Letter to the Churches

Dear brothers, and sisters.

For a long time I have felt that something was going to happen, like we are on the brink of some great event, I don't know if you have had that feeling too, but I am beginning to understand what I have been sensing.

In our American culture there is great apostasy, apathy, deception, and distraction. Our culture struggles heavily with greed, materialism, and the most destructive ... immorality, and sensuality. These cultural poisons have found their way into the American church, and have been tolerated for so long now that the destructive heresies that they propagate are seen as normal, and are even perceived as  being innocuous.

I feel that what is going to happen has been growing slowly and steadily in our country and culture, I feel that what is coming is a great divergence, a polarization, a great revival of truth and repentance.

That the conscience of the church in this great nation is about to change, and I know that only the truths of our Lord Jesus can cause it to happen. I don't feel that this divergence is going to be a small or localized thing. I feel that what is going to happen will be immeasurably monumental, and that it can start here with us in this city.

I know that in the Lord's economy the sanctification of the people is paramount, that unless they possess that level of "sanctification  without which no one will see God ", they will certainly fall short and will have nothing in the end.

I know that as Paul said " God has chosen us for salvation through sanctification and faith in the truth". I know that sanctification is a road we all must travel to reach that great destination that we all dream about and desire, but on this road of sanctification there are many bridges, bridges of truth, because truth leads to truth as one truth leads us to another like a bridge.

As each truth becomes apparent to us in our lives by the leading of His spirit we apply it to our lives and we change, and effectively cross that bridge that leads us to more truth, this is the road of sanctification and accountability.

Like Paul said " In every house there are many vessels, some are honorable, and some are not, if we remove the dishonorable vessels then the house is clean and ready to be used ".

If we come to a bridge and we are unable to cross for whatever reason, perhaps it looks unsafe, hazardous, and threatening. Perhaps the bridge is too narrow and we are carrying too much to fit onto it, and we are too afraid to leave something behind in order to get to the other side. Fear is usually what causes us to hesitate and resist the crossing. If the fear is too strong we will spend sometimes many years trying to find another way around, over, or underneath. But the truth always leads us back to that same bridge and either we cross (no matter what the cost ) or we stay in a place of stagnation.

Sometimes people even try to block passage to a bridge, or even shroud or disguise the entrance and try to build an alternate bridge across the divide, which you and I know that those bridges are not safe and can never be completed, and people wind up falling off those bridges into the divide and are lost, or they stay on the bridge until the end when it will certainly come crashing down.

The false bridges are lies, they keep us from crossing the true bridges, and the only one that can help us tell the difference between the true and the false is the great Bridgekeeper.

There are many issues facing the church in America today, but the one that needs to be addressed first is the most damaging, malignant, and deadly. You and I both know what is tearing this country and the church apart, what has left countless dead and wounded, and has created an atmosphere of confusion, frustration, and hypocrisy.

Adultery, the single most insidious and destructive thing that the American church faces today. Millions of people are being destroyed because of it, not only the men and women, but the children and other family members that are affected by it. I know you know these things, but I feel that I am not being redundant because of the nature and the scope of the problem.

And now we come to the platform facing the bridge that we need to cross, the looming subject that no organization cares to touch fully, the ever concealed elephant that fills the rooms of their meetings, the very subject that creates an atmosphere of hypocrisy and psychological damage that takes away credibility and abases the organizations to the general public. So much so that the general public feels that faith in Jesus Christ essentially has nothing real to offer, and they feel that the people that believe are really no better than they are, and that Christianity in this present age and culture is outdated and ineffective, "it just doesn't work".

Why is this happening?, Why has the organizations become so abased in the eyes of the people?

The answer is: "Truth", actually the absence of it. The fact is that there are truths that are being suppressed. Why? Because of unrighteousness.

