May 17, 2012

Approximately,  forty years ago, I started a non-scientific, but very enlightening survey.  I first asked my pastor and later dozens of evangelical pastors some version of the following question: “What percentage of your church is experiencing intimacy with Jesus?”  After finding the right vocabulary for their denomination, such as “walk in the Spirit,” “sold out,” “on fire,” etc., every Pastor answered somewhere between 5 and 10 percent.  In one setting, I was speaking to 850 Pastors and asked them to please let me know if their church refuted those statistics.  Only eight spoke with me afterwards, and each said that the percentage was about right.  By the way, they would likely have reported upwards of ninety percent if I had asked; “what percentage of your church is committed to Jesus.”  However, commitment is simply a matter of the will and doesn’t nurture the soul.  I’m pleased that people are committed to Jesus, but the reason He gave us His Spirit is so we could have intimate fellowship with Him.

Billy Graham has observed the body of Christ for decades, and he confirms my informal survey.  He states that 90 percent of the Church live carnal lives.  He was not saying that they live immoral lives but rather, they are not living lives controlled by the Spirit.  This even happens in good churches where the Bible is taught, and correct doctrine is emphasized.  Oswald Chambers framed the issue well when he said; “The soul is in danger when knowledge of doctrine gets ahead of intimacy with Jesus.”  Good Biblical teaching is crucial and produces people who believe correctly but does not automatically produce people who have intimate fellowship with Jesus.  That motivates me to write about what I have learned about intimacy.

There are numerous types of intimacy including relational, emotional, intellectual, physical, and spiritual.  I do not profess to be an expert on any of them, but I do feel comfortable writing about is my own personal discoveries, regarding intimacy with Jesus.  I’m talking about a spiritual oneness that God designed us to have with Him.  Intimacy is intrinsic to the very nature of God who exists as a triune being.  From a heart of love, He created humanity in His image and gave us the capacity and desire for intimacy with Himself.

It’s important to state that I am not speaking about an emotional experience or a warm fuzzy feeling.  In fact, it’s not a feeling at all; it’s a condition that does or does not exist.  The root word for intimacy in Latin is “intimus” which means “innermost,” so the dictionary defines intimacy as, “to make known,” but I believe that’s only half of its actual meaning.  I say that because Jesus defined intimacy for me when He said; “As the Father knows me, so I know the Father.” (Jn. 10:15)  Since theirs is the most intimate relationship conceivable, I would amend the dictionary definition of intimacy to read: “Knowing and being Known.”  One person can share their innermost thoughts, but if the other person does not, you do not have intimacy.  You have the potential for intimacy but it takes two who open their hearts to one another to achieve it.  One should not expect perfect continuous intimacy because that is only possible within the Godhead.  However, we can experience periods of intimacy, which last as long as we keep the door to our heart open.  Since God is always ready for intimacy with us, we are the limiting factor.  If we don’t feel close to God, guess who moved?  Like the Laodicean’s we often close our spirits, but He continues to knock on our door.  I’m confident that many Scriptures support my definition for intimacy as “knowing and being known.”  I’ll begin with one that most people have not associated with intimacy.

John 3:16 may be the best-known verse in the Bible but not too far behind it is Revelation 3:20.  It says; “…I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in…”  (NIV)  It’s in every evangelistic tool I’ve ever seen but used entirely out of context.  We castigate cults who use verses out of context and yet the evangelical church continues to do so itself.  We quote this verse as a salvation verse in spite of the fact that the context clearly states that it’s spoken to the church.  Twice in just nine verses, it says that this offer is to the church and ends with, “…anyone who is willing to hear should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”  (NLT)  Given our continued misuse of this verse, it’s obvious that we didn’t listen and I confess that it was formerly true of me.  Early on, I was heavily involved with several Para-Church ministries and became tremendously evangelistic.  I quoted this verse hundreds of times but eventually woke up to its true meaning and became interested in the intimacy that it offered.  Revelation 3:20 is a verse about God’s desire for intimacy with His people, and importantly I believe it also reveals the method of how to achieve it.

The metaphor of knocking on a person’s door requesting to be invited into their home was in the culture of that day.  My personal experience in the Middle East is that people will express their hospitality by inviting you to dinner at the finest restaurant.  However, if they ever invite you to have a meal in their home with their family, they are expressing a desire for a more intimate friendship.  Understanding this, Jesus says to a spiritually lukewarm body of people that His knocking is an offer of a return to an intimate fellowship with them.  Since lukewarm could describe many of today’s believers, this verse has great relevance.  Maybe the greatest tragedy of misapplying this verse to unbelievers is that believers have missed the opportunity for self-examination.

Actually, there is a multitude of Biblical references about the subject of intimacy.  Paul speaking of Christ in Philippians 3:10 says, “That I may know Him.”  Then in verse 15, he says that the spiritually mature should have the same goal.  You may or may not be aware that in the original text, the word Paul uses for “know” is the same one used in the Old Testament about sexual relations. (Gen. 4:1, Mat. 1:25)  “Adam knew his wife Eve, and she became pregnant.”  Paul’s decision to use this word for “Knowing Christ” shows that he intended to make it clear that he does not mean he desires to have correct information about Jesus but rather an intimate experiential knowing.  The closest human parallel to “Knowing Christ” is the physical, emotional, and spiritual intimacy experienced in marriage.  In fact, Scriptures use the metaphor of marriage to express His relationship to His people.  Jesus is the Bridegroom, and we are His bride.  This metaphor is just one more place where intimacy is not only encouraged; Paul says it should be our primary goal.

I have read a dozen or more of the best-known books about “Knowing God,” and they helped me know more about God, but they didn’t help me “Know God” experientially.  For me, the answer came by focusing on, “Knowing and being Known.”  The importance of, “Knowing Christ” is indisputable but how to know Him is often the missing link.  My experience is that God allows us to know Him in direct proportion to how much we let Him know us.  I am quite confident that this is one of the most important lessons I have learned in my spiritual journey.  Someone should write a book entitled, “How to let God know you.”  Maybe these thoughts are my attempt at doing that because I firmly believe that the prerequisite for knowing Christ is letting Him know me.

In my opinion, this is confirmed by numerous Biblical stories and begins right in the Garden of Eden.  God came daily to have intimate fellowship with Adam and Eve, and we can only guess what that was like for them.  However, a clue comes after they ate of the forbidden fruit.  After they had disobeyed God, there was an immediate recognition that something had changed, so they hid from Him.  That afternoon God came to spend His usual time with them but didn’t find them waiting, so He called out, “Adam where are you?”  Using the Laodicean metaphor, they wanted to live behind closed doors, but God came knocking.  I had read and heard this hundreds of times, but one day it caused me to ponder it in depth.  Parenthetically, I wonder how often I missed what God wanted to say to me because I was so familiar with a text that I didn’t take the time to consider its true meaning.  However, on this occasion, I thought, “Wait a minute, what’s going on here?  I thought God knew everything.”  As I pondered the situation, a new thought pattern in the form of a metaphor began to develop.  Four of my grandchildren lived a few houses away when they were younger, so they were at our house at least daily.  Almost every time I returned home, my wife would say, Sarah heard your car, and she’s hiding.  So I would move noisily around the house opening and closing doors and declare loudly, Wow, you sure are hiding good today!  Now Sarah had only three places she hid, but I would pretend that I didn’t know where she was.  After what seemed like the appropriate length of time, I would locate her, but more often than not, she couldn’t stand the suspense, so she would jump out and say, “Here I am!”  Even though she was hiding, she was anxious to be found because hugs and lots of laughter always followed it.  She loved playing this game and truth be known; I loved it too.  So with that image in mind, I wondered, was God playing this kind of game with Adam?  Did He really know where Adam was but was playing a game with him?  Given the import of the situation, I am certain He was not.

I believe when God said, “Adam, where are you,” that He actually did not know where he was, (pause for impact)…….Relationally.  Of course, He knew the facts, even to the point of exactly what Bush they were hiding behind.  However, this was not a question about facts; it was a different kind of question.  I believe God asked a relational question to Adam, so the central point of this story is; God was giving him an opportunity to allow himself to be known.  Adam chose to let God know him relationally and answered, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid.  I was afraid because I was naked.” (Gen. 3:10)  There were consequences for disobedience, but because he allowed himself to be known, intimate fellowship was restored.

Later God asked this same type of question when He said to Cain, “Where is Abel, your brother?” (Gen. 4:9) Here it’s clear that God knew the facts about Abel because he said, “your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground.”  It’s obvious God was not asking a question of fact, so why did He ask this question?  I believe He was giving Cain an opportunity to allow himself to be known.  He refused and reaped terrible consequences.

God continued this kind of interaction with Elijah.  After a victorious triumph over the prophets of Baal, he was discouraged and running for his life. (1st Kings 19)  As he hid in a cave, the Lord came to him and asked, “What are you doing here?”

God knew the answer to this question, but He wanted Elijah to allow himself to be known.  So Elijah vented his frustration and fear and unburdened his heart.  Then God said; “Go stand on the mountain for the Lord is going to pass by.”  He did so and saw something like a strong tornado, then an earthquake and then fire but the Lord was not in any of these.  Finally, he felt a gentle breeze and God was in it, which is another metaphor for God speaking in a “still small voice.”  However, Elijah did not recognize it, so he went back to the cave.  The Lord was extremely gracious and asked him a second time, “What are you doing here?”  Elijah gave the same answer again, “I’m here because I’m scared, and Jezebel said she wanted me dead.”  After this second time of allowing himself to be known, his heart connection with God was revitalized, and he was restored to his former role of speaking and acting for the Lord.  I believe the gentle breeze in which the Lord was present was also a metaphor for the intimate fellowship with God that Elijah had lost because he had let fear and discouragement steal it from him.  I think the important point of the story is that God strengthened and restored Elijah because, as in the other examples, Elijah had allowed the Lord to know him with vulnerable honesty.  Elijah’s life from that point on appears to have been one of calm communion with his God.  Elijah is just another illustration of the restoration of intimate fellowship that comes when we allow God to know us.

We have yet another Biblical example in Jacob’s experience of wrestling with an angel all night. (Gen. 32:24)  He kept asking for a blessing and near dawn, the angel asked: “What is your name?” Since the angel is the “pre-incarnate Christ,” of course, he already knew his name, so why did he ask?  I maintain that He was giving Jacob an opportunity to let himself be known so he could bless him.  Jacob replied, “My name is Jacob,” which means “one who supplants” or “usurper.”  (One who improperly took something from someone.)  In his case, he had lied to his father and had stolen his brother’s blessing.  When he stated his name, he was admitting his character flaw, and therefore was, allowing himself to be known at the deepest level.  Then the angel gave him a new name, which is another metaphor for intimacy bestowed.  His new name was Israel, and he became the first of God’s chosen people called the Israelites.

In Genesis, the question is, “where are you” and in The Revelation, it’s “open the door,” but both are intended to give an opportunity for people to allow themselves be known.  God doesn’t need information because He is omniscient.  However, His desire for intimacy with us requires us to cooperate by allowing ourselves to be known.  Remember the definition of intimacy is both “knowing and being known.”  God wants to know us in order to have an intimate connection with us, but he never forces it on us, He waits for our consent.  If He forced it on us, it would be considered spiritual rape.  Rape is defined, as intimately knowing another person without their permission and God doesn’t do that.  He knocks at the door and waits for us to let Him in, or He asks us by way of conviction, where are you or what are you doing here?

God had been knocking on my door for years, asking those and similar questions but I had not answered because I was too busy doing things for God.  I was hoping for, even longing for intimacy, but had not achieved it.  I had not yet learned that letting God know me was my side of the equation.  These and other scriptures helped me understand that it was as simple as telling God things He already knew about me.  He always knows the facts, even the details of the facts, but He doesn’t know them relationally.  When I did that, the Lord graciously began to let me know Him at a deeper level than I had ever experienced and that produced the intimacy that I longed for.

Here’s a homemade story that illustrates the point that when we choose to let someone know us, it opens the door to intimacy.  Let’s say a father has given his son a curfew of midnight.  One night the son returns home at three o’clock in the morning, and since the house is dark, he assumes that everyone is asleep.  He thinks maybe dad won’t know he broke curfew, but in fact, his father did hear him come home.  The next morning at the breakfast table, they are both aware of the situation, but Dad says nothing.  Can you imagine how their relationship was repaired when the son voluntarily said, “Dad, I know you don’t know, but I came home three hours late last night.”  Of course, dad knew the facts, but he did not know them relationally until the son told him. Even though there were probably consequences, there was never a question of whether or not he would remain a son.  However, the boy’s honesty restored a healthy father-son relationship because they were now both on the same page regarding that issue.

I experienced intimacy first with a small group of men that I met with for years.  A high level of trust had developed, and incrementally I had become very vulnerable with them.  We eventually knew each other very well and in many ways better than anyone outside the group did.  We had developed a high level of trust and trust is foundational for intimacy.  The more we trust someone, the closer we let them get to us.  Only then will we share our inner-world with another person.  When one of the men had a heart attack, I visited him in the hospital and met his mother for the first time.  She didn’t know I was part of it, but she told me how much her son loved his group.  She said when he describes his group to her; it reminds her of an ancient Proverb.  “Oh the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts or measure your words, just pour them all out, chaff and grain together, sure that a faithful hand will sift them, keep what is worth keeping and with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away.”  That described exactly how I felt about the guys in the group and it helped me understand what had produced our intimacy.  When I realized this, I began telling God things He already knows.

Again, my experience is that God lets us know Him in direct proportion to how much we let Him know us.  Intimacy with God has been the most rewarding and life-changing thing I have ever experienced.  After I began to experience it with God, I eventually did so with my wife, and our marriage reached a deeper level.  I am not sure that is the correct order, but it’s the way it happened with me.

