Son of Isaac Restoration Ministry

This posting is a major deviation for this blog, which was created to provide public access to my teachings from the Word of God. For the most part they are teachings which I believe to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. I have struggled with whether or not to post what follows here. I sincerely believe that this needs to be shared publicly, and that it will somehow draw the attention of a man who needs to hear what I have to say.

First, a brief disclaimer: Son of Isaac Restoration Ministry is not at this time incorporated, or registered as a 501(c)(3), a designation for certain non-profit organizations, including those considered “religious.” That may change in the near future, as a group of supporters have asked for my permission to form a Board of Directors and seek incorporation for the ministry. This is mentioned only in the context that without any official non-profit status, Son of Isaac Restoration Ministry is not subject to restrictions on political endorsements or non-endorsements.

It also needs to be clarified that as a rule I do not believe ministries should be politically involved. There has been too much political activity in recent years from Christian ministries that often tend to neglect the Word, and things which are spiritual, in favor of their political agendas.

Having prefaced what is to follow with all that has now been stated, I now share a letter which I have written to a candidate for President of the United States. I believe it is self-explanatory, and needs no further comment. I am publishing this only because I have found it nearly impossible to send it to Senator John McCain, the presumed nominee of the Republican party. From his campaign website I was able to send this as “one of thousands of comments which may or may not be read or responded to.” It is my prayerful hope that putting it on the Internet will bring some attention to it, enough so that the candidate himself will become aware of what is said.

Dear Senator McCain,

I hope you realize that you have given the presidential election to Barack Obama. When you rejected the endorsements of both Pastor John Hagee and Pastor Rod Parsley, you rejected the endorsements and intended votes of millions of Christians who respect and approve of these two “Men of God.”

In fact, since both are regularly key figures on Trinity Broadcasting Network’s flagship program “Praise the Lord,” I would dare to suggest that you have, in fact, rejected the endorsements of all Christians who are regular viewers and supporters of TBN.

Without our votes, you cannot possibly defeat Senator Obama in November. He is apparently our next President of the United States, unless Sen. Clinton somehow manages an upset in her party and becomes the nominee. Then it will be, once again, President Clinton — Hillary.

Without the millions of Pentencostal and Charismatic votes that would have come from followers of Pastors Hagee and Parsley, you cannot win the general election in November. Even with those votes, it was an uphill battle, we all know. But we were hopeful. Now you have told us you do not want our support if our religious beliefs, based on a literal interpretation of the Word of God (the Bible) agree with those of the two aforementioned ministers.

Will we instead support Barack or Hillary? Of course not. But if you don’t want our votes, you won’t get them. We can either sit out this election, or vote for a third party candidate whom we can enthusiastically support.

I’m sure you are aware that your support among evangelicals, both Full Gospel and Fundamentalist, was weak to start with when you won the primary battle. Hagee and Parsley offered their support only to help you prevent a Democrat win in Nov. 2008.

Yes, you have a right — maybe even a duty — to oppose certain views by these two men that you cannot support, and that might be offensive to some moderate and/or liberal Republicans. And to publicly speak out on those issues was fine, even good, maybe even commendable. However, to outright reject the endorsements was a mistake that will cost you the election.

Without the conservative Christian vote that went to both Presidents Bush, and President Reagan, you cannot win… UNLESS…

The “unless,” in my view, is a running mate who himself had strong support from Bible-believing Christians during the primary contests, and is a former ordained minister. I, of course, am referring to Mike Huckabee. However, all I am hearing is that you will not select him. If that proves true, following your rejection of millions of us who support Pastors Hagee and Parsley, you have lost the election. We will vote for Gov. Huckabee, meaning you get our vote by default.

I must say, in closing, however, that I have always greatly respected you as a political figure, an American hero, a Vietnam war veteran (I was a Vietnam-era veteran, USAF, 1966-1970), and a man who distinguished himself as one who retained his honor while a POW. That, nevertheless, sir, does not a President make.

May God bless you, whatever the future holds,

(signed with my full name and contact information)

God is good. That’s not a controversial statement, is it? Today it’s an easily accepted statement. However, a half century ago, that was apparently not always the case.

