To Sandy: How Churches Get Snuffed Out By Danny Watts
Dear Sandy,
In my last letter to you, you will recall that I addressed the issue
of why I felt that Winston Pentecostal Church abandoned their
regular Sunday night service, which had been going on for decades.
Essentially, you will recall that I mentioned the sin of Pastor
John, who taught others to disobey the word of God. For this he was
called "least" by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:19).
According to the teachings of Scripture, this alone would be enough
for God to put a halt on things, because even in the book of
Revelation, we read Jesus saying to one of the churches, "Therefore
remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you
did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your
lampstand out of its place--unless you repent." (Revelation 2:5)
How
then does this fit into our current context? In this way. Unless
Pastor John repents of this wickedness, he should not expect that
God will bring any further blessing to Winston, but instead, they
are in danger of being closed down completely. For that is
exactly what Jesus is saying in this passage, that unless the church
is willing to repent of their wickedness, He will come and "remove
your lampstand out of its place". Of course, you and I, Sandy, both
know what that means. The book of Revelation tells us that "the
seven lampstands are the seven churches" (Revelation 1:20). So
unless they repent, they are in danger of having their entire church
removed. Right? Well, God is merciful, as we all know, and so I
cannot be 100% dogmatic on God removing their entire lampstand
because the Bible also says, "a dimly burning wick He will not
extinguish" (Isaiah 42:3b). Therefore, Sandy, Winston continues to
burn, because they are not yet extinguished, but it appears that
they could extinguish themselves if they are not careful.
I have reason to be concerned, Sandy, for it was reported to me
recently by my good friend Linden Bakker that when he tried to
exercise his right to the liberty of the Holy Spirit in a worship
service (and all he attempted to do was to wave a flag during the
time of worship and praise), he was told to put down the flag and
was not allowed to do it. This behavior coincided with their new
building, which was brand new at the time, and it seems (to me,
anyway, though I admit I could be wrong in my assessment), that
perhaps somebody at Winston simply wanted to achieve a more
pristine, or cleaner, "look and feel" to the place, now that they
had their new building in place and all. For that apparently is when
the order not to wave flags anymore was put in place (they may have
lifted this order, but at the time, I was told that this order was
given to my friend, and for this reason, he left the church
completely and went to another church not far from there, that
welcomed this fine man with open arms). Thus, as you can see, Sandy,
something is very wrong indeed. For we read, "where the Spirit of
the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Corinthians 3:17). Therefore, if
flag waving is not permitted during times of singing and praise,
there is little liberty indeed!
Notice Sandy, the mechanism here by
which the Lord removes the lampstand from them. Grief comes into the
heart of those who are being wounded by these selfish laws, and they
leave the church. Thus, their light is continually diminished. It is
people like Linden (for I know he truly loves the Lord and is
seeking always to do the Lord's will) who make up the life of a
church. Remove people like that, and your church will indeed become
dead in no time. Now this sin is not Pastor John's fault, but the
senior pastor's. So then, something is not right, and it has
affected more than one of the leaders. Why so? Perhaps there is no
connection, but I think there could be. For if Pastor Mike would
preach righteousness and repentance, instead of grieving men like
Linden, he would retain his godly flock, who would then serve to
build up the church. As it is, however, he is driving them away.
Pity! So in him, the saying is true, the lampstand is being removed
(Revelation 2:5). I see it happening, Sandy, and it grieves my
heart.
Sandy, we need to pray for Winston, and we need to pray for all churches, some of whom may be great churches, and others
who may not. Pray for liberty of the Holy Spirit. Pray that flag
waving would be embraced and not shunned. Pray for repentance in the
inner man. Pray, Sandy, for people like Linden, and all those who
are being grieved because they are being limited, that the Lord
would lead them to better, more righteous, congregations. For what
is happening in these cases is not right, and such need a place
where they can call home.
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