” I want to bring you my postulate that most present-day Christians live sub-Christian lives. As a result, Christianity has been watered down until the solution is so weak that if it were poison it would not hurt anyone and if it were medicine it would not cure anyone.

Most Christians are not joyful persons because they are not holy persons, and they are not holy persons because they are not filled with the Holy Spirit, and they are not filled with the Holy Spirit because they are not separated persons.

The Spirit cannot fill whom He cannot separate, and whom He cannot fill, He cannot make Holy, and whom He cannot make holy, He cannot make happy.

My postulate further insists that the average modern Christian is not Christ-like. The proof of this is apparent in the disposition we find among the children of God. They have moral weakness and suffer frequent defeats. They have a dulled understanding and often live far below the standard of the Scriptures and thus outside of the will of God.

To be honest, let us admit that the application of the gospel is being pulled down to the standard of the most carnal, the cheapest saintling hanging on by the teeth anywhere in the kingdom of God.”

Mr.Tozer has been with the Lord for over 50 years! Imagine what he might say were he able to observe the churches of today! By trying to be “relevant” we are indeed compromising the Scriptural standard to be comfortable for “the most carnal” among us. We don’t call sin sin, we don’t speak against abortion or the homosexual life CHOICE, we glorify the numbers of lukewarm seekers any gifted presenter can gather as proof of the “success” of his church, and justify materialistic living as proof of God’s blessing. We have lost our influence in the public square and are being gradually marginalized out of existence following our European forefathers path.

I wonder what A.W. would have to say today?

You give the first 10th or more of you gross income away for Christ’s Kingdom

You have a daily “quiet time or have read the Bible every day for 5 years or more.

You have ever shared your faith with a stranger. Even more with a friend.

You have not done something that you really wanted to do simply because Jesus said “Don’t do it.”

You believe that the gifts of God’s Spirit still work.

You believe in miracles and look for them.

You’re starting to think that heaven might be actually better than earth.

You would rather have the approval of God than man.

You think that ministry is your job and your pastor’s is to teach you how to do it.

You know that God is the source of all you have and that you’re a steward of all of it.

You believe that you can’t separate your faith from your public life.

You know that abortion is murder and marriage is between one man and one woman.

You have enough “stuff.”

You know and accept that you are in the minority in the church and don’t really care.

You are willing to call sin sin and not mistakes or bad choices.

If you’r a radical, rejoice! If not, repent!

The evil one has implanted such distortion in our perception of reality! We need to step back and refocus, rethink, and in many of our lives redirect our energy.

One step in that process might be to spend some time learning about our true home, heaven. If you resonate with the brief introductory challenge you might well find the following outline helpful and actually very exciting. The more we learn of what our real home is truly like the less we will feel the need to hang on to this sin-scarred place. For your eternal blessing:

Heaven

What is heaven like?

Physically –

1. Beautiful beyond imagination – 1 Corinth. 2:9 – Rev. 21-22
2. A place where our home will be – John 14:2
3. A place with no night or day, lighted by the presence of God and Jesus – Rev.21:23

Emotionally – What won’t be there?

1. Hunger or thirst – Rev.7:16,17
2. Tears – Rev 21:4 – What causes tears?
3. Death – Rev 21:4 – What causes death?
4. Sorrow – Rev21:4 – What causes sorrow?
5. Crying – Rev 21:4 – What causes crying?
6. Pain – Rev 21:4 – What causes Pain? (3 kinds of pain – Physical. Emotional. Spiritual.)
7. Curse – Rev 22:3 – no more curse – What are the effects of the “Curse” – (Gen. 3:15-24)

Relationally – If all of the above is true, and all those things and all that causes them are gone, what kind of relationships will exist in heaven? What things hinder or hurt relationships on earth as we experience this temporary physical experience?

1. selfish agendas
2. love with strings
3. jealousy, envy
4. manipulation
5. bitterness
6. dishonesty
7. unforgiveness
8. disappointment
9. comparison, competition

What would a perfect relationship be like?

1. no strings
2. no hang-ups
3. no jealousy
4. no competition or comparison
5. total acceptance
6. total transparency
7. no hidden or selfish agenda
8. other…

In heaven we will have nothing less than or other than perfect relationships. Not only that, there won’t even be the possibility of any thing that hurts!!! How much time and effort do we spend now in trying to protect ourselves against those things that hurt?!!!!!

