SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #80 ---- 7/26/99
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>
As We fight The Good Fight
SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #80 ---- 7/26/99
TITLE: "Will The Trees Bloom Forever?" (Part three of "Two Trees In The
Garden" -- final part.)
My Dear Partner and Friend in Ministry:
Greetings in the great name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that He has
been manifesting His all-sufficient presence to you in special ways these
past days. He loves to remind you of just how much He loves you and how
unbelievably significant you are in His Kingdom's enterprises.
Even though we have been home only one day this past week, it has yet
been a good one, filled with wonderful opportunities to spend time in
fellowship with family, friends, and fellow servants.
Yesterday topped it all off as we began a new week. I am truly in awe at
just what all God is doing right now in the church where I am privileged
to serve as interim pastor. One of the leaders told me yesterday morning
that he was more optimistic about the future now than he had been in many
months.
The people are wonderful ---- graciously receiving our ministry and the
messages God has been giving us. Yesterday I preached the third message
in my series on the "One Another's" of the Bible ---- "Serve One
Another".
The more time I spend with this wonderful church the more evident it
becomes that they have been under unbelievable spiritual attack for many,
many years, and the enemy has stolen much of their history and their
witness because of those attacks.
But, now, the people are beginning to understand some things, and I
envision some major break throughs into a new level of freedom and
healing within the next several months. So, as I thank you deeply for
your prayer support I have requested, I again ask that you continue doing
so. It's going to pay off in great dividends in the future.
NOW TO THE SUBJECT AT HAND:
As I mentioned last week, I've been facing this particular thought
process about the two trees with some fear and trepidation because I know
not everyone will agree with some of my observations and conclusions. I
don't mind being disagreed with, but I do feel pressure at times when I
feel a particular subject appears to be overwhelming or beyond human
ability to articulate adequately.
So ---- because I really want to be sure my letters to you really do
build you up and encourage you, I am taking the time and space in today's
letter to conclude this little "series".
I don't mean that the subject is not important, but only that I don't
want to linger long on it. I am deeply grateful for those who asked
questions about it two weeks ago, and am glad for the opportunity to
share a concept that may cause you to be stretched.
The greatest desire of my heart is that, whatever you think about my
comments, these three letters will have caused an increase in your fervor
and desire for a pure church filled with power from Above.
LEARNING TO BE A BOTANIST:
I remember it as if it happened last week. I was sitting in the study as
the new pastor of a congregation of nearly 700 members. The fires of
revival which had begun in my heart five years earlier still burned with
white-hot fervor. The memories of watching God do what only He could do
and what man could only attempt to imitate were vivid in my mind.
The shock could still be felt in my very being as I remembered how God
seemed to snatch us out of that heavenly experience where we sometimes
felt as if we were breathing only ethereally pure oxygen and then drop
us down in one of the most spiritually desolate places in America, only
to then, twelve months later, call me into a preaching ministry while in
the country of Trinidad.
Almost like back tracking, He then placed us in a church just 45 miles
from the site of that great revival, and wonderfully introduced us to the
pastoral ministry with a loving congregation of about 400 members to give
us a near perfect setting in which to "learn the ropes" of shepherding,
teaching, and protecting part of God's flock.
Then, after just two brief years, God began to send signals that a move
was soon to come. Maybe you know what I mean ---- an unexplainable
"detaching" process that seems to make your friendships more distant,
your vision more difficult to remember, and your duties more boring and
less meaningful.
Sometimes I would feel guilty about that, even thinking something was
wrong with my spiritual life.
I'll never forget that Sunday morning. The Pastor Search Committee
wasn't nearly as subtle as they attempted to be, coming in at intervals
and sitting in various locations in the sanctuary. One couple was
friends with some of our members. As soon as they sat down the wife
whispered to the visiting guest, "Have you come to hear our pastor as a
candidate for your church?"
The tip off, though, was Brent ---- a tall, skinny, red-headed high
schooler who came marching all the way down to the very front with an
umbrella dangling from his arm. He just wasn't the "Ozarks" type. I
mouthed to Jo Ann sitting hear the front ---- "Pul-Pit Com-mit-tee!"
