“Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.”  (Acts 2:2)

I’m not content with a “sound from earth”- I want to hear “a sound from heaven”.  If the early church had never heard that sound I wonder where we’d be today?  I’m not talking about some of the weird stuff going on today that passes for a sound from heaven.  I don’t recall reading that the early church barked liked dogs, rolled around the floor in uncontrollable laughter, had gold dust falling from the sky or anything like that.  What I’m talking about has nothing to do with this sort of thing at all-  I’m not interested in going to revival meetings where men prance around and make big shows of the “power of God”, creating a spectacle of themselves and the church.  But I do want to hear a sound from heaven…

Jesus speaks from, and of, eternity- and that is what we so desperately need today.

You can take the supernatural circus, I don’t want it.  You can take the coffeehouse “cultural faith”-I’m really not interested in that either.  I’m tired of hearing about a “social gospel”, a “cultural gospel”, and that we’re here to “create beauty” through the arts and on the earth.  Whatever happened to the eternal gospel?  Can someone please tell me about heaven, hell, sin and redemption?  Who will stand up to preach the cross, tell of Jesus’ blood, and preach to win souls?  Will someone please give me that gospel- the one I see saints laying down their lives for in the Book of Acts?

I honestly feel sorry for those who are seeking God and have to wade through the mess of Christian blogs and churches that offer up this pathetic, watered down, twisted mess!  Oh, I know there are some who still faithfully preach the cross and are focused on eternity… but I remember a time before there were hundreds of thousands of blogs with everyone’s religious opinions; a time when the world was a much easier place to navigate.  There has always been bad doctrine, but there’s never been an explosion like what we’re seeing today of confusion and doctrinal error.  We can thank the internet for that- it was the perfect vehicle to usher in every unbiblical belief under the sun and spread it around the earth.  It has given a voice to people who probably never should have been speaking in the first place because they were never called by God to do so.

In the bible men were actually “called by God” to speak and act as God directed- they were sent out by Him, and anointed by the Holy Spirit.  I’m not sure many Christians worry about that today, we just all assume we should speak our mind.  And that’s the problem… I’m tired of hearing the sound of people speaking their minds-  I want to hear a sound from heaven!  I want to hear from those who are called, who speak by the Holy Spirit and cause us to focus on eternal things.

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

The man who hears a sound from heaven, who hears Jesus, speaks of eternal things.  There’s a famine of the Word of God today, a famine of hearing from heaven, and because of that, not many people are talking about eternity.  Are we so focused on earthly things simply because we’ve never had a revelation of the glories of eternity?  Have we heard “a sound from heaven”, or are we just parroting the world we live in?  The Christian’s focus isn’t to be about earthly things!

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4)

See, it’s not about the arts, it’s not about Christian music, it’s not about Christians getting involved in politics, it’s not about social justice, it’s not about some culturally driven faith, it’s not about a prosperity gospel where God makes us all rich, it’s not about gold dust and holy laughter… it’s not about all this stuff and so many more of the things we’ve been told it’s about.  This world is passing away along with all the things we think are so important.  I’m really tired of sitting in a church (like I did a couple weeks ago) and being told that we should be focusing on this earth.  I don’t appreciate being told that D.L. Moody got it wrong with his notion that this world was a sinking ship, and that we needed to get as many saved as we could before it went under.  Wrong?  Moody got that wrong??  God help us-We need an army of Moody’s!  We are in a desperate hour when the ship is sinking and the Captains of the ship are out taking the world for a pleasure cruise!  We should be on a rescue mission but we’re out “creating beauty”.  Moody said, “You don’t polish the brass of a sinking ship”.  If we could only see what Moody saw- this world is passing away.  He heard a sound from heaven, saw the sinking ship, and tried to bring as many as he could to the safety of eternity in Jesus Christ while they still had a chance to be saved.

Twenty-six years ago, when I was just turning 24, I also heard a sound from heaven.  I heard the Spirit say, “You can be born again!”  I got a glimpse of eternity and saw the world (and myself) for what it was- dead in sin and without God.  I grabbed hold of Jesus with everything I had, and as I looked into His face I began to be changed from one degree of glory to another.  The thing I’d been looking for my whole life was Jesus!  Like the old hymn says,

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.”

