The Prophetic Telegraph - No.3
LIFTING THE MAT
THE PAINFUL QUEST
FOR REALITY
August 1986
The rich young man knelt
before Jesus. Perhaps his whole approach was too good to be true.
"Good Master," he began, but before he had said much
more the Lord stopped him. "Why do you call me good? There is
none good save One, even God." (Mk.10:17) Why should the Lord
have spoken in this manner? Was He not Emmanuel, God with us? Was it not very
right and proper to have spoken to Him in this way? Maybe it was, but the Lord
saw behind the words, straight into the mans heart. He was training His
disciples as well. On another occasion He said to them, "Beware
when all men speak well of you!" (Luk.6:26) He reminded them
that their own forefathers had spoken well of the false prophets.
Let us analyse this
situation. What underlies the attitude of 'speaking well' of someone, and
receiving compliments from others? According to the Lord's words, danger lurks
there. His words were not so much "Beware" as
"Woe to you!" and that makes it all the more
serious. And for why? It is because of the effect it has upon the recipient.
Compliments affect us all deeply, and if they are multiplied, and advertised,
they engender pride. Pride is one of the primary means to our undoing, in the
world and also in the church. Let us look at this in more detail.
Consider the TV channels.
Almost the entire output is about man evaluating man. Doesn't this place an
enormous pressure on us all to comply? Are we not being brainwashed by the
never ending merry-go-round of programmes which sing the praises of famous men
and women, of athletes and sportsmen, those with the best brains, and those
with the best vital statistics. In this frantic struggle for popularity and
success, where everyone cheers heartily, we are considered crabby, sour,
bitter, jealous, and negative if we do not add our own volume of approbation.
Truly the pressure is great.
But a moment's thought will
show that these same TV channels contradict themselves at every turn. What are
the news programmes but the very advertisements of violence and perversion? And
how many soap operas, and 'cops & robbers'-type programmes depict
fictionally what we all know to be true in fact about human nature? So why all
this pressure to speak well of each other? The answer lies in the fact that so
long as we are shown enough films about the 'bad guys', whether in fact or in
fiction, we shall always have enough rotten shoulders to tread upon to elevate ourselves,
and to make ourselves feel good by comparison, and to justify ourselves in our
own eyes. Without even realising it, we all fall into this trap, whether we are
of the world or of the household of faith. We give it a word these days. We
call it humanism, and it comes along all dressed up in pleasant garb, with a
smile on its face, telling us that we are all right really, so cheer up! All of
us want to feel right about ourselves, and so we are pressured at every turn to
speak about people as 'good chaps', 'lovely people', 'nice guys', 'fine
fellows', and worst of all, 'good Christians'. It keeps the ugly truth at bay.
It wards off the pricks of conscience. And we like the feedback! The more we
speak well of others, the more comfortable we feel in our minds about
ourselves. But we deceive ourselves.
The fact of the matter is,
we are all faulty, and deep down we know it, but we prefer to 'brush it
under the mat' where it is not seen, by others, or by ourselves. When
God came down amongst men in the person of Jesus Christ, He did a most
embarrassing thing. He started to lift those mats, and reveal all the dirt and filth
that men had swept under them! People were outraged and deeply offended. But He
kept on doing it until they could not stand it any longer, and put Him to
death. But they did not realise that He was different to all others. He had a
clean mat, and there was no dirt under it. And so death could not hold Him. On
the third day He rose again, and through the good offices of His disciples and their
writings, He has been lifting men's mats ever since!
God knows that it is good
to lift our mats. But human nature struggles to prevent this. However God is
looking for those who will admit to this exercise, and welcome the broom and
the vacuum cleaner into their lives. If we say to God, "I give you
permission to lift my mat," then we find a most amazing thing! We see the
smile on the face of our Lord as He says to us, "Have no fear. I died that
you might be clean." But He does not stop there. He says, "Now, have
a new mat!" That is real love.
