A TORNADO IS COMING TO YOUR CHURCH--Pt 2

Let's continue looking at the message for the church that God gave me in a dream. I believe the eeriest part of this dream is where "the people sit comfortably in their seats." The people were unmoved by this wind of God's Spirit. It's as though complacency ruled. How did the church get in this kind of a condition? Could it be our people friendly theology? You know, a theology that has no call to repentance, no confession of sin, and definitely no call to holiness. Remember, "God did not call us to uncleanliness, but unto holiness." (I Thessalonians 4:7) There's no hatred of sin. And there is very little evidence of a first love experience in the church today. Revelation chapter 2 speaks of the church at Ephesus having lost its first love, could this be an indictment against the church today? First love simply means Jesus is number one in our lives. We love him first and foremost above anyone or anything this earth has to offer. The church no longer fears God or reverences him. There's very little acceptance of the full counsel of God's word. And then last but definitely not least, there seems to be no submission to God's set authority. I do realize that with all of the scandals taking place in the pulpits of America it is easy to lose confidence and faith in the leadership of the church, but it was God Himself who has set ministers in their places of authority and has commanded us to submit to them.(Hebrews 13:17)

Amos 8:11-13 speaks of this by saying, "Behold, the days are coming; says the Lord, 'that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it. In that day our fair virgins and strong young men shall faint from thirst.'" Notice that it is God himself who is sending this famine upon the land. God has allowed churches to choose for themselves preachers who will tell them what they want to hear. Just as it was when Israel demanded a king he allowed them to have Saul. As a result of this there is a famine of the hearing of the word of God because our preachers, for the most part, no longer embrace nor preach the full counsel of God's word. People are wandering from church to church in search of truth yet there's none to be heard. Our young people are crying out for truth and yet it is not to be heard from the majority of the pulpits, especially in America. God has placed his ministers of truth on hold. He has them in a wilderness place, just like John the Baptist, being made ready for this last great move of God. They will come forth as one crying from a wilderness place, "repent for the kingdom of God is at hand." They will speak the absolute truths of God's word and they will also live by the truths of God's word!

Paul recognized that a time would come when people would not want to hear sound doctrine and preachers would accommodate their desires in order to build their numbers, monies, reputations, egos and pride. This is why he admonished Timothy, "I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap to themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." I believe we have reached such a time as this. It's a time where people, those seated comfortably on the bus, do not want to endure or even hear sound doctrine. By not enduring sound doctrine I mean they will not stay in your church if you preach the full counsel of God's word, especially a call to holiness. These people are double minded, they want the best of both worlds and they want preachers who will pamper them with kind words of how great they are.

Even Jeremiah addresses this issue in his writings in chapter 22:21-22, "I spake unto you in your prosperity; but you said, I will not hear. This has been your manner from your youth, that you obey not my voice. The wind shall eat up your pastors, and your lovers shall go into captivity; surely then you should be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness." When he says here that he spoke to us in our prosperity he's meaning when we had a wealth of the knowledge of the word of God presented to us. In times past, and not too long ago, preachers would preach the word in its fullness. They would give altar calls and the altars would be lined with seekers because of the conviction that the word of God brought into their souls. Today's church says I will not hear. This seems to be our attitude from the time we were young believers right on through to now--we will not obey the voice of God! But God is sending his tornadic wind to his church and those preachers who are not faithful to their call to preach sound doctrine shall be "eaten up" by the wind of God's judgment.

Ezekiel chapter 13 gives this warning to the modern-day prophets, those declaring the will, mind, plan and word of God, in verses 3, 6, and 10-15. "Thus says the Lord God: 'Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!'" (3) "They have envisioned futility and false divination, saying, 'thus says the Lord!' But the Lord has not sent them; yet they hope that the word may be confirmed."(6) (My hand will be against the prophets)"Because, indeed, because they have seduced My people, saying, "Peace!" when there is no peace-- and one builds a wall and they plaster it with untempered mortar-- say to those who plaster it with untempered mortar, that it will fall. There will be flooding rain, and you, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall tear it down. Surely, when the wall has fallen, will it not be said to you, 'Where is the mortar with which you plastered it?' Therefore thus says the Lord God: "I will cause a stormy wind to break forth in My fury and there shall be a flooding rain in My anger, and great hailstones in fury to consume it. So I will break down the wall you have plastered with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be uncovered; it will fall, and you shall be consumed in the midst of it. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. Thus will I accomplish My wrath on the wall and on those who have plastered it with untempered mortar and I will say to you, 'the wall is no more, nor those who plastered it.'"(10-15)

The warning here to our modern-day prophets or preachers is that God is going to send a tornadic wind into their midst and expose them for what they are. He is speaking to those "who follow their own spirit and yet they have seen nothing." In other words those ministers who are following after their own flesh, lust, desires and agendas. Those who are speaking what itching ears want to hear in order to maintain their reputations, financial base and people in their churches. They are like those spoken of in verse six, God has not sent them and yet they're seeking the confirmation of their peers, congregations and leadership to confirm them as ministers of God while all along "the Lord has not sent them." Like the prophets that Ezekiel was speaking about, the ministers today speak a message of peace when there is no peace. They do all they can to make the people on the pew, "those comfortably seated on the bus", to feel safe, secure and heaven bound. They are building the walls, their churches, with untempered mortar, or to say a watered-down compromised word. But God is about to send his wind of judgment which will come as a flooding rain and a stormy wind to tear down what today's ministers are now building. God's wind of judgment is about to expose the false preachers, false doctrines, false Christians and false churches. The foundations upon which we have built our compromised churches will be revealed and they shall fall. Then the world shall know that God is Lord.

Finally, Malachi 2:2 offers this warning to those who are comfortable in their religious "bus seat" believing they are on their journey to heaven while all along they are consumed with contrary spirits, garbage, sin. "If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto My name, says the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already because you do not lay it to heart." Because we pick and choose the Scriptures that we want to adhere to we find ourselves under a curse. When God's wind of judgment comes to His house all that will remain are those who were walking in holiness, purity and righteousness. Those who would dare, by God's own strength, obey all the word of God. If you feel as though your life is not blessed by God you may be right. When we fail to walk in holiness we fail to be blessed of God.

Join us next time for the completion of this message.