I have been under a spiritual teaching for some time now that I have really not appreciated.
Until now.
It has rocked me. It has challenged my core beliefs and made me want to walk away so many times. But I’m finally starting to see why Holy Spirit has led me on this path. It is because it is TRUE.
John 16:13
And I have been so immersed in falsehood, that what was false seemed true and what was true seemed false.
Isaiah 5:20
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter…
We are living in a generation where the message being sent is that good is evil and evil is good and it can be very hard to discern between what is right and what is wrong. My own convictions have become enlightened through the growth of this season. I am seeing this enlightenment is needed so that truth will reign in every believer’s life. I use the word “believer” and not Christian b/c the word Christian was actually assigned from a place of insult and offense (Acts 11:26) and the origin of a word (or anything for that matter) alludes to the identity and purpose of its subject. So, we will stick with referring to those who are a part of the body of Christ as “believers” (we could also just as easily use disciple, as Jesus did or saint, as the Apostles did).
I have been witnessing and been directly affected by the dysfunction arising in the body of Christ and I’m learning this “fall out” is a result of the belief system that has been operating in the church for some time now. That belief system causes believers to carry out their spiritual lives from a works-based mentality. It is so subtle in fact that for the most part they are unaware that they are “working for their salvation”.
I have been unaware.
Since past reformations and with the revelations of “saved by grace through faith”, much of the body of Christ has walked in freedom from very outward appearances of works-based religion such as needing to perform hail Mary’s, be baptized or speak in tongues to be saved (although clearly some parts of the body still practice these methods), yet still there have been so many subtle ways that we, believers, have been trying to work out our salvation. And the result has been destructive.
In the beginning God, who we will call Elohim, created Adam and Eve in His image. He set them in the garden so that they would be Him in the land. He gave them authority and called them to continue reproducing after His own image. Yet they were deceived by the serpent (ok, so Eve was deceived and then she deceived her husband). When they submitted themselves to the lies of the serpent they traded the character and nature of Elohim for the character and nature of the serpent which consisted of Selfishness, Pride and Ego. They also hid their true selves (Genesis 3:8) and the “false self” with the nature of pride and self, began functioning. This functioning is the dysfunction. Not only did they themselves take on this new (selfish) character but they passed it on to the next generation, who passed it on, who passed it on, until the whole world was “infected” with this selfishness and pride and thus functioned dysfunctionally. Thankfully Christ came to “reverse the curse” and bring forth restoration and redemption however it seems the ecclesia (which is the correct word for church in the Bible) has still been functioning from the character and nature of the serpent. Much of the world’s culture has leaked into the culture of the ecclesia and thus believers have still not consistently functioned as Elohim originally intended. The church’s teaching has caused people to think that they must perform and hide their sin. The result, is their true self is still being hidden. People have been functioning in a way of hiding their sin just as Adam and Eve did in the garden but they can only keep up the charade for so long. Eventually behavior modification will fail.
Where is the hope???
Well, Elohim is bringing forth TRUTH in this hour for all those who have an ear to hear. He is revealing the true identity of His Sons and removing the FALSE. There will be mature believers who see as He sees just as Yeshua (Jesus) did when He walked the earth (Romans 8:19).
Ok, so that was kind of a summary of what I’m learning and probably I will do a “part 2” of this post to elaborate on some things. I can say that I am no longer surprised when I find that major Christian leaders in the church have all of a sudden committed some overt sin, because really the dysfunction was in hiding, under layers and layers of a “works-based faith”.
Go through the process of sanctification. Be real and honest about your struggles. Awaken to and walk in the redemption and restoration of the cross and do not attempt to “fix yourself”. These are just some of the tips I am learning in this season to walk in wholeness. And lets pray here for good measure:
“Father I thank You that You not only sent Christ to save me but also to restore my true identity in You. I pray You remove the false and dysfunction and reveal my eternal self as purposed in Your heart before the world began. Awaken me to truth. I am Yours and made to manifest Your image in the earth. Thank You that we are One.”
I found this podcast that speaks on some of the topics I’ve touched on here that I thought was pretty good: “With, Part 2”
Shalom!
