The Veil Has Been Lifted

Hello friends, I know…I know, you have not heard from me in a while. The truth is, I have been dying. It’s not what you think. God has been killing me, and you know, now that I think of it, I did not see any of you at my funeral:)

I have heard all my life that we must all die, so God may live through us. I am completely convinced that very few people truly know what that means. Oh, I am sure most people have a ideal of what it means to “die to self”, but very few understand just “how deep that rabbit hole goes”.

Friends, there is nothing what so ever, that God likes about you and I. Everything about us is a disgrace to the one who created us. We are sinners; everything about us is dark and useless. God wants absolutely nothing we can offer him. We have no righteousness, no TRUE love, and no life. God wants nothing more than to utterly destroy every inch of our being.

I know it is popular to believe that this magical thing happened the day we “asked Jesus into our hearts”, and some how, because we believed, God miraculously preformed this divine surgery that changed us into His likeness. This is, unfortunately, not true. It is one thing to be a believer, and completely other to be a “Christian”(Like Christ). A disciple of Christ is to be a learner of Christ, to walk after Him. Our goal should be as John the Baptist, we should decrease and Christ must increase. I will take it a step further and say that we should not only decrease, but completely disintegrate. God wants us all dead. I know the language that I am using here, may be a little defensive, but so did “drink my blood and eat my flesh”. When Jesus said that to those who where following Him, they left. The truth is, that is the way we all are. We want everything to be sweet and nice. When someone tells us we should die, that does not fit into our plane of living the life that we want to live. I am sorry to burst your religious bubble, but God does not want you to live the life you want to live. He wants you to die, so He might live. God no longer wants credit for all of your earthly treasures, your house, cars, and savings accounts. He does not want you to “be willing to give all of that up”. He DEMANDS that you lay it all down before Him. He wants every lustful, self centered, hateful, greedy, desire that you have. If you don’t want to give up your life for His, that’s fine. Just stop calling yourself disciple or Christian.

There is good news for those who lay their lives down and die. God promises a resurrection. I know when we all physically die, we will one day be resurrected, but God promises us one on this side as well. His life for ours….It is a great trade off. “For those who will loose their life, shall find it”. Quit allowing the enemy to convince you that the life God come to give you will be found in you earthly kingdom of”stuff”. God’s Life is found when we are striped of everything that we hold onto. That could be many things, such as you car, house, and other material things such as that, but we also hold onto things such as our temper, greed, loved ones, even our religious doctrines, to name a small few. God wants all of you my friend. It is not good enough for you to know you have a cross you must bare, you must also pick that cross up, carry it to your calvary, and there you must die. The scriptures say that, if you do not do that, you CAN NOT BE HIS DISCIPLE.

Dear friends, I am not going to kid you, dying is no fun at all. In fact, it can even make you question rather or not you want to live your life for God. The love affair that we have with ourselves is a powerful bond, but I believe you will find that the LIFE that you gain is well worth your loss.

Here is part three of my testimony (including the introduction); I hope it has blessed you in some way. I does get a little more uncomfortable from here on … Again, feel free to ask questions and make comments.  God bless. 

Hello once again my friends, I am lying here in bed feeling a little under the weather, so I thought I would take advantage of the time I have here to share a little more with you. It is nothing to worry about; I believe it is just a cold, so I am trying to nip it in the bud before it knocks me out of work. I know my entries have been short, but I am doing what I can with the little time I have, so please bear with me. Once again, if you are new to this blog, you will want to go back and read my previous two entries before reading this one, or you may be a little distorted with what is going on.

I left off from the last entry telling you of how God was really making me look at where I was in relation to where He was, which, to my surprise, was not the same place. He was teaching me that my hope and trust was in a system and not in him. I have come to see that so many of you have fallen into that same deception, therefore, my heart is to, as I said in my introduction of my blog, is to have you, the reader, look at yourself and ask; what is my hope in?

Anyway, I heard a minister speak one night, at the church that that I was attending at the time, about “the church system”, and how it was a man made system and not one from God. I have to admit, I thought he was crazy, just as some of you will think about me. He spoke about church pews, stain glass, the podium, and the steeples. He said that all of these things, among others, where all the residue of the Catholic Church carried over through the reformation; therefore, he named our beloved system the Cathagog system (a blend of the synagogue and the Catholic Church). His words, though they sounded completely ludicrous, got me thinking. Could this be possible, could these words be true, if so…what ells could be wrong with the beloved system that I had labored in for so long? I begged God to give me eyes to see, and once again, He stood true to his word “what so ever you ask for in My Name shall be given to you”.

