Matthew 24:11-14 “And many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

We see that we have wondered far away from what the Founding Fathers proposed in their principles that made America great.  After a meeting where our Founding Fathers were hammering out the Constitution a lady asked Benjamin Franklin what we have as a country. And he answered: “A republic if we can keep it.”

I believe the question today is: Can we keep it? We see lawlessness abounding, disunity among different groups of people, a refusal by parties to try to understand the other person more than to be understood, a moral collapse, kicking God out, as well as God’s Law with the Ten Commandments, out of public affairs, and terrorism raising its ugly head in our midst.

If there ever is a time for the Church to be united – now is the time! This is the time when the Church (the Body of Christ) needs to be united to stop in it tracks this evil spirit that’s invading our country. Chuck Pierce says this is the time: “Know who you are! Know your enemy! But make Me and how I think your priority!” This is the time when the young and the old (zeal and wisdom) must come together to fight the battle over this nation that we love, and not just the USA, but all of Western Civilization.    

We see more and more that Western Civilization is starting to crumble. In the Book of Judges, we read: “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.” (Judges 21:25) and in verse 24 “At that time the Israelites left that place and went home to their tribes and clans, each to his own inheritance.” Like Lance Wallnau says: “The problem with this is that every group starts going to war with other groups – each one to get his inheritance.” Isn’t this what we have today – blacks against whites, different sexual orientation, the haves and haves not, etc.?

John Adams said: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” If we, because of moral collapse and not having a sense of what is right and wrong, lose the capacity to govern ourselves then this opens the door for not only the collapse of democracy, but for a strong leader to overtake us.

Lance Wallnau brings out that the missing ingredient in our Western Civilization is the “voice of conscience.” According to John 16:8 the Holy Spirit does the convicting and the Holy Spirit speaks through His people (the Body of Christ).

I have hope for America and Western Civilization. Why? Because of the Scripture and the history of the movement of God. When all seems lost with no hope we see God moving and often raising up a man who will stand in the gap.

1. Moses confronting Pharaoh so that the Israelites might go free.
2. Joshua conquering Canaan to secure the inheritance from God.
3. David opposing the Philistines to prepare for the kingdom.
4. Elijah standing against Baal worshippers on Mount Carmel.
5. Daniel praying for the end of the Babylonian captivity.
6. Ezra securing permission from Cyrus to establish God’s people in Canaan.
7. George Whitfield and John Wesley who shook Great Britain. It is stated by historians that what kept Great Britain from following the blood path of the French Revolution was the preaching of these two men.
8. William Carey starting the modern missionary movement.

God loves all men/women, but He appears particularly concerned with the few who relate actively to His purpose. Look at these men! They were not content just knowing God in the inner world of their heart; they were not satisfied merely to enjoy the fellowship of God’s people; their lives had to be related to God’s purpose for their generation. For them it meant the ongoing of Israel – its obedience, integrity and its mission and they poured themselves into it. They found God on their side.

Today we have the church (the Body of Christ) and we need to see men and women filled with the Holy Spirit who are anointed to speak to the evils in this generation, to the racial and economic problems that we face today.

2 Timothy 1:7 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”

In one of my recent letters I wrote that we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. I mentioned how a divisive spirit has entered and is bringing about divisions in our families, churches, politics and communities as well as in our countries.

Through the media we see another spirit that has entered and that is the spirit of fear. Because of the terrorist acts taking place around the world and the wide spread reporting with the technological advances where we are able to see the atrocities, the spirit of fear has entered into our societies and into our lives.

I remember how after 9/11 I had to go down to Brazil for meetings and the plane was almost empty. Very few people wanted to fly after what they saw the Twin Towers hit by terrorists taking control of planes. So it is today with what we see happening around the world that this spirit of fear has entered to paralyze us from doing what we should be doing and at the same time tempting us to get ready to surrender our freedom to whoever or whatever can get us out of this fear. Benjamin Franklin said it well: “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

The fear that Timothy is talking about is better translated timidity. This is the type of fear that can be overcome by experience. For example, I hated public speaking; I was fearful, but when I began public speaking and preaching I overcame this fear.

However, the fear that John is speaking about is the type of fear called phobia. This fear – when it gets hold of you will paralyze you from doing what you need to do; this is the type of fear that will hold you back from achieving all that God has for you. This spirit of fear is overtaking societies today and it needs to be dealt with.

