Positively
Un-American!

A call for serious discipleship

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2 Cor. 6:14-18 KJV)

In the last portion of the 19th century in the first half of the 20th, there was the come-out movement as scores of orthodox evangelical Christians left apostate churches and denominations to set up new ones faithful to the word of God. But it was a half-way withdrawal from evil and compromise. What was not seen was that the slide into apostasy of the once doctrinally orthodox (more or less) denominations was only the ripening fruit of the covenant of peace made with the world millennia earlier. By the middle of the 20th century, and not recognizing the true roots of the problem, the neo-evangelical movement arose from within the ranks of fundamentalism, calling for a cultural re-engagement. They said: "Let Christians become politicians and lawyers, actors and teachers, artists and television hosts, and let us got forth to take the world for Jesus from the inside. Let us engage the world in dialog and show the world that we are not really all that different from them." Well, they succeeded in showing the world that "Christians" engaged in the world weren't really very different, and hence could be safely ignored. Evangelicals had committed the same deadly compromise others had made in previous generations. They had gutted the Gospel for the sake of cultural "relevance".

This "new" engagement with the world has been disastrous. If one dances with the Devil, he will always lead and you must follow. One has only to look at "Christian" television and programs such as "The 700 Club" and "Praise the Lord" to see the sickening spectacle of the Gospel clothed in the gaudy rags of worldliness. What many hail as "taking the gospel to the whole world" has made Jesus a laughingstock among unbelievers. Once again, He is wounded in the house of His friends. And evangelicals who speak of the "cultural imperative" have committed the error of the earlier social gospel movement, supposing the Kingdom of God can be advanced by political action. The call to be separate and holy was discarded in order to have a "seat at the political table."

Why is American Christianity such a failure? Why do the Churches fail to produce true disciples of Jesus? Why the powerlessness to truly transform peoples lives? Why has Satan felt little need to persecute the American Church? Why is there such a glaring discrepancy between the Church we see in the first chapters of Acts, and that of 21st century America? Has God grown old and tired? Has the New Covenant been nullified? Has the blood of Christ lost its efficacy? - Or have we chosen a more comfortable, broader, and improved road over the strait and narrow Way Jesus warned us to carefully follow?

I have come to believe that the only way to recover the power and reality of the New Covenant is to turn-around, and go back to the narrow way Jesus has prepared, and return to the Apostolic pattern and practice. Such a return will require a radical departure on our part. But if you are on the wrong road, going in the wrong direction, to the wrong destination; only a radical solution will help. We must turn-about, go back to the beginning, leave the broad and easy interstate, abandon our vehicles, take the burden of the cross upon our backs, and follow Jesus to Calvary. We must cease being Christian Americans, or even American Christians. We must become disciples of the Lord Jesus, citizens of Heaven, and give ourselves wholly over to Him and His Word. Darkness has covered the earth and great darkness its peoples. It is time to flee Babylon, return to our own land, and rebuild the walls of the Jerusalem of God.

When Israel returned from the captivity in Babylon, only a remnant returned. Are you part of that modern day remnant that the Spirit of the Lord is calling to? Have you looked deeply into the Word and seen the image of the Church in its purity and power, as it was at the beginning? Are you grieved and does your heart ache because what we call "Christianity" today seems to fall so far short of what it once was? Do you yearn for something more, as if there is something gnawing at your spirit, telling you not to stop in Gilead, but to cross over the Jordan to the Land of Promise. Has the call of the Spirit to return to the Church of Jerusalem driven you to the point you no longer care if you have to abandon your fine home and business in Babylon, driven you to the point where you"ll shed your fine worldly garments and comforts, leave the rich food and amusements behind, and risk all to follow Christ and be pleasing to Him? Or perhaps you are like me and hear the call of the Spirit, but say, "I"ve lived in Babylon all my life, as my parents before me. The only religion I"ve known is the religion I"ve learned at the synagogue here in Babylon. I don"t know the way to Jerusalem or how to live and survive in that land, I only know the ways of Babylon and all I know of Israel is what I"ve read in the Book. I am afraid."

