Let’s be honest folks—organized religion is designed to defame the name of Christ Jesus.
We post a lot of content on the internet and social sites… and the amount of people who believe things like this is abundant (real comments from recent social media posts:)
“Don’t let religion exploit your moments of anguish for their own monetary gains. There are lots of communities outside of the toxic, judgemental, bigoted churches. Most of those male church leaders will tell you to go back to your abusive ex because divorce is a “sin.” Remember, you don’t need the church to be happy, the church needs you to maintain their control over our government and our lives. If your church community brings you happiness that’s great, but if it makes you stressed and insecure then you should leave and find somewhere you are truly appreciated.”
Or, other comments like this:
“You don’t need Christ, you need a few good friends…Stop letting religion make you feel bad, you simply don’t have to.”
These two comments in particular were on a post where we encouraged a single mother who was upset about doing birthday’s alone (after separation) to find Godly community that can love her and support her through hard moments.
You can see how quickly the mention of God’s name is immediately tainted by the state of the Church.
Which, might I add…a Church that God, himself, would spit out of His mouth as He comes for His real bride.
God LOVES the local church, yes.
But every building with a cross on it isn’t the local church.
There was no mention of religion or church in this particular post that we made.
And this is a common theme we see: post about God and people tell you why you shouldn’t trust religion and the church.
That’s when the Holy Spirit reminded me that we keep seeing this same perspective communicated in different words because this has been Satan’s plan since the fall.
So, What Is the Truth About God & Godly Community?
First things first: Godly community isn’t always found in a Church.
The Godly people, friendships and communities that you would ACTUALLY want and enjoy represent the name of Christ through faith, action, works and REALITY—they can not be thrown into the broad category of “organized religion.”
That’s something they do, that’s not who they are.
If they are true Christ followers, Church is just what they do on Sunday as we are biblically instructed care for and build God’s church.
But the real conversations, the real intimacy, the real support, the real sharpening, and all of the edifying and hope…
…well, that happens outside of the walls and not under the brand name of the building.
False Teachers Prey on Spiritually Weak Homes
The churches that hurt people and exploit pain for monetary gain are plentiful, and led by unqualified, worthless leaders.
But you have to have the wisdom to understand this truth: Christless organized religious institutes are just a denominational gathering of modern day humans who claim a set of rules and legalistic practices yet don’t move in any power, wisdom, comfort or hope of Jesus Christ.
In the latest issue of The Family Memo, we talk about 64 signs of spiritual abuse and manipulation. There’s a biblical reference for these false teachers and prophets and those who would exploit the spiritually weak:
2 Timothy 3:6-9
For among them are those who worm their way into homes and captivate morally weak and spiritually-dwarfed women weighed down by [the burden of their] sins, easily swayed by various impulses, always learning and listening to anybody who will teach them, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres [the court magicians of Egypt] opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, unqualified and worthless [as teachers] in regard to the faith. But they will not get very far, for their meaningless nonsense and ignorance will become obvious to everyone, as was that of Jannes and Jambres.
The Church Isn’t Controlling the World Through Government
Finally, if you haven’t noticed, the government is getting rid of the one true God in every sense of His name—embracing and taking over the local church by putting people in pastoral positions who don’t spiritual hold the mandate or the office of those positions.
So, those who believe that the church is controlling the government have it backwards.
Weak churches led by unrighteous leaders are being taken over by planted leaders designed to multiply the curse.
How?
By increasing the amount of people who walk around hurt and angry at God but then blame “religion”.
What those hurt people fail to see is that this has been Satan’s plan since the fall: to create people who are proud to defame the name of Jesus and not separate Him from a building, but rather separate Him from themselves.
Conclusion
In all reality, you (we) aren’t mad at God, we are mad at:
- Organized religion that don’t know Christ
- Government who fails us and is ridding our nation of Christ’s name
- False teachers and false prophets who exploit weak families
- Broken family structures who subjugate their children to these institutions
- Ourselves for not recognizing the differences
