Men of God…we
are under attack.
If you are paying attention at all you already know this but
let me restate it.
Men of God…we are
under attack!
I am going to say some things in this post that will not sit
easily on the shoulders of men and might rankle a few women as well. But I
can’t help that. This has been brewing in my heart for months now and I cannot
remain silent. The hour is tragic. The fuse is lit. The wolf of sin is at the
door and the door is weak on its hinges. To remain silent, or to temper my
words with the coolant of Christian political correctness would be to betray my
calling from God and it would only serve to render my bones -already wounded
from trying to hold fire- more fire damaged and burnt than they are now. I
can’t abide another day or night like that. I can’t sit in silence while the
country I love slides headlong into a morass of wickedness and toward a
showdown with the face of evil that she is wholly unprepared for.
Nor can I sit idly while the Church I love and am part of
wanders like a flock of sheep without a shepherd and stuffed to obesity with
straw and weeds.
*(I speak here of the
Church as a body…not the church I attend personally. In fact if there is a
clarion call existing in this deaf Body at all right now it exists in churches
such as I attend and amongst men who seek God as soberly as my own pastor does)
Two great dangers are present as I write this tonight. The
danger to America’s freedom and her Christian heritage and –as a direct result
of that danger --the danger to the evangelization of the world and the spread
of the Gospel. America is the last bastion of religious freedom, and from her
come the vast majority of evangelistic efforts to the world. Should she fall
completely, the great Gospel voice of the last 150 years would go silent.
I have been through a pruning process these last 2 months…in
fact it’s a process that really had it’s genesis in a simple verse I read in
October 2005 that began a process of fire-burnt purifying and wound it’s way
through financial and professional collapse, brokenness, and the slow, often
painful restoration of the vision God had for my life when I was 16, and the
reissuance of the call He had on my life and never revoked.
I cannot sit silent another day.
Men of God…again I emphasize…Men of God; it is time for you and me to Man up, and bow down.
Throughout history, from the earliest days of the forefather
of our Faith, Abraham, until this hour, God has called on men to pray. Pray in
times of abundance and pray in times of famine and drought. Pray when the
church is growing uninhibited and pray when she faces attacks so vicious and
violent as to snuff her out altogether if that were, indeed, possible.
There have been moments in history when she has faced danger
like she faces now; I know this to be true. But in my lifetime –and I turned 49
just last Friday- she has not seen such an attack of such violence or such
insidiousness.
I grew up under the great threat of Communism, at the very
height of the Cold War.
I spent my earliest years in solemn dread, fearing the
overtaking of this country by the Great Red Menace. It would come, they warned,
and it will start with the Christians. They will raid our churches and kill our
pastors and then they will force us, under pain of death, to renounce our faith
or die. They will kill our children and burn our churches. That’s what I was
told. I was told this because it was true in other countries. And throughout
their history, the Stalins and Marx’s and Lenins and Maos of the world had
stated that this was their intention.
Through men of faith and the stirring of the saints of God,
the Red menace was repelled and finally broken. In other lands at least. The
evil was overcome because men of God were willing to Man-up and bow down.
In the seventies and eighties there were voices calling for
revival and repentance. Voices that took it upon themselves to shout from the rooftops
and the hillsides that our laziness and sinfulness had removed us from any
place of favor with God. And while I would disagree with their claims that
America was any “special” country in God’s world plan and enjoyed any special
favoritism from God Almighty, I would agree with their assessment of the
solution.
