Radical Disciples – A Remnant Revolution

The Lord said that 2015 was a year to decree a thing according to His will so for my family I decree the following scriptures “We are the lenders and not the borrowers….we are the head and not the tail……the devourer has been rebuked, cut off and stopped” (Deut 28:12-13, Mal 3:11)

Of course these blessings are tied to the position of obedience as it states in Deut 28; And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. And Malachi 3:11 is tied too: Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts.

Sadly many today want the blessing yet they run from the sacrifice of obedience. Yet when one totally surrenders to the leading of Holy Spirit after a while obedience is not a burden rather it becomes natural as the spirit man is built up to rule over the flesh. It almost become second nature. But don’t get me wrong once you have one victory over one area, Holy Spirit will keep you humble as He points out yet another area of the flesh which is rebellion.

The good news is that God the Father is filled with mercy and grace, as we trip and fall He pours His mercy out on us and backs it up with His grace to empower us to get up and move forward. It is the position of surrender for which He looks for, a condition of the heart, rather than the outward signs of obedience which are done yet with a bitter heart.

So don’t think that His blessings are withheld or taken away for a slip up for they are not. But they are withheld from those who have a selfish heart seeking what they may gain with no love or reverence for the Giver.

It is like the child who is rewarded even though they didn’t get and A or maybe not even a B, for the parent saw that they gave it their best. With that reward the good parent continues to encourage the child to try a do better next time.

With that being said let us rejoice in our God, for even as the better parent, our loving God will give the child as many resources as necessary to help them in their struggle to reach the finish line. And surrender Him all praise, glory and honor for God the Father has given us the best in His Son and in Holy Ghost.

When thou didst say “Seek My Face,’….Thy face, O Lord I will seek” (Psalm 27:8, NASB).

God wants us to enter into a new relation with Him. Not just like a little child, full of requests for things from his father, but as a mature son or daughter who knows the Father, is in tune with the Fathers will, begins to think and act like the Father, and can take responsibility in the Fathers kingdom.

So dear brothers and sisters as I started this post out I mentioned that entering this year I kept hearing the Lord say “This is a new season, a season of decrees happening quickly, a year of My suddenlies falling like a heavy rain”

Been busy with school, ministry and work……will be writing some new articles soon….been is a season of heavy revelation about the Kingdoms function here on earth at this time as well as the time to sound the alarm calling Gods people back to repentance and living Holy Sanctified set-a-part lives unto the Glory of the Lord….

Are we supposed to really be making disciples? Or are we walking in disobedience if we do not make time for the kingdom and fill it with the things of this world?

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Is God trying to get our attention?

I have never seen anything like it. Pastor David Platt of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama released his book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream in May of this year. It already has 370,000 copies in print and is in its 18th printing. It has spread largely by word of mouth across the country. A neighbor came up to my wife recently and spontaneously asked, “Have you seen this great new book called Radical?” It has been as high as #18 on Amazon and has even caught the attention of columnist David Brooks of the New York Times. (See his column of September 6.)

Popularity is not usually an important thing to measure, but when a book with such great biblical content starts to catch on, we have to ask, “Is God doing something new in our day to awaken his Church?”“Is He calling His people to radical discipleship for the sake of God’s glory in all the earth?” I believe He is, and that the Church is in desperate need of the biblical message that David Platt presents in Radical.

David’s message has the potential to change the way we do both church and mission. It calls us to reorder our priorities to what God cares about. With a clarity and passion that is rare, David boldly lays out a vision of the Church’s mission in this world that is wholly biblical and God-centered. David writes,

“The message of biblical Christianity is ‘God loves me so that I might make Him—His ways, His salvation, His glory, and His greatness—known among all nations” (Radical, p. 70).

David calls the Church to a sacrificial commitment to reaching all of the un- reached peoples so that God’s glory is made known in all the earth. This needs to be the guiding vision and purpose for every church. Without it we are set adrift on the endless rolling sea of a self-centered gospel where the believer’s only destination on the horizon is his own blessing. We report on this stunning new book and its young author starting on page 6.

