A Call to Repentance - 32

INTRODUCTION TO WEEK THIRTY-TWO

This week, we continue to press in during WEEK THIRTY-TWO of our 40 Weeks of Prayer and Fasting, to offer prayers of repentance for the sin in the church, the sin in the nation, and the blessing of Israel.

We now address these areas:

1. SIN IN THE CHURCH: FALSE PROPHETS

2. SIN IN THE NATION: FALSE GODS

3. PRAYERS FOR ISRAEL: PROTECTION FROM DECEPTION

REPENTANCE FOR SIN IN THE CHURCH:

FALSE PROPHETS

THREE KINDS OF PROPHETS

The Bible describes three kinds of prophets in both the Old and the New Testaments, and warns believers to discern carefully between the false and the true. The three categories of prophets are: the foolish prophet, the false prophet, and the true prophet.

1. The Foolish Prophets

Ezekiel 13 describes the characteristics of these men (or women) as follows: V. 3: 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing. . . ." [They follow their own "inspiration" rather than studying and obeying the Word of God.] v. 6: "They have envisioned futility and false divination, saying, 'Thus says the LORD!' But the LORD has not sent them; yet they hope that the word may be confirmed." [They seek the confirmation of men rather than the confirmation of the LORD and his word. They speak "for the Lord," when in truth they are speaking for themselves.]

v. 20: It is written: "you have strengthened the hands of the wicked, so that he does not turn from his wicked way to save his life." [The foolish prophet does not call the people to repentance. He compromises with the truth, and he whitewashes over sin.] They can really make you feel good in your sins. These prophets have developed an art. They pull on the inside of you. If lust is inside they will pull on it and I am not just talking about sex. There is no holiness in their message.

In summary, foolish prophets are "fools" because they do not establish their work on the full counsel of the Lord, but instead on their own "works" and "wisdom." Their error leads others into error, allowing all to continue in their sin.

2. The False Prophets

Unlike the foolish prophet, who deceives by error, the false prophet has an agenda -- he (or she) will work to bring you under his (or her) control.

Jezebel is an excellent example of a false prophet. She hired prophets and kept them on her payroll. They were there to serve her interests and to control the people through the use of divination and familiar spirits. (A true prophet will direct you to God and not manipulate you.) If you follow Jezebel, you will have to turn your will over to her, thereby sacrificing your own free will to hear and obey the Spirit of the LORD.

Jezebel is independent. No one tells her anything. Jezebel will not submit to anyone. False prophets are unstable. They go here and there, and do not operate under authority or accountability.

This spirit does not have gender. She can also be a man. She was a prophetess who controlled Ahab. Following Jezebel's prophets can get you killed -- nowadays "in the spirit" -- losing your discernment. (See I Kings 18).

BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS! "By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber." (2 Peter 2:3)

3. The True Prophets

In our day and age, we are blessed with some who are still TRUE prophets -- those who are not afraid to proclaim the uncompromised word of God, bringing conviction of sin, and calling men and women to repentance and to new life in Christ Jesus.

In the Old Testament, both Elijah (who confronted Jezebel) and Ezekiel (who confronted the foolish prophets of his time) are examples of true prophets. Jeremiah, too, moaned before the Lord due to the sin of his people.

You can't whitewash sin. You can't whitewash religion. And you certainly can't whitewash false prophecy. We must guard our hearts in order to maintain a pure prophetic flow and a life of prayer that will wash away the plans of the enemy instead of fortifying his deception by watering down the truth for the sake of acceptance.

True prophets may not always have the flare, charisma or appeal of their false twins, but who said they are supposed to? Jeremiah wasn't the most popular prophet in his time, nor was Ezekiel in his day. John the Baptist had his head served up on a silver platter for warning the people of the looming decision between everlasting life and eternal hellfire. But they were the unadulterated mouthpieces of God. And so it should be.

(To be continued next week . . .)

