The Purpose of God:
The purpose of God, and what is called here The Greatest Vision, is the Transformation of the Nations. This is taken from Rev. 11: 15. Among the many visions that the Apostle John had is a vision of Seven Angels with Trumpets. In 11:15, And the Seventh Angel sounded his trumpet; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever." This is the Lord's Purpose, or His Vision; that the Nations of this world be Transformed and become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He, Christ shall reign forever and ever. John has a vision of the final fulfilment of that vision.
The Need.
It is for this purpose that God raises up His Church as an Exceeding Great Army. God works through a Resurrected Church, to Transform the Nations. In the Old Testament, God raised His people for this purpose. The Lord God called Abraham and made a covenant with Abraham. In Gen 12: 3-4, the Lord said to Abraham, I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great...and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." The history of Israel is one of unfaithfulness to that covenant, and of God raising them up again. In Ezekiel 37, the Lord showed The prophet a picture of His people Israel. They were like a valley of very dry bones; But God showed Ezekiel his purpose to Raise up His people; make them An exceeding Great Army, and how He would accomplish that.
In the New Testament, the Lord raised up A New People - "A chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; to show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvellous light" 1 Pt. 2:9
It is through that people that God accomplishes His purpose in the world. Like Israel of old, the Church has from thime to time been unfaithful, disobedient,worldly, and disqualified itself to accomplish God's purpose. But the Lord has been merciful and has from time to time raised up His Church to move forward with the Lord's vision for the Nations. We are at such a point today. Certainly in the Caribbean, the Church is like a valley of dry bones. Only a Resurrected Church can impact the nations of the Caribbean to transform them into the kingdom of God.
The Task
The Task facing the Resurrected Church is awesome, but it is God at work through the Church. Here are some of the areas in national life upon which the Church must make a major impact.
1. Sex and Marriage
As has been said before, there is widespread sexual lawlessness in the Caribbean. This is the order of the day, and it is getting worse. There appear to be no values governing our sexual conduct. Worse still children are brought forth in this kind of situation. Mothers and grand mothers have to bring up the children because fathers are not there. Many children do not know who their fathers are.
Marriage is not the norm, and many get married for the wrong reasons. In some parts of the Caribbean men and women live together and call themselves husband and wife, though they have not been legally married and cannot produce a marriage certificate. Some men will tell you that there is nothing wrong with having a wife, and having another woman with whom he can spend the night somewhere. The 'living home' sithuation is often blamed by some on what happened in slavery. Slaves were not encouraged to marry. Their families were broken up. Some of the women had illicit relationships with the slave masters and their sons. So it continues. But that is no excuse. This is one area in which the church has failed, and which under God, it must correct.
2. The Family.
The breakdown of the family is a widespread phenomenon. It is so in the Caribbean. Not many stable family units have existed in the Caribbean over the years. We speak of 'family patterns' in the Caribbean, not the 'family.' It is perhaps better to use the term 'household' rather than 'family' for our Caribbean situation. A common thing is to find a household with a mother, and children belonging to several men. Sometimes, not one of the men is there. Some women fall into these traps for economic reasons, others just following the loose trend.
The breakdown of the family leads to other ills. There is no stable parenting of children; hence the quality of life especially among youth deteriorates. The crime rate increases. Domestic violence increases. There is a widespread lack of moral values governing the conduct of people. Children, who themselves need proper education and training, become parents. So children are expected to bring up children.
3. Community
In some of our Caribbean territories, there is a poor sense of community. There is little sense that 'I am my brother's keeper.' Respect for the other as a person; respect or human dignity; thoughtfulness for others; working together for the common good; these values are sadly lacking. There is a pervasive selfishness. Hence, many communities cannot move forward.
4. Culture
The culture in the Caribbean, the general way of life of the people is under attack. There seems to be a deliberate plan afoot to currupt the culture. We are made by our culture. To corrupt the culture is to currupt the people. To destoy the culture is to destroy the people. There is a foreign invasion of Caribbean culture which can only get worse, unless there is a powerful opposing force. The music and lyrics; language; manner of dress; sexuality; education; values; the family; the church; and more, are all experiencing the power of invading, godless forces.
Many classes of technologies exist which can be used for evil purposes. Satanic powers use advances in technology for their evil plans. Financial institutions, newspapers, internet, television, are coming under the control of evil powers for their own agenda. Satanic organizations are increasing in numbers and in their membership, in the Caribbean. Churches are not exempt from the satanic invasion of Caribbean culture. Greed for power and for money, are leading to widespread corruption in our Caribbean nations.
Only God, through A Resurrected Church, can arrest and reverse the trend in the Caribbean.
5. Leadership
For any nation to prosper, it needs sound, godly leadership. Leadership in the Bible is very instructive in its power for good or ill. After the death of Solomon, Rehoboam became king. He rejected the appeal to make things easier for the people than his faher had done. Under the leadership of Jeroboam ten tribes went their own way, and left only two tribes loyal to Rehoboam. Jeroboam became known, and is often referred to as "Jeroboam, son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin."
King Mannaseh is perhaps the one who did most to lead the people of God astray. He returned to the worship of pagan gods. He rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah had destroyed, for pagan worship,
and the immorality that usually acompanied it. He built altars to foreign gods, even in the temple. He made his sons to pass through the fire, a form of pagan sacrifice, and much more. On one occasion, the Lord showed Ezekiel the satanic practices that were being carried out in the temple in secret. All of this took place after the outstanding reforms carried out by King Josiah.
