The Autopsy of the Body of Christ

Happy 2024! Look who's back!!! I know it's been a minute, so my desire is to blog more this year as I did back when I started back in 2011. So, let's get started with my first post for 2024: The Autopsy of the Body of Christ!

First things first, autopsies aren’t done on a person that’s still living. They are done on a person who has passed away to determine the cause of death. Now, there will be some who say that the body of Christ (the church) is dead based on our conduct (which I agree with); while others will say that the body of Christ is alive. Let me address the latter first, if you believe that the body of Christ is alive; I say it’s on life support!!! And now, I want to address the former, and provide a plan for us to get us back in action in order to redeem the time remaining as the days are evil.

 

If I had to do an autopsy of the body of Christ, the primary cause of our death is due to too much sleeping and having no oil inside of us (reference Matthew 25:1-13). We place our energy on things that are outside of our control versus the things we can control. We have allowed our minds to be in neutral, thus failing to heed the warning in 1 Peter 5:8 to be sober as the enemy comes seeking whom he may devour. And he isn’t playing fair. Let’s be real, he’s increasing his rage against us to silence us, using our weak points or circumstances to attack us whether it be physically, mentally, emotionally, financially and of course, spiritually.  We see the havoc the devil has wreaked in the culture, now it’s inside the body of Christ. He has turned the gas up and now people are using the Bible to make it fit their agenda (from the pews to the pulpit). This explains why innocent people are offended and are hurt by the church. The church needs to clean house of selfish motives, cliques, agendas and people who are worshiping people and not God. 

 

My heart cries out for the body of Christ. We are so divided on things that are so minor and don’t play a factor in our salvation.  It’s this very thing the devil is using to break up marriages and all forms of godly agreements. We must understand that when there is no agreement but double standards, chaos increases and excellence is lost. 

 

I believe intercession is needed for the body of Christ. My assignment has been towards the body of Christ since the year 2000. We are losing sheep (inside the church) and are refusing to go after the one as Jesus talks about it in Luke 15 because we are too focused on the 99 found sheep.

 

Further in the autopsy report, the secondary causes of death include hypocrisy; lack of personal accountability; unresolved church hurt; lack of focus on our Kingdom assignment; focusing more on maintaining titles and positions; witnessing church and not Christ to the lost; double standards we hold like picking and choosing who we want to agape love and faking excellence to obtain man’s approval, yet our heart isn’t in it. 

 

Our oil has burned out, and this is why we’re sleeping (physically, mentally and spiritually). We’ve accepted anybody in pulpits, and no lives are changed for the glory of Christ. Churches have become social/country clubs and not a place of worship. There’s more that I could say on that, but I’ll stop here. To the body of Christ: we must take our witness seriously! 

 

So what is the plan to get back in action? We must remember that we have a mandate to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). We are to keep the main thing, the main thing. We can’t afford to focus on where we sit in church over the visitor who has come and needs to hear about Christ. Yes, we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, but we must have a heart for others at the same time. I implore all of us to put our personal agendas down, it’s about Christ, not us. If we really are sincere about surrendering (giving ourselves away like we sing about), then we have to be about His heart. We must be emptied of ourselves so He can fill our hearts. Once that happens, He will refresh our oil to be about His business. Understand this: the time is short. He is returning and the days are evil. We have a job to do! 

 

Blessings,

 

The Mayne Man

 

 

Are We Hiding In The Church?

Last Sunday, God was dealing with me about people in congregations hiding inside the church so they can avoid persecution from the world. Truthfully, it's a slap in the face to Christian missionaries who are ministering outside our country and are dying by the dozens for their faith in Christ. And even worse, church leaders are advocating congregations to hide in the church or don't stray too far from the church. The underlying message is that we need you to witness to fund the local church. And if the church is under budget, it means that the congregation is not witnessing to bring bodies in to balance the budget.

Jesus said in Mathew 28:19-20: 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Notice what Jesus did not say. He did not say to make church members of all nations, baptizing them in the name of your local church. He said, you are the salt of the earth, not the salt of the church. Now I'm not saying that everyone needs to leave their church and that there is no need for a local church. We need that and we need to fund local churches. The focus is on priorities - His mission and not funding the church due to a deficit. Sometimes we read passages in the New Testament as a way to get people to do missions for the benefit of the local church focusing on church membership and not on a person's salvation. 

The question I pose is how are we going to reach the world if we're hiding in our church? And how are we preaching the gospel if the emphasis is on church growth? It's sad when Christians are coming from places where they are being persecuted and ministering Christ to us in our own country. 

The reason so many are hiding in the church is because their respective social clique is there; they want their special seat in the church; it's comfortable and their family's salvation is secure; they can continually be spiritually fed and not have to share the Good News to others. And for the record, if you are witnessing to someone and the focus is inviting to church without being concerned about their salvation (of if salvation is hinged on them attending your particular church), you are technically hiding in your church. 

For many of us in our respective churches, He is calling us out into the world to reach them. You have gifts that need to touch the world. You can't do that hiding in your church (yes, God is calling some of you to use your gifts specifically for your respective church, and praise God for that). But for everyone to keep hiding in the church is a sad indictment on those dying for their faith. 

When the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, they stayed in Jerusalem afterwards. It took Stephen's death for them to get out and scatter (as Christ told them to before He went back to heaven). Sadly, God has to allow things to happen to get our attention; I pray this would encourage us to be proactive. The world is more in need of us than ever before.

