Why are the nations in an uproar, and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed (Psalm 2:12 NAS).Kings of the earth do not only live in world capitals, where they rule the nations. They also occupy CEO desks and superintendent’s positions in some of our most renowned religious institutions. They are truly kings and queens in the earth, these men and women who filter what we think, determine for us how we will worship God, and write prayers that ask God the right questions.
These are the uncrowned monarchs of religion, the emperors of an old, timeworn, weight-weary system of control and illusion. They sap money, talent, time, and strength. They take our best to build their best, even though in many cases, it is God’s worst. They are driven with the absolute need to maintain control of men’s thinking and spirits. They know all too well the cata-strophic aftermath when people are allowed to think for themselves and to seek God for themselves. They know that a God beyond their control is by far the most dangerous threat to their man-made systems of religion and dominance.
These monarchies will always fear a God who is not under their control. But Jesus has His own Kingdom that He is building. He earned the right. He paid for it with blood that neither you nor I could shed. For only the royal, holy blood of the Son of God would suffice to cover the horrible enormity of the cost.
Whose Mission Are You On?
Jesus is on a mission from God the Father, but many of these others are on a mission of self-gratification and private royalty. They are kingdoms unto themselves, living in a delusion of pompous self-idolatry. Figuring themselves to be untouchable within their fortress of money and the holy bureaucracy that they have built, they have forgotten the point of their existence. They have lost the power of the gospel and have missed their hour of visitation by a country mile. They control their subjects from towers of impertinence and snobbish revelry. They live high enough above the people so as not to be touched by their diseases and infirmities, but low enough to continually exert control over them.
These leaders have painted a picture of a god so terrible that he can be appeased only by a legal religious “work ethic” that keeps the people controlled, confused, and condemned. Their subjects anxiously live on the brink of losing their salvation, their spiritual gifts, and their destiny in Christ Jesus. These self-proclaimed emperors make themselves the sole bastions of truth, the appointed keepers of the holy grail as it were (as though God Himself had appointed them to such an important function), while entrusting their denomination with what they pompously declare is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Genuine Truth Frees
Such schemers they are! They have so redefined Christianity that heresy is accepted as truth and truth is touted as poison to the soul. But if the truth really be told, genuine truth is lethal poison to the system of religion that these private kingdom builders have erected for themselves. Only the Truth can free the masses from a religious system that is as surely anti-Christ as satan himself.
Fruit-proof demands a hard look at the truth that these would-be kings claim is divine, and are so certain that they alone are called to protect. The false “jesus” of the system produces the fruit of bondage, anger, gossip, divorce, darkness, hopelessness, disintegrating families, corrupt governments, false standards of integrity, skewed morality, and a mediocre belief in God. It also produces abundant portions of legalism, tradition, and ultimately, death. This system has no solutions for our society—or any other society. It has maintained the highest accumulation of funds of any corporation in human history, yet it is consistently inept in its ability to use that cash to change the world for righteousness. In fact, for all of its hundreds of years of existence, its millions of people attending weekly services, and its billions of prayers offered over the centuries, the system has had and still continues to have a pitifully insignificant effect in the world.
The Line Is Drawn
On the other hand, the genuine “Jesus” of the cross, the instigator of true revival and renewal, heals the sick, restores marriages, and plants hope and destiny in the hearts of everyone who seeks the Lord.
Governments have responded, and communities, school systems, and even Hollywood have been profoundly affected by this phenomenon called revival, which has lasted less than four years. (And all of this has happened at a cost that is but a minuscule fraction of the annual budget of even one of these mammoth religious monarchies.)
It does not take a Harvard graduate to see that the line is drawn right here, where the systems contrived by mere mortal men are being threatened by a Life-giving force they cannot ultimately resist. If left unchecked, the Life of Jesus will invade these systems in order to restore all who are truly hungry for the Lord, releasing them into the glorious liberty of the Son of God. There are countless millions who desperately love Him locked in these systems, and He has heard their desperate, brokenhearted prayers.
Everything is on the line, though. It is no wonder that many of the leaders of these man-made kingdoms are so afraid. They know that True Life will challenge everything they do, every rule they make, and every tradition they have set in place. The Life of God will strip them of everything that is not born of God. Ask me how I know. Ask anyone who has experienced revival how they know. It has happened to all who call Jesus Lord and give Him true reign in their lives. But this knowledge does not come without a price—and it is a high price. Its purchase required everything I am, everything I own, and everything and everyone I call dear. I had to lay it all at the feet of the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Renewed people are not mindless, uneducated zealots who are merely looking for another religious high. They are sober men, women, and children who have seen something so far beyond themselves that they have determined it is worth more than they are. They have seen Him, high and lifted up above the hassles and struggles of life. They have seen Him lifted high above the standards of average religion. They have experienced hope and a real sense of eternal possibilities that they never dreamed were even out there.
Jesus Is Building HIS Church
This is the good news. Revival always causes truth to be reborn in the hearts of men and women. Cynics and skeptics, sinners and scoundrels, lawyers and lemmings all have one thing, one fear in common when Jesus Himself comes in power and victory into a person’s life; He brings with Him a precious commodity. He brings living truth. This is what breaks through the strongholds and destroys man-made traditions and kingdoms.
The truth itself is embodied in Jesus, who is Truth. This Truth changes the heart from within and the person who yields to Him will never be the same. And he will be much more difficult to deceive. It is no wonder that the (denomi)nations are in an uproar, and their leaders devise vain attempts to discredit and destroy revival! Why? If revival is allowed to go on uncontrolled, if God is “allowed” to continue out of control, then counterfeit Christianity is finished.
But wait a minute: If God is the mastermind behind the revival, and if the religious system is to be dismantled by Him, isn’t that a good thing? Isn’t it good for Him to wrestle the control of the true Church out of the hands of puny and selfish kingdom builders? Don’t we remember that He wants to build His own Church? (Contrary to popular belief, He can and will do it with precious little help from us too, thank you very much!)
The Truth indeed sets us free. When people are set free, they cannot return to a man-contrived system of rules, traditions, laws, and legalism. Those things are now contrary to the new nature planted within them by the Lord. And no matter how much you force the issue, you cannot bring them back to an old wineskin, anymore than you can put a butterfly back into its cocoon.
Therefore, do not be surprised to see some things falling down. Anything that can be shaken will be shaken. But this is only so that everything born of His Kingdom will be seen for what it truly is. Even in the most violent quakes, those things truly born of the Kingdom of God will not be shaken and will not fall. So I leave you with a final word of advice: If something is crumbling apart in your life, be sure it’s not God who is knocking it down before you go in like a hero and try to save the day! You may find yourself resisting the very God you are so hungry to experience.