A Tale of Two Marches

This past Saturday I witnessed two marches. The first was one that I was a part of: the annual West Coast Walk for Life. It was characterized by peaceful and prayerful demonstration. There was no yelling, no shouting, no ugliness. Simply tens of thousands of Christians walking down Market Street holding signs. The loudest we got was when portions of our crowd would chant "pro-life" to drown out the counter protesters that showed up to hurl profanities at us.

The second march was the SF Women's March which was held later that day. I made a point to witness it. It was billed as a peaceful demonstration against hate, misogyny, racism, and other forms of prejudice. I was shocked to see how many signs had messages of hate, anger, and profanities. I was also shocked to see multiple signs calling for the death of Trump and Pence. Where did the call for tolerance go to? Not to mention that the organizers made sure that conservative pro-woman viewpoints were not represented at the march. I was appalled to see how many parents brought their small children to such a march. There were things being said that no child should be exposed to. It was not a march of peace, love, and tolerance.

But I was also made aware of the deep fear that many carry. Behind all of that anger and hate is a fear that our current administration will inflict changes upon the lifestyles of those protesting. I can say that they are in needless fear and their concerns aren't valid- which may be true. But the fact remains- there are deeply held concerns. Trump, in his inaugural address, called for unity. We need a healing to come to our nation and it must start by us laying aside the hate and anger to truly listen to one another. Lincoln took the presidency during a trying time much as this. And there are a lot of parallels between Trump and Lincoln that I won't go into here but the fact remains that we have a deeply divided nation. I don't think our nation has been this divided since Reconstruction. We need to pray that Trump would be used by God to bring healing to this nation. I truly believe that is God's plan for Trump. To make America great again and to bring our nation together from our polarized pieces. But this will only happen if we pay attention to the verse that Pence laid his hands upon as he took the oath of office:

"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

"Go to Hell!" The power of a curse.

We all have heard that there is life and death in the words that we speak. We are truly a powerful people for the words that we choose have the ability to create. Even the secularists understand this and have written best selling books about this truth. How much more do we have the ability to transform the atmosphere around us? We are kings on this earth as we rule in the place of Christ. All authority on Heaven and Earth has been given to Him and He has chosen to delegate that authority to us. You are an heir of the Kingdom. And we must live accordingly.

Have you been the victim of word curses? Have you been careless with the things that you have said? You can transform someone's circumstances by how you speak. You can transform your own circumstances. Those who dwell in the negative will speak in the negative. Those who speak life will reap life. Why is it that pessimists often have such miserable lives? Because they speak it over themselves. Is it any mystery that they attract so many bad things to themselves?

What is hell? Theologians debate whether it is a physical place or if it is a state of being. The Orthodox teach that hell isn't a place but is an experience of God's Presence by someone who has rejected Him. The person who hates God, and by extension they hate themselves for they bear His image, will experience incredible suffering within the fullness of God's Presence. Hell might not be merely an absence of God. It may be a state of being in which one cannot experience any of God's goodness and will be filled with the utmost misery. Hell in this view is a state experienced by one who has so rejected God that they have rejected all of His Godly attributes. They will only feel His wrath and misery for there will no longer be any measure of grace shielding them from evil.

We place ourselves in hell each day. We place ourselves in hell when we reject God and choose to follow our own ways. We choose hell when we decide to ignore what God has for us. "Hell is a spiritual state of separation from God and inability to experience the love of God, while being conscious of the ultimate deprivation of it as punishment." - Theodore Stylianopoulos I've had measures of that. When I have been unable to experience the love of God because I have placed myself into hell. Sometimes it can be as the result of someone else. When someone curses you with "go to hell" we might think it is just a simple expression of anger that doesn't really mean anything. I think it does. It is a powerful word curse. The enemy will use that as a weapon against us to try to remove us from God's Presence and place us into a state of being in which we cannot experience God's love.

We must live lives in which we speak blessing and life. We are accountable for the words that we speak- even in anger. And there is no such thing as an idle sentence. Our words are powerful for we are powerful creatures. We have the ability to plunge someone into a hellish existence. Why should we do that? Why should we create warfare for those around us? The entire kingdom of darkness exists to do that. Why should we join them? I ask you my brothers and sisters to be a prophetic people. To be a people who speak life and who reject the words of darkness. Let us walk in the light! And let us bring others into that same light.