In addition to Radical, Floyd McClung has released his new book Follow: A Simple and Profound Call to Live Like Jesus. Both of these books are calling the church to “radical discipleship.” On top of this, the latest edition of Operation World, which helped lead David Platt to his mission vision, is now available. We have arranged special quantity discounts on all three books for MF readers. See page 16 for more information.

Doing Church as Jesus Intended

How do we determine whether a church is successful or not? Is it the size of the church service on Sunday morning? Is it the size of the church budget or the number of activities for kids, young adults, women, etc.? There are many criteria that we could use, but the real question is whether we are doing what Jesus has called us to do. The only standard that counts is His. If we are not doing what Jesus has called us to do, then it does not matter how many people we can get into a building on any given day of the week.

Making Disciples

So what has Jesus called us to do? In Matthew 4:19, Jesus says to Peter and his brother Andrew, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” We are to be followers of Jesus who, with God’s power, make other people followers of Jesus too. We call this discipleship. Jesus confirms this calling for us all in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” Paul clarifies this calling in 2 Timothy 2:2, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” This is what Jesus has called the Church to do—to make disciples who can make disciples. Everything we do as a church must be evaluated on the basis of whether it helps us accomplish the goal of making disciples who can make disciples, both within our own culture and cross-culturally in every people. That must be our standard for success as the Church.

So how are we doing overall? Are we effectively making disciples that are making disciples? As I reported in my editorial in the Sept.-Oct. 2009 issue, over half of our young people are walking away from the church in college. Josh McDowell says that unless something is done quickly to change this situation, the current adults will be “The Last Christian Generation.” According to George Barna, only a small minority of the people in our pews hold to sound biblical doctrine. Even fewer share their faith with others. The overall American church is not growing. At best it is barely hanging on against the onslaught from a hostile secular culture. Our common model for doing church is for people to “pray the prayer and sit in a chair”¹ and listen to the pastor. It is not making disciples who can make disciples. The global missionary effort will never succeed if we simply bring this broken model of doing church to every tribe and tongue. But if we make disciples who make disciples, as God has designed His Kingdom to grow, the gates of Hell will not stand against the onslaught of Christ’s advancing Church.

What is the Problem?

Like the culture at large, our church culture in America is centered on entertainment, not on equipping people as effective disciple-makers. The pastor is the “performer,” and the people are the spectators. Most churches think they can grow if only they have a gifted speaker who can draw a crowd on Sunday morning. They spend much of their energy, time and money on perfecting the Sunday morning “show.” How many churches focus on looking for pastors who have a demonstrated ability to make disciples who can make disciples? There is nothing wrong with having a wonderful worship service, or a pastor who is a great teacher, but if that is the main focus of a church then it is out of focus on what really counts.

Disciple-making takes place through intentional relationships where spiritual life and maturity can be passed on from one person to another. A pastor cannot personally disciple hundreds or thou- sands of people by himself, but that is what our current church model expects him to do. The Sunday morning sermon is not discipleship. We need a new biblical model for doing church that equips all believers to be disciple-makers, not just the pastor. Here is one notable example from which we can learn.

From its founding, Real Life Ministries of Post Falls, Idaho has been commit- ted to creating a new model for doing church. They determined that absolutely everything they did would be to achieve the goal of making disciples who can make disciples. They are based in a small town of just 26,000, but in just 12 years they have grown from a church plant of four couples to 8,500 members.

They have also established six other church plants in their area, each with over 1,000 members. From 2002-2006, they were the fastest growing non-denominational church in America. Every year hundreds of people come to faith in Christ for the first time through their 600+ home-based discipleship groups. It is not the pastor of the church who is leading these people to faith. It is the disciples of this church making new disciples.

The late Avery Willis, former director of operations for the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptists, believed this was the best model of church-based discipleship he had ever seen, and he gave the last days of his life to promoting it. NavPress has also been so impressed with their work that they are partnering with them in developing discipleship materials.

