Revival - Leaving the Roman World Behind

Genesis 10:32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations; and out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.

It is fascinating to consider the things that happened to mankind after the great flood which took place approx. 2350 BC. About one hundred years after the flood, God confused the language of all the people and the tower of Babel was abandoned. The peoples being separated by all the different languages began to migrate to all the corners of the Earth. We have no idea exactly how many people were alive at that time. Evidently they migrated in every direction. The people that went to the north and west became the Indo-European peoples from which came the Mycenae peoples and they eventually became the Greeks. Also there were the various peoples that populated the coast lands all throughout Southern Europe. Some of these were the Latin speaking peoples that settled on one of the hills of the future city of Rome, on the Palatine hill, about the tenth century BC. From history we can see that they were a very organized and resourceful people that became a powerful kingdom at first, and then became a republic around 500 BC. Ancient Roman society has contributed greatly to government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language, society and more in the Western world. It is the religious aspect of the ancient Roman world that I feel is necessary to explore in this paper.

Ancient Roman society considered itself highly religious, and the practice of adopting other gods and adjusting the details of ritual worship and observances to fit their society was very common to their system of beliefs. Their practice of religion toward all their gods was summed up in the saying "Do ut des", or "I give that you might give". So it is obvious to see that their religion was dependent on pleasing all the gods so that they would "benefit" in a tangible way from the blessings and favor of their gods.

Christianity had a latent influence on the Roman Empire leading to the end of the Christian persecutions. Emperor Constantine ended them right around 325 AD. After his "conversion" he adopted and assimilated the Christian God in the manner of his ancestors in accepting a new god. He accepted Christianity in a form, but not in the way of the truth. He did not understand that Jesus Christ the one and only true God and creator of the universe does NOT dwell in temples made with hands. That He cannot be influenced by honorific pomp and circumstance and that service to Him has nothing to do with wealth and material gain. That there is NO hierarchical system of leadership in HIS church and that teachers are raised up by Him, and Him alone, not by a college of pontiffs or seminaries, that no man in His church is to be called rabbi, or teacher, or father, or leader, because there IS only ONE Rabbi, Teacher, Father, and Leader which is the Lord. Also he did not understand that the Lord Jesus cannot be used for personal political purposes or for military expansionism. The Lord was speaking to Constantine, but it was not what Constantine wanted to hear. If he was truly hearing Jesus, then he would have heard the same thing that the Lord Jesus has always been saying to those who are heavily invested in this world, "Sell all of your posessions and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven, and then come and follow Me." Constantine falsely went from being the Pontifex Maximus (the gods' representative on earth) of the pagan religion to being the Pontifex Maximus (God's representative on earth and head of the church) in Christianity. Later the West separated from the East and the Caesar was no longer the leader but the Pope. All these things were NEVER intended by the Lord Jesus. It's interesting that even the name Roman Catholic has a relevant significance in this matter. The ancient Latin word Catholicus along with the Greek word, Katholikos, inferring "universal" or "whole", so that the name "Roman Catholic Church" means "Roman Universal Church" or whole Romanized Church.

Constantine followed the Roman way of setting up big hierarchy and began to build church cathedrals for Christians to meet in and feel closer to God in. He missed "The Way" and started the Roman way amongst the converts to his Christianity that became wealthy and powerful in government. This order remained intact until the reformation of the 1500's. Then came the era of denominations. A lot of the people of the Reformation wanted to get free of the influence and rule of the Roman Catholic Church but they didn't want to leave the pattern that they had set up for the churches. A revival broke out that went like wildfire amongst those that wanted to leave that pattern completely behind. They were mostly poor uneducated farmers. Basically the nobodies and they were persecuted: martyred, drown, burned at the stake or run out of town by both the Lutherans and Catholics. They were the simple people that wanted to get back to the basics and follow the teachings of Christ and leave behind all the wealth and false teachings of the church that was formed from Roman culture that became church tradition. They wanted to be baptized as an adult with a confession of faith and they were hated for it by the powerful "churches".

After this time the church settled into the age of denominations. They were little empires that were like the Roman Catholic Church in structure just not as powerful and they had different tenants than the Catholics. There were reoccurring revivals that started outside a denomination and then cooled and settled into another denomination. This went on until the Jesus Movement of the late 1960's and early 70's. The young adults of that era, the baby boomers, became disillusioned with the church in America and with the government and society and they became the Hippies. They shed materialism and began seeking for truth. They took drugs, explored eastern religion and mysticism. They were experimenting with lots of different things. At this time a man named Chuck Smith began developing a different philosophy of ministry in the church. He wanted to leave the denominations, teach straight through the Bible, leaving nothing out and thought that home fellowships was where believers really grew in the Lord. He and his wife Kay opened their home to some Hippies. One in particular was Lonnie Frisbee. He was charismatic and drew a lot of the Hippies but he was mixed up from his experimenting with LSD and mysticism of his past and troubled by sin. He and Chuck Smith ministering together in a little church on the edge of town, saw it go from 200 to 2000 in 6 months. They had to put up a big tent to hold everyone that was coming and they just baptized thousands in the Pacific Ocean. This revival caught national attention and it was in all the major magazines, newspapers and TV networks in the nation. Many, many people got saved and their lives were transformed and the mega churches began. Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa was one of the first ones. Chuck Smith went part way, he left the denominations, taught from the whole Bible, and down played the need for money, but he did not completely shed the Roman influence of church buildings and hierarchy. Sadly to say Lonnie Frisbee did not find deliverance from his sin of homosexuality and died of AIDS in 1993. Chuck Smith went on to plant many many churches and changed the face of worship in the churches all across the US. The Hippies settled down into Yuppies and began to raise the next generation.

