when friends, aren't

"You put up all these walls!  You close yourself off and put yourself in a box...."  Her evident frustration, which at first seemed to border on anger, quickly dissolved into sorrowful silence.  She is suffering, too, but in a different way.  In her mind, I am to blame ~ I am the one, she insists, who can put a stop to all of "this."

"Me?  I'm the one who puts up walls?  Are you serious? I've visited that church fifteen times, during the past three months.  Twice I asked the pastor: When could we spend some time together?  I gave him a copy of my book two months ago ~ which, he said, he 'hasn't had time' to read.  Yet, unto this day, he has not so much as sent me a text.  And you say that I'm the one who puts up walls?" I incredulously replied.

I continued: "I'm praying and pleading for nationwide Revival.  I'm working, in every way I know, to reform Christianity in America.  How is that 'closing myself off and putting myself in a box'?"

"Nobody wants to work with you," she answered, in a more subdued tone ~ as she no doubt stood, in her own thoughts, in the dark shadow cast by a mountain of our family's needs.

It's true, I thought to myself: no one wants to work with me.  Why is that?....
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Later, I read with interest Daniel Greenfield's recent article, titled, "A Muslim Brotherhood Security Breach in Congress" (here).  Greenfield described, in his article, how certain enemies of the United States have infiltrated ~ with the full support of congressional Democrats ~ some of the most high-security Intelligence agencies in our government.  Which got me to thinking about what could be done about that situation.

Obviously, the Republican Party has at least given tacit consent to the just-mentioned scenario; therefore, none should expect that Republicans will rectify that dangerous situation.  Which then led me to wonder what, if anything, President Trump might be able to do about that problem.  I concluded that Trump would be perceived as a dictator, in the event that he would attempt to remove those enemy infiltrators from their positions deep inside of various Intelligence agencies.

But aren't those people, the infiltrators, enemies of the United States?  Indeed, they are.  And didn't the Democrats enable those infiltrators to...?  Then, a light began to shine in my mind, which focused all of my attention upon a singularly important question, namely: What happens when those who used to be your friends, aren't truly your friends, anymore?

Is it possible ~ in fact, isn't it actually the case, that the Democratic Party ~ somewhere along the line, in recent decades ~ ceased to be merely another voice in the political milieu and became, over time, a real enemy to the interests and well-being of the American people?  Apparently no one, yet, thinks of the Democratic Party, in such terms.  Without a doubt, that is precisely why that Trump would be perceived as a dictator if he tried to remove the Democrats' (Muslim) "moles" from their privileged positions among U.S. Intelligence agencies.   But if the Democratic Party ~ or, at the very least, certain members of that Party ~ were perceived, by a significantly large number of Americans, as being enemies of the United States, then, not only would it be acceptable for the President to act aggressively to prevent and to punish such persons, but loyal Americans would actually expect for the President so to act.

But as my deeper concerns at all times involve the work of the Gospel; I then compared the situation I just described, above, with the present state of the so-called Christian Church in America.  By far the majority of Americans evidently believe that the Christian Church is still a "friend," as it were, to America.  But what if the Christian Church in America (broadly speaking), may not any longer be a friend to Christ?  Could it nevertheless still be a true friend to any society of people ~ notwithstanding, that such a "Church" is essentially contrary to Christ?  

What if we were to view the majority of churches in America as being enemies to Christ ~ and thus also to America?  How might such a perspective change the ways in which true Christians think about, and proceed to advance, the work of the Gospel in America?

The image which appears at the top of this post represents the trial of Jesus Christ, in which image Jesus is seen standing (lower right) before the Jewish religious leaders.  The prophet Zechariah wrote concerning the death of Jesus: "What are these wounds in thine hands?  Then he [Christ] shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends" (Zech. 13:6).  The "house," to which the Spirit of Christ in Zechariah referred in that prophecy, was the "house of Israel" (see, Matthew 15:24).  Jesus was indeed slain "in the house" of his friends; but, it was not his "friends" who killed him.  For, Jesus himself said that his "friends" are those who are obedient to him (see, John 15:14).  The Jewish religious leaders made themselves to be Christ's enemies ~ even though they were supposed, by nearly everyone, to be God's representatives on earth!  

Thus we are given in Scripture a compelling precedent, which illustrates the inestimable importance of our need to differentiate between pseudo-Christianity and genuine Christianity.  Genuine Christianity is characterized by obedience to Christ.  Does anyone, who knows and loves the Word of God, believe that most churches in America are obedient to the will of God?  The truth is, that by far the majority of purportedly "Christian" churches in America are apostate.  Why, then, do we, Christians, nevertheless persist to accede to false claims put forward by what actually amounts to a vast conspiracy ~ perpetrated by an enormously profitable religious industry ~ involving spiritual deception?  

Consider, for example, (better, yet, investigate!) what is (and what is not) being done, by so many churches throughout America ~ which receive at least hundreds-of-billions of dollars annually (one source estimated the total annual receipts, amongst all Christian churches in America, at nearly $2.7 Trillion).  Whereas: "Total expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools in the United States amounted to $620 billion in 2012–13, or $12,296 per public school student," according to statistics reported by the National Center for Education Statistics (source, here).  In other words, America's so-called Christian churches could afford to provide a first-class Christian education to every school-aged youth in America ~ and still have hundreds-of-billions of dollars remaining ~ each and every year!  I invite you to check out this very revealing article published by Newsweek, titled, "Are Churches Making America Poor?" (here).

If those statistics and their implications don't open your eyes to the reality I am herein attempting to expose, then, I suppose that you, also, are among the dead.

I keep coming back to think about what God has taught me concerning John the baptist (see my related essay, here).  John was born into the Jewish priesthood.  From a child, he was raised and trained to serve the Jewish people, as a priest, according to a massive and well-defined system involving a plethora of traditions, rituals, and beliefs.  John was expected by everyone including his own (godly) parents, to embrace a certain lifestyle and vocation.  But John turned his back and walked away from everything having to do with that lifestyle.  And though John did not reject the vocation, of the priesthood, yet he did utterly reject the historical and traditional form and expression of that which his own father and forefathers did seek to impose upon him.

John the baptist was the beginning of the end of the Jewish dispensation, as that was construed under the Old Covenant.  God was then ready, in and through the life of John, to begin to do a radically new and different thing.  Messiah's coming was then so near at hand, in fact, that Jesus walked (though for a while unknown) amongst John and his disciples.

I have repeatedly said that we are now living in just such a time as that.  Jesus said that if the Jews would (have) receive(d) it, John was that "Elijah" which the prophet Malachi foretold would appear just prior to Christ's appearing.  The Jews, of course, did not receive it. Therefore, "Elijah" must yet come.  And if John might have been that "Elijah," in his own day ~ then, whom might God raise up in that same Spirit, today?

Elijah is coming.  That fiery prophet is coming.  And when he does, the status-quo, of the contemporary Christian Church in America, will then be a heap of ashes.