The Lord would
say unto a certain caustic-tongued preacher who has failed to grow
in the knowledge of My Love: I warn you not to hurt My precious
lambs out in the pews, or over the air. You have taken liberties
with the tender hearts of my beloved children, even those who cannot
discern truth from error. They stand in awe of you, and latch onto
your every word. They are too afraid of you to question anything
you say, for many of them are immature and not yet well-trained
in the Word of God.
You have allowed pride and presumption to enter into your life.
You have even placed yourself as judge over My people who are suffering
trials of deep humiliation, although I said in My Word: Who are
you to judge another (Romans 14:4)? And, with the same measure you
judge, you shall also be judged (Matthew 7:1-5). Repent of this
haughty attitude, or I shall have to allow you to experience some
of the same adversity you despise others for enduring.
You condemn as slothful the poor, even those who set their affections
on things above and can truthfully say their inheritance is not
of this world. But I said "Blessed are ye poor, for yours is
the kingdom of God (Luke 6:20)."
But you have reviled the poor (James chapter 2), although My Holy
Word makes it clear that I have chosen the poor of this world Who
genuinely love Me and rely on Me. These people, so despised by you,
have been blessed with an extra measure of faith (verse 5). Though
poor in this world’s goods they are heirs of My eternal Kingdom.
Yet you lump them all together as leeches on society, worthless
bums who produce nothing and "are just a drain on church resources"
You even take a grudging attitude toward keeping a church pantry
for the needy and really think feeding the saints ought to be limited
to "spiritual food", although Jesus divided the loaves
and the fishes for a huge crowd as an object lesson to teach them
I care for the poor and the hungry. Your real concern is that "spiritual
bread" costs less money to break to your flock than material
bread. But James said: "What good does it do to speak a blessing
over your needy brother or sister, unless you also demonstrate practical
concern for their bodily needs (James 2:15-16)"?
You’re being inconsistent, aren’t you? You say spiritual
food is more important, so preaching the Word to hearts is a much
more valuable task to the Kingdom of God than feeding hungry mouths.
Still, you set at nought the spiritual contributions made by the
poorer saints, just because they aren’t paid for serving the
Lord in dollars and cents like you are. But their blessed deeds
of devotion are infinitely more precious in My sight than filthy
lucre is to you. My Son gave His all to enable people to render
such service to Me.
I have saints nation-wide and worldwide who are poor in this world’s
goods but rich in good works, and already have treasure laid up
in heaven.They pray for your ministry, among others. A few of them
even fast, and when these humble souls do eat, their food isn’t
nearly so fine as yours. Some of them sing in the choir, or help
out in the nursery. Some teach Sunday School, or visit the sick.
And you’ve got the gall to categorize all poor people as worthless
bums!
You lambast your people for their overindulgence in fine food and
other luxuries. Yet you look down on casually dressed folks and
say they don’t have enough self-respect to "dress for
success" to help them focus on becoming "prosperous".
Just what do you mean by that?
Most likely you would even have despised My appearance, for I was
not so smartly decked out as you. And guess what? I supplied the
wine for a very special party, and even sampled some of it myself.
I was accused by ascetic religious leaders of being a "winebibber
and a glutton". I consorted with harlots and publicans, and,
most shocking of all, I wore a beard and sandals, definitely not
in keeping with your code of "conservative values".
You would indeed have considered Me, the Son of God, just another
lazy hippie bum because the day came when I quit toiling in My carpenter
shop and became an itinerant preacher who went forth to spread the
Good News of the Kingdom of God, living strictly by faith in My
Father’s provision. You would call Me irresponsible because
I quit My secular job before I had saved sufficient funds to finance
My ministry for the forthcoming fiscal year.
And what would you have thought of John the Baptist? With his humble
garment and shaggy hair, he was hardly an advertisement for your
"success gospel", which the church borrowed from the world
to conform the church TO the world! That unpolished prophet would
have been whisked out of your air-conditioned, sanitized sanctuary
before he got a word in edgewise. Rather than preaching the Gospel
of Get he said: "Let those who have food or extra clothes share
with those who have none." Jesus told the rich young ruler
to "sell all that you have and give to the poor." THEN,
"come, follow me." Neither Jesus nor John ever jetted
around in champagne luxury to tourist traps, such as you’ve
done in the past. Instead of saddling their congregations with a
burdensome mortgage in the name of "Christian commitment",
they held church under the open sky.
You roar against the worldliness of the saints, but what is more
worldly in My sight than to Christianize the most lucrative of the
world’s values? You worship at the altar of monetary prosperity.
You condemn adultery, pornography, and juvenile delinquency, but
what about covetousness?
