I want to share something I do not share lightly, or often. There have been a few key moments over the past sixteen-years as a born-again believer where I have experienced deep supernatural conviction, you know, the kind of conviction which shakes you to the core under the weight of it all. It’s almost like your soul leaves your body for a moment. Some non-Christ followers have spoke of this in unreligious terms as a “transcendent” experience. For example, as twenty-year old, a professed atheist, I stood in front of a judge in Sarasota, Florida who looked me in the eyes and firmly pronounced a five-year prison sentence for possession of narcotics. I went to that court date thinking they would slap me with drug probation. The judges words bellowed across airwaves, crashing upon me like a torrent of powerful waves thundering from violent seas; as I stood there in shock, the weight of such ramifications catapulted me. There is no way to explain it other than it literally was as if I was somehow lifted out of my body, pressed against the ceiling, looking downward at myself and the silent court scene. As the bailiff began to cuff my hands behind my back, it was as if I were being pulled back into reality. The judge must have seen cataclysmic-fear engulfing me. The bailiff began walking me toward the exit, and the judge shouted “Stop!” He then said, “Remove the cuffs. I am placing you on drug probation. You are free to go. Do not ever let me see you in this room again. I could sentence you to a maximum of ten-years in prison. If there’s a next time, I will.” I left the courthouse shaking. It also shook me into a five-month season of wrestling with the existence of God, and what this meant for me. I read and wrote nearly the entire New Testament (in those days I learned best by writing thigs out). Minus a few stories for another time, September 25th 2004 I bowed the knee to Jesus as Savior and Lord. I don’t know whether that courtroom experience was an extreme result of fear, or whether the Lord was present. What I do know, this was not the last time I would experience such a thing, and the times to come were marked by God.
Fast-forward to 2010, I was sitting in the back of a crowed church, full of mostly young adults. This particular service was different in that the Pastoral team decided to let the service run with the worship team playing the whole service, and with several points where people could come on stage to share what they believed the Lord was sharing with them. This church, and the organization I worked for had been crying out corporately for revival for years, and there was a strong sense from many different angles that the Lord was getting ready to answer such prayers. I was jazzed. I longed for revival; still do. The environment was vibrant, we all were desperate for the Lord to move, and one by one people were declaring words of revival. Then, suddenly, sitting in the back pew, the Lord spoke through my consciousness, “As in the days of Jeremiah, revival is more than outward appearance, it must be a revival of the heart. If the Church does not learn to love the Lord God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength, if the church does not learn to love their neighbor as themselves, I will send judgment. This judgment will remove everything that hinders love. And this judgment will draw a line of division in the church.” Sitting there stunned, I began to pray. Then the Lord spoke again to my consciousness, asking me speak this from the stage. Needless to say I was like, “No thanks, Lord.” Over the next 30-40 minutes I wrestled with the Lord, stubbornly. I was terrified. Everyone else was getting happy and exciting words of revival. Why do I have to sound like a pessimistic prophet, sent to cry on their party. It was during this wrestling, and the cage of my disobedience caving in, I experienced similar to the court room experience. This time it was not so shocking, and I remember a sense of peace. As I looked down-ward I continued negotiating with the Lord, that is until I heard Him say, “Stand!” So, I stood, and again my body was back to reality. I timidly approached the stage and stood in line. As I waited on my turn to share I asked the Lord, “What do I say, and how do I say it?” The following is what I believed I was to say, and how to say it:
[Disclaimer: I’m not going to leave references. Read Jeremiah and look up King Josiah in 2 Kings. And, I remember being terrified and soft-spoken while communicating. Not loud our authoritative]:
“The Lord wants to awaken hearts and send revival to our land. The Lord actually cares far more about revival and awakening than we do. In fact, the only reason we are drawn to pray and seek revival is because the Lord desired it first. However, the Lord cares deeply about those who are hurting. The unloved. The marginalized. The destitute. We must understand, judgment comes upon the Church first. God will refine His’ house before He judges the wicked as a whole. As in the days of Jeremiah, a young boy called to a life of prophethood, a person called to speak a word from heaven which went against the prevailing words of respected prophets of his’ day. The popular prophets were prophesying peace; Jeremiah prophesied of coming judgement, a judgement which would take away everyone’s peace. You see, the backstory to Jeremiah is found in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah. Josiah was one of Israel’s most righteous King’s, ever. In the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah he found the book of the law (which had been hidden away), he became undone, and began by ripping down all the shrines of false God’s throughout the land (and yes, there was a shrine in active use to sacrifice one’s firstborn human baby). He then reinstituted temple worship in the style of