Fri, Nov 1st - 11:29PM

CUT TO THE HEART

CUT TO THE HEART 

(Reprint from an earlier blog post in 2007, but still very much relevant.)

Acts 7:54, 57-58 - “When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.” [57] “Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, [58] And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.”

 Hebrews 4:12 - “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

What is it that could cause such a murderous, lynch-mob mentality?  You would think perhaps a cruel injustice of some sort of heinous magnitude.  Maybe, a monster that preys upon small children by molesting, abusing, raping or ultimately murdering them might cause such a reaction in a group of people.  Possibly, the senseless beating and killing of an elderly person by some crazed robber.  It could conceivably be the cruel mistreatment of a nursing home occupant, supposedly being tended to by “caring professionals”.  What about the mass genocide of a culture or race of people, that has happened, and evidently continues to take place, in some countries all in the name of some kind of ludicrous prejudice that is labeled a “cause”.  It could be any number of plausible reasons similar to these or many other injustices.

However, in this case, it was simply the matter of a preacher who had the courage to deliver the truth.  And by this truth they were “cut to the heart”.  What was this truth that offended and angered them to such a murderous frenzy?  It was the truth of the Word of God.

There was a famous line in an award-winning movie a few years back, which has been quoted numerous times since then, where a military officer, played by Jack Nicholson, was on a witness stand.  When pushed to the limit by the relentless young JAG attorney, played by Tom Cruise, who forcefully proclaimed, “I want the truth”, Nicholson’s character responded antagonistically, “you can’t handle the truth”!

Sorrowfully, where religion is concerned, this statement applies in volumes.  Jesus said in John 14:6,“… I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”  The greatest, and in reality, the only opposition that the Lord encountered was from orthodox religion of His day.  The attempts made on His life were from orthodox religion.  The mockery, being spat upon, and the beating that He received were at the hands of orthodox religion.  Even though we know that He laid down His life, no one actually took it from Him, still the vehicle that His crucifixion came through was, you guessed it, orthodox religion.  And the basic reason for this is because, just as it was then, so it is true today:  RELIGION CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!

Authentic Christians, to continue to move forward in the things of God, must continually battle religious spirits.  We must battle religious demons from within which try to infiltrate our thinking on the battleground of our minds.  We must battle religious demons from without, which manifest themselves in the person of religious authority that would seek to hold us to the “status quo” and hinder the advancement of the Kingdom of God.  Sometimes, we have to battle religious spirits that come at us through family or well-meaning friends, which would attempt to deny us of fulfilling the destiny that God has assigned to us.

Isn’t the spirit that is manifested in this seventh chapter of Acts the same religious spirit (or at least very similar to it) that is at the root of radical Muslim extremist who think that anyone who is not of their religion is an infidel that needs to die?

Yet, just as repulsive to God, perhaps even more so, are the multitudes of professing (and the key word here is “professing”) Christians, who are actually nothing more than modern-day religious Pharisees and hypocrites, who don’t actually want a move of God or to really hear a present Word from God.  They want a comfortable life where they are not challenged by the truth of the Word that calls them to come out from their social clubs that are called churches, and build the Kingdomof God.

And when that structure does get challenged, it is then that they become belligerent and sometimes even physically violent, instead of getting spiritually violent with the devil and causing damage to his realm.

We don’t like it when revelation from God’s Word runs across our religious grain.

These types of “religious” people are the kind that, when they come face to face with truth, transform into something that, whether they realize it or not, manifests the real demon behind their motivations.

You touch their “sacred cows” and it gives them the excuse to “withhold tithes and starve the preacher out”.  You tell them that the Church is not simply within their four walls, and they’re ready to have a vote.  Reveal to them that the American church, with its Western mind-set, is not, for the large if not most part, the Church that Jesus is building, and get ready for a contemporary crucifixion.  Disclose to the religious mind-set that genuine worship is not something that you just “do” on Sunday morning, but it is a lifestyle, and watch how their disdain for that truth will manifest itself.

