JOEL 2 GENERATION

Who is and is NOT a "Reverend?"

2026-04-15T19:31:00.000-07:00

While praying today, I was reflecting on a movie currently in the theaters entitled A Great Awakening. This is a MUST-SEE movie. If you think you know about American History, I promise you, you probably don't know what this film reveals. Whether you see it in a theater or at home, just SEE IT! - Click here for more info: LINK

The film explores the relationship between the British Anglican minister, George Whitefield, and one of America's Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin. They were, in fact, actual friends in the 18th Century. And the reviews I've seen of the film attest to its historical accuracy.

The movie also narrates a time of spiritual renewal in the American colonies known as "The First Great Awakening" (1730s-1770s), which began under the ministry of the Reverend Jonathan Edwards, a Congregationalist minister in Massachusetts.

While Edwards' ministry may have been the initial catalyst of The First Great Awakening, the biggest part of it was the open-air preaching of the Reverend George Whitefield, who came to the American colonies in 1738 for his first of 7 trips and died in America in 1770 at only 55 years of age. It could be rightly said that he essentially preached himself to death!

In this post, I want to reflect on the title, "Reverend," and what the term actually means, and who we should consider or NOT consider to be genuine "Reverends."

It is a term given to Christian ministers and comes from the idea of "one who must be respected" (from the Latin word, reverendus).

Someone who bears that title, as a minister of the Gospel of Christ, therefore should be living a Christlike life of obedience to the Scriptures. That is what we should be "respecting" when we use this term to refer to any Christian leader.

When I was ordained to the ministry, I also took on the title "Reverend." I bear this title with fear and trembling.

I want us in this blog post to consider 6 well-known "Reverends" - at least, well-known in the United States. All of them were ordained as Christian ministers in different denominations. Some of them left church ministry and went into politics.

My contention is that only 2 of them rightly bore/bear the title "Reverend." In other words, when their lives and beliefs are put to the test Biblically, the rest of them MUST NOT BE RESPECTED. In other words, the title "Reverend" should be removed from their titles. Their lives were weighed and found wanting (Daniel 5:27).

TWO REAL CHRISTIAN REVERENDS

Let's begin with the 2 who were faithful till the end. Men who honorably and deservedly bear the title "Reverend."

The Reverend Jonathan Edwards - most certainly a Reverend

The Reverend George Whitefield - definitely a Reverend

We could say many things about the lives and ministries of these men, but what I want to/need to say here is that they never wavered from the historic Christian faith and living Christ-like lives. They never "progressed" into abandoning historic Christian doctrines like some of the following men. They remained faithful to their wives. They sacrificed themselves entirely for the cause of Christ and His Kingdom.

And the fruit of their lives and ministries in the First Great Awakening may very well have been the most important factor leading to the birth of the United States of America. This is not acknowledged in the teaching of American History, but it is true nonetheless. God used these men to prepare the population of the colonies for the foundation of the greatest nation the world has ever known.

Interesting to note that these men STAYED IN THEIR LANES. They didn't leave Christian ministry and venture into another field/vocation.

FOUR MEN WHO WERE NOT REAL CHRISTIAN REVERENDS

Let us now turn to the lives of 4 modern "Reverends" who, instead of leading America into a much-needed Third Great Awakening, ultimately led our nation away from Biblical foundations and orthodox Christian doctrines.

What we believe affects the way we live, and that was/has been the case in all of the following men's lives.

And that has borne horrible fruit in our nation - widespread abortion, the erosion of marriage and family, heterodox Christian doctrine, and the infection of widespread Marxist ideology.

The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. - ultimately, NOT a reverend

It is not easy to criticize Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. but if we are going to be faithful we must.

His work during the Civil Rights Movement is universally admired by all. But as a disciple of Christ, the One he claimed to serve, we must assess the character of his life and his Christian doctrine far differently.

He was a perpetually unfaithful husband who betrayed his wife, Coretta. He was committing adultery the very night before he was assassinated. As one source summarizing this aspect of King's life wrote,

"As he traveled the country, he sought out women to use for nothing more than sexual pleasure; he took advantage of his stature and fame to seduce them; he participated in orgies; and, as we’ve noted, there is evidence that he allowed a colleague to force himself on an unwilling woman—indeed, a woman who objected to being asked to perform an immoral act." (Source: Rivers and George, "Immoral Conduct and Moral Witness"). It must be noted that King literally condoned a rape in his physical presence.

King's life was characterized by sexual immorality and debauchery.

What about his beliefs, his doctrine? Was he a historic Christian? No, he was not. King, not only did NOT believe in the Deity of Jesus Christ, which means he did NOT believe in the Trinity, but he also did NOT believe in the Resurrection of Christ from the dead. These are the beliefs of a heretic and not the beliefs of a Christian.

I don't know how his faith journey started, but the Scriptures are clear that what matters is how our faith journeys end that matters. Jesus said, "...the one who endures until the end [of their life], he will be saved."(Matthew 24:13)

While no one disputes his incredible work for racial justice and equality during the 1960s, for these other aforementioned reasons, I do not consider him a Christian man to be respected.

The next three men can be said to have followed in the wake of Dr. King's legacy to one degree or another. Sadly, the trajectory of all of their lives led/has led them far away from the good values Martin Luther King stood for. For example, as you will see from Jesse Jackson, one of his disciples, King would have been strongly opposed to abortion, but all of these men came to support the greatest evil mankind has ever committed, the slaughter of the lives of the unborn!

The Reverend Jesse Jackson - like his mentor, NOT a reverend - mentored by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jesse Jackson, and like his mentor, lost his way. (if he ever was on track!)

On the following issue alone, no one should consider him "one who must be respected." No one who advocates for the killing of the unborn deserves respect. Abortion is murder. That has ALWAYS been the Christian position.

In 1973, he proclaimed "Abortion is genocide" (Jet Magazine) and yet later, changed his Christian position to the demonic one that he held at the time of his death this year. On the position of Life, he lost his way entirely. This constitutes ongoing unrepentant sin.

Jesse Jackson, too, was an ongoing adulterer, known as a "womanizer", throughout much, if not all, of his marriage to Jacqueline, whom he remained married to until his death, admirably. During a 4-year adulterous relationship, he had a daughter in 1999 out of wedlock, which finally became public.

No surprise that Jackson abandoned the historic, Biblical understanding of marriage and family and became an advocate of same-sex "marriage".

To add to his "anti-Christ" resume, he was also a Freemason.

Jackson's politics drifted as well. Many of the policies he would have advocated early in his career were either changed and/or abandoned as his political activist career progressed.

A life and legacy that cannot be respected with regard to the Apostolic faith and practice.

The Reverend Al Sharpton - another one who is NOT a reverend - for many reasons, we can dismiss this man as a "Reverend". But on the issue of abortion alone, we can make our assessment.

When Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, Sharpton was outraged, claiming that "This must be resisted aggressively." This is his current position.

His positions on other issues have eroded from arguably Biblical positions to ones today that are neo-Marxist ones.

When one looks into his divorces and remarriages, one learns that Al Sharpton, too, was/is an adulterer.

Yet another man who DOES NOT MEET the Biblical qualifications to be a minister, to be considered a reverend.

The Reverend Raphael Warnock - a "wolf" who is NOT a reverend - another "Fake Reverend" who, as far as Historic Christianity is concerned, is an apostate. Tragically, raised by parents who were Pentecostal ministers, he has departed from those Christian roots.

Today, he refers to himself as a "pro-choice pastor." That is like calling oneself an atheist theist. You CANNOT be a Christian pastor and support abortion.

He does not uphold the Biblical stance on marriage, supporting same-sex "marriage."

His theology is aberrant. He does not affirm historic Christian doctrines but rather heretical ones. Heretics are NEVER to be respected!

Many of his positions are also Marxist, which is a counterfeit ideology that is irreconcilable with Biblical Christianity.

Who is and is NOT a "Reverend?"

Two of these men truly were and remained "Reverends", the other four became (and 2 of them remain) anything but...

I realize 2 of these men still have a chance to repent of their evil beliefs/policies and/or their sin. But their current states are ones of apostasy and advocating evil.

Remember our initial definition of a "Reverend" is one whose life "must be respected." When the lives of these men are considered in their entirety, especially the way they finished their races, only Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield can rightly be referred to with this title.

By God's grace, this Reverend (meaning me) will remain faithful to the Apostolic faith and practice. With His help, may I never waver concerning Biblical morality. May I never abandon God's design for marriage, which is only between one biological male and one biological female. Abortion is murder - may I never move even an inch away from this position! Marxist ideology and all of its godless modern offspring are Biblical counterfeits originating in the kingdom of darkness and articulated by atheists.

May I faithfully preach the Gospel as did Edwards and Whitefield, and STAY IN MY LANE as these men did. Worldly power and influence seduced the other Reverends; it never did to these men!

And may the fruit of my life contribute towards yet another Great Awakening in American history. God knows we desperately need one!

Jesus versus Spiritual Leadership

2026-03-31T10:08:00.000-07:00

I learned early on in my Christian life that there were some bad guys in New Testament, namely the Jewish leaders of Jesus' day, the worst being the Pharisees.

Being called a "Pharisee" is not something anybody wants to be called. In common Christian usage it is entirely derogatory with connotations of being judgmental, hypocritical and self-righteous.

As I grew a bit more, I realized that in many ways the Pharisees were the well-meaning conservatives. The Sadducees were more like liberals who compromised with the culture and didn't take the Bible nearly as seriously as the Pharisees.

I began to read the passages with the Pharisees a bit more carefully. I realized that as a conservative Christian, I was a lot more like the Pharisees than I had originally thought. And as I was involved (and still am involved) in Christian leadership, I should probably consider Jesus' interactions with them as important to the way He would interact with me!

In Romans 15:4, the Apostle Paul reminds us "that EVERYTHING that was written in the past was written to TEACH US."

Why did the Gospel writers include so many details about, and so many interactions with the Pharisees and the other Jewish leadership at that time? Taking Paul's admonition seriously, I must conclude that it was put there TO TEACH US...or more specifically TO TEACH ME!

Today is known as Holy Tuesday of Holy Week and on this day in history, Jesus interacted with the Jewish leadership in the Temple - He confronted them, He exposed them and a lot of the things we ended up thinking about the spiritual leadership in Judaism during Christ's life happened on Tuesday of Holy Week (see for example, Matthew 21 and 22).

Why did I entitle this blog post, "Jesus versus Spiritual Leadership"? For 2 reasons. First of all, if I had said, "Jewish Leadership", then like I did for a number of years as a young Christian, I would think it had nothing to do with me. "Spiritual Leadership" includes BOTH the Jewish leadership of Jesus' time AND the Christian leadership of our own.

Secondly, "versus" speaks of an opponent. It is Jesus on one side and someone else on the other. The leadership of Jesus' day all-to-often found themselves opposing Jesus and what He was teaching. Today, sadly, the same thing must be said about a lot of leadership in the Church today.

And I need to be careful here, because I can do with "them" what I did with the Pharisees. I can only too easily excuse myself from the following discussion. But at the end, I trust I will not.

Today we can see God is currently confronting the hypocrisy of leaders in His Church. We can and should consider Jesus’ rebuke of the Jewish leadership of His day as a rebuke of Christian leadership today. They preached/taught one thing and did another. That is what has been/is being exposed in our hour as well. One thing God hates more than anything is hypocrisy, and especially hypocrisy in spiritual leaders’ lives. Jesus taught clearly that the spiritual influence of the Jewish leadership would be taken away. Of course, ultimately, their entire system was destroyed in AD70 with the destruction of the Jewish Temple and the end of a functioning priesthood as Jesus prophesied later that day to His disciples.

There are currently ministries whose influence is being taken away from them, much like it was being taken away from Judaism’s leaders in Jesus’ day. Ironically, some of these leaders/ministries do not yet realize it. They are doubling down. They are calling those who God has raised up to expose their sin as the “accusers of the brethren.” They are attempting to carry on. Getting back on the conference platform that was next up on their itinerary. They are putting out new prophetic words. And they think God is with them. What deception!

The Jewish leaders were convinced they were right and that they had God’s favor because they had their positions of power. They had the platforms and the influence. But because of Christ and the Kingdom movement He had started, they began losing their influence and ultimately lost it entirely several decades later.

A similar Kingdom movement is happening in our day. The cult of celebrity Christianity is under a similar type of judgment that the Jewish leadership was under (and would be under) in the 1st Century. And instead of agreeing with what God is doing, they would do almost anything to protect their “kingdoms” and maintain their places of influence.

And once again, I can reflect on the problems with OTHERS (whether that is the ancient Jewish leaders or the modern Christian ones), or I can ask the Holy Spirit to examine my own life. Where am I being a hypocrite? Where am I walking in pride? How well am I loving others? Have I done anything to anyone that could be considered "spiritually abusive"? Whereas it may not be millions of dollars being misused, am I in any way misusing Kingdom resources in my own life?

If EVERYTHING that was written in the past was written to TEACH US, then I must allow the Lord to use it to TEACH ME...to rebuke me, to correct me.

To quote the words of a song we sang recently, “Lord, search me and see if there be ANY wicked way in me. Try my thoughts and know my heart. Jesus, you see right through me” (song: Fall on Your Mercy)

…and once again, Holy Tuesday, like Holy Monday, is all about HOLINESS. And yes, while it is about the holiness of others, I must never forget that it is mostly about my holiness.

What Temple is Christ Cleansing today?

2026-03-30T09:13:00.000-07:00

We are now in the final days of Lent and today we consider the event when Jesus cleansed the temple. Yes, He did so in history. But He continues to do so today. He is doing it in the Church at large in this hour (think of those who have been and are being exposed) but of course, most importantly, He would have us assess our own personal lives. What part of His Temple, which we have become as followers of Christ, is He cleansing? What part needs cleansing? Purification?

Holy Week historically became the most important week in the Christian calendar. As I have recounted, the final week before Easter is where Lent began. It was historically a week that all Christians fasted, if not the beginning, most definitely at the end. There are still churches that take this fasting seriously, while sadly, most have departed from a practice that began in the 2nd century.

Christians sought to enter into the emotions of this week. Palm Sunday’s optimistic expectancy quickly gives way to the events leading up to the darkest day/hour in human history.

The days ultimately were given names – Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, Spy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday.

Jesus’ followers were still expecting a political Messiah to take His place as ruling King in Jerusalem at Christ’s Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday. Many Old Testament passages speak prophetically of this Messianic expectation. They were NOT expecting the following week AT ALL!

On this day, which became known as “Holy Monday,” Christ cleansed the Temple by driving out the money changers and those buying and selling there (Matt. 21:12-13).

Throughout the history of the Church, there has been much defilement in this area – all church traditions have been guilty of commercializing the faith.

Jesus’ rebuke to merchants in the 1st century is the same to us/for us in the 21st – He wants His house to be known as a house of prayer (Matt. 21:13). His house in the 1st Century was the Jewish Temple. His house today is His Church.

A significant part of the judgment upon the Church in this season is about the improper focus and use of money. He is “flipping over tables,” once again, in the exposure of those who have enriched themselves off of the Gospel.

He has taken issue with BOTH those who are selling and for the buyers as well. Celebrity Christian culture isn’t just ugly because of the celebrities. It is ugly because of the idolatry of those who follow them.

Therefore, HOLY MONDAY, is a great name for what we are considering. God is purifying His Church once again. He is insisting on HOLINESS, which means to be “set apart.” He is calling us to forsake any and all idolatry in our lives. What has become more important than God Himself in our lives? What has us distracted?

Even yesterday, during prayer, the line of a song came back to me, “knowing You Jesus, knowing You, THERE IS NO GREATER THING…”.

But other things creep up, sneak in, and our relationship with Him, being the GREATEST THING in our lives, if we are honest, is no longer true. That is what the Lord has been convicting me of in this very hour. And that is what I am pursuing again. That my relationship with Jesus is undeniably the GREATEST THING in my life. Not just my “claim”. But in reality.

Who was the 'Real' St. Patrick? (2026 Update)

2026-03-17T10:09:17.134-07:00

I repost this annually on St. Patrick’s Day, updating it from time to time and this year I've added some thoughts about revival and cultural/societal change in America.

Countless Americans will be donning something green and getting drunk in St. Patrick’s honor today, who obviously know NOTHING about who St. Patrick really was. If they did, they would realize they are actually dishonoring him and his remarkable legacy.

In fact, most of what Christians have heard about St. Patrick amounts to Fake ‘Theological’ News.

Different Christian traditions all want to claim Patrick as their own, the Roman Catholic Church being the loudest voice. Modern-day Charismatics also like to reference his prophetic gifting and miracles.

There has been a growing number of other Christians in recent years claiming to be “Celtic” and/or seeking to recover Celtic roots or Celtic ‘spirituality’. Sadly, much of that is distorted and often infused with New Age beliefs and ideas. Ironically, it was such beliefs that Patrick uprooted from Irish pagan religion in his day.

Other historical revisionists will look to the Celtic Christians to justify other ideas/agendas – such as radical feminism and even environmentalism.

So, who gets Patrick right? Who in our time represents him and his legacy the best?

To answer that question, let’s now consider who the original Celtic Christians were. And who was the historical St. Patrick, the Apostolic pioneer, who sparked that entire movement?

The following summary of his life is primarily taken from two books about Patrick’s life and ministry – one is a biography entitled Let Me Die in Ireland, by David Bercot (Scroll Publishing), and the other, The Celtic Way of Evangelism – How Christianity Can Reach the West Again (George G. Hunter III, Abingdon Press, 2000).

Even as so many Christians today “claim” Patrick as their own, most will be surprised that he doesn’t really fit any of the modern labels that we might try to put on him or the movement he birthed.

Patrick was NOT a Roman Catholic (and neither was he a modern-day Protestant Evangelical and/or Charismatic!), but rather a British Roman citizen born in the late 4th century (AD 386) on the West Coast of Britain. He was a part of the independent British or Celtic Church, which did not come under Roman control until the 6-8th centuries. His father was an ordained Deacon and his grandfather had been an ordained Presbyter, but Patrick, as a young man, didn’t show a tremendous amount of interest in the things of the Lord.

God had a radical way of getting this boy’s attention. As a 16-year-old, he was captured by Irish raiders who took him back to Ireland, where he was a slave for six years. It was during this “captivity” that Patrick really came into a relationship with the Lord. His role was to shepherd flocks, and he became a man of prayer. In his own words,

“After I had arrived in Ireland, I found myself pasturing flocks daily, and I prayed a number of times each day. More and more the love and fear of God came to me, and faith grew, and my spirit was exercised until I was praying up to a hundred times every day and in the night nearly as often”.

