Worldview Matters with Brannon Howse:
Topic One: When pastors to become cult like leaders. 71 year old women arrested at church after pastor calls 9-11. Her crime? Disagreeing with the pastor. Topic Two: Have most national, evangelical denomination
Posted: 01/22/2008
Worldview Matters With Brannon Howse January 21, 2008
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It is not too difficult to see that Judah represents a remnant within Israel. Judah is one tribe, while Israel is ten tribes. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. All who belong to Christ are spiritually counted in this tribe of Judah. Our Jerusalem is from above, we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit, and we are all kings and priests in this holy nation of peculiar (set apart) people. We see the Church that Jesus is building as something over and above the "Church" that man is building. Whether you call it the Institutional Church or Organized Religion or the Harlot Church, it is an alternative religious system that exists right alongside the true expression of Spirit and Truth in New Jerusalem. Jeroboam was the rebel king of Israel. He had control of ten tribes. He had more land and more people than Judah. But he was troubled by the issue of people being commanded by God to go up to Jerusalem to worship. Jeroboam correctly surmised that once the people went up to Jerusalem to worship they would be more inclined to live there, and his kingdom would be diminished. In the New Testament, Jesus told the woman at the well that the Father would not be worshipped either in this mountain or at Jerusalem, but that true worshippers would worship the Father in Spirit and Truth. (John 4:21-23). Jerusalem is a spiritual place. We read about it in the Book of Revelation, coming down from heaven, filled with the glory of God and the presence of the Lamb. Jeroboam did not ask anyone to decide between a golden calf and Jerusalem; he asked them to choose between two golden calves, one in Bethel and one in Dan. Today we have a myriad of worship choices, a multitude of golden calves located on every street, some sitting right next to each other, each one competing for people. What is the basis of their marketing message? Convenience! A choice of service times so you can choose the one that is convenient for you. A choice of worship and preaching styles so you can choose the one you are most comfortable with. So many choices, so many options. But God is not asking us to choose which golden calf out of thousands we want to worship at. He is asking us to choose between that whole "golden calf system" and a Spirit-and-Truth life in New Jerusalem. "[Jeroboam] made shrines on the high places, and made priests from the lowest of people, who were not of the sons of Levi" (I Kings 12:31). When "everyone" is a priest then it is very difficult to tell the difference between the priests of the Lord and the priests of the golden calf. When "everyone" is a prophet, how do you discern between a true word and a false word? Most people cannot, and so the deception is perpetuated by way of convenience. Like Israel of old, we live in a "divided kingdom" where the Religious Majority perpetuate a cult of convenience, and the Remnant Minority seek the Lord's full thought, mind, heart, and will for the Church that Jesus is building. Eventually, even Judah fell to idolatry and came under judgment. The Temple was destroyed and Jerusalem was burned. God now works with a Remnant within the Remnant, as He continues to build His Kingdom along spiritual lines. George Cancilla Click here to reply to this post
