Church Abuse: The Legacy of Modern Christianity

Have you ever heard the Devil laughing? I have. He laughs so hard at the modern day church that he has to gasp for breath. Why? Simply because the church does so incredible a job of destroying itself, he doesn’t even have to help! With competing doctrines of salvation, baptism, prosperity, end times, Believer’s authority, etc., there isn’t much more confusion to add.

Of course, Satan really is behind most of this and has whipped the church into a frenzy over the last two millennia, until it is unrecognizable as the true body of Christ. Self-styled “prophets” predict the imminent end of all things in a plethora of contradictions. Does this suggest that one or more of the competing predators…uh…ecumenists might be a false prophet? Hmmmm…

On can look at any of several of the “study Bibles” available and see the reasons why there are so many that will never darken the door of the church. In the area before the Book of Revelation in many of my Bibles, there are charts of the various doctrines of the end time. WOW! What a mess! There’s a Rapture before, during, or after, the Tribulation. There’s Augustine’s “amillenial” (no rapture) doctrine without a Tribulation, and a competing doctrine that says we’ve been in the tribulation for centuries.

That’s just a few, and every one of the doctrines has one or more sponsoring denominations that consider themselves the only bearer of truth. Everybody else, of course, falls into the category of either heathens or devils. Major Pentecostal denominations claim salvation is only genuine if one “speaks in tongues” while the Protestants claim the “tongue-talkers” to be satanic. Baptismal doctrines are so confused that it would take another full series of hubs to cover them.

Greed has become so rampant that many churches spend more time taking up an offering than they do preaching the word. That’s just a little background, and the root reasons for the rampant abuse. More’s the reason the church has a bad name with society at large. Why would a confused person looking for answers and comfort want to become part of the jealousy, back-biting, and condemnation heaped on by the church? As I have said before, the church body advertised in the book is not the one in the “wrapper” of today’s cathedrals (tongue in cheek loosely used terminology).

Church abuse, is there any question that it exists? It does and will continue to do so as long as the church demands a standard from others that it will not hold to itself! The entrenched, main-line denominations have set themselves on a pedestal designed for destruction. The church despises infidelity, adultery, sexual perversion, but the leadership of the body is the ones caught in it on a daily basis. Dishonesty and graft are horrendously excoriated, while TV evangelists make unsubstantiated claims for the purpose of wringing the last dollar out of the audience.

Is anyone beside me old enough to remember when Oral Roberts locked himself in the prayer tower and claimed God was going to kill him if he didn’t raise a few million dollars for the ministry? Is that the God of the Bible ? I hope not. If it is, I have an incomplete copy. Please understand…I realize it takes money to spread the Gospel, but it’s not to be gained by extortion. There are denominations that even monitor the earnings of the congregations and send them regular bills for tithes. Others play the guilt game, claiming one doesn’t deserve to be a part of the church if they aren’t giving until it hurts. That’s abuse.

Young (in the faith) converts are often made to feel inferior if the life lived isn’t immediately perfect. Accusations are made about a person’s commitment to God because of it. Sadly, those that condemn have closets in their own lives they want no one to see, failing to realize that God takes us one step at a time on the journey. We’re not perfect at salvation…we’re perfected through salvation. But the baby Christian who is bound to fail under such a burden is a target of abuse and often leaves with the impression they can never live up to God’s expectations. Of course, they fail to realize they’ve been subjected to man’s expectations and not God’s.

The list of abuses can go on and on. There are dress codes, make-up taboos, man-made doctrines of appearance that cause certain Christians to accept a self-righteous view of themselves for strict adherence, while thumbing their noses at those “without” that do not. This is not… repeat…NOT from God, but from the deranged heart of men who think God’s simplicity is not enough and add to it more restrictions than the Pharisee could even imagine. The abuse needs to stop and love…God’s love through us…needs to take over.

Don’t let the devil sit there and laugh. Give him something to do. Make him defend himself as we put him on the run.