Why that which is crooked cannot be made straight

Nov03
by Michael King on November 3, 2012 at 2:04 pm
Posted In: spiritual leadership
crooked

Solomon states in the book of Ecclesiastes,

“That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.”

 Ecclesiastes 1:15

My heart towards all those who read this essay is that they may be edified and built up in their faith.  Coming into restored truth is not easy due to the social and financial costs involved if you accept progressive revelation.  Many people find that the persecutions they face from their current church leadership and Christian friends are hotter than they ever thought possible.  So, as one who has lived through such fires and has come out the other end all the better, I want to offer you some advice born of experience.

There was a crooked man who lived in a crooked house

Every church is built upon some sort of theological foundation.  Unfortunately, the foundation stones of many churches in our age are crooked and therefore the structures built upon them are shaky at best.  Moreover, the people who benefit from these structures that have been built upon such faulty foundations fiercely defend them because they derive personal benefit.  The leadership of such churches gain financial reward and also personal power and prestige from maintaining the status quo.

Unfortunately, no matter how much pastors and teachers of a church may say they want the truth, many do not.  In reality, many clergy only accept new truth in so far at it does not threaten their economic position and personal reputation.  I am talking in a general sense, of course, for there are some who truly desire the favor of God more than the favor of men and do what is right regardless of the cost.

Restored truth always threatens crooked foundations

When God restores a truth, such as salvation by faith, baptism by immersion, or the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues, the religious establishment usually reacts with persecution.  Restored truth threatens the portions of the false foundation upon which the power and livelihood of the leadership is based. These leaders who hold power in churches built upon faulty foundations correctly realize that if the theology upon which their power rests is replaced by a correctly laid foundation they will suffer loss.

Here is a truth,

“A church structure built upon a foundation of error cannot stand upon a foundation of restored truth.”

The church is built upon a crooked foundation.  Therefore, before you build straight, the crooked foundation must be removed.  However, people don’t like you to change their foundational beliefs, no matter how messed up they are.  Therefore, many well-meaning pastors, elders, and teachers fight like hell to protect their crooked dogmas.

Paul says,

“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”

2 Corinthians 6:17

Historically, our Father commanded the Children of Israel to come out of Egypt and journey into a promised land.  God did not allow the sons and daughters of Israel to stay in Egypt and try to reform the system.  In fact, when Israel came to the Promised Land they were instructed to either kill or drive out all the other nations before them so that they would not be snared by idol worship.  God wanted them to be separated from the world and its false systems of worship so that they would be free to listen only to Him.

Breaking away from a crooked foundation

Breaking out from false foundations is the norm of the Christian experience as illustrated by God’s people having to leave Egypt in order to worship Him correctly. Likewise, our spiritual journey out of Egypt is continuing today as we come out from among churches that teach and hold false doctrine.  Those who come into new truth should not stay within a crooked system thinking they will change it for the better because that is almost never successful. Sometimes it is necessary to pull down the image of Baal and cut down the groves of Ashtoreth in order to re-establish true worship.  Even Paul, arguably the greatest apostle of the New Testament, finally got fed up with the stiff-necked attitude of the Jews and said,

“Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles”

 Acts 13:46

Here is a truth:

“Unless God says to stay in a church that does not accept the restored truth He reveals, leave.  Trying to change that which is crooked is to your spiritual detriment.  The children of Israel could not change Egypt, they had to leave it to serve God.”

Recently, I met a couple that came into a restored truth.  They were a very godly couple, full of integrity, and were seeking the will of God for their lives with much prayer.  They belonged to an established church and were part of the leadership structure.  God showed this couple a restored truth which they embraced wholeheartedly.  Though I saw faith in their actions, I knew their clergy would reject them.

The people who build crooked foundations

However, when this couple started to speak about this restored truth people around them panicked and went straight to the senior pastor.  To the surprise and dismay of this couple, the leadership of the church would not even consider what they said.  This shocked the couple so much they buckled and gave up on what God said to them.

