephesians chapter six.  Each piece is extremely important, but many a battle has been lost due to lack of good intelligence.   This is why in summing our armor Paul stressed the importance of praying always in the Spirit and remaining attentive for receiving guidance (Eph 6:18).

Finally, we will close out our conference series Living In The Faith with these words:

And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. (Mat 4:18-19)

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To cope with the many demands placed upon us, and to still meet our responsibilities, many Christians desire an action plan that can be integrated into busy lives.  This helps to explain the popularity of programs and study series which address aspects of Christian living.  Unfortunately, there is much marketing but little in sustaining methods that endure.  To assess this assessment, those who have purchased or attended various Christian Organizers should ask themselves which, if any, are they still following on a daily basis.  Understand: it’s not being suggested here that living in the faith be completely regimented.

As we are led by the Spirit into opportunities arranged for us before hand, it is important that we do not become too formulaic in living for Christ.  We can, though, extract from scripture a simple formula for what we are to do, and how to do it, that will serve us well in serving Him, and growing on towards perfection.  This is a simple and general approach, and yet it is a method which when employed will render one serviceable, and in ready posture to be employed by the Holy Spirit in the work of glorifying Christ.

To do this we take the very next two verse that follow the last few we examined in 2 Timothy chapter three, and which begin in chapter four (q.v. Christianity – The Word). This was probably not the best chapter division selected by the translators because the following verses are tied to the previous ones, and culminate them in a call to action in light of them.

Remember we are using Thayer’s Greek Lexicon to expound a little on key terms:

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;(2Ti 4:1)

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.(2Ti 4:2)

The response of most people to the idea of preaching is that it is the pastor’s job.  The pastor shepherds a congregation of believers teaching and ministering the word to them, but we are all called to be ambassadors for Christ to represent Him by His word (2 Cor 5:20).  The idea is: we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth seeking out others to make into strangers and pilgrims on the earth by seeing them reconciled to God and becoming new citizens of a far country; and the only way to do that is through the gospel of Jesus Christ (Heb 11:13; 1Pet 2:11; Acts 4:10-12).

This is the crux of the matter, but there are also other important aspects to preaching the word contained in Paul’s admonishment to Timothy.  As we will see, preaching the word also entails declaring all the counsel of God (Act 20:27)

Paul solemnly charged Timothy to preach the word, and outlined the service requirements. The word is to be proclaimed after the manner of an herald who goes through town proclaiming an important news.  It is to be preached in the following manner:

We are to be instant: our appearance on the scene is to be as an advent, a sudden appearance of an angel-messenger sent from God.

We are to preach it in season: when opportunity presents.

We are to preach it out of season: in seemingly inopportune times; with the inference that we are to create opportunities, be consistent despite the conditions, and this is not a fair-weather occupation.  Brave the storm.

We are also to use the word to point out error and warn of its penalty, call for correction, and comfort and strengthen believers:

We are to reprove: refute the errors of false gospels, expose apostates and reprehend them severely, and call them to give account of themselves.

We are to rebuke: point out the penalties of error, and admonish sharply for correction.

We are to exhort: to console, strengthen, and encourage by calling another to one’s side to comfort and instruct.

We are to be longsuffering: to exhibit patience, steadfastness, and endurance.

Finally, we are to do all this with doctrine: teaching and instructing from the Word of God.

No doubt, few of us feel we measure up to these requirements even half the time, and the fact is none of us ever actually measure up.  It is the spirit of God in us that makes it possible for us to serve Him. For example, the requirement to be instant; I don’t have the effect on people when I walk into a room of being an angel-messenger sent by God, and therefore they experience an advent.  I do note that when the spirit of God is strong in me an on me that the room does change when I enter; the faint are encouraged, and the evil are excited at my presence.

Many of you have noticed that same thing. We accomplish these things, when we do, by the power of God, and in the spirit:

And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. (1Co 2:4-5)

This is the most encouraging part about preaching the word: God gives us the ability and power to preach it.  We only need let His will be done, and it is His will for us to preach the gospel truth, and our staple is the gospel that saves.

Consider, we have only seven times recorded in the New Testament where Jesus cried out with a loud voice.  This observation can be startling, and compel investigation.  Twice He cried out to God from the cross.  Once He cried out to raise Lazarus from the dead.

