JESUS, THE REAL REVOLUTION

((WATCH)) The Revolution Has Begun….Will You Be a Part of It?

T.S. Walker - April 7, 2015 - X TRIBUNE

America is the greatest nation. Ever. I may be just a smidge biased but hearing the National Anthem or America the Beautiful just makes my chest swell and my eye tear up. Thinking of the sacrifices our soldiers make every day for this country, all the lives lost through the centuries for this country, seeing Old Glory waving in a sunset sky, knowing no other nation on earth has ever been like this one…Land of the Free, Home of the Brave…well, as Lee Greenwood sings, “there ain’t no doubt I love this land. God bless the USA!”

Unfortunately, America isn’t becoming greater. She’s getting worse. That’s certainly no secret. Divided by every issue, with hatred stirred up at every opportunity, the American people are not happy. Even if you don’t own a TV or have an Internet connection, you know that. 

Many have come forward, not just in our time but in our parents’ time as well, in both politics and religion, promising to bring the American people together, promising to unite the American people. The proof, as they say, has been in the pudding. No one has been successful. No one has been able to do it. Of course it doesn’t help to have those who love trouble stirring it up every chance they get. Their wealth depends on it, after all. Yet the fact remains. THE PEOPLE are ready for a revolution. Not from a governmental power, not from slavery.

From the messages poured into our inbox, you, THE PEOPLE, have told us you want back the America that inspired songs, that spirit of freedom and equality for ALL, that something that brings people together and unites them in spite of their differences because you are tired of what is happening in every part of this country every day. 

The strife, the discord, the tension, the sickening hatred. Politicians have promised it. They haven’t been able to deliver. Our country is more divided than ever. Churches have said they have the answer but they can’t even get along within their own building.

Let me tell you, I’ve been searching for it too. And I found it. The revolution has already started. Never had I heard of people of every denomination gathering together voluntarily and enjoying it. Until I made a journey to a little place called Goshen, Indiana. I had heard that every variety of persons were gathering together on a daily basis, mingling with each other voluntarily for 80+ days and…enjoying it. 

This I had to see for myself. Amish, Mennonite, Pentecostal, Baptist, Catholic, Charismatic, Methodist, Non-Denominational, Unsure…are in one room together and smiling? What could bring these people, people of every different political and religious view together for over 80 days in a row??

What I am about to attempt to describe to you is about the same as trying to describe the Grand Canyon to someone who has never even seen a picture of it. So let me try to give it to you in a story that reminds me of the situation in America today and this…thing I found.

First let me tell you this: I read books like they’re going out of print. I read about 2 – 3 books per week and I’m not picky, any subject will do. So one story I had read, an historic tale, came to mind because it parallels the situation of the American people so well.

A long, long time ago, a man whom we will call Ned was so deeply affected by the state of his city, by the condition his city had fallen into, that he couldn’t eat and he couldn’t sleep. His job was cupbearer to the king. While talking with some of his fellow countrymen one day, they were talking about the good ol’ days of their city, the memories of their home, of where they grew up and they told Ned how the wall, the only defense the city had, was broken and crumbling; the sad, sorry condition their once great home was now in. 

Ned was so heartbroken for his home that he actually wept. He couldn’t eat. He couldn’t sleep, and it affected his physical features. The king saw how distressed Ned was and asked him why. Ned told him about the condition of his home and the king gave him everything he needed to go do something about it. Here’s the difference between Ned and most Americans.

Ned could have said he didn’t know anything about building walls; he didn’t have any construction background so instead of going and doing something about it, he would just continue to be depressed and continue to complain about how bad his home had become.

Ned, however, had something Americans used to have but have lost. What Matthew Gullion, a man I interviewed about this article, called an

“unwavering mindset…the average church member sees a need and reports it to someone else to take care of it. ‘Ned’ saw the problem and became a part of the solution.”

Gullion said he believes

“if God has allowed you to see the problem, he has equipped you to be part of the solution.”

Ned went back to his home and gathered the people to begin rebuilding the wall. He told the people they would be in charge of the portions of the wall closest to their own homes, in their own areas. 

It took 52 days but the wall was rebuilt. 52 days of ridicule and people standing on the sidelines telling them what they could and couldn’t do. 52 days of people starting rumors and spreading lies. But it was done. The wall was rebuilt, the city was protected. Because the people “had a mind to work.” The people cared about the state of their home, they wanted back what they had in the good ol’ days, and they decided to do something about it.

Is it any wonder America is in the shape she’s in? Church people, of every denomination, are supposed to “be Jesus to the world.” Instead, some of them go to church on Sunday, give a little “Hallelujah,” turn up their nose at the lady wearing the same outfit she wore last week, and then through the rest of the week are doing the exact things they’re telling others not to do or else walking around with a holier-than-thou attitude, telling people how they should be living their lives. 

They don’t care about people. They don’t want to get to know people. They aren’t “being Jesus to the world.” They just want to be right and want everyone else to be wrong. There are many that are not that way, I know. A lot of them do live what they believe…but they keep it in the church, they don’t get out and share it.

What is the problem in America today? It’s not who’s in office. It’s not the latest law being passed. It’s division among the people. The American people being divided over every issue, the hatred being stirred up at every opportunity. As Gullion said,

“We cannot blame America for the direction she’s headed without looking right between the eyes of the churches, without inspecting our own hearts.”