Yes, I am afraid. Afraid to leave the known for the unknown. Afraid of what others will say. Afraid of the powers that be. Afraid that what I think is the Spirit of God may only be the deceitfulness of my own heart or the lies of the enemy. Yet 2500 years ago a remnant of the People of God left their homes and the security the world offered in Babylon to return to the Land of Promise, a land they had only heard about from those who had lived there many years before. A land that had been lost by unfaithfulness and compromise. A land whose God is named "Jealous" and will not be tamed by men nor accept the substitute sacrifice of Cain for that which He demands. Yet a God whose name is also "Faithful and True" and who so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son...

Do we have a choice? If we reject the wooing of the Spirit, can we continue to live? Will Babylon always stand undisturbed? Will we always have peace and prosperity on the fruitful plains of Sodom. Or is God sending His Spirit to call us out before judgment falls?

"Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." This Scripture became the battle cry of the "come-outers" a century ago. Yet they failed to restore the Church, -why? The reason was they sought to restore the synagogue in Babylon rather than returning to Jerusalem and restoring the Temple of God. Their"s was a half-way measure, the thought of leaving Babylon itself seems never to have occurred to them. But Babylon itself is the problem. Its commerce, its culture, its worship, its gods and goddesses, its government and its laws are as inescapable to those who dwell there as the air itself.

Babylon exists as the "system," the "establishment," "the American way." Its temples are on Wall Street and Main Street; They are Walmart and Kmart, Microsoft and Micky Mouse. Yale and Harvard are among its finest seminaries, while West Point and Annapolis train the temple guard. Its sacred writings include "The Wealth of Nations" and "Looking out for Number One." Its pantheon includes not only Washington and Lincoln, but also Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Ford. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, the worship of its chief deity, the great god Mammon, goes on in millions of establishments and tens upon tens of millions of homes. The continuous call to worship sounds forth over a 100 million TV sets and who knows how many radios, billboards, and signs. She has encircled the earth with satellites and cables that she might make proselytes of all nations and share her gospel of wealth with all peoples. She devours the earth to feed the fires of her temples and sacrifices the poor of the nations on the altar of free trade and corporate profits.

Yet the exiled people of God dwelling in her midst seem to suffer a strange blindness, a veil seems to have descended over their eyes. They can see no wrong in worshiping Jehovah and Mammon, in giving honor to the God of Heaven and to the god of this world. They seem to have forgotten that it was unfaithfulness and compromise that brought them to the place where they now dwell as exiles. They have become comfortable in the midst of Babylon and offer thanks to Jehovah for bringing them to such a wonderful land.

Yet there are others, who can find no rest for their souls in a foreign land, no matter how much they try, no matter how sweet the fruit and rich the meat; those for whom peace with God is more a food for their souls than peace with the world. A people whom have found themselves cast out of the synagogues of Babylon because they do not enjoy its worship nor find comfort in its traditions. A people rejected by their brethren because the Spirit of Truth has lifted the veil of blindness just a little and they can see that "the emperor has no clothes!" The more they look into the Word of God and the more they cling to Jesus, --the more they see a people wholly given over to idolatry and see the sword of judgment ready fall.

Can you here the alarm cry?

"Come out of her, my people, that you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her. To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, ' I SIT as A QUEEN AND I AM NOT A WIDOW, and will never see mourning.' "For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong."

To Jerusalem! To Jerusalem! To the city of the Great King! Let us shed our babylonish garments and abandon our earthly riches, and return to the land of our inheritance. Let us again become the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ where fellowship is more than a potluck, and worship service is more than lip service. Let us return to that Church where disciples of the Lord once loved the Lord with all their heart and loved one-another as much as they loved themselves. Where the Church is the assembly of sold-out, blood-bought disciples seated on stones or huddled in caves, yet upon whom rested the glory of the Lord. A People known for being willing to sell their property before they would watch a brother or sister go hungry. A Church where righteousness matters more than padded pews, and truth is treasured more than air-conditioning. Brothers and Sisters, we must begin to regard the Apostolic Church of those first few years after Pentecost as the norm for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, not an exceptional period far above what God expects of us today.

