The Rape of the Church

Imagine if you will a picture of a woman walking down a busy street. At first, there is nothing significant about this scenario; but upon closer inspection, you discover there is something terribly wrong with this woman. Her clothes are disheveled, she has been beaten, and bruises cover her body, barely concealed by the tattered clothing, now hanging like rags. With horror, you realize…this woman has been savagely raped, close to death….but she is not dead.

If this were not enough, the picture becomes even more appalling. This woman, an obvious victim of rape, stripped of all dignity and self worth, should be crying… mourning…at the realization that everything she holds dear in life has been violently torn from her. But she is not crying at all. On the contrary, she is laughing, talking boisterously, having a good time as she passes others along the street. It is tragic enough that she has been raped; but even worse is the fact she is oblivious to the situation!

You might ask, “How can this be”? How could a woman who has been beaten, horribly raped and left for dead, not be aware such a thing has happened to her? How could she not feel the pain and the shame of such a crime committed against her body and soul? “That’s impossible,” you exclaim!
But I propose to you that this is not a picture of some obscure woman on the road, but of the condition of the church of Jesus Christ today!

How could we attribute such an atrocity as rape to describe the condition of the Body of Christ?
Satan, thru evil deception, has infiltrated the church and literally raped us of “key” truths of God that once empowered the church to change the face of the earth. The bible declares a spiritual truth, unchanging with time - “Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines: for our vines [have] tender grapes.” (Song of Solomon 2:15). This scripture reveals that it doesn’t take one powerful evil event, easily observed and avoided, to cause such a dramatic change. But, over the course of hundreds of years, Satan has slipped in half-truths, bits of false doctrine, enlisting hirelings (false preachers and prophets), weaving into the foundational fabric of the gospel…lies, making the truth of no effect.

The magic of these hirelings and their half-truths have done their damage…and the result?

Instead of preaching that brings conviction and healing, we have powerless ministers, unable to move the smallest mountain in our lives. We come to church bound by sin, and leave grateful that, once again, we have escaped the conviction of God. Attacked by cancer and disease, we run to altars that don’t possess enough anointing to change one cell in our bodies. Young adults and children come to church, receiving more out of a godless rock concert than our worship services, leaving unchanged. Preachers walk into the pulpit on Sunday, and log on to their pornography on Monday. Deacons usher the elderly in on Wednesday, and cheat on their spouses the rest of the week.

Have we not been raped?

We now have an all too common instance of children killing one another in school shootings and drive-by massacres. The suicide rate has risen steadily to alarming numbers for the last fifty years. Out of 100,000 children, between the ages of 10-14, 10,000 will commit suicide this year alone.
The number of babies murdered by abortion has grown to a staggering number. Approximately 3,700 babies will die today; 42 million this year in the name of convenience. How many prophets like Samuel, how many evangelists like Billy Graham have been killed, while we, the church, hide in our doctrine in apathy and do nothing?

Sunday mornings find Christians isolated in air conditioned buildings, sitting on padded pews, while false cults bearing the name of Christianity go from door to door, ensnaring the masses with false doctrine, wrapped up in packages of concern for their soul, not knowing they are actually adding soldiers to Satan’s army.

Have we not been raped?

The church was placed here to make a difference on this earth. To influence a change and stand in the gap for a world that is sending itself to Hell by the lies and half truths that it believes are right. Jesus Christ stated, “Think not that I am come to send peace on the earth, I am not come to send peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). Jesus did not mean for us to be a passive, weak-kneed alliance of people, only coming together in the name of a religious social club. He suffered unto blood and died, then rose again with “The keys of Death and of Hell” (Revelation 1:8). We were given POWER and a mandate to be witnesses on this earth and stand against Satan and his attempts to kill, steal and destroy. We are to be a militant force for Jesus Christ, reaching one hand into Hell, the other into Heaven, a bastion of hope in a world engulfed in darkness, making a difference in the lives of the men, women and children on this planet.

The book of Acts records the actions of the very first church. An example of how the church is to function. The bible states that they sold their possessions and evenly gave to all in need so none lacked in any necessity. They had all things common, were of one mind and one speech, one vision, continuing in the apostles teaching and preaching. They not only heard the word, but believed it and demonstrated it daily in their lives. As they did this, God gave them great power to witness unto the name of Jesus, signs and wonders and diverse miracles being performed. People were healed of all diseases by just the mere shadow of the apostles. Thousands of souls were being added to the church daily. Demons, by the hundreds, were cast out of people, delivering them from bondage. Is this happening in the church today?

Have we not been raped?
　
By the preponderance of the evidence, compared to the church of Acts, you can see how far we have fallen. The very fact that this is taking you by surprise and shock should let you know how much truth has been robbed and raped from our pulpits. Scripture records this powerful truth, “Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” (1st Corinthians 5:6). What a powerful truth this is! It is declaring that no matter how much truth is contained in a doctrine, church creed, or denomination, if a little leaven (false doctrine) or lie is mixed in, the whole lump will be contaminated, resulting in a poison that will lead your soul down a road of destruction, and eventually out of the will and presence of God.

