BLOWING THE WHISTLE ON WORSHIP

BLOWING THE WHISTLE ON WORSHIP - AUDIO

 

Something that has recently grieved my spirit is the influx of these “stars” into the church.  We find that there is more and more celebrities that are now “coming to Jesus” and find themselves on stage, very much in their comfort zone and sphere of influence.  Such as Justin Bieber, Demi Levato who was baptized recently, but now identifies as binary, DMX who passed away recently, or Matthew McConaughey who has been giving teachings from out of the Bible and of course Mr Kanye West.  Many more have come to the “church party” and many more will.  Firstly, let it be known that there is nothing impossible for the Most High and that He can save those who have not blasphemed the Holy Spirit.  But what I find disturbing with regard to these people is that there has been no open repentance of their involvement in the occult, of them being worshipped, or a public declaration of denouncing Lucifer.  Instead we find that they only have to declare "Jesus as Lord", without anyone questioning whether they are in fact declaring their own false Jesus as Lord or the real Yeshua HaMaschiach.  Nobody questions it and everybody is so glad that these lost souls had entered into the sheepfold.  And of course, if the pastor is okay with it, who are we to question it?  I frankly do not know who to be more upset with.  The fact that they are up on a stage and are a voice in the church or the fact that the church has actually freely given it to them.  Justin Bieber opens his mouth to sing, looks as sad as can be and this constitutes him being saved.  What insanity do we have here?  Not of them, but of the church.  The Church who is to be the prophetic voice and standard to the world.  People, the only repentance that is the true repentance is that of a changed lifestyle that bears fruit. Singing on a stage or giving a sermon does not constitute being saved at all. Getting saved in these days has been cheapend to a prayer.  What are they being saved from?  From hellfire?  From condemnation? Does the Word not say that there is no condemnation for those who no longer walk after the dictates of the flesh, but are led by the Spirit?  This is a condition that speaks of a person's life and not a prayer.  The rich young ruler came to Yeshua and asked Him what he must do to be saved?  What did Yeshua say?  Sell all you have and follow Me.   Right off the bat He made it clear, "Your goods, your livelihood that constitute your security and identity needs to be sold.  You come into My Kingdom naked as a babe."  This may actually be the actual selling of all their goods, but the context is that of all that you hold on to and makes up your identity has to be "sold". There is a difference from being redeemed and being saved.  When we are redeemed we have accepted the price paid for us by Yeshua on the cross, by which He purchased us and we enter into covenant with Him by laying our lives down.  But being saved is to be saved from this world.  Not the earth, but the system by which it functions that constitute the spirit of the world and how it operates.  We are saved from this world system.  All is under the power of the enemy: politics, education, medication, pshycology, finanace, everything that makes up this world.  Even food and especially entertainment. These are the very entrapments that the enemy use.  Not because they are bad in itself, but because of the authority given to the enemy over them.  This is why satan could offer the world to Yeshua during His temptation in the wilderness.  So in a way we are redeemed of sin in our personal lives, but we are saved from this world, this matrix.  This however is a process as we know that we are not of this world, but still in this world.  When we are baptized we come up out of the water which resembles the world.  We are dead to the world, but alive to Christ.  This baptism speaks of a baptism into death where the person now no longer walk after the dictates of the flesh, but are led by the Spirit.  However, just because you got wet does not constitute the reality.  This is a process by which we are saved of which the baptism is a type and shadow and declaration, and this process is called sanctification.

1JOHN 2: 15 - 17

15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Nowadays you qualify as a worshipper on the basis of your talent and the fact that you say "Jesus is Lord".  It is no wonder that fornication and adultery are found amongst the worshippers in church.  Worship is predicated on the flesh if not sanctified.  What we find today is that Kanye gets to not only have a platform, but have his own church.  By the way, this happened just after his breakdown, after which he returned sporting white hair.  This dyed hair is to signal that he has reached enlightenment and "godhood" status.  And what better way to celebrate his godhood by creating his own church.  Having said all this, the point is that what the Most High deems as the standard for us, as His children, is the same standard for them.  Holiness.  The easiest place for them to have come in was through the door of worship.  This devotional is not about them or even their agenda.  They are plain and simple paving the way for the false "Jesus", the anti-Christ agenda to be accepted.  At the same time, they receive worship from their followers within the pews.  What people do not understand is that these "stars" see themselves as gods.  And so we now see nothing less than what we saw during the 70’s of the "hippy era", where the main theme was to love all and judge none.  Simply put, “Do as thou wilt is the whole of the law.”  So nobody is to judge these "stars" coming to Jesus and having a platform to now worship.  And what does it say about those who allow this?