I sympathize with that type of intense pressure, but I truly believe people who undergo such things are damaged spiritually.  In effect, because they faced shunning, they denied the leading of the Holy Spirit.   These believers denied Christ by saying they did not hear correctly in the first place.  They came face to face with the spirit of Antichrist and withered under its fierce persecution.  I sincerely hope that, after the shock wears off, they will come to their spiritual senses and confront those who caused them to deny the Holy Spirit, saying “we must obey God rather than man”.  Unless they stand up for what they know to be true, they will progress no further.

Refusing to enter the promised land

In essence, by denying the Holy Spirit, they chose the acceptance of this present world over God’s favor. Remember, when the Israelites refused to enter into the Promised Land, they bleached their bones in the wilderness.

The leadership of the church reacted to this couple’s leading towards this restored truth with predictable harshness.  Their church is large and wealthy and those in leadership command much respect and prestige among the congregation and in the surrounding community.  Setting this particular foundation stone right, however true it might be, threatens all that they have built.  Therefore, even if God Himself spoke (which He did through His two servants) they would have called it of Beelzebub.

The crooked spirit of Antichrist is in many churches today

Truly, the spirit of Antichrist inhabits the church today.  We respect the Father and we honor the Son but resist His Holy Spirit; therefore, we don’t do the will of our Father.   Churches claim to want God and be open to His Spirit, but this is often just posturing.  Many times, the clergy reject Jesus by rejecting the servants He sends.  God’s servants come and they persecute them just like the Pharisees and Sadducees rejected the prophets of old.  You cannot divide God up; He is one.  If you reject one part of God then you reject all of God.  We say we honor our Father of the Old Testament. We say we obey Jesus who sits in heaven at God’s right hand.  However, all too often we reject and persecute the Holy Spirit who presently dwells with us and in us.

Jesus warns,

“These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.”

John 16:1-3

Unfortunately, the truth is this:

 “While the church likes what Jesus does they do not like who Jesus is.”

Jesus in us comes to the church and the church rejects both, casting us out for His name’s sake. All who seek to challenge the status quo in our churches will face persecution.  Coming out of our churches is the spiritual consequence of following Jesus into restored truth.  It is very difficult for people to realize that following Jesus may mean leaving your present church.  However, know that Jesus does not usually close a door without opening a window of opportunity in your life.  The Israelites left leeks and garlic only to find a land flowing with milk and honey.

Fight for  your spirituality in Jesus

Lastly, fight for your spirituality in Jesus.  When the Holy Spirit shows you a truth, don’t let others ever take it away from you.  People often hedge their bets by saying that they were not one hundred percent sure that God was leading them.  This is a trap of the devil; ninety-eight percent sure is good enough; God will correct any errors in you as you continue to walk by faith. Learn to trust God, not demanding one hundred percent surety from Him, else, where would faith enter in?

The Good Fight by Unspoken

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Until…The Future of the Five Fold Ministry

Nov03
by Michael King on November 3, 2012 at 2:03 pm
Posted In: spiritual leadership

the book of Ephesians we read,

“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:”

Ephesians 4:11-13

From these passages of scripture, we know that the offices of the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher were given till. The word “till” in the King James Version means “until” and is a scriptural time key relevant to the five-fold ministry. The question for all of us to ask is, until when?

The five-fold ministry is not forever

The underlying premise of this writing is that the five-fold ministry occupies a particular and limited time in church history. The gift offices, therefore, are transitory. They are but a phase in the maturing of the body of Christ. So, the answer to our question is that the five-fold ministry was given until the body of Christ matures.

For a time, ancient Israel was placed under the Law of Moses. The types and shadows that they kept were to be a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ. So, too, the Church has been placed for a time under the tutelage of the five-fold ministry that it might be raised up into Christ. Those aspects of the law that prefigured Christ passed away when He fulfilled them. Likewise, those aspects of the five-fold ministry that are meant to complete the church will pass away once the church is perfected.