The church provides frequent training for church leaders in their disciple- ship model. For more information, go to  and check out “An Overview of the Discipleship Process” (23 min. audio), or call 208-777-7325.

We need to learn from each other if we are to develop new church models that work. The global Church must learn how to make disciples who can make disciples, or the task of discipling the nations will always remain a distant and unattainable vision. We must answer God’s call to radical disciple-making.

by Rick Wood

Tolerance can be a virtue, but it can also betray an inexcusable weakness of character. We admire the person who tolerates differences where no great issue is at stake. He allows for a variety of preferences, methods, and unimportant viewpoints. He would rather be killed for a sheep than for a lamb.

But there is another form of tolerance that is despicable. That is the willingness to remain silent when God’s name is blasphemed or Christ is dishonored. It is the treachery of silence when truth is on the scaffold. It is the unwillingness to speak out against evil. Tolerance that condones deceit and unrighteousness is sin.

Those who think that Jesus was always tolerant should read Matthew 23, a denunciation of hypocrisy. This passage proves forever that our Lord was capable of scathing indignation at the pretense of religious leaders. Or they should read Revelation 2:20, where he condemned the Church in Thyatira for tolerating a woman teacher named Jezebel.

Paul, too, was intolerant of evil. He even mentioned names, something that is considered unacceptable in evangelical circles today. He delivered Hymenaeus and Alexander to Satan, that they might learn not to blaspheme (1 Timothy 1:20). He didn’t hesitate to single out Hymenaeus and Philetus as false teachers (2 Timothy 2:17). And he denounced Alexander the coppersmith by name for his evil behavior (2 Timothy 4:14).

John also had the courage to name Diotrephes as one who loved to have the pre-eminence (3 John 9). It seems that the church today has lost its capacity for godly intolerance. As Robert G Lee said, “We live in a world of invertebrate theology, jellyfish mortality, seesaw religion, India rubber convictions, somersault philosophy that tells us what we already know in words which we do not understand.”

The writings of William Barclay are another case in point. Barclay denies the deity of Christ, the inspiration of the Scriptures, the miracles of Jesus and his substitutionary atonement. He believes in the eventual salvation of all mankind.

Yet his books are sold in the majority of Christian bookstores. He is widely quoted by prominent evangelical leaders. And multitudes of Christians study his books on the specious excuse that ‘they contain such valuable background information’. The fact that he is a heretic, a blasphemer and a deceiver is not important. Neither, apparently, is the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ.

A missionary to India was right on target when he wrote, “Toleration has become so tolerant, that evil is included in that tolerance. We are in danger of becoming ‘moral cows’ in our plump comfortableness.”

It is an ungodly tolerance that has allowed so many pulpits in America to be filled with “false apostles and deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostle’s of Christ.”

Detecting a resemblance to conditions in Elijah’s day, J. Sidlow Baxter writes, ‘Such are the people who today, with sickly kindness, will tolerate teachers of errors in our pulpits because they are such smooth-mannered and amiable gentlemen. They would rather allow error to be preached and souls to be deceived than hurt the preacher’s feelings. Let Baal be worshiped rather than drought come! Let the cancer kill its victim rather than the cruel surgeon use the knife! …The best thing that could happen to some so-called Christian ministers of today is that they should be denounced in God’s name by their hearers.’

It is a sinful tolerance…

[1] that refuses to castigate a false church system that leads millions to eternal destruction with its perverted gospel.

[2] That honors its head as a great evangelist at the same time that he is condemning evangelicals as wolves.

[3] That labels God’s prophets as divisive when they denounce its idolatry, its immorality and its other heresies.

[4] That sends converts back into its deadening clutches.

…What has happened to the church of the martyrs?