Don’t you covet the "firstfruits" of other people’s
paychecks, and compete for first dibs on what your "targeted
donor pool" sets aside for TV ministries? And then you turn
round and lampoon poor people for "living below their privileges".
You contemptuously view such souls as unworthy of My Love.
You think just because they’re struggling financially they
must be suffering My punishment for sin in their lives. Just what
do you demand of them?
What do you think they must do to live on a par with their so-called
privileges? Become just like you, a man whose angry face and angrier
tongue belie your pleasurable circumstances?
People on public assistance are one of your favorite targets. Leeches
on society, you say. Welfare queens. People looking for an easy
ride! But look at yourself, with all your shameless appeals for
money, money, money, and ever more money. Your kind are the biggest
welfare recipients of all, but it’s respectable because you
do it in the name of "God"!!
You commit yourself to exorbitant purchases "for the kingdom
of God", then go crying and begging on TV, expecting your "partners
in ministry" to bail you out of a debt you incurred without
first consulting them. Have you ever once tried the same tonic you
prescribe for others, tightening your belt and "being a responsible
steward"? Must your ministry always run on the latest technology,
or are you just keeping up a prosperous front? Why not just postpone
your next luxury cruise to the Lands of the Bible, or make your
old suit do an extra year? How about a little macaroni and cheese
instead of all those fancy restaurant meals? It won’t kill
you! How about driving a used car to make it easier to catch up
on your bills? Won’t a cheaper watch tell you it’s time
to start your service? I am no respecter of persons. I think religious
opportunists fishing for funds in fancy attire have much more to
apologize for than jobless people in faded denims!
Now the shoe’s on the other foot! How does it feel to be on
the receiving end of correction for a change? If you think you’re
above being reproved through My humble mouthpiece, you are failing
My test of humility and need to seek my forgiveness for pride as
well.
How dare you treat My precious children like scavenging dogs! You
have never once walked one mile in the shoes of the people out in
the pews! No, not since the days of your youth; especially not since
your rise to nationwide prominence as an "expositor of the
Word of God"!
What practical use do you make of your Bible? You wave it above
your head to show your underlings who’s boss, then you glare
menacingly at them and lay into the "laity" (a man-made
distinction in My Body). You turn the House of the Lord into a vast
woodshed to chastise My poor people who must struggle from paycheck
to paycheck so you can skim the "tithes" off their gross
income, plus offerings. That amounts to bondservice to you, their
rich overlord. Many of them cede to you at least one-seventh or
one-eighth of their after-taxes take-home pay BEFORE they even put
food on their own tables to feed their own families! How does THAT
square with My teaching that I would rather have mercy than sacrifice!
And even though I never ONCE commanded New Testament saints to tithe
on money, you threaten them with My retribution if they don’t!
Have you ever once really gotten to know one of your poorer listeners,
either in your palatial sanctuary or out in TV Land? Do you even
know how ordinary folk live, or has your affluence blinded you to
the way everyday people must struggle to survive? Do you know what
it is to set aside your own well-being and carry the sorrows of
the afflicted, like the Good Shepherd does? More than one of your
listeners has suffered devastating health problems, or is struggling
to raise children alone as a single parent. Many a poor woman cries
herself to sleep at night because she’s lost her husband to
death or divorce, or perhaps the fellow has run away from his responsibilities
as husband and father, and has left her to carry the whole load
alone. She dreads the bills the morning mail may bring. She wonders
how she’ll ever meet her rent and child care expenses, how
she’ll keep her lights on, how she’ll put food on the
table or buy decent school clothes. Her life is a wearisome treadmill.
She wonders how long her stamina will last, until the day comes
she is too sick to work and might become homeless or destitute.
Are you going to call such precious souls lazy just because satan
has sent the devourer to sap their physical and financial health
and strength?
Once I heard you bellowing: "There’s twelve hours in a
working day, six working days, and 72 hours in a working week! Get
to work!" You looked mad, but my, you enjoyed that. But how
hard do YOU work, privileged one? I don’t see YOU slaving at
a secular job 72 hours a week. And when people do put in very long
working hours, you gripe about how they neglect their marriages
and their kids and fail to spend "quality time" with them.
Are you so poor at math that you can’t subtract your ideal
working week from what’s left? Do YOU have lots of time to
be with YOUR family, or are you a slave to the clock; someone who
hates his monotonous way of life but who is expected to drag himself
out of bed half-rested, then work two jobs. Why?
Well, it isn’t cheap to maintain that image of "prosperity"
you demand of people. Some need an extra paycheck in order to "tithe"
on the first one and still have enough money to pay spiraling rent
on an apartment which is barely lived in. It’s just a spot
for the slave to crash for a few short hours before a screeching
alarm clock rings and the same old grind starts again!
