Unity and an Eschatological mindset

12/24/11

Greetings,

                The New Year is right around the corner! What’s more, tomorrow is Christmas. Believe it or not this is the fifty-second BRIDE email on the topic of unity. This will also be the last. I will be taking a week off and BRIDE emails will resume beginning the first Saturday of 2012. The topic of the coming year will be spiritual warfare. We will discuss what it means, what’s involved, and most importantly how to exercise the victory that we have in Jesus Christ. If you have friends, family, or acquaintances that you believe will benefit from learning about spiritual warfare please send me their email addresses so that I can add them to the recipient list! With all that is coming upon the earth, it is time for the body of Christ to arise as the powerhouse that God has appointed us to be.

                With that said, I was asked an interesting question recently. A friend of mine asked me what perspective the body of Christ should have in regards to the last days. This was a good question because many perspectives have been suggested by various sources. Some have said that we should simply focus on being “rapture ready.” This means we should be saved and prepared to vanish at any time so that we don’t have to deal with all of the negative things coming upon the earth. Another perspective suggests that we should be prepared to hide in caves, under rocks, or in holes in the ground. Some have even suggested that Jesus won’t come back until the whole world becomes Christian, so we should just keep evangelizing the lost.

                All of these suggestions have reasons for embracing them, but I am not convinced that any of these are the final say as it pertains to what perspective we should assume. As God has opened my eyes to His unfolding plan I have realized that He has a grand, awe-inspiring agenda prepared for the last days. In light of this, one passage in particular gives us a blunt glimpse of the plan that God has. The book of Daniel actually tells us what we will be doing in the last days. When we stop and consider what is truly being said it begins to reveal what kind of perspective we really should be embracing.

                “…but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.” (Daniel 11:32)

                In order to understand the ramifications of this brief passage we must establish its timeframe. Believe it or not, the timeframe for this comment is the coming antichrist’s rule. This season will reveal the greatest evil ever released upon the earth. In spite of the darkest season history will ever record and without concern for the seemingly impossible circumstances under which they will be operating—the Christians of the last days that know their God will be strong and do exploits.

                There is nothing impossible for the true people of God because we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). We are not looking forward to evacuation, but to a glorious mission. However, we must know our God. These people of Daniel 11:32 will have become the answer to the following prayer of Jesus:

                “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word (the testimony of the first apostles); That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are.” (John 17:20-22)

                The implications of this prayer are staggering beyond the imagination. Jesus is essentially praying for everyone that will ever believe upon His name. However, what He prays for them is nothing short of bewildering. He prays that they will be one in the same way that He and the Father are one. There is no unity as powerful as the unity of the Godhead. Jesus prays that the church will achieve the same unity that He shares with the Father. (This unity is manifested trans-dimensionally which is why Jesus says that the unity will manifest “in us”). This unity will allow for the saints to be strong and execute great exploits in the face of the antichrist agenda.

                Jesus goes on and declares that the activation of this unity among the saints will cause the world to believe in Him. This means that the result of unity is a massive harvest of souls—a side-effect of the strength and exploits of the last day saints. Jesus also speaks about His glory. Some people think that God will not share His glory. This is not what the Bible says. The Bible says that God will not give His glory to another (Isaiah 42:8). However, He will share His glory with those found in Him. The very glory of Jesus has been given to the church. Jesus says that He has given His glory to the church that we might become one in Him. This glory will empower unity, strength and great exploits in the last days.

                Unity is inseparable from the coming moves of God. As I have said before, unity is not an end in and of itself. Unity is necessary in order to achieve the things that God has planned for the last days. Moreover, I am not speaking of a counterfeit unity based around a globalist agenda. This is a false unity and it is a counterfeit and a means of control. There is only one true unity and that is unity based on the common goal of coming to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13). As the year winds to a close, let us keep in mind that Jesus has more prepared for us than we can imagine. Let us together press on towards the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14)!

Discussion

1.       What perspective regarding the last days have you embraced until this point?

2.       What perspective regarding the last days does Daniel 11:32 suggest we should embrace?

3.       When Jesus prays for the unity of the church, what kind of unity does He pray for?

4.       What are some of the most powerful lessons in reference to unity in the body of Christ that you have learned in the past year?

5.       Do you have any suggestions that will allow me to improve these letters in the coming year? (Feel free to email me the answer to this question)

Vision and Eschatology

10/8/11

Greetings,

                This week we are going to talk about vision, context, and how it relates to unity. Have you ever heard this line before?

“Get out there and do something for God!”

