A warning-we must return to our spiritual roots.
Posted by appolus on December 26, 2022
I believe God will ignore most of the Evangelical churches standing today. They have what they want, they are satisfied with what they have, and there is no room in their program for the Holy Spirit to do His thing…………………to go forward requires that we go backward to rediscover and reclaim our spiritual roots. We have abandoned our roots and are wandering helplessly in a spiritual desert………what is happening across the board cannot be salvaged from a spiritual standpoint, and the chances are pretty high that God may have to start all over again,my prayer is that it happens quickly…..I am not sure this can begin in todays church. I am absolutely sure it cannot begin in most denominations (Tozer- Alive in the Spirit)
Now can I suggest that since this was written over fifty years ago, brother Tozer could be even more emphatic than his above statements. In Psalm 11 David asks “What can the righteous do in the foundations are destroyed?” What will happen when the average Evangelical church has exactly what it wants but is given over to leanness? ( psalm 106 13-15) Can dimmed lights replace leanness? How about musical concerts? Smoke machines? What disaster has befallen us? We are exceedingly lean people wandering lost in a desert of our own request and all we have to encourage ourselves is crowds? Somehow, if we have many folks walking through the doors and three services on a Sunday then maybe no one will notice the leanness? If they do we just need to make it darker or increase the entertainment value. Lets start to teach them how to live and somehow ignore the fact that the Holy Scriptures first teach us how to die.
Our spiritual roots which Tozer advises us to go back to can only be found in the Scriptures. If the programs have become the service then the service has to end until the only program available is the Holy Spirit’s program. What? If we shut down the programs who is going to pay the light bills and the staff’s salary. Someone might whisper “maybe we could just meet in our homes,” and upon overhearing this the professionals howled in protest. Now if we are to return to our spiritual roots where would a man give a word of wisdom? Where would a woman give a tongue? Where would one give a prophecy? Obviously not in the professional gatherings, only the ordained experts and trained worship leaders can be heard there. No scripture for that but lets not let that get in the way of the fact that this is how we have always done it for decades and centuries. Tozer goes on to say ” the next generation or two will face a challenge that cannot be overcome in the natural. Throughout history God has selected certain people to come out of the established church and start over again using biblical authority. What is happening across the board cannot be salvaged from a spiritual standpoint.”
Tozer gave a dire report on the state of the Evangelical church and its denominational counterparts fifty years ago, since then they have plunged down into the depths of leanness and depravity. One could only imagine the horror of men like Tozer and Ravenhill and even Wilkerson if they saw the depths to which the established church has fallen. Lean churches produce lean leaders who produce lean converts and that’s the best of them. The others will cross land and sea to make one convert and make them twice the child of hell than themselves. What can we do if the foundations are destroyed? We must discover anew the proper foundation that is laid down in Christ and the Apostles and the prophets. We must raise spiritual walls using only the Word of God. We must be found in these days of danger in our high towers. The righteous run into to it and they are safe. The high tower, the fortress, the deliverer, my shield in whom I trust. Upon Christ alone and upon His word we must go forward, baptized in the Holy Spirit that emboldens us to stand in such a day. This is our spiritual roots.
A Call To The Remnant 
Mary said
Whew! Another strong and necessary word.
🙏
Kenneth said
We know of saints who have been separated by choice and by divine intervention, but who need the body of Christ because of their own weakness, but instead they must walk alone with God. Of course I could step foot into any denomination and be a faithful member, but who is going on to snatch the lost out of the fire. Where are the Booth’s of our day who had a passion for the lost that could not be quenched. I have much to regret in my walk with the Lord and the rest God will test the work in me to see if it is from Christ or is it from man. Most of the brothers like Tozer, Sparks, Ravenhill, Wilkerson, Katz, etc., were NOT ALONE. No, they weren’t alone, Ravenhill used to visit Tozer, etc. However, we are supposed to be alone? Maybe we will continue to be alone until we obey the command to go out and preach. Not everyone is a Paul, Wesley, Whitfield, Spurgeon, etc., but everyone can walk in the same manner as Jesus did in this world. I’ve been alone for over 22 years since by new birth with only for a brief season here and there was I able to gather with the saints seeking godliness and true holiness. The suffering I’ve been through trying to serve God alone. There are no words to describe it. All I can think of is that we must go to the poor, the destitute, the despised, rejected and hated of society and preach the good news of Jesus Christ and teach them how to obey all Christ commanded and bring them into maturity in Christ.
God brought me to a place where I’m willing to die for the saints. Wonder how it would pan out if I told brothers I would not co-labor with them unless they were willing to die for me. Read 1 John and note how many times he admonishes us about the importance of loving the saints. Until we are willing to die for the Lord, our brothers and sisters in Christ, the gospel, the Kingdom and the perfect will of God.
May God raise up men in women today who desire nothing else but that God would be glorified and are willing to lay down their life for the saints. Saints who know how to win their brother and sister and to win the lost.
The saint must walk alone with God.
Let us continue daily to encourage one another to pay close attention to our teaching on godliness and whether we are building up others in Christ and not tearing them down. To grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and keeping ourselves ready for His return.
One proof that God exists is that the world knows we are Christians because of our love for one another. Does our love for one another surpass the scribes and pharisees of our day or do we love each other as sinners love one another? We are to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us and despitefully use us. Love is the fulfillment of the law and when the love of God is being continuously shed abroad in our heart by the Holy Spirit then this love can do NO harm. We give our lives because we love with God’s love.
But if we confess our sins to God, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The Son of God did not come to help angels; He came to help the descendants of Abraham. Know then that it is those of faith who are descendants of Abraham. Therefore, it was necessary for Jesus to be made in every respect like us, His brothers and sisters, so that He could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then He could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. Since He himself has gone through suffering and testing, He is able to help us when we are being tested. Since God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son of God also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could He die, and only by dying could He break the power of the devil, who had the power of spiritual death. Only in this way could Christ set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying without hope. But those who are without Christ in the world are dead while they live; they are dead spiritually and do not have eternal life; they are dead because of their disobedience and their many sins. They live in continuous sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. Many go the broad way of destruction and few are willing to give their lives for the sake of the gospel, instead they are in bondage to sin and held captive to the will of the devil; following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. All of us by our very nature are subject to God’s anger.
But God is so rich in mercy, and He loved us so much, that even though we were spiritually dead because of our lawlessness and sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you can be saved!). God’s grace is Christ’s undeserved power working in us to do the perfect will of God.
God will save you by His grace through faith, it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece.
God wants to create you anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things God planned for us long ago.
God is love. Kenneth