LET…. MY…. PEOPLE…. GO !!

Chapter twenty-nine

“Let My people go, that they may serve Me.” Go? Go where?

Relationally, christians must return to Christ. After returning, the love relationship between Christ and christian must be more stable, more protected than any other relationship. Only then can Christ’s Blood- washed saints pick up and carry the cross that the “head of the church” has set before them.

NOTE: The final chapters of Let….My….People Go !! are especially directed to the few (very few?) who have themselves profoundly repented of betrayal to the “Lord of lords and King of kings” and returned to “first love”. Only those set free can set others free. Only the humble and determined and courageous are empowered by the Holy Spirit to set their brothers and sisters free from religion and all other idols.

Since you have funnelled them into religion (“commandments of men”) and since it is you who redirected their loyalty from Him to you, it is you, dear brothers-in-Christ, most qualified to set them free. This will not be easy. Perhaps for many (most?) it will be impossible. Egypt has confiscated loyalty once fixed on Jesus. Egypt has become a lifestyle.

Egypt has become their comfort and their protector and their guide.

But you must try. After much prayerful preparation use sunday morning’s pulpit to speak unadulterated truth to your people, even truth that could thoroughly shock and upset and anger them. You owe that to Lord Jesus and you owe that to them.

Perhaps your message to your congregation will be similar to this…. PART ONE

Good morning, my brothers- and sisters-in-Christ. I have an important message, a fervent apology and an important announcement to deliver to you this morning. I have prayed that our Lord Jesus would give me the ability and courage to speak candidly and to give you ears to hear words that, perhaps, you have never heard before. I will speak very slowly to help you grasp this most important and hopefully life-changing message. Please give me, as fully as possible, your attention. This message is of such importance that I offer to you, at my expense, a CD recording to be listened to at home, hopefully over and over again.

Exodus 7:16: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.” These words of God directed to Pharaoh through Moses were repeated several times. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.

Way back then, God’s “people” were the descendants of Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, whose name the Lord changed to Israel. Today God’s “people” are every blood-washed saint, every born-again person, every new covenant christian. This may come as a shock but most christians today are as much in bondage as were “the children of Israel”, certainly not in harshness but in thoroughness. And until very recently this most certainly included me.

Obviously, no christian can come close to his/her potential of service to Jesus Christ while held in spiritual captivity. One can only serve Lord Jesus effectively when serving Him directly, not indirectly through the governance of other christians. A follower of christians is not a disciple of Christ but rather a disciple of man.

The Lord’s command to me and every leader of institutionalized assemblies is the same as his mandate to evil Pharaoh: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.” That is my intention this sunday morning. Please bear with me, and, again, I petition your full attention.

I am the one who introduced many of you to evangelicalism. I am the one who, week by week, strengthened the hold this religion has on you. Your trust in me has seriously encumbered you with debilitating spiritual strongholds. A spiritual stronghold is an ungodly mindset that has a strong hold on one’s mind and heart.

Before leading this congregation into our denomination’s array of “commandments of men” I had to first be coerced to embrace these evangelical traditions as my own. Let me tell you my story….

When I became converted to Jesus Christ when a young man I, like everyone of you, had a strong desire to serve Him. Perhaps my fervor surpassed that of most. To do, to accomplish, to build – these ambitions were partly of God and partly of flesh. My born-again spirit hungered for more of Jesus while my sick soul lusted for relevance and recognition. How can I serve God? How can I be influential? How and where do I get started? I appealed to church leadership for answers and church leadership pointed me to our acclaimed seminary.

I have never said this before, but seminaries and Bible colleges are not what you think they are. I first entered our denominational seminary with a small head and a large heart, and exited two years later with a small heart and a swelled head. I entrusted myself to experienced and professional teachers, assuming they would make of me a competent and faithful shepherd of Christ’s sheep. Instead I became an artificial and pompous controller of people.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent.” (NLT) The corruption of my devotion to Christ was subtle and imperceptible while my devotion to evangelicalism was equally subtle and equally imperceptible.

All the externals – the impressive buildings, the structured schedules, the refined teachers, the school hierarchy, the throng of students, the school’s reputation – assured me that all this was wholesome, pleasing to God. All these people just couldn’t be mistaken!

Looking back, I realize that missing from the staff and directors of our denomination’s seminary is a strong devotion to Jesus Christ. Does this surprise you? Have you assumed, as most assume, that seminaries are God’s appointed and anointed training fortresses? Not so. It is possible to be active in christianized service while being relationally distant from Lord Jesus. Don’t all other religions verify this? These brothers had themselves been infected with “commandments of men” and they dutifully passed on those non-biblical traditions to their students.

Understand that if they refused to do so they would soon be unemployed.

I graduated with a framed piece of paper that elevated me above the crowd. I was a nobody; now I’m a somebody. My diploma, signed by the president of our prominent school and the head supervisor of our denomination, is convincing evidence that I am equipped to equip others in the ways of the Lord. My future was promising….