God put it in my heart to get up at 4 am every morning and spend time with Him. It was during this time that God began to reveal simple truths to me through his scripture and in prayer. Everything I would read in scripture would lead me to the same thing over and over again…LOVE. Four letters, yet I learned that it was the very glue that held every page of that bible together. From geneses chapter one all the way to revelation chapter 22,it was LOVE. LOVE is who God is, LOVE is what Christ did, Love is how we know, and are known, that we belong to Him.

Love is a word that we use very loosely here in this country, for example, I love pizza, I love that car, and so on. The bible, however, paints a completely different picture of what LOVE is. Love is a cross; Jesus demonstrated his love to us by giving his life on a cross. We as well, if we have true love, have a cross we bare. We stretch out our hands and feet and let the “world” crucify us. We who belong to Christ, who are true disciples, must carry our cross (or should I say lay down our lives)  Mt 16:24 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Without this cross, our cross, we cannot be his disciple. Lu 14:27 “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple”. Remember dear reader, I did not write these scriptures. I know we can bend and twist any scripture to make us feel better about what it says, this too is a tradition of westernized Christianity, but I challenge you to simply believe what is says with no alterations.

Anyway, I set out to look for the true cross-baring love in the church, and WOW, was I disappointed in what I seen or, should I say, did not see. The love that I read about in scripture was virtually non-existent. Don’t get me wrong, there are people in the church system that do show the love of Christ, but ,for the most part, what God showed me broke my heart.

One example of this is found in 1john 2: 15-16; it says this, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, are not of the Father, but are of the world”. Christianity, as we know it today, is going after the world so much that they even make it gospel. You hear, so called, ministers of the gospel preaching sermons on how to conform to the world all the time these days. What is the result of these false teachers… their disciples, which is you and I, surender to “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life? Where does that leave us…without the love of the Father, go back and read 1 john 2:15-16 again. Today’s “Christians”, for the most part, work and work to gain riches in this world, and what is worse is they give God credit for giving it to them. When you see the heart of such disciples, it is easy to see that their goal is not for the kingdom of God, but rather for their own lustful desires. You may say how I can make such judgments on another man’s servant, but the scriptures tell me I can judge only one way, and that is by their fruit. The fruit of such “Christians” is easy to see…houses, cars, and big savings accounts.  Another way I can make such a judgment is the results of my own pathetic life. Remember, I, myself, am a product of westernized Christianity. It is extremely hard to see the residue of all the doctrine that has been poured into me over the years, and it is even harder to get it out.

I just recently set out to buy a pre-owned automobile for my family because all I had was this pick-up truck with a small-extended cab. I have three children and my wife, so this truck was excessively small; my kids are not getting any smaller if you know what I mean; therefore, my wife and I went out to get something practical. I had all the right things in my mind that would make our new vehicle a smart buy. We wanted something that was good on gas, something that was automatic, great safety fetchers, and nothing flashy, so we found a wagon that met “our” description of all of these things. To my wife and I, this was a great buy; however, what was not flashy in our eyes is not the same as not flashy in Gods eyes. The young people (teens) where we live where drooling over this car. They thought it was an awesome car, which is exactly why my wife and I did not want anything flashy. Those kinds of things will tempt a young heart to desire such worldly things. “If it is ok for Frank (me) to have a car like that then it’s ok for me to go after such a car. You might not think that this was a big deal, what is wrong with a nice car? Little things like that explode into much bigger things in a heart of a child. My point to all of this is this, even though my intentions where good, I still have a lot of scum in me that was imputed through the “American dream” doctrine taught to me through the years. Every man is right in his own eyes, but our ways are not God’s ways. Anyway, sorry for chasing that rabbit, let us get back to my revelation.   

John says if the things in this world are what you are after and desire, then the LOVE of Christ is not in you. In fact, Paul says we are to become poor so others may become rich; Not earthly riches, but by adoption into the beautiful kingdom of God. This is just one example of what God showed me during this time of cleansing. I could go on and on, but this is the dissected version remember. This revelation alone however, was enough for me to see that this, so called, church system lacks the very proof that enables us to know that they are true Disciples of Christ…what is that proof…the lack of cross bearing love.

