The Church crumbles all over the world. But why? What causes God's people to part ways? What is the driving force behind the division, internecine, and schisms? The devil definitely is the architect, but his materials are often not noticed tell they have taken hold. This post will take a look at the five I's that are destroying the church. Keep in mind that it was Satan himself that said five times, "I will.." (Isaiah 14:13-15).
Independence
The Church has become too independence and self sufficient. Rather than being a family of Christ that takes care of one another, people act on their own accord and rely on their own strength, reasoning, and ideas. This independence has pride behind it, it is the ideology of I or "I will do this myself." Independence is mutiny towards God. We are meant to be interdependent on the Lord. We must rely on Him and not trust in our own strength, for it shall surely fail. Behind total independence is atheism, a desire to be God and do without God.
Answer: The Church must become a community again. The Family of God must love one another as Christ first loved them. When we connect to Christ, who is compassionate, when then have compassion on others.
Insecurity
Insecurity is a major force for destroying churches. Insecurity is the parent of jealousy, envy, and fear. Many congregations are torn apart because someone becomes insecure, feeling threatened by a newly anointed member and thus decided to act out in fear of losing their position. This fear soon becomes jealousy and envy which are demonic. As a result the insecure person either purges the person from the church who had an anointing or a schism takes place, where some go with the anointed individual and others remain in the old church. Insecurity was part of the Original Sin, Adam and Eve when they realized they had sinned noticed they were naked and sought to hide and cover it up with leaves.
Answer: Insecurity must be combated with security in Christ Jesus. We must remember that Jesus said, "He who is first now shall be last, and he who is last now shall be first." (Matthew 20:16, Luke 13:30). Insecurity is fed by a fear of being last or losing control and the false sense of security that comes from being in control. In this case one must let go and trust Jesus.
Imperialism
Imperialism is rulership. This usually is born in the leadership of a church. At first it starts as goal for structure and appropriating position. In time it becomes lording over others and the equivalent of medieval lords and nobles controlling the peasant class (pew sitters). Imperialism destroys the church by creating classes. St. Paul said, "there is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. All are one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28). Imperialism seeks to create a divide and to give power to those who hunger for authority and lordship over others. Eventually Imperialism will drive away all spirit filled and anointed members and what will remain is the desolate castle in place of a church and those willing to remain under the control of the leadership.
Answer: Imperialism in the Church has existed since the Early Middle Ages. To stem its rise a church must have a balance of powers. Having one man, or even board have the full authority is dangerous. There needs to be oversight and the congregation needs to have voting power and right to appeal and even veto the leadership. Imperialism can be avoided altogether is the Church returns to home groups and puts aside the building and makes Jesus Christ the only master.
Insolence
Insolence or rebellion is common in the church. Insolence comes in many forms. It can be when a church decides to do what God said not to do or not doing what God said to do. An example is when a Pastor or Priest is to preach, they have a sermon and as they begin the Holy Spirit falls and tells them to do something else; to have a session of healing for the broken or to offer a word of encouragement rather than the planned sermon on damnation but instead of changing the plan, the cleric defies God's Spirit and does what he or she wants. Insolence can also be when God is directing the church to be involved in missions, the community, or something else and the people in congregation are resistant to this call. It can be the church board that is rebellious, that refuses to adapt to God's new ideas and plans. The Bible says, "Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and divination." (1 Samuel 15:23). Insolence has my will behind it. Even if God is speaking as loud as horn blow, people who are rebellious will ignore it and do the opposite. Behind insolence is anti-Christ and the audacious belief that "I know better than God."
Answer: Insolence can be curbed if the people choose to be obedient to the Holy Spirit. Obedience is a choice, not a feeling. It can be hard to resist wanting to do it your own way and make your will paramount, but if you obey God it will get easier and insolence will lose its chance to infect you and subsequently those around you.
Immorality
Finally, immorality is a major factor in the death and destruction of churches. This immorality can come in many forms ranging from sexual immorality to financial immorality. It is anything that does not align with the Lord's commandments. Often churches have scandals, where it is discovered that Worship Leader has been sleeping with a married woman. Other examples are priests getting caught molesting children, and pastors getting caught with prostitutes. Immorality is the antithesis of God's morality; it is another kind of rebellion often built on pleasure, passion, and pressure (fear) than direct insolence. Immorality can be as simple as filing taxes and claiming a child as dependent when they are no longer a dependent. Immorality It is breach of integrity and has the power to destroy churches faster than anything. Hypocrisy often is part of immorality: a preacher may speak on the evils of adultery and sexual sin but be involved in pornography.
Answer: Immorality is conquered with self control, one of the fruits of the holy Spirit. (Galatians 5:23). Our bodies, hearts, and minds will naturally be predisposed and desire to do wrong things. The chemicals, thoughts, and sensations pull at man and woman to do immoral acts. To stop the onset or to cease acting immoral, a choice must be made to "Submit therefore to God (and His ways which are moral), resist the devil and he shall flee (and so shall the immoral desires in time)." (James 4:7).
Satan uses many other methods of destroy the church. It is the goal of our enemy to subdue, subvert, and strangle the saints. I have laid out the five tactics that are used to destroy God's people. You can find every sin underneath all five. It is my prayer that we pay attention to these and choose not to cause further destruction, but instead be disciples of Christ and deeply caring towards are Church family.
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