Image from www.freefoto.comI have been both looking forward to and very hesitant about writing what is in my heart to write this week.
Since last year sometime, I have begun to believe that followers of Christ globally have to be spiritual blind and/or dead not to recognize that God has been trying seriously to get our attention.
Throughout History since the beginning of creation of the first man and women, God/Yahweh/Father has allowed events and circumstances to get the attention of both those who have placed faith in Him and those who have not.
He does this to jar us into seeing the error of going our own way and against what he has revealed of himself and his purpose for man, which is to give him glory by being his image bearers and giving His son preeminence in all things.
Please notice I did not say God, or even the devil, has caused events or circumstances, but He has allowed them as saying otherwise would be too simple an explanation and grossly misrepresent His character and nature.
In order to genuinely love there has to be the choice to not love and in order to obey there has to be the choice to not obey otherwise we would not love or obey we would just be programmed robots that can do nothing, but what their maker has programmed them to do.
The importance of this to what I am talking about is that God does not make us do his will, but when we do not he does allow us to reap what we have sown.
That in turn provides the opportunity to find out for ourselves that his ways are in our best interest, because He is love and our ways only lead to problems, heartache, pain, and ultimately death.
Jesus told the Pharisees that they could tell what the weather was going to be like by looking at the signs in the sky like the color and clouds, but they could not read the signs of the times Signs, which would have told them that the Messiah the Savior of the World was right there in front of them.
I believe we have been given signs sometimes in the form of reaping what we have sown and others in form of national and worldwide events like national crisis or great numbers of specific types of natural disasters or other events in a concentrated season of time.
These events have created opportunities for both followers of Christ and those who have not placed faith in him to recognize we have left our first love and become worldly, self-indulgent, and independent and that if we do not turn from doing so we will suffer even greater consequences even destruction and death.
One such event was the September 11, 2001 tragedy in New York, where terrorist flew a commercial airliner into the World Trade Center in New York destroying it and killing hundreds of lives.
Afterwards, for a short period it looked like people were turning back to God.
Greater numbers of people began attending religious services in Institutional Churches across America then had in years.
However, in short order, everything went back to business as usual and those same churches now on average lower attendance than before that horrible day and continue shrinking by thousands monthly in the U.S..
This I believe this mass exodus that has increase exponentially over the last 8 years and that actually began globally before September 11, 2001 is another sign.
A sign to the Institutional Church; that when people came they found the Institutional church and its systems and programs irrelevant.
The discovered it powerless to meet their real need for authentic reconciled and growing relationship with Father and relations with others walking together in genuine community under the Headship of Christ that would bring radical transformation to their lives.
They discovered the vast majority of professing Christians have left the foundations of walking in relationship with Father that transforms us into bearers of his Son’s image and carriers of his life transforming presence.
The discovered the manmade intuitional church nothing more than other another business big or small no different than the retailers and others who attempt to seduce them out of their money, time, and other resources for the growth of the financial bottom line and men’s egos and agendas.
They came looking for a relationship with God that transforms their lives and transcends their circumstances and they found the same spirit of greed, independence, judgment, lust and pride, etc. to which they were themselves slaves and from which they hoped to given the keys to freedom.
They found that faith, hope, and love and transformation of lives that the Institutional Church and many professing Christians so boldly proclaim has become only rhetoric.
In this same season continue from before then and continuing today and into the future, true followers of Christ and those who have been falsely led to believe they are “saved” by a false watered down Gospel have begun leaving the institutional church in the hundreds of thousands monthly worldwide.
Many of whom have participated in the IC for years.
Some have left simply giving up wanting nothing to do with God, because the false watered down Gospel they have heard has not transformed their lives as promised.
Still thousands of true followers of Christ leave to grow their relationship with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit outside of manmade systems and programs and to connect and gather with others who are doing the same.
They are largely leaving, because they have realized that institutional church has done nothing to help them authentically grow in relationship with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Neither has it promoted genuine loving community as taught and demonstrated in the pages of the New Testament nor has it promoted the practice and value of every member’s Spiritual gifts for the good of the whole Church whenever they gather as taught and demonstrated in the pages of the New Testament.
It does not end here there is Good News for those in the institutional church who have ears to hear and eyes to see.
Jesus does have a plan for His Church that includes the true followers of Christ still within the institutional church and any others who place faith in Him.
