contradictions
It means a lot to me that many people who have been hurt by churches have shared their support of my writing. At the same time, it bugs the hell out of me to be labelled by certain opponents as some cynical jaded victim. I assume that the intention of these opponents is to discredit the content of what I write by writing me off as some loony who is lashing out because he got hurt. Here’s the thing, even if that was the person that I am, it has no bearing on the validity of my claims.
Here’s the deal. The hurt that so many people feel when they are cast out or cast aside or rejected or oppressed by religious leaders in the church, is all just symptomatic of a very big problem. The false structures that are set up in the church all work toward promoting the authority of human leaders. This raising up of human authority in the church ruins everything. It is contrary to everything that Christ intends to see in his church.
- It contradicts the authority of the church’s only true head, Jesus.
- It contradicts the goal of growth for all believers.
- It contradicts the embracing of the hurt and downtrodden.
- It contradicts the call of all believers to minister to each other.
- It contradicts the natural relationship between God and man.
- It contradicts the freedom of the believer in Christ.
- It contradicts the priesthood of all believers.
- It contradicts the connection that God has created between himself and his people.
- It contradicts the true value of the cross.
These are just some of the very detrimental characteristics of the modern church system. Man has always sought to have authority over his fellow man. Christ tells us that if we desire to lead we must serve. We must submit to the least, to the lowest, to the weakest. Everything Christ told us that leadership looked like, is contradicted by the human authority in the church. By contradicting Christ’s call to leaders the church damages people and damages God’s reputation among humanity. These are not things to be taken lightly.
I TOTALLY AGREE BECAUSE GOD HAS CALLED US TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER NOT PICK AND CHOOSE WHO YOU WANT TO LOVE ON AND THAT’S IT WAS WITH MY FORMER PASTOR HE JUST HAD HIS FAVORITES AND I WASN’T ONE OF THEM. WHEN MY WIFE PASSED AWAY IN 2003 HE DIDN’T BOTHER TO REACH OUT TO ME BUT REACH TO OTHERS WHO’VE LOST THEIR SPOUSES AND IT’S THE WAY CERTAIN PEOPLE GET SPECIAL TREATMENT AND GOD DOESN’T WORK LIKE THAT.
Amen. Word for word amen! How about not classifing us as spiritual or nutty our cultic either? That bugs the hell outta me. Lol. Jesus would call our “Church leaders” “Pharisees” I believe. Can I reblog this?
Awesome.
It is much easier for people to label those who disagree with them as nutty or cynical (I get that one a lot!) or whatever else, rather than engaging with them in an intelligent and honest discussion. You can most certainly reblog this! I would greatly appreciate it!
Alexander
I’m very sorry about what happened with the passing of your wife. I can’t imagine the hurt and loneliness that a loss like that must cause. That is certainly a time where one would hope the church would rise up as a family to grieve with and heal with you through your loss.
You should be proud and happy that these negative comment are coming your way. I shows that you are truly doing Gods work and spreading the much needed, poorly taught and misunderstood truths about God
Thanks for the encouragement Walker. I know that the things I say rub many the wrong way, what means the most to me is seeing that the stuff I write actually resonates with some.
I have found great healing in the messages you have given..I continue to work on this and hope that others may have their eyes opened to the issues that you address so that we all can heal. I firmly believe that the leaders of many churches require more healing than those of us who have been “burned”.
Thanks Susan.
I strongly agree with your last statement that “the leaders of many churches require more healing than those of us who have been ‘burned’”.
Amen! I, truely, know what you are saying. Myself and my husband have been both rejected and scorned by the church leaders without cause. I had to come to the knowledge that I did not attend church or praise God because of man. I praise God because He loves me and I love Him and I want to be with Him. I also realize that there will be no true church until Jesus returns. This knowledge has taken me a long time to aquire; however, I am still looking for the ‘true’ fellowship, which I do long for. The only thing I can do is take care of how I treat others and to not judge others. This does not mean I will keep letting people walk on me. This means I will continue to praise Jesus and reading the Word and keep spreading the knowledge of Jesus. Keep up your message. God bless you.