He learned the Gaelic language (the language of the Irish people) fluently and developed a heart for the very people who enslaved him. After 6 years, God miraculously enabled him to escape. The Lord spoke to him in a dream – “You are going home. Look! Your ship is ready”. The following morning, the Lord led him to the coast, where he found a ship and sailed away from Ireland. Upon being reunited with his family in Britain, he never intended to set foot in Ireland again.

God spoke to Patrick in a dream to return to Ireland to bring the Pagan Irish the Gospel. In the dream, an Angel gave him letters from his former captors asking him to return and he then heard the Irish calling out to him, “Please, holy servant boy, come and walk among us again”. It was God who called Patrick to take the Gospel to the Irish, not the Pope of Rome as some have mistakenly taught. He was ultimately sent out by the independent British/Celtic Church as a pioneer missionary to Ireland. Interestingly, the Bishop of Rome had sent a missionary to Ireland about the same time, who lasted about one year before returning.

At the time Patrick was sent to Ireland, in 432 AD, he was a Bishop of over 40 years of age. He took with him several younger ordained presbyters, whom he had taught Gaelic in Britain. In the face of great danger and unbelievable hardship, this band of missionaries began to bring the Gospel to the pagan Druid Irish, and God powerfully blessed their work. In 28 years of ministry, which history records were full of Biblical signs and wonders, 30 to 40 of Ireland’s 150 tribes were Christian, between 200 to 700 churches had been planted, and over 1000 local Irish leaders had been raised up and ordained. Truly their ministry was both the WORD (preaching) and the SPIRIT (signs, wonders, and miracles).

The Irish Church became a major missionary Church (arguably the greatest in Church History) in the following few centuries, taking the Gospel to other pagan peoples in Scotland and even Northern Europe.

Irish society was transformed by the Celtic Christianity that took root in Patrick's time and the subsequent decades. Tragically, that has not been the case in our most recent so-called "revivals" in America. Listening recently to David Barton, one of the foremost experts on Christianity in American History, he explained how no revival in the past 150 years has changed the culture in the United States. People coming to Christ? Absolutely. Societal change? Institutional impact? Not since the first part of the 1800s. The 1st Great Awakening (1730s-1770s) and the 2nd Great Awakening (1790-1840) radically changed American culture from top to bottom.

Patrick's Christianity radically changed Ireland from top to bottom. We today need a revival such as these that will transform American society from top to bottom. May this St. Patrick's Day, which annually occurs during the Lenten fast, be a day that we cry out once again in prayer and fasting for God to send us a 3rd Great Awakening!

St. Patrick was a man of prayer and fasting. He was a man who lived like Christ – he never married, he forfeited his worldly inheritance (he was from a wealthy British family), and suffered great hardship for the sake of the Gospel.

Patrick’s vision to reach the pagan Irish was resisted by his own British Church – it was considered too dangerous, an impossible task, and it would not be an understatement to say that the “civilized” (Romanized) British Christians harbored racist attitudes towards the “barbaric” pagan Irish Druids. When the Church today considers the task of evangelizing the Muslim World or other places full of hostility and conflict, let us remember the fearless commitment of these 5th-century Apostolic teams who literally won an entire nation whom the Church in their day didn’t love and considered unreachable.

And for us Western Christians, who are looking at a neo-Pagan West, steeped in all sorts of New Age spirituality and multiple other godless ideologies, may we remember Patrick and his radical disciples who overcame a very similar paganism in the 5th century onwards. The pagan Druids were steeped in mysticism, occultism, and genuine counterfeit spirituality empowered by the Kingdom of Darkness. Paganism and occult practices are far more common today than most Christians realize. If we desire the Apostolic fruit that Patrick and the Celtic Church achieved, we would do well to reach out to a pagan West today with the same commitment to Biblical signs and wonders and to demonstrate that the power of Christ’s Kingdom and His Gospel is MORE POWERFUL than the counterfeit New Age spirituality that is so prevalent around the world today.

On this day, when many people will be caught up in all sorts of twisted St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, may we be reminded of the real man behind the ‘myth’. May it open doors with others who most likely don’t know anything beyond leprechauns, 4-leafed clovers, and pinching people who aren’t wearing green.

From a spiritual perspective, may we learn from the real Celtic Christianity that was thoroughly supernatural and Kingdom-minded, without ‘importing’ pagan mysticism (today’s New Age movement) into their Christianity. That being said, I believe a recovery of the Celtic approach may well be one of the most effective ways to reach those who have been infected and deceived by Eastern spirituality. But may we do as AS Christians and FROM a place of Historic and Apostolic Christianity.

Let St. Patrick’s final words, recorded in his Confessions, humble us today as we remember him and his Apostolic legacy:

“But I pray those who believe and fear God, whosoever has designed to scan or accept this document, composed in Ireland by Patrick the sinner, and unlearned man to be sure, that none should ever say that it was my ignorance that accomplished any small thing which I did or showed in accordance with God’s will; but judge ye, and let it be most truly believed, that it was the gift of God. And this is my confession before I die.”

St. Patrick and Ireland's "snakes"

2026-03-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

There is a “tradition” that St. Patrick rid the island of Ireland of snakes. Why do I say a “tradition”? Because the evidence is that Ireland NEVER had snakes to begin with. Most scholars are skeptics and unbelievers anyway, and so they dismiss anything claimed about St. Patrick’s miracles.

But I am a believer. I aspire to the supernatural. I personally have seen and continue to see God move in supernatural ways, and Patrick is one of my models, one of my heroes. I have a Celtic Cross tattooed on my wrist, and I wear a Celtic Cross around my neck. I am an ordained priest in a Charismatic, Evangelical Diocese called ‘The Diocese of St. Patrick’. So, I am a firm believer that St. Patrick moved in genuine Apostolic power in his incredible ministry. A ministry that included remarkable, undeniable acts of God to prove to the pagan Druids that Christ’s Kingdom was superior to the powers of their false god/s.

So, now we go back to the issue of the snakes and Patrick’s so-called miracle of banishing snakes from Ireland.

When I was researching a bit about Patrick’s habit of fasting I ran into the following quote: “St Patrick’s other famous miracle, the banishment of the snakes, is supposed to have occurred following his Great Fast (meaning Lent) on the mount Croagh Patrick, outside Westport in County Mayo. St Patrick climbed the mountain where he fasted for 40 days, before expelling all the snakes from Ireland. The fact is that there were never actually any snakes in Ireland to expel, the whole episode is really symbolic of Saint Patrick converting the natives to Christianity and banishing the Druids whose symbol was the serpent”.

Source: https://www.discoveringireland.com/saint-patrick-life-and-legend/

I would have dismissed this source as another unbelieving source seeking to “demythologize” the life of Patrick, but then I realized something. The Druids worshipped a false god (or gods) that would have been one (or more) of the fallen angels that God had placed over the nations (Deuteronomy 32, Psalm 82). And that if the category of angelic being that was put over Ireland was the Seraphim, then the elevation and worship of a serpent-like god amongst the Irish pagans makes complete sense.

If you follow this logic, and the Biblical narrative about the false gods of the nations being angelic beings who rebelled against Yahweh, and if the ‘god’ (or gods) that were over Ireland was a serpentine-like fallen Seraph, then truly Patrick did banish the snakes from Ireland! Not physical snakes, but another type of 'snakes' - the demonic fallen Seraphim who deceived the pagan Druids. (Note: the symbol of the snake/serpents is known all throughout the world as representing the divine).

St. Patrick climbed a mountain (mountains were always in the ancient world the abode of the ‘gods’), and while fasting for 40 days during Lent (the Great Fast), the story goes that spiritual breakthrough came in Ireland. Was this, in fact, the turning point in Ireland's conversion to Christ? Were the years of ministry leading up to this particular fast more frustrating as Patrick and his disciples battled the pagan Druids for the minds and the hearts of the Irish people? I don’t know. We will never know. Patrick fasted and prayed as a lifestyle for his entire ministry in Ireland.

But as we are battling today, many godless and/or pagan ideologies – I think of the Luciferian globalists today who are so powerfully deceiving countless millions of people around the world, might we remember that the testimony of Patrick is that as he prayed and fasted, the spiritual breakthrough in Ireland came! What would happen in America if God’s people fasted the way Patrick fasted? Tomorrow’s post, which I always repost on St. Patrick's Day, will talk about the impact of Patrick’s life on Ireland as a whole.

While recently in Washington DC, I heard David Barton talk about revivals in American history, and that none of them in the past 150 years have actually impacted the culture. Maybe a fasting church will ensure that the next revival transforms American society and culture as the earliest ones genuinely did (i.e., 1st and 2nd Great Awakenings)

Maybe God is looking for a few more “Patricks” today – those who will do whatever it takes (even 40-day fasts to engage the spiritual realm) to see the Lordship of Christ lifted up, preached even as His eternal Kingdom is being established “on earth as it is in heaven”.

"For the time is come that judgment MUST begin with the House of God" (1 Peter 4:17) & our Charismatic movement is currently under that judgment

2026-03-07T12:27:00.000-08:00

This morning, I listened to a powerful message from Ron Cantor.

Note: I am grateful to Ron Cantor for he is doing what so many of our charismatic leaders were NEVER willing to do. He had to call out one of his own mentors, Dr. Michael Brown, whose clergy abuse of a young woman came to light. And now Ron Cantor is calling out Che Ahn. Because our "apostles" wouldn't do it, God has raised up men such as Ron Cantor and Mike Winger to expose the darkness that has resided in our charismatic movement.

The title of the video – “#CheAhn Where is the Accountability? Where are the Apostle and Elders” – LINK

The charismatic movement that I have been a part of for many years is under severe discipline/judgment. For what? To name a few things: Fake prophecies, financial abuse/fraud, sexual immorality, clergy sexual abuse (even of minors), false teachings, and then the covering up of these things by leaders (being called “Cover Up Culture”).

What can now be added to these things would be lying and cowardice.

Why? Because, as leaders, such as Che Ahn, when confronted about things has lied and is currently lying. This is obvious cowardice. Rather than do the right thing and humbly admit these things, leaders such as Che are denying, minimizing, and even seeking to shift responsibility onto others. Arguably the most serious charge is that men such as Che, rather than protect the sheep under their care, they have protected other shepherds who were abusive and/or in sin and compromise.

Ron Cantor, in this video, especially at the end, captures the essence of what God is doing to our movement (and Cantor too is also a charismatic Christian acknowledging that it is our movement that God is cleaning up/disciplining).

When people are saying that it is a time of revival (as we charismatics are famous for saying all the time), he says this, “I mean, we talk about revival. Revival’s coming. Are you joking? I mean, I thank God for everyone who is getting saved, but the revival that we’re having right now is the fear of the Lord…[Numbers 25, when Phineas kills an Israelite and a Midianite to stop a plague]…that’s the type of revival that we are in right now. It is not a rah-rah. You know I was in Toronto. I was in Brownsville. It is not that type [of revival]. It is a holy revival of the fear of the Lord. And it is scary. When the Lord draws close, often people die. Remember that. When you are asking God to come, ‘come send Your fire’. Let me explain to you what happens when the fire of God comes… ” (44:34-47:19)

Within the quote and at the end, he shares a number of examples in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testament, where God comes in His holiness to judge His people, and people died.

Fasting is to be something penitential. What does that mean? It means “showing or feeling deep sorrow, regret, and repentance for wrongdoing”

It is timely that Lent is happening now, and as men like Che Ahn and many ministries are under serious scrutiny, THAT IS FROM THE LORD.

We were warned over 15 years ago at the time of Lakeland. Serious sin was in our camp, and it was not really dealt with. Cover-up culture continued. More was exposed. People knew about the compromise, the fake prophecies, and the ongoing sexual perversion. But the show had to go on. The worldwide “revival” was spreading, the gifted individuals were using their gifts (which are wrongly believed to function regardless of the character of the individual with the gift), and platforms of influence exploded! A multi-million dollar industry became a multi-billion dollar one.

And all the while, the character of far too many could not handle the power, the influence, the money, and the temptations (to sexual sin, to fake prophecies and healings)

Lent is a time of repentance. My prayer for Che Ahn and the many others who are being called out and exposed in this hour will do just that, repent! To become penitent.

And for the rest of us, like Ron Cantor, we would fully discern the hour in the church is in. It is an hour when God is coming in judgment. He’s had enough. He didn’t pay the price He paid for a defiled Body of Christ to drag His Name and reputation through the mud.

I am grateful that I see others who are getting that memo. They are radically changing the way they do ministry. They aren’t positioning themselves to step onto the platforms that are being vacated by those who are being exposed/removed.

They are acknowledging that we got it wrong. We gave in to the celebrity Christian culture. We platformed people with gifts who lacked character. We tolerated it. We are also to blame.

Lent is a perfect season to be doing all of this for the one who said, “be ye holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 11:44, 1 Pet. 1:16).

#judgment #charismatic #lent #humility #cheahn #penitential

Eating as God Designed (because your life depends upon it)

2026-02-19T09:20:00.000-08:00

Lent has begun and many Christians are incorporating changes to their way of eating as they seek the Lord. I know that many will not be fasting, but Lent historically was a time Christians fasted.

Nearly 10 years ago, I changed the way I was eating. I believe God was offering me a rescue plan from a future of massive health problems related to the toxic diet I had been eating all of my life.

After following a body builder into a low carb diet that was totally unlivable (basically a form of starvation) but that produced incredible results where I lost 30+ pounds.

I soon discovered that there were other low carb approaches that were far more livable. The first stop was Ketogenic (Keto). It is a great place to start a low carb lifestyle. For some, it is a great long term approach but for me it ended up leading to too much cheating/non-compliance.

One of the influencers I began to follow was Dr. Ken Berry - see his video below. He too had started Ketogenic and migrated to a Carnivore lifestyle.

That is where I shifted to eating Carnivore - meaning meat, eggs and dairy. Animal fats and proteins.

Dr. Berry talks about a concept called the Proper Human Diet (PHD) which he rightly argues is how people have eaten from the beginning.

Our problem is that we have gone far from that PHD. God designed us to thrive on a certain way of eating and when we return to it we will become healthy again.

If you are reading this blog post, I pray you will consider what I am about to say as your life depends upon it.

Many people end up cutting their lives short, literally dying 10 to 20 years before they would die because of metabolic conditions/disease. God has left a lot in our hands. Tragically, many Christians abuse the concept of God's sovereignty believing they will die when God wants them to regardless of how they live.

I would exhort you today to watch and consider carefully what Dr. Ken Berry is saying. While I don't believe he is a Christian (and alludes to the way we evolved to eat a certain way), I am convinced that his counsel/approach is in alignment with God's design for our lives.

Do this for 60 days and I assure you, your life will be transformed.

Link: Ken Berry Interview

MSDA - Make SELF Dead Again 2.0

2026-01-29T11:44:00.000-08:00

MSDA — Make Self Dead Again 2.0

For nearly all of Church history, mass media was not the means by which the Gospel spread or ministries grew. Quite simply, it didn’t exist.

That changed dramatically in the last 125 years. Modern media technologies—radio (first public broadcast in 1906), television (1920s), and most recently the internet (publicly accessible in the 1990s)—have revolutionized how the Gospel is communicated.

Radio and television enabled millions to hear and even watch the Gospel being preached and the Scriptures taught. The internet then expanded that reach to billions, across hundreds of languages. The good that has come from these advances for the sake of Christ and His Kingdom is undeniable.

And yet, at the very same time, these same developments have produced unprecedented crises within the Church.

Access to deception, false teaching, and moral corruption is unlike anything in human history. Few would deny that these dangers have destroyed the faith and lives of countless believers. The explosion of pornography alone over the past fifty years illustrates the depth of darkness that has been unleashed through modern media.

But there is another consequence—one that is rarely discussed.

Platforms and the Formation of Christian Influencers

Modern media has not only reshaped how the Gospel spreads; it has reshaped who is formed as a Christian leader—and how. The fruit this system has produced in the lives of many Christian influencers is deeply troubling, yet it is almost entirely ignored.

A larger platform is often assumed to be an unquestioned good—sometimes even labeled “a God thing.” And in an era marked by the steady exposure of fallen ministers, endless analysis is offered about why leaders fall. Yet one factor is almost never examined: the spiritual cost of rapid, untested, and global influence.

For most of Church history, influence was personal and local—either face-to-face or through written material. The printing press in the 1400s was a watershed moment, allowing Christian writings to spread more broadly. Even then, many influential works gained wide readership only after their authors had died.

Consider The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. It was compiled and published after his death in 1691, and the English version did not appear until 1895—nearly two centuries later.

Yes, there have always been men and women whose influence exceeded their own time and place. Megachurches did not originate in the 1980s. Large congregations emerged as early as the fourth century in major urban centers, eventually giving rise to the great cathedrals. Their leaders functioned as the “celebrity pastors” of their day.

John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople in the late fourth century, drew enormous crowds because of his preaching. Yet his influence remained largely local during his lifetime. His enduring impact came primarily through his writings, preserved and received across generations.

Even itinerant ministers were constrained by slow transportation—horses and sailing ships. Influence spread slowly.

The Unprecedented Shift

In the last century, an entirely new reality emerged.

Mass media combined with rapid global transportation created something never before seen in Church history: instant, worldwide influence. A person can now travel anywhere on earth in under 24 hours. A Christian influencer can gain global visibility overnight through a viral video—and be invited onto the largest platforms within weeks.

The question is not whether this is possible.

The question is whether the human soul is capable of handling it.

What we are witnessing today suggests the answer is often no.

When the Apostle Paul was converted, the Church acted with wisdom. He spent years in obscurity before stepping into apostolic ministry. He was not immediately promoted, platformed, or celebrated.

Today, a celebrity professes faith in Christ and is immediately showcased across Christian media. Conferences follow. Interviews follow. Platforms open. The new believer is given virtually no time to learn the ways of Christ before being thrust into public ministry.

The tragic implosion of Kanye West’s highly publicized “conversion” should have been a sobering lesson. Instead, the pattern continues.

Influence Without Humility

The explosion of Christian media has not been accompanied by a renewed emphasis on humility or death to self. This omission is catastrophic.

Historically, humility was regarded as one of the highest Christian virtues—perhaps the defining mark of maturity. Churches and ministries were never named after living individuals. Saints were honored only after death, when pride was no longer a risk.

Even religious orders reflected this value. The Franciscans were originally called The Order of Lesser Brothers—a deliberate identification with the poor and a rejection of self-exaltation. Only later, and after Francis’s death, did his name become associated with the movement.

Contrast that with today’s “Me, Myself, and I” Christian celebrity culture.

We now have ministries, brands, websites, conferences, and even Study Bibles bearing the names of living leaders. Naming a ministry after oneself is troubling enough. Placing one’s name on the Bible is far worse.

