[b]REVIVAL MANIFESTO
A Call to Holiness in the Last Days
The men the American public admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.
H. L. Mencken
“For the time has come, for judgment to begin at the house of God…”
(1 Peter 4:17)
Attention: Don’t skip the quoted Bible verses; they are the power of this Manifesto. Also, read the Appendix for clarifications, concerning the radical stand I take; you will find incredible discoveries.
Some Fundamental Questions: did you ever ask yourself why the Church 60 years ago did not have the same level of immorality, materialistic pursuits, divorces, teen problems, drugs, pornography, than we as Church have today? We claim we are not legalistic like those back then, that we better understand the grace of God… Why is it that in spite of the tremendous progress in understanding the Word and the myriads of resources for Christian living, yet still, in many situations there is no difference between the world’s lifestyle and the Christian lifestyle today? Why is it that we have the same agonizing crises as the world does? Instead of being a help to the world we are just another casualty. Where is our testimony?
A Fundamental Answer: “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “For this is the will of God, your sanctification… For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit” (1Thes. 4:3,7-8).
The answer from the Scripture is obvious; we wanted friendship with the world and sacrificed holiness. To be very specific, friendship with the world now means the adoption of Pop Culture in our Churches today. We thought it was safe, and it proved to be Neopagan, occultic and deadly. Pop Culture brought in the Drug Culture and Death Culture. Pop Culture made a joke of many of our Churches. Pop Culture in our Churches today attracted people who looked for entertainment; not for God, repentance, and holiness. Scores of Pop Culture Christians today are willing to attend Church, go to Bible studies, tithe, and even go on short mission trips- except living in holiness, “having a form of godliness but denying its power” ( 2Tim.3:5). Most of them are not regenerated. Christianity without holiness/godliness means Apostate Christianity!! We live in the last days when apostasy wants to take over the Church. We live in denial about Apostasy and when our conscience accuses us we suppress it by calling holiness, legalism.
Very Important Note: To God be the glory for those “seven-thousand” (1 Kings 19:18) faithful believers, Churches, Christian organizations, and Theological Seminaries throughout the United States and all over the world who did not bow their knees to Baal/Pop Culture!
Apostasy described: …..These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked (Rev. 3: !4-17)
“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith” (2 Tim.3:1-8).
“Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.” (1 John 2:18)
Confession: Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame, to our Church and Christian leaders, Heads of the Households, Church Members, Seminary Professors, Christian Organizations, because we have sinned against You by allowing the Neopagan/Pop Culture to take over most of the Families, Churches, and Christian Organizations; we were careful not to offend others but careless about offending You; we became politically correct; we called holiness legalism, and allowed all kinds of sins to invade our private and corporate life of the Church, we made the objective of being relevant (pleasing the world) bigger than obeying You. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your Church which is invaded by apostasy… (Confession based on Daniel ch.9)
A Cry Against Apostasy
1. To the Men-pleasing Pastors. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” ( 2Tim.4:3,4)
Pastors, those of you who are men-pleasers, stop going for numbers at the sacrifice of holiness. Preach the whole counsel of God! When you preach, condemn the specific sins your church is battling. Your Churches produce Pop Culture devotees with a Christian face. Call people to live in practical holiness. Warn them about the impending judgment of God on today’s church which is invaded by apostasy. You may argue, saying that many will leave the church. Let them leave! The Word of God will get rid of apostates. You may think that opposing homosexuality, abortion, and other sins from the pulpit means politics, when in reality you want to live a risk-free Christianity. The world around us is fed up with churches that are full of crisis! Make sure you are not into pornography, materialism, alcohol and other mortal sins. Do you practice Spiritual Disciplines? Some of you pastors live like CEO’s but have no authority; others of you may not be even born again. Repent!