At this point, let me say a few words about what I do not mean by intimacy with Jesus.  It is not a greater commitment to Jesus, which is a good thing, but no matter how serious you are, it’s a poor substitute for intimacy.  The value of commitment is that it’s the glue that keeps us together until we experience intimacy.  There is also an imitation intimacy which is an emotional experience often created by a worship team that encourages it.  It’s transitory but feels so right while it lasts because it can be a deeply spiritual experience, but that is not intimacy.  Millions of people who have that kind of worship experience week after week are the same ones who answer the surveys that their spiritual experience is less than fulfilling.  While it feeds the emotions, it doesn’t produce the kind of intimate heart connection with Jesus that people consciously or unconsciously desire.

Believers who have never experienced genuine intimacy with Jesus might ask, “Isn’t fellowship with God the same as intimacy with God?”  I think the answer is yes if we rightly understand the true meaning of fellowship.  However, what most people mean when they think fellowship with God is the condition of being, “In fellowship or out of fellowship.”  They typically think of themselves as being out of fellowship when they deliberately sin and are back in fellowship when they confess their sin.  That’s a good thing, but it does not produce the abundant life of John 10:10.  Asking a spouse to forgive us for something is a good thing and may even restore harmony, but it does not produce intimacy in a marriage.  It’s true that confession of sin means we are allowing ourselves to be known by God but only for an isolated segment of our life and it does not produce the intimacy I’m talking about.  True intimacy involves so much more than getting back in God’s good graces; it means letting Him know all of our thoughts and feelings.  There isn’t anything you can’t say to God because He already knows the details, but He wants us to be like the son who told his Dad something he already knew.  David is a good person to study because he tells God exactly how he feels about things and especially his frustration with God.  Take a leap of faith and pour out your heart then be ready to experience intimacy with Jesus.

Today God is still speaking to us as He did in Scripture.  “Where are you?”  (What is your true spiritual condition?)  “Where is your brother?”  (Any un-reconciled issues in your relationships?  How about your marriage?)  “What are you doing here?”  (Do you find yourself defeated or on the run in some area of your life?)  “If you will open the door, I will come in.”  (Do you have any doors that are closed to Jesus?)  For more thoughts like this, I highly recommend the timeless classic written by Robert Boyd Munger called; “My Heart-Christ’s Home” (It’s a small pamphlet, available on Amazon)

Is your desire for intimacy with God strong enough to make you move towards it?  If not, take some tiny baby steps and see if the results don’t cause you to want more.  We all know our own heart.  The question is, “Will we allow ourselves to be known?”  It’s past time to get honest with ourselves, others and God, and experience the intimacy that we’re created for.  Intimacy takes two, who want it, and God is ready when we are, in fact, He’s knocking at your door.

We enthusiastically tell the world that if they receive Jesus, all their sin will be forgiven and God will remember it no more.  In fact, scripture goes further when it says if we surrender our life to Jesus, the record that would have condemned us is completely erased.  Our heavenly Father can do that because of the substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross.  Some people even proclaim it with a bumper sticker that reads; “Christians are not perfect, just forgiven.”  However, if you listen to their prayers, they continue to ask for forgiveness over and over and over again.  Asking forgiveness may make a person feel better but doing so is a contradiction of what they profess.  Additionally, by asking for forgiveness after one has been forgiven is an act of unbelief.  Most would not agree with that conclusion, but their actions confirm that it’s true.  After much study and prayer, the following is what I believe about God’s forgiveness.  In the spirit of Acts 17:11 I urge you to search the Scriptures and come to your own belief because the Bible is our only standard, not someone’s opinion.

I believe that ALL my sin, past, present, and future has been completely forgiven.  I am confident of that based a large number of scriptures including what Jesus Christ Himself said; He said, ”Those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me HAVE eternal life.  They will NEVER be condemned for their sins but have already passed from death to life.”  (Jn. 5:24)  The Apostle Paul amplifies it by saying; “You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away.  Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave ALL our sins.  He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.”  (Col. 2:13-14)  And in the Book of Hebrews, we read: ”I will NEVER again remember their sins and lawless deeds.”  (Heb. 10:17)  The cross is the only basis for the forgiveness of sin, and since it is a one-time event, all sin, the past, present, and future was dealt with there.

The majority of believers agree with those verses so why do they continue to ask God for forgiveness on a regular basis.  It must be because of the patterns they have observed in their church culture.  It’s common to hear people ask for forgiveness in the prayers of their pastor, Sunday School teacher, Bible Studies, etc. It might also be because many people find it hard to believe that God can forgive our future sins.  If that is an issue for you, ask yourself these questions; How many of your sins did Jesus bear on the cross.  (Answer, all of them)  How many of your sins had been committed at that time?  (Answer none).  All your sins were future sins, so it’s obvious that God doesn’t have a problem forgiving future sins.  If you agree with that, you can trust that all your sins have been forgiven; past, present, and future.

There are only a couple of Scriptures that cause people to think they must continue to ask God for forgiveness.  One is the Lord’s Prayer in which we ask God to, “forgive us our sins as we forgive others.”  (Matt. 6:12)  It very clearly states that we are inviting God to forgive us in the same way that we forgive others.  In addition, Jesus states this principle even more forcefully when He says; “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you.  But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”  (Matt. 6:14-15)  That’s a pretty sweeping statement, and if that’s the standard for God’s forgiveness, no one has a chance.  It leaves no room for being less than perfect in forgiving others.  Thank God that the New Covenant supersedes this way of having our sins forgiven.  Jesus instituted it in the upper room and confirmed it by sending the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.  The New Covenant of grace makes forgiveness a free gift, and it’s straightforwardly declared; “God saved you by his grace when you believed.  And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”  (Eph. 2:8-9)  For me, it’s clear that the verses before the cross, which say God’s forgiveness is based on my performance, were applicable only under the “Old Covenant.”

It’s a new thought for some that Jesus was born under the law, which means He was subject to it.  It fact Scripture says He fulfilled it perfectly.  So, therefore, He taught many old covenant principals, especially by example.  (Gal. 4:4-5)  He kept the Mosaic law, Made animal sacrifices, Worshiped on Saturday, Ceremonial washings, etc.  He also taught his hearers some strict standards of perfection like, “anger equals murder, looking with lust equals adultery, cut off your hand, pluck out your eye, be perfect, forgive others in order to be forgiven by God, etc..  Everything Jesus said was true, but it’s critical to understand that these demands of the Old Covenant law could only be fulfilled perfectly, by a perfect person.  Jesus was that perfect, sinless person and He fulfilled them so if a person is “In Christ,” God sees them as having done so as well.  The word hallelujah leaps to my lips.

Believing that I am completely forgiven has changed the way that I pray.  As a new covenant believer, I pray the Lord’s Prayer like this.  Rather than, “Forgive me the way I forgive others,” I affirm what I believe by saying, “Lord help me forgive others as you have forgiven me.”  Even though I am totally forgiven I still sin, so as I become aware of a sin my prayer is something like; “Lord I agree with you that I have sinned and I am truly sorry.  I don’t want to live like that so would you please help me be more consistent in my behavior.  Thank you that you forgave all my sins when you placed me into Christ.  I know you’re not mad at me because when Jesus was on the cross, you placed all your anger for my sin upon Him.  Thank you that I am completely forgiven, and you see me as spotless as new snow.  Once again I surrender and ask you to continue to live your life through me.”  Then I go forward, live without condemnation, and continue to follow Jesus.

The second reference that confuses people about forgiveness says: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and will cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness.”  (1st Jn 1:9) As a non-believer, I did that, and I was forgiven and cleansed from ALL unrighteousness.  I believe that a careful study of this chapter will reveal that as in most churches, there were unsaved folks in that local church who claimed that they had not sinned.  One of the reasons John wrote this letter was to deal with those who believed the Gnostic teaching that Jesus had not come in the flesh – that He was an illusion, in fact, sin was an illusion.  We cannot develop this thoroughly here, so I will leave it to you, but I urge you to study 1^st John carefully.  Some teachers say that this verse is like a bar of spiritual soap and we need to faithfully apply it to stay clean.  When a person agrees with that, it moves them back into the legalistic camp, meaning our efforts are what keep us acceptable to God.  That is not only unbiblical; it is unrealistic as well because it is impossible to apply that verse for every sin, every improper thought, etc.  We should always be ready to confess sin and repent (i.e. live life in the opposite direction) but not to be forgiven.

While speaking at a Pastor’s conference, one pastor said he agreed we don’t need to continually ask forgiveness for salvation.  Then he explained relationship vs. fellowship and in fellowship vs. out of fellowship.  He said when we sin we break fellowship, so we need to ask forgiveness to get back in fellowship.  I asked him if a person dies when they are “OUT” of fellowship, do they go to hell?  He said no, so I asked, on what basis can they go to heaven if not for the complete and total forgiveness they received at the moment, they received Jesus?  I also asked him if one unconfessed sin will cause a person to miss heaven.  He also said no, so I reminded him that the Bible says the penalty of sin is death not getting out of fellowship and that it sounded like he and I were in more agreement than he first thought.  (Rom. 6:23)  I asked him to remember that all the prodigal son had to do was repent (live in the opposite direction) and go home.  He tried to ask forgiveness, but the Father wouldn’t listen to him but rather said, let’s throw a party, my son has come home.  Jesus did not name this parable; it was the translators that named it, the parable of the prodigal son.  If Jesus had given it a name, it would most likely have been the parable of the loving waiting forgiving father.  It’s an illustration of how God views His sons.

Another illustration that’s helpful is the Laodicean Church in Revelation Chapter 3.  It had grown lukewarm which might be called “out of fellowship.”  At any rate, Jesus was very upset with their condition, but they were not required to ask for forgiveness but rather to simply to open the door and fellowship would be restored.  That is all that is needed when we have grown lukewarm.  I think these two illustrations show us what to do when we have sinned?  We should repent and go home or open a door that has been closed to Jesus.

You may fear that believing themselves to be totally forgiven will cause people to live careless lives, but for me, the exact opposite has been true.  It is possible that after hearing that God has removed all our sin as far as the east is from the west, (that’s infinity) someone will either misunderstand or distort what it means.  In Romans 6:1 Paul anticipates that, so he asks the question; “does that mean we can continue to sin” and then he gives an emphatic, “may it never be.”  Again in verse 12; “Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires.”  And in verse 15; “Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning?  Of course not!”  But what if I do sin?  1^st John 2:1 has the answer, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.  But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”  (Another term for an advocate is defense attorney.)  The penalty for my sin, past, present, and future has been paid, and I have been freely forgiven.  Therefore, the picture in my mind when I sin is that Jesus is my defense attorney and He reminds the Father; Remember that one was paid for also.  A sin does not cause me to stop being a son of God, but I do not take lightly Gods potential response.  In both Proverbs 3:12 and Hebrews 12:6, it says, those he loves he disciplines as a father disciplines a son.

Let me give you two homemade parables.  First:  Two men are walking down a road, one in very dirty clothes, and the other in a white Tux.  As they approach a mud puddle, which one is most likely to avoid the mud puddle?  I think you will agree; it’s the one with the white Tux on.  Secondly: Think of a country that’s ruled by a King.  In this country, the punishment for prostitution is death.  However, the king decides to give a blanket pardon to all prostitutes.  It would be good news but would it motivate a change in lifestyle, Maybe, maybe not.  However, let’s say that one prostitute was not only pardoned but the King asked her to be his wife and therefore become the queen.  Do you think she would be motivated to leave her old life?  Scripture says: If you are in Christ, you are now His Bride.

If we don’t understand, appropriate, and teach Gods TOTAL and COMPLETE forgiveness, We’re going to continue to produce believers who are thankful they’re going to heaven but who live lives that lack the freedom and joy we are meant to have.

Here are some of the things we say we believe,  We are: In Christ; Spiritually Reborn; Redeemed; Saved; Name is written in the Lambs Book of life; Forgiven; We’re a new creation.  Look at those again; THEY ARE ALL PAST TENSE.  It is very important to understand this because what we believe about our standing with God affects our entire life.

We call ourselves believers: Let’s start believing what we say we believe.

 Freedom is a treasured concept and an important word in our vocabulary.  We use it in a variety of ways including; freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, political freedom, financial freedom, etc., etc.  Each of these is wonderful, but history shows us they can be diminished or even lost if one does not remain vigilant.  However, there is a freedom that cannot be lost because it is the birthright of every person who is, “In Christ.”  Jesus says; “If the Son sets you free you will be free indeed.”  (Jn. 8:36)  The Apostle Paul confirms that but adds a warning.  “…Christ has truly set us free.  Now make sure that you stay free…”  (Gal. 5:1)  It’s important to recognize he does not warn us to; “make sure you retain your salvation,” because salvation was guaranteed when Jesus gave us his Holy Spirit.  (Eph. 1:13-14).  Instead, Paul’s warning to, “make sure that you stay free,” alerts us to be watchful because we have a tendency to drift or be led into a performance-oriented faith, which is the opposite of spiritual freedom.  Most believers would not accept teaching that is explicitly legalistic, but it often happens unknowingly.  That’s because it’s frequently cloaked in language that sounds spiritual but promotes condemnation rather than freedom.  And Scripture is clear that condemnation is never from Christ.  (Rom. 8:1)

Regrettably, I didn’t pay attention to Paul’s admonishment to, “make sure that you stay free,” and there were consequences.  I will explain later why I believed and taught new covenant grace but was slowly losing my spiritual freedom.  Now, after more than fifty-five years of church and Para-church leadership, I’m convinced that a significant number of Christians have a similar experience.  It’s sad, but like me, most of them are unaware that it has happened to them.  This motivates me to share a bit of my personal journey in the hope that it will help believers recognize and experience the freedom they already possess.  I will share with you some of the roadblocks, dead ends, and religious cul-de-sacs that I encountered before God graciously taught me how to live a life of freedom in Jesus.

