Escape from Christendom

I would really like to post some wonderful things I learned from E.F.Christendom. Anyone want to join in? Maybe someone passing through will benefit. :-) "If you stay here in Christian City, you'll wither away. You must take the path. I belong to the desert you saw earlier. I was sent here to encourage you to press on. You'll travel many miles. You'll be hot and thirsty; but angels will walk with you, and there will be springs of water along the way. And at your journey's end you will reach the City of God! You have never seen such beauty! And when you arrive the gates will open for you, for you are expected." "Christian City is the place for those who want religion but don't want to lose their lives. The desert is the territory of those whose hearts are so thirsty for God that they are willing to be lost in Him. My friend, when Peter brought his boat to land, forsook all and followed Jesus, he was being swallowed by the desert. When Matthew left his tax collecting and Paul his Pharisaism, they too were leaving a city much like this to pursue Jesus out over the dunes and be lost in God. So don't be afraid. Many have gone before you." "But your rest is out there," he urges. "Walk on now into the desert. The Holy Spirit will help you. Don't be afraid to be lost in God. You'll find your life nowhere else."

Looking up from the tablet, I saw beneath me two revivals simultaneously in progress. Christian City was experiencing a revival which manifested itself in a massive and rapid growth. Within a very short amount of time the population had increased tenfold. Building was going on everywhere. But the most dramatic aspect of this growth in Christian City was the appearance of magnificent new church structures towering over the country side. One cathedral was being completed which had a spire seventy stories high, housing the world's most powerful transmitter. Another church was taking shape in the form of a giant glass dome with revolving stage and wrap-around sound systems. The most unusual one looked like an upright cross with fifteen elevators taking people up to the sanctuary housed in the south arm and a Christian restaurant housed in the north arm. There were Christian educational facilities for every age group from pre-kindergarten to graduate school; this group sponsored scenic retreat centers in the style of Swiss chalets with vast seminar halls. There was a feeling in Christian City that this growth was a sign of the world's last days. Books on the end of the age were up near the top of the Christian best seller lists, second only to the Christian sex manuals. Reporters came from all over the world to do articles on the booming conditions there. The inhabitants of Christian City were claiming that when the End came, they would be caught away to the City of God, before the chaos erupted. At the same time, I saw across the desert far distant from Christian City a very different revival taking place with none of the accouterments of successful religion. Dying men and women were being raised to their feet like the dry bones Ezekiel saw. They were being delivered from their diseases, their sins, and their spiritual prisons, merely by drinking the living, life-giving water and shared it with others, bringing healing to them. As by a spreading fire or a surging flood, the sick ones were being swept to their feet. Laborers there, who'd spent years seeing limited results, found that now it was taking no more than a single drop of water on a parched tongue to raise the dying to life. And each day the process was accelerating. Never has it been more clear to me that two revivals are in progress on the earth. One is the revival of the Spirit of God by which dead men and women are freed from their sins by the blood of the Lamb and raised to a life which is the life of the sons of God, a life which bears God's nature, manifests God's mercy. The other revival is the revival of religious flesh, a revival which is so appealing and gathers such multitudes and wields such power in this world because it offers all the comfort of religion while allowing you to keep your ego and all rights to yourself. Surely each of us has to decide which revival he is going to be part of . Am I going to invest my life in some enterprise of booming Christian City? Or am I going to lose my life in the pursuit of God's will of mercy? Am I going to concentrate on building something that will cause the citizens of Christian City to sit up and take notice? Or am I going to spend my life bringing the poor and the maimed and the halt and the blind to the Master's table?