She just looked at me with a big question-mark smile on her face and a
shrug of her shoulders, followed by a downward look at the floor and a
shake of her head now resting on her finger tips.
We had no reason to leave, and no particular desire ---- especially when
the chairman of the committee told me after services that they wanted to
be very honest and let me know the church had gone through some trouble.
"Great!", I thought; "That's all I need ---- the job of trying to put
together a church filled with conflict that I wouldn't want to touch with
that proverbial ten-foot pole!"
Later, the Lord reminded me; "That's all You need? Well, I don't need
very much for that church ---- you'll do."
So ---- there I sat as a new pastor again ---- in that study.
By this time I was excited over the possibilities and the vision God was
already beginning to build in my heart for that new work.
Then, out of nowhere came that prayer ---- "Lord, I don't want to pastor
just an ordinary church. Would you somehow teach me what kind of church
pleases you, and then help me lead this church to become that?"
I have never regretted that prayer ---- though it has often gotten me in
trouble with various "powers that be" both inside and outside the
churches I've pastored since.
It was there in that city of over one million people that God began to
shape my comprehension and my ministry to fit as closely as possible His
pattern for the New Testament Church. And, I'm thrilled to say, He has
faithfully continued that process even to this day.
That process has been stimulating, invigorating, intimidating, and even
aggravating at times as I try to see what Can be over against what Is,
and knowing ultimately what Will be, I find myself wondering if I'll be
a part of that when it finally happens.
TWO TREES IN THE CHURCH:
In the early stages of that new search God began to show me just how
complex His people had made the church over the past 1900 years, and how
cumbersome it had become to His followers ---- almost as if they had once
again fallen under the scourging whips of Egyptian task masters.
Within the next few weeks God made it clear that He wanted that
congregation to focus on four very specific and simple things ----
Magnifying His Name, Making Disciples, Maturing Disciplers, and
Ministering His Grace to Others.
When I began examining the leadership practices, structures and documents
of the church, however, I realized that, while there was a fervor of
Christian activity, almost none of those things were happening.
I wasn't sure what to do. I knew that if I "blew the whistle" on the
situation this early into my pastorate, many of the people wouldn't have
the slightest idea of what I was talking about, others would think I was
just having "new leader" convulsions, and others would think I was
making a power play to take over and run things my way.
After several weeks of prayer, God put in my heart a desire to develop a
systematic study of scripture and history to find the answer to three
simple questions:
1) What was the early Church like?
2) How did they do things?
3) Is it possible to return to that model in the 20th Century?
So, I decided to study, to write, and to teach. In fact, that study led
to my first major syllabus entitled, "Biblical Patterns of New Testament
Church Life", written in 1972.
Out of that decision and ensuing months of prayerful study and weekly
teaching to about 60 key church leaders, I think I found the answers to
those questions ---- and I enthusiastically shared those thoughts with
those very excited leaders.
1) What was the early Church like? Answer ---- "Not like today's,
and not like this one."
2) How did they do things? Answer ---- "A lot differently and a lot
more successfully than we are."
3) Is it possible to return to that model in the 20th Century?
Answer ---- "Yes, but it will be costly."
Then, for the very first time, the thought hit me ---- "It's like the
difference between the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good
and Evil!" That was in the Fall of 1971 ---- nearly 28 years ago.
Much has happened since then, and I have hopefully learned more and
matured significantly. But, one thing has remained constant in my heart,
and I cannot shake it. It saddens me to think it, and I often hesitate
to say it ---- but I believe it to be true.
By and large, the Church we see in the world today is enormously obese,
embarrassingly flabby, ashamedly out of shape, and tragically
pre-occupied with maintenance and busy-ness because of fifteen centuries
of gorging itself on the fruit of the wrong tree ---- the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil ---- to the heart breaking neglect of the Tree
of Life.
I was both surprised and thrilled to run across a book ---- the first
such book I had seen (though there certainly must have been others) on
that subject ---- entitled "There Were Two Trees In The Garden", by Rick
Joyner. As I read, I was drawn deeper and deeper into the spirit of the
book and the heart of the author. "He's saying what I feel!" I found
myself saying.
For example . . . .
