Years ago I helped run regional youth camps which attracted over a thousand youth at the time. During the time I spent taking my youth group to those camps I learned some valuable lessons that today you hear little about.

I remember at one such camp when I looked around the room there would not have been more than 10 Bibles but really the camp speakers rarely used them anyway. The music would pump and the kids would party, then someone would stand and say do you feel the presence of God. Immediately the kids would associate the atmosphere of fun and excitement with flashing lights and smoke as being where God was. Of course God is everywhere but their soul or man feelings were being fed not their spirits.

Now because of the pattern laid down in previous meetings of flashing lights etc. The following year would have to be even more entertaining. The music louder the atmosphere had to feed something that the leaders had taught those kids was God and His presence. If it was not bigger and better than previous times the unspoken thought was that the kids would not come. After all they had to have a good time.

One year after such a meeting the leaders were removing kids from each other’s sleeping bags and many ungodly things were occurring in the name of God. Why? I believe because the soul is a hungry animal and when it parties enough is never enough.

So all this leads to a young man who comes and says God told me I am going to marry a particular girl. When you ask how he knows that he says “when I saw her in that short skirt, I felt God say she was the one”. Trouble is the girl can’t stand him and never will. Can we blame that young man as his leaders had taught him that the same level he is attracted to that girl on is the one he feels God on. In fact it is his soul being ignited with passion for short skirts, and a party atmosphere that church leaders taught him is God.

My question of those youth camps was if God is so present then surely the kids would be even more excited to have their spirit touched by God. Could they worship God just the same if there had of been an old lady playing the harmonica there instead of the latest rock musicians? You and I both know the answer is no. They would walk out as they have been taught the soul is how to approach God.

Really they are being fed a powerless gospel of entertainment and humanism. Where does that lead? In my experience it leads to so called Christians who are faithless. The prophet Isaiah spoke of similar attitude in people -

Wherefore the Lord said, For as much as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

A generation is here who has the fear of God taught to them by the precepts of man rather than by an encounter with the living God.

Hi

We have such a wonderful response to the last email. To my surprise no responses were negative but all spoke the same message we are hungry and want to be with others who are hungry. So with that in mind let’s talk about the next step. I also encourage you to log into the website and add your comments to encourage others that they are not alone.

The bible talks about a wedding where Jesus coming for a pure bride – US! To be set apart for that marriage is a special thing. Set apart from attitudes that try to define, and the fear, sin, depression, anxiety and lust that constantly try to overcome our person. It is possible to find a freedom in life that sets us apart and gives new hope. The bible calls that setting apart being sanctified.

We find today those who have asked Jesus into their life but still walk paths filled with, sin, depression, fear , anxiety and the lust of the flesh. Never learning of sanctification or being set apart for God. To be set apart means never returning to where you were. It is following a higher calling that introduces you to the destiny of God for your life. A second work of grace flowing from the first salvation.

A work of sanctification is both intimate and special. It releases from soul chains and brings a lasting freedom. A work of sanctification is no less than amazing, so why is it today that many do not understand how to walk sanctification in their life in practical ways. Falsely thinking sanctification means going to church. The bible says

For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
¹⁷“Therefore come out from them
and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you.”
¹⁸“I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.

¹Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. 2Corinthians 6 &7

Another amazing verse says

²³May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5

Sanctification is “through and through” every part of your person being set apart. Notice the verse goes in this order; spirit, soul, body. Correct sanctification begins in the spirit of a man during a meeting with God. From the spirit the soul is sanctified, and the body follows along in submission.  Simply “walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the lust of the flesh”

So why does so much of the church struggle with carnality. Enjoying the party, booze, money and power more than anything else. They are carnal Christians who like to skate as close to the worldly passions as they can as they have never had a work of sanctification that has set them apart. Their religion works on their outside and tries to then move inside, the correct way is to allow the Holy Spirit to start on the inside and move out from there.

I am convinced many people struggle because they have never allowed a complete work of sanctification in their life. They have never tarried and gotten through in their releasing of the old ways. I meet so many woman for example who are chronic controllers, they hold their life and those around them as tightly as they can. What that says is they have never allowed a full work of sanctification. Or I see men who never step up and walk their destiny as they have never been set apart sufficiently so as to know their call in God. These people then attach to religious systems that can temporarily and artificially fill a void in their lives. They never hold pastors accountable and enjoy a fleshly church as it satisfies an old nature in them, one they have never been set apart from. So this sort of person sees no problem with alcohol, sees no problem with a little fling here and there, is totally OK with lewdness in the leaders. After all sanctification has never been a consideration.

“9 Days of Freedom”

We are setting apart 9 days to be set apart. For those 9 days we have the use of an empty storefront and intend to touch God in a greater way. “unless the Lord builds the house they labor in vain that build it”

For 9 days the doors will be open and all seekers are invited. Some may say I don’t need that and my answer is, don’t come then!

The time for games is over!

Without Holiness, no man/woman shall see God.

http://www.fathershand.org/wp/pure-salt/forget-miracles-and-preach-holiness/

Here is a recent newsletter that we sent to our readers.

