There have been various prayer movements in the United States focused on praying for change in our government, the most popular that I know of being TheCall.  I’m sure a lot of young Christians now are probably devastated by the election results, at a loss to explain why God would seemingly ignore their heartfelt prayers.

While some proponents might argue otherwise, the whole point of these movements have been largely to effect political reform.  They were overly focused on what was happening with our government, but not what was happening in the churches.  In short, we were praying for the wrong things.

Our churches are in complete disarray, deluged with religious fads and heretical teachings, with a community of believers that are more concerned about prosperity than they are about holiness.  Whatever the world does, we imitate it at every turn, whether it’s coming up with our own version of “American Idol” or turning our churches into entertainment centers complete with built-in basketball courts and coffee shops.  We’ve become so preoccupied with meaningless creature comforts, and through it all we’ve allowed an entire generation of Christians to be deceived by the rampant heresies that have overwhelmed the body of Christ.  And yet in spite of all this, we’re holding prayer vigils outside the U.S. Supreme Court building pleading for God to give us more conservative judges.  And how has that been working out so far?

Here’s the deal:  God is not concerned with our governments so much as He is concerned with His people.  And since judgment must first begin in the house of God, our focus should always be on taking care of the church first before anything else, ensuring that we walk soberly, with our minds on heaven rather than on political issues of the day.  All the nations are as a drop in the bucket to the LORD of creation anyway, and more notably, the lesson of history has shown us when a remnant of God’s people repent and seek Him with their whole hearts, things then have a way of working out for themselves without any active intervention on our part.

This will soon be an extraordinarily distressing time for Christians, yet I believe it is not intended for our destruction, but rather to encourage us to seek the LORD once again in a spirit of true repentance and broken heartedness.  Whom the LORD loves He rebukes and chastens, and He admonishes us all to “be zealous therefore, and repent.”

So for those of you have become disillusioned and even bitter about the direction our country has been heading in, don’t despair.  God has not abandoned us, and while we may experience grievous times, it is in those times that we will find true faith and revival.

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.  In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. – John 16:33

Tags: abandoned, america, christ, christian, Christians, church, churches, country, despair, election, God, government, heresies, holiness, judgment, lord, nation, peace, prayer, prayers, praying, religious fads, remnant, repent, repentance, revival, sin, thecall, unanswered, world
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Last weekend I was given Isaiah 19 to read, confirming who would win the election and why.  I wasn’t sure how to take it since I was still holding out hope, but now that the election has concluded, these verses are about to become more real than I could probably ever imagine.

I believe the Old Testament gives us a pattern of how God deals with nations and peoples, and these patterns still apply even today.  They are written for our benefit and instruction:

Romans 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

1 Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them {the people of the Old Testament} for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

With that in mind, I believe Isaiah 19 gives us a strong indicator of what will happen in the next 4 years.  I’ll provide the verses, then follow them up with my comments.

The burden of Egypt.  Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.  And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

That sure sounds like a lot of race-based riots are about to happen soon, doesn’t it?  Our nation will dramatically fracture along political, ethnic and religious lines, and we will all be pitted against each other in a spirit of violence such as we have not seen for a long, long time.

And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.

Where conventional wisdom fails, people will run to unorthodox sources for answers (similar to The Secret hype we saw not too long ago.)

And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.

America, meet Barack Hussein Obama.

And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.  And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.  The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.  The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.

Our defenses will weaken and our food supply will suffer.  The cost of certain groceries will likely rise, and rise dramatically.

Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded.  And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.

Linen manufacture was one of Egypt’s most lucrative trades, so this indicates to me a direct hit on our economy and our ability to trade.

Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?  Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.  The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof.

Matthew Henry writes of this:  “Their politics shall be all blasted,  and turned into foolishness.  When God will destroy the nation he will destroy the counsel thereof,  by taking away wisdom from the statesmen,  or setting them one against another (as Hushai and Ahithophel),  or by his providence breaking their measures even when they seemed well laid; so that the princes of Zoan are fools: they make fools of one another,  every one betrays his own folly,  and divine Providence makes fools of them all.  Pharaoh had his wise counselors.  Egypt was famous for such.  But their counsel has all become brutish;  they have lost all their forecast; one would think they had become idiots,  and were bereaved of common sense.”