"As ludicrous as the attempt to build a tower to heaven may seem, men
have never stopped trying to complete it. History is a long train of
unfinished towers ---- the ruins of man's attempt to make a name for
himself and unite around the various towers.
"Grievously, Christians have seemed just as determined to build these
towers to heaven. Regardless of how piously we attach the Lord's name to
our works, everything motivated by selfish ambition will come to the same
end as the original tower ---- confusion and scattering."
TRANSPLANTED FROM THE GARDEN TO THE CHURCH:
You may be wondering how I can make the transition from the two trees in
the Garden of Eden to claiming they are now seen in the Church. So, let
me review a little history.
In Genesis 3:6-7 we find that when Eve "saw that the tree was good for
food [to take and eat] (To Do something apart from God), and that it was
a delight to the eyes (to Have apart from God), and that the tree was
desirable to make one wise (To Be something apart from God), she took
from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he
ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they
were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin
coverings."
Contrast that passage with Genesis 11:4. "And they said, 'Come, let us
Build for ourselves a city (Do something apart from God), and a tower
whose top will reach into heaven (Have something apart from God), and let
us make for ourselves a name (Be something apart from God), lest we be
scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.'"
This was mankind's first attempt since the Flood to build something that
would help take them to God ---- or, even worse, Be like God. It's an
echo of the voice of an angelic being centuries earlier when he said, "I
will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and
I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north, I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most
High." (Isa 14:13-14)
And ---- it was fatal.
You see, because the seed of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
had been planted in and was deeply rooted in the very heart of man, the
Flood did not destroy the tree ---- just as it did not destroy the Tree
of Life which was thriving in the heart of Noah through those watery
days.
After the Ark rested on Ararat when the waters subsided, Noah's family
began to migrate and scatter, just as God had instructed, so the earth
could be replenished and repopulated. His son, Ham, had several
children, one of whom was Cush. Cush, in turn, had children, one of whom
was Nimrod, the founder of a city called Bab-el, "the gate of God".
Persuading others to join him in "building a city and tower which should
reach heaven" and become a rallying center for self advancement and
rebellion against God, that arch-apostate Nimrod again failed as God
intervened and called it "Babel", or "Confusion" ---- always the case
when you try to do something man's way instead of God's.
So, we again see man's vain effort to attain that which the serpent
promised eating from that tree would supply.
And, as you certainly are aware, that city eventually became known as
Babylon ---- and the new one certainly lives up to its heritage even
today.
An interesting sidelight here is how Bab-el was an imitation of the real.
They used brick instead of stone and tar instead of mortar.
It doesn't stop here. Nimrod's wife was Semiramis I, the foundress of
the Babylonian mysteries and was the first recorded high priestess of
idolatry. Babylon, therefore, was the fountain head of organized
idolatry and the source of every heathen and pagan system in the world.
Semiramis, taking and perverting God's promise of woman's seed to come as
an ultimate redeemer (Genesis 3:15), which she most certainly had heard
of through the oral tales passed from one generation to the next, even
through the Flood, she bore a son whom she declared was miraculously
conceived, and presented him to the people of Babylon as the promised
Redeemer.
His name was Tammuz, whose worships Ezekiel later protested against
during his captivity in Babylon. This was the introduction of the
"mother/child" worship into religion. This mystery religion spread to
surrounding nations ---- Astoreth/Tammuz in Phoenicia, Isis/Horus in
Egypt, Aphrodite/Eros in Greece, Venus/Cupid in Italy, and so on. The
symbol of the image of the queen of heaven with a babe in arms was
everywhere.
Within 1000 years, Babylonianism was the religion of the world. It was
out of this that Abram was called to begin a new generation and to
provide New Life, a return to the Tree of Life, through a promised
Messiah.
Jezebel brought this pagan worship back. During the times of Israel,
Judah practiced it in their Baal worship. Baal is Tammuz.
When Babylon and the temples of those Babylonian mysteries were
destroyed, the high priest and his followers took the vessels and images
to Pergamus. Later, when the Etruscans came to Italy from Pergamus (or
Lydia), they brought those religions and sacred rites with them.
After that migration, when Attilus, the Pontif and King of Pergamus died
in 133 B.C., he bequeathed the headship of Babylonian priesthood to Rome.
