What Is The Only Thing That Can Make Our Lord Sick and Vomit?
17. “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ — and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.
Another History Lesson
Laodicea was a city of extreme wealth. They had become a city of great commerce, trading, health care, and clothing. They were famous for producing fine clothing of black wool and they also produced an eye salve that healed any eye diseases of their day.
During the time of Caesar, the king of Rome, Laodicea suffered a massive earthquake. When Caesar offered assistance to rebuild, the people of Laodicea said to Rome: ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.’ I am not sure that was their exact words but I do have a feeling they knew what Jesus was referring to when he put that into the letter in the Book of Revelation. They told Rome they needed no help or even wanted any! They said they will rebuild themselves with no need of the Kingdom. Now, what does this have to do with America and the Church? Let’s continue.
The United States, The Laodicea of the End Times.
As I wrote in the past article, the name Laodicea meant a place of the people’s rule, (Democratic Rule). They were independent people, who lived under the rule of Rome. However, their attitude was one of democratic ideas. They ruled themselves and felt they needed no help from Rome, even though in reality they were living in that kingdom and under Caesar, the king of Rome. We the modern day church fall into that same category. We will get more into that later!
The United States has fallen into the same type of attitude and the church has followed the ways of society, the same as the Laodicean Church did in its city. We as the church have a very independent and prideful attitude and I will break down the similarities.
You say that you are “rich”! In the United States, we have become the richest nation that ever has existed. We are like the Laodiceans, who became rich beyond imagination. With the accumulation of riches comes an idea of independence and pride. There also comes an idea of self-reliance. This ideology has slipped into our churches in America.
The United States has become a world power, and until just recently, one of the greatest manufacturers in the world. We were producing everything that the world needed. We exported everything from cars, steel, clothing, and food. The world looks to us for our wealth and also for our protection. This has to lead us to our great feeling of independence. Our wealth has produced the greatest health care in history with modern-day hospitals and research. Our hospitals are amazing compared to the third world hospitals that I have seen. We in America have become a nation second to none in the 20th century. We are the richest of the rich in this world. We as a church are of the same mindset. So at this point, what specifically does this have to do with the church in the United States?
I once heard a story about a Bishop from Africa who came and visited America. Some of our Church leaders gave him a tour of our wonderful churches and our ministries we had to offer here. At the end of this wonderful tour, they asked him to make a statement of how impressed he was of our churches in the United States.
His response was shocking:
It is amazing how much your churches have accomplished without the work of the Holy Spirit. (paraphrased)
What an indictment against us a church. The United States has the most wealth within the Church of Jesus Christ. K.P. Yohannan of Gospel to Asia states that 95% of all the church wealth is in the United States and yet only 5% percent is used for the kingdom of God. The best average is that only 3-5% of Christians in America tithe. That means that 95 to 97 percent of all the money within God’s Kingdom is spent on ourselves! With this idea in mind let us look at a parable Jesus taught about how He feels when His servants misuse the money entrusted to them.
In Matthew 25:14-29 Jesus taught a parable about faithful and unfaithful servants? I know that normally we talk of money in this parable, but Jesus is discussing their attitudes and faithfulness. He gave one servant 10 talents, another servant 5 talents and to the last servant, one talent. The first two servants doubled their investment for the King and the master was extremely pleased. The last servant hid the one talent and gave it back to the Master. Jesus said this laziness infuriated the master. Think of this now! The servant gave back what the master had entrusted to him. There was nothing lost nor nothing gained. He did not steal the money or use it in any other way. The master did not gain or loss, he broke even. Nevertheless, the servant’s course of action along with his reason greatly angered the master.
Now give me some room here!
Can you imagine if there was one more person added to this story? What if this servant, when audited by the master were to answer in the following manner. “Look, master, how do you like the new home I bought? How do you like my new cars and all the fine toys we have collected because of the money you gave us”?
Can you just imagine the reaction the master would have to this response? He was very upset that the unfaithful servant did nothing with his talent and then returned it with no gain or loss. Now how do you think the master would have reacted to the servant who took his talent and spent it on himself and lost all that was entrusted to him?
Is this not exactly what we have done here in the United States? We have taken the prosperity (money) that God has given us and have spent it on our own luxuries. If you are not aware, God makes it clear throughout His Word, He gives wealth to us so we can be a blessing to others. God is not against us prospering and I am even a teacher of prosperity. But God makes it clear throughout His Word, He prospers us: to spread the Gospel and aid the widows and orphans of this world. You may disagree and say we have done that like no other country ever has! Yes, we have done great things, but what could have been done if we had used the other 95%? Remember only 3-5% of Christians use God’s money as He planned for in scripture. The other 95% used it for themselves and that leads us to the next point!
We Need Nothing!
We in America think we need nothing. We have beautiful, air-conditioned, and comfortable churches. We have every Bible translation imaginable. The statistics show that those who actually study and spend time with the Lord, do so for less than 5 minutes a day. We have online Bibles, commentaries and websites to make our life easier. We have Christian movies, Christian music, and Christian concerts, along with programs of all sorts. We have more than any other church in the world could ever begin to imagine. In Guatemala, I have personally seen that most churches do not even have walls, they have four pillars holding up a laminated ceiling. I have been to churches in the villages where you are eaten alive by the mosquitos and endure extreme temperatures in the rain to hear the Word of God. I know, because I have preached in a few of them.
