by Pastor O, ©2020
(Nov. 20, 2020) — Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For the darkness shall cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord shall rise upon you, and His glory shall be seen upon you.” Isaiah 60:1
Back in the 1960’s, a movement took place in America that came to be known as the counterculture revolution. It touched, and in many ways, transformed every aspect of America. It did so through political and social activism, music and media, and most every form of communication. Seemingly overnight, the mindset of the country was changed. Many forms of long accepted and biblically based thoughts on morality were mocked, laughed at, and sought to be done away with. The parents and grandparents of that time didn’t recognize the nation and culture they now lived in. The effects of that revolution have evolved into what we see today, which we, at least to a degree, were a part of that earlier revolution. We have reaped the fruits of it. As the Bible says, we sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind. Now, we desperately need a new revolution. The rising of a new counterculture. It must be centered upon the Spirit of God moving through the hearts and lives of His people. The question is, are we fit vessels for such a move?
Jim Garlow says that there are 374,000 professing Christian churches in America. Studies show that 72% of them DO NOT base their faith on the authority of Scripture or have a worldview filtered through the authority of Scripture. What this should tell us, beyond the obvious shock, is that the needed revolution has to begin in the church. Scripture says that His judgement will begin in the house of His people, and folks, we are ripe for such judgement. Our sin, apathy, lukewarmness, and watering down of Scriptural truth must be brought out into the open. We are hearing much of the need for transparency in the political arena, much more is such transparency needed in the church. It is time for a spiritual counterculture to arise within the church to challenge and transform the prevailing, crumbling culture of the church of the west.
The enemy didn’t really do his work overnight. He’d been laying the groundwork for it all for decades. This is plainly seen in the writings of Tozer, Ravenhill, Sparks, Havner, and Chambers. All of them saw what was happening. All of them warned of its coming. All of them were right. We must take hope, because God has been laying the groundwork in His church for not just decades, but centuries. His voice is being heard through many voices and their numbers grow by the day. Hunger and thirst for His righteousness increases by the day as well. More and more are responding to His call. A revolution is brewing. A holy counterculture is being raised up. Darkness may cover the earth, but the glory of the Lord has risen, and rises. It will be seen upon His people.
It is time, past time, to take back what the enemy has stolen from us. The only means of doing so is to be swept up in His holy revolution, swept up in His Kingdom counterculture. I want to be a part. His Word says that the gates of hell will not prevail against the power of God through His people. There’s an old Jesus movement song with the lyric, “A Christian and an outlaw are rebels to the world.” May we gladly be such, conquering and overthrowing not through violence, but through His love, power, glory, and truth. It is time for a revolution. Let the revolution begin. Indeed, it has begun. Who among us will join it?
Blessings,
Pastor O