2. To the Deceived Youth and College Pastors. “But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Mat 18:6)
Youth and College pastors, many of you are the products of Pop Culture Christianity, being deceived, and deceiving others. You are the driving force in the production of Pop Culture devotees with a Christian face. Many of you are like clowns, acting like ridiculous babysitters and encouraging the youth to sin! You have no discernment. You are responsible for ruining the future of whole generations! Be a model to the young people. Be the first ones to live out practical holiness, including prayer and fasting and normality in your conduct and clothing. Train the young people in spiritual disciplines. They don’t need fun; they need the excitement of a holy life from the Holy Spirit. They hunger for significance that only God can give, so trash all your worldly strategies. Some of you may not even be born again. Repent!
3. To the Uncommitted Fathers. “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:4)
Fathers, many of you are guilty of allowing violent, demonic and sexual explicit media content to pollute your family life. You do not exercise positive censorship for your kids! Your family altar is either the TV or the Internet. You allow your wives and daughters to dress indecently. You have no clue what your kids are taught in schools and you are careless as to who makes up the entourage of your children. Be a spiritual leader for your house. Be the first one to clean up your acts, and your family will follow. Serve God’s kingdom and not yours. Some of you are into flipping channels and drinking beer! Many of you are overweight, others of you play the X box or PlayStation along with your kids, ignoring the violent and demonic content. You cancel out any church activity for any sport event! Others of you are slaves of materialistic pursuits, pornography, living in adultery, and even taking drugs! Repent!
4. To the Uncommitted Mothers. “Moreover the LORD says: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, Walking and mincing as they go, Making a jingling with their feet, Therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, ….” In that day the Lord will take away the finery: The jingling anklets, the scarves, and the crescents; The pendants, the bracelets, and the veils; The headdresses, the leg ornaments, and the headbands; The perfume boxes, the charms and the rings; The nose jewels, the festal apparel, and the mantles; The outer garments, the purses, and the mirrors; The fine linen..(Isaiah 3:13-23)……”gullible women loaded down with sins” (2 Tim 3:6b).
Mothers, many of you are into the latest fashions and encourage your spoiled daughters into a life of vanity and even sin. You are into constantly changing your wardrobes; you and your daughters are Mall addicts. Many of you are not role models for your daughters! You watch a lot of TV, especially soap operas and other Hollywood lifestyle personality programs! Others of you suffer from low self esteem; you may be overweight and depressed. You are guilty of the intentional neglect of your kids! You relegated your parental responsibilities to the TV, public schools, baby sitters and the entourage of your kids. Repent!
5. To the Pleasure-Seeking Young People and Singles. “For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” (2 Tim. 3:1-5)
Young people and singles, many of your are deeply narcissistic/selfish, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving…your religion is Pop Culture, you are Pop Culture devotees with a Christian face.
Guys, those of you who think that the church environment is another social club for your enjoyment, you are totally mistaken! You use church activities for pursuing pleasures by dating many young ladies, getting into heavy petting, or sexual sins. Some of you use alcohol and drugs, dress up with the latest fads, are updated with the latest sexual/violent movies but have no clue to what holiness is. You barely make it to Bible studies but are the first ones to go for parties. Your god is the Internet, the X box, or the PlayStation!
Young ladies, many of you are part of the same debauchery. You compete in dressing provocatively to steal each other’s boyfriends, you gossip, you are cell phone addicts, and you chat on the internet for hours. You constantly demand from your parents and do not produce anything good.
All of you young people that I just described expose yourselves the judgment of God! You are a drag to the church! Pastors and believers have to bend backwards to please your foolish behaviors just to keep you in church, consequently trampling on the holiness required for the House of God! You take lightly the Christian faith and never come to true repentance! For some of you it’s so fitting what the Apostle Peter says: “It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.”(2 Peter 2:21)
Repent!
6. To the Christian Musicians into “Rock and Heavy Metal”. “Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom” (James 4:7-9). “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15-17)
Christian musicians, those of you who are into so called “Christian Rock” and “Heavy Metal”, you are duped into the idea that acting and dressing like zombies, having stony and depressed countenances, will make you cool! In reality your so called “ministry”, in many situations, is a disgrace to God and the true church of God. You say that you evangelize the world with this type of music, when in reality, the world conquered you and your audiences. Your music makes youth psychologically and socially sick. Your activity brings in all the neo-paganism in the life of the Church. “Christian Rock” and “Heavy Metal” are an oxymoron. Repent!
