Lions Led by Donkeys, Judgement on American Christian Leaders

Hi Guys"For I know this , that after my departure, savage wolves will come in amongst you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up , speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch,and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears."(Acts20:29:31) Wow, some of the strongest words the Apostle Paul has ever used. What could have so disturbed Paul that for three years, night and day, with tears, he warned the flock? As Paul is writing this he believes that his end could be near, so this may be his last chance to enforce and once again warn the priesthood that dangers are all around and most noticeably, they are within. Today, in America, there is a devastating attack going on by the wolves, most in sheep's clothing. Just by shear numbers, American Christians are the last great source of light on the earth. Over the last decades the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the cities of Europe have gone out one by one and what is left is post-Christian societies where Christians have been reduced to a laughing stock and held up for general ridicule. Now the enemy has turned most of his attention on the last great source of light on the planet. If one could shut their spiritual eyes and look at the planet as a whole, America would still shine out greatly in the darkness and the darkness is enraged. In the first world war, before Americas entry, there was a great slaughter of Germans and British and French. This disgusting war, where men were slaughtered daily by the tens of thousands by Generals many miles behind the actual fighting, was supposedly the "war to end all wars." The ordinary citizens of Europe were nothing more than pawns in a giant chess game of political power and ego. In one famous incident, British and German soldiers came together one Christmas Eve. They came out of their trenches, sang hymns together, exchanged food and showed photographs of their families to each other. They even had a game of soccer. When the generals found out, all hell broke loose and the men were warned that if anyone was found "fraternizing," with the enemy, they would be put up against a wall and shot. This was no idle threat. These ordinary men would later be known as "Lions led by donkeys." The lions of Judah, the royal priesthood, brothers and sisters in Christ are today not being led by donkeys, but by something more dangerous, they are being led by wolves masquerading in sheep clothing. It is a three pronged attack. From the one side we have "polichristians." These are men deeply immersed in the politics of the world and determined to drag the priesthood into the mucky and miry world of politics, where compromise and situational ethics are the order of the day. On the other we have the men and woman of the prosperity gospel, the peddlers of the Gospel, who have exported this corruption to Africa and other continents. And thirdly, we have the liberal preachers who deny the Gospel of Christ, some deny the major tenants of our faith, and embrace every sin that our Gospel so clearly warns about. Let us start with the "Polichristians." These ideologues are led and directed by the present administration and do their bidding. When obvious discrepancies arise, such as Dr Frist, the senate majority leader, "suddenly," having an epiphany and changing his mind on embryonic stem cell research, the silence from Pastors and leaders from around the country is deafening. This is all about political expediency whereby he kept his opinions quiet so as not to upset the "religious right,' prior to the last election. The nomination of a "stealth," candidate for the supreme court is an outrage. It again is political expediency. The Christian community was promised, if the President was reelected, that if a vacancy came open that we would have our "man ," or "woman." Maybe we do, maybe we do not, only if one was a gambler could he bet on the outcome. The main problem with the Dr Dobsons and the Pat Robertson's are they are men who have one foot in the world and one foot in Christ, it simply does not and cannot work. They lead the Christian community down a path and hypocrisy and confusion lie at the end of it. Consider this question of situational ethics if you will. When Nagasaki and Hiroshima were bombed sixty years ago, it was mostly woman and children and the elderly as most men of fighting age were fighting. So, over three hundred thousand woman and children and the elderly were killed. If I were to ask most Christian leaders in this country and Christians for that matter if that was the right thing to do, they would probably say yes. The justification would be that even although 300,000 were killed, it probably saved at least a million lives and helped bring the war to an end. This is a fact that I do not deny and I believe that any secular country would be justified in this action and also that Japan brought this destruction down upon its own head.Here is my question though, what has any of this to do with Christians or the Gospel of Jesus Christ? If we truly believe as Christians that it is right and expedient to kill 300,000 to save million then what is wrong with DR Frists position? Why is it not then right to kill embryo's, thousand of