Your vote matters- don't worry about being a one issue voter!

People tell me that they don't want to be one issue voters. That I have to look at the whole picture. That would be nice but one has to take a stand against injustice rather than tolerating it.

Slavery endured in this nation because the majority didn't want to make it an issue. They tolerated it and it took the devastation of a Civil War to put into motion the circumstances needed to end it.

Segregation endured because most didn't care enough to shake the status quo. They were willing to keep electing leaders who would leave it alone because there were other things that were "more important." The majority didn't want to become wrapped up in "one issue."

Today abortion endures, despite the majority being against it, because we don't want to make it "the one issue." If we, as Christians, made it a deal breaker and refused to vote for pro-abortion politicians we would see abortion end quite quickly. I firmly believe that if the Church arose and started showing up to the polls en masse while voting consistently pro-life that we would see abortion end within 4 to 6 years. 

Why does this not happen? Because people say that we shouldn't be one issue voters.... I agree that there are a lot of important issues that one has to weigh. But there are some that should be absolute deal breakers. And those politicians who support the legal murder of innocent life will never get my vote. Our vote means something and we are accountable to God for how we vote. Those who vote for abortion will have blood on their hands that they will have to explain. Please my friends, vote pro-life! Lives are at stake.

Confessions of a heretic

I've spent most of my adult life branded as a heretic. It began when I was nineteen and started to go to a Charismatic Church. I gladly embraced much of the tenants of modern Charismania. I accepted the doctrine that the gifts of the Holy Spirit have not ceased and are just as applicable today as they were in the days of the apostles. I had supernatural experiences and blogged about them. And I had the audacity to believe that God speaks to us today and that we can receive direction from these words.

I lost friends. People I grew up with refused to speak to me. Social gatherings would prove to be awkward as my presence would be completely ignored as if I was invisible. This was less painful than one would think as I found so many new friends in the Charismatic movement. These became like family to me as we served the Kingdom of God together. I could deal with hateful letters written to me as I had my band of brothers and sisters who had also endured persecution. And nothing in me wanted to go back as I had tasted a beautiful expression of Christianity that contained a measure of life I had never had before.

Over the past eighteen months I have had another development in my spiritual journey. I discovered Anglicanism.  For most of my adult life I had always considered myself the strange product of a hodgepodge of different traditions. Finally I found a theological home for what I had always thought was an eclectic blend of Reformed, Charismatic, Evangelical, and Ancient Christianity. I love the Charismatic movement because of how the worship service is centered around ushering in the Presence of the Holy Spirit through worship. And I love Anglicanism because of how the Sunday service is centered around the Presence of Christ in the sacrament of communion.

I had always struggled with certain Protestant doctrines but was uncomfortable with the Roman Catholic viewpoint on those issues. In Anglicanism I found this middle road that expressed much of what I had already come to believe. However, this came with a price. I was surrounded by those who didn't believe you could be a non-Protestant Christian. The two are antithetical to each other in their minds. They reject many of the early church fathers as Catholic heretics. They proclaim that it is impossible to be Catholic and saved. That we believe in a different gospel. I would hear this said by people who I loved and respected and I would weep. It pained me when I heard those who I had thought would be co-laborers in the gospel attack my salvation unknowingly. I received letters stating that I believe in a different Jesus because of my belief of His Presence in the Sacrament.

I've asked myself if this is worth it. But just like when I discovered the Charismatic movement; I had discovered something beautiful that I couldn't turn my back upon. Every Sunday, as I kneel to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus, I receive life. I have discovered a holistic theology that makes sense to me. A theology that doesn't ignore certain passages of Scripture or allegorizes portions of Scripture that seem to be taken literally. I don't have to reject the early Church Fathers as primitives who didn't understand true Christianity. They were discipled by members of the original twelve. If they believe that Jesus is in the Sacrament then why shouldn't we? I'm just using this as one example of many theological issues.