That actually sounds like Washington on any given day, but probably more so in the days to come.

The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.  Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.

Our unemployment rate is going to skyrocket.  It’s possible we may see the same kind of double digit rates that were only previously seen during the Great Depression.

In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shaketh over it.  And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he hath determined against it.

Judah at the time was being overrun by the powerful army of Sennacherib, and was considered an ally of Egypt.  The fear expressed here is that Sennacherib would attack them as well.  Applying it to today, a foreign war involving one of our allies may take place (if not already) and the enemy fighting this ally will be seen as a serious threat to us as well, causing much fear and distress.

And now for the good news! 

In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction.  In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD.  And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.

Sarah Palin 2012!

Ok, ok, on a more serious note, I think it’s clear the calamity Egypt went through resulted in a REAL revival (not like the fake ones we’ve seen for the past 10 years or so.)  A small group of cities turned and sought the LORD in a spirit of repentance and broken heartedness, pleading for His intervention.  This remnant of righteousness will spark a turnaround for an entire nation, and God will answer by sending them a deliverer.

Sarah Palin 2012!!!!!!!!   Hey, you never know…

And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it.  And the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the LORD, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them.  In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.  In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.

After smiting Egypt the LORD then heals it, and goes so far as to restore what had once been bitter relations between with them and the nation of Assyria, a possible sign that any revival we witness will be confirmed by a healing of relations with a powerful ally of ours.

None of this is set in stone of course, but the pattern is clear:  a nation becomes divisive and violent, falls under the rule of a cruel and fierce king, and all manner of economic calamity shortly follows thereafter, with our government in disarray and our country gripped with fear over the possibility of attacks from foreign entities.  The awful calamities and destructions we experience will however result in a bonafide revival, a revival that will sweep a large segment of our population and cause the LORD to show mercy and restore the nation, one more time.

I have to admit I find this hard to believe.  America has become so ridiculously blind and so breathtakingly evil that I don’t see how we could ever have a revival again, and indeed we may not.  But… if we did, if the church especially sought out the LORD with sackcloth and ashes, and we truly repented of our sins and began to obey His true Word, not being tossed about by the heresies that have so easily been allowed to flourish in the churches before, God may yet spare us, as well as restore the nation we live in.

Whether this revival actually comes or not, I don’t know.  So many people seem to believe Barack Obama was raised up by God to lead the United States, and for once I happen to agree, only not for the reasons they might think.  I believe strongly that he was raised up to be our oppressor, not our deliverer, and the reality of that fact will soon manifest itself shortly after his term begins, as we are thrust into one of the darkest times our nation has ever experienced in its 200+ year history.

Regardless, while “Egypt” may be judged, those who have remained faithful and loyal to the God of creation will find themselves in their own private Goshen.  I believe the Lord will supernaturally care for us even while a nation of people around us becomes severely judged for its sins.  In spite of my own failings and sins, one thing I am still confident of even now, and it is that God will always keep His promises.  He will care for me just as He will care for His people, because He has promised to do so.  And it is that promise I am holding on to, now more than ever.

Tags: america, barack hussein obama, barack obama, Christians, church, churches, country, depression, economy, Egyptians, election, employment, faith, God, government, healing, heresies, judgment, lord, nation, politics, promises, repentance, revival, sarah palin, Scripture, scriptures, sin, violence
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This presidential election is sadly overshadowing everything else happening in my life right now.  While I plan to go out and enjoy the fall foliage while it is still at its peak, I wonder if these last few days before the election will mark the last time I’ll ever be able to enjoy an autumn season in a relatively free country again.

It’s often hard to take the predictions of doomsday and the end of the world seriously, regardless of who’s making it, and I’m sure Obama supporters think those of us who oppose him are overreacting with our dire warnings of utter catastrophe and disaster, should he be elected.

I just saw a movie though called Empire of the Sun (starring an adolescent Christian Bale), and what struck me about the movie was just how quickly everything had changed for one little boy.  One day he was living the good life in a peaceful and affluent town, and then quite literally the next day everything changed, as the Japanese invaded and turned his world upside down.  Now all the rights he had previously enjoyed as a British National disappeared into thin air, and he ultimately ended up in an internment camp, where he would reside for the entire duration of World War 2.