Some years ago, I heard the story of how a well known “healing evangelist” caused many “Christians” (?) to become rather upset with the statement, “God is good.” Although I won’t mention his name here, you may know to whom I’m referring, as I quote his famous statement: “God is a good God, and the devil is a bad devil.”

When I first heard of how so many church people were outraged with this man for that statement, I shook my head in disbelief. Long before this servant of the Lord was ever born (and he’s 90 years old now), another man wrote these words:

Psalm 118:29 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy (lovingkindness) endures forever.

Of course in the New Testament we have this statement:

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

There are many, many more verses of Scripture that could be quoted. Personal opinions of the quoted healing evangelist aside, no student of the Word of God can deny that the Bible clearly teaches us, over and over, that God is GOOD.

Many times I’ve turned on a Christian television station and heard a preacher spend 30 minutes preaching “fire and brimstone” and telling everyone the bad news that everyone is going to hell. At the very end, he tags it all with 30 seconds of “…unless you are born again by making Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior of your life.”

When I hear such a message, I tend to scratch my head and wonder: where is the Good News? Jesus commanded that His followers “preach the Gospel.” The word “Gospel” means “Good News.”

Yes, I agree that all men (male and female) are born to a fallen human race because of the sin of Adam and are eternally “lost” without the “free gift of eternal life” through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the immeasurable grace of God the Father.

Every time I hear a preacher quote Romans 6:23 in part (as follows), I cringe!

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death…

Accurately cited? Yes. The Word of God? Absolutely. But without the remainder of the verse, it is NOT the Gospel, the Good News. The words just quoted are the bad news! And only with the rest of that passage do we have the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Many years ago I was involved with evangelistic ministry at a Rescue Mission. When it was my turn to preach, I did my very best to “preach people under conviction.” Actually, in retrospect I know that I was attempting to “preach them under condemnation” and literally “scare the hell out of them.”

There came a point when the Lord brought some revelation to me as to what I was doing wrong. Conviction — not condemnation — is the work of the Holy Spirit, not a preacher screaming fearful thoughts at people.

It is the knowledge of, and faith in, the love of God (who is Love) that brings people to the foot of the Cross of Calvary, and the eternal life that He purchased for us in full in a completed work of salvation.

1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.

I’ve heard it said — and I sincerely believe — that more people enter into salvation by God’s grace, received by faith, from the second half of Romans 6:23 than the first half. In fact, a correct exegesis of this verse makes clear that the first half is only given to provide the contrast that amplifies the greatness of the second half.

So what is my point? God is good. His mercy (lovingkindness) endures forever. Every good and perfect gift comes from Him. There is no variableness with Him. He is all good, and always good. He is always full of mercy. He has offered all people a free gift of eternal life that they do not deserve. But then Jesus didn’t deserve our sin! What He did for us was manifested mercy ensuing from ultimate Love.

As the song says, Jesus “paid a debt he did not owe. I owed a debt I could not pay. I needed Someone to wash my sins away. And now I sing a bring new song, Amazing Grace. Christ Jesus paid the debt that I could never pay.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 For He (God the Father) has made Him (Jesus), who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

NOW THAT IS GOOD NEWS!

Galatians 6:1 tells us that if we see someone overtaken by any fault, “you who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness…”   This causes some to ask, “Where are they?”

Based on the scriptural criteria cited above, it seems there are very few “spiritual people” in the organized church today!  A study of the Word of God clearly demonstrates that the heart of God is “restoration.”  In the man-made organizational church — denominational and nondenominational — there is little emphasis on restoring believers who have stumbled, and possibly even fallen.

Some might question the assertion that “the heart of God is restoration.”  A careful study of the bulk of the Old Testament reveals clearly that although His Old Covenant people — natural Israel — were repeatedly unfaithful to the Lord God who chose them, He always sought after them and desired their return, and restoration.

The writer of the New Testament book of Hebrews tells us that “we have a better covenant.”  Does our Lord and Savior, who died for our sins and bore the full weight and penalty of the sin of all mankind on the Cross of Calvary desire anything less for His redeemed than He did for the Old Covenant people of God?

