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I’ve had some engaging online conversations recently concerning the Church. Some people were accommodating while others were highly offended, defensive and then robotic. By robotic I mean indoctrinated.

It really bothers me. On a fundamental level. I’ve prayed about it and asked God why I see these things when I don’t have the ability to fix them. It’s terribly frustrating. I’m fairly relaxed and easy-going, but not online and not concerning lies. I’m not a gentle, soft-spoken person online. Overall, I’m not afraid to say what I’m feeling and sometimes I can be too opinionated. I don’t mind a good tussle but at the same time, I’d rather not get involved at all – my carnal nature often interjects: ‘Who cares!?’ I wish I could believe it….so I could quit and feel justified.

Doctrines of Men

I get angry and disappointed when I see people who love Jesus and are so on fire for Him and they end up captured in these indoctrinated churches just spewing phrases they’ve been taught – as if they are scripture when they don’t remotely line up with scripture.

These doctrines box people in, “well, it’s not always about putting the word of God first,” and I say, there is no recourse with that kind of doctrine. It’s kingdom of God first and then all else. How can you win an argument with someone who isn’t even playing the same game?

God will have to show me how.

Why Do I Have To See It?

So I pray to God about this. Why do I have to see this when I can do nothing about it? But the Spirit won’t leave me alone. I think to myself that it must be for some future generation, once everything begins to fall apart they’ll be searching for answers.

But that’s silly, because surely I’m not the only one who sees this. People who know more than others tend to feel alone. I don’t just feel alone, I am alone in this. Somewhere there are the preverbal ‘7000’ that have not bent the knee and God has reserved for Himself. Maybe He will show me who they are because all my searches come up empty. No one seems to see it or think it matters.

So I think, then why should I?

Denominations, physical churches can be more easily captured than the ‘church which God writes His laws on their hearts.’ My heart is not easily captured, nor my thoughts. The Spirit is like the wind, He moves things around and you can see the affects of it, but you can’t see His Person. That’s the true Church.

No one understands this who also says that the denominated church is the one true church. This is a false narrative.

The Call Is Terrifying

So I have to move forward with this, and tell what I know about who the Church really is. How do you approach effectively discerning the church – counterfeit though it might be – that God has been using for millennia? With much reverence, trepidation, fear of the Lord and a boldness that only the Spirit of God could give me as I face this manmade construct. That’s how. God works all things together for good the scripture tells us, so He’s used this church overlay, the construct of mens’ imaginations, to further His purposes in the Earth. I think there are good reasons for that. One being that the fullness of the Gentiles had to come into the fold.

I suspect there’s no way this would have happened had the true Church, the Body of Christ been left unchecked in the earth. Satan is a balancing tool by the way. He buffered the Church, then captured it, once he figured everything out that had happened to him, ha, God is so brilliant. The Cross is the victory for us while making the devil a fool.

No One Has Brought A Legitimate Argument Against Me

One of the most interesting comments I received on my perspective was this:

I’d already been thinking about how the Body of Christ is comprised of multiple parts. It is one body with many elements and moving parts. We are all one in Him, but separate from each other. Yet, if we are moving and living and having our being within Him, then also we are one with each other. This is the spiritual mystery that Paul said marriage alludes to.

This commenter was arguing that by me calling the remaining church, (that would be either the Catholic or Orthodox Church since Protestant churches do not use the word ‘schism’), a denomination it wouldn’t be true because it is only the schismatic church that becomes the denomination.

But the Body of Christ cannot schism because all the elements are needed to make up the whole. This is where I can clearly see the ‘church’ which both these religions started are a construct of man.

Let’s Talk Elements

You cannot remove O from H2 and still have water. The Body of Christ has many elements which combine to show the ‘manifold wisdom of God’. So it is a combined element like water, it’s whole but made up of multiple parts. As soon as that first manmade church suffered schism, it became a part unto itself, it reverted to H2. And H2 alone isn’t water. So that argument also has been broken.

Creepy Indoctrination

The creepiest comments are the indoctrinated ones where a repeated phrase just keeps getting chanted in my comment section with little to know intellectual understanding:

“I believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.”

and again by another commenter,

“There is only one holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church.”

But the worst? Oh it’s far more sinister. It makes me cringe. It angers me and I find it deeply disturbing: “Outside of the Catholic Church there can be no salvation.”