It can happen that quickly, without warning.  And yet, even while it’s happening, we still can’t believe it.  But it’s that lack of belief that will ultimately doom us, the overconfidence in thinking our rights just can’t be taken away from us that easily, the idea that even if we make a bad choice for a President, it won’t be so bad that our nation as we know it would come to an end.

And that’s the problem.  What I cannot stand more than anything is having to deal with people’s utter refusal to listen to reason.  It brings out the absolute worst in me.  They are so blind in their hatred and so unforgivably ignorant that they are willing to back a horse that they in truth know very, very little about.  A horse that may in fact be a trojan horse.

Just how is it that a guy with a resume as thin as air beats someone like Hillary, who despite her turbulent past is a seasoned politician and has a record for being a centrist and appealing to a broader base of voters?

How does a guy who breaks his campaign promise to use public financing and instead collects over half a billion dollars in campaign funds (refusing to disclose who’s been donating to him) not raise any red flags with his supporters or the media?

How is it that a politician from Chicago who has associated with and befriended some of the most extreme radical figures in America (denouncing their past acts only during an election season, and never before) not cause some of his supporters to be just a little bit uneasy?

How is it that Obama can talk about a “civilian national security force” without voters seeing visions of the Gestapo marching the streets?

How is it that he can evoke adoration and idolization amongst his followers, even while they would all be hard pressed to name any significant accomplishment he’s made prior to running for President?

How does the prospect of a one party system with a possibly filibuster-proof senate and a White House placed in the hands of a man with a mysterious past and an alarmingly extreme voting record not at least give voters pause?

Why do his supporters continue to believe he will cut taxes despite him having no record of cutting taxes before, and especially now that he’s already reneged on several key campaign promises and changed some of his platform positions?  How can he still be considered trustworthy?

We have gone seven years without a terrorist attack, and it wasn’t by sheer luck.  Do Obama’s supporters really believe we’ll continue to be safe as long as Obama doesn’t antagonize the terrorists and play favorites with Israel so much?  Have we so soon forgotten what Iran did with Jimmy Carter?  Will his supporters turn a blind eye to Russia’s own enthusiastic hope in his election, even while they set their murderous eyes on satellite states like Georgia and Poland, or to Iran licking its chops at the prospect of overrunning Iraq should our troops leave prematurely?  Can we really be expected to believe Iran will suddenly cease its nuclear ambitions and calls for Israel’s destruction so long as Obama treats them nicely, or worse, pursues a policy of appeasement?

How can Obama, who hides his belief in reparations for black Americans by using phrases such as “economic justice,” and who has enthusiastically thrown his support behind the machinery of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae be trusted to handle the financial crisis effectively and without bias?

How can we turn a blind eye to what happened to Joe the Plumber, who saw his privacy and rights as a citizen violated because he asked a question?  How can we not believe that this wouldn’t happen on a much larger scale should Obama become President?

I know there is a lot to dislike about McCain, but there is one thing that should never be in doubt: he truly loves his country.  Whether his ideas are wrong or not, there can be no mistake that they are borne out of his sense of patriotism and his desire for America to continue growing and thriving as the greatest nation on Earth.

As for Obama, just the opposite could be said of him.  I do not believe at all that he loves America.  Instead, what he loves is the idea of what he thinks America should BE.  He sees this nation now as being inherently evil, and believes himself to be the man who can mold and shape it into an image more befitting his own political ideology and belief system, one that is steeped deeply in the anti-American sentiments expressed by so many his mentors (including Reverend Wright), no matter how much he might deny it.  While McCain wants America to continue being America, Barack Obama instead wants it to become Europe, complete with a nanny state that coddles its citizenship, yet at the price of eroding some of our most basic and cherished individual rights.  What we might gain in free health care, we will most assuredly lose in freedom.  As government increases, liberty decreases.  This has been the lesson of history, and behooves us to always remember it.

So I am making one final plea to those intending to vote for Obama; one final appeal to your sense of reason.  Do not vote for this man.  I speak as one who is a dyed in the wool conservative, yet one who could have lived with Hillary Clinton being President.  The most powerful elements of the Democratic Party subverted the will of its voters and nominated someone whom they could project their own hidden agenda onto, a man whose past we still know very little about.  You must see this.