them, perhaps tens of thousand of them if it could possibly save millions of lives in the future? You can have one opinion or another but you cannot have both, if you do, you are involved in an exercise of situational ethics where the situation determines your actions, not the absolute truth, the right or the wrong, the black or the white. The political world is an impossible world for the Christian to be involved in and only compromise and ridicule lie at the end of this path, this is exactly what the enemy wants. God forbid that instead of involvement in politics, we would shine our light, share the Gospel of Christ and bring people to know Him. It is estimated that 93% of Christians have never saw anyone come to Christ through their personal sharing. It is further estimated that if every professing Christian brought one person to Christ and that one person brought one person to Christ that in less than three years everyone in this country would be saved. Hmm, you really want to change your world? What about the prosperity teachers? Its hard to know where to begin. There have been peddlers of the Gospel right from the beginning. They are in it for the power and the money. All of their focus is on this life here on earth and, to put it bluntly, getting rich. They claim that is what God wants for us and that message is embraced by peoples from all cultures. At the beginning the quote was from Acts 20. Paul says in Acts 20:24 "But none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish the race with joy." You see how we must be if we are to finish our own race with joy?The things of this world, even our very lives, we must not hold dear if we are to finish our own race with joy. You may think that Paul is making no reference to money or prosperity in this chapter but listen to what he says in verse 33-35 "I have coveted no mans silver or gold or clothes. Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities and for those who were with me. I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said"It is more blessed to give than to receive." Paul was a working Apostle, he told us to imitate him, how many working apostles to do you know? Is anyone trying to imitate Paul? This love of money, a thing Paul was so adamant about avoiding, even the appearance of it, has helped to make the church a laughing stock around the world where the word "Tele-evangelist," is synonymous with something very derogatory. It has caused enormous damage and now the "mega churches,' are taking over from the tele-evangelists and they carry the torch of the peddlers. Finally we have the Liberal Christian wolves in sheep's clothing. I imagine them as less convincing, perhaps just a sheep's head stuck on their wolves body, not really convincing anyone They are not so far removed from the ideologues as you may imagine. For they too try to straddle the world and the Gospel. What loses out?Yes, exactly the same as what loses out with the "polichristians," the gospel. When one tries to have a foot in the world and a foot in the Gospel, no matter if you come from the right or from the left, then inevitably the Gospel loses out. With the liberal wing the great truths of our faith are compromised. Jesus' divinity is questioned, his virgin birth, abortion and homosexuality is embraced and they are swallowed up by the world into "religious men." The world is quite happy with religious men, because when push comes to shove, they will neither stand or fall for the truth. We are at a crossroads brothers and sisters. It is a vital time in the American Christian experience. God is in the process of exposing all those who have taken advantage of the Christian community. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. When He exposes, it is thorough and complete. But we must learn when God exposes. There is a difference between ignorance and willful ignorance. When God exposes and reveals truth, we must act upon it, learn from it and avoid it, if we do not, our fate will be the same as the ones that we throw our lot in with. Whoever you stand with, that is who you will fall with. Let us stand with the Lord Jesus Christ this day, let us recognize the attack which the "Church," is under, let us recognize the schemes of the enemy, but we must have eyes that can see and ears that can hear. You will not get that by following men, only by following Christ and his leading. Let us boldly stand up and proclaim the truth, let us denounce darkness wherever we find it, whether from the right or from the left and let us throw in our lot with Jesus and with Him alone. If we are to be persecuted, and we will be persecuted, let it not be for being a right-winger or a left-winger, let it be for the Gospel of Jesus Christ for which we are not ashamed, for we know that is the power of God unto salvation for the whole world, let us peruse that power alone and leave the world to its own devices. Believe me, if we have the light of the world in us, then men will be drawn to us, to Christ in us. Our job is to be salt and light to the world, we do that by our intimacy with Christ, not by might nor by power but by His Spirit. Men peruse might and power, let each and every one of us peruse the Spirit of the living God for He alone gives life and light. In the beauty of Holiness Frank

