Category: End-Times & Eternity

Writings that are intended to give an overview of what God has done, what He is doing and what He will do to bring about the fullness of His eternal purposes.

Posted on in End-Times & Eternity

War in the Womb (Part 3)

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Contending for the Soul of a Generation

In Part 1, I pointed out the prophetic implications of Satan’s physical assault on the womb. Every generation in which God has made a significant transition in furthering His redemptive plan, the enemy has countered by demonically influencing the governments of this world to release a decree of death over our children. In the generation of Moses, the king of Egypt commanded the midwives to kill every male child (Ex. 1:16). In the generation of Jesus’ first coming, king Herod commanded that all the male children who were two years and under in the region around Bethlehem to be killed (Matt. 2:16). As a Christian, I know God’s purposes are far higher than America, but still, I believe it is no coincidence that just over forty years ago our nation’s supreme court ruled in favor of granting the right of a woman to choose to abort their child. I believe this is another prophetic implication of the end-time hour we are living in.  In Part 2, I highlighted that Satan’s strategy is not only to keep physical babies from being born, but spiritual babies from being born again. He is not only assaulting the womb of expectant mothers but the womb of Jesus’ Bride, the church! We are facing a midwife crisis in the church! Now instead of trying to defend what we have out of fear, my charge is that we contend offensively for every soul in faith. In this article, I want to challenge, encourage and equip the body of Christ with right thinking about how to do this. If you are a born again Christian, then you are commissioned by Jesus Himself to make disciples as members of His church, whether you are raising natural children or spiritual children or both, you have a “midwife” responsibility that you cannot afford to forsake.

But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. (Ex. 1:17, ESV)

Ultimately, God is the deliverer through Christ Jesus who bore the iniquity of us all that we might be born again into new life. He is the One who knew us before the womb, who gives life at conception, who delicately forms us, and who also delivers us into His kingdom. He alone is the Savior of His people. Yet, in the midst of God’s supernatural involvement, He calls for our participation. God doesn’t just make babies appear into existence at the flick of His finger (sorry ladies), but He sovereignly entrusts them into our hands and places them within His own created process. He lets us sow the seed and water the plant, but He gives the increase. So what does this mean? Though God is the author and perfecter of faith, He is looking for spiritual midwives who will labor with His Spirit to help birth and raise those who will be apart of His kingdom. This does not mean that we are the Savior, but it does mean that God has uniquely given us a part to play in the process of bringing souls into His kingdom. In the story of the Exodus, there were certain midwives who feared God, therefore, they resisted the decree of death by standing in the gap on behalf of the newborns. If it wasn’t for these midwives, namely a Levite mother known as Jochebed and her daughter Miriam, we may not have had a Moses.

My conviction is that the reason we aren’t seeing lasting deliverance in the church is because we have abandoned the role of the midwife due to wrongly placed fear. A new order of government is arising who doesn’t know Joseph—who represents the faith of our forefathers and the wisdom of God. Taskmasters are being set in place to put more pressure on the church than ever before. It is becoming increasingly more of a risk to take a stand for God’s Word, for righteousness, for justice, and for the gospel of Jesus Christ; therefore, no one is standing in the gap. What am I saying? Our midwives (churches) don’t fear God anymore, so churches in America are largely forsaking natural birthing methods. We want the instant positive results of having children, but we don’t want the increased responsibility of the process. We want kids because we want recognition, but we don’t want the added pressure of raising them in righteousness. We fear Pharaoh’s decree more than we believe God’s promise. Now our children are growing up in a church culture where the most important activity of our faith is not prayer but self-preservation. It’s no longer about hearing and obeying God, but it has become about keeping our reputation in tact. Our spiritual babies (new Christians), who were taught that after making a decision for Christ and receiving their hell insurance that the pinnacle of discipleship was church attendance, are now spiritually dead in the womb of too many churches. I fear that most churches today don’t really want genuine spiritual babies because babies can be disruptive, inconvenient, challenging, and they require a lot of attention and resources. Speaking as a parent myself, there is not much room for selfishness when you have a young child. What churches seem to really want are pacified tithers who are content with a microwaved sermon once-a-week and who never produce anything that might make anyone feel uncomfortable about their own complacent, half-hearted and un-biblical expression of Christianity (Amos 2:11-12). Because of this fear-of-man-based mindset, our churches have become more like graveyards instead of birthing centers, where we are surrounded by bodies but void of new life. We are whitewashed tombs full of dead man’s bones. O hear me body of Christ, turn your attention to the womb again! Contend for the soul of this next generation!