And as much as you might loathe McCain, he is the devil we know, and I would prefer the devil we know over the devil we don’t know any day of the week.

But alas, I suspect I’m writing all this in vain, knowing you will not be persuaded, and indeed I count myself an absolute failure here, in that I have never been able to convince anyone of anything, no matter how hard I try.  But the wool has been pulled over your eyes, and you will not see.  You will pull the lever with your mind clouded with hatred for Bush and all things Republican, or perhaps because you believed the campaign slogan of “hope and change” and your heart always skips a beat at the sound of Obama’s baritone voice.  Having tossed in your lot with the great unknown, you will go about your life’s routines, blissfully unaware of the “Japanese” that may even now be lying in wait in the trenches, biding their time.

God help us all.

Tags: america, autumn, barack hussein obama, barack obama, campaign, christian, Christian Bale, conservative, country, disaster, doom, doomsday, fall foliage, freedom, georgia, God, Hillary Clinton, Iran, Iraq, Israel, jimmy carter, joe the plumber, john mccain, political ideology, president, presidential campaign, presidential election, Russia, vote, voters, voting
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Feeling kinda blah today, trying to resign myself to the reality that Hitler: Part 2 will soon be moving into the White House (a name he’ll probably be changing too.)

It makes me wonder what life will be like in this brave new world that will soon come upon us.  A world where Iran goes nuclear, the big bear of Russia rears its ugly head yet again, and our status as a superpower (and even a sovereign nation) finally comes to an end.  A world where high taxes cripples our society in order to pay for monumentally absurd bailouts and massive social programs run by a den of incompetent bureaucrats and corrupt government officials even as our economy lies in ruins.  A world where gas prices reach astronomically high levels while promised alternative energy sources continue to be out of reach and impossible to implement.  A world where race wars seem imminent as our government continues to provide handouts and freebies to minorities while shunning the white folks (who’s had it good for too long anyway) and reducing their status to second class citizens.  A world where Obama’s catastrophic failures and broken promises will be blamed on Bush even though he is no longer in office.   A world where troops are prematurely withdrawn from Iraq and it once again falls into violent chaos.  A world where Georgia loses its sovereignty after Russia completely overwhelms it and takes over its crucial oil pipelines.  A world where terrorists will have nuclear powered bombs on loan from Iran to attack America with.  A world where sexual deviancy is promoted through abortion on demand and by diluting the sanctity of marriage.  A world where the greed of our financial markets and the burst of our real estate bubble puts us in one of the severest depressions in history.

A world where I still don’t have a girlfriend. 

Tags: abortion, america, bailout, barack hussein obama, brave new world, depression, economy, Germany, girlfriend, government, greed, marriage, nation, nuclear, terrorism, world
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Remember that scene from Ghostbusters?

Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.
Mayor: What do you mean, “biblical”?
Dr Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath of God type stuff.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly.
Dr Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!
Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes…
Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave!
Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!

Maybe it’s bravado, but strangely enough just like Venkman, I seem to be relatively ok with the fact that we’re all going to die.  No, really.  Because if this crisis is truly meant to be the beginning of we’re-all-royally-screwed-end-times judgment on America for its many sins, then I can’t think of a better way to ensure our complete and total destruction than to elect a Christ denying (yet Christ imitating) dillweed who thinks he can neutralize the threat of a nuke building Iran and a nuke ready Russia with his charm.  Really, what better way to tell God just how ridiculously irredeemable we’ve become than to elect a guy who claims to be a Christian and yet thinks a good Muslim could still make it to the pearly gates as long as he keeps the bombing of civilians to a minimum?  Hey, we’re all good people here, really(!), even if we do think having a baby is tantamount to a punishment, and if we don’t seem to be too bothered at the thought of leaving those that survived failed abortions out to die.  Not that Big-O would ever intentionally do such a thing, he just doesn’t think they merit protection of course, at least not until the kind of offensive language that dares to remotely suggest a fetus is a living thing is completely stripped from such a bill of protection.  Because you know, God forbid we should toss those whacky pro-life freaks a bone that even NARAL wouldn’t have had a problem with.  We do need to be principled here, after all.

No, I just don’t see why God would want to rain fire and brimstone on us darling cherubs of light… except for possibly giving our rich folks far too many tax breaks.