To be clear, not every instance originates with the leader themselves. Billy Graham did not choose to name his ministry after himself; his associates did. Yet the question remains unavoidable:

Would Jesus want ministries that exist for His glory to be named after His servants?

Scripture answers plainly:
“Apart from Me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Christian ministries are not corporations. They are not hospitals or universities. They exist to magnify Christ—not the individuals who serve Him.

A Personal Conviction

For years, while ministering in the Middle East, I blogged and podcasted anonymously for security reasons. When we returned to the U.S., I assumed I would finally attach my name to my work.

Then the Lord asked me a question:
“Why would you want to put your name on something that is about Me?”

When the all-knowing God asks a question, it is not for His information. It is for our conviction.

That question settled the matter for me.

Recently, an article I wrote was published under the name of another author—without even my pseudonym included. When he offered to correct the mistake, the Lord made it clear I was to do nothing. The credit remained with him.

The rule remains unchanged: anything written for Christ and His Kingdom does not need my name.

Some may point to the Apostle Paul, who signed his letters. But Paul wrote Scripture under apostolic authority. That does not apply to modern influencers seeking reach or recognition.

Make Self Dead Again

This brings us to the heart of this message: MSDA — Make Self Dead Again.

For much of Church history, self was recognized as one of the greatest enemies of spiritual life. Humility and dying to self were central to discipleship.

Today, that emphasis has largely vanished.

I have known hundreds of Christian leaders. I have hosted them. Traveled with them. Worked alongside them. Too many would not be described as humble by those who know them best.

The ones who left the deepest impression were not the most gifted, but the most humble. Those willing to associate with the lowly. Those who didn’t demand VIP treatment, green rooms, or guaranteed honorariums. Those who served without concern for recognition.

Jesus and His apostles had no speaking fees. No demands. No contracts.

Modern ministry, by contrast, often bears little resemblance to the New Testament pattern.

The wreckage is everywhere: moral failure, financial corruption, fabricated miracles, data-mined prophecies, broken marriages, and disillusioned believers. These platforms are toxic—not only for shepherds, but for sheep. Hero worship is rampant.

Few seem willing to acknowledge that the platforms themselves play a central role in this dysfunction.

A Different Way Forward

Yes, God is judging His Church (1 Peter 4:17). But He is also judging the model—the systems of power and influence we have normalized.

You will not find these structures in the Book of Acts or in the early centuries of the Church. While God may occasionally entrust extraordinary influence to individuals with extraordinary character, the majority are harmed by it.

Perhaps those God is truly lifting up are the ones not seeking platforms at all.

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up” (James 4:10).

Could it be that this verse is actually true?

I believe a remnant is emerging—men and women who will build differently. Who will once again value humility, obscurity, and faithfulness over visibility.

Jesus is returning for a Bride who looks like Him—one who serves for His glory alone, and not her own.

MSDA - Make SELF Dead Again

2026-01-24T23:19:00.000-08:00

For almost all of Church history, mass media was simply not a means by which the Gospel spread nor the way ministries grew. It didn't exist.

But in the past 125 years, modern technological advances in media have revolutionized the way the Gospel message has been able to spread. This was all made possible with the invention of radio (1st public broadcast in 1906), the invention of television (1920’s) and most recently, of course, the internet (which was made available to the public in the 1990s).

First, radio and television enabled MILLIONS to hear and even watch the Gospel being preached and the Bible taught. But then, the internet enabled BILLIONS to hear Christian truth in hundreds of languages. The incredible good that has come from these advances for the sake of Christ and His Kingdom is undisputed.

However, at the same time, these same mass media developments have led to unparalleled crises within the Church. The access to deception, false teaching and perversion is unlike any time in human history. Nobody can deny that these dangers have destroyed the faith and lives of countless Christians. The access to pornography alone in the past 50 years, illustrates the darkness and destruction that has been unleashed.

Another negative aspect of modern media, is the fruit it has produced in the lives of the Christian influencers that it helped to create. This is sadly NOT something that is being considered nor discussed. It is almost uncritically accepted that a bigger platform is always a positive, even claiming it is a “God thing!” And in this hour of so much exposure of fallen ministers and ministries, and endless commentary on WHY so many seem to be falling or have become corrupted, I have not heard anybody considering the topic we are considering here.

For the majority of church history, for someone to be influenced by another, it was either in person or through some written source. The invention of the printing press (1400s) was of course a watershed moment in Church History when a new means became available for the purpose of influencing others for Christ’s Kingdom. The printing press meant that an influential Christian leader’s writing could now be spread far more easily. I am sure this led to more fame for such authors, however, many of the famous works of Christians didn’t spread broadly until after their deaths. I am thinking of Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God which was only compiled and published AFTER his death in 1691. The English version wasn't even published until 1895, nearly 200 years later!

There have always been men and women whose influence far exceeded their time and place. The first “megachurches” did not appear in the 1980s as some would have us believe. Rather, the first megachurches emerged in the 4th century in large urban centers which ultimately led to the cathedrals we know of from subsequent centuries. The leaders of these cathedrals were for all intents and purposes the “celebrity pastors” of their generations. For example, in the late 4th century, John Chrysostom, the Archbishop of Constantinople, was known for his powerful public speaking and writing. He drew big crowds in his generation. But largely his influence was localized. Of course, his writings have continued to influence Christians for hundreds and hundreds of years.

What about traveling ministers? Chrysostom did not travel much to do itinerant ministry, but even those that did travel to influence in other places, they were limited by the slow means of transportation which only included horses and sailing ships.

In the past 125 years, a whole new 'animal' was created with the explosion of mass media and the technological advances which of course included rapid means of transportation. The ability for someone in a single location to have influence all over the world became possible. People can now hop on a plane and in less that 24 hours, they can be anywhere on earth. A Christian influencer with a YouTube channel can develop of worldwide influence sometimes overnight (in the case of one of their videos going viral) and such a person could find themselves being invited onto the largest Christian stages/platforms within months if not a matter of weeks. Do they possess the character to handle such rapid promotion? I think we are seeing the answer to that question unfold before our eyes today.

When the Apostle Paul was converted in the 1st Century, the Church WITH WISDOM had him go away for years before he began his Apostolic ministry. He wasn’t promoted overnight. In modern terms, they didn’t have him headlining the next big conference or appearing on Christian television. What do we do today? A celebrity gives their life to Christ, and the Christian media platforms them the following week, the conference invitations start pouring in and the brand-new believer gets literally no chance to learn the ways of Christ before they are stepping into a public ministry. A perfect example of this becoming a total disaster is the case of Kanye West. You would think the church would have learned by not, but instead we repeat this error over and over again!

The mass media revolution and all of the technological advancements that have enabled the Christian message to explode tragically have NOT coincided with a stronger emphasis on humility and death to self. This was/is a massive oversight and I am convinced is a major factor in WHY so many Christian leaders have and are falling. Shouldn't we have reasoned that if a person’s influence (a pastor, an author, a revivalist) is going to be exponentially greater than it would have ever been 200 years ago, that we should have been and should be far more strongly emphasizing the virtue of humility?

For most of Church History, the virtues of humility and dying to oneself have been deeply valued and extolled. They were arguably the most cherished of all Christian virtues. Churches were named after saints, but not until they were long since departed (meaning no risk of pride there!)

And ministries also were NOT named after their founders until they were dead. For example, the monastic order we know as the Franciscans was originally named “The Order of Lesser Brothers” by St. Francis to identify with the poor and to emphasize the virtue of humility. Only later and in popular usage AFTER Francis’ death, were they called “Franciscans”.

Fast forward to the "ME, MYSELF AND I" Christian celebrity culture of 2026 and we find many ministries that are named (and being named) after their LIVING founders/leaders. (Minimally, we could have waited until they were dead as was the case throughout Church History)

I applaud the ministries whose larger than life founders, like Bill Bright the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ and Loren Cunningham the founder of Youth with a Mission (YWAM), admirably and RIGHTFULLY chose NOT to name the ministries they founded after themselves.

And yet today, in addition to the numerous Christian ministries literally named after their living founders themselves, we even have Study Bibles with the names of the pastor/teacher on the covers of these Bibles whose notes are contained within. Putting one’s name while still living on a ministry is bad enough, but putting one’s name on Bible I believe is far, far worse!

On a positive note, at least living Christian leaders aren’t naming churches after themselves…at least not YET!

This is all quite disgusting. I believe it is an affront to God and His Kingdom. Yes, I am aware that in some cases, it almost certainly wasn’t the idea of the founder him/herself to use their own name. For example, it was not Billy Graham’s idea to name his ministry “The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association” but rather one his associates. He obviously, albeit reluctantly, agreed to the name. So, there is that.

However, and this is a BIG however, would the Lord Jesus Christ want His followers to have ministries, that are supposedly about the Lord Himself and His Kingdom, being named after men or women who are His followers? The ones who are His servants? The ones who claim to believe and agree with Christ’s own words, that “apart from me, you can do NOTHING” (John 15:5)?

The answer to this question should be crystal clear. The Lord absolutely DOES NOT WANT MINISTRIES NAMED AFTER THEIR FOUNDERS! Companies, schools, hospitals, etc. are something else. But Christian ministries should definitely not be named after people!

And I know that some are already getting defensive or offended because they are thinking about their pastor, or some well-known minister/ministry that they follow who has done exactly this - their ministry, their website, their teachings, and all their books have their name on them! Surely, you’ve seen something like the following - John Smith Ministries or www.johnsmithministries.com (generic so as to not name current names)!

For years we lived and ministered in the Middle East, and for security purposes, I blogged and podcasted anonymously. When we returned to the United States several years ago, I thought I could finally start putting my real name on my blog and my podcast. And then the Lord asked me a question, “Why would you want to start putting your name on your blog or podcast?”. It has been said that when the omniscient God, meaning All-Knowing, asks His creatures a question, He is not looking for information. That question was for my sake. It was to convict me. It was His way of saying, DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME on something that is all about Me and My Glory.

Quite recently, I wrote an article that an established author wanted to get published in a couple of journals. I used my pseudonym for my article when I sent it to him. When it was published a well-known journal, the name of my author friend appeared on my article, not even my pseudonym appeared. He contacted me to let me know that a mistake had been made and that he’d push for a retraction and clarification in an upcoming issue. The Lord made it clear to me that I was to do absolutely nothing. I let my friend know that nothing needed to be done. He was credited for my article.

If and when I ever publish anything in the future, the rules for the assignment(s) will remain the same. I am not to put my name on anything that is written for the sake of Christ and His Kingdom. You may be thinking of the Apostle Paul and how he would write personal letters to churches and would sign such letters. As an Apostle with the apostolic authority to literally pen Scripture, it was imperative that people knew whose authority was endorsing the letter. This doesn’t apply to ANYONE today seeking to influence others for the Kingdom of God.

So, I come now to the title of this blog post - "MSDA - Make Self Dead Again”. The church emphasized for much of its history that SELF was one of, if not the greatest enemy we face in the Christian life. And rightfully, humility and death to self were valued and promoted as what Christian maturity looked like and what all Christians should be striving towards. Godliness and humility went hand in hand. Not so today. Many Christian leaders would not be described as humble by the people who know them. I have known a few (a few HUNDRED that is!). I have hosted some very well-known leaders. I have traveled with some. Humble would not be the way I would describe far too many of them!

There were exceptions and those were the ones I was/am the most impressed with. Not their other gifts, which in some cases were remarkable. The ones characterized by humility are the ones who left the greatest impression. Those who were willing to associate with the lowly. Those that didn't demand VIP treatment and who didn’t expect special “Green Rooms”. Those who would minister regardless of whether an honorarium was given or not. The ones who offered to clean up at the end of a meeting.

Jesus and His Apostles did not have required speaking fees! They didn’t have any set of demands, unlike some modern ministers who require exorbitant speaking fees, 5-Star Hotels and First-Class tickets. This isn't exaggeration.

We have gotten so far off course. Modern ministry hardly resembles the pattern found in the New Testament.

We have all seen shipwreck after shipwreck - men and women who could not handle the fame, the power, the influence, the money. Marriages blown apart. The pressure to perform, to stay on the biggest platforms, had resulted in fake "data-mined" prophecies and lying about people being healed. Many have enriched themselves by misusing ministry funds. Sexual sin and perversion has become all too common

These platforms are clearly toxic for countless shepherds. And they are bad for the sheep as well. Hero worship, the idolization of Christian leaders, is epidemic in today's church. Few seem to make the connection that it is the platforms themselves that are leading to such dysfunction.

These platforms end up creating the antithesis of the virtues of death to self and humility. They produce obsession with self, idolatry in followers and lead to the defilement of the Gospel.

Yes, it is true that God is disciplining His Church in this hour. He is judging the house of God (1 Peter 4:17).

But will the Church going forward realize that He is also judging the model itself? These actual platforms themselves? The amount of power/influence people have? He intends to dismantle much of it, if not most of it. This is nowhere to be found in the Book of Acts. You literally can’t find it in the first few centuries of Church History. And even if we want to make the argument that God can/does at times raise up people with the character to handle these levels of influence, and to not be defiled by the platform, the majority who get on these platforms of influence are negatively affected.

I love it when someone who isn’t promoting themself, and isn’t obsessed with getting followers and likes, literally gets platformed when they aren’t seeking it. Maybe these are the ones that God is lifting up. Remember that well-known Scripture, "Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, AND HE WILL LIFT YOU UP?” (James 4:10). Could it be that this verse is actually true?! Based on the way so much modern ministry is being done, I would say very few actually believe that verse!

I believe the Remnant in this hour will get this memo and seek to build differently. Humility and dying to self will once again be emphasized in the Churches that have "ears to hear".

I believe Jesus is coming back for a Bride that will look like Him and who will be doing ministry for HIS GLORY and not their own.

The 5500-Year Prophecy (Christmas 2025 Update/Thoughts)

2025-12-10T10:17:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2025 Update/Thoughts - My initial blog post/article is below*, but I wanted to add a couple of thoughts about the 5500-Year Prophecy as it relates to the celebration of Christmas. In other blog posts, we have discussed how the origins of the celebration of Christmas are NOT PAGAN as some claim. It could well be that the fulfillment of the 5500-Year Prophecy was part of the catalyst that led the earliest Christians to establish Christmas as an important day/celebration in the primitive Christian calendar.

As documented below, there was an attempt (which was largely successful) to remove nearly 1500 years from the Old Testament chronologies (mostly from Genesis and also from Daniel). No motivation is given. No justification for why the Rabbis in the early 2nd Century would seek to modify the Hebrew Bible in this way. The ONLY EXPLANATION that makes any sense is that they were seeking to counter the effect of the 5500-Year Prophecy which had been leading Jews to conclude that Jesus was in fact the promised Jewish Messiah in fulfillment to the timetable that God gave initially to Adam.

What does this have to do with Christmas? Because an early Christian tradition about the Magi who came to worship Jesus, was that they came in response to the fulfillment of the 5500-Year Prophecy. The story goes like this - Adam shared the prophecy with his son Seth and that Seth's descendants faithfully passed it on and even formed a religious order to preserve it. The story goes that the Magi were the final descendants of Seth who came when the prophecy would be fulfilled with the coming of Christ into the world.

What a story! And notice that the Magi came TO WORSHIP the newborn King. How did they know it was God in human form who they were bringing their gifts to? Was that part of the Messianic prophecy itself that it would be God incarnate who came after the 5500 years?

This prophecy and these traditions may have been forgotten by most of today's Christians, but beginning in the 2nd through the 8th centuries (100s-700s), such traditions were alive and well! (see new APPENDIX at the bottom) Were they embellished? Perhaps. Will we ever know for sure what parts of such traditions are/were in fact historical? Maybe not. But as I hint at at the end of what you are about to read (or have already read), could it be that even in our day manuscripts will be uncovered and/or published (in the case of those that were discovered and have been suppressed) that will shed more light on this incredible prophecy.

For me, these things enhance for me the wonder of Christmas as we join the Magi to worship Him, the promised Messiah, who would enable humanity to find their way back into relationship with God.

*The 5500-Year Prophecy

Known as either the 5500-Year Prophecy or the Great Prophecy of 5 1/2 Days, this prophecy was believed to be one of the greatest prophetic words ever given, and yet most Christians today know nothing about it. That was not the case in the earliest centuries of Christianity. It was a prophecy that the Jews and Christians knew well. It was one of the reasons so many Jews became followers of Jesus as their long-awaited Jewish Messiah!

I find it particularly ironic that so many Charismatic Evangelicals (of which I am one) who are extremely interested in (if not obsessed with) prophetic words, have never heard of the 5500-Year Prophecy! A prophecy believed to have been given to Adam himself after he fell at the time that he and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden.

I began learning more in depth about this prophecy myself through several sources.

One source is the work of S. Douglas Woodward who wrote Rebooting the Bible - Part 1 and 2, A Chronology of the Christian Bible and The Septuagint and the Defense of the Christian Bible: How the Ancient Greek Bible Emends the Biblical Text and Best Presents the Case That Jesus Was the Christ.

Another source is W. Kent Smith's monumental work entitled Tales of Forever: The Unfolding Drama of God's Hidden Hand in History. (Note: Kent is currently working on another book about the 5500-Year Prophecy that will soon be published.)

There are several reasons that this prophecy isn't more well-known and believed to be authentic.

One reason is that 2nd-century Judaism, who had rejected Jesus as their Messiah, were trying to stop Jews from following Jesus. One of the ways they tried to do this was to make changes in the Hebrew Old Testament (the Tanakh) when they 'canonized' it nearly 100 years after the start of Christianity.

Between AD90-AD110, the Rabbis, the descendants of the Pharisees, removed from their Hebrew Scriptures nearly 1550 years of chronology from Genesis chapters 5 and 11 (1386 years) and Daniel (165 years). As to the reason why they would do that, we will get to that below.

The resulting Hebrew Old Testament textual tradition, known as the Masoretic Text (MT), to this day reflects the chronological corruption that the Rabbis introduced into their Scriptures. The Church Father Jerome, the translator of the Latin Vulgate (LV), used the Hebrew MT for his Old Testament which ended up affecting later English translations like the King James Version (KJV).

Thankfully, our Old Testaments do not have to rely solely upon the MT. In addition to the MT, any good study Bible will also incorporate the Septuagint (LXX) Old Testament text, the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) and other manuscript traditions such as the Samaritan Pentateuch (SP) to get us as close to the original Hebrew text (and Aramaic) as possible.

There were other passages that the Rabbis tampered with to obscure clear Messianic prophecies that pointed to Jesus as Messiah. If you've ever wondered why the Old Testament quotations in your New Testament differ from the text in your Old Testament, it is because they were quoting from the Septuagint (LXX) 80-90% of the time.

