By Robert Wurtz II
INTRODUCTION
In these last days God is calling out a remnant people; but end time trials, temptations, and detractions have left the Church in spiritual shambles. Radio and Television messages of prosperity and grace abound, while the call to repentance is rarely heard. The Spirit of God is crying out in the earth 'Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and be not partakers of her plagues;' (Revelation 18:4) but the mega-church messages of tolerance have drowned it out. The overall Spirituality of the Church is spinning out of control and the prophetic voice of God is all but silent. Sin is so rampant in the Body of Christ today, that it is doubtful that God accepts any of our services or worship (Malachi 2:15).
The Salt Has Lost its Savor
This generation that now is knows little of a real move of God; and those who do and can remember- are growing fewer by the day. Christians are no longer mocked in America for their peculiar life styles, because it is essentially no different than the world's. The salt that once slowed the decay of society has all but lost the savor of holiness and righteousness; and the result is a society full of rottenous pockets of sin and iniquity. For this cause the Church has been marginalized into a place of irrelevance. And it has happened according to the true proverb, 'They are henceforth good for nothing but to be trodden under the foot of men.' (Matthew 5:13) Christians have held silent in America until the courts have constitutionalized sodomy, evicted God from the classroom and courtroom, and sought to legalize homosexual marriage for the first time in mankind's fallen history. Church organizations that were birthed in the fires of holiness are now ordaining practicing homosexuals into the pulpit in an act that would make Sodom and Gomorrah blush! Then when God sends plagues upon America to get our attention TV and Radio preachers busy themselves rebuking the devil, instead of calling a people who are in the crosshairs of the greatest judgments ever conceived-, to heart rending repentance. They're blaming the devil, but it's the people's sins causing the land to vomit the people out (Leviticus 18:24-30).
Stewards of the Dunamis
Judgment is not coming; it is here. Judgment is coming on a world that looks increasingly like Noah's generation everyday. But before God judges the world it will judge the Christian nations first. And before America is judged the House of God will be judged (I Peter 4:17). And the judgment that comes upon the Church has already begun in the sect that is most worthy- the full Gospel movements. The initial judgment has come in the departure of the great power of God that once was. And why are we judged? Because we are stewards of the message of Pentecost and watchmen of God's glory and anointing. Full Gospel evangelical organizations are SUPPOSED to be preaching holiness and preaching against SIN! To whom much is given much is required and there is no doubt that we have tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come (Hebrews 6:5). I fear the youth are rejecting every element of full Gospel but the 'feel good.' They reject holiness, sanctification, convictions and obedience to their leadership. If America is going to repent it must start in the first place that God will judge- it must begin with the stewards of the dunamis.
Modern Day Pentecostalism
God started modern day Pentecostalism by baptizing a congregation of people in the Holy Ghost roughly 50 miles west of where I am writing this sentence. The time was 1901 and the place was Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas. The man God used was Charles F. Parham. Kansas is a name that means 'People of the south wind.' God does nothing with meaningless details. The timing was no less significant as the age of humanism, secularism, and materialism was winding up. God knew that it would require the power of the Holy Spirit to conquer sin and all that the 'imps' of hell would bring to bare in these last days. We must be FULL of the Holy Ghost to have the boldness and power to confront the highhanded sin we are seeing!
From Pentecostalism to Charismania
A great portion of influence that later came to be the Charismatic movement began in a town 50 miles to my east. Kathryn Kuhlman was born-again at the age of fourteen in the Methodist Church of Concordia, Missouri. Her ministry witnessed something different than Pentecostalism; it brought the rise of an emphasis on worship and the presence of God. Kathrine showed people how to worship God and entertain the sweet presence of God. Benny Hinn took up this ministry and his services are a near replica of her's. Emphasizing the presence of God gave rise to the concept of a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. In time, we began loosing what it means to be FULL of the Holy Ghost, as the emphasis became on feelings and away from the true holiness and righteousness. People began thinking they could regularly 'plead the blood' over their lives and run into the Holy of Holies with iniquity dripping from their fingertips. Now the Charismatic movement has 'spun off' the Faith Movement and the emphasis is on material and physical blessings. Gain is equated with godliness in this belief system and we have to wonder how long God is going to put up with it? (I Timothy 6:5).
The Loss of True Pentecostalism
The Pentecost of the past was characterized by holy living and powerful conviction. People were filled with the Spirit of God and would run to the altar under great conviction. Today, there is such a lack of spiritual power that people actually can feel comfortable nearly blaspheming the Holy Ghost in our services. There is such a lack of control that you almost have to get in the flesh to deal with the highhandedness. Why? Because at the grass roots level people are simply not living right and the power of conviction is not striking fear in the peoples hearts. Sinful saints come to worship services and try to cast themselves on the mercy of God and then expect God to show up! Like the sons of ELI they are committing gross sin and then trying to run into battle with the Ark of the Covenant over their shoulder.
