“NO ONE SHINES HERE!”

Even though our organization employs many modern, high-tech methods, we do not receive our direction from these “ministry tools.” We spend time on our knees, seeking the Lord for direction in every area of ministry.  

Today, “experts” have taken over the reins of the church. Sin is viewed in psychological terms and is called a disease. Prophets of holiness have been replaced by psychologists and social workers spouting the latest jargon, and altars have been replaced by counseling rooms. Jesus is being dethroned and Freud is being exalted.

Many years ago God led me to start a ministry to drug addicts and alcoholics. With no money and no how-to books — only our total dependence on the Holy Spirit — we hung a sign in our office that read: “NO ONE SHINES HERE — ONLY THE HOLY GHOST!” During our chapel services, we prayed, “Lord, our help is not in psychology, but in the Holy Spirit. We cannot work on the head unless You change the heart.”

Nicky Cruz, one of the first gang members we encountered in New York City, was a killer at heart. A psychiatrist took an interest in his case and after a full day with him, he decided that Nicky was incorrigible, hopeless. (Nicky delighted in confusing all “head doctors.”)

Yet Jesus had plans for Nicky! At an altar, Christ accomplished in five minutes what the experts said could not be done. God sent an arrow straight into his heart, an arrow of truth that cried out, “Nicky, Jesus loves you!”  

In an instant, Nicky’s heart of stone was replaced with a heart of flesh. He wept and hugged everyone around him as he was supernaturally transformed by the power of God. After society’s experts had written him off!

Over these past years, I have watched with alarm as the church has slowly but surely taken Christ off the throne and enthroned the wisdom of the world. But once again, Jesus must become the power behind God’s people.