I once played my flute on a church “worship team.” Well, God gave me the gift sovereignly to be able to play it for Him as an act of worship. The trouble was that this pastor who controlled all church ministry under his domain didn’t know the difference between worship and a production. So, it just kept getting worse Sunday by Sunday as he chose the music we played and dictated how it was to be preformed. Finally, the last straw was the “Christmas Cantata,” a canned performance that we had practiced on for weeks. When it was over the pastor came up to me and asked how I liked it and I told him, “I feel like a prostitute.” He blinked a couple of times like a deer in the headlights. So I told him the difference between my gift and how it was given to be handled and what had just happened with his canned performance (for which he had advertised throughout the community and rented an auditorium). Well, my days in that religious machine were over within a month. That was the last program centered Sunday institution I ever tried to make work, and you know what? I don’t miss it.
I have observed that many church Christians are also “users.” They tend to get this attitude from the example of the management of their local church franchise. Many of them attend churches to make business contacts as if it was a local country club. My wife and I were looking for some Christian fellowship one time and we ran into some old church friends from years gone by and they invited us over to their house for dinner. They wanted to tell us about what “great things God had been doing in their lives.” I thought “Alright!’ Well, we got over there and after the dinner out came the Amway pitch. Used again!
One church I walked into on a Sunday, the pastor walked up to me asked me two questions and then said, “We have just the program for you.” You walk into most of those places and you feel like a slab of meat waiting to be cut-up, packaged and tossed into somebodies freezer. How often we hear Christians say, “I just want to be used by God.” God is NOT a user, but Satan IS!
Jesus was always going about healing people and setting them free from all kinds of bondages. He enjoyed their wedding parties, ate with sinners and prostitutes, and He even fed them on a couple of occasions. Do you remember the story of Jesus healing the blind man? I am getting my spiritual sight in stages like that guy did. At first upon receiving some spiritual sight, I also was a church user. I saw men like this guy did at first, as “trees walking.” They were commodities to be harvested, reshaped, processed and used. Finally, after many years of being on the receiving end of that methodology, I cried out to God for the real thing. “Lord that I might see all men clearly as you see them.” Well, that transformation is still going on and I am starting to see that Jesus loved and set people free, but never used them. In fact He set them free FROM the users in the religious system of that day. Regarding that same system Paul wrote, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
I encourage those of you who want to be “used by God” to first ask Him to let you see each individual He puts you in contact with as a human being and not a scalp to be hanging on your teepee lodge pole by the end of the day. People aren’t stupid. Take the time to get to know them like Jesus did with the Samaritan woman at the well. Listen to them. Ask God how HE sees them and what is on HIS heart for them and even take the time and effort to be their friend and listen to them. Then you might find yourself useful in God’s kingdom in setting people free to follow in the love of His Son.
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A Wilderness Voice 
Great post brother…Be blessed
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I had a very similar experience and have come to the same conclusions. The world is in the churches, they’re all competing with each other. Their programs are worldly and appeal to the flesh, not the Spirit because their true motive is to draw people into the churches and not to Jesus. There are many pastors who are not shepherds, they are hirelings. I don’t miss it either.
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Michael…loving your blogs… many do not know what they are hungry for… and keep substituting worldly things to fill themselves, when HE is the only thing that will satisfy truly.
Love Sherry (and Beefy)
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Sherry, good to hear from you again. You are right, “many do not know what they are hungry for…” I just posted this on our latest blog, yesterday evening…
“True unity is only found beyond the veil in Christ. As we surrender our lives over to Him and make Him our life, unity with Him and each other will happen. God has put a hunger in each of us and until we pass through the veil of His flesh and abide their in Him, we will be hungry to find fulfilment. The trouble is that most of us will try to fill that hunger with other things… things that will pull us away from Him. This is why we see so many believers, even so-called church leaders, falling into sin. Yet, Jesus is persistent. He keeps calling us into the presence of His Father and is always our High Priest who stands before Him, making intercession for us.”
Abiding IN Christ with the Father is all that will ever satisfy and He has put that hunger in us to keep seeking it until we get it right. Too bad that we have to learn everything the hard way and put ourselves through so much pain and confusion along the way.