Do we see what we’re doing today in the church?  Do we understand where this embracing of the world system is taking us?  Does Jesus really want your eyes off of Him and off of heaven? Does He want you “polishing the brass” of this sinking ship, or looking to eternity?

“For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.” (Hebrews 13:14)

I hope I will stir some of you to think about this.  Read your bible and ask yourself honestly what the focus of the early church was on.  Read Acts and ask yourself if you’re focused on eternity like that?  Are you wanting to reach the lost like they were?  Has it dawned on you and alarmed you that this world is quickly passing away?  Does eternity fill your vision?  Maybe it’s time to sit in your upper room, read your bible, pray, and wait on God until you hear a sound from heaven!

Since the time I became a Christian in 1984 I’ve never understood why the church in America is so involved in politics.  Truthfully, I couldn’t stand all the “Christian Broadcasting” that seemed to be more about politics than Jesus.  As a new Christian I was naive enough to believe that the church’s primary occupation was to tell the whole world about Jesus.  I hated turning on my car radio and hearing about President Clinton all the time from “Christian” radio programs!  Between the political and financial programs that were on at the time, one would think that the Christian faith had more to do with who’s getting elected and how much money one could make, than it did in preaching Jesus and saving souls.  I’d often wondered when God had become an American Entrepreneur and joined a political party? 

It’s funny, because although many of my new found Christian friends at the time would be constantly talking about President Clinton and how bad he was, God would constantly be telling me to pray for him and not badmouth him! 

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone–for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.  (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

As it turns out, we were talking about this subject one Sunday among our fellowship as it pertains to President Obama.  To be completely honest, I’d done my fair share of bad mouthing, and not really praying for President Obama, and the Lord was telling me, “Enough!”  We have become a country obsessed with tearing one another down, and Christians have become immersed in politics instead of Jesus.  Do you question that?  Jesus said that our mouths speak out of the overflow of our hearts… I rest my case.

So today I came across this article by Andrew Strom.  He says it about as good as it can be said.  It’s sure to offend many people, but I think it needs to be said:

ARE WE BEING DISTRACTED From THE REAL FIGHT?
-by Andrew Strom.

Years ago a friend of mine, Robert Holmes, saw a vision of
Christians leaving the Harvest field to go and join in with a “Civil
War”. They were leaving their primary mission (the gospel) to go
and make war against their own countrymen. What does it mean
and why would they do such a thing? -This was unclear.

Like a lot of you, every day I get bombarded with the latest emails
against Obama – and what he is up to. I can truly understand this.
Unlike a lot of overseas Christians who can’t comprehend this kind
of American political partisanship, I truly get it. I lived in America
for four years, and one of the things I saw clearly while living there
is that America is at WAR with itself. And it is getting worse. Right
against left, liberal against conservative. And there is no doubt that
as an evangelical Christian, I am truly a “conservative” myself. But
there is a lot that troubles me about what is going on.

When the US conservatives elected Bush, a lot of the world could
not understand it. I understood it completely. America is at war
with itself and Bush seemed like the most robust campaigner
against the liberal agenda. It did not matter that he was not the
“smartest” guy. He was strongly on “our side” in the culture
war – and that is what mattered: Homosexuality, abortion, taxes,
health care, and so-on. To a lot of US Christians, politics has
become THE main arena where they fight and take a stand. So if
I am a conservative myself, why am I so troubled by a lot of this?

Well, let me ask you some questions and hopefully you will see why:

-Is “Politics” the arena that Christians are supposed to be putting
so much time and energy into fighting? Is that what the early
church did?
-Aren’t we supposed to be more passionate about prayer and the
gospel than we are about pulling the “liberals” down?
-Couldn’t this be a total distraction from our real mission?
-Doesn’t a lot of it amount to a giant “smear” campaign of rumor-
mongering that should be beneath Christians to participate in? -In
other words, isn’t the way we are speaking often gossipy, slanderous,
mocking and ungodly?
-Why are prayer and the gospel taking a backseat to Obama-baiting?
-Is the Christian community in any country supposed to become
a “voting bloc” for one particular party?

I think those are pretty important questions. And I think a lot of
Christians may have trouble answering them.