Christians and Jews debated these passages for centuries until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) in the 20th-century proved that the original Hebrew was reflected in the Greek Septuagint (LXX) over and against the Jewish Masoretic Text (MT).

The greatest Jewish textual critic of the Hebrew Scriptures, Emanuel Tov said,

"often the Greek [the Septuagint/LXX] is MORE AUTHORITATIVE and earlier, antecedent, to the Hebrew Bible [based on the Masoretic Text/MT] than what we currently have".

In other words, for us to establish the original Hebrew text of the Old Testament, one must reference and incorporate the Septuagint. Tov would also add the Dead Sea Scrolls.

So, WHY did 2nd century Jews remove nearly 1550 years out of their Hebrew Bibles?

It was because of the 5500-Year Prophecy!

Upon Adam and Eve's expulsion from Eden, a prophecy was given to him that after 5 1/2 days (meaning 5500 years), God would send the Messiah to redeem him from death, from Hades and restore him to Eden. From the fall of the first Adam, humanity would have to wait 5500 years until the coming of the last Adam, Jesus Christ to rescue us from fallen state.

And according to the original chronology of the Old Testament, that is found in the Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch, Jesus Christ appeared precisely 5500 years after Adam.

Several early Church writers (i.e. Hippolytus and Julius Africanus who both lived in the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries) affirm this ancient chronology stating that Christ appeared on earth 5500 years after Adam which aligns perfectly with the prophecy.

A well-known early Church Father, Ephraim the Syrian (c. AD306-373), makes reference to the actual prophecy and the Jewish tampering with their Scriptures when he wrote, “The Jews have subtracted 600 years [in Genesis 5] from the generations of Adam, Seth, etc., in order that their own books might not convict them concerning the coming of CHRIST: He having been predicted to appear for the deliverance of mankind after 5500 years.”

Ephraim recognizes the specified prophecy when he speaks of the timing of Christ's appearance as "having been predicted"! It must have been to Adam as that was the time he lived according to the Hebrew Bible's original chronology!

If the Messiah was to appear after 5500 years according to the Jewish Scriptures, then the Rabbis had to do something as Jesus fulfilled this exact timing. This prophecy had convinced many Jews in the 1st-century and the early 2nd-century to follow Jesus as the Jewish Messiah.

Their solution? Change their Hebrew Bibles to make the creation of the world and Adam's appearance at roughly 4000BC and Jesus ends up being disqualified as being the Messianic fulfillment of the prophecy.

One can easily see why we have never heard anything about this. Most Christians are extremely uncomfortable with the idea that the Jews sought to change their Hebrew Scriptures after the advent of Christ. Some today will even consider the thought to be anti-Semitic to suggest such a thing.

But to add insult to injury, rather than follow their own Old Testament, the Septuagint which matches the quotations we have in our New Testaments, Christians from Jerome (late 4th-century), adopted the corrupted Masoretic Text with its altered chronology for their Old Testament.

I'm not a fan of St. Augustine, but he was strongly opposed to Jerome using the existing Jewish Old Testament of his day as the basis for the Vulgate's Old Testament text. Augustine knew it had been changed. Jerome was unpersuaded, and the primacy of the Masoretic Text as the basis for most of our English translations of the Old Testament remains with us to this day.

A good study Bible, as I mentioned, will highlight the differences, but one of the reasons I use the NET and/or the ESV for my English Old Testament, is because the scholars who translated them have allowed the Septuagint and/or the Dead Sea Scrolls to "correct" many of the changes the Rabbis made to their Hebrew Bible in the late 1st and early 2nd centuries.

Another reason the 5500-Year Prophecy is not well known is because beyond the references from the aforementioned early church writers, other sources that make mention of it are non-canonical writings, considered pseudepigraphal which are Jewish works whose claimed author is not the true author.

I personally believe that as further discoveries are made, be that the appearance of Dead Sea Scroll manuscripts that were never published and/or newly discovered manuscripts that I am convinced will be found through, for example, the Copper Scroll Project, we will learn that some of these very works are in fact authentic, and were written by the claimed authors.

#5500 Year Prophecy, #5500-year prophecy, #the5500-year prophecy, #5 1/2 days prophecy, #prophecy of 5 1/2 days #Masoretic, #MT, #Septuagint, #LXX, #creation, #5500BC, #prophecy, #chronology, #Vulgate, #Jerome, #Judaism, #Rabbis, #Rabbinic Judaism

APPENDIX

The First Book of Adam and Eve

Book 38

1 After these things the Word of God came to Adam, and said to him:—

2 "O Adam, as to the fruit on the Tree of Life that you have asked for, I will not give it to you now, but only when the 5500 years are fulfilled. At that time I will give you fruit from the Tree of Life, and you will eat, and live forever, you, and Eve, and your righteous descendants.

Source: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/398/398-h/398-h.htm#chap38

The Revelation of the Magi

Syriac – 8^th Century (700s) – scholars believe the original to be from late 2^nd to early 3^rd centuries

“In this book, Revelation of the Magi are proposed to have been descendants of Seth, who inherited a prophecy from their forbearer Adam declaring that Christ would descend into the world and assume the physical flesh at a certain period and time. Remaining throughout the generations of humanity vigilant in keeping watch for the fulfillment of this event, the children of Seth created an order specifically to watch for this sign.”

“The Magi anticipate the star and its significance because of a prophecy written down by Seth—which was first told to him by Adam—about the coming of a star that would signal the birth of God in human form.”

“Cast out of paradise, Adam and Eve were instructed even then that Christ would be born of their seed to redeem them and that they would have to endure the suffering of this world for certain time until Yahweh sent Him. A specific order of the children of Seth, honoring these traditions, was instructed to not only carefully guard such knowledge but also dedicate a particular group of their descendants to maintaining in vigilance a watchful eye, for those mystical signs which would as a harbinger, accompany their prophetic fulfillment. They would also be those who bequeathed to the world, the legends which relate how and when Jesus Christ as the Son of God, would leave the heights of heaven 5500 years after Adam and Eve were cast out of paradise to be born of their bloodline.”

Source: https://steemit.com/revelation/@zengarcia/revelation-of-the-magi-and-the-5500-year-prophecy-of-the-coming-of-yahushua-christ

NO, CHRISTMAS IS NOT PAGAN!!!

2025-12-02T09:39:00.000-08:00

The keyboard warriors are out in force filling up their social media with creative memes "claiming" Christmas is a pagan holiday.

While I agree that for many, the Christmas season is not about celebrating Christ's birth, the claim that Christmas originated in paganism is simply false.

I have blogged about the evidence that entirely debunks such claims. Please click on this link if you have doubts. LINK

I would also recommend a new book on the topic entitled, Full of Grace and Truth: The Biblical Roots of Christmas by R.L. Solberg.

So, don't reject Christmas - REDEEM IT!!!

The Gospel - Proclamation alone or Proclamation + demonstration?

2025-10-06T09:32:00.000-07:00

This past week I attended an event where the Gospel was BOLDLY proclaimed on a college campus. I won't mention the name of the ministry as this blogpost illustrates a common approach by evangelistic ministries that could have easily been dozens of other well-known ministries.

Skeptics, atheists, Muslims, LGBTQ+ students were all interacting with the speakers who presented. It was open Q&A. It was done honorably and respectfully (from ALL sides I should not fail to mention).

Beyond the microphones up front, there were many other "Gospel conversations" taking place amidst the large crowd.

What I am about to say might not apply across the board, but it did apply to the conversations I witnessed and it completely applied to the Gospel presentation that was going forth publically from the microphone at the front.

The Gospel was being preached and yet there was no offer whatsoever (or expectation?) that the truth of the Gospel would be demonstrated in some other way.

What "other way" am I thinking about? Often when Jesus communicated the Gospel message He would heal the sick, cast out unclean spirits, and/or would reveal something supernaturally (i.e. a prophetic word).

This was NOT happening at this event. I've known about this ministry for many years and have seen them in public settings before taking exactly the same approach - verbal presentation of the Gospel without any offer and/or expectation(?) that God would confirm their words with something supernatural/miraculous.

My story on this particular day, while applauding their bold proclamation of the Gospel message, had me walking away wondering just how much more effective their event could have been.

While I was standing next to a young woman who was sharing her faith with two non-Christian college students, I saw the conversation going around and around. It was respectful. The girl was boldly testifying for Christ. These men heard the Gospel. And I asked God if He had anything that I could "add" to what was going on.

And then the Lord gave me a word of knowledge (1 Cor. 12:8) that one of these two men had back pain in the upper middle part of their back. I waited for the opportunity and then stepped into to interupt their conversation. I introduced myself as a pastor and asked the two men, "Does one of you have pain in your back?" (pointing to the exact location where the Lord had indicated through the word of knowledge).

The shock that next came from one of the men was quite strong. He wanted to know HOW in the world I could have known about his back pain. I simply explained that I believed that God had prompted me to ask him so that I could pray for his healing. He had NO OBJECTION WHATSOEVER when I asked if I could pray.

I grabbed his hand (something I most often don't do in such a context) and prayed for God to bring His Kingdom to the man's back.

The problem/pain was NOT at that moment bothering him, and he told me he would have to wait and see if he was healed. I gave him my card and told him to please let me know what the Lord had done for him.

And then the money quote, as he says, "If I am healed, I am coming to your church!"

The other student wanted my card. And also interestly, so did the young Christian woman who had been engaging them.

I have not yet heard back from the young man, but as is almost always the case when God reveals a condition so specifically with a word of knowledge, I am confident that he was healed. And of course, I don't care if he ever comes to our church because if Jesus has done, what I believe He did in healing him, the young skeptic will find Christians around him who will help him come to Christ.

I used to be a bit more caustic towards an approach to preaching the Gospel that was merely verbal proclamation. I had come from that background, and when I began to see that God really did want to heal people and move more supernaturally through His children as they ministered to the lost, I was angry about the fact that I was a Christian for nearly 15 years before I learned that God really wanted to demonstrate His truth through miraculous means such as healing, prophetic words and/or deliverance from demonic influence. Note: those 15 years included a year in a Christian college, studying in a couple of seminaries, and being in full time ministry for over a decade!

I walked away from that event last week, not so much angry, as feeling sad. While it is possible that other conversations included prayer for the non-Christians being engaged (for healing, for deliverance), I left fairly certain that most of them did not.

God has given to His Church "power tools" and many Christians are either not using them and/or don't expect that they should be used today. There wasn't a Christian there that didn't believe God COULD heal, but many of them did NOT BELIEVE (or expect) that He WOULD heal.

Having lived in the Middle East for 30 years, I know that it is extremely rare for a Muslim to come to Christ without some type of supernatural intervention (a healing, a dream, a vision, an exorcism). And yet, now in Southern California, many of Christ's followers don't realize He will do the same thing for the atheist, for the transgender, for the skeptic. Why? Because " Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever" (Heb. 13:8).

the Wheat and the Tares - adjusting expectations

2025-08-16T11:53:00.000-07:00

One of our mentors used to say that that "the greatest miracle God will do is to purify and unify His Church before Jesus returns".

At the time, I didn't know what to think about his assertion.

I realize now that our mentor wasn't simply using hyperbole to make a teaching point. He was speaking the truth about such a thing being "the greatest miracle"! Of course, Christians will debate IF this is something Jesus will actually do before He Returns. Some Christians ONLY except such a miracle to take place after His Second Coming.

Again, it takes very little faith to believe Jesus will return for a "beat up girlfriend" whereas it does require faith to believe He will return for a "beautiful Bride"! And don't get me started regarding those who reduce all talk of Christ's work of sanctification as merely "positional" and not "actual"!

Returning to the discussion of the "state" of the Body of Christ today, at no time in history is the church more divided than it is today. Beyond the historical divisions, which includes 50,000+ Protestant denominations in the past 500 years, subdivisions have only multiplied in recent decades with modern technological advances in media. Modern false teachers and false prophets hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok and/or YouTube. I believe that 50,000 number above could today be literally hundreds of thousands.

What about the purity of Christ's Church today? Never has the church been more defiled than it is today. The statistics about the regular use of pornography INSIDE the church amongst BOTH men AND WOMEN are hard to believe. Technology again, and the smartphone* arguably most of all, has enabled this explosion in defilement to happen.

Maybe the Amish, who reject most modern technology, have been right all along!!??

Biblical standards, agreed upon by all of Christendom, for example with regards to divorce and remarriage and homosexuality have been "reinterpreted" and/or simply disobeyed. I am thinking of a well known modern Christian leader who went through an UNBIBLICAL divorce in recent years and married his much younger secretary and he remains in platformed, public ministry. No questions asked. It is as if Jesus never said, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery." (Luke 16:18)

How is THIS Church today every going to become what Jesus prays for in John 17:20-26?

What about Paul's vision of the church and his description in Ephesians?

Many Christians interpret this to ONLY be what the Church will look like AFTER Christ returns? (or as I've mentioned above, interpret it to be a "positional" concept instead of an actual description). Again, an idea that requires very little faith to believe!

Ephesians 5:25-27 - 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that He [Christ] might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

ADJUSTING EXPECTATIONS

Why did I even begin THIS blog post? Because, while I believe God will do a miraculous work to unify and purify His Bride before the Return of Christ, I also believe there is a current work of purification going on at this time.

Many ministries and/or Christian leaders are being exposed in our time for moral failure/sexual abuse, hypocrisy, pride/elitism, spiritual abuse, "fake" prophecy (as opposed to genuine prophetic ministry which I believe in), false teachings/practices and fraud/financial mismanagement. I am sure we could add to this list.

Additionally, I believe God is identifying a 'remnant' through this process who are faithful and who while not perfect, are NOT characterized by the things coming to like in this exposure.

Our Christian lives have been radically transformed in recent years in light of these the falls of so many leaders/ministries. Ministries that had impacted us deeply became defiled. Leaders we respected were exposed as frauds/hypocrites. Churches we used to partner with we can no longer endorse.

A lot of realignment took place. We made new friends and alliances. We found new ministries/movements/leaders we began to learn from who we felt were a part of this new 'remnant' of faithful Christians who had not compromised.

And herein lies my current dilemma - What happens when these new 'remnant' ministries/leaders are somehow partnering with those who have been exposed as false/compromised?

For example, one fearless remnant voice recently did an interview with the leadership of a compromised church's leadership who are promoting the very "cover-up culture" that enables unrepentant and compromised ministries/leaders to carry on. It was so disturbing for me. How could they not see? How did he not know his interviewers were "Babylonian captives"?

Another leader I respect is about to share a platform with one of the leaders who failed to call out and expose one of the most well-known prophetic "fakers" (one who got his 'prophetic information' through 'data mining' social media) even though this was one of his 'spiritual fathers'!

I just met another leader who I have come to respect in recent years who recently platformed one of compromised shepherds whose financial mismanagement/fraud and spiritual abuse being exposed currently (with more forthcoming).

I realize sometimes people don't know about things. For months after Mike Bickle's exposure for being an unrepentant sexual predator, some leaders dismissed the reports as 'a spirit of false accusation'. Those leaders today all realize they were wrong and have entirely condemned Bickle's lifestyle and failure to ever repent.

I also know that not everyone has the same "list" of people who are defiled/compromised. I consider Dr. Michael Brown to be disqualified from public ministry, while others believe whatever he did (which is debated), he has repented from and endorse his ministry today. I am sure there are leaders I would endorse that others would consider defiled/disqualified.

How to we proceed? What am I to do? I had a growing sense of frustration with regards to this problem and then I felt like the Lord highlighted a passage that would help me.

That passage was the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares in Matthew 13.

I was thinking that this season of exposure was akin the tares being exposed and removed, but the parable doesn't indicate that this will be accomplished, at least not fully, until a time that is yet future!

In explaining the parable, Jesus says:

Matthew 13:39b-43 - 39 - The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they [the angels] will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Jesus reveals the timing (v. 39) - the END OF THE AGE!

He also reveals the agents of separation (v. 39) - the ANGELS!

And finally, He specifies what will be removed (v. 41) - ALL CAUSES OF SIN AND ALL LAW-BREAKERS!

In the meantime, I will pray that those who need to repent will repent. That those who are compromising will stop. That those who are disqualified from public ministry will step aside (and YES, even when people have fully repented they may still be permanently disqualified from leadership and public ministry in the Body of Christ)

And I will be adjusting my expectations accordingly.

I believe this will help my heart in this hour. This will aid me in not allowing the sin in others to become sin in me (the main sin the Lord was convicting me of was 'unrighteous anger' - or as the Bible describes it, the "anger of man" (James 1:20). Another thing has been a growing desire to see vengeance, when God says "vengeance is MINE" (Rom. 12:19) - in other words it belongs to HIM and HIM ALONE! For the rest of us, to carry it will defile us.

And once again, the Holy Spirit's conviction comes back to myself - challenging me once again to "fix my eyes upon Jesus" (Heb. 12:2) rather than on the so many others (other leaders, other ministries, other churches) who so easily become get me into the very sins I've just described I am finding myself struggle with!

Even God as you are purifying your Church in this hour, purify me and my house!

*Smartphones being the most widespread of all devices, but this would of course include computers and tablets that also access the internet.

...but what did DEACONS get to do???

2025-08-11T10:41:00.000-07:00

Fighting against centuries of "theological thinking" (much of it if we are honest amounts to UNBELIEF), we have been convinced that much of what we read in our New Testaments doesn't "really" apply to us today.

Can we 'really' live like Jesus?

Except for a rare few, most teachers don't hold out the expectation that we can do what Jesus did. And if you do, you will quickly be labeled a false teacher. (and yes, I have some experience to back my claim!)

So, for the sake of argument, let's give them/you? that one. The life Jesus lived, and in particular the Kingdom power He moved in, isn't to be aspired to. An entire theology known as "Cessationism" contends that such miracles "ceased" with the death of the Apostles in the 1st Century AD. If only such scholars were familiar with the the 2nd and 3rd Centuries, because miracles continued thereby falsifying the Cessationist position.

Some theologians will argue further against believers imitating Christ's miraculous life because they contend that He did many of those things out of His Divinity which, for them, by definition excludes us imitating Him with regards the supernatural things He did while on earth.

Note: Even the most zealous in the recent WWJD movement, didn't really expect to be doing the miraculous things Jesus did while on earth. It was a great movement. If only it had gone further and expected more!

What about Apostles then?

In spite of the fact that Paul COMMANDED US to imitate him, the vast majority of Christians throughout Church history don't "really" believe we should expect to live the life that Paul and/or the other Apostles lived.