I know what happens when one reads such words as I have written today; this self-righteous indignation rises up in you. All of a sudden, scriptures that have embedded themselves in various different rooms of your religious domain come to surface. You want to strike back with every verse of scripture you can muster; you must defend yourself against such an enemy that would attempt to tear down your comfortable dwelling place.  I did that for years. I do not want to convince you that I am right and you are wrong. I am not looking to get into some biblical debate of your vs. mine interpretation of what the scriptures are actually saying. Again, this blog is to simply challenge you to look at where you are, and ask yourself “am I truly in the body of Christ, or have I bought into a great deception?

I read a great book not too long ago by author, and fellow erroneous misfit, Shane Claiborne, in his book Irresistible Revolution, where he quoted a well-loved singer songwriter Rich Mullins. Rich, as he was speaking to a crowd of people at a university, said that we hear many preachers preaching about Nicodemus where he asked Jesus what he must do to be saved, and , as we all know, Jesus’ reply was to be born again. However, Rich brings to our attention another young man in scripture who asked the very same question…the rich young ruler. Jesus did not tell him that he must be born again; he told him to sell all that he has then give it to the poor. Why do we choose one scripture to anchor our faith in yet practically ignore another? Oh, we may hear a good sermon on the rich young ruler about how we must “be willing” to lay it all down for Christ, but the problem is Jesus did not tell him to be “willing” to sell all that he has. He told him that is what he must do to be saved. The problem is, if a preacher preached the truth of that scripture, most of us would react the same way that poor lad did…walk away sorrowful. This is just one, of thousands of examples of the polluted water-downed gospel that has infected our world, namely the western world. The sad thing is, we are taking that same message of westernized Christianity to the world. God, please open our eyes to see what we are doing.

Well, that is enough for today. If I have not completely lost you, I will continue the revelation of how God has brought me to where I am today at a later date. I have yet a great deal to share. Like I said in the intro, I will bring you up to date then I give you a week-to-week account of what God is doing in me. Once again, thank you for reading this blog, and feel free to give input in the comments section. My prayer is that God will help us all to open our hearts and let his light revel the dark truths that are dwelling therein.

Be sure to check out the video on my myspace, it brings a great ending to this blog entry. You can find the link on the right side of this blog page under blogroll.

As I mentioned in my last entry, I will be sharing my testimony once again for all of you who have not yet read it. It will be in several parts, scattered over the next few weeks. If you have read it already, I would encourage you to read it again, and make any comments, or ask questions that you would like. 

Hello friends, this will be my first real entry to my blog. I thank you for taking some time to read a little of what God has been doing in me. If you have not yet read my introduction to this blog, I ask that you read it first. Then read all of my blog entries in the order that they are written. Otherwise, some of what you read may make little since.

As I said in the introduction of this blog, I want to share with you a little of what God has brought me through, or should I say bringing me through, so in order to do that, I must take you back through some years. I will do my best not to bore you; therefore, I will give you the dissected version.

Where do I begin; It’s so hard to know where to start because for the past six or seven years God has taken me on such a journey it would make David and Goliath look more like David and the dwarf ( or at least that’s how it feels to me). It would take many pages to dictate what God has allowed me to see and experience on this journey, so I will do my best to keep it short and to the point as much as possible.

I came to know Christ when I was thirteen years old, and man what a change he made in me. I went from parent’s worst nightmare to a young man full of life and love for everyone. I was filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory. All I wanted to do was to share this amazing experience with everyone I encountered, and I wanted to know all I could about the One who brought this life to me. Little did I know, that same zeal for knowledge would be the very thing that would suck the very life out of me.  Anyway, I went to church, Sunday school, and bible studies; I was taught by elders, pastors and from anyone ells I could learn from. Man, I learned a great deal. I got to where I knew the scriptures and could debate with the best of them.

I was about seventeen when I first felt the call of God on me to preach the gospel, even though I did not answer that call until several years down the road. God seemed to be doing a great deal in me during those years; however, it seemed that the more I “went after Him” the farther away I got, and the farther away I got the more (at least in my mind) I would go after Him. I studied more and learned more. I became a minister of music, went to bible college, I was a youth pastor, a school guidance counselor at a Christian school, and a DJ at a Christian radio station. I was a Sunday school teacher, preached in churches, held revivals, evangelized cities, went on short term missionary trips, and I preached in another country. I seen God do some awesome things in those days.