It seems to me that there are 3 apparent levels to truth, the first is simple truths like: the sky is blue, water is wet and so on. The second seems to be the one which Christians are very familiar with and seem to be well versed in which I like to call "the beautiful truths" like, Jesus loves us and came to sacrifice Himself for us, and also nothing can separate us from the love of God, and God gives good gifts to those who ask, and so on. There are many beautiful truths in the scriptures which give us peace and joy just thinking about them and we are very thankful for them all.

The third level or category of truth is what I call " The terrible truths". The ones that are very difficult to accept and sometimes understand. The ones that people normally avoid or try to circumnavigate. The ones that truly separate our nature from the divine, the ones that can truly be considered a "sharp sword" or "launderers soap".

These days it seems that the church in America has put great emphasis and have occupied themselves heavily with Category 1, and 2 truths while Category 3 truths seem to be in the background somewhere just out of sight. They rarely visit those truths and when they do it is with great care. They are very selective in what is approached, which I'm sure has something to do with organizational and cultural relevance, which you and I both know that culturally relevant laundry soap never gets out all the dirt.

In this letter I feel the need or burden to discuss one category 3 or "terrible truth" with you with our minds open and without any regard for implications or ramifications whatsoever and that we only explore the truth itself without feeling or pity, so that we may discover the whole truth of the matter and bring ourselves to completeness in this issue.

The permanence of Gods word is a great mystery especially to this present generation. I myself have family members that are in deep trouble and are very confused about certain truths. Nevertheless I have tried to explore and define some of these difficult truths for their sakes and for my wife and daughter's sake. To secure their future in the truth because you and I both know that truth is what protects the church.

In Luke chapter 16 he recorded the Lord referring to the permanence of His word. That it would be easier for the universe to vanish than for one stroke of one letter of the Law to fail. This statement in itself is astonishing when we consider the logic of it. After all was not the universe created by the word of God? So then it only makes good sense to deduce that the" Word of the Lord, the only begotten God which is in the bosom of the Father" is perpetual, in other words it is more permanent than the very fabric of the entire universe including reality itself (everything).

So we see that this verse and others like it in the scriptures defines our reality, and shows us what the actual and inescapable truths are. I feel that He was trying to help us understand that there are certain aspects of life that are unchangeable. Like when He said, " I did not come to bring peace, but a sword". This verse is very interesting because the sword that he is talking about is truth, Category 3 truth. The kind of truth that separates people, the sort of truth that shakes their world and causes their entire life to be turned upside down. This is the kind or level of truth that is being heavily avoided in this day and age.

In Luke chapter 16 He refers to this "permanent" truth, and interestingly enough gives us an example of that permanence: "Whoever marries a divorced woman is committing adultery". What is He saying exactly that would lead us to understand that He is talking about permanence? It is clear that this statement is intended to show permanence. What is it about it that shows permanence?

What is He saying exactly? A man that marries a legally divorced woman is actually committing or practicing adultery? That the man who marries a legally divorced woman is in effect having sex with his neighbors wife. Is this what He is actually saying? Is He saying that marriage once it is instituted is perpetual?.

Yes, that is exactly what He is saying. He is saying that the marriage covenant between a man and his first wife is perpetual, permanent, and can in no wise be changed, altered, erased, or nullified in any way, shape, or fashion. Furthermore if we explore the logic of His statement in context, we see that the man that has married a legally divorced woman is actually having sex with his neighbors wife because she still belongs to her first husband and always will until the first husband is dead and then she is free to marry whomever she wishes , as the scriptures say.

What is the reality of this logic or this wisdom? Wisdom is the ability to utilize true knowledge correctly. So if we are wise what do we say to the one who has given us this information?

The stark reality of this information is inescapable. If the man that is married to the legally divorced woman is actually practicing adultery, then doesn't that make him an adulterer? If he is an adulterer then has he fallen short of the sanctification required? After all isn't adultery mentioned by Paul in the same list of deadly sins along with practicing homosexuality, and effeminates, etc.?

