The Prophets Pen

By Michael Plemmons

   

The Revelation of The Cross

   My spirit is grieved today and my heart is burdened for my brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. It is a remarkable truth that we in the body of Christ can through the internet alone communicate with each other in ways no other generation before could even have imagined. The gifts of God are being poured out today and yet in spite of it all my heart is broken.

  Paul in his day in his letters to the church gave us a clear understanding of the true path. The church in his day were caught up in the manifestations of the Holy Spirit as is the church today. I have watched with dismay over the last thirty years as one after another a supposed gift of God was touted as the great move of God. The list is long and I will not bore you with them all but I will name just a few.

  In the 90's the laughter move began where saints were encouraged to be consumed with laughter and meetings in great arenas around the world brought people together to lay hands on one another that they might be convulsed in laughter and fall to the ground and become intoxicated by the Spirit.

  Other manifestations have come over the last thirty years such as your spoken words must be positive and even God himself must become your servant because the positive confession of your mouth obligates him to do so. Father God is the divine sovereign just because he is God . Today the newest rage is the gifts of prophesy and prophetic utterances over each other as well as dreams and visions.

  Paul dealt with a lot of the same issues in his day. The church at Corinth was caught up in prophetic giftings and  utterances. Yet Paul admonished them do all prophesy? He also said he knew a man in Christ who had been caught up to the third Heaven and there heard things that it was not lawful to speak. He went on to say he could not say if such a one was in the body or out of the body. 

  Don't get me wrong I have been a seer prophet for over thirty years. I have had more visions of heaven than I can count. I have sometimes spent weeks caught up in the Spirit. Yet the body of Christ has become so gift conscience that we are in danger of heresy and apostasy. Most bible scholars believe that the man Paul was referring to was himself. I believe he spoke this word because some in the church were in danger because of the over emphasis being propagated by some on these supernatural gifts of God.

 Paul cut to the crux of the matter when he said "I determined to know nothing among you but Christ and him crucified. The cross and the finished work of Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection is the divine message of God for our day as it was back then.

  A sinners eyes are opened when under the conviction of the Holy Spirit he is shown to be a soul lost and undone and for the first time he sees Christ as his answer. From that point on he is given an inward revelation of Christ and he is changed by the redeeming work of the risen Christ from a vessel of darkness to a child of light.

  There is no revelation of God greater than this, that the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. The preaching of the cross is the heart and soul of God. The cross shows the sinner his separation from God and is the divine instrument which opens the heart and produces an inward revelation of Christ in you as the hope of Glory.

  Whenever the church of God begins to emphasis the gifts of God over the preaching of the cross we are in error. God has many gifts and in his sovereign will he will lead and guide us to the destiny he has for us. Can anyone really say that any gifted manifestation of God is greater than the call of men and women  who are led to go to med school. There they become trained to be Doctors and nurses so that they can go to places like west Africa and provide medical care to people dying of Ebola?

  I know that just because I have visions makes me nothing special in the grand scheme of things. The pastor who weeps and lays down his life for the individuals God has put under his care, or the Chaplin in the military,  or in the jails and prisons around the world, they are a divine link of God to millions of hurt and wounded souls to whom they have been entrusted.

  The saints of God who lay down their lives to house and feed the homeless, and to bring deliverance to the drug addicts who in despair reach out to them are shining lights to the world of the risen Christ. The mother Teresa's of the world are God's gift of his love and purpose to us all. I believe in these last days God is going to pour out his Spirit in marvelous new ways, but the preaching of the cross and Christ crucified has always and still is the anchor of the gospel, and only its preaching and message of deliverance is the power of God.