The oft heard expression, “Being on the wrong side of
history”, has considerable currency in our day, being increasingly applied by
powerful political figures to nations and world leaders who are taking
unpopular stances many believe will be judged by history as being "in
the wrong." When stances taken will be viewed (looking back
historically) from far in the future, they will be considered to have been on
the 'wrong', 'losing' or 'immoral' side of the particular
issue, even though public opinion may have been unclear on this point at the
time the stance was taken. Being judged as “on the right side of history”
is a virtue.
How much more virtuous is it to be on the “right side” of
moves of God, rather to be found inadvertently opposing His moves? It
is so easy to be on the wrong side of moves of God, especially since He affirms
in Isaiah 55:9, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your
thoughts.” For example, though God had promised to send His Messiah (The Anointed
One or Christ), through a virgin birth into the Jewish nation, people,
especially religious scholars of the day, missed the incredible move of God
represented by the birth, ministry and death of Jesus, just as they totally
missed and dis-believed God’s promise through Noah, of a worldwide flood. There
is something about moves of God that we humans just have a habit of missing as
we get locked into our own narrow interpretations of scripture and world
events.
There is a particular issue unfolding in our world today
that has or should have Christians the world over earnestly wrestling
with. It will be important to perceive and be on both the right side of
history and the next move of God. This issue is "coming to the unity
of the faith”:
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some
prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the
equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of
the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro
and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the
cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love,
may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole
body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the
effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body
for the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:11-15)
During May 2014, for much of my Bible devotion and
meditation, I was drawn to John 17, commonly known as the Priestly Prayer
Jesus prayed during the run-up to His crucifixion. As I mused on
this prayer day-after-day, one which I know Jesus prayed in faith, and which
God is answering in His time, I began to ponder several repeated requests
therein for which God’s answers seemingly have yet to be revealed. One
request in particular that attracted my attention is “that they be
one”. This request is repeated FIVE times. This
indicates how heavily the (future) issue of Christian dis-unity was already on
Jesus’ heart, even while facing the certainty of a gut-wrenching,
flesh-ripping, agonizing crucifixion. This also signifies how great
God’s GRACE would be in order to overcome dis-unity, since the number, 5,
represents ‘the Grace of God’.
So the month of May offered much time to ponder what would
this unity look like, and when might God’s answer to this request be
revealed. Over the ages, satan has had a field-day sowing seeds of
dis-unity, not only among Christ followers, but also across practically every
religion that ever existed. Dis-unity, discord, offense and strife,
no matter the area of life, has been and remains his chief calling card, and
all humanity has followed suit.
The end of May, I was blessed to attend the Believers’ Voice
of Victory (Kenneth Copeland Ministries - KCM) convention in Henderson, Nevada
(adjacent to Las Vegas). Following these meetings, KCM requested its
partners in attendance to opine about areas in which the ministry could enhance
its worldwide outreach (general ministry, disaster relief, leadership
development, etc.) and sharpen its focus. Since the issue of unity
had been heavily on my heart during the run-up to this convention, I submitted
an impassioned plea for the resources of this international ministry to focus
on promoting unity among Christ followers the world over, in accordance with
Jesus’ prayer in John 17.
Today I received the video of one of the kick-off meetings
of KCM’s southwest convention in July (http://youtu.be/zihTk2YAOj4), and
I was over-joyed at the laser-sharp focus on the issue of…(Ta…daaaaa)…unity
among Christ followers! That which has looked totally impossible,
inconceivable, and impractical since the day Jesus prayed this prayer, is
seemingly beginning to unfold right under our noses! What a joy to
witness and, for a change, be on the right side of an unfolding move of
God! Yet even as God is moving to accomplish His purposes and will
on earth, rest assured, seeds of dis-unity have not been uprooted. They
continue to flourish and bear much fruit.
For example, during the ages, satan, who can only try
to mimic and pervert the things of God, has spawned his own versions of a
‘unified worldwide church’, including many cults and false teachings. So the recent calls
for a one-world government and one-world religion* are
like spiritual earthquakes across the worldwide protestant church, as
they perhaps should be. On the surface, these sound too much like
Bible prophecies outlined in several New Testament books, including the Book of
Revelation. But it is important to keep in mind, during much of what
is predicted in Revelation, the Church will not be present to experience! Moreover,
before the Church is extricated from earth, we will become one, or
Jesus will have a big problem on His hands as we carry our discordant and
divisive quibbles and squabbles from earth, on the cloud-ride to Heaven!
So whether it occurs via oppression (as history
demonstrates) or otherwise,
One, we shall become!
Thus, it is definitely worth “watching and praying” to
perceive how ‘this unity’ rather than more ‘dis-unity’ may unfold during the
shortening time of this present age.