The fact is, I get more “political” anti-Obama emails from US
Christians every day than ‘spiritual’ emails. What does this say
about conservative Christians? It says they care more about politics
than the gospel. That is the conclusion I have to come to. And I
believe this is Idolatry – pure and simple. Politics has replaced the
pure milk of the word for a lot of Christians. They are on a “campaign”
alright, but it is not a campaign for Jesus. And they devote hours
and hours to it. They are feverishly checking out the “latest dirt” on
Obama every night and hungrily devouring Fox News (which makes
more and more ratings dollars as it drives every fresh controversy).
They love it! There is only one problem: It is not Jesus, it is not the
gospel, and a lot of it is simply not godly at all. In fact, it is
replacing Jesus and replacing the gospel.

If I was the Republican Party or Fox News or Talk Radio (each
hungry for more ratings and dollars – these are not Christian
organizations at all) then I would absolutely LOVE the fact that the
Christians are so easy to whip up into a frenzy of Obama-rumors
and Obama-trash-talk. But none of this is godly, is it? It is not
remotely Christian. The early church would have renounced it
utterly. They took no interest in politics. They only cared about
Jesus and His simple gospel. And that is still the only thing that
can save America today. We are being sidetracked.

But the frenzy continues. “Did you hear the one about Obama
being likened to Hitler?” ‘Did you hear the one about Obama’s
birth certificate?’ ‘Did you hear the one about Obama’s “death
panels”? ‘Did you hear that there are really demons in the Swine
Flu vaccine?’ (canned laughter please).

A lot of this amounts to a kind-of Christian “smear” campaign. In
politics much of it would be considered in the ‘dirty tricks’ category -
the kind of thing you do when trying to ruin someone’s reputation
with sick rumors and innuendo. No matter if it’s true or not. As long
as it does the job of “smearing” the person. Is that the kind of thing
Jesus would want us involved in?

Here is the truly major thing that I believe the devil is trying to do
in America today:
-He is trying to create division so bitter and so extreme that both
sides literally start to fight one another with guns drawn. He is
trying to tear America apart.
-He is trying to sidetrack the one group that truly has the answer.
He is trying to wrap them up in fighting politics, so they will forget
that the pure GOSPEL is the only real hope for America today.

I believe the devil is truly succeeding in both of the above aims.

To conclude this article, I would like to ask some questions of
the Christians who spend so much time on this “Obama War”:

-Do you spend as much time spreading the pure gospel as you
spend spreading stuff about Obama? Why not?
-Is your mind and your energy and your passion more focused on
getting the true gospel out – or defeating Obama and the liberals
in politics?
-If you were asked to turn off Fox News and delete the “Obama”
emails and turn off Talk Radio, etc, could you bear it? Or are
you more-or-less an “addict”?
-Do you really think it is right for this to be the big focus of your life?

I truly believe these are huge issues and huge problems in the
American church today. But I guess I can expect a wave of angry
disagreement in response!

Please send feedback to- prophetic@revivalschool.com

God bless you all.

Andrew Strom

This section of my blog is titled “Jesus love”.  You might be surprised then that today I want to talk about “the wrath of God”.  I was driving home this morning thinking about His love and I realized that one of the things that shows His love the most is almost entirely missing in today’s church!  What is that missing thing?  The message of the wrath of God. That’s right, understanding God’s wrath most brilliantly displays His love!  The concept of God’s wrath has been lost to the church.  When’s the last time you heard it mentioned?  Did you know that the glory of the gospel is that it saves us from the “wrath that is to come”? “For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience.”  (Colossians 3:6) “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” (Romans 5:9) If you think the idea of God “pouring out His wrath” is beneath God, that somehow it doesn’t fit who He is, I urge you to take another look at your bible.  God’s wrath is a key truth that is spoken about throughout the entire book!  To not talk about this is to distort the truth about God, the gospel, and our own condition before Him.  “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness.”  (Romans 1:18)

