The Church's Great Deception

Rev 2:4
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.
(NIV)

I Jn 4:19
19 We love because he first loved us.
(NIV)




The great deception is that there is a sign out in front of the church that say’s “We are a Hospital” where Jesus is calling out "Come to me to all who are heavy laden and I will give you rest",
but inside the doors it changes into “A Courtroom”, where there is division, judgement, condemnation, and there is no rest.

It is not just about the words that we speak, but it is how we speak them and how we demonstrate those words. Talk is cheap, we can say all the words that we want to but if it does not align with our actions (as James 1:22 would put it) then we are just hearers only.

Jesus’ answer to the great commission is that they (the world) would know us by the love that we have for one another (John 13:35). We the church have lost that love because we lost that Christ first loved us. Grace being given to us is the hospital that we have all needed. Instead we have incorporated a courtroom and are to busy judging and pointing fingers.

Another way to say this is like gold being refined. Impure gold is added to a oven that produces 2000 degree temperatures and is melted. What happens is that gold is a very heavy metal and the impurities (dross) rise to the surface and the gold remains beneath. The gold is taken out of the oven and the dross is skimmed off. The gold then is put back into the oven over and over again till the dross is eliminated.

In relationship to the church when an individual is being put through the refining fire and that person comes out with dross on the surface the church is standing all around pointing fingers and judging. But what does not happen is that this same church can’t go deep enough to see the refined gold that lays below the surface to see that God is changing a life His way and time and not the Churches way and time. It is God’s job to refine, He is the husbandman (gardener – oven tender) who prunes, skims off the dross.

John 15:1-2
1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
(NIV)

The reason for this is that church has lost its first love, lost that Christ loved them first despite their own sin and frailty. While they were still sinners Christ died for them. We are not commanded by God as a church to judge, we are commanded to love. We lost the ability to love because we lack the foresight on how much Christ loves us. We think that now that we have arrived it is okay to now judge and it’s not.


John 13:34-35
34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
(NIV)

We wonder why the world is not interested in Church; it is because we do not love. Loving means laying down our lives for one another. It means looking out for other people’s interest even foregoing our own. The world would bust the Churches door down if they saw the real thing. Were to busy pointing out the dross to notice the hurting individuals that exist across the street, next to our desk, across the hallway, and even sitting in the pew next to us.

This is the great deception, trading a hospital for a courtroom.

Now more than ever our country and the world is desperate for an authentic witness of God's love expressed through Jesus Christ.

Amazed at the Judgments and Attacks by Christians

J Lee Grady (Charisma Magazine) wrote in a recent article “The Ominous Handwriting on America’s Wall” and quote: “An earthquake rattles Washington, D.C., and a fierce storm ravages the East Coast. Is God speaking to us? I’m not a doomsday prophet, and I don’t believe every hurricane, earthquake or drought is God’s judgment. But I did pause to ponder the significance of the freakish 5.8-magnitude quake that jolted the East Coast last week. The White House was evacuated, the Washington Monument was closed indefinitely because of cracks, and the National Cathedral’s central tower was seriously damaged. Does anybody else find that slightly spooky?” Also, “Judgment from God? That’s not how I view disasters. But I do think last week’s double whammy was about as obvious a sign from heaven as when God scribbled a warning on the wall while King Belshazzar was partying in his palace. Hello? Is anybody reading the handwriting on America’s wall?”

What was disturbing was not so much what J Lee Grady wrote but what fellow Christians wrote in the afterthoughts following the article. They all seemed to be happy about judgment, and happy that they thought they were better than the ones they thought were being judged. It bewilders me that Christians think that they have deserved a place with God. That they have earned a spot in God’s army as if they have done something so wonderful that God loved what they were doing with their life that God could not help it but to bring them along and sit them along side of His judgment seat. What is more insidious than that is that the cross has been negated. All sin has already been judged at the cross. When you look up all in the Greek it is very profound, it means all. It does not mean some or the one’s you get to pick and chose, it means all.

2 Corinthians 5:19 (KJV)
19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

1 John 2:2 (KJV)
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Titus 3:5 (KJV)
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

Mercy is not receiving what we justly deserve; grace is receiving what we don’t justly deserve. If this is true how can we stand in judgment of anything? If all judgment for sins came upon Jesus, than what judgment can become on us. We keep on pointing to sins that Jesus has already died for, and that puts us into what Paul says in Galatians:

Galatians 5:4 (KJV)
4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (KJV)
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

God has designed salvation in such a way as to eliminate any boasting from man. If salvation was by works, either partially or wholly, then man could boast, but grace and faith eliminate man's boasting altogether (Ro 3:27). Salvation by grace brings praise and glory to God. If we could save ourselves, either partially or wholly, we would take the credit for it. That is not the case. All the glory goes to God.

Finally Paul says in Galatians 6:14 (KJV) But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

Christians have been so busy pointing out sins and having a sin conscientiousness which means the world has not been crucified and they do not believe in the cross of Jesus Christ and what was accomplished there.

I have been humbled by the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that He loves me and gave Himself for me even though I do not deserve it at all. His love for me is because of His love. "God loves you and me unconditionally, as you are and not as you should be, because nobody is as they should be." In the light of that, how can we stand in judgment of anything or point to any sin in anyone else?

Love & Friendship

A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in two tours of duty.

He called his parents from San Francisco. “Mom and Dad, I’m coming home, but I’ve got a favor to ask. I have a friend I’d like to bring with me.” “Sure,” they replied, “we’d love to meet him.” “There’s something you should know the son continued, “he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mined and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us.” “I’m sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live.”

“No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us.” “Son,” said the father, “you don’t know what you’re asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He’ll find a way to live on his own.” At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him.

A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn’t know, their son had only one arm and one leg.

The parents in this story are like many of us. We find it easy to love those who are good-looking or fun to have around, but we don’t like people who inconvenience us or make us feel uncomfortable. We would rather stay away from people who aren’t as healthy, beautiful, or smart as we are.

Thankfully, there’s someone who won’t treat us that way. Someone who loves us with an unconditional love that welcomes us into the forever family, regardless of how messed up we are.

Tonight, before you go to sleep for the night, say a prayer that God will give you the strength you need to accept people as they are, and to help us all be more understanding of those who are different from us!!!

There’s a miracle called -Friendship- that dwells in the heart. You don’t know how it happens or when it gets started. But you know the special lift It always brings and you realize that Friendship Is God’s most precious gift!

Friends are a very rare jewel, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share a word of praise, and they always want to open their hearts to us.