Now Is Your Time

You’re afraid, and for good reason. As you look around, fear is rising in the hearts of thinking people everywhere.  You or someone you know is in danger of losing their job.  Your retirement account has been decimated as the stock market plummets to new lows.  You no longer have a safety net, and you are afraid.

Violence is on the increase, and the value of life is decreasing.  There are people in your city who would kill you for the money in your wallet, or maybe just for the sheer pleasure of it.  Gone are the days when you could leave your doors unlocked or your valuables laying around and trust that they would still be there when you returned.

You know you shouldn’t be afraid, but you are.  Go ahead and admit it. Acknowledge your fear and stop beating yourself up about it.  Ignoring it won’t make it go away.  Ignorant bliss is definitely not the answer.  We’re in a crisis, and you have every reason to be afraid.

But don’t embrace your fear, because fear can cause us to make very bad decisions.

In the face of the economic crisis, our governmental representatives wring their hands and wonder what to do.  They too, are afraid, and that only adds to our own fears.  In desperation, they draft bailout bills to save financial interests who’ve raped and pillaged the economy.  Now the automotive industry is lining up to get their share of the rescue package.  These bailout plans serve only to delay the inevitable crash while mortgaging our future and miring our children with massive amounts of debt.  Fear is the driving force today on Wall Street, Main Street, and Pennsylvania Avenue.

The promises of change permeated the presidential election, and the candidate who made change his one word campaign slogan won.  The people put their hope in the one who they believe will offer solutions to our problems and make us all safe again.

But it’s time to face the cold, stark realities of where we are. As much as we all want to believe that the government can fix our economy, our health care system, etc., etc,. the truth is, they cannot.  The numbers don’t lie.  We’re in the biggest mess we’ve ever been in, and things are going to get worse before they get better.  How much worse, we do not know, but we’re sailing into some very troubled waters.

In the Church, the prophets are divided. Some are declaring divine judgment, others are declaring blessing and supernatural intervention.  I think both are correct, and yet both are giving incomplete, and therefore erroneous information because neither position identifies the real solution.  Allow me to explain.

God’s judgment is upon this nation. He made if very clear in His Word.  As a nation, we are free to choose blessings or curses.  Ignoring God’s ways can only result in judgment.  Not because He is angry with us; indeed He is hurting right along with us because He loves us.  The natural result of leaping from a cliff is a fall to the ground.  Likewise, the natural result of unrepentant selfishness in a culture is broken families, scarred children, abortion, substance abuse and systemic poverty.  God’s ways work, man’s ways don’t.  Humanists will try to tell you otherwise, but history testifies against them.  Saying something is or isn’t true doesn’t make it so.  Truth is not relative to what we believe.  The whole of creation operates under physical and spiritual laws and we are subject to them, regardless of whether we accept them as truth or not.  We ignore them to our own peril.

We keep looking outside for help to come, but no help is coming. The sooner we accept this reality, the sooner we can get on with the program.  The answers we desperately need are already present within the hearts and minds of the sons and daughters of the King.

God wants to intervene in our world, but we need to understand that divine intervention has already happened.  The Kingdom has come.  The power of God has been released and the plan of God has been set into motion, entrusted to those who have ears to hear, eyes to see, and a heart willing to obey.

Somewhere along the way in development of Christian culture, we accepted the notion that God is separate and distinct from the Church.  We pay lip service to “Christ in you, the hope of glory”, but we do not live our lives as though it were really true TODAY.  We wear the label of the “Body of Christ” but our actions betray us.  We do not really believe these things, for true belief results in action, and meaningful action by Christians is in short supply these days, because we have been brainwashed by well-meaning pulpiteers and religious hacks.

Thus our fears are based in our lack of faith – true faith that is fixed not upon our government, nor upon a far-away God who is seated upon His Throne, but upon the Anointed One who lives within the heart of every true believer and is anxiously waiting for the opportunity to display His power and creativity through any yielded vessel who will truly put the Kingdom of God FIRST in their over-crowded, ever-busier life.