You really think money should come with great difficulty for everybody
else except those "in ministry". After all, grueling toil
is the price tag for being descended from sinful Adam and Eve. But
you’re just as sinful as anybody in your congregation, and
deep inside you know it. Still, you have no qualms about enjoying
YOUR fine clothes, YOUR perks, YOUR regular jaunts (first-class,
of course) to the Holy Land to "get closer to Jesus".
But all you want is to go there to get a religious buzz. How can
you get to know Jesus better if you refuse to see Me in the faces
of the poor who fill your pews, or in the aching weariness of the
tired grey masses trekking home each night from their very unglamorous
jobs?
No, I don’t see YOU swinging a hammer or waiting on cranky
customers in restaurants, or driving a bus. I don’t see YOU
sitting up all night with a sick child before having to go to work
early the next morning. Rather, I see you pleading over the air
to "prove God" by sending in your best offering, and you’ll
gladly reward the givers with a cheap trinket to say "thank
you" for your "love gift to Jesus".
How demanding you are, like Pharaoh. He reached the point where
he demanded his slaves go find their own straw to make bricks with,
and doubled their quota too. You wouldn’t be bothered by some
young mother being so overburdened by long working hours she scarcely
has time to see her children. You don’t care if some elderly
woman skips a couple of meals to "save your ministry".
My people are mortgaged to the hilt, and harnessed to the expenses
of your ministry. They can’t be everywhere at once, yet I hear
you bellowing about their lack of service "to the Lord",
their reluctance to get involved in church activities and personal
evangelism. I hear you whining about how the saints are "at
ease in Zion".
But if anybody’s at ease, it’s you and other "shepherds"
who fleece the flock. You hypocrite! Any wise shepherd will let
his animals wear their own wool in the winter to keep warm, so they
won’t perish from cold. But you are cold-hearted enough to
fleece My flock at all seasons, regardless of the condition they’re
in. You couldn’t care less about their sorrows. You’re
like one of those Simon Legree slave drivers of the Old South who
refused to provide medical care and proper food for his slaves,
reasoning that it was cheaper to wear out a slave and replace him,
than to waste resources to care for him. You know that when people
get fed up enough to stop coming to your services, other trusting
souls who don’t know any better will take their place out in
the pews!
Your sour face masks the enjoyment you get out of your ministry
of meanness. You make a real meal of it. Speaking of eating, your
latest attack was made on your women disciples who aren’t skinny
enough to suit you. Why do you think female fat is a deadlier sin
than YOUR fat?
How dare YOU, of all people, preach on physical fitness, or berate
people for not fasting enough for your ministry? YOUR bank account
has gotten so fat from fleecing the poor and profiteering off people’s
ignorance that I think it’s a far greater sin to be a fatcat
than a stout woman. I much prefer to see someone raid the fridge
to dig into a pint of Haagen-Dazs and "enjoy the guilt"
than to see the likes of you raiding widow’s houses and digging
into innocent Christians’ consciences and pockets, then enjoying
all the guilt trips you lay on people who genuinely desire a closer
walk with Me. People who desperately hope and pray I am not really
like you!
Where, oh where do you ever once read that I hold women to this
world’s measurements of beauty while excusing men from them?
Show Me the Scripture! Have YOU looked in the mirror lately, and
judged YOURSELF against your own narrow definition of physical fitness?
Remember what I said about first getting rid of the log in your
own eye before concentrating on the speck in your neighbor’s
eye! You get my drift. Your sexist double standards wound emotionally
vulnerable women who have already been burnt by the Establishment’s
dieting and slimness manifesto. They don’t need to have more
of that demonic drivel crammed down their throats at church. Rather,
the fellowship of the saints is supposed to be a refuge from the
oppression of the carnal cultural edicts of a sex-crazed, money-mad
world system. A system which manipulates the minds of the masses
and profits off the very same insecurities it instills in them.
You prefer your pews to be full of "successful-looking"
saints whose outward appearance advertises the popular Prosperity
doctrine which has served you so well.
Trim and businesslike, smart-looking, reassuringly refined and "nice".
Well, the hour on My prophetic clock is precariously late and I
don’t have time to put up with your perverse games anymore.
I’m not going to waste My precious time mincing words, either.
I have said the things which are highly esteemed in the sight of
man are an abomination in My sight (Luke 16:15). That includes the
self-aggrandizement and snobbery of mankind; all its egotistical
pride in wealth, social status, or glamor.
I genuinely suspect you’d feel frustrated if your parishioners
were closer to perfection than yourself. It delights you to make
them squirm as you bark abuse down at them and rob them not only
of their human dignity but the contents of their wallets. Now I’m
going to shout back at you: Before you come back to My table demanding
dessert, let your poor slaves eat!