Who will we relate to/with in Heaven?

1. God, our Father, Jesus our Savior, The holy Spirit, the angels, the Saints who are our brothers and sisters – Our ultimate family!

What will I be like in Heaven?

1. I John 3:2
2. Luke 24:16 & 36-43
3. John 20:16 – John 20:27
4. Luke 16_19-31
5. I Cornith. 15:35-49

God created us to be human. Why would He save us to be something totally different? We will be a new and changed us, not a different kind of us. A new car is still a car.

What will we do in Heaven?

1. a. We will reign with Jesus – II Timothy 2:12 – Rev 3:21 – (reign – The exercise of sovereign power)
2. We will rule over “many things” – Matthew 25:14-21,23 (rule –

1. to exercise control, dominion, or direction over, to govern)

2. governing power or its possession or use; authority

3. to dominate by powerful influence

4. to decide or declare judicially or authoritatively; decree

5. to be in total control or command, exercise supreme authority.)

1. c. We will “have authority” over cities.” Luke 19:17-19 (authority – the power to enforce laws, exact obedience command, determine or judge; power assigned by another, authorization)
2. d. We will serve Jesus – Rev 7:15 – Rev 22:3 (serve –
   1. 1. To work for
   2. 2. To be a servant to
   3. 3. To give homage and obedience
   4. 4. To be employed as a servant
   5. 5. To act in a particular capacity
   6. 6. To meet requirements or needs

What about rewards? Are there rewards in Heaven?

1. Matt.6:1-19 – Matt 10:41,42 – Matt 19:21
2. Hebrews 11:6
3. Luke 14:12-14 –12:33 – 18:22 – 6:21-23
4. John 6:27
5. Mark 9:41 – 10:21

What are rewards? Define: Something earned or attained by or for specific performance, behavior, actions.

The law of rewards: Our faith determines our eternal destination. Our behavior determines our eternal rewards.

Works = what we have done with our resources (time, energy, money, possessions, reputation, etc.).

What determines rewards? The “Bema” judgment of “works.” “Things done in the Body”

1. Matt. 16:27, Luke 12:48
2. John 5:28,29
3. Matt 7:24-26
4. Rev 20:22-15
5. II Corinth. 5:10
6. Romans 14:12
7. Matt 12:36
8. I Corinth 3:11-15
9. John 15:1-8

What is “fruit?” Eternal fruit = Lives turned toward God Fruit is the result of “good works.”

What does God say about works?

1. Titus 1:15,16 – 2:7 – 2:14 – 3:14
2. Matt 5:16
3. Ephesians 2:10
4. I Timothy 2:10 – 6:18,19
5. II Thessalonians 2:16,17
6. Rev. 14:13 – Rev 2:2 Rev 2:23 Rev 19:7,8
7. II Peter 1:10,11
8. II Timothy 3:16,17 – I Timothy 5:254

How then shall we live? Our answers will demonstrate our true values and create the basis for our eternal experience.

Think friends, please think!

First, the style of music that is dominant in the “seeker” or “emergent” churches; was it developed in the church and taken into the world, or was it developed in the world and brought into the church? You know what I mean; the driving drum beat, amplified guitars, strutting “praise leaders”, music so loud that you can’t hear the person next to you singing repeated over and over and over and louder each time? Where did all that come from?

Second, the dress that we see most common in the churches today, you know, pastors in jeans with jelled hair, and their shirts unbuttoned, women and teeny-boppers with all they have out for all to see etc., was that developed in the church and adopted by the world, or is it the other way around?

And, as we watch church attendance decline, and see out nation sliding further and further into amoral “whatever”-  my question is “how’s it workin’ for ya?”  Think we’re OK? Headed in the right direction?

Do you really think that the way to win the world is to bring it into the church? Really?

So, how’s it really working for us? Do you feel safer, more secure, and more happily prosperous than you did 5 years ago? 10 years ago? 20? 40? 50?  Are we experiencing a “kinder, gentler” culture?

How is our public education system working? 50 years ago we were number 1 in the world. No one would dare to claim that today. Most estimates rank us in the 20s somewhere. Are we getting better?