I love that Jesus called us His sheep because sheep require a lot of help for survival. Like a baby, they are completely dependent on the one who is caring for them. I know that there is no way I would have survived without God’s help, still I attribute much of my spiritual maturity today to the many “midwives” that He used to help birth and raise me. I am still far from being fully grown, but my point is that the Lord has always chosen to use people to grow people through the supernatural aid of His Spirit. So where are the midwives who fear God today? Are we so selfish, hard and bitter that we cannot smell the stench of death among us? If God desires that none should perish, then why don’t we care? If He calls us friends, then why does He have to cry alone? Why does all of heaven rejoice when one sinner repents while a church gets angry because it didn’t happen in their building? We desperately need to reconnect to the heart of the Father in this hour.

Strategy for a Midwife Crisis

God’s strategy for bringing healthy deliverance has always consisted of partnership with midwives. I want to point out three activities connected to the midwife role of the church that must be restored, the first being intercession, the second being evangelism, and the third being discipleship. Just as a baby goes through the process of being conceived, birthed and weened, so it is in the spirit. Intercession is where we plead on behalf of man that God would birth souls into His kingdom. Intercession is God’s grand strategy whereby He reconciles weak and frail sinners to Himself, so that we can partner with Him in releasing His power in the earth. Intercession humbles us, unites us and teaches us to trust in His ways. Christ Himself became intercession for us as He hung between heaven and earth, and now He lives to make intercession for us. We are now invited into this intercessory position as the church of the firstborn to partner with our Elder Brother in prayer, to help carry, protect and birth newborns into His kingdom. By prioritizing intercession, which in simple terms is prayer for other people, places or situations, we are coming into agreement with God’s plan of redemption. Christians now have the authority in Christ to bind, loose, ask and receive, as we speak His word in agreement with His will. A midwife church, who is God’s greatest instrument for birthing souls into His kingdom, will be a praying church who groans by the Spirit in intercession. Every Christian community needs a Christ-centered, faith-filled, bible-rooted, Spirit-led culture of intercession at its core.

The other side of intercession is evangelism, where we plead with man on behalf of God to be born again. After we talk to God about people, we actually need to talk to people about God! Now, not everyone is especially gifted as an intercessor or evangelist, but we are all called to intercede and evangelize to some degree. We don’t all need a microphone to do the work of evangelism, we just need to have been marked by the flame of the gospel.  If you’ve been lit on fire by the truth, then you are qualified to spread the flame. If you’ve been delivered, then you are licensed by the Spirit to deliver. Regardless of the day we live in, the proclamation of the gospel still has power, especially when it comes out of the mouths of a praying people who are living in agreement with God’s Word. My charge is that the church would not stop doing the work of an evangelist in America. Keep preaching, keep teaching, keep sharing and speaking about the unadulterated gospel of Jesus Christ. In concert with intercessory prayer meetings—works of justice, mercy, evangelism and missions must boldly come forth.

The last activity is discipleship where we then labor to raise these newborn Christians by helping them understand the gospel, teaching them to obey the commandments of Christ, and equipping them how to eat on their own. As a father, I have found that babies really do begin their lives being completely dependent on their caretakers. It is so important to diligently and tenderly care for them in these early stages, but it is equally important to begin to teach them how to survive on their own as they grow. We cannot spoon feed babes in Christ forever, but we must put forth the necessary time and energy to teach them how to take care of themselves and others.  We must prepare them as if they were going to be thrusted into a spiritual war-zone like Daniel and the three Hebrew boys were. Will our disciples bow with the crowd at the sound of Babylonian trumpets or will they have the roots necessary to stand firmly against the sway of the evil one? There is a war going on in the womb of the church, and we can’t afford to be casual anymore.

So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. (Ex. 1:20-21, ESV)

Churches who have a midwife mindset will consequently multiply and grow very strong, not necessarily in number, but in fruitfulness and depth. They will actually look, act and speak like a Godly family that loves one another. They will not only appear to be successful from the outside, but because they genuinely fear God and seek to live faithfully before His eyes, they will be eternally successful. Sarah, Hannah and Mary are just a few other biblical examples of women who represent a people who helped birth something real that caused nations to rage against the Lord (Ps. 2; Rev. 12). In the midst of great trouble and deception, I am confident that loyal midwives will help bring forth a fresh generation of genuine revivalists who will look like Jesus, act like Jesus and plunder hell like Jesus. Resistance will increase, but the church will multiply and grow very strong. O that we would daily hear the sound of life in our churches again, the sound of newborn Christians populating the kingdom of our God!