How do we deal with this spirit of fear? I am reminded of the answer that Jesus gave to His disciples when they tried to drive out a demon but could not: “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)

Two things come out here. First, we see that faith is needed. God is constantly wanting us to have a strong faith and we know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. When we begin to read the Word and to apply it to our lives through obedience, our faith begins to grow.

A.W.Tozer said in his book called MAN: THE DWELLING PLACE OF GOD: “The man that believes will obey; and God gives faith to the obedient heart only.”

Secondly, we see that this type of fear (evil spirit) that John mentions is like a mountain that must be removed. Our problem is that we find in our talking and praying describing our mountain (fear) instead of saying to the mountain (fear), “be removed in Jesus’ Name.” If we do not deal with this mountain by faith then we will be hindered in accomplishing the will of God in our lives.

When this type of fear enters into our lives we must deal with it immediately and cast it out in Jesus’ Name. We speak to this fear (mountain) and cast it out with the authority that Jesus gave us. We do not give in to it at all, but immediately deal with it. This is where we learn to speak the Word of God.

Some years ago I was in Mexico City for a speaking engagement and late one night I woke up suddenly in fear. It was a deep fear of the future, the unknown. I got out of bed and began to speak against this spirit of fear. After about thirty minutes I went back to bed, but again I was bombarded by this evil spirit. Then I got up and took my Bible and started going through the Psalms and praising God and then I came to Psalm 34:4 that says: “I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.” When I read that out loud and claimed it, a deep peace came over me and this mountain (fear) left. Over the years when I consider the future and the unknown fear has not bothered me since.

SPEAK TO YOUR MOUNTAIN!!

John 17:20-23 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

When we think of the Lord’s Prayer we often think of Matthew chapter 6 where Jesus tells His disciples how to pray, but we forget John 17 where Jesus is having His last few days with His disciples before the betrayal, crucifixion, burial, resurrection and ascension to the Father’s right hand. This prayer that Jesus prays in John 17 is for the Body of Christ and it is a prayer for unity within the Body. United we stand, but divided we fall and not only do we fall, but we will not be able to complete the Last Great Command the Lord gave us to go into all the world and preach the Gospel.

When I started out 56 years ago in ministry I did not find the unity that the Lord is talking and praying about here in John 17, but over the years there has been a movement of reconciliation and coming together for the extension of the Kingdom of God. We find that we are not standing and dividing over the wrong things like we did in the past.

Writing to the Corinthian church Paul wrote that they were standing and dividing over the wrong things. There were three main issues that he focused on:

First, they were standing and dividing over what I would call today “denominations.” Paul mentions this when he says: “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. What I mean is this: One of you says, ‘I follow Paul;’ another, ‘I follow Apollos;’ another, ‘I follow Cephas;’ still another, ‘I follow Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?” 1 Corinthians 1:10,12,13

Secondly, they were dividing over knowledge: “Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.” (1 Corinthians 8:1) They had a tendency to look down on their less gifted brethren.

Thirdly, spiritual gifts: they were standing and dividing over spiritual gifts and the main one was the gift of speaking in tongues. (Ch.14)

In chapter 15 Paul tells us what we should be standing on: “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand.” 1 Corinthians 15:1

What I find in the church I see now in the world. We have become divided. Here in America we do not have Americans, but African Americans, Latin Americans, Asian Americans, white Americans; we have labels for everyone – democrats, republicans, independents, libertarians and we have labels for the generations – baby boomers, generation X, millennials etc. and because of this we are pitted against one another and we find one generation clashing against another generation. This is not just a phenomenon here in the States, but it is also all over the world. In India it is a caste system and now in Europe with the integration of the masses of immigrants we find a break-down in European identity.

Seeing what is happening and praying and thinking over this and knowing that we do not fight against flesh and blood I see that a divisive spirit is pitting one another against each other, not just in families, but also in our communities and our countries.

This is the time that we, who God has called to build His House and not to tear it down (Satan and his cohorts are doing that), are to maintain the unity in the Body of Christ. When doing that we are able to bring sanity into a world that is moving quickly towards chaos.

I see great hope in the days ahead in that it will be the worst of times, but also the best of times to see a great harvest of souls, but it will only be when the Body of Christ realizes the importance of the prayer of Christ: “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” John 17:21

We, in the Body of Christ, must realize that we all have our opinions, but that is not what we stand on. Paul told us what we stand on and what we divide over: the Gospel.

1 Corinthians 15:3-7 tells us what that Gospel is. “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.”

Let us (the Body of Christ) go forth to war (using the powerful weapons given to us-prayer, Word of God and shield of faith) against the real enemy and his cohorts.