When Jesus walked this
earth, there were some who followed Him. But John tells us (2:24) "He
did not commit Himself to them because He knew all men, and needed not that any
should testify of man, for He knew what was in man." Today's
believers must learn this lesson as well. We shall not 'commit ourselves to
men' nor allow them to commit themselves to us. We do not say this because we
have the same all-seeing eye as the Son of God, but because of the dangers of
false associations between men. Jesus said, "Woe to you when
all men speak well of you." And in that same passage we find
Him saying to His disciples, "Blessed are you when men shall
hate you, and when they shall cut you off from their company, and shall reproach
you, and cast out your name as evil for the sake of the Son of
Even though these are the
words of the Lord, some might object and say, "Are you telling us that it
is better to be evicted from your church than to be there and enjoy worship
with your brethren?" And our answer would be, "To what extent have
you sought to weld strong links of commitment with those in your church,
perhaps on the basis of what the world would call, 'hail-fellow-well-met',
without realising that you have been fostering the process of sweeping dirt
under mats?" The more that men do this, the more difficult does it become
to accept the loner in their midst, the one who lifts a few mats and makes
people angry. Such loners will soon be asked to leave. They will have become
like their Master, and that is why He tells them to rejoice. Was not our Lord
also a regular attendee of local synagogues and the
What does the Bible say
about human nature, the 'dirt under the mat'? Well, many things of course, but
here are just two. Jer.17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all
things and is desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart
- -."1 Chron.28:9 "The Lord searches every
heart, and understands all the hidden motives behind our thoughts." How
often have we been guilty of "speaking with great swelling
words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage"?
(Jude 16) Here is the crux of the matter - 'because of advantage'. Whose
advantage? Our own of course. How often are we subjected to 'final votes of
thanks' to visiting speakers, in terms which would make our Lord cringe; how
often must we give 'rounds of applause' to soloists and choirs for their
performances, and even 'clap offerings' to the Lord Himself. God forbid.
Friends and brethren, we should stop all this at once. It is a disgrace to the
Lord, and savours of falsehood and deception. The Lord sees right through all
our facades of pleasantry, and urges us to more serious things.
The Lord Jesus had many
serious words for the 'church leaders' of His day, the Scribes and the
Pharisees. Often He called them hypocrites. (Matt.23:27) What constitutes a
hypocrite? Is he not the man who presents a false front to win the admiration
of men? Jesus said, "You are like whitewashed sepulchres which
look fine on the outside, but contain the bones of the dead and all
uncleanness." He was speaking about the dirt under the mat in
another figure of speech. No wonder then that we should not commit ourselves to
men. Nor should we allow others to commit themselves to us. The dangers are too
great. We are all subject to hypocrisy without realising it, whether we belong
to the world or the household of faith. The sheer strain of living a totally
open life amongst men would probably kill us, if we were not killed by others.
This is particularly true of the days in which we now live which are highly
cosmetic.
Let no one say that we
abhor fellowship. This is not the point. We love and desire fellowship but only
that which is true and open, honest and sensible, serious and uplifting to God.
Let us make a pact to start being open with each other, and confessing our
faults, rather than brushing it all under the mat all the time. Let us begin to
do this, that others may have the courage to start as well, for although we all
use 'window dressing' most of us despise ourselves for it especially when we
become Christians. Let us read John's letter (1 J.1:8) "If we
say we have not sinned (ie. hypocrisy) we deceive ourselves and the truth is
not in us. If we confess our sins (to God and to each other) He is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness."
Only in this manner can we
begin to grow to Christian manhood and maturity. The untrained and untrainable
have no place in God's kingdom. Neither has the hypocrite place in the
The ancient Greek philosophers
had a saying, GNOTHI SEAUTON (Know thyself). By continual inward searching they
sought to cleanse themselves, and by suitable personal training they sought to
make themselves acceptable to man and society. And it is this type of
philosophy which pervades the Western World today. "Self- made men"
are continually praising their 'creator' and their peers. But all of this is to
no avail before God. He alone can cleanse us and He alone can give us new life,
and He alone can influence our lives for the better, as we yield to Him. Paul
writes about it in Phil.3 "That I may know Him (not myself),
and the power of His resurrection (because we cannot walk in our own strength),
and the fellowship of His sufferings (the inevitable consequence of lifting
mats!), being made conformable to His death (not giving up when the going gets
rough), if by any means I might attain to the resurrection from the dead (a
recognition that God's main purpose for man lies in the next life, and not
now.)"
