I've noticed that there is a big movement to leave the established, organized, "man-made" church. I myself have even been compelled to pave my own roads and not align myself with a particular creed from an organization or denomination. There is a dark side to this move that I want to comment on, so that I can hopefully help some of those lost along the way!

I believe within this movement to leave denominations and churches, there are those who have wounded themselves and made an idol out of their own bitterness. Their coming out of the "established" church has been largely due to feelings of hurt, rejection, and anger that shouldn't have been dealt to them by the body of Christ. They recognize problems within the local church, but it seems like no one is listening to them or that their voice doesn't count. Some churches are closed to new ideas, some have pulpits that are filled with apostasy, some lack vision and purpose. All these things constitute a need for change or a need for a move of God, but sometimes it can be easy for us to dwell on our frustrations and lose our own vision and purpose.

One of the greatest tools the enemy has is to lure us away from God's plan with a little seemingly healthy self interest! The serpent in the garden did this with Eve leading her to forsake God's will in order to see things with her own wisdom and to partake of the knowledge of Good and Evil. Eyes opened to the shame of sin, Eve could no longer see beauty of the Paradise she was in, but focused on her embarrassing state! The enemy uses this same tactic to get believers to focus on the negative aspects of the church and the shame and hurt they cause instead of focusing on the positive aspects and being a catalyst to turn the negatives into positives! Some just give up and leave the church, blaming it for their demise.

The enemy will bait you with promises of freedom, tell you that you have the "real gospel" and reel you in on your own bitterness! He will tell you it's all about you and your knowledge of truth, like the serpent of old in the garden, but it's all about him and his fall from heaven. The Serpent wants us to be filled with bitterness and rage, like him. He would love it if every believer would disregard accountability, authority, and unity and shuffle off on their own in bitterness. As the trend of good, honest, and faithful believers leaving the church continues to grow, the church becomes more of an apostate place and believers become more estranged from genuine fellowship and unity.

God is about to bless His church, God is about to breathe new life into His body! He is going to move in churches of all denominations, and He is about ready to pour out the flames of revival in this country as a last call before the midnight hour. I believe that if there ever was a time we needed to fight past some of our selfish impulses and stay on track to see victory, it's now.

God put some people in these organized church valleys so they could climb up to the other side of the hill and head for the promised land. The problem is when things got rough and when things got tough, some pulled out and headed back for Egypt! "There's no way, it's God's will that I stay in THAT wilderness for 40 years!", they said! So they plotted their own course and even convinced some to follow them, but their path was charted by selfishness and they left when God had plans to use them as part of His divine solution to the problems at hand. God is still leading His church and God still has His hand on His children!

My question to you is simple: How did you leave the church? Did you decide that the best thing to do is leave because of a pastor? Did you leave because it was the same old same old and every day? Did you leave because that old church didn't have the right tools or equipment to possess the Promised Land and you knew it just wasn't gonna cut the mustard in battle with the enemy? Did you analyze your place in the struggle as deeply as you analyzed everyone else's? What did you do to try to turn the tide? Did you attempt to bring healing and reconciliation? Did you forgive those who caused you turmoil and turn the other cheek? Did you avoid the entrapment of seeking revenge? Did you fill the needs you found within the church? Yes, a ton of questions, but the truth is we should never jump out of a leaky ship until we've tried to fix it!

Don't buy into the lie that all churches are evil, it just isn't true!! Where Jesus is lifted up by two or more genuine believers, He's going to be there! Sometimes we all walk through deserts, but that doesn't mean we have to start building idols for ourselves and making our own fear and disappointment our religion! God is going to move in the camp! Sometimes leaving isn't the answer, sometimes the answer is waiting, praying, or taking a stand within the church and changing those things that are not measuring up to Biblical standards. Sometimes we are the answers to the problems in the church, and sadly, when God wants to use us to be the solution, we walk away!