We have an awesome opportunity to minister the Gospel to those who do not know Christ. How will you do it? Recently, the University of Oklahoma Softball team did something that few have done. They weren’t ashamed of the Gospel, instead they gave glory to God with such humility; stating “The Joy of the Lord,” is the only true source of happiness, according to the University of Oklahoma Softball team Grace Lyons on June 6, 2023. Boy! Did I ever rejoice at hearing such a profession of faith to the public. She stood with four others on her team making the game about “I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14, ESV). To hear such joy in Ms. Lyons statement and the statements of her teammates gave me something more to praise God about. We as the church have a responsibility to stand together, rejoice when we win and grieve when we lose. What we show before all man is a testimony of God’s grace, love, and mercy. For the first time in years, I heard a team from a very secular university stand on the word of God. That has got to say something to the rest of us who’ve remained quiet for way too long. We can no longer remain silent.

          However, it was sad when I heard the remarks that the OU Women’s Softball team have received, “Shut up and keep your faith to yourselves.” We are living in a time of the great apostasy. The church is turning in on each other, mainly because to many teachers of the Gospel of Christ have twisted scripture, preached more law than gospel, and taught the heresy of the Word of Faith/ Prosperity doctrine as well as pushing a Progressive leftist view of tolerance of Homosexuality, social justice, and inclusion within the church. If you think God isn’t going to judge his church for this, you are wrong. We are responsible for studying out the word of God, researching what our teachers teach within the church, schools, and University. Accepting the status quo is not acceptable in the eyes of God. Either you serve Christ by your obedience to the Bible, or you serve another Christ, not that there is another.

          Let me restate my earlier statement we have an opportunity to disciple others, a responsibility that was given to us by Jesus on our profession of faith. Our lives shouldn’t resemble the world, nor should our church services. Yet many have done so at the expense of watering down the gospel just to fit in to a world that is literally breaking at the seams. So, my question to everyone is this how will you stand on the platform God has given you? Will you be like the women who showed no fear, but a confidence that only God’s Holy Spirit can give, or will you fall into the category of praising self for a job well done? If you are of the belief that you should get all the credit for all the hard work. I beseech you to reconsider. The love of self is what got us into this mess in the first place and if you don’t believe what I am saying then a go study the Bible and you will see that God calls us to take up our crosses and follow him. Taking up our crosses literately means to give up self to sever others, not to serve ourselves, our flesh, or our need for attention.  

          Jesus once stated, “Woe to you teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you Hypocrites! You travel over land and by sea to win a single convert, and when you succeed, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.” (Matthew 23:15, ESV). Though this is a description of what the Pharisees of his day were doing, we can compare and contrast the same actions we see today in modern day teachers who have a platform, yet are leading so many astray by twisting scripture, posting about themselves, talking about themselves during church service, and publishing books about how bad they had it, when they really were privileged to be raised within the church that they now teach against as being “Dry and Dead.” They should be ashamed of themselves for treating God’s word like a joke. Yet this is the fruit they bare, selfishness, self-centeredness, self-involvement, and not a care in the world for the flock they were given. This is the sad state of the church in the United States.

           There is a lot to be said about churches who go from one denomination to another all for the fact that they don’t like to be told what they can or cannot teach to their flock. Yes, there is a thin line of church abuse, and we can discern that thin line in this way. God gave his word through his Apostles, this includes the Apostle Paul who often quoted from many text in the Old Testament to give a clear view that Jesus was spoken of, revealed himself in many ways throughout the Old Testament and the Old Testament is a Foreshadowing of his birth (incarnation of God through the Holy Spirit) by virgin birth through Mary and death by crucifixion as stated by King David in Psalms 16:10, Psalm 22:12-21,22, and in Isaiah53:10-11 all make distinct statements of these facts. Paul often used the Old Testament scriptures as he was moved by the Holy Spirit to do as means of evidence that the scriptural foundation of Old Testament times was a foreshadowing of the coming messiah (Jesus; God incarnate). FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE INCARNATION OF GOD IN FLESH: John 1:14, Hebrews 2:17, John 1:1, 1John 4:2, 2John 1:7, John 14:11, Fulfillment of Old Testament Prophesy Isaiah 7:14, Psalm 2:7 and John 1:1-3. There are many scriptures in the body that teach about Jesus’ ministry and his authority as well.