A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted because they are no more. (Matt. 2:18; Jer. 31:15)

Thus says the LORD: “Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is reward for your work, declares the LORD, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your future, declared the LORD…” (Jer. 31:16-17)

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. (Ps. 127:4)

Overview of Key Strategies to Help Us Win the War in the Womb:

  1. Ask for a restoration of the fear of the Lord (Prov. 2:1-5; Eph. 1:16-17)
  2. Become a people of intercession (Isa. 62:6-7; Ezek. 22:30; Acts 4:23-33; 12:5)
  3. Do the work of an evangelist (Acts 1:8; 1 Pet. 3:15)
  4. Be intentional about making disciples (Matt. 28:18-19)
Posted on in End-Times & Eternity

War in the Womb (Part 2)

Ending Spiritual Abortion

I believe that the reason abortion has boldly flaunted its teeth in our day is because the enemy has this terrible paranoia that our generation will actually recognize the moment and respond appropriately to the call of God in this hour. He knows that if we actually step into the fullness of God’s purposes for our day, we could very well crush the remnants of his kingdom and lead a final mass exodus of souls from his hellish grip. We have all the right tools and weaponry, but the real problem is that the Church is not effectively equipping anyone to use them. You can be sure that Satan hates all the churches of God, but he fears the churches who know their God (Dan. 11:32-33). The Church who knows their God will not only contend for every innocent life, but for every innocent soul that does not yet know Him. While it should be appreciated that Christians are becoming more aware of the terrors of abortion, we have yet to truly expose and fight against Satan’s equally abhorrent plot, which I refer to as spiritual abortion.

More than ever before, we are seeing young believers depart from the faith, aborted right from the womb of the Church. A Barna Group research project in 2011 revealed that three out of every five young Christians (59%) disconnect either permanently or for an extended period of time from church life after age 15. Why? Beneath the surface issues, I feel it is a combination of Satan’s rage, a fallen sinful society and the Church’s unwillingness to take responsibility to contend for the soul of the younger generations. As the world population grows younger, the church population in America grows older because most of our attention naturally turns toward the ones who have more money in their wallets.

Though we don’t presently face the same affliction as the children of Israel and the early church did, the taskmasters of debt, false comfort and worldly success are continually pressing us with high demands on our life resources (time, money & energy). We have been blinded by busyness and are more concerned with retaining numbers to pay the bills than making disciples to build the kingdom. It’s much cheaper to make converts than to make disciples. This is why we need unity in the Body of Christ more than ever. Rather than ministries joining forces for the cause of equipping and raising God’s family, we are seeing more churches divorce on the pathetic grounds of “irreconcilable differences” than ever before. Thus, spiritual abortion has inadvertently become the option for so many local churches.

So you see, the enemy assault is not only on the mother’s womb, but the Church’s. If he can’t keep us from being born, his next move is to do everything in his power to keep us from being born again. Jesus told a parable about four soils to make a clear point about the seeds that fall into the wrong environment (Lk. 8:5-15), and next to our own individual responsibility, I believe it is also the responsibility of the Church to establish and sustain a community that creates the right environment to nurture sound growth. The womb of the Church should be the safest and most fertile place on earth, but the majority of our American churches have failed to make it such.

The Church’s present attempts to resolve this attrition crisis have been dangerously wrong in my opinion because we have yielded to the wiles of the devil, rather than trusting the ways of God to bring deliverance. We have taken a defensive posture in fear rather than an offensive one in faith. The result is that we have mega and mini churches full of people who know how to dress right, but they have no idea how to fight. They are spiritual chameleons with a parrot theology. When society mocks and defies the armies of the living God (The Church), we respond by putting on the familiar armor of Saul (hiding behind man-made methods of warfare; taking a defensive posture). We have fearfully accepted the demands of society that press us to build man’s kingdom rather than God’s kingdom (Ex. 1:11). We’d rather sit comfortably in line with Pharaoh’s orders than follow God through the wilderness.