In every area of my life, education, sports, business and even the church, I learned that “acceptance is based on performance.”  Even though I knew and believed in the doctrine of grace, I unconsciously allowed this concept to influence my spiritual life.  This was in spite of the fact that I was in a great church with a Pastor who was an excellent Bible teacher.  He taught that under the new covenant, salvation is obtained by grace through faith and that Jesus sets us free from the law of sin and death. (Rom. 8:2)  He often spoke about avoiding any form of legalism because our acceptance is not based on our efforts but rather on the finished work of Christ on the cross.  In spite of the fact that I strongly believed “salvation is not by works,” (Eph. 2:8-9) something caused me to subconsciously develop the view that it was by my efforts that “sanctification” was accomplished.  I think it was because “spiritual disciplines” and living by Biblical principles were promoted as the way to spiritual growth and Godliness.  This caused me to be more concerned with the external than the internal, with “doing” vs. “being.”  Many who read this have had a similar church experience, and they like me turned out to be less than free.  Since many of our churches have correct doctrine and the best of intentions, why did this happen to so many of us?  Each church and each individual have their own story, but there are some experiences that are common to all believers.

It’s my considered opinion that one of the most significant is the sheer volume of input we receive over time.  The commonly used phrase “information overload” comes to mind.  Every story in the Bible contains several spiritual principles, and they become material for sermons.  Every sermon has either a new list or an old list of Godly principles to live by, backed up by scripture.  These ideas are also reinforced in most of the places we receive spiritual input.  Like, Pastors, Sunday School teachers, guest speakers, retreats, books, Bible studies, etc.  They explain the scriptures and normally end with an application or two.

I acknowledge that it isn’t intentional, but we are led to believe that a serious follower of Jesus should be living by ALL those Biblical Principles and spiritual disciplines.  After we’ve been a believer for a few years, this can amount to thousands of Biblical principles that we have been urged to incorporate into our lives. Each person has a different response, but the typical result is that his or her spiritual freedom begins to slip away.

My response was to take copious notes, read books, go to conferences, and try to live by all that was taught.  I had a quiet time every morning, kept a prayer list and prayed often, fasted one day a week for several years, memorized lots of Scripture and never missed Sunday school or church.  Our church was quite large with a wide array of activities, and I was encouraged to get involved, so I did.  The following is a partial list of my activities over those years.  They had an emphasis on evangelism and discipleship, so after I was discipled by a man on the staff of the Navigators, I discipled 84 men…By the book.  The church had a class on “Life Style Evangelism” so I took it and eventually taught the class using a book by that name written by Joe Aldrich.  Additionally, I taught a large adult Sunday School class, led the Sunday evening High School group of a hundred and fifty kids, had a couple’s home Bible Study, and a small men’s group.  Our church had several ministries to the homeless, so once a month I spent a day with the Union Gospel Mission in the inner city.  Eventually, I became an elder of that church, and later, Chairman of the Board of Elders.  During the 60’s and 70’s, I was very involved with the activities of Campus Crusade for Christ, The Navigators, and for ten years, led a weekly Young Life club at a local high school.

There must be people who can retain spiritual freedom while having this amount of ministry.  However, I believe their numbers are few.  That’s my conclusion after conversations with hundreds of people including many pastors and senior leaders of large international ministries.  I mention all my activities to illustrate that even though I diligently followed all the teaching I received, it slowly took away my spiritual freedom. This happened even though I enjoyed the activities and received lots of affirmation and by most people’s standards, was highly successful with great results.  That may be your experience as well, but I wonder if like me, you occasionally have a sense that something is not quite right.  In a series of conversations with Dick Halverson, one of my mentors, his questions changed my life.  They made me realize that Jesus was not the center of my life, “Ministry for Jesus” was.  When that hit me, I was shocked that ministry had become the central focus of my life, because that was never my intention.  This and several situations caused me to rethink the motivation for my spiritual activities.

After a few months of prayer and reflection, I concluded that I had neglected to nurture my heart connection with Jesus and had focused on outreach and discipleship, Bible study and correct interpretation of the Bible.  I also enthusiastically encouraged these activities for those I was influencing.  At the time, I would have been defensive if I had been accused of promoting a structured (legalistic) approach to following Jesus.  However, I now believe that is exactly what I was doing.  Over the years, I had unintentionally allowed myself to place an inordinate focus on correct doctrine and activities for Jesus.  The result was that the freedom I’m writing about was missing.  I now know that the focus of a “Christ centered life” is not ministry.  The focus of a “Christ centered life” is a “Christ centered life.”  Jesus didn’t ask us to devote ourselves to ministry; He asks us to devote ourselves to Him.  For the serious, committed believer, the greatest competitor of devotion to Jesus is often, service for Him.

Others and I think they are in the majority, have a different reaction to drinking from a fire hose of spiritual input.  They give mental assent to what is taught but don’t try to incorporate every point into their life.  Since they agree with the teaching but don’t act on all of it, the majority of Christians live their lives with a constant low-level sense of guilt.  Most of this low-grade guilt falls under the ambiguous category of “not doing enough” or “not doing it right.”  Both the Harris and Gallup polls indicate that this represents around ninety percent of the church.  Even though I was more involved in ministry than my peers were, I still had the thought once in awhile, “am I doing enough.”  You know you are not free spiritually if you feel like you don’t quite measure up.  (i.e., not reading the Bible, praying, witnessing, giving or serving enough, etc.)

I’ve discovered that some pastors and teachers in their most honest moments have a little guilt because they are not living all they teach.  Some years ago, I was meeting with a friend who is a Southern Baptist pastor in Texas.  He and his church have a strong emphasis on personal evangelism, and he gives an altar call in every service.  His people are regularly challenged that the “Great Commission” is a personal mandate for every believer, and they should be winning their neighbors to Christ.  (Mat. 28:16-20)  When that subject came up in our conversation, I casually asked him if he had ever led anyone to Christ outside the pulpit.  He got very quiet, tears filled his eyes, and he said; “no, and I have felt guilty about that for years.”  That led to quite a discussion about my own experience of feeling guilty about not living all that I had been taught.

I shared how my heart had yearned for some resolution even before I knew that this internal longing was to experience the reality of my spiritual freedom.  As I prayed about this, I was hoping for an immediate answer, but it came slowly over time.  It was a series of little aha-moments instead of a big aha-moment. One was when a friend of mine returned after spending three weeks with Mother Teresa in Calcutta.  He said that as he was leaving, he asked, “How can we pray for you.”  Her answer was; “Please pray that my ministry to the poor won’t hinder my intimacy with Jesus.”  Another was when she spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. where I heard her twice introduced as; “A woman who has devoted her life to the poor.”  Her response each time was, “Sir, you completely misunderstand me, I am not devoted to the poor, I’m devoted to Jesus, and He asked me to help the poor.”  At the time, I felt confident that God would approve of everything I was doing, but after hearing that, it made me wonder if the Lord would have the same evaluation.

One of the bigger aha-moments was in the middle of a sermon when the Lord dropped a thought into my head; “You should listen to spiritual input and the Holy Spirit at the same time.”  I now know that this is crucial in order to retain spiritual freedom.  The change that this brought was not that I stopped studying the Bible, listening to preaching, teaching, etc.  It was that I needed to respond to the Holy Spirit, not the speaker’s list of Biblical principles or Godly things to do.  What I had to learn is that not everything taught is meant for me, at that point in time.

Therefore, I have learned to use the metaphor of a tuning fork to help me evaluate spiritual input.  If you strike a 440 cycle tuning fork (Musical note A) and hold another un-struck 440 cycle tuning fork next to it, without touching, resonance will cause the second one to vibrate in sympathetic vibrations.  However, if you hold a tuning fork of a different frequency next to it, it will not vibrate.  I believe that sermons, books, Bible studies, retreats, etc., are simply people striking tuning forks.  They can be proclaiming the truth, but I am to be obedient only when the Holy Spirit causes a specific point to resonate with my spirit.  Like the tuning fork, they are emitting a true signal, but my response is to be led by the Holy Spirit rather than take notes, and try to incorporate them into my life.  My job is to listen with a desire to be obedient to what the Holy Spirit impresses on my heart.

Now when I hear a passionate, inspiring teaching or sermon, I don’t assume that I must respond to every challenge.  That is especially true when the emphasis is on the heartbreaking stories of people in distress or difficulty around the world.  My thought at those times is to listen with an open spirit expecting that if God wants me to respond to something, He will speak to me.  My experience is, sometimes He does, and often He does not.  I believe this is the way Jesus lived, so I take 1st John 2:6 seriously, “Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.”  I can’t do that perfectly but thinking about how He responded to his surroundings has helped me immensely.  Let me give a couple of illustrations.  He must have felt compassion for the multitude of people at the pool of Bethesda, but he only healed one and left.  He must have walked by hundreds of lepers and blind people but only healed a few.  Many people went to bed hungry when He had the power to make bread out of nothing.  Or how many people died during His three years of ministry.  We obviously don’t know the answer to that question, but we know more died than He raised from the dead.  Point……Major Point; Need did not drive Jesus, he responded only to the will of the Father.  (Jn 5:30)  Scripture calls us to live like this, but it’s only possible when we learn to “walk in the Spirit.”  (Gal 5:16)

Let me bring this to a close with a couple of cautions.  We live in America that is known as the “land of the free.”  However, we know that if our freedom is not used responsibly, it will be destructive to society, and it’s the same for spiritual freedom.  That’s why Scripture encourages us to embrace our freedom in Christ, but use it wisely and for the good of others. 

“Be careful that you exercise your freedom, so it does not become a stumbling block for others.”  (1 Cor. 8:9) 

“Live as people who are free, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil” (1 Pet. 2:16)

“For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”  (Gal. 5:13)

My prayer is that these thoughts will help someone begin the process of responsibly embracing their freedom in Christ.  Ask God to help you understand and appropriate your freedom, then RELAX; “For it is God who works in you, to will and to act according to His good pleasure.  (Phil 2:12-13)  Whatever captures your attention captures you, so concentrate on Jesus, not a list of things to do.  He will tell you what the first step is, then, be obedient to that and He will give the next step.  It’s called walking in the Spirit, which brings the abundant life that the Apostle speaks of in John 10:10.

Additional unconnected thoughts about maintaining your freedom in Christ.

Here’s a verse to help you chose the right setting for your spiritual input.  “For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”  (2 Cor. 3:17)  If spiritual freedom isn’t emphasized where you worship, you should find a place where it is.  Your pastor/teacher may be called to focus on the poor, evangelism or missions, and may with passion, challenge you to do the same.  However, unless the Lord leads you to do so, don’t respond to the challenge.  We follow Jesus, not men.

Jesus said; “…You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free”(Jn 8:32) Secular people use that phrase often, by which they mean information that is true.  Let me state emphatically that facts even though true, will not set you free, and that also applies to the Bible.  Since the words of the Bible are true, many people act as if it means; “you shall know the Bible, and the Bible shall set you free.”  The Bible is meant to lead you to Jesus who said; “I am the way, the truth, and the life…”  (Jn. 14:6)  Truth is a person not information about Him.  Only Jesus can set us free, not correct doctrine or even the trustworthy words in the Bible about Him.

Another contributing factor to the loss of our freedom happens when we compare ourselves with others in our church, small group, books or TV.  The Apostle Paul says; “why are you so foolish as to compare yourselves one with another.”  (2 Cor. 10:12)  If you come out unfavorable, it usually doesn’t inspire new heights of faithfulness.  Instead, it makes you feel that you aren’t as valuable to God as the others are.  Ironically, if your comparison causes you to see yourself as living by a higher standard, it usually leads to spiritual pride, so avoid comparisons at all costs.

One of the greatest threats to spiritual freedom is mixing the old and new covenant, which the Bible calls, Spiritual Adultery.  This is as old as the First Century Church, which struggled with this.  In his letter to the Galatians, Paul addressed it in verse six of the first chapter.  “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the …grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.”  He goes on to tell us that the “different gospel” is the mixing of “Works and Grace,” and God uses some very harsh words about this.  As believers, we are the bride of Christ, which means that we’re married to Jesus and He’s very jealous.  Therefore, when we have an affair with the law (Works), God calls it Spiritual Adultery.  (Rom. 7)  “Whatever the Law says, it says to those who are under the Law, but we are not under the Law, but under grace”(Rom. 6:14)  Many believers are suffering the negative consequences of committing spiritual adultery.  (I.e., Mixing the old and the new covenants)

My father was a pastor, so I was raised in a good evangelical church that valued prayer.  We prayed to start and end everything, and our language included phrases like “prayer warrior,” “fasting and prayer” and “Wednesday night prayer meeting.”  We were often reminded that Godly people spend much time in prayer with quotes like; “Every Christian needs a half-hour of prayer each day, except when he is busy, then he needs an hour,” and Martin Luther said; “He tried to spend two hours every day in prayer, but if he was really busy, he would spend three.”  We learned that James the Apostle was called, “Old Camel Knees” because he prayed so much he had calluses on his knees.  None of this motivated me; in fact, it was a bit disheartening because if that’s the standard, I didn’t measure up.  However, I wanted to be a man of God so I took what I was taught seriously and did the best I could.  I kept a “prayer list,” “led family devotions” and fasted and prayed every Monday for several years.  Many do some or all the above with great benefit, but that was not my experience.  I did these things and others faithfully, but if I’m honest, my private prayer life was about as routine as my automatic prayer before meals.  Of course, my prayers were sincere, but with exceptions, they were more habit than heartfelt.