When I think about it, it’s not even Obama that I can’t stand so much.  I don’t even hate on the heathens for supporting him either, since such a godless sort devoid of any sense of morality will obviously go for the Barry-O show.  I can respect that.

No, it’s the self professing Christians who hang on every word he speaks, and who teach their children to sing musical praises of Hopey-O-Change that make me want to stomp their faces in with something rusty and spiky.

It’s no secret that I intensely dislike what passes for American Christianity today, whether we’re dealing with dimwits sipping Starbucks while they fawn over girlie boy Rick Warren’s latest perfume scented books, or Calvinist snotheads who think knowing two words in Greek makes them the most brilliant scholars in recorded history, or charismatics who scream and flail their arms in revival meetings because they think they’re “on fire” and they’re about ready to projectile vomit out a stomach’s worth of 24 karat gold.

Yet nothing makes me want to go out and start bouncing people’s heads off the cement more than those ever devout Christians drooling puppy love over that Obamanation of nature otherwise known as Barack Hussein Obama.  I am absolutely convinced that this very same flock of fluffy sheep will also someday jump at the chance to stand in line for an opportunity to lick the hairy hindquarters of the Antichrist, thinking it will taste just like rainbows.

These to me represent the most darkened, clueless minds in all of creation, and because of their depraved stupidity I may end up witnessing the one thing I never wanted to see in my lifetime: the death of my country.  Thank you so, SO much for that, my brothers and sisters in the Lord.

I don’t get it.  I really don’t.  You hate Bush?  Fine.  You think he’s a war mongering, oil happy, half brained cowboy who caters to the rich?  Fine.  I can understand that.  I even dig the pacifism thing.

Explain the abortion thing to me then.  Explain to me how the violence involved in ripping fetuses to shreds doesn’t somehow repulse your pacifist side the way “Bush’s war” does.  Because when I see people looking to extend human rights to red assed baboons or wail whenever a dolphin is caught in a net, but scream at the top of their lungs for the right to twirl up a fetus into itty bitty bits that would have otherwise become a full fledged human being, then I see only the kind of deranged, twisted up minds that no medicine on earth could ever possibly cure.

And yet somehow, you’re all ok with it.  You can relate to a guy who can’t even get the basic tenets of Christianity right, (though I admit, it would have been more palatable to me if you merely agreed with him on some points and decided only to vote for him while holding your nose at the polls.)  But no, your attitude is one of complete adoration for a morally compromised Chicago politician as if he had come from the very throne of heaven itself.  It exhibits the same kind of mentality that the Antichrist will no doubt someday feed on: unabashed adoration and unquestionable loyalty, despite the transparent seedy and evil character of your so called hero.

It almost makes me want to see the Obamanation become President, if for no other reason than to see the collective look of your ashen faces when you realize with horror that “the one” turned out to be the second coming of JC after all: JC as in Jimmy Carter that is.  Mr. Malaise has finally come back to finish the job.

You know what really frosts my Chips Ahoy cookies about all this though?  It’s the fact that I’ll have to endure the travesty that will soon come upon us, alone.  There will be no honey bunny snuggles to share my misery with while we watch our beloved country commit suicide.  No cuddly bunchikins to hold and share a sweet, tender moment with while our cities riot and burn.  Every dark day that lies ahead of me I will have to face completely and utterly alone, all because not a single one of you hateful, despicable, vile women could manage to find it in your hearts to wubs me.

Fine then.  Don’t come crying to me when the world ends and you desperately need a manly shoulder to cry on.   I won’t be there.

Well maybe I will.  I am desperate and all so who knows, perhaps I can learn to forgive and forget. 

Tags: abortion, alone, america, barack hussein obama, christian, christianity, Christians, country, death, ghostbusters, God, heathens, jimmy carter, judgment, life, living, loneliness, misery, nation, Obamanation, people, president, rick warren, single, stupidity, violence, women, women suck, world
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I realize my heathen audience just went “Uhhhhhh???” upon reading that title, but every now and then I like to discuss a Christian topic on my blog, so like it or not it’s par for the course.

One of my beloved readers recommended that I give the “worship artist” Jason Upton a listen, hoping his music would inspire.

