The Candlestick - Tyatira — Carter Conlon

Righteousness touch your house, touch the hearts of your people once again, O God. Lord, you're coming soon and you're preparing a bride without spot or wrinkle. Lord, so the people to receive your word and to walk in your engrafted word which is able to save our souls.

Lord, let there not be found a hardness of heart in your house, O God. May we be able to hear from you and to respond to you that we may be healed. You asked us, O God, to respond to your word that we'd not have to be turned out of the way, but rather healed.

And I ask for healing to move by the power of your Holy Spirit and according to your written word that healing would go forth from this pulpit today, O God. Lord, promoting unity and promoting healing among brethren, God touching areas where the enemy has gained access to the hearts of your children and putting into flight like you did in the days of Gideon when he stood up against 135 ,000 Midianites.

God, you set them into confusion and set their hand one against another and a great victory was wrought that day for Israel. Let this be a day of great victory, O God. I'm asking today, Lord, that you give wings to this message, O Lord, and send it to every place that it needs to go, O God.

Let every set of ears that needs to hear it hear it, O God. Let it penetrate every heart, every spirit, Lord, for we're not ignorant to the enemy's devices and what he's trying to do to the church in this last hour of time.

But God, go forth with righteousness. Jesus, ride upon that white horse this day as King of Kings and Lord of Lords and go throughout the land this day, O God, smiting the enemies of righteousness, O God.

Lord, let your people come under servants and shepherds who have your heart, who have a heart of righteousness and truth and who will draw you to the heart of Christ. Lord, deliver your people from false shepherds.

Father, I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Revelation chapter two. I'm continuing on a series of seven messages that I'll be preaching on the churches of Revelation. This is the fifth message to the church of Thyatira.

Christ’s Presence Searches the Church

Once again, I'm asking and the Lord is asking that you would allow Christ to walk in the place where you are. These were young churches established primarily by the missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul in Asia.

And yet, only a short time after Christ, these churches had carried on, but some of them had fallen into various areas of disagreement, I suppose, with the nature of Christ. They thought they were doing good, but when Jesus came into their midst, he exposed things that, first of all, that were good.

He had a lot of good things to say about the churches, some of them, and yet his very presence, his very manifested presence, showed up things that were going on that were not of him. And we have to ask for that.

We have to long for that. If we're truly children of God, we have to long for his manifested presence in our lives, individually as well as corporately, to say, Jesus, manifest yourself within me, that if there's something in me, every man's way is right in his own sight.

The Scripture bears witness to that. But it's the Lord who searches the heart. And if truly you and I are children of God, we would say this day, God, search my heart. Jesus, manifest your presence within me like you did to the seven churches of Revelation.

And if there's something good you want to speak, then Lord, let me hear it. But if there's something in my life that's out of order, that's not bringing honor to your name, if there's something that I have embraced and done or failed to do, then Lord Jesus, reveal it to me, that I may turn my feet again unto righteousness and be used as a vessel to bring honor to your name.

Christ’s Eyes Like a Flame of Fire

Revelation chapter 2, beginning at verse 18. And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write, these things saith the Son of God who has his eyes like unto a flame of fire and his feet like fine brass.

I know your works and charity and service and faith and thy patience and thy works and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants, to commit fornication and to eat things offered, sacrificed unto idols.

And I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and then that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.

And I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am he which searches the reins and hearts. And I will give unto every one of you according to your works. But I say unto you, but unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine and which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak, I will put upon you none other burden.

But that which you have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. He shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my father.

And I will give him the morning star. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches. Now first of all, in verse 18, Jesus appearing to this church called Thyatira, identifies himself as the all-seeing one.

In other words, he says,. These things saith the Son of God who has his eyes like unto a flame of fire. Nothing is hidden from him. We as people can hide things with religious trappings. We can formulate theories about the way we think things should go or be in the kingdom of God.