Thanks Kathy.
I think you are correct in stating that we can only control how we treat others. When we demonstrate love and fellowship as fellow members of the body of Christ we demonstrate Christ. When we try to control others we hurt them and contradict God’s intention for the church.
I agree with you wholeheartedly…these things should not be taken lightly….my story begins with…I was born into a “Christen family” and was force fed the word….until I was baptized in the holy spirit away at an Open Bible church camp…then is when the living word became activated in me and I had a new found love for the scriptures….the first sunday that I returned back to church the devil waged war on me…. I mention this incident because I should have been safe from the devil using anyones mouth to spiritually abuse me in the church…..I was only 13…the woman was 45…..she said I was demon posessed….on drugs….she riddled me for 30-45 minutes with railings and accusations until my father found me and rescued me…..it didn’t stop there….this woman kept on for over a year….her gossip and rumors she and her daughters started about me got me blackballed from the youth group….I was a wounded little lamb…..but I praise the Lord for being faithful to me and I found great comfort in his word especially the scriptures about you will be persecuted for my sake cuz look what they did to me…and count it as the greatest honor to be persecuted for my sake….after a very long year of this going on everytime I went to church which was every time the doors were open….I ran away and decided since I had been condemned and punished for something I didn’t do (drugs) I decided to try it which rooted a lifestyle that she spoke into me, but I never gave up my belief in Jesus and continued reading the word for myself and did not return to church until I was 21. By the way this woman lost her mind then died of cancer of the tongue. But my persecution by the church did not stop with that woman or that church…..however…the accusations have always been the same…that I am demon posessed or I am a witch and I would tell them no I’m a Witch Hunter and I’ve caught a few too! then when I turned 28 I was romanced by a man that I fell head over heels for…one of our first conversations I remember was him telling me he had had his eye on me for a long time and noticed strange things happen around me and then he gave me a lock of his hair in reguards to a vow that he would never take me for a fool or lie to me….when he gave me his lock of hair he said that he had to be sincere because he knew what I could do with that hair….he too had pegged me for a witch and confessed he was a practicing warlock……right then was when I decided this guy is not for me! Scripture came to mind be ye not unequally yoked….he had chosen me to have his child…he claimed for the merging of powers in our child to think how powerful he would be…..I told him you got me all wrong….I am a child of God not a witch…he wouldn’t believe me he claimed he had firsthandedly witnessed the power that I had…I told him that was not my power but God’s power thru me…..so I got real serious about my walk with Jesus and got myself back into church…another new one……not long after to make a long story short….this man kidnapped me, held me prisoner in some dungeon like basement for 10 years….yes I ended up having his child….I won’t tell of the torture and torment he put me thru….but I will mention that while I lived literally in chains and handcuffs I had my bible and I learned and sharpened the word in my heart….everytime he would catch me reading the bible silently even he would beat me….the more he beat me the stronger I got in the Lord….and I waited on the Lord until he made a way of escape for me……My son just 3 and I ran two states away from this man and I have said all this to make this point of I stopped at every penecostal, foursquare, Assembly of God church along the way to find somebody who would anoint our heads with oil and pray for and with us….Every Pastor of 30 or more churches along the way….shunned me…wouldn’t hear of me talking about what I was needing help escaping from…..just to pray with me mind you….Where do you go for demon combat 1 on 1……there is no where….at every church all I found was the spirit of condemnation not compassion…..the Lord spoke to me and said this is the pig bones upon the alter for condemnation is the anti-godhead…the judge the jury the executioner…..no hope there. this was in 1996….it has only worsened since then….Oh yes I go to church…..I don’t like what I see…but I somehow feel maybe I might make a difference…..I’ve watched apathy and complacency come in and modernize, contemperize and compromise our mightiest weapons of war…the word of God and the amount of the word of God, the name of Jesus, and the blood in the praise and worship songs. some have joined in ignorance into the worshipping of the dispensation of angels, in the guise of not wanting to offend anyone….the devil is always going to be offended by God’s word! the only way to expose the lie and