As mentioned in the article “EZEKIEL 34, WHO WILL GO?” (published Oct. 9, 2007), God had a  “problem” with the shepherds (pastors) who did not perform His will in regard to the “sheep” who were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered” [Ezekiel 34:5]. This was clearly brought into the New Testament by Jesus, when He said:

Matthew 18:12  What do you think?  If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, doesn’t he leave the ninety and nine, and go into the mountains, and seek that which has gone astray?
13  And if he finds it, truly I say unto you, he rejoices more about that  one than about the ninety nine which did not go astray.

The unfortunate truth today is that few pastors/shepherds go after the sheep who stray!  Nevertheless, the responsibility of restoring the one “overtaken by any fault,” is not only that of the shepherds .  The obligation of Galatians 6:1 more closely relates to that of Isaiah 61:4 which speaks of those who have received new life  and the “Covenant of Shalom — wholeness and completeness” from the Anointed One (Messiah, Christ).  This verse says:

Isaiah 61:4 And THEY shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations [Emphasis added].

The “they” are those who have received, through Christ Jesus, the promises of the first three verses of Isaiah 61.

Isaiah 61:1  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
3  To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

Based on this, the ones “who are spiritual” of Galatians 6:1 should be ALL who have been redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ, who clearly was the One who said “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me.”  That, ultimately, is ALL believers in the true Body of Christ.

They — all of them, ALL OF US — should be the ones who “are spiritual” — who restore those Christians who “are overtaken by any fault.”  The Amplified Bible helps us understand “any fault.”  It reads, “if any person is overtaken in misconduct or sin of any sort, you who are spiritual  should set him right and restore and reinstate him.”

You who are spiritual!  And so I end this article as I began:  WHERE ARE THEY?

The church service was really great. Or maybe it was an evangelistic meeting in an auditorium, or even a stadium. The evangelist issues an “altar call” for anyone desiring to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Someone comes forward, or maybe a number of people. Best would be a large number of sinners who want to be “saved.”

After leading them in the “sinner’s prayer,” the preacher proclaims, “There’s a new name written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life! Hallelujah!”

Do you believe that saying — that “there’s a new name written down” in the Book in heaven? For many years I did. I had always heard it, and never had reason to question it. Then I discovered that it was another “tradition of man” that has no factual basis in the Word of God, the Bible!

Revelation 17:8 The beast that you saw was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

Yes, God’s Word says “whose names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world.” So much for the common thought that “a new name is written in the Book” when a person comes to the Lord!

A careful search of the entire Bible, Old and New Testaments, from beginning to end, from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21, fails to reveal even one place saying a new name is ever written down. In fact, there are only passages that speak of names being blotted out of the Book for due cause!

A conversation between Moses and God in the Old Testament informs us:

Exodus 32:32 Yet now, if you will forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray, out of your book which you have written.
33 And the LORD said to Moses, Whosoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.

Later King David, who had a heart after God’s own heart, wrote:

Psalms 69:28 Let them be blotted out of the book…

Back to Revelation, the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ speaking:

Revelation 3:5 He that overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Notice that the Lord did not say that the one who overcomes will have his name written in the Book of Life! He said for the overcomer his name will not be blotted out of the Book!

Clearly, according to scripture, God knew “from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 17:8) all who would ever be the redeemed of the Lord and their names were written down in that book. Nowhere in the Bible do we find a new name being written into the book.

So the next time someone says, “there’s a new name written down in glory,” just smile and silently say to yourself, “Yes, I used to believe that also. But now I know that is just a tradition of men!”

Mark 7:13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition… [Jesus speaking].

Occasionally I hear a preacher condemning the common expression “the Man upstairs” as a reference to God. They will say something to the effect that there isn’t a “Man upstairs” but an Almighty God who created all that exists, and is the Supreme Ruler of creation. While I understand and even appreciate what is being said, every time I hear such a discourse, I want to scream at them, “But there is a Man upstairs — in heaven! And if there isn’t, neither you nor I have any eternal hope!”

