Y Safle

“For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

“I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will enter into judgement with them there … they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

“And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.”

Joel 3:1-3

No-one will escape the final judgement of our Lord. At the name of Jesus every knee will bow. Nietzsche said “God is dead”, but on that day he will say “Jesus Christ is Lord”. Stalin will stand before his maker and weep. Hume will bow before the LORD of all. Cupit will at last see the hypocrisy of his atheistic “Christianity” as he at once becomes a theist in a very real sense.

These are just some of the multitude of men who have attacked the church of the living God over the years. These are men who have laughed in the face of God and sought to glorify only self. They have looked to self interest and self agrendisement. Some, like Cupit, are found even within the church itself, and they above all will be found guilty of their blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Look at the evil that had befallen Judah: Children sold into slavery and prostitution that people may get drunk on wine. The nation was scattered and the land divided. It is hard to imagine such an appalling scene, and yet this is the very scene we see within our own churches.

The church is ravaged by the world which bites and tears at the edges, or else invades the church and deals out wholesale slaughter on biblical Christianity. This is nothing new, it has been going on since New Testament times, when the gnostics invaded the churches as a platform for their peculiar anti-Christian philosophies. Now the gnostics have all but gone, and yet there is a new “gnosis”, a new “sophia” which invades the church. Liberalism is rampant. The New Age infiltrates our structures and apostasy and apathy are our hallmarks in response.

The world is dividing up our churches whilst the Christians prefer their wine supported stupor.

Will the Lord tarry much longer in judgement? Do we dare pray for justice when we too will be judged as harshly as those of whom we decry?

Let us put our house in order first, and then let us seek the God of Justice. Remember the lesson of Saul – “To obey is better then sacrifice”. Let us be obedient, loyal and diligent servants of our LORD, the Living God.

“Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompense? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head; Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:

“And I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, Blood, fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

“And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered; for on Mount Zion there will be those who escape, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.”

Joel 2:30-32

The prophecy of Joel now turns to the last days and we read of things repeated by Isaiah, Daniel and John. Wonders will be seen on earth and in the sky and there will be great distress. The day of the Lord will be a bewildering and frightening time for those who do not love Him.

But in the midst of the prophecy of coming judgement, of the final wrath of God and the great and terrible day, we see the grace of God once again. In those bewildering times, when all the world will be in utter chaos, we have this simple promise “Whosoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Even at the last minute of the eleventh hour God will still save men and women through his abounding grace and mercy, such is his love for us. In the midst of his final wrath he will not forget his elect.

But tell me, do you have a burden for the lost? Do you weep for those people who will know nothing but fear on that day? Maybe you think that the days are far off and there is much time yet, but for millions of people every day those great and terrible days are here already.

Millions of people die every day, consigned to a lost eternity, and why?

Does God smile with grim satisfaction when he sees evil men being condemned for all eternity?

Of course not. God has held out his hand to everyone who would only believe in him, and yet not everyone has believed. God weeps for every man who dies without knowing him, and yet they still die. Why?

It is down to you and me. We are God’s chosen vessels on Earth, and our churches are His chosen means of grace. Why do we not weep with God over empty churches? Why are we still not burdened with the overwhelming need of the hour – the need for revival?

Revival should not be a buzzword, but a burden. Where is our burden?

The day of the Lord could be a great and wonderful day, but for billions of people it will be horrific in its intensity, and dreadful in its extent. People living in fear will die in fear, and why? because the people of God, the elect of God, were so content with their “I’m alright” selfish attitudes and comfortable lifestyles that they could not spare the time to turn to their God in prayer and plead for the souls of the lost.

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

“And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.”

Joel 2:28,29

And here we are, at the most well known passage in Joel – the prophecy of the outpouring of God’s Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

It is a pity that so many people jump straight to Joel 2:28 whilst missing out the first chapter and a half. What a pity that so much of Joel’s message to us can so easily be ignored.

Here we are indeed promised that God will pour out his Spirit upon everyone. There is no-one so insignificant that God will not pour out His Spirit upon them, but a wrong understanding of this verse, it seems to me, can cause a great many theological and practical problems in our Christianity.

I have often been told “The Spirit is given”, a looking back to the day of Pentecost when this mighty outpouring occurred. Such people then use this fact to justify their various teachings on the work of the Holy Spirit within the present day church. Personally, I think they are wrong to do so.