Yes, the Protestant Reformation needed to happen. There were abuses and errors within the Roman Church that needed to be addressed. But we can't reject 1500 years of Christianity as illegitimate. I've grown up in the Protestant tradition that acted as if the had Church laid dormant between the closing of the canon and the beginning of Protestantism. Christ said that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church. For us to say that the Church laid dormant is to say that the gates of hell prevailed.

I have to chuckle when Protestants, who would reject the validity of my salvation, post quotes from CS Lewis as the great champion of the faith. CS Lewis, the great Anglo-Catholic, if he was alive today would be branded as a heretic and attacked throughout the far reaches of the internet. Why is he considered a champion of the faith while I am branded a heretic? This reveals the hypocrisy behind those who have appointed themselves as the doctrine police. I got hate letters when I quoted the words of Jesus in His high priestly prayer and said that those who attack the unity of the Church and sow seeds of division are attacking Christ Himself. We are His Body and those who attack the Church universal are attacking Christ Himself. But others say that truth should be valued more than unity. And they keep on holding their meetings and conferences in which they curse ministries that they disagree with and publish articles on how those people aren't really saved.

I can't go back. I believe I have drunk of the ancient wells. In the Charismatic movement we speak about drinking at the wells of revival and redigging those ancient wells. I have gone back to even more ancient wells. The wells of Celtic saints who transformed Ireland from a nation of paganism and Druidism into a Christian nation. Saints who planted monasteries throughout the British Isles and re-evanglized Europe during the Dark Ages. Those are my spiritual ancestors. As I look at America today, particularly California, I see so many parallels between now and the days of St. Patrick, St David of Wales, St Brigid, et al. I want to drink of the wells that they dug. I want to learn from them and receive the keys of authority that they fought for.

But I can't do this as a Protestant for they weren't Protestants. I can't try to emulate them while saying that their theology is heresy and that they weren't even saved. I'm trying to explain the logical conclusion of rejecting the salvation of non-Protestants. If we say that they aren't true Christians then we are doing so much damage. We can't pick and choose. I see individuals stating that Catholics are not saved and on different occasions holding up the martyrdom of Orthodox Christians in the Middle East. There's an inconsistency there. We can't be a divided Bride. Is Christ divided? Is there more than one Christ?

I have drunk of ancient waters. I sign myself with the cross throughout the day as a symbol of my discipleship to Christ and as a symbol of protection against the demonic. I wear the crucifix each day to remind me that I have been crucified with Christ. I pray in tongues throughout the day- even in the marketplace. I utilize the ancient prayers of the Church, along with the Book of Common Prayer, in my devotional life. I believe that in the communion meal I am stepping outside of time and partaking of one meal with the saints past, present, and future. We are one in Christ through His death and resurrection. I look at those departed as examples to follow, as ones who utilize their time in Heaven to pray for us still on earth.

I want to walk in the fullness of what God has for me. And for me, He has called me to walk the ancient paths and live a sacramental Christianity. Other streams are a blessing and I do not condemn them. But I have found something that I can not reject- over the past eighteen months I have grown so much in my walk and union with Christ. And that is what is most important. As ones who bear His name we are called to become one with Him and to allow His Holy Spirit to transform our lives so that we might be consumed by His Spirit. Our goal is to look like Him.

I write this with pain. I write this as one who has lost friends. I write this as one who has had doors shut in his face over this past year. I write this as one who has been shunned by those who I had considered as family. But I write this as one who has had to refuse to let bitterness set in. I pray the words of Jesus and ask that He would be faithful to make us one in Him. That we might be one so that the world would know Him through our unity.

We are called to be united. So many of Paul's letters were rebuking the spirit of division. Love is far more important than the need to be right. I look at the churches here in Berkeley (the same thing is true in so many other cities as well) and I see a group of congregations who are too busy pointing fingers at each other to do any real impact for the Kingdom. I can tell you what's wrong with every church but I can't tell you what's right because I rarely hear that. I see collections of congregants who are at enmity with each other. And we are too busy biting each other to do real damage to the kingdom of darkness.

What would happen if we were willing to lay aside our trivial differences? Whose name were we baptized by? Who was crucified for us? Christ is who should define us and not man made labels. But we have allowed doctrine and denominationalism to divide us. We care more about being right than being united.

