For Such a time as this: The passivity and shallow faith of the American Church

I'm disturbed and frustrated.

I use this blog to discuss my personal spiritual journey and right now I am disturbed and frustrated by what is happening in My Country tis of thee sweet land of liberty.

For a very long time now, I have felt that the American church is lost.  They are caught up in shallow faith, materialism, our kind of people elitism, all the while ignoring the poverty, racial hatred, and hopelessness that pervades our American society on a daily basis.

In the wake of the Charleston shootings, the first thing I thought was:  Oh my God!  That is spiritual warfare.  What that killer did was demonic.  I believe in the forces of evil and I believe that in order to kill people in cold blood like that you must have some sort of demonic spirit possessing your body.  My first thoughts were, "We as believers need to get serious and get passionate because the forces of evil keep raising the stakes.  First it was teenagers at Columbine, then we had the first graders at Sandy Hook, and now we have 9 faithful servants who were struck down IN CHURCH."

Disturbed

The first thing I am disturbed about is the lack of righteous anger.  A demon came into God's house and BELIEVERS are not up in arms about it.  What does this say about us as a community of believers?  I am disturbed that people who call themselves believers are not outraged that 9 people who were servants of the most High God were in Bible Study and subsequently killed.  Why are we not outraged about this?

How many would be outraged if some demonic spirit came up into their house and attacked their family?  They would be OUTRAGED and take action about it.  We need to begin to pray against demonic forces that want to infiltrate God's house and our own homes.

The second thing I am disturbed about is that believers do not recognize this as spiritual warfare. This was an attack of the devil and we are not using our authority to rebuke the devil's attacks

Luke 10:19

Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you.

People just seem to have an "Oh well" attitude.  If this is how we respond when the devil comes and attacks us as believers, then we don't stand a chance.  We will just give up every time we are knocked down.  That's already happened amongst my people and it's devastating to watch.

Frustrated

Next I am frustrated.  I am frustrated about the lack of fight amongst my people and our passive attitude.  I'm frustrated that Christians who are not black are not condemning hate and not speaking against this, and I'm frustrated that I believe with this response we have further solidified the impotence and pathetic nature of the American Church.

Passivity and Lack of Fight

Many Black people i know have left Christianity citing it as the religion of the slave master.  They have turned their backs on Christ because they say that all Christianity has done is keep us docile, weak, and passive.  They said that the slave owners taught us this religion not to save our souls but to make us obedient and subservient to the oppressors.

Now I will admit that growing up I did see this type of Christianity taught but it had nothing to do with race.  It had everything to do with preachers who wanted to oppress and control people for their own personal gain.  They convinced the people to just pray about it and not take any action because I'm sure if people started to figure out who they were in Christ, it would be a wrap for their false teaching behinds.

But I  did not agree with the assessment that Christianity was for the weak and passive because my worldview has been that Faith in Christ is empowering.  It's not about being passive, weak, and pathetic.  Faith in Christ helps us to move mountains and empowers us to do the impossible  That has been my experience in this real walk with Christ.  

I did not agree with their assessment until this week.

I am APPALLED at the amount of pastors I hear whose only solution is, "We've just got to pray".  The people are dying in your churches now and all you can come up with is "We've just got to pray!"  Jesus prayed until he was sweating blood he still GOT UP AND WENT TO THE CROSS.  He didn't just pray and hope salvation would come.  Historically the Allies did not pray and hope Hitler went away.  There were people praying and then taking action.

Passivity

Years ago I remember reading Joyce Meyer's book, the Battlefield of the Mind.  In it she talks about passivity.  I remember that was the first time I ever heard that phrase and when I got convicted about that.  Being passive means you don't take any actions but you just hope God does something about this situation.  You just allow whatever happens and then pray about it.  Even if God were to give you direct instructions, you would need to pray about that also.  *sigh*

This is what I feel is going on in Black churches.  Many of these pastors have isolated and insulated themselves into this false reality of church social club events, huge church budgets, and our kind of people communities.  They have completely ignored the social realities taking place right outside their doors and affecting their members.

We are Soldiers in the Army

But now it has come inside and the only thing they can think to say is "We have got to pray".  Where is the fight?  Where are the voices of Martin Luther King Jr saying "NO MORE!"  Where are the voices saying "We will not allow the devil to win and we are not going to allow the spirit of fear terrorize us any longer.  We will fight this evil in Jesus' name".

What happened to We are Soldiers in the army...we;ve got to fight...Now it's well pray and that's it.

It's the easy way out and you've spiritualized the issue without taking any meaningful action.  It is pathetic that people are more concerned with whatever silly schemes they have going on rather than actually fighting spiritual warfare

Lack of Solidarity

Right now I attend a multi ethnic church and the thing I love about it is that the White pastors are not afraid to speak against racism.  They were involved in the Civil Rights movement because they did not see it as a political movement, they saw it as a move of God, spiritual warfare, and they knew they needed to get involved.  They admit they got it from BOTH sides.

That's one of the reasons I like going there.  I feel a church needs to be about social justice.  Well from many of the Christians who are not Black I did not hear statements condemning the hatred that led to this massacre.  I heard them crowing about forgiveness (which should happen and is a process) but not talking about the racial hatred that led that man to kill 9 BLACK people.  You know what?  The next time America is attacked by radical religious extremists from the Middle East, I want these same White pastors to get on every talk show and talk about forgiveness.  I want the White politicians to talk about forgiveness and why we shouldn't take any action against this type of hatred.

Do you think this will happen?  I don't.

It's cowardly and frustrating that those who share in faith will not stand up for people who look differently than they do.  It is shameful and frustrating.

Shallow Faith and Impotence of the American Church

As I have studied God's word more, I have become increasingly annoyed at the shallow faith taught by most preachers.   Catchphrases, motivational speeches, and no anointing has left the American church powerless and impotent.  In other countries, they are having revivals and mighty moves of God.  We just have big buildings and fancy worship music.

The American church has little to no power because I believe the Holy Spirit is not with us most of the time.  We are going through the motions with no energy of the Holy Spirit. Our sermons have gotten more fun, the music is better, and the buildings more modern but the power is gone.  

People are leaving the American Church in droves because they are not encountering Jesus or the Holy Spirit.  THey are encountering an experience but no power.  There is no power and it is time for change.

Time For Change

I believe all of these events are for a time such as this.  This expose of the do nothing church, it's pathetic pastors, and its lack of power.  I believe God is softening mens hearts who may have walked away from their calling and is now telling them it's time now.  The people need you.  Throw away the American ideas of church and begin to teach the people as Jesus did.   

I do believe REAL revival will break out in this country where people will rise up and take their Godly authority against the devil. I believe the real messengers and prophets of God will begin to speak to the people.  It won't be these feel good sermons that have gotten us into this mess.  It will be men and women called by God to warn the people and to get them to take action much as he did in the Old Testament.

We have not had a prophetic voice n a generation and whenever Israel got lost and in a mess, God would send prophets to speak to the people to get them right.  I believe the time is upon us where that will happen.

COME HOLY SPIRIT!
REVIVAL!  WE WANT TO SEE YOUR KINGDOM HERE!

SPIRIT BREAK OUT!

To God be the Glory