Gone is the Conifer

Years ago I was working at a megachurch and while I was there, I had a dream where a woman anointed my neck with oil. Afterward, she told me sternly to “drop the ax.” I looked down at my hand, and though I couldn’t physically see it, my hand was gripped tightly around the handle of an ax in the spirit. When I woke up, I understood the ax was a message about injustice and the consolidation of wealth in the American church.

Last year, when I was camping at Big Sur, I had a dream at night about a song called “Gone is the Conifer.” In the following months, I dreamt of giant trees falling everywhere. In one of them, I saw two massive conifer trees in the front yard of a beautiful property representing a thriving, prosperous church. One of the trees was cut down to its stump and roots, reminding me of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 4:10-15:

These are the visions I saw while lying in bed: I looked, and there before me stood a tree in the middle of the land. Its height was enormous. The tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky; it was visible to the ends of the earth. Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit abundant, and on it was food for all. Under it the wild animals found shelter, and the birds lived in its branches; from it every creature was fed. In the visions I saw while lying in bed, I looked, and there before me was a holy one, a messenger, coming down from heaven. He called in a loud voice: ‘Cut down the tree and trim off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the animals flee from under it and the birds from its branches. But let the stump and its roots, bound with iron and bronze, remain in the ground, in the grass of the field.

Over time, the Holy Spirit revealed to me that the tree I saw cut down in my dream symbolically represents the business and for-profit ministry built inside the American church. I had another dream where I was asked to speak to 300-400 pastors. When I got to the pulpit, I didn’t know what I was going to say until the Holy Spirit gave me the words, “The church is not a business.” I could hear an echo of gasps in the congregation from pastors and leaders. Later, I was asked to summarize in one word why the church is not a business. The answer the Holy Spirit gave me was “generosity.”

Companies are created to generate profit and expect a return on their investment. They accumulate wealth for their leaders and manage affairs based on customer supply and demand. The church, however, has been given a different heart and motivations than a business. It operates under grace and is called to generosity, giving away what it has freely received from God. What it has, including its wealth and ministry, results not from the strategies and plans of CEOs but the blessing of God resulting from our covenant relationship with him. If God’s blessings cause us to neglect him or become a stumbling block to pride and sin, he may remove his blessing and what we have until we acknowledge him again as our judge and provider; this is part of our covenant relationship.

You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God (Deut 8:17-19).

Last year, I was standing in line at a Staples store when the presence of the Holy Spirit overwhelmed me in the checkout line. His presence was so heavy I left my spot to go write down the words that suddenly came to my heart. I wrote this message on my phone: “America must decide if its wealth is for its own comfort or a gift with a greater purpose: humanity. We feed billions of dollars to the entertainment, fashion, and beauty industry. Will we be willing to forgo comfort to support humans other than ourselves? America, this is your first test in a new season. Make your decision in light of eternity about whether you will hoard resources from the poor and vulnerable.”

Throughout history, God has tested and judged his covenant people to address injustice and sin for the benefit of humanity and to further his purposes in the world. In a series of dreams, God revealed to me how he has been testing the American church over the past year and, in the process, revealing injustice previously hidden from our hearts. How we responded was a test to determine if we would follow our own appraisal of justice or choose to trust and follow his; a test of heart. When God evaluates the church like this, he ultimately renders a verdict, and God revealed that commencing on Yom Kippur 5783, he would begin to issue rewards and discipline from the past year of testing.

Beginning this year, God’s judgments will start to take effect in the American church. That which reflects his heart for justice will continue to grow healthy and tall, and the business (entertainment, fashion, beauty) empire that exploits the church for profit will be chopped down to its roots.

God sees the heart, and what he is emphasizing and addressing in this hour is not a physical system per se but rather the heart's motivation behind what has been brought into the church for personal gain. As Nebuchadnezzar was disciplined and “chopped down” until he acknowledged God’s sovereign justice, this year, we will begin to see God’s “ax” humble both leaders and organizations that have grown tall with pride. In mercy, he allows their roots to remain in the ground so they can grow back when they acknowledge heaven’s leadership (see Daniel 4:26 ).

God’s justice looks like loving him first, then loving our neighbors as ourselves. When the church and its leaders prioritize belonging to organizations and programs before obeying God and using its wealth for comfort and entertainment instead of coming to the aid of its neighbor, it redefines God’s justice. A transforming relationship with God doesn’t begin with belonging to other humans inside a church. Though fellowship is important, salvation begins in the heart when we respond to Jesus with faith, and the power of the Holy Spirit comes into our lives and begins to lead us. Again, God is addressing a heart issue where we’ve prioritized influence and platforms above justice and devotion.

As God issues his judgments, I also saw in a dream that part of the church would be tempted to point a finger at and criticize those undergoing discipline. As God begins to redistribute wealth out of the church’s storehouses and assets into the social needs and issues of our time, I pray that we will remain humble and compassionate toward others undergoing loss and discipline in the next season. This is a picture of the unity I feel like God is looking for, not that we’d be loyal to organizations or specific individuals and circumvent what God is doing regarding discipline, but that we’d be compassionate and merciful toward each other amidst a season of great rewards and tremendous adversity. This is intended as a powerful justice shift in America. Still, it begins with humility and the relinquishing of our comforts, agendas, and empires as God’s justice paves the way for mercy and grace in our nation.