But Christ coming into our midst is the all-seeing one. And in this assembly today, for example, there's not one thing in this house that's hidden from the eyes of God. Not one thing. We can hide it from one another.

We can hide it from the leadership. We can hide it from the congregation. But we cannot hide it from the eyes of the all-seeing one. He also describes himself as having feet like unto fine brass. In other words, Christ is standing on a firm and unshakeable foundation.

And it's on this foundation that the church of Jesus Christ is built. You cannot build on any other foundation but that foundation that he has laid. The day of fire is coming to try every man's work. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 12 and 13 says,.

Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest. For the days shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

Some men's sins go before, and some follow after to the judgment. Some works of righteousness equally will go before and are known by all, and some will follow after. But God's day is coming, and every man's work is going to be tried of what sort it really is.

Every one of us individually are going to stand before the throne of God. And if we truly have a heart for Christ, we will want to stand in his presence now and to have his light virtually radiate through our lives.

Thyatira’s Growth and Tolerance of Jezebel

Verse 19, he talks about Thyatira, and he says, I know your works, your love, your service, your faith, your patience, and your last works are more than the first. In other words, Thyatira was an increasing church.

They were increasing in love. They were increasing in devotion. They were increasing in separation unto the Lord. They were increasing in service unto God. And so it was a church that was growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

An incredible thing, and I'm thankful that that's the very first thing that Jesus revealed to that church. And I'm thankful when he speaks to me, oft times it's the first thing he reveals to my life is the things that I'm doing well in his sight.

Otherwise I would be overwhelmed with sorrow. But there's something that Jesus said I have against you as a church. In verse 20 he says, Notwithstanding, I have a few things against you, because you suffer that woman Jezebel, which calls herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants, to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

Now who was this Jezebel? Obviously a person or group of persons, whatever the case was, that Jesus saw something going on in that church and he said, I have an issue with this. And because I have an issue with this, I have an issue with you.

Because you are a good church. You're an increasing church. You're a strong church. You're a dedicated church. But for whatever reason you have allowed this woman to come into your midst, you have allowed this spirit to come into your midst and to teach and seduce my children to commit fornication and to eat things offered unto idols.

The Jezebel Spirit and False Authority

Who is this Jezebel? I looked in numerous commentaries to find out what different historical writers throughout the church age have said about her. A man called Hendrickson, and Hendrickson's pulpit commentary said this, said it this way, in the long dark role of human infamy, there's not a darker name than that of Jezebel, the wife of Ahab.

She was the great seducer to idolatry in the later history of Israel. As the worship of the Phoenician Astard or Venus was accompanied with grossest impurity, her name became synonymous of all that was debasing and immoral.

Of everything that was debasing and immoral, it was all boiled down and associated with Jezebel. Now Hendrickson says, I'm disposed to regard the name here as symbolical of some proud, persecuting, self-constituted authority on religion, haughtily vaunting claims of superior religious piety and theological excellence.

The early church historian and writer Matthew Henry, speaking of this prophetess Jezebel, said, these wicked seducers are compared to Jezebel and called by her name. Jezebel was a persecutor of the prophets of the Lord and a great patroness of idolaters and false prophets.

The sin of these seducers is that they attempt to draw the servants of God into fornication and to offer sacrifices to idols. They called themselves prophets and so would claim a superior authority and regard to the ministers of the church.

Others, for example, as the Christian Life Bible say that Jezebel was an actual, literal person in the church of Thyatira. Now in any event, whether it was a single person or whether it was a group of persons, this Jezebel spirit was at work in the church of Thyatira and had been, number one, promoting itself as a teacher of the word.

A Jezebel spirit is never content to sit and listen and learn and be part of the body. A Jezebel spirit will always rise up and promote itself as a teacher of the word, but in reality, this spirit or this group was leading a group of people away from the presence of God and into fornication and idolatry.