We have an enormous craving for popularity. This is the stuff of which false prophets are made. We have a desire to avoid unpleasantness at all cost. A desire like this keeps us from confronting, from intervening when we should. We have a distaste for being different. We find it easier to move along with the crowd, to drift with the tide. It is all too easy to remain silent when we are in an adverse theological climate. We are ‘slaves who dare not to be right with two or three.’

We have lost the capacity for being angry. We are not easily enough disturbed. We are in the sorry state of having no capacity for indignation. We are experts at putting off decisiveness simply because we don’t want to act.

Sometimes we are too blinded by friendship to stand against wrong. When a Christian spoke out against E J Carnell’s book ‘The Case For Orthodoxy’ because it argued against the inspiration of the Scriptures, a friend of the author said ‘Well you do not know him personally as I do. He is a gracious gentleman, a godly man.’

Jay Adams was right when he said ‘In some circles, the fear of controversy is so great that preachers and congregations following after them will settle for peace at any cost – even the cost of the truth – God’s truth. The idea is that peace is all- important. Peace is a biblical ideal … but so is purity. The peace of the church may never be bought at the price of the purity of the church. The price is too dear.’

Let’s all get together. Don’t do or say anything to rock the boat. Doctrine divides, they say. What we need is unity. What we really need is to contend earnestly for the faith in a day when it is being attacked, diluted and denied. We will be tolerant in matters of indifference but intolerant of departure from the truth of God. With Luther, ‘Here we stand. We can do no other.’

Bishop J C Ryle also wrote:

Controversy in religion is a hateful thing. It is hard enough to fight the devil, the world and the flesh without private differences in our own camp – but there is one thing which is even worse than controversy and that is false doctrine being tolerated, allowed and permitted without protest or molestation …

Three things there are which men ought never to trifle with:

A little poison

A little false doctrine

A little sin.

~by William MacDonald

The Christian life, the Christian walk should be characterized by the virtues taught in the Word of God. We have said that love embodies all of these virtues, and that a life of perfect love would necessarily be an entirely virtuous one. Such was the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.

During His tenure on this earth, He embodied and exemplified the love of God, and by His own example, facing the same difficulties of life which we face (yet to a far more intense degree, Heb.4:15), He gave us a pattern to model ourselves by, footsteps, by which if we should only follow them, we would be lead by the straight road to a virtuous life well-pleasing to God (1Pet.2:21-25; cf. Matt.16:24; Jn.13:15).

The Bible is about Jesus Christ (Jn.5:39), about the love of God demonstrated in His gift of Jesus Christ (Jn.3:16), for love comes from God and God is love (1Jn.4:7-8). In this sense then, every page of the Bible reflects the character of God and the love of Christ, and we should try to retain this perspective as we study the scriptures. Spiritual growth, as we have seen, is a process of transformation, and the ideal goal of that process is the formation of the character of Jesus Christ within each one of us (Gal.4:19).

To accomplish this heady goal, we need to “imitate Christ” (1Cor.11:1) and “put on Christ” (Rm.13:14) until He “dwells in our hearts” (Eph.3:16-17). The contexts of each of these passages show that this reproduction of Christ’s character is part and parcel of this transformation of our thinking which we have been discussing. In 1st Corinthians 11:1, the command to “imitate Christ” is given in a context of self-sacrifice, of giving others more consideration than ourselves when it comes to their spiritual advance (1Cor.10:23-33).

The command to “put on Christ” in Rm.13:14 is given in a context of rejecting the vices of the sin nature so that we may conduct our spiritual “walk” in a decent way. Lastly, Paul’s prayer for Christ to “dwell in our hearts” (Eph.3:16-17) is accomplished “by faith” and is predicated on our prior “internal strengthening in the inner man by the Holy Spirit”, a process as we have seen involving the adjustment of our thinking to the principles of truth taught in God’s Word.

Emulating the character of our Lord is only possible when we begin thinking as He did, putting the spiritual welfare of others before ourselves, rejecting the claims of the sin nature, and turning to the Word and the Spirit of God for our strength.