There was great joy in preaching and telling people of an awesome redeemer who had come to save them from their inevitable destruction; however, inside I was still dying. Dying… how can this be? Somehow, in the midst of “doing God’s work”, I lost track of Him. I no longer had the joy, the peace, and the sweet presence of God that I fell in love with years earlier. What happened? I could not understand it; how could I have missed it? I did what I thought I was supposed to do as a God loving, God fearing Christian. I asked other preacher friends of mine if they knew what was going on in me and if they had ever experienced any such thing. More than one of them told me that what I was going through was called “the honeymoon factor” and what I was experiencing was the end of that honeymoon with God. They said that God was still with me as he was before, but I was no longer on the milk but on the meat. Much of what they told me made sense, but I knew in my heart that there was something greater amiss. I was now more determined than ever to come unto the fullness of God. I always knew in my heart that there was so much more than just knowing scriptures and “doing ministry. God would through me a crumb or two my way to let me know there was indeed more.

As I began seeking for the truth of my stalemate spirituality, God stood true to his word, “if you seek Him you will find Him”. God gave me a vision, or to sound a little less charismatic, a picture in my mind, of a room. This room was filled with pictures of God; you know… blue eyes, long blown dried hair, and a nice trimmed beard etc. There were bibles, banners with the names of God, and all kinds of memorabilia I had collected over the years. There was even a sweet fragrance of God filling the room, but God was nowhere to be found.  God was showing me that I had filled my life with nothing but memorabilia from the life I once had with him. This vision reminded me of a verse in Song of Solomon where she looked everywhere for her beloved; she would catch glimpses of him and even hear him at the door, but she looked and looked for her long lost lover with no avail. God began showing me more and more truth, which (I might add) scared me to death.

This is where I must stop for now. I have so much more to share with you, but for now, I must go. I will try, as I said in my intro, to write at least one entry a week; however, I will do my best to get more to you sooner. If any of my experiences sound familiar to you, I would love to hear about it. If anything offends you, feel free to share your heart as well. Until the next time, my prayer is that you seek God with all of your heart, so he can stand true to his word to you as well; That you will find Him and all His glory.

Mat 9:10-13 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Teacher with the publicans and sinners? But when he heard it, he said, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what this meaneth, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

Jesus did not look nothing like people expected the Messiah to look like. He did not come wearing costly royel robes and crowns of gold. He did not hang out with the the upper class society, politicians, or any of the elite groups of His day. He wore the clothes of a common man and hung out with publicans, sinners, lepers, and prostitutes. Just think of it…The King of Kings and Lord of Lords did not make His place at the rich man’s table, but made himself even lower than the most despised and hideous people of that day.

The Pharisees had a real hard time understanding why anyone would make themselves known with the likes of such people, but keep in mind, they are a religious people. They had their daily rituals and traditions that they upheld, and hanging out in the projects with the scum of the earth had no place in their religious system.

I love how Jesus responds to the Pharisaical babel. ” They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick”, and I love this next part, “But go ye and learn what this meaneth”. I don’t know, but I sense a hint of sarcasm here, but maybe not. Either way Jesus wants them to look at their pathetic religious system, and learn of Him, and I believe He is saying the very same thing to westernized Christianity with their weekly rituals and traditions. “Go and learn What this means” Go and learn Christ not of Christ. Learn Him friends…Him. Not things about Him but Him. Then, and only then, will you see His footprints, and when you see His footprints…walk in them. I promise you, they will not lead to a comfortable pew a couple of times a week, or to your bank to deposit your next check.

This article was written by a friend of ours, and it is pretty lengthy, but I would encourage you to read it all the way to the end. Feel free to comment. Contact information will be litsed at the end of the article.

Dear Pastor, Will You Repent With Me?*
*by David Servant*

The greatest crisis that I faced in two decades of pastoring was not due
to a disagreeable deacon, a financial shortfall, an egocentric worship
leader, or a church gossip. Rather, my greatest crisis was due to an
encounter with the Holy Spirit and God’s Word.

It all began when I read the second and third chapters of the book of
Revelation, which contain Jesus’ opinion of seven churches in Asia
Minor. I noticed that His opinion of some of those churches was
considerably different than their opinion of themselves. The
congregation at Laodicea, for example, considered themselves “rich” and
in “need of nothing,” while He considered them to be “wretched and poor
and blind and naked” (Rev. 3:17). Quite a contrast.

I began to wonder what Jesus thought of my church and ministry. I knew
He must have an opinion. To think otherwise would be absurd. He has an
opinion about everything, and His opinion is always right. And it
occurred to me that He would one day tell me His opinion. When I stood
before Him, there would be no doubt in my mind what He thought of my
church and ministry.

