If Not Now, When?

I want to give you a fair warning. You may want to stop reading right now because at the end I am going to ask you to do something. Most folks just talk. Very few do something. This commentary is for the doers.

That smell emanating from this commentary is smoke.

I burnt a few more bridges last week with my commentary “Fighting with The Authorities.” That wasn’t my intention but it was the result, and as we used to say when I was younger, “No hair off of my chest.” I don’t owe my allegiance to any of those hirelings.

At least I have hair on my chest. I hate religion. I hate the religious system. I hate what it does to individual initiative and individual liberty. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. The last thing I want to do with the liberty wherein the Lord has set me free is to return to the bondage of man-made religion. That is where most “Christians” spend their Sunday mornings.

Jesus warned us “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” If the Lord has your heart he will use your lips.

Oh, we all love the benefits of Christianity, but very few of us are willing to sacrifice for its advancement. A cost-less Christianity is what fills the mega-churches around America. A Christianity where the death of the Saviour has been reduced to little more than a life-enhancement gospel designed to make your existence on earth a little more comfortable.

Jesus modelled for us the central message of Christianity...that greater love hath no man than this, that he would lay down his life for his friends. That is what He did. And so should we.

Today, most Christians take HIS sacrifice and use it for the establishment of their kingdom, rather than the advancement of His. If you were really honest with yourself can you name even one thing your faith has cost you?

Organized religious systems are the worst. They make people dependant, rather than free, “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.”

They promote a loyalty to a “religion” or a “church” rather than faithfulness to the Lord. They ignore the command to “go ye” and supplant it with an admonition to “come ye.” For most Christians ministry totally revolves around their church and their fellow “worshippers.”

Is it any wonder the world is decaying from a lack of salt? Jesus told us that His followers were “the light of the world.” For the most part, the church building has become nothing more than a “bushel” under which we hide the light.

Jesus said “let your light so shine before men that they will SEE your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.” That “little light of mine” that you flicker in your church is magnified into a flood light when shined into the darkness of the world. Let folks SEE the light!

Most Christians think they are a small book of matches, when in fact; the Spirit of God inside them wants to turn them into a blow-torch. The world is dying in darkness while most Christians only flicker their light.

James said “Show me your faith.” Most of us have been taught to “share” our faith, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” SHOW your faith…DO something with it. Works is the breath of faith.

For God’s sake, man, get in the game!!!

I hear it all of the time from the religious folk. “You know Coach Dave, I really appreciate your heart and your willingness to stand up for your faith…but I just don’t like the way you do it?”

“Really.” I respond as fire flashes through my eyes. “I like the way I do it a whole lot better than the way you don’t.”

Time is running out folks. I can’t believe how supposedly God-fearing men can sit around anesthetized by sports, entertainment, and the pursuit of “stuff” while the nation teeters on the abyss.

“The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing,” Edmund Burke famously said. Evil is prospering because most men expect others to do something.

Even the clearly-lost Bill O’Reilly get’s it. He asks the question the world is wondering “where is the church?” Watch

Hiding Bill. They are hiding. They are petrified by fear. They are afraid someone will call them a name, say something mean about them, so they merely wait for the Lord to rescue them out of this hideous moral-mess known as America. The last thing most pastors want to do is take a strong public position for Christ.

So they turn the government, the media, and the educational system over to the synagogue of Satan, and pray for the rapture. What a poor representation we are of The King of Kings!!

Let me get to the point.

For the most part our Churches have lost all influence in America in the battle for Truth. Most of the “tithes and offerings” that are given in our churches are used for salaries, benefits, blacktop, and Christo-tainment. The church used to be the place where Christian-soldiers were trained in the art of “marching unto war.” Today they have been turned into a hospital for saints.

At times I feel like a lone voice crying in the wilderness…doing all I can to “earnestly contend for the faith”…all the while dodging the “friendly fire” from those who should be standing with me. But I will not give in. Every time I look into my precious granddaughter’s face I realize that she will be forced to live in the world that I leave her. That is a sobering thought. If she loses her liberty I pray it won’t be because her Grampa was too self-absorbed and religious, sitting silently by and do nothing.

It is clear that only a revival can save America. The politicians can’t do it, the churches refuse to engage, and the forces of darkness appear to be running unopposed. “The Lord is in control” people loved to tell me. I know that. That is why he filled me with His Spirit, so that I could represent him here and now. “For God so loved the world that He did something.”

What will we do with what He did? Merely going to church is not serving the Lord. Seating people during service is not serving the Lord. Singing in the choir is not serving the Lord. Parking cars is not serving the Lord. Praying is not serving the Lord. Voting Republican is not serving the Lord. We have confused serving the church with serving the Lord. God’s work is done outside the four walls.

So here is the ask. Are you willing to help support our work?

My wife and I have faithfully labored with Pass The Salt Ministries for the past decade allowing our “theology to become biography in the streets.” We have no employees. We minister out of our home so that our overhead is low. Only 18% of our donations last year went to administrative costs. We regularly give to the needy. We help fund others who are labouring among us. We write, speak, teach, broadcast, and exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. We are unashamed of the Gospel. We speak Truth to power even if it wears a backward collar. We are beholden to no man; we are bond-servants to our Lord and Saviour.

Although I am an ordained minister I don’t pastor a traditional church. We minister on the streets. We are missionaries to America. You are our congregation…it is you we fight for…and YOUR grandkids. The darkness is closing in. Now is the time to expand…to move forward…to get a larger bullhorn…to boldly say and do what most pastors refuse to do. We are not “better” Christians, but merely following our call.

“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet…” If not now, when? If not us, who? Please help us storm the gates of hell!!. We can do so much more. Here am I lord…send me!! If you, our faithful readers don’t  who will?Our voice is needed now more than ever!!