This post is a bit more serious than my previous posts.

Two years ago, I shared a dream that I had with a national evangelist for the Church of God. He encouraged me to share it with our Presiding Bishop, which I did. I felt it was showing the direction the Church of God was heading, and as a whole still seems to be heading.

Though there were various aspects of the dream, the primary focus was a sermon at the General Assembly. Here is that portion of the dream:

At the front of the auditorium was gathered a large number of pastors. These pastors were elderly and feeble and came from those dilapidated churches which stretched from the east to the west.

On the platform was the General Overseer…not by name but by position. He was exhorting these ministers very slowly and deliberately. As he spoke it almost seemed to be in slow motion.

The General Overseer ministered to these pastors from Isaiah chapter 3. He explained his concern that God was going to remove his benefits from the church (Isaiah3:1-3) if they continued to speak out and work against the will of the Lord, disobeying their God given mandate; because this was an eye sore to God (Isaiah 3:8). He encouraged them that God would still reward the righteous with the fruit of their work (Isaiah 3:10). Finally he warned them that their failure to pass on the faith to a new generation would cause their replacements to not want to lead, not know how to lead, and thus cause them to lead out of corrupt motivations which will give way to anarchy (Isaiah 3:4-7, 12).

Over the course of his message he outlined two basic sins that were particularly offensive to God. First, the leaders had taken advantage of the Vineyard by plundering the poor which is like grinding God’s people into dust (Isaiah 3:14-15). Second, the bride had covered herself with arrogance to attract the men of the world (Isaiah 3:16).

This is what I sensed was the message of the entire dream:

•We are entering a late season. We have been so focused on going up that we have been reluctant to go out (another aspect of the dream). As a result our churches are becoming a place of segregation and separation between the affluent and the afflicted.

•God has promised a harvest for the righteous, so there is still hope. Yet we have a problem with pride, and oppression is in store for the proud.

•We can’t keep the blessings to ourselves; we must let them flow from us to a new generation outside of our buildings (yet another aspect of the dream). If we will not pass on the mantle while infusing God’s blessings into our cities, then God will lift the mantle from us, leaving the next generation devoid of the knowledge, the anointing and the passion necessary for Godly leadership.

(the entire dream can be found here: http://darrellbjr.wordpress.com/dream-of-the-church-of-god-in-america-2006/ or by clicking on the tab above.)

This week the Lord has been bringing me back to this passage, and also taking me into Isaiah 4, contrasting the judgment and the blessing. Hopefully this next week I will write more about Isaiah 4 which I believe is where God wants to take us…it is a much happier scene which takes place after the judgment.

So is the CoG headed toward judgment? Are American churches in general going there? Does judgment still begin in the house of God?

I submit this for thought, scrutiny and consideration.

Looking forward to a more lighthearted post after the weekend,

Darrell