The starting place for the gospel

The starting place for the gospel of Jesus Christ is that God’s wrath is being revealed.  He doesn’t like what’s going on down here on planet earth and He’s going to do something about it!  “He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power..”   (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9) The pages of God’s word are FILLED with references of the wrath of God; from the Old Testament to the New Covenant this truth is declared.  Why then is God’s wrath hardly ever mentioned in today’s churches?  Are we more concerned with making God look “nice” than we are with telling the truth? Here’s the truth:  God’s love shines even brighter, is made even more glorious, when seen against the backdrop of His wrath! That’s why when I was thinking of His love this morning, His wrath came to mind.  You see, I realize I don’t deserve His love.  If I got what I deserved, it would be punishment, not love.  I’ve fallen short of His glory, sinned, grieved His heart, rebelled against Him and His plans.  I don’t deserve a pat on the back and a smile for that!  The bible tells me “the wages of sin is death.”  (Romans 6.23)  If I got what I deserved I wouldn’t get rewarded for sinning, I’d get punished. God’s love is made even more amazing by the fact that He doesn’t want to punish me.  Yes, the wages of sin are death, but “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

How understanding God’s wrath reveals our need of the gospel

It bears repeating: To really understand God’s love for us, we need to understand His wrath.  Many people have never heard the gospel presented in this way.  They see no reason to “give their life to Jesus” or why they need Jesus to “save them”.  Many “Christians” don’t seem to know this truth either.  They think they “get saved” by praying a prayer.  They walk forward after church and pray the “sinners prayer”, everything’s good and they’re on their way to heaven!   I will cut to the chase and try to make it simple.  God is holy, you are not.  When you sin He has every right to punish you for it.  The punishment for sin is death.  His wrath is real, His anger against sin and rebellion is talked about throughout the entire bible.  This is His world, He created it, he made the rules.  He created you and He has a right to say how you should live.  If you violate His laws and turn away from Him, refusing to acknowledge who He is as the LORD, and creator of all things, He has every right to punish you, and will.  His anger is fierce and hell is real, the bible is clear about that.  God wants you to understand these things and not be in the dark about His wrath.

What about God’s love?

We’ve all been told of His love, and for good reason… There is no love in all creation as great as the love of God!  I could go on forever talking about it and never come to the end! So what do you do with the fact that God is a “God of wrath” and also a “God of love”?  Well, if you know you deserve His wrath, you appeal to His love!  If you know God is holding out a gift of love to save you from his wrath, you take it! That is what Jesus Christ is… a gift of love to save you from God’s wrath.  And not only to save you from God’s wrath, but a way into God’s family!  Can you see why God’s love shines brighter when seen in the truth of His wrath?  You deserve punishment; in Christ you receive forgiveness.  You deserve wrath; in Christ His anger is turned away and you receive love and become a part of God’s family! There is a word I will leave you with, it’s called “propitiation”.  Look this up and study it if you’ve never done that.  It’s a wonderful truth and is at the heart of the gospel.  I won’t even explain it, because I really want you to look it up!  Understanding Christ as your propitiation will give you a BIBLICAL foundation for the gospel and help you to see the love of Jesus so much more clearly.

As I’m reading Christian blogs I find it fascinating how so many people seem to enjoy making God so complicated!  Jesus didn’t say go and get a masters degree in theology, he said “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation!”  (Mark 16:15)  I’m sorry, but it’s NOT that complicated!

Where did we ever get the idea that knowing Jesus requires us to be scholars; or that telling people about Him meant we would need special training?  Doesn’t it remind you a lot of the “teachers of the law” that Jesus talked about?  Their theological highbrow would make the ordinary man’s head spin.  They had so many rules and excelled at making simple things complicated!  This made them seem very elite (which they of course reveled in!).  Is this why Jesus chose ordinary unschooled men for the most part to begin His church?  Paul being a notable exception having had the best of education.  But notice how Paul considers his best attainments “rubbish” that he may “gain Christ and be found in Him”. (Philippians 3)  He points out quite clearly in his letter to the Corinthians that his goal was not to come with “eloquence or superior wisdom”, but rather “a demonstration of the Spirit’s power”. (Begin reading at Corinthians 1:17)  Paul tells us that all we really do by adding our eloquence and human words of wisdom is rob the cross of it’s power!  We make it weaker, not stronger.  Simple is better!

We don’t need more “teachers of the law” online to muck things up!  The simplest, clearest, presentation of the gospel is what I seek.  As far as I’m concerned our goal should be to make God knowable; hiding Him in a cloud of theological terminology does NOT do that!  This isn’t about how smart we are or how much we know… it’s about HIM.  He said “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation!”  Let’s do it!