I used to think the secret to being blessed was how much faith I had or how much I tithed or my church sowed. While there is truth in that, I came to realize that wasn’t the whole story. We can know the truth but there are truer truths we can also know. I saw that the wisest man who ever lived, Solomon, was also the wealthiest and that those who are the most blessed had wisdom to do the right thing in each situation. I discovered the key to abundance rests on understanding honor. We honor those things that we value, but will not get things of real value as long we value the wrong things. Jacob valued his brother Esau’s firstborn birthright as the oldest son yet he talked Esau into selling it to him because he was hungry and wanted a bowl of porridge.This is why Malachi 1:3 says “Jacob I loved and Esau I hated”. While the Hebrew word means “love less”, it is actually talking about the nation of Israel versus the nation of Edom who became a source of problem for Israel. The bottom line is, we should see the importance of viewing things through God’s priorities. It seems incumbent upon us to put a proper value on those things God esteems worthy of honor. If we do, we end up blessed and happy, but if we don’t, we might live in lack and frustration.
God says, if we honor our fathers and mothers, we will have a long life. He says marriage between a man and a woman should be honored by all. If we honor what He thinks is important, we receive both riches AND honor. David honored God’s presence and went to great lengths to get the Ark into Jerusalem. When God asked Solomon to ask anything of Him, he didn’t ask for money or revenge, but instead for wisdom to lead. He ended up getting riches,honor,glory and peace! The offering King David took up for the building of Solomon’s temple was so immense because the people knew they wanted to honor God. And before they did anything else,David made a massive sacrifice to the Lord that same day he took that temple offering! He had 1000 bulls,1000 rams and 1000 lambs as well as drink offerings. (1 Ch 29:12-25) They both chose wisely. Recently I wondered, is the American church valuing the wrong things? Are churches so in fear of losing the 501(c)(3) or tax-exemption, preachers avoid preaching the truth about same-sex marriage, immorality,abortion and other topics,considered “taboo” by the media?? I just returned from preaching in 9 different churches in Australia and none of them have a tax-exemption but their churches thrive. So are our priorities skewed? Does the church value money and being PC by media standards? Don’t we know our authority is in bringing to our culture the Word of God? Recently, Wikileaks revealed that mainstream media, the New York Times,Washington Post, CNN, ABC,MSNBC, Salon, were ALL in collusion with & pushing a narrative for the DNC to elect Hillary Clinton. While liberal bias is no surprise,to be covering up bad stories and highlighting untrue stories, basically telling lies and spreading propaganda means they are no longer “speaking truth to power” but instead “power speaking propaganda to people”. This election exposed how blatantly out of touch ,corrupt and deceitful the media is! Even though it is the largest communicator and legitimizer of deceit & immorality in our culture, the church still seems to tip its hat to it, bows down to Mammon and worships Jesus on Sunday-Baal,Mammon and Jesus! In ancient Israel when they worshiped many gods that was called pantheism. Isn’t that what churches are doing today? I told a pastor friend recently, you get what you value and what you value ,you talk about. If we value the Holy Spirit and welcome Him, He shows up! If we honor wisdom ,talk about it and run to get it, we will have it. If we talk about miracles and supernatural things and value those, we will get them! But if we don’t esteem these things God esteems important, we end up doing without that blessing. We can have as much of what God has by accepting or rejecting it. God rewards us when we honor what HE esteems and so we need to learn to love what the Lord loves and even hate what He hates because He sees things in a vastly different way than we do! (Is 55:7-9) My question to you is, what do you honor in your heart,your life priorities, your home, lifestyle and culture of your church? So what are the reasons for this prophetic deficit and the prophetic blindness and deafness?