What is the doctrine of Christ? It is the doctrine which Christ taught or guided the Apostles to teach. If Christ or the Apostles did not teach it then it cannot be the doctrine of Christ. John warned. The “gospel” or so called kerygma is one of the DOCTRINES of Christ: Jesus taught it and it is doctrine. You cannot disparage doctrine without disparaging the Christ whose teaching are the purpose for receiving A new spirit by request at baptism. If the doctrine of Christ is mistranslated to mean the doctrine ABOUT Christ then the false teachers are at liberty to dismiss most of the Bible and put themselves in the role of revealing NEW DOCTRINE to “better fit our changed culture.” That is why the claim to PREACH only a crucified Christ and mistranslate Paul who said that they have to KNOW only a crucified suffering servant or they will make the Word of God worthless. These you have with you always. Here is the text:

Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 2 Jn.1:9

If we love JESUS we will keep His commandments which are laws. If we love others we will bear their burdens as we can. When we stop in the middle of the street, get out, and help the old lady carry her burden across then we have fulfilled the Law. The cop will forgive us for PARKING in the intersection.

A parallel statement is:

Bear ye one anothers burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Gal 6:2

The doctrine of Christ is that which Christ taught in the same way that the law of Christ is that which Jesus commanded. Jesus and Paul insisted that “ministers” devote their lives to bearing the burdens of THE LAMBS and not making the lambs feed them.

Fulfill is to FILL UP the meaning of the Law which taught righteousness and justice. However, loving others did not forgive you for violating ANOTHER law.

Anapleroo (g378) an-ap-lay-ro’-o; from 303 and 4137; to complete; by impl. to occupy, supply; fig. to accomplish (by coincidence or obedience): – fill up, fulfill, occupy, supply.

The Law of Christ is whatever Christ commanded:

Nomos (g3511) nom’-os; from a prim. nemo , (to parcel out, espec. food or grazing to animals); law (through the idea of prescriptive usage), gen. (regulation), spec. (of Moses [includ. the volume]; also of the Gospel), or fig. (a principle): – law

Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me. Ph.2:30

We do not live under the Law of Moses or the Mayflower Compact. However, a law is a statement of cause and effect: if thou jumpest off the building thou shalt die. Laws are to protect and not burden. So, maybe we had not invent a LIST with one step on it.

God always lays down a MARK for identifying false teachers: if they do not speak according to the Words of God it is because “there is no truth in them.”

What possible motive would people have for utterly REPUDIATING the doctrines which Jesus TAUGHT and which He as Spirit revealed to the Apostles and who Peter said “left us an example” which means a written record which Peter wrote.?

The Doctrine of Christ meant that “Jesus paid it all.” He assuredly paid the “temple tax” and declared that God cannot be worshipped in houses or by hands. If that is a fact then one cannot build mega-houses with massive staff infection which deliberately strips the honest evangelist of subsistence WITHOUT preaching JUST JESUS (which they also will define–for a price)

The doctrine of Christ Paul repeated and the church practiced was there THERE IS NO LAW OF GIVING. Maybe that is why they tell people that the apostels were divided and wrote divisive epistles.

The Iamblichus See also Arnobius II

There are some, however, who suppose there is likewise, the subject-race of a tricky nature, artful, and assuming all shapes, turning many ways, that personates gods and dæmons and souls of the dead like actors on the stage; and that through these everything that seems to be good or bad is possible. They are led to form this judgment because these subject-spirits are not able to contribute anything really beneficial as relates to the soul, nor even to perceive such things; but on the other hand, they ill treat, deride, and often impede those who are returning to virtue.

They are likewise full of conceit, and take delight in vapors and sacrifices.

5. Because the begging priest with open mouth attempts in many ways to raise our expectations. Note 13

13. The agurtes or begging priest generally belonged to the worship of Rhea [ZOE] or Cybele, the Mother. He is frequently depicted in a most unfavorable light. Apuleius speaks of a company of these emasculate priests in the eighth book of the Metamorphoses. They are also described in the Republic of Plato:
“Agurtæ and Mantics frequent the houses of the rich and persuade them that they possess a power granted by the gods to expiate,
by sacrifices and chants any unjust act that has been committed and that they induce the gods by blandishments and magic rites to help them. They collected money in this way, and they also followed the selling of nostrums and telling of fortunes.”