It may be full of passion, full of conviction, and heartily spoken, but at the end of the day the question must be asked: what is something? We must have a definition of what we are doing for God because it enables us to cast vision. According to the Bible we will have major problems without vision.

“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” (Proverbs 29:18)

My vision is to promote unity in the body of Christ worldwide and assist in the creation and development of sheep nations. For those unfamiliar with the term “sheep nations,” these will be entire geographies where the kingdom of God reigns in and through the hearts of men. When I say that I’m going to get out there and do something for God I know exactly what something means. As long as I hold fast to the vision, spiritual death will remain far from me. Moreover, those that come alongside me will have no question as to what we are trying to do.

I personally believe that in this hour, possibly more than any other time in history, the requirement upon the church to be strategically effective is huge. I also believe that our ability to be strategically effective in this hour is going to rest heavily upon our ability to properly divide the word of God on the topic of eschatology. Eschatology is simply a theological term denoting the study of last things.

If our eschatology is wrong, the vision that we cast will be inadequate to accommodate the impending circumstances. Let us use an example. We are going to consider two random football teams. The first team is the Cleveland Browns and the second team is the New England Patriots. Let’s take a fictional look at how their respective coaches cast vision to their teams.

Brown’s coach: Alright boys! I am just as unenthusiastic about this game as you are. Remember, if you make mistakes, God still loves you. It does not matter how the game goes because we’re going to be teleported into outer space before the game is even over. Are you ready!

Patriots coach: Alright men! We’ve been practicing very hard. Today we are going to remain focused on the goal: executing the victory. You must believe that this game is already won. Offense, you get across that goal line like your daughter’s life depends on it. Defense, your goal is to gain more yards than the offense. This is the vision. Are you ready!

After reading the two visions, which do you think is more effective? First of all, the Brown’s coach is addressing his team as children, setting a low level of expectancy. The Patriot’s coach addresses his team as men, setting a high level of expectancy. God calls us to maturity, but many leaders suppress the spiritual growth of their people by casting faulty vision that takes people nowhere. They put no demand upon their flocks.

                Furthermore, the Brown’s coach is out to make a good show. The vision he casts is completely illogical. It cannot yield victory. The catch is that the Brown’s coach doesn’t expect to be around to finish the game. He casts a vision based upon his understanding of the future. As a result of his limited foresight, he assumes that certain things will take place, thereby tainting his ability to cast a vision based around victory. His vision is based around escape and he is promoting cowardice. Unfortunately, if people are trained to escape, when hardship comes they will look for a way out.

“Let no one deceive or beguile you in any way, for that day will not come except the apostasy comes first [unless the predicted great falling away of those who have professed to be Christians has come], and the man of lawlessness (sin) is revealed, who is the son of doom (of perdition)” (2 Thessalonians 2:3)

The Patriot’s coach has enforced discipline and practice among his ranks. They are prepared to win. When he stands before them to cast the vision he declares their victory. He makes no plans for escape. He is in it to win it and his team will follow his lead. His vision is based upon a proper understanding of why they are going onto the field. They are going out there to play hard, to stand face-to-face with a determined opponent and come out victorious. No one is leaving until the last play has been carried out. His vision is fixed on the prize, and he has planned properly in order to attain the declared victory.

If you haven’t figured it out already, I am speaking in part to the debate between pre-tribulation and post-tribulation rapture theology. The rapture is the point in time when Jesus returns for his church and we meet him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Casting vision in this hour that is based around pre-tribulation rapture theology is akin to playing football like the Browns. Casting vision based around post-tribulation rapture theology is akin to playing football like the Patriots. Who do you think will perform better?

The Bible has a lot to say about the last days. It speaks of a coming antichrist, a false prophet, and great plagues that will shake the world among other things. A pre-tribulation rapture approach to this teaches people that they have no responsibility to be spiritually, psychologically, or emotionally prepared to deal with these things. They are taught about escape. This is the most backwards approach to the Christian faith possible.  We have the victory in Jesus Christ, why would we have any need for escape?

My vision is intended to be effective under the circumstances involved with going head-to-head with the darkest forces ever released into the earth. Those that come alongside me will be trained to think like champions and not like cowards. I will see to the creation and development of sheep nations in the face of the antichrist agenda. To this end I will work to establish unity among the body of Christ because it will be necessary. How do you want to “play ball?”

Discussion

1.       According to the Bible, what happens when there is no vision?

2.       When you consider doing something for God, have you defined what that something is?

3.       What are you going to do to allow God to speak His vision for you to you?

4.       What is the vision of BRIDE Ministries (my vision)?

5.       When you consider your approach to Christianity, is it closer to a Brown’s approach or a Patriot’s approach?