We were never a “Christian nation”. Not in the sense that some people thought we
were and some still do. We never recognized Christianity as an official
religion. What we were was a nation founded by Christian men. And make no
mistake…they weren’t “Deists” or Enlightened Liberal theologians or Kantian
philosophers. They were Born-again, CHRISTIAN men who believed in the Bible as
their ultimate authority and moral code. They designed a country that openly
promoted no religion but that was designed to favor Christianity. They designed
a Constitution that protected the free exercise of THAT Faith, and all faiths,
because they believed that Christianity, when practiced well and faithfully,
would win over the hearts of any other religion. They were willing to bet that
an active, Spirit-lead life of Christian Discipleship would be so attractive,
so comely, so powerful, that they built-in the allowance for free exercise of
other religions too. They never wanted a Christian-only State. Not by law. They
wanted that by volume…by sheer numbers. They saw the power of the Gospel, when
exercised properly, as the ultimate overpowering force. They saw the beauty of
a life lived in accordance with the Sermon on the Mount and in the image of
Christ as the greatest draw to mankind that could be. They wanted a land where
Church discipline would be far more frequent and agreeable than courts of law.
They wanted to create a land where Christianity would change hearts. A country
populated by an overwhelming majority of Spirit lead believers would…by sheer
numbers…do right more frequently than wrong.
These Godly men also understood that God keeps his promises
and His promises kept with individual believers would affect an entire nation
if the majority in that nation were believers. They believed that when Jesus
said “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45) it could
be extrapolated from an individual to a nation. That if the abundance, the
overwhelming majority of that nation was adherents to a Christian Faith and
observant of His laws and of man-made laws based on His Word…that the land
would be blessed. They would be blessed not because we had achieved special
status with God, but because God never breaks a promise, and if anyone, whether an individual or a nation
lives according to His promises and words, the benefit of those promises would
be theirs. And thus America grew in a remarkably short time to preeminence in
the world. Because she was blessed. Not because she was especially favored as a
nation, for God only ever promised that to one nation. But because she was
populated to a majority with believers and with godly men of prayer.
Because in the infancy of this nation men knew how to
Man-up, and bow down.
Make no mistake; our founders were men of prayer.
In his Thanksgiving Decree 1789: “And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and
supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech him to pardon
our national and other transgressions...to promote the knowledge and practice
of the true religion and virtue....”
From Washington’s personal prayer journal; 24 pages scrawled
in his Field notebook:
"SUNDAY MORNING....Almighty God,
and most merciful Father, who didst command the children of Israel to offer a
daily sacrifice to Thee, that thereby they might glorify and praise Thee for
Thy protection both night and day, receive O Lord, my morning sacrifice which I
now offer up to thee; "I yield Thee humble and hearty thanks, that Thou
hast preserved me from the dangers of the night past and brought me to the
Light of this day, and the comfort thereof, a day which is consecrated to Thine
own service and for Thine own honour. "Let my heart therefore gracious God
be so affected with the glory and majesty of it, that I may not do mine own
works but wait on Thee, and discharge those weighty duties Thou required of me:
and since Thou art a God of pure eyes, and will be sanctified in all who draw
nearer to Thee, who dost not regard the sacrifice of fools, nor hear sinners
who tread in Thy courts, pardon I beseech Thee, my sins, remove them from Thy
presence, as far as the east is from the west, and accept of me for the merits
of Thy son Jesus Christ, that when I come into Thy temple and compass Thine
altar, my prayer may come before Thee as incense, and as I desire Thou wouldst
hear me calling upon Thee in my prayers, so give me peace to hear the calling
on me in Thy word, that it may be wisdom, righteousness, reconciliation and
peace to the saving of my soul in the day of the Lord Jesus. "Grant that I
may hear it with reverence, receive it with meekness, mingle it with faith, and
that it may accomplish in me gracious God, the good work for which Thou hast
sent it. "Bless my family, kindred, friends and country, be our God and
guide this day and forever for His sake, who lay down in the grave and arose
again for us, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
From Daniel Webster:
“"If
religious books are not widely circulated among the masses in this country, I
do not know what is going to become of us as a nation. If truth be not
diffused, error will be; If God and His Word are not known and received, the
devil and his works will gain the ascendancy, If the evangelical volume does
not reach every hamlet, the pages of a corrupt and licentious literature will;
If the power of the Gospel is not felt throughout the length and breadth of the
land, anarchy and misrule, degradation and misery, corruption and darkness will
reign without mitigation or end."