Every time the devil rises up and begins to work within the church, there's always a hook. There's something in this spirit that grips the hearts of the unwary and causes them to believe that what they're hearing is the truth.

We see a clue to the hook in verse 24. He says, but unto you I say and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not known this doctrine and which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak. Number one, the Jezebel spirit will claim to possess a deeper revelation of God's word than the church of Thyatira and its leaders.

That was the spirit of Jezebel in that generation and it will be the Jezebel spirit throughout every other generation in every other church. Beware, beware, beware of people who rise up in the church body and claim to possess a deeper revelation of God's word than those that God has placed in leadership over the church.

It is also possible that they claim to have a deeper understanding of the ways of darkness. We look in verse 24. He says, unto the rest of you and as many as have not known this doctrine and which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak.

The American Standard Version of the Bible translates this verse by saying, to the rest of you who do not know the deep things of Satan as they are wont to say. In other words, there's a claim put forward by these people to have a deeper understanding of the workings of darkness than the leadership of the church.

But in reality, they are under the spell and influence of darkness. Beware of any group that has a major focus on darkness that rises up in the church. You'll see movements arising all over the land that have their focus on demons and groupings of demons and how demons operate, how the names of demons, the authority structure of demons, etc., etc., etc.

That kind of theology flies right into the face of the word of God. The Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 16 verses 20 and 21 said these words to the Roman church, I would have you to be wise unto that which is good and simple concerning evil.

And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. Paul's saying to the church, I want you to know Jesus. I want you to know this word inside out and backwards. I want you to allow this word to penetrate your very heart and become very much who and what you are.

Just rooting out the old things of your life and allowing the nature of Christ to be formed within you. I don't want you dwelling on what is evil, but dwelling on what is good. And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.

Knowing the Genuine to Resist the Counterfeit

Quite recently, my family and I, we took a trip, a family holiday for a week and we went away somewhere. I went down to the bank just a few days before we left and I converted some currency into traveler's checks.

And I had some $20 bills, American $20 bills, and took them to a teller to count. I had to count them out. And the teller had these bills and was just counting them one after another, as bank tellers do, very, very quickly, just counting them over.

And all of a sudden stopped at a bill and walked over to me, gave it to another person who came over to me and said, Mr. Conlon, we're very sorry to have to tell you, but one of the $20 bills that you've given to us is a counterfeit bill.

And so I walked over to the teller after and I said, how did you know that that was a counterfeit bill? I looked at it. I looked at other bills. They looked virtually the same to me. And the teller answered me something that, you know, the scripture says the children of darkness oftentimes are wiser than the children of light.

She said to me something very simple. She said, I handle so much real money all the time that just to talk to something fake, I know it right away. The Royal Bank of Canada years ago used to conduct a counterfeit bill course, a course in fraud.

And they would send all of their employees, all of their tellers to this course, and they would spend about three weeks in this particular course. And the whole course, the whole time that they're on course, they never, ever saw one counterfeit bill.

All they did is study the real, they studied real ones and fives and tens and twenties. They, they, they felt them. They learned about them. They knew how they were made. They smelt them and tasted. I don't know what else they have to do on this kind of a course, but the moment a counterfeit bill would touch their fingers, they would know it.

Beware of groups that have their focus on the powers of evil. Remember the words of the apostle Paul, I would have you wise unto that which is good and simple concerning evil. And the God of peace shall brew Satan under your feet shortly.

You'll be counting along, you'll be going on in your Christian walk, studying the word of God, loving Jesus. All of a sudden somebody says something and it stops you, it jars you right in your tracks because you know, you know the real.

And as soon as they speak, you know, this is not from the Lord because it jars something in your spirit. It doesn't feel right. It doesn't look right. It doesn't taste right. Something's wrong with it.

Something's wrong with it. The issue that Christ had against this faithful church is that most of the people knew better, but for some unknown reason, they were tolerating the spirit that was in their midst and not standing against it.

