Image from www.freefoto.comIn the last two years, the whole world has been experiencing a great shaking.
The unsound foundations are being exposed that parts of and in many cases entire individual lives included my own as well as small and huge organizations included within the institutional church.
Even entire nations have been brought to their knees and many more will be over the coming months and years.
We are seeing the fall of the great and the small.
However, I believe that others and I see a sign that there is great hope for those who will recognize, acknowledge, and turn from their greed, pride, self seeking, walking in their own ways, and own agendas.
Then turn to our Head who is Christ and ask him to show us how to walk in genuine relationship with him.
We must do this individually and as His Ecclesia/Church and and ask him to teach us how to walk by the Spirit in unity based on every member’s diversity and unique gifts.
Again as I have said many times “I he believe that the Spirit is leading the Church/Ecclesia Christ is building into a post-institutional, post-congregational, post-obligation, and post-sectarian organic relationship with Christ, His Body, and our neighbors that is free of manmade systems, programs, and agendas that pigeon hole us and attempt to pigeon hole God.”
In 2008 and 2009 more disasters and crashes involving major forms of mass transportation have been brought to the public’s attention then at anytime that I have found by studying history.
Especially in commercial airlines.
So many have happened in a relatively short season.
After prayer and reading the writings of others I am convinced that Father though he has not caused them has removed to some degree his hand that had in the past prevented many air disasters this close together till recently.
I believe there is an important message in this for the Church/Ecclesia of Christ.
In the prophetic vehicles for the transportation of people and/or goods often represent organized works of God’s of people/ministries.
Not all organization is bad as sometimes the Spirit brings people together whom he has given parts of the same vision.
Then together in obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit they, begin together following the Spirit in an area of service to their neighbors either near their home or elsewhere in the world.
In New Testament scripture, you see this kind of cooperative service with Paul and Barnabas and others who occasionally joined them in Cities where they preached the Gospel of the Kingdom and the spirit began drawing people to the faith and Christ began building a local expression of his Ecclesia/Church.
However what sometimes happens is things go south.
An individual or a group of people are seduced by their own hearts desires into following their own agendas for personal gain and kingdom building.
This I believe this is what happened with Constantine if he truly came to faith initially, which in truth I find doubtful.
But He shortly became the father of what is now the Institutional Church.
Regardless of the what denomination or label it goes by nearly everything in most institutional churches originating with Constantine and the majority of its practices, structures, etc. he borrowed from pagan religions and government.
Like the commercial planes and other air craft crashing to the ground and killing passengers and crew we are seeing the progressive collapse of the institutional church and many of its leaders.
This is especially true of Evangelical and others similar doctrinally and in dogma as a result of the shaking that God has been allowing to come to the whole earth.
More institutional churches are closing their doors then at any other time, because congregations have become so small and therefore they do not receive enough monetary offerings to stay alive.
Others have become so grossly corrupt and hurtful that people have stopped attending in such great numbers, because the arrogant corruption has become unavoidably obvious.
Still others are slowly dwindling, because people are leaving the institutional church for all the reasons I mentioned in last weeks article.
God has taken what little of his Spirit has blown into these buildings and organizations and left.
The truly hungry for God and genuine community of followers of Christ are recognizing it and leaving in the hundreds of thousands monthly in the U.S. and across the globe.
There is Good News!
On January 15, 2009 Chesley Sullinberger landed Flight 1549 in the Hudson River safely after a flock of geese took out both engines on the commercial jet he was piloting without losing one of his 155 passengers and crew, because he had the presence of mind to rely on experience and training he had received years earlier.
Those who will not stubbornly refuse to recognize, acknowledge, and turn from going their own ways, agendas, and holding on to traditions and will call out Christ will land in the river of life.
There the Jesus will breath on them and the Holy Spirit will begin leading them into the life that Father has had for all of us all along.
Mr. Sullinberger's safe landing of a commercial jet liner of that size in a river safely was a new thing in our lifetime.
The forms the Ecclesia/Church Christ is building will be nothing like what it has predominately been in the past 1500 years.
It will truly begin to look much more like the healthy Ecclesia/Church in Acts Chapter 2 and other places in New Testament Scripture.
It will be relevant to and effective the cultures in which it is located, because Christ will be its only head and the community of all believers will function as the Head desires and the Holy Spirit empowers us.
Every member's gifts will be practiced for the good of the whole community.
Our their neighbors will know we are Christ’s followers by our love and many will be added to our number daily...
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