When the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, three thousand people became Christians on the spot. If you went into a modern day Pentecostal church I would be surprised if more then a dozen people had come to Christ in the last year, and then it is doubtful if they came to Christ because of the reality of the experience with the Holy Spirit.

I hurl no stones when I speak thus of the Pentecostal churches. I say what I say knowing that they are one of the fastest growing movements within the present church. Nevertheless, it seems to me that the presence of the Holy Spirit is not to be found in full measure in these churches.

I received a mailshot recently from a so called Christian leader who was announcing a summer conference. His hype said specifically: “The annointing of the Holy Spirit will be there.”

The Holy Spirit is a wind that blows when and where He wills. How can a man make such predictions when I am certain that he has never yet seen a true annointing of the Spirit of God?

The mail shot also offered a free tape for early bookings. The tape was of a conference in London where hundreds of people were apparently “Slain of God” (and I quote him there).

It is a funny thing that I did not hear of any deaths in the Wembley Stadium at that conference! (Although the BBC did show an expose of how supposed healing miracles were nothing of the sort).

So much of the present day Charismatic movement seems to me to be mere hype and emotionalism, and I know that as I write this I am probably offending a great many people, but it is something with which I feel burdened.

We just do not know the power of God within the church today. The Charismatic movement claims to have that power but it has been wholely unable to reach into this present darkness with the light of God.

I am offended by the lack of spirituality and depth I find within the Charismatic movement.

Nevertheless, I believe the Charismatic movement was of God.

I believe that God uses the foolish things of this world to shame the wise, and that is what he has done with the Charismatic movement which has surely put the dead orthodox churches to shame in the areas of growth and enthusiasm.

But God has something greater that he wants to give us. He has said through his prophet:

“It shall come to pass that…”

When all of Joel chapter one and two are fulfilled it shall come to pass once again that God will pour out His Spirit, and the measure with which he releases his Spirit will put today’s church to shame.

We will no longer need to argue that the Baptism with the Spirit is a true work of God, for it will be evident to all that this is so (look at the accounts of the 1904 Welsh revival for instance, if you do not believe me). The marks of the Spirit filled life will be on the believers. There will be a deeper spirituality, a greater assurance and a fuller love for Our God, along with a deeper realization of the greatness of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We will again see prophecy, dreams and visions as well as all the gifts of the Spirit, and there will be an end to the muddling prophets of today. False gifts will stand out as dull and tainted against the true.

O Lord, send the rain.

“And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.

“And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.”

Joel 2:26,27

I have said before that I am ashamed of the present day church. I am ashamed of the apathy which characterises such a large part of the church of Christ. I am ashamed of the fact that churches of all denominations are allowing unbelievers to take positions of authority. I am ashamed of the uncertain call of the trumpet which is heard when one group propounds liberal doctrine and another evangelical doctrine, both under the same umbrella of the Church.

I am ashamed of the lack of spirituality in God’s people. The lack of morality in His leadership. I am ashamed because we believe ourselves to be rich in God’s blessing when in fact we are poor and blind and naked.

I am ashamed that we can allow people to speak for so called “living christianity” and for “born again Christians”, when their letters contain such drivel as the following excerpt:

“As God’s servant”, writes a minister who wrote to me prior to holding a National Charismatic conference in London, “I can tell you that if you will obey God and prove him by giving me your sacrificial offering (an offering you cannot afford) then God will bless you financially”

This statement sums up his whole letter and every letter I ever received from this man. Here is a man who is twisting scripture (Malachi 3 talks of proving God by bring the whole tithe to the storehouse, i.e. the Church), telling us if we do not give to his “ministry” we are disobeying God, and blatantly preaching a “prosperity gospel” (If you obey God then he will reward you financially).

TELL THAT TO SAINT PAUL!

Tell that to Mueller, to Howell Harries, to Whitefield and Wesley.

Tell that to C.T.Studd, to Duncan Campell, to Evan Roberts.

In the cold light of history which of these will stand out as men of God? These named above or the servant of Mammon who wrote the quoted letter?

I am ashamed of the church today. I am ashamed that several mainstream denominations and interdenominational organisations have aligned themselves with this man in his forthcoming conference. I am ashamed at the lack of vital, living biblical Christianity in the church.