Love IN the Son,
Michael
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“Users ‘for God’ or Lovers of All Men?”
To begin with, we must understand that the “church system” as we see it practised out there, is NOT God`s church [ecclesia]. Christ`s true ecclesia is built of ‘called out ones’, spiritual alive souls, called out of institutional religion.
And the call:…..Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. Rev. 18:4
is still on and valid.
Because some of God`s people are still in these religious denominations.
It is amazing how God has cut out a certain way for His people, a purpose from the start …and send them along that way.
From the earliest days of my turning to Jesus, I had a very much clear understanding about where I came from, the roman carholic religion, and where I had to go from there.
In 1984, I think it was, I made already a sketch on a piece of cart board. The center was the roman catholic “Church” and from there many rays went off which marked the denominations.
The Great Whore and HER daughters.
Rev 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
It is a different matter when being born into that religion and never got encouraged to read the bible….but got fed with the writings of the “church” catechism.
But for “protestants” which have all the openings to the bible, there is actually no excuse for staying in a religious system, built by man on a false foundation.
Why not coming out of it has many reasons.
Religion worked on the mind. If it get the mind captured, that worked like poison. There are also “family strings” attached.
People don`t dare to break out, leaving for Jesus` sake. They rather live with a bad concisions ….for a while.
It`s the fear of men.
Oh, for a better understanding what I mean here, using the word religion; the walk with Christ is not a religion. But as I wrote above, a system with a religious name, even with the name of Jesus in the “banner” is still areligion because it is build and centred around men.
They are the heads of it, not Jesus. If approached in that regard, they would deny it fervently.
And there is the question for them; where to go after leaving.
The NT tells us actually where to go or to be.
Act 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, [as long as it were there, insert mine] and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
Act 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church [ecclesia, insert mine] daily such as should be saved.
And since Jesus knew how matters would develop; destruction of the temple. He told the woman at the well how the future worship will be “conducted”:
Joh 4:21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, [ temple, insert mine] worship the Father.
Joh 4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Joh 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
They met from house to house is the answer for us
But the “religious” spirit has to stay behind 🙂
It would just interrupt a natural get-together with spiritual siblings around Jesus.
Gaby.
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Gaby,
Your post spoke deeply to me. I understood what you meant and I appreciate so much your writing it. I wish there were “house to house” people here where I live………
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Hi Jodie, I agree with you. I would like to know house to house people also, but right now I am at least finding computer to computer people. It is amazing how much quality communication can happen when blogging and emailing! At first it made me feel strange and isolated, but now I realize the Spirit of God is in the hearts of those who love God, whether on earth, in heaven, on the internet, and long gone from this earth like our brothers and sisters in the Bible. When we connect with a Christian online we can still share words from the Spirit. One advantage is that we can more carefully choose our words before sending a message (as long as our finger is not to quick to hit the Post or Send button!) Sometimes when talking face to face we may inadvertently say the wrong thing. This does not mean I would rather have my fellowship remain technological without really seeing and fellowshipping with others on a more intimate level, but as least I have found this way of pondering my thoughts and carefully writing to have its advantages.
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Well said Michael!! It’s good to have this stuff brought to light. I am an old “burnout” from back in the day and never want to be entangled in that bondage ever again. We are free men and women in Christ and should be “command controlled’ by our father not “need controlled” by men. Amen!!
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Well said, Michael! Sorry it took me this long to respond. I think of you often, my brother.
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I’ve been sitting here waiting 8 months for that reply! I was thinking about you too. 😉
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Michael, when I read this post today I was like a deer in the headlights too! I can’t believe you said that to the pastor, a prostitute indeed! lol You surprise me brother with your boldness and frankness. I couldn’t have said it better myself!
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Debra,
Life is too short to mince words with the delusional. Thanks for your fellowship IN Christ, dear sister.
Another time a pastor, knowing that I was not content with the visible church today asked, “So, what do you think the real church looks like?” I answered, “I don’t know, but THIS AIN’T IT!” I have a better idea what it looks like, now, though. Jesus said it well,
He also said, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20, KJ2000). God is all about simplicity and sincerity of heart, but religious man is all about complexity that their false doctines might be hid in a flood of words.
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