Christian dispatches

TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2009

Dispatch #1

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a dispatch as, " a: a message sent with speed ; especially : an important official message sent by a diplomatic, military, or naval officer b: a news item filed by a correspondent." Given this definition, the term 'dispatches' seems to me to be the most appropriate title for the forthcoming contents of this blog. We're living in critical times. One need only turn on the news, talk to a neighbor, or peer through their own front window to see that their is a gathering storm on the churches horizon. Simply put, we are losing. We're losing the battle for the spirits, hearts, minds, and bodies of the people, particularly, according to my own context, the American people.

In part we're losing them because we have lost ourselves. We've been seduced by peripheral concerns such as the accumulation of wealth and the exercise of political power. Instead of being in the world and not of it we've become of it to the point that we are beginning to be snuffed out of it. Whether it's pedophile priests, false prophets, homosexual ministers, hoaxing televangelists, or profiteering pastors, there seems to be no shortage of so-called leaders whose public falls from grace hold The Church up for mockery. "For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, even as it is written." Indeed, the name of God is blasphemed among the non-believers because of them, even today's so-called leaders within The Church. And not only because of the sins of those who claim to be the voice of Christ, but also the sins of the hands and feet as well. Judgement begins in the house of God, and once again it is time for judgement to begin, even as it did in Jerusalem, in Rome, in France, and in Germany. Our time has come here in America for the deeds of every one to be tested and for The Church to be sifted as wheat. There is no discipleship without discipline and no justice without an equal measure of judgement and mercy. God will not be mocked: we will reap what we have sown, be it good or ill.

Who am I? I can feel that question swimming beneath your surface. I'm a sinner striving to be a saint. I'm a former lost cause who God saw fit to find a place for in Christ for his own purposes. According to the will of God I was plucked from the darkness and placed in the light of his glory, in the presence of his son Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior, by whose death I died to sin and by whose resurrection I was born in the spirit. In short, I was you, and you, and you, and now I am him, even as we are all him who are in him. Who am I to...and in whose name...? I am the prodigal son returned, now striving to live a life of gratitude to my Father, seeking righteousness not so that I might be saved but because I am saved. And this, this blog, is merely a moment of obedience from a grateful son and sibling to the Father who sent and the brother who went, in Jesus name. Make of it what you will; the one I answer to is God, and his judgement is my only concern.

Christ is preparing for himself a bride without wrinkle or blemish or any such thing, and we are his bride, so we must be prepared. God willing we will emerge from our purification many powers more glorious than we entered into it. Indeed we will, but we should have no illusions about just what such a process of purification entails. If we, as the body of Christ, won't mortify the deeds of the flesh ourselves, then Christ will do so himself, according to the will of the Father and by his spirit. We will enter into a fast of a severity and duration of his choosing, and as with any fast, and period of purgation and detoxification it will be neither pretty nor pleasant, but it will be and it will be for our good and God's glory. We will be pruned, personally and communally. We will suffer loss, but what appears materially to be loss will spiritually be recognized as gain. Some will fall asleep and many will fall away, but those who sleep will rise to their glory and those fall away will be exposed for who and what they are. According to the Spirit of God I promise you this. Accept it if you can.

We are fighting a spiritual insurgency in a land already occupied after a war already won. Christ won the victory for us on the cross and began his triumphal procession in the tomb. However, the dangers are no less real. In fact they may be more so than they were formerly, because even as physical insurgents lie in wait to unleash terror from behind windows, walls and from deep holes and dim corners, so do spiritual insurgent lie in wait even behind smiling faces, soothing voices and from deep pronouncements of tolerance and peace. We ought never forget that we are behind enemy lines and that between light and dark there can be no peace. For too long we've been lulled into a sense of complacency as if Christ had already returned and the resurrection had already taken place. Make no mistake about it, where the enemy seems to be weak he is strong and where he seems to be strong he is weak. When we slow, they watch, and while we rest, they wait, readying themselves for the right moment to strike.

According to the Spirit of God I'm telling you that we are being put on notice. The time is rapidly approaching when the quality of every one and every thing within The Church will be made known. Now is the time to put away childish things. Now is the time to plan and to prepare. Now is the time to be reconciled to our brothers and sisters, to put aside our pride and our points of disputation, to gather ourselves upon the rock of Gods providence, that is, upon our crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ and to stand together under the unassailable banner of his holy name so that we may be one in him. Then and only then will we be ready to break the fiery arrows flying from the darkness and to pierce that very darkness with the sword of Gods spirit, which is the word of God. Our lord stands at the door and is about to enter, to review his people and to call them to account. And when he comes he will take from those who are able but unwilling and give to them who hitherto have been willing but unable. He will remove the candle stands from wayward houses and seek for them houses of the holy. For too long too many have been fat and unfit for hard labor, for too long too many have been overgrown and under-productive. And all this to appease those who would see us put under and to enrich ourselves with that which will soon pass away and which even now is passing. He will exercise his body and trim his tree so that his body is fit and his tree bears much fruit, and then both our peace and riches will be lasting.

Each one of you must decide for yourselves whether the words that I speak are true and determine between yourselves and the spirit what they mean for you. I encourage each of you to approach God in prayer and to test what I am saying. It is your Christian duty to test every spirit and to place everything before the throne of Christ to subject it to his judgement. For my part I am confident that God will demonstrate that what I am saying is true.

May our Father bless you and make you a blessing, may he shine upon you and make you to shine, all in Jesus name.

In him I remain,

JVS

[link to christiandispatches.blogspot.com]