As if Christ died on the Cross and it meant nothing because it’s a church that does the saving, not the Son of Man….

I have no love in my heart for these types of comments. I can see exactly how Christ did not restrain Himself from calling out with great passion,

“You vipers!”

I must weave my whip. There is no other way I can do this without sinning. And if Christ had to weave one whip, then I must weave ten thousand.

“Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!”

You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

I don’t want to do this…..

Below is a quote I saw today on FB that speaks to the truth of unity in the Body of Christ. I think Christians are not realizing that God is moving outside of the church/noun/place. This next move of God will not be contained or defined by the church building sitting on the corner of Main and Broadway. And this shifting of His presence from inorganic to organic will continue until we are free of the ‘structure’ we’ve created as a mental image falsely defining who and where God is, and instead begin to embrace the truth that God is free of our manmade structures and died to dwell within us, His chosen temples, not those temples made by man’s hands.

“For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.” 2 Corinthians 6:16

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” 1 Corinthians 3:16

This is part of a continuation of signs I am seeing outside of the church doors: God moving through men and women who were formerly atheists or agnostic but who have come to know Jesus. These individuals are at different levels of their walk with God, seemingly nomads functioning under the anointing of the Holy Spirit in spite of being outside the church’s rigidity and formality of manmade doctrines; this, however, not in any way disqualifying them from being used mightily by God but by some irony of God, they are being used more so than those within the church establishment. Why would God not choose a vessel, one only He is able create to dwell within, as opposed to a manmade, inorganic structure that simply has not been chosen by God as a place of habitation since Pentecost?

People, not structures, are chosen by God. He will use anyone willing to yield their vessel, their mind and body, to the work of the Lord. I think many members of the church, church leaders especially are completely missing the move of God. Behold, I’m telling you He is doing a new thing…and here we are completely blind to it.

Facebook post (quote not cited, so unknown author):

“The body of Christ is God’s instrument in this earth to promote His kingdom purpose. In order to fully fulfill this, however, we are to be “one heart, one mind, striving together for the faith of the Gospel” (Philippians 1:27). Unity and harmony in the body of Christ should not be a question mark. It is the will of God. Unfortunately, we see the body of Christ constantly at odds with one another. Denominational differences are magnified and small wars are being fought in the body of Christ. Even more than that, in the local church environment, we see people taking pot shots at each other all of the time.

We need to realize that unity is one of the most basic truths about God’s will that nobody can misunderstand. Unity is vital. All believers have enough in common to be joined together because we have Jesus Christ. We have the basis for resolving challenges that face this world. We have to stop focusing on our differences and focus instead on what we know the world needs: Jesus. That’s when dramatic change comes to this earth. That’s when revival, awakening, and outpouring will come.”
-unknown

My thoughts were as follows:

…[this] points to something that is clear as day to me: God is not going to use a church/noun/place. He’s looking for His body in the earth today, the Church/noun/person. For whatever reason, there are many Christians who don’t agree with this, but there’s not much I can do about that. Until we understand that the Church is actually the Holy Spirit living within us, in unity, as one with God and Christ and each other, the Protestants will continue to denominate in vain. God always calls those He will use OUT of the greater whole. Gideon’s 300 men in Judge’s 7 is a type. ““There are still too many soldiers,” the Lord told Gideon…'” Be prepared for God’s move to happen outside of the church/noun/place. And one MAJOR confusion Satan will use is ‘unity among all religions’. This is antichrist in nature for God remains pure, not mixing with any other gods, not mixing salt water into spring water.

I’m unsure how the church remains blind to this truth. It’s like we say the words but don’t act out the reality. ‘yes we are one with Christ, the Holy Spirit lives within us’ but then we continue to denominate and say only ‘our church/structure’ will be the one chosen. No, no….God is leaving the church/structure behind. He didn’t die on the Cross so we could go back to temples in the desert where only priests could go into the holy of holies.

No.

Christ died on a Cross to make you and me and all Christians, His creation, His very own holy of Holies. This is the promise. This is what was delivered to us. This is truth. And God is getting ready to manifest this truth.

And my oh my, will it be a wonder to behold:):)

Featured Image by Nick Abrams.

Tag: body of christ

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