LET…. MY…. PEOPLE…. GO !!

Chapter one

Let….My….People….Go !! is my seventh book. Let me tell you about number one….

Forty-five years ago the Lord said, “Write a book”. I prayed “in the spirit” for about two months before writing one word, asking the Lord to give me the interpretation throughout my writing.

A Catholic No More was directed to born-again catholics, those who found Jesus in that dramatic worldwide visitation of the Holy Spirit in the 60s, 70’s, and 80s, the majority making a foolish decision to remain within catholicism. Much of what I wrote was far beyond my understanding, truths that (I later learned) equally apply to evangelicals. Do you, Pastor Whoever, “have ears to hear”?

The following quotations are from the preface of my first-ever writing, all a consequence of “interpretation of tongues”. Are these excerpts from A Catholic No More really of the the Holy Spirit? You be the judge….

Excerpt: Today the same enemy has raised the same army of spokesmen to wrestle the same Word from the same church.

Comment: Can you grasp the significance? Could this quotation be truth? The “same enemy” is none other than the devil, the one Jesus

called “a liar and the father of lies” (AMP). You are “the same army of spokesmen” that “wrestle the same Word from the same church”.

Preposterous? Ridiculous? Impossible? No, no and no! The evidence is obvious to anyone “who has ears to hear” and eyes to see and courage to challenge “the tradition of the [evangelical] elders”.

Excerpt: The Adders and Subtracters have paved various ways. Negotiators and Compromisers seat each other in places of prominence.

Comment: Adders and Subtracters? Negotiators and Compromisers? Who are these villains who would dare malign God’s Bible? Answer: You are! The evidence of adding to Scripture can be found in your own terminology. Isn’t church membership an add-on to the Bible? And Reverend? And home church? And dozens of etceteras? Doesn’t that make you an Adder to God’s Bible?

You subtract from Scripture by what you do not teach and do not emphasize. You don’t admonish your congregation to be led individually by the Holy Spirit. You rarely mention the upcoming judgement seat of Christ. You almost never mention Christ’s Great Commission. You don’t admonish them to “Preach the word!”.

Your people are not followers of Christ, no more than you are. Like you, they follow christians (who follow christians). Under your leadership their loyalty has been transferred from Scripture to evangelical tradition. You have made religionists out of God’s people.

Negotiators? Compromisers? Yes and yes. Where there is meager respect for New Testament teachings and precedents, men must negotiate with men to create a workable order. The local church is not a holy thing rooted in God’s Word but rather a political domain whereby the licensed compete for power and significance. Everything must be negotiated, including the pastor’s (non-biblical) salary. Specific roles of all pastors within church hierarchy must be negotiated. Potential

candidates for the (non-biblical) board-of-elders (or board-of-whatever) must be made to understand that unity has precedence over transparency, loyalty to custom over integrity to Bible precedents. And on and on and on.

Compromisers. It has been said that compromising is like drinking salt water; the more you drink the thirstier you become. Evangelicalism comes in many packages, each a product of compromises stacked atop compromises.

Excerpt: But unfortunately there is no Paul – at least I haven’t heard of him/her. Indignation is scarce. Men are not men and women are not women.

Comment: You and Paul have almost no similitude. Sorry, but you just don’t. Paul was not licensed, salaried or titled. Paul strove to be a “burden to no one”; you are a constant (and the largest) financial burden to your congregation. Paul emphasized “Jesus Christ and Him crucified”; you emphasize “commandments of men”. Paul was content with “having food and clothing”; your (impressive?) salary can and does purchase a number of nonessentials. Paul worked (“These hands have provided for my necessities”); you do not work with your “hands” to provide for your necessities (and that of your family).

Excerpt: Negotiators and Compromisers seat each other in places of prominence. The lordship of Christ in heaven, the lordship of christians on earth.

The powerful pulpit is a place of prominence. Denominational offices, pastoral ministry, board-of-elders – all places of prominence providing esteem and admiration and envy. Internal politics determine who is seated where.

Excerpt: Where is the retaliation?

Comment: A Catholic No More was Christ’s counter to man’s “commandments of men” forty-five years ago; Let….My….People Go

!! is Christ’s response today. But why so very little similar fury from evangelical Bible scholars whose knowledge of Scripture so much surpasses mine? There are no nice answers….

