Letter From An Ache In a Region of My Soul

To the pastors, evangelists, elders, ministers and teachers - to all who have been charged to carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to the Church Universal – I have but one question; How did we get here? How is it that we have drifted so far from the original blueprint of the One who laid the Chief Cornerstone for what He has called His House – that House that was intended to be called a “house of prayer for all nations”? What happened to the original charge from Jesus to “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mk.16:15, ESV)? What have we done with Matthew 28:19-20, which commands us to “baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you”? “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age,” Jesus said.

Before Covid-19, I had already been existing in a state of extreme isolation and separation since 2015, having been the unfortunate recipient of a near fatal blow from the leadership of the church I’d served on for nearly fifteen years. Since I had been employed by that church, and for all those years had dwelt in community with, and served the people of that church, when the blow came, forcing me to leave said church – I lost what seemed like everything. Living wages – gone! People that I had believed were friends – gone! Ministry – gone! Purpose – seemingly gone! Joy – gone; even acquaintances – gone! I was sorely bereft of everything that I held dear.

Social distancing, for me, had begun way back in 2015. When the church leadership rejects a person, justifiably or unjustifiably, the rejected one, once “loved” by all, now becomes as one infected with a virus. No one dares come near you! This is an area of poison and infection in the church that must be aggressively addressed, repented of and forever corrected.

The trauma and devastation of what happened to my life as a result of having been mishandled by church leadership made me wonder if I would ever “belong” to another church “family” again. In 2015, for the first time in my life, I was not attending any church. This went on for almost 2 ½ years. When I finally got up enough nerve to start visiting churches again, I was stunned, not so much by my experiences in those churches, where The Holy Spirit’s anointing and presence were blatantly absent, but by the fact that this anemic condition of the church seemed to be pervasive. The pastor’s messages – consumed with begging for every last dollar from the parishioners. (I had heard that kind of preaching before). These pastors had bought into the gospel of prosperity. What blatant greed! Sermons saturated with doctrines of demons promising everybody, regardless of whether or not they had been faithful stewards with their resources, that a financial blessing was on the way. What lies!

My ears heard, coming from these pulpits, preaching that had no basis in scripture, and peaching that distorted and manipulated scripture. I heard preaching from a version of a different bible that was apparently new on the scene, and that sounded absolutely nothing like any words from Jesus I had ever read in my life. I was mortified. I also noticed that in many of the churches, the altars had been torn down and replaced with runways and stages. Now the people had no place to prepare their hearts and examine themselves before, or after the worship service once they entered the sanctuary. They merely went from entering the sanctuary with loud talking, joking and laughing, to immediately being entertained by the images, creative set designs, and personalities hoisted up on the stages for them to behold as idols. These sorts of things were happening in pulpits everywhere throughout the region I lived in.

I found myself visiting a new church almost every week. Not one of these churches would I have dared to even consider making my church home. Most times, I couldn’t even bring myself to sit through a whole service. Sometimes, I couldn’t even make it past the fleshly, entertainment-like, fame seeking, personality-driven, worldly influenced praise and worship, before I found myself tipping out, only to return home and finish having church on my sofa. Just me, my Bible and Jesus. Oh, what joy divine!

Once I visited a church that seemed to be okay. I didn’t hear any lies coming from the pulpit. Good. They preached straight from the Word of God. Good. They were not lopsided, nor did they subject the congregants to undue pressure when gathering the tithes and offerings. Good. But there was not one spark of the fire of the Holy Spirit’s presence in their services. Only a few clapped their hands and shouted to God with a voice of triumph. Only a few entered into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Admittedly, I did revisit this particular church more than a few times, but I was not fulfilled there. Only a short time later, and the world was hit by Covid-19. God quickly shut the doors of all the churches, sending, not only me back into exile, but the entire globe, into this ongoing state of isolation, separation and exile.  

The pandemic of 2020 had made it painfully clear to all of us that we had foolishly chosen to distance ourselves from God, locking Him out of His own house. Now, He was distancing Himself from us and challenging us to seek Him again with all of our hearts.

There has been an ungodly, unholy, demonic attempt to destroy God’s House. The preaching of doctrines of demons that cunningly and boldly crept in and overtook pulpits around the world, and especially in the Western world, is a great abomination before God. The personality-driven leadership is a thumb to the nose in the face of God Who warned us, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:3).