I write this as one who has been attacked my entire adult life for following Christ. I can endure the attacks from unbelievers. But it hurts when it comes from my brothers and sisters. The knowledge that there are Christians praying against me and my ministry scares me. The idea that I have been thrown to the wolves and that their words are joining the voice of the great accuser is scary. And I am grieved to know that I have done the same in the past. The effect that this has in the spirit realm is huge.

I'm writing this as a plea. I'm writing this as an open letter to my brothers and sisters to accept me once again. And I'm writing this as an open letter to ask that we would all lay aside our differences and come together as one in heart and mission. Would we be one as Christ and the Father are one? If you have issues with my theology or my spiritual practices then come to me. Show me from Scripture where I am in error and I will listen. Scripture is my final authority- that hasn't changed. In fact as I have gone deeper down these ancient paths I have grown in my love and passion for the Scriptures. I have grown in my walk with the Lord. And I have gained new tools and practices in my daily fight against the kingdom of darkness as I resist the enemy and seek to be more like Christ. I simply ask that my Protestant brothers and sisters would see this and accept me as a fellow Christian. I am no greater than any of you. In fact I sometimes feel that I need the blessings of the ancient paths and the Sacraments, more than others, because of my own wretchedness. Please forgive me if I have ever appeared prideful or judgmental. And please, let us join together in the love of Christ.

What is a Christian? An intro...

What does it mean to be a Christian? Since the time of the apostles there has been debate on this topic. And today we are faced with the importance of this question in a way that we haven't since the time of the apostles. We are surrounded by those who call themselves Christian but to our religious minds they don't look much like Christians. And then there are those who say they are Christian, and might even look like it, but they have some crazy theology. Surely those people aren't "real" Christians? But isn't it all about Jesus? One would think that if someone professes Jesus they should have the privilege to call themselves Christian. It doesn't seem that that's enough though... Let's see what the Church decided when they were first presented with this issue and how that should shape our viewpoint today.

If we look at the early days of the Church we often see the phrase "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." But what did this mean? After all the demons believe that Jesus existed and the Hindus see Him as a wise guru or even an avatar of the divine. Christ means the anointed one. We have to believe that Christ carried the anointing of God as Messiah. We also have to believe in His ability to save us from our sins (the meaning of Jesus). And Lord means believing in His lordship for our lives. It signifies a level of surrender. To lay aside our own personal ownership of ourselves and accept Christ as our only Lord and Savior. That is what the phrase means.

However, debates quickly rose up. The first Church council was called to answer the issue of Gentiles coming to Christ. It was a radical idea that a Gentile could be saved. After all this was a Jewish Messiah- the One who was promised to bring salvation to the Jews. But the fruit of the Gentile believers, and the fact that they were filled with the Holy Spirit, was indisputable. The apostles accepted them as fellow members of the new covenant. However the question quickly arose; did these new Gentile converts need to convert to Judaism? In other words, could you be a Christian without being a Jew? The idea is laughable to us as 21st Century Gentile believers. But when we put ourselves in the context of the 1st century it makes sense as a valid question. Thankfully the Jerusalem council decided that one did not need to be a Jew to follow Jesus and one did not need to follow the old covenant with its regulations in order to be submitted to the Lordship of Christ.

However the Judiazers never stopped. We see many of St. Paul's writings had to address this issue of legalism. But then there were other issues that arose- the heretics. Scripture was still being written and the canon hadn't been decided. And there were plenty of teachers running around with all sorts of weird ideas. The early Church had to convene council after council to address these heresies. But they hadn't been defined as heresies just yet. The councils had to grapple with them and argue about them. For example the Council of Nicaea took almost a hundred years to decide on the Gnostic heresy, among other things. Before that you could be a Gnostic and a Christian. But after that the Church definitively declared that Gnosticism had no place within Christianity and that anyone holding onto that belief was excommunicated.

One of the greatest gifts of that council was the Nicene Creed. It codified a basic set of beliefs on what it meant to be a Christian. If one held to this creed then they were a Christian- if they did not then they were excommunicated from the Church. In fact, the Church would recite it as a congregation before taking communion. As a declaration of faith before approaching the Lord's Table. And many churches throughout the world still do this to remind ourselves on what a Christian is and to declare our common faith.