Blessings:

The Mayne Man

Why Abused Victims Remain Victims

There are many reasons why abused victims remain victims: suppression, anger, unforgiveness, lack of counseling or therapy, bondage of Satan, their lack of wanting to be delivered and the church. The last one, "the church," will be the focus of this blog. 

First and foremost, I am an abuse survivor (and speaking on this is my area of specialty), and second of all, I became a Christian in 1996. So, how does the church play a role as to how some abuse victims remain victims? Within the first few years in my Christian journey, many churches had deliverance ministries. Now, it's almost unheard of or if there is one, it's for show and to promote one's ministry. As I observe people in the church (of course, not every church will fit this), I find that attitudes are snobbish and leaderships are more focused on control and church growth. 

I was provoked to address this after reading a Scripture this morning. It reminded me of a ministry call that I listened in on last night, and what Prophetess Tera Hodges tweeted over the past weekend.

The call last night focused on deliverance and the lack thereof in ministries today. The guests that were on the program were reading my mind as I listened. Many churches see no need for them, or they are following the tradition of their denomination, or they have leaders don't know about deliverance (or don't want to know), or their focus is on church growth and mind control. 

Prophetess Tera Carissa Hodges over the past weekend was tweeting on churches using mind control techniques to control people in the congregation. I have known about it for some time, but I guess now it's more prevalent and many in the congregations are sleeping. When mind control is implemented, no one can be delivered from the issues they face, because the focus is on the leadership's demands and the congregation's time, talent & resources solely belong to the local church. And that can be very dangerous.

The Scripture I read this morning was Isaiah 61:1-3. The focus was on Christ coming to heal the broken hearted, those who are afflicted. In short, those who are hurting and bound. As I think about the topic and why deliverance fails for those who need and want deliverance (there are those who don't want it - and I'll discuss shortly), it fails mostly because of our attitude and self-aggrandizement. What are some examples? 

1. When you yell at a hurting soul saying, "you are bound by Satan and you need to be delivered!" If anything, you just destroyed your witness. That statement is true, but it didn't require your yelling.

2. When you yell at a hurting soul saying, "You are in sin because you're acting out of anger!" That may be true, but that leaves the impression that they have no chance of redemption.

3. When you yell at a hurting soul, saying, "So what if you're rejected. You are in sin because you were rejected!" This is completely false. They're acting out what they only know. Most cases, the house they grew up in was so far from Godly, that's all they know. 

4. This one irks my nerve. You speak in a condescending to a hurting soul, "I'm sorry you're hurt, I'll pray for you." But it's a one-minute prayer. Now if it's someone in their AMCC circle that's hurting, they'll stay with them all day and all night. AMCC stands for American Middle Class Church - where it's all about me, my family & my clique. This mentality only focuses on their circle being delivered and nothing hinders their world.

Jesus had compassion on those He delivered and the focus was on who He is. Many of us force deliverance on those who may not want to be delivered or as was stated on the call last night, they call out the wrong thing to be delivered out of someone. Never force deliverance on those who don't want it. But leadership needs to be aware when people are hurting and need deliverance.

I was glad when Apostle Clary posted on her wall a question why deliverance is lacking. My response was because it's about growth and also so the leaders can prove they are in control. If you're not on the pastoral staff (or if you're not part of the clique), you're not authorized to minister to a hurt soul in the congregation. There are many gifts within everyone's congregation and it frustrates me at times when leaders want some control (and then they're burned out). Don't get me wrong, I get that there needs to be order in churches (and believe me, there are many that are out of order and need it severely). 

Now here's my two cents on how we can help abused victims become victors (and believe me, this is not hard to implement). This comes from my novel DDBS (and this is how I was treated by some in the church world when I was going through).

It's amazing to me how we treat each other, especially if we say we’re Christians. A person who’s lost, depressed or has suffered under the pain of domestic, physical, sexual, or emotional abuse can have a gun to their head, and we have the unmitigated gall to simply say, “I’m sorry,” or “I’ll pray for you.” That’s not helping a hurting soul – in fact, you’re enabling them. Try coming out of your comfort zone for once and stop being so selfish. Try saying ‘Can we talk about this? I want to listen to you, and you have my undivided attention.’ Talk to me somebody! Band-Aids and clichés and prideful statements like, ‘I'm the leader,’ or ‘come to me with every problem you have’ only to make you the poster child or for you to be chastised; though I don't have to share my problems with you unless I reveal what I want, will never heal a serious wound in a person who really needs healing for their mind, body and soul. We do need a healing for the soul of mankind, because mankind is full of darkness and death. Let's try giving unselfish love and compassion away. Someone needs it! If we as a church don't want to bear burdens or pray, we are rendering ourselves motionless-- together we stand, divided we fall. Love is lacking in these last days. Yes, some will say it's not their fault; again, it's on them, and they have to answer to God for how they treat people.”

Pray for those who don't want to be delivered, and be a vessel for Him if you run across someone who wants to be free. It pains me to see abused victims remaining victims. All it's creating is angry souls who become bitter with life, God and themselves.

In closing, just know that this post is not going to go unchallenged. The enemy is mad! I started writing the post and was near the end, and the post was wiped out not by my doing. So, I had to retype it (and now I believe this is more powerful - smile)

Blessings:

The Mayne Man