August 27; September 2, 2005

Dear friends and loved ones,

            God bless you and overwhelm you with His boundless love for you. May you know the love of God, which is beyond knowing, and be filled with the measure of the fullness of God. Eph. 3:17-19.

            Each one of our children and grandchildren are very special and our love relationships with each are unique and wonderful in their own way. As I was going to Taiwan, Aaron, my youngest grandson was the focal point of a conversation with the Lord. The Lord said, “I want you to love everyone the way you love Aaron - and remember, I love everyone even more than that.” 

The trip was most wonderful, with both my natural family, and the spiritual family there. My heart was very tender as I tried to follow the Lord’s directive and I truly did fall in love with many people. It was overwhelming, especially when the Lord would give a brief time of experiencing His great love for the people. At times I felt mushily sentimental, and at other times heartbroken and sad at the lost ness of so many. I am still trying to follow this specific directive and am having trouble keeping sane and balanced. (It’s probably way too late to worry about sanity and balance has never been a big consideration.)

For those of you who have tolerated my ranting and raving over the years, I love you and thank God for you. I know it is hard to bear with me at times, but hang in there because I believe this is from the Lord. He loves His fallen people and wants them to return to Him. His heart aches with passion for all men and women. Everything He does has at its core, the desire for people to turn or return to Him.

            Rain in one area and drought in another (America’s Southeast and Midwest) is a call for people to return to the Lord. Amos 4:6,8,9,10. Natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and heavenly signs (ozone, global warming, asteroids, etc.) are calls to repent and seek the Lord. Rev. 16:9,11.   

            Because of the increase of wickedness our love wanes, and God is stuck with His covenant of the rainbow to love and tolerate man and not destroy the earth again by water. It will be destroyed by fire in His time, but now He is motivated by His love for people and His desire that all should repent and come to the knowledge of the truth. The Lord somehow deals with what must be tremendous frustration at the rise of violence and wickedness in this generation, yet He still maintains His love.

The level of my frustration is huge. I am a watchman, a watcher, and all around me, I am watching the love of more and more people grow cold. I see wickedness increasing exponentially. Not just a little here and there, but gigantic increases on every hand.  It used to be that the enemy of our souls would do a little diversion here or there, and while we simpletons would take up the fight on one battlefield, the adversary would quietly sneak in his agenda and effectively destroy righteousness in many other areas while we were congratulating ourselves for our one great victory.

Now the aftermath of Katrina will bring out a temporary venue of the best there is in mankind, or a restraining of evil. But history (9-11) shows that this is temporary. “Surely your wrath against man brings you praise, and the survivors of your wrath are restrained.” Ps 76:10 Watch this take place, just as the love growing cold phenomenon is being played out before our eyes.

We “American Christians” are so smug, so arrogant, and so self-deceived, that while we are bragging about our super churches, and great Christian revivals, and how my preacher’s better than your preacher, the foundations of our society and culture have gone to hell. There appears to be absolutely no change for the better, or repentance if you prefer the Bible word. Any sense of  “Christian well-being” in this secular, pagan, anti-Christian society is a deceptive death trap. Even the blessed movement of the church going back into the home has as yet not affected our society and the lives of the people around us. I have hope that it will, or would, if given the time.

We are experiencing emotional frostbite at the same time global warming tweaks our interest. The ice caps are melting - our spiritual hearts are freezing. The oceans will rise and destroy life - our compassion for the lost is drying up. The fervor and passion of our Lord Jesus continues white hot towards His beloved, us– isn’t that nice. Did you see the latest “Desperate Housewives?” Jim Rutz’s, Mega Shift is a mind blowing, encouraging account of the greatest revival ever – whoa, I already got too many books on my to read list.

“Hey, Frank, lighten up. I’m a Christian. It’s O.K.” No, it is not O.K. It is not O.K. that we are more politically savvy than church savvy. It is not O.K. that we are more politically active than we are evangelistically active. It is not O.K. that most have more input from the world (TV, movies, novels, etc.) than we do from the Lord (Bible reading, conversations with Him, conversations with others about Him, etc.) Its not O.K. that we close our eyes to spiritual charlatanism and continue supporting causes and institutions that have eroded to the point of doing more harm than good, just like the church meetings in Corinth. (11:17) It is not O.K.

While I’m venting and you’re still reading, let’s talk about sinners. I am not a sinner! I am a saint. To be fuzzy minded from all the self-righteous “I am a sinner” crap that is fed to the mind numb congregants in a typical high place is to accept a license to continue in sin. My old man is a sinner. But he was put to death, and though he comes to life in this temple and says “I am God, serve me,” he is a liar and is to be reckoned dead, counted as dead, not given the time of day. I am a new creation in Christ. The old is gone. I now make every effort to live according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. When I fail and sin, I am still not a sinner, but a saint who has sinned. The only time I know of in the Bible where we are referred to as sinners is in James where he also calls us double minded. (4:8)

Enough! Betty and I are leaving for Omaha as her Mom went into the hospital. I love Jesus, and I love you. I charge you in His name, don’t let your love grow cold. You and I are His beloved, His John. Anyone got a tune for this poem?

Love,

Frank

Beloved John, your love blesses Me,

Don’t let your love grow cold.

I long for time and intimacy,

            Don’t let your love grow cold.

Beloved John, the world wants your heart

Don’t let your loved grow cold.

Its wickedness will l tear you apart,

            Don’t let your love grow cold

Beloved John, the days wax long,

            Don’t let your love grow cold.

Don’t flirt with idols or sing mammon’s song,

            Don’t let your love grow cold.

 PS from Omaha 9/2/05. I want to write about Katrina, Kim Clement’s 7/22 prophecy about the destruction of New Orleans, a vision I received yesterday while praying with some Pastors here about the refugees leaving New Orleans and hearing , “Remember Lot’s wife,” and watching the goodness spill out (Psalm 76) and the wickedness of our society being revealed at the same time.  Beloved, don’t let your love grow cold.