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Jan Shupe is a close friend of mine; a really cool sister in Christ. I've known her and her husband Chuck and their kids for more than 13 years now. We all attended "church" together during that time. Both Chuck and Jan have remained faithful friends to me over the years and the Lord has used them greatly in my life. I remember a couple of occasions though (during my overtly "religious" days), as I watched them pulling out of the church I attended, I was confused and annoyed with what I perceived to be their "lack of faithfulness." I let them know it too. While I didn't directly call them "unfaithful" I implied it boldly, though indirectly, by elevating my own faithfulness to the system. I remember one conversation in particular where I told Jan, "I just can't relate to you guys leaving this church because I've been faithful here all my life. When things get hard, I don't pack up and run, I hang in there." There was also a time when I more directly told them that I believed they were not hearing from the Lord and were missing the mark. I know now that my words cut like a knife. Instead of trying to understand where they were at and what the Lord was showing them, I boasted in my own righteousness and thereby started to work a divide between us. I never wrote them off (nor did they me), but I couldn't quite figure why they wouldn't be overly excited to hear from me when I called. ;) Well, soon enough, I began to understand as the Lord took me through a season of difficult, painful and humbling experiences. To make a long story end, when our paths finally crossed again and my eyes were starting to open to the truth about organized religion, they held no grudges at all, forgave my religious stupidity, and have since continued to be some of the closest friends I've ever had. The Lord sometimes speaks to Jan through dreams (something I never used to put much stock in either until the Lord began to speak to me in this fashion as well on occasion - which really should have come as no surprise since God so often spoke to people through this means all throughout the Scripture - In fact, approximately one third of the Bible consists of revelation given to men and women through dreams!). After leaving the church I attended for more than 10 years, not really understanding yet all that the Lord was doing through this season of my life, I was having a conversation with Jan and she reminded me of a dream I told her about some years ago (while I was still in church). In the dream I saw myself in a boat that was filled with familar faces from church. Then, I suddenly fell out of the boat and found myself treading water, shouting to my friends in the boat, hoping someone would throw me a line or extend a hand. They slowly sailed away and not one of them reached out to me or acknowledged that I was missing from their number. The emotion of the dream was very intense and full of sorrow and confusion, yet somehow seemed right (in other words, I wasn't fearful being there, just confused why no one reached out their hand to me and why they all sailed away). At the time I told her about the dream I blamed it on pizza. I just could not conceive there would ever come a day when those people whom I regarded as my second family would ignore me like that or even that I would find myself separated from them so abruptly or deffinitely. Jan also shared with me at the time that I should take this dream seriously because she believed it could be a word of warning or preparation that the Lord was gracing me with. I laughed and said, "uh, yeah, whatever." When Jan reminded me of this dream it all came back to me and I was stunned at its impact (and also encouraged) because this was almost precisely what had happened... Circumstances happened in such a way that, all of the sudden, I found myself separated from the church I had attended so faithfully for years. I believed it was the leading of the Lord (to leave) but I didn't know completely why. What baffled me was the utter silence that existed for the first 10 months to nearly a year out of the system. Not one person called me, phoned me, e-mailed me or came by to see me. Even those whom I had been closer with never called anymore. It was an erie silence; however, it was also the work of the Lord. I need those months of silence from all the other "religious voices" around me, so I could learn to rely on one voice; the Lord's. Remembering that dream brought much of this into focus and it comforted me to know that the Lord was right there from the beginning and all the way through with His hand on me, though I didn't even understand at the time what was going on. Anyway, all of that as just a bit of preference to what I'd like to share today. From time to time Jan, Chuck and myself exchange e-mails with me of how the Lord is teaching us different things day by day (they now live in South Carolina). This article is the product of one such e-mail. Chuck and Jan had some family visiting them that, like many of us who are now on the outside of the church system can relate to, family doesn't always understand or agree with the path we're on, since that path is outside the traditional church program. A common argument among church-attending critics is that we who don't attend church need to because, if we don't, then we fail to be using the gifts God has given us to edify the body. What this amounts to is people equating "church life" with "body life" and this is a grand misconception. Jan so perfectly nailed this on the head in her e-mail that I wanted to share it. She presented it as simply a thought she had, but I believe it was the Spirit of the Lord that revealed this to her. So, without further adeu, here is the text of her e-mail to me. Be encouraged!
I just had a cool thought. Chuck’s brother and his wife kept telling us that we needed to be in a church when they were here for their visit. I point blank asked Chuck’s brother what church had to do with our salvation. He admitted it had nothing to do with it, but they insisted that we needed to be in a church because the “body of Christ” needed our giftings. Anyway, we couldn’t get them to understand that the church is just an institution, not the body of Christ. Just now I had this thought about a physical body. If even one part of the body is dead, the body is either lame or it’s dying. We know that the true Body of Christ cannot be lame and it is most definitely not dying! It’s full of life! Anything that is tied into the Vine/Head has life! John 15:6 - If a man does not keep himself in Me, he becomes dead and is cut off like a dry branch; such branches are taken up and put in the fire and burned. Colossians 2:19b - ...Christ, who puts us together in one piece, whose very breath and blood flow through us. He is the Head and we are the body. We can grow up healthy in God only as he nourishes us. Organized religion contains both the living and the dead, wheat and tares, sheep and goats. There is NO WAY that the institution can be the “Body of Christ” because if it was, that would mean that parts of the Body of Christ are dead! Maybe that will help them to see and understand that organized religion and the body of Christ are not one and the same…ya think? Maybe they’ll just tell us that we are supposed to ignore all the dead parts. Which leads me to another thought. Isn’t it scary to think that "the church" has created a black hole where people are slipping into hell unnoticed? A non-believer is much better outside of the institution than they are inside of it!!!! At least when they are outside they know that they are in need of a Savior. Inside the organization, they are led to believe that they are saved whether they are or not! The formula for religious organizations: Attendance + tithe = Salvation! Me done ranting. ;) Jan There ya have it! I couldn't have said it better myself. God bless! Dave |