At the time, I believed my church was one of the best, and that the
numerical growth we had experienced was sure evidence of God’s
approbation. All the indicators were positive. But, I thought to myself,
/What if my perspective is slightly skewered?/ If it was, it would be
much better to know it right then rather than discover it when I stood
before the Lord. When I stood before Him it would be too late to change
anything. Now there was still opportunity to make adjustments.

I also reasoned that surely Jesus would be happy to reveal it to me if
in some way my ministry wasn’t pleasing to Him. Thus I decided to ask
Him what He thought, fully convinced that if I was sincere, He’d reveal
to me anything He might want me to do differently.

He soon answered my prayer in a way I never imagined. He impressed me to
look at Matthew 25:36-41. There I read Jesus’ foretelling of the

judgment of the sheep and the goats. I had read it many times before,
but this time it was different. I noticed that Jesus was not speaking to
the multitudes, but to His closest disciples (see Matt. 24:3). According
to Mark’s Gospel, they were Peter, James, John and Andrew (see Mark
13:3). What Jesus said had direct application to them. He wanted /them/
to be prepared for the judgment of the sheep and goats. It was plain as
day. /Jesus did not want any of them to find themselves among the goats./

Jesus told Peter, James, John and Andrew that, one day, people from all
the nations (literally “ethnic groups,” of which there are thousands)
will be gathered before Him. They will be separated into two categories.
Each group will hear Him say one of two things. They will either hear
Him say, “I was hungry and you fed Me” or, “I was hungry and you did
/not/ feed Me.” They will either hear Him say, “I was thirsty and you
gave Me a drink” or, “I was thirsty and you did /not/ give Me a drink.”
They will either hear Him say, “I was naked and you clothed Me” or, “I
was naked and you did /not/ clothe Me.” And there are three other
similar contrasting statements about which Jesus solemnly forewarned His
closest disciples. On the basis of those six criteria, those before Him
will either be cast into the eternal fire or will inherit His eternal
kingdom.

Jesus also made clear that those who serve /Him/ in those six ways
actually do so by serving “the least of these” among His family. So His
point was inescapable: /Those who truly love Him express their love for
Him by sacrificial service to the poor and suffering members of His body./

The Holy Spirit then asked me this question: “If everyone in your
congregation died today and stood at the judgment of the sheep and
goats, how many would be sheep and how many would be goats? More
specifically, in the last twelve months, how many people in your
congregation have provided food for a hungry believer in Christ? How
many have provided water for a thirsty Christian? How many have provided
clothing for a naked follower of Jesus? How many have opened their home,
or provided shelter, for a homeless believer? How many have visited a
believer who is sick or incarcerated?”

I suddenly realized that my ministry needed monumental adjustments. It
was like a sword was being driven through my heart. I knew that the
majority of those in my congregation were in the goat category and that
I was much to blame. I had never told them of the importance of the
things Jesus listed in Matthew 25:31-46. We were American Christians but
not biblical Christians. Our Jesus existed to serve us rather than to
make us servants. My gospel was deficient. It had perverted God’s grace.
I realized that I had been missing the mark by a million miles,
straining out gnats and swallowing camels, building a church but not
making disciples. We were way off course. If most of us had died at that
point in time, we would have died as goats, destined to be condemned
forever.

I was ashamed. I went from believing that I was a successful pastor to
realizing that I was a failure in God’s eyes. I wept. I confessed. I
repented, not just in word, but in deeds. I asked my congregation’s
forgiveness. I promised that I was going to be a man of God from then
on. I declared that I would begin making disciples, as Jesus commanded,
from that day forward, teaching them to obey all of Christ’s
commandments. I put my hand to the plow and by the grace of God, I have
not looked back.

Perhaps you think I overreacted. But I don’t. Not in the least. That was
just the beginning of what I can only describe as waking up from the
dead. Since then, my entire life and ministry have been radically
changed. And there have been so many on-going awakenings since then—as
I have simply believed more of what Jesus plainly said—that I would
hesitate to tell many professing Christians the entire story, knowing
they would reject it outright.

To this day I am completely dumbfounded as to how those solemn words of
Jesus found in Matthew 25:31-46 escaped my attention during the first
two decades of my ministry. And since that day, I’ve remained astonished
that so many professing Christians and Christian leaders live as if
those words did not exist. /But they do exist./ And anyone who ignores
them is surely among the most foolish people who have ever lived. /Jesus
has told us in advance the correct answers to a test that will determine
our eternal destiny./

Take note, first of all, that Jesus is not going to ask the sheep or
goats if they prayed the sinner’s prayer, accepted Jesus as their
Savior, read their Bibles, paid their tithes, attended church, or voted
for pro-life candidates.