I wanted to bring this up again because I had refered someone else to it.If you read from "the Harvest" on to the end- doesn't anyone see that that is where we are? I see many of us doing exactly what the traveler and others were learning to do. Giving out living water a person at a time. reviving, restoring wholeness and health (spiritual) one person at a time.At the same time, I saw across the desert far distant from Christian City a very different revival taking place with none of the accouterments of successful religion. Dying men and women were being raised to their feet like the dry bones Ezekiel saw. They were being delivered from their diseases, their sins, and their spiritual prisons, merely by drinking the living, life-giving water and shared it with others, bringing healing to them. As by a spreading fire or a surging flood, the sick ones were being swept to their feet. Laborers there, who'd spent years seeing limited results, found that now it was taking no more than a single drop of water on a parched tongue to raise the dying to life. And each day the process was acceleratingI see this happeing on this site. I see it happening on other sites similar. I see this happening with like minded believers who I run across in my area- some from different churches, some from no church.I see this already happening. What I see is a revival, a spiritual revival within the hearts of His bride, His church- that is unseen by the human eye. God looks down and sees it. It is all over the world. It would be the biggest revival because it is all over the world. Look down at the world with spiritual eyes, as God sees it. can you see the one here and the one there. The little lights on fire , the revived hearts all over the world, which make up his bride? Then those who are revived are passing out this living water, this hidden manna to other who are seeking, hungry, in need of restoring- so that more are included in the bride. It is not being done inside a church building (although that is not to say that it doesn't go on at some church). Does anyone else see this? Or is it just me?Does anyone see that the past revivals have been nice and good but maybe just a bandaid on the real problem. The church as a whole has just gone more and more into apostacy regardless that there were revivals or not. There is something much more that has to be done.If the foundation is wrong (which it is in many churches) then there is no fixing that. It has to be restored back to Him and His ways alone. The foundation in most churches is on man's way, traditions and man's teaching and programs and schudules and doctrines. HE is not the foundation. The only church that He is the foundation of is HIS OWN- the one that He is constructing Himself. One person by one person.We are living the story of Jeremiah and Ezekiel today. God's people have sold out to idolatry and adultry. It's not the world that's gone to hell-but His own people.Something more than a revival (as we've known it) will have to happen- or God has other plans and they are only seen with spritual eyes.In Him, Chanin

Bless God Chanin, you posted it! ... Yes, I do believe the harvest is ripe for reaping ... Personally I heard the Lord say 20 years ago "My final Revival (harvest) is coming, and it will begin here" ... Don't ask me what "here" means for I've always thought He meant at the church I attend, but that doesn't appear to be so ... Could be my heart, America, only God knows ... But anyhow at the beginning of 2004 I heard Him say, "Now is the time" ... So yes I totally believe that we're there (but only at the labor pains onsetting the birth of this great Revival). I see it much as you stated - as still in the "spiritual/invisible/womb of the Holy Ghost" where God actually sees it ... And where we mid-wives for Jesus sense it's eminent birth, mostly because He's chosen us as forerunners (that's always fun) to aid in the preperation of the birth of this Revival ... Everything that takes place on earth always happens in the heavenlies first ... But Christian City doesn't have a clue that the birth of Revival is nigh, in fact they really don't care because all their false prophets are telling them that everything is just ducky ... And to the unsaved, none of this makes any sense at all.Now as to past Revival, I don't see them as band-aids ... But as new winds, like the second wind of a long distance runner ... Israel had new wind after new wind because she had to go thru centuries of ups and downs to finally birth Jesus ... So like wise with Christ church ... We're having to go thru centuries of a long distance race toward the birthing of the kingdom of God, on earth, as it already is in heaven ... Satan first tried to stop the birth of Jesus thru apostasizing Israel, and Jehovah sent Revival ... Same with His church today.The other thing, as we've already discussed, is that although I am one of those in those four wildernessesHe seems to drive me out of the wilderness everyonce in a while with a "thus saith the Lord" to Christian City, just like He did to apostateIsrael ... Do they like it, Noooooooo, but do it I must ... I've had a 20 year relationship that'slike pulling lions teeth with my pastor ... I keep telling him what the Lord tells me to tell him, and he keeps ignoring it -and me ... Although this last time the Lord has let me know that now it's between Him and my pastor ... You know how our God is, He wishes that no one perish so he keeps sending Christian City we foolish, and they will keep ignoring and ridiculing up until the time of sudden destruction. To quote you, you said: "We are living the story of Jeremiah and Ezekiel today. God's people have sold out to idolatry and adultry. It's not the world that's gone to hell-but His own people".This is so true, but as especially with Jeremiah God did not abandon "Judaism City" back then, just as He won't abandon "Christian City" today ... He'll keep sending "voices crying out from the wilderness" and "watchmen on the wall" even if the majority of His folk don't listen ... Even between the Trib and Great Trib of the Revelation there are two prophets bringing His "thus saith the Lord" ... There are many prophets today who'd like to turn our backs on Christian City altogheter (in a heart beat) ... but our God won't let us ... That's the painful, yet glorious, love of God working thru a man like Jeremiah then, and so many like minded today. Oh bless the loving kindness and long suffering of the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords ... Jehovah gave His Jesus ... Jesus gave His life ... That all that are saved by His blood should be called His Wife ... This is the greatest story ever told ... Amen

