An Open Letter to Pastors (Part 1 of 4)

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These are my own words and AI is not used. Have grace. I’m not great at writing and grammar is like kryptonite.

The kitchen table is a familiar place, a safe place, where we fellowship with other members of the Watchmen community and more broadly the Body of Christ. Brothers and Sisters, I am impressed to write my next 4-part series addressed to Pastors. Over the next few weeks in this series, I am all too aware that honesty, forthrightness, and love be uppermost in all of our minds. This is about us pouring out to the leaders in our Churches. The Senior and associate Pastors, the board members, Sunday School teachers, Small Group leaders, and an entire cohort of volunteers.

Please pray fervently that this series brings perspective, encouragement, and courage to our leaders. They need covering now and always. So, let’s put down lesser things as we see the Day approaching for the completion of our redemption. Let’s agree in prayer that we will do our part to uplift, support, and come alongside “The Church” for such a time as this. It has to be done now. We cannot delay…

Dear Pastor,

It is time we talk. I propose that you offer me a chair in your office and let’s both take a deep breath and open in prayer. I don’t represent the Watchman Community, I’m just a member of it. I believe you will find this new 4-part series very affirming and encouraging to you. What I hope you discover is my deep love for the Church and great respect for how hard being a Pastor is for you. None of us have walked in your shoes, born your unique burdens, stresses, and congregational noise so as to understand the wide spectrum of the things you have to carry each and every day.

I suspect there is a stirring in your spirit but you can’t quite put your finger on it. Or, perhaps there is an impression about events on the near-term horizon that you push away because your emotional and intellectual resiliency is threadbare. There’s too many urgent needs for the immediate demands in your life. If we could imagine these burdens as weights on your shoulders, you are laboring just to straighten up, not to mention to stand. It’s possible you see these burdens more like I do: they are spinning plates that I have to keep rotating in order to stop them from shattering on the ground if they become neglected. Some days, I see several of my plates wobbling dangerously close to losing all momentum and surrendering to gravity at last. The pressure to keep those plates in the air requires enormous energy, focus, and perseverance. Each plate represents a portion of your calling…things that the Lord has put on your heart to do. As the Body of Christ, each of us is uniquely gifted and equipped for service to the King, but our knees do buckle under us sometimes. At least that’s what happens to me.

As I have been given the opportunity to write and sometimes to speak, you may be aware that I often refer to the “proper functioning of the Body of Christ”. Pastor, as you would know better than anyone, this seems like such a distant dream. Is the proper functioning even possible anymore? In the season we are living in, it is so easy to forget what that even looked like. The proper functioning is rare to witness. Very unfortunately, it reeks with: “conduct unbecoming the Body of Christ.” Today, can we agree that this seems out of control? The proper functioning is being corrupted by conduct unbecoming. If we can be honest, this is extremely discouraging. Especially because of the collateral damage that has uniquely impacted your ministry. There are fewer willing to lean-in and put a shoulder into the work. The beautiful notion of “co-laboring together in unity” under your leadership has devolved into a morass of quicksand that siphons your energy and resolve. I know this has been an incredibly difficult thing for you to witness over the years. Fortunately, Scripture goes before us. One thing I have come to trust is the statement that “Bible Prophecy isn’t there to scare us, but to prepare us!” The verses below characterize the reality we see today. At the time of the writing of this highly regarded book, it was prophetic in nature. Now look at how the Word of God is validating it’s integrity, truth, and supernatural origins! So, it’s best to begin with Scripture to remind ourselves about the characteristics we are told to expect in the Last Days:

2 Timothy 3:1-7 “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. 6 For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

It used to not be this way. I was saved in 1978 and remember a different feel to the Church in my early walk. Honestly, you do too. All of us do. This is our reality: we see the decline of our world accelerating each year. We try not to dwell on it when see fresh new evidence, but many have already coalesced a central truth: the world is no longer sustainable. Do you see it, also? Even a casual reading of Scripture keeps the full redemptive plan uppermost in your mind. You know that Israel becoming a nation again is key, but it is difficult to commit to enough time in your schedule to tackle an in-depth study. You know that the world is getting darker, but the last thing you want to do is invest the time it takes to fully understand what is happening. So much happens in secret, so much is cloaked behind a veil of deception and misinformation. When the Lord brings these things to your mind—because He wants to focus your efforts in a new way, it’s just too easy to permit the next crisis to override your best of intentions. My heart is broken over the things you have to endure.