What the Most High impressed upon my heart is worship itself.  Worship is one of those words that one should rather leave alone.  The word itself is pregnant with so much more than songs and lifting up our hands. It requires the whole being for it to be authentically worship.  Although it can be expressed in various ways, it ultimately is an expression of Spirit and Truth and if any of these two qualities are missing, it is ipso facto not worship.  I don’t care how big your stage is.  I don’t care how impressive your band.  I don’t care how beautiful the lyrics or the atmosphere.  I don’t care how many goosebumps or thrills and spills.  These all constitute that which is seen and felt.  But what the Most High is after is that which constitute Spirit and Truth, which is eternal.  If it is not in Spirit and in Truth, it is not worship. In fact Yeshua told the Samaritan woman at the well that the Father is seeking those who will worship Him.  He said that the time is coming that those who will worship Him, will worship in Spirit and Truth (John 4).  He seeks those who will worship Him.  He seeks this.  Will He accept anything that is not true, when He himself is Truth?  The lack of these two qualities, Spirit and Truth, is the exact reason why the enemy found entrance into the church at present through the door of worship.  It is also the reason why we are so eager to accept any kind of worship or praise as from Him.  To the degree that we are not walking in the Spirit and in Truth, is the degree that we will compromise in all areas of life.  And though one would like to categorize worship as the act of singing and lifting up our hands, worship is life.  All is worship.  There is no half way mark or a category when it comes to worship.  How you wash your dishes, how you clean your house, how you drive, what you do at work, what you watch, everything is worship.  The same is true in the enemy’s camp.  The enemy sees all acts of allegiance to him as worship.  You do not have to sing a song to him for him to see it as worship.  All we do are to be worship unto the Lord and thereby worship is not just a song, but how you live. Jeremiah 6 says the following...

JEREMIAH 6: 16 - 17

16 Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.

If one wants to know how something must be, you have to return to its inception or beginning.  This is the restoration that is required.  Just this morning I saw a quote of A. W Tozer saying, "The kind of revival we need today is a revival of reference and sacredness in the presence of God."  This is what the church is to return to, the ancient paths.  I obviously do not have anything against musical instruments, however I do have something against the flesh trying to duplicate that which is holy.  I have no problem with noise or celebration.  Heaven's rejoicing is as thunder.  The issue is flesh versus Spirit, but worship has even now reached a status of being worshiped itself.  It has become a way to cover what needs to be dealt with, by elevating the mood, an escape and even a subtle means of self-adoration. This is very subtle in the worship where the focus is on how He loves us and will use us and have called us and the list goes on and on.  Where worship is all about Him.  This is not to say that we are not to be grateful for what He does, but the subtle line of self promotion and adoration lies within the lyrics.  We need discernment.   In Exodus 25 the Most High gave Moses the measurements and requirements of the Ark of the Covenant and tells Moses that it is there where He will meet with Him.  Not in the outer court, not in the inner court, but in the Holy of Holies.  And I am afraid many believers still find themselves at the outer court where everything is still driven by what is felt or sensed, seeing this as the Most High's seal of approval as being authentic worship.