I was advantaged over my “competition” (other unmarried guys) in choosing a spouse; young ladies are attracted to single church ministers, eager to share their significance. And….

If I proved myself faithful to denominational lords I would soon have an audience. Everyone wants an audience, the bigger the better. Who doesn’t want to be heard?…. to be relevant?. to be the chief influence of a sizable assembly? Thousands of evangelical churches provide a quiet and orderly congregation of listeners, and I was determined to get hold of one. I instinctively knew the pathway to placement: enthusiastic compliance to those above me. And….

And then there’s the salary. A salary would elevate and empower me even more than the diploma. Only spiritual elites are salaried. The salaried call themselves servants but they’re not. A servant is not the decision-maker, not titled, not controlling. And…

And soon people would be calling me Pastor. Who doesn’t want to be titled? People will actually consider me (yes, me!) their shepherd, their guide, their instructor?! Wow! Authority, salary, audience, title, significance what a jackpot!

So that’s my story. That’s how I became who I am or rather, who I recently was before I repented and recommitted my life to Jesus Christ.

(Part 2 is chapter 31)

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There has always been contention between evangelicals who believe in Holy Spirit manifestations and those who don’t. When the Holy Spirit swept across our city in the ’60s and ’70s many catholics came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Our People of Faith prayer group, mostly consisting of recently converted catholics from our local St.

Theresa parish, grew quickly, and a decision was made to have an all- day conference at the Centennial Park hall a short distance down the road.

Everybody there, including leadership, were quite unaware of spiritual matters outside of catholicism; it could not be said that the unusual manifestations were copied from anyone. I could have been the most senior convert in that group (though nonetheless quite young in the Lord) and what I witnessed I had never before seen or heard of….

People who were being prayed for were “slain in the Spirit”, a term probably none had previously heard. Many were on the floor, seemingly in a state of euphoric peace and tranquility. I wasn’t frightened but I was concerned. My wife lay silently and immobile on the floor in this spiritual encounter with the Holy Spirit. A friend who was kneeling while praying for her, himself fully bewildered, got to his feet and I pulled him back to the kneeling position as if to say, “You aren’t getting to your feet until my wife gets to her feet!” This significant manifestation of the Holy Spirit throughout the large hall went on for several hours.

A sizable chunk of evangelical leadership would scoff at this account of something I witnessed almost fifty years ago. They seem to be of baptist (or similar) background. They seemingly accredit unusual manifestations – that is manifestations unusual to them and their denominations – to the devil, though they don’t say that directly.

Generally speaking, this powerful and assertive army of (supposed) protectors of the faith believe that manifestations of the Spirit ceased with the death of the apostles and therefore “signs and wonders”, speaking in tongues, prophecies, gifts of the Spirit, miracle healings are imaginary…. or delusional…. or perhaps hypnotic or perhaps demonic.

Yet these people claim obedience to the Bible. No, they don’t have commonality (regarding the supernatural) with Jesus or His twelve. And no, they don’t imitate Paul and many others. And no, they don’t speak in tongues. (Jesus: “These signs will follow those who believe they will speak with new tongues.”) And no, their christianity has no resemblance to the book of Acts. Yet they consider themselves qualified to correct those better aligned to New Testament precedents. Go figure!

These people are a militant bunch. They scour social media and non- baptist-type ministries for reports of manifestations of the Spirit and publicly scorn the preacher or ministry. They are skilled at what they do. They discredit a particular manifestation and the accompanying minister while concealing their bias; they don’t tell their audience that they don’t believe in any spiritual phenomenon. I discern they have made inroads into many (most?) of my Facebook friends who seem suspicious and unnerved by anything supernatural or unusual.

It is so paradoxical that these brothers express no objection to “commandments of men” within their own assemblies – the awful evangelical tithe, appellations, salaries, ordination, and many etceteras – yet denounce Holy Spirit manifestations that do have solid precedent in the Bible they claim to defend. And now I will have a second story that will no doubt further ruffle their religious feathers….

I was one of hundreds of thousands who travelled to Toronto, Ontario, Canada to attend one of “Toronto Blessing” gatherings of saints. This Holy Spirit phenomenon had been going on for years and I was hungry for more of God. When my sister, brother-in-law and I arrived at the large church auditorium the place was already packed and we had to sit behind the stage. We could hear everything but see nothing. After the service I walked in front of the platform to see (not dozens but) hundreds of people lying on the floor in a euphoric state. Wow! When making my way to the restroom at the opposite end I had to cautiously step over people’s arms and legs and heads.

I have learned that moves of the Holy Spirit such as the one we experienced at St. Theresa parish and even more powerful ones such as the “Toronto Blessing”, are not God’s endorsement. As our Lord Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, works though flawed individuals, He likewise moves through flawed assemblies. Amen?