In this blog, this male Christian blogger proposed that the Free Evangelical Church is the anti-Christ. He defended this thought well - the biggest thing I remember is him saying that Jesus had the harshest criticisms for the religious.
I heard a long time ago that the spirit of anti-Christ should also be thought of as 'instead of Christ.' I have felt for a long time that the majority of today's churches have an instead of Christ attitude ~ having a form of Godliness but denying the power within.
When is the last time you attended church and received healing? saw a miracle? a deliverance?
Instead, there are programs to raise money to build a new building and marketing strategies to 'reach' the community. I attended a church several years ago that paid a man, who was a professional church marketing strategist, to create a program to raise money for the church! I was in leadership at that time and was asked to create part of the service that would kick-off this campaign.
I remember standing in this meeting feeling the grief of the Holy Spirit. The events that surrounded this became the catalyst that God used to set me free from religion.
I was shocked the first time I entered a church and received a 'program' that gave the details of the service. Apparently, no one expected the Holy Spirit to move during the service and I suspect if God had found a way to 'move,' it would have been quenched.
We've all heard it said that the churches don't need the Holy Spirit to do 99% of what they're doing today. And we are the church. It's hard today to tell a lot of difference between an American Christian and anybody else.
We dress the same, divorce the same, have intimate relationships before marriage the same, use pharmaceuticals and doctors instead of receiving healing from God, have the same illnesses, the same poverty, etc, etc, etc, ~ all the while professing Christ. The church has an 'instead of Christ' spirit.
This morning, I woke up about 5 am, which is unusual for me. As I lay there, inwardly grumbling that I was going to be tired today, the Lord began to give me a vision.
I saw people entering a building and greeting each other in the foyer and talking. But I saw a sanctuary door closed, with a sign on the door telling people that prayer and worship was going on. After they had greeted each other, the people entered the sanctuary quietly with awe and reverence for the Lord and there was a cloud of glory in this room. The chairs were set in a circle with everybody facing each other. There was no platform and no obvious leader. There was a small group of musicians in the corner playing worship songs as the people prayed and worshiped.
When the Holy Spirit began to move, people began to give Words from the Lord. The entire thing was Spirit led - prayer, worship, what was spoken, and every 'service' would be completely different as the Lord led. There was a 'gentle' leader that would keep order and point to who's turn it was to speak but no one 'screened' the Words. If someone gave a Word that was not 'pure', it was 'tweaked' by those in the congregation, until everyone felt they had heard what God wanted to say to them today.
As the Lord led, there would be prayer for healing, deliverance, etc.
When the Holy Spirit released the people, they went to a meal. This meal was a true communion ~ eating and drinking together unto the Lord, remembering Jesus and honoring the Body of Christ.
I'm not going to add anything to this. I have sought the Lord for many years regarding these things and was blessed by what He showed me this morning. Please let Him speak to you regarding these things.
love and blessings~
God's been gently telling me this for years but it seems that recently, He kind of hit me over the head with it. It's very hard to face, especially for those immersed in the organized church. We will keep praying.
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