And I do not think only of the Charismatics. I am ashamed of the dead formalism in so much of the church of today. I am ashamed of a dead orthodoxy which has the words of life but the smell of death.

I long for the day when I will no longer be ashamed. I long for the day when God will again be in the midst of his spiritual Israel, his Church. On that day we will not be ashamed.

When the LORD our God is in our midst, then all of which I am ashamed will pass away. Personalities of men will fade away and Christians will be seeking to glorify God. Prayer meetings will be packed and people who may now look at their watches in church wishing they were somewhere else will no longer be aware of their watches at all. They will be lost in the wonder and the love of Almighty God.

In times past, in times of revival, prayer meetings have continued through the night and into the morning. In the 1904 Welsh revival miners in the pits of south Wales were holding prayer meetings in the pits themselves.

Is there any doubt that when God is with us there will be great rejoicing? Our churches will be full and the worries of the present age (falling congregations and lack of funds) will disappear as we once again learn that God will provide for us.

What of the world, too? When they see today’s sickly Church, are they not turned away? But when our God is in our midst how will they resist coming to him?

Lord, come quicky.

“Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.

“Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.

“And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten….”

Joel 2:22-25

An often quoted verse from scripture tells us that the fields are white unto harvest, but the labourers are few. This verse is used by people often to get them to go out onto the streets of their town and witness to the people that are there. It is also used to encourage people into missionary work.

However, I have spent some time witnessing in the town of Aberystwyth and I have an observation to make, which is this: The fields are no longer white unto harvest!

I am not saying the scripture verse is wrong, but rather that it is being quoted out of context. When Jesus told his disciples the fields were white unto harvest it was surely in anticipation of pentecost, when God’s Spirit would be poured out on the church and the church would merely require gatherers to bring in the bountiful harvest (three thousand people in one place in one day!)

But just as there are seasons on the earth, so it seems there are seasons in the church. When the church has been dry and barren how can we expect rich harvests? For years now the church has been in such a state that it has been hard to understand how it has seen the measure of growth it has seen, and we can only put such growth down to the grace of God. Nevertheless, the time must surely come when the church will have repented of its own driness, and its own barrennes, and then God will send the rain.

That is what Joel promised.

We see that God will indeed send the rain upon his land when it is ready to receive it. He will send the rain and the crops will grow and the barns will be filled with plenty and the vats will be bursting with wine.

Let us pray that God will move swiftly to send the rain upon our churches. Let us pray that the withered dry formalism and the limp and weedy shallowness that is the hallmark of modern day Christianity will be replaced by the firm and sure shoots of a church nurtured on the living water sent by God.

We wonder why people do not come to our churches. We try having Christian concerts, Christian choirs, Drama, Humour and all kinds of entertainment, but in the end people still do not come because they know better then we do that church is not about entertainment.

Entertainment will save no-one. Enough with this Spiritual child- minding. It is time people preached once again the true Gospel, born in eternity past at that great council of God, completed by the work of Christ on the cross and consummated in Holy Ghost Power on Pentecost.

This great gospel needs no apology. When The Power of God is present in our churches then people will come. People will flock to the churches, not because there is entertainment there but because God is there.

Let us pray that God will send the rain.

“Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen:

“But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.”

“Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things”

Joel 2:19,21

Now, at last, Joel begins to tell the people of the fruits of repentance. God is not a God who delights in punishment and hates to do good. Rather he delights to give abundant blessings to his people. He is slow to anger but abounding in steadfast mercy.

We read in Leviticus that the burnt offerings given for the atonement of sin where a “pleasing fragrance” to the Lord, but it becomes clear that the pleasing fragrance does not come from the burning meat but from the repentance of the people.

When someone repents then God at once forgives them all their sins, and they become washed and cleansed of the stinking mire of sin. They are clean and a “pleasing fragrance” to our God.

God is able to forgive us our sins because of the One Perfect Sacrifice of Jesus Christ who bore the just punishment of those sins. We no longer need live under the condemnation of our sin. We are offered new pure garments washed in the blood of Christ. When there has been true repentance then we know we are clean before our Lord.

But why is repentance so important before God can pour out his blessing upon his people? Simply because if we are unrepentant and unregenerate then the blessings of God would neither be just, nor glorifying to him.

But now you say: “Surely we can never reach God’s perfect standard, and to try to do so denies our justification which is by faith.”