Rahman,Don't ask me what "here" means for I've always thought He meant at the church I attend, but that doesn't appear to be so This is exactly what i thought about the church I attended. He told me that the church was at the crossroads and that He wanted to restore it. I thought back then, that it was the church I was attending! Now I know it is His church- the church as a whole.There are many prophets today who'd like to turn our backs on Christian City altogheter (in a heart beat) ... but our God won't let us ... That's the painful, yet glorious, love of God working thru a man like Jeremiah then, and so many like minded today. Oh bless the loving kindness and long suffering of the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords ... Jehovah gave His Jesus ... Jesus gave His life ... I was just recently thinking about this. About how, if He has brought me out of a system that is apostacized(?) how could I go back? I consider my leaving the church and my old thoughts of Christianity- as my exodus from egypt (from slavery from the system in a way)- as others I know do too.Why would I go back into slavery, go back to Egypt? Then I thought of the story of the young Moravians and how they sold themselves into slavery for the sake of the other slaves on the island who would never hear the truth. This is laying down your life so that others may be saved. I have not heard that call yet, but will answer it if it comes. Like, I mentioned to you in the "pm"- being a female puts a bit different perspective on it now. I cannot barge into the church and say "this is what the Lord says". I actually have tried that once- very nicely and he brushed me off like a piece of lint on his pants. :) As a man, there are different opportunities for you and others to be a full blown John the Baptists. I will have to be content being the mother of John the baptists (spiritually speaking)and teach what I know to who I can.Great thoughts, by the way!In Him, Chanin

Amen to the post...I don't claim to have a prophetic voice but I feel in my spirit that this revival is coming. How do I know? I don't know and can't empirically prove it but it's coming folks. Believe me it's coming, but it's certainly not likely to start in "Christian City."

Will they even listen? Unimportant. If God tells you to speak, you speak. And you do it at the time He tells you, in the way He tells you, to the people He tells you.Nothing less than total obedience is satisfactory, we must not be satisfied until then, even if it means never being satisfied before the end.Even if it means a perpetual anguish, a heart-rending grief that gives you no peace, soothed only by the peace of God which transcends all understanding, forever healed only when the Lord finishes His work through you.This is especially true for anyone even thinking God might make a prophet of them one day. A prophet can be an amazing blessing from God, but a false one can be just as bad as the true can be good.Oh, for the days when people won't need other people to relay messages to them from God...

Bro. Keith you said,"Oh, for the days when people won't need other people to relay messages to them from God"...A HUGE AMEN to that ... no more seeing thru a glass darkly!Sis. Chanin ... Praise God so much for teaching me about "EFC" via his willing servant ... The term "Christian City" just says it all ... The Lord has also used that story to soften me in my feelings in regards to the inhabitants of Christian City ... Unless God instructs me otherwise, like Jeremiah, I'll be praying for the inhabitants of Christian City.

O.k. call me stupid but who is EFC, where can I find bio info? thanks in Him scott :-(

I akin about what is being said in regards to the revival to come - previous revivals are the birth pains before the actual birth, there is a birth coming ---new life is about to come --but many birth pains still exist before the actual birth will take place......do you see it?

sdb,I won't call you stupid. :-) But EFC just means Escape From Christendom- the allegory or vision we have been discussing here. It can be found here: Escape From ChristendomIn Him, Chanin

Another church was taking shape in the form of a giant glass domeIt isn't very often that I post on this forum, however this quote about the church in the glass dome caught my attention. I too have been outside the camp for several years now. The Lord has taken me through my own personal wilderness journey and He is just now calling me out of it. While preparing to venture forward, I was praying about something and I seen a vision of a particular city inside a giant glass dome. The Lord often shows me things symbolically, however there is still something more about the vision He gave me, that I haven't received full insight on. I would be very interested to know what any of you believe the glass dome represents.Thanks,Karen