May the Lord bless you dear brother Frank, with that powerful word, you just distilled what has been in my heart, and exposed the three-headed viper that is slithering thru the Church, the Body of Christ in America.Thank you so much for taking the time to post that.in Jesus' love, neil

Thank you for your kind words brothers. As you can imagine, it is not always that way :)...............In the beauty of Holiness.....Frank

Hi GinnyroseIn response to your question "Is it ok for a Christian to vote,?" I would quickly say that all things are lawful but not all things are fruitfull so it would have to be an individual choice. Having said that,I would urge all Christians to abstain from the political process.I wrote the following piece to my church,the day before the last election, who are very pro Republican and believe that Christians should absolutely vote...Let me know what you think...........Frank1 Cor 4:15-16 " For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel. Therefore I urge you, imitate me." Wow, some very strong words from our brother Paul. He makes a strikingly bold statement in "Imitate me." Who amongst us would stand and make the same statement? Oh we could quote scriptures and tell it how it should, but, could we, would we, stand and be as bold as Paul in his statement? Paul later gives us a qualifier for his statement in 1 Cor 11:1 "Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ." Paul is asking his followers to follow him only as far as he imitates Christ. Ultimately a leader can only asked to be followed as he follows Christ. When he is not following Christ, he cannot expect men to follow him, for ultimately Christ is the head of every man and it is to Hi we must look for our guidance. Let us define the word "Moral," and then "Compass." The definition of moral is : Conformity to established sanctioned codes of accepted notions of right and wrong." Compass is defined as : A device for determining direction by means of a magnetic needle turning freely on a pivot and pointing to the magnetic north. I have heard many voices in the recent weeks and days, voices that I respect and love, tell the Christian community that we should vote in a certain way because we are the moral compass of society. Are we really? Is that what we are called to be? We can agree that our morality, our standard of behavior, is derived from the Bible, the Word of God. The question then , how do we affect the society in which we live? If you have had your televisions on in recent days, you would come to the conclusion that we must vote, and we must vote in a certain way in order to maintain the morality of this country. Some preachers will even go as far to say that not to vote would be a sin. There was a group of men. two thousand years ago, that would tell you all day long about morality. They would tell you how to live, they would tell you how not to live, they would tell you how wicked the world was and they would be the judges of individual actions by men and woman in their society. The problem with these guys was that they were as wicked, no, more so, than the people that they judged. Jesus came along and revealed the heart of the Pharisee as one most wicked and vile. So much so that they turned on Him and ripped Him to pieces. When one holds a mirror up to the self-righteous man, he recoils from it. His choices are limited, he either accepts what he sees with a broken and a contrite heart and is justified by grace, or he smashes the mirror. We have just came through the most dreadful of times. We have witnessed two men trying to destroy one another, either by their own words or by their secondaries who do their "dirty work," for them. This raw grasping for power is an obscene sight. Between the two candidates, they have spent five hundred million dollars, and the secondary private groups have also spent five hundred million dollars. That's one billion dollars spent on character assassination. I have personally witnessed both candidates deliberately take the others words out of context and misrepresent each other. Let me rephrase that, deliberately lie about each other. Is this what we want our children to learn about civic duty? That, given grave enough circumstances, then the "code," changes. Nothing will justify President Bush's and those of his campaign's, actions. "Ah,' I hear you cry, "the other side is doing it and they are far worse." I agree, the"other side," is far worse. All the more reason for the man who claims Christianity to take the moral highground. This moral relativity is destroying the church and is destroying the nation and yet we find ourselves banner children for it. A true leader, brothers and sisters, is one who does what is right and others follow. You see, a compass points to a direction, a moral compass points to a moral direction .The Apostle Paul arrives at a place and says "come join me." The problem with the American church is that we have lost our legitimacy to say "come join me over here." Paul could say it because Paul was living it. Now, we can either be the pointers of this world(boy there is so many of them) or we can follow Jesus and say to men,"come join me in His presence, its wonderful."Yet, in so many cases, we have no legitimacy to speak for our standard, our morality is so little different from the world. Our Pastor told a story on Sunday morning. There was a group of sixth graders being taught sex education. One Godly parent chose to sit in on the class. Half way through the class, the were given a ten minute break. There was a punch bowl and all the class were given cups and told to get themselves a drink, which they did. The parent chose not to as she was still kind of numbed at what was being taught to these children. After the break was over and all the kids had finished their drinks, the kids were told that if this had been a sexual act and they had all "drunk from the same bowl, meaning they had all slept around in the same group, they would all have had aids or a sexually transmitted disease. The kids were stunned by the illustration until the parent raised her had and said "I would not have aids, I abstained from drinking from the bowl." This is a powerful illustration of how one does nor have to be corrupted by "drinking from the same source." I say to Christians, that the political process is corrupted. By using the lesser of two evils theory you are playing into moral relativism. Only abstention from the corrupt bowl guarantees safety. If you legitimize it by your participation then you will assume some of the guilt, for we are called to be leaders, not followers. And as leaders we have more responsibility and with more responsibility , more of an accounting to God. Tomorrow is a turning point. God's judgment will flow from tomorrow and we will deserve what we get tomorrow. Leaders are a reflection of the society that produces them. These thoughts are simply what the Lord has laid upon my heart for you consideration. I love my brothers and sisters in Christ and it is my prayer that we will not despise the chastening that is surely at our door. Lord, renew a right spirit within u this day and cast us not away from your presence, for we are guilty before you and we repent. In the beauty of Holiness Frank