G726 harpazÿ har-pad’-zo From a derivative of G138 ; to seize (in various applications): catch (away, up), pluck, pull, take (by force).
Agur-tês
A. collector, esp. begging priest of Cybele, Gallois
2. vagabond, kai manteis

Gallos, ho,A. priest of Cybele, II. eunuch. USED WITH: Pempô, 2. pompên p. conduct, or take part in, a procession, chorous move in dancing procession, phallos Dionusôim

Jesus cast out the musical ministers “like dung” and repudiated the doctors of the law for “taking away the key to knowledge.” The clergy “piping” hoping Jesus would sing and dance proves that the doctrine TAUGHT BY Christ repudiated the emotionally and sexually abnormal have the “talent” and propensity to live like wolves or dogs.

Max Weber: Of even greater importance is charisma, which stands in absolute contrast to tradition. In its simplest form, charisma is defined by Weber as “a certain quality of an individual personality by virtue of which he is considered extraordinary and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities” (Weber 1978: 242)

The extraordinary figures who inspire such unreasoning devotion are imagined by Weber to be, in their typical form, berserk warriors, pirates and demagogues. They reveal their capacities through a highly intensified and emotionally labile state of consciousness that excites and awes the onlookers, and jolts them from the everyday 6. The primary type, from which the others spring, is the epileptoid magician-shaman who can incorporate the Gods and display divine powers primarily through convulsions, trembling and intense effusions of excitement (Weber 1972: 327, 1978: 401) 7. Through his capacity for epileptoid states, the shaman served both as an exemplar of ecstasy and as the leader in the rituals of communal intoxication and orgy Weber took as the original sacred experience (Weber 1978: 401, 539).

Plato Cratylus:
Her. What do you say of edone (pleasure), lupe (pain), epithumia (desire), and the like, Socrates?
The PLEASURING Paul outlawed in Romans 15 has the same meaning as HEDONE: Hedone.
The leader of the vulgar, charismatic religion as a “spiritual” army:

Dêmagôgeô , to be a leader of the people, kalôs d. Isoc.2.16 ; têi men exousiai turannôn, tais d’ euergesiais dêmagôgôn Id.10.37 ; cf. dêmagôgei: stratêgei, Hsch.: usu. in bad sense, Ar.Ra.423, etc.

turanneuô: to be a turannos, an absolute sovereign or despot, and in aor. to become such, Hdt., etc.: to be a prince or princess, Eur.

The dêmagôgeô continued: 2. c. acc. pers., d. andras curry favour with, X.An.7.6.4 , cf. Arist.Pol. 1305b26, al.:–Pass., to be won over, conciliated by popular arts, J.AJ 16.2.5.

hêdonê , 3. Pl., desires after pleasure, pleasant lusts, X.Mem.1.2.23, Ep.Tit.3.3, al. dêmêgorein

For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. Tit 3:3

Hedone (g2237) hay-don-ay’; from handano, (to please); sensual delight; by impl. desire: – lust, pleasure

Rejecting DOCTRINE makes way for abnormal males who make way for abnormal females.

God is “father” and the Logos is “son.” That repudiates the doctrine of the Mother of the Gods and the Daughter: the DOVE is a DOCTRINE those who reject DOCTRINE will never grasp.

The invisible Deity expressed Himself in many ways. For this discussion we should understand that Father, Son and Spirit are not NAMES. Classical trinitarians never saw the Godhead cut up into sections but that FULL DEITY dwelled in the man Jesus of Nazareth. The doctrine that God is ONE GOD and not three beings but as Paul explained in 1 Cor 2 a complex Being explained by we His creatures consisting of body, soul (life) and spirit.