“The 13 Firemen” is a tract I wrote that ultimately gave me the idea for the\u00a0ministry called the\u00a0End\u00a0Times Vol. Fire Co.\u00a0\u00a0or ETVFC.<\/p>\n
I believe God gave me a lot of truth\u00a0in it, and\u00a0you can read it on this website on the home page.\u00a0 The summary is 13 firemen arrive at the scene of a burning building and\u00a0each one had the\u00a0wrong priorities and excuses we tend to all see in the church today.\u00a0 The end result\u00a0was everyone burned to death.<\/p>\n
Firemen\u00a0#2 and 3 argued over which was\u00a0worse, the smoke or the flames.\u00a0 When they could not decide who was right, they split up to each start their own fire company.<\/p>\n
The idea is that today in the church we like to argue over everything.\u00a0 Some argue over who is preaching, others argue who should be in the nursery.\u00a0 Some complain over who gets to lead songs, over who gets to bring a meal to so-and-so.\u00a0\u00a0 We fight over who gets to keep their event when a bridal shower was scheduled but someone already sent out invites to the triplets baby shower\u00a0on the same day.\u00a0\u00a0 We fight each other, talk about each other, complain about each other,\u00a0and by the time we are done, we forget there is a fire to put out.\u00a0\u00a0Or we get too disgruntled to care.<\/p>\n
And the lost get too disillusioned to want what we have.<\/p>\n
I don’t know all the answers.\u00a0 I think the churches today are infiltrated by false converts and that explains a lot of the problem.\u00a0 The bible says there are wheat and tares mixed in the church, the end times warns of it, and preachers of the past 100 years have had that strong conviction that most of the regular attenders in any church are 100% LOST.\u00a0 A lot of my articles address that because I too believe it based on experience and studying what the Bible says about true conversions.\u00a0 My heart wants to get to the reason why, and I desperately want an answer to pull people out of a fire they wrongly think they are already saved from.<\/p>\n
It will take a great miracle as is nearly impossible to tell them apart from the real born-again believers.\u00a0 First because they can act, smell, and look like the real thing.\u00a0 And they can “perform” almost better than the truly saved because as they attempt to serve God in the flesh, the devil can leave them alone.\u00a0 The way the church is today, we have so many programs and methods and trainings that you literally can learn to “do” Christianity without the power of God.\u00a0And possibly\u00a0the saved can fall\u00a0victim here as well.<\/p>\n
What is absolutely terrifying is if you are a false convert, how would you ever know?\u00a0 The heart is deceitful.\u00a0 You can find doctrine that will interpret whatever you are doing and thinking in a “you must be saved” light.<\/p>\n
You can’t look at your works, but the truly saved will have works that back up their profession.\u00a0 But the lost can counterfeit even the best fruit of Christianity.\u00a0 How many of us have right doctrine but lousy attitudes?\u00a0Look at the Jehovah Witnesses.\u00a0 They do visitation far better than the best Baptist.\u00a0 Mormons are far more devoted missionaries and Muslims are better at separation. Catholics might have more appreciation for the church and atheists have stronger faith.<\/p>\n
I think though that perhaps the main issue with the “truly saved” is we tend to be more absorbed in the busy affairs that make American Christianity so internalized.\u00a0 We literally could get saved, be busy most of the week in our churches and “serve God” for the next 40 years and never have to leave our pews.\u00a0 We are constantly given much of our time and energy for the good things offered in today’s church life, and often end up sacrificing eternal things.\u00a0 Jesus didn’t die so we could just have a good time and be so busy, like Fireman\u00a0#4 who\u00a0was so glad to be around the fellowship of the fire department, he forgot there was a fire.<\/p>\n
Jesus died to restore relationship with him and fellowship with him.<\/p>\n
This is perhaps how to convey what I am talking about.\u00a0 I can personally testify that when I was in the battle more, I was not as “irritable at the other soldiers”.\u00a0 When I was out fighting the enemy, I would want to rally the troops instead of shoot back at them.\u00a0 If I got captured by enemy soldiers I would desperately cry out to get freed to get back the battle.<\/p>\n
Soldiers are meant to fight.\u00a0 They fight, risk death, and offer their lives in the battle.\u00a0 In between battles, it\u00a0might be\u00a0a good stress reliever to get some fellow soldiers together and share some stories, pop some popcorn, and have a game of pick up football.\u00a0\u00a0 But if all you did with the guys is play football and you ignored the sirens blaring signifying you need to go put out a 5 alarm fire or you need to go battle the enemy, you will be dull.\u00a0 Bored.\u00a0 And looking for substitutions for the natural desire to go to war when full scale war has been declared.<\/p>\n
Imagine D Day if some soldiers just decided to take out their fishing poles and fish instead of marching up the beach.\u00a0\u00a0 It is quite a different mentality to fish after days of fighting and going to fish instead of<\/em> fighting.\u00a0\u00a0 I think that is why, in general,\u00a0our Christianity is so “blah”, empty, and shallow,\u00a0and frankly, so weak, powerless, and purposeless.\u00a0 We rarely know what it is like to go to war, we sit and soak and just go\u00a0from fellowship\u00a0to fellowship, we hear all kinds of orders on a weekly basis yet get little opportunity to act them out, and we wonder why all that happens is friendly fire hitting\u00a0everyone in it’s path.<\/p>\n War from the god of this world has been declared on the truly saved.\u00a0\u00a0 We can ignore it, we can hide from it, we can cower in fear, or we can accept it and learn to fight like men.<\/p>\n That is a bit of the heart of the End Times Vol. Fire Co.\u00a0 We need charity, we need grace, we need to share truth in love.\u00a0 But ultimately I think we just need\u00a0to fight again.<\/p>\n And then we will stop fighting each other.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “The 13 Firemen” is a tract I wrote that ultimately gave me the idea for the\u00a0ministry called the\u00a0End\u00a0Times Vol. Fire Co.\u00a0\u00a0or ETVFC. I believe God gave me a lot of truth\u00a0in it, and\u00a0you can read it on this website on … Continue reading