We have borne fruit and now God wants to prune us that we may bear more fruit.

In the case of a pastor it may mean leaving his church if the people are unwilling to leave their comfortable situation, their state of contentedness.

God does not have too many believers, it seems, who are ready to move forward with God when it costs them dearly.

I read of one older pastor who was confronted with the fact that the pre-tribulation rapture is an unscriptural doctrine. His response was not that of a seeker of truth. It was to the effect: "Why can't you just leave me in peace?"

Once we settle down on our laurels in this manner we become as the older prophet in the Bible who led the younger prophet to his death.

How many believers of today have enough iron and fire to follow Christ as He moves forward in our time? If people follow you, fine. If they do not, will you go ahead regardless? I am not speaking of crazy, radical antics that are unscriptural and unprofitable. I am referring to sober, scriptural, prayerful advancement in the Kingdom. Such is being required in our day.

The tares of ungodliness are coming to maturity in our day. The wheat also must come to maturity, and the heavenly Farmer is working in the field. We must accept His cultivating and pruning if we are going to become the kind of witness the world needs now and shall need even more in the future, as we enter the age of moral horrors.

A friend whose prophetic gift we trust had a vision lately. She saw the Christian churches as people in wheelchairs playing basketball.

The Lord said to her: "The game is over. I am going to knock over the wheelchairs. People can either lay there paralyzed or get up and move on with Me."

The church games are over. God has put up with our immaturity, our slandering of one another, our gossiping and criticizing, our flirtations and adultery, our worship of the American gods of money, entertainment, lust, violence, and drunkenness, our unforgiving spirit and hatred, our sowing of discord, our jealousy and envy, our selfish ambitions and striving for preeminence, our willingness to take sides when there is discord in the assembly. These things we have done and thought it all was acceptable. We have pictured ourselves flying up to Heaven in a rapture without ever having to face the way we have behaved in our churches.

As Paul says, we need to awake to righteousness because our nation is sliding down into a cesspool of murder and immorality. America is filled with practices that a hundred years ago would have been cause for hanging.

What has been has been. We cannot remake the past. But we can seek God until we hear His voice and understand clearly what He is demanding of us as individuals.

To be continued.