REPENTANCE FOR THE SINS OF THE NATION:

ALLOWING THE WORSHIP OF FALSE GODS IN AMERICA

"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." (Exodus 20:3)

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates ... Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah." (Deuteronomy 6:4-9,13-16)

How deeply we, as a nation, must have wounded the Father's heart in violating this law.

Calling ourselves "one nation under God," we instead welcome, tolerate and often promote the establishment of so many other "gods"-gods who, if served, can only lead one to an eternity without GOD . . . an eternity in hell itself. Our landscapes are now riddled with Islamic mosques, Hindu shrines, and Buddhist temples.

The Moslems, in particular, now seem bent upon forcing our schools to adopt an Islamic-friendly curriculum. In the State of California, for example, state law now requires that social studies classes in junior high school include teachings on Islam. The boys and girls in these classes are given Moslem names and wear Moslem garb and even utter Moslem prayers, as they role-play being a Moslem! LET US REPENT:

"Father God, we see how we have twisted Your teaching to love the sinner, into a way that is not Your way, of embracing and "tolerating" their sin. O Holy God, forgive us, for we have known not what we do. Help us to lead Godly lives before those who are now lost in paths of deception, and to be quick to give a word for our hope when we can. Let us be bold to confront error, and to take a stand in the public square and before our School Boards of Education, when doctrines of demons are foisted upon our young. May our people once again know Your righteousness, and walk in Your ways. Amen."

"WHY GOD USED D. L. MOODY"

A Semon by R. A. Torrey -- 1923

(3) A DEEP AND PRACTICAL STUDENT OF THE BIBLE

The third secret of Mr. Moody's power, or the third reason why God used D. L. Moody, was because he was a deep and practical student of the Word of God. Nowadays it is often said of D. L. Moody that he was not a student. I wish to say that he was a student; most emphatically he was a student. He was not a student of psychology; he was not a student of anthropology -- I am very sure he would not have known what that word meant; he was not a student of biology; he was not a student of philosophy; he was not even a student of theology, in the technical sense of the term; but he was a student, a profound and practical student of the one Book that is more worth studying than all other books in the world put together; he was a student of the Bible.

Every day of his life, I have reason for believing, he arose very early in the morning to study the Word of God, way down to the close of his life. Mr. Moody used to rise about four o'clock in the morning to study the Bible. He would say to me: "If I am going to get in any study, I have got to get up before the other folks get up"; and he would shut himself up in a remote room in his house, alone with his God and his Bible.

I shall never forget the first night I spent in his home. He had invited me to take the superintendency of the Bible Institute and I had already begun my work; I was on my way to some city in the East to preside at the International Christian Workers' Convention. He wrote me saying: "Just as soon as the Convention is over, come up to Northfield." He learned when I was likely to arrive and drove over to South Vernon to meet me. That night he had all the teachers from the Mount Hermon School and from the Northfield Seminary come together at the house to meet me, and to talk over the problems of the two schools. We talked together far on into the night, and then, after the principals and teachers of the schools had gone home, Mr. Moody and I talked together about the problems a while longer.

It was very late when I got to bed that night, but very early the next morning, about five o'clock, I heard a gentle tap on my door. Then I heard Mr. Moody's voice whispering: "Torrey, are you up?" I happened to be; I do not always get up at that early hour but I happened to be up that particular morning. He said: "I want you to go somewhere with me," and I went down with him. Then I found out that he had already been up an hour or two in his room studying the Word of God.

Oh, you may talk about power; but, if you neglect the one Book that God has given you as the one instrument through which He imparts and exercises His power, you will not have it. You may read many books and go to many conventions and you may have your all-night prayer meetings to pray for the power of the Holy Ghost; but unless you keep in constant and close association with the one Book, the Bible, you will not have power. And if you ever had power, you will not maintain it except by the daily, earnest, intense study of that Book. Ninety-nine Christians in every hundred are merely playing at Bible study; and therefore ninety-nine Christians in every hundred are mere weaklings, when they might be giants, both in their Christian life and in their service.