Of course in recent years an entire movement has emerged that argues they have recovered/restored the "lost" office of the Apostle. I won't waste my time critiquing that movement here, except to say that the vast majority within that movement who think they are Apostles ARE NOT.

The earliest Christians wisely dropped the "title" Apostle in deference to the original Apostles (and of course Paul). Those apostles had a unique authority, for example, their writings constitute scripture.

But the fact is, apostolic ministry did continue on in the church. It was carried on under different titles - be that bishops (Gk. epískopos) which is sometimes translated overseer or supervisor, or even evangelist or missionary. We can look at men like the great St. Patrick who by all accounts had an apostolic life that rivals what we see in the New Testament. As for his Biblical "office", he had been consecrated as a Bishop/Overseer when he was sent to Ireland to evangelize and plant churches.

I go with the earliest Christians - I believe we should drop the title "Apostle" today entirely. First of all, it is confusing. The Apostles of the Lamb in the 1st Century were clearly different and the church dropping that title early on minimized that confusion. The abuse we see today in the movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) illustrates why NO ONE should be called an Apostle - from excessive control and spiritual abuse to the "invention" of new doctrines (i.e. so-called 'Apostle' Kathryn Krick who believes her teaching to be the "new wineskin" that Jesus spoke about. She is a heretic).

In addition, the characteristics of a New Testament Apostle are almost never seen in the lives of those who have 'Apostle' on their business cards today.

Most genuine apostolic ministries today are busy doing Kingdom work and don't often even consider themselves to be apostolic. Humility is one of those characteristics that marks the genuine apostolic because it doesn't care about who planted or who watered but rather with God who causes the growth" (1 Cor. 3:6-9).

Note: The Cessationists are wrong again when they contend that the miracles ceased with close of the Apostolic Age at the end of the 1st Century. For more on CONTINUATIONISM, which the position that the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Spirit continued after the Apostles, check out the following quotes from Irenaeus & Tertullian (late 2nd Century) - LINK

Clarification: Before shifting to the topic of deacons, I have conceded the final two points for the sake of argument and to get us to the real point of this blog post. I believe we can and should aspire to live like Jesus and His Apostles, even the miracles. Why? Because Jesus expected His Apostles to do what He did (John 20:21) and He instructed His Apostles to obey EVERYTHING that He had commanded the 12 Apostles to do (Matt. 28:20). Beyond that, Paul COMMANDED Christians to "imitate me as I imitate Christ" (1 Cor. 11:1). Jesus, nor the Apostles, ever 'qualified' the teaching with "except for the miraculous stuff"!

I also believe all of what I've just written about being like Jesus and His Apostles is subject to God's sovereignty and control in our lives. Many Christ followers have NOT handled God's power and/or Kingdom influence well at all. For that reason, our prayer is, "Lord, give us whatever 'power' our character can handle".

...which brings us to DEACONS, what can they do?

Deacon (Gk. diakonos) means a servant or a minister. Most Christians agree that this is one of our primary roles as a follower of Christ; we are servants as Christ "did not come to be served but to serve" (Matt. 20:28).

Almost every Christian tradition believes that deacons continue on in the church today. In 1 Timothy 3:8-12, the Apostle Paul lists the qualifications one needs to be a deacon. From the 1st century onwards, deacons are found wherever Christianity spread and churches were planted. Today, Catholics, Orthodox and many Protestant denominations continue to have deacons serving in their churches in an official, recognized role.

In many cases, it is an ordained ministry and in other cases it is a commissioned one. Even in conservative cases where women are not ordained as deacons and do not allow their women certain functions within the church, those same traditions acknowledge and affirm women as gifted and serving in many of the ways their ordained male deacons do.

So far, so good. Many would agree with what I've just written concerning the ministry of deacons in the church today. The Biblical vision I am about to cast for deacons would be rejected at worst and minimized at best. Both of those responses to be constitute unbelief.

Acts 6-8 describes the choosing of the first deacons and focuses in on the lives/ministries of two of them - Stephen and Philip.

Rather than simply a "unique" time in the history of the Church that wasn't be emulated or repeated, let us consider that God wanted to cast a vision for the lives of ordinary believers. It wasn't ONLY Christ and His Apostles who would be used powerfully and in supernatural ways. It would be ordinary "deacons" whose initial job description was basically to take care of the practical needs, i.e. "serving tables" so that the Apostles could focus on the "spiritual ones". (Acts 6:1-3)

If only that was the end of the story. But if one reads the rest of Acts 6, Acts 7 and Acts 8 we learn absolutely nothing about the 7 men's "table serving". Did they do a good job? I assume so. Did it free up the Apostles to do the more "spiritual" stuff? Probably. But, we don't get anything about any of that.

What do we get? What did the first deacons actually do??

The Ministry of Stephen (Deacon #1)

We discover that after the Apostles laid hands on them, that Stephen "was performing great wonders and signs among the people" (Acts 6:8).

In Acts 6:15, it seems that like Moses in Exodus 34 and Jesus in Luke 9:29, that Stephen got to "glow"!

And then there was/is the preaching - Stephen starting apparently in Acts 6:10 and carrying on throughout Acts 7 is preaching and teaching in such a way as to confound unbelieving Jews who were disputing his message!

Deacon Stephen has what is sometimes called an "Open Vision" in Acts 7:55-56 wherein he sees God's glory and the Lord Jesus standing at the right hand of God! Such experiences were normally the domain of prophets and/or the Apostles themselves.

Stephen's final miracle was the ability to like Christ, forgive those who were killing him (Acts 7:60) and he thus becomes the first Christian martyr in the history of the Church. Yes, the rest of the Apostles, except John, went on to die a martyrs death but it was a deacon named Stephen who had the distinct honor of being the first to die for Christ!

But we can add to Stephen's ministry resume that he sparked a persecution of the Church that led to believers having to leave Jerusalem. While initially, I am sure there were other Christians who were angry at him for messing up the good thing they had going there in the city. But in God's sovereign purposes, Stephen's ministry and martyrdom MOBILIZED the Church to get on with the Great Commission, a task at that time had stalled a bit and was only focusing on Jews in Judea! (more on that in a moment).

His martyrdom also sheds light for us onto the type of man Paul was, a persecutor of the Church, before he met Christ. Paul was a 1st century terrorist who had blood on his hands for his complicity in Stephen's murder and as one who "ravaged" the Church, imprisoning Christians (Acts 7:58, 8:1-3). God uses ALL thing together for our good (Rom. 8:28) and he used a deacon's death to reveal more about the Apostle Paul's life so that we can all the more appreciate his ministry as almost certainly the greatest Christian who ever lived.

At this point, you can see why the multitude of churches who have deacons might become a bit uncomfortable with this "expanded vision" for the ministy of deacons and by deacons I mean THEIR DEACONS TODAY!

Before turning to Philip, let me say that about 25 years ago, while studying to be ordained first as a deacon and then as a presbyter, one of the deacons at that particular church was the best preacher in the church - and that church had deacons, presbyters/priests and even a couple of bishops/overseers. Like Acts 6 & 7, they recognized the gifting of one of the deacons and let him use that gifting!

Admittedly, I don't know all that deacons are allowed to do in the churches I've mentioned above but years ago, one Coptic Orthodox deacon, taught me how to chant the Scriptures in Arabic. That was one of his roles in church.

The Ministry of Philip (Deacon #2)

Let's consider briefly this "expanded vision" in the life of Philip.

I mentioned the mobilization of the church before but interestingly we have new dynamic - the focus of attention is taken entirely off of the Apostles, "God's A-Team" who remain somehow safely in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1)

Jesus' Gospel mandate in Acts 1:8 was first to 'Judea', then 'Samaria', followed by the 'Ends of the Earth' (Gentiles).

While the Apostles "heard" that they seem to have "understood" something quite different. They didn't care about the Samaritans. They considered them a heterodox cult and ethnically inferior.

God used a deacon named Philip to get the Gospel enterprise out of the first gear and into the second - Samaria! (Acts 8:4) I'll bet they had received many prophetic words to move, to mobilize, but they stayed put. So God used the persecution to do what they had been unwilling to do. And even then, it was NOT the Apostles who mobilized. They were somehow being "protected" in Jerusalem by influential believers (my theory).

The funny thing is that down in Samaria Philip wasn't doing his job - which was to "serve tables". He wasn't doing what was "expected"!

Instead Philip becomes the FIRST cross-cultural missionary in Church History. Going from the Jews of Judea to the Samaritans was truly a cross-cultural ministry endeavor. From one ethic group to another. And not to one the Jews liked.

What does Philip do? He "began proclaiming Christ to them" (Acts 8:5). Beyond evangelizing, he is "performing signs" (Acts 8:6), casting out demons and bringing physical healing to afflictions caused by demons (Acts 8:7). Samaritans are getting converted to Christ and he's baptizing them (Acts 8:12) and just in case someone didn't read 8:6, a deacon, NOT an Apostle, is doing "signs and great miracles" (8:13).

And what does this incredible ministry down in Samaria produce? It gets the Apostles "interest" (Acts 8:14-16) who feel 'led' to LEAVE JERUSALEM and go down and make sure everything was doctrinally in order (sarcasm intended but I believe my assessment is in fact what motivated them).

Note: this reminds me of the STUDENT INITIATED AND LED Asbury Revival that broke out on February 8th, 2023 that eventually led to many so-called "Apostles" making their way to Kentucky. Thankfully, they weren't given the reins, they sat up in the balcony and from start to finish it was a group of student 'deacons' who God used to lead it!

This is beyond the scope of this blog post, but we do see something that Apostles had authority to do that deacons did not in the visit of Peter and John in Samaria. (Acts 8:14-17)

I believe, however, that far more important than the differentiation between Apostles and Deacons was the mobilization of the Apostles to get out of Jerusalem, out of their 'Judea' and to see God moving amongst the Samaritans. And the result? Peter and John start to do the same thing that the deacon Philip modeled; they began "preaching the Gospels to MANY VILLAGES OF THE SAMARITANS" (Acts 8:25). God used a mere deacon to get the Apostles back on task, to mobilize them towards the intent of the Gospel to spread all over the earth!

Philip's story doesn't end in martyrdom as Stephen's did - the next thing we see is that Philip has an angelic visitation (Acts 8:26) and is given his next ministry assignment, to preach Christ to the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-38) culminating in the Ethiopian's baptism! You may not know this, but an ancient tradition, relayed by Irenaeus in around the year AD180, is that his same man preached the Gospel in Ethiopia and helped establish the church there! That would mean that the deacon Philip ultimately raised up Ethiopia's first evangelist and church planter!!!

Oh, the things God uses deacons to do!!!

Beyond that, Philip gets translocated (Acts 8:39) to Azotus which is about 20 miles away to do what? To find tables to serve? No! There he preaches the Gospel in village after village from Azotus all the way to Caesaria which is about 53 miles!

It is no wonder that when we catch up with the deacon 20 years later, in Acts 21:8-9, we find a new designation for him, "Philip the evangelist" which is obviously what the table-serving deacon had become and had faithfully continued to do. He was CURRENTLY Philip the evangelist! And not only that, he had raised up 4 daughters who were prophetesses! (v. 21:9) a gifting that was available to women in the early church! Oh, that we would see more of them in our day! Notice, we don't hear about their names or their platforms! There isn't any self-promotion. They were Philip's daughters who happened to have prophetic giftings that were used in Caesaria (and beyond?) to build up the church and further the Gospel.

Note: I mean GENUINE prophetic people who actually hear from God. Many make this claim today, some of whom I believe started with actual prophetic gifting, but have ceased to be those prophesying under the Holy Spirit of God! Not self-promoting, idolized counterfeits - which is what much of the Charismatic church has witnessed in our day!

What I have just blogged is where many of the aforementioned churches get nervous again - yes, they have deacons, but deacons need to be "reasonable"! Thankfully, God's Word doesn't admonish us towards that type of UNBELIEF. I love reason and those that use their intellectual gifting to further the Gospel, but in the name of being "reasonable" many Christians live powerless Christian lives and/or have largely powerless ministries - powerless in comparison to the ones we have just read about in the lives of Stephen and Philip!

It challenges us to ask the question - and I won't ask it of the other "churches" before I ask it of myself. There is a reason that we are commanded to "fix our eyes upon Jesus" (Heb. 12:2) instead of on the lives/ministries of others! He is perfect. He lived out His calling and destiny perfectly and completely. He never sinned. He never fell short. And everytime we focus on Him, instead of others, we will find ourselves convicted. We will never get into comparison and/or feeling ourselves superior to anyone else, if and when our eyes of focused on the Lord Jesus Himself!

So, my question (our question) must be:

Am I moving in ALL that God has made available? I am seeing ALL that God wants me to see?

A couple of spirit-filled believers (Stephen and Philip), get Apostolic hands

laid upon them and they head out to see what God will do! I am fully convinced that they did their "jobs" well, the serving of the tables, the making sure there wasn't discrimination in the distribution of resources (Acts 6:1).

But beyond that they preached the Gospel, they saw demons cast out, they saw people healed and many were baptized. The language Luke uses is that they saw "signs and miracles". In other words, we don't even know ALL of what happened. There was just supernatural Kingdom stuff happening.

I know for a fact, and like them I have had "Apostolic hands" laid upon me, that I am often not living like Stephen or Philip! I would venture to say that the vast majority of "deacons" in Church History didn't get a vision for their ministry from Acts 6-8 and Acts 21.

I don't know what God will do, but let's believe Him for MORE. Let us with a type of "holy dissatisfaction" contend for lives wherein the Lamb of God receives the reward of His suffering, as the great Moravian Missionary Movement used as their prophetic cry!

What will God call you after 20 years? In addition to you faithfully carrying out your "table serving" assignment (your job, vocation, etc). Will you also be called:

An Evangelist?

A Teacher/Preacher?

An Exorcist?

A Prophet/ess?

A Worker of Miracles? (1 Cor. 12:10)

This was what servants (deacons) did in the 1st Century and the last time I checked, Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8)

TO THE ONE WHO HAS EARS TO HEAR,
LET THEM HEAR!

Mark 4:9 - said by Jesus 3 times in the Gospel of Mark, 2 times in the Gospel of Luke and 8 times in the Book of Revelation)

How about the "Pastoral Silent Majority" that kept out of politics to "just teach the Word and preach the Gospel"?

2025-07-30T12:33:00.000-07:00

There are millions of American Christians that rejected the "Obamafication" of American Christianity LINK - and that is to be commended! You resisted lie after Marxist lie!

You may have also resisted being duped into "NeverTrumper" Christianity LINK - and thankfully you had more discernment than the millions of Christians that either refused to vote (helping the godless Left) and/or voted against Trump (MORE than helping the godless Left). You were able to realize that God had a purpose in Trump's elections (which now stand at 3!)

But what about your church's pulpit? What was your pastor saying from 2016 onward?

During Hitler's rise to power - it has been estimated that 33% of Germany's pastors supported Adolph Hitler, and 33% opposed him. And in the middle, 33% of the pastors SAID NOTHING!

It is this 3rd group that this blog post is about. In hindsight, almost every Christian I know would decry the pastors that remained SILENT. And I am sure they reasoned exactly as many of your pastors did saying, "We can't be political from the pulpit!"

I was speaking with a pastor friend recently who is on staff and attends exactly the kind of church I am talking about.

For example, I asked him if he had read Megan Basham's bombshell expose book, Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Trade the Truth for a Leftist Agenda LINK - He had not. I was SURE it was in his large church's bookstore (a very conservative Evangelical Reformed Church). His response was that "if it was political" it would NOT be in their bookstore.

I went online and checked their bookstore - and lo and behold, NOT THERE!!! What was there however, was a book by one of the compromised Evangelical leaders who is outed in Basham's book, Gavin Ortlund. I can guarantee that many other of the "Shepherds for Sale" that her book exposes have books in that bookstore.

And here lies the fundamental problem - a problem at best was/is a misunderstanding of the Johnson Amendment and what pastors can say or not say in church so as to not violate their non-profit status. At worst, it is simply COWARDICE. I would wager for most who have stayed silent about political issues that it is a mixture of both misunderstanding AND their own cowardice and/or fear of man.

In hindsight, I am sure my pastor friend and their lead pastor would decry the silence of a 1/3rd of Germany's pastors during the rise and reign of Hitler's Third Reich. But why they were unable to see the evil that Obama's terms oversaw in America (including the Supreme Court's decision to legalize Gay Marriage in America), is inexcusable.

And now, there are NO LIMITATIONS on what pastors can say from the pulpit regarding politics - LINK (I've even posted a link for an article from the ultra liberal NPR!).

What is my prediction? Will the 33% who have remained silent begin to speak??? NO WAY. And this will reveal their primary motive - FEAR OF MAN/COWARDICE.

They will pride themselves - "We are a church that avoids talking about divisive political issues". And of course, such churches will attract certain people. But like the woman who attended the late Tim Keller's church for nearly 10 years until she realized they were a "pro-Life" Church, she felt betrayed and left disillusioned. She was a pro-infanticide and was never discipled into the Christian position. Silence was/is deadly. And being silent is NOT Gospel faithfulness, it is a betrayal of the Apostolic Faith.

So, this blog post is for those who think silence is the way to go. Silence is the spirit of the age! Silence on the issues at hand is demonic.

If you have been silent, it is time to repent.

Unlike the Obamafied Christians and/or the NeverTrumper Christian, you resisted Babylon. Now you MUST speak out against its tenets! Its falsehood. Its deception. Call it out in BOTH parties. But fair warning, the list within the current Democratic Party Platform (and NOT the one of your parents/grandparents/great-grandparents) is much longer than the one in the current Republican Party Platform. So, be a faithful Sherpherd (meaning a NON-SILENT ONE) - and start calling "balls and strikes".

Do you want to hear, "Well Done, My Good and Faithful Servant"? Of course, you do! You will NOT hear that if you remain silent in the face of the evil that have been facing!

For such a time as this...

It is Time for NeverTrumper Christians to LEAVE BABYLON! (and/or Obamafied Evangelicals)

2025-07-29T11:28:00.000-07:00

Jeremiah 50:8 - "Flee from the midst of Babylon..."

Isaiah 48:20 - "Go out from Babylon..."

2 Corinthians 6:17 - "Therefore go out from their midst [Babylon's],

and be separate from them, says the Lord" (quoting Isaiah 52:11)

Revelation 18:4 - ..."Come out of her [Babylon], my people..."

In the history of God's people, there was an actual, historical Babylonian captivity (587BC-537BC) and throughout salvation history there have been other "types" of Babylonian captivities. Both the Apostle Paul in Second Corinthians and the Apostle John in Revelation exhort Christian believers to leave their particular Babylons. Paul was speaking specifically to what 1st Century believers were facing and John was prophesying a future Babylon system dynamic during the Great Tribulation at the end of the age before Christ's Return.