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Jesus, the Christ (Messiah, Anointed One), the Son of the Living God is still both fully God and fully man. The Man Christ Jesus was raised from the dead, and that included the resurrection of His physical body, which was “in the likeness of sinful flesh” [see Romans 8:3], after He died on the Cross of Calvary for our sins. He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Some might be tempted to say that He was both God and Man, but once He was resurrected, He became “just God” again, as before the incarnation. If that were true (and it isn’t) what would one do with Romans 8:29, which says that Jesus Christ is “the firstborn among many brethren”?

He is still both the Son of God and the Son of Man, seated at the right hand of God the Father, a high priest forever after the order of Melchizadek, ever living to make intercession for us!

Hebrews 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them.

1Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

While we don’t want to dishonor our Lord and Savior with cheap talk, unworthy of His stature, it must be stated:

“There is a Man upstairs!”

And He is our Lord, Savior, and Redeemer; our Great High Priest, our Mediator and Intercessor; and, the Author and Finisher of our faith!

Not too long ago, during my devotional time with the Lord, I was praising God and telling Him, “I love You with all my heart.” Deep inside me, I heard that “still, small voice” ask me, “Which one?”

“Lord, You know! Of course I don’t mean my physical heart, the blood pump.”

Again I heard the question, “Which one?”

Before continuing, I must inject that in the Charismatic/Pentecostal circles in which I have spent my 29 years as a born-again believer, most teachers have instructed that the “heart” is the reborn spirit of a man. Until recently I accepted that without any real question. Back to my dialog with the Holy Spirit in me.

“Which one, Lord? If not the blood pump, then I must mean my spirit.”

This time I “heard” (not audibly, but within), rather loud and clear, something that I’d never heard before. “You have three hearts, son. There is the heart of the spirit, the heart of the soul, and the heart of the body.”

“Uh oh…am I hearing a deceiving voice? Am I in danger of becoming a heretic? Well, I’ll have to check this one out. And, there ain’t no way I’m gonna tell anyone about this!”

“Son, doesn’t My Word tell you that you are tri-part — spirit and soul and body?”

I immediately thought of what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians:

1Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The dialogue now ceased; I became just a listener. I believe it was explained to me that each of the three parts of a man (male or female) has a “heart.” The heart of the body is the organ that pumps blood. The heart of the soul is the place of affections and emotions. The heart of the spirit is that which pumps the “zoe” life of the Holy Spirit through person who is “born-again” (more literally “born of the Spirit” or “born from above” in the original Greek).

As I sat there, I meditated upon what I had “heard.” Suddenly I remembered something which had once troubled me — and probably still would have except that I just refused to think about it. It was this often quoted verse from the Old Testament:

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Remember, I said I had been taught the “heart” was the “spirit.” When I’d hear the above verse quoted from the pulpit, in a New Testament church, it would trouble me. The reason? My spirit has been born again. If the reborn spirit is my heart, how can that which is born of God still be desperately wicked?

The Hebrew word translated “heart” in Jer. 17:9 is “labe” (leb) which Strong’s (3820) tells us is used figuratively of the feelings, the will and the intellect. Huh? That sounds like a common Christian description of the soul. Could it be that “the soul is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked”? This verse has nothing to do with the “spirit” whether or not reborn. Are there any New Testament Christians who’d deny constant battles with the soul? Paul, writing to believers in the young Church, urged:

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

By this point I began to accept that what I had heard was really from the Lord, and I had just learned something new that I didn’t previously know!

Jeremiah 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know [”says the LORD” see verse 2].

Since that day I have studied this concept (”The Three Hearts of Man”) extensively. The more I study and research, the more sure I am that it is true revelation from the Lord.

There is a lot of additional material I could share, but I will save more of that for another article, another time.

In the interim…Selah!

If one mentions Isaiah 54 in many Christian circles, most will immediately think of verse 17, “No weapon formed against you will prosper…” That is an important promise to every believer, but the reason that it’s true is found earlier in that chapter. I want to focus attention on the 10th verse, in which God promised a “covenant of peace.”

Isaiah 54:10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, says the LORD (Yahweh, the I AM) that has mercy on you.

The Hebrew word translated “peace” is “shalom,” the root meaning of which is “wholeness and completeness.” As an anointed Bible teacher named Billye Brim has put it, and many teachers and preachers have since quoted her, it means “nothing missing, nothing broken.” That is the source of the peace that shalom indicates! Why could God make this promise, and the other precious ones in this chapter? What comes before Chapter 54 lays the groundwork.

