You thought Church was to worship God? That is true but to do so, Christians must stand in His presence. In my book, Killing God, I presented the Church as the threshing floor.
Imagine the Kingdom of God with a hedge around it, with you and other Christians within the hedge. The hedge is safety from Satan so that he cannot take your life. On the other hand, Satan can shoot his fiery darts as much and often as he pleases. In the mafia, sinners do not need fiery darts to do wrong. It is their nature. In the Church, in what should be the Kingdom of God, Satan shoots fiery darts and very often. (Refer to Job 1 for this analogy.)
Like it or not, the Church is not a peaceful place:
Think not that I (Jesus) am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. (Mat 10:34-36)Guess in whom else there shall be dissension? Brothers against brothers and sisters against sisters. Not only within the family but the Church family. Christians shall war against each other. It is not their war which they will fight but Satan's. He uses Christians to fight against each other to displease God. Church accordance is collateral damage in diminishing God, and dissension within the Church is how Satan still deceives!
Churches have discordance. When Christians pursue self-interests, or even the preacher, the Church is in disarray. The preacher can do wrong. The preacher can and does sinful things. Everyone within the Church does because unwittingly they are the only tools Satan has to diminish God. Christian brothers and sisters are not hypocrites but react to deception. Satan can make trivial things into crises. Christians readily justify wrong-doing because "they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).
Satan and his legions attack holiness churches the hardest, because they are holy, with deference from God who said "be ye holy for I am holy" (1 Pet 1:16). Satan strives to make holy churches unholy. Do you wonder why people leave the church or why churches split? It is because Satan performs well. He needles Christians until his will is done! Church splits are the damaged peace as Christians' faiths are tested. God allowed Satan to test my faith.
It effected me when a preacher would not baptize my daughter. I wanted him to counsel her and ensure that she was truly born again. That is imperative before baptism because baptism is a testimony to regeneration. The preacher, because he did not know her, refused. I was flabbergasted and was dismayed for a time. Over a period of weeks, I sought God's will. God taught me that preachers are imperfect just as I am. I returned to my church because the church is not only the preacher's but mine. It gets threshed to test our faith, but regardless of the preacher's perceived failure, I would not let Satan manipulate me. I forbore my preacher and prayed that he would forbear me:
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephes 4:1-3)Christians are to "forbear one another in love". To do otherwise is not God's will. Sure, Christians can leave the Church for heretical reasons or because of Nicolaitanes. However, because the preacher or deacon does something that is wrong from your perspective is not reason enough. Brothers can even be wrong and do wrong things because of the spiritual war being fought on holy ground. That's the threshing floor. The Church is the battleground for people's souls!
Longsuffering is bearing the world in God's behalf. The Church should be the Kingdom of God with the world excluded, but when sinners come into the Church, the world steps on holy ground. Satan's will is to make holy ground unholy. He does that by discord!
The Holy Ghost does not come and go, but excites or remains silent. When Christians are of one accord, the Holy Ghost shows Himself (Acts 2:1-3) and when the Holy Ghost manifests Himself Christians are filled with His presence (Acts 2:4). If people are at odds with one another in the Church, God is still present there, but He remains silent because of displeasure. He sees trivial things disrupting His family and agonizes.
Christians hang on to old behaviors. Because they have not fully committed to God, they still have a burning desire for their way. In the case of my daughter, I demanded that the preacher do my will, and he demanded that his own will be done. Who was controlling whom? Satan controlled the argument, not in person, but his emissaries. Principalities took righteous ideas and turned them into dissension within both parties. That's what demons do! On the other hand, God would have us forbear one another. That is having leniency when others do wrong just as you would expect leniency with your wrongs.
I submit that Christians wait for inconsequential things to build their case. As they become dissatisfied with minor things, they wait patiently to make their case against the church. Many of us have done that! We know that Paul had disagreements with the leaders of the Church and even other apostles. What if he had been non-suffering and without forbearance? The Church would have died before it was built!
Another church of which I was a charter member was building a new church structure. Before its completion, the church was divided and finally destroyed. Who did that? Was it God or the demons? You know whom. The Christians there knew not what they were doing but were useful tools of Satan doing foolish things without forbearance.
Satan is still destroying the Church one living stone at a time. Quit allowing that to happen.
No comments:
Post a Comment