I thought maybe I had not correctly understood prayer or how to pray, so I read some well-known books about prayer.  Among others they included; “With Christ in the school of Prayer”by Andrew Murray, “Power Through Prayer” by E.M. Bounds, “Conversational Prayer” and “Conversing with God” by Rosalind Rinker.  They were interesting but also a bit disheartening because even though I accepted what they said, it did not produce a satisfying heart connection with my Lord.  At one point, I wondered if I was expecting too much from my private prayer life, but at the same time, I knew that there had to be more than I was experiencing.  I agree with the emphasis they placed on prayer, but the practices they promoted were not working for me.  I now know that I received a distorted view of prayer.  God knew my condition and over a period of several weeks prompted me to simply be open to what He wants.

During that period, I asked Him to teach me how to have a more intimate heart connection with Jesus.  He answered my request by leading me to re-visit my understanding of prayer.  As I did, new insights transformed my prayer life from anemic to life giving.  So my purpose is to document my experience plus share some thoughts about my current prayer life.  I will leave it to others to write a dissertation on prayer.  My goal is to simply share a part of my story, which requires me to speak candidly, but with the caveat that it is my journey and it might not be yours.

 One day an idea came to me, so I decided to try an experiment.  As I was driving my wife to see our grandkids, she was doing a crossword puzzle.  I got her attention by saying,

“Mary Ann,” and when she responded I said,

“Isn’t that a beautiful sunset?”

“Wow, that’s awesome.”

“I thought you would want to see it, Goodbye.”

A few minutes later, I said,

“Mary Ann” and waited for her to look up.

“Do you want to go to that party next week at the Larson’s?”

“Yes, I think we have to go.”

“I agree, I’ll RSVP for us, Goodbye.”

Several minutes later, I said,

“Mary Ann,” and she immediately said,

“What’s going on?”

“I think I’ve discovered how I’ve been praying.  I get God’s attention by saying ‘Heavenly Father’ then tell Him about a concern or praise then say Amen.  It feels like a phone call to heaven, and when I finish, I say goodbye.

I told her, that doesn’t sound right because Paul in 1st Thess. 5:17 encourages us to “pray without ceasing.” That’s not how I pray so I need to find out how a person can pray without ceasing.”

Acts 17:11 says that the Bereans, “…examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true,” so  I looked at everything I had been taught about prayer to see if it was supported by the Scriptures.  I looked at all the prayers in the New Testament and was surprised to see that they were quite different from the way I prayed.

Starting with the Lord’s Prayer and other verses in Matthew 6, I noticed that Jesus encouraged short prayers and gave specific instructions to pray in secret.  However, my biggest discovery was that the Lord’s Prayer doesn’t end with, “In Jesus Name.”  Of course, I must have known that because I had prayed it for years, but apparently, it hadn’t registered.  How I ended my prayers wasn’t the place I expected to start, but it was this thought that ignited an even greater desire to truly understand prayer.

I felt this insight was God beginning to answer my request for more clarity about prayer, so I needed to pursue it.  It seemed almost heretical to ask the question, why do we end our prayers with, “in Jesus Name?”  Nevertheless, I was committed to finding out if it was Biblical.  I couldn’t find any verses that specifically supported the practice, but did remember that Jesus said,”Ask anything in my name.”  (John 14:13‑14)  However, that didn’t seem to support adding the phrase, “In the name of Jesus” to every prayer, so I continued to search for Biblical support.  I was confident that the Apostle Paul knew how to pray, so I checked all of his prayers.  A couple ended with “Amen,” but all the rest ended with nothing at all.  You would expect that the prayers in the Bible would be examples of how to pray and in fact, they are.  It was surprising to find that not even one prayer ends with the phrase, “in the name of Jesus.”  So what are we suppose to do with that?  The only conclusion one can draw is that the way we pray is based on tradition, not a Biblical mandate.  However, the verse that confirmed my present position was, “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.”  (Col. 3:17)  This was the only place I found that gave specific instructions to do something, “in the name of Jesus.”  I knew instinctively that this verse could not mean that I should add “in the name of Jesus” after everything, I say or do.  It would sound silly and maybe even be sacrilegious to say, “Honey, I’m going to work now, In the name of Jesus.”; “I got the car washed today, In the name of Jesus.” or, “I picked up the mail on my way home, In the name of Jesus.”  That would be a weird way to talk, but Scripture does say, “whether in word or deed, do everything (including pray) in the name of Jesus.”  So Colossians 3:17 took on new meaning for me and motivated me to learn more about what “in the name of Jesus” really means.

Shortly after that, I was reading “My Utmost for His Highest” by Oswald Chambers, which I have done every morning for years.  However, this time I saw something about prayer that I had managed to overlook.  He said, “You shall ask in My name, that is, in my nature.  Not, you shall use My name as some magic word.”  (May 29th  in classic edition.)

Immediately I knew what he meant because we have so ritualized the term “in Jesus Name” that for the majority of believers, it is almost like a magic phrase that makes a prayer acceptable or without it, unacceptable.  At the annual National Prayer Breakfast, which I’ve attended for forty-four years, I hear people make negative comments if someone ends a prayer with a simple amen.  Do they really think that God does not or will not hear a prayer if it doesn’t end with the right words?  I do have some sympathy for them because it’s part of my own history and I’m not completely free from my past.  Sometimes out of habit, I end a public prayer with, “in Jesus Name.”  At other times, I do so deliberately, in order not to offend people, but when I do, I feel hypocritical because I don’t end my private prayers that way.

I will try, to sum up, what I’ve learned about praying In the Name of Jesus.  It means we recognize that Jesus has opened the way for us to have access to the Father.  It’s an acknowledgment that our own righteousness is not sufficient but clothed in the righteousness of Jesus; we can boldly approach the throne of God.  Praying in Jesus’ name is praying for things that will honor and bring glory to His name.  It’s praying in and by the authority of Jesus Christ; it’s consistent with His character, His desire, and His will.  If this is our attitude, we are praying in the name of Jesus, so it doesn’t matter what we say at the end of the prayer.

Here are some additional thoughts about my discoveries relating to prayer.  Ask a thousand people to define prayer and the majority will say in one form or another, “It’s talking to God.”  Webster’s Dictionary agrees with that and defines the verb “pray” as “to Speak to God.”  That was also my view, but I might have said, speaking and listening to God.  I now know they are both are only partially correct because while prayer does involve speaking and listening to God, it’s so much more.  This traditional view of prayer is wonderful, but it doesn’t help us understand the fundamental nature of prayer.  Prayer is primarily communion with God or said another way; it’s having an open heart towards God.  The only time I break the communion (i.e., stop praying) is when I purposefully live in resistance to God.  We call that, “being out of fellowship.”

Brother Lawrence in his book, “The Practice of the Presence of God” says”; Prayer is nothing else than a sense of being in God’s presence.”  By far that’s the most important aspect of my prayer life whether alone or in a crowd.  I desire to maintain that “sense of God’s presence” so I will quickly respond to the prompt and check of the Holy Spirit which is called walking in the Spirit.  (Gal. 5:16)  I have also intentionally turned my thought life into prayer, so if you could hear my prayers, you would probably say, you’re just thinking.  That’s true, but I am thinking in communion with God, and that is prayer.  When I do use words, my prayer life is an open-ended conversation without saying Heavenly Father or Amen because I want my communion with Jesus to be unceasing.

Additionally, the majority of my active prayers are with my eyes open as I go about daily tasks.  Closing our eyes to pray doesn’t make it spiritual.  In fact, I can’t find one example in the Bible of anyone closing their eyes to pray.  Of course, it’s all right to do so if we want to and it may keep you from being distracted.  When I’m involved in a discussion with believers, I often quote the following verse to help them understand that our entire conversation has been a prayer.  “Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard.  A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.”  (Mal 3:16)

For me, prayer has become as natural as breathing, and it happens to be a great metaphor.  My lungs bring oxygen into my bloodstream, which sustains my life.  As long as I am alive, it continues without ceasing even when I am not consciously thinking about it.  Likewise, even though I’m not consciously thinking about God or having a conversation with Him, I remain in communion with Him, which is the essence of prayer.  I will use that conversation in the car with my wife for one more metaphor.  If we’re traveling for hours, we can constantly talk about the kids or our vacation plans, but we can also ride in total silence and our “union/communion” is uninterrupted.

Let me share a verse that was important to me as I searched for a more meaningful prayer life.  The Psalmist said, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”  (Psalm. 37:4)  I once heard a sermon that explained that verse this way.  If you have a desire for something, start delighting yourself in the Lord, and He might give it to you.  I think it means the exact opposite of that.  It means, if we are “delighting” ourselves in the Lord, He puts desires into our hearts.  So the question might be, how do we “delight” ourselves in the Lord?  If I ask people if they are “delighting” themselves in the Lord, they usually respond with, “Probably not, I don’t pray or read the Bible enough.”  However, that verse is more about surrender than faithfully performing an activity.  The Hebrew word for delight in that verse is (“Aw-nag”) which means, “To be soft and pliable.”  As we choose to have a soft and pliable heart towards the Lord, He puts desires into our hearts.  In addition, the desire He gave me was for a more satisfying prayer life.  I fully believe that the prayer life I now experience is because God fulfilled the desire He gave me.

In summary, my life in Christ has been revolutionized by experiencing the possibility that my prayer can be unceasing.  Of course, it includes speaking and or listening, but now there is a dimension that I was missing.  This is one man’s journey, but I believe there are parts of it that apply to everyone.  Whether or not you agree, my hope is that these thoughts have motivated you to seek a more meaningful prayer life.

Caveat:  The Bible is our only standard, and my prayer is that everyone would use Acts 17:11 as a guide to evaluate the teaching of any man and that includes this one.

Over the years the vast majority of believers have come to think of “witnessing and evangelism” as synonymous.  A recent Google search confirms this with more than 99.9% of the sites expressing this view.  It’s the natural consequence of Churches, Para-Church organizations as well as Christian TV and Radio, using the terms interchangeably.  The purpose of this paper is two-fold; to propose that evangelism and witness are distinctly different and that while all believers are witnesses, not all are called to personal evangelism.  I fully realize that this is a minority view, but I hope you will hear me out.  Witness will be covered in Part Two, but first, we will examine the prominence given to evangelism in many evangelical circles.

For some, the terms “evangelism” and “evangelicalism” are also indistinguishable, and it’s important that you know the difference, so you will know which one I’m writing about.  Evangelical or Evangelicalism refers to theology.  A short list of its beliefs are; The inspiration, inerrancy, and authority of Scripture.  That the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, exist as one unity within the Trinity.  That every human being is born alienated from God and needs to be “born-again” spiritually, by grace through faith.  That Jesus’ death on the cross paid the penalty for our sin.  That His Resurrection guarantees eternal life for those, who are, “In Christ.”

Evangelism is our expression for the activities of an evangelist.  (Eph. 4:11)  It is defined by Webster’s dictionary as; “The winning of personal commitments to Christ.”  Therefore, evangelism is proclaiming Jesus Christ as Savior and trying to persuade people to become His disciple.  It may surprise you to learn that the words “evangelize” and “evangelism” while often used by the church, are not in the Bible.  “Evangelist” is in the Bible three times, and will be covered later.

Like many who will read this, I was taught that the “great commission” (Mat. 28:16-20) is a personal mandate for every disciple of Jesus.  I wanted to be a whole-hearted disciple, so I read numerous books, and took classes on evangelism.  I became deeply involved in and gave leadership to three organizations that emphasized evangelism and discipleship.  Because of my bold personality, and my love for the Lord, it was easy for me to be evangelistic and I recruited others to do so as well.  However, after many years of success in the eyes of my peers, I had several God ordained encounters that caused me to wonder if the Holy Spirit had led me to be evangelistic, or if it was the influence of several Godly men that I respected.  After several weeks of prayer and study, I became convinced it was the latter, so this paper is about some of my thoughts that led to that conclusion.  I pray that my journey will be useful to others.

Before we begin, let me recommend a verse that will protect us from unsound conclusions.  In Acts 17:11 the Bereans are commended because “they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”  This verse is confirmation that the Bible is our only standard, not someone’s opinion.  May I suggest that you read this paper in the spirit of that verse.

Let me also give a short disclaimer before continuing.  Some who read these thoughts will find themselves on the defensive because they have a heart for the lost.  That’s wonderful, and I praise God for you, so please understand that these thoughts are not intended to devalue what God has put in your heart.  If you were given to the church as an evangelist, then don’t let me dissuade you from your mission.  Do your work with skill and enthusiasm; we need you.  However, this is a plea for you to exercise your gift without producing guilt in those who have received a different spiritual gift.  (Rom. 12:6-8; 1st Cor. 12:4-11; Pet 4:10‑11)

Unfortunately, our emphasis on missions and evangelistic efforts has caused the majority of believers to think of those on the so-called “front lines” as the ones who are most valuable to God.  By giving them prominence, we have made missionaries and evangelists our heroes and the more we celebrate them, the less valuable the rest of us feel.  It has the same effect on the body of Christ as a father of several children who praises the academic ability of one and neglects the athletic or creative ability of the others.  The role of a good father or spiritual leader is to discover the gifts of each person and help them excel in that area.

