1 Peter 4:16-18
Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
There are many that cringe at the thought of judgment hitting the 'house of God.' They fight statements that say that the church is under judgment. They hold onto to error and teach people that the church is 'under attack' and 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church' every time another scandal about a leader in church comes out, or their actions are brought into scrutiny.
Or criticism.
Criticism and judgment are two words that have taken on a bad meaning in what is known as the 'church' today.
To criticize means 'to pass judgment on the credibility of a thing.' To judge means 'to objectively, wisely and authoritatively form an opinion upon. '
Another word in the dictionary for JUDGE is TO DISCERN.
I hear many pray for the 'gift' of discernment. They erroneously think that discernment is this ethereal force we pull out of the air that breathes upon us and automatically gives us wisdom on all things.
And, yes...the Holy Ghost DOES give wisdom. But obtaining wisdom is a PROCESS. Sometimes, the Spirit will give words of wisdom...that is wisdom that comes from God.
But the Holy Ghost is also a TEACHER. And the process of obtaining wisdom is by way of KNOWELDGE.
You obtain facts. You obtain truth. You measure it against the authenticity of the Word of God.
Sometimes, a LOT of times, actually, we get knowledge based upon EXPERIENCE. Now experience NEVER trumps the Word of God. EVER!
But the Word of God says ALL things work TOGETHER for the good of those who love the Lord...who are called according to HIS purpose.
God is so amazing that He can take everything in our lives and allow us to work for our good. By allowing us to learn from them!
Life is a learning process. Lifelong pursuit.
We gain knowledge by what we have experienced. We gain wisdom by knowing HOW to apply the knowledge we have gained.
Knowledge are FACTS. TRUTH. Pillars. Foundation.
The Bible is stock FULL of facts. Events. Circumstances.
But how we apply the Word to our lives....THAT'S wisdom!
Even in our mess ups, if we are willing to allow God chastise us and show us where we messed up, then He can cause that thing to turn around and be for your good!!!!
But its when we don't confess our sins-individually or collectively-that God has no other choice but to pronounce judgment!
The corporate lack of discernment in the Institutional Church is because of the mass denial of truth...and the masses denial of judging ourselves as individuals. The very nature and culture of the I.C. is such that it lends to covering up sin more than it does to dealing with and healing sin.
And the only way healing of sin comes is when it is confessed.
Because many fail to judge themselves as individuals, they gather together corporately to further play along in this mass denial of sin in the camp.
And since they won't deal with sin, but deny it, and cover it up...with programs, conferences, mega ministries, making stars out of preachers, religious cliches and phrases and gross error...THEY LOVE NOT THE TRUTH as stated in Romans 1, God has given them over to reprobate minds.
So that they have to believe the LIE!
No discernment is operating because NO TRUTH is there. In the buildings.
Only lies and cover-ups.
So God HAS to pronounce judgment on the church...He said He would in the Word...and because the church won't pronounce judgment on HERSELF!
God gave her space to repent...and she would not.
It became easier to placate sin, to make excuses for it, to cover it up, to blackmail one another, and to murder one another...than to deal with the harsh reality that...
GOD HAS JUDGED THE CHURCH!
In 'Come Out of Her, My People,' Pamela Sheppard goes into detail about the judgment the church is facing today and what you as a believer can do to get OUT and not be partakers of her plagues.
The nature of a plague is that it spreads rapidly. Plagues are contagious. No matter what measures one takes to not catch a disease, if it is highly contagious, they will get it, sooner or later.
Remember getting the chicken pox as a child? If a sibling or someone else in the house got it, it was only a matter of time before someone else would get it, too. No matter what measures were taken to prevent it from spreading.
The plagues in the church are not airborne. They are spirit-borne. Spirits transfer. No matter how anointed you are, no matter how holy and righteous you are, no matter how obedient to the Word you are, if you stay in that contaminated atmosphere long enough, sooner or later, that 'chicken pox' is going to get you, too!
You could have stayed celibate in your church for 23 years. If you stay there, you will fall into sexual sin.
You could have been faithful in tithes and offerings all your life. If you keep 'sowing' into a church or TV network that's under judgment, your finances will get WORSE.
You could have done all the right things in church, faithful, hard worker, the whole nine. But if you stay there and YOU KNOW God said GO, judgment WILL hit your house.
You could be on the road preaching 8 times a week. But if God said DON'T GO, you better not go! The enemy got a trap waiting for you!
You could sing like a mockingbird, bring tears to balling and wailing all in the floor...but if God said STOP SINGING-cuz they're not worshiping ME-you better zip it! And don't sign another contract!
Remember the plagues in Egypt? ALL who were disobedient to God suffered the plagues, man, woman and child. NO one was spared!
If the Israelites had not followed the instructions of the Lord to the TEE, they would have suffered right along with the Egyptians in those plagues.
The church was given space to repent and she would not. So she is under judgment...and all the 'attacks' you see going on in the I.C. are nothing more than plagues.
Do you want to partake of her sins?
If not, then it's time you came OUT of the church. She is under judgment...
