Monday, August 15, 2005

The Great Escape!

This blog is committed to the notion that I will speak clearly those things that I know that God has revealed in my life and heart. One of the pillars of God's revelation to me is the message of the Kingdom of God: Christ rules and reigns in the Heavenlies, we are presently seated with Him far above every name on earth, under the earth, above the earth, past, present and future. He calls His church, the Bride, to spread the Good News that His Kingdom is now in place, it transcends every geographic, political and human boundry. One day, when His bride has matured, speaking and demonstrating the Good News of the Kingdom of God, He will physically return, not to BECOME the King of kings, but AS the King of kings.

As I am sure you know, there is "another gospel" out there. I saw it with my eyes on Christian TV yesterday. Every so often I surf the wasteland of satelite TV with a pause or two on another wasteland, Christian programing. Filling the screen yesterday, I saw in full detail the apt description of what I believe is braking the heart of God and draining Christianity of of its power and potential in this day and hour. The preacher's chart was headlined in gigantic muliplied footage with the words, "The Great Escape". Part of me was relieved, because, in part, finally the truth of this doctrinal virus is spelled out....escapism. Turn the world and it's unworthy inhabitants over to the devil and a furious God, but get me out of here via the rapture, a.s.a.p.

Before I go on, let me be very clear about one thing: for me this is not about picking at points of doctrine and belief systems for the sake of a glorious "religious" debate. Most of you out there are sick of that, I am sick of that and a watching, waiting world outside the church is plenty sick of that. My passion is to ensure that a believer's "root system" is drawing nutrition from healthy life giving Truth so that the fruit we bear is the attractive, life giving, nation healing fruit that God intended it to be. Now, back to the cartoonish chart with the admission of escaping the responsibility that God gave us as far back as the Garden of Eden.

This preacher's premise is an exact copy of the premise built by his mentors of dispensational escapism:
Premise #1,2,3,4,5, etc: God needs a series of anger management counseling sessions. Wrath is coming. Mind you, no ordinary wrath, but a once and for all wrath that unleashes God's pent up disgust for human-kind. We are talking planetary devastation. This point, for these people can not be over stated. Why? Because it creates the absolute necessity for the rapture to pull us (ie; all who believe in the rapture) out before God reveals the nasty side of His true nature.

If you do not see why I call this a "virus", let me help you. Isaiah 53:11 is healthy spiritual soil for roots to draw life giving power; "As a result of the anguish of His (Jesus) soul, He (God) will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities". Simply put, God's "need" for wrath has been SATISFIED by the offering of His Son, Jesus Christ. I know that there are lesser levels of judgement coming and I know that there are other smaller issues of God's wrath to be resolved. But if we say that the Cross is the center point of God's will and if we say that Jesus took the sin of the world upon Himself and if we say that God made Jesus who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf and triumphed over sin in the Cross, then why oh why is God STILL so angry and in need of flushing the planet? That kind of thinking is a virus because it infects a Christian's mind set and world view as ultimately destructive toward the world that God so loved that He gave His only Son!!!!

It is also a virus because it pits an end-time conspiracy fantasy against the very Words of Jesus when He prayed, "I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one." The Words of Christ's prayer keep me in a world view of redemption, restoration and healing for all.....NO MATTER WHAT! We must never allow our disgust for the behaviors of some people in our culture to drive us toward a cynical, angry, viscious view of "wrath to come", and an escape for us. Worse than false doctrine, this is love-less and contrary to the character of God.

One more thought for this posting. I apologize for being so long. With the sum total of the ability of the nations of the world to launch nuclear weapons which could explode the earth three times over....should we be recklessly misrepresenting God as a disgusted old man climbing a cosmic clock tower with 22,ooo nuclear bombs in His backpack? (this is the approximate number of nuclear bombs in the hands of all nuclear nations). Besides, and most importantly, being untrue to historic and Biblical integrity, am I the only person who sees this as just plain irresponsible?

Is this Vengence-filled Deity the God you see in the Gospels? Who, by the way, taught His disciples to go into all the world and make disciples of the NATIONS? Or, has God brought us all to the Kingdom for such a time as this (read the book of Esther in this light!!) to represent His true character of redemption, restoration and healing through the Good News of the Kingdom of God to such a degree that the nations of the world turn their missles into farm tractors (Micah 4:3)? You may call me a dreamer, but I am not the only one. I hope some day you will join us and the world will be WON to the True Christ of God!! Hallelujah!

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