/Also take note that many, if not most, professing Christians are goats
according to the unmistakable testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ./ Why
isn’t this being shouted from every pulpit in the world?

And there is more to face up to. Those who skim over the surface of
Matthew 25:31-46 may suppose that the goats represent the Muslims,
Buddhists, atheists, and so on, while the sheep represent all the
Christians. The truth is, however, that the sheep and the goats
/together/ represent /all professing Christians/. The sheep are true
believers whose faith is alive with love for fellow believers. The goats
/think/ they are believers, and they are shocked to be eternally
condemned. /Jesus’ foretelling of the judgment of the sheep and the
goats serves as a warning that there will be multitudes of professing
Christians who possess the assurance of their salvation but who will be
stunned when they stand before Him as He condemns them to hell forever./

What is the proof of this? First, consider the context. Remember that
Jesus was speaking in Matthew 25:31-46 to four of His closest disciples
(see Mark 13:3). He was not giving an evangelistic sermon to a mixed
multitude. And He first told those four devoted disciples the parable of
the unfaithful servant, which is a warning to hypocrites, that is, those
who profess to be what they are not (see Matt. 24:42-51). The
highlighted servant in that parable was indeed a servant in the house of
his master. He did not start off as being unfaithful. Rather, he
/became/ unfaithful when he believed that /his master/ would not return
soon. When his master returned unexpectedly, he was caught in his sin,
and he was cut in pieces and assigned a place with the hypocrites where
there was “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The moral of the story? “Peter, James, John and Andrew, don’t become
like the unfaithful servant who backslid. Serve faithfully no matter how
long My return is delayed. Otherwise even you, currently My most devoted
disciples, will find yourselves with hypocrites weeping and gnashing
your teeth.” Jesus made it clear from the outset of the parable that He
was telling it to them for their personal benefit: “Therefore be on the
alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming” (Matt. 24:42).

Jesus next told His four devoted disciples the parable of the ten
virgins (Matt. 25:1-13). Again, this was not a parable to motivate
unbelievers to repent and get ready for Christ’s return. It was a
parable to encourage Jesus’ true disciples to /remain/ ready for His
return. All ten were virgins (they don’t represent unbelievers). All ten
were waiting for the bridegroom (they don’t represent unbelievers). All
ten were initially ready (they don’t represent unbelievers). But five
became unready, and they were ultimately refused entry into the wedding
feast.

The moral of the story? “Peter, James, John and Andrew, don’t become
like the five foolish virgins. Stay alert for My return. Otherwise even
you, currently My most devoted disciples, will be refused entry into My
wedding feast.” Jesus warned /them/ in the one-sentence conclusion of
the parable, “Be alert then, for /you/ do not know the day nor the hour”
(Matt. 25:13, emphasis added). What He said was for their benefit. There
is no escape from this. It is so obvious that only a theologian could
miss it.

Then Jesus told His four devoted disciples the parable of the talents
(Matt. 25:14-30). A man who was about to go on a journey called “/his/
/own/ slaves” to entrust each of them with some talents. All three
servants were servants of their master. All three were entrusted with
talents. The one-talent slave was no less a slave of the master than the
other two slaves. He does not represent an unbeliever any more than the
other two represent unbelievers. All three represent believers.

When the master returned he rewarded the two slaves who were fruitful.
But the one-talent slave had nothing to show. He had been unfaithful,
having buried his talent in the ground. His master was very angry,
wondering why the one-talent slave hadn’t at least deposited his talent
in the bank to earn a little interest. Then he ordered that “worthless
slave” to be cast “into the outer darkness” where there is “weeping and
gnashing of teeth.”

The moral of the story? “Peter, James, John and Andrew, don’t become
like the unfaithful one-talent slave. When I return, you will stand
before Me, and I expect to receive a return on what I have entrusted to
you, even if what I have entrusted you with seems small in comparison to
what I have entrusted to others. Otherwise you will be cast into outer
darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The fact that Jesus was warning believers, as opposed to unbelievers, in
these three parables is so unmistakable that some modern commentators
amazingly try to convince us that “the outer darkness” of which Jesus
spoke in the first and third parables is actually a place located in the
outer fringes of heaven where unfaithful believers will temporarily
mourn their loss of rewards! Then, however, He will wipe away their
tears and welcome them into His kingdom!

