Let Us Not Grow Weary In Well Doing

I found the message written by A.W. Tozer below to be of no small comfort as it seems that a life devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ that endeavors to adhere to the lofty standards He sets forth often encounters conflict upon conflict with the very professing church which claims His Name!

In surveying the sad state of today's apostate evangelical church I'm reminded of the Pharisees of Jesus day which outwardly appeared righteous but who were in truth full of ravening and wickedness. The barren, desolate spiritual landscape of professing Christianity is a wretched reminder of the predictable result each time man perverts the Word of God. When the counsel of God Almighty is exchanged in whole or in part for utilitarian political agendas, false temporal "peace"- so called -, or ecumenical unity you can rest assured that the judgment of God will quickly follow.

The Christian God, Creator and Judge of heaven and earth will not honor a man-centered false gospel, for His name is Jealous and He is jealous for His bride.

In today's climate of "anything goes" evangelical easy-believism unsuspecting millions have been fed a poisonous pseudo-gospel message that measures on how man feels as opposed to measuring upon the immutable, unchanging, absolute Word of God. The existential root of this evil tree can be traced back to the fountainhead of ecumenical deceit; the Roman Catholic Church. Rome's twisted theology is subjective and mysterious, complicated and contradictory, while the revealed Word of God is eminently objective and forthright. The wickedness of Mystery Babylon is clearly seen in her highly ritualized masses, vain repetition, idolatrous Eucharistic adoration and blasphemous worship of the created instead of the Creator.

The leaven of Rome has crept into the American evangelical church through heresy mongers such as Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, Rob Bell and many, many others. Unfortunately the church is ripe for these ravening wolves who seek to rend the flock because of its weak-kneed effeminate leadership.

Where are the Davids who will oppose the spiritual Goliaths that threaten the Lord's little flock?

Where are the Elijas who will stand boldly before wicked Ahab and proclaim the Word of God?

Where are the watchmen upon the wall who will sound the alarm in Zion?

I for one say "Here am I, send me!" It's no longer a matter of being labeled as "divisive", or "contentious". It's time for men of God to stand up and earnestly contend for the faith.

Taking action will mean the loss of your comfort zone. Taking action may mean the loss of friendships, churches or even ministries for some, but God will honor those who honor Him, and He will utterly reject those who esteem the praise of men or worldly goods higher than they esteem the praise of God Almighty!

Choose this day whom you will serve.

Below is the excerpt from Tozer's foreword to Leonard Ravenhill’s book "Why Revival Tarries". I hope reading it brings you as much encouragement as it brought me:

Great industrial concerns have in their employ men who are needed only when there is a breakdown somewhere. When something goes wrong with the machinery, these men spring into action to locate and remove the trouble and get the machinery rolling again. For these men a smoothly operating system has no interest. They are specialists concerned with trouble and how to find and correct it.
In the Kingdom of God things are not too different. God had always had His specialists whose chief concern has been the moral breakdown, the decline in the spiritual health of the nation or the church. Such men were Elijah, Jeremiah, Malachi and others of their kind who appeared at critical moments in history to reprove, rebuke, and exhort in the name of God and righteousness.

A thousand or ten thousand ordinary Old Testament priests or New Testament pastors and teachers could labor quietly on almost unnoticed while the spiritual life of Israel or the Church was normal. But let the people of God go astray from the paths of truth and immediately the specialist appeared almost out of nowhere. His instinct for trouble brought him to the help of the Lord and of Israel.
Such a man was likely to be drastic, radical, possibly at times violent, and the curious crowd that gathered to watch him work soon branded him as extreme, fanatical, negative. And in a sense they were right. He was single-minded, severe, fearless, and these were the qualities the circumstances demanded. He shocked some, frightened others and alienated not a few, but he knew Who had called him and what he was sent to do. His ministry was geared to the emergency, and that fact marked him out as different, a man apart.

Those who know Leonard Ravenhill will recognize in him the religious specialist, the man sent from God not to carry on the conventional work of the Church, but to beard the priests of Baal on their own mountaintop, to shame the careless priest at the altar, to face the false prophet and warn the people who are being led astray by him.
Such a man as this is not an easy companion. The professional evangelist who leaves the wrought-up meeting as soon as it ends to hurry over to the most expensive restaurant to feast and crack jokes with his sponsors will find this man something of an embarrassment, for he cannot turn off the burden of the Holy Ghost as one would turn off a faucet. He insists upon being a Christian all the time, everywhere; and again, that marks him out as different.

Toward Leonard Ravenhill it is impossible to be neutral. His acquaintances are divided pretty neatly into two classes, those who love him out of all proportion and those who hate him with perfect hatred. And what is true of the man is sure to be true of his books, of this book. The reader will either close its pages to seek a place of prayer or he will toss it away in anger, his heart closed to its warnings and appeals.

Oh Lord God Almighty, call us forth who may serve you steadfastly, turning neither to the left hand nor the right, but who walk in the very center of Your perfect will! Teach us your ways Oh God! Write your statutes upon the tables of our hearts that we may always have a ready answer for the hope that is within us!

HAT TIP: Apprising Ministries