How about our economy? 50 years ago we were the richest lender-nation in the world. Today we are the world’s greatest debtor-nation, our debt growing every time congress is in session. (Republican or Democrat)

This is progress? How the mighty have fallen! And where will the bottom be? And how did this happen?

Here is my take. It all started in the Garden of Eden and accelerated greatly when in 1960-61 the Supreme Court took God out of our public  schools. This opened the door to resisting ultimate authority and the rebellion against all authority of the 60s, including the sexual revolution fueled by the pill and resulting in the objectification of women. Sexual liberation brought none of the hoped for benefits to women and actually deprived them of the respect of men and severely damaged the integrity of the family unit. Men were freed from the responsibility of parenting children they fathered when aborting (murdering) unwanted children was legalized and amazingly recognized as a constitutional right by the Supreme Court. A society that accepts the killing of babies is not a “good society.” God was not considered to be a part of the decision to grant the right of a woman to murder her unborn baby either legally or morally.

Through the 60s and 70s all measures of societal health trended down leading to the greed and immoral public behaviors of leaders in government, business, and the church of the 80s and 90s which expands and continues to this day. Obscene rappers and immoral entertainers have become our “heroes” and the definers of acceptable behavior. Unwed and homosexual procreation are accepted and our vice-president just proclaimed that homosexual marriage will soon become the law of the land. (Elton John’s having a baby!)

We have lost shame. We have lost extrinsic standard. We are losing hope for a better tomorrow.

This is all the inevitable result of ignoring the truth of a statement made by Fyodor Dostoevsky when he said “Without God anything is permissible, crime is inevitable.” Our Founders knew this to be true.

John Adams said: “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

George Washington echoed: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable parts.”

John Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration of Independence is quoted: “Corruption of morals make a people ripe for destruction. A good form of government may hold the rotten material together for some time, but beyond a certain pitch, even the best constitution will be ineffectual.”

Has crime increased or decreased? How many prisoners do we have locked up as a percentage of our population today compared to 50 years ago? What is your chance of being a victim of violent crime today versus 50 years ago?

I could go on but it would be purposeless. The obvious fact is are that, when any honest person looks at the last 50 years they will see serious deterioration in our national moral standard which has led to the devastation of every measure of societal health.

Wonder how we have so lost our moral compass? If you want a clue go to http://www.barna.org/culture-articles/462-six-megathemes-emerge-from-2010 and get a sense of what happened to the church in 2010 and possibly http://buckjacobs.com/think-about-this-two-huge-flaws for a short discussion of the two critical flaws that have contributed mightily to our current situation.

There is only one possible recourse to reverse our slide from a culture of hope to a culture of ever increasing despair – repent and turn to God. And if we who claim to follow Jesus won’t or don’t lead our culture to a better place – who will? (II Chronicles 7:14)

The good news is…IT DOESN’T MATTER!!!!!!

For Christians it doesn’t matter because our God, not our government or any world power or economic system, is our source! It is He who promises to supply all we need to do all He asks… period! What God asks of us is faithful, dependent, obedience to His Spirit moment by moment. If the sun shines or it rains, in good times or bad, in sickness or in health, in democracy or totalitarianistic socialism – our call is to trust Him for all we need to do all He asks AND HE WILL!!!

There is no need for weeping and wailing or gnashing of teeth! IT DOESN’T MATTER!!! Don’t waste time or energy!

This is like the endless and wasteful debate over the return of our Lord, whether He will come before, during, or after the tribulation! IT DOESN”T MATTER! It is just a distraction! What matters is moment by moment trust and obedience now, in the moment. He will come again for each of us and when He does, whether that is before, during, or after the tribulation, all that will matter will be our trust and obedience. He has a plan for each of our lives and He will always provide all we need to fulfill it! No power in heaven or on Earth can stand against Him. Jesus isn’t dependent on any form of earthly government or economic system. He is the absolute sovereign and infinite power of the Universe.

So, don’t be discouraged. Of course we have preferences concerning our government and who is best qualified to lead it, and we need to be informed and vocal in support of candidates who represent our values and views. But no matter who leads the country this is not our home and it will never be perfect or even really close, and it will never change our Source or what we need to do to receive all we need to live abundantly from Him. We are here for a short term as Ambassadors for Christ and then we’ll go home. Faithful Ambassadors don’t look to the country where they are sent to serve to supply their needs, they look to home. Press on, the Bema awaits!