The Media Mountain of Slime If you are confused about the election results,maybe take the cue from Paul who told us to examine ourselves (2 Cor 13:5)and see if you are in the faith, then ask yourself : 1) Am I acquainted with the Spirit of Truth? Scripture’s clear that God will participate in your delusion if you agree with it. 2 Thessalonians 2:11 “Therefore God sends upon them a misleading influence, a working of error and a strong delusion to make them believe what is false” We have to learn to LISTEN to hear the truth. “If anyone has ears to hear”… 2)How many cues am I taking from the voice of a dishonest, corrupt Jezebellic media,now exposed to be corrupt and a propaganda instrument for the Democratic party? The old media: NYT,Washington Post, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, 1/3 at Fox are losing so many followers it appears the New York Times and others who pushed their narrative may close in the next few months! Goebbels and the Nazi propaganda used to elevate Hitler was child’s play compared the level of deceit, propaganda and dishonesty spewed out by these priests of the “media mountain,”Lance Walnau calls it, to push their position for the election.They are guarding their version of truth and propagandizing rather than reporting truth. Almost NONE of them are Christians. The reason they missed so BADLY and are IN SHOCK is they actually believe their own propaganda! Believers must get our worldview from the scriptures and a clean conscience determined by our spirit,not the media. The media is not our “conscience”.They are polluted priests of their own wicked religion where up is down,right is wrong and victimhood and perversion is everywhere. 3) Do I receive my understanding of “truth” through abiding in the Word of God & hearing the voice of God or am I tipping my hat and taking my worldview from a corrupt, immoral media ? I would suggest media is a false god of this present world system and many people, pastors,leaders and churches bow their knee to it. While there are many wonderful elements to it that are not at all corrupted, it has the power to create a narrative that sways us. 40 years ago,the US free press was considered unbiased,not taking sides but uncovering truth,reporting FACTS and whistleblowing on corruption. Today it is bought and paid for by corporate interests that attempt to move opinion and reality to its narrative of right and wrong. Without discernment coming from the Holy Spirit we are dumbly led astray. Think: are you bowing your knee to worldly wisdom and the gods of this age in the media? Is that where you get your worldview? If you are,repent,open your bible and have your mind transformed! I have an observation about the election of Donald Trump and the profound prophetic deficit it exposed in the church. While new media clearly foresaw it, (FB,Twitter,blog sites like Drudge) the church overall either rejected or ignored it initially,which shows we have a BIG problem with prophetic vision. It’s astounding to me how FEW Christian prophetic voices really saw what was happening concerning this presidential election. Few if any teachers saw it. Where were the prophets? The people jumping on board now are irrelevant. While there were scientific,mathematical and of course political analyzers,forecasters and prognosticators who use data and algorithms, Christian prophets are to see things with spiritual vision and God’s eyes,NOT through a political, natural or PC church lens! In addition, did America’s “prophets” NOT see the gravity of this election? The danger and stakes couldn’t have been clearer: economic decline,spiraling debt,Christian religious persecution,rule of law ignored, chaos and lawlessness with rioting,open borders immigration,international adventurism, a refugee crisis,ISIS and more. When people asked me, I told them- look, the bottom line about this election is it was either going to be the end of America or a return to basic common sense Americanism. Trump’s 306 to 232 electoral college 31 state landslide victory over Hillary Clinton was historic and a stiff repudiation of Obama and the Democrats,not seen since 1980! But the sheer silence from the pulpit or blindness of many church leaders to the gravity of the situation was seen in our so-called prophets-where? and pastors-what? That complacency was appalling and frightening! While I do not purport to be anybody special in the “prophetic circuit”,whatever it is, I clearly saw Trump would move to get into the race by late 2014,saw the authority in his words and knew he would go all the way! And when he openly declared at his announcement to run in June 2015, my wife Linda and I were astonished at his clarity of the problems and the anointing and authority on his words was palpable and forceful! It was NOT because he said what the PC media sycophants think is abominable, but because it “rang true” with common wisdom and immediately seemed to clear the haze of blindness and open the ears so that people might be free to think and speak something contrary to what the media was saying. While I told those in my circuit of influence ,I saw how the corrupt PC culture had already anesthetized Christians with their foolish worldview. Trump prophesied his win every time he spoke and his clarity released courage to others to speak truth! But where were the prophets? Where have the prophets been? Mario Murillo saw clearly that Trump was “crushing a corrupt system and teaching Christian leaders a lesson”. Lance Walnau went to a meeting of evangelical leaders with Trump and saw Trump was “a wrecking ball to political correctness”. Many at that first meeting sensed he was God’s choice but I am not sure they knew what to do? Is that NOT a problem? Jeremiah Johnson said, “Trump does not fear man nor will he allow deception and lies to go unnoticed. I am going to use him to expose darkness and perversion in America like never before,” We saw this on an unprecedented scale the weeks leading up to the election through hackers Anonymous and Wikileaks. While both tend to be left wing,they seemed appalled by the immense level of corruption of the Clinton crew,including involvement in the occult with “spirit cooking” and the “child sex ring” pedophilia accusations concerning Podesta, the 26 trips to “Orgy Island”taken by the Clintons and other. God help us but I believe we will see much much more implicating the Obama administration as well.Bobby Conner saw that in 2008.