And when asked what was the “Greatest thought ever to pass through your
mind” Webster replied: “
My accountability
to God”
Hear Webster again; “
If we abide by
the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to
prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instruction and authority, no
man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory
in profound obscurity."
Noah Webster, the founder of Education in the United States said this about
the influence of Christianity in Government;
"In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one
of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be
instructed....No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian
religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and
privileges of a free people."
John Q. Adams had this to say about the intertwined nature of Christianity
and our Republic, on Independence Day 1837;
"Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the World,
your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day. Is it not
that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly
linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the
Progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of
Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the
Redeemer's mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government
upon the first precepts of Christianity and gave to the world the first
irrevocable pledge of the fulfillment of the prophecies announced directly from
Heaven at the birth of the Saviour and predicted by the greatest of the Hebrew
prophets 600 years before."
Again said Washington as he endorsed the first National day of Fasting and
Prayer ordered held on May 6, 1780; “
The Honorable the Congress having
recommended it to the United States to set apart Thursday the 6th of May next
to be observed as a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer, to acknowledge the
gracious interpositions of Providence; to deprecate [to pray or entreat that a
present evil may be removed] deserved punishment for our Sins and Ingratitude,
to unitedly implore the Protection of Heaven; Success to our Arms and the Arms
of our Ally: The Commander in Chief enjoins a religious observance of said day
and directs the Chaplains to prepare discourses proper for the occasion;
strictly forbidding all recreations and unnecessary labor.”
Our country was birthed by godly Christian men who knew how to Man-up and
Bow down. They knew it’s survival would depend on men who prayed fervently and
regularly. Men who knew how to Man-up and bow down.
Men of God reading this article, this hour is no less tragic and no less
grave. Our situation is no less sober than when our Founders lay all on the
altar of personal prosperity and comfort and risked everything because they had
often heard from God. Our country was began by men who knew how to Man-up and
bow down,
The scriptures are full of commands for men to pray. Calls to prayer in
times of trial and difficulty. In times of drought and harvest. In times of
national repentance. The oft-quoted and oft-misquoted II Chronicles 7:14 holds
a vital Biblical principle. In its right context this verse was a promise to
the people of Israel at the dedication of the Temple. Starting at verse 13 we
read:
“When I
shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the
land or send a plague among my people, 14 if
my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek
my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I
will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
In deference to proper exegesis this promise was
actually made to the people of Israel when it was given. But when viewed under
the overlay of Galatians 3:29 “If you
belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the
promise.” We are right and proper in appropriating the principle for the
Church at large and specifically for the Church in America. To remain honest I
must say that this is not a promise
made to America. But it is a promise made to all of God’s people and should
those people make a majority in a land then the promised healing would directly
affect that nation. And so in that light it is right and proper to call upon
the truth and principle of this verse, apply it to ourselves as the Church and
the Bride of Christ in America and hope expectantly for the promised revival
and healing. But first we must do our part. We must humble ourselves, pray and
seek His face. We must Man-up and bow down!
It is interesting to me that God delineates
between prayer and seeking His face. Why?
Prayer is oftentimes a mechanical or liturgical
practice. Sometimes memorized and sometimes repetitive. But seeking His face…crying
out to a Holy God until that Holy God turns to face us. Grabbing hold of the
hem of his garment and refusing to let go until he finally places us in the
cleft of the rock, covers us with His hand so as not to consume us with his
holiness, and passes by us close enough to change our visage. Seeking His face
is risky; in fact to the flesh it is deadly. It requires a denouncement of
comfort, and resolution of denial of self. It means that my head might have to
refuse the bed even though I am weary. I may spend nights in the closet alone
instead of amongst friends in laughter and light company. It requires a
sacrifice of self so as to show the Holy One of Israel Himself that I am
serious when I seek Him and resolute in my desire. It means I must Man-up…and
bow down!