Let’s back up to the 53rd chapter of Isaiah where we find a significant prophecy of the Messiah, whom we know to be the Lord Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 53:4 Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his
stripes we are healed.

Again, the word translated “peace” is “shalom,” wholeness and completeness! Jesus took our sin upon Himself and gave us His righteousness. He received the punishment for our sin, that we don’t have to be punished by God. He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows that we might have the joy of the Lord. By His stripes (wounds from the beating upon His back), we are healed.

All of what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us at Calvary was a “substitutionary sacrifice” by the Lamb of God. If He purchased our shalom, and provided us with a Covenant of Shalom, the New Covenant, what was the “chastisement for our peace” (nothing missing, nothing broken)?

1 Corinthians 11:23 For I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which the Lord Jesus was betrayed took bread:
24 And when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: do this in remembrance of me.

His body was broken for us that we are made whole! This is the provision of “the covenant of peace” — the covenant of wholeness and completeness. His body broken for us is that which was promised in Isaiah 53:4, the “chastisement for our peace” — for us to receive the covenant of “nothing missing and nothing broken!” This is but one more of those exceeding great and precious promises to those who are in Christ Jesus!

2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises…

[NOTE: It is suggested that you first read the referenced article, posted October 13, 2007 — which is found below.]

The previous article “I AM” was originally written and published more than a year ago (citing something the Lord gave me a number of years prior). Since then I believe the Lord has given me even more insight on this topic, which I share here for the first time.

Many times I have heard preachers/teachers speak of God as “The Great I AM” and make the comment: “He is not the Great I Was or the Great I Will Be, but always the Great I AM.” That is very true; but what I share here goes even beyond that! He is always the I AM — past, present and future.

God created time as a part of the created natural world, even as He created gravity and all of the laws of physics as parts of His creation. God created time, but He Himself is not in time. He is the Creator, but not a part of creation! God is over all of His creation — and that includes time. The picture He gave me looks something like this:

********** G O D **********
past……….present……….future

In other words, God is simultaneously over the past, the present and the future. To see the past, He need only look down. Likewise, to see the future, He also needs to do no more than look down. Either of those are as simple to Him as looking down at the present!

If you think about it, this is in complete agreement with the doctrine that He is omni-present. Time in the created world is such that we experience the passing of it — and the past, present and future are different times. But God is present over all of these simultaneously.

Now consider the statement that “With God a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day.” God is the Almighty, with absolutely no limitations. Time is, to us, a limitation, but to Him there are no limitations. All things are possible with God!

Think about the words of the song, “Amazing Grace” that say, “When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we first begun.” Time as we know it exists only in this created world, but not in heaven!

If you can accept this concept that God is above time — over it but not in it — then it should be easy to understand how it can be said that “He knows the end from the beginning.” Do we think that He has a divine crystal ball to discern the future? No, He sees it right now as clearly as He sees the present or the past! He is there — in your future, in my future — right now! This certainly adds to the reality that God is always I AM.

In light of this we can go beyond the commonly stated, “God is never I Was or I Will Be,” to the place where He says, “yesterday I AM” and not “yesterday I Was.” Likewise, “tomorrow I AM” and not “tomorrow I Will Be.”

Our God is the Alpha and Omega — the first and the last, the beginning and the end. However, let us not think He was the Alpha and will be the Omega. He is the Alpha and Omega right now, as you read this! He is the past and the future, as well as the present — all right now as you read this!

Much theological debate about the “foreknowledge of God” and “predestination” (based on that foreknowledge) could be ended once and for all by an understanding of this — which I sincerely believe to be a revelation from the Lord.

Remember, He Himself said, “I AM” and “This is My Name forever” (Exodus 3:14,15).

Several years ago, when I was attending a large Charismatic church, the pastor asked me to bring a message to the congregation.  As I sought the Lord, He gave me something which changed my own prayer and faith life forever.  Many in that church, including the pastor and his three assistant pastors, said it was a blessing to them. I present it here the way the Lord gave it to me!

