ELECTRONIC MINISTRY – Part 3 (Open Letter pages 134-141).
And then, there was another servant of Yours who was preaching the Gospel for many years and built a Cathedral which was big enough also for “tomorrow”. Have You not called him into that ministry, Lord? If You truly had called him, how is it that he never knew You? And if he knew You in the beginning, he certainly had lost You along the way as his religious enterprise was growing and becoming a purely intellectual merry-go-round.
I have never seen a true servant of God turned into such a miserable human being as this man! I have never seen a true servant of God seated on a bar stool with guitar in hand publicly pleading with the people whom he served for many years “not to leave him out freezing in the dark!” He was so desperate to save HIS ministry that he did not care what shame he was bringing upon You and Your Holy and Mighty Name!! Yes, shame because he was performing his “gypsy act” in Your Holy and Mighty Name. Most disgusting!
Who was he serving all those years … “a guy in the sky who in the darkest hour passed him by”???
He and his family ought to REPENT to You, Lord, not in words only, but in tears and sackcloth, lest You should tell them all “I never knew you, depart from Me …” and lest they also should be thrown to outer darkness where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!
I do pray, Lord, they would heed my words and repent. Otherwise, I myself would be ashamed to even meet them in the Kingdom of heaven. Amen.
One small remark I want to insert in this place, beloved Lord, and say this. All the radio and television ministers and publishers believe and even claim that the ministry they do is “Your ministry”, that it is “Your work”. But should You, the Master and the Lord of the work, desire or command that any of these ministries be terminated or their course changed, they ALL begin to “fight with all their might to preserve it as is, or keep enlarging it!” They are even willing to sacrifice a part of their self-images, their reputations, their pride and glory … just to keep “their baby going”! Why?
They cannot imagine that You could do such a thing! That You could terminate any ministry doing “so much good”. They cannot grasp even a simple truth that if we, foolish Christians, start in Your Spirit but continue in our flesh, continue grieving Your Spirit – You are simply abandoning “OUR ministry”!
If we make holy vows and then break them, You abandon that “ministry”. EVEN IF we are called by You and anointed with Your oil (as king Saul was), but then become disobedient to Your commands and leading (as king Saul was), YOU TAKE AWAY from us “the ministry” (as You took the kingdom from Saul)!
If we fear You in the beginning, but later on begin to fear people more than You and, therefore, keep pleasing the people instead of You (as king Saul did), that “ministry” becomes a FARCE and for You it has lost all it’s value!
When will the Christian leaders, especially in North America, begin to see and understand even this simple truth? No wonder that even some of Your “old timers” end up on a heap of victims. They had not foreseen nor planned such an end when they were commencing their ministries ten, twenty, thirty or more years ago. No wise leader would ever plan such an end, yet, we all seem to be so able and so lusting to walk on Via Appia rather than on Via Dolorosa. After almost two thousand years, do we have yet to learn and realize that the true success only happens at Calvary and never in Rome??
Help us, O Lord of Grace and Wisdom and Glory!
And then, there is another servant of Yours who I first came to know through music – a very good music, I must say. Playing and singing away old songs and new songs, with some fire and life, he has been a true blessing to me.
Yes, fire and life, because his music is not to be compared with much of the “commercial Christian spiritless entertainment”. And it seems that as time goes by, there is more life and more fire in his music.
And not only in his music but in his preaching, as well. I have to freely admit, Lord, that today he seems to be the only one whom I know who is boldly beaming Your truth across the television networks and into the faces of both small and great. Your truth also includes the “unpleasant truth”, which our flesh does not like to hear.
I thank You, Lord, for this man and his team and I pray in spirit and in truth that You would KEEP that servant on that track; preserve him, strengthen him, and make him truly fruitful through Your Spirit!
Also, purge him from things that are weights on his hands and feet that he may run the course more freely and be even more fruitful. Thank You, Lord, for hearing and answering my prayers! Blessed be Your Name!
There are two particular weights that are bogging him down and I pray, Mighty Lord, that they would be destroyed! These two particular weights are the following:
(1) He should be the last man on earth to beg for money! It may help in building up his outward religious enterprise – but it does not help his TRUE spiritual ministry; rather, it DESTROYS it! And the one who has a special potential to destroy it is his own son. A true Beverly Hills Christian of the type “send us $1000 and we will send you this free beautiful calendar”.
Let Your servant go to his knees WITH his son and let them REPENT, and let his son repent in tears, for he knows nothing about You, as yet. And if your servant shall pray and intercede for his son, You will hear his prayer and answer it! These are Your words more than mine, O Lord of Glory!
