Recently I met two young men and had great conversations. Through the conversations, I learned that one of them got a deep hurt from a church to which he belonged as a college student. The other got disappointed by the misbehaviors of the church-goers since he was an elementary student. The hurt and the disappointment seemed so deep that they were still breathing negativity in their hearts. As a Christian, I felt sorry toward them even if I did not hurt or disappoint them. I wanted so badly to help them to get out of the hurts.
I wondered how to help them and thought it would be good to write down my heart and thought regarding it. Then, they may read it and get help. I believe consoling and helping them be healed of the wounds must be the first thing to do to help them. It took a while to start the writing because it was not easy to find the right words for them. Even now, I am not sure that this writing would be helpful to them. I hope this would, at least, not make it worse.
Love and Truth
The first thing I want to do before going on is to remind all of us, the readers and me, that the ultimate truth is love, and nothing else can be truth without love. Jesus Christ our Lord died for love; God saves us for he loves us, and the Holy Spirit works in us to bear the fruit of love. In a word, it is because God is love. Therefore, what God teaches his people to do is to have love; what he is pleased with his people is when they love one another, and what he will see into the life of a person on the day of judgment is if they have lived by love. Love is the foundation of all things, and it should be the way of doing all things (1 Cor. 16:14). Any good thing or righteousness can’t be right if it is not done by love. So, love is the ultimate truth, and Christianity and Christian life are all about love as the Origin and Father of them is love.
Nevertheless, even with the supreme significance of love, it is susceptible. This susceptibility is in two different senses: it is easily replaced or put aside by other things and is pretended and disguised to achieve a hidden purpose. When someone takes advantage of love, it gives birth to fake love. The fake love, as love is the most significant Christian virtue that all people hope for, hurts and disappoints people deepest. The cut by the disguised love is much deeper than that by the sharpest knife. It leaves a scar in the soul while a knife, in the skin. The cut in the soul heals very slowly, and in some cases, it never heals. To avoid getting cut or healed from a cut already made, we have to understand the susceptibility of love.
Susceptibility of Love
First, we must understand that love can’t be replaced or substituted by anything. Many say that truth is more important than love. They say they can’t love one unless the one agrees to their truth. They wash the brains of their followers, saying that teaching their truth to one is to love the one. For them, as the one accepts their truth, their love is made to the one. However, if the one doesn’t accept their truth, they take it as a rejection of their love. They became hostile to the one. They give up on the one or hate the one as if they are an enemy to their truth. However, what they believe as truth is not a truth, whatever it may be and however right it sounds. Do you know why? There is no truth that is not based on love, and that can be practiced without love (1 Cor. 13:2). It is their illusion that they are teaching and doing a truth. What they are doing is to force people to be like them and to be on their side. It is just burning themselves at their flame and attempting to burn others too. They have no respect for their listeners, which is indispensable for genuine love. As it is no genuine true love, it can’t be a truth. Their life is an error and mistake. They are just being consumed by evil, which deceived them.
This kind of substitution or replacing love with something else, most often, with their own ‘truth,’ happens in churches. They replace or substitute love, the true truth, with their doctrines and dogmas, which are for them’ truths.’ They are deceived by the evil one and sincerely believe that relating their truths to others and converting them into what they believe is the greatest love. They fight for their fake love, which is never love, because true love always makes peace. They condemn those who disagree with them, thinking they are serving God and people (John 16:2), which is never a service but a disservice. Their church is based on their own truths, which means they don’t have the true foundation of God’s truth based on love. They think they are carriers of truth as they get more people deceived by their falsity. However, there is no tie that ties them together in mind, which is love. In their house, quarreling and fighting noises never stop. They are building their house on the sand to devastate souls. Nevertheless, they believe they are in truth and in love. They are totally depraved and lost in mind. They are so deceived and washed in the brain by their own ‘truths’ that they can’t understand the truth that love can’t be replaced or substituted by anything, including a truth.
Love Fraud
Not to get deceived and hurt by fake love, we also have to understand another susceptibility of love. It is that love can be disguised and pretended. Love should be genuine, and something else should not be taken as it. Unfortunately, however, genuine love is rare. Furthermore, it is not always easy to detect the disguise and pretense. It isn’t easy because love is a moral virtue but not a legal must. If one loves others, they easily get great credit. Love almost always gets credit easily as it is rare and precious. People and society give much more other credit, such as respect and social credits. The credit gotten for love is a big temptation, and some evil hearts don’t miss the chance to take advantage of the susceptibility of love. They pretend to love to get what they want. It is a fraud, and that, an easy one.
Where this evil fraudulent scheme is used most often is in churches. The classic expectation of the people of the church is to love people. The expectation makes it more probable that the churches may make the fraud. As they expect such, it is more probable that churches deceive people. Most of these churches also take advantage of the other susceptibility mentioned above along with this one. They disguise their hearts with love and do their doctrine with the truth. Their double-sided pretense makes their fraud more successful. They easily get what they intended to get from those who are deceived. The constitutional law also protects these kinds of churches absurdly in the name of religious freedom.