These three are  supported by the fourth lie. This is one of the most damaging and crippling lies and distortions of all, and has been the foundation for so much damage to the work of Christ that it can’t be calculated. It is the lie of The chasm between the clergy and the laity. This lie is so deeply embedded in The Body of Christ that it would appear hopeless to remove it, failing a truly miraculous work of God.

This lie comes to us in so many subtle ways, but they all have the same basic message; that pastors, priests, and missionaries are the truly anointed ministers of God, and that the rest of us lay people are really second class serfs who are sent to labor in the fields of the world to grub out some mammon to bring to our holy leaders that will allow them to carry out the work of God. We are told this lie subtly and overtly, and it is so powerful because it is told to us by the very leaders to whom we look for truth. And even more devastating is that the very system that depends on the perpetuation of this lie is the system that trains and prepares the leaders we look to for the truth of our way in life. The seminaries and the hierarchies of our denominations would be drastically changed, and their prominent place in religious society altered, and their security threatened, if they taught the truth of the priesthood of all believers and the true call of God on the life of every believer. Many would cease to exist entirely. Jesus warned us that “if the light that you have within you is darkness, how great is that darkness.” When we take in a lie, which is darkness, and believe that it is truth, which is light, we are doubly deceived, and this type of deception is very hard to remove.

              The greatest lies are those which contain the most truth. This lie, number four, is a perfect example of this technique. It is true that pastors are gifts that God gives to The Church. They are specially called and equipped. (As are missionaries, evangelists, and prophets and teachers.) But not to do the work of ministry, their call and equipping is to prepare and equip the “saints”, you and I, for the work of ministry. It is not to do it themselves! The religious professionals are not an elite group of ministers to whom all the really important work of ministry has been delegated. They are the teachers and trainers who are called to enable and encourage you and I to do it!

            The list of destructive effects that are traceable to this lie is amazingly complex. But, in sum, we can say that like perhaps no other, it hinders the work of the Church in reaching the world for Jesus, and as a little realized but devastating byproduct, robs believers of uncounted eternal rewards.

            Each believer has a unique and personal destiny and ministry created in the heart of God. Finding and fulfilling that ministry and destiny is the purpose of the life on earth of a believer. The process of the seeking, learning, and doing the will of God in his/her life and unique ministry is the “reasonable service” of every believer, not only the religious professionals. How much of our true spiritual heritage, and how many eternal rewards will you and I forfeit because we feel we are “second class” Christians?

            The fifth lie feeds many of our human weaknesses and temptations. It is the lie that God wants every one of His children to be rich in worldly terms, and everyone can be rich financially.

            This lie is at the heart of the “name it and claim it” and “health and wealth” distortions of Christian doctrine. Again, this lie has its’ roots deep in the truth. God does want all His children to prosper “even as your souls prosper”, and Jesus did come to give us “life abundant.” But the prosperity and abundance He refers to have absolutely nothing to do with worldly riches! The prosperity and abundance of God are of the inner man and not dependent on anything external. A poor man has equal access to God’s prosperity and abundance with a rich man. When God grants one riches they are only tools to be used to fulfill His call and plan for the life and ministry of that one, and the one to whom they are given will be responsible to Him for their use for His purposes. Worldly riches are a responsibility to be carefully handled, not a blessing that God wishes He could give to all His children.

            God doesn’t want all His children to be rich, He wants us to be holy. He doesn’t want us to be conformed to the image of Solomon, He wants us to be conformed to the image of Jesus.

            Receiving this lie, even in part, causes many Christians, who God has called to humble service, in small businesses, churches, or ministries, to fall to the sin of comparison and envy, and to do things He hasn’t called them to do, like borrowing money, to try to grow to be as big as others. It encourages an ungrateful spirit and an unthankful heart which hurt God. It makes true contentment impossible and leads to stress and frustration. God has not made us all to be rich, but He has made us all to be wealthy in true life abundant.