The most accurate prophetic word about this was the one Mark Taylor gave on April 28 2011, which was a divine declaration and a prophecy of the future of America.It was positive and hopefilled,not like the gloom and doom of MANY who call themselves prophets today .Unlike many prophecies we see that are conditional,like “If you,I will”, his was a foretelling word of divine intent and has been 100% accurate so far! I think it’s interesting that Mark Taylor is retired fireman and an outsider, not necessarily in the “prophetic circuit”,yet his spiritual vision and clarity is epic and accurate. We needed that word to give many of us the faith and courage to see this election through to the end with prayer and voting. I understand Trump got the largest evangelical vote since Reagan! Taylor’s prophecy,entitled “Commander in chief”, had millions of views on Rick Wiles TruNews radio and Charisma also ran it which MILLIONS also read that. The follow interview with Mark Taylor the day after the election is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNV9I_2sRXk So what is the reason for such a massive prophetic deficit? Why such a lack of MORAL clarity about what has been going SO WRONG in the church first and in the country and culture? Why did leaders miss it or even try to avoid it? Why did high-profile leaders like Max Lucado and Beth Moore take a cowardly PC line,effectively siding with a immoral,unethical corrupt,deceptive,even perverse 30 year pol,rather than going with a potty-mouthed businessman/patriot who professed God, was pro-life and religious freedom? FEAR-After decades of observing the bad fruit of the disciples & leaders who embrace the seeker mentality & philosophy, I would go so far to say there is a strain of fear instilled in the seeker approach which masquerades as “being all things to all to win all”,but instead, behind it all is a fear of man, a PC nod and a bow of the knee to mammon which emasculates the boldest preacher! The fear of loss and idea of losing their 501(c)(3), of losing money and bodies has permeated the church culture. The fear of man,fueled by the desire to have an enterprise rather than a “church of the living God”, seems to make eunuchs out of men of God. These leaders can be very bold on ambiguous topics of little moral relevance pr cultural consequence but when their preaching may turn compromised people off,they come under the leash of political correctness and the fear of losing givers. The culture of these churches begun by Bill Hybels,then perfected by Andy Stanley and others has cemented the philosophy into “successful” leaders that church meetings are evangelistic crusades about attracting seekers and winning the lost instead of discipling and equipping saints and being a trumpet and pillar of the truth and justice! A COMPROMISED CHURCH- Today in America the church at large tips its hat to a corrupt, immoral PC MSM,bows its knee to mammon and then worships Jesus on Sunday with Bethel songs! This is NOT Christianity but pantheism or the worship of many Gods! Hey guys, this is basic 10 commandments 101- #1 Commandment-I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD and you shall worship NO OTHER GODS before ME.” Politically correct cowards like Beth Moore and Max Lucado typify this ethical rot and prophetic ambiguity in the church,who crumble at the slightest push back at the first sense of a loss of mammon!! Call the WHAMBULANCE! Well ,here’s what I prophesy: “ALL the pantheistic pastors leading these pantheistic movements who continue to toe the line of the Baal & Jezebel infested media, then serve mammon in your lifestyle but break out worship of Jesus with Bethel songs on Sunday,will be faced with a stark choice: REPENT, Change your thinking and even the way you think ABOUT your thinking then change the way you do church where you honor these other Gods or God will not trust you with the new breed Millennial harvest about to stream into the churches.That which you are afraid of losing will be taken from you! The millennials want leadership, not the eloquent blabbering of a marble-filled mouth saying