I am appalled as of late at the amount of church strife I have seen all over this continent. This has been both first hand and from a distance. Pastors resigning or being forced out of their positions right and left, congregations torn apart by malicious anger, members leaving for no other reason than that church is no longer a place of reverent worship, but a place where their fellow parishioners spend a large amount of time dishing out pain to one another. It is way past time for us to beg for an answer to the question “WHAT IS WRONG?” There are a few asking it, but the main answer I hear is a despairing, “Well Satan knows his time is short and he is very active”. I am not necessarily doubting the validity of this statement, but I fear that the attitude behind it is one of almost complete resignation, as if this is just the way it is going to be until Jesus comes and let’s just try to stem the tide of hurt as much as possible till that time. I feel this problem needs to be addressed quite frankly so that is what I will endeavor to do.
Another problem that I have with the aforementioned reason for the problems we are seeing in the church is that I think we sometimes give Satan more credit than he deserves. When I hear and see the various ordeals that come from church struggles I am appalled at times at the childishness of the attitudes, words, and actions of those involved. Maybe it’s time we admit that our materialism, comfortable lifestyle, individualism, busyness, and other attributes of the American culture have turned us into a shallow, weak, immature group of church attenders who have lost our vision for the gospel and the cause of Christ. We have become “professional”slanderers, backbiters, and gossipers, and we have accepted these destructive vices as a normal part of life. Sometimes we even defend them in the name of righteousness. As the saying goes “we have met the enemy and it is us”. I realize this may be a bit of an overstatement, because we are not the enemy – Satan is the enemy. One of the main problems we have is that we’ve forgotten this. Brothers and sisters when will we realize that we are all on the same side? When will we stand hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder against the forces of darkness? We are too busy seeing the “mote in our brothers eye” to even realize that Satan is laughing. Why should he even bother with the Americans when they are destroying themselves.
I know I am writing passionately and maybe over generalizing. There are many Christians in our country who have learned a better way, even though we have all probably been guilty of these offenses at some time, and maybe we all revert to them at times. I am not asking for perfection, but I am asking that we at least realize the sinfulness and destructiveness of this problem rather than just making it an acceptable cultural practice. Very few have not at least been impacted by this struggle. By far the majority fit into one of 3 categories: those that slander, those that have been slandered, and those who are involved in both.
To those who have been slandered, the message of healing is the same. Look to the cross. Observe our Lord who was falsely accused, abused, beaten, and executed even though He was the only perfect human being in the history of mankind. Please do not become bitter. Let Jesus touch your heart with His healing power. If there was ever anyone who understands what you are going through it is Him, and He exemplified a forgiving spirit. Remember – it does not matter what man says or thinks, what matters is what God thinks. Let Him take away your anger and pain, release the offender, and walk free. As you may have read in my article entitled “Theology and Christian Counseling” I understand that it is not easy and it may take a long difficult struggle to get there. I am challenging you, begging you, to begin the journey, and do not give up. Satan would love nothing more than for you to become a bitter, angry and divisive brother/sister yourself.
To those who slander the message is also clear – STOP. I know it is culturally acceptable even within our churches to gossip, backbite, criticize, and generally just destroy the character of those who are not present in the conversation. It is also considered manly and courageous to stand up and attack the character of those we disagree with. I am saying that no matter how culturally acceptable this is, it is not acceptable with God. Can we at least begin to see this problem for what it is – a cancer that is slowly but steadily destroying our churches from within.
I want to make it clear that I am not referring to a Godly stand for truth. There is a time and place for confronting a brother or sister, we are, in fact, badly in need of this; but it always needs to be done with a redemptive motive and a desire to see that brother/sister restored or protected. Character assassination does not accomplish this – especially if it is done behind someone’s back.
So why an article like this on a site that promotes healing? Well sometimes before you seek healing you need to stop the source of pain. Our counselor’s offices are full of people who have been badly hurt by fellow church members in this way – not to mention all the ones who never go for counseling. So I am calling the church to repentance in this area failure. Please turn again to the cross. See our Savior bleeding and dying for the world. A death that was necessary for the redemption of the world because it is full of sin, death, sickness and pain. He suffered and died for you and for all of those who have hurt you and for all of those you have hurt. It is time to let Him take away our hearts of stone and give us new ones. We must rise above the ways of the evil one look to the Healer and get back to the work of the Kingdom. We must lay aside the destructive forces of slander, we do not have time for it and we do not want the consequences.