I recently returned from a visit to Australia. I had not been there in 8 years and was curious what obvious changes would be noticed. Aside from the exorbitant price of food, one thing stood out to us in a massive way. The church has left the people. I guess you may ask, “How can that happen? Don’t the people usually leave the church?” You could say America is the same in many ways, but I just noticed it so massively in Australia. Let me explain.

The everyday people on the streets have changed. They are looking for sincerity and truth that will set them free. They are looking for a God of power and struggling to find teachers of such. Everywhere we went, and I mean everywhere, in shops, parks, etc. we encountered people looking for a real Jesus. Not a Jesus of just words, but One of power and life. Many, if not all, had looked in various churches and none had found. They all remained hungry.

Of course, there are wonderful churches in Australia just like here in the USA, but the trend in Australia has been to follow the crowd or model of so called successful, large churches. These churches can stir the soul of man but are largely devoid of the Spirit. Many teach a gospel pleasing to men and their passions and are excellent at what they do. But, does that make it right? Does it make it right when people come to church for a coffee or doughnut and leave naturally full while feeling empty spiritually? Sure they can feel the charged emotion of the crowd and meetings, and sadly many times mistake this for the Spirit. But I must get back to the point! A politically correct gospel that pleases and presents adherents with an easy path minus personal responsibility and spirituality runs through the land.

Christian, motivational speakers run empires, and the party rolls on. However, people are wandering and looking for churches or others that can teach them how to get free from sin and live in the power of the Holy Spirit in relationship with Jesus. We can talk power, but people want to walk power and find true pastors and teachers of the bride of Christ, as the Bible calls us.

For example, we were walking in a park and a couple approached us and said, “You are Christians aren’t you?” They were hungry to learn about a Jesus of power, but the church had left them! The next day while in a shop two workers asked me out of nowhere if I thought God was real. They explained to me how they talk together about God and wonder how to find Him. One lady mentioned how she had prayed not even 5 minutes earlier saying, “God I know you’re real, but I can’t find you. Please help me! How do I find my way to You?” Both women knew different churches, but church had left them. The whole experience was TOTALLY amazing. For the 45 minutes to an hour we spoke with each other, their world stopped. Right there in a busy pharmacy, they were meeting Jesus, their prayers were answered, and they didn’t even seem to care if they lost their jobs. They were desperate.

If ever I have seen a country getting ready for a move of God, it is Australia. Just don’t go looking in most churches. Granted, you’ll get good music if you like the party mix. Maybe you’ll find the arts at work, motivational speakers stroking people’s ego, or even what many mistakenly call the Spirit, that is actually the soul. There is a whole industry at work with very skilled CEOs and politicians tickling people’s ears and claiming to be pastors. If you take the time to get outside the mainstream, you will find a remnant church and a generation hungry for a real Jesus of power, signs and wonders in demonstration of the Spirit. I am FOR church, but in my way of looking at things, real church is individuals meeting together to worship, encourage and grow in truth, holiness, and righteousness of the Spirit of God.

I was thrilled, when talking to a long-time friend, to find he had left a large, worldly church in which he was involved. He told me how he had visited many churches looking for the Spirit and found them to all be the same. He was finding Jesus in a new and intimate way. He spoke of his old church running “rave parties” at which they stop and worship a soul God. He talked of his devastation at seeing many marriages fall apart from a worldly spirit in the church. If we make the church into a nightclub, then that church will get the same fruit as a nightclub: broken lives burning out. But beyond all that my friend had left the worldly church and was on a journey looking for true believers moving in the power of the Holy Spirit that believe in an absolute Bible.

If you have read this far, you have done well and obviously have some strong thoughts on this matter. I believe Jesus is about to move in Australia in a huge way as the church abandons people by not leading them spiritually. In the years ahead we will see men and woman rise up in Truth in a greater way and make a difference. Unlike the current church, they won’t be looking for how close they can get to the world, but will run the other way, leading many others the same way.

Australia has a huge social problem with binge drinking as they call it. Drunken youth at malls turn the streets of many cities into drunken hellholes at night. Australia loves its booze and that alcohol is destroying millions of lives like a slow cancer. Instead of showing the community a better way, much of the church raises their wine glasses with the world to say, “Let’s have a good time.” Pastors fall prey to alcoholism while trying to justify their drinking. We all know whatever we have to justify is usually always wrong. Where does the community turn for answers and change when they burn out? When the church has become like a football club, talking about Jesus like they would previous games and future events, how can this kind of church lead anyone to Christ? Australian churches, put your wine glasses down and turn your music down long enough to see that in trying to make yourselves relevant you have become irrelevant. People in the community are desperate for change. Some people, while sitting in your church seats, cry themselves to sleep trying to find the Jesus you have buried in humanism.

To the remnant of churches and people struggling against the flood of carnality and humanism in church, I say this: Stand strong! Your day in Jesus is coming where you will be a greater voice of truth and righteousness. The Bible talks of those that preach another Jesus. Can I ask, what would that Jesus look like? After all if humanism were about man and his ways, what would you call a Jesus that is watered down to our level of carnality? Jesus said, “I will build my church.” Jesus had absolutes and not a greasy grace that many apply to excuse their lust for the world and its fruits. A modern humanistic church that is devoid of absolutes has left the people. Church has left the people.