So what’s the solution? The people. How, you ask? Don’t you know that people just don’t get along, you say? That’s right, they don’t. Not when the focus is on themselves. Not when people aren’t willing to be inconvenienced in order to find a solution.

How bad do you want the solution? Are you so heartbroken over the division and disunity in our nation that it affects your sleeping and eating? Are you so heartbroken over it that you’re willing to do something about it?

How many times throughout the life of this nation has it been proven that when the people are united, they can do ANYTHING. “United we stand, divided we fall.”

It sounds impossible, I know, but it’s not. It’s already happening. I’ve seen it.

Religious people in America today…you are the biggest part of the problem. You get caught up in rituals and music and do’s and don’ts and judgments and you make it all about you. Or, if you don’t do any of that, you simply just sit in the pew. People aren’t going to come to churches for you to love them. 

We’ve been too scarred by so many people in every part of society, not just the churches. You’ve got to get up and get out and love people right where they are. Isn’t that what your God tells you to do?? Isn’t that the second greatest commandment in your book, after loving Him?

Here’s where I try to describe the revolution (Grand Canyon) to you. I had heard about this thing happening that I described earlier in the article, where such a variety of people were coming together. And more were coming every day.

I received a call back from a woman named Janae. She invited me to come see for myself what was happening because as is the case now, attempting to describe it doesn’t do it justice. When I asked how this whole thing got started, she said an Amish couple, Mr. and Mrs. Miller, were praying one day and felt the Lord tell them to get a-hold of Kyle Martin, a 35-year-old man who lived in Texas but had grown up in the area. 

Mr. Miller, who is being called the modern-day “Ned,” went to the hardware store owned by Kyle’s parents and told them his request. Kyle and his team, a group that has a ministry called “Time to Revive,” came up to meet with Mr. Miller and pray to see if they should stay or not. They ended up staying 52 days. They then went home to Texas for 30 days to rest and came back up. I accepted their invitation and visited on the 83rd day.

Though amazed by hearing of all of those denominations together, and though Janae seemed like such a kindhearted, sweet woman on the phone, I was still expecting what has been portrayed as the “normal” church people in America. And to actually see hundreds of every variety congregating, talking, laughing, eating together…there are no words to describe it.

I would say it was a Grand Canyon experience, but as majestic as that place is, it can’t even compare to what I felt from those people. Kyle, whom I had expected to be too busy or just ready to preach at me, instantly reminded me of a mixture of Mother Teresa and comedian Tim Hawkins. Say if those two were in the same body, that would be Kyle.

Only a select few knew I was there to write an article. To the rest, I was “undercover.” But they treated me the same as they treated everyone else around them. In one building, hundreds of Amish, Mennonite, English, Hispanic, African-American, old, young,
crippled, fit, hipster, farmer –from yoga pants to Amish Kapps — they were all there together and they…LIKED it. I have never met such a fun group of people in my life (the Kings of Comedy have nothing on the first group I went out with). I have never in my life met people so happy. Yet happy is too superficial a word. They were…JOYFUL. And they genuinely cared about people.

They divided up into teams to go out into the community and just love people. They didn’t push their political agendas down people’s throats (I was there for over twelve
hours and I actually can’t even tell you what their political affiliations are). They didn’t even push their belief in, and relationship with, Jesus onto people.

They just simply CARED about people. They just went out and they got to know everyone they met on the street…literally. Helping if someone needed help, bantering back
and forth with each other. They just…truly…cared about people.

When asked, what is going on, Kyle replied: “Jesus.” He said the
reason for the unity is that they don’t focus on the things that divide. Those that believe
in Jesus just focus on Him and do what He told them to do. Love people. Love people WHERE THEY ARE in that moment. No matter what “sin” the church thinks they are committing. In fact, he even told the people going out, “If someone doesn’t want to hear about Jesus, don’t push it on them. Just love on them.” And they did. Every race, every age, every situation. They truly cared about these people and all they wanted to do was love on them.

And the fun they had! I was there from 7:00 in the morning until 9:30 at night and the fun never stopped! These people have something. I’ve included videos from their YouTube channel below and a link to their Facebook page here so you can read what others’ have discovered there as well. But I encourage you, if it’s at all possible, go there and see what’s happening for yourself.

People are uniting. Not against the government. No one there cared about politics or government. But people are uniting together AS A PEOPLE. Isn’t that what made this
country great in the first place? Isn’t that what we’ve been missing and longing for? If what I saw happening in that little city of Goshen, Indiana were happening in every city….well, I would probably be out of a job because there wouldn’t be so much murder, torture, and
rioting going on. Land of the Free, Home of the Brave. She’s coming back, America. Will you join?

Read more at http://xtribune.com/2015/04/watch-the-revolution-has-begun-will-you-be-a-part-of-it/

My comments: God Almighty ALONE made America great for His own purposes. It is critical for every Christian to love other Christians and their neighbor as themselves. There is great joy in this. In this Last of the Last Day of "Time" the love of most will grow cold because of the increase of Wickedness [Matt. 24:12]. No matter what goes on in the Culture we must maintain our love for one another. I don't think America is going to come back to honoring God as a Nation. Nevertheless, we must honor God and His Word with our lives. Our Kingdom is NOT OF THIS WORLD. "He who Stands Firm to the End will be Saved." (Matt. 24:13)