We are the friend of the Bride Groom

As five-fold ministers, we are the friend of the Bridegroom. Our joy and purpose are to see that the bride is made ready. Once this occurs, the purpose of the friend of the Bridegroom is fulfilled. While we do have a position of great importance and authority relative to our duties, once our course is run, we will fade into the background. This is the destiny of the five-fold ministry.

John the Baptist prepared the way of the Lord by calling the Children of Israel to repentance. He announced to the nation the coming of One greater than himself. The five-fold ministers are also preparing God’s people to receive One greater than they. Compared to the glory that shall be revealed in the manifested Sons of God, we will be unworthy to unlatch their shoes.

God is annointing us to build His temple

As God anointed Bezaleel and Aholiab to build the tabernacle in the wilderness, God is anointing those of the five-fold ministry to build His spiritual house in this present age. He is filling us with His spirit of, wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, so that we can build His spiritual tabernacle. Through the apostles and prophets, God is continuing to reveal the divine blueprint for His glorious house. Through God’s plan, every facet of this living temple that we are constructing shows forth Christ. Yet, know this, there shall come a day when the house of God is complete and we will have finished our work.

To some of us, the completion of this task will be very traumatic, namely because our identity is wrapped up in who we are in the ministry. God does not blame us. Many of us have suffered unspeakable hardships. We have toiled long and have given up much to answer the call of God on our lives. However, God is saying to you this day, the Spirit of ministry that is upon you is transitory, but His relationship with you is not. At some point in the future, the Spirit that empowers you shall decrease as it begins to increase upon the perfected body of Christ.

John the Baptist had an expiration date

For years, John the Baptist, clothed in camel’s hair, lived alone with God in the wilderness. Perhaps the reason John was a voice crying in the wilderness was that no synagogue would let him in their doors. Yet, for one brief, shining moment, John rose above it all as the Spirit of Elijah came upon him. He said, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord” as he baptized unto repentance in the River Jordan. The ministry that he had been preparing for from his mother’s womb was being fulfilled and his life’s purpose was being realized. Yet with all of his apparent success John, by revelation, said to his disciples:

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”

John 3:30

Like John, we of the five-fold ministry will have our day. God’s Spirit will come upon us, and we, too, will prepare the way of the Lord in His people. We shall shine and we shall do mighty exploits. Yet, when the body of Christ reaches the fullness of His stature, we must decrease.

There shall come a time, my friends, when the body of Christ will arise to perform the work of the ministry that we have carried upon our shoulders for so long. At that time, they must increase and we must decrease. This is because God does not want the focus to be on us any longer. Some of us, like John, may even be removed. God did not want the eyes of His people to be upon John, but upon Jesus. This is why he was allowed to be put in prison and martyred.

Are you willing to decrease?

Are we willing to let go and have God place the emphasis, anointing, and unction upon the body of Christ rather than upon us? Moreover, are we willing to step aside and watch as His manifested sons perform the ministry that we have labored so long in? Have we, as God’s husbandmen, been so long in God’s vineyard that we have begun to covet His land? Or, will we be faithful servants who will open wide the gates to God and say, “Look, Master, I’ve kept your vineyard; here it is, take it. My joy is that you have the increase.”

The operative word is “until”

The word is till, that is, until Christ comes to possess that which He has entrusted to us. The power of the Spirit, and all that goes with the five-fold ministry, are only for a time and a season. They are just anointed offices given to men and women by the Holy Spirit and are not part of our own inherent abilities. We must realize that we are men and women and that, without the Holy Spirit’s five-fold anointing, will become like anyone else.

God says,

“Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?”

Matthew 11:2-3

What had happened? Didn’t John baptize Jesus in the River Jordan and didn’t he recognize Him as the Christ then? Didn’t the heavens open up, and the Spirit of God descend as a dove and say, “This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Yet, in prison, John doubted if Jesus truly was the Christ. The reason for John’s confusion was that his knowledge of who Jesus was did not come from his intellect, but from the Spirit that was upon him. When the Spirit of God lifted, so did the revelation he once had.