So I say again, Lord, that it is not his calling to “compete with his colleagues” and build another enterprise with “five thousand different ministries trying to save the United States … and preferably the whole world”! It is NOT his calling to try to care for every need that is around him.
His calling is to narrow down and proclaim Your FULL Truth boldly. To proclaim it where You open the door and nowhere else! Show him also, Lord, that when You open a door – no man can shut it (Rev.3:7). Furthermore, when You open a door – YOU are providing the means and ALL the necessities!!
He should cry to YOU for supplies and NOT to the world of TV viewers! (Phil.4:6,19). By showing to his TV audience the various needs and necessities of his ministry as conceived or viewed in the brains of his accountants, he is defying the very Spirit of Your Word in 2Cor.9:7! When he faces his audience, let him rather say this: “Send your gifts according as your heart desires. Do NOT send them because there are some needs … behold, there is a greater need than all these – it is the need to PLEASE OUR FATHER IN EVERYTHING WE DO! Therefore, send only that which would cheer your heart – and the Father which is in heaven will love you and will be pleased. So be it.”
Will he and other leaders realize that whatever they may achieve in our physical world would be vain if achieved solely by the help of man? It is written “…for vain is the help of man”! (Ps.60:11, repeated in Ps.108:12). Their minds, their intellects will always justify their means of gathering help – but Your Spirit is grieved and cannot enjoy the fruits of their labors.
I repeat, Lord, let him narrow down and proclaim Your full truth boldly. That is it; nothing more, but nothing less. Oh yes, Lord, let him continue playing and singing.
(2) He should be the last man on earth to be so deceived as to believe and preach that a glass of beer is an enemy to Your Salvation! It is a very typical sign of many Protestants, especially leaders who will not touch beer or wine for it would destroy their holiness, if any.
They go so far as to preach that at the wedding in Cana of Galilee You have not turned water into wine, but into a grape juice. Hence, Your Spirit is inspiring Paul to write to Timothy that deacons should not drink too much “grape juice” lest it should destroy their office! (1Tim.3:8).
I am not asking anyone to read 1Tim.5:23, BUT I am asking all to read Romans chpt.14, 1Cor.6:12 and 10:29-31, Gal.5:13 and Col.2:20,21. Also, I am asking that Your Spirit would grant the truth to all those that truly seek it … and also to Your servant.
In truth, I am NOT advertising beer drinking or wine drinking or social drinking or any other drinking – I am advertising, yea, proclaiming Your Truth!
What is Your Truth? Whosoever is weak in faith, let him stay away from things (!), even though in God’s eyes they are ALL lawful and pure! (1Cor.6:12; Rom.14:20). And whosoever is strong in faith and does not condemn himself, let him keep things for himself and let him not become a stumbling block for a weaker brother! Hence, let us preach truth and not lies – or else, let us keep quiet when we are unsure.
But our dark minds would respond immediately: “Why should we, Christians, drink something, or even touch something, that is Satan’s tool, that splits families, kills people, spreads misery?” But let me ask this: Why did You, Lord from heaven, drink wine, that same Satan’s tool? You were even accused of being a “winebibber” (Mt.11:19) – not a “juicebibber”.
Furthermore, I would like to ask all brothers and sisters: Why are you all handling money? Is it not Satan’s tool that splits families, kills people, spreads misery? The dollar bill you just placed on the offering plate for the THRICE HOLY and PURE GOD could have been just a short while ago “earned” and handled by the most filthy prostitute! That does not bother you?
The pen with which you write heresies, strange doctrines, hateful letters, lies, presumptions or diplomatic excuses … this pen becomes Satan’s tool in your very hand. That does not bother you?
Yea, your very own mind producing these heresies, strange doctrines, adulteries, evil imaginations, ambitions, lusts, lies or diplomatic excuses … this very mind of yours does not become, but IS Satan’s tool within your own being! That does not bother you???
Yet, you fear to touch a glass of beer? A glass of wine? If you fear these things – do not touch them, BUT if you cannot set your brothers and sisters free, do NOT put them into the same fetters that you carry!!! Preach truth and not lies, sow light and not darkness.
Beloved Lord Christ Jesus, this is what I am saying to my brothers and sisters and to Your servant. Will Your people ever see and understand even these things? Will Your servant see and understand? But I pray again – let Your servant be delivered from these weights and let all Your people be kept away from anything that their faith condemns, lest they should sin, “for whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Rom.14:23).
(To be continued next week in part 4)
brother Hanola
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