            The last lie we will deal with, but by no means the last Satan uses, is the perhaps the daddy of them all, at least of those we are affected by today. This is the lie that says; The Bible ”contains truth, but isn’t wholly true. There are many permutations of this lie, but they all have in common the purpose of opening a crack in God’s written revelation to man. A crack that, once opened, will allow such an increasing dilution and distortion, that over time will render it meaningless altogether. We are seeing the results of this lie in our lives almost daily as we watch one truth or one principle after another be explained away under the guise of modern critical interpretation. In our day men who call themselves Christians tell us that oral sex isn’t sex at all, homosexuality is an “alternative lifestyle”, lies that don’t hurt anyone aren’t lies at all, and that we must respect all ideas equally. We are told that we must read the Bible in the “light of the culture in which it was written”, meaning since our culture is now so different the Bible can’t be applied. This lie has been so cleverly implanted that we now have turned from the use of the Bible to judge other works, to the use of other works to judge the Bible. This lie reduces the Bible to equality with every other religious book such as the Koran or The Book of Mormon.

            If  we accept the lie that any part of the Bible may be untrue then we open the door that any other part may not be true. The task of picking and choosing which parts of the Bible are true and which are not is a hopelessly impossible slippery slope, and no one can stand on it. Once one steps there, there is no stopping. If we Christians give up our objective and extrinsic standard of truth, the written revealed Word of God, we have lost the fight forever. Oh, we may not appear to have done so immediately, but it is over nonetheless. ONLY if the Bible is NOT totally true can Christianity be positioned as only one of many great religions, and its’ teachings treated as optional. Jesus as He is revealed in the Bible makes NO room for other faiths. Period.  The Bible never even infers that there may be even one other way to God let alone many, and only if the Bible does not tell the whole truth is that thought even an option.

            To the degree we as Christians have been influenced by these six fundamental lies we are being hindered in doing what God has called us to do. Jesus said, “IF you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” Free from lies and to be all He designed, and to do all He planned. Think about it:

            If the Bible isn’t totally true, I can’t trust it.

            If God wants me to be rich and I’m not, something must be wrong with me.

            If my faith shouldn’t be a part of my business, then it’s all about money.

            If my faith can’t be a part of my politics, then it’s all about power.

            If morality can’t be legislated, then the immoral will rule.

            If I am a second class Christian, what I do doesn’t matter much.

Jesus taught His followers to be careful not to be deceived. He used the metaphor of darkness and light to represent lies and truth and warned to be careful about what we accept as “light.” He said that if we receive darkness believing it to be light the deception would be “great.”  Let me give you and example of how this works.

Let’s take the statement “You can’t legislate morality.” Have you ever heard that? Do you believe it? Well, most people do. And yet, nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is that morality is the basis for ALL legislation. Legislation establishes and codifies morality. Laws are passed to define moral behavior among those under the authority of the governing body that creates them.   

God legislates morality. It doesn’t bother Him a bit. He made laws and commandments. Can you see the effect in America today of this lie? Because so many have believed it we have become unable to define right from wrong to an almost unbelievable degree. We are being consumed by post-modern thought that denies absolute truth and allows determination of what is right in an anarchistic way, meaning everyone being able to choose what is right for themselves.   

When combined with lie number two, “You can’t mix business with religion” and lie number three, “You can’t mix religion with politics” lie number one is used to confuse us and distort reality with devastating results. These lies have been the basis for much of the marginalization of our faith today. Since we are told that we are not to mix our faith with business or politics, those Christians that God has placed in positions of strategic influence and leadership often feel that they must compromise their belief or keep it private somehow, which is in fact impossible. The attempt to do so turns them into hypocrites and compromises their testimony.

The reality and truth is that we can’t separate our religion from our business, politics, legislation or anything else! Our faith, if it is real, is the center and basis for all of life and when we attempt to separate it from any part, chaos in that part is the result.

The mixture of these clever lies which sound so good and logical is what allows the deception of our politicians and leaders to the extent that they feel they can say that, while they hold “personal” belief against something which the law of the land says is legal, they can and do support it. The most glaring example of this deception are those politicians who say they are Christians but who support a woman’s “right” to have an abortion because the law of the land decrees it to be legal. Since when does the law of the land supersede the law of God? And where does God ever give His permission to violate His laws if most of the people want to? Abortion is murder and the killing of unborn babies is at the heart of the moral rot of our nation.

We will stop here for today, with just the first three examples of darkness presenting itself as light. Have you believed any of the first three? Think about how these three have impacted our culture! There’s much more to come, stay tuned! Oh yeah, and by the way, light always overcomes darkness. Walk in the Light!