This is not the first time the body of Christ has suffered negative consequences from an emphasis on evangelism.  Church historians trace many of the major divisions in today’s church to the late 1800’s when some evangelical leaders, convinced of the imminent return of Jesus, vigorously promoted evangelism.  Others saw this emphasis as indifference to human suffering, so they concentrated on social causes.  When we emphasize one part of the Body of Christ over another, we are in error.  The Bible teaches that every believer is a part of the body with no part being more important than another.  (Rom. 12:4, 1 Cor. 12:12)  I rejoice in the efforts of the gifted evangelists among us but know that God sees and approves of the smallest acts of service in His name.  (Widow who gave two mites Luke 21:1-4)  I also love the rich heritage of the reformers.  Evangelicals are often at the forefront of social reforms, i.e., abolishing slavery, public education, hospitals, child labor laws, orphanages, etc.  I urge the church to give more than lip service to the fact that every believer has a unique, valuable and God ordained role to play.

This plus several other motivating factors caused me to re-evaluate my thinking about evangelism, and one of them was especially powerful.  It was the fact that I knew so many exceptionally devoted followers of Jesus who were not evangelistic.  They included Bible teachers, pastors, seminary professors, many of my friends at church, and my own wife and believing children.  I even learned that many pastors feel ashamed that they are not more evangelistic because its emphasis has also affected them.  One time without intending to, I asked an embarrassing question to the pastor of a Southern Baptist Church.  He had an altar call every Sunday and frequently encouraged his people to do personal evangelism.  It was promoted from the pulpit, Sunday School classes, and guest speakers.  I asked if he had ever led anyone to the Lord without being in his role as a pastor?  He got tears in his eyes, and said, “no, and for years, I have felt guilty about that.”  It’s sad that pastors who love Jesus and have the heart of a shepherd have to feel guilty that they are “just” Bible teachers, and not evangelistic in their private lives.

How did this happen?  The causes must be numerous, but one of the leading reasons is that the God-given, evangelistic calling of a few is often held up as the norm within the body of Christ.  Verify this for yourself by asking other believers you know to explain the primary purpose of a Jesus-centered life.  You will get a variety of answers, but the majority of them will revolve around spreading the gospel.  (i.e., fulfilling the great commission)  Because it has been underemphasized, they won’t think to mention what Jesus said should be primary for His disciples;  1. A person who puts Him before self.  (Luke 14:26b)  2. A person who puts Him before others.  (Luke 14:26a)  3. A person who puts Him before possessions.  (Luke 14:33)  4.  A person who takes up their cross and follows Him.  (Luke 14:27)  There are numerous others, but it’s obvious that outreach is not a believer’s top priority.

The following is a real life example that provides a good illustration of how many people have been hindered from fulfilling God’s purpose for their individual lives.  I am confident this story has been repeated many times, but I have personally witnessed it in the lives of two men.  It goes like this.  After a successful high school and college athletic career, a man marries and eventually has a son.  His dream is that his boy will also be an outstanding athlete and maybe even surpass his records.  Of course, on the boys’ first or second birthday, he gets a football, baseball glove, hockey stick or some other piece of athletic equipment.  As the young man grows he has a strong desire to please his dad and makes a valiant effort to fulfill his expectations, but there is a problem.  God designed this boy to be an artist, a musician, or a writer, and after a few years, the son is a major disappointment to himself, and his father.  With his best efforts, he just cannot meet the expectations of his father.  This kind of father produces a son who feels like a failure and too often is unable to reach his potential.  However, without these misplaced expectations the son could have excelled in the area of his own gifts and talents.

Even though well meaning the dad gave an incorrect vision to his son.  In my opinion, many evangelical churches and most Para-church organizations have done this to their members.  They have either explicitly or subliminally caused their members to think that fulfilling the “great commission” is the top priority of a believer.  In this example, the father represents the Local Church and Para-Church ministries, not our Heavenly Father.  God has given all believers both natural and spiritual gifts and desires that we exercise them in accordance with His purpose.  That’s the only way we can be effective witnesses of His love and grace.  Hopefully, this paper will help to liberate a few who have been under the burden of trying to be something they weren’t created to be.

In most evangelical churches, the emphasis on evangelism starts early.  We indoctrinate our children with cute little songs like; “I will make you fishers of men if you only follow me.”  (Mat. 4:19)  This song clearly tells young minds that true followers of Jesus will be fishers of men.  (i.e., soul winners.)  Then we reaffirm that in a hundred different ways as they grow up.  You may feel this is an innocuous little child’s song and that I am making too much of it.  However, in my opinion, it is this very type of thing that starts small but eventually causes us to have unrealistic and un-Biblical expectations of ourselves.

Jesus did say He would make Peter and Andrew “fishers of men,” and he obviously did since on the day of Pentecost, 3,000 believed after hearing Peter’s message.  However, I was taught in subtle and not so subtle ways that those words apply to all of us.  The Bible and my personal experience confirm that not all Godly people become “fishers of men.”  Shouldn’t we stop teaching or implying that they will?  Besides, the persistent emphasis that every believer should be evangelistic has produced the exact opposite of what those who promote it desire.

Some years ago I heard the President of Canon, the Japanese electronics firm, make the following statement; “Your systems are perfectly designed to give you the results you are getting.”  He was speaking to a secular audience of business executives, but I believe his challenge can help the Church do some self-evaluation.  A good place to start would be to examine the results of almost two hundred years of an emphasis on the “great commission.

With evangelism as the focus, we have unfortunately let our entrepreneurial oriented western culture invade the body of Christ.  This has caused us to use nearly every known method of sales and marketing techniques to spread the gospel.  It seems to be working because a Gallup national poll found that 74%… 3 out of 4 people say they have made a commitment to Jesus Christ.  Another Gallup poll surveyed Atlanta and found that 62 % report they are born again.  The most recent George Barna survey reports that 85% of Americans self-identify as Christians.  I know that polls are often unreliable, but this is frankly unbelievable.

Why is it that we have such massive numbers of people who claim that they have responded to our evangelistic efforts, and yet we are experiencing the accelerating decline of morality in our culture?  The answer is, our systems are perfectly designed to produce these results.  However well meaning, they must be viewed as a stunning indictment of our evangelistic focus.  Maybe we should question the methodology that produced this situation.

Dick Halverson, one of my mentors, told me about a survey that was sent to churches, Para-church organizations, and TV and Radio ministries all over the country.  It was pretty complete, covering the size of the budget, number of staff, areas covered, etc.  One question was, “How many decisions for Christ have been made in the United States through your ministry over the last ten years?”  They were astounded when they tabulated the results because the number was over 600 million.  It would be laughable if it were not so tragic because this means that the entire population of the country has been saved two times.  Even if we allow for those who believe you can lose your salvation and be saved again, it still doesn’t account for such an extraordinarily incorrect result.  This survey demonstrates what many people joke about when they say; “I saw that hand.”  It’s a play on words to show that many evangelists will count it a decision for Christ even if a person is just scratching their head.  It would have been a completely different result if the question had been; “How many people are following Jesus as a result of your ministry.”  It can be readily assumed that none of the reporting entities intentionally misreported, but since they so obviously did, we must look for an answer.  For the first 1800 years of the church, there was no such thing as decisionism when it concerned salvation.  So the emphasis on making a decision and counting those who do is a relatively new phenomenon started by Revivalist Charles Finney in 1820.

Some of you will know and some will not, that Jesus did not call His words at the end of Matthew, “THE GREAT COMMISSION.”  That’s an extra-Biblical term but by constant use, what started out, as a paragraph heading inserted by the translators, has become part of the text for most people.  If we do not set this straight, we could be charged with adding to Scripture by our complicity.  We rightly castigate the cults for their use of extra-Biblical material while we pride ourselves on staying true to Scripture.  Unfortunately, when we speak about the “great commission,” we are vulnerable to the very same charge.  So, I no longer use the term “Great Commission” because it is more Biblically correct to say; the words at the end of Matthew.

Another thought on the so-called “Great Commission.”  We have given more importance to what WE call “Great” than what Jesus called “Great.”  He said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  (Mat. 22:37-39)   How did the church exchange what Jesus called great, for what WE call great?  Unfortunately, history tells us that the Church has gone along with many things that don’t have a Biblical base.  They sound true and are eventually accepted because they are repeated so often.

It seems obvious to me that the so-called “Great Commission” is not the number one goal of every believer, but it is also not the number one goal of the church.  It is very important, but simply ONE of many commands by Jesus.  Remember the story Jesus told about the Samaritan traveler who found a man along the road who had been beaten by robbers and left for dead?  After the Samaritan had bound up his wounds and helped the injured man, Jesus told his questioners to “GO and do likewise.”

What makes this “GO” less important than the “GO” of the so-called, “great commission”?  It’s the same word “GO” and the same Jesus saying it.  To me, this “GO” has equal weight to “GO and make disciples” so where are the big organizations with the goal of loving God and loving their neighbor as themselves.  This raises an important question, how do we know which of Jesus’ commands should be given priority in our individual lives?  There isn’t a formula; we must each listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit and free others to do the same thing.

Some say those words at the end of Matthew are important because they are the last words of Jesus.  Even if they were the last thing, He said, what makes the last teaching more important than the first?  Everything that Jesus said was important.  However, Scripture refutes their claim that those were His last words.  We have the following in the book of Acts.  He appeared to more than 500 people and taught them for 40 days after His resurrection.  Here we read the actual last words of Jesus; “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”  (Acts 1:8)  And then Acts 1:9 gives us this definitive statement; “These were his last words.”

In this passage, He did not say we were to “DO” witnessing but that we would “BE” witnesses.  By the way, Acts 1:8 also does not say we will be evangelists.  Paul covered evangelists in Eph 4:11.  Clearly, he did not think everyone would be an evangelist because he said, “God gave SOME to be evangelists.”  My reading of this is that SOME are called as evangelists, but ALL are called to BE witnesses.  A couple of examples may help illustrate the difference between being an evangelist and being a witness.  On the day of Pentecost, Peter was an evangelist and thousands responded to his message.  When Jesus opened the eyes of a blind Man, his questioners wanted him to engage in a theological discussion, but he avoided that and was a witness when he simply stated; “One thing I do know is, I was blind, but now I can see…”  (Jn. 9:25)  He couldn’t answer all the questions that the Pharisees asked, but he could tell what had happened to him.  That is the essential role of a witness.  One way to sum up the difference is to say; “Telling what Jesus CAN DO FOR OTHERS is evangelism but telling what He HAS DONE FOR ME is to be a witness.”  Peter and Phillip were evangelists, but the blind man was a witness.  More on this in Part Two.

Some organizations, which concentrate on the “great commission,” use Matthew 28:19‑20 for evangelistic purposes and others to emphasize discipleship.  Since for them, this is their primary message; they try to convince everyone who is serious about Jesus that they must have the same calling.  I have asked the following question of many who are giving their life to, “fulfilling the great commission in our generation.”  “Are the words at the end of Matthew a personal mandate for every believer,” and their answer is always yes.  I think not!

If they are correct about this, then most of them are failures.  The command is “go, make disciples, and BAPTIZE them.”  If the “great commission” is a personal mandate for everyone who follows Jesus, then why don’t the Para-church groups baptize.  If each person does not baptize, then they are not fulfilling “the great commission.”  When I ask those involved in these movements, how many they have baptized this past year, they usually say none.  When I ask why, their answer is, “we leave that to the church.”  That answer makes my point; these words are not to individuals but were given to the church through the Apostles.  Eph. 2:19‑20 says that they are the foundation of the Church with Jesus being the cornerstone.  A careful reading of this Scripture indicates that only the eleven Apostles were there when Jesus spoke these words.  Since all believers are members of the universal church, we must diligently search for our role in fulfilling the total mission of the church.  We are each equipped and enabled based on our spiritual gifts plus individual calling.

If the “great commission” were the primary goal of every believer, then many pastors, Bible teachers, doctors, seminary professors, business people, homemakers, children, etc. are all giving their lives to secondary purposes.  Is their work really less valuable in God’s eyes than those who are out spreading the gospel?  The majority of those who promote evangelism would answer no, but they continue to call for everyone to be involved in winning the lost.  That is a duplicitous message and makes those who are not evangelizing feel like second-class citizens.

While evangelism and evangelize are not in the Bible, evangelist is, and it’s mentioned three times, so let’s look at each.  Firstly in Ephesians 4:11, it is a spiritual gift to the Church.  Note that the word Evangelists is plural, meaning that God gave more than one, and probably many.  Secondly, in Acts 21:8 Philip is called “the Evangelist,” so he must have been one of those spoken of in Ephesians four.  Lastly, in 2nd Timothy 4:5, Paul tells his young friend to do the work of an evangelist.  This was probably because Paul knew Timothy had been given to the Church as an evangelist as well as Pastor-Teacher.  In chapter four verse fourteen of his earlier letter to Timothy, Paul alludes to that when he said; “Do not neglect your gift, which was given you…”

But you might ask, how do we know this command to; “do the work of an evangelist,” was specifically to Timothy?  The answer is in the context of the letters Paul wrote to him.  In earlier verses, Paul predicts that some will move away from sound teaching, and then in verse five he speaks directly to Timothy; “BUT YOU, keep your head in all situations…and do the work of an evangelist.”  Then in the same verse, he says this is Timothy’s ministry.  We misinterpret scripture when we make general application of a verse that was spoken to a specific person or group of people.  We know that God told one man to build an ark, but we don’t apply this to everyone.  However, in our zeal to prove our point we often use other verses out of context.  It’s a good thing that all Paul’s admonitions to Timothy do not apply to every believer because that would mean that we would all be drinking “a little wine.”  (1st Tim. 5:23)

If we remove the call to spread the gospel from the backs of most believers, don’t be concerned about the future condition of the Church.  Down through the ages, God has made sure that His body has enough evangelists.  In the early days of the Church, He gave us Philip and Timothy, and in this era, we’ve had men like Billy Graham and Bill Bright plus many others, and we thank God for them.  The vast majority of people who have this gift are not as well known as those mentioned, but they are equally effective in a less visible way.  There are many types of evangelism; Crusade Evangelism, Personal Evangelism, Musical Evangelism, Apologetic Evangelism, Radio and TV Evangelism.  These are all legitimate if done by one who is an evangelist.