EXODUS 25: 22

²² And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

We know that only the High Priest was allowed to go in the Holy of Holies once a year.  No flesh was allowed to come near the Holy of Holies.  The act of coming into the temple was by means of a “lift” where the ankles of the High Priest were not to be seen.  No flesh was allowed to exert itself or be seen.  The requirement of entering was ultimate and it was holy.  In the Inner Court one still found the light of the Menorah lampstand and the showbread and incense, but in the Holy of Holies it was utterly dark with only the mercy seat.  The only light in there was the glory of the Most High.  How can we ever fathom the tension felt outside as the people waited for the priest to go in.  I can see the nation holding their breath in nervous anticipation with the hope that this High Priest would not have to be pulled out of the Holy of Holies with a rope due to some unknown and unconfessed sin in his life.  And the joy of having their sin pardoned knowing that they will receive the blessing and favor of the Most High must have been a tremendous relief.  All of this hung on the life of the High Priest. 

Our High Priest, Yeshua, has made a way through His torn flesh that we may enter by Him into the Holy of Holies.  There to stand at the mercy seat where He has promised He will meet with us as He there met with Moses.  There we are to hear His instructions and obtain mercy that we so desperately need, especially now.  I find it interesting that He required two cherubims to face each other and to cover the mercy seat.  This in itself speaks of the protectiveness and holiness of the blood that still speaks from the mercy seat.  But somehow these two cherubims also speak of the place where we as His children now meet each other that we may obtain mercy for each other as well.  That there we are to face our differences and walk in truth and in Spirit.  This is where there is no black or white, Jew or Gentile.  Here the husband and wife meet in their differences.  The teacher and the prophet, the parent and the child.  All those who are drastically different, but one in Christ.  Not so that we may accept each other in the name of love as the world do, but rather as Paul exhorts us, we may speak the truth in love.  Here we face each other and we learn from each other in humility.  Here we are stripped from pretense and stand willingly under His searching gaze with the disposition of “Change me Lord, whatever the cost.”  Dietrich Bonhoeffer made the quote, "God meets us in our brother." Here nothing is brushed under the rug, but the heart touches the other heart and the Body functions not just in gifts, but in Spirit and in truth.   Truth that does not just build up and comfort, but truth that also hurts and breaks down.  You cannot have the one without the other.  Our differences are divinely orchestrated by Him for this purpose, that we may know the truth of our own hearts.  He said that it is here where He will meet with us.  In that place of truth and authenticity.  This is the place of true worship.  Not a place where you enter into a building, but rather in the Holy of Holies where you stand before the mercy seat in the presence of the Most High who is the TRUTH.  A good dose of the fear of the Most High is required.  This makes me think of Ananias and Sapphira who sold their land and only gave a portion to the church.  Peter filled with the Holy Spirit knew that they have lied to the Holy Spirit, allowing the part to stand for the whole and they suffered the consequence of death.  And is this not what we are doing in our worship.  Allowing the act of worship through songs and music to stand for the whole, when in fact our lives are not resembling that which we sing.  We still hold grudges, we still tell white lies, we still watch that which we should not, we still hold bitterness in our hearts, we still cannot let go of that one thing.  All of these habitual sins that we see as little “boo-boos”, which we will get to later or just do not seem to get rid of, we take into the Holy of Holies, lift up our hands in worship and say, “I worship you Father”.  And this we call holy unto the Lord.  Just like Ananias and Sapphira death enters in not just into our lives, but the death that comes slowly where the standard by which He wants to be known is lowered and all together flesh.

We are now the priests of the Lord to enter into the Holy of Holies, there to lift up holy hands.  This speaks of all our doing to be holy.  The priests had the blood of consecration placed on their right ear, thumb and right toe.  All must be holy, that is to say set apart for Him and unto Him.  In Leviticus where the first priests were consecrated we find the first worship service demonstrated, and it ended with the glory of the Most High through fire. 

LEVITICUS 9: 22 - 24

²² And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them, and came down from offering of the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and peace offerings.

²³ And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people.

²⁴ And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.

Is it possible that we are not now seeing a demonstration of the fire of the Most High falling on our own personal lives due to the fact that we are trying to duplicate the real thing, but in fact failing, because of our own personal lifestyle that is not in sync with what we are singing?  Shall the Most High be mocked?  Did He not say that those who sow according to the flesh shall reap corruption?  Through a literal show the atmosphere is charged with a felt presence by the means of the correct musical wavelength to capture the masses to be swayed?  It is all together a celebration of the flesh.  Do you not find it appalling that we think that by conjuring up an atmosphere we can bring the Holy One down to us?  If we repeat it just enough or set the amplifier louder or we whisper just softly enough, maybe He will come down.  If we cry and sway our arms or shout loudly, maybe then He will come?  How far have we moved from that which is required, which is holiness.

