Kingdom or Tyranny?

Well, I’m gonna dive right into it. And I write this with a heavy heart.

I never understood why church, especially our “African” church has neglected the primary objective of reaching out, and opted for retaining whatever comes in. Clearly we suffer from the Noah’s Ark Syndrome. Instead of aiding in the healing process, nurturing, aiding in the growth and guidance then release, we have done these to have a return. Which poses a big question, why do we do it? Are we the hand and feet of Christ? How then are they fulfilling their duties while restrained inside “our” church. Haibo, these hands and feet are for going to, and moving the people, not to build mega-structures and set-up chairs for the next service.

Instead of facilitating a personal relationship between people and Christ, we indoctrinate people on how things are done in “our” church. We are a training academy, aimed at growing “our” church. Have we lost the plot? Have we no idea that we are part of a Kingdom, and that we exist for the advancement of the Kingdom, and not that of a town that “our” church is? Did Christ retain those He trained? If He had, would we even have the gospel preached to us? Don’t tell me everyone on Earth has heard the gospel, they haven’t experienced it. It pains me when the very life-giving Kingdom has been turned into a life-sucking Tyranny.


We are the change, only if we are seen changing, out there where the change is most needed.

Impact!

Jesus prayed this:

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. ¹⁷ Sanctify them by^[d] the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

If Jesus prayed that we not be removed from the world, but be protected from the evil one, why then have we removed ourselves by closing ourselves off from the world? How, you may ask. Well, its quite easy. How is your local church giving back to the community? I'm not talking about a soup kitchen or a blanket run. I'm talking something that the world does not offer them.

We see child prostitutes on the street and immediately get a sermon for Sunday service on how broken the world is. On that we build up prayer lists where we ask God, in tears, to do something to heal our communities.....uhm, HELLO! God sent US. We are to DO something, not SAY something.

Can we than do anything when we are cooped up in our own little world within the church building? To whom are we the light? One another in church? No wonder we end up comparing the brightness of the lights and end up tearing ourselves apart. 

Church needs to get out the church building and dive into those slums and dark places and be the light there, cause that's where the light is not. With Jesus in us, the world and it's darkness poses no threat to us and our salvation.

If, for some reason, you cannot go into those dark corners and slums, then send a missionary. Support them in prayer and financially. Is that the right thing to do? Well, that question should be posed by you to God. 

How or who to send.....follow this link Missionary Heart

Is church God in your life?

 Is different bad?

I know you are asking yourself: What the heck is he on about.... Well let me help you get on track with my grief.

Of the things I could anticipate, persecution from the body of Christ is the last thing.

How does the church persecute you ask?

In this way.

When one denomination has a picture of what a believer should look like, behave like, and talk like, chances are, whoever professes Christ but does not fit their mould, would be classified as dodgy and less of a believer. How do I know this, well, I am in it now.

Being assessed and classified by other believers as a questionable character aint fun at all. Self-exclusion from gathering becomes a way out cause you always feel like you are swimming in a pool of peanut butter. And the most pressing concern is, what of non-believers that are visiting the church. How are they feeling?

Is the body of Christ a body, or a cooperation of people who behave and believe the same way?

Is Jesus a group God or a personal God?

Is ones relationship with the church magna-carta more important than the relationship with Christ?

What then, when Christ calls you to do something that is not in the cooperate plan of the church?

Are we, as a church, holding people back from personally experiencing Christ, and obeying His call in their lives, just because it goes against the church's mandate and plan?

You ponder on that, and seek Gods opinion on it.

Is it blind ignorance?

Well, we all have something to say about something, right? Difference being the voicing of such. Some of us are more vocal than the rest, while the rest finds it fitting to keep it in.

Take this for an example. We always invite people to come to church, to come experience the love of God, to encounter Gods power and glory. But, do we ever stop to think how that is received?

- God is in my church.
- Gods power and glory is in my church.
- My church offers salvation.
- Truth and revelation is in my church.

Mxm, like God can be confined to a place and time.

Back in the day when someone told me about God and what He says in  'His word' I would always shut down if I did not have enough energy or the time to push back. I mean, think about it. Why would I give all I have worked for, so hard, to a god that stays in selected places (church). Worse part being on a recovering journey from racial segregation as a black person. You ask me to bow to a white man who got killed by other whitties because they did not like what he said. You ridicule my traditions and tell me the bible says they are a sin to god. You tell me that the same loving god has a place waiting for me, to burn, if I do not let go of my sinful ways. And in that, you throw a curve-ball at me and say the same god sent his son to die for all the sins of the world..... Can you hear yourself? Why on earth would I join you in your confusion?

Little did I know that a few years later I will be professing my love for Christ. What changed? Let's just say, it is still in the process of changing. I am learning more of who this God is. Who this gracious, sacrificial son of God is, and what that means for me and those around me. I learnt to accept the bible as a testimony of people who encountered God and documented it and that testimony I have grown to accept as God revealing Himself to ME, not anybody else, but ME. Once this salvation is accepted as personal, and applied as such, my life changes. And as my life changes for the better, God is, in turn, impacting the lives of others through me.

Do I have all the answers to your questions? Nah, I still have my own questions to deal with. And accepting that some of the questions will remain unanswered puts my mind at ease. Is it blind ignorance? Call it what you may, but I have lived my early years believing in spirits that brought only pain and torment to my life and the lives of my family members. And its only now that my life has meaning to me.

That being said, salvation is personal, and unless its accepted and applied as such, no personal and interpersonal change will be seen.

#Okadlamini