This re-examination of evangelism was my personal journey, and it was necessary for me to be liberated from the expectations of men.  Since to the best of my knowledge I haven’t been given to the church as an “evangelist,” I will leave it for others to write on this subject.  Following in Part Two are my thoughts on, “lifestyle witness” rather than “lifestyle evangelism.”

Part One of this paper started with the following statement.  “The purpose of this paper is two-fold; First, to assert that evangelism and witness are distinctly different and Secondly, to make the case that all believers are to be a witness for Jesus, but evangelism is not required of every believer.”  I pray that people will be released from the self-condemnation that results from frequently hearing that the “great commission” is a personal mandate for every believer.  Read “Part One” of this paper for thoughts that challenge that idea. Evangelism is presenting the Gospel and challenging people to receive Jesus and the salvation He offers.  A witness is a person whose words or actions reflect the meaning, which Christ gives to his or her life.

Let’s begin with the last words of Jesus before He ascended into heaven.  “…When the Holy Spirit comes upon you; you will BE my witnesses…”(Acts 1:8)  The Greek word for “Witness” in this passage is “Martus” (mar-toos).  It’s definition is; “one who by word or deed tells what he as seen or heard;” Webster’s Dictionary defines witness as; “Public affirmation by word or example of personal faith” or “one that gives evidence”  “You will BE my witness’s” was spoken by Jesus to those who were there on the day of Pentecost, but it applies to every believer because, at the moment of salvation, we too are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.  So now, let’s examine the practical implications of what being a witness means.

The following hypothetical story describes the role of a witness.  Imagine with me a situation that develops right in front of you and ends with an automobile accident.  Let’s say you see a car stopped in the fast lane waiting to make a left turn.  A green car approaching in the same fast lane sees the light is turning yellow.  Trying to beat the red light, it speeds up and changes to the slow lane to pass the stopped car.  However, this was a last minute decision and causes a rather serious accident with another car traveling in the slow lane.  Being a good citizen, you stop to offer help and let the drivers and the police know that you saw the accident.  A few months later, you get a call from a lawyer and are subpoenaed to be a witness for the trial.  An attorney has worked for months gathering evidence and several other witnesses to support his charges.  He develops a strategy to present this evidence in such a way as to cause a judge or jury to discover the truth.  If you being one of the witnesses enter the courtroom, immediately point to a person, and began to shout, “He’s the one who caused the accident,” you can understand that even though you might be right, it would be detrimental to the case.  The attorney would quickly ask you to sit down and withhold your information until he asks you to take the witness stand.  He has several others who witnessed the accident, and you are the fifth person he will call.  He plans to call each witness in a specific order and will call on you when your information is most useful to the case.  When he does call on you, he wants you to say that you saw a green car changing lanes quickly and it hit the car in the slow lane.  He doesn’t want you to say more because he has others who will speak about the light turning red, etc.  Then the defense attorney will cross-examine you by asking you questions that are intended to prove that your statements are not true.  He may try to confuse you by asking questions you can’t answer, but not to worry, you can simply restate what you saw, experienced, and know to be true.  After the plaintiff’s attorney has called all his witnesses, he will make his closing statement, and a decision will be reached.  As a witness, you have no responsibility for the outcome of the case.  Your duty is simply to tell your personal experience as honestly and clearly as possible, but it’s important that you do this only when the attorney calls you to take the witness stand.

The attorney for this case will have presented the evidence in a very precise manner, and in fact similar to the methods of a bridge builder.  Bridge construction techniques for a particular type of a bridge can help us understand how God builds a bridge between Himself and an individual.  Many bridges start by pulling a very small nylon rope across the river or canyon.  Then a slightly larger rope is pulled across, then a small cable, then a stronger cable, after that, multiple cables.  This process continues until the cables are strong enough to support early work on the superstructure.  They are very methodical with the pace of construction because each phase must be done correctly and in the right order. Eventually, the bridge can help people safely cross from one side to the other.

God seems to work in the same way and understanding this helped me understand His activity in the first 26 years of my life.  It also led me to see how the Holy Spirit wants to use me as a witness for Jesus in the lives of others.  My experience is that the Holy Spirit has normally been active in people’s lives, long before he calls me to be a witness.  A good example; God was already at work in the life of Cornelius long before He asked Peter to speak to him.  (Acts 10)  Like Peter, I may be the first to witness to a person about Jesus, or there may have been several hundred before me.

It is God who orchestrates events and the witness of many people to accomplish His purpose in each person’s life.  He has a master plan for each life, and He executes it precisely.  When He invites me to participate with Him, He expects me to get on the witness stand, and only say what He prompts me to say.  In the same way as the overly zealous witness of the automobile accident, I can get ahead of God’s timing and hinder or even set back what He is doing in a person’s life.  Our role is simply to speak or act as He prompts us, and He adds our witness to those before us.  His earliest witness plants a thought, and each successive event or witness builds the case stronger.  When we live like this, it is impossible to fail as a witness.  When we respond to what He asks us to say or do, we have fully discharged our responsibility, and the results are up to the Holy Spirit.  Occasionally, our role is to be the last person in a chain of circumstances, and we see a person receive Jesus.  It brings us great joy, but it was not our input alone that caused a person to become a child of God.  It was a multitude of others, and God ordained events that caused that person to surrender their life to Jesus.  In addition, here is an important point, if someone earlier had not played their specific role, this person would not have been at the point I found him or her.  In fact, one of those who God used earlier in their life might have been an evangelist who presented the gospel to that person.

General thoughts about being a witness.

Many people think they lack knowledge and sufficient verbal skills to be a witness.  In fact, God seems to do nothing that he can delegate to people.  He allows us to do slowly and often poorly what He could do perfectly and in the twinkling of an eye.  It must bring Him joy, and it certainly produces growth in us when He allows us to be His witness.  He used a woman of low morals to win a whole town.  (Lk 4)  He once used a donkey, (Num. 22:21-39) and said He could even use rocks if He has to.  (Lk. 19:40)  God uses anyone who will make themselves available.  Being a witness for Jesus simply requires a heart that is responsive to His leading.

If you are “In Christ” you are a witness for Jesus, but its expression depends on many factors.  Our witness is shaped by, one’s age, personality type, spiritual maturity, spiritual gifting, the situation, etc.  We know that the witness of a 12-year-old believer will be very different from a 40-year-old spiritually mature individual.  Personality plays a huge role as well, but if God has given you an introverted personality, you can still be the kind of witness that He designed you to be.  If on the other hand, you are a committed disciple of Jesus and have a strong extroverted personality, your tendency could be to act in the “flesh” rather than wait on the Holy Spirit.  In either case, it’s important that you understand how to “walk in the Spirit.”  If you do not, then that should be priority one so you can live your life in sync with God.

Our words and actions will be part of either erecting a bridge or a barrier.  Bridges assist people to move from one side to the other but barriers, even small ones, stop, or at least inhibit movement.  Small barriers can cause people to stumble, and large barriers will stop them immediately.  Let’s think about what relational barriers might look like.  Most of us have difficulty understanding doctors if they use scientific medical language or in a similar way, a Rotarian at a Lyons convention or a Protestant at a Roman Catholic Church.  Therefore, if we use traditional church vocabulary or what is often called “Christianeze,” it is likely to confuse, or at best keep a person from engaging in comfortable dialogue.  We must be careful because we can make it really difficult for people to understand our witness.  Around the church, we often use terms like; “THE WORD…THE CAUSE OF CHRIST…  THE SAVIOR”…I’VE HAD A BURDEN for so and so…THE LORD TOLD ME or SPOKE TO ME!  I am sure you can think of more words and phrases that we should avoid.  This kind of language makes us sound super-spiritual, so it’s better if we talk about our faith using everyday words.

Scripture calls us to; “…Be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.(1 Pet. 3:15)  One of the greatest tragedies in the Church today is that not many people are asked for the hope that they have.  Read that verse again; it doesn’t say, be ready to give an answer to questions people have about God.  That was really freeing to me, and I hope it is for you as well.  We should simply be able to tell in our own words what gives us hope in a world that doesn’t make sense to most people.  We don’t have to know why bad things happen to good people or explain the Predestination of God and the free will of man.  It doesn’t need to be a coherent, comprehensive presentation.  (even Jesus didn’t do that)  As in a courtroom, we’re simply asked to say what we have seen and experienced.  (1^st Jn. 1:3)  That’s an authentic, effective witness.

My personal journey of learning to be a witness for Jesus.

To be this kind of a witness, I had to learn how to walk in the spirit.  (Gal. 5:16)  Only the Holy Spirit knows when I should get ON the witness stand and when I should get OFF.  (Read my article on Following Jesus)  Since I had such a great love for Jesus and knew the Bible fairly well, my biggest challenge was learning when I needed to get off the witness stand.  Over time, the Lord taught me that too much content that is not in harmony with what He is doing in a person’s life, will hinder His plan.  I now wait until I feel prompted by the Holy Spirit before I witness verbally.

Only God knows where people are and only He can design the correct spiritual timeline for each person.  Only the Holy Spirit can match where a person is on their spiritual journey with the correct witness at just the right moment.  This pattern matches the Scripture that says; Some prepare the ground, some plant, some water, some cultivate, some wait, some harvest.

There have been many instances when I was prepared to give a witness, and He didn’t call on me, but I have learned to trust the wisdom of God.  At other times, I’ve felt an internal prompting to cooperate with Him by “getting on the witness stand.”  He may want me to say a sentence or two, or He may open the door for an in-depth dialogue.  The most common experience, however, is that He wants me to say something very simple and move on.  That’s what the blind man did in John 9:25.  The Pharisee’s tried to draw him into a religious debate, but his response was; “One thing I know for sure, once I was blind, but now I can see.”  (Jn. 9:25)  To tell what Jesus CAN DO is evangelizing but to tell what He HAS DONE FOR ME is witnessing.

When God does lead me to speak to someone, I don’t confront their beliefs, lifestyle, or relationships, because that puts them on the defensive, and can easily lead to a heated debate.  That isn’t profitable, so I will usually just share a personal experience that involves my life with Jesus.  It isn’t hard to remember one that fits the current conversation because I have had so many in my life.

One Example:  Over a ten-year period, I developed a friendship with the Director of the “Ministry of State Security for one of the leading Communist countries.”  (Their CIA).  On one occasion, we were in the Capital City and were sharing a bit about our personal lives, and he asked about my family.  As I began to tell him about my family, I felt the prompt that I have become accustomed to, so I began to tell him about my marriage.  At that time, I had been married approximately fifty-five years, but as of this date, it will soon be sixty-six years.  He seemed amazed that I had been married that long so I said, “I can’t take credit for having one wife for all these years because, after nine years and two children, I asked her for a divorce.  But I am so fortunate that five weeks later, I surrendered my life to Jesus, and He gave me a new heart.”  That led to a forty-five-minute discussion about how Jesus had changed my life.  To my knowledge, my witness did not result in his conversion, but I felt certain that God had prompted me to say what I did, and I was equally certain that He will use my witness as He wills.

There have been other times when the Holy Spirit leads me to speak the name of Jesus, and it leads to a wonderful conversion.  One day my next-door neighbor called and asked if he could come over for a chat.  We had become friends, so I welcomed him to come over for a cup of coffee.  He brought with him a folder of papers and the issue he wanted to talk about was his financial condition.  He was facing foreclosure and knew that I had spent many years in the real estate business.  After going over his situation in some detail, I commented; “I hope you know how to pray because only Jesus has the wisdom to guide you through this.”  It wasn’t a conscious attempt to speak about Jesus, but rather my natural response to the mess he was in.  He didn’t verbally respond to my comment, but it was obvious that it struck a nerve.  He didn’t say much after that, and the conversation shifted to his kids and a family update.

About two hours after leaving he called and said, he wanted to come back and continue our conversation.  When he arrived, he wasted no time in telling me that he didn’t know how to pray and wanted to talk about that.  After a wide-ranging discussion about spiritual things, he said, “I want to surrender my life to Jesus like you have.”  I told him that was a good thing but receiving Jesus would not automatically make his financial problems disappear.  However, Jesus would give him the wisdom and strength to handle whatever the future holds.  He understood that, still wanted to have Jesus in his heart, and asked if I would tell his wife about Jesus.  Doug and Kathy are now walking in fellowship with Jesus and miracle of miracles they were able to keep their house.  They continued to be our neighbors for years and became members of our church.

Since I learned to be obedient to the check and prompt of the Holy Spirit, more people have come to know Christ than when I was looking for every opportunity to present the gospel.  In fact, many people think of me as an evangelist because, over the years, many people I’ve met with have become followers of Jesus.  Nevertheless, I am confident that I am not an evangelist.  I think of myself as a person with a strong extroverted personality who knows a bit about the Scriptures and has learned how to respond to the “Prompt and Check” of the Holy Spirit.

Please take special notice that I have not given any methods or formulas about how to be a witness.  If age, personality, spiritual maturity, spiritual gifting, etc., is taken into account, it means that every incident of witness is different, personalized, and specific to the situation.  If God has ordained the witness, it will be unique and customized by His Spirit.  Our goal is to be open and responsive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  That’s all you need to know about being a witness for Jesus.

