This is a series for the times we are living in. I am sharing all three installments of the topic with prophetic video at the beginning of each one.
Maranatha,
Anna
Prophetic: Election and 2021
Hi all,
I made the observation in my book Return of the First Church that
the early church was a counter-culture movement whereas the modern
auditorium church is now merely a sub-culture of the world around it.
A
sub-culture is a small self-insulated group within a larger society,
and has it's own beliefs, terminology, world view, and often its own
manner of dress. Back in high school days sub-cultures at your school
may have included the athletes and cheerleaders in one culture, the
gangs in another, the skaters, the nerds, and so on each in their
respective cultures. Each sub-culture in that school was unique, yet
existed in the larger society of high school, all moving in the same
direction - towards graduation. Sub-cultures generally move in the same
direction as society as a whole.
The
sub-culture mentality is why churches have fallen into the error of
thinking if they had the quality of the world in their facilities, if
their 'worship' resembled the world's rock concert, if they had
professional elements of a concert, they would attract new people to
their auditorium church. They look like the world, sound like it, talk
like it, in an effort to be relevant. They are moving in the same direction as the world. They are a sub-culture.
A counter-culture is a way of life with values that are opposed to the prevailing society. A counter-culture is moving in the opposite direction of local culture and the world.
Most
of what Jesus said was counter-culture. Consider Matthew 5: 43-48: "You
have heard it said to love your neighbors but hate your enemies. But I
say to you to love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to
those who hate you, pray for those who persecute you so that you may be
like your Father in heaven."
That
is counter-culture. He commands a way of life and values directly
opposed to the prevailing society and culture around Him. That was
powerful. Life-changing. Opposite of all that culture and society
believed. Love your enemies. Pray for them. Do good to them. That is
counter-culture.
That is where the power of the body of Christ lies, within its place as a counter-culture.
Blame God for this one; The Counter-culture
God
is the one who started the early church at Pentecost, and He birthed it
to be counter-culture because it (we) adhere to the teachings of Jesus.
God had moved out of the temple and into human beings and that was
exactly opposite of the whole religious culture of the day. The
synagogue system was run by aristocratic elites who said God lived in
the building, while the church was run by uneducated fishermen who said
God lives in people.
The
Jewish elites were centralized to the temple system, which directed all
money, power, and attention to themselves. The church was decentralized
as God moved out of the temple and into human beings, giving them the
freedom to meet together with other living temples as they chose, to
give to one another, to support one another and their leaders at will.
All this and more was exactly opposite of the existing temple system
which dictated what the people heard, how they gave, how they were to
include the temple in their lives, and how to interact with one another -
Having Christ in people as living temples was and remains a
counter-culture.
The reason behind the reason persecution happens
If we can lay aside for a moment what we all understand as the spiritual reason
for persecution - we all know the devil hates God and God's people so
he stirs people to persecute us - to look at it from cultural
perspective, we will see something.
What made the rulers of Babylon persecute Daniel?
What made the rulers of Babylon persecute the 3 Hebrew men to the point they put them in the furnace?
What made the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem persecute the early church?
What made the Roman Caesars persecute the Christians?
What
made Nazi Germany persecute the Jews and Christians? (Neot only did
about 6 million Jews die in the camps, but another roughly 5 million
Christians and political prisoners died there as well.)
What made the USSR persecute Jews and Christians?
Why are Christians being persecuted today in nations dominated by religions other than Christianity?
The answer is simple: They were different.
The deeper answer beyond that: Not only were the different, but they refused to be the same.
The
still deeper answer beyond that: They insisted on their own identity
rather than how the State identified them. (Using an emotional crutch,
traitors, rebels, mentally ill, dangerous to society, etc)
In
each example they were hated because they were counter-culture. A
counter-culture refuses to conform to the expectations of society. A
counter-culture moves in the opposite direction as the common culture of
the day.
In
nations considered culturally Christian, the Father and our Lord are
making it so the body of Christ is a counter-culture once again. And
we'll pick it up there next week. For those who have ears to hear,
you'll recognize this is prophetic....until next week,
Blessings,
John Fenn
