The Free Church

The Free Church

 

John 8:36

 

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

 

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ readers!  I pray you had a blessed Lord's Day wherever you are.  I want to thank each of you who have been reading my blogs.  Your kind words and encouragement are appreciated as is your sharing my blog with others to generate more readers.  My aim is simply to be able to freely give what I have been given and entrusted with.  To that end, I pray, I study, I write...and I wait.  I wait for the Lord to open any other doors for my wife and I to minister.  We feel the Lord has called us to this type of internet presence for a reason.  The world is large and driven largely by these types of communication.  A presence such as this allows us to minister unchained and un-hindered in ways that a traditional church is unable to.  We look forward to the opportunities that the Lord will give us in the future both nationally and overseas to minister the gospel of GRACE and FREEDOM.

 

I spend a considerable amount of time in these blogs teaching from the Bible and sharing the Grace message that is so much at the heart of Freedom Church.  It always has been, always will be.  It is THE GOSPEL and this Gospel is "the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith.""  But another element that is at the heart of our ministry is the concept of being FREE.  Today I would like to share just a few thoughts about exactly what that means and how that ties into our ministry.

 

When the Lord laid the concept of Freedom Church on my heart somewhere in the area of 2009, some of the concepts were new to me.  I had to begin doing a lot of research about what I was feeling led towards.  I was brought up in a denominational church which shall remain unnamed.  I had never known anything but that denomination, was educated in its institutions, indoctrinated in its ways and pastored in its churches.  Like most people who are faithful to their denomination, whether we like to admit it or not, I just figured we were right and others were wrong...or at least not as right as we are.  We are taught to "submit to the authorities over us" and to do all the things our religious organization requires of us.

 

After a crisis in my life that resulted in a break from ministry and that denomination for a season, the Lord began to speak to me about the very real problems that exist in the church, especially in North American Christendom and the very real problems that are on the horizon for the same.  Now I have never claimed to be a prophet but I do feel the Lord has given me prophetic vision concerning the areas that He has been leading me into since then.  For the next year, I prayed, did research, shared with my wife, planned, organized and eventually launched Freedom Church.  In order to share what "Freedom" means, I will take you through the different aspects of it.

 

The first thing that I realized was that the theological background that I was from was highly legalistic and works oriented.  One day I ran across a television show called "Destined to Reign" with a preacher named Joseph Prince and I encountered GRACE!  I began to soak up the message of Grace and the Holy Spirit bore witness to my spirit that this was the true Gospel.  I literally began to eat up everything I could find on this by anyone who taught it.  I carefully searched the Scriptures against their teachings and against what I had been taught before.  I studied original language words and concepts and knew that I had been set FREE from the bondage of legalism, works righteousness and condemnation as well as FREE from the guilt, power and penalty of sin.  A joy and peace and freedom such as I had never experience flooded my life and it continues to get better with each passing day.

 

The second element of FREEDOM was that I knew that I could never be a part of a denominational structure again.  Now if you are a part of a denomination, please do not read any form of malice in my writing.  I love you and God loves you ridiculously.  But what the Lord showed me was that his Church is in bondage in many ways to denomination rules and traditions that place too much emphasis on some areas while restricting or even forbidding others.  His Church has become divided.  In 1 Corinthians 3 Paul tells the Corinthians that they were mere infants because of the divisions between them.  He said they should be ready for solid food but that they were still only able to handle milk and that they were worldly because of the quarreling and jealousy between them.  This is the way the Church is divided through denominations today, especially in our country.  I have been to Africa and know how churches operate in other countries and in them, even though they have been planted by and are in denominations as well, they are much less concerned with that denominational name than we are in the states.  They are believers, often persecuted believers and do not have time or energy or interest to quarrel over denominational differences.  They will gladly come alongside other believers simply in the Name of Christ.  In America, we have erected tall barriers of division among denominations and it is very rare and a major accomplishment to see any ecumenical spirit at all.  In fact, there are often a number of churches from the same denomination in a town or city and there is a strong competitive spirit between them; we can't even play nice together in the same family not to mention crossing denominational lines.  I have heard accusations of "sheep stealing" when people move from one to another, as if they are "their people".  These are Christ's people pastor and that is not "your" church you are laboring in.  I know I am slipping into a rant here but I believe strongly that the Lord showed me these things and told me to "Get out!"  Being FREE from denominational rules and control as well as doctrinal control even when erroneous, allows for so much more growth in Grace, in love of the Body, and in having eyes and heart open to hear and learn the Word of God.

 

The next element of FREEDOM that the Lord impressed on my heart was the concept of a FREE Church.  By FREE I mean un-incorporated, non 501c3 no profit organization.  By being a FREE church, we are FREE from governmental control and interference.  In our country, most churches are actually corporations set up with a business model and operating as one.  If you have bylaws, annual meetings, officers, and a tax free designation, then you can be sure you are a corporation and as such you are a product of the State and fall under a whole umbrella of laws that govern you.  I know that most people believe that the separation of church and state will keep the government from dictating the life of the church but they are wrong.  The writing is on the wall as to the direction this county is going.  There is a secular humanistic anti-God agenda that this country is hell bent (ironic choice of words) on.  It is indeed the spirit of anti-Christ.  Many say, we need to pray, we need to vote, we need God in America again! While I agree with all of that the prophetic voice inside me says the reality is that America does not want God back in it.  Now before someone accuses me of being anti American let me assure you that I am as patriotic as anyone.  I served in the US Army and fought in Desert Storm.  I pray for our country and our leaders but I also recognize that I am a Christian and a citizen of a heavenly Kingdom and that takes precedence over anything else.  With the direction this country is going, it will not be long at all before churches are forced into compromising some very core values to operate in ways that they  will be required to operate.  Churches will very soon be dictated to what they can say or not say and what they can do or not do...or must do.  To disregard the new Caesar will be to jeopardize their good standing as a acceptable and legitimate religious institution as well as their tax exempt status.  There will be seizing of property and back taxing in ways that will cripple local churches.  They will either bow to the Government or be forced underground.  Unfortunately, for many religious institutions who are themselves business and worldly minded with focus on dollars and numbers, the cost will just be too high...they will not feel they can absorb such a loss.  Now I believe that day is coming much faster than people think...in fact many do not believe it will come at all .  What I know about Freedom Church is that from its inception, we have never been a part of that system.  We will never be forced to deal with those issues, when persecution comes, we will simply move a little deeper underground and possibly a little more off the radar but we will continue in the same way that we have always operated.

 

The business model of incorporated and 501c3 non profit organization way of doing church is a fairly new way of operating in God's kingdom and I believe it will be a snare to many.  Of course as like persecution always does, it will bring a shaking and a sifting to the church and a strengthening to those who would devote their lives to the cause of Christ.  There is much more to say on this topic as well as many resources for study.  As one who has been convinced of the necessity of bringing and keeping the Church under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and him alone and as one who strongly believes that persecution of the Way is rapidly approaching this country, an element of the ministry of Freedom Church is consultation about the Free Church model.  Whether it is bringing your church out of the incorporated status or planting a new church, I would love to help.  I can be contacted by response, by personal email, or by phone.  I will dialogue with you by any of these means or come to personally meet and work with you as well if you are interested.  

 

Please pray for us and our ministry and feel free to respond and dialogue with me about this or any of my posts/blogs.  May the GRACE of our Lord and His shalom peace be upon you.

 

 

Blessings,

Pastor Tony

Freedom Church, USA