Tag: Revival

One Minute to Twelve

Opinions

Clock at one minute to twelveDear Fellow-Ministers and Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ and to the True Church,

Many of us are witnessing in our spirits that the time of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ is very imminent. I am sure like me you are being challenged by the events around the world. The tsunami in Indonesia and it seems every day there is a new disaster around the corner. John the Baptist came with only one message and it was a message of repentance. I do not see much of this going on in our churches around the world today. I see as in the time of Amos:

The Prophet Amos – עָמוֹס- lived in the Eighth Century BC and was a common herdsman and keeper of sycamore fig trees (7:14) before he was called by God. He moved from Tekoa in Judah to the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II and prophesied the destruction of the Northern Kingdom. He is the first Prophet to have a Book of the Bible named after him. His book should be first if the listing was chronological, as he lived just prior to Hosea.

While Israel was prosperous at the time, it was also a time marked by social injustice – a time similar to our own! Amos castigated the extravagance of the Northern Kingdom, who “trampled the head of the poor into the dust of the earth” (2:7). Amos in 5:24 called for justice – מִשְׁפָּ֑ט – mishpat, and righteousness – צְדָקָה – tsedaqah, in one sentence. We live in a time of corporate greed and domination, a time of social inequality when 20% of the world consumes 80% of the world’s goods. The Book of Amos is relevant to this day!

[biblescripture.net]

So like me I would hope you would agree with the statement above. There are many in the kingdom of God who are living off the fat of the land as Amos warned the Northern Kingdom. I would say this is a parallel with the western church today. As many of you know, I have travelled to many countries and I have seen many injustices. I see pastors running around in the latest Mercedes and there are members of their congregations who cannot afford shoes. I see pastors and leaders living in mansions while their congregations are living on foodbanks. This cannot be right. I see people in the body of Christ giving to receive. Unfortunately, ladies and gentlemen, we as ministers are guilty of this, as we have allowed the world to enter into the church. It is time for the church of Jesus Christ, I believe, to come to repentance. We are crying out for revival and a change in our nations. But I believe, as the word of God says, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

I have just recently seen a YouTube clip of the late Billy Graham calling the nation of America to repentance in the 1970s. Many of you will not remember when the Shah of Iran was their leader and Iran was relatively free and had the freedom of religion. It was a different time. Now his son Franklin Graham is carrying on the message. Just recently, Franklin Graham was in Lancashire and many souls came to Christ. But I pray that the leaders of the major denominations will put away their petty differences and I for one pray will call the nations to prayer. I believe like many around the world that the Holy Spirit is calling the church to repentance. We are at one minute to twelve, and as it tells us in Matthew 24 we should be watching and praying as we do not know the time of our Lord’s return. It is time now, church, that we put aside our denominations, our affiliations, and came back to the word of God and interceded for our nations. This is not an opportunity for another worship service or people to puff themselves up or even sadly some ministers to make some extra money. This is a sincere cry from my heart for prayer. We in the west seem always to turn these into Christian concerts. This is not what the Lord is looking for.

Many of us remember the March for Jesus, which I believe was a move of God, and other events down through the years by people like Bob Dunnett and great prayer initiatives. But where has all this stuff gone? What a signal would be sent to the world if all the true believers around the world came together and prayed. This is not an opportunity for radio stations, TV stations or leaders in the body of Christ to make a few bob or even take up an offering, but to do as they say, seek God and pray. What a time this would be: no celebrities, no superstar Christians, but a true move of God. Who knows what God would do?

Rev Ross Rennie

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Where Has the Holiness of the Church Gone?

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On Saturday 11 August 2018, I found myself in one of the major cities in the United Kingdom. I did not know why God had sent me there but out of obedience to the Holy Spirit I obeyed God. I saw a scene which I never dreamed I would ever see in my lifetime. They call it gay pride. Notice the emphasis on the word ‘pride’. Was this not the thing that brought Satan himself down? I personally would not call it gay pride. I would call it gay shame as a friend of mine said.

The word of God is very clear on this subject. In the Old Testament, if you were a Jew, it was unacceptable behaviour. In the New Testament in Romans 1, the apostle Paul calls it an abomination. So as readers of this column, can you tell me why much of the church of Jesus Christ in the United Kingdom has capitulated on this subject? There is only one conclusion I can come to. They have moved from the true gospel of Jesus Christ to a false gospel. Where have all the true men and women of God gone? Are they living in a state of fear? I thank God for people such as the McArthurs who refused to bake a cake even though it could have cost them their livelihood.

I was appalled to see only a handful of Christians who have faithfully served the Lord and have stood outside St Peter’s Church for more than 40 years. I also know there is a pastor David Carr who has faithfully preached the gospel for many years in Chester and has been threatened with imprisonment many times. May God bless this man. Another preacher who is faithful and many would have seen him, his name is Themba. But this small witness is more or less all that is left in the great city of Chester. The church leaders are more like social workers. I believe personally, as I lived in this city, they have compromised the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. My prayer is that they get on their knees and repent and turn back to the true gospel.

But this is not just Chester, this is many cities across the United Kingdom. The church of Jesus Christ has either compromised, liberalised or become entertainment centres. I hear cries of revival, but when I see the revivals of the past I see men and women who were passionate for Christ. When I read of the revivals of old such as John Wesley the founder of the Methodist movement, I see passionate Christians. Today, much of what I see resembles business and circus. God is warning the church, but like in the past the church is deaf.

