Without a Vision

Without a vision, the people perish… (Proverbs 29:18)

I have listened carefully to the recent debates concerning gay marriage.  Just by the fact there is even a debate about it causes me to despair about the future of our society.  We are following the historic paths of the great societies throughout time that declined into moral degradation and ultimately perished.

The word is that the homosexual issue can be won by relegating it to social and legal arguments instead of moral ones.  If we admit that homosexuality is merely a preference or a medical anomaly, then how can we deny them their social rights? 

It makes for a difficult point to argue against if you take God out of the picture.  After all, they are people too, aren’t they?

Rambling on and on about statistics and studies on the effects of social change can go on forever without ever coming to a conclusion.  Let’s do another study!  We don’t know enough about it already.  We’ll just argue this thing to death by trying to prove our opinion with slippery facts.

How in the world did we get so far away from our roots?  How did we allow ourselves to step off the bedrock of moral absolutes into the quicksand of relative truths?

It started when we left off to fear the Lord.

First, it was that the fear of God isn’t really “dread” or trembling fear.  It was just “awesome respect”.  Oh, that sounds so much better doesn’t it?  God really loves us, and He wouldn’t be some old, austere, judgmental God, now would He?

Then it was just, “have a little talk with Jesus” and you got your ticket in!  Hakuna Matata.  You don’t have to worry about it anymore.  God is Love!  Hooray!

Well, now that we have got that settled, we can slack off on our intensity to walk in extreme holiness and righteousness. Neither do we have to read and pray as if our lives depended on it anymore.  We can just cruise on through.  Or, as one old man put it, “just relax and be raptured”.

Where did this all start?  In the Seminaries and Bible Colleges.  It took some time, but with a little here and a little there, Satan worked a perfect plan to take the guts out of the Gospel. We now have very well-educated ministers who know all about administration; they know all about Greek Lexicons; they’re all read up on the latest “self-help” Christian books, they’re established in church doctrines, and they know how to “prepare” their sermons and balance the church finances … but they’ve forgotten how to walk in the Spirit of God.

And there is no outpouring of the Holy Ghost in the land.  It’s been so long since we’ve had one that we don’t even know what a revival is anymore, and we don’t have a clue as to what it takes to have one.

And so, we are left with a sophisticated church that has no life in it.   The tethers that tie us to that bedrock of Truth have been severed, because it is only through the Fear of the Lord that men depart from evil – nothing else.  Take that away, and you slip off the Rock into quicksand.

The excitement that drives a revival only comes after a people realize their apostasy and come to a place of deep, brokenhearted repentance and begin to cry out to God with all their hearts.  The blueprint for a God-sent revival is in the Book of Joel. 

Without that, you don’t have a vision.  All you have is “church as usual”.

Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. (Joel 2:12-13)

[This article is an excerpt from
“Revival in the Wings”, vol. 4 of the Voice in the Wilderness series –

Available on Amazon: 
https://www.amazon.com/Voice-Wilderness-Revival-Wings/dp/1734221348]

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