A Pontiff was then established to be head of all other priests. Many
Romans became members of the cult.
Now, switch gears across the Great Sea to Jerusalem.
Sometime around 6 to 4 B.C. a baby was born in Bethlehem. He was called
Jesus, because He would save his people from their sin. Just days before
He announced his public ministry, He found himself face to face with the
same personage Eve had fallen prey to.
The strategy was the same. "If you really are (remember ---- 'has God
really said?'), tell this stone to become bread (remember ---- 'good for
food to take and eat . Do something)'.
"If You worship before me, all this can be Yours" (Remember ---- 'a
delight to the eyes'. Have something)."
"If you Are the son of God (remember ---- cast doubt. Be Somebody!)"
Same song, same verses ---- different setting ---- same objective.
Jesus gave His final answer to Thomas when He said, "I am the Way, the
Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me" (John 14:6)
and then demonstrated it fully to Satan on the cross, announcing "It is
finished!"
With the birth of the Church in Jerusalem (somewhere around 28 A.D.), the
truth of God's plan for man was clearly demonstrated. A few days later,
on the Day of Pentecost, thousands were brought into the kingdom,
including many from both Italy and Babylon (see Acts chapter 2). It was
only a matter of days until the message of salvation had invaded the
Babylonish territory of paganism. In fact, according to history, the
entire Roman Empire was exposed to and saturated with the message of the
Gospel within the next 100 years.
And, it flourished!
As God raised up missionaries such as Paul and Barnabas and Peter, who
often went where those new "Pentecost Converts" lived, thousands came to
Christ and churches sprang up, all understanding the principles of living
in Christ, the True Tree of Life. These early apostles had a great
impact on believers around the world, including Babylon and Rome.
However, many of these churches experienced major struggles (such as at
Corinth), primarily over issues of Christian principles conflicting those
of their past religions, again the battle between the Two Trees.
During those years, when Julius Caesar who was a follower of the
Babylonian mysteries was named the Pontifex Maximum in 63 A.D., he was
the first emperor of Rome to become the head of the priesthood of the
Babylonian Mystery Religions, and every emperor since was a successor to
that position.
This "emperor-priest" office was retained all the way to Constantine,
when in 376 A.D. Emperor Gratian, because of personal Christian reasons,
refused it. It was then transferred to Bishop Damascus who had become
Bishop of the church at Rome in 366 A.D. at the urging of the Monks of
Mt. Carmel, a colony of the Babylonian mystery religions originally
founded earlier by the priest of Jezebel.
At this point, the head of the "Babylonian order" became ruler of the
institutionalized church.
Constantine, as you recall, legalized Christianity and recognized it as a
legitimate religion. Roman citizens, looking for something more
meaningful, found the answer in Jesus Christ. Others, however, saw only
the benefits to prestige and profits if they became "followers" of "The
Way", so they also identified themselves with this new "cult", bringing
with them many of their own practices and beliefs from their pagan
rituals.
During those days the concept of instutionalized religion, making it a
system with a hierarchical form was born, along with church buildings,
"professional clergy", colorful garments, ceremonialism, and scores of
other practices, some of which are carried out to this very day in many
forms of the Church.
During that transitional infiltration from Babylon's tree, much (praise
the Lord, not all!) of the church changed its pattern from ministering
the Gospel to needy people to that of filling its own coffers and again,
as at Bab-el, building a name for itself. It began "going to" church and
"having" church, rather than "Being" the Church.
All this ultimately led to the Dark Ages, nearly a millennium of time
where the truth of the Gospel was seldom heard, and the visibility of the
Tree of Life was seldom seen.
Then, in the 13th and 14th Centuries, the move of the Holy Spirit began
to blow again, leading to what we know as the Reformation. And Life
began to break forth again.
But, tragically, not completely. With the great reviving movement of God
through men like Luther, Calvin, Huss, Zinzendorf, Zwingli, and others,
the message was renewed and momentum was gaining strength.
However, the root of that old tree was hard to kill, and some of the
residual fruit began to manifest itself again on the branches of the
Church. It remains today.
