I can't stand another service where they sing as if all is well, where they sing happy songs for a victorious people. "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there, they that carried us away captive required of us a song and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying - sing us one of the songs of Zion. HOW SHALL WE SING THE LORD's SONG IN A STRANGE LAND?" (Ps:137). I can't do it anymore. I can't sing
songs of mirth while I'm surrounded by Babylon, I can't pretend everything's fine, even if it is well with my soul, I can't stand by and watch my people in bondage to Babylon, in religious bondage, void of God's presence and power and act as if it's ok. They call it faith, they say Praise the Lord no matter what, well I say, be honest with the Lord and if you're grieving, let him know. He is too. I'm sitting down and I'm weeping, my heart is breaking for the captivity of the daughter of my people. "The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us that we have sinned! For this our heart is faint"(Lam:5:15-17).
I know that the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion and everlasting Joy shall be upon their heads. I know we will obtain gladness and joy and mourning and sorrow will flee away. When I look upon His glorious face, when I am embraced, forever, every tear shall be wiped away but this scripture is saying we shall return, meaning, like Israel, we've left our first love, we've gone a whoring after other gods, we've abandoned the city of our youth and gone into captivity, strangers in a strange land. But I know the One who can set the captives free. I know the One who can deliver us and who will never leave us or forsake us and He will see us through to the end. His return is soon but not yet.
Please, mourn with me as I mourn the true condition of christianity today. I mourn not from a position of
lack of faith in our God and who He is. I fully trust in His greatness and glory and power but rather I do it to join Him in the fellowship of his suffering for one of the only thing that can cause him suffering today is when he sees his people choose a path of destruction instead of the path of Life. When he sees his people choose bondage instead of freedom, when they deny Him his rightful place in their hearts, this alone hurts him most.
I mourn the passing of so many souls into Hell and I grieve over the stubbornness and obstinacy of so many who refuse him as their husband and eternal lover. I grieve for the queen Vashti's of our day, who refuse to come to Him, when their husband and king calls, for the result of this will be banishment from the king's presence forever. "That Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she" (Est:1:19). Don't let this be said of you! Don't refuse to come into his presence when he beckons you! Don't refuse him intimacy, the purpose of every bride, or your royal estate, your inheritance in God's eternal kingdom of Glory, will be given to another that is better than you. The greatest sin you can commit, the one that will keep you from him forever, is to deny him your heart. If you keep your heart open and available to him, no matter how grievous the sin you commit, it will be forgiven. Come to him even now as he calls you, come to your husband and king, come with all your shame and imperfection and sin, come and be cleansed and renewed and restored.
I"ve saved the best for last, for right in the middle of all this lamenting, our great God has the prophet pen these words -"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in Him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. How often have I sat alone and kept silent yet the Lord will not cast off forever. But though he cause grief yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his tender mercies. For he does not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men, to crush under his feet the prisoners of the earth", (those bound by flesh, by fleshly prisons, unable to sore in the Spirit).
No, his desire is to crush Satan under our feet, "to turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High does not please him". No, He does not afflict us, it is our own sins that cause us to be afflicted. He does not delight in our bondage and affliction because of our rebelliousness, he grieves over every soul in Hell. "If my people will turn from their wicked ways, I will turn and heal". What wicked ways? The ways of religion, the way of denominational Christianity, that has a form of godliness but denies the power thereof. It's time to stop the endless madness we call "having church". I"m reminded of a quote from Moby Dick "I see madmen begetting other madmen". It's time to turn from the insanity to Him who says "Come, let us reason together". It's time to "buy of me gold tried in the fire (of afflictions), that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see".
songs of mirth while I'm surrounded by Babylon, I can't pretend everything's fine, even if it is well with my soul, I can't stand by and watch my people in bondage to Babylon, in religious bondage, void of God's presence and power and act as if it's ok. They call it faith, they say Praise the Lord no matter what, well I say, be honest with the Lord and if you're grieving, let him know. He is too. I'm sitting down and I'm weeping, my heart is breaking for the captivity of the daughter of my people. "The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us that we have sinned! For this our heart is faint"(Lam:5:15-17).
I know that the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion and everlasting Joy shall be upon their heads. I know we will obtain gladness and joy and mourning and sorrow will flee away. When I look upon His glorious face, when I am embraced, forever, every tear shall be wiped away but this scripture is saying we shall return, meaning, like Israel, we've left our first love, we've gone a whoring after other gods, we've abandoned the city of our youth and gone into captivity, strangers in a strange land. But I know the One who can set the captives free. I know the One who can deliver us and who will never leave us or forsake us and He will see us through to the end. His return is soon but not yet.
Please, mourn with me as I mourn the true condition of christianity today. I mourn not from a position of
lack of faith in our God and who He is. I fully trust in His greatness and glory and power but rather I do it to join Him in the fellowship of his suffering for one of the only thing that can cause him suffering today is when he sees his people choose a path of destruction instead of the path of Life. When he sees his people choose bondage instead of freedom, when they deny Him his rightful place in their hearts, this alone hurts him most.
I mourn the passing of so many souls into Hell and I grieve over the stubbornness and obstinacy of so many who refuse him as their husband and eternal lover. I grieve for the queen Vashti's of our day, who refuse to come to Him, when their husband and king calls, for the result of this will be banishment from the king's presence forever. "That Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she" (Est:1:19). Don't let this be said of you! Don't refuse to come into his presence when he beckons you! Don't refuse him intimacy, the purpose of every bride, or your royal estate, your inheritance in God's eternal kingdom of Glory, will be given to another that is better than you. The greatest sin you can commit, the one that will keep you from him forever, is to deny him your heart. If you keep your heart open and available to him, no matter how grievous the sin you commit, it will be forgiven. Come to him even now as he calls you, come to your husband and king, come with all your shame and imperfection and sin, come and be cleansed and renewed and restored.
I"ve saved the best for last, for right in the middle of all this lamenting, our great God has the prophet pen these words -"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in Him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. How often have I sat alone and kept silent yet the Lord will not cast off forever. But though he cause grief yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his tender mercies. For he does not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men, to crush under his feet the prisoners of the earth", (those bound by flesh, by fleshly prisons, unable to sore in the Spirit).
No, his desire is to crush Satan under our feet, "to turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High does not please him". No, He does not afflict us, it is our own sins that cause us to be afflicted. He does not delight in our bondage and affliction because of our rebelliousness, he grieves over every soul in Hell. "If my people will turn from their wicked ways, I will turn and heal". What wicked ways? The ways of religion, the way of denominational Christianity, that has a form of godliness but denies the power thereof. It's time to stop the endless madness we call "having church". I"m reminded of a quote from Moby Dick "I see madmen begetting other madmen". It's time to turn from the insanity to Him who says "Come, let us reason together". It's time to "buy of me gold tried in the fire (of afflictions), that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see".
Amen. Keep up the great work man of God.
ReplyDeleteCian