Just because a church confesses they believe in God, doesn’t mean they are a church preaching the truth, anointed to save souls, and setting the captive free. Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the lord” (Luke 4:18). Then after he ascended he gave this same spirit and power to the church, commanding them to, “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8). This charge never lifted because Peter, James and John died. This is meant to be the heritage of the Saints living and breathing, able to make a change in this world now.
Satan’s first reaction was a full-frontal assault against the body of Christ. However, this method of persecution only strengthened the church. It has since been the objective of Satan to destroy the truth subtly. He began mixing the truth with lies - creating a hybrid truth that was powerless, sinful in nature; therefore, killing the power of the real truth. Jesus said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

If absolute truth doesn’t matter, if it has no power and anointing in it, then Satan would not have spent so much time, patience, and effort raping the church of the main truths that has left the body of Christ in the powerless, ineffective state it is now in.

Truth number #1: We have been raped of the Presence of God - “And he said unto him; if thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.” (Exodus 33:15).

Why was the presence of God so vital to Moses?

Satan knew that in God’s presence is fullness of joy…peace…righteousness. In his presence is the power to cast out devils, heal the sick, raise the dead, and preach the Gospel with conviction. Satan’s hybrid truth (lie) was very subtle. Somewhere down the line he caused us to stop pursuing God’s presence through prayer and fasting - like a thirsty deer, searching for water. Sadly, we have replaced seeking God’s presence with seeking God’s provision. Instead of seeking God’s face, we are seeking God’s hand.
　
Chapter 21 in the Gospel of John records that, after the resurrection of Jesus, Peter decides to go fishing. He and the disciples then spent the entire night at sea without catching any fish. The morning of the next day, Jesus appears on the sea bank and asked if the men had caught any fish. The disciples were still at sea and not aware that it was Jesus who spoke to them. Jesus then instructs them to, “Cast your net on the right side of the ship, and you will find.” The nets were filled to the breaking point with fish. The Lord had over and abundantly met and provided what Peter had so diligently sought for all night. But, upon realizing it was the Lord, Peter decided he would rather be with the Provider than to remain with the provision. He dives into the water, swims to Jesus, and when he arrives on the shore; his reward is not only Jesus, but fish, cleaned, cooked, and ready to eat as well.

The key principle we have lost down through the ages is this - when your true motivation for seeking God is that you may know him more intimately each day than you did the day before, you not only gain the provider, but the provision as well - “But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Luke 12: 29-31).

Turn on the TV today, and you will see many false preachers proclaiming a false gospel of prosperity, where the goal is the provision. When you set your heart on focusing on the blessings of God, instead of wanting his presence and loving him, your motive becomes selfish and self-centered. Your gospel then becomes one where God ministers to you as opposed to you ministering to him.

Satan has raped this truth from the body of Christ. He knows that the presence of God is all we truly need.
　
Truth number #2: We have been raped of the purity of a holy life –

The psalmist records this truth; “LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved. "(Psalm 15: 1-5)

The product of abiding in the presence of God is purity. Not the purity achieved by the human efforts of sacrifice and self-denial, but a purity only achieved through the intimate work of the Holy Spirit. It is the level of purity required to become an effective intercessor, to operate in prophetic authority, and needed for the manifestation of the liberating power of God. Without first cultivating a life marked by the presence of God, this purity can not be obtained.

Consider the prophet Isaiah…a man who was a recipient of the inspired word of God, witness of countless prophetic visions and dreams directly referring to Jesus as our Lord and Messiah. Even Isaiah could not have moved into the ultimate call upon his life without first experiencing the awesome presence of God. Not the comfortable, warm and fuzzy presence we associate with hearing our favorite gospel hymn; but the “uncomfortable” presence of God that led Isaiah to exclaim, “Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5). It was not until a coal from the altar of God had been placed on Isaiah’s lips, and his sin purged that he had reached the purity needed to speak the anointed word with authority and power.

“For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:20). Today’s ministers preach a gospel similar to that of the scribes and Pharisees, where, as the Pharisees, it is a gospel of “exclusion”- only allowing a chosen few measuring up to the standards they defined as holiness; or, as the scribes, a gospel of “inclusion”- where everyone is accepted without conviction or accountability.

Satan’s lie convinced us that God no longer requires this type of purity and now accepts “the best that you can do”.

Truth number #3: We have been raped of the power of God - “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Remove the presence of God and the purity of a holy life, and then it is inevitable that the power of God will be absent as well. This is why we have powerless preaching. Why we come to church depressed and leave suicidal. Without the power of God, we can anoint people with oil for healing, and all we have are slick, sick saints still bound by cancer.

You can go to seminary for four years, learn how to give great speeches with awesome delivery, but without the power of God no one gets changed, and your words are empty and meaningless. The very first church had power with God. When someone even lied to the Holy Ghost; they fell dead at their feet (Acts 5:5). But we have become so powerless; ministers can stand behind a sacred desk, after leaving their office from watching pornography, and no one is the wiser.

Satan knows the power of God is something he cannot fight and must bow down to. This power enabled Jesus and the disciples to take authority over Satan and his minions. But if many of today’s Christians attempted to cast out a devil, the result would be very similar to that of the seven sons of Sceva, who were viciously attacked and driven out of the house. Why? They had no power with God (Acts 19:14).

These are but a few truths that Satan has raped from the church of Jesus Christ. The damage of these hybrid truths (half lies) seems irreparable. Statistics show 38 percent of Americans today are either atheistic or God has no relevance in their lives. Thousands are committing suicide daily, with no hope for an answer to their problems. Children are growing up in separate homes and living broken lives as the divorce rate in the church grows higher than that of the world. Satan took these truths from us thru pastors and leaders who had no heart for the sheep or cared for their soul.
　
But now is not the time to fear or cry.
　
There is hope…