The hour does not call for women of faith to rise
up. Here is where my pen might cause me to be cleaved from the hearts of some
friends. Is there wrong in praying women? NO! Not by any means. But make no mistake;
God’s way is for Men to lead. Deborah was appointed Judge over Israel
because no good man could be found. The Church fathers set the bar high for men
to reach. Women of faith and prayer are wonderful, blessed, approved, necessary
and honorable. But God commanded Men to take the lead. Ephesians 5 22-33
defines the hierarchy of leadership in the home and it begins with Men who hear
from God.
Man-up…bow down!
I Timothy clearly defines the requirements for
Church leadership and it begins and ends with Men. Men devoted to a life lived
circumspectly and centered on earnest, beseeching prayer. Paul defined the
leaders of a church as men who would Man-up…and bow down.
James implores Men of God, where healing is needed
to act on faith and anoint the sick one. His words are specific in James 5:16 “The
prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” Powerful men pray
powerfully! Effective men of faith have learned to pray effectively. Men of God
know that to be first, one must be last. To be visible as a leader one must
disappear into the prayer closet.
Man-up…bow down.
Leonard Ravenhill, perhaps the most eloquent voice
on the matter of revival in the last 100 years has this to say; “The ugly fact
is that the altar fires are either out or burning very low. The prayer meeting
is dead or dying. By our attitude to
prayer we tell God that what was begun in the Spirit we can finish in the
flesh.”
Have we become so very comfortable in our living
that we have no desire for the discomfort of seeking His face? Has our Faith
become a snuggly blanket that replaces the camel-skin garment of the Prophet?
Men of God…it is the ultimate act of Christian
Manhood to be a man of prayer. To be known as a man of prayer. To desire that
reputation. It is hard work. It requires sacrifice. It makes us uncomfortable
and breaks our will. It is man’s work.
Man-up…and bow down!
Ravenhill said; “Though it is wonderful indeed
when God lays hold of a man…earth can know one greater wonder—when a man lays
ahold of God.”
We want Elijah’s Mantle but not his sackcloth. We
want to sit in Jesus glory, but not in His isolation and lonely prayer. We seek
the glorious manifestations but never the invisible battle of the prayer
closet. We hear preachers of the Word faith world gloriously telling us to pick
up our sword but never admonish us to wrestle in obscurity until God breaks
loose on us.
Men of God this nation…and thereby this world…cries
out for us to stand tall, stiffen our backbone until it becomes as strong as a
saw-log, clearly define our orders and drop to our knees.
Man-up…bow down!
God’s voice rings just as true today as it did in
the year that King Uzziah died and Isaiah beheld what few men ever have. In
Isaiah 6 the Prophet cried “Woe unto me
for I am a man of unclean lips and I live amongst a people of unclean lips and
my eyes have seen the glory of the Lord!”
Isaiah decried his own sin and God’s amazing
response was not to banish Isaiah for his sinfulness but to respond to his
desperate pleading by taking a coal from the very altar of Heaven and touching
the Prophet and making him clean…clean so that he might continue his
intercession for his people.
Ezekiel saw the broken down spiritual walls of the
Israelites and his heart was rent. Through Him God warned his people, in
Ezekiel 22: 30 “I looked for a man among
them who would build of the wall of righteousness and stand before me in the
gap on behalf of the nation so that I would not have to destroy it…but I found
none!”
God seeks for a man to stay His hand! He cries out
for one man with knees bent and heart broken to persuade Him to relent. He
desires someone to change His mind! But he found none for Israel…and I fear He
will soon say “But I found none” for America as well.
Unless we men of God get right, get serious,
become real men again and become men of prayer.
Men of God…for the sake of our nation and through
our nation for the sake of Billions who race toward hell at blinding speed with
only the Gospel message able to stop their descent I beg you…I challenge you as
I challenge myself…
Man-up…and Bow down!