In other words, every generation of Christians, heeding the command of God, are called to "leave" whatever Babylonian system.

In short, Babylon represents anything and everything that is corrupt, anti-God, anti-Christ, deceptive, perverted and false. God's people throughout history have been affected and even at time "captured" by the Babylon of their time.

Today I believe we have been witnessing yet another manifestation of a type of Babylonian system/captivity that has this time in recent years captured much of the modern Evangelical church. Have they realized it? Of course not. That is way deception works.

The word of the Lord to His People whenever they found themselves inside a Babylonian system was to "Flee", "Go out" and/or "Come out". Of course the first captivity was God's judgement upon the southern tribes and His Word to leave only came after He finished judging them for their disobedience. After that, He rose up prophets calling His people who had remained in Babylon to leave it and return to the Promised Land and for those already in the Holy Land to keep pagan Babylonian thinking and practices out of their lives.

In our day, there has been a group of Christians known as NeverTrumpers who illustrate a group of God's People who unlike the Biblical "sons of Issachar" (1 Chron. 12:32), have NOT discerned the times in which we have been and have NOT known what God's People should do. They were captured by our current Babylonian system.

Why have I come to this conclusion? Because for decades of my Christian life, I was just like them. I virtue-signaled my Christian convictions, always portraying my position on political matters as being "balanced". In the beginning of 2016, I was essentially one of them.

But in December of 2015, I heard the Lord speak to me as clearly as He ever had in my life and His instruction to me was to "pay attention". I had never followed American politics, or International politics, closely and definitely not the American Presidential Primaries, but I knew that that was what God wanted me to do. And I began to pay attention. For the first time in my Christian life, I took a keen interest in what was happening inside American politics, especially within the Republican Party.

Unlike some Christians, I had seen and was vocally opposed to President Obama's influence upon our country (and the Church) which was and has been profoundly evil. Effectively it during Obama's years (2008-2016) that many of the NeverTrumper Christians were captured - they ingested the cultural lies that were hosted upon the American people (Critical Race Theory, radical LGBTQ+ ideology and other Marxist ideas). I documented much of this in my last post which I entitled, "The Obamafication of American Christians" LINK.

At the end of 2015, somehow the Lord wanted me to wake up to a much deeper understanding of the "present darkness" on the earth and to the fact that the future of America hung in the balance with the 2016 Presidential Election being a watershed moment. NeverTrumpers NEVER got this memo! Instead, they threw themselves into opposing what God was about to do. How easily I could have succumbed to that effort had God not spoken to clearly! A truly horrifying thought to me now.

Would we continue in the degraded direction that Obama had taken our country (and the church!) or would we turn back in a more righteous one? I NEVER thought like this before 2016. I was too "sophisticated" to worry about such trivial matters as America's political future because I reasoned I was a more 'Kingdom-minded' Christian. I knew nations rose and fell. Why would mine be any different? In my arrogance, I would have said it was arrogant to think that America really mattered all that much in God's overall purposes.

In the beginning of 2016, I could have to a large degree been described as a "NeverTrumper Christian"; I was either a Ben Carson or a Ted Cruz guy. I was entirely put off by the way Donald Trump treated the other Republican candidates, and most notably insulting Ted Cruz's father! I was sure in the end Ted Cruz would be the Republican candidate. I remember when one concerned Christian friend of mine was worried about Donald Trump's rise during the primaries. My response, "Don't worry, he'll shoot himself in the leg".

All along, I kept remembering that my assignment was to "pay attention".

I had two strong Christian friends, both who happen to be named "Jim", who could "see" what I wasn't able to see at that time; they were already being "sons of Issachar" and knew that God had a some purpose for a Trump presidency that I could not at that time imagine. Interestingly, my parents-in-law were also able to embrace Trump early on showing they too had discernment that I was lacking at that time. I virtue-signaled my distaste for the man - ironically, my "paying attention" meant that I had all the details/facts to support my opinion that I normally would not have had regarding politics. I am now embarrassed about the way I interacted with those who could see while I was still in the dark.

In the end, when Donald Trump was selected to be the Republican nominee, I reluctantly, and I stress 'reluctantly', began slowly to support the man. For many of us, if we were honest, we voted for Donald Trump in 2016 as the "lesser of two evils" knowing that a Hillary Clinton presidency would only cause America to spiral downward further in the the demonic direction that eight disastrous Obama years had taken us.

I remember posting on Facebook on November 9th, 2016 after Trump won:

"RELIEVED. HOPEFUL. And INCREDIBLY PROUD of the millions of Americans who knew we needed a change. I have never prayed more for an election in my lifetime. and I now commit myself to pray more for Trump and his Administration than I have for any previous Administration."

And after mostly positive comments on my post-election post, a close pastor friend of mine, posted the first of what would become literally HUNDREDS of NeverTrumper Christian comments on my Facebook Wall over the subsequent 4 years.

I was waking up. I wasn't fully a "son of Issachar" when Trump was elected, but I believed we as a nation had dodged a bullet. Now in 2025, I think countless millions of Americans are in full agreement that God has used and is using Donald Trump to dodge many bullets and to fix many of the things that were broken in our nation.

Like I said above, unlike many of the new tribe of NeverTrumper Christians, I had resisted publically and vocally the policies of President Obama such as his Marxist ideas like Critical Race Theory and Social Justice, that divided America in a way it hadn't been divided since the 1960s. My first NeverTrumper Christian commenter on my FB wall had already been baptized in both of those "Babylonian" Marxist ideas.

NeverTrumper Christians with rare exceptions, like John Piper, adopted many of the Marxist ideas that had historically been foreign to and resisted in Conservative Evangelical Christianity. Many Evangelicals tragically were thoroughly brain-washed during the Obama years.

I think of the historically conservative Evangelical The Gospel Coalition (TGC) which tragically drifted into Babylon during the Obama years. One of its leaders, who renamed himself Thabiti Anyabwile (formerly named Ron Burns), was a perfect example of an Obamafied Christian who embraced such Marxist ideas. His virtue-signaling blog post in June 2016, "Evangelical Leaders: Tell Us to Vote for Clinton" LINK, illustrate exactly what a 'Babylonian Captive Evangelical' looks like. Instead of such Marxist Thabiti Anyabwile, I would direct anyone interested in a NON-Babylonian Captive Black American Christian voice to the work of Martin Luther King's niece, Alveda King. Website: https://www.alvedaking.com/ LINK

I watched dear friends become ardent supporters of the racist, Marxist hate-group we know as Black Lives Matter (BLM). Good people fell for nearly all the false narratives and were infected by the hatred that fueled BLM's founders/leadership. Others became tolerant of so-called "Gay Christianity" and today endorse it openly. The insane ideas of the Transgender movement were also adopted by many claiming to be Evangelicals. Left-leaning, big Government Democrat Christians of the 90's literally became socialists during the Obama years. Their Obamafication, which was BY DESIGN as Megan Basham has so irrefutably demonstrated (see my previous post), didn't stop there - it infected their views on science, abortion, American history, family, God-ordained authority structures and other Biblical concepts.

And because they had already been "captured", NeverTrumpers, lacking discernment, believed almost everything the Fake News Mainstream Media began accusing Donald Trump's Administration of - be that Russian Collusion in the 2016 Presidental Election, the sordid lies about Trump in the Steele Dossier, the bogus Mueller Investigation, Ukraine-gate, etc. etc. The list was endless. The false accusations of Trump's crimes, support for his impeachments, calling him a misogynist and a racist who put illegal immigrants into cages! (something that Obama actually did).

Note: to this day, the NeverTrumpers who cheered along with anything and everything that Trump was falsely accused of, have NEVER retracted their statements and/or repented for propagating falsehood after falsehood. Further evidence of their Babylonian captivity where truth gives way to falsehood and deception.

As Trump's first term progressed, what really turned me into a strong supporter of Donald Trump was the insane amount of hatred and vitriol that everyone seemed to direct towards him. The more they hated him, the more I found myself endeared to the man. And the more I became convinced that my instruction from the Lord to "pay attention" was about a much larger purpose for the man that I had any way of realizing.

Rather than realize that God raised up President Trump, as He had raised up the Persian pagan Cyrus in the 6th Century BC, to judge a Babylonian system. The modern Babylonian one consisted of the ideological and geopolitical forces that were dominating the world in 2016 - pushing every godless ideology that Satan had concocted over the previous 150 years - Marxism, atheism, socialism, evolution, globalism, environmentalism, infanticide (abortion), sexual immorality and perversion, etc. etc.

NeverTrumper Christians were duped. Instead of Biblical Justice, they were seduced into Social Justice (Marxist). Instead of Biblical notions of Immigration, they uncritically adopted the Open Border (and Sanctuary City) policies that have nearly destroyed our great nation. From universally acknowledging that marriage is between one biological male and one biological female, many Evangelical Christians allowed the Babylonian ideas of Gay marriage and Transgender ideology into their Christian worldview. NeverTrumper Christians were involved in all three of the misnomer efforts, evangelicals who advocated for Hillary Clinton, and the actual efforts named "Evangelicals for Biden" and "Evangelicals for Harris". All three of these groups were basically united in their hatred of Trump (and his MAGA movement). They would of course as professing Christians never use the term "hate", but let's be completely honest. I literally lost dear friends who would no longer relate to me as a Christian Trump supporter.

Some NeverTrumper Christians and/or Obamafied Christian organizations to be fair did not go as far as others. Some are actually returning to their more conservative foundations and have begun to root out Marxist ideas (like Critical Race Theory) that they were advocating. In some of these organizations, the battle rages on as Obamafied Christians within them are quite influential.

I will conclude this post by getting back to the title - "It is Time for NeverTrumper Christians to LEAVE BABYLON! (and/or Obamafied Evangelicals)".

As Obama and those around him (including the Fake News Media) are currently being exposed for all of their evil, their lies, and their treason, the credibility of Christians who supported them, believed them and carried water for them (think George Soros' social change model called "Rent-an-Evangelical" - LINK) will be destroyed.

The word of the Lord for such Christians (for those who still "are" Chrisitans) is LEAVE BABYLON! Admit you were captives. Return to the faith you once held onto (free from godless Marxism). Repent for your slander of Trump and his followers. Acknowledge that a secure border and law enforcement are Christ-like and God-ordained means to curb evil (and while your at it, re-read what a BIBLICAL Sanctuary City was). Reconcile yourselves to the fact that you got Covid wrong (and the so-called vaccines). Declare that you became of victim of "Toxic Empathy". Become uncompromisingly pro-Life again (from conception). Stop your slide into accepting Gay Marriage as somehow compatible with the Christian faith. Don't succumb to fearmongering of the latest bogeyman, 'Christian Nationalism' In short, stop reinterpreting the Bible to support the Babylonian thinking you've adopted in the past 20 years.

Christians can and do disagree on many issues, but "baptizing Marxism" is not one of them! Marxist ideology is entirely incompatible with Historic Christianity. If you want to keep your Marxism, do us all a favor and join the deconstructionists who have left the Christian faith. Stop spreading Babylonian infection within the Evangelical Church.

And to name some names of Evangelical leaders/influencers/theologians and organizations that are either NeverTrumpers (some ardent ones) and/or have been Obamafied.

David French, Phil Vischer, Rachel Held Evans, Thabiti Anyabwile, Russell Moore and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Coalition (ERLC), Christianity Today (CT), many* in The Gospel Coalition (TGC), Andy Stanley, After Party, Vote Common Good, Shane Claiborne and 'Red Letter Christians', the Evangelical Immigration Table (EIT), The Ethics and Religious Liberty Coalition (ERLC), J.D. Greear, George Wood, Francis Collins, BioLogos, Rick Warren, Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF), many Vineyard Churches, Ron Sider, the late Tony Campolo, Ed Stetzer, Ray Ortland, Gavin Ortland, Matt Chandler, Jemar Tisby, Eric Mason, David Platt, Evangelicals For America (linked to Evangelicals for Harris), Scot McKnight, Brian Zahnd, Denny Burk, and surprisingly even men** such as John Piper, Beth Moore, Max Lucado, Tim Keller and Al Mohler**!

Note: I realize the aforementioned list (which is only a sample) has a range of those who are far less liberal than some of the others, but they are ALL either NeverTrumpers and/or have to at least some degree been Obamafied. It is for that reason I consider ALL of them to to one extent or another Babylonian Captives.

*Some TGC people are NOT NeverTrumpers, but it has been a major platform for theologically conservative NeverTrumpers like Anyabwile and has been a vehicle to promote Marxist ideas (Critical Race Theory, Social Justice, Systemic Racism).

**I will briefly explain why I have included the following conservative Evangelicals, who were a shock to me along the way.

1. Al Mohler - Reformed Southern Baptist. First of all, I want to affirm Mohler for standing against Marxist ideas, such as Critical Race Theory, as entirely incompatible with Biblical Christianity.

That being said, he started in 2016 as an ardent NeverTrumper. He Tweeted, "Never. Ever. Period." after Trump's Republican nomination that year and DID NOT vote for Trump that November. He reluctantly voted for Trump in 2020 thankfully and encouraged his audience to do likewise to stop Biden. But he drank the Kool-Aid calling January 6th, 2021 an "insurrection" instigated by Trump which is evidence of adopting the Obamafied, Fake-News media narrative.

Sadly, he likened the 2024 Election to a dilemma for "Christians who think (and vote) like me with an awkward if not excruciating predicament." LINK Rather than having seen and believed much of the truth that had come to light regarding the endless baseless attacks against Trump and his followers, he "virtue-signaled". Thankfully, he had enough discernment to vote for Trump last year over and against Kamala Harris, but still bases his perspectives and opinions on Babylonian System lies/deception. As more of the truth comes to light, Mohler will need to acknowledge that he bought into much of the propaganda which to me is evidence of captivity. Only God knows people's hearts, but could it have been a fear of man issue, not wanting to be identified with #MAGA Christians and all that such a designation connotes in America today?

2. John Piper - Reformed Baptist. I don't think anybody who follows Piper is unclear about his NeverTrumperism - after Trump's last election, he wrote, “Having delivered us from one evil, God now tests us with another.” LINK. This is Babylonian captive thinking which he is still demonstrating. Piper simply does NOT discern what we have been facing. In particular, the 2020 Election was lost I believe in part due to Evangelicals like Piper not being able to discern the evil of the times. He influenced tens of thousands of Christians to essentially help Joe Biden get elected. For this he will have to answer to God.

3. Beth Moore - she became an ardent NeverTrumper believing Christian Trump supporters back in 2020 to be "seduced", "manipulated" and "used" LINK. Again, entirely unable to discern the times in which we are living, she has demonstrated many of the traits of Babylonian captivity. How will she respond in these days as she realizes she based her opinions on her own "seduction" and "manipulation" by the Fake News Media! Even now, she has believed the latest dangerous bogeyman label of "Christian Nationalism" as being another emerging American evil. She is being used by the Left to advocate for the Immigration policies of the Left, which advocates for Open Borders that have served to destroy our country. The irony of ironies is that in her own words, she is the one being "used"!

4. Max Lucado - going back to 2016, Lucado came out strong against Trump in an article wherein he claimed he was "baffled" by Christian support for Donald Trump that was re-published in the Fake News, Washington Post - LINK. Fast forward to 2020, and Lucado is carrying water for Critical Race Theorists and BLM by begging forgiveness "for his and his white ancestors’ acts of racism and inaction" LINK. Today he is a signed supporter of the Evangelical Immigration Table (EIT) which is backed by the money of avowed socialist, George Soros. That should be enough. LINK. Again, I refer people to Basham's book, Shepherds for Sale for further evidence of Soros' funding of the EIT and documenting the captivity of the likes of Lucado.

5. Tim Keller - the late Reformed Presbyterian, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York co-founder of The Gospel Coalition (TGC). I will refer again to Shepherds for Sale which documents the slide of Keller into many Babylonian ideas. Subtle. Slow. Nuanced. Possibly the greatest success story of the Left co-opting and using an Evangelical for their purposes. One of Basham's examples is that for the "staffers at Keller's church network and preacher-trained ministry [those who] donated to political campaigns since 2015, according to Federal Election Commission records,...gave EXCLUSIVELY to Democrats" (pg. 62, Shepherds for Sale).

I know that Keller had an incredible impact through his life and ministry, but in many areas, he essentially became a Babylonian captive and poisoned many, albeit slowly and subtly, into "baptized" Marxist ideas. He also did NOT discern what Trump was/and still is fighting against. Keller's no longer with us, but his disciples need to LEAVE BABYLON.

The Obamafication of American Christians

2025-07-23T14:41:00.000-07:00

As the news that the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Tulsi Gabbard, ordered the declassification of the evidence that Barak Obama was behind the treasonous coup plot to undermine and even overthrow the first presidency of Donald Trump, millions of American Christians are soon to face an uncomfortable dilemma because they actually believed Obama to be an honorable man who served presidentially for two "scandal-free" terms.

And Obamagate, as the coup has been called, was mocked by the same Christians (including NeverTrumper ones) as a right-wing conspiracy theory held by Christian Trump supporters. They simply have believed the fake news media's reporting all along. (and still do as the same news outlets they rely upon are trying to spin things even now to defend Obama and the fake narrative they all pushed).

The dilemma will only be compounded as these Christians will soon be confronted with the realization that virtually everything they believed about Obama was/is a lie.

My prayer is that what is currently being exposed will lead to Americans, and American Christians in particular, to the conclusion that no one person has done more to destroy the United States of America and its values than this man. I realize it was by demonic design and that there were/are others behind Barak Obama, but he has been the single most important tool they have used to sow the destruction I am describing.

What the millions of American Christians also don't realize/understand is that Obama has also done more to destroy Biblical Christianity in America than any other single influence in the past 20 years.

It is this perversion within the Christian church that I have entitled the "Obamafication of American Christianity". I actually looked up the term 'Obamafication' and there were a few Urban Dictionary definitions - 1. "The act of being so caught up in a man, Barak Obama, that one loses sight of the issues" (clearly what happened to millions of Christians!) and 2. "The act of being excited about change, especially in the United States. (there sure was a lot of change, for the worse!) 3. The process of restoration and repair. (the 3rd one is laughable - rather it should be degradation and destruction!).

I will add my definition here as it pertains to Christians.

Christian Obamafication: the act of slowly abandoning historically-held conservative Biblical values and beliefs and subsequently reinterpreting the Bible to support newly adopted unBiblical positions and beliefs (i.e., Marxist race and/or gender theories) that only became mainstream since Barak Obama became president in 2008.

Don't get me wrong. The Christian faith has always been under assault. False teachings had to be addressed by the Apostles in the 1st Century and heresies have arisen all throughout the history of the Church.

