It's the Truth Cause I Heard it on Fox

Everybody should not believe what they hear on any news outlet since "news" is no longer an unbiased and balanced reporting of facts... "News" is entertainment. What drives and directs news content is ad sales. It's simple. If there are two news programs, and one is careful, balanced and accurate, but the other is electrifying, scandalous and titillating, the second is going to attract the greater number of people and therefore the greater amount of advertising money. The second is going to survive and flourish whereas the first is going to fade into obscurity.

Next, think of the person you've heard in the past who says, "I'm ashamed of myself. As a Christian, I should have more interest in 'what's happening in the world', but I just don't follow the news. I haven't got the slightest idea of what's going on."

Is this a spiritual problem? Certainly. But the problem isn't that the person isn't guilty of not watching the news. The problem is believing that the news media is accurately portraying what's going on in the world.

The reality is that -- if you closely follow what the news media puts out -- you will not know what's going on in the world.

In the Bible, there's a wonderful statement about a tribe, the "men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do..." This is like a trumpet call to the followers of Christ. We who are followers of the truth, have a passion to know the truth about the times in which we live. Today, we are the ones who must "understand the times in which we live and what the People of God should do".

So, we want to "know our times"... How do we accomplish this? Listen to the news media? If you do, you'll never know the truth of what is happening in "our times".

How do we "know our times"? Only by inclining our ear to the Voice of God.

Someone cries out, "But God hasn't said anything about the riots in Whatever-stan or the human rights violations in Wherever-odia! How will I know the truth about those riots or those violations without the news media?" And again it must be said, the news media is not putting out truth, but half-truths, quarter truths, eighth truths alongside of innuendo, rumor, insinuation and scandal. When a follower of Jesus Christ listens to a newscast, he or she can never confidently accept the so-called report as truth.

But when a follower of Jesus Christ listens to Him, he or she hears God's truthful evaluation of the times in which we live. Do you honestly believe that the word of the news media is more accurate than the Word from the Lord?

If we take these things to heart, what does it look like? Do we turn off the TV news and toss out our daily newspaper? Maybe, to some degree. But not entirely. Here's a picture: The news shows emaciated children in some third-world country, rib bones sticking out, scars and boils on their bodies and stomachs swollen in hunger. You mute the "news report" and incline your ear to God. You lay it out there and say, "Father -- this hurts to see these children... but I don't know the truth about this situation. Sure, I can donate money to Such-and-Such Relief Organization, but will my dollar ever reach the children I've just seen? What is the truth of my times and what I should do..."

And God says something totally unexpected. He says, "No -- don't give a donation to the group just shown on TV, but contact so-and-so and give $150 today." Or God says, No- your money is not needed, but your prayers will help defeat the enemy's strategies in that land of starving children." Or He says, "Call upon Heaven for Justice! Cry out shamelessly for Justice to be done in that land and in those children's' lives! Pray for the hold Satan has on the political power of that nation to be broken and My Life, Love and Power to be released like a River across that land!"

Those followers of Jesus who know not to trust the news media, who know not to be led by the nose by news, become a people who know their times and what they should do, because they get there direction straight from the Throne of God.

Do you say, "Let me call Pastor, and see if he can tell me what to do"? Do you say, "Let me see if Such-and-Such Ministry has put out a White Paper on this terrible problem telling me what to do?" No. To become like the "sons of Issachar", it is you who must daily approach God and say, "Help me, Father, to understand the Truth of my times and what I should do."

Our Heavenly Father has not given us full access to His Person and Presence only so that we can go to another source for Truth. We are the people who "understand our times" because we know our God. As it says in Daniel 11.32: "The people who know their God will display strength and take action." (NASB)

End of the World Scenarios?

We haven't put out anything on the KingdomScribes blog this last year because we've just been letting things develop in relationship to the KingdomScribes' vision. This last year of virtual silence has seen a great deal of growth in our lives and clarity from the Lord.

Having been hidden away "in the cleft of the Rock" for such a long time here in northern California, the Lord is moving Michele and me into a new field of "practical ministry". There are quite a few people near us -- about an hour away on the Pacific coast -- who are spiritually restless. They're ready to go into new places in God's "preparation of the Bride", but are unclear just what that looks like.

Which is O.K. We're unclear as well, but quite willing to move out of familiar church forms and find forms more suitable to the Move of God's Spirit today. In a sense, I personally feel like a part of me that's never yet been fulfilled is close to its fulfillment.

Just a few days ago I shared with Michele how all my life I'd loved sci-fi stories about the "end of the world". She looked at me suspiciously. Stories of the decimation of humankind due to a world-wide atomic bomb or a meteor crashing into the ocean or a Ebola virus killing 99% of the population hardly seemed very "christian" of me.

Agreeing with her (but still enamored of these stories) I asked the Lord why I have such twisted tastes in literature -- and He said it's because He created me this way. "It's Your fault?" I asked, and He told me it's the natural outgrowth of a character trait He designed in me -- He gave me a fondness for scenarios in which the entire infrastructure is destroyed, leaving people free to develop something new.

Like -- what?

Let's consider "infrastructure" first. "Infrastructure" is the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities needed for the continuation of a society or activity. Like buildings, roads, power plants, fuel, communications, etc. When the Ebola virus is released, for example, every one needed to drive buses, generate electricity, repair roads, restock groceries -- they're all gone. The infrastructure needed to keep society maintained is gone. Communities have shut down, streets are empty, cars are abandoned and nobody's "home" because society's "infrastructure" has been destroyed.

Instantly, I understood His point -- especially how it relates to the Kingdom.

In order to build the Church according to new patterns, a person has to be willing to release the old, religious infrastructure -- the rituals, the programs, the familiar, friendly, previously successful patterns of what "doing church" means. Understand me -- not destroy those patterns, but be willing to release whatever Jesus says is no longer part of the Church He's building.

There is in me a joyous expectation that in releasing the traditions of men, we can enter into the Living Church that Jesus Builds -- the Church which prevails over the gates of Hell itself.

It's vital to be clear on this: There is no need to tear down existing, religious structures. To "violently press into the Kingdom of God" does not require the "tearing down" of old line churches, denominations, etc. In fact, we're certain that any such focus is a distraction from receiving the New Wine of Jesus into New Wineskins. As we've said often, our focus is simple: we're going into new places in the Kingdom, places where Jesus leads and we follow. Basically, in respect to brethren who have no interest in spiritually traveling with us, we bless them and go our way.

In fact, our primary responsibility to older church forms and even the religious tradition of our Christian brothers and sisters is honor -- honor those who have gone before, and honor the function they still have in the Church of Jesus Christ. But our primary responsibility to God is to let Him hold the map, and walk into unknown places, guided by the safety of our hands in the Father's Hand.