Seeing the Church through the eyes of the Spirit -- A VISION

Some years ago I asked the Lord to show me myself thru the eyes of the Spirit without the covering Blood of Jesus.

It was graphic and frankly frightening.

I asked Him to take it away.  I never asked again.  It cured me of self righteousness and cured me of tolerance for those who have not yet had that reality revealed to them and operate in a self righteous spirit.  Don't ever ask for that revelation unless you are prepared to be shocked and horrified at how evil your heart is.

If you remember that in the Story of the Prodigal, the Father runs to him while he is still a long way off... I've been a long way off and the Church is a long way off.  He still runs to her, to me, to you.  Even when we are a long way off...

The Battlefield that the enemy has chosen is the Church.  IF he can cripple and even destroy her, he will silence much of the voice of God in this generation.  His battles begin by causing those who are IN HER to fight one another.  My purpose in revealing the vision of the Church is NOT to cause condemnation, but to help us see that we are still a long way off.


The VISION:
I saw a vision of nets.  Jesus called his Disciples because he found them mending their nets.  He knew that these men knew how to persevere in spite of torn and damaged nets.  He knew that much of the church to follow would have torn nets... some that even must be abandoned.  It's not a good place, but it is a place that many will find themselves... useless, not able to fulfill the mission.  Passing thru the sea of ready fish with no catch.  In the end, God's concern is not about the net, it's about the fish, not that ANY should perish. 

I saw a vision of lost sheep.  Part of the malady is inept leadership.  God calls down a curse on them. Those with evil motives, those not ready to show themselves approved, those who would lead but would lead astray.  Abusers  of the sheep.  In the vision I see too many who are in leadership when God never called them.  I can't name them, but they know the call they claim is a fraud. Our anchor IS our call, but if no call exists, we will drift without a sail.

I saw a huge scoreboard, but the score was covered.  The Church operates as if it doesn't know the outcome.  OR worse, thinks it does know the outcome and is mistaken.  Too much of the church is driven by a false hope/fear of end time events that are all fiction.  The outcome is clear, the score is settled.  We have victory.  We still have battles, some even that we lose.  It's like football, sometimes the quarterback is sacked. Some throws are intercepted.  Sometimes the fourth quarter comes and it looks bad.....except JESUS.  If we knew the score when the Bears play (in advance) our demeanor at the game or watching it on TV would be very different.  Much of the Church operates as if it might lose...  I won't, it just doesn't know the score.

I saw a vision of a broken house... a broken home.  Many who come into the fellowship of believers come because they are broken.  Broken because of broken homes.  Broken because of relationship issues.  Because of that they come into the house not housebroken.  They don't understand the situation.  They believe in myths and theories.  From that they are disturbing.  Sometimes those people are put in positions of leadership...which is a mistake. Broke homes can break a church.  Be careful who you make responsible, if they are not yet housebroken, the can break things up.


I the vision I saw many people old before their time. Many people become discouraged because they have walked a long time with no result. I have been one of those.  Discouraged.  We need a Youth Transfusion.  Psalm 103 promises that we can renew our youth.  One of the benefits of being a Christian and being discipled in a church is youth renewal.

He is always wanting to bring us under his wing, protect and provide for us.  If we understood this well, our fears would be less...  The mission of the Church is NOT JUST to get souls saved, but to help people's youth be renewed:

Psalm 103:1-5
¹ Praise the Lord, my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
² Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits—
³ who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,
⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

In the vision I saw a clear picture of the Peter Principle.  You know that principle, people rise to the level of their incompetence and then are stopped.  Here's the problem, the Church in the West imposes the Peter Principle on it's congregations.  It does it two ways.  One is to misplace people in tasks that they were never designed for.  The whole "ARMOR BEARER" idea is this.  There is also the mythology in Churches of toilet cleaning.  Sure there is a place for that. No one is too good for any job, but the enemy has placed stringents on people with gifts to derail and sideline them.  The other peter principle is people who become elders, deacons and other lay leadership without any capacity for leadership.  They are saddest of all.  They hit the peter principle quickly.  They haven't had a genuine revelation of the goodness of God in a decade yet they are there trying to make decisions on God's strategy to reach the city.  It's a pitiful affair when it happens.

I saw in the vision, a Wine Bottle, it said, NEW WINE on it.  There were those in the church anxious to uncork it. To let the new wine flow.  Then I saw leaders Forcing the Cork back into the bottle.  We don't DO new wine here.  The question the Holy Spirit is asking is, are you an uncorker or a corker of the new wine.  If you think it would be OK to do without... you are a corker...

I saw this Banner:  "I cannot bless rebellion".  God can provide for, protect, bless, any believer.  Even if a person is aware of his or her sin, God forgives.  What he doesn't bless is people who know the truth and yet out of a rebellious spirit go their own way.  Rebellion IS as the sin of witchcraft.  God cannot bless rebellion and in fact rejects those who practice it: 

Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the LORD, he has rejected you as king."  

1 Samuel 15:23

Many of those who are in leadership in the Church today are in open rebellion... it's witchcraft.  God will reject those.  If HE rejected Saul, HE will reject those in open rebellion.

Last in this vision, I saw an addiction.  Like a huge needle injecting poison into the arms and legs of believers, even leaders.  It is the addiction of Entertainment.  Much of the church is addicted to things to entertain.  Sports.  Cable TV.  The Internet.  I know of a pastor who spent nearly a third of his income on Cable, Pay per view and attendance at sports games.  He was always broke, always crying about his finances.   The problem is he was spending it all on drugs, the entertainment drug.  Then the church begins to compete with the world to keep people entertained.  It's a pollution of the world the church has fallen captive to.

I will share more about the vision in the next few days.....