Listening to his music did in fact inspire me with hope: hope that he never releases another album. I keed, I keed…. ok not really.

In all seriousness, I think Upton means well, though I was kinda hoping he would be the real deal, another Keith Green in the making, yet when I started giving a few of his songs a listen, something just seemed… off.

And here we go again. As soon as my spirit gets disturbed about something I know I’m about to step into a pile of fecal matter and start knocking over sacred cows, but then again, it’s what I do, and dude, I do it oh so well.

On the surface, Upton’s music and lyrics would appear to be alright and God-focused, but quite a few of his songs also seemed vague and cryptic, their meanings hidden in obscurity. I also noted the absence of any overt call to repentance and living a life free of sin, two of the most common themes found not only in Keith Green songs but in most of the Psalms as well. It might not be a big deal, but Upton’s musical words presented a rather incomplete gospel to me. Curiosity compelled me to do some digging into his background, and what I learned (so far) pretty much confirmed my suspicions about him.

Upton’s musical career began with his album “Key of David,” which according to Wikipedia was a series of prophetic worship sessions, over half of which were “spontaneously inspired by the Holy Spirit.”

Right away I knew some Christian dweeb in love with Upton must have written this. How did they know such sessions were inspired by the Holy Spirit to begin with? Did they ask Him? Did they test the spirit as the Bible instructs us to do? Did they compare their experiences to what Scripture teaches to see if it lined up? Or was it all mushy gushy feelings and since we’re all happy shappy dappy here it must be of God? And what makes his worship music prophetic anyway? Are we insinuating that Upton is not only a musician, but a modern day prophet as well? Sigh.

Things just get more bizarre as the same Wiki entry suggests Upton was able to stop a tornado with his music, and that one of his tracks contained the voices of actual angels singing.

Sure, and I’m Mickey Mouse.

I checked out the lyrics to the song that supposedly had this heavenly choir singing in it:

I declare over you, God has given you the air!
So fly, it’s time to open up your wings,
To shake off the things that hold you down (to leave the things…..)
It’s time to spread out your wings and fly!

Do you see what I see?
Do you hear what I hear?
Do you know what I know?
Do you want what I want?

Angel: (“…undiscernible… I want you to fly …undiscernible… Fly….” )

Do you see what I see?
Do you hear what I hear?
Do you know what I know?
Fly!

And of course, someone from the audience later claims to have seen one or more of these angels, so we can now accept without reservation that a brigade of angels from heaven just decided to go on tour with Jason Upton.

Really people, can you stop taking everything at face value here? There’s no doubt in my mind that fans have now used this as unequivocal proof that Upton is anointed of God. “Never mind what the Bible says. We heard angels sing! That’s proof enough for us!”

One of the failings of the charismatic crowd today is that they rely too heavily on emotions and experiences for evidence that a movement is of God, rather than on what Scripture teaches. So they never test the spirits, they never scrutinize their experiences according to God’s word, and of course the net result is that they fall away to heresy.

Is there anything overtly heretical about Jason Upton though, other than the fact that he seems to be an ignoramus? It’s hard to say. Reading his website, I noted what a pastor wrote about his first album, Key of David:

The Key of David is mentioned in Revelation 3:7 to refer to the absolute authority of Heaven in Jesus’ hands to open the doors that no one can shut and to close the doors that no one can open. But the Key of David is first mentioned in Isaiah 22:22, where it denotes a fatherly authority, a pivotal place of opening up the riches of the House of David-God’s blessing, God’s presence, and God’s glory-to God’s people. I believe the Lord is going to use worship like this to birth whole generations into His Kingdom in fire.

The Youth in our churches and campuses are going to catch fire quickly and intensely, and they are going to take back for God what the enemy has stolen-they are going to take back the churches, the universities and campuses, and the cities that we, the older generations in the Church, have longed and prayed for in spite of the fact that we have not yet seen the widespread, reclaiming revival fires from heaven that we have prayed and wept for.