What makes this current assault somewhat unique is that confessing CONSERVATIVE Evangelical Christians have abandoned Biblical Christian beliefs/values/positions while still considering/calling themselves conservative Evangelicals. (For a thorough handling of this phenomenon, I highly recommend Megan Basham's bombshell 2024 book, Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda.)

Why do I call this Christian Obamafication?

Take Barak Obama's stance on gay marriage. In order to get elected in 2008, he "changed" his position to be against it and then once in office reverted back to be in support of gay marriage claiming his ideas were "evolving". Fast forward to 2025, and Obama is the most radical proponent of the most extreme aspects and elements of the LGBTQ+ agenda.

Christianity from its foundation has decried the sin of racism. America's systemically racist past, especially in the South, was in our rear-view mirror as a country. Racial divisions in America were continuing to go down to arguably the lowest point in our nation's history. (of course, racism has always existed in man's sinful condition).

But somehow after Obama's 2008 election an entirely new narrative emerged and America and Americans, especially white Americans, were systemically racist. Beginning with the killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in 2012, which was followed by Michael Brown's death at the hands of police officer Darren Wilson in 2014 and culminating in George Floyd's death in 2020 the "America is largely racist and bitterly divided along racial lines" narrative was believed by millions. This was NOT the case before 2008. Rather than champion the truth about the deaths of the aforementioned men, Obama served to promote falsehoods about the tragic deaths of those men that had resulted in a more divided America than we have seen since the 1960s. Don't forget that President Obama promoted Black Lives Matter (BLM), a racist marxist organization, hosting their leaders multiple times in the White House.

Obama promoted Socialism, defended lies that fueled the Defund the Police movement, advocated for Open Borders, held to many Marxist ideologies (such as Queer Theory, Critical Race Theory), endorsed Sanctuary Cities, and was the most radical abortion advocate of any American president in history. I could go on but pretty much any and every idea/position that is called "progressive" today was/is held by Barak Obama. Note: Progressive is a synonym for unBiblical and immoral.

Many of these ideas were not held by most Americans, and most definitely not by the majority of conservative American Christians. But that all changed during Obama's two presidential terms and the subsequent years. I've already cited his view on gay marriage above. No one would have endorsed the vast majority of the tenets of the Transgender movement in 2008. Look where our nation is today? Well-meaning Americans have been so duped by the deception of the movement, that even loving parents would agree to the bodily mutilation of their own children, if they identified as the other gender!

What does all of this have to do with the church? Rather than defend the historically Christian position on the issued mentioned above, many within Conservative Evangelicalism, were SEDUCED into affirming many of the same issues. They were effectively "Obamafied" - Again, I will refer to Basham's book as she demonstrates multiple ways this happened. But essentially today you have card-carrying members the leadership of the Evangelical Church in America that are pro-abortion, pro-LGBTQ+, pro-Gay marriage as Christians, socialists, ideological Marxists (Critical Race Theory is being taught in Evangelical seminaries today), who promote nearly all of the things Obama represents - hence the term "Christian Obamafication". And yes, they have worked extremely hard in the past 20 years to re-interpret the Bible, redefine Biblical terms/concepts to support their novel "Christian" positions. (again, see Basham for extensive evidence).

In the same way that Obama has been/is being exposed for being a phony who portrayed himself to a man of integrity and honor - he was a phony Christian, a phony supporter of of traditional marriage, a pathological liar who has proven to be more corrupt than any other American president (Some believe LBJ was even worse!). In short, he has been none of the things people believed him to be. So too, will these false shepherds, the ones who Basham has demonstrated were/are "for sale", be exposed for their betrayal of all things Christian. Socialism and Marxist ideology are incompatible with historic Christianity (this includes all the offspring of Marxism - Critical Theory, Critical Race Theory, Queer Theory, Social Justice, Intersectionality, White Privilege). Abortion and homosexuality are entirely condemned by the Apostolic faith. Open Borders that serve to destroy a nation (violence, drugs, trafficking, terrorism and economic ruin) are condemned throughout the Bible.

All of these things are irreconcilable with Biblical Christianity – these ideologies have different views of sin, salvation, gender, sexuality, marriage and objective truth (right/wrong). God has ordained authority structures within society (Marxism deems them as “oppressive power structures”).

As encouraged as I am that much of evil is currently being exposed, and I can attest to many Christian organizations have already corrected course where they had adopted for a season some of these ideologies, there are other Christian leaders, churches and organizations that are only drifting further into apostasy. God commanded ALL of His people to leave Babylon. Some decided to stay behind. Even when they physically left, God still rose up prophets whose message was "make sure Babylon is out of you." I believe the word of the Lord to such Christians is GET BABYLON'S IDEOLOGIES OUT OF YOU AND MINISTRIES!

I am hopeful that the horrible experiment in American History called Barak Obama will be universally accepted as being just that. I pray that the "Obamafied Christians" who have ingested and baptized his ideology, will repent, forsake what is false and return to their Biblical roots.

In case you are wondering more specifically WHO I am referring to in this blog post, I posted the below list of Christian leaders and organizations/ministries that have been 'Obamafied' (or were NeverTrumpers) from another of my blog posts:

And to name some names of Evangelical leaders/influencers/theologians and organizations that are either NeverTrumpers (some ardent ones) and/or have been Obamafied. Some of these people WERE Evangelicals and have become so-called Progressives now.

David French, Phil Vischer, Rachel Held Evans, Thabiti Anyabwile, Russell Moore and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Coalition (ERLC), Christianity Today (CT), many* in The Gospel Coalition (TGC), Andy Stanley, After Party, Vote Common Good, Shane Claiborne and 'Red Letter Christians', the Evangelical Immigration Table (EIT), J.D. Greear, George Wood, Francis Collins, BioLogos, Rick Warren, Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF), many Vineyard Churches, Ron Sider, the late Tony Campolo, Ed Stetzer, Ray Ortland, Gavin Ortland, Matt Chandler, Lecrae, Jemar Tisby, Eric Mason (Woke Church), David Platt, Evangelicals For America (linked to Evangelicals for Harris), Scot McKnight, Brian Zahnd, Denny Burk, and surprisingly even conservatives such as John Piper, Beth Moore, Max Lucado, Carl Trueman, Tim Keller (Third Wayism) and Al Mohler**!

Note: I realize the aforementioned list (which is only a sample) has a range of those who are far less liberal than some of the others, but they are ALL either NeverTrumpers and/or have to at least some degree been Obamafied. It is for that reason I consider ALL of them to to one extent or another Babylonian Captives.

**I will briefly explain why I have included the following conservative Evangelicals, who were a shock to me along the way.

1. Al Mohler - Reformed Southern Baptist. First of all, I want to affirm Mohler is NOW for standing against Marxist ideas, such as Critical Race Theory, as entirely incompatible with Biblical Christianity. I say "now" because he wasn't so clear about CRT initially.

Sadly, he likened the 2024 Election to a dilemma for "Christians who think (and vote) like me with an awkward if not excruciating predicament."

LINK Rather than having seen and believed much of the truth that had come to light regarding the endless baseless attacks against Trump and his followers, he "virtue-signaled". Thankfully, he had enough discernment to vote for Trump last year over and against Kamala Harris, but still bases his perspectives and opinions on Babylonian System lies/deception. As more of the truth comes to light, Mohler will need to acknowledge that he bought into much of the propaganda which to me is evidence of captivity. Only God knows people's hearts, but could it have been a fear of man issue, not wanting to be identified with #MAGA Christians and all that such a designation connotes in America today?

I know that Keller had an incredible impact through his life and ministry, but in many areas, he essentially became a Babylonian captive and poisoned many, albeit slowly and subtly, into "baptized" Marxist ideas. His "Third Wayism", while sounding 'balanced', ended up producing a generation of Woke Evangelicals who while professing to be conservative, gave the Radical Left (which the Democratic Party has sadly become) almost a total pass while virtue signalling in disgust about the idolatrous Christian Nationalist right! The outcome of this so called Third Way nearly led to the destruction of our country. Thankfully, we are currently seeing a strong reaction against it amongst Christians.

He also did NOT discern what Trump was/and still is fighting against. Keller's no longer with us, but his disciples need to LEAVE BABYLON.

Source: https://www.urbandictionary.com/

Basham, Megan - Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda.

Which Covenant - New or Old (Mosaic)? For WHO? And WHEN?

2025-06-30T19:44:00.000-07:00

There was very little confusion about these questions in the early Church. The Apostles worked out the issues surrounding these questions. You may be familiar with their conclusions - they are contained WITHIN the New Testament.

The church that followed the Apostles had a UNIFORM opinion and a UNIVERSAL answer to these questions.

There was no confusion until the 1800s when a NEW TEACHING emerged that began to question these issues. So, for literally 1800 years there was a single position amongst those who followed Jesus Christ and then a 'novel doctrine' emerged.

What was the UNIFORM/UNIVERSAL opinion of the Apostles themselves and the Earliest Christians?

It is summed up in this quote by the early Christian leader/theologian named Tertullian in AD207:

“The epistle that we also allow to be the most decisive against Judaism, is that in which the Apostle [Paul] instructs the Galatians. For we fully admit the abolition of the ancient Law [of Moses]. We hold that it actually proceeds from the dispensation of the Creator. ...Christ marks the period of the separation when He says, “The [Mosaic] Law and the Prophets were until John [the Baptist].” [Lk. 16:16] He thus made the Baptist the boundary between the two dispensations of the old things that were then terminating and the new things that were then beginning.”

One Covenant ENDED in the 1st Century and another one BEGAN. The Old Covenant [Mosaic Law/Sinai Covenant] came to an END - it was in effect "until John [the Baptist]" who was the LAST of the Old Testament prophets according to Jesus.

Tertullian concurs and states that "Christ marks the period of separation" between the Old and New Covenants. And the final nail in the coffin so to speak happened in AD70 when the 2nd Jewish Temple was destroyed which ENDED the Old Testament priesthood and a functioning Jewish Temple in order to carry out the requirements of the Mosaic Law.

Judaism after this time had to re-invent itself and the Rabbis (descendents of the Pharisees) came up with a Jewish faith that was radically different than the one prescribed in the Tanakh (Jewish Scriptures/Old Testament). They 'invented' the concept of the "Oral Torah" (as distinguished from the "Written Torah" which is the first 5 books of the Old Testament). And eventually in late 4th/early 5th century they codified what is known as the Talmud which was the commentary on the Oral Torah.

WHO were these Covenants made with? Clearly, the Mosaic Covenant was made with Israel as a nation through Moses at Mt. Sinai (thus sometimes referred to as the Sinai Covenant).

The New Covenant we learn from Jeremiah's prophecy that "the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah" (which means with all of the 12 Jewish Tribes) - Jer. 31:31

The New Covenant would be made with the descendants of the 12 Tribes. And all the first followers of Jesus were from the Jewish tribes. All of the people present on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, where Jewish from the 12 tribes. For the next 10 years after Pentecost, the Apostles preached exclusively to Jews all over the Roman Empire and ultimately beyond.

The Apostle show us in their writings that this was in fact the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy of a "new covenant". This was all happening between roughly AD30 and AD45. Some have Jesus' ministry as early as AD27, but basically we are looking at the period of transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant during this time period.

The Book of Hebrews written shortly after this time confirms this when the Apostle writes:

Hebrews 8:6-13 - ⁶But as it is, Christhas obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. ⁷For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. ⁸For he finds fault with them when he says:“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, ⁹not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. ¹⁰For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ¹¹And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. ¹²For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” ¹³In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

The first Covenant (Old/Mosaic) was being made "obsolete" and it was "ready to vanish away". Why? Because shortly after Hebrews was written the 2nd Jewish Temple was destroyed and that marked the ultimate end of the Old Covenant.

The Jewish followers of Jesus didn't realize, even though He taught them and the Old Testament prophets had many prophecies regarding the Gentiles, that there would be in Christ a "grafting in" of Gentiles into the covenantal promises given to Abraham as the people of God. Beyond the physical circumcision, there would be a 'spiritual circumcision' for Gentiles that put their faith in Christ. Such Gentile believers are therefore brought into the covenantal blessings of Abraham AND also brought into the New Covenant and its blessings.

Like I mentioned, it literally took the Apostles 10 years after Pentecost (which was 13 years after they had begun sitting under the teaching of their Jewish Rabbi, Jesus), until they understood that God had a plan to include everyone, Jew and Gentile, in His redemptive plan. The Apostle Paul explains this in Romans 11.

What I have just written regarding the Old and New Covenants was/is the faith the Apostles taught and the faith RECEIVED by their descendents. Taught faithfully throughout the history of the Church until other ideas began in the 1800s.

The "sign" of the Old Covenant was the SABBATH (some would include circumcision but that was actually the "sign" of the Abrahamic Covenant). The "sign" of the New Covenant was/is BAPTISM.

So guess what we don't find Christ followers doing after the New Covenant begins? We don't find them requiring circumcision any longer and we don't find them observing the sabbath.

Look what we find in the year AD105 (right after the death of the Apostle John by one of John's personal disciples named Ignatius:

We are "no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day [Sunday]." Ignatius (AD 105)

Could anyone believe that John who died in the 90s was so bad in his discipleship that one of his most well-known disciples had abandoned the keeping of the Sabbath?

We find another early Christian apologist in his famous Dialogue with Trypho (a Jew) echoing Ignatius when he writes, "Is there any other matter, my [Jewish] friends, in which we Christians are blamed, than this: that we do not live after the Law [of Moses]...and do not observe Sabbaths as you do?" Justin Martyr (AD 160)

I could supply many other quotations from the leaders of the 2nd century Church - the church was not following the dietary laws of the Law of Moses and not keeping the Jewish feasts commanded in the Law of Moses. Why? Because that Covenant had ENDED.

What LAW were Christians following? THE LAW OF CHRIST (Galatians 6:2). They were following the teachings of Jesus and His Apostles. Jesus said, "if you love me you will keep MY COMMANDMENTS" (John 14:15). Surely the Apostle John had taught that to his disciple Ignatius who in AD105 was NOT keeping the Law of Moses (i.e. Sabbath observance, Mosaic dietary laws) but was keeping the Law of Christ.

What you have just read was/is the Apostolic faith and understanding of the Old and New Covenants. This was the universal understanding of the entire Christian Church (ALL branches) for 1800 years.

And the only ones you find that had a different understanding of these issues were groups called heretics (i.e. the Ebionites of the late 2nd Century that Irenaeus describes in his famous work Against Heresies who were still keeping the Mosaic Law, practicing circumcision, accepted ONLY the Gospel of Matthew and rejected the writings of the Apostle Paul).

Tragically, since the 1800s the confusion on the aforementioned matters has spread broadly and in recent years (especially since COVID) an explosion of false teaching on these issues has spread through 'internet teachers'.

May this short blog post help you "contend for the [Apostolic] faith once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3).

For such a time as this...

WHERE should the Gifts of the Spirit be exercised?

2025-06-19T14:38:00.000-07:00

If you looked at the modern-day Charismatic church, you might think the answer is "on a stage" or "in front of a camera" and the person (or people) using the gifts would probably be some type of "celebrity" minister(s).

And what has been the outcome of such a model? The pressure "to perform" has led to fake prophetic words (i.e. Shawn Bolz) and many "claims" to people being healed that in fact were not healed at all (i.e. Benny Hinn).

I fully understand why there has been the current exodus from the Charismatic church. At best, they end up moving into another Christian tradition that has more integrity and less fakery. At worst, they deconstruct and lose their faith entirely.

To quote one of my mentors, "the misuse of something does not warrant its disuse but rather its RIGHT use!". While I can sympathize with those who journey into non-Charismatic churches (i.e. Reformed), the fact that the Gifts of the Holy Spirit continued after the Apostolic age is not an issue of debate. The evidence from the centuries after the death of the Apostles, prove that the supernatural, so-called "sign gifts" of the Holy Spirit continued. They did NOT CEASE as the "Cessationists" teach.

But if the Gifts exists today, which they do, WHERE then should they be used?

The platform, the conference, the TV program or even in front of somebody's video camera for a livestream or for later online posting are simply the WRONG places! Has God worked in those contexts? Absolutely. I've seen people radically healed at a big conference. I've witnessed large meetings where accurate prophetic words were received and given (which I could confirm were genuinely prophetic).

First of all, according to the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians, one context that is appropriate for the use of the gifts of the Spirit are in the local church gathering. Wait, wasn't I just saying the large meeting wasn't the right context? YES. And the earliest Christians were meeting in house church contexts. Re-read the Book of Acts. Carefully study early Church History. The church met in homes for the first couple hundred years of Church History. Only in the 3rd Century do we find our first Church building and even that was small!

And what have we seen in our small house-sized church gatherings? We have seen the gifts of the Holy Spirit in operation. It is in this context that they can be weighed, judged and properly used. We saw a man healed of cancer (literally his tumor disappeared) after we prayed for him in our small church meeting. More recently, two of our church members gave prophetic words that were very specifically for a guest who was visiting for the first time. This has happened through the years in our own personal experience HUNDREDS OF TIMES. No hype. No cameras. No celebrity Christians. Small meetings.

And a second answer to the WHERE question? That would be OUTSIDE the 4 walls of a church building with people we meet wherever we go. This has been the place where we have seen the most healings and the most prophetic words, specifically the Word of Knowledge. This number goes into the THOUSANDS. No cameras. No hype. Just as we have lived our lives in several different countries. Loving the ones in front of us.

This happens EVERY WEEK. Last week I was out with a buddy and we saw several total strangers healed after God revealed to us their problems.

God has never changed.

So, my advice to any fellow Charismatic who has "ears to hear" - STOP going to the conferences! STOP looking to the "celebrity" Christians! GET AWAY from the stages! And simply ask God to use you with the people you meet and encounter wherever you go. This actually was much of the way that Jesus Himself ministered. So many of His miracles happened while He was on His way to the next gathering.

*DISCLAIMER* - I exhort you to TRY THESE THINGS wherever you go - today, tomorrow, next week and for the rest of your lives.

a PURE vision for Supernatural Ministy - AD180

2025-05-18T12:29:00.000-07:00

Irenaeus (AD 180) - “Those who are in truth His disciples, receiving grace from Him, do in His name perform miracles, so as to promote the welfare of others, according to the gift which each one has received from Him. For some do certainly and truly drive out devils, so that those who have thus been cleansed from evil spirits frequently both believe [in Christ] and join the Church. Others have foreknowledge of things to come: they see visions and speak the prophecies they have received. Others still, heal the sick by laying their hands upon them, and they are healed. Moreover, as I have said, even the dead have been raised and remained among us for many years. And what more can I even say? It is not even possible to number all of the gifts which the Church, throughout the whole world, has received from God, in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and which Christians demonstrate daily for the benefit of the unbelievers, neither deceiving them nor taking any financial reward from them [on account of such miraculous ministry]. For as Christians have received freely from God, freely also do they minister [to others]” Matt. 10:8 (Against Heresies, Book 2, Chapter 32, Section 4)

I can't think of quotation in the history of the church that is more relevant in critiquing the modern-day Charismatic church than this quotation from the Irenaeus in the late 2nd Century. A one that casts a purer vision for what we should be endeavoring to restore!

