Cancer in the body

There is a soreness like a tooth which has rotted to the bone in my soul. I have felt this twice before. It is called Spiritual Warfare. If you have not experienced it then you are still too young in Christ for it, or perhaps things may not be completely aligned within God’s will in your life. I don’t want to sound harsh, but it is a bald fact. Satan wants to kill, steal and destroy all things godly. He is ever at work, and never tires.

Satan loves to wiggle into a church body to cause havoc and unrest. He plants cancerous cells within the church, and a healthy, praying church will slough off those cells. But, when a church has no knee imprints in the carpet… when a church doesn’t bother with anything other than corporate prayer… when a church has prayer meeting and the only thing that goes on is Bible Study… when a church has a prayer list a mile long, but few praises… when a church has a history and reputation of ousting their pastors with little provocation… when a church has leadership that reigns instead of Jesus reigning, there is Trouble with a capital T in Church City.

Spiritual warfare holds many guises. Sometimes it appears as a tiny crack, sometimes it resembles the Christian Slicer/Dicer. Sometimes it is just Satan planting seeds of doubt, innuendo, half-truths, twisted facts, all delivered with a reasonable voice but absent the ring of truth and fairness.

Sin in churches can get a great foothold through leadership that believes itself above biblical instruction and above the church. What would be the motivation for this kind of sin? Pride. Prestige. A love of drama lends very well to this… desiring to be the center of attention… desiring to appear as the church’s protector and savior. What does that sound like to you?

To me, it smacks of Satan. I have witnessed this and it is horrific and tragic. When men decide to “do God’s will” but have no Biblical support, then Trouble with a capital T in Church City comes and stays awhile. What can possibly cut the cancer out? What can one person do?

Pray. That’s a lot. But, first one must pray with the rightness of heart, a good attitude. Praying in anger never does anyone any good, albeit righteous anger. The problem with that is the brain is so focused on the wrong, that the real reason it all happened is foreshadowed.

Trusting that God is ever in control is the second thing. No one can do anything without Jesus is in it. One must consider that the cancer is deeper and covers more territory (much like an iceberg) than appears on the surface. You have one or two who stirs up the doubt and the self-righteous indignation, then one or two more take up the banner, then another one jumps in with supposed allegations or even suppositions about an event without all the facts. But, those are just the symptoms of cancer.

Where did it begin? Which heart were the seeds of discontent sown? Which mind watered those seeds and nurtured them until fully grown? We don’t see into the hearts of men, but God does.

God has taken all of this into consideration long before America was even born, before Adam’s first child squalled in his mommy’s arms. And He prepared for it. He alone knows what must be done to cut the cancer out so the body of Christ can be fully functional. He may have plans to bring the body to its knees, or to remove the one or two cancerous organs so the body can once again be healthy.

Only God knows which scalpel to used, which catheter to use, which sponge and suction hose to use. Only He can direct the feet of those who bend to His will. The others whose necks are too stiff will wait in the wilderness and never cross over into Beulah Land. That was God’s solution for the Israelites. He wrote letters to the Seven Churches and those letters are alive today. Which church is yours? It is one of them.

If while reading this, God has brought to mind some cancerous cells in your own church body. Pray. Pray as if your life depended upon it. Because, it does. There are churches who have lost their lives because they allowed cancer to grow and consume them. Their love grew cold. They turned from their first love. But there is hope, as long as there is breath there is hope.

For me, I had to make a hugely difficult decision. Should I leave the body that I had grown to love so deeply and so much? Should I hope that one day, someone would pay attention to what I know to be full truth?

The question circles around and around... "With so many saying the same thing, how can it not be true?"

How indeed? Look how many were wrong about Jesus and how many held their tongues because the "authority" was stronger, better entrenched, had greater forces and had the full power of Satan at their backs.

After my own investigation I found that I cannot trust the leadership of this church. I cannot trust what they say, because so much of what they said was lies, twisted facts, innuendos and derogatory implications designed to malign the integrity of a man of God. I chose to leave.

I know this will affect me the rest of my life. It is so much like divorce that I am still reeling from the bruising blows dealt more than a week ago. No sleep. No concentration. Praying, praying and more praying. Why God? How can this happen to a church that claims to be yours and seeking Your will. How incredibly sad. What great judgement will come if no repentance happens.