the liar is by shining the light of the spirit of truth….but to RIGHTLY divide it! Most churchgoers do not read the word for themselves to be able to test and try the spirits to see if they are from God. And I’ve found most at best only believe half of the bible, again perverting the word of God. Conclusion fulfillment of prophecy….none of this will come about to be except there be a falling away. first…..and the love of many will wax cold. For they have traded the truth for a lie…..the natural for the un-natural…..where the very elect of God become deceived ..saying….”Lord haven’t I done all these things for you?” and he will say “I knew you not” for they self serving preach a gospel, but not the gospel of God….the gospel of financial gain who treat God like a personal genie whose prayers show their lack of faith wanting God to fulfill their wish lists measuring their spiritual growth by means of material gain. They gather together in their warm fuzzy feel good groups who are useless when it comes down to spiritual warfare…..who can’t even stand, let alone know how to dress themselves in their armor and stand firm….they run to the church to cling together in their little clicks and make excuses for their spiritual retardation…..no wonder Jesus said “Will their be any faith when I return?” We have churches full of babies…no warriors! As it is the devil has the modern christian worshipping the love of money….why else would they pass the offering plate 2-3 times a service? And people ….tithing is not a tax deduction. In fact man has made tithing all about money…God said to give the first 10% off the top of whatever you have an abundance of…..Out of the abundance of my heart I write this in hopes their are more like me…….sincerely a soldier for God’s Army! and a sister in Christ! Praying for a revival!
Donna
Thanks for sharing part of your story with us.
Dan,
Maybe your critics should read Ezekiel 34 and make special note of who God blames when sheep are hurt and wandering. Just a thought.
Thanks Steve. Glad to see you around the blog! It doesn’t take long to see that the Bible is full of warnings and criticisms for those who set themselves up as “leaders.”
There are two worlds, one is the Kingdom of God and His children, the other is this world’s system. The “church” is just a part of the world system. They operate the same, they “rule over” their subjects, they fleece their followers, they hide the truth, or by any other name they lie, intentionally and unintentionally. The Scriptures tell us that deceivers will go on deceiving, and being deceived, getting worse and worse.
The kingdom of God is synonymous with the leading of the King in His Holy Spirit. You do not know where it is coming from or where it is going to. The ekklesia of Christ has authority as is written in Matthew chapter 16, and is being built by the Lord Himself (only a crazy person would imply that what we see as church is being built by the Lord). The purpose of this ekklesia “called out community”, is to show the evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realms, the wisdom and power of God : Ephesians 3:10
His intent was that now, through the (mistranslated word) church, (correct word) ekklesia, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, Do we think for one nano second that what we commonly call church is demonstrating anything to opposing spiritual forces in the heavenly realms anything but a good reason to laugh.
So to begin understanding what is wrong with “church” we must understand that ‘church’ is a demonic creation, and not the “called out community” that Christ is building. This does not mean that the people inside are not Christian, because many/most are. They are just being led down the path to perpetual infancy and impotency for the rest of their lives by this imposter. The devil loves church for this reason. All that church is, is all that God is not: Paid professional preachers, humans using the Bible to spiritually manipulate and rule over other human beings, money spent on church staff, marketing, advertising, buildings, canned church programs, the use of fear to control people, cults of personalities, division via denominationalism, compliance to church doctrines and rules placed higher than expressing the love of Jesus, an atmosphere of the haves and have nots, and every category from money, to affluence, influence, intelligence, stylishness, family values…this lest could go on. So in conclusion, all of the crap that is in church is not to be blames on the Lord Jesus, look no further than the founder of this institutional
system we call church,
Thanks Tony. I really appreciate your breakdown of the issue in this comment. I think it is very accurate. I especially like this part: “This does not mean that the people inside are not Christian, because many/most are. They are just being led down the path to perpetual infancy and impotency for the rest of their lives.” This is so true! The problem is that the system perpetuates itself to the point where another way seems like utter heresy.