But is it enough to believe? Shouldn't our lives reflect this reality? Yes and no. It isn't our role to judge as we can't see the heart. And Scripture is full of men and women of God who were deeply flawed. Religiosity singles out certain lifestyles as incompatible with Christianity while excusing others- this is a problem as we have created a hierarchy of sins and stated that certain ones are incompatible with the Christian life while others can be forgiven. However, if we are professing Christ yet refusing to give Him Lordship then we have a problem. Now I'm speaking of open rebellion/unrepentant sin. I'm not speaking about those who are struggling to overcome something. However, just because someone is blind and deceived about something doesn't mean that their name isn't written in the book of life. All of us are called to bring more and more of our lives under the Lordship of Christ. As we commune with Him He will be faithful in showing us those dark areas of our lives that need to be brought into the light. It is a journey- it isn't instant.

This is why judgment scares me. There are so many people who look righteous yet their inner life is repulsive. And there are so many who look like horrible sinners yet have a revelation of God's love for them and are desperately pursuing Him. We don't know what lies beneath. God looks at the heart and we can only see the outward. But, we should see a progression of holiness in those lives. There's a place for judgement. That is why God has ordained pastors and elders. But we should be careful of judging those who we are not in relationship with. For example it grieves me when I see Christians making judgements against celebrities based on paparazzi reports that are later found to be false. I also see others questioning the salvation of other Christians simply because they have some bad theology- or are on the opposite side of the political spectrum. Satan is the accuser of the brethren. We need to be careful not to do the same.

In short, the Christian is one who has placed themselves under the Lordship of Christ by abandoning all else to follow Him. They believe in the historic creeds of the Church as the doctrine that all Christians have believed throughout the centuries. And they recognize their personal need for a Savior. Then there is the personal relationship and a life spent pursuing more of Him. Justification is a one time thing when we are ransomed by Christ. But it takes a lifetime to become like Him. It's a journey as we bring more and more of ourselves under His Lordship. We can't judge someone simply because they are on a different part of that journey.

Being a Christian is not easy but it is simple. We need to stop making it complicated and purge the spirit of judgment from our midst. How many people have abandoned the church because we judged rather than loved? It is our job to point people to a greater level of communion and the Holy Spirit to guide them into the truth of conviction. Jesus met the woman at the well with compassion. He didn't excuse her sin but He didn't condemn her either. We must do the same. We are the representatives of Christ on this earth and must live accordingly.

The least of these...

One thing that I appreciate about the Roman Catholic Church is its strong commitment to life and the value of those who society considers as lesser. From the fighting for the rights of the unborn, to the valuing of those with mental and physical disabilities.

I grew up in the Reformed tradition which stressed the value of the intellectual pursuit of God. Christian maturity was measured in our articulation of theology and doctrine. Unfortunately this didn't give much of a place to the mentally handicapped. I remember one lady in our congregation who loved Jesus with all that she was but had the intellect of a child. She was always viewed with suspicion and treated as a bit of an outcast. However, in the Catholic tradition I see how people like her are celebrated and actually held up as examples that we should all learn from.

I can give so many examples from the Bay Area diocese that has a monthly mass for its mentally challenged adults, to my friend's brother with down syndrome who serves as an acolyte in his home parish, to the tireless work of Catholic priests on behalf of the unborn.

Today I had the privilege of stopping at the National Shrine for Our Lady of Guadalupe in Sacramento. I was passing by and felt the need to stop in, not realizing what it was other than it was a Catholic Church. I spent a beautiful time praying before the Blessed Sacrament. And then I got to meet a gentleman who volunteers his time to care for the building. His son was there, sitting in a wheelchair. He reminded me of my cousin who has Cerebral Palsy. This man, about my age, comes to the church every morning in his wheelchair with the key where someone else helps him to open up the church. This man, who cannot feed himself is used by God in a way that few of us are.