Hi BrotherThe Lord does not use politics to change the world. Politicians, including President Bush, has used Christians to change their world. So, just because another brother advised you to vote for President Bush, does not make it right. There is nothing more worldy than Politics, my advise is not to vote at all, the stratedgy of "the lesser of two evils," may work in the world, but it has no bearing for the Royal Priesthood........Frank

I could quote alot of scriptures on our government. We mime Rome's structure. We are the great harolet. And I wouldn't play a part unless the Lord led me to (i'm referring to voting now)God wanted Him just leading, then Israel messed up, they get a leader, then they get a king and they continue to mess up again and again.God uses them, but it wasn't His orignal design.

These last two replies are a good indication of the current lack of basic understanding on the difference between the Old Covenant and the new. As for Saul, well as most will know, Saul was a result of the people wanting a king...................Frank

Thanks Jeff, I appreciate the encouragement. Beleive me, these kinds of words are not always popular,especially in the Bible belt(I live in Kansas)but you have to go as you are led. Its time for Christians to wake up and throw of the lethargy and think for themselves. The rest of society may be being dummed down, but let us not join them, running after politicians and 20 second sound bites, without thinking the issues through in the light of the Gospel. Both political parties spent roughly five hundred million dollors each on negative ads and character assasinations. You would think that would be enough to make us shy away from the "cess pit." Yet, incredibly, we have a president that claims to be a Christian which should have guaranteed the cleanest political race ever run, at least from the Republicn side, but sadly it was the opposite. What does that tell us about people who claim to be Christians?Should we listen to their words or should their actions speak louder. Augustine said "preach the Gospel at all times, and if you must, speak." If these guys did not tell us they were Christians and that they prayed, would any of us know that they were, simply by what they did ?......................Frank

Hi Gary"We will know them by their fruit." You have every right to judge a brother or sister in Christ. When Paul warns us of the peddlers of the Gospel and Peter warns us of the false prophets, is that a good thing or a bad thing? With much responsibility comes a greater accountability. Let me ask you Gary, was it ok for Jimmy Swaggart to go with a prostitute? Should we as Christians say nothing as he crucified Christ afresh? The Christian community has thrown their lot in with the president therefore his actions as a professor of the faith reflect on all of us. Was Paul right to publickly call Peter to account claiming he was a hypocrite? Isnt it awesome the way Peter reacted?Last point Gary, if you knew me as a brother you would be entitled to judge me if you saw me in error. This is just one post of many, hopefully you will find the others edifying :) In the beauty of Holiness....FrankPS. How do you critizise the vast majority of Christian leaders who are up to their necks in politics without mentioning it?

Hi GaryAs is probably apparent to most, I used Jimmy Swaggart as an example, not because I am "not over it." I agree very much about love, and since I discern an argumenttitive spirit, lets just agree to disagree. You have your opinion, which you are entitiled to, but there is not fruit in this conversation, it is certainly not iron sharpening iron, just seems to be a lot of anger.In the beauty of Holiness...........Frank(Last post from me to Gary)