But Joel is not talking to a people that are not yet God’s people, and neither am I. I am indeed justified by faith, and so is the whole of God’s church (for that is the very definition of the church – the elect of God). We bear the name “Christian” already, but there is still the mire of sin upon us, and it is only as this is cleansed through repentance and God’s gift of grace, that we become a people who glorify God.

When God is glorified, and it is within his sovereign plan to do so, then he will pour out abundant blessings upon us, his people, and our Lord *will* do great things.

The church today may be short of commitment, short of money, short of members, short of morality. When God does great things among us there will no longer be any lack. Our God will supply our every need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Once again I urge you to read of past revivals. Read of times when God has sent his Spirit amongs his people. See the abundance of his blessing, and then we may learn to pray more earnestly, to seek more diligently, to love more fully and to minister more humbly.

“Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?”

“Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people.”

Joel 2:17,18

When the congregations were shedding tears of repentance and fasting in solemn assembly, and the ministers mourned for the people, then Joel said the LORD would be jealous for his land, and pity his people.

The ministers had to realize that only God could save his people from reproach. Only God could prevent the heathen from ruling over his people. If God was for them then who could stand against them? But if God was not for them (because they were not for God) then what could feeble man do against the mighty army that the Lord had raised up against them?

But our God is a loving and merciful God. He was longing to forgive his people of their sins. He was patiently awaiting the time when his people would turn back to him and he could demonstrate his pity for his people in works of power.

Our sovereign God is jealous for his people, his church. He longs to forgive us of our sins. He is patiently awaiting the time when we, his people, will bend the knee to him, our Lord.

When even the ministers of the Lord repent of their attempts to build churches to their own glory; when they realize that God was left out of the equation many years ago; when they turn their backs on the Christian culture which idolizes certain people; when there is a weeping before our God, our Creator, our Provider. Then God will be jealous for his land and he will pity his people.

I do not suggest that it is only the clergy who need to repent before God. We are all ministers to some degree, and to some degree we all have used our position to manipulate for our own glory, to satiate our own pride.

I speak here from experience. How easy it is for me to write an article, even an article such as this one, knowing all the time that people may in some manner look up to me for what I write. The writing of such things then becomes a boost to my own ego, and a pandering to my pride.

Such a spirit of pride is an abomination to God. How dare I steal any of the glory which so justly belongs only to God?

What is the chief end of man? asks the Westminster Catechism, and the answer is given:

To glorify God.

Let us repent of the proud spirit which gives the other answer to this question: “To glorify self”. Let us weep before God as we realize that so much of our own ministry has been an attempt to build ourselves up in the sight of others. Let us cry out to our God as we realize that it is only when we get out of His way that He will show His pity which He has for His people.

Our God longs to forgive us of these things, so let us but ask that he will, and then rest in His wonderful provision, secure in the fact that He loves us more then anyone could ever know. We are sons of the living God. What is the praise of man against the love of God?

“Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.”

Joel 2:15,16

Joel calls the people to pray and fast before their God. He has called them to repentance, and now he stresses the urgency of the situation. Everyone is called to this great assembly, even the children and babies, and the point is reinforced when we hear that even bride and groom are called to attend.

This situation was urgent. There could be no tarrying, and no one could be left out. The whole nation was called to an assembly before God. The congregation was called together to become once again a consecrated people before their God.

Now then, surely God calls us to do the same. Surely the onus is upon us to gather together in solemn assembly. Each member of each church must surely assemble together and pray and fast and plead before the Lord that he may heal his land.

God says: “If my people who bear my name [and CHRISTians bear His name] will humble themselves and pray… then I will heal their land.”

O Lord, I pray for my land which suffers under the dual yokes of a dry and dead formalism within its churches and a moral depravity beyond the churches which suffocates the believers and blinds the unbelievers.

The church, it seems, is a dry branch. All the cells that make up the branch are there, but there is no life therein, because the sap has dried up and has not been replenished.

Lord, remake us. Revive us. Send the fountains of living water, the water of your Spirit. Send the water that the branch might once again be green and living.

But why is the water not flowing? Has God withdrawn his Spirit for no reason? Of course not!

If I break a branch from the trunk of a tree then of course it will die. It is not because there is no more water, but because the branch is no longer connected to the source of its supply of water.