Attempt to present Biblical truth that says God’s idea of the Church is not a democracy where we have political cutthroats competing for deacon or some other “position” in the church, instead of following His pattern for the government of the New Testament Church, and you get anonymous (albeit cowardly) letters that say, “We want our church back”.  Tell them that true followers of Christ do not celebrate and participate in Halloween or some other pagan practices and you’ll get ostracized for and accused of trying to hurt their “good cause”.

Preach the unadulterated, plain, hard truth because you actually do love people, and you get slammed by these religious thinkers (or stinkers) and accused of “not preaching in love”.  Then, this same bunch, who says you aren’t showing love, turn up their noses and openly demonstrate a vile contempt for you when you run into them in the grocery or convenience store, the restaurant or the shopping mall.  Or they spread any and all kinds of malicious lies about you throughout the community.  This leads me to wonder where all this “love” is that they were advocating.  It also reveals to me that they really do not know or understand the love of God.

Furthermore, where is the logic that equates genuine Christianity with anonymous letters that threaten the life and limb of you and your family?  (Yes, it does happen, believe it or not.  I know that to be a fact, personally)

Expound upon the reality that racial or gender prejudice and hate are sin and that you must repent if you have been displaying attitudes or using words that support it, and you get a knock on your door from one of the devout that twists around everything you said, because it threatens their cultural comfort and they may find themselves seated in church next to someone of a different skin color or God-forbid, their son or daughter may fall in love with someone of another race.  Or they may discover themselves listening to the so-called “weaker” sex bring just as powerful a message from the Word of God as any man could ever hope to deliver.

Try shedding light on the truth that our God is still a healer, deliverer and Savior and is still in the miracle business and their religious “dispensational” hairs start standing on end.  Why is it that the “pious influence” resists and lambastes the apostolic and prophetic gifts, yet have no problem with the evangelistic, pastoral or teaching gifts.  Then they turn around and label as “nuts”, those who accept all five-fold ministry gifts and the miraculous as being relevant for today.  They seek to impose a set of dutiful regulations upon those who insists that God has called us to rule and reign as kings and priests in this present world and walk victoriously with the Greater One who is in us!

Any man or woman of God who has enough gumption to look a church board in the face and remind them that it was God who called you and not them, is a marked man or woman of God.

If you read all of Acts chapters 6 and 7, granted, Stephen made some pretty strong statements indicting the religious of his day, yet none of these statements were worthy of death.  The central thing that got him martyred was that all of these statements were plain and simple TRUTH.

Stephen brought seven counts against the “establishment” of the religious sects that were disputing with him.  He told them basically that they were: 

1.   Stiff-necked (Acts 7:51)

2.   Uncircumcised in heart (Acts 7:51)

3.   Uncircumcised in ears (Acts 7:51)

4.   Resisting the Holy Ghost (Acts 7:51)

5.   Betrayers of the Messiah (Acts 7:52)

6.   Murderers of the Messiah (Acts 7:52)

7.   In reality, refusing to obey the law (Acts 7:53)

Was he mean-spirited?  Hardly!  Was he bold?  Absolutely.  Was he uncompromising?  Definitely.  Was he preaching the truth in love?  Entirely!

The Word is called a “two-edged sword”.  A double-edged sword cuts two ways.  When Bible truth cuts to the heart, there is basically one of two responses that people are going to have.  Either they will receive it or reject it.  If they receive and embrace it, they will let God perform the work in their spirit that He desires to, thereby enhancing their relationship with the Father.  If they reject it they will have either an indifferent or hostile response.

Rejection of the truth of the Word, especially a hostile rejection, actually brings about more sin.  When Stephen, by the Word of God, under the anointing of the Spirit of God, disclosed the sins of this religious crowd, observe what happened.  Because they were cut to the heart or convicted by the Holy Ghost, they committed seven additional sins.  They:

1.   Gnashed upon, or bit chunks of flesh out of Stephen with their teeth (Acts 7:54)

2.   Were un-repentant and hard-hearted (Acts 7:54, 57)

3.   Cried for vengeance (Acts 7:57)