This church has been a testimony and a ministry to those who society views as defective. From its former rector and auxiliary bishop of Sacramento who had to memorize the liturgy because he couldn't read the missal due to his visual handicap, to the memorial to the unborn outside the chapel's doors, to this man who can't hold a job but dedicates himself to opening the church each day and watching over its doors.

Perhaps we are the defective ones. We allow our intellectual pride to eclipse the ways of the Spirit. We rely too much on our own abilities as we don't need to depend on others. And in this glorification of our independence we lose sight of how God created us for communion with Him. Perhaps we need to learn from the least of these as they hold something that we don't understand.

"A Banner Year of Increase and Advancement" by Kyle T. Miller

For various reasons I haven't published a word of the Lord for 2016. But this prophecy is spot on and speaks into some areas that I have been speaking into. I highly recommend you read and pray into it.


A Banner Year

This is going to be a banner year. For those people who are in tune with the Spirit of God, it's going to be a year of increase and advancement. However, we will not be able to make this advancement in the flesh. We will only be able to move forward by receiving supernatural empowerment from the Holy Spirit. In this article I will share what I feel the Lord has told me that we can expect in this year, along with how we can walk supernaturally in the Holy Spirit.

Hidden Riches in Secret Places

For the world, the year of 2016 will be a year of uncertainty. From the world's standards, the economy will be up and down all year long. At times it will seem as though things are going well in the economy, and yet at other times it will seem as though the economy is headed for disaster. 

The Lord told me that much of this up-and-down cycle in the economy will be a façade created by the enemy to set people on edge and cause people to get in fear. The Lord said that much of this is smoke and mirrors. That at the very root of the economy, God is shifting things out of the hands of wicked people, and giving His people the opportunity to access hidden riches in secret places. 

God told me to share with you that we are to start asking Him to unveil riches that have been hidden from us until such a time as this. We will hear about people accessing land with oil on it, gems hidden in areas in that were not known to have jewels, and other natural resources that people will find this year by following the voice of His Spirit.

The Enemy Will Seek to Make People Weak, But the Joy of the Lord Will Be Our Strength

Until September 2016, there will be many challenges the world will experience. The Lord said the enemy will seek to use these challenges to try and hinder the growth of His people. In contrast, God will use these challenges to draw His people in to Him.

As we are challenged to feel overwhelmed, we can ask Him to in-fill us with His joy, and this joy will give us supernatural strength. Those of us who receive this supernatural joy will find ourselves empowered, while others will feel weary and fearful. This contrast between us and the world (along with Christians who are not hooked up with His anointing) will be used by God to draw people to His light. 

The Lord emphasized to me that we, the Church, should not use the media as a barometer to determine what He is doing because much of what will be portrayed in the media will be lies. We will not be able to watch cable and local news to fully interpret what God is doing because the mainstream media will often be used by satan as a tool to instill fear in people. God said, "I will show you what is to come. You can trust My Spirit to speak to you."

Finally, the Lord says it is absolutely critical that we receive His joy because He wants to use us to draw people to Him. When the world sees us operating in supernatural joy when everyone else is running helter-skelter, this will cause them to be drawn to the light of Christ that is residing within us. This takes me to the next point the Lord told me about.

Many of God's People Will Be Promoted to New Levels of Authority

As God's people walk in His supernatural joy this year, the world will be drawn to our light. Just as David was brought into the King's palace to comfort Saul, God's people will be promoted to levels of authority because leaders will recognize that they are comforted by the presence of God that is residing within us. Because we are filled with the joy of the Lord, we will be desirable to the world. People will literally feel better when we are around. 

Many of Our Unsaved Loved Ones Will Come to Christ

Just as the world will be drawn to our light, so shall our unsaved loved ones be drawn to the Spirit of God that is residing within us. The Lord told me that our unsaved loved ones will get saved "in droves" this year.

Things Will Begin to Smooth Out the Last Quarter of 2016

Things will begin to smooth out around September of 2016. For His Believers, the Lord wants us to use this season to catch our breath, get refilled, and experience restoration of lost things. God is going to cause us to recover things that were stolen from us in the last season.

Kyle T. Miller
Prophet Kyle - Personal Prophecy
Email: kyle@prophetkyle.com
Website: prophetkyle.com