Before we go further in this series, I want to tell you that this letter is not a treatise on the End Times. There are many other outstanding resources for you to consider, some of which I have listed further below.

My purpose isn’t to explain it all…it is simply to help you think.

I will paint with a broad brush because it is at the 10,000 foot level where we need to survey the battlefield. Many in the Watchman community, including those in your Church, have spent years preparing for what is coming.

Always remember that they are here to serve you.

Your Church is in the center of a storm

For many Pastors, perhaps even you, there is a growing discomfort that things are not getting better. The expression “Normal isn’t coming back, Jesus is” has sunk into the core of your personal worldview. It is likely that you witness a thrilling new trend in the midst of your pastorate. People are waking up! If you don’t see it yet, look harder. Let me explicitly define what I mean by “waking up”. I do not mean conforming to the world and adopting anti-Biblical “woke” viewpoints and narratives. What I’m introducing to you here is the notion that in the midst of your local fellowship, there is a solid remnant forming. If you believe it’s odd that I used the word: “remnant” when your Church is active in ministry and relatively healthy, it’s understandable. It’s important to open yourself to the possibility that there is a new and growing cohort in your midst. This is happening worldwide. Even in young adults. In fact, it defies logical explanation or classification from a worldly point-of-view. But to me, I characterize this trend at the root level: The Lord is stirring us as to the shortness of the hour.

You see, those that are waking up in your Church, they see it now.

Importantly they cannot unsee it.

For me personally, it was perhaps nine years ago. It was my time to see it. To say that when the Lord showed me deeper truths about Bible Prophecy, the Bema Seat, the full trajectory of our faith leading to our Eternal state, my life got so much more intentional. Much more. Not only was I in a new season of reading the Word from start to finish for the first time ever, but the very way I viewed my responsibility to be fruitful, engaged, intentional, and missional, took on transformational meaning. Not just information. Transformation. This is the cohort of Believers that I am referring to in your Church. Unfortunately, from a certain perspective, they have become outliers, cutting across the grain of casual Christianity. They are digging into the Word and becoming good Bereans. They have learned to be more discerning about what is true and to spot the anti-Biblical false narratives that saturate our every waking moment. They grasp the meaning behind John 10:10 (here).You see, they are at the point where they realize where we are on the Biblical timeline. They are looking up (here) and Titus 2:13 (here) is a massive anchor against the chaos and evil in our everyday struggle.

I want to help you think; to see what the Lord is doing in the midst of your people.

Global distress: nothing can stop what is coming

It’s worth pausing for a moment to consider the importance of what God is saying in the passage below. To me, this is the ultimate “mic-drop” moment of all time! This is where God puts His stamp of authority over all. This is where God is showing us He exists outside of space/time and knows the entire timeline. And this is where He tells us something critical to our faith and relationship with Him that we must fully absorb and to personally own. When you read these verses, does it scream: His authority, His way, His timing, to you? And if you permit me: His love for us…that He would reveal to us the things that are to come ahead of time. He wants us to know.

Isaiah 46:9-10, 13 "Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; [I am] God, and there is no one like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, 'My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure'; 11 … Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned [it, surely] I will do it.”

It might seem odd to you at first, but I am going to jump one step ahead of you, turn around, and look directly into your eyes. I anticipate that you are going to experience a feeling surfacing up as we move forward in this series. I want to talk about what Dr. J.B. Hixson (here) taught me about deeply rooted tools used to manipulate public opinion. In short, keeping to the nature and intent of our 10,000 foot flyover, the word “conspiracy” (here) is a tired but effective tool to dismiss, bypass, cut off, hijack, or signal the end of a conversation that has provoked one to think critically about a subject. The term was invented by the CIA to delegitimize public discourse that dared to edge toward the truth.

Suffice it to say that there is a vigorous counter movement that is diametrically opposed to God. There is a spirit behind this known as the Antichrist spirit (here). Dear Pastor, do you feel the pull to dismiss and move on? Resist that, in Jesus name. Take authority over what you are feeling right now. The people in your congregation are counting on you to prevail and to learn. The Kitchen Table series is where we put things on the table and talk about and deal with difficult topics in love. This series is designed to encourage, to dissipate the fog and noise we live in, and to help prepare us for our respective finish lines. You must know that we are praying for you. We have been and will continue to lift you up. Because we know this is a tough season and you are exhausted. We know that you feel like normal is slipping away into the descending trajectory of despair. Please know that you are not alone, the entire Body of Christ is with you. We, my dear Brother, are cheering for you!