EXODUS 30: 8 - 9

⁸ And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.

⁹ Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon.

The incense speaks not only of prayers, but of worship and this is the sweet fragrance that goes up before Him.  The High Priest was to first place one hand into the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the Inner court, containing the incense.  The incense was warmed with fire and the smoke would rise as worship.  In fact, worship in itself requires sacrifice.  When Abraham went up to the mount to sacrifice Isaac, he told his servant that he and the lad will go further alone to worship.  All of the worship in the Holy of Holies is called an offering or a sacrifice.  It requires of us more than lifting our hands and singing a song.  It requires a life poured forth in obedience in the fear of the Most High so that when we worship it is in Spirit and in Truth.  And because we have not worshipped Him according to His standard, we have readily received any other strange fire and at the same time think that He approves.  As long as we can feel a thrill or a heaviness, we label it as anointed.  This is not to mean that all worship is not of the Lord, but what gives us the right to sing that which is not true of ourselves?  What gives us the right to sing that we are lifting up holy hands, when our hands are full of blood?  What gives us the right to worship Him with the same lips that curse our enemies?  What gives us the right to trample His holy courts with presumption?  Why have we lost our awe of the Most High?  Why do we no longer tremble at His Word and His presence?  Why do we say it His glory when His glory will not rest on that which constitute flesh? 

We will be held accountable for every idle word we speak, or sing.

JEREMIAH 6: 13 - 20

¹³ For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

¹⁴ They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

¹⁵ Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord.

¹⁶ Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

¹⁷ Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.

¹⁸ Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.

¹⁹ Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.

²⁰ To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.

And who suffers the most because of the strange fire we bring?  Is it not in fact He Himself who is by this worship depreciated as who He is?  Something is lost from His side where He is not worshipped in Spirit and Truth, but also in us as the standard is lowered in our perception as to what is true worship.  The Kingdom suffers loss because of this, and this opens the door for the gods of this world to enter that they in turn may receive the worship.  The people may feel that they are in fact lifting up hands to worship the Most High, whilst the idol they have always worshipped is standing right in front of them, receiving the worship they long for.  But the people love it so to be entertained. The lights, the atmosphere, the joy of all loving Jesus, but the question is, "What Jesus?"  All then done in the Name of Jesus, once again allowing the part to stand as the whole.  If it is not true, can it then be called worship?  Can we validate this kind of worship?  Can we justify worship that it is more about sweeping up the crowd and getting them to a stage of unity in false love, when the love that He requires of us is the love that is spoken in truth at the mercy seat? 

PSALM 133

¹Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

² It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;

³ As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.

We read in Acts 2 how the disciples came together to wait on the promise of the Holy Spirit.  It was there they had to wait in unity, seeking His face and calling upon His name.  It was here after so many years that the Most High answered with fire again.  Here they met each other according to His requirements given to Moses, which was at the mercy seat.  Not with the actual mercy seat in front of them, but as ones that seek the mercy of the Most High whilst facing each other in truth and Spirit.  Can we even begin to think that this was done with a music band, a lead singer and lights on a stage?  No.  This was done in Spirit and in Truth.  In the Upper Room they had to meet each other face to face, knowing that the fire will not fall unless the sacrifice is holy.  We are that living sacrifice that is to be offered as a whole burnt offering on the altar of the Most High.  All is to be devotion and worship.  We cannot claim entrance into the Holy of Holies based on faith and grace, but forget that the same chapter in Hebrews 12 says that without holiness nobody will see the Lord.  To the degree that you abide in Him and are in fact in Him in authenticity, is the degree that you will enter into that place.  The veil was torn.  Please read my devotional called "A rented Heart" discussing this topic further. (A Rented Heart - link)