A couple of phrases/concepts jumped out at me.

First of all, miraculous ministry was done by "disciples" in the 2nd Century. And it was demonstrated "daily". In other words, it was by regular believers and being done in their normal lives - not at conferences or in big meetings! And sorry, cessationists, but ALL the gifts of the Holy Spirit were continuing long past the Apostolic age and had not ceased! But, Charismatics please notice it wasn't by the "5-Fold ministers" or "prophet" or "apostle" so and so. It was ordinary believers. No celebrity pastors were mentioned?

Secondly, the motivation was "to promote the welfare of OTHERS" and "for the benefit of unbelievers". Not to build the ministry platform of some celebrity minister! Today so much is done for self-promotion. To somehow validate and/or to promote the "anointing" on the man or woman of God. The church in the 2nd Century would reject wholesale what it being marketed today in much of the Charismatic church.

Can somebody pray for someone today and it not be plastered all over their social media? Can a Christian leader who is going into the White House, not have to post 20 photos and a video?

The motivation was to bless others for God's glory. A rarity these days.

Thirdly, the "freely you've received, freely give" instructions from Jesus (Matthew 10:8) were still being followed. Not so much today - Charismatic ministers charge people for ministry all the time in the 21st century. I think of the one of the most egregious of false apostles, Kathryn Krick, who literally manipulates people for money to ensure their deliverance. And threatens people who leave her ministry that they will lose their freedom! The irony of ironies is that they actually end up getting more demonized from her ministry because she is in fact a witch. But the fact that she is tolerated at all when she manipulatively charges people for ministry shows the dismal state of affairs in the modern Charismatic church.

Sadly, Krick is not alone. Many other Charismatic ministers essentially charge people for their "services" - I know of those who take money for their prophetic ministry, for their healing ministries, etc. All of it is just disgusting! This would have gotten a person marked as false 100% of the time in the 2nd century church, but today this "financial pay-for-play system" is firmly established in Charismatic circles. To book some of these ministries, huge fees are required through their professional booking agents.

How far have we departed from Charismatic ministry in the year AD180 when no supernatural ministers were "taking ANY financial reward from them" [the people they ministered to]??

These are things the Lord is currently doing to purify His Church. He is working to restore a purity to supernatural Kingdom ministry. Many 'shows will go on' so to speak as the those who have fallen, their "conference spots" will be filled right up by others willing to step right in and take their place (and $$) - to be booked at the next exorbitantly-priced conference, requiring huge honorariums.

But God's power will be leaving the stage (being replaced by "another power" (i.e. Kathryn Krick's meetings). The lampstands will be removed as God will no longer be mocked. And our God who has never changed will in fact continue to demonstrate His Kingdom power through the lives of those who will endeavor to do God's work IN GOD'S WAY - which is how it was being done in AD180.

To those who have ears to hear, let them hear...

Predator's Paradise & Selective Humility

2025-05-08T14:16:00.000-07:00

Having just listened to a sobering and helpful response by Stephen Powell to Dr. Michael Brown's new video release. I've included the link here:

Stephen Powell Video

I have greatly appreciated Stephen Powell's videos who himself was/is a victim of clergy sexual abuse and who had to expose his own mentor, Todd Bentley, as an unrepentant sexual predator.

Powell's critique of the the current state of the Charismatic Church is a fresh of breath air. He speaks/writes AS A CHARISMATIC himself. So, unlike the Cessationist critics, who are by definition anti-Charismatic, Powell is an insider who is contending for a Charismatic Church that deals with sin, and with false doctrines/practices. Beyond that, he is one of the voices that is questioning the very structure of the platformed, celebrity pastor (or prophet, healing evangelist, apostle) structure of churches and/or ministries. I agree with him. I believe God is not simply exposing sin and/or false teachings in the Body of Christ, but that He wants to dismantle the very model wherein such sin and/or false doctrine has been able to thrive.

In Powell's video, he brings up two concepts that were particularly important/critical.

The first one was when he describes the Charismatic church having been a "Predator's Paradise" due to the modern influence of such doctrines of hyper-Grace and the Father's Love. (I would add to these the "Culture of Honor" teaching) Grace of course is Biblical as is the Father's Love, but when these doctrines are taken to extremes and/or taught in the absence of other Biblical truths, a climate was created that predators could and did thrive within. Think about it - is there anything that Charismatics have believed disqualified people from leadership in the church? Divorces and remarriages without Biblical grounds? Abusive and manipulative behavior (patterns thereof) that have been captured on video or audio? Unwillingness to admit to past sin? The list goes on and on. And yet, the church is full of platformed ministers who have been put back into ministry because of their "gifts" in spite of their character! The early Church would have simply never tolerated such scandal. Just read the writings of the 2nd and 3rd century church.

Back in 2013, I blogged about the dangers of hyper-Grace in a lengthy post - see here: Blogpost

I now realize that such a false doctrine provided the perfect opportunity for sexual predators to thrive. Powell calls it a "Predator's Paradise" - a brilliant description of a repugnant reality.

The 2nd concept he called "Selective Humility" - this is when a Christian leader on one side presents himself in a truly humble posture, but in another place is anything but humble. We saw this when the recordings from the scandal at Daystar TV came to light - Joni Lamb and Jimmy Evans on camera appear "humble" but in private meetings with Joni's son and daughter-in-law, reveal a level of pride that is hard to imagine.

Dr. Michael Brown has come off in certain contexts (and in his most recent video) as humble and meek. However, through the years when different people went to him, including close friends, to confront him about certain behavior, they were bullied and threatened. No humility. Selective humility.

I am grateful to Stephen Powell for giving me two concepts that are helpful in describing and thinking through the current Charismatic church climate we find ourselves.

May we restore to the Body of Christ, and the charismatic one in particular, an environment where predators are not tolerated. Instead of a "Predator's Paradise" may it become a "PREDATOR'S NIGHTMARE".

And as for humility, may it become a major emphasis once again in the Church. It has been considered one of the most important virtues throughout the History of the Church, but seems to be largely forgotten in much of Christ's Body today. Pride (today popularly called Narcissism) has become the norm. Having met and been around multiple Christian leaders through the years, I can say that far too few struck me as truly humble. That is a tragic indictment!

At the end of my life, I would hope that those around me would be able to say, he strove to walk in true humility. I am keenly aware of my shortcomings in this area. I had so hoped that Dr. Michael Brown, rather than itching to get back into ministry, would have humbled himself in light of what he did (and has done in subsequent years to cover it up), would have been willing to step aside from public ministry for the rest of his life for the sake of Christ's Name and to bring no further reproach to Christ's cause. But he appears to be "spiritually tone-deaf" to the impact of what he done and is convinced that "his gifting" is too important. Humility, genuine Biblical humility, would demand another way than the one he sadly seems to be taking.

I will end this post with what is known as The Humility Prayer. I believe that if somehow Dr. Brown ever saw it and would actually pray it, then he would do exactly the opposite of what he has decided to do.

"O Jesus, Meek and humble of heart,

hear me, Deliver me, Jesus,

from the desire of being loved,

from the desire of being extolled,

from the desire of being honored,

from the desire of being praised,

from the desire of being preferred to others,

from the desire of being consulted,

from the desire of being approved,

from the fear of being humiliated,

from the fear of being despised,

from the fear of being forgotten,

from the fear of being wronged,

from the fear of being suspected,

And, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire

that others might be loved more than I,

that others might be esteemed more than I,

that in the opinion of the world

others may increase and I may decrease,

that others may be chosen, and I set aside,

that others may be praised and I unnoticed,

that others may be preferred to me in everything,

that others may become holier than I,

provided that I become as holy as I should."

Judgment has begun in the household of God - in the church, in ministries

2025-05-05T09:27:00.000-07:00

1 Peter 4:17 - For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God

PODCAST LINK

There is a growing consensus that God is currently judging His Church and Christian ministries. Of course, He has always done so. It was happening in the 1st Century when the Apostle Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote the Epistle of 1st Peter. And it seems to be happening at an ever-increasing pace today. He's exposing sin and false teachings. He is shedding light onto lifestyles that are hard to imagine belong to followers of the one who said He "has no place to lay his head" (Matt. 8:20).

It should be producing the fear of God amongst His people. It should be producing repentance in the ones being exposed. I am not sure it is producing either.

I end this podcast by highlighting something else I believe God is judging - the very structure and nature of Church and ministries. I think many who are applauding the exposures and correction God is bringing are not yet discerning that it is celebrity Christianity that God intends to judge and bring down. The platforms, the money, the idolatry, the power/influence - He wants to renovate it all! It hasn't been healthy for the sheep, and it has effectively destroyed so many of the shepherds.

I am sure that many will not get the memo and continue to pursue bigger and bigger platforms, will justify that pursuit in the name of "godly influence". The money will continue to flow - honorarium will get larger and larger, etc. etc. But if what I am saying is true, the cloud will have moved elsewhere. God's anointing will no longer be upon those who are sure it is upon them. God's Word says that "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble". That is where we are sure to find God's power as we insist on humility.

#drmichaelbrown, #drmichaellbrown, #shawnbolz, #toddbentley, #inthelineoffire, #freshfire, #

Is your devil too big and God too small?

2025-03-17T09:01:00.000-07:00

I think far too many Christians today have allowed the kingdom of darkness and its influence to become far too big in their lives over and against the resources of God and His Kingdom.

On the other side, there are Christians who hardly believe in the influence of the demonic realm, as if somehow once the Bible was finished, the devil retired and ceased to be the "god of this world" (2 Cor. 4:4).

But in my camp, there are simply too many believers that allow the attacks of the enemy to overwhelm them. And somehow a lie enters in that the resources of God and His Kingdom don't seem be enough. They would never say this of course, but in practice, it has become their reality.

Today as I was doing a study in the early Christian church with regards to angels, I came across this 3rd century quotation:

"[God] does no less than to set His own angels over His devout servants, so that none of the hostile angels - nor even he who is called “the prince of this world” [Jn. 14:30] - can do anything against those who have given themselves to God." Origen (c. 248, E), 4.653.

It seems to me that many Christians need to HEAR the words of the 3rd century church. A world like our own steeped in paganism and occult practices.

We have resources that are far beyond what the kingdom of darkness possesses. Would we believe it? Would we do what is needed and become those "devout servants" who have "given themselves to God"?

Do we REALLY BELIEVE that angelic forces have been assigned and commissioned by God over us for our protection? In such a way that NONE OF the 'hostile angels' or even the 'prince of this world' can do ANYTHING AGAINST US??

This is no different than the Apostle James' message:

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7)

REJECT the LIE that the demonic realm is more powerful than the realm of God and His angels!

SUBMIT to God - close the doors of access by turning from sin.

RESIST the devil and his kingdom of darkness

AND...

he [and his demonic kingdom] WILL FLEE from you!

Don't forget WHOSE TEAM you are on and WHO is on your team!!!!

#angels, #demons, #archangels

Who was the REAL St. Patrick? (2025 UPDATE)

2025-03-15T15:21:00.000-07:00

In fact, most of what Christians have heard about St. Patrick amounts to Fake ‘Theological’ News.

Different Christian traditions all want to claim Patrick as their own, the Roman Catholic Church being the loudest voice. Modern day Charismatics also like to reference his prophetic gifting and miracles.

There have been a growing number of other Christians in recent years claiming to be “Celtic” and/or seeking to recover Celtic roots or Celtic ‘spirituality’. Sadly, much of that is distorted and often infused with New Age beliefs and ideas.

Other historical revisionists will look to the Celtic Christians to justify other ideas/agendas – such as radical feminism and even environmentalism.

So, who gets Patrick right? Who in our time represents him and his legacy the best?

To answer that question, let's now consider who the original Celtic Christians were? And who was the historical St. Patrick, the Apostolic pioneer, who sparked that entire movement?

Even as so many Christians today “claim” Patrick as their own – most will be surprised that he doesn’t really fit any of the modern labels that we might try to put on him or the movement he birthed.

Patrick was NOT a Roman Catholic (and neither was he a modern-day Protestant Evangelical and/or Charismatic!), but rather a British Roman citizen born in the late 4th century (AD 386) on the West Coast of Britain. He was a part of the independent British or Celtic Church which did not come under Roman control until the 6-8th centuries. His father was an ordained Deacon and his grandfather had been an ordained Presbyter, but Patrick as a young man didn’t show a tremendous amount of interest in the things of the Lord.

God had a radical way of getting this boy’s attention. As a 16-year-old, he was captured by Irish raiders who took him back to Ireland where he was a slave for six years. It was during this “captivity” that Patrick really came into a relationship with the Lord. His role was to shepherd flocks and he became a man of prayer. In his own words,

“After I had arrived in Ireland, I found myself pasturing flocks daily, and I prayed a number of times each day. More and more the love and fear of God came to me, and faith grew and my spirit was exercised until I was praying up to a hundred times every day and in the night nearly as often”.

He learned the Gaelic language (the language of the Irish people) fluently and developed a heart for the very people who enslaved him. After 6 years, God miraculously enabled him to escape. The Lord spoke to him in a dream – “You are going home. Look! Your ship is ready”. The following morning the Lord led him to the coast where he found a ship and sailed away from Ireland. Upon being reunited with his family in Britain, he never intended to set foot in Ireland again.

God spoke to Patrick in a dream to return to Ireland to bring the Pagan Irish the Gospel. In the dream, an Angel gave him letters from his former captors asking him to return and he then heard the Irish calling out to him, “Please, holy servant boy, come and walk among us again”. It was God who called Patrick to take the Gospel to the Irish, not the Pope of Rome as some have mistakenly taught. He was ultimately sent out by the independent British/Celtic Church as a pioneer missionary to Ireland. Interestingly, the Bishop of Rome had sent a missionary to Ireland about the same time, who lasted about one year before returning.

At the time Patrick was sent to Ireland, in 432 AD, he was a Bishop of over 40 years of age. He took with him several younger ordained presbyters, who he had taught Gaelic in Britain. In the face of great danger, and unbelievable hardship, this band of missionaries began to bring the Gospel to the pagan Druid Irish and God powerfully blessed their work. In 28 years of ministry which history records were full of Biblical signs and wonders, 30 to 40 of Ireland’s 150 tribes were Christian, between 200 to 700 churches had been planted and over 1000 local Irish leaders had been raised up and ordained. Truly their ministry was both the WORD (preaching) and the SPIRIT (signs, wonders, and miracles).

The Irish Church became a major missionary Church (arguably the greatest in Church History) in the following few centuries, taking the Gospel to other pagan peoples in Scotland and even Northern Europe.

Patrick was a man of prayer and fasting. He was a man who lived like Christ – he never married, he forfeited his worldly inheritance (he was from a wealthy British family), and suffered great hardship for the sake of the Gospel.

Patrick’s vision to reach the pagan Irish was resisted by his own British Church – it was considered too dangerous, an impossible task and it would not be an understatement to say that the “civilized” (Romanized) British Christians harbored racist attitudes towards the “barbaric” pagan Irish Druids. When the Church today considers the task of evangelizing the Muslim World or other places full of hostility and conflict, let us remember the fearless commitment of these 5th-century Apostolic teams who literally won an entire nation whom the Church in their day didn’t love and considered unreachable. And for us Western Christians, who are looking at a neo-Pagan West, steeped in all sorts of New Age spirituality and multiple other godless ideologies, may we remember Patrick and his radical disciples who overcame a very similar paganism in the 5th century onwards. The pagan Druids were steeped in mysticism, occultism, and genuine counterfeit spirituality empowered by the Kingdom of Darkness. Paganism and occult practices are far more common today than most Christians realize. If we desire the Apostolic fruit that Patrick and the Celtic Church achieved, we would do well to reach out to a pagan West today with the same commitment to Biblical signs and wonders and to demonstrate that the power of Christ’s Kingdom and His Gospel is MORE POWERFUL than the counterfeit New Age spirituality that is so prevalent around the world today.

On this day, when many people will be caught up in all sorts of twisted St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, may we be reminded of the real man behind the ‘myth’. May it open doors with others who most likely don’t know anything beyond leprechauns, 4-leafed clovers, and pinching people who aren’t wearing green.

Let St. Patrick’s final words recorded in his Confessions humble us today as we remember him and his Apostolic legacy:

Did the Early Church pray to saints and angels? NO!

2025-03-15T11:27:00.000-07:00

I know 'technically' my Roman Catholic and Orthodox friends will say they don't "pray TO saints and angels", but for millions of Christians in those traditions that is truly a distinction without a difference. The role of dead saints and angels in these traditions is extremely important.

The million dollar question of course is this, "Did Christ and His Apostles teach the church to do this"? And if so, we would find evidence of this practice in the 2nd and 3rd century church. But is that what we find?

Actually, we find just the opposite! And one voice that is perhaps the clearest is the great theologian of the 3rd Century, Origen.

What does he say?

"Having thus learned to call these beings “messengers” [i.e., angels] from their duties, we find that because they are divine, they are sometimes called “god” in the sacred Scriptures. But this is not said in the sense that we are commanded to honor and worship them in place of God—even though they minster to us and bear His blessings to us. For every prayer, supplication, intercession, and thanksgiving is to be sent up to the Supreme God [the Father] through the High Priest [Jesus]—the living Word and God, who is above all the angels." Origen (c. 248, E), 4.544.

Origen was condemned in the 6th Century at the 2nd Council of Constantinople in AD553. To be sure, he was not condemned as such during his lifetime. He did have some speculative opinions. But as for his faith and practice, he was considered entirely orthodox by the 3rd Century Christians.

There are many opinions about why he was condemned as a heretic. I believe it was because by the 6th Century practices had crept into the Church that the earliest Christians condemned. And what exactly were some of these doctrines? The intercessory role of the saints and angels were one and related to that was the development of use of icons. Both practices that Origen condemned in his writings.

It truly helps to know the faith and practice of the earliest Christians. It assures us of what was in fact "Apostolic" which is what we are bound to teach, preserve and pass on.

From Origen's teaching above, we know that our prayers, our supplications and our intercession are to be made to God the Father THROUGH Christ and He alone. Not through the angels and/or saints.

This is the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3)