Recovering Our Lost Influence – Revisited
I was presented with an article entitled “Recovering Our Lost Influence” written by a pastor in Colorado, the article was published in Charisma Magazine, you can see it here. The dear brother who shared this article with me thought it was very good I suppose, but, I see an underlying sickness in the Church revealed in this pastor’s words.
The pastor correctly sets forth an argument that the Church is under Judgement for its inability to correctly minister to the woes of our society. Yes, we have a problem with loving the lost, but, I do not believe the lost will be properly ministered to in the fashion this pastor proposes. Here is my response to the brother that shared the article with me:
“My Brother,
I read the article you presented, I have a few comments:
Nice teaching in general, but I differ on cutting ourselves off from the entirety of the Word, from Genesis to Genuine Leather. If you are to drop off the “Old” Testament and concentrate solely on the “New” Testament, you find yourself reading an amputated version of the Scriptures. We are to consider the whole council of G-d, not the Readers Digest version. I prefer to refer to the Greek part of our Bible as the Continuing Testament, since it is a continuation and culmination of the Hebrew Scriptures that precede it.
If this pastor, or any other, were to correctly read the Old Testament they would find plenty of Grace, in fact, if it were not for G-d’s Law expressed in the Old Testament we would not realize our need for a Redeemer and there would be no need for a Messiah. If we divest ourselves of the Holy Requirement of the Law we become, once again, lost; like a compass with no needle or a ship with no rudder.
Balance is what we need, the book of Isaiah with the first chapter begins with some of the most often quoted verses in the Church. I believe the entire Word of G-d is profitable for rebuking, teaching, correction and training in righteousness (II Timothy 3:16). Note: the entirety of the Scriptures Paul spoke of in II Timothy was the “Old Testament”, the “New” had not been written and/or canonized yet. Yeshua (Jesus) only quoted, referred to and ministered from the Hebrew Scriptures as well.
Yes, we do need to remember mercy when dealing with sinners, but we need not cut ourselves off from our foundation in order to do so. If it was good enough for Yeshua, it is good enough for me. The Living Word is just as useful today as it was two thousand years ago and people are the same today as they were then. Sin is sin, no matter what decade or millennia you live in. Lust is still lust, greed is still greed, etc.. The city of Sodom was destroyed long before this generation was born, yet, we seem to find the same debauchery today, only more wide spread.
What the Church needs is a revitalization of the Holy Spirit, not psychological or philosophical gymnastics to be able to minister to a lost world. On this point this pastor would have done well to focus his message. He is correct that it is the Holy Spirit that reveals sin to someone and without that revelation and conviction any repentance will be short lived. May the Church begin to read the entire Word of G-d, recognize the grace found in His Law and begin to minister the balanced version of the Heart of G-d.
I sense the Church is being Judged as the article speaks of. Cleansing will begin in the House of the L-rd. All the more reason for us to get this thing right the first time. We need a renewal, a revitalization in the Church. We are living in awesome times prophetically speaking, much is coming and the pressure on Believers will be tremendous. Without the lifeblood of the Holy Spirit working through our ministers again the Church will fall into apostasy like never seen before. The world will be looking to us for guidance, let it not be done in the flesh, but rather, in The Spirit.”
As I mentioned to this brother, I did have a few comments. In fact, these issues have been on my heart for quite some time now and this article is just another example of how well meaning Brothers in the ministry are short-changing the L-rd in their delivery. We cannot divorce the Law from Grace, without the Law there simply is no Grace. A G-dly man has balance in all he does, all the more a Minister of G-d’s message to the world. Being that the Church is under Judgement, we would do well to steadfastly minister the whole Counsel of G-d. May the leaders in the Church begin to understand this need and call upon the L-rd to repent of the act of amputating His Law from our lives and our service to Him.
