CHRISTIAN LITERATURE
& LIVING

A TESTIMONY TO THE LIGHT

Pastor John Meacham

GOD SPOKE TO ME, BUT I WAS BUMPED BY PEOPLE!

God spoke to me from a fiery cloud and I saw the dazzling light of God's Glory,(http://www.dazzlinglight.org), but my church does not want me to tell you about it.

It had been an exciting couple of weeks. The Holy Spirit was moving in my efforts to follow God's call to reveal His Glory and to inspire other people to live like Christ. An artist had just finished painting the Clouds and the Dazzling Light (I Kings 8:10-11) that I saw in 1983 and I mailed the picture and the story of this experience to the 138 churches in our Presbytery.

Boy, was I bumped. Whoa, this would be the chance I had waited for, God was calling me to go share this revelation with the churches, to inspire people to a higher level of involvement in the church and to nurture a deeper commitment to Christ.

MY MAIL CREATES AN UPROAR!

Wrong Just a few days later the minister at my home church was calling me to let me know the mailing was creating quite an uproar. Ministers were calling the Presbytery Office to complain about the mailing of this unsolicited material and the Executive Presbyter was calling him to try and get it stopped. How dare someone proclaim that they heard the voice of God? How dare someone proclaim that they saw the Dazzling Light of God's Glory? Did they not know that such information could destroy the church?

Then a few weeks later, at a Presbytery meeting, the Executive Presbyter banned me from sending out any more of this subversive information that revealed God's Glory to the churches in our Presbytery.

WHY IS THE CHURCH SO AFRAID OF HOLINESS?

Why is the church so afraid of Holiness? Is the church, so locked up in the ways of the world that it has replaced Holiness with Humanness? Does the church long for the words of humanity and not the Word of God? Does the church long for the love of creation and not the love of Christ? Does the church long for the power of this world and not the power of the Holy Spirit?

I thought, maybe this is just a Presbyterian problem and not a church problem. So I took my case to the internet and created a web site to reflect the light to other churches around the world (see http://www.dazzlinglight.org ).

COUNTER COURSE AGAINST HUMANITY AND CHURCH

The conflict start up again on the first day I sent out the unsolicited e-mails. A famous Baptist minister from Wales said this revelation was silly and self-serving. That if I wanted a true revelation I could go to his web site and read one of his 3,000 sermons that he had cataloged there or I could go to their church bookstore and order his latest book. Another minister reported me to the internet police and wanted me convicted of spaming.

I have actually sent this revelation of God's Glory to over 1,000 churches and the one thing that I have learned is that the church seems to be moving away from God. I was actually inspired to write this article after reading Andy Crouch's article "A Testimony in Reverse", because I wanted to let him know that the audible and the visible revelations from God can put you on a counter course not only with humanity, but with the church as well.

HOLINESS CAUSES PROBLEMS

The church is now aging to the point where the injection of Holiness to a largely human organization can cause significant problems. The ultimate question is who do we want to have the power? Us or God?

A good test for your church is to listen during church services and see if the minister calls on the Holy Spirit to indwell and to lead the church in worship or do they do as Andy Crouch said and "pray for my own plans of godhood".

SOME POSITIVE RESPONSES

I may have gone a little too far in my negative thoughts about the high degree of humanness in today's church, because I have found churches that were very open to God's revelation and even had such encouraging comments as the following from Dr. Ed Gunter, Pastor, St. Andrews United Methodist Church:

"What a powerful story. It moved me to tears. I had no idea. I would love for you to share this story as living proof of the revelation God has given you. This is so timely for our Monday night class on Christian Doctrine."

Pastor Alex Bullard of Grace Fellowship Church wrote:

"When I heard John speak of this miracle that God had shined in his life, I asked him to come and share it with our congregation. When he came to speak, I saw several different reactions among our church members:

Surprise Not unbelief, but surprise. Many times in our lives, we think that God will not, or cannot, reveal Himself to us. This is our limited faith that shows up: He is God and can do anyhing. This revelation helped people who seem to be suppressed in their faith to become active in their faith. They have since been submitting to the Holy Spirit as He deals with them, instead of hiding the fact that God wants to use them for His service.

Relief I saw some who have had experiences in the past that they were afraid to speak about. This testimony helped them to become relaxed, able, willing and wanting to share their experiences that God has dealt with them. They felt like in the past they could not speak up because no one would believe them. Now they can share and hopefully make a difference in other people's lives through the power of God.

Joy I saw some just filled with joy…someone willing to share their testimony and not afraid of the persecution that they will face (many persecutions by their own Christian brothers and sisters).

I count it a joy to have been a part of hearing about God's revelation. For I know that God can do anything and that He is well able to touch our lives each and every day."

FROM A FIERY CLOUD, GOD WANTS US TO BE FILLED WITH HIS HOLY SPIRIT

God spoke to me from a fiery cloud and I saw the dazzling light of God's Glory and God wants me to tell you about it.

God wants us all to make our lives simple, to get our lives right, to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and to put God first in all that we do.

God wants us all to see the dazzling light of His Glory and on seeing, to be inspired to live like our brother Jesus Christ.

God wants the church to be filled with the power of His Holy Spirit. God wants the church to be filled with surprise, with relief, with joy, with faith, with hope and with love.

God wants the church to be filled with Christ.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BAPTISM OF JESUS | LETTERS FROM HOME, introducing a book by Pastor Ted Haggard | THE LAW IS HOLY | MORAL ARGUMENT FOR GOD | A TESTIMONY TO THE LIGHT | FASTING KEY, introducing a book by Pastor Mark Nysewander | LEARNING FROM RENAISSANCE EDUCATION | HOME PAGE | CONTACT EDITOR