Pastors, I implore you – stop erecting buildings in your name. Stop sounding your name, or the name of “your” church as a trumpet whenever you do a good deed in your community. Otherwise, you will find that it is, in fact, your church, and not God’s. In this, you will ultimately do more harm than good to your community, exalting something that your hands have made, yet masquerading it as something belonging to, built and sanctioned by God. Why not let everything be done as unto the Lord? (1 Cor. 10:31) Why not raise the fame of the name of Jesus – alone? If you do not, you may be sorely disappointed when your works are tried by the fire of God. For what of them will survive on that day? (See 1 Cor. 3:13)

The contamination of our worship, which has allowed secular influences to infiltrate, spoil and ruin the holy things of God, has aroused the anger and indignation of an Holy God. He has come to despise our worship. It is meaningless to Him and has become a stench in His nostrils. This unholy infiltration and contamination have rendered worship powerless to us, and highly offensive to God. How have we responded to scripture that command those who carry the holy vessels of God, which includes worship, to “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you” (2 Cor. 6:17). What is the responsibility of the Levite relative to Ezek. 44:23 which states, “They are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean”? What are the Levites teaching, when they prance around on the stage at church, dressed like they just came out of the nightclubs, and doing every ungodly thing on Saturday night, but then feigning consecration during Sunday morning worship? Where is the difference? Only the Spirit of God gives life. All flesh profits nothing. Jn.6:63

The words found in Isaiah chapter 1 are enough to make us all tremble. I pray they lead us all to repent:

Hear the word of the Lord,
    you rulers of Sodom;
listen to the instruction of our God,
    you people of Gomorrah!
11 “The multitude of your sacrifices—
    what are they to me?” says the Lord.
“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
    of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure
    in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
12 When you come to appear before me,
    who has asked this of you,
    this trampling of my courts?
13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
    Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
    I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.
14 Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals
    I hate with all my being.
They have become a burden to me;
    I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,
    I hide my eyes from you;
even when you offer many prayers,
    I am not listening.

There is a deep ache in the region of my soul as I weep over the local church, and over the state of the Church Universal. Yet, even as I weep and pray, I am encouraged because I know what Jesus said. He said, “Upon this rock I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18).

During Covid-19, I have heard pastors boast about how even though the doors to the physical churches have been closed, they are busier than ever before. Not bothered. That may be, but I believe God would have the church do a reset during this season. I believe God is looking for pastors, elders, ministers, and all church leadership to humble themselves and take the lead in true, heartfelt repentance. Our nation is being judged, and judgement begins in the house of God.

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people,  If My people, who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray; seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land (2 Chron. 7:14).

The 21st century church must return to the original blueprint of its Founder and Builder – Jesus, the Christ. Leadership must repent. The reason John the Baptist was referred to as the greatest prophet of all was because he honored the privilege he was given to be the forerunner for Jesus. He understood his unique purpose and responsibility and he never got it confused. He was the voice crying out in the wilderness to prepare the way for the Lord. Many tried to get John to confess that he was more than that, or to be offended by Jesus’s rise to fame. John never took the bait to exalt himself in any way. The lines never blurred for him. Even when his disciples came to him to report to him of the fame of Jesus, and to inform him that all of his disciples were starting to follow Jesus, he simply said, “A man can receive nothing except it comes from God” (Jn. 3:26-30). John further replied that he had already told them that he was not the Christ, and now that the Christ had appeared – it was time for him (John) to fade into the distance.

The humility of John is what all of us who have received the Great Commission must strive towards – to be committed to exalt the things of God, and not our things. John joyfully persuaded the people, who had previously followed him, to now leave him and run after Jesus. “I am not the Christ,” he flatly stated.

Personal ownership and blurred lines regarding our calling and privilege relative to carrying out the Great Commission, I believe, is the reason why there is so much perversion, competition, bad feeling, jealousy and lack of godly love within the church. This structure will never stand. God will allow it to self-destruct. In Matthew 28:20, when Jesus said, “I will be with you always,” this was a promise to us for as long as we continued with Him. However, when we reach the point where we feel we can build God’s house without Him, we forfeit His promise and His presence.   

Many lives have been traumatized and devastated by this unholy church that God did not build. We must all repent. All of us. We must “stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it…” and we will find rest for our souls. (See Jer. 6:16)  We must allow God to speak to us on an individual basis to determine what is the responsibility of each of us as we work, as did Nehemiah, to rebuild the walls and gates around God’s house.

When God calls us out of the exile, we must all be prepared with resolutions concerning how and what each of us can do to ensure that we do not do church as usual.