Where were you
Posted by Mark Labuschagne on Saturday, April 5, 2014
I have watched the church progressively change over my 53 years. I have seen various groups come forward and everyone seemed to have another reason why people should believe their interpretation of scripture was indeed correct and did everything in their power to promote these ideologies.
When the Holy Spirit moved on Luther, there was resistance to change and many called him a heretic. The Protestant movement caused its own methodology and so to with the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, the Charismatic’s and Grace Movements we have seen split over and over again.
One gets the impression that we have felt the need to change the Good News to suit our modern lifestyles and every group has added its own teachings and opinions to the Word of God over the years. We see so many different interpretations of scripture and the number of books that have been written on every conceivable subject proves that somehow, we could just not accept or understand the unadulterated simplistic truth that Jesus and His Apostles taught throughout the word.
Somehow, since the death and resurrection of Jesus and the death of the Apostles, the church felt the need to add something more to the word of God seemingly unable to accept the written Truth. From the time of Constantine, things have changed over and over again. I am not a biblical historian or scholar, but from what I can ascertain, the church as we know it today, does not look like the early church in any way, shape or form.
Without seeming to pass judgement, we seem in many instances to have a form of godliness and yet deny the truth. We have seen the faith teachers come and go, we have had the prosperity teachers come and go and we have seen every conceivable teaching that man can think off taught to those who were willing to listen and believe. Many things that have been said in the name of the Lord were not even truth, but most folks in the church, even in our times, lack discernment and embraced every doctrine that even sounded right.
One can carry on and on about this subject and say many things, but I went before the Lord and prayed about this matter in earnest. As a prophet, I have always ensured that when I spoke that it had to be direct from His heart and not by my imagination. I did not want to say anything that offended my heavenly Father and then there was also Jeremiah 23 which spoke very clearly on this matter.
When I approached the Lord with this scenario, I heard Him ask me the following question; "My son, where was mankind when I died on the Cross of Calvary. I hung on the Cross all on my own so that everyone who would call on the name of the Lord would be saved. I died alone. Where were you when I died and declared “It is finished”? Why do your teachers feel the need to add anything to what I have already completed? Why do they feel the need to add their opinions and doctrines to the finished work? Tell them, I did not need them when I died on the Cross and I do not need them now. All I desire is that they, who teach, do so to honor My word, that they would share the truth and not add anything more to their teachings than this truth”.
When I approached the Lord with this scenario, I heard Him ask me the following question; "My son, where was mankind when I died on the Cross of Calvary. I hung on the Cross all on my own so that everyone who would call on the name of the Lord would be saved. I died alone. Where were you when I died and declared “It is finished”? Why do your teachers feel the need to add anything to what I have already completed? Why do they feel the need to add their opinions and doctrines to the finished work? Tell them, I did not need them when I died on the Cross and I do not need them now. All I desire is that they, who teach, do so to honor My word, that they would share the truth and not add anything more to their teachings than this truth”.
A number of years ago, the Lord told me that He had many enemies standing behind the pulpit and the time was coming that He would deal with these men and women. The Lord said that He would remove them from these positions and deal with their hearts and those who repented would be restored. I saw the grace of God extended to everyone standing behind the pulpit, and saw leaders of all denominations repenting being healed, restored and delivered, for it was in this time, God said, “I would cause them to know the Truth that is My Son”.
So, the church needs these restored leaders to be raised up in this time, we need men and women who did not need to add anything to the finished work of the Cross and we need to ask the Lord for wisdom in these days to ensure that when we teach, it comes directly from His heart and then to return to the Truth that is Jesus...
My encouragement is that we stop doing what we are busy with, that we would return to Jesus, seek His face only and allow His word, the Truth to set us free enabling us by His blessed Holy Spirit to be to spokesmen God has called us to be.
