The Path (Fire on the Mountain Series) (15 page)

“There are a number of reasons. One is that many have reduced The Great Commission to making converts instead of disciples. When our vision is so shallow, then we can only impart such shallowness to those we lead.

“We are told that the Holy Spirit searches the depths, even the depths of God. No follower of Christ who has the Holy Spirit should ever be shallow in anything, much less their knowledge of God and His ways. This shallowness always results in many spiritual shipwrecks, and I think the shepherds may end up taking a lot of responsibility for these.”

“Another reason for this shallowness is that few of those who have gained much influence in the body of Christ today have been through this wilderness. Few are leading their people to the mountain,” Elijah responded, who had been listening nearby without being noticed. He continued:

“The kind of leadership they are using will work for people who are selfishly just seeking blessings and abundance for themselves, but it does not lead them to the kingdom. Selfishness will get you killed on the path that leads to the kingdom. It is only by being willing to lose our lives for the King and His people that you will find true life and stay alive here. The blessings of the Lord are to be received and appreciated, but when they become your focus and purpose, you will not make it to the mountain of the Lord. Neither will you be prepared for the great battle that is coming.

“Please continue,” he said, nodding to me.

“Some of the greatest leaders in church history may be alive in our time,” I said, looking at Elijah to see if he would acknowledge this, which he did.

“I have known some of them and learned from them, but everything I have learned has led me to conclude that the first transitional ministry that led to the ministry of Christ—John the Baptist—is the greatest type of New Covenant ministry.”

“What do you see in the Baptist that is such a type of New Covenant ministry?” Elijah asked.

“John’s whole purpose was to prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. Then he directed them to follow the Lord even though it meant that they would leave him. He was willing to decrease as the Lord increased, because this meant that he had fulfilled his purpose. We are not here to build our authority in people. We’re not here to make people our disciples, but to make them His disciples.

“John came in your spirit. The Lord acknowledged this after He saw you on the Mount of Transfiguration. He said that you came with John, but you were also ‘coming.’ It was prophesied by Malachi that you would come at the end of the age. What is it about you that those who prepare the way for the Lord must come in your spirit?” I asked.

Elijah smiled. He then looked up as if he was asking what to do with me, or how to handle this question. After a pause, he began his answer:

“Not everything about my life is a good model for the last-day ministry. These are still good lessons because some of the things that caused me to stumble will be a threat to the last-day ministry. One of these is the way I gave in to depression or arrogance when I began to think that I was the only one with truth or who was faithful to the Lord. These are still the primary traps that capture those who walk in great power.

“Keeping this in mind, I was a model of the most powerful ministry that will ever walk the earth, the ministry that is being raised up at the end of this age. I had to confront the evil Jezebel who had taken over our nation and all of her false prophets and religions. The same spirit is taking over much of the world today and especially your nation. This evil is manifesting in your government just as Jezebel used Ahab. This is an ultimate evil, and those who are the Lord’s in this time will have to stand up to it, just as the Baptist also did as a type. There is much for you to learn about this, to do it without being rebellious, but nevertheless, disarming the powers of this age. This is given for the last-day ministry to do.

“Next, I raised up many other prophets for the times. I also gave special attention to the one who was called to replace me, to do even more than I did and walk in more power than I did, Elisha. You must do the same.

“The next task may be the most difficult of all. You must pray for the judgments of God to come upon your nations when they are needed, just as I did.

“To do all of these things, you must always keep the interests of God above the interests of men. The Lord does prefer mercy over judgment, as we all should, but when mercy does not work, then His judgment is mercy. You must understand this, because to be His prophet in these times you must be in agreement with Him and His purposes at all times, even when it is time for judgment.

“Can you call for the judgment of God to come upon your nation? The whole world is about to experience the kinds of judgments that came upon Egypt, and for the same purpose—to set God’s people free. The time for judgment is at hand, and this will begin with His own household. Can you be in agreement with Him for this?”

Then Elijah paused and seemed to be gauging our reaction to this before he continued. I was also watching William, who seemed to grasp it all.

“All of this you must do, but you also have the higher purpose. The Baptist had a higher purpose than I did because he was to point to the Lamb of God and compel people to follow Him. You have an even greater purpose than this. You must follow Him yourself. You must abide in Him. You must become like Him, and you must do the works that He did, while pointing to Him.”

“Any one of these things would be more than enough for any person,” William remarked.

“This is true,” Elijah admitted. “That is why those who will do these things are a great company. I was almost alone, as was the Baptist, but we were standing before a single, small nation. You must prepare the whole world for the coming of the Lord and His kingdom. For this reason, there will be a great army of such messengers.”

“Will they all go to the mountain on this path?” William asked.

“They must all go to the mountain by this path,” Elijah acknowledged.

“There are not many of us on this path now. Are there many more coming after us?” William continued.