So, we are not going to talk about those under the long standing influence of the enemy, nor the many dominoes put in place for the right timing to tip them over. These take many forms and shapes, but what distinguishes them all is that they are opposed to Jesus Christ and His plan of redemption. Known collectively as the “elites”, some of which are full-blown “luciferians”, we intrinsically know that these multi-generational families (like the Rothchild’s) have unimaginable wealth and influence. Here is the point: there is a powerful cabal inspired and driven by the Spirit of the Antichrist to establish what I call dominoes that are designed to break us. Remember, my series is not a full expose on what is happening. Right now, it is sufficient to help you reflect on what you are already discerning and let that fully resolve. Among the many dominos that have been intentionally setup to break us—are one or more “Black Swan” events (here). For the purpose of our discussion, imagine this is a debt bubble, or a currency crisis that assaults the US dollar as the global reserve currency, or a series of cascading traps intentionally designed to vaporize our strength and resiliency. Why, though? Why would such a thing be planned?

In short, the United States is unique among nations. Not just because of our Constitutional Republic, but because of our common Judeo/Christian heritage. Our affinity to support the people of Israel has been a hallmark of our nation’s DNA and has accounted for our status among the nations. But for the One World government, religion, and currency predicted in Revelation 13 to come to pass, the United States must be humbled, defeated, or forced to submit. You see, just as we oppose the coming one-world system, by and large, for decades now, they have been erecting mechanisms to ensure that we will eventually conform. (If you are interested to pursue this, read about the end of American dominance (here or here) by the World Economic Forum. Or, you can read about the 2030 Agenda (here) from the United Nations.) This agenda is fully visible, but often buried in distracted platitudes designed to signal intent but not direct enough to wake up the Church. It’s not a conspiracy if they are telling you what they are planning to do. Take them at their word.

For now, let’s just take one of several of the likely scenarios that will destabilize the world’s economy and the resulting impact on ours. Are you aware of China’s real estate debt crisis, loss of export volume, or the increasing distress of the Chinese people? What about Japan’s emerging currency crisis? Both of these nations hold massive wealth in US treasury notes. If these countries need to convert that long term asset to benefit the immediate needs of their own population, it’s enough to tip global financial markets over. In our everyday lives, we may not be exposed to what is happening globally very often, so I ask you to suspend incredulity. Who has the most exposure even in the midst of a tremendous surge of growth in our own economy and financial markets? Well, it’s the United States of course, and we are the ones standing in the way of the One World system.

The next financial events will shake us to the core-including the people in your congregation coming under great fear, confusion, and distress. This is not intended to be fear-mongering, it is the truth, and we must be prepared for what is coming soon. If we stay focused on financial markets for illustrative purposes, what do you imagine would happen if a financial collapse that began in another country—and within just hours—would ripple through all financial markets. The elites have a plan to drive us into the One World system. Remember all the initiatives over the decades? Let’s take just one of them. Remember the phrase “Build Back Better?” Pause for a moment. To build back, doesn’t that mean that the existing system has to be leveled? Well, yes it does. Did you know that after the 2008 financial collapse there is a legislative provision called the Dodd-Frank Act (here) where a mechanism was introduced known as a bank “bail-in” (here). Here is a snippet of the high level view: “Bail-ins provide immediate relief when banks use money from their unsecured creditors, including depositors and bondholders, to restructure their capital.” This means that banks can convert depositor’s wealth (checking, savings, investments, etc.) into their own reserve capital. The provision ensures that the US taxpayer does not have to witness the US government bailing out companies or institutions that were deemed “too big to fail”. Long story short, people in your congregation will be affected by this and there are two immediate outcomes when (not if) this happens:

• Confusion - the people in your congregation will ask you: what is going on? They won’t understand why banks are closing to prevent people from withdrawing their funds on deposit—a move that will further weaken a bank’s own liquidity.