The Womb of the Church

Looking through the lens of the four soils parable, here are a few ways we have failed to prevent spiritual abortion in my honest opinion:

  • We have created a wayside culture, making it harder for people to have a genuine conversion experience, and leaving them vulnerable to deception.

We are recognizing that we are losing our relevance and influence, so we panic and compromise our message to make Christianity more palatable to the culture around us. We drop a little bit of word or truth on the wayside, but it is not the full truth or the main focus. It is a watered down gospel that has been diluted and has little affect. Out of fear of being unpopular, we try to stay as close as possible to what society accepts as normal rather than what God accepts as normal. We may feel relevant or progressive for a moment, but when moving forward becomes moving away from God, we have lost our way. Though God is still merciful, He is merciful in spite of our failure not because we have done something right. He will save with or without us, nevertheless, we are still responsible. The consequence of this type of church environment is that we only produce artificial Christians who have been robbed of a natural birth into the Kingdom due to experimentation, and though they may live, they inherit many birth defects. They are the most vulnerable to being led astray by every wind of false teaching. Our casual approach to discipleship has produced too many casualties, and we need to return to God’s way.

  • We aren’t willing to pay the price to build community (prepare the soil) and to keep the “moisture” of His presence in our midst; therefore, the seeds can’t take root nor can they grow.

Our churches have become event-based and not community-based, thus our Christianity has become location-based and not life-based. Whereas the early church gathered regularly around the presence and power of God, we gather around a Sunday morning sermon. We know how to hype up a crowd of kids with loud music and comedic skits, but we seldom create opportunities for them to develop a solid root system. Excitement is not encounter, and we can’t stop there if we are going to be used of God to save a generation. As soon as they leave, temptation or persecution will arise, and they will have no foundation to keep them from falling away. Think about the excitement that comes with the birth of a child, and then imagine what would happen if you only interacted with that child once a week. We need to diligently build life on life praying communities where our newborns can be weaned, strengthened and equipped. We must make disciples not decisions.

  • We have allowed the thorns of the humanistic mindset to infiltrate the Church and set the standard for things like happiness, success, beauty and comfort. We are no longer teaching people to obey the commandments of Christ.

This church environment is one where there is no longer a difference or separation of values between sons of the day and sons of the night, thus the consequence is that we have people wanting all the benefits of Christianity without a commitment or change of lifestyle. A gospel that is preached without calling people to sincerely repent will never produce fruit that remains. Leaders who compromise, distort or diminish God’s standard are only planting seeds in fields of thorns that are waiting to choke the life out of everything that tries to grow. We must not only teach, but demonstrate the kingdom of God in our lifestyles, attitudes, words and deeds, exposing the lies that society tries to embed in our minds from birth. We must proclaim the biblical message of grace that gives believers real confidence in God’s love, while motivating them to resist sin and obey Him wholeheartedly.

The soil or environment that we must make every effort to cultivate is one that first loves the truth, and is willing to receive it and sow it fully with love into all who will hear whether it is trending with man or not. We must not only sow seed or cause babies to be conceived, but we must help them to be born again. God will do His part, but He entrusts to us the role of a midwife. We must teach them, feed them and tend to them, providing delicate care and adequate attention just as we would for our own physical babies. Lastly, we must continue to cultivate communities of disciples who value His presence, His Word, His leadership and His family.

This is not a new issue. Samuel failed to raise up his sons; therefore, Israel panicked and asked for a king so they could be like the other nations. David’s desire for short-term gratification caused serious eternal ramifications and turmoil in his family, even the death of his own infant child (2 Sam. 12). So Church, I bring all this before you with sobriety because we must fight back on God’s terms if we are going to win this war in the womb.

*Look out for Part Three of this article series where we will look at some ways we, as the Church, can respond to this crisis and contend for the soul of a generation.

Posted on in End-Times & Eternity

War in the Womb (Part 1)

Exposing Satan’s End-Time Plot

The bloodiest battle in all of human history did not take place on a field, but it has and still is being fought inside wombs all around the world. Since Roe V. Wade in 1973 (Supreme Court case that legalized abortion), there have been over fifty-six million abortions in the U.S. alone (over one billion worldwide since 1980). This decree of death that has been over our land has not only claimed the lives of innocent children, but it has also left countless women emotionally wounded, empty and scarred. While many have wasted their energy wrongfully approaching the horror of abortion as a political issue, Satan has been smirking beneath the small and shallow graves of an entire generation. In our fight against this injustice, we (the Church) must recognize the deeper reality at hand and why it is that the womb has become such a war zone in our day.