Finally, after warning four of His devoted followers by means of three
parables, Jesus culminated His private sermon to them by telling them
something that was not a parable, but rather a certain future event for
which they must be prepared—the very judgment He had been repeatedly
warning them about in the previous parables. It was His foretelling of
the judgment of the sheep and the goats. And the reason He told them of
that future sobering event was very clear—He didn’t want them (or any
of His professing followers) to be among the goats on that day.

All of the preceding context, as well as the internal evidence, makes it
abundantly clear that the judgment of the sheep and goats is not a
separating of Christians from Muslims, Buddhists, atheists and so on. It
is a judgment of all professing Christians from every nation. Jesus’
words in Matthew 25:31-46 had direct application to Peter, James, John
and Andrew. /Obviously/ the possibility existed that they could one day
tragically find themselves among the goats, just as the possibility
existed that they could find themselves like the unfaithful servant in
the first parable, the five foolish virgins in the second parable, or
the one-talent slave in the third parable. If this were not true then He
would have had no need to warn them. But He did warn them repeatedly.
And if it was possible for Peter, James, John and Andrew, it is possible
for anyone else who professes to be a follower of Christ.

Notice also that the goats will be surprised at their condemnation. They
will call Jesus “Lord,” and ask Him, “When did we see You hungry, or
thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not
take care of You?” (Matt. 25:44). The implication is that they will
believe that if they had seen Him in those pitiful conditions they would
have certainly assisted Him. (That is what every professing Christian
would think.) They will think that they love Him. But Jesus will declare
to them that, if they had loved Him, they would have loved His suffering
family. Again, the implication is that they had knowledge of His
suffering family, which would hardly be true of most non-professing
Christians. /These goats had the opportunity to know about and assist
suffering believers./ But they aren’t “those kinds of Christians.” No,
they are unfaithful servants, foolish virgins, and slaves who buried
their talents. Goats.

*The Question*

Pastor, there is no difference between me and you. You have been
entrusted with a ministry to a congregation. Jesus has an opinion of
your church and ministry. Sooner or later, you will know exactly what
Jesus thinks about your church and ministry.

If everyone in your congregation died today and stood at the judgment of
the sheep and the goats, how many would be sheep and how many would be
goats? How many of them, because of their love for Jesus, are doing
anything to feed hungry believers, clothe naked believers, provide
shelter for homeless believers, or visit sick and incarcerated
believers? Have you told them of how vitally important these things are?
If /you/ died at this very moment and stood at the judgment of the sheep
and the goats, would you be a sheep or a goat? If your answer is “goat,”
then you are a goat.

/”But I’ve studied the Bible in its original languages! I teach from the
Bible every week! I pray. I tithe! I’m a spiritual leader! People
respect me as such!”/

This was also the testimony of the scribes and Pharisees. They all
possessed “the assurance of salvation.” But they’re in hell now.

/”But I prayed the sinner’s prayer! I speak in tongues! I’ve cast out
demons!”/

In the strongest terms possible, Jesus warned against trusting in such
things as proof that one will inherit eternal life. He warned, “Many
will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your
name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many
miracles?’” But He will solemnly reply, “I never knew you; depart from
Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matt. 7:22-23).

/”You are robbing people of their assurance!”/

Yes, just as John the Baptist, Jesus, all the apostles (see, for
example, Luke 3:8, Matt. 7:22-23, 1 Cor. 6:9; Eph. 5:5-6, Jas. 2:14-17;
2 Pet. 2:1-22, 1 John 2:4-9; Jude 1:3-4), and any other preacher who
loves God and people, I am robbing people of their /false/ assurance.
Like John the Baptist, Jesus, and the apostles, my hope is to wake up
those in darkness to the plain and solemn truth, so that they will
repent and be born again in actuality rather than just in doctrinal
theory. Pastors and preachers who are not warning those who think they
are sheep but who act like goats are pastors who are filling the hearts
of demons with jubilation. They are pastors of Satan.

*The Decision*

When a pastor has been tickling ears and telling people what they want
to hear, it is indeed a fearful thing for him to think of actually
telling people the truth for the first time. It could cost him his
“ministry,” at least temporarily. Droves of goats might run for the
doors, taking their money with them. He could lose his job and his
paycheck. But dear pastor, do you think that the price you will pay for
telling the truth will be less than the price you will ultimately pay
for continuing to play your present church game? Do you truly believe
that you will escape hell when you have helped populate hell?