If we tell the homosexual man and his "partner" that in order for them to repent they have to separate and end their homosexual relationship and dedicate themselves to the Lord in doing what is right in His sight, and then we tell the adulterous man who is in a adulterous relationship ("marriage") that he should stay with his "wife" and that the Lord will help them work it out, and all their problems can be worked out in the Lord, and we call them "blended families". Then what is the point?

In the light of the truth what nonsense this turns out to be, what an absurdity, what hypocrisy. Do we think that it is possible for the Lord to be pleased with such behavior?, or even tolerate it?.

It reminds us of what Ezra said when he was crying out to the Lord because of the sin of the remnant:

Ezra 9:13-15 (NASB) After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and our great guilt, since You our God have requited us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us an escaped remnant as this, shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? Would You not be angry with us to the point of destruction, until there is no remnant nor any who escape? O Lord God of Israel, You are righteous, for we have been left an escaped remnant, as it is this day; behold, we are before You in our guilt, for no one can stand before You because of this."

While marrying an unbeliever is not the issue in our discussion here, still I think we are facing a situation much like Ezra was facing when he tore his robe and fell down before the Lord because of the scope and intensity of the iniquity of the people.

If marriage is perpetual and permanent, then why do we not teach that? If the man who is living in adultery with his supposed "wife" and is going to be held accountable for it because he is practicing adultery and not repenting, then why do we not teach that?

If he is indeed practicing adultery and does not repent, does that mean that he will be judged as an adulterer and face the judgment of the hypocrites that Jesus talked about? Where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth? Will that man's name be erased from the book just as Jesus said might happen to those who do not keep His word?

If marriage is permanent then what other conclusion can we come to in reality? Would God separate the very thing that He says is inseparable? Does He change His mind? No He does not, but since we are constantly changing ours we think that He is like us, but you and I know better. Like He said the marriage covenant is more permanent than the very fabric of the universe itself and cannot be altered.

So where does this leave us? A gigantic mess of monumental proportion, much like Ezra was experiencing when he was laying on the ground perplexed at the scope of the problem.

But it was the people who drew near and wept and encouraged him to help with the problem, and they all took an oath before the Lord to do what was right in His sight, it took them two months to investigate and rectify the matter but it was finally resolved and the people were restored.

Not too long ago I had a interesting phone conversation with a brother in the Lord, in fact we attended his home bible study for a while, anyway he told me that his wife had left him, one day she just gathered her things and took off and did not tell him where she was going, I had learned that she had left her first husband in Hawaii whom she had been married to for 30 some years, anyway I told him how sorry I was about it and asked him if he had considered the fact that she may never have belonged to him in the first place, and that she had never been his wife because she still belonged to her first husband. He told me that in all the counseling that he and she had gone to that no one had ever said anything like that, and that he was trying to understand what was happening. I told him that considering the circumstances that it was destined to be that way because it was not blessed by the Lord. Consequently he did not understand and I have not heard from him since that conversation.

Why do we as a body of believers in this country try to turn the word of God around to fit the culture? Why do we keep tolerating the suppressing of these truths? What is more important than the truth?, an organization?, a wife?, a house?, a car?, a job?, a country?, is there anything in this whole universe that is more important than the truth? But what does He say?, "Speak the truth one to another", and also He says "confess your sins to one another".

We must not be ashamed to speak the truth, we must stand up for the truth like men, no matter what the cost, no matter who likes it or not, but what did Paul say to Timothy: "in the last days they will no longer tolerate sound doctrine but will accumulate for themselves teachers to tell them what they want to hear.

I do not want to believe that the church in this country is going to finish like this, I want to believe that there will be a revival, a great divergence, and that we will see the Lord work with great power and confirming signs. All we need do is stand for the truth and we may see it happen. I pray for you to have great strength and encouragement, and every fear, and concern will fall away in the light of the truth and what it can produce.

Do not give into the fear, and do not look at the waves, keep your eyes on the one who has given you the milk of the word, and be mature in your thinking. May the Lord help us all.