When one of us has a problem, a need, a situation, our first tendency is to seek “an anointed man of God” such as a pastor or evangelist or other minister. Or we might turn to a born-again brother or sister in the faith and seek their counsel. However, when all is said and done, it matters not what any of them would say!  All that matters is one thing:

WHAT WOULD GOD SAY?

So then, what would God say? We know His Word is forever established, never changes, so whatever God says in His Word, the Bible, will never change. Jesus said heaven and earth would pass away, but His words would not pass away.  In Exodus 3:14 God says something very important, “…say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent you.’” God tells Moses that His Name is I AM, or in the Hebrew “Yahweh,” and He also instructs Moses that “This is My Name forever” in verse 15. The Old Testament people went on to believe that the sacred Name of God was too holy to utter, and began to identify the name Yahweh only as YHWH. The early English translators picked up on that and substituted LORD for the holy Name of the Most High.

From this the Lord spoke to my heart saying, “When you pray ‘hallowed be your name’ what do you think My Name is?  When you pray Psalm 103, ‘Bless the LORD, O my soul and all this is within me, bless His Holy Name,’ what do you think My Name is?”  “Obviously,” He said, “it is I AM.”  That’s the written Word of God, forever established and never subject to change.

This was followed by the giving of a series of questions and answers which I still employ regularly in my devotional life. The revelation contained in this dialogue is a real faith builder!

When I have a problem or a need, I go to God the Father, in the name of Jesus, and ask, “Father, are you able to deal with this?”  He says, “I AM.”

Then I go back to Him again saying, “I know you are able. You are Almighty God, Creator of the universe. You can do anything. But are you willing?” Again, He says, “I AM.”

Then I go once more to my Father in heaven and say, “I know you are able. I can even believe that You are willing. But…” (here’s where the rubber meets the road!) “are You going to?”  And, yet again, he says, “I AM.”

How many Christians are there today who are not connected to, and with, a local fellowship of believers?  Too many!

Why are there so many born-again believers who have left the organized church?   A survey of such people would uncover many different reasons that they might offer.  The purpose of this article is not to discuss those “excuses” or the range of them.

Clearly, the Word of God, in the book of the prophet Ezekiel, offers one underlying truth that can be universally applied to all such “scattered sheep” who are not in the sheepfold!

Ezekiel 34:1  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2  Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe to the shepherds of Israel that feed themselves!  Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
3  You eat the fat, and you clothe yourselves with the wool, you kill them that are fed: but you do not feed the flock.
4  The diseased you have not strengthened, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you  bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought back that which was driven away, neither have you  sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have you ruled them.
5  And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.

There are those in the Body of Christ who would say these verses are only applicable to the Old Covenant natural Israel and their “shepherds” (pastors) at the time of Ezekiel (about 600 years before Christ, during the Babylonian captivity).  But the words of Jesus clearly bring into the New Testament Church the concept that if there are “scattered sheep” who have not been brought back to the sheepfold, it is because the shepherds (pastors) have not “brought back that which was driven away.”

Matthew 18:12  What do you think?  If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, doesn’t he leave the ninety and nine, and go into the mountains, and seek that which has gone astray?
13  And if he finds it, truly I say unto you, he rejoices more about that  one than about the ninety nine which did not go astray.

Regarding some of the other failures of the shepherds to whom Ezekiel’s prophecy was addressed, are these not things that the Body of Christ is called to do?  Consider the words of our Lord, Jesus, the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) in Luke 4:18 (as He quoted from Isaiah 61:1):

Luke 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,  because  he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,  to preach deliverance to the captives,  and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are bruised…

As His Body on earth — the Body of Christ, the Body of the Anointed One — are we not called to do that which Jesus did, and then told us to do in His Name?  Could the words of Ezekiel 34, the words of God Himself through the prophet, have application to us as born-again believers today?

More than 20 years ago, as the Lord placed a God-given burden in my heart about “the scattered sheep,” He challenged me to ask a question to a number of pastors whom I knew at the time — pastors of a number of different “Bible-believing” churches.  The question was this: “What do you do when one of your sheep wanders off, for whatever reason they might cite?”