When you invent new ways to heap condemnation on My people you hinder
My own work of healing bruised hearts. At present, I’m not
getting much help from you. Nothing frustrates my grace more than
some sharp-tongued preacher ripping into sensitive souls which really
need the Oil of Joy for the spirit of heaviness, the healing balm
of the Love of Christ for emotional bruises, and the Power of the
Blood of the Lamb to gain victory over every assault of the enemy,
including nagging feelings of worthlessness and inadequacy. Don’t
you dare deny that My people are precious in My sight, or bring
them under bondage to condemnation. They are My heritage which I
have purchased with My own Blood.
You have used your chastening rod to drive many sheep back out into
the wilderness of the world. With force and with cruelty you have
ruled them (Ezekiel 34:4). People just got so disgusted with your
vituperative tongue and continual carping that they left to go look
for a new guru. These unstable souls were unable to differentiate
between bullies in the pulpit and Christ, Who is meek and lowly
in heart; the gentle, merciful Savior Whose yoke is easy and Whose
burden is light.
Your greatest delight has been not to show forth My love, but to
"give lukewarm Christians a kick in the pants to spur them
on to greater holiness". But that is not My way. I am a loving
Father, not a slave driver wielding a whip.
There were times you actually forgot all about the offering and
felt like your motives for performing your ministry were noble,
and no one else could fill your place. In the beginning people thought
your approach was like a breath of fresh air, after all the mealy-mouthed,
equivocal preachers they’d listened to before. Until your words
hit home hard and hurt them too much.
In your misguided zeal you have laid many grievous burdens upon
My precious sheep, which I never authorized you to do. Yet you would
never touch one of these burdens with a ten-foot pole (Matthew 23:4).
Just how long could you last, if I placed on your neck just one
of the burdens various of my people out in the pews are under? Could
YOU work a nurse’s double shift, or slave on an assembly line
all day? How could YOU cope with feeling like your precious years
were going down the drain and you felt frustrated, and saw yourself
as just another cog in a machine at some factory, living to work,
rather than working to live ? How would YOU feel if your boss fired
you for some trivial reason, and you spent many weary weeks searching
for a new job? Why should poor people have to suffer your caustic
criticisms on top of everything else they have to contend with daily!!!!!
When was the last time you thanked your people for their loving
support?
Without the little people out there in the pews, you’d be out
of a job, and you’d have to toil for your daily bread like
them. It takes far more faith to live without money than with with
it. Have you ever once thanked your people for getting up early
on their one day off (for many of them), getting themselves and
their children ready, wolfing down a hurried breakfast, then braving
traffic jams and all kinds of weather on Sunday, which is supposedly
a day of rest?
My Love is gentle and meek, but about the only gentleness they ever
get from you is the deceptively mild warmup to your real sermon,
which builds into a roaring crescendo of rankling bitterness. Finally,
your pent-up anger anger bursts out and you let My people know what
you really do think of them. They’re just "lazy hot-tub
saints who’d be lucky to get the strip off a tin can as a crown
on Judgment Day". But what kind of a crown to YOU expect for
browbeating your fellow-servants in your Master’s absence,
then making a tidy pile for being an overbearing bear? (Matthew
24: 48-51).
Even newborn babies fresh from heaven aren’t spared your bile.
I blessed little children and babies, but you call them little vipers
who will grow up to be juvenile delinquents unless they’re
treated with a firm hand from the youngest age, though all tiny
infants want is to be loved and cherished.
If anybody enters your church feeling like a special, beloved child
of God, you know how to break him of that habit in a hurry. I am
extremely patient with babes in Christ who simply don’t know
any better than to overzealously pick at each other, especially
about issues that are cultural obsessions of a fallen world, not
actual sins. But you, a man who was converted a long time ago, have
used your power and influence to make the heart of the righteous
sad, whom I have not made sad (Ezekiel 13:22a).
Old hurts you suffered as a young boy are still festering deep in
your soul.
Others misunderstood you and were impatient with you, even your
own overstrict dad. So now you feel driven to perpetuate your unresolved
hurt by lashing out at your own congregation and nitpicking at everything
which doesn’t fit into your confused notion of what a church
should be. Rather than insulting some wounded woman out in the pews
and reducing her to tears, you really should bring all your old
hurts to me, dear son, and I would do a miracle of healing and restoration
deep in your soul. I would help you to forgive your earthly father,
the one you’re really angry at; a misguided man who hurt you
by always being quick to discipline you, even before he knew the
full story of what had happened. Ask Me to teach you how to love
before it’s everlastingly too late to undo the damage which
has already been done.
Grow up, or you’ll be ashamed when you stand before My Judgment
Seat.
Repent of your hardheartedness now. Why should you have to stand
tongue-tied before the Bema Judgment Seat and watch your work of
discouraging the saints go up in smoke?