“For my people have committed two sins. They have turned away from me, the fountain of living water and they have hewn out cisterns for themselves. Broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

So said God to Jeremiah, and so he says now.

Let us turn back to the fountain of living water. Let us all turn back. Each and every one of us. The time to turn back is now and we all are called to turn to him. Call a solemn assembly. Sanctify the congregation. Declare a fast.

“And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God…”

“Who knows if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?”

Joel 2:13,14

I recently heard of a group that was teaching that God’s blessing upon the western nations in revival was imminent. The teaching is not new, I have heard similar “prophecies” many times over years.

I certainly hope and pray that these words are true, and that God will pour forth his blessing upon his weak and feeble church, for she so desperately needs to know the Spirit of God once again in Pentecostal power. However, there is a condition which has not yet been fulfilled, and that is the condition of repentance.

“Rend your heart…for who knows if God will return…and leave a blessing behind him.”

The teaching is there, in black and white – if God’s church is barren and empty (and it is), and it needs to see his blessing (which it does), then we must rend our hearts. We must turn to God and repent and then maybe he will move amongst us.

Of course, I cannot promise God will do that. Anyone who says that revival comes when man has met all the conditions is in error. If we had to meet all of God’s conditions upon us we would never see revival, just as we would never be saved if we had to meet God’s Holy standard of perfection in our lives.

However, the one condition of repentance is essential. Let us repent and turn to the Lord our maker. Let us throw ourselves at his feet and cry out to him for his mercy, and then maybe he will return to his people.

Let us also learn once again the meaning of the old phrase “to plead the promises”. We do not name a promise and then claim it, but we acknowledge the sovereignty of our God, and we humbly come before him and plead that he might see fit to pour out a blessing upon us.

Our Lord is gracious, abounding in steadfast love and great mercy. Let us humbly come and confess our sins before Almighty God.

I commented on MinTheGap’s blog yesterday in answer to the question of why did Paul say “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than any of you [Corinthians]“?

I repeat some of the answer here, but it leads to some questions in our own Church life unrelated to the gifts issue that we could perhaps explore.

I think Paul believed that tongues were a language of prayer, and that he who speaks in a tongue speaks only to God (prayer through the agency of the Holy Spirit). This is why he tells the Corinthians that prayer in tongues must be interpreted, so that others may say the amen and agree with that prayer. This is why he speaks of praying with his spirit and also praying with his mind.

If we accept this point, then Paul is actually saying “I thank God that I pray more than you do”!

But why would he say something like that?

It is clear that the Corinthian error was pride and arrogance. They were “puffed up”. They broke into parties, some following Paul, some following Apollos and others saying (perhaps), “we are above all this. We just follow Christ”. This pride led to dissension and disunity, and to puffed up boastful people doing unchristian things (be it approval of immorality, or shouting away in unknown tongues in a church service so that no one could understand what was going on, and probably could not hear – as they seemed to be doing so all at once).

It is hard to imagine the disorder of the Corinthian church service, without having been there – but Paul felt the need to reign in this excess. He has had a report of what is going on, and he writes to the Corinthians. When he comes to this excess he writes (literally):

“Now concerning spirituals, I would not have you ignorant…”

I think Paul is saying “now concerning those of you who think yourself so spiritual, as you shout out in tongues in the Church service in your pride”. He goes on to speak of the gifts of the Spirit, but it is a valid interpretation to say that this is what Paul was saying in 1 Cor 12:1 (the NIV footnotes it for instance).

So Paul seems to be saying that you proud tongues prayers are disrupting the Church service, as you show off your spiritual gifts – but I thank God that I pray in tongues more than any of you. Paul is saying that they are not as spiritual as they think, and that boasting before men is disorderly, disruptive and not glorifying to God.

I trust that the Corinthians heard Paul’s message. Pride in our outward worship is still the very same error. When we sing loudly, pray long, dance or engage in any other demonstrable worship in our Church life, why do we do it? Are we as exuberant and devoted in our private moments? Do we dare pray for a full ten minutes in public, if we would not spend an hour in prayer beforehand?

How much of our church worship (with or without demonstrations of tongues and such like) is done for our own edification, rather than the glory of God? How much “spiritual experience” is nothing more than feeding our own pride and need for significance?

Why do so many people think that the loud churches are the spiritual ones?