Understanding God's WORD

It's over two weeks since I posted my staggering experiences: Set nothing before ME that is not MINE! on Lux et Veritas.

The background to that night is my Church is holding a meeting to vote on whether we will discuss leaving the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC) and joining the Anglican Church in North America (ANiC)

The core message seems clear: God's grave warning of humanity's tendency to gravitate towards idolatry.

I was somewhat cautious in my wording, not because I had any doubts that God had clearly and loudly spoken to me,  but I did not want to jump in and claim things that were not part of God's message. Two people from our congregation had experiences which seemed to concur with this Word (I will return to this theme in a future post). Agnostics and atheists believe in coincidences but Christians know that where God is concerned there are no coincidences.

I was cautious because I was reminded of the passage in Joshua 5, where a man appears to Joshua:

"take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so. 

Joshua then went to him and said to him, "Are you for us, or for our adversaries?"  And the man said:

"No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come."

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, "What does my lord say to his servant?" 

I understand this man to be Jesus because He did not stop Joshua from worshiping Him – if it had been an angel from God he would have said no don’t worship me, and He also says it is Holy ground. Joshua 5:13-15 (ESV)

Joshua was clearly told: there is only one purpose and that is God's purpose. I think it is wise to be circumspect. Joshua could not presume to ask: "Are you for us, or against us" - God is sovereign.

As I wrote; some generations after receiving the bronze serpent to protect them and heal them, the Israelites were worshipping the bronze serpent, but Hezekiah broke it (2 Kings 18:4). But as my meditations continued I around those passages I was brought to the "abomination" that God gives many stern warnings which tragically were not heeded by God's chosen people. In the previous chapter 2 Kings 17:17) we see that the Israelites were offering up their children as sacrifices to to one of the gods of the region known as "Molech".

And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings 

Child sacrifice: the ultimate nadir in degrading idolatry; the people were warned but they wouldn't heed God's continued warnings. The practices of the other peoples that bordered their nation seemed more attractive than worshiping the living God.

And that is where we are today! We sacrifice our children to an idolatrous ideology called "modernism", its named: "right to chose." But it is a construct of the age.

Here's why my heart is heavy this morning as I said in my earlier post about Suzanne Collins, how she is deceived by the priests of this age.

But the heartache is magnified when I hear people tell me that our civilization has progressed so much; and we have come to the point when we kill 100,000 innocents lives in Canada every year and a million in the USA.

We have not progressed so much in several thousand years, We are still making idols - usually ideologies rather than little sculptures - but idols none-the-less; and we are still sacrificing our children to those ideologies.

The Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC) officially condemns abortion but in reality the apostate church does not speak out against it because they love the ideologies of this age. I intend to show clear evidence to support that in future  posts.
A Heart Heavy from the Evil of this World

Gurth Whitaker
Calgary, Alberta

Set nothing before ME that is not MINE!

This last week we had our monthly council meeting at our Anglican Church; we call it a Vestry meeting – the committee of people that forms the council is known as the Vestry in the Anglican Church.

We had some important business to attend to; we were discussing and finalising a letter which is to be issued the congregation on a matter which affects the future of our Church. Naturally there was discussion and different ideas concerning the letter and we worked through those different ideas. We worked late to do it. As one of our members was rewording the letter in the office our Pastor started us in prayer, which developed into a time of silent prayer.

I was lifting each person in turn up to the Lord, thinking about how each person is unique and has a slightly different viewpoint and by discussion we can come to a consensus, and so achieve unity that way.

That was Wednesday and I returned home late. The next night (Thursday) I woke up at 3:00 am and was turning the meeting over in my mind and returned to the theme of my previous prayer and lifting it again to the Lord. Then I got a thought that I should get up out of bed and kneel in prayer before God, and I thought “no not now Lord” and it seemed that a voice said “Yes you must”.

I was wide awake now so I got up to kneel in prayer; continuing my prayers for our Church.

Then I heard inside a voice inside speaking to me; clearly and with emphasis:

“Set nothing before ME that is not MINE!” 

I was surprised because this did not seem to be my thoughts, but rather I thought it must be God talking to me.

I prayed: 

“How can that be Lord; because when we come before you on Sunday we bring our sins with us and we declare them first silently and then corporately though The Confession”. 

God doesn’t create sin so how could this be from God; our sins are not Godly yet we set them before him day-by-day and particularly during our Sunday worship.

What is it that we cannot set before the Lord?

Then I heard very quickly, and once again with emphasis:

“Your sins are MINE because I bore them!” 

And then again – clearly and with emphasis:

“Set nothing before ME that is not MINE!” 

And I thought yes, Jesus bore our sins on the cross [1]. But what then is it that we cannot set before God if even our sins we can bring before Him.

What is it that we cannot set before the Lord?

Then my mind turned to passages in the Old Testament. First God gave the Israelites a bronze serpent though Moses; the people were healed from snake bites [2].

Then some generations after receiving the bronze serpent to protect them and heal them, the Israelites were worshipping the bronze serpent. The king at that time, Hezekiah, was commanded by God to break the bronze serpent. God’s people were showing too much regard for that bronze serpent because it came from God; they were in effect worshipping it, and that is idolatry and breaks the first commandment [3]. 

I knew that idolatry is one thing that we cannot set before God. It seemed that the answer t my questions was in the scriptures.

I had the clear understanding that this was not a word for me only but applied to all His Church, and in particular the little branch of His Church that I attend for worship weekly.

I felt that I had to write it down, but I heard a clear:

"No not now but later!"

One word of caution. When someone tells you that God told them this or that, treat it like the Bereans in Acts 17:11 [5], and search the Word of God to see if it contravenes scripture. If it does contravene scripture, then it is clearly not a word given by God.

If it is in harmony with scripture then there is no harm in paying attention to it, provided you don’t consider the person more highly because of it. God will speak to all sorts of people: remember Jesus appeared to Paul who was persecuting Christians even to death. He called himself the worst of sinners [6].

Was it God speaking to me? Or was it just my imagination that conjured up this message? I am sure it was God but I ask you neither to believe it, nor to disbelieve it, but rather to consider this word with circumspection like the Bereans.

Bible references:

[1] 1 Peter 2:24 

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

[2] Numbers 21:6-9

So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

[3] 2 Kings 18:4

He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan).

[4] Exodus 20:

"You shall have no other gods before me.

"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

[5] Acts 17:11 

Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

[6] 1 Timothy 1:16

But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.

All texts are taken from the New International Version (NIV) Bible

Gurth Whitaker
Calgary, Alberta

What is a Cursillo Commissioning?

Last Saturday (13th) I was at the Cursillo Commissioning, when I told my son, he asked "what's a Cursillo?"

"I know," he joked: "you bought a boat called 'Cursillo', and you are having the launching & naming party."