          Why is it important to accept these early teachings? They provide a historical background of God’s sovereignty from the beginning of Mankind to present day. This includes the firm foundation of the establishment of “The Way” also known as the Christian church. Without the firm foundation of Law and Gospel that was established from the very creation of the Universe. Which leads to the issues of our day. Several church denominations claim that the early church fathers Clement, Linus, and Polycarp as well as Irenaeus, Ignatius, and Justine Martyr, got the stories of Old Testament times incorrect or misinterpreted scripture. This is a very weak argument to be making since the early church fathers studied scripture and some were taught by the Apostles, whom by the way had direct access to Jesus and were taught what the Septuagint and Pentateuch clearly stated. Not in counting the fact that Jesus is the incarnation of God and therefore had direct access to the one who gave those scriptures in the beginning.

          Why is there a thin line between church government and church abuse? This has been an issue since the beginning of time. Man does not like to be submissive to authority. We love the idea of ruling ourselves and making up the rules as we go along. However, God already knew this since the day Adam and Eve took that forbidden bite out of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Our pride and arrogance are the main cause of our fall and continue to be our flaw to this very day. We love to believe we know better than God and often make statements; “Oh, it is unloving to tell a person they are sinners because they are living in the sin of Homosexuality, Idolatry, adultery, etc…” My question is why do you hate your neighbor so much that you would cower at the words of this world? Do you hate God and his word that much that you would rather conform to the world rather than to obey God’s commands?

          Those aren’t rhetorical questions! Do you hate your neighbor and God’s word? Because in truth that is a form of church abuse when you accept the world’s view to continue accepting a person as they are, rather than loving them as Christ loved the church by speaking the truth which is clearly stated in the Old and New Testament. Do you not know that scripture says, “Greater Love has no man than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friend.” John 15:13. Jesus didn’t say this so we would be all lovey dove towards sin. He gave his life; he died saving us from sin. Therefore, we can contrive from this statement that to love our neighbors as ourselves is to speak to them about the gospel, teach them about what scripture says and do it with love and conviction. Not resolve of “Oh! I’ll be abused, or I’ll be persecuted, gossiped about, and told I am a “Bigot!” Oh, poor you. Jesus suffered much harsher ridicule, than you or I will ever come to know. However, that time is coming and the question that will be asked to you on that day: “Do you renounce Christ Jesus as your Lord and savior?” Many will denounce Christ for fear of losing their life. They would rather save their own skin, then to give up their ideologies on Wokeness (Inclusion, Social Justice, abortion, and the LGBTQIA2+), their love of this world will be the spiritual death of them. They have not died to self, they are living for self by welcoming the world’s views of human morals rather than recognizing that when you believe in Christ you die to self, meaning you are dead; you are no longer a slave to sins, but alive in Christ a slave to righteousness. Meaning you hate the sins of the world and don’t want your friends, family, or enemies to die in their sins. Who is your neighbor? Everyone including your enemies.

          To answer the question as to why there is a thin line between following a church government and church abuse? We follow a church government for there to be accountability and for the flock to have accessibility to answers to our questions. However, many abuse this accountability by pushing political and personal ideologies which do not line up with the Word of God. Therefore, we have many people who will refuse to attend a church let alone participate in activities with the church. There is this hypocrisy, many are very aware and weary of and it’s caused by many leaders within the Western Church abusing scripture by fleecing the flock, creating cults where many have died for a false gospel, and lead them into believing that they should follow them because “they have a special anointing” as apostle and or prophet. This hypocrisy has caused many to fall away from certain denominations and at times this has led some to go towards the Progressive church or worst hate religion.          

Therefore, are you teaching from scripture (The Old and New Testament ie. The Law and Gospel) or are you teaching what you believe the Bible says? The Word of God is the firm foundation of the Christian Church, yet many are ashamed of the Gospel because of its content, because of what it means to the world. Might I remind everyone we live in a broken world, and while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. He gave of himself as a living, pure, and loving sacrifice so that we will not be damned to spend eternity in Hell (Sheol). We are to represent Christ and yes that means we suffer because Jesus suffered first. How will you stand?