Where do we find the road back to Jerusalem? And who will guide us on the journey? First, to get there we must know where we are going. We must look to the Word of God, and search out what He meant the Church to be. We must become familiar with the words and actions of our Lord Jesus. We must discard those theologies and teachers who tell us His words are not relevant for us today, that the Sermon of the Mount is for the coming Kingdom or for His earthly ministry, but not for the Church. We must shut our ears to family and friends who counsel moderation when it comes to following the Lord. Who say, "one must use one"s common sense", and that "Jesus" commandments are not to be taken literally", or they"re "just not practical" for this life.

I"m not talking about plucking out literal eyes or cutting off literal hands any more than Jesus was. What I am talking about is those who are in love with the world and their possessions and when it comes to a choice between obeying Christ and chasing after the world, they follow their "common sense" and go with the world. We need to understand that theologians, pastors, and bible teachers are just as vulnerable to having their teaching distorted by the sin that dwells within us as anyone else. When Jesus" teaching becomes difficult to swallow, the temptation is to explain it away (or put it in a different dispensation) rather than deal with the sin resident in our flesh. We need to ask the questions: Does Jesus seriously expect us to live for Him? Does He expect us to obey Him? Just how much do we value His death on the cross?

The True Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is built of living stones and is founded upon the Apostles and Prophets (of the Bible) with Jesus Himself bing the Chief Corner Stone.

What was so remarkable about the Church in Jerusalem was the fact that in them the New Covenant was truly manifested. Had not God removed their hearts of stone and given them hearts of flesh upon which He had written His Laws? Did not the Spirit truly dwell within them? Were they not truly the People of God? Were they not truly remarkable?

Have we not entered into the same Covenant as they? Have we not the same Savior and Lord?

The restoration and revival must begin with us becoming disciple indeed of the Lord Jesus.  The Church cannot be restored until building stones are properly cut and shaped.  The disciples are not formed of the Temple, rather the Temple of God is built up of disciples.  WE must first of all give ourselves, our lives, and our possessions over completely to our Lord.  We must be cleansed from the heart that draws back to Egypt.  For until our hearts are cleansed we will be double-minded and useless for any good work.

Brothers and Sisters, the Scriptures are our roadmap back to Jerusalem and the Spirit is with us to illumine the way. In the days ahead, we face some stark choices. Soon, the hearts of men will begin to fail them for fear of what they see coming upon this earth. But I believe that God in His mercy, is calling His People to begin to prepare to meet that day. We must begin now to cut those heart-strings that tie us to the world. We must count anew the cost of following Christ that it may be a settled issue long before we are sifted by Satan. We must consider what ties to the world system and sever what is necessary in order to be free to follow Christ. GET OUT OF DEBT!! We must stop playing "church", grow up, and become the Blood Bought Church of the First Born. The Church must again become a community, a People separated unto God, a "People for God"s own possession," as independent of the world as possible. We must become our own welfare system, our own healthcare system. We must educate and train our children outside the system of this world. We must STOP preparing our children to be successful in the world and START training them to be successful in the Kingdom. Perhaps we'll have to abandon our pretty church buildings with their plush furnishings and climate controlled sanctuaries. Perhaps the cost to the Kingdom in lost souls is just too high for such luxuries.

We must become a demonstration to the world of the power of the Gospel.

Lastly, we must STOP living to please ourselves, and START living for the Lord.

May these word truly be said of the last days Church:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the People of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
(NAS 1 Peter 2:9,10)

Amen,

Even so, come Lord Jesus