The Lord of the Outcasts

The Lord of the Outcasts 

I have met many people who claim to have been burned by Christians, or churches. I have heard  many reasons why people do not attend church, or seek after God. Many people who are financially poor are shamed by churches if they cannot afford to tithe. The heavy yoke of the Old Testament tithe is placed upon their necks without mercy. Although the New Testament teaches that a person is to give according to their ability and not under obligation, many churches mislead their congregations. Under the old covenant, many of the poor were allowed to keep, and eat, their own tithe. However, the modern day churches are more concerned with their nice buildings, fine clothes, and prestige, than for the poor.

 

Church should not be a place for a fashion show, but a place to seek after and worship God. If a poor family cannot afford nice clothes, they should be allowed to sit on the front row without shame. The house of God should be a place for people of all races and backgrounds. Racial, or economic discrimination, has no place in the church of the Living God.

 

However, we should keep our eyes fixed upon Jesus and not others. People will disappoint you, but God is faithful and will never disappoint. Don’t reject God because you have been hurt by people. God loves you so much that he became a man, and died on the cross to ransom your soul from the devil. There is no greater love, than the love of God.

 

Not all churches have gone the way of Laodicea. I have attended churches that care for souls, and have no concern for materialism. I recommend a church that preaches holiness, loves people, and reaches out to the poor and rejected. The late pastor David Wilkerson was an example for all ministers to follow. He loved people of all races and backgrounds, and founded the Times Square Church in New York City. Pastor Wilkerson had love for the neglected souls in the inner city. He reached out to those who had been rejected, and looked down upon, by the religious institutions. His church embraces people of all races, cultures, and economic backgrounds. His shining example of Christian love has inspired me for decades.

 

Jesus Christ is the Lord of the outcasts. Christ was rejected by the religious leaders of his day because he exposed their hypocrisy and reached out to sinners. The pious scribes and Pharisees would not associate with those they considered unclean, but Christ came to teach repentance, love, mercy, as well as forgiveness. Christ ate with tax collectors and sinners, in order to reach out to them, as well as other neglected souls. If we claim to follow Christ, we should also reach out to those around us without prejudice. If the world will see the love of Christ in us, they may repent and turn from darkness to light.

 

(Matt 9:9) As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him.

10 Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.

11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

12 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

13 But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice. 'For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

 

 

 

Without Holiness no Man Shall See the Father!

Dream of the Golden Bowl filled with Anointing Oil

Dream of the Golden Bowl filled with Anointing Oil 

(1 John 3:3) And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. 4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. 10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.

 

I recently dreamed that an angel of the Lord asked me, “Do you believe in the eternal security doctrine?” I replied, “No, Christ said that those who endure unto the end shall be saved.” I continued, “If you fall away from Christ even five minutes before your death you will be lost.” The angel said, “That is correct.”

 

  The angel was standing next to a golden bowl filled with anointing oil. Two pipes led from the bowl. One pipe was the Word of God (scripture), the other pipe, had the word holiness written in large letters on it. The two pipes dripped oil into the hands of those who were filled with God’s Holy Spirit. I was told that God would anoint those who walked in holiness. I also understood that a lukewarm church would be vomited out (Rev 3:14-18).  This dream was in reference to Zechariah chapters 4 and 5.

 

Zechariah was shown a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. Zechariah was told that this is the Word of the Lord to Zerubbabel (Zech ch 4).  He was shown God’s temple and anointing oil, which is symbolic of God’s Spirit and righteousness. Zechariah was also shown a plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel, he was told, “They are the eyes of the Lord, which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth”.  A plumb line is a measuring tape. Nothing escapes the eyes of the Lord, for we are all measured or weighed by the Lord.

 

You may think God doesn’t see you, or care, if you tell a dirty joke at work, but the Lord knows all things. The Lord knows every thought that goes through your mind. If you look upon a woman to lust after her, you have committed adultery in your heart, or if you hate your brother, you have committed murder in your heart. We are under God’s microscope at all times and we should remember that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

 

Without holiness, no man shall see the Father. If you are living in sin, you are not saved by grace. Grace is not automatic, grace follows repentance. If you repent, and turn away from your sins, God will wash you clean and transform you into a new creation. This is the meaning of being born again. The atonement that Christ provided upon the cross supplies our lack. Our righteousness alone is not enough to provide for salvation. The shed blood of Christ brings redemption only if we make Christ our Lord through obedience. We must allow the love of Christ into our hearts and learn to love our neighbor, as well as live a sanctified (purified and set apart) life. Regardless of your level of faith, if you continue to live in sin as the world does, you are not born again, but lost.

 

Many churches teach that we are all filthy sinners, living in a fallen world, with a fallen nature, and we cannot live right. Consider this, Satan and one third of the angels were living in the perfect environment of Heaven, yet they chose to sin against God.  Adam and Eve were living in a perfect world without sin, but they also chose to sin against God. My point is, whether we live in a perfect world, or a fallen world, we have the ability to choose good or evil. By the indwelling presence of God’s Holy Spirit, we have the power to live a sanctified, disciplined life. We must unlearn the junk that the   Laodicean churches teach. Consider the curse that travels the entire earth expelling the evil doers (Zech chapter 5). 

 

(Zech 5:1) Then I turned and raised my eyes, and saw there a flying scroll.

2 And he said to me, "What do you see?" So I answered, "I see a flying scroll. Its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits."

3 Then he said to me, "This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole earth: 'Every thief shall be expelled,' according to this side of the scroll; and, 'Every perjurer shall be expelled,' according to that side of it." 4 "I will send out the curse," says the Lord of hosts;" It shall enter the house of the thief  And the house of the one who swears falsely by My name. It shall remain in the midst of his house And consume it, with its timber and stones."  5 Then the angel who talked with me came out and said to me, "Lift your eyes now, and see what this is that goes forth." 6 So I asked, "What is it?" And he said, "It is a basket that is going forth." He also said, "This is their resemblance throughout the earth:

7 Here is a lead disc lifted up, and this is a woman sitting inside the basket";

8 then he said, "This is Wickedness!" And he thrust her down into the basket, and threw the lead cover over its mouth.

9 Then I raised my eyes and looked, and there were two women, coming with the wind in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven.

10 So I said to the angel who talked with me, "Where are they carrying the basket?"

11 And he said to me, "To build a house for it in the land of Shinar; when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its base."