David and Solomon. What we learn here is that God raised up Jeremiah amidst revival to preach of an impending judgement (which we know Babylon had their way a few short decades later). Simply put, the revival was not from the heart. And while there may have been many in the land whose hearts were sincere, a great majority of the nation was moved by hype and political and religious favor. The Lord exposed theirs hearts, raised up Jeremiah, and showed that their revival had been weighed and found wanting. Babylon came not too long after (read Lamentations and you’ll understand the severity of it; women eating their own children to survive). Not only did Babylon siege Jerusalem and starve them out. Eventually, Babylon carried them away in captivity. The Lord is weighing our hearts and finding them wanting. He is calling us to love the Lord God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. To do this we must pray for the Holy Spirit to help us grow in our dependence of God to love. Many of us are so full of self-hatred, we neither have the capacity to love God, ourselves, and certainly not others. We must grow in love. The practical element of growing in love is to willingly lay down those things which hinder love. The idols we run to which help us cope. We must begin now, before the Lord transitions the earth into a time where He Himself hinders the world of everything which hinders this reciprocal love. And make no mistake, human zeal and understanding alone cannot produce this, it is a gift of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Seek the Lord while He may be found. Let us not suffer the fate of Jeremiah’s kin in the day of judgement.”
HOW DOES THE CHURCH RESPOND WHEN IT HAS BEEN FOUND WANTING?
The book of Joel is as simple and practical as it gets. Sin has increased to a level for which God sends judgement, to gather Israel’s attention, to call them to repentance. 1:2 reads, “Has anything like this happened in your days, or even in the days of your father’s” (NKJV)? With the devastation of COVID-19 and intensity of the cultural and political climate currently, some have been pressed to extreme points of astonishment. God is trying to get our attention. When God sends judgement, yes there are elements of judging the wicked, but lest we forgot His’ amazing grace, God is calling the Church to respond to Him. Thus Joel paints this picture of locust invasion which comes in several waves. The ramifications of such invasions are the loss of human and livestock produce; there is famine in the land. Then disease spreads throughout the land, affecting both humans and livestock. Thus, the result is starvation and disease. The irony here is even in the face of death, the people do not respond to God. So, then we read about a series of judgements which will result in military invasion. The speaks to the prophet Joel, and the pragmatical response is this: “’Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So rend your hearts and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful. Slow to anger and of great kindness; and he relents from doing harm. Who knows if he will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him-a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and the nursing babes; let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, and the bride from her dressing room. Let the priest, who minister to the Lord, weep between the porch and the alter; let them say, “spare your people, O Lord, and do not give Your heritage to reproach. That the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, and pity His people’” (2:12-18).
One clear thing about our nation’s predicament is an astronomical level of confusion, fear, and blame shifting. All this confusion, fear, and blame shifting has produced pointing of fingers and a never-ending reciprocal “justification” of character degradation. The polarization and gas-lighting is out of control. This is what the powers of darkness do, it is what the principalities of the air want. Look, we cannot be salt and light to one another, or the world for that matter, justifying our own behavioral wickedness. Verse 1:13 calls us to put on goat clothe and pour ashes on ourselves and lament. You know what this does, it puts everyone in the same weird itchy clothing, and it bears everyone the same resemblance of shame and mourning with ashes, and it brings everyone together, united by crisis and desperation for God to save us.
It is clear from Scripture, God sends judgement as a means to move the human heart toward repentance and awe of Himself in Jesus Christ. America, more than protesting, more than fear mongering, more than pointing of the finger, if we want a unified Church we must be willing to unite on the pragmatical obedience’s God calls His’ people to during times of crisis; fasting, weeping, and mourning. These are the practical’s I think have been missing in our inherited Reformation theology. Look, Protestant, or Protest-ant Christianity has the criticism and protesting thing down. And I am not insinuating all protesting is not of God. What I am saying is this, especially to the Church: it’s time to weep and mourn at the broken state of our nation. Look, there are many important issues at stake, and certainly the division is nuanced and convoluted. Yet, what we need is God to do what God does best, which is doing what flesh and blood simply cannot do. Humble yourselves, practice humility, call a fast, call a sacred assembly, gather everyone who will come, and seek the Lord until He may be found. The Church is in dire need of God to move on her behalf. And who knows if the Lord will relent this clear and present judgement, to turn and leave a blessing behind?
Works Cited
NKJV. New King James Version. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc, 1994. Print.