Spiritual Fornication and Union with the World

Jesus said to this church, by your compliance or by your lack of resistance, you are allowing her to teach and seduce my servants to commit fornication. Now, in order to understand what type of fornication Jesus is talking about, we need to understand what true unity in the spirit is, what a true bond of unity is.

I think the Apostle Paul puts it forward the best in Ephesians chapter five verses 31 and 32. He's speaking of a true union between a man and a woman, a marriage, and he likens it unto Christ in the church.

He says for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ in the church. The true bride of Christ leaves the things of the past, leaves the old ways of thinking, the old ways of doing things, the old ways of reasoning, the old ways of loving even, the old ways, all the old ways are as a man leaves his father and mother.

The true church of Christ leaves what's in the past in the past. The ways that we used to think, the ways we used to walk, the way we used to live, we leave it in the past and we come into the presence of God and are joined together in one spirit with Christ.

We take on a new nature. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. The old things pass away and all things become new. There's a union with Christ. A new nature is given unto us and we put off the old deeds of the old man.

We put off the old carnal ways and put on Christ and we are renewed in the image of Christ with holiness of body, soul and spirit. We become a new person in Christ Jesus. That's the true unity. That's what Jesus is coming to the church for.

That's what he was trying to give revelation in the seven churches in the book of Revelation of Christ. He was coming and showing them directions they were going in which was taking them away from that purity of unity and leading them into a pathway of fornication.

The spirit of Jezebel pushes the children of God into spiritual fornication by becoming one in spirit with the unsaved of this world. I'm going to say that once again and I want you to listen carefully.

The spirit of Jezebel pushes the children of God into spiritual fornication by becoming one in spirit with the unsaved of the world. That is the spirit of Jezebel. Anybody that ever tries to use that, I've heard that term bandied about for the last 17, 18 years of being a Christian.

I've heard it used in all kinds of contexts. Anybody who uses that in any other context does not know their Bible and does not know what they're talking about. A Jezebel spirit pushes the children of God like Jezebel did the wife of Ahab into spiritual fornication.

That's what Jezebel did in the Old Testament and that's what Jezebel was doing in the church of Thyatira. She was seducing the servants of God to commit fornication, not physical fornication, but spiritual fornication against the Lord.

Look at the book of Ephesians please, chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2, beginning at verse 1. I ought to show you what a Jezebel spirit does. Paul says, and you has he quickened, in other words made alive, changed, brought out of darkness, who were dead in trespasses and sins.

Verse 2, wherein in times past you walked according to the course of this world. Did you walk according to the course of the world before you got saved? People that are here, did you? Did you? Did you hate and lie and lust and do all these things?

You walk that way according to the prince of the power of the air. Who's behind that spirit? The prince of the power of the air. The spirit that now works in the children of disobedience. There is a spirit, a lawless spirit, working all throughout the world now, bringing us to the fulfillment, the culmination of all things that will eventually bring the world to a state of absolute devastation and that will bring us to the place where Christ will return in triumph.

There's a spirit working in the children of disobedience. If you don't have the Holy Spirit of God in these coming days, you're not going to be able to stand against it. It will overpower you if you're not absolutely and entirely an embracer of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and coming King.

There is no other defense against this spirit. James chapter 4 verse 4, he says, the apostle James says, you adulterers and adulteresses, that's strong terminology. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

Therefore, whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. In other words, he's saying that those that embrace the thinking and the ways of the world, you say you belong to Christ, but you embrace the world and you embrace the spirit that works now in the children of disobedience.

That's promoted by the prince of the power of the air. And you say you belong to God. James is saying this is spiritual adultery in the sight of God. Galatians chapter 5, please. Just turn back one book and look there with me.

The Works of the Flesh and the Spirit of the Age

Galatians chapter 5. The apostle Paul talks about this spirit, which is referred to as the flesh consistently throughout the new Testament. Galatians chapter 5 verse 19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, violence, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like.