Some of us may not have been duped into the whole celebrity in the church scene, but we may still be offering strange fire before the Lord.  And because we lower our standard we depreciate who He is and we fall short of the glory of the Lord in our own lives.  In a time where we need to meet Him at the mercy seat we cannot take the chance to enter in boldly without a life lived in repentance and holiness that gives us that boldness.  If not for the Blood of Yeshua, where would we be?  But we cannot cheapen His blood and use it as a cheap means to enter just because we can and then expect glory and fire.  The reality is that you may think you are entering, but are you?  May we seek Him according to the standard He has placed, which is by not just offering worship, but being it.  And be it in Spirit and in Truth.  Worship is holy and sacred.  It is set apart to be only for Him and He desires that His creation will come to Him and worship Him with pure devotion in Spirit and Truth, which is the only way the fire of His glory will come.  Where is the worship that no longer looks like the world, but is after the pattern of those who fell on their faces in awe and wonder?  Those who rent their hearts before a holy God and have learned to wait in His presence and be silent as long as it takes.  And just so you know, silence is the highest form of worship, but the silence where you are as dust.  Not feelings, not noise, but a holy awe.  I asked Father why He wanted to talk about this subject.  After all, are there not a lot more pressing things now to discuss?  His answer, "My standard do not change with time and My standard do not change with circumstances,"  He does not change.  Now more than ever to truly worship Him in the midst of persecution is to bring a sacrifice of praise.  It costs us.  It asks of us to be real with Him and ourselves.  The enemy is trying to snuff out the voice of the Bride and the Bridegroom.  He is trying to silence our worship.  In the darkest hour the song of the Redeemed rises above all and sets those in prison free.  Songs of His deliverance and faithfulness where there seems to be no hope are songs sung not based on feelings or a set atmosphere.  They are songs that rise from the Spirit and in Truth.   Nothing can silence these songs.  At the same time we have to remember that the Most High is the God who devastates.  He brings us to a place where our categories we would have wished to place Him in, no longer makes sense.  He brings us to the place of devastation where what we thought would be, does not happen.  He allows things to devastate us and reminds us afresh that His thoughts are not our thoughts and that His ways are higher than ours.  Here in the secret place of the Holy of Holies, our categories and ideas are brought to the submission of who He is.  That we may cry, "The Lord! He is God!"  This is the place of true seeing.  Where we see as He sees, not only our own hearts, not only how He sees the world, but we see Him as He is and want to be known.

ACTS 16: 22 - 30

22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.

23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:

24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.  (Could it be that our inner prison can be transformed to the Holy of Holies?)

25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.

27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.

28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.

29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,

30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

I SEE (Word received March 2021)

I see the heart and I see that which is done in secret.  I know the thoughts and intents of the hearts of man.  And I know the wickedness of every heart.  For those who think they are pristenely clean, I see as white washed tombs, full of death and evil.  They are convinced of their own purity.

What can wash away their sin?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus.  What can make them whole again?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

There is no other way but by the blood.  So come and make ready.  Do not think you can stand before Me without being washed.  Not once, but every day.  For every day brings with it its temptation.  Every day the eyes lust, the flesh desires, and pride goes rampent.  Every day an assault on the senses.  Nothing but My blood, the blood of My Son.  

Many will say, "But Lord, did we not cast demons out in your Name, and do miracles in your Name?"  But they never built their lives in obedience to Me on the Rock.  Therefore, they will be caught unawares in the storm coming.  They will not stand, because they have not cut off the hand and plucked out the eye.  They have in secret held their hand to their bosom that no man could see.  But I see.  All stand naked before Me.  All will have to stand before Me that sees everything.  

I still seek those, My eye still goes to and fro across this earth in search of those who tremble at My Word.  Those of old trembled, but this generation is stiffnecked, lusting after the flesh pots of Egypt.  

Examine yourselves.  Examine yourselves whether you will be able to stand before the Son of Man.  Examine your wicked hearts and prepare to stand before Me.

Have we considered the ultimate length we are to go in cutting off the arm or in the plucking out of the eye?  Have we been singing "I surrender all" when in fact not all is surrenderd?  May we examine our hearts before the One who sees all before we come and worship Him.  May we give Him what He seeks in this hour, which is worship in Spirit and Truth.

Amen.