At the time of greatest threat, the enemy doesn’t focus his attack on those who are already matured, but he has a track record of targeting infants because he understands the potential of any given life. From the very beginning of time, God clearly prophesied that the Seed (Christ) of the woman (Israel) would one day crush the head of the serpent (Satan; Gen. 3:15), which was accomplished through the cross, but now He is waiting for us to “cash the check” He wrote in the garden and signed on the cross as we work with Him to crush Satan under our feet (The Church).

And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. (Rom. 16:20)

There are three clear “transitional generations” spoken of in the Bible that we should pay firm attention to:

  1. The Generation of Moses
  2. The Generation of Jesus’ First Coming
  3. The Generation of Jesus’ Second Coming

Each of these generations mark a transition between how God relates to man, and they have all been prophesied about in Scripture. Now if we simply look at history, we can see that every time the people of God were about to transition into a new phase of His redemptive plan, Satan has been known to assault the womb (Ex. 1:16, 22; Matt. 2:16; Roe V Wade). This is because he knows prophecy better than we do.

Generation of Moses Foretold:

Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. Then He [God] said to Abram, “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge, afterward they shall come out with great possessions.” (Gen. 15:13)

Satan’s Assault:

Look the children of Israel are more mightier than we…Every son who is born you shall cast into the river. (Ex. 1:9,22)

Generation of Jesus’ First Coming Foretold:

Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, “God with us.” (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23)

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. (Gen. 3:15)

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled…and when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. (Matt. 2:3-4)

But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel. (Micah 5:2; Matt. 2:6)

Satan’s Assault:

Then Herod…put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. (Matt. 2:16)

Generation of Jesus’ Second Coming Foretold:

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of birth pains. (Matt. 24:7-8)

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matt. 24:14)

And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams…(Joel. 2:28-32; Acts 2:17)

…the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that then may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified. (Isa. 61:2-3)

The LORD goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war he stirs up his zeal; he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes. For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant….And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know…(Isa. 42:13-16)

But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above…(Dan. 12:1-3)

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives to the death. (Rev. 12:10-11)

Satan’s Assault:

Although the murder of infants has tainted human history for ages, it is now being boldly decreed by governments and tolerated by society more (especially in our nation) than ever before.

It is now the year 2013, forty years since the legalization of abortion in the United States. If you are reading this article, you should know that you have been given a precious gift called life, and as we approach the end of the age, you must ask the question, “Why me?” I believe we are stepping into the final and most crucial phase of God’s redemptive plan, in which God is looking to bring forth deliverers out of the womb of the Church who will lead His people through the wilderness of these final days, and partner with Him in the restoration of all things (Acts 4:21; Eph. 1:10; Mal. 4:5-6). Unfortunately, the enemy recognizes this more than we do; therefore, he is the only one taking appropriate action.

God Has A Plan

And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ – everything in heaven and on earth. (Eph. 1:10, NLT)

In Exodus chapter one, we see that despite heavy bondage and persecution, “the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them” (Ex. 1:7). Because they were a threat to the kingdom of this new king, he set “taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens…But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel” (Ex. 1:8-12). Similarly, as the Holy Spirit was being poured out and moving through the early church with the “Lord [adding] to the church daily those who were being saved,” the enemy sought to destroy them with relentless persecution only to watch them multiply and grow stronger than ever. As the days get darker, Scripture tells us clearly that God’s people will still shine brighter through the blackest hours of human history (Isa. 60:1-3). It is absolutely vital that we recognize and expose the why behind Satan’s end-time plot, so that we can march forward with confidence into our God ordained destiny. Hear me weary one; do you realize your potential? Do you understand that before you were formed in the womb of your mother, God knew you and set you apart for a reason that will resound throughout eternity? This thing is so much bigger than you, yet the Lord is inviting you to bring real impact to your generation. In Christ, YOU are part of God’s plan to crush the enemy. You are truly alive for such a time as this.

“Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you,” says the Lord. (Jer. 1:7-8)

And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. (Acts 4:33)

Why did the nations rage, and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the LORD and against His Christ. (Ps. 2:1-2; Acts 4:25-26)