You can worship until you are blue in the face, but it doesn't take the place of living right. The evidence is in our altars. Charismania taught us to define power by people falling out or dancing or feeling goose bumps; but all these things happen at football games. We came to believe that if we set the mood right in a service, we could court God like our wife or girlfriend with soft music and a candlelight dinner. That's all fine and good if you're living in fidelity; but when we sin against God all week, mix worldliness into the worship, and then try to sweet talk God- He must see us as wretched fools (Malachi 2:13-15). Worse than that we can't see how repulsed He is and keep doing it as though He is enjoying it. God would trade all the praise we give Him for simple obedience. We have bought the lie that our sacrifice offsets our disobedience as long as we ask forgiveness. The fruit of this is empty lives, empty altars, and empty spirits. Yes, we are in a crisis in Pentecostalism. The situation; people won't live righteous and holy and as a result our cruse of oil is all but dry. The question: will the true Saints hearken before it's too late?
The Saul Generation
Romans 12:1 tells us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God-, which is our spiritual worship. This is an allusion to the requirement that an offering to God in the New Testament must be holy and without blemish as they were in the Old Testament (Exodus 12:5). We cannot do as did Cain and bring just whatever we want and get mad when God won't accept it (Genesis 4:5). Nor can we forget that obedience is the prerequisite for bringing any offering to God. To obey is better than to sacrifice (I Samuel 15:22). God will not accept our gift at the altar, if we so much as remember in our hearts that our brother or sister has 'ought' against us (Matthew 5:23). II Chronicles 7:12 tells us that God ordained His house as the house of sacrifice. Every time we preach, teach, pray, play instruments, or sing, we are bringing an offering unto the Lord (Hebrews 13:15). On top of this we are to worship in Spirit and in truth. God asked the people through the prophet Malachi 'If you offer a blind sacrifice is it not evil?' In Malachi 1:13 & 14 God says: 'When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?" says the LORD.' (NIV) He goes on to say in the next verse that people who do that are cursed. Cursed of what? Cursed with the absence of the glory of God. Why? Because our sacrifices are laced with sin (Malachi 2:15).
Full Gospel Indifference
The great indictment against us as full gospel believers is how only the older generations truly weep over sin and its effects on God's people. Young people today do not weep over sin. People don't rend their garments anymore- much less their hearts (Jeremiah 36:24). All the while the clock is ticking toward judgment. When you find pleasure in sin it truly is hard to weep over it (II Thessalonians 2:12). We must pray that God will cause us all to HATE sin and iniquity. We must pray for an excellent Spirit that believes we should offend ALL before we offend God (Daniel 6). We must clean our closets of the worldliness that has marginalized those who were once mocked of this world- those who believe in living right and under the power of God. People don't even make jokes anymore! We must get full of the Holy Ghost once again- that we might have the power to confront this train wreck of sin head on.
Back to the Basics
If a person has the least bit of fear of God and good sense they see the urgency to see God's people turn before it's too late. If not they are likely doomed already to reprobation for their highhanded sin. Many will cry 'legalism' or some other blasphemy that makes the word of Christ of none effect. The flesh will not accept these things; this was the case in Jesus' day and was the cause of Him prefacing some of His statements with, 'He who hath ears to hear let them hear' (Matthew 11:15). Not everyone has their Spiritual ears open; some are just too caught up in the world and are drunk on their sins. Like the notorious doomed frog, many prefer to watch the bubbles of God's wrath- as the pot grows hotter- knowing not they are burning to death. As in Jeremiah's day, the lies, the adultery, and the treachery have got to stop. Dishonesty has to stop, covetous idolatry has to stop, and so do the multitude of categories of secret sins. Convictions must return. No longer can any of the SAINTS continue to partake of other people's sins through the multitude of media choices ranging from Internet to TV and music. We have set in the seat of the scornful too long and filling our minds with sin and grieving the Holy Ghost. We must stop these things not to 'spoil our fun' or 'get legalistic;' we need to do it because God makes no distinction between those who commit the sins and those who have pleasure in partaking with them (Romans 1:32). God is saying 'Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities' (Revelation 18:4 &5). Getting back to the discarded principals that our elders passed down (and are too often scorned) of God's holiness and righteousness is the first step in avoiding God's judgment.