When you walk up the stairs to your sanctuary platform and pulpit to
deliver a message that once again soothes the hardened and deceived
hearts of people who are goats according to Christ’s revelation in Matt.
25:31-46, you might as well be leaning a ladder onto the cross of Jesus,
climbing to the top, and spitting in His tortured face!

He suffered and died to make people holy! His sacred blood was shed to
transform sinners into saints! There he hangs, gasping for breath, held
by nails, covered with blood, His back ripped to shreds, spat upon and
mocked by those who hated Him. All to deliver to His preachers the keys
to the kingdom of heaven, a glorious gospel that can deliver sinners
from their selfishness through His atoning sacrifice. All to create a
community of new creations in Christ who love each other!

Yet those preachers alter the message that He has entrusted to them to
take to the entire world. They strip it of all its real power, and use
it to deceive those living in darkness, promising them heaven when Jesus
has promised them hell! Worse yet, after they have deceived their
congregations into believing that they possess what they actually do not
possess, they then doubly-deceive them into believing that they can
never forfeit what they do not possess! How can such preachers and
pastors escape the sentence to hell? How appropriate to this are
Christ’s words, “Whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall
be taken away from him” (Luke 8:18).

/”But where can we find followers of Christ who are hungry, thirsty,
naked, homeless, sick or in prison?”/

Living in our bubble-world with the rest of the world’s elite does
indeed blind us. Yet when one-half of the world lives on less than two
dollars a day, is it possible that there are any followers of Christ
among that group of three billion people? Is it possible that some are
hungry, thirsty, in need of clothing or shelter? Might some be ill from
drinking undrinkable water? Are there not thousands rotting in prisons
for their faith in countries where Christians regularly face brutal
persecution?

Tragically, most professing Christians living in wealthy western nations
live as if they are unaware of the sufferings of the persecuted church
around the world. How the angels must weep! Imagine this for a moment:
Imagine western Christians hanging lights on Christmas trees to
celebrate the birth of the Savior whom they love. Then imagine Chinese
Christians working as slaves in prison camps because of their faith in
Jesus, forced to labor twelve hours a day. Imagine those prisoners being
given no tools, being fed two small bowls of rice each day, and being
beaten if they don’t meet impossible quotas…to produce thousands of
Christmas lights to be sold in the U.S. and Canada.

This is happening. (www.thelightsofchristmas.org/christmas/story.html
<ttp://www.thelightsofchristmas.org/christmas/story.html%22>,
www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=GE.view&pageIda272
<ttp://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageIda272%22>,
www.crossroad.to/News/Persecution/alert/China.htm
<ttp://www.crossroad.to/News/Persecution/alert/China.htm%22>).

Why is there no uproar? Why hasn’t this at least been mentioned from
every pulpit of every evangelical church in the Western world? JESUS IS
ROTTING IN A CHINESE PRISON, FORCED AS A SLAVE TO MAKE US CHRISTMAS TREE
LIGHTS!

/Oh no time to worry about that…the Christmas rush is upon us! Gifts
to buy, food to eat, church services to attend—where we can hear
another message about God’s love for us. Tonight we’ll hang the lights
on the tree!/

There should be tens of thousands of Christian ministries that focus on
serving the poor and the persecuted among Christ’s family around the
world. Billions of dollars should be pouring in from the pockets of
western Christians and churches to show their love for Jesus by loving
His body. Every church should be immersed in involvement, top to bottom.
Western Christians should be spanning the globe to find such needs and
meet them.

But no. We’re goats. Who think we’re sheep. /Surely Jesus didn’t mean
what He said in Matthew 25:31-46, right?/

While Jesus is hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, homeless and incarcerated,
tens of thousands of pastors who profess to love Him ignore His pitiful
plight, collecting hundreds of millions of dollars each Sunday from
people who also profess to love Him, and those dollars are primarily
used /to serve the people who gave those dollars, /and mostly for things
for which you can’t find a shred of scriptural support. What money does
escape from the goat pen is often just a token fraction, tossed towards
Jesus, who sits like Lazarus on the street, longing for a crumb from the
rich man’s table.

*Dear pastor, will you repent with me?*

Why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? (Luke 6:46).

“Dear Pastor, Will You Repent With Me?” ©2008 David Servant and ShepherdServe.org. Used by permission.

http://www.shepherdserve.org/e_teachings/2008_04.htm————————————————————————

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