For many years, I used the words disciple and believer interchangeably.  However, I was always left wondering if Jesus believed in salvation by grace alone.  That’s because He continually put conditions on being His disciple.  So in the spirit of Acts 17:11, I searched the Scriptures to find out what the Bible had to say about being a disciple of Jesus.  Ephesians 2:8-9 states that we are “saved by grace through faith” which means my acceptance by God is not based on my performance.  The basis of my salvation is the blood of Jesus shed on the cross which is available to all those who receive Him.  So if my salvation is free, why did Jesus say that I should consider the cost of being His disciple?  (Luke 14:28-33)  There’s a huge difference between “free” and “cost,” so since the Bible states that both are true, I had to come to some resolution.  Because I was certain of my salvation, I came to believe that I had misunderstood what it means to be a disciple.

The actual meaning of the word disciple is a learner or a person who becomes an apprentice to a teacher.  Since Jesus is the true Master Teacher, how could I become His disciple?  My understanding of this is a work in progress, but my thoughts about discipleship have definitely evolved from what I was taught.  Like many people, my early experience with discipleship came because of my involvement with an evangelical Para-Church Ministry.  They had a strong emphasis on discipling, encouraged me to do so, and gave me a number of tools to help me.  So over a period of many years, I took eighty-four men through the discipleship books believing that I was creating disciples for Jesus.  The goal was to help them understand the Biblical view of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Sin, Nature of man, Salvation, etc..  I believe I did help them have a correct view of the Scriptures, and that’s important, but I now know that it didn’t produce very many authentic disciples.  It produced people who believed correctly about the essentials of the faith.  That’s very necessary, but Jesus calls us to become His disciples, not just people who are saved and believe right.

I once heard the CEO of Canon, the electronic firm, tell an audience of businessmen; “Your systems are perfectly designed to give you the results you’re getting”   He was saying, your current systems created your bottom line, so if you don’t like it, you must change your system.  That idea is also true for our methods.  While thousands upon thousands have gone through discipleship courses, the vast majority don’t become what Jesus calls a disciple.  I regret that it took me so long to understand that teaching people to have correct theology does not create disciples.  I’m now focusing on the definitive statements of Jesus about what He says makes a person His disciple.  Those words at the end of Matthew, “go and make disciples of all nations” (Mat 28:19) have to be viewed in light of what Jesus said were the characteristics of His disciples.  My understanding of, “make disciples” is to point people to what Jesus said.

Jesus said His disciple is:

1. A person who puts Him before others.  (Luke 14:26a)

2. A person who puts Him before self.  (Luke 14:26b)

3. A person who puts Him before possessions.  (Luke 14:33)

4. A person who takes up their cross and follows Him.  (Luke 14:27)

5. A person of prayer.  (Luke 11:1-13 and 18:1-8)

6. A person who abides in Him and produces fruit.  (John 15:7-8)

7. A person who has a special love for other believers.  (John 13:34-35)

8. A person who is unified in spirit with others in His family.  (John 17:20-23)

9. A person who lives His words.  (John 8:31)

Since I can’t accomplish these essential requirements for anyone but myself, I’ve changed the way I think about discipleship.  I will energetically continue to help people understand the Scriptures, but the primary goal is to encourage them to focus on the things that Jesus said are true of His disciples.  So now I ask people the question; Do you want to be a disciple of Jesus?  If so, then tell Jesus that you want to cooperate with Him as He accomplishes these things in your life.

A disciple of Jesus reminds him or herself daily; “I no longer have a right to myself.”

If you have a desire to be a disciple of Jesus, a good start might be to spend a week or a month reviewing the Scriptures listed below.  Ask the Holy Spirit to help you know where to start and which of these to focus on first.  Don’t be discouraged when you don’t meet them perfectly, in fact, no one ever has.  However, you can be a person who takes the statements of Jesus seriously and asks Him to help you become His disciple.

The following is only a partial list of verses about becoming an authentic disciple.

1. A person who puts Jesus before self!  (Luke 14:26b)

a. Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:20,21 & 2:5-13; Col. 3:1-4.

2. A person who puts Jesus before others!  (Luke 14:26a)

3. A person who puts Jesus before possessions!  (Luke 14:33)

4. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.  (Luke 14:27)

a. How do you understand; “your own cross”?

5. A person who prays!  (John 16:24-31)

a. Matthew 6:5-15 & 9:36-38 & 18:19; Mark 1:35; Luke 6:28; John 15:7 & 16:24

6. A person who abides in Jesus and produces fruit.  (John 15:7-8 & 16b)

a. The right definition of ”Fruit” is crucial.  (Check Gal 5:22-23)

7. A person who loves other believers!  (Jn 13:34,35)

a. Romans 12:3-9; 1 Cor 1:10; Phil 2:1-4; Hebrews 10:24,25

8. A disciple is one who works at maintaining unity!  (John 17:20-23)

a. We are not asked to create the unity but rather to maintain it.  (Eph. 4:3-6).

b. Ps. 133:1; Matt. 23:8-12; Romans 12:10 & 15:5; 1 Cor 1:10 ; Gal 3:28; Eph 5:21

9. A person who lives the words of Jesus!  (Jn. 15:7) (obeys, continues in)

a. Rom. 15:4; Col 3:16-17; 2 Tim 3:16,17;

What is the Gospel?

     The Gospel is a Person.  That Person is Jesus.  So the Gospel is Jesus not information about Him.

To preach the Gospel is to preach Jesus.  He Himself is the “Good News” (John 1:1,14; Colossians 1 & 2; I Corinthians 2:2)

     Truth is not correct facts; truth is a person.  Jesus said, ”I am the truth.”  Our Faith is not placed in what Jesus said but in Himself  (SUBTLE BUT IMPORTANT DIFFERENCE)

What is the work of God?

     “Then they asked him, what must we do to do the works God requires?”  Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”  (John 6:28-29)  This is not just a salvation verse.  The work of God is to believe in Jesus in every situation we find ourselves.  Not believing in what He will do but in Himself.

A great quote:

     “The most conspicuous thing in the New Testament is the supremacy given to our Lord.  Today the supremacy is apt to be given to phases of the truth, to doctrines and not To Jesus Christ.  Truth is a person, not a proposition.  If I pin my faith to a logical creed, I will be disloyal to the Lord Jesus.  The most fundamental heresies that split the church are built on what Jesus Christ can do instead of on Himself.  Wreckage in spiritual experience always follows.”   Oswald Chambers

I am so concerned about a development within the body of Christ that I feel compelled to sound an alarm.  An un-Biblical movement is growing like a forest fire with a 50 mile an hour wind, and it’s affecting people I care about.  I’m not sure whether its leaders are intentionally leading people astray, or if in fact, they themselves have been deceived.  Yes, true believers can be deceived and they can also lead people into error the same as intentional false teachers.  I’m thankful that it’s not my calling to sort this out or to start a campaign against them.  Even writing an article like this is highly unusual for me because while I have strongly held personal convictions, I enjoy fellowship with folks who differ from me on non-essentials.  However, in this case, I feel obligated to warn my friends and family about this aberrant teaching.  I urge you to read the entire paper, and my prayer is that it will help you evaluate your current spiritual input or prepare you for what you will encounter in the future.

For years I’ve known that several eccentric groups were teaching an erroneous theology.  They believe that God is restoring the office of Apostle and Prophet for the purpose of governing, (rule over) a unified one-world church.  They teach that these so-called “restored apostles” will take DOMINION over ALL spiritual, social, political and financial entities and establish, the Kingdom of God, on earth. (Details later)  Of course, I don’t believe that, so I wrongly assumed that these were small fringe groups and wouldn’t amount to much.  That all changed when a longtime friend sent me a CD of a talk about Jesus by a nationally recognized Bible teacher he admired.  It was so right on that I found myself in sync with his teaching.  It made me want to hear more from this man, but when I did, I was appalled at what else he taught.  His teaching was Jesus PLUS a theology that clearly identified him as a leader of the movement I am writing about.  As I learned more about him, it became clear that he was part of a large network of teachers and I was shocked to learn how pervasive it is.  Its aberrant theology is currently being taught in thousands of churches and influencing millions of believers world-wide.  In fact, church growth experts say they have the fastest growing churches in this nation and around the world because they’re highly organized with a global agenda. After an extended period of time investigating this movement I’m even more convinced of the danger, it represents for the church.  I have done my homework and am certain that this teaching is un-scriptural but I encourage you and yes even urge you to come to your own conclusion.

The movement I’m concerned about is not a new phenomenon because, since the earliest days of the Church, various groups have attempted to restore the offices of apostle and prophet for the purpose of governing (ruling) the church.  Examples: Just 35 years after the Apostle John died, “Montanus” and two female colleagues started a movement called, “The New Prophecy.”  They claimed their prophecies were directly from the Holy Spirit and superseded the authority of Jesus and Paul.  They were eventually branded as heretical and excommunicated by the early church; There were others during those early years and later in 1851 the Catholic Apostolic Church started in England and then spread to Germany and the United States.  Its last “so-called apostle” died in 1901 but there are still remnants in various countries including America;  The Mormon Church is governed by the “Quorum of Twelve Apostles.”;  In 1907 the “New Order of the Latter Rain”^(B1) was birthed, and its theology has produced a variety of movements.  One of those emerged in the 1970’s and 80’s and was called, the Shepherding/Discipleship movement.  It caused a great deal of harm before it imploded and now in the 21^st century, a new version of the same theology has surfaced.  All these movements mixed orthodox Biblical doctrine with what they called, “new revelation.”

Today’s version of these discredited movements is called, the “New Apostolic Reformation.”^(B2) (NAR)  Even though they attach the word New to it, there is nothing new about it.  They have simply repackaged and rebranded the discredited extra-Biblical teaching called Latter Rain Revival.  It taught that God is restoring the offices of Apostle and Prophet which they call the lost offices of church governance.  They teach that all true believers must be submitted to one of its so-called apostles.  This is also the central message of the NAR and the International Coalition of Apostolic Leaders. (ICAL)  Its founder Peter Wagner claims that the Second Apostolic Age started in 2001 and alleges there are currently more than 500 so-called “restored apostles.” (Both male and female)  Wagner further asserts that more than 100 million people are submitting to their leadership.  Most of you will not have heard of the NAR because it’s not an organization but rather a loosely connected network of spiritual leaders.  It’s made up of individuals or apostolic networks that submit to the authority of a so-called, “restored apostle.” 

Regarding this movement, I think those who read this paper will fall into one of three categories. The First is the largest group, and they are completely unaware of what I’m writing about.  If that describes you, I thank God for your protection.  The Second group is comprised of those who are unaware that the Church and Conferences they attend and even Authors they read are part of this movement.  My guess is that they became involved because they love the music and worship and really like the teacher so even when incorrect interpretations of scripture are presented, they are accepted.  I believe this is one of the prime reasons why so many people are being led astray.  Let me say that in a slightly different way because it’s very very important.  One of the main reasons why false doctrine gets accepted by millions of people is because the teacher speaks about Jesus and familiar themes in such an appealing way. While it’s the same Jesus I know and love, they add the un-Biblical and discredited theology spelled out below.

Thirdly: An increasing number of people understand and accept much of what is being taught, and I fear that many of them are so involved, my warning will go unheeded.  They’ve developed a great deal of respect and trust for a teacher and have accepted him or her as an Apostle or Prophet.  I believe most of these folks are true brothers and sisters in Christ and are knowledgeable about the Scriptures but for inexplicable reasons seem to have missed the real direction they’re being led.  That’s hard to understand because the key leaders of the movement have openly and clearly stated that they are committed to; “fundamentally transforming the church.”  If you are a person that is knowingly involved, I ask you to please hear me out and then do a little research on your own.  With Acts 17:11 in mind please evaluate what you are being taught.

Since these thoughts are a warning about the theology of NAR teachers, let me answer those who ask;  “Doesn’t the Bible tell us not to judge?”  Yes, Matthew 7:1 very clearly says; “Judge not that you be not judged.”  However, in verse 15 of the same chapter, Jesus warned us to be on guard against false prophets.  To do so requires us to exercise discernment so there must be a difference between judging and discerning.  In fact, there is, and for me, I use history to understand the difference.  Only God can judge Hitler, the man, but it’s our responsibility to recognize his actions as immoral.  So that illustration helps me avoid judging individuals, but Scripture commands each of us to evaluate their words or actions.  This paper is my attempt to do so after carefully studying what the leaders of the NAR are teaching.  In an earlier version, I refrained from using the names of NAR leaders, but since they openly promote their message, I see no reason to do so.  Additionally, I am encouraged to name them because the Apostle Paul warns his readers by giving specific names a number of times.

With a little research, you will find that a multitude of authors, conference speakers, and pastors, embrace the NAR teaching.  Each of them has been influenced by the acknowledged leaders of the movement.  There are too many to mention but a few of the prominent U.S. leaders are: Peter Wagner, Bill Johnson, Os Hillman, John Kelly, Lance Wallnau, Jack Deere, Ed Silvoso, Rick Joyner, Cindy Jacobs, Patricia King, Heidi Baker, Jim Goll, Mike Bickle, Dutch Sheets, Che Ahn, Bill Hamon, Lou Engle, Kim Clement, Randy Clark; Chuck Pierce; etc.  In addition to their individual ministries, some of them have established their own “apostolic networks.”  An example; Harvest International Ministry in Pasadena California claims that 20,000 churches in 50 nations on five continents have submitted to the leadership of self-appointed Apostle, Che Ahn.^(B6)  Each church is asked to tithe between 5 and 10% of its gross income to the apostolic network.

Since I’m focusing on the aberrant theology of the NAR, I think it’s important to start with a bit of its history.  It should be instructive that this new movement has been profoundly influenced by the teaching of two men.  They are the foundation the current leaders build on, so it’s important to study their character and doctrine.  Often the past helps us understand the present, so let me give you an unvarnished overview of the core beliefs of these men who are major influencers of this movement.