“There have not been many to walk this path yet, even throughout the church age, but there have been some on it at all times. More are coming. There will soon be more on this path than have ever walked it throughout the church age. Everyone who makes it to the mountain will go back and get others. There is a mighty army now being gathered.

“Every one of these is a messenger. They are being prepared to shake cities and nations with the power of the message they will be given. In time, they will capture the attention of the entire earth, and everyone on earth will marvel at them. These will be ‘the mighty ones’ that Enoch prophesied would come. They are alive now, and they are starting to find this path,” Elijah concluded, and walked away.

William and I sat for a time reflecting on what we had just been told. Finally William spoke:

“I always wanted to be close to those whose decisions shaped our world. I built my life around that desire. When I achieved this, it was far from the satisfaction I expected. I now see that I was with the wrong people, because the power was never linked to a transcendent cause. Now I have that cause, and I can see how this little band we’re with could impact the world more than any congress or president. They may not look like much now, but these really are the great ones, aren’t they?”

“I’m still learning about them too,” I said. “There could be prophets in this little group that eclipse anything that the prophets of old did, even Elijah. There could be last-day apostles here who transcend anything that has ever been accomplished to prepare the way for the King. What happened in the first century was the seed, but we are coming to the time of the harvest. We may have in our company some of the greatest men and women of God to ever walk the earth.

“It is interesting that it was always your desire to be around world changers. You were able to do this in the natural, and now you’re about to do it with the spiritual. I think we are going to find this to be common here—the things we do in the natural reflect our spiritual calling,” I said.

“Seeing Elijah is far more than I would have ever expected,” William replied. “Now I am being allowed to foresee what is about to be released on the earth. I already see that there could be some right here who eclipse what Elijah did. I feel more privileged to be here than in the most important offices of the greatest earthly leaders. Following Christ has already been more wonderful than I ever dreamed, and I’m just starting out.

“Being in those earthly centers of power always left me feeling agitated and empty. I could not understand this until now. On this path with these simple ones, I feel a greatness I never felt with the earthly great. Here I am energized, fulfilled. I feel a strange peace. I have been greatly blessed by the Lord to now meet and travel with the truly great, those who are with us here.

“Now, I don’t mean to be critical, but I need to know how the expression of Christianity here could be so different than what I experienced on the ship? With them, I felt more like I did with the worldly than I do here with these.”

“I don’t mean to be critical either, but I think leadership is a key to understanding this. The greatest leaders here will be the greatest followers of Christ. It all comes down to who we’re following, the King or our own ambitions, which is still ambition, even if we’re doing it in the name of the King.”

CHAPTER TEN

THE SEEKERS

W
illiam and I walked on in silence for a while. We were both deep in our own thoughts. William seemed to not only understand all that we had discussed about leadership in the kingdom, but he had grasped it with an uncommon depth. He was an example of how when the Lord calls someone He prepares them for their purpose throughout their whole life.

I started to think about the remarkable people in this group, what I could do to help them, and how I was going to answer Mary’s questions when she decided to ask them. A small group of people walking nearby obviously wanted to talk, so I motioned for them to join us.

“So you think the great treasures of the kingdom and the way to the great adventure is found in study and researching things like church history?” a young man asked.

“I think that is one kind of treasure and one kind of adventure. For some, the greatest treasure is to see the works of the Lord done through them, leading others to salvation, healing, and doing miracles. For others, it is seeing God’s people built together into His temple, the
koinonia
fellowship of the saints. For still others, it is prophetic experiences and being given prophetic insights into the future.

“The thread that runs through all great adventures is seeing the glory of the Lord in what He does through men and through us personally. These are all available to all of us, but for me personally, I found great treasures of knowledge in my studies of history, especially church history, and it was a great adventure to follow Him down that path. I saw and learned His ways as He personally taught me. It was one of the most fulfilling and thrilling times of my life until now, because I was getting to know Him this way.”

“You said, ‘Until now.’ What are you doing now that is better?” one asked.

“As wonderful as it has been to see the Lord’s ways as they are revealed in Scripture and history, to see Him working with actual people, with each of you here and now, is even better. I know we’re just starting out, and we don’t know each other very well yet, but already I can see what great treasures you are. I think that if we have time to really get to know each other we will find a great treasure in every person. Then, we will begin to see how each one is being fit together into the city of God.”

“We enjoyed our fellowship when on the ship and felt a bonding together, but never really had the concept that we were being built into something together, like the temple of the Lord or His city. Now I can see it,” one remarked.

“For all of its failings and present shortcomings, there is no entity on the planet as dynamic and interesting as the church that is becoming what it is called to be. There is no greater society than true church life—
koinonia
; there is hardly anything as boring as church life that has been institutionalized, that has stopped pursuing the great sojourn that the true Christian life is. You are blessed to have been in the company of those who are committed to the journey.”

“I consider myself very blessed,” another replied. “The fellowship we had on the ship had become the best part of my life, but now being on this journey together is far better, even though it has been pretty frightening at times. If the mountain is even better than this, I just cannot imagine it.”