Better than before, it is still not what God intends it to be. And, the
temptation to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil ----
living the Christian life like a resident of Bab-el, trying to make a
name for ourselves ---- continues today.
COMPARING TODAY'S FRUIT:
The friend I mentioned last week asked about a comparison of the fruit
from the two trees. Here are some things about the fruit as it is
manifested in the church.
1. Characteristics of A Church Feeding on the Tree of the Knowledge of
Good and Evil:
1) A powerless Gospel made up primarily of words, concepts, gimmicks,
and cliches.
2) Inaccurate or incomplete truth.
3) False security based on performance, identity, and form, often
accompanied by subsequent judgementalism, isolationism, complaining, and
criticism.
4) A spirit of sectarianism and exclusive superiority.
5) Bondage to systems, structures, and traditions.
6) A loss of vitality and meaning in the liturgy and life of the
church.
7) Focus on setting goals rather than going on mission.
8) Learning comes through listening rather than by hands-on living
and experiencing (i.e.) knowledge as the end in itself rather than being
a tool for action).
9) Doctrines are built on tradition and history instead of Scripture.
2. Characteristics of a church feeding on the Tree of Life:
1) Experiencing an moving in the presence and power of God.
2) Moving and ministering in the total ministry of Jesus as found in
Luke 4:18-19.
3) Operating in the giftings of the Holy Spirit, recognizing them
exclusively as tools of ministry rather than symbols of spiritual
superiority or maturity.
4) Reading, teaching, and obeying the Word of God.
5) Using Biblical patterns of leadership ---- anointed, called out,
multiple leaders, equipping the saints for work of ministry (see Eph
4:11-17).
6) A sense of unity of fellowship and purpose.
7) Ministering in practical ways to the physical, material,
emotional, and spiritual needs of people.
8) Unconditional love and acceptance of all people.
9) Offensive attacks against the gates of hell.
10) Mighty in prayer and faith.
11) Going from "house to house" seeing the church as being "out there"
rather than "in here".
12) Primary focus on carrying out the Great Commission ---- being
mighty in reaching the lost and unbelieving with the Gospel ----
everywhere it can.
So ---- where is your church eating, friend?
IN CONCLUSION:
The title of today's letter is "Will The Trees Bloom Forever?"
The answer, praise the Lord, is both "Yes" and "No"!
You've read the final chapter, so you know how the story ends. God has
the last laugh. He has the final word, and it's a good one.
In the meantime, though, what do we do?
Well, to sum it all up ---- we do our best to hear God and obey Him at
all cost.
The Church continues to exist in its dual forms ---- the genuine and the
imitation, the living and the dead, the organization of death and the
organism of life, Sinai and Zion.
So, it's urgently important that we understand God's ultimate goal is
that you and I will love the Church the way Christ does when He "gave
Himself up for her; that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by
the washing of water with the Word, that He might present to Himself the
Church in all her glory, having no sport or wrinkle or any such thing;
but that she should be holy and blameless." (Eph 5:25-27).
For that to happen, we must endure the "Shaking" the writer describes in
Hebrews 12, because the only thing acceptable to the Father for His Son's
Bride is one in which only things of eternity remain. Everything ----
and I mean absolutely everything that is temporal must go ---- and will.
That's why you and I are in ministry, my friend. If you're in for some
other reason, maybe you should consider getting out while you can.
Our calling, our role, our task is not found in catechisms,
denominational offices, board policies, or personal agendas. If that's
all there is, then it's a waste of time.
We're in a battle for eternity, my friend. Stop waging war in the
temporal! Get with the program! God's program! There is a war in the
heavenlies, and God is calling out recruits.
Will you sign on?
In Christ's Bond,
Bob Tolliver ---- (Rom 1:11-12)
Copyright July, 1999. All rights reserved.
If this letter has blessed you and you know of someone else who needs to
be encouraged, feel free to forward it in its entirety to all such people
you know.
If you would like a list of past issues which you could receive upon
request, just let us know.
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{ (O) (O) }
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Hang in there! I'm with you!
-------.ooooO--------------- Ooooo--------
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Bob Tolliver ---- Rom 1:11-12
Life Unlimited Ministries
E-mail: [email protected]
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