Again with this fire thing. Fires and revivals, they’re all the new rage these days, and yet I wonder if any of them even know what they’re talking about. When God’s fire is referred to in Scripture, it’s always in the sense that it consumes sin. Fire purifies and burns away all that is displeasing to God, and it is without exception, a PAINFUL experience:

1 Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ…

Faith is always described as a precious metal that’s been purified by fire (trials), so if a Christian grounded in the Word asks for an anointing of fire, he is in essence asking God to purify his faith (regardless of how painful that process might be). Yet from the quote above it seems readily obvious that such fire is being defined in a different context, that it instead signifies some sort of vague mutinous takeover of churches and cities by today’s Christian youth.

The more I read, the more I wondered, “What the blue flipping dip are these people talking about?” Then I read about Upton’s strong association with yet another “Christian” movement called The Call, which was founded by Lou Engle. You can see a video of Upton performing for Engle here (what’s with this weaving and bobbing crap by the way? What are we, Hassidic Jews?)

As for Engle himself, he’s a bit of a weenie, obsessed in raising up an “army” of young believers who can help turn back the “black moral morass” that has plagued America since the Beatles, mostly by doing lots of praying, fasting and worship (and a wee bit of political grassroots action.) Some of his bizarre antics have been shown in the anti-Christian documentary Jesus Camp, where he gives a sermon espousing on the evils of abortion and the need to have conservative judges on the Supreme Court… to KIDS. Seriously. Because you know, nothing is more important than making sure children understand the need for having constructionist judges on the bench by the time they’re ten years old. Chuckie Cheese? Pffft, that’s for godless atheists. We’re doing God’s work here.

In spite of this flaming stupidity, some of Engle’s rhetoric still seemed to ring true. Here’s a synopsis of what his movement “The Call” is supposedly all about:

TheCall is a divinely initiated, multi-racial, multi-generational, and cross-denominational gathering to corporate prayer and fasting. We believe that our nation is in desperate need of the mercy of God and a great Spiritual Awakening. TheCall is committed to mobilizing people from all across America to gather together to petition God for His undeserved mercy for our nation in 12-hour solemn assemblies. Just as in the days of Joel, we believe that now is the time to blow the trumpet across our land, to fast, to pray, and return to the Lord with all our hearts.

Sounds all well and good right? Until you start delving into Engle’s background and you start to realize, “Holy cow, this guy’s batsh*& insane!”

It seems Engle’s ultimate goal is really to take America back for Christians, and this “call” is basically a hyped up, Promise Keepers style movement based on the notion that if we just pray really really really hard enough, magical things will happen (and the U.S. Supreme Court will instantly be filled by 9 ultraconservative judges who all graduated from Regent University and are diehard fans of Jason Upton.)

Not that there’s anything wrong with getting involved in the political process, but Engle’s problem is that he apparently thinks God specifically told him to start this movement, in spite of the fact that there’s no Scriptural support for doing such a thing.

The Bible clearly tells us what constitutes a true revival:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. – 2 Chronicles 7:14

Revivals are a call to individual repentance. It’s not the world God is concerned with in this regard, it’s His people. Any revival movement then should always have this as its primary focus: that we as a Christian community have sinned before God and it’s OUR ways we need to change, not the world’s.

Engle’s movement though is not about that. He makes mild overtures about returning to the Lord and all, but what his movement is really about is changing the socio-political climate of an entire nation. His emphasis is on reforming America, not on reviving the church itself, despite the fact that the Bible clearly indicates things are supposed to get worse, not better, as we move ever closer to the end. He and his followers also don’t seem to realize that before God judges the world, He is going to judge His church FIRST:

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? – 1 Peter 4:17

Knowing this, doesn’t it make more sense that we clean up OUR house first before we start trying to save the world? Unless of course, you’re so absolutely mind bogglingly obtuse that you think the church today isn’t facing any serious problems, in which case I’d like to invite you over to my place so I can stomp your face in with my spiked boot.

The fact is, we don’t need a revival in America. We need a revival IN THE CHURCH. The time will soon come when God is going to judge a completely unprepared Christian church before He does anything with the rest of the world. We’re going to be weighed in the balance, and at the state we’re in today, we are going to be found severely wanting.

We are so screwed.

Tags: album, america, angels, apostasy, bible, christian, Christians, church, criticism, critique, falling away, God, jason upton, Jesus, judgment, keith green, lou engle, lyrics, music, repentance, review, revival, Scripture, sin, song, thecall, wordpress, worship
Categories: Christians Gone Wild
 
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