When You Just Can't Get "Church" Out Of Your System

I have noticed some things about church people and people who just cannot get church OUT OF THEIR SYSTEMS.

What do I mean???

I have come across many different types of church people...and I do admittedly 'study' them.  I watch them.  I observe them....(well, not so much NOW than as I used to!)

I have found that there are people who really have a difficult time detoxing from the system of church.  The culture of church.

I have found that there can be 'church people' IN as well as OUT of the church system.

I'm not talking about spiritual people, or people who are aware of their own spirituality.  Or New Agers.

I'm talking about people who can't get church OUT of their systems!

This is why it is so difficult for some people to leave church...and STAY OUT of church!

If they leave church, they either

1) Go BACK to church
2) Hang around a bunch of church people to 'fellowship' with
3) Look for groups and entities to be a part of b/c they are SO afraid of being alone
4) Start their OWN brand of 'churchanity'

When I created my pic for Detoxed From Churchanity, I really had no idea how true it really IS that some folks are literally ADDICTED to church!

Karl Marx was not telling a lie when he said 'Religion Is The Opiate of The Masses!'

What IS an opiate?

Opiate:  ANY drug that induces sleep or sedation; that causes dullness or apathy; deadening.

Examples of opiates are morphine, heroin, codeine, methadone, oxycontin, dilaudid...

I had Dilaudid on a few ER visits, and I tell you what:  When they put that in the IV, you are OUT!  You are sleepy, you are NOT aware of what's going on around you.  It's a painkiller.  It puts you in another realm...I had Morphine given to me when I gave birth to my last child....we slept like BABIES for a LONG time after he got here!

WHY?

Because we were under sedation!

Religion, churchanity puts the masses to sleep!  It deadens their sense of reality.  It is a drug MANY take to escape the painful realities they live.  They are in SO much pain, SO miserable, SO unhappy with life-and have been made to believe that they ARE that way b/c they somehow did something (wrong) to make themselves that way...

And TRUE...some of the things folks go through ARE self-induced-meaning they brought it on THEMSELVES...

But in spite of the crazy things folks do, I still believe that God is FOR you.  He is FOR me.  And He LOVES us.  Now, He WILL chastise...as He sees fit....

The problem is that there are a LOT of folks trying to 'self-medicate' through their 'chastisement' by clinging on to churchanity!

There are a lot of OTHER people who are 'self-medicating' through life because they have yet to realize that they are just mentally and emotionally unstable...and have not sought the professional help that they need to get well.

They find it much more comforting to blame others for their misery, or blame the devil, or blame 'the man,'  lol...or blame a woman...or blame the government....

But they have YET to just LOOK IN THE MIRROR and BLAME THEMSELVES!

They have yet to take responsibility, accountability and to take ACTION to change their lives!

So they run to 'church' to try and get God to do it for them.

When God said faith without WORKS is DEAD!

Church folks are some DEAD people!  Zombies!  Dead men walking!

They think they can liven themselves up by shouting, dancing, speaking in tongues, running the aisles, falling all out in the floor, running after miracles, signs, wonders, etc...smh

And the more of that they are exposed to, the more miserable they TRULY are!

So....WHAT happens, what should you do if you simply are STUCK in church mode?

You continuously find yourself trying to find yourself within a church system.

You run to this church and that church, trying to 'fit in.'  And you fit in for a little while...but its only a matter of time before something goes down and the 'love,' the 'fellowship,' the camaderie you felt is gone...and then you're BACK to square one.

I've been there...going from this church to that church.  Letting those people label me this and that.  Allowing them to lay hands on me and 'tell me my destiny...'  The 'will of God' for my life changed so much within their ranks....they made it seem like God was schizo or something!  Like He was saying something different EVERY TIME the hour changed!

What a MASS ball of CONFUSION!

OR...

You surround yourself with 'church-like' people.  They talk that church lingo.  They love to quote scriptures.  They amen you, flatter you, tell you what a great 'man or woman of God' you are....

And you act like you don't care, but YOU DO!

You MISS the accolades church people pour on to their pulpit puppets.  You MISS the women google-eyeing you from the pews.  You MISS the crowds amening you during your sermons...or telling you how 'anointed' you are.

There is SOMETHING in you that longs for that...

And I am here to tell you...

IT IS AN ADDICTION!!!!!!

And as with ALL addictions, you WILL hit the wall at some point...and reality will come crashing down HARD on you....