Beginning to live by revelation alone

Another example of this type of heavenly knowledge is when Peter answered Jesus and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus answered him saying, “Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee.” Peter’s knowledge of who Christ was did not stem from what his eyes saw, but from what his spirit knew. John, in the same way, knew by revelation that Jesus was the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. Therefore, as the Spirit decreased, so did the revelation that had been upon him, and he became only John.

There is coming a day, and I prophesy it by the word of the Lord that the revelation, office, and power that are upon us shall lift and be transferred to the greater Christ that will be revealed in His perfected body. This body, when connected to the head, will be God manifest in the flesh. Emanuel will again walk the Earth and greater works shall we do. God will then ask those of the five-fold to make the sacrifice of John and decrease that He might increase.

We live at the end of the church age

It is commonly taught in fundamental circles that we are on the verge of the end of the Church Age and the return of Christ. If this be the case, then it follows that the perfection of the church is also at hand. Furthermore, if the scriptures state that our ministries are given UNTIL the saints are perfected, then the duration of the five-fold ministry must necessarily be short.

Therefore, how long do you suppose it will be, UNTIL we are out of a job? How many of us are prepared for this eventuality? Would we suffer a major identity crisis if we were stripped of our ministry as John was? I dare say, there is hardly one among us that would not find these circumstances a severe test of our faith. Subtly, our identity and worth have become wrapped up in our ministries and in what we do for God. In reality, our true worth to God is in our personal love relationship with Him apart from our ministries. This confusion of who we are before God is a very real and present danger in the five-fold ministry.

God says.

“For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife: for he had married her. For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.”

Mark 6:17-18

If John would have thought about this particular hard saying, it might have occurred to him that such a course of action was not in the best interest of his ministry. As it was, he simply yielded to God as he had always done, and let the consequences unfold as they always did. God knew what the result of John’s action would be. Yet John’s apparent ministerial suicide was part of God’s greater plan, and justifies Christ calling him the greatest born among women.

Don’t seek to save your ministry

Some of us find that we moderate or even refuse to speak the word that God gives us for fear of damaging our ministry. Many of us live and die by our precious reputations and protect them even at the cost of disobedience to our heavenly Father. If we neglect to take the course of action that God has clearly set before us, fearing that it will harm our ministry, we have become idolaters. We have compromised our calling and have made our ministry an Isaac before God. Perhaps you may be asked to sacrifice the thing you love dearly and it is not a foregone conclusion that God will provide a ram. Wisdom dictates that we avoid the Mount Moriah journey altogether and simply resolve to fear God rather than man in every aspect of our ministry.

The “until” is coming sooner that we think

The “until” that God speaks of is coming sooner than we think. John the Baptist was removed at the very height of his ministry. Think about it. God is telling us these things in advance because He loves us. He does not want any of us to stumble when it is our time for UNTIL to take effect. As ministers of the five-fold, our joy is to present a holy and spotless bride to Jesus. We must then step back and let Christ join with His body so that, together, they can perform the work of the ministry.

Jesus says,

“Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

Matthew 11:11

Besides Jesus, John was the greatest prophet ever born. We read of the mighty prophets of old such as Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel, yet Jesus said, John was greater than all of these. Why? John the Baptist was a friend of the Bridegroom. Once he performed the duties of his office, He willingly stepped aside and let God go on and manifest Himself in another. That is the essence of true greatness in the kingdom of God.

The apostolic office has not yet been fully restored to the Church. The prophetic office is just beginning to be restored. However, when the five-fold ministry is fully restored and starts to function as God intended, it will be a quick work. At the very height of the functioning of these offices, Christ will manifest through the saints, and we will have reached our UNTIL.

Lay your ministry on the alter and leave it there

I am asking every one of you to come before the altar of God. Take the mantle that God has given you and lay it upon the altar, purposing in your heart to keep it there. Confess to Jesus that you know you have been given the ministry only for a time and a season. Ask Him to help you keep your office in proper perspective and your personal relationship with Him strong. Let our hearts be set upon Paul’s hope. As it is written:

 “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness that is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”

Jesus speaks about John the Baptist

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