It was largely because of his thorough knowledge of the Bible, and his practical knowledge of the Bible, that Mr. Moody drew such immense crowds. On "Chicago Day," in October, 1893, none of the theaters of Chicago dared to open because it was expected that everybody in Chicago would go on that day to the World's Fair; and, in point of fact, something like four hundred thousand people did pass through the gates of the Fair that day. Everybody in Chicago was expected to be at that end of the city on that day. But Mr. Moody said to me: "Torrey, engage the Central Music Hall and announce meetings from nine o'clock in the morning till six o'clock at night." "Why," I replied, "Mr. Moody, nobody will be at this end of Chicago on that day; not even the theaters dare to open; everybody is going down to Jackson Park to the Fair; we cannot get anybody out on this day."

Mr. Moody replied: "You do as you are told"; and I did as I was told and engaged the Central Music Hall for continuous meetings from nine o'clock in the morning till six o'clock at night. But I did it with a heavy heart; I thought there would be poor audiences. I was on the program at noon that day. Being very busy in my office about the details of the campaign, I did not reach the Central Music Hall till almost noon. I thought I would have no trouble in getting in. But when I got almost to the Hall I found to my amazement that not only was it packed but the vestibule was packed and the steps were packed, and there was no getting anywhere near the door; and if I had not gone round and climbed in a back window they would have lost their speaker for that hour. But that would not have been of much importance, for the crowds had not gathered to hear me; it was the magic of Mr. Moody's name that had drawn them. And why did they long to hear Mr. Moody? Because they knew that while he was not versed in many of the philosophies and fads and fancies of the day, he did know the one Book that this old world most longs to know -- the Bible.

. . . I shall never forget Moody's last visit to Chicago. On the first morning of the meetings I went down to the Auditorium about half an hour before the appointed time, but I went with much fear and apprehension; I thought the Auditorium would be nowhere nearly full. When I reached there, to my amazement I found a queue of people four abreast extending from the Congress Street entrance to Wabash Avenue, then a block north on Wabash Avenue, then a break to let traffic through, and then another block, and so on. I went in through the back door, and there were many clamoring for entrance there. When the doors were opened at the appointed time, we had a cordon of twenty policemen to keep back the crowd; but the crowd was so great that it swept the cordon of policemen off their feet and packed eight thousand people into the building before we could get the doors shut. And I think there were as many left on the outside as there were in the building. I do not think that anyone else in the world could have drawn such a crowd at such a time.

Why? Because though Mr. Moody knew little about science or philosophy or literature in general, he did know the one Book that this old world is perishing to know and longing to know; and this old world will flock to hear men who know the Bible and preach the Bible as they will flock to hear nothing else on earth. . . Oh, men and women, if you wish to get an audience and wish to do that audience some good after you get them, study, study, STUDY the one Book, and preach, preach, PREACH the one Book, and teach, teach, TEACH the one Book, the Bible, the only Book that is God's Word, and the only Book that has power to gather and hold and bless the crowds for any great length of time.

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PRAISE GOD FOR THE CALL DC

AUGUST 16, 2008

Our hearts are full of joy this weekend, as many members of our ministry team were blessed to join with thousands of others from across the nation in a day of TRUE NATIONAL REPENTANCE during The CALL DC on the National Mall.

The beauty of the Spirit of the LORD MOST HIGH was present throughout the day, with a flow that came truly from the heart of God.

The cries for repentance were TRUE; and the worship was WORSHIP -- not "entertainment."

In addition, for those of us who arrived home before the event had finished, we experienced a mantle of PEACE that descended upon our city which was DIVINE. The city and its surrounding suburbs was QUIET and UNDISTURBED -- a rarity here in Washington, D.C.

(Indeed, the last time we experienced this peace was when the Promise Keepers convened here in October, 1997.)

So, we say THANK YOU, JESUS, for the gift of The CALL today in D.C. . . . and we pray that our prayers of repentance have reached the Throne of Grace and touched the very heart of God.

Amen.

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