Making a pastoral visit several years ago, my father heard a poor, miserable alcoholic in a darkened room in the rear of the house sobbing on his bed, "Oh, if I only knew God from the devil! Oh, if I only knew God from the devil!" The man whom my father was visiting was embarrassed at his relative's drunkened outburst, especially during the visit of a minister. He wanted to rebuke the inebriated man, but my father protested, "Please don't stop him. If God answers that prayer, that man will be delivered from alcohol. To desire to know God from the devil is a very good desire indeed. Would to God all his children knew good from evil."

To know God is what the Church as a whole desperately needs. God, through humble Hosea mourned, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hos. 4:6). A modern prophet could now say, "My people are divided for lack of knowledge." If the Church knew God, it would not be divided by the walls of denominations. If the Church knew God, it would not be confused. It would know who and what to believe, who to follow, who to support. If we knew God, we would know who his ministers are and who is truly anointed (Rev. 2:2).

The Spirit impressed upon me recently as I sought God in prayer, that many in the Church do not know that God is very displeased with the money-grabbing tactics which govern some ministries. Specifically, the Spirit impressed upon me how much the Lord wants his dear children to know that it is not he who is gouging them for every dollar that they will give. It is not the gentle voice of Jesus incessantly crying, "Give ye" (Hos. 4:18). If the Church knew God, it would know that. If the Church knew God, the truth would be clear to the Church that the doctrines of prosperity and success are merely inventions of covetous men, and are used by them to disguise their greedy spirits.

When Moses led Israel to Mount Sinai, the Israelites must have been amazed and humbled that Almighty God, who could justly have demanded all their substance, demanded so very little. How loving he is! He could justly have laden their backs with enormous burdens of required gifts and offerings. Instead, they found him to be concerned with THEIR welfare, not his own. God wants his people to know that he has not changed.

God's faithful pastors feel as God does about the Church. They will not burden the precious flock of God with incessant pleas for money. In this connection, the Spirit led me to study the word "oppression", and to my surprise I learned that in the Scriptures, oppression is almost always associated with demands for money. Please study it for yourself. God's heart is yearning for his people to know him better than to think that he is the oppressor of his own people. Deceitful ministers are oppressing God's people (not only for their money but for their time, with covered dish suppers, committee meetings, bake sales, building projects, and the like) by taking advantage of the saints' heartfelt desire to do something for God. In the thankful and sincere hearts of God's precious sheep, the false teachers find an almost inexhaustible source of support for their self-gratifying projects as long as they can convince the sheep that the Lord will be pleased with their support. By doing this, these "deceitful workers" rob God's true ministers of much needed funds. Oh, how we need to know God, lest we be found to be supporting those who actually oppose his holines, truth, and power. Child of God, pray!

The key to liberty in Christ is to know God. It is truth that sets us free. How do we attain to the knowledge of the truth? What do we do? Here are a few simple biblical directives:

(1) Maintain a pure conscience (I Tim. 1:19). Be honest with yourself, honestly examining what you believe, in the light of scriptural teachings (II Cor. 13:5). If your conscience is clear, you will be able to hear the voice of the Spirit. Condemnation blinds the heart (Jn. 3:19-21).

(2) Pray in the holy Ghost. We are built up in the faith as we do that (Jude 20, 21). It requires spiritual strength to believe what God says.

(3) In fear and submission, confess your need to God. He already knows your need, of course, but it seems to help us open up to receive his answers once we have confessed our dependancy upon him.

Pray with us here at the Pioneer Tract Society as we pour out our hearts to God for the Church, that he will raise up pastors, evangelists, prophets, etc., after his own heart, who will feed his sheep with knowledge (Jer. 3:15), that we will no longer be a plundered, confused, divided body, but that we might have fellowship one with another, and that the stains of unrighteousness among us may be washed away in the blood of the Lamb (I Jn. 1:7).