A Prophetic Word for the 2012 American Church

 We each are responsible to stand for Jesus if we are His believer. It has never been so true as it is today that just because you go to church it doesn't mean you are a Christian. Frankly, true believers no longer want to be called a Christian because they don't want to be lumped in with so many pretenders. All believers are gifted by God as He sees fit - we don't get to pick our own gifting. Some gifts are easier to operate in then others, but we each must be obedient and willing to use our God given spiritual gifts.

About 20 years ago, I confirmed in my heart that one of my gifts - probably my prominent gift is that  of prophecy. Prophecy in the New Testament area is not the ability to foretell the future -- the Prophets of old have spoken, and we are living in the midst of the Written Prophecies coming true. This is what it means to be able to read the times and signs.

But a Jesus Prophet (an A.D. believer), forth-tells a word for this present day. A prophet is gifted with the Holy Spirit to see clearly what is taking place and is then to speak about what God shows them. It is not an easy job in the Kingdom, Jesus Himself said a prophet is never welcome in his hometown. Often a prophet says the truth, pulls back the sheet off of Oz, and exposes lies. I have learned to speak and duck, because whatever is thrown back toward me I want people to know they are throwing it at God  and He has my back.


I originally wrote this to a Christian leader and teacher in a response to an email that he sent out about being attacked for teaching the fact that the Christian Worldview is different from a Classical Worldview. In his return email he said, "You have expressed our great concerns so well. Our heart breaks as we go from state to state and see what is happening." In getting this reply, I knew in my spirit it was a confirmation that I need to make this message public and that it was indeed a Prophetic Word for the 2012 American Church:

The spiritual temperature--even in the Bible belt--is off. In much of my experience and in hearing concerns of others, the church is suffering deeply. I see a grave condition in the Church in America. 

The churches in communities are frequently no longer vibrant, dedicated believers of Jesus. Large churches overflowing with activity do not have time for the movement of the Holy Spirit... there is a schedule to keep, a program to do. The Church Show must go on! 

Increasingly the "believers" are not spiritually sound. They are busy for sure with good things and select what looks appropriately safe for their family... like classical education, but the bitter sting is the true lessons/messages are not grounded in the WORD nor the principles of the WORD! So we are seeing a mad slush of teachings that pretend to be wholesome for the Christian, but are really worldly. 

It is my firm belief that one core problem is paid full-time church staff; they have a conflict of personal interest when it comes to doing what is right in the name of the Lord. Let me explain: 

Fathers/providers will bite their tongue at work because they need to put a meal on the table and keep a roof over the head of their growing family or to meet others financial needs. Increasingly, many staff members of churches are clusters of family members, friends and long-time (we go way back) relationships; they look out for each other, and protect jobs, positions and livelihood regardless of the spiritual health or needs of those that come to church or the true needy. 

Sadly, church is most frequently a well-run show, that offers country club/ membership privileges and leadership/teachers includes the rich regardless of spiritual maturity so the church can keep tapped into the larger wallets to run this enterprise. 

The squeaky members are the small-time bread and butter believers, that are usually not financially endowed because they are leading a spiritually enrich life that often means being one-family-income in an increasingly expensive world. And I have too frequently seen godly men and women chased out of the church like they were irritating, eeking rats because they had the guts to stand up and say, "Hey the emperor has no clothes on."

Christ never once taught that unity meant not speaking up for truth and principles of the Word. But that is the key word used by many full-time staff church leaders/ administrators running their enterprise churches, because they know they can threaten believers to shut up or leave in the sake of perserving unity in the church. This is a blasphemy of the use of the word unity in the Bible. 

But many of today's churches cannot afford to have the bold believers in the church because they are the ones who seek to please God in the little moments of life that no one but God sees, and therefore are emboldened in their spirit by the Holy Spirit to see truth and speak truth. (These are the family members most church leaders try to hide in the broom closet until the visitor are gone - which is usually about 70+ percent-plus of the Sunday attenders). Most are sidelined--not allowed to serve in a visible or adult role--and are regulated to limit what they can say or do within the body of the church. 

For the believer, if you are experiencing this or struggling on the outside looking in because you can't find a place to call home, I encourage you to "Keep strong! Strength will not be necessarily in numbers but it will be in the power of the living, true God who never changes nor morphs for a new generation that is bored with the old and looking for something new." 

Please pray with me for our churches, our pastors, our believers and Christian families in America.