nothing! The reason people recoiled at Trump was because many times he said things many people are thinking but do not have the courage to say,because he can’t be bought and won’t back down. He is a stark lesson to our cowardly “pastor class”. How can the church have moral clarity and be “the pillar and support of the truth” when Sunday mornings, pastors are avoiding the moral crises of their generation to be “nice” and “inoffensive”? and to make sure to toe the line of whatever the corrupt Jezebel infested media is saying.The church used to hold up the moral fabric of our culture and society but they abdicated to the corrupt immoral media. The church has lost its moral clarity due to pastors fear of loss and rejection of the prophetic. Mario Murillo says “I believe that a majority of preachers in America have two sermons: The one they are preaching and the one they want to preach. But, it is even worse than that—they have the sermon they are preaching, and the one that God wants them to preach. Barna Group was curious about why so many people including millennials were leaving churches, and was not afraid to ask thousands of Christians. Here is what they said they wished their pastor would preach on: -91% want their pastor to take a public stand on abortion. -86% want them to address the persecution of the church. -85% want them to confront dependency on government programs. -83% want them to speak out about restoring morals. -82% want to know their position on traditional marriage. This is why Millennials leave the church! They are looking for absolutes ,a lack of ambiguity and a foundation that is immovable! They don’t want to be told a PC answer that looks and sounds like the MSM and they also value many sources of news in the new media. GIVING HONOR TO an immoral,ethically corrupted media- Over a generation ago when the“Greatest generation” who literally saved the world from tyranny in WW2 came home,the church governed what the culture looked like. The media asked permission of the church what was permissible. Today Mammon & Jezebel direct the media and the church tips its hat to a media that Wikileaks revealed to be corrupt through months of email leaks showing rampant collusion with 65 reporters at ABC,MSNBC, CBS,CNN with the DNC to rig debates and primaries and polls. Truth was unimportant.Today the media see themselves as part of the state,preserving the sttus quo and TRUTH BE DAMNED! There are only 5 billionaires control ALL the media in the US and their values are ALL dictated by the market. In an ungodly culture the values are set by what is marketed and sold so lies,sex,sin & violence sells. Why are we surprised? Much entertainment is creative and amazing but a lot of it is propaganda for a lifestyle the media thinks is acceptable. Once a whistleblower of corruption and a watchdog to protect us from dangers to our way of life, 80% of the MSM is now a corrupted institution speaking untruth and propaganda that is harmful and not helpful. It has become an institution of LOWER not higher learning and has done some of the most damaging and damning things to our society. The new guardians of the republic seem to be hackers like Wikileaks,Ed Snowden and Anonymous, who have become the only ones spilling the truth,who “speak truth to power”. Once a guardian of the republic,it was supplanted and replaced with a priesthood of the elite spewing lies,propaganda and disinformation. Instead of giving us many points of view, a free press,instead it had a synchronized message of corrosive corruption and wickedness not unlike Big Brother in 1984. Thank God for new media and Julian Assange. The Clinton campaign was threatening war with Russia over the leaks that were coming from the FBI! Horrifying to discover. God helped us. Fear, a compromised church and an immoral and corrupt media have each been used to “gouge the eyes” out of the prophets of God in the church. We need to do what Jesus commands in Revelation 3:15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” |
AuthorPastor Marc Lawson Archives
July 2018
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