OCTOBER 1 "CHURCH & CHRISTIAN BASHING"

         I AM appalled too at the lack of support within the church.  Verse 5, "I looked, but there was no one to help, I was appalled that no one gave support". Often in the church this is the case, you look for support in a Godly endeavor and are surprised when nobody signs up or shows up.  It is always interesting to watch a young zealot announce his event, outreach, activity and only to find out that not so many shared his enthusiasm.  There is a book that is a good read, it is called, "What happens to the other 80%" and this is speaking about the 80% of the church, obviously the majority, that finds itself totally un-involved in the affairs and functions of the church.  Yes I am appalled too and so is every layman, Pastor and disciple that is trying to do his best. However, we must also be careful against the enemy's strategy to disparage us against "The Church".  What I am noticing of late, is a trend of Church and Christian bashing, that is coming not from the outside world, but from within the church.  We are beginning to turn on ourselves and as I'm sure we all know, "no kingdom divided against itself will stand".  Christian books, sermons and conferences today, seem to spend a whole lot of time criticizing and bashing the Church. We know the Church is flawed, it has always been flawed and wills always be until Jesus' return. Church bashing other churches and Christians bashing other Christians is not going to advance God's Kingdom nor is it going to be a remedy to a flawed church and what good are we going to get out of it.  The rhetoric today is, "the church is apathetic, the church is lukewarm, Christians are carnal, Christians are not rising up, Christians aren't doing anything, we're cowards, we're not the father's we should be, we're not the mother's we should be, and we could go on and on...and we do, but I believe the enemy will exploit this to our demise.

     If we behaved like this in our marriages we would ALL be divorced and if not divorced we would have miserable marriages.  IN a marriage you have to de-focus from the negatives and focus on the positives in your spouse, otherwise......

     Surely Christians, surely the Church is doing something right? This is a rhetorical question because I know we are! There is some tremendous Christians out there, raising Godly children and being a the "salt of the earth" and a great testimony in their community and there is some tremendous churches out there doing their best to be "the Light on The Hill".  We still have couples "forsaking all" to be missionaries, we still have Children rising up and taking the mantle to the next level, we still have ministries forming, souls getting saved and lives being changed. Christians are impacting the radio, the media, the movies and are writing top selling books and novels. Christians are rising up in politics, speaking out in town hall meetings and making progress.
     Could the church be doing more, of course.  Could the balance in the church be a little better than 80/20, could be much better (after all, where are the other 80% and what are they doing?), but if we choose to turn on each other and get into this trend of Christians bashing Christians than what good can come out of that? We already have the world against us, we already have the Prince of this World against us, the media against us, often the government against us...are we now going to turn on each other too?  And if we bash other Christians that can only lead to one conclusion and that is that we are saying, "we are better". And it seems that every church and every Christian seems to think they are better than the one next door or down the street.  Could it be that neither is better?  Could it be that each church and each Christian has their flaws and their positives? Could it be that we are all flawed vessels but yet God chooses to work through us. Not just through one church or one group of Christians but God chooses to work through all of us collectively.
     Remember when the disciples were with Jesus and they saw "another" group of disciples that were not part of their group, and what did they say?"  If only they had said, "Praise God Lord, look, other men doing a work for our Heavenly Father and advancing his Kingdom on the Earth" However they did not say that! What did they say..."Lord, look at those men over there, what do they think they're doing, do you want us to go over there and stop them!"  And of course Jesus said, "no! leave them alone, for he that is not against us is with us".  We must never forget those words!  We are standing around bashing those that are on our side simply trying to do a work for God and we, like the disciples, are prejudiced against any other group, than ours, that is trying to do something for God. God is much bigger than our little organization, our little church and our little group. God is doing a work in the earth and he is using various churches, various denominations, various Pastors and Leaders and various countries to do it and it's time to put aside our prejudices and stop bashing each other, "for he that is not against us, is with us". There is a whole harvest of souls out there to be reaped, let's not waste our time criticizing the methods of the church or the christian next door or down the street and focus rather on the person down the street or next door, that does not know, nor has ever experienced, the Saving Love and Grace, of Jesus Christ.  And ALL God's people said....AMEN!