Of the which I tell you before, as I've also told you in times past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Now an alternate translation for verse 20 says it this way. Idolatry, witchcraft, enmities, strife, jealousy, passionate anger, intrigues, divisions, and sectarian parties, or in other words self-interest groups.

The Jezebels of this church age are hard at work trying to unite the hearts of God's children with the spirit of this age. I want to look at four dominant characteristics of this age and show you how the Jezebel spirit is working throughout the church to unite the hearts of God's people with the spirit that works in the children of disobedience.

The Love of Money and False Prosperity

Spiritual fornication. This age is known for its love of money. Would you agree with me on that? It's lust of money. Now turn with me to the book of 1 Timothy please, chapter 6. 1 Timothy. You'll have to turn really fast because we have a lot of scriptures to go through.

It would be advisable to keep one finger perhaps at the index of your Bible. 1 Timothy chapter 6. The Apostle Paul now warning. Paul was always warning, especially to Timothy about the spirit of lawlessness that would be in the last days.

In 1 Timothy chapter 6 he talks about those that promote the love of money. There are no shortage of these Jezebel prophets throughout the church of Jesus Christ in North America. Would you agree with me on that today?

That Jezebel spirit has been running rampant throughout the church now for probably 20 years or more. The Apostle Paul says, If any man teach otherwise, verse 3, 1 Timothy 6, 3. If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but goading about questions and strifes of words, whereup cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth.

Supposing that gain is godliness, from such withdraw thyself. I believe it's the NIV version of the Bible that says,. Supposing that godliness is a means to financial gain, from such withdraw thyself.

But godliness with contentment is great gain. We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. Having food and raiment, let us be there with content. Verse 9,. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

For the love of money is the root of some evil. Is that what your Bible says? All evil. Which while some coveted after, they have erred from what? The faith. The faith, not from heathenism, not from unregenerate society, but they have erred from the faith, because of the Jezebel spirit that has been working and causing spiritual fornication to come into the hearts and lives of God's people.

Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity against God? You cannot, Jesus said, love God and mammon. You cannot. You'll either love one and hate the other, or hate one and love the other, but you cannot serve both.

They have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things. Run from them, and follow after righteousness, and godliness, and faith, and love, and patience, and meekness.

Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou would also call, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. Run from these things, Paul says. But the Apostle Paul, if God anointed the Apostle Paul under the unction of the Holy Spirit to write this in the word of God, how much should you and I be fleeing these things?

You say, oh God, don't let me fall under the ministry of anybody that will move me towards loving money. There are all kinds of pyramid sales organizations now in the States, and networking corporations and such that have embraced and formulated their own Jezebel gospel that are somehow telling the people that through the acquisition of financial and material things that you're going to be happy and successful, you're going to prosper, that that's God's will for your life.

That's a Jezebel spirit. Drawing the hearts of those that would escape from them that are polluted into a worse condition than they were before. Better to have not known the way of truth than after having known it to turn again to the things that we left behind.

Lawlessness and Rebellion in the Last Days

This age is known for its lawlessness and rebellion. In 2 Timothy, just turn ahead, 2 Timothy chapter 3, the Apostle Paul in verse 1, he says,. This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come.

Men will be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, incontinent means unable to retain anything, always learning and never come to the knowledge of the truth.

Just like a bucket with no bottom, you pour in and you pour in, you lift it up by the handle, there's nothing there, it all pours out. That's what incontinent means. Fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.

Verse 6,. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, they creep into houses and they lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with diverse lusts, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Now as Janice and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith. Now look at me please. Jezebels are resistors of truth and godly authority.

They cannot come under authority and thus become their own authority by attempting to attack and destroy the authority that God has placed over his church. Do you hear me clearly this morning? That's what a Jezebel spirit cannot come under authority and will not come under authority.

So they must destroy the existing authority in order that they can establish themselves as an authority over God's people. You see an illustration of this in 1 Kings 19. Please don't turn there. The prophet Elijah had just confronted the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.