• Financial Distress - your congregation will likely struggle with not having access to cash, or funds to pay bills. Where do you imagine they will turn to? I leave that question in the air for now…

When the dominos begin to tip over, expect chaos in your congregation. People will want answers…so the question is simple. Are you ready to care for your congregation in an elevated calling when it does? What can and will you say? What will happen when your benevolence funds drains in the first day or two of this type of crisis? How will you approach explaining the reason for why God is permitting this to happen in these days? Where does our hope come from? All eyes will turn in your direction and wait for you to speak. When a surge of prodigals comes back into your Church looking for reattachment to the things of Christ, what do you imagine they will be waiting to hear coming from your platform? They are not looking for fancy lights and fog machines, are they? They are looking for you to stand before them, open your Bible in front of them, and begin with “Let us pray…” But by now, the normalcy bias of past sermon series is going to be severely challenged. How are you going to face them? What will you say? How will you give them hope? HOW HAVE YOU PREPARED TO STAND BEFORE THE LORD AT THE BEMA SEAT? And if you believe that is a in-your-face question, it is said in love and truth. Do you imagine you are the only one that thinks about the Bema? Again, I assert that you are not alone. I ask myself this every single day—and many more like me. Many in your Church do too.

Conclusion

Remember, “…in the last days difficult times will come…” Whether you realize it or not, there are things coming that will shake us to the core. It should be obvious that you cannot wait any longer to open your eyes to where we are in God’s timeline. You should seize this opportunity and be prepared if you are going to lovingly guide your congregation through this. And this, my dear Brother, is what is on my heart to share with you. In the next few articles, you will find out that the Lord has provided information from trusted individuals to help you with what you need. They will help you understand high level concepts-such as the evidence of the Beast System rising and the multitude of current conditions that signal the ripeness of the world getting ready to embrace the Antichrist once he is revealed. You will be supported because you are loved and respected. And, just as in the past, people will prop-up your raised arms as you follow the Lord’s instructions with fervor and renewed passion. You will be on fire for the Lord as He directs your steps—six inches of visibility at a time. I predict a wave of peace and resolve will wash over you in the best possible sense of the word. Even right now, I say to you—the Lord is moving ahead of your need.

In next week’s Part 2, I want to introduce you to the Watchman Community and why I believe they are the deep operatives in your Church that will be called up for duty for such a time as this.

For Part 3, knowing the community so well, I want to provide you with some thought leadership on how to recognize a Watchman, how to interpret the things they say and why you should listen carefully. But most importantly, I’m going to give you the very best consultative advice on setting the right ground rules so we can all be faithful in our mission to serve the King! To you and your team, you should listen, absorb and learn. For Watchmen and Watchwomen, we pledge to love you and the Church sufficiently so as to edify, share what we know (without succumbing to rabbit trails), and to always major on the majors. Both sides must move toward center and quickly adapt for the benefit of the Church.

Part 4 turns a corner, because I want to speak to you from my heart about practical things you can do now for your congregation. No one expects you to become a Watchman. That is not your calling and there may not be enough time. But would you be open to a few solid sermon series that you can bring to your congregation? Common sense things that will empower you take a giant leap in helping the Body of Christ understand critical doctrine right out of the Word of God? I trust you will see the logic when I publish that in a couple more weeks.

The Lord has put Part 5 on my heart, but I am still praying about that.

Homework — If you decide to learn more

Some of you will be stirred right now and this section is designed to give you the benefit of the years I have invested for your benefit. There are so many ministries that I trust, so don’t make the mistake of thinking that if you are aware of a good ministry that is not on the list below, that is only to help focus you on a few. It’s a good start.

For general Eschatology, begin listening to the “Prophecy Pros Podcast” with Jeff Kinley and Todd Hampson. Website here. YouTube channel here.

For background on the Spirit of the Antichrist, evil plans, organizations, individuals, begin listening to Dr. J.B. Hixson at Not By Works. Website here. Rumble channel here.

For general Biblical teaching about the End Times, watch teachings and sermons from Dr. John Barnett. Website here. YouTube channel here.

For current event reporting on Israel, celebrated speaker and prolific author Amir Tsarfati, founder of Behold Israel ministry. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus Christ. Website here. YouTube channel here. Reporting current events on Telegram here.

I challenge you to lean on other faithful Brothers and Sisters who have been called to study these things deeply and thus help you as you come up to speed. They did this to be equipped and ready to serve you. This is a season of uniting for a common purpose…and understanding where we are on the prophetic timeline. It’s not too late to have a profound impact if you’re willing. But here’s the important question: Will you open your hand in faith and be open to learning more? Will you pull back or will you stand strong for your congregation? Will you acknowledge that we operate as a Body and that the Body has been equipped to serve each other in love, support, prayer, and worship as we see the Day approaching? These are the questions that we will face together in the coming weeks. I hope this will be very encouraging to you, even if this is your first time diving into End Times in your ministry. I trust that you will see the context of your ministry in a new and thrilling way. More on this to come.

#Maranatha

YBIC,

Scott