Bart Hadaway: The Church's Finest Hour
A rousing prophecy, which has Churchillian rather than biblical overtones was given here on the Elijah List: This will be the finest hour for the Church in America. Now believe it! This word was given to Bart two years ago, but has it been tested? If it had been tested, it would have been found to fall short of God's word and would not have appeared on the Elijah List. This word from Bart Hadaway has some good points and some bad. Unfortunately, the bad will always spoil any good. So what is wrong with this word?When does a church have its finest hour? It does not have one. The Body of Christ is made up of people who are doing the will of God and consequently every action undertaken is to the glory of God in Christ Jesus. For the church to have a finest hour means that the church is being glorified in some way. For over two thousand years the gospel has been preached. True preachers have not sought their own glory. This is a matter of theology: Jesus is the good shepherd, seeking the lost to save. The Lord uses men to proclaim His Word - what a privilege.
Bart's word is given as two sentences so what about the second? Now believe it! These words lack grace of any kind. They are threatening and insensitive and there is no record in the gospels in which Jesus says: Now believe it! Bart is prophesying a turning point for the church and he desperately wants us to believe that it is.
There are hundreds of words out there on the Elijah List, where someone has prophesied some sort of turning point. Bart goes on to say: We must see a revival of righteousness in the Church! Please hear me. The last thing we need is a manmade or man-imposed standard of righteousness. This is not something we can create. This is something that can only come from the initiation of the Holy Spirit. But is Bart conveying the Lord's word, or his own words from his own imagination. When he says: Please hear me, it sounds like his own words since Jesus never uttered such words. You might ask: What is a standard of righteousness? Jesus is righteous and we can be clothed with His righteousness. Therefore, either we are absolutely righteous as he is or we are sinners. There is no level or standard of righteousness between those two extremes, as Bart fears.
Every time someone presents a word like this in which they hope to trigger God into acting, surely, we just move further away from God and further away from God acting on our behalf. The Great Commission is about taking the Word of God to a lost world, not telling God how it should be done.
21st September 2010