Offended, Who Me?

Jesus said, ‘I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against its forth coming.’
This church which we are is founded upon a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes shall not make haste. (I wonder about that wording, ‘make haste’, maybe it has something to do with not jumping to hard fast conclusions re: who He is, and His ways of making Himself known to us?

The Father has established His Son as a ‘stone of stumbling and a rock of offense’, wow talk about the foolishness of God confounding the so called wise guys!
This message of Life, Hope and Freedom is hidden, a hidden wisdom and spelled out this way; ‘but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness.’

Thrown into this mix is a curve ball with the following statement from Jesus Himself, ‘Blessed is he that is NOT offended in me.’
The kicker is that I see our Father constantly setting us up according to my perception, to be just that offended!

I am beginning to see that anyone can be a witness to His acts, but becoming acquainted with His ways, well that’s a whole different thing, why you ask. Maybe because he is constantly offending our minds, in order to reveal our hearts?

I am witnessing over the past number of years, a rising phenomenon, something that has captured my attention greatly and that is the vast number of ‘Christians’ for whatever reasons (in my opinion who have been greatly offended) have become casualties of this war we are in, in the form of now professing to be either, an atheist or agnostic.

This choice piece of good news is a big part of what I see unfolding now, today right where you and I live.
I'll send a famine through the whole country. It won't be food or water that's lacking, but my Word. People will drift from one end of the country to the other, roam to the north, and wander to the east.They'll go anywhere, listen to anyone, hoping to hear God's Word—but they won't hear it.

This hidden wisdom which is the mystery of Christ in you the hope of glory is not some boy scout merit badge we Velcro onto all of what we think we know or believe, it becomes a living burning reality as a result of, (buckle your seat belt because I’m about to use some foul language here) a crisis, and it will not stop there believe me.

I remember hearing a friend share once how he saw that especially within the country he lived in which was USA how so many folks had been so raised within the religious establishments, that they thought they were saved. He saw the need by the Father to begin to witness to them and see Father bring them to the place of seeing their need to BE rebirthed.
Didn’t Jesus say, "I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind."

This upheaval, this unraveling that is unfolding, erupting within the church is glorious, but oh so painful right now for so many, but absolutely needed and necessary.
The proof of the Father’s love is His dealing with us as His sons, and not as bastards. This is a hard pill to swallow when everything you’ve ever believed seems to have become nothing more than a strawman.

There is more to come!!

Rich