The consequence of their frauds is fatal. The deceived people got hurt deep in their souls and wasted opportunities to be saved. Even if they realize that they were deceived, many blame God and the church for their hurt. The fraud is successful in two ways: For the wicked people, they got what they wanted and, for the evil one, he devastated the souls. Even if the deceiving people thought they were doing a service to God, the result is that they did to the evil one. They helped the evil one with hindering God’s plan of salvation. The fatal consequence is not that only, but it is also in those who would come to God. They watched what the churches were doing and found that they were doing wrong and even hypocritical. So they got disappointed in God and the church by misrepresenting the erroneous churches and fraudulent ministers and church-goers. As a result, disappointments about Christianity and Christians have become prevalent worldwide. Negativity toward Christianity and Christians has become greater than ever, and it is going worse and worse as the churches and church-goers make more and more frauds. Christianity and Christians are pushed to the farthest corner. Evangelism has become most challenging in this environment, critical against Christianity. The evil one didn’t fail in this regard also.
Uphold the Beacon
As a Christian and evangelist in the church, I feel sorry for those who were victimized and disappointed and against those fraudulent churches and their members. But, unfortunately, feeling sorry for true Christians is not a solution to the problem nor a true consolation to the people who got hurt. Besides, there seems not a good way to resolve this problem. Probably, only God has the solution. But, nevertheless, there is at least one thing that true Christians can always do. It is not against the fake churches and their members, but for the Lord and people. It is to uphold the truth, which is loving people with genuine love through and through.
The fact that there are many frauds and, as a result, the world became more hostile to Christianity is not an excuse for Christians’ not upholding the gospel. It is naive to assume that the world would be friendly to the true church and Christians. There has never been such a time in the history of the world. It is also naive not to expect that there would be false people who would take advantage of God, his name, his words, and his church. There are always wicked and sneaky people in all generations, and they may take advantage of the church. In this materialistic and individualistic postmodern world, such evil is expected to be at every corner of the world. That is why it is the last time. There is no way to turn the world back truthful and friendly toward God. The only hope is still the gospel. There will always be people, few in number though, who will listen to it and obey it to be saved and added to the true Lord’s church, but most people will reject it and further ridicule it as always. Besides, some will always sneak into the church and commit frauds to satisfy their worldly desires.
Despite the rejection and wickedness of the world against the gospel, still, some have to uphold it so that the souls who desire salvation may find a solution. Some people are the remnant, the saved, true Christians, and the Lord’s church. In this regard, the Lord’s church is “a pillar and buttress of truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). The way that the Lord’s church upholds the truth of life is love. They love one another, and they love others as Jesus loved sinners. They don’t quarrel or fight even against enemies of the gospel but rather serve them with love and prayer. Even when they were persecuted by the false church leaders and their blind followers, they never fought back but accepted persecutions, even cruel death, as the glory from God as their Lord Jesus did. They are small and weak in the world but strong and abundant in God. No power was ever able to crush them to nothing. They are the remnant whom God made existent all over the world since the gospel was preached, regardless of the intensity of wickedness of the world. The Lord’s church has existed in all generations without ceasing since it was established on the Day of Pentecost of the first century in Jerusalem. There have been such dreadful hostilities breathed against the Lord’s church and Christians so many times in history, but none of them was successful in ceasing the continuation of the Lord’s church. Instead, such a history testifies only the fact that the Lord’s church is in God’s plan of salvation and his mighty hands.
Let the Beacon Burning
I am sorry that I can’t do anything to those who got hurt or disappointed by the churches and their blind followers, except this: I will stay here standing firm holding up the beacon of the truth of the gospel so that wounded souls, who want to be healed, may come to the Lord, and I will serve them in love. That is the only thing I can do as a part of the Lord’s church. However, God will do more; he will heal the souls and restore them. I don’t know who the wounded souls are and where they are, except for some around me. So, what I will do is never to quench the beacon of the gospel but let it burn that they may see it and join the Lord’s church.
Brothers and sisters who got hurt or disappointed by the churches. Look to Jesus and get recovery by the love of the Lord and Savior. However, never give your holy thing to dogs (Matt. 7:6). Your desire to be righteous or your hope to be saved is holy. If you go to the false churches and give it to their ministers who are like dogs, they will defile your holy desire and then rob you of your valuable things. Then they will turn to you and tear your soul leaving wounds and hurts all over your soul. Look only to the Lord and follow him. He will lead you by the truth to his church, that is, the Lord’s church. Only in the Lord’s church, you can be peaceful, and you can continue to grow to the fullness of Jesus. You will be loved by others as well as by the Lord, and you will love others as the Lord loves you. That is the truthful life; such life is full of the truth, culminating in love. Therefore, don’t stay any longer defeated, hurt and disappointed, and secluded from true Christians. Look for the Lord’s church and the true Christians around you. The Lord is stretching his arms out to you through them.
The Iconic Tree
Sarah's Prayer