Only four times did Jesus cry out with a loud voice to all that could hear Him:

1. While teaching in the temple; that he was the Messiah sent from God (Jh 7:28).
2. At the conclusion of the feast of Tabernacles; for all who thirst to come to Him and drink (Jh 7:37).
3. Declaring and ensuring; that whosoever believed on Him, believed on God who sent him (Jh 12:44).
4. Remarkably, Jesus Cried with a loud voice; over our hearing of the parable of the Sower (Lk 8:8).

Certainly, the parable to the Sower must be of extraordinary importance, and so we will reproduce it here:

And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable: A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried,  He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Luk 8:4-8)

We know from the explanation He gave to His disciples that the seed is the word of God (Lk 8:11).  We also have another important piece of information from His discourse with the disciples regarding this parable.  After crying out with a loud voice so that we who have ears to hear would listen, Jesus tells us to take heed how we hear (Lk 8:18).

A military command to march, when it is heard in the ranks, produces marching.

Notice that the overwhelming majority of the Sower’s seed did not produce fruit, but there are some things we need to consider about what appears to be waste.  The Lord did not criticize the Sower for being wasteful with the seed.  In fact, as a return on the sowing, 25% brought back an hundred-fold increase.  If it were to be counted with the 25% that sprang up, that would actually be a 125% return.  But there is more to consider.

We looked at what scripture accomplishes for the Christian (q.v. Christianity – The Word).  To better understand the parable of the Sower, here we might glimpse into what scripture accomplishes for God.

Most are probably familiar with the fact that all who live godly in Chris Jesus will suffer persecution (2Tim 2:12), and that our faithful endurance produces a faith like gold tried in the fire (Rev 3:18).  But there is another side to this coinage in the economy of God that fewer have considered.

We read in 2 Thessalonians that the tribulations and persecutions we endure can also be a token of the righteous judgment of God.  It is a token by which we are not only accounted worthy of the kingdom, but when tendered those who have shown their rejection of the gospel by persecuting its messengers are recompensed by that token with God’s vengeance, and everlasting punishment (2 Thes 1: 4-9).  God’s word accomplishes His purposes (Isa 55:11).

At the Great White Thorne Judgment most, if not all, will be without excuse (Rom 1:27; Rev 20: 12), but it appears that some will be more without excuse than others; for instance, having rejected the gospel by persecuting the saints.  Our forerunner as an ambassador was the Apostle Paul. He was in prison and in when claimed that title (Eph 6:20).  It is an affront to a sovereign nation to imprison or deport its ambassador.  Indeed, when the Lord met Paul on the Damascus road, the Lord told him that in his persecuting the early Christians he was actually persecuting Christ (Acts 9:4).

In God’s plan, and for purposes know only to him, some will be guilty of greater sins, and deserve the greater punishment (Mat 10:14-15; Lk 10: 13-14; Lk 12:47-48; Jn 19:11).

We cautiously examine this dimension of God’s plans and purposes for the ages in order to highlight that we cannot assess the effectiveness of God’s word by what we may be able, or allowed, to see.  We must put our faith in its author, confident that His word does not return to Him void (Isa 55:11).  We may put our confidence in the power of the word:

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Heb 4:12)

The idea is not to look to the results we see as indicative of our success, and much less that of the word’s success.  Indeed, one plants, another waters, and yet another may harvest, but we are assured it is God who gives the increase (1Cor 3:6).

I believe all should start as the sowers.  It is easier to cast seed than to haul water or partake in the hard work of the harvester (Mat 9:36-38).  If faithfully occupied in sowing, one will probably see action in the other areas.  But I think it’s being occupied as the sower that makes it possible to move on to watering and harvesting.  Unfortunately, this is an entry level position that too few are entering, and perhaps why it seems the harvesters are also few.

While preaching the word includes declaring the whole counsel of God for encouragement and edification, and to warn and correct, the weight here has been placed on declaring the gospel of salvation.  This emphasis on salvation is appropriate because of the time, and due to the hour, and because of what it can do for the unsaved, but also because of what it does for us.  Aside from the benefits of submitting to the will of God, the occupation of sower makes it possible to have a ministry, an occupation with a daily faith walk with Christ. To more easily become ambassadors in this endeavor, in circulation and fit for use, in our next session we will move on from parable and metaphor to practical example.

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