Shape Up or Ship Out

Psalm 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, Amen?

OK, here it goes.

This is an urgent appeal to unmute spineless yellow-bellied preachers. Can I say it any plainer?

 Stay with me and I will.

Today I come as an advocate to those who would like to say certain things to their leader or their pastor, but don’t have a platform to speak from, or they fear being misunderstood.

Our nation New Zealand is under siege.

It has been a while.

Ever since gay marriage, abortion, euthanasia, prostitution, and gender reassignment were legalised, there has been a shift in the cultural landscape in this country as it stifles every godly organisation.

It was like someone pressed the mute button on GOD, his word, his values, his morality, and his voice.

New Zealand became like many other nations in the world-Instead of looking at today’s culture through the lens of the Bible, it looks at the Bible through the Lens of the culture today.

And my friends if you look at today’s culture through the lens of the Bible, prepare to be shocked.

Why the turn around and how have we come this far, so quickly?

And how will we fare from here? The prophet Jeremiah said it best.

“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace in which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?” (Jer. 12:5). NKJV

Evil advances when godly men say nothing and do nothing. That is how we’ve come this far. Not enough pulpits have spoken with fire.

 Now what will we do if we enter the floodplain?

I’m grateful for the many godly leaders, ministers, and pastors across New Zealand, but there are still far too many who are riding the fence, being politically correct, playing the part of coexisting cowards and refusing to speak up on vital issues facing the church and the nation in this hour.

This is a word for the man-pleasing preacher or pastor who cares more about man’s applause than God’s approval.

This is a tough loving rebuke for those who are more concerned about their personal popularity than the power of God and fail to recognise the times we live in.

I do not apologize for speaking bluntly and with candour.

If you can’t take it, then you may be a wimp.

The dictionary describes a wimp as a weak, ineffectual, and timid person. We have too many of them in our nation’s pulpits.  

If you claim to be a preacher and can’t stand up for righteousness and speak truth amid such a wicked and perverse generation, you are a wimp.

If you are a pastor and can be easily intimidated into compromise by a controlling elder in your church or a wealthy sponsor of your ministry, then you are a wimp.

If you have surrounded yourself with “yes” men in your organization who court your favour by continually affirming how great you are without ever offering another perspective to any of your decisions, then you are an egotistical wimp.

If your voice can be muted in such a day of gross evil, perversion, and injustice, you are a big wimp.

The real church doesn’t need you.

You are a yellow-bellied, lily-livered liability and not an asset.

You are aiding the enemy.

Our nation’s moral crisis calls for preachers now, with great courage and conviction.

Urgent times require urgent preaching.

There was a day in England when Catherine Booth, who along with her husband William Booth founded the Salvation Army, went from church to church in search of burning words.

Her observation had been that there weren’t any preachers with fire in their belly.

Today it is no different. Many no longer even believe in preaching, but now hold to a conversational style of sermonizing and motivational pep talks. You are a wimp.

Preaching will never be done away with. Preaching is God’s plan, not man’s.

 Quit following the pew and follow God.

And for you professing progressive pastors, who believe you can practice homosexuality and follow Jesus at the same time, shame on you! Big shame on you! Preach the Word! You are fighting against God and not man.

Put away your limp-wristed humanism and develop some backbone. Woe unto you who call good evil and evil good!

The pulpits of New Zealand should be on fire over the government’s legislation introduced in the past two decades, but they weren’t.

What happened to the firm beliefs in the bible when we Christians in New Zealand in great numbers and provided salt into our culture, by taking to the streets in great numbers.

Laws have been passed in this country over the past decade which has turned the tables on morality.

We can have laws, but are they moral, are they acceptable to a God-fearing nation.

And if you think its too late then think again.

Think how it’s going to be if this Labour led, left wing government enforces its laws on Hate Speech.

Many of its clauses will see parts of Gods words shut down, isn’t that worth fighting for?

Has Christianity in New Zealand got the stage, where the population sits back to be spoon fed and told what they can do or don’t by the Government?

Has Christianity gone the same way, or are they outraged but follow the examples from the pulpit who say nothing.

We not only have far too many wimps in our pulpits, but we also have an abundance of pimps who merchandise and market everything from God’s presence to any of His blessings using every kind of trend, fad, and cheap gospel gimmick.

The dictionary defines a pimp as a person, especially a man, who solicits customers for a prostitute or a brothel, usually in return for a share of the earnings.

Pastors, if you treat your congregation like customers, you are a pimp.

If you are more interested in attendance, buildings, and cash than you are in spiritually preparing your people for the crisis our nation is in, along with the desperate times we are living in, you are a pimp.

If you coerce your flock into giving a love gift or a seed in exchange for a 100-fold return, you are a pimp.

Preachers, if you connive the people into thinking that somehow your ministry is the source of the flow of the blessings of God in their lives, you are a pimp.

Every pimp must gain the trust of his prostitutes. They do this through deception.

They don’t care about their prostitutes in the same way that these pimping preachers don’t care about you.

Don’t let pimping preachers make a mockery out of you and deceive you into giving with wrong motivations.

The root of their hollow preaching is their greed and love of money and their lust for power and influence. They don’t give a rip what God thinks.

And for those of you holier-than-thou, who complain against governmental policy that has taken God out of our classrooms and institutions, you cannot speak with any authority because you are guilty of banning the Holy Spirit from speaking and moving in power in your churches, meetings, and classrooms.

You suffocate the supernatural with your programs and you expect to be a spokesman for God against antichrist institutions. Please!

If you are going to judge righteously the first requirement Jesus laid down was for you to remove the plank out of your own eye before attempting to remove the speck in someone else’s eye (Matt. 7:1-5).

Pure burning hearts produce flaming tongues, and that is the only kind of preaching that will save New Zealanders right now.

“If preaching returns to the Bible and our sermons are thundered from burning hearts full of the Holy Spirit, we have more than a good chance to save congregants.

 If preaching stays as is, there is no chance … period.

Pastors are dispensing new age gobbledygook when they should have been training the people in biblical morality.

We must learn how to conduct ourselves as a minority, in a majority post-Christian era.

We must look and ask what faithfulness looks like in New Zealand, understand why it lost its way, – accept our nation is under the judgement of God.

Pastors, teachers, ministers, do our nation a favour, get some fire in your belly and preach with some holy conviction.

It may be our last line of hope.

Wimps in the pulpit need to speak up or ship out. Amen.