Our Call
At the age of 18, having been arrested by the call of God, I found myself in Bible School in Sydney. And, through the laying on of hands by the prophetic presbytery, God spoke to me confirming that call:
For behold you shall be a teacher of the Word and you shall know loneliness and narrowness as I make demands upon you says the Lord. Behold you shall teach from the heart of experience. You will go through heavy dealings so men and women will be moved by the words which proceed from the heart. For yes, I have heard your cry of not just being a preacher but speaking the living word of the Spirit, not the letter of the law. Yes as you submit to my dealings and as you have in times past, behold I will lead you on the pathway so you can come to the living word. The word you speak will be the word you hear in this hour. Be in the closet before Me says the Lord. For yes, there is a need to bring my people to maturity. …
Behold I have set you apart and sanctified you, that you might be a mouthpiece even to the nations. … And it shall be my word that shall go forth and it shall accomplish my work in the hearts of those that here it. Therefore I say to you, Set yourself aside in waiting upon me and in the studying of my Word; yes continue to be submissive even to the authority that is over you and to the authority of God. …
The call was to teach the Word of God, and the word would be one for this hour. Its purpose was to bring God’s people to maturity. And, under the authority of God, the sending was to the nations.
To this end we have refocussed our ministry. While, from the beginning we have dedicated ourselves to the Word of God, the last 5 years have been especially focussed. We have found ourselves in a period of reviewing the state of the church and the culture, particularly in the West (see Christianity in Crisis).
Our Convictions
This review has reinforced our conviction that:
First, the Protestant Reformation of 500 years ago was an act of God in delivering and restoring his church. This is not to condone or promote any sectarian or theological idolatry. It is to say that the sovereign God of history is at work bringing his church to ultimate maturity and the nations to salvation.
Second, the protestant-reformed approach to Scripture is the most accurate in the history of the church. Building on the church Fathers, Luther and Calvin, were singularly used of God to restore apostolic Christianity and thus accelerate the increase of God’s kingdom in the earth.
Third, the sovereignty of God extends over all that he has made (i.e. the world) and that his authority is exercised over it through his Word incarnated (the Lord Jesus Christ) and his Word inscripturated (the Bible).
Fourth, God’s authority through his Word is only fully exercised in the world (i.e. the nations) when it is fully taught and incarnated in the church, the body of Christ.
Fifth, Renaissance (15th Century) and Enlightenment Humanism (18th Century) played out in the 19th Century in apostasy from biblical Christianity – in church and culture – under the aegis of Darwinian and Higher Critical thinking that came to full maturity in the 20th and early 21st Centuries.
Sixth, the evangelical church opted for a pietistic retreat from the culture, despite emphasis on missions and good works, focussing exclusively on personal salvation, holiness, and church life.
Seventh, unless the people of God are taught the Word of God accurately and its outworking in worldview they will not be under the authority of God and unable to confront the lies of the enemy that undergird an apostate church and culture.
Eighth, unless the people of God learn to live in the balance of the Word and the Spirit the division between Evangelical/Reformed and Pentecostal/Charismatic movements will continue and the advance of God’s kingdom in the world will be thwarted.
Our Directions
To ensure the faithfulness of this ministry in light of God’s call, and these convictions, we are pursuing a certain direction.
Modelled by the likes of the great Charles Spurgeon, the renewal movement has tended to eschew formal theological study through the academy. Instead, ministry training has been more situated within the local church. This was because of the ravages perpetrated on the church by the liberal theological academy. In principle this has been a wise strategy, nonetheless, it has not always been beneficial. It has produced a ministry that is not theologically equipped to expose the lies of the enemy in their intellectual and cultural guise.
On the other hand, the more evangelical and even reformed streams of the church that have submitted themselves to the theological academy have sadly borne the same result: a ministry ill-equipped to expose the lies of the enemy. Why is this?—because even these more conservative schools have also been increasingly infiltrated since the 1960s, to various degrees, by theological liberalism and so-called neo-orthodoxy (a misnomer, being far from biblically orthodox). In fact, as a result much of evangelicalism today is no longer true to the evangel, the Gospel, having succumbed to the thought forms of the world; although often still using the same evangelical language but filling words with reinterpreted meaning.
Consequently, a number of years ago I faced an option: pursue post-graduate theological studies or write a book. Believing it to be the guidance of the Lord, I chose the latter, producing ‘Snakes in the Temple’.
However, for the current season, we have had discussions with Whitfield Theological Seminary in the USA to enlist their assistance in the writing of my new book, The Blind Servant: God’s Dealings With The Cultural West, which will speak into the idolatrous ideas that have triggered the current apostasy of the church and culture, charting a blueprint for recovery and cultural reformation. They are a conservative reformed seminary that had an association with Dr R. J. Rushdoony for whom we hold great respect and with whom the movement we served in the 1980s also had an association. They have agreed to work with us in the production of the book through a doctoral dissertation. Additionally, based on their assessment of ‘Snakes in the Temple’ and our more recent writings they will also award a masters degree.
So, completing our commentary on Romans by the end of the year, we will dedicate 2019-21 to the writing of the new book.
Virginia is also in the process of clarifying a book-writing and doctoral project to be announced soon.
We continue to publish our Lifemessage Word for the Week.
Our conviction is that the Word of God, accurately taught, is powerful to pull down strongholds – ideas raised up against the knowledge of God – and hence transform cultures and nations. And thus, the written word provides a legacy for future generations.
Like all ministries we look to the Lord to provide through his people. Without your faithful giving we are not able to obey the call of God in proclaiming God’s Word to the nations.
Would you consider partnering with us today in reaching the nations?
We covet your prayers.
Sincerely,
David Orton
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