Some Thoughts About the I.C.

This is part of an E-mail I sent to a friend about her Father's refusal to set foot inside a 'church'. Maybe someone else can get something out of it too.

...... It's not the TV shows that keep your Dad out of church... it's the reality that the shows are based on. Read your New Testament and you'll find that this Corporate Monstrosity that we call "The Church" isn't in there at all!!! The Church shown in the New Testament is PEOPLE under the leadership of Christ in small groups which were led by lay eldership. The word 'pastor' only occurs once in the NT and is never referred to as a priest, which is what a Pastor is in today's institutionalized church. Paul covered the Priesthood issue in Hebrews and we are ALL Kings and Priests before God... and we all have our own Temple. So what's the deal that the Institutional Church (IC) needs to have a "Pastor" who does all the teaching, all the counseling, represents the 'church' to the community, leads the lost to Jesus, prays all the prayers, etc, etc? The reason is that it allows us saints to be lazy!!! We don't need to study God's Word... The 'Pastor' tells us what we need to know! We don't need to visit folks in prison or the hospital... that's the 'pastor's' job! All we need to do is keep throwing our money into the offering-plate and we're good. Peter talks about them in 2 Peter 2, Here are the first few verses for you... but read the whole chapter and you'll see some really familiar stuff!!!

2 Peter 2:1-3

But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach their destructive heresies about God and even turn against their Master who bought them. Theirs will be a swift and terrible end. 2 Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of them, Christ and his true way will be slandered. 3 In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction is on the way.
NLT

2 Peter 2:17

17 These people are as useless as dried-up springs of water or as clouds blown away by the wind — promising much and delivering nothing. They are doomed to blackest darkness.
NLT

Sound like anyone we know? I can't tell you how many times I've sat at work at TBN and watched famous teachers tell the audience that if they'll make a pledge of 'X' number of dollars God will give them the money and more. Heck, I've heard that from the pulpit in Parkland! I've also talked with those who gave more than they had and suffered the dissappointment of having their power shut off because 'God didn't come through' and deliver on the preacher's empty promises. And if you confront the 'Man of God' you get a stern warning to 'Touch not the Lord's anointed!', or told that the person didn't have enough faith or some other sorry excuse. Read 1st Chronicles 16 and put the touch not the Lord's anointed into context... it's not talking about preachers, it's talking about Israel... Wait! WE ARE SPIRITUAL ISRAEL!!!!!

Who's touching who here?

That's why Joan, Sean and I no longer "Go to Church"! We go to a Bible-study on Monday nights and meet and fellowship and learn... oh yeah, and we visit the sick at the VA Hospital, we can pray for the sick, we get to teach the group the things God is teaching us and if the person teaching says something unbiblical? We can argue with them without being told to "TOUCH NOT THE LORD'S ANOINTED"!!! Nobody feels the need to be in charge... That's what Jesus is... the Head of His Church. Do you know that He is VERY GOOD at that??? He is!!!

So there you have more than you bargained for... I'll put my soap-box away now but I DO hope you'll think about it. Until the world begins to see real believers following a real, loving, compassionate, caring Jesus who is their friend, they will never want to turn from their sin. Who can blame them? What they see of 'The Church" on the 6:00 news is a "Pastor" fondling boys in the baptismal or messing around with his secretary or telling the world that Ariel Sharon had a stroke because God is judging him or that 9-11-01 is "The gay's fault" or some other stupidity that has nothing to do with God... it's just being perpetrated in God's name.

Heaven help us!
~Archie