I will share what I believe I see regarding that next week…
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3 comments:
You're writing exactly what I'm feeling about church, Tom. I'm still a Christian, still believe all the basic stuff, but just can't "do" church anymore. I don't know where that leaves me though...in my neck of the woods (Ft. Worth, TX) there's not much outside of the institutional church. Can you point me in the right direction to find a small organic fellowship? How are you doing "church" these days?
The truth is I'm not doing Church. There is nothing more organic than allow father to build relationships by allowing him to bring the people and create the connections he desires. However when you have left organized religion there is nothing more disconcerting and less natural feeling until you get your sea legs than not going to a meeting every week. I really know no other way to say than I'm allowing father to leave me by myself when he desires and make and grow connections in is time and with whom he desires. It is tough sometimes however I recently read on another site that one of the reasons we sometimes insist on attempting to force connections to others is desire for the approval of others. When Father wants to be our sole source of all we need and desire. In most cases in scripture when people were in desert they were alone and that is where God met them where they found that relationship with him is so much more than they ever imagined. According to the New Testament even Paul the Apostle before he began his ministry was sent off alone into the Arabian desert. Most historians say he was in the desert alone for whole 14 years however think about he had a whole lot of religion to unlearn and therefore a lot to learn about what relationship with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is all about and it was there that Jesus himself taught Paul the Gosple. The Apostle John wasn't in a place that he could receive the most full revelation of Christ until he was alone with God on a deserted island. Don't be afraid to be alone. Father will bring to you and you to the connections you need when you need them. That isn't forsaking the Assembly it is allow God to make the assembly of beleivers he wants to connect you to. I've am meeting the most sincere and truly spiritual brothers and sisters and gathering with them without doing anything to make it happen. Then there are a few that I gather with frequently, but not on any ritualistic schedule and when we come together just as when Father spontaneously brings people into my path the Spirit works through each of us via our gifts and what we read about the Church/Ecclesia in the New Testament becomes our experience.
The following are a couple web address I suggest you check out and see if there is anything their that speaks to your heart, encourages, strengthens you.
www.lifestream.org Wayne Jacobsen has some links on this site that can assist you in finding others to connect with matter of fact If remember correctly one in Ft. Worth.
www.theschoolofchrist.org
www.familyroommedia.com
In Brotherly Love,
Tom Wilson
A wonderful visitor made following comment you will find bellow in quotes and intended to to accept and publish his comment I accidentally hit the reject button. LOL!
Due to a disability I have I have to be careful to slow down when I'm doing things as if I don't not I make those kinds of mistakes regularly. Which isn't bad as it is an opportunity to laugh at myself instead of taking myself to seriously.
"This is a bizzare thing to share yet true. It seemed a church I attended was keeping us broke from all the seminars we had to attend and buy their training books. As an old seasoned christian, the books bored me anyway as I already knew the material before reading them. It was baby stuff for me. One day I attended a church financial seminar to help people get out of debt to save money. It was mostly advice on investing in stock pools or mutual funds. Glad God revealed to me not to follow their advice since the stock has dropped to nothing. The training material was $75. The church knowing I was poor paid for it though. One activity we had to write down where all our personal expenditures were going. I noticed we spent a lot at church! They even charged us for popcorn and coke on movie night for fellowship. Needless to say I quit going and have now saved a small saving for the first time and now am not so needy of a person. It was keeping me in poverty. They didn't care cause they all were well off. It didn't occur to them it hurt those who were lacking. I used to feel so guilty when I couldn't tithe. Yet I knew the new testament only used money for the poor within their church. The Bible says the Lord added (people) to the church daily. Today it is all backwards. They take up money and if they do help any poor at all, it is used to manipulate them into coming to church (food pantries, used donated clothes). Then once they "get you" you're expected to ante up or you must be evil if God has not blessed you with lots of money and work. Even their love is superficial and fake since they never invite you to visit them at home. Many times I tried to invite them to mine and they acted like I was made excuses they were too busy with extended family etc. I don't know how to get an Acts style fellowship going and if I did how to prevent it from morphing back into an IC."
I want to thank you for this comment and I hope that others will be able to relate to this post as you have. One of the things I constantly struggled when I first left the IC was wonder if I was crazy as it seemed I was the only one who recognized these kinds of things.
However now I know that if I'm crazy it must be a infections global pandemic, because 100's of thousands per month worldwide are leaving the Institutional Church for the same reasons and others as I.
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