And I hear another voice out of heaven, saying, "Come out of her, My people, lest you should be joint participants in her sins, and lest you should be getting of her calamities, for her sins were piled up to heaven, and God remembers her injuries"
The Revelation of Jesus Christ 18: 4-5, Concordant New Testament
For anyone who has bothered to notice, the mainstream church has suffered a mass exodus of worshippers over the past years. The media has written about it and more and more pastors have preached against it. I personally have not stepped foot inside a church in over 15 years, yet I continue to worship the Father in my own way. That's right, I gave up the church and all of its traditions for a deeper relationship with Jesus and the Father. But how is it possible to have a relationship with Jesus without the "covering" of the traditional church? We have been led to believe that the church is the be all end all for all things related to God. If we want to learn about Him, we go to church. If we want to know Him, we go to church. If we want to celebrate Him, we go to church. The traditional church has always been seen as the focal point of our connection with the Lord. In the coming weeks I will be doing a podcast with a dear friend where we will dive into how we have given up the mainstream, institutional church in order to celebrate Him with a new group of believers and those hungry to know Him. I would bet that every pastor worth their salt would insist that in order to know the Lord, you must first be involved with a local church. But think about this, did Jesus Himself ever make such a claim? Jesus told the Samaritan woman He met at the well that it would no longer be about locations or temples, but that God's children worship him in "Spirit and truth" {Johns Account 4:24}. Worshipping God without the mainstream church? Indeed, it is possible, and desirable to God {Johns Account 4:23}. Could this be the reason why so many of God's children have fled the mainstream church? I doubt it. I don't believe that many of the Lords flock have had this truth revealed to them yet. However, I do believe that many who have left the church did so, as I did, because they were led by their spirit to seek something more. To know more about the Father that they were not getting from the traditional man-made church.
"But coming is the hour, and now is, when the true worshippers will be worshipping the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father also is seeking such to be worshipping Him. God is spirit, and those who are worshipping Him must be worshipping in spirit and truth"
Johns Account 4: 23-24, Concordant New Testament
Have you ever heard the traditional church referred to as a prostitute? Well, imagine my reaction as I first read the writings of the Christian author J Preston Eby. In his Kingdom Bible Studies on the book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ, Eby refers to the traditional church as a prostitute deserving of the Lords wrath. In the book of Revelation, the apostle John speaks to his vision of the Lord proclaiming to His children "Come out of her, My people, lest you should be joint participants in her sins" {The Revelation of Jesus Christ 18:4}. I do believe that God was giving this warning to His children to remove themselves from the man-created church institution and all of its requirements and traditions. Is this what the apostle Paul was speaking to in his own warning against the requirements which were against us that Jesus nailed to the cross{Paul to the Colossians 2:14}? Indeed, many of the requirements and traditions of the mainstream church are not designed to bring us any closer to God. What DOES bring us closer to God is our own realization of who we are in Him. That we are not on the outside looking in, but living in union with Jesus and the Father {Johns Account 14:20}. This is a revelation which is received from the Father. This is truly knowing God. Freedom in Jesus is knowing that you share in His life, without all of the traditions associated with the mainstream church.
~Scott~
No comments:
Post a Comment