COME DOWN OFF THAT WALL
Danny Macdowell
There are many gifts and "callings" in the Church Universal. I won't cite a list of the varied "callings" that are in the Church today, for they are many and diverse and sometimes cross descript boundaries. I want to address the calling of a "watchman". The duty of a "watchman" is simple-----TO WATCH AND TO WARN! The qualifications of a "watchman " are more complex. The first thing that a watchman must know is----what am I "watching for"? How do I find out? The next thing a watchman must know is; what is a THREAT and what is NOT? Another thing the watchman must know is; how do I distinguish a "perceived threat" from a "REAL THREAT"? What action do I take when a REAL THREAT is acknowledged? The answer to these questions is simple, but to arrive at a knowledgeable base take years of hard work. The knowledge for exercising such a calling is in KNOWING GOD'S WORD ! If one is to be a "watchman" in the Church of Jesus Christ, he/she must have at minimum, a cursory knowledge of what a threat looks like, and that can only be attained through years and years of studious work in the WORD OF GOD! Not only to read it, know it, but just as importantly to UNDERSTAND IT! For a man/woman to disqualify [in their own minds] the work of a watchman is truly a revelation of their own inequities in the WORD. They do not understand the WATCHMAN because they do not understand the WORD! Having never received the calling of a WATCHMAN-------in their own mind, the "calling" does not exist. " I cannot SEE IT----therefore it does not exist". They fail to accept the obvious expressed even in nature. The wind can be gentle and comforting. It can also be frightening and destructive. Who can deny it's existence just because it cannot be seen with the naked eye. Yet there are those within the Body of Christ who are just that ignorant about such matters. That very attitude excludes them from the calling of a WATCHMAN.
Another gift that is required of a Watchman is that of "PASSION". If one has been called to be a Watchman, he/she will also receive an equal portion of PASSION. It is not something which one can simply turn on and off. It is ABIDING, and cannot be extinguished except by God himself. No man can extinguish that passion. No amount of self righteous indignation or human reasoning can extinguish the OBSSESION TO WARN! No attempt to humiliate will carry the power to overcome that gift of PASSION! It will not happen! There is a CONSEQUENCE to dereliction of duty in this matter of being a WATCHMAN. Yet, that consequence will NEVER be realized by the watchman because the CALLING is a part of his/her very being. To turn from his calling is to turn from BREATH! Those of you who have this calling bear witness to my words. Those of you who are called into WATCHMAN MINISTRIES may at times get discouraged because of the criticisms of ignorant men-----but you cannot utterly WALK AWAY-----no more than you can STOP BREATHING! If John the Baptist had attempted to contain the words of his mouth--------the pores of his skin would have cried out "YOU GENERATION OF VIPERS"!
Today we live in an era of ecumenicism with cries of peace----peace--------cooperation-----fellowship-----compromise------spoken in soft tones as the Church sinks deeper and deeper into apostasy and even stark heresy. When the watchman sees a brother drowning, he throws in a rope [the Word of God]. When the un-gifted sees a man drowning he shouts----"I'm praying for you brother". If, in these days of mass violence to the WORD OF GOD, you are frustrated, or you feel a helplessness, or you feel compelled to scream at the top of your lungs----it may well be that you have a CALLING. If so-----may I remind you that "YOU WERE CHOSEN IN CHRIST BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD"! Pour the words of warning into your very being and let them spew forcefully from your mouth.
To those of you who would criticize the WATCHMAN MINISTRY I remind you of the nobility of the Human Flesh as Peter refuted the very purpose of Christ's existence;
Mark 8:31-34---31 And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
32 And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.
33 But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.
34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
What may seem a NOBLE rebuke to the un-gifted, may be repulsive to the heart of God. To REBUKE the Lord's WATCHMEN is a serious matter indeed for you usurp the THRONE OF GOD! Who are you to judge another man's calling.
Ezek 33:1-17
33:1 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:
3 If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;
4 Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.
5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.
6 But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.
7 So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.
8 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
9 Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
10 Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?
11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
12 Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth.
13 When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.
14 Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;
15 If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die.
16 None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.
17 Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal.
You who cause the watchman to stumble at his duty-----put your hand to your mouth for if that man's calling is from GOD-----you defy the Lord. Danny McDowell