Now what has happened? The next generation (96% of them) are vacating the churches. Saying it's dead or it doesn't work.  We now hear the words, "We need revival!" Some are saying be super loving and don't correct anyone and for goodness sakes don't tell them they might go to hell.  Just do community service and be super nice to your neighbor.  Some big names like, Chuck Smith Jr and Joel Olsteen are saying revival will happen if we loosen up a little bit and start affirming and ordaining the gays, others are saying we need to emerge and accept all religions becasue God will credit all sincere worship even to other gods as credit towards Him, right?  Those in the radical Pentecostalism say we need more power and are making films about raising people from the dead. Forming dead raiser teams where the members of the team are taught in a school that encourages them to lay on dead famous evangelists graves and suck the anointing off their bones (necromancy) for the power to do mighty works of God. With this great power they will lead the next great revival. They all think they have the answer, but have they?

In this present time we are making the same mistakes as our Roman ancestors. We ourselves do not understand the basic fundamental teachings of Jesus. Even his disciples were impressed with the Temple buildings in Jerusalem, but what was the Lords response? He said "Their house is left to them desolate", and "Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down." But what do we do? We build temples. Did Jesus say go into all the world and build a temple in every city? It has become very obvious to me now that we have erred greatly in this matter, and that we have truly become the children of Babylon, that corrupting influence that has deceived the people of God to wander away from the truth, and the simplicity of pure faith. We have built great church buildings and organizations that have fostered an atmosphere of comprise and licentiousness, and mixed with overt disobedience and selfish ambition that is trying to make us the children of the great harlot, instead of being humble servants of the righteousness of God.

The Lord Jesus dwells in our hearts. We are spiritual stones that make up a SPIRITUAL temple. Our lives are not to be spent on wealth and materialism, and trying to "build great THINGS for the Lord. Building buildings and creating hierarchal organizations forces us to be heavily invested in this "temporal" world and creates an environment of compromise and gives the enemy a foothold. They think the end justifies the means and that God needs those things. They are like the proverbial monkey with it's hand in the jar holding the nut. They won't let go of the nut and they become trapped. Did not the Lord say that God has chosen the poor of this world to be rich in spiritual things? And also "blessed are the poor in spirit." The Lord is leading us away from wealth and materialism because He knows what we are, and He knows that we will stray from Him by chasing after such things. You cannot serve God and money, because we are human, and humans do not do well in this area. We are always bent toward selfish ambition because of our evil hearts. What have we become?. It is not a pretty sight. Most of us do not want to look into the spiritual mirror that shows us what we really are. A lot of the religious organizations have in essence become genealogical social clubs, catering to their members with all sorts of indulgences, relying on Old Testament scriptures about the temple to justify the existence and the support of their investments. While training and hiring their teachers to teach them the things that please them. We truly have become the type of Christians of the end that Paul spoke to Timothy about.

When we come to the Lord we receive a measure of faith, and are able to perceive the pure milk of the word. We are able to "taste the spiritual things", and see that the Lord is good, but unfortunately most people do not hear the whole truth, because many truths are suppressed and instead of people repenting of all of their sins and finding deliverance, and experiencing sanctification and power in their lives, they wind up going to the organizational buildings and singing the same songs every week and hearing sermons designed by the organization, and experience the "milk" of the word every week, where they just remain on the" first base" of their faith, and think that this is just the way it is suppose to be.

Most religious organizations depend on the financial support of the people. They don't teach the difficult things that Jesus taught because they don't want people to leave and take their support away. Instead of helping the people to identify and repent from their sins, and helping the sheep to be sanctified , and teach them to simplify their lives and move away from materialism and wealth, and selfish ambition, they actually teach the opposite that the more they give to the church (to God) the more God will give them money and spiritual power. In essence instead of sanctifying and saving the sheep, The denominations and traditional church system many times ends up devouring them.

One of essential foundational truths that is being suppressed is a very good example of what is happening in our country today. In fact this particular truth is one that the Lord Jesus Himself used as an example to the religious leaders of that time, and is VERY applicable to this time that we find ourselves in. The Lord spoke to them as follows in the book of Luke chapter 16, verses 16 "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. 17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.18 "Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery." It is impossible for one to try to force their way into the kingdom of God without repenting and obeying Jesus' commands, and yet we see this happening all the time. The Lord was speaking directly about the permanence of His word, and how futile it is to try to breach that permanence. The example: "and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery", shows us an example of the permanence of His word , and shows that if a man marries a divorced woman he is actually practicing adultery by having sex with his neighbors wife even though she is legally divorced from her husband. Why? Because she still belongs to her first husband because God's word is permanent and cannot be changed. This is not complicated rocket science, it is simple truth, and yet it is very hard for us to swallow, because of our present spiritual condition which is very poor.

The religious organizations allow this and other truths to be suppressed, because they foster an atmosphere of compromise to keep their attendance from dropping to dangerous levels. The present organizational church system minimizes personal and group accountability so that all of the truths that people need to learn for sanctification in their lives and learn to live in a simple Godly manner, turning away from wealth and materialism which can cause us to compromise, and stumble us.

The next great work of God, as always, will begin with the simple hearted "nobodies". Those pulling away from materialism, personal power and solely depending on God. Not a big name or lots of money and resources. Just following the Lord and waiting for his Holy Spirit. At this time we believe God is calling people out of the organizations that are holding them back from advancing in their walks, not in order to build another organization, but to lead HIS people HIMSELF, and we shall see how this manifests. Right now we are participating with other believers online that feel the same way we do, and we hope that maybe we will see home fellowships develop in our valley through people that the Lord raises up, and that we may have fellowship with them based on the whole word of the Lord. We will not be participating in the denominational organizations or the traditional church system any more, because we feel that they are not what the Lord intended from the beginning, it is impossible to fix something that was never intended to be. Personally, we are leaving the Roman world behind.