Welcome to Brian's Bits, where Brian gets to share at length about various topics stirring inside of him.

 
 
Well, it's now been 18 months since I was axed from my job at The Elijah List. Unfortunately, I was not the only one they treated poorly. During my three-and-a-half years of working at The Elijah List, there were quite a few other employees who were abused, in one way or another, by the Elijah List leadership. Then one day it was my turn. I've yet to see any signs of repentance on their part. Have the two leaders of that "ministry" come to realize the error of their ways — that it's NOT the way of Yeshua (Jesus) to use people as objects and then discard them when you're through with them; it's NOT the way of Yeshua to use religion ("the prophetic") as a means for financial gain, and to make money the top priority. Apparently they have not, because I'm sure I would have heard about it. Any kind of apology or acknowledgement of their abuses has yet to come my way. From the looks of the Elijah List Web site, it seems to be (sickening) business as usual.
 
A few months ago I ran across a very interesting, ten-part article about The Elijah List, written by a former employee (whom I worked with for some of the three-and-a-half years I was there). These articles are written by Kevin Kleint, and you can find the first one here: My 7 Years Working for the Elijah List 1 – In the Beginning.
 
I can say that I agree with almost everything Kevin has written — it's a very accurate description of what both he and I actually experienced during our years of employment there. He really hits the nail on the head when he writes (in the second article): "Mammon and the Fear of Man had become the 'god' of the Elijah List. I say this because, from what I experienced, every effort was made to make more money and to please man." To clarify, I would add that "please man" is referring to the "prophetic" contributors who wrote the articles published on The Elijah List, and definitely NOT the employees who worked there on a daily basis.
 
Regarding how the employees were treated, Kevin writes in the same article: "[At my subsequent job after The Elijah List] I had to literally re-learn how to become a contributing part of a work discussion because [of] the emotional and spiritual 'beat down' of the prior 7 years at the Elijah List..." How true, how sadly true! I experienced first-hand, over and over again, that the leaders of The Elijah List were not at all interested in input from their employees — our job was to shut up and do what we were told, and not question their often erroneous decisions. Kevin continues: If you are interested to find out more about The Elijah List from the inside, more about what I experienced during the time I worked there, and more about the "prophetic movement" as a whole, I highly recommend that you take the time to carefully read all ten articles that Kevin has written — he has a lot of important things to say that everyone who considers themself a follower of Yeshua should read.
 
Recently I was having lunch with a friend and lamenting the fact that I've been unemployed for 18 months, and that I've yet to receive from God any clear direction regarding how He wants me to be earning a living. I was saying, "What I want is really simple: I just want God to tell me where to go and what to do, and I'll do it. I'll live wherever He wants, and I'll do whatever kind of work He wants me to do — all He has to do is tell me the details, and I'll immediately obey His instructions. That isn't asking too much, is it?"
 
The very next day, I was reading in the first chapter of Jeremiah (The Message version), and I was astounded to run across these words, in which God is speaking: "I'll tell you where to go ... I've given you a job to do." WOW! I felt like God was speaking straight to me, answering the previous day's complaint! I was SO encouraged! But that wasn't all ... a bit later I checked my e-mail, and found a regular e-mail newsletter that I receive from some Messianic Christians in Israel. I really like reading what Arni Klein has to say, because it often speaks to the depths of my heart regarding the journey I'm on with Yeshua. This time he was right on target once again: While unbelievers call it "coincidence," those who are in relationship with God can see, with the eyes of their heart, His hand behind such "coincidences." For me, these Scripture verses and this e-mail were direct and specific replies from God to my cry for direction from Him. Not the reply I was hoping for (because I want Him to tell me where to go and what to do), but reassuring and comforting nonetheless.
 
The experience that Arni writes about is exactly what I'm going through too. Simply following God is much easier: He speaks, we obey. But at this point in my more than three decades of following Yeshua, it's almost TOO easy. I've already learned that lesson, and a lesson learned is easy. It's time to graduate, to move on to harder lessons. God has spoken to me a couple of times during the past five years we have lived in Oregon that He is taking me on to more difficult lessons because I have already learned the previous lessons. I would be stagnating to remain at the same level which has become easy.
 
So now, like Arni, and I'm sure many other followers of Yeshua around the world, God is wanting me to learn to be led by a sense of His peace in my inner person, and not by the more obvious ways He has led me in the past. And like Arni, I need to have faith and trust that God is really there watching over me and directing me, even when I don't sense that He is. This lesson definitely IS stretching my faith out in a new direction.
 
The peace of God in my inner person is saying to me that it's part of His plan for me to be unemployed during this season of my life. To us Americans who were instilled with the Protestant work ethic and the proverb (NOT from the Bible) that God helps those who help themselves, such purposeful unemployment seems born of irresponsibility, laziness and stupidity.
 