I have heard enough statistics over my past 30 years of ministry to make me wonder what this wealth has ever produced. I have heard that we lose 5000 churches a year due to the fact that these churches have no one attending anymore. Most missionaries only last for one year due to the lack of support, or the fact that it is simply just too hard to cope in a foreign land. They are unable to get out of their accustomed comfort zone.
In America, we have 50 percent of all Christian marriages failing. We have 60 percent of all professing Christian men addicted to pornography. The credit card debt among Christians is no different from the rest of society. The list can go on and on and we have the best of everything. The best churches, resources and the greatest wealth. How can this be? How with all this great wealth are we failing to reach our cities, our country and the world for Christ? How? We have told our King (Jesus) that we are rich and we need nothing, to include the help of the Holy Spirit!
How Have We Done This?
Just like Laodicea, we are deceived! Do you know the worse part of being deceived? You do not know you are deceived!
We are rich and we need nothing! Yes, that is what we say, and yes we are deceived, because if we believe we need nothing, then we are indeed deceived. And yet the Church in the United States does not recognize that we have been and are deceived! We are very proud of ourselves with all our accomplishments, great churches, and great ministries.
There is another problem: Just like the Laodiceans, who told Ceasar, we do not need your help, we also told Jesus, we do not need any help. We will do it on our own!
If we did an honest survey of most of our major denominations in the United States, we would find that these major denominations have stopped making salvation a priority. Most will tell you, get baptized, join our church, do sacraments and you will be accepted by our Lord. We have made joining the church no different than joining a club. The blood and cross of Jesus are no longer required for salvation. We now have seeker friendly churches who refuse to mention sin, blood or repenting of one’s sin. We do not want to offend anyone.
Those who still except salvation in Christ’s work on the cross are split into two groups: Charismatic and Fundamentalist believers. Those in the Fundamentalist group reject the work of the Holy Spirit. He is not welcome or mentioned in their services. They have written off the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, along with His gifts and works as something that has happened in the past and has now passed away with the apostolic age. They lump it into one work with Salvation, but if you read the scriptures, that theology is not written in the Bible. The gifts of the Spirit and speaking in tongues have not faded away. Then after rejecting the work of the Holy Spirit, they wonder why their churches are so dead and why they do not see the gifts of healing and of power in their churches. It is because His teachings and presence are not welcome in these churches. Speaking in tongues is just too fanatic for many!
Pastors are afraid to preach healing and miracles because they are afraid of the consequences. What if someone happens to die while they are teaching healing. So many argue that if you believe in healing; “why are there so many people in the church that are sick and dying? They, therefore, come to the conclusion that healing cannot be for today! Let us look at it this way using this illustration;
Do you believe in salvation through Jesus Christ on the cross and the forgiveness of sins? Most will say yes! So if you use that mindset above: (if you believe in healing why is not everyone healed), this would also be correct for salvation. If you without a doubt believe in salvation, why is not everyone saved in this world? So if arguing that everyone is not healed makes it not true, then the same can be argued about salvation since everyone is not saved.
Money Hides Our Lack of Power!
The problem is that all our money along with our beautiful churches does not produce the fruit or the works of the Holy Spirit!
Yes, money can buy great cathedrals and beautiful sanctuaries. It also buys us marketing strategists who can teach us about church growth and raising our attendance numbers through marketing techniques. However, money cannot buy the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is of God and cannot be purchased.
These above marketing strategies enable our churches to disguise the lack of power that we are experiencing in the American churches today. We try to glam it up and cover it with fancy worship services and well-polished motivational speakers.
We have even come to the place where many large churches have replaced the role of “Pastor” with a person who is nothing more than a business C.E.O. His job is no longer shepherding “the flock” but one who is running a business that we call a church! This is no different than we do in “corporate America”.
One last question or observation:
Read the Book of Acts and the birth of the baby church two thousand years ago. Then ask yourself:
Does the church I go to and/or do the majority of today’s churches in America look like those in the book of Acts?
I want you to know that it was this question that led me to leave my Baptist church. After reading the Book of Acts, I grew tired of the same dry, dead reality I lived in. I repented and began to seek the reality of what I was reading in scriptures.
Today I have seen miracles, healings and the movement of God similar to what is written in the book of Acts. I have seen people who would have otherwise died healed of cancer and other diseases. I now speak in tongues and have heard the voice of God speaking to me; like Ananias in the 9th chapter of Acts when he healed and Baptized Saul in the Holy Spirit which gave birth to the new Apostle Paul. Today I get to see and partake in what I read in those chapters. I no longer dream or desire to want to be back in the first-century church. I am in the 21st-century church and we can do the same as they did back then, if we would only toss out the theologian hogwash we are constantly fed and get back to the Word of God.
This is what makes Jesus so sick to His stomach and wanting to vomit! We have replaced His church with corporate American tactics and have left out the need for the cross and the promises of the power of His Holy Spirit. Paul warned us of this day in 2 Timothy: 3:5:
In the Last Days: having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
V7-9: always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.
