Growing up in church, I always found myself having more questions than those around me. I had no idea why we did the things we were told to do, and because I’ve always been naturally inquisitive, I just started asking why. Mind you, asking why was never something that anyone inherently told me was a dangerous thing.

I did not understand at the time that my asking ‘why’ was actually something incredulously taboo and that I would end up being shunned by a large majority of people throughout my life for doing so. I certainly didn’t know that asking ‘why’ is one of the most divisive and simultaneously liberating things that you can do.

Asking ‘why’ affords those whom you are questioning no options to retreat or deny the existence of a problem. Asking ‘why’ exposes faults in programming, wiring, and general design.

Asking ‘why’ makes you a threat to the status quo.

But again, I never looked at asking questions as something to be viewed at in a negative fashion — my intention for asking questions has always and will always be to improve the state of something that is already existing.

In some cases, the only way to improve something that isn’t working is to scrap it entirely and start over. In others, all that is required are a few minor tweaks and changes to achieve optimal performance. At any rate, I always grew up with a drive for improving upon that which I saw in front of me.

If I had a toy that didn’t do the types of things that I thought it should do, I would usually find a way to either break that toy and reassemble in (often in a bit of a disfigured fashion) just so that it would work the way that I thought it should.

If I was working a job that had systems in place that were not efficient or effective, I would devise ways to change the system itself and implement one of my own that brought about more productivity and more of the desired results.

If I was in a church that was not preaching the Gospel the way I read it in the Scriptures, or if we were not seeing the kind of promised results from all of the fasting, prayer, and various other intensely exhausting activities that I used to involve myself in quite extensively, I would always ask why and go back to the Scriptures to find out if we were missing something.

Especially in the case of all the ‘crying out, praying and fasting for revival’ that I was doing, I found that the equivalent of what I was missing was kind of like figuring out that I’d been told my whole life that the world was flat only to find out it was in fact round.

It’s not an easy pill to swallow to admit that everything you thought you knew to be true was in fact a cleverly packaged and deceptively persuasive lie.

I have always been very results-driven. I believe that I was just simply created that way—and have found that when I embrace that reality instead of trying to ‘fix’ it (as many throughout my life have tried to change this aspect of my thought processing), I see a lot of things get done and generally I am more happy.

If William Wilberforce had not so aggressively asked “why” regarding the horrors of the slave trade, where would we be today?

If Martin Luther King, Jr. had not asked “why” in relation to the lack of respect given to African-Americans in our country several decades ago, what would this country look like?

If George Washington had not asked “why” regarding the oppression of the ruling government of his day and stood up to their tyranny, how would history have played out?

If Jesus had not asked “why” when so directly challenging the religious leaders of His day, what would have come of our faith?

The willingness to question that which is commonly accepted as ‘normal’ has always been something that has burned within me.

I’m not talking about questioning for the sake of questioning and causing problems. I’m talking about questioning for the sake of improving the state of what already exists.

I’m talking about questioning for the sake of increasing effectiveness, longevity, impact, and influence.

I’m talking about questioning for the sake of sparking a revolution when that remains to be the only option.

One of the most frustrating aspects of asking “why” is the inevitable “dishonor” card that is thrown at you. When someone knows that they have nothing to stand on and no authentic ability to ‘give an answer for the hope that they have’ (1 Peter 3:15), quite often they will rail at you with baseless accusations that you are ‘dishonoring’ or divisive.

This is actually a typical debate & distraction tactic that lawyers learn in law school about how to derail their opponent when they have backed them into a corner.

When one side of a discussion knows they have nothing to back up their points, they often will resort to mud-slinging and character assassination to try and discredit the one who has proved them to be in the wrong. It is the only way that they are able to save face…by trying to make you look bad since you have proved them to be incorrect.

I have seen this happen far more times than I wish to recall. Much of what we so publicly and openly question is undeniable if you actually look at what we bring to light…but the number of people who have been willing to lay aside their dearly held traditions and religious myths versus those who have called us every name under the sun to try and discredit our message is miniscule.

On the bright side, I’ve got many stories of people from around the world who have been initially very angry with us for being so forthright about the things that we have said and the directness with which we have challenged many popular mindsets. But their stories don’t end there. Those stories usually end up with them looking into it for themselves (many with the intention of trying to prove us to be in the wrong) and they find out that what we have presented is actually true.

Many of those people are very good friends of ours now. At some levels, I am very grateful for the scrutiny that much of what we have done has generated because it forces me to stay sharp and make sure that what I am saying can be proven through Scripture in its context and in light of what Christ has done.

At other levels, however, the amount of frustration that can come with what we do is unlike anything I ever was prepared for growing up. It can really get under your skin when you have people from all over coming after you and saying all kinds of awful things about you and your friends — and honestly, it wouldn’t be so bad if those folks actually addressed the points that we have made time and time again.

So many think that the reason that we challenge the things that we do is because we have some kind of vendetta against a certain person or ministry.

It has absolutely nothing to do with that.

It has everything to do with the fact that there are lies that are being perpetuated on a scandalously large international scale, and there is little to no responsibility taken for all of the lives and families who have been destroyed by those lies.

I seek to change that.