The answers ranged from, “I say good riddance to bad rubbish” to “I pray for them, as I release them from this fellowship.”  Not one of those polled at the time said, “I leave the 99 who stayed to go after the one who has gone astray.”

Unfortunately, a large percentage of those believers who leave, depart not only from that particular body of believers, but from all fellowship with other church-going brothers and sisters.  Yes, some leave one church to go to another.  I am not writing about them.  The ones in focus here are those who “go astray” and all too often are “devoured” by the wild beasts in the wilderness and “became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.”  These are ones we often self-righteously call “backsliders” who after leaving the church become overtaken by sins of the flesh of all types, and soon do not even resemble believers.

Eze 34:6  My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yes, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.

Where today are the shepherds (pastors) who go after the scattered sheep to bring them back?  Many good sermons have been preached about why God refers to His people as “sheep.”  Most know that sheep are not that smart and will wander off, if the shepherd doesn’t “sheep herd” them.  They will, if allowed, wander into a place of danger where wild beasts might devour them, oblivious to the dangers they face.  It is the shepherd’s job to feed, care for and protect the sheep — and to go after them and bring them back if they wander off!  (Look at the life of young David, the eventual king, as he cared for his sheep, as recorded in First  Samuel.)

Eze 34:7  Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
8  As I live, says the Lord GOD,  surely  because  my flock  became a prey, and my flock  became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;
9  Therefore, O you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
10  Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock;  neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.

My intention is not to attack the shepherds (pastors) that are set in place in the universal church today.  They answer only to God, not to me.  However, I would do anything possible to give them a true pastoral burden for the scattered sheep.  Clearly, it is God’s heart to deliver His sheep, His people, from the wildernesses to which they have been scattered.

Eze 34:11  For thus says the Lord GOD; Behold,  I, even I, will both search for my sheep,  and seek them out.
12  As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

Some will look at the words of God through Ezekiel and say, “Well, the LORD said He Himself would seek them and bring them back.”  And just how will He do that?  Will Jesus physically descend to earth to go gather up the scattered sheep and bring them back to the sheepfold?  No!  He will do that the same way He does all things in the earth — through His people, His Body, the Body of Christ!

Eze 34:16  I will seek that which was lost, and bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen  that which was sick….

What did the resurrected Jesus say to Peter who had denied Him?

John 21:14  This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.
15  So when they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jona, do you love me more than these? He said to him, Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.  He said to him, Feed my lambs.
16  He said to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jona, do you love me? He said to him, Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.  He said to him, Feed my sheep.
17  He said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jona,   do you love me?   Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, Do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.   Jesus said to him, Feed my sheep.

Some pastors will say that despite Ezekiel 34, it is the job of the evangelist, not the pastor, to reach those who are outside the church — even those who were once a part of the church.  They, the shepherds, feed the sheep who are in the church. (How does that square with the words of Jesus in Matthew 18:12?)

We have much evangelism in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ today.  This is good.  Most of us would agree that “the fields are white to harvest.”  Nevertheless, why is so little (if any) of evangelistic outreach aimed at the scattered sheep — the disillusioned believers who for whatever reason have left the church entirely and will not likely even attend an evangelistic meeting?

Do we place too much emphasis on the prodigals who return of their own choice, and not enough on the sheep who have been scattered for lack of a shepherd — for whom someone must go after them?

So who will seek out the scattered sheep and bring them back?  I, for one, have made myself available to the Lord to send me!  Whether He does so or not is up to Him.  I cannot conceive that He has given me this burden and does not intend to send me to do the job.  And I sincerely believe He has been preparing me.  In fact, over the years, every time I forgot or put aside this Ezekiel 34 burden, I seem to have found myself back in that horrible wilderness of the scattered sheep!   I truly believe I have heard the Holy Spirit saying to me, ‘This is due season — the appointed time!”

I, however, am only one person.  Who else will “catch the burden”?  Are there pastors (shepherds) and evangelists who will read this article and allow the Holy Spirit to impart to them a burning passion for this assignment?  Are there those to whom the Lord Jesus has spoken about this assignment who have yet to respond?   Are there those who have been prepared and are just waiting for the Lord to say, “Now”?

Thus says the Lord, “NOW!“