You know the story, the fire of God had come down. A great, great victory had been won that day and the people were turning to the Lord. 450 prophets of Baal were slain that day and the people were turning to God.

They said when they saw the fire, when they saw the holy presence of God on that altar, they said the Lord is God, the Lord is God, the Lord is God. And then the very next day Jezebel rises up. She heard that her prophets were being slain and sent word to Elijah and said, I will do the very same thing to you.

I'll take your head off by this. I'll take your life away by this time tomorrow. Elijah represented the authority of God. God through Elijah was turning the hearts of the people, their fathers back to their children, the children to their fathers.

God through Elijah was restoring the holy altar, was restoring a place of understanding in the nation. Jezebel could not come under that authority and so she went for the head of Elijah. And that's the spirit that you find very much in this age when God raises up holy men or women of God that are turning the people back to the Lord and away from the spirit of this age.

Division by Race, Class, and Culture

They will rise up against them and go for their lives because they cannot come under authority. This age is also known for division along the lines of race, social status, and culture. The apostle James, in James chapter 2, he talks about not giving preference to those that are rich over those that are poor coming into the house of the Lord.

And God forbid that we should ever fall to the spirit of this age in the house of the Lord and start preferring those that are rich and speaking softly and kindly to them and speaking harshly to the poor and giving the good seats to those that have a lot to give financially to the church and giving the poor seats to those that are in rags and have nothing to give to God.

God says if this ever gets in your heart, if it ever gets in your church, you have become judges with evil thoughts. That's a Jezebel spirit that draws a distinction in social status. Jezebels promote division in the body of Christ based on race and culture.

Matthew chapter 24, Jesus speaking of the signs of the last days that we're living in. He says nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. The word in Matthew 24 for nation in the Greek is ethnos, which means ethnic culture will rise against ethnic culture.

We see that spirit all over the world now operating in the children of disobedience, do we not? Ethnic culture rising against ethnic culture. The wars in Bosnia and places like this and all over the globe now, you're seeing ethnic culture now rising up against ethnic culture.

We've seen it in different places of the world and surely as I stand here, these types of wars are going to break out over the face of the whole earth before Christ comes. It's a spirit moved by the Prince of the power of the air.

Those without the Spirit of God are helpless to fight against it. It's a gripping spirit. It's the spirit of the age, if I can call it such. Ethnic culture rising up against ethnic culture. The Apostle Paul in writing to Titus, he said he was talking about false prophets that were rising up in the church and one of the characteristics in Titus chapter 1 verses 12 and 13, he said, one of themselves, even a prophet of their own, has said that Christians are always liars, evil beasts and slow bellies.

You see, there was a man who had risen up to authority and he was stereotyping within the body. And Paul says, this witness is true. Wherefore, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith.

Paul was saying to Titus, don't let that spirit of the age get into the church. The Apostle Paul says in Galatians 3 28, there's neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither bond nor free. There's neither male nor female.

You are all one in Christ Jesus. There's neither black. There's not white. There's not yellow. There's not red. There's not brown in the body of Christ. You are all one in Christ Jesus in the house of the Lord.

A Call to Racial Reconciliation

A week ago on Christian radio, there was a man on that spoke at a promise keepers convention in the not too distant past. And this man got up and he was, he was pleading with the people and he would say he was, he was speaking at this convention and the people of his own particular race within the church had risen up and threatened him with physical violence.

If he went and spoke at this convention, they said, if you go to this place, you're, you're betraying the brotherhood, whatever that's supposed to be. You're betraying the brotherhood. If you go there and speak at this conference, which is predominantly men and women are men of another race.

And he got up and he said at that meeting, what is that spirit that's moving within those who say they know the Lord within my own race and my own culture that threatens me with physical violence. If I get up to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and my brothers in the Lord at this convention, what is that spirit?