And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
There are many that cringe at the thought of judgment hitting the 'house of God.' They fight statements that say that the church is under judgment. They hold onto to error and teach people that the church is 'under attack' and 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church' every time another scandal about a leader in church comes out, or their actions are brought into scrutiny.
Or criticism.
Criticism and judgment are two words that have taken on a bad meaning in what is known as the 'church' today.
To criticize means 'to pass judgment on the credibility of a thing.' To judge means 'to objectively, wisely and authoritatively form an opinion upon. '
Another word in the dictionary for JUDGE is TO DISCERN.
I hear many pray for the 'gift' of discernment. They erroneously think that discernment is this ethereal force we pull out of the air that breathes upon us and automatically gives us wisdom on all things.
And, yes...the Holy Ghost DOES give wisdom. But obtaining wisdom is a PROCESS. Sometimes, the Spirit will give words of wisdom...that is wisdom that comes from God.
But the Holy Ghost is also a TEACHER. And the process of obtaining wisdom is by way of KNOWELDGE.
You obtain facts. You obtain truth. You measure it against the authenticity of the Word of God.
Sometimes, a LOT of times, actually, we get knowledge based upon EXPERIENCE. Now experience NEVER trumps the Word of God. EVER!
But the Word of God says ALL things work TOGETHER for the good of those who love the Lord...who are called according to HIS purpose.
God is so amazing that He can take everything in our lives and allow us to work for our good. By allowing us to learn from them!
Life is a learning process. Lifelong pursuit.
We gain knowledge by what we have experienced. We gain wisdom by knowing HOW to apply the knowledge we have gained.
Knowledge are FACTS. TRUTH. Pillars. Foundation.
The Bible is stock FULL of facts. Events. Circumstances.
But how we apply the Word to our lives....THAT'S wisdom!
Even in our mess ups, if we are willing to allow God chastise us and show us where we messed up, then He can cause that thing to turn around and be for your good!!!!
But its when we don't confess our sins-individually or collectively-that God has no other choice but to pronounce judgment!
The corporate lack of discernment in the Institutional Church is because of the mass denial of truth...and the masses denial of judging ourselves as individuals. The very nature and culture of the I.C. is such that it lends to covering up sin more than it does to dealing with and healing sin.
And the only way healing of sin comes is when it is confessed.
Because many fail to judge themselves as individuals, they gather together corporately to further play along in this mass denial of sin in the camp.
And since they won't deal with sin, but deny it, and cover it up...with programs, conferences, mega ministries, making stars out of preachers, religious cliches and phrases and gross error...THEY LOVE NOT THE TRUTH as stated in Romans 1, God has given them over to reprobate minds.
So that they have to believe the LIE!
No discernment is operating because NO TRUTH is there. In the buildings.
Only lies and cover-ups.
So God HAS to pronounce judgment on the church...He said He would in the Word...and because the church won't pronounce judgment on HERSELF!
God gave her space to repent...and she would not.
It became easier to placate sin, to make excuses for it, to cover it up, to blackmail one another, and to murder one another...than to deal with the harsh reality that...
GOD HAS JUDGED THE CHURCH!
In 'Come Out of Her, My People,' Pamela Sheppard goes into detail about the judgment the church is facing today and what you as a believer can do to get OUT and not be partakers of her plagues.
The nature of a plague is that it spreads rapidly. Plagues are contagious. No matter what measures one takes to not catch a disease, if it is highly contagious, they will get it, sooner or later.
Remember getting the chicken pox as a child? If a sibling or someone else in the house got it, it was only a matter of time before someone else would get it, too. No matter what measures were taken to prevent it from spreading.
The plagues in the church are not airborne. They are spirit-borne. Spirits transfer. No matter how anointed you are, no matter how holy and righteous you are, no matter how obedient to the Word you are, if you stay in that contaminated atmosphere long enough, sooner or later, that 'chicken pox' is going to get you, too!
You could have stayed celibate in your church for 23 years. If you stay there, you will fall into sexual sin.
You could have been faithful in tithes and offerings all your life. If you keep 'sowing' into a church or TV network that's under judgment, your finances will get WORSE.
You could have done all the right things in church, faithful, hard worker, the whole nine. But if you stay there and YOU KNOW God said GO, judgment WILL hit your house.
You could be on the road preaching 8 times a week. But if God said DON'T GO, you better not go! The enemy got a trap waiting for you!
You could sing like a mockingbird, bring tears to balling and wailing all in the floor...but if God said STOP SINGING-cuz they're not worshiping ME-you better zip it! And don't sign another contract!
Remember the plagues in Egypt? ALL who were disobedient to God suffered the plagues, man, woman and child. NO one was spared!
If the Israelites had not followed the instructions of the Lord to the TEE, they would have suffered right along with the Egyptians in those plagues.
The church was given space to repent and she would not. So she is under judgment...and all the 'attacks' you see going on in the I.C. are nothing more than plagues.
Do you want to partake of her sins?
If not, then it's time you came OUT of the church. She is under judgment...
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