Revival & Reformation Part 2-Are you THIRSTY for revival?

Last week we focused on what it means to be revived. Now we can explore our readiness for revival. Is the church of God ready for revival? Are we just throwing around the word casually? What are the conditions necessary for a revival?

Taking an earnest look at the state of affairs in Christendom reveals that many churches are not ready for revival. The members do not seek it with all their hearts. They are too preoccupied with the cares of this world: the socials, the parties, work and family affairs. There is precious little time devoted to prayer, fasting and asking God for revival. We are currently in a spiritual drought, yet we do not realize it. The deer pants for streams of water in the dry places, but God’s children do not thirst for the living water only He is able to supply.  (Ps 42:1)

The theme of our Church is Revival & Reformation. We have started the 777 Initiative. How many of us have taken this seriously? It’s one thing to outwardly proclaim that we desire revival and reformation; it’s quite another to demonstrate that we REALLY are thirsty for it. How many of us have taken the quarterly times designated by our Conference for fasting and prayer seriously? I was dismayed to read a recent article by a member of our worldwide church, which revealed that this condition of spiritual lethargy is a worldwide phenomenon. She wrote that in her church, most of the church members had forgotten that they should be heeding the call to fast, pray, and earnestly ask the Lord for the latter rain.  Instead, the church held a luncheon on the designated days and became a place of temptation and a snare to those who had remembered and wished to seek God with all their hearts.

What has happened to us? We seem to have grown cold and lost our first love. We no longer possess the zeal of the early church to embrace revival and submit to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible predicted that in the last days, this would happen.  The question is, are we going to let ourselves continue to drift in this condition or are we going to seek the Lord and beg of His mercy so that He may lift us out of the spiritual quagmire that we have fallen into? This phenomenon is not seen in countries where persecution is at its zenith; perhaps we who enjoy religious liberty have taken this precious gift for granted. The Lord does not approve of our “lukewarm”, comfortable, self-focused Christianity. It is time to go on our knees and seek the Lord with all our hearts.

“On the other hand, there are some who, instead of wisely improving present opportunities, are idly waiting for some special season of spiritual refreshing by which their ability to enlighten others will be greatly increased. They neglect present duties and privileges, and allow their light to burn dim, while they look forward to a time when, without any effort on their part, they will be made the recipients of special blessing, by which they will be transformed and fitted for service.”—The Acts of the Apostles, 54. {ChS 43.4} 

References: Christ’s Object Lessons 303-304; Rev 3:14-20; Ps 42; The Acts of the Apostles 54

The “Gift” of Tradition

Stories abound of young people who do certain things in a certain specific manner for no other reason than that it was done in this manner by their forefathers. In Mark 7:5-9, Jesus admonished the Pharisees for upholding their traditions above the commandments of God. The Pharisees had begun to perform the ritual washing as a mere tradition passed down by the elders; all meaning behind the act had been lost and people had started to just perform the washings for the sake of their forefathers.

Traditions often start out as useful elements of society and arise out of a certain specific need. However, as the generations roll on, the reason and truth behind the tradition is seldom passed down to younger generations, but only its empty form. The gift of tradition does much for the people of this world when it encourages common sense and caution, but for the most part satan has used this gift of our forefathers as a battering ram to break down our defenses and allow him a foothold in our lives. The story is told that in the war between the Greeks and the Trojans, that the Greeks simply hid a few soldiers in a wooden horse left outside the walls of the Trojan fortress and pretended to sail away. The Trojans, thinking the Greeks had abandoned the war effort and left the horse as a gift to their nation, wheeled it into the city as a victory trophy. That night, the soldiers hidden within the wooden horse secretly stole from their hiding place and opened the defenses of the city to their waiting comrades. Thus the otherwise undefeatable city of Troy was taken!

In the same way, satan uses traditions in the church to cause divisions in the Kingdom of God. It is Christ’s intention that His church be one Kingdom under one Shepherd, but the church has largely put the tradition of man over the commandments of God as revealed in His Word. This has resulted in myriads of schisms and different denominations all claiming to worship the same God, but each with its own traditional concept of which doctrines are the most important and which ones can be conveniently “done away with.” Popular preaching seeks to please the crowds, and if certain traditional standards are not upheld, members are lost. Indeed, the sayings of 2Tim 4:3 have come to pass in our lifetimes; the church has already started to fall away from sound doctrine, heaping up for itself false teachers who tell the people what they wish to hear, no longer condemning the practice of heinous sins but seeking safety in numbers. No longer is the Word of God and new light seen holistically in growing the people spiritually from strength to strength, but rather the powerful exert their influence in deciding what is supposedly important and what can be discarded.

Traditions also cause relationship problems between different generations if they’re forced to adhere to traditions that have passed their “sell by date” and are no longer relevant to the time in which we live. We must contend for the faith first delivered to the saints, seek the restoration of Apostolic Christianity, and not conform to false traditions of Babylon.

"Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them: Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition." -Mark 7:7-9

Scripture references: Mark 7:5-13; Col 2:8;  Rev 18:4

True Christianity, or Taking the Lord's Name in vain?

Imagine you are a great leader. You have gathered many followers and you have started a movement that epitomizes respect for God and man.  You have a good reputation in the community and you are well respected by all.

Suddenly, someone propagates false rumours about you that cause your once exemplary reputation to be tarnished forever. People no longer know whether they can trust you or not.

Imagine being a father who thinks that he has brought up his children with grace and in the knowledge of God. To his dismay, his sons do something so terrible or foolish that his reputation as a good father is forever destroyed. The very ones that bear his name have done evil and brought disgrace to his entire household!

We call ourselves “Christians”, but what or rather who is a Christian? I believe the word has lost much of its meaning and is used far too leniently today. People now practice a nominal Christianity that is not even close to the Christianity of Biblical times. There are as many different types of “Christians” as there are shades of grey between the spectrum of black and white. Some are more “liberal” than others, so liberal in fact that one wonders if they should be calling themselves Christians in the first place. They are basically atheists in Christian disguise. We have fallen into apostasy and the tragedy is that we don’t even realize it.

The Bible speaks of “false Christians” in 2 Cor 11:13-15. Satan is able to transform himself into an angel of light in order to lure us into believing in him as he masquerades as Christ! It is then no wonder that he also has disciples pretending to be sincere Christians too. He does this in order to take our attention away from God and he couches his lies in a coating of Truth so that they are more palatable to his unsuspecting victims.

How then can you know if someone is a true Christian? Matthew 7:16-20 says that you will know them by their fruits i.e. in the way they conduct their daily lives. Isaiah 8:20 says that God’s Law is our standard, and if anyone speaks or acts contrary to His Law, there is no light in that person. A professing Christian, if he is a true Christian, should not then be meddling in occult practices or anything that is forbidden by God.

To be a Christian means to follow Christ. The word “Christ” means “anointed or consecrated one.” We as Christians are called to be consecrated to God and to live in a Christ-like manner. We are called to perfection because our God is perfect (Matt 5:48). We are called to holiness because our God is holy. We cannot be lukewarm because God does not tolerate double-minded people (Rev 3:16).

We are called to be ambassadors for Christ, but are we misrepresenting Him instead? If we are, we should know that we are taking the Lord’s name in vain!

"You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain. For Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain."- Ex 20:7