It may come as a shock to many Americans, but the reality is that our American values and outlook on life are often OPPOSITE of what the Bible actually teaches. I believe that God is using my unemployment to purge many of those wrong ideas and values from my inner being, so He can align my heart and mind with HIS values and priorities. I also believe that during this season of my life He is preparing me for the next season. As I read in Jeremiah, God eventually WILL tell me where to go, and He eventually DOES have a job for me to do. His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts, His economy is not our economy (Isaiah 55:8,9,2).
 
There are plenty of examples in the Bible of people who walked by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Following are a few of the notable ones:

• Abraham, the father of all who believe (Romans 4:16b), who, "when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going" (Hebrews 11:8).
• The Israelites, who were led by the pillar of cloud in the wilderness for many years, who also didn't know where they were going. When the cloud moved, they moved. When the cloud stayed, they stayed (Numbers 9:17-23).
• The Wise Men, around the time of Yeshua's birth, were on a journey, not knowing where they were going, but following where a star led them (Matthew 2:9-10).

On the night before He was executed, Yeshua told His followers, "You know the way to the place where I am going." Bewildered, His disciples replied, "No, we don't know, Master. We have no idea where You are going, so how can we know the way?" But Yeshua replied, "I am the way..." (See John 14:1-6)
 
Following Yeshua is not following a map, nor a set of regulations, nor a religious routine. It's all about following a PERSON — walking WITH that person. We don't know where we are going, but He does. If we follow Him, we will get there, because He IS the way ... the way to the Father, the way to eternal life. Yeshua also said that eternal life is found in Himself, because He IS life. And that anyone who has seen Him has seen the Father, because He and the Father are one. Yeshua is the center and the focus and the source of EVERYTHING.
 
So I'm following Yeshua, walking with Him, even though I don't know where He's leading me, because He IS the way. Like Abraham, I have obeyed and gone on a journey, even though I don't know where I'm going. Like the Israelites, I'm following the pillar of cloud (Yeshua). Sometimes the cloud stayed a long time, and I'm sure many of the Israelites wondered why they stayed in one place for so long. But they chose to obey and follow the cloud. Like them, when the cloud moves, I move. When the cloud stays, I stay. If I have to stay in a season of unemployment because the cloud is not moving, then so be it. And like the Wise Men, I too am following a star — Yeshua, the bright Morning Star, shining in my heart.
 
If I truly want to be a follower of Yeshua — what is commonly called "being a Christian", although that word has become very corrupted and has lost a lot of its meaning in our day — then I MUST trust Him to lead me, and follow Him wherever He guides me, even though I may often not understand all of the "whys." Either I am totally committed to Yeshua until the end of the journey, or else I must turn away from Him and totally reject Christianity — there is no going halfway, there is no middle ground. Either Yeshua is completely trustworthy, or else He is completely untrustworthy. Either He is the truth, or else He's a liar and a deceiver. Each one of us has to make that decision at some point in our life.
 
Of course, I'm positive that I will make mistakes along the way — who doesn't make mistakes as they learn? In fact, making mistakes is PART OF the learning process. For humans, it's often the way we learn. But my mistakes don't disqualify me from being a follower of Yeshua. I don't have to be perfect — only HE is perfect. And God is not shaken by my mistakes — He is much bigger than my failures; He is able to handle them, and turn them into something good. So there is no reason for myself or others to judge me because I don't follow Yeshua perfectly.
 
I'm sure that my decision to follow Yeshua completely, no matter what, would seem like foolishness to many. The scoffers would ask, "How can a season of purposeful unemployment be 'from God'? Isn't it rather simply indulging in laziness and self-delusion? Just recently didn't someone say that 'God told him' that 12 May 2011 would be Judgement Day? Anyone can just make up anything they want, and give God the 'credit'." The Bible has something to say about these unbelievers. The Apostle Paul wrote: God's wisdom and man's wisdom are two totally different things. As for me, I'm going to live by what God thinks is right, not by what other people think is right, even if it makes me look like a fool in their eyes. Just like, in the eyes of the world, Yeshua laying down His life and going to the cross seems like the ultimate foolishness. Again, Paul wrote that "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing" (1 Corinthians 1:18).
 
I like how the British rock band Delirious put it in their song King of Fools: Or what John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard denomination, used to say: "I'm a fool for Christ — whose fool are you?" May we all follow the wisdom of God and be such fools! This article is the seventh in a series of articles on this Web site related to My Journey with Yeshua and State of Unemployment, which also includes:

1. The Agony and the Ecstasy
2. The Good and the Perfect
3. Living For a Living
4. Hearing But Not Listening
5. Watching the Wheels
6. A Year Ago Today ...
7. Eighteen Months Later

Want to throw in your own two bits? E-mail me at: 2bits@briansbits.com
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