Starting in 1946, William Branham (1909-1965) began holding miracle healing services with amazingly accurate prophecies, even revealing specific details about people’s personal lives.  His seemingly miraculous powers, prophecies and words of knowledge filled the largest meeting halls and stadiums all over the country.  His teaching was the inspiration and catalyst for a rebirth of the “Latter Rain” doctrines. He was also the earliest and most influential leader of the so-called “Miracle movement” which produced the Prophetic and Faith Healer phenomenon.  He was so impressive and spectacular; people failed to investigate what he really believed or the true source of his supernatural manifestations.  You will see why they should have when you learn what he believed.

He denied the Trinity, (called it a “doctrine of demons) and believed that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are different manifestations of one and the same God; (The Oneness doctrine)  He believed there were three revelations from God, the Scriptures, the Zodiac and the Pyramids; (His grave stone is a large pyramid)  He taught that anyone belonging to a denomination has taken the “mark of the beast.”; A woman cutting her hair is grounds for divorce; He prophesied the end of the world would be 1977 but didn’t live long enough to be disproven and exposed as a false prophet;  During the 60’s he thought he was the end-times “Elijah” of Malachi 4 verse five and six.  He also claimed that God revealed to him a doctrine he called, “the serpent’s seed.”  He said God told him that Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden was not eating a fruit, but rather it was a sexual relationship with the serpent.  That before the fall, the serpent “was somewhat in between a chimpanzee and a man, but closer to a man.”  So Satan was Cain’s father rather than Adam because Satan entered the serpent and seduced Eve.  Branham espoused these heresies and numerous others but in spite of this, prominent leaders of current movements still praise his ministry, and much of their teaching can be traced to his influence.

Branham is still recognized by many in the apostolic/prophetic/healing movement as one of the most influential spiritual thought leaders in history.  For many years he was mostly unchallenged, operated within Pentecostal circles and was accepted by tens of thousands of people.  However in 1949 his popularity and the Latter Rain teaching was called into question by the General Council of the Assemblies of God.^(B3)  Even though it cost them many members, the leaders of the largest Pentecostal denomination, published a resolution denouncing the “Latter Rain Revival” because;“it both added to and departed from, Biblical truth.”  However, it was kept alive by a few and reintroduced during the Charismatic Renewal of the 1960’s and 70’s.  By the mid-nineties, it had gained new momentum, so in the year 2000, the same Assembly of God denomination passed a second and a third resolution, rejecting it again.^(B4)  In spite of this the movement never completely disappeared and later resurfaced with a new face and a new name.

The second man who influenced and helped launch the NAR is Paul Cain (1929-   ).  He was personally mentored by William Branham and ministered with him in the 1950’s.  He is often called the greatest living prophet and is widely recognized as the father of the modern prophetic movement.  He is still called a Super Prophet by some because his clairvoyant ability allowed him to call people out of the audience and tell them facts and hidden sins that could only be known by that person.  Cain disagreed with Branham’s most heretical views but accepted and promoted the majority of his teaching.  His disciples are too numerous to list, but they include most of the prominent teachers of the movements I’m concerned about.  He was heavily promoted by John Wimber and the Vineyard network of churches and IHOP in Kansas City. (International House of Prayer)  While they and multitudes of other people accepted him as God’s prophet, he was living a hidden life of perversion and immorality until he was publicly exposed.  Strangely, this continues even after he publicly admitted that for many years he has been an alcoholic and a practicing homosexual.  So it’s not surprising that there is a long list of his disciples who have had scandalous moral failures as well.  There are too many to mention here, but they include Ted Haggard, Todd Bentley, David (Paul) Cho, former pastor of the largest church in the world and Bob Jones another major IHOP prophet who was exposed for using his spiritual status for sexual favors.

You’re probably thinking; “What’s so important about the life and theology of a man who died fifty years ago, or his disciple who continued his teaching?”  I think it’s particularly important to review their theology because the current self-proclaimed apostles, prophets, teachers, healers, and workers of signs and wonders continue to teach the fundamentals, of the “Latter Rain Revival.”  While they might also disagree with Branham’s most egregious beliefs, they derive the core of their theology and doctrinal positions from these two men.  As a matter of fact, Bethel Church in Redding California whose Pastor is Bill Johnson produced a chart which shows William Branham as one of the pioneers of their movement.  This church and its musical group “Jesus Culture” is among the most influential in the NAR network.  Unlike this church, many of the teachers downplay their connection, and some categorically deny that their roots are in the “Latter Rain” or NAR teaching.  In spite of their denial, the fact remains that when we evaluate them carefully, it becomes obvious that the majority of what they teach comes from the original, Latter Rain Doctrines.  The differences between the Latter Rain Movement and the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) are minor and are mostly about terminology, not doctrinal differences.  Like the old saying goes; “if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck . . . it’s a Duck.”

It’s important to state that not every person involved with the movement believes everything I will mention. Each teacher has a slightly different emphasis, but common themes of the NAR are interconnected in their teaching.  However, the highly influential key leaders of the movement openly teach the following.  Their declared goal is to unify and govern (rule over) the church world-wide. (One-World church)  They say that only a unified church which has submitted to the authority of these so-called “restored apostles” can bring into being the Kingdom of God on earth.  They intend to complete that task and present the Kingdom to Jesus when He returns.  They believe that He will not and in fact cannot return until they have taken Dominion and restored the earth to the condition that existed in the Garden of Eden before the fall.  To help them accomplish this, they believe that God will eventually transfer all the wealth of the earth into their hands.  This will make it possible for them to fulfill the “Seven Mountains Prophecy”^(B5) which is one of their main goals.  They claim that God wants them to take Dominion (Rule) over the seven mountains that shape culture.  This means that; Government; Business; Media; Arts and Entertainment; Education; The Family and the Church will eventually submit to these so-called “restored apostles” and be governed by them.  One TV network called their goal, “The Christian equivalent of the Islamic caliphate because each group wants the entire world to accept it’s theology and be governed by its spiritual leaders.”   The NAR has made great progress towards their goal by involving numerous nationally known religious, business and political leaders.

Believe it or not, they have even more extreme beliefs.  These so-called “restored apostles” also teach that they will lead God’s end time’s army which will cause all individuals and all nations to submit to them.  They see themselves as Generals of a militant arm of their church they call, “Joel’s Army.”  They believe they will develop a group of spiritually mature believers who possess the Holy Spirit without measure.  They call them, the Manifest sons of God (Paul Cain calls them; “The New Breed”) and these men will have an elite spiritual status and will not die and cannot be killed.  Their army will rule the earth, purge it of all evil and judge the apostate Church. (That’s me and anyone else who doesn’t submit to these apostles)  It is very sad that many who love Jesus listen to and accept these teachers without fully understanding the end game of the “New Apostolic Reformation.”

These self-proclaimed “restored apostles and prophets” vigorously proclaim their allegiance to the Bible but often place an equal and sometimes an even greater emphasis on dreams, visions and extra-biblical revelation than they do on the Scriptures.  Many of the leaders claim to have had extraordinary spiritual experiences like physical visits to heaven.  Some claim numerous face-to-face conversations with Jesus and discussions with angels.  They boldly state that the revelations they receive are “Present Truth” for today and refer to Biblical truth as “Past Truth.”

There are also literally thousands of self-appointed “prophets” who work hand in hand with the so-called “restored apostles.”  The web page “Elijahlist.com” exists for these prophets to publish their prophecies and they claim more than 135,000 subscribers.  The prophets are men and women who profess to hear directly from God and then reveal the “fresh word of God” for today.  They insist that they do not have to be subjected to the Biblical test for a prophet which demands 100% accuracy. (Deut. 13:1-3 and 18:22)  The Bible states clearly that one inaccurate prophecy proves a prophet to be a false prophet.  It must be noted here that not one of their prophets has been 100% accurate so by Biblical standards they all fall into the category of false prophet.  They vehemently reject this Biblical test and Paul Cain, one of their most prominent prophets even stated; “people should withhold judgment on my prophecies until they get to heaven.”   He is asking people to disobey the Scriptures because First John 4:1 says; “Dear friends do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the spirit, you must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God, for there are many false prophets in the world.

Since thousands of evangelical churches and ministries across the globe are part of this movement, what could a person look for in determining whether or not their teacher is involved?   It’s easy in some settings because a few spiritual leaders are open about their involvement and even lead with this teaching.  Others are difficult to identify because they preach Jesus and a substantial amount of correct Biblical doctrine while covertly adding the NAR theology.  At first, these churches appear to be quite normal, and Christ centered, but over some period their true colors will show.  You may like the music and worship, but each of us is responsible for our own spiritual health so we must be discerning about the teachers we choose.

NAR teaching is prevalent in many, but certainly not all, Pentecostal and Charismatic churches.  However, it’s also found within a large number of Para-Church ministries (Many are well known) and quite a few of the mega-churches.  I would also add that most Faith Healers, Word of Faith and Seed faith teachers are promoting some aspect of the NAR teaching.  There are also other ways that the NAR doctrines are propagated which includes the majority of Religious TV networks such as TBN and numerous others. In fact God.TV is totally committed to advancing the NAR agenda and in fact was created to do so.  Additionally, one of the so-called “restored apostles” has even produced a Bible that supports their theology.  It’s called the “Passion Translation” and is the product of one man who would like you to accept the NAR theology

For me, an alarm bell immediately goes off in my spirit if the person is introduced as or claims to be an Apostle or Prophet.  That means they are to be accepted as a spiritual authority and a spokesman for God.  Another warning signal for me is if they speak about any of the following topics, but the most common approach is to introduce them as concepts without specifically mentioning them by name:

The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR)

The Second Apostolic age

Spiritual mapping

Dominion Mandate

Kingdom Now Theology

Manifest Sons of God

The New Breed

Joel’s Army

The Seven Mountains Mandate

Five Fold Ministry

An end times harvest of a billion souls

Fresh Fire (Catch the fire)

Spiritual covering

Prayer Walking

Territorial spirits

ElijahList

The New Prophecy Movement

Past truth vs. Present Truth

The Third Wave

The Restoration movement

The Joshua Generation

Healing Rooms

And numerous others

You could write a book on each one of these, and I pray that someone does.  For now, it’s super important for each of us to know what our Pastor/Spiritual leader believes.  They shouldn’t be upset if you ask their opinion about each of these subjects.  If they have a positive response to any of them, then personally I would not stay under their teaching.  I would run not walk to another fellowship that uses the Bible as its sole and final authority for faith, doctrine, and practice.  Please take the time to understand the NAR  because in my opinion there may come a day when every believer will have to decide whether to accept or reject the authority of the so-called, “restored apostles.”

Before you disregard this warning, please do your own investigation and ask the Holy Spirit to give you discernment.  If you have even a hint or tiny suspicion that something is not quite right with what you are hearing, I urge you to pursue it until you know the truth.  It will be difficult at first because you want to be loyal to your teacher but a higher loyalty belongs to Jesus and the Scriptures.  My prayer is that these thoughts have provoked you to seek the Lord and search the Scriptures before you accept the teaching of any man, and that includes this one.

The early church gives us a pattern of how to respond when we listen to any teacher.  A paraphrase of Acts 17:11 says:  They searched the scriptures daily to see if what they were being taught, was true.   The Bible is our only standard, and we must stay true to the inerrant word of God.

 Addendum

 A. The Bible gives us numerous clear, definitive and authoritative warnings.

1. “If the prophet speaks in the LORD’s name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the LORD did not give that message”… (Deut 18:22)

2. “Let these false prophets tell their dreams, but let my true messengers faithfully proclaim my every word.  There is a difference between straw and grain.”  (Jer. 23:28)

3. “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: What sorrow awaits the false prophets who are following their own imaginations and have seen nothing at all.”  (Eze. 13:3)

4. “On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?  And then will I declare to them, I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” (Mat 7:22.23)

5. “many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people.”  (Mat. 24:11)

6. “…false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones.  See, I have warned you about this ahead of time.”  (Mat. 24:24-25)

7. “These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised!  Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”  (2nd Corinthians 11:13-15)

8. “Dear friends do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the spirit; you must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God, for there are many false prophets in the world.” (1 John 4:1)

9. “You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars.”  (Revelation 2:2)

10. Read the Book of Jude for a good description of what to be concerned about.

 B.  Internet resources:

(1) Various articles on the Latter rain and associated ministries.

http://www.letusreason.org/Latradir.htm

Latter Rain and it’s spin offs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latter_Rain_%28post%E2%80%93World_War_II_movement%29

(2) New Apostolic Reformation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NewApostolicReformation

A transcript of a talk given by Peter Wagner, the father of the NAR.

Make sure you get to the second half where his own words confirm their goals.

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/arise.html

(3) 1949 Assembly of God resolution:

(Read the section:  “The New Order of the Latter Rain”; Resolution No. 7)

http://ifphc.org/DigitalPublications/USA/Assemblies%20of%20God%20USA/Minutes%2GGeneral%20Council/Unregistered/1949/FPHC/1949.pdf

(4) 2000 Assembly of God resolution.

(This is very definitive in describing the many fallacies of the Latter Rain teaching.)

http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/Position_Papers/ppdownloads/ppendtimerevival.pdf

(5) Dominion Mandate and 7 Mountain Mandate (Peter Wagner, the father of the NAR)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0KbH9H9vLk&index=4&list=PLnWLm645TqLvvRTkfgaj0QdnpdqbhwNqy&noredirect=1

(6) Che Ahn;  (Harvest International Ministries)

http://harvestim.org/index.php?a=about&s=vision&ss=who-we-are