John The Baptist Shall Come Forth!

The Word of the Lord says in Matthew 3:1-2, "In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the desert of Judea...and saying, 'Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.' He was the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare ye the way of the Lord and make straight paths for Him.'"

There was a statistical figure released recently that caused me to become seriously ill. It was from one of our so called famous theological seminaries (or cemeteries). In a graduating class of 800, seven had graduated with MAJORS in preaching. My God in heaven! How far away from the Lord and His Word have we as a church come? We no longer even recognize the beautiful, pure, virgin Bride of Christ. We have replaced her with an abominable whore. If we took that whore and stripped off the lipstick and the wigs and all of the other false paraphernalia, we would find that indeed, underneath there was not even a real woman, but a heinous monster.

We have a plastic, polyurethane, American manufactured facade that we call the church of Jesus Christ, but rest assured brethren, that the Lord in no way calls it His Body.

At the risk of being crude and vulgar, let me say that no one would recognize this present day whore that we refer to as a church. Does the anointing of the preachers today come from the Living and Almighty God? Is the call of God placed upon these people to go forth into the wilderness?

Never was there a wilderness such as the church today. There is no longer the anointing or calling of the Lord upon an individual, conceived of the Holy Spirit where that individual is brought into repentance and into prayer and then eventually given the call of God to go forth and to minister THAT word which he has received which has broken him, and to minister that word unto others, but rather the ministry is now seen, not as a calling, but as a profession.

One of the so-called famous theologians of our day tells his students, "never again look at preaching as the old sawdust trail and sweating out things for God, in fact it is not that way. It is a profession. Look at it as a profession with a stable retirement, a good reputation, an adequate wage and a socially redeemable value." I would say no, no, a thousand times no. A million times no. The greatest problem with the church today is there are too many in the pulpit not called of God but rather are there to fulfill their own self-righteousness or to appease their spirit of religiosity. The majority of those in the pulpit are absolutely not called of God.

The Great Commission is to go forth and to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to all creatures unto the ends of the earth. Paul in one place does say that he was not sent to baptize, but to preach. I suppose we could twist that scripture totally out of context and believe that somewhere, somehow God has sent someone totally to baptize.

Now, if we take the scripture totally out of context and twist it does that mean that out of the 800 who graduated from this seminary, 793 of them graduated with a major in baptizing? Let us not be deceived, 793 graduated with a major in how to raise funds, how to build bigger and more awesome churches, how to maintain a bigger name for themselves, how to succeed in television ministries, etc, etc, etc.

Let me leave you with these few questions. Attempt to honestly answer them in your own mind before God. What if today we had the power, (and I pray God we will,) that we could go to every preacher in the world and we could assure him that effective immediately he would never receive another penny from his work. Effective immediately he could no longer raise money through tithes and offerings, he would never be paid a salary, there would be no insurance and last but not least, there would be no glory. It will be as in the Azuza Street Revival when they preached with paper bags on their head so no man would look to them, that none would receive the glory save Jesus Christ, and the preacher's name was never used.

What if we were to tell these preachers the same thing must be done and that no one would know who they are? What if we were to tell them that this commission they claim to have, this burning zeal they say they have, would be for Jesus Christ and Him only, and that He was the only one that could be glorified? What if we told them they would never be paid again, that they might actually have to do something so drastic as to get a job and support themselves and there would be no glory in it for him? HOW MANY PREACHERS WOULD WE HAVE THE NEXT DAY?

I end with this: Let us pray in perfect accordance to the Word - not the theologians, not the seminaries - but to THE LORD OF THE HARVEST that He would call, anoint, and send out the workers.

The Apostle Paul did not need four years to major in preaching. His preaching was without convincing words. In fact he stuttered and his physical appearance was not attractive but the Bible says he preached under the power and the anointing of the Holy Ghost, in the power of the Spirit of God.

Let us pray for the John the Baptists that they might come and prepare the way of the Lord, and that they might come and prepare the people so there is a vehicle, a vessel for the Lord, because God will not dwell in an unclean temple. "Meditate on these things and do not be deceived my brethren..." This is the command, not the request of God.

Provided by:
Into the Light Ministries
www.intothelight.org