The reality of the frailties and inconsistencies of the church system.

THIS insistence on staying in church, of wanting to somehow be accepted amongst their ranks, your strong desire to 'fit in,' is what KEEPS you in the REAL 'church hurt' mode!

I had some religious folks try to tell me I was 'church hurt' whenever I would speak out on the ills of the church.

LOL...

I did address it in a very popular post of mine in this very blog entitled, Everybody's Not Suffering From Church Hurt!

Just like the title says, I simply pointed out that EVERYBODY'S who is hip to the 'game' of church and have made a conscious decision to COME OUT of church ...they are NOT suffering from 'church hurt.'

They just got tired of the BULL!

The scales came off their eyes!

God showed them a BETTER way!

They became enlightened...and empowered!

Now, true, there may have been some events-or series of events-that ultimately led to their decision to leave church.  And it may have been event(s) that were painful.

But it used to be my belief that no one stays in a CONSTANT state of 'church hurt.'

But I am beginning to see a NEW phenomena:  there ARE a population of people who just LOVE church.  And if they leave, they have NOTHING.  They do NOT know God.  NO ability to TRULY hear from God for themselves.

So the ONLY way they 'feel' saved is by going to church.

So they go...and if they stop going, they will shrivel up and DIE!

THOSE are the people who STAY in CONSTANT 'church hurt' mode!

They stay in 'church hurt' mode because they REFUSE to leave that which is harming them or vicitimizing them.

Church Hurt Mode:

1) Constantly whining about being 'in warfare'
2) Feels a temporary sense of relief when they are 'accepted' among church people
3) Constantly goes back to church.  Go to the altar.  'Rededicate their lives' back to God.
4) Stay fearful (not in a reverential sort of way, but actual terror)
5) Paranoid.  Always 'sensing' something in their 'spirits'
6) GOT TO, GOT TO, GOT TO have a pulpit!
7) GOT TO, GOT TO, GOT TO have a following
8) Rejection, always claiming how rejected they are b/c they are so 'anointed'
9) Always gets shocked when church people hurt them, even though you tried to warn them beforehand and
    they wouldn't take heed...

There are other characteristics of folks who are prone to or who are in fact in REAL 'church hurt' mode.

But here's my thing:

IF YOU ARE NOT IN THE CHURCH CIRCLES, THEN HOW CAN THEY HARM YOU??????

Meaning, it makes sense (to me anyways) that if you are in a culture, a setting, an environment, an institution, that consistently harms you and NOT help you in ANY way, then you need to at least CONSIDER NOT being a part of that institution anymore.

If a woman is in an abusive relationship, escapes the relationship...it may take a little while.  But sooner or later, she will move on with her life.  And LIVE!

BUT, if she decides to GO BACK for ANY reason, and the abuser CONTINUES to abuse her, so much so until she is killed....

THEN WHOSE fault is it that this woman is gone?

HERS!

Especially if she was given ALL the tools and resources she needed to stay away from her abuser...and she placed herself BACK in harm's way, then she is at least PARTLY to blame for her own demise.

And when she WENT BACK to her abuser, would it be a good analogy to call the state that she found herself in yet again was 'HUSBAND/BOYFRIEND HURT' mode?

She was in a state where she could be hurt again...and she was being hurt....AGAIN...

Probably OVER and OVER and OVER again...til the end came.

THIS is what is happening with a LOT of church people...in and out of the church.

They STAY in this perpetual state of 'church hurt' because they are, well, IN CHURCH!!!!!!

The ONLY cure for CHURCH hurt is to COME OUT...get healed.  Let God speak to you.

There IS no cure for church hurt for those who cling to churchanity.  Period.

So it does no good to feel sorry for those folks in church who won't come out.  They are in there because that's where they choose to be.

They are grown.

BUT...if you are TRULY tired of church and churchanity, and have a real desire to COME OUT and get the church OUT of your system...FOR GOOD...

Then you ARE in the right place!

JUST LEAVE.  AND DON'T LOOK BACK!

DON'T long for church, or the services, or the games, or the titles, or their pulpits. Or their cliches.  Or their 'worship.'

DON'T YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE??????

DON'T YOU KNOW GOD FOR YOURSELF????

If you do, then it's time to step out ...BY FAITH!!!

If you can't (leave church), you are addicted...TO CHURCH!