And if this painful lesson needs
to be learned by us all in our lives together as believers, how much more does
it need to be learned by those who take the lead in any respect. And in respect
to the attitude of the congregation to their leaders. Who desires to be a great
man of God, and to do great things for God? Such a man defeats his own object
before he starts. Why is this? It is because he has neatly put under the mat
the REAL reason for aspiring to such a position. It is the desire to be admired
by men that has caused him to seek such an elevation. It is a very sad fact
that many preachers seem to feed off the adulation they receive, and their
ministry differs but little from the men-of-the-world whose profession is that
of acting. Just as the actor depends upon the applause from the audience, so
the preacher depends upon his continuing acceptance from his congregations. How
many times these days do we pick up brochures that speak about the leaders of
certain conferences. "Brother So-and-so is well known for his
ministry to the ***** and we are indeed fortunate to have him with us at this
time." "Brother Whatsit has a real anointed ministry of healing.
Don't miss this opportunity etc.etc." Have we ever stopped to
think what effect such words have upon the So-and-sos and the Whatsits of the
preaching world?
In His sermon on the mount,
our Lord said many hard things, things which could be likened to scalpels that
cut into the flesh. But one word He gave causes all those who read it to ponder
deeply. It is Matt.7:21-23. Let us quote it in full. "Not
everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord' will enter into the
On what basis did our Lord
commend those whom he met? Take the Centurion as an example. Luke 7:1-10 He did
not consider himself worthy even to meet the Lord, but he recognised the
authority of Jesus, and knew that his servant would be healed at the very
moment He prayedd Jesus marvelled at this, and said that he had not found such
faith in
The fruits of the Holy
Spirit are listed in Gal:
- - - - - - - -oOo- - - - - -
- -
A WORD OF PROPHECY FOR OUR
TIMES
Received
"Let those
who weep among my people for the sight of the devastation in their land cry
unto the Lord and say, 'Spare your people 0 Lord; do not make your inheritance
an object of scorn and a derisive proverb among all peoples. Why should mockers
arise to point finger and say 'Show us your God! Does He really exist?''
Let those who
mourn among my people for the apostasy in my church cry unto the Lord and say,
'Have mercy 0 Lord upon your own inheritance, fot we are so small. Give unto us
0 Lord the strength to stand in the gap and hold back the flood-waters of
destruction. Let not the enemy deal with us according to our sins, but rather
let us fall into the hands of the Living God, who alone is merciful and just.'
Let those who
dwell alone in silence, groaning within their hearts as they witness the fear
and perplexity upon all faces, cry unto the Lord and say, 'In the midst of
judgment 0 Lord, defend the common folk, the very old and very young, the
bountiful and generous, the merciful and trustworthy, all those who (though as
yet they know you not) act as though your laws were writ within their hearts.
Let not the destroying angel pass through the land before you have granted
these your canopy of defence.'
Let those who
have already passed through the fires of judgment, those who have tasted the
wormwood and the gall, and have entered into a place that is clean and bright,
say unto their Lord, 'Teach me 0 Lord, so to deal with my brother ever as you
have dealt with me. Help me to give your word of rebuke or correction, and not
to flee from the responsibility. Help me to administer the coals from the
altar, bearing the pain within my own heart. Help me to stand back when all my
fallen nature cries out to rush in and quench the flames. Above all help me to
pray for the 'end of the Lord' and His double blessings.'
For I say to
you, the fashion of all things is now in the process of change. The shaking has
now begun in your land. All that has caused offence shall be lifted out and
displayed to view. All that has been obscene and unholy shall be naked and
exposed for all to see. All that has been woven together into a web of
deception, and a stumbling block to my people, shall appear as a mildewed
cloth, stinking and ready to fall apart. And those who have been responsible
shall no longer be able to hide behind the masks of anonymity and the luxury of
occult powers. And Lucifer shall be seen.
And those who
were bound captive in darkness by demonic strength shall be delivered from
their prisons, and those who groped around in darkness shall be granted a clear
bright light, and those who were born in blindness shall have their sight and
glorify the God of heaven. And those who bore with me through the long night of
sorrow, sharing my grief, shall arise to a new day, and as heavenly luminaries
bring many to righteousness, and sow the seeds of hope within the land.
Come apart my
little ones and hide yourselves awhile. Hold fast to that which has been
revealed to you from heaven. Call down my canopy of defence in which to hide,
as my overflowing scourge passes through your land. For this is my own work,
brief but penetrating, whereby I shall accomplish all that has been within my
heart from the beginning, says the Lord."