On Life Support

“Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you." —Jeremiah 7:16 (NKJV)

What Is It?

What is life support exactly? Well, we don’t have to look much further than what the name implies. It is the assistance required by the human body in order to continue to “live” in the case when vital organs fail to perform the task or the function for which they were designed. There are various types of life support that are given, depending on the extent of the damage to said vital organ. Once administered, if not critical, the individual can continue living a relatively normal life. However, if the failure should be critical and life threatening, then more robust and extensive measures are taken to prevent death, such as a ventilator or a feeding tube.

More often than not, these measures only last so long before a loved one decides to “pull the plug”. This means that should the individual’s body not recover or respond to the life support treatment, the decision can be made (by loved one’s or prior written instructions by the individual) to remove the artificial help the body is getting as means to continue “living”. This is when the machines are shut off, or the treatments (i.e. dialysis) cease to be administered. It isn’t long before the body gives its last signs of life, exhales its last breath and passes.

They Say That A Picture’s Worth A Thousand Words

Why am I brining all this up? Many of you already know me well enough to know that I love word pictures. I’ve learned much from word pictures, and, they are a biblical method of getting a point across as well. Take for instance the prophet Nathan when he was told by the Lord to go tell King David about his sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah the Hittite. Read with me a bit from 2 Samuel 12:1-12:

Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him. And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die (or deserves to die)! And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.”

Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had beentoo little, I also would have given you much more! Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’ ”

You can literally visualize in your head the word picture that the prophet Nathan delivered to David. It was so effective that it cut to the heart of the matter—and most importantly to David’s heart. Wow! Talk about powerful, right? This is why I love word pictures and I believe them to be effective tools if used in proper application.

Back to life support. What I described earlier is a picture of where I believe we are in America—on multiple fronts: Politically, culturally, financially, morally, educationally and definitely religiously, aka: the American Evangelical Ecclesia (the church). I believe that we, as a nation and as the church in America, are dying. I know some might think that this is an overstatement of a small problem but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. I’ve been very vocal about the church’s responsibility in all of this. We cannot, in good faith, blame the woes of our country on politicians, Hollywood and a rogue educational system alone. No, the problem runs much deeper than that.

The blame for the troubles and the present condition in which our country finds itself, lies squarely on the shoulders of the Church. PERIOD!

I might be accused of sounding too harsh or being too judgmental. And, if that’s how some may take this article, then so be it. Come on, let's be honest about it, we know very well what we are supposed to be like as believers in Jesus Christ - salt and light - as recorded in Matthew 5:13-16. For the most part, we've not only missed the mark, we've missed it by a long shot and have been for a very long time!

Let me see if we can draw parallels from a word picture yet again. When I was speaking at a prophecy conference in Lake Stevens, WA, in May of this year, I drew a parallel between the physical body and the church as the body of Christ.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12:27, talking about the church body:

“You are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of it.”

Think about it, what happens to the body when it has a progressive sickness or disease? If it is not healed, it will no longer be able to perform its everyday functions. Moving becomes more and more difficult. Breathing can become labored. Coordination is lacking leading to falls and possible broken bones. Organs can begin to shut down. So on and so forth—you get the picture. More times than not, medications are administered to help cope with the issues. Other times, when medications are no longer a viable option, life support systems are administered. But, once those no longer aide the body in sustaining life, the body will cease to function all together and eventually die.

Now, He who formed us out of the dust of the earth and breathed the breath of life into us (Genesis 2:7) is also the One whom we call Jehovah Rapha—the God who heals! He is able to take an ailing and perishing body and restore it back to perfect health. That is who He is. The word of God tells us in Hebrews 13:8 that:

^“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

In that we serve the great I AM, and the fact that He IS the same yesterday, today and forever, the Alpha & Omega, the beginning and the end, we can trust Him to be entirely capable of healing just as he did centuries ago. That definitely deserves an AMEN and a HALLELUJAH? Seriously! Our great, awesome and powerful God is still the miracle performing God that we read about from cover to cover in the Bible. So, what does that mean? How does this have anything to do with the church?

Family, the body of Christ IS on life support! It became sickly decades ago, yet refused to look to the Lord as its only source of healing. Much in the same way that the “complainers” in the Old Testament were bitten by snakes and had to look to the bronze serpent to be healed (Numbers 21:4-9), so too, we—the body of Christ— must look to Christ as our sole source of healing for the church!

(SIDE NOTE 1: The bronze serpent in the Old Testament was a typology pointing to Christ’s sacrifice for us on the cross. Jesus Himself drew the parallel in the New Testament (John 3:14-15). When we look to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, we too are healed of the death grip sin has over our lives. Look to Jesus as your healer.)

The church has looked to the world and its methods as a means to draw people unto Him. Think church growth movement, seeker sensitive movement, purpose driven movement, etc. Wait, what? Use the world’s methods, which are diametrically opposed to God, to draw and attract people into the church? Yup. By and large, that’s what the American church has been doing for a better part of the last few decades. This is antithetical to what our purpose truly is. When Jesus prayed for His disciples in John 17, we read how Jesus says that they were in the world (verse 11), but not of it (verse 16).