I seek to see tyranny brought to light and exposed for what it is, and in the process, to see captives set free and learn how to walk in that freedom that Christ has purchased for them. I know that at times I can get quite aggressive and have said things that have been out of line. I’ve been quite public about that and honestly, have seen very, very few people in ‘ministry’ be willing to admit their failures as fast as I have.

Usually I’ve seen quite the opposite — if not a blatant denial of failure, I’ve seen more often than that a direct disregard that anything could have even happened in which someone else may have been wrong. It takes great humility to admit error — especially when every word you speak and every action you take is scrutinized by thousands of people.

At any rate, let it be known that I have tried (and continue to try) time and again to reach out to the leaders of the ‘movements’ that perpetuate mindsets that I so publicly question and challenge.

Let it be known to all that some of these well-respected leaders have point blank threatened me, others have told me God is going to judge me for “touching the Lord’s anointed”, and still other leaders have contacted friends of ours and told them to get us to take certain videos down (“Jesus Stands in the Gap” & our “Life Tape” video, especially…both shown below) like some kind of religious mafia.



Let it be known that we are time and again ignored and the Scriptures that we present shoved aside and denied.

Let it be known that our questions on many of the issues (read: almost all) that we have raised have NEVER been answered by anyone who perpetuates those mindsets.

Let it be known that there have been multiple times that several leaders from the “prophetic” movement have been quite nice to my face and told me that they would be happy to dialogue with me about the concerns that I have, yet not a single, solitary one of them has ever followed through…and in many cases, I was privately told that I don’t have Scriptural backing for what we’re preaching (despite the fact that we back everything up with Scripture in its actual context) and that I need to “be careful” or else.

Most of them just stop answering their phones or e-mails I have sent.

I believe very strongly in the principle of always being able to answer those who oppose what it is that I have to say by backing it up with Scripture. If I can’t back something up, I don’t say it — really, it’s quite simple.

Especially if I am questioning some dearly held traditions and mindsets that make a select few people at the top of a handful of ministry pyramids a lot of money.

So many tell me that I must ‘honor’ these people whose mindsets I challenge and question. I agree with that.

But let me ask this — does ‘honor’ not flow both ways?

From what we have seen, the ‘honor’ that so many are talking about is not honoring at all. It is a top-down kind of ‘honor’ where only the guy at the top of the food chain gets ‘honored’ and everyone else has to bow down or get kicked out and have their reputation trashed as being ‘divisive and unloving’ just because they disagreed with what the “man of God” said and wrote some books about.

I do what I do because I love.

I assure you all that I don’t do what I do because I like having so many people think I’m a hateful, critical jerk who challenges everyone and everything he sees. I do what I do and I ask the questions I ask because they are the questions that are on the heart of every person who has honestly been in the situations that I speak out against.

Most people are just too afraid to admit it.

I question everything because that is what I see Jesus doing. I question everything because that is what Paul did when he realized the system he had built his entire life on was a man-made structure of religious rules and regulations that lead only to bondage and not to life.

I ask questions about the status quo of Christianity because the status quo isn’t working. I ask questions about the status quo because in many cases, the status quo is perpetuating the problems on our planet instead of fixing them like Jesus sent us to.

I ask questions because if we are not free to think for ourselves, we will all end up exactly the same and wanting to silence anyone and anything that doesn’t look exactly like us out of fear of losing control. Many mistakenly think that I want everyone to agree with me. I don’t care if you agree with me or not — what I care about is if you agree with what the Scriptures say on certain issues and what Jesus did regarding those issues.

Because at the end of the day, His opinion is the only one that really matters.

I sleep well at night. I don’t struggle anymore wondering if what we are preaching is true because I know it is — I have seen the fruit of it time and time and time again, and I can prove it time, and time, and time again.

Gone are the days of waiting for some arbitrary dream to come floating into my subconscious in order for me to feel like I have heard from God.

Nonexistent is the lie that I need to keep ‘pleading the blood of Jesus’ over my city, my bedroom, and everywhere I walk. I have no more fear of the enemy because I have been given authority over all of his power (Luke 10:19).

No more do I waste hours of this gift of life moaning and groaning on the floor of a prayer room somewhere begging for God to visit my city and “send revival”, because I live revived and He has already sent me.

I am His habitation.

I stopped crying out for a visitation the moment I truly grasped that He dwells in me. Forever absent from my life is the terrifying uncertainty of my salvation and the pressure to pray Jesus back to the earth.

He lives in me. I am much less concerned about trying to get Jesus to ‘come back’ than I am concerned about seeing the church realize that He’s already in them so they can start acting like it.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me (Gal. 2:20).

The life I live on this earth and in this body I live by the faith of the Son of God…because I am one. I am not a slave crying out for mercy from an angry, judgmental father.

I am a son who demonstrates and models the King and the power of His Kingdom because He is love and that is what Love does.

Question everything that can not be proved. Challenge everyone, ESPECIALLY leaders, with questions that you know the answers to because they are rooted in the love and grace of Christ.

And if they can’t answer those questions…just be prepared to not flinch and stand your ground.

Because heat is coming your way.

I believe in you.

Rise up. Stand strong. Set captives free.

Long live the revolution.

culled from revivalorriots