The Body of Christ

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Corinthians 4:7 ESV). 

Nineteen years ago the Lord Jesus Christ called me to the ministry of writing down what he teaches me from his word each day and to post it on the internet, so I have been doing that ever since then. I believe he guides me in what to write about and in what to say, although I can’t say that I get everything perfect (I am clay). But I am dedicated to rightly handling the word of truth and to making certain that what I am saying is truth, that it is indeed the truth. And if I see I made a mistake, I will go back and correct it.

Now, I do nothing but just listen to the Lord and to what his word teaches, and then I write out what I am being taught from his word, as best as I understand it. And then I post these writings on various internet sites, and then the Lord takes it from there. I have no control over where these go or who reads these writings. And I believe I am being led of the Spirit in what to write, so I take no credit for any of this. I just want to make that perfectly clear. This is a God-thing from beginning to end, so all glory goes to God.

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you” (2 Corinthians 4:7-12 ESV).

But before the Lord ever called me to this ministry, I had a life of suffering, first at the hand of an abusive father, then at the hand of an addicted husband, but also at the hands of pastors of “churches.” I have had pastors judge me by themselves and accuse me of what I did not do and refuse me ministry opportunities because of their own misperceptions. And I have had pastors either hit on me themselves or allow someone in their “church” to treat me wrongly in that way because the man gave money to the “church.”

I have been banned from a “church” property for giving biblical counsel to a group of women regarding blatant immorality within the church which was apparently being allowed by the pastor. When confronting another pastor with his non-denial denials, I was called to a meeting of the elders, but they required me to first say that I lied about the pastor. I did not. So I could not go to their meeting, and so I was put on church discipline for not telling a lie. And another pastor told me I was to let him be God’s voice to me.

I have been told by a pastor that he was warned about people like me, people with strong convictions, and so he invited me to go someplace else where I would be a “better fit.” Another church’s head deacon invited our entire college ministry out of their “church” because the staff just didn’t like us. And I was rejected by church denominational leaders because I spoke the truth of what the Scriptures teach regarding “and my daughters will prophesy” (preach), prophesied by the prophet Joel and repeated by Peter.

By now you may be assuming that for all this bad stuff to happen to me that I must have been doing something wrong. Well, that is like what Job’s friends did to him, or people do when they hear that a woman has been taken advantage of. They assume that she must have done something to provoke it. We can’t assume that. For, in reality, I was being submissive to leadership in all these situations unless it involved them trying to get me to do something that is evil or to back down from doing what is biblical.

So, why am I telling you all of this? Why did Paul tell us about all of his persecutions? For one, he needed prayer and he needed spiritual support. And he also knew that they, if they followed the Lord as he did, would go through similar trials and persecutions. And so he shared with them the persecutions that he faced to let them know what to expect if their lives are dedicated to the Lord and to his service, and to encourage them that God will see them through every one of them, and that they serve his purposes.

So, what purpose would God possibly have in taking me through all he has taken me through? And there is much more. I can tell you one thing for certain. I can write about what the Scriptures teach because I have been there. I can encourage those who are being mistreated and persecuted for righteousness’ sake because I have walked that path, and I still am walking that path. And I will say right here that I also had a time when I fell into sin and I failed God miserably, so I know what it is like to be on that end, too.

But the Lord also took me through all of that to give me a good picture of the spiritual condition of today’s “church.” And why do I put “church” in quotation marks? Usually because I am indicating that this is something called “church” but is not the true church, the body of Christ. Many of these institutions of men are unequally yoked together with the government and with the ungodly of this world in marketing their “churches” to the people of the world and they are following the ways of man and not of God and they are altering the gospel and the character of God to appease human flesh.

And the Lord is calling his true church to come out from among them so that we do not share in their sins and in their punishment. For they have forsaken the Lord and they are following after men, instead, and they are altering the divine character and will and gospel of God/Christ in order to draw in large crowds of people from the world to their gatherings. And so they are not the biblical church, the body of Christ, functioning like the body is supposed to function, but they are businesses being marketed to the world.

So, the Lord called me to come out from among them at some point after he called me to this ministry. It took me a while to understand what he was trying to show me, and then I kept hoping that there was an exception to the rule, but there never was. But I have not left the church, because the church is the body of Christ, and I will always be part of that body as long as I remain faithful to my Lord. I meet with the church daily on the internet, and I minister to her and she ministers to me, as we ought to do.

And even though I am daily sending out devotions, and the Lord is taking them to people all across the world in many different countries, and they are being viewed by the hundreds of thousands on multiple websites, and thus the gospel of Christ is going out to thousands of people daily all across the world, and not just in devotions, but in songs, poems, memes, and video talks, too, I get criticized because I am not sitting in a pew on a Sunday morning listening to songs and a sermon which often do not honor God.

The purpose of the body of Christ is not for us to go to an institutional “church” on a Sunday morning and to sit and listen to the same man preach Sunday after Sunday, especially if he is not teaching the truth of God’s word, and then to go home and live however we want. All of us in the body of Christ are to be ministering to one another. We are all to teach and encourage and exhort and urge and warn one another. We are all to be sharing the gospel of Christ with the world. And that is what I am doing. 

So, be careful that you don’t judge people falsely on the basis of lies.

‘Til The Storm Passes By

By Thomas Mosie Lister

In the dark of the midnight have I oft hid my face

While the storm howls above me, and there's no hiding place

'Mid the crash of the thunder, Precious Lord, hear my cry

Keep me safe till the storm passes by

Many times Satan whispered

There is no use to try

For there's no end of sorrow, there's no hope by and by

But I know Thou art with me, and tomorrow I'll rise

Where the storms never darken the skies

Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more

Till the clouds roll forever from the sky

Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand

Keep me safe till the storm passes by

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_obOSQoOpQ

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