I’ve Been Hurt by the Church

What I’m about to share here is not mere semantics, if it’s the truth we’re wanting, maybe we need to look at the facts first.
Our battle according to the Scriptures has NEVER been about or with flesh and blood.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Why do any of us think we have a right to blame the ‘church’ for hurting us when, we are the Church.
We of our own volition joined the particular religious clubs we fancied, unknowingly hidden from our sight within our flesh was an ongoing covert veiled enemy doing what he does best, lying to us. In barely knowing the truth apart from our re-born experience, we gladly chose to dive head long into the deep end of the established institutional scene.

There is one that Jesus described whose intent was and is to steal, kill and destroy, could it be that this one called Satan operating through spiritual forces, working through flesh and blood Christians, preachers, and pastors etc, were the agents these spiritual forces were (doing the deceiving) working through in hurting us?
The Father knew full well what was going to happen to us in blindly choosing to go a way that seemed to be so right, and also knowing full well the devastation we would all sooner or later encounter.

Pain can be a wonderful but painful sobriety bringing us to a place after we stop blaming everyone else and realize this was allowed only because we choose to go our own way. There is no freedom if we are prevented from having a choice, and so we chose.
No body forced us to imbibe in the tainted and polluted waters of the man made cisterns.
To continue in the blame game, others or even our selves, is a waste of time.

It takes what it takes to get our attention and in doing so we come to a place of sobriety although most often horribly hurt, we begin to learn of His love for us allowing us to go and do what we did.
In refusing to continue in the blame thing, our education can continue which includes all that we have just passed through.

We would have never been brought too see or realize that there is a very real enemy operating within all flesh, including ours, had we not gone off in our own independence.
In a heart beat we become His child, but it is over a life time that we become fully mature Sons.
That which was purposed for our destruction, Father has intended for our good.

Rich

In learning His Way more often than not we have to go the wrong way first. It is important to realize that apart from His way, the right verses the wrong way might in fact all be the same expression from the tree of the knowledge of “good and evil.”