The Great Commission can only be accomplished if we:

1) make disciples, not just converts, and

2) teach them to observe everything that He commanded.

        Where today is this being accomplished? What have we better to do than give ourselves to seeing His commission fulfilled?

The nation now sits in stunned disbelief at the tragedy that took place on the Virginia Tech campus when a student killed thirty-two fellow students and faculty before taking his own life. Certainly our prayers and any other kind of support or help that we can give should be going out to the families and friends of those touched by this seemingly senseless disaster.

        At the time of this writing, America is struggling with what should be a primary argument against socialism or Marxism—what is popularly known as Obamacare. If you are from another country, please bear with me as we address this, because it does illuminate some of the ultimate issues between capitalism and socialism.

America is now mobilizing for war. We are gathering the necessary resources, positioning them, and making what we believe will be effective plans against our enemy÷terrorism. As we have discussed, the civil government has a different mandate than the church. The church is also now mobilizing for war, but our war is different. Because it is quite obvious that this attack on America was diabolical in nature, this is a spiritual war as well. We must mobilize for the spiritual war. How do we do that? How do we train and prepare? What are our weapons, and how do we use them?

     This week we will continue with some of the most challenging statements of the Lord that involve our discipleship. This is not intended to make it harder than it is, but to make it as hard as it really is. Not to see it as it is can put us in the greatest jeopardy of all. A basic goal I have is to stand at the Judgment Day and hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (see Matthew 25:21 NIV) not just for myself but for every one of you as well. 

      Overall, the body of Christ is walking in about 15 percent of the prophetic vision that we are called to have under the New Covenant. As we are told in II Corinthians 3, we are supposed to be experiencing more of the glory of God than Moses did. We are also told in Hebrews 7:22 that we have been given “a better covenant.” The greatest of what was experienced under the Old Covenant should be the floor of what we experience in the New Covenant.

        There is a false concept found almost exclusively in Western Christianity—that everyone will be the same in heaven. The Scriptures refute this. Americans seem especially devoted to this concept, but the phrase in our Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal” was a political statement, not a theological one. This was addressing equal rights under the law, which was one of the greatest and most noble concepts ever promulgated by a government, but it is not true in any other way.

     As covered, the biggest gate of hell was opened into the church when positions of authority in the church became based on the approval of men rather than God. This began in the early fourth century when the Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Officials of the empire were required to be Christian. This caused all manner of ambitious and evil people to enter the church to gain favor with the government, not because of a true conversion.