Truth in Love – blog entry

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

For those saints who have been around for a while let me ask you a question. Do you ever look around at what is going on in some church congregations, who call themselves Christian, and just shake your head in disbelief? Do you look in the faces of the Christian generation[s] after you and see the vacancy, which is meant to be filled with Christ’s Truth and Passion? Why? Why then, are these things as they are in God’s House? Because the secular world has moved in and took up residence.

Granted, if you are waiting to find a perfect spiritual leader or you are waiting for the perfect church congregation, or if you are simply looking for a spiritual leader with whom you can agree all the time, then you will be looking for a very long time. If we have a brain in our head, we will never agree with another person all the time, nor will we ever find a perfect spiritual leader apart from Christ or perfect saints with whom to fellowship. That however, does not mean we cozy up with a cobra or for that matter partake in what is ungodly and/or worldly to placate our spiritual leader or our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.

The world, worldly ways, and even new age type practices have entered into almost ninety percent of the American Christian Churches in one form or another. Some are very obvious and some are much more subtle. The individuals speaking out against these practices are growing fewer and fewer and the younger generations are being pulled in deeper and deeper. They have no clue that they are being manipulated and lead astray from Truth – for what they are being told is easier to follow and makes them feel like they are part of something big and important and they are desperate for that type of feeling. The cost for that will one day have to be paid however, and when the tab comes, I fear it will drive them from Christianity for good. Why? Because you cannot manipulate God and that in part is what they are being taught to attempt and do in one form or another. When it all comes crashing down and they one day find out it is not going to work, who will get the blame, not the leaders who taught them incorrectly but most likely God and it is God who will be abandoned. It however, is not God’s fault; it is the fault of those who have chosen to manipulate them for their benefit.

An Example:

Let me start by making a couple of things very clear. Do I believe you should attend a local church? Yes. Do I believe you should understand that congregation’s doctrine and mission, hopefully being in support of both on most points? Yes. Do I believe you should tithe into the work of the spiritual leadership that feeds and ministers to you? Yes. Should you love and support your brothers and sisters in Christ? Yes. Should you allow yourself to be manipulated into any or all of these practices? No!

I have personally witness the weekly practice of cult like manipulation in a Christian Church with a spiritual leader who I believe actually to know God but this area of their leadership is woefully in error. This congregation is weekly exhorted to join hand at the end of service, just before the offering is taken, and recite what amount to nothing more than a new age mantra that is mean to basically brainwash them into believing its content. In essence it indicated that they partnered with that local church in that church’s mission and that they faithfully give ten percent of their income, aka the tithe, to that specific church and in return God is going to do for them.

Now people may be able to be manipulated by brainwashing them through repetition of a creed – I am generous to call it that. You may be able to make them feel more loved and like they are a part of something much bigger by having them join hand while doing so. However, you are not going to make God act on their behalf because you are manipulating them – for the God of the Universe, the Creator of all things, will not have demands placed on Him and will not bow to manipulation. Manipulation comes from a Jezebel type spirit and is a form of witchcraft – the Bible says God hates the practice of witchcraft.

Again, love your local congregation. Respect your spiritual leaders – as they follow God and His Word. Give your tithe from a clean heart and without showmanship. Do not however let yourself become someone else’s drone. Yes, it is harder to stand up and be who God created you to be but never forget God created you to follow Him, His Will and Purpose not man’s and it is your thanks back to Your Creator, for your very life, that you do just that.

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

¹¹And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; ¹⁴that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, ¹⁵but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— ¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.