Oh, SO VERY
SURPRISED
Are you READY???
The state of the church today should not be a surprise to those who are students of the Word of GOD. Virtually every book of the Bible eludes to what is coming and calls us to stay in a state of alertness and to “be ready”. What has proven to be surprising to me, however, is the extent to which I was - Oh, so very! - surprised...
Tis A Puzzlement
I am embarrassed to confess how long it took me to assemble all of the VERY OBVIOUS pieces - paradigms, movements, rhetoric - in order to see the finished picture that had been emerging for decades (in my story). Recently speaking with many young women (and a few men!) who are experiencing very real trauma that comes from clergy abuse and church system abuse, I continue to see just how many sheep in the body (or formerly in the body) are hemorrhaging to this day. It breaks my heart as it is NOT of GOD. For any who are experiencing this currently, I am so very sorry. This is not how the body is supposed to function when JESUS CHRIST is it's head. Period.
Shaken but STANDING
While Kevin and I experienced lies, betrayal and ongoing evasion and deceit from people we called friends and colleagues, thankfully, we were not traumatized by it. Angered, yes. Saddened, absolutely. Surprised by the people we knew and loved and the extent of their involvement? Utterly! And we absolutely needed to process the HOW of it all...Not only for our own selves and lives, but to determine our culpability with missing the state of (or LACK of) biblical fruit. In all of this, however, we were never disillusioned. This did not shake our faith in either GOD or His Church. We have never been under the delusion that how the church looks currently - full of flawed, fallen men and women - is either perfect or, increasingly, reflective of GOD and His nature. We were surprised that we were surprised (!?!) precisely because we have been students of Him and His Word for decades.
Brace for Impact
This is WHY we are not experiencing trauma or disillusionment - in things that are very much traumatic and disillusioning. By GOD'S grace, He told us what to expect, what is coming and is now here. We know Him because He says in His Word that when we seek Him with "all of our hearts" we WILL FIND HIM. We have found Him because He first found us! We recognize Him because He has revealed Himself to us and as His sheep, we recognize His voice. It is an extraordinary thing to be called His and by Him! GOD tells us in His Word to stay alert and to pay attention and to not be deceived...He tells us that people would abandon sound doctrine in order to have their ears tickled instead. GOD gives clear attributes of the world, warns us numerous times against such things, and tells us the markings and identifiers of those who are TRULY His sons and daughters.
Heed the Warning
JESUS told us we would be betrayed by even family members. We learn in Hebrews that JESUS Himself (perfect, sinless) was made perfect through sufferings (Hebrews 2:10). Why on earth wouldn't we (fallen sinners) experience the same and more? I suppose that while I believed GOD'S Word to be TRUE and LITERAL, I sadly believed it would happen in some other generation - to someone else. So while I read and believed it, I didn't really believe that it would impact me or my life TODAY - NOW. As I look around the landscape of Christianity, I see that I am not alone in this.
How Many Layers Are There, Anyway?
And - SURPRISE - this is just the first of many layers of the problem.
B