(SIDE NOTE 2: I would strongly encourage all of you to read John 17! It’s an amazing chapter that showcases Jesus’ boundless love and intercession for each of us. Jesus prays for Himself, His disciples and us—all believers!)

And so, the body of Christ here in America began to debilitate. It began to suffer from the “deadly disease” and “infection” of the world called pride and arrogance. It focused more on numbers than on true discipleship. The mindset that “we know better than God” began to creep in…a for the most part remained festering and unabated for decades. The result is what we have today. A church body that is on spiritual “life support” with very little semblance of its former past. The American church is hanging on by a thread. The only One that can heal it is the great Physician Jesus Christ! And it can happen. The church can be healed of its maladies. But, the only way it can happen is IF we turn back to THE Way, THE Truth and THE Life.

Why is it that we find ourselves in the moral morass we are in? Why is it that perversion beyond imagination is celebrated in this country (and exported abroad) for an entire month once a year? Why do we have a drug addiction epidemic in our country? Why is there a homeless crisis? Why do we have communism that is seemingly winning the hearts and minds of the youth when America was supposed to be the land of the free and the home of the brave? Why are pastors allowing homosexuals to not only work in the churches, but they’re also ordaining them? Why are we seeing such blasphemies as the Word of God being punted into the congregation as a means to “be cool and relevant”? Why are we in the midst of multiple wars breaking out due to blood lusting politicians hell bent on breaking this nation and filling their pockets with money? Why are kids going bonkers? Why are people so angry all time? Why are so many churches dividing on stupid issues that are non-salvific? Why?

I’ll tell you why? It’s because we ceased to give God His rightful place in our lives and in the life of the church. We became more enamored with popularity and more concerned about what others think of us than of what God cares about. We essentially became a watered down religious organization with no difference from the world with a little semblance of “Godliness”. Outward appearances became king. The American church became more of an entertainment venue than a place to equip the saints. Eric Metaxes, in his book called ‘Letter To The American Church’ said something along these lines (I'm paraphrasing): Truth apart from Love isn’t truth at all. And the same goes for the converse…Love apart from Truth is not love at all. The church, by and large, has become a body of compromisers not wanting to offend but rather show tolerance and acceptance as a means of “fitting in” with the world.

Our Finest Hour!

Let me share with you what I’ve been thinking about lately. I truly believe that this could be the church’s finest hour. I really do! I also believe that we, as the body of Christ, don’t have much time left to do the work He’s called us to do, both individually and collectively. I’ve been very vocal about my belief that we are truly living on borrowed time. Every single one of us. But again, despite all of that, I still believe that this can be our finest hour.

The Word of God is replete with examples of God’s restorative power. He is the Almighty One! If there’s anyone that can heal us (and trust me when I tell you that He CAN!), it’s none other than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How? Complete and total surrender, humility and repentance! Many of us know 2 Chronicles 7:14 by heart.

But, do we know what the verse right before that says—verse 13? Let me show you what the Lord said to Solomon:

“When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people,”

The Lord in His infinite foresight and omniscience knew what Israel would eventually do…yet again. He knew that they would rebel and play the harlot. They would away from Him, just as we have done. They rebelled against God Almighty. And that is what makes verse 14 all the sweeter! Though God knew, He also assured Solomon that there was a Way for total forgiveness and restoration to be made.

Verse 14 reads as follows:

“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.”

Amazing! God’s healing, merciful and gracious power on display. Beautiful! That should encourage each and everyone of us. The real possibility that the Lord can heal the body of Christ and in turn restore it back to ‘full throttle’ in these last days of church history is so promising. He is the God of the impossible! The question isn’t really if He’s willing, but, are we willing. Willing to what? Willing to humble ourselves, pray, seek the Lord in all things and most importantly turn from our wicked ways (and wicked ways they are indeed). That’s the ticket right there!

I know that some may be thinking right now that 2 Chronicles 7:14 was meant only for the Israelites. And, you’d be partially correct. However, in that we, the church, have been grafted into the vine, we are partakers of this in principle. It applies to us as well!

So, where does that leave us? Again, I truly believe that the churches finest hours could be immediately before us. This last period of church history could be the churches ‘opus magnum’. But—and that’s a big BUT…it’s all hinging on this one question…are we willing to “IF”?

God is seeking hearts that are sold out to Him. He desires nothing more than to see His body restored back to the way He intended it to be—optimal. Soon and very soon, the trumpet WILL sound and we, His bride, will be caught up to meet Him in the air! The baton will be passed along to the 144,000 messianic Jews that will evangelize this world like never before. It will be like having 144,000 Pauls witnessing throughout the world. They will do what we, the church, failed to do in 2,000+ years of church history.

But, remember that you and I have been put here by God for a reason. Or, as Mordecai told Esther:

For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Let’s capitalize on whatever time we have left here on terra firma. Call to Him, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).

Jesus has not “pulled the plug” on the church quite yet. Live your life in such a way that is pleasing to Him. Engage in the battle. Fight the good fight. There’s much work yet to be done. The finish line is in sight…let’s sprint towards it and finish strong!

Have a nice day!

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