Here’s the truth.  Our fears need to turn to anger. Not an unrighteous, carnal anger that hurts people, but a righteous, turn-over-the-money-changer’s-tables kind of anger that refuses to sit back and accept the crap of our broken culture as “normal” any longer.

I am not afraid.  I am angry, and I’m not going to take it lying down any longer.

I’m angry at politicians who take an oath to serve the public and then go on to make a lucrative career out of serving special interests and protecting their positions of power.

I’m angry at preachers who offer up only pat answers for complex problems and lull the people of God to sleep with cheery platitudes and feel-good messages that just get us through another week.

I’m angry at self-centered, self-worshipping, soulless celebrities who think their fame and fortune somehow qualifies them to lead, represent, or speak out on behalf of the people of this nation.

But mostly, I’m angry at the devil who is behind all the destruction and death that is so prevalent in our world today.  He has successfully gained a significant foothold in our national culture over the past few decades, and we are being destroyed from within.  I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.

I was born to be free, and I want my children and my grandchildren to be free – free to pursue life, liberty and happiness.  Free to love and to live in peace and harmony.  Free to see the fulfillment of their wildest dreams.  That is the will of God for every inhabitant of this earth, and I refuse the let the devil rob us of these things any longer.  I am pledging my very life to this cause.

No more will I remain silent or tone down my message in the name of political correctness, false religious humility,  or fear of  reputation.  My language will become intently more colorful, for I have a message that must rise above the din of meaningless prattle that fills the airwaves of popular Christian culture.  I believe it is truth, and thus will strike a chord in the hearts of many, and my full intent is to raise up an army of modern barbarians who are no longer afraid and who will pledge their lives to the cause of the Kingdom.

So, dear readers, this is a call to arms. A call to lay down your fears and pick up the sword of the Spirit.  It is time to become a warrior tribe, to take our message of true change to the streets, to stop being intimidated by the moronic voices of pop culture, political correctness and powerless religion.

It is time to boldly speak the truth in love, everywhere, every time, to everyone, whether they will agree with us, love us, hate us, or stone us.

Let’s stop the foolishness, stop waiting for a rescue from the outside.  This is our planet, our country, our city.  The King of Glory lives in our hearts, and He desperately wants out.  This is YOUR time.  Together, we can change our world.

Is anybody listening?  Is anybody with me? If you are, take a stand and post a comment on this blog.  Join my new Facebook group “Tribe of Kingdom Barbarians”.  Become part of the new Kingdom Barbarian Tribe!

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.  For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” – Rom. 8:18-21 NASB

Addendum: 14 Dec 08

Last night Apostle (Papa) Wayne C. Anderson preached a great message on the rescue of God.  It is a very timely word – that we must not lose hope in the midst of the battles ahead and we need to be looking for His rescue.  This is the balancing message to my rantings above, and it got me thinking that I should clarify my position on this critical issue of God’s rescue.

Lest anyone think that in my “no help is coming” premise, I’m somehow limiting God’s power or desire to intervene in our lives supernaturally,  I’m not.  Scripture is filled with instances where God intervenes in human history on behalf of His people when they are in trouble.  How could a loving God do anything less?  And we certainly require His intervention to fix the mess that we’re currently in.

Yet, we must also remember that most, if not every time God intervened in human history, He required some kind of faith-based action on the part of His people.  We must also realize that since the arrival of the Kingdom on earth, the government of God has shifted to His ecclesia (Church).  Prior to that, the people had no options but to cry out to God for rescue.  Today, God is incarnate and actively working through those who engage the Kingdom and make it a priority in their everyday lives.

Sadly, we’ve not done well at this as His governing Body on earth, and I believe this is the season for that to change.  God WILL intervene on our behalf, but he will not reward the irresponsibility and poor stewardship that got us into the mess we’re in.  I think we’ve spent all together too much time waiting for God to do something for us, while He is waiting for us to do what He commanded us to do the last time He was here.

Our only hope lies in the Kingdom of God coming to this earth in it’s fullness.  We can’t do it without God, and He won’t do it without us.  At least that is my understanding of the nature of the Kingdom.