"I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I;
send me." (Isaiah 6:8)
Watchmen: Wake up!
The story of the persecuted church from the time
of Christ is a glorious history of believers standing firm for the Truth through suffering and persecution. Vibrant,
Spirit-filled Christians with great missionary zeal; persecuted by both church and state; forced to flee, imprisoned, tortured,
drowned, burned at the stake. (These true believers still exist today, mostly in countries where they face the same
treatment as their forefathers.)
Names barely remembered
by history, and unknown to the average modern ‘Christian’. The stories of those who “were tortured,
not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings,
yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the
sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute and afflicted, tormented; (of whom the world
was no worthy: ) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth” (Hebrews 11:35-38).
In today's churches the way of salvation of the Bible
has been replaced by a partial watered-down and hence false message. What is preached is not the Gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the apostles, but an ineffective substitute. Hell is rarely mentioned. The shepherds are blind,
the people are asleep, the services include meaningless rituals and ceremonies, and the pews are filled with the unsaved who
think that they are eternally secure and on their way to heaven. As A.W. Tozer said “the sheep rarely go farther
than the shepherd”.
And can it be that the voices of the men in the church are rarely heard? That there is silence?
If the women are to be silent; aren’t the men to speak?
“His watchman are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying
down, loving to slumber” (Isaiah 56:10).
“And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the
gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.” (Ezekiel 22:30)
Biblically, men are supposed to speak in church. (1Cor 14)
Their role is not simply to greet visitors, smile, nod, take up the collection, pray out loud on occasion, play with
whatever 'cool' technology the church has, raise their hands when asked, eat at the church social, and organize the occasional
fun activity. (And those are the really 'spiritual' ones who have offered to 'serve'. What twisted definitions.)
The others simply show up, smile, nod, raise their hands, eat whenever the women have made food, and leave. Men are
to speak. When was this Biblical teaching dropped to the point where nobody even remembers it? Only the women
are to be silent. Ironically, what with women teaching the children, women play a greater role in the church than men!
Today, men don't even know that they have a role in a church. There is nothing in the Bible about one man standing on
a podium calling himself Pastor (not a Biblical title) teaching the flock. "Let the prophets speak two or three,
and let the other judge. If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. For ye may
all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted."
Oh that God
would raise up in these last times men who would stand in the gap. ‘Improbable men for impossible tasks’.
Men who are born again and have the Holy Spirit. Men who would break the silence. Men who love God. Praying
men. Men who stand for the Truth without compromise. Men who would preach the Gospel of the Bible. Spirit-filled
and Spirit-led men who would be bold and courageous, who would not be afraid to raise their voice about hell, who would preach
repentance, who would rejoice in suffering and persecution. Men who would teach children the Gospel of the Bible and
not the ‘fun gospel’. Just one such man in one church could wake some people up before He left.
Just one such man in a city could be tremendously used by God.
Holy men who would repudiate
sin, die to self, mortify the flesh. Men unconcerned about the things of this world. Men who are not ashamed to
live for Christ. Men who would seek and see God daily. Men with a burning desire to serve, to see the lost won
to Christ. Men who are spiritually alive and growing. Men with a vision of heaven. Men with zeal.
Men whose faces radiate God’s presence. Men who evidence fruits of the Spirit. Men who will work.
Men who see the harvest fields.
A man who will “stand in the gap”
(Ezekiel 22:30).
Watchmen are desperately needed.
Will you respond to
God's call?
As Tozer wrote: "Another kind of religious leader must arise among us.
He must be of the old prophet type, a man who has seen visions of God and has heard a voice from the Throne. When he
comes... he will stand in flat contradiction to everything our smirking, smooth civilization holds dear. He will contradict,
denounce and protest in the name of God and will earn the hatred and opposition of a large segment of Christendom."
(Of God and Men, p. 23)
"Also I heard the voice of the Lord,
saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me." (Isaiah 6:8)