Satan has a special interest in the leadership of any nation. In the book of Daniel, when Daniel discovered that the time had arrived for his people to return home from captivity, Daniel set himself to pray. God answered Daniel's prayer the very first day he set out to `pray. The Lord sent the angel Gabriel to take to Daniel, the answer to his prayer. It took Gabriel 21 days before he could arrive. Why? Because Gabriel was delayed. He encountered, and was engaged with fierce opposition, by a satanic being called 'the Prince of Persia.' The encounter was so severe that Gabriel had to ask for the Archangel Michael to be sent to assist him.
'The Prince of Persia' is a satanic being assigned to influence the ruler of Persia in every way possible. We must understand that Satan assigns demonic beings to influence the leaders of nations. Obviously, he wants to turn these leaders and their peoples away from God and His righteousness. No Nation is exempt from this satanic plan. That is why the Scripture tells us to pray for those in authority. Let us be aware then, that the leaders of the Caribbean nations are targets of the devil, to get them to do what he wants, not what God wants.
Leaders of churches and other institutions are likewise under satanic attack. This includes parents, leaders of the family. If the church fails to pray for leaders, and to engage and defeat the satanic powers assigned against them, leaders will fail. Nations will be led astray, and miss God's purpose for them.
In the Caribbean today, We Need New Leadership to reclaim these nations for God.
6. Separation of Church and State.
In the Caribbean we have adopted the satanic deception that religion and politics don't mix. Let the parsons keep to their pulpits, and we politicians will keep to out platforms. There is only One God. Politicians and parsons are accountable to that One God. According to our Scripture, Political leaders are ministers of God for good and not for evil; to promote good and punish evil. That is usually reversed. They promote evil and punish good.
It does not follow that parsons and priest should actively engage in political exercises as they are in the Caribbean today. They should not by any means adopt and practice the lifestyle of the world. They should bring kingdom principles and practices to bear on political affairs.
There is a hughe fallacy that we usually hear from politicians. "The voice of the people is the voice of God." Rubbish! In these times, the voice of the people may be more accurately described as the vice of the devil. This fallacy needs to be corrected.
7. Division/Disunity
In our Caribbean nations, we have different types of disunity, all of which need to be addressed and corrected in a Resurrected Church. There is racial/ethnic disunity. There is disunity based on socio-economic status. There is disunity based on colour, There is disunity among people of different denominations. There is fierce disunity based on political allegience. Let's face it. Disunity is not of God. Some people seem to be proud of the disunity which they stand for. It seems, therefore that they are proud of carrying out Satan's agenda. There is a common saying, "Unity is strength." The fact that we can continue in our divisions, shows the extent to which we are influenced by the enemy.
There Cannot Be Disunity in A Resurrected Church. The Lord gave Ezekiel a lesson on this. He gave Ezekiel two sticks and had the prophet join them together as one stick. The two sticks represented the two kingdoms into which His people had been divided. Hear what the Lord said. "I will make them One Nation...One king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations...Ez. 37: 16-28.
8. God of the Nation
Some nations have it written in their constitution that they acknowledge the sovereignty of God. But that is all. It is on paper, not on the hearts and minds of the people. Some don't even know that it is there. The Resurrected Church will impact the nation in such a way that leaders and people alike will acknowledge and confess their acknowledgement of God Alone as the Sovereign and Ruler of the Nation, and will commit themselves to seek His kingdom and His righteousness.
9. Learning From The Fiji Revival.
Perhaps the most astonishing event in the Church in recent times is The Fiji Revival. There are important lessons we can learn from it.
For some time the Fiji Islands had been going through some trials - some of their water had been poisoned. The land was had gone dry and was not producing much. There was not much fish from the sea. The condition in the prisons had deteriorated, and there was much concern. The condition among the tribes was also one of serious concern. It seemed as if God was showing His displeasure in judgement.
But serious, constant prayer for a visitation of God, and for revival was being made. Then in 2000, Revival broke out in Fiji. That Revival is continuing, and is spreading to other nations. God has truly visited this nation. The water has been healed, and is now usable. The land has been restored to fertility, and is producing abundantly. The sea is bringing forth fish in great abundance. Nearly all prisoneers have been converted to Jesus Christ. Whole tribes have been turning to Christ. There has been tremendous impact upon the government. The President, the Prime Minister, and nearly all members of Government have been converted to Jesus. You should hear their personal, public testimony. The spread of the gospel is phenomenal.
Nevertheless, that which is visualized for the Caribbean by the working of God through His Resurrected Church, is far greater than what is taking place in Fiji. Yes, before that Resurrection comes, God may have to judge the Caribbean nations severely. We have rejected Him too often. We have persistently hardened our hearts towards the gospel. We have been unthankful to God for His goodness toward us in these islands. We have been double-minded, trying to serve God and the devil at the same time. That is equal to throwing out God. Some churches have opened their doors wide to Satan. We have practically slapped God in the face.
Nevertheless, if we humble ourselves, and pray, and seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways, He will hear, and forgive our sins, and heal our land. We have a big problem in our islands. The change must start with the church. Judgement must begin at the house of God. But too many of us think we are too big, too high and mighty, too important, to humble ourselves before God, and confess and repent of our sins. Too many leaders think that the people must repent, but not them.
It must begin with the leadership, whatever their names or titles. Church leaders should read Ezekiel 34. Rev. 2 and 3. are addressed to the leader of each congregation. The 'you' throughout those letters is singular - you pastor; you reverend; you bishop; you prophet; you apostle; you evangelist, you... If you will humble yourself, fall on your face before God; repent of your sins, and cry out to God, the congregation will follow.
May The Lord God Almighty Raise Up A New Church, His Church, the Churh of the Lord Jesus Christ in these Caribbean Islands, and Transform these Island Nations into His Kingdom.
Contact: Martin C. Roberts
Rose Hill, Marigot, Commonwealth of Dominica, W.I.
Tel. 1-767-613-2201
Email: sendlight@hotmail.com
Copyright@Martin Roberts, Transformation of the Nations
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