7. To the “Wise in Their Own Eyes” Christians in Leadership Positions. “Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile" (1Cor. 3:18-20).
Church boards, those of you who run the church like a business, stop that nonsense! Take your clues from the Word and not from the world. You abuse both pastors and congregations! Many of you display a CEO arrogance.
Theological Seminary professors, Theological Seminaries Board of Trustees: Several of you were raised with humanistic convictions and keep changing your views according to the trends of the world! Your pursuit was just good evaluation in your Doctoral Studies but neglected spiritual disciplines and godliness! Consequently, you produce seminary graduates who resemble you, in being trendy and superficial. Because of that, many of them fall in all kinds of grievous sins!
One of the biggest problems with you Boards of Trustees of certain Theological Seminaries, is that you make capital decisions, not based on God’s wisdom. Many of you have no theological knowledge, yet you vote on theological issues. Very often, you who are members in a Board of Trustees are chosen based on your social status or your financial prowess, not on your godliness and theological background. Repent!
8. To the Christian Producers and Christian stars. “But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; You grew fat, you grew thick, You are obese! Then he forsook God who made him… the Rock of his salvation.”(Deut. 32:15)
Christian producers and Christian stars: Many of you involved in Christian productions are guided by profit and not by honoring God! You slowly, over the years, promoted worldly music and worldly Christian magazines. You are desperate to be acknowledged by your secular counterparts! Entering any Christian bookstore, it’s so shocking to see young bands with wacko guys posing depressed, stony, faces on CD covers! Also, so called “Christian” ladies are portrayed in sexy manners on their albums and magazines. Consequently a lot of naive families and immature young people pick up their clues from what the “Christian trends” became, launched by the Christian producers! Many of the Christian singers who made a lot of money through your promotions are now showing off, behaving like Hollywood personalities, having no respect for God and decent believers! Where in the Bible did you find the saints of the Old Testament or Christ and His disciples, being as affluent and arrogant as many of these Christian stars are? We were so critical of the Vatican and all their paraphernalia, but we arrived at the same condition! Repent!
A Biblical Counsel To Apostasy
From The Lord Jesus Christ: “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Rev. 3:18-22)
“And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Rev.21:6-8)
From the Apostle Paul: “But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions, ..what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at[a] His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching… be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2Tim. 3:10-17; 4:1-5)
From The Apostle John: “Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.” (1John 3:7-10)
From Daniel the Prophet: “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away…. because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers,…Your people are a reproach to all those around us. Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations,… for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God…. and Your people are called by Your name.” (Daniel 9:16-19)
From the author of this Manifesto:
• Get rid of your TV and X box or PlayStation unless you want to be infested with worldliness, and become a media/electronics’ pathetic slave.
• Limit computer activity to school, business, or research
• Trash all the DVDs, magazines, CDs and posters with sexy, pornographic, violent, occult, and glamorous content including all the Rock and Heavy Metal music, Christian and non-Christian.
• Ask God to grant you repentance and filling with the Holy Spirit
• Make sure you have a daily dose of Bible and prayer
• Ask God to reveal His plan for you and get involved in it right away
• Stay connected only with godly believers
• Get rid of all indecent clothing
• If you have a family, make it top priority, after God
• Read Grace based devotionals by C.H. Spurgeon, John Piper, John Mac Arthur, Chuck Smith, and others like them
• Stay informed by reading your news from Baptist News, World Magazine, WorldNetDaily, Google news and the like. People need Biblical guidance form you in troubled times.
• Talk to your doctor and join your local Gym. There is a great chance you are out of shape because of Pop Culture eating habits and TV lethargy.
Three attitudes in relation to this Revival Manifesto
• If you are a Spirit-filled believer, you rejoiced reading this manifesto and you will send it to all your Christian friends.
• If you are a lukewarm believer you may have been upset in the beginning after you read the manifesto but you realize it is time for you to wake up.
• If you are an apostate you will rebel after reading this material, but if you really repent God will make you a true believer.
* An apostate is a nominal Christian, who was never regenerated.