There is no retaliation because there are no Pauls. Paul “withstood [Peter] to his face because he was to be blamed.” (Galatians, chapter 2) This is the story….

“Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.”

Peter seriously trespassed against the Lord Jesus (and against the gentile christians) before many witnesses. And yet the “certain men [who] came from James” did not confront Peter for his treachery. Nor did the Jewish converts. Nor did Barnabas. Why, why, why? The answer is simple….

Fear of man. Christians fear christians. Peter feared “those who were of the circumcision”. Jewish christians feared Peter. Barnabas feared exclusion. You must realize that….

What was in them (fear of man) is in you. Your fear of man outweighs your fear of God. You fear disfavour, you fear exclusion, you fear persecution. And you fear disruption to your livelihood (your salary). Fear of man explains why you promote “commandments of men”. Fear of man prevents you from being a disciple of Christ. Fear of man keeps you silent instead of confronting evangelical treachery.

Your submission to man makes you a man-pleaser. A man-pleaser cannot be a disciple of Jesus Christ. (Paul: “If I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.”)

Paul was both right and rare. Confronting Peter was the right thing to do. And confronting accepted malpractice is rare. To go along rather than stand against takes more courage than most have. The solution to cowardice is fervent repentance unto the “head of the church” and fervent petitioning for courage.

******************************* Now I have a story to tell….

I was present at the very first gathering of (what was later referred to as) the People of Faith prayer group at our catholic parish (in Kelowna, BC, Canada.) This goes way back to 1973. The very small gathering was soon a very large gathering of born-again catholics who discovered Christ, a result of a wondrous outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We were a tiny part of (what has been termed) the Catholic Charismatic Movement that was sweeping our North American continent and many other locations.

Five years later I (finally!) made a decision to remove my family from catholicism. The prayer group leaders (the core group), wanting to assure the very nervous bishop that they opposed my conduct, made a concerted decision to oppose me by restricting my involvement in the prayer gatherings. I asked for and received permission to challenge the core group’s decision. Much of my twenty minute response to my friends way back then can be equally applied to the entirety of evangelical leadership.

Their mistake of giving secondary prominence to God’s Bible is likewise your mistake. Although their collection of “commandments of men” differ from yours, both are exceedingly harmful. Both are traitorous to Jesus, to His (and our) Father and to “the Spirit of truth”.

My prayer is that you will give adequate consideration to the following excerpts from my response to the People of Faith core group, delivered in person (very nervously), almost fifty years ago. (Jesus: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”)

Excerpt: 1 Thess.5:19: Quench not the Spirit. The people who quench the Spirit are not sons of the Father doing the Father’s business, but sons preoccupied with doing someone else’s business, SERVING ANOTHER MASTER. saying things the Father did not tell them to say…. doing things the Father did not tell them to do SAYING AND DOING THINGS CONTRARY TO HIS WORD. As sons, it is our business to do the Father’s business. Anything else, to put it bluntly, IS NONE OF OUR BUSINESS. I suggest that the common denominator to every quenching of the Spirit is a disobedience to, or misunderstanding of, or a disregard for His Word.

Excerpt: James 1:22: But be ye DOERS of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Excerpt: And after the gospel of Jesus Christ has been watered down, diluted with worldly sayings and opinions, altered, neglected, ridiculed and compromised. the result is a gospel different from the gospel that

Jesus, Paul and Peter taught.

Excerpt: As His children, we should make a conscious effort to say only words that line up with His words. That’s what a loyal son does. A loyal, committed son does not say words that are contrary to the Father, does he? Again, James 1:22: “But prove yourselves DOERS of the Word and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”

Excerpt: He doesn’t need you or I to break down the walls to negotiate…. to appease. to compromise and to compromise and to compromise again…. in the name of order in the name of submission in the name of love.

Excerpt: We are not to limit our obedience to God by what another individual says or by what any church says. But we are to limit our obedience to man when it is conflicting with the Word of God. 1 John 5:3: “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” Luke 16:13: “No servant can love two masters.” Acts 5:29: “But Peter and the apostles said ‘We must obey God rather than men.’ ”