If this article offends you then I for one am glad, as many of you are sitting in dead, fossilised entertainment centres and it is time as individuals you got on your knees and asked God what you should be doing. I believe there is a revolution coming in the church and I do not believe the leaders of the church today will like it or even understand it. They could turn into the Pharisees and Sadducees of old. When I read the history of the pentecostal movement I see that the established church were not friends with the pentecostal movement. So I for one pray to our heavenly Father that He will shake the church out of their complacency with their radio stations, TV stations that are more like the BBC, ITV and the normal media with a little bit of Christianity on top.

It is time, church, we sought our God. Jesus said, Will I find faith on the earth when I return? He was not talking about the prosperity gospel. He was not talking about the American charlatans, such as Andrew Wommack, Kenneth Copeland, Jesse Duplantis, Morris Cerullo, Joyce Meyer or Joel Osteen, and the list goes on. And He was not talking about a candy-coated gospel. I believe that Lucifer himself has neutralised the church as it now does not preach repentance. Most churches in the United Kingdom and the western world preach ‘come to Jesus and everything will be OK,’ but when I look at what happened to Jesus on that cross, after 30-odd years I still look at my sin with tears in my eyes and I see my fallen state. I thank God for the grace that saved my soul.

My brothers and sisters, I am not looking at the speck of dust in your eyes as I probably have a plank in mine, but I weep and cry over what the church has become. If it was not for the symbolism and the cross on the wall we would not even know that these places represent the Man of Sorrows who died upon the cross. I once asked a church of which I was a pastor, would you take a bullet for Jesus, and I was saddened at the result. I remember when I was in Bible college a godly man called George Canty, whom some of you may remember, told the college if they wanted to see true healing they would have to weep as Jesus did over the sick and the dying before they saw such miracles. This dear, godly man asked for a vote and only two students out of 120 agreed with him. I will put out a challenge to you pastors and leaders of so-called churches: when was the last time you saw anybody saved, baptised in the Holy Spirit or healed, or miracles operating in your buildings? I again would like to challenge you under the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and plead with you to get outside your buildings and outside your comfort zones, and I believe we shall see revival and restoration of our nation. When you stop preaching a message of compromise and saying anything goes, I believe God the Holy Spirit will pour out a blessing that the church will not be able to contain. Jesus Himself said He did not come for the 99 that were in the flock; He came for the one that was lost. While the church is asleep and playing in the shallows, the devil is busy at work destroying mankind. The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are so few.

I hope and pray that this article does offend you (as the gospel is an offence to those who are perishing) and some of you pastors and leaders will stop acting as managing directors and CEOs of companies. Get out into the streets and the towns and the cities and challenge evil. That is the work of the body of Christ.

Please do not shoot me. I am just the messenger. In 2015 I died and by the grace of God He brought me back again. Much of what I am telling you is the message He gave me to give to the body of Christ. As He said Himself, there will be those who are ever listening but never hearing and those ever looking but never seeing. There will always be a remnant of those on this earth who truly believe, but judgment day is coming and then it will be too late.

Rev Ross Rennie

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Into Battle

Opinions

We are living in perilous times. We see the conflagrations around the world. I believe we are living so close to the end that the body of Christ needs to wake up and, as it says in Ezekiel, stop playing in the shallows. As a minister of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ for over 36 years I am beginning to get a witness in my spirit that it is time for the church of Jesus Christ to stand up and start being counted. I believe the church worldwide has settled for a candy-coated gospel. We have used clever programmes, clever schemes and at times worldly methods to reach the lost. My brothers and sisters, these things do not work. They will never work. They result in social clubs. Jesus told us to watch and pray. I believe when the body of Christ stops entertaining the troops we shall see a revival and a restoration like never before. I have read about the Hebridean revival, the 1905 revival and Azusa Street, but I believe there is a revolution about to start that will make these look like Sunday school parties.

Jesus told us through Matthew 24:

“And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.”
Matthew 24: 6-9

I believe these are the words of Jesus Christ. Am I correct? He also says later in Matthew 24 for us to look at the fig tree:

“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors!”
Matthew 24: 32-33

I also believe God is going to shake the nations. We can see through the Old Testament when the children of Israel were stiff-necked and rebellious against God He allowed them to be taken into captivity: Egypt, Babylon and Rome.

So, my brothers, sisters and fellow-ministers, if we do not get out from behind our walls and get into the battle, as we are in a war, we battle not against flesh and blood but against powers, principalities and rulers of wickedness in high places, we shall lose more and more ground to the enemy. As great men and women from the past know, we need to get on our knees, humble ourselves before God and fight the battle in prayer, and then when this is done, go and take the land. As Pastor Bonnke from Christ for All Nations always said, we should plunder hell and populate heaven.

I do not care what denomination you are from, you who are reading this, it is the same for us all.

Most churches I go into seem more like hospitals than army camps, or sadly they are so worldly they become entertainment centres, which saddens my heart. I have visited churches over the past five years. I have been in church meetings and there has been no welcome to me as a stranger. I have left these meetings wondering why I ever came. Many churches in the United Kingdom lack communitas. If you check on the word communitas, you will see it is the kind of community that Christians experience when they are on mission together (see this video). The problem is, you need to be on mission to experience this. It does not mean you have to go to Africa, India or far across the world. There has to be a mission heart in your local church or fellowship. We were never told in the scriptures to stay. We were always told to go (Matthew 28). What we seem to do in the west is have a party and invite people to the party. My observation of the New Testament is they went out. They did not employ professionals to do it. They all did it. I know some of the clergy will not agree with this but my understanding of that is they like to keep their jobs and sadly sometimes power.

So I would like you to reflect on this wherever you are in the world.

Titus 1: 10-16
For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain. One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth.
To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.

Rev Ross Rennie

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