What will we do when he restores our sight?

~ Every portion of Scripture that teaches forgiveness.. teaches an IF.. but no one ever expounds on that part.. I just find it interesting.. seems to have created a huge block in the church of enablers and people pleasers and users.. small wonder so many are turned off by the church.. even the Roman Road which leads to Christ is paved with stipulations.. the cost of salvation and forgiveness has been paid and is free to all who sincerely seek it.. but there is a requirement.. change.

~ Leadership or a title or money doesn't justify gossip and judging someone by the opinions of ppl in your social or professional circles.. that makes church a business just like the world.. so much talk about personal relationship and such and yet I see little of Christ in the politics of the church.. really miss the lil white church back in the day when ppl spent time getting to know one another before forming opinions based on what the popular pedestal crowd likes or doesn't like.. I'm not even disappointed with it any more.. just saddened..

~ I have seen popular leaders and pastors blackball ppl cuz their group of good 'ol boys wanted that person out.. and they have crushed them and outed them time and time again.. it is devious and evil.. but God sees all.. secret meetings where a pastor tries to pull a church out from under it's denomination, and then secretly blackballing and blackmailing ppl under the table who ask them to go about it peacefully and according to Scripture.. there is such a corruption in certain church circles in this city that God will not be patient with forever.. wolves wearing masks that remain exactly that, masks of humility and wisdom and Godliness.. yikes.. if anything in 2012.. I pray God cleans up corruption in the church and exposes it all in the streets.. according to His wisdom and His mercy ♥

~ Doctors and Lawyers and men of power and money.. lavishing good things on key ppl to build themselves up in the community.. while murdering others who stand in their way behind closed doors and in meeting halls.. it's evil.

~ Here's the technique.. someone opposes the GROUP.. make them vulnerable so that they are forced to keep silent from telling the truth about the actions of the GROUP.. for instance.. control their money, their medical treatment, their deepest hurts that you swore were safe to confide in you.. take key ppl in the church out to lunch one by one and tell them that someone is being outed but there is peace between everyone about the change, even the ppl being outed.. the pastors just need ppl with influence in the church to calm any concerns or questions among the body.. leadership feeds the story of what is to be told (aka the gossip and alibi of the GROUP) to the common ppl who have no clue of the secret meetings and selfish ambition that has eaten away at the foundations of everything good and Godly that once governed that body.. and the tongue of leaders murders with absolute precision.. while the church and community and their followers worship them.. sounds like a movie.. but it's not..

~ There are Christians and pastors and leaders I don't trust.. because it is beyond a minor offense or a disagreement over the carpet... it is a character thing.. a deep and evil aspect of who they are and they refuse to follow God as they lead and handle ppl rather than their mentors and their GROUP of buddies.. really really feel like vomiting when I consider how deep rooted this thing is.. no wonder there is such a surge of gangs and drugs and violence and crime in our city.. the bulk of the church is either blind or the ones blinding ppl.. will we ever find our way out of the ditch.. will we ever truly seek God to scrub out the infection in his body no matter how painful it is to us personally?..

~ I pay attention to "IF-THEN's" in scripture and in life.. cause and effect.. today I added a new one to my list.. was asked to consider vss 17-19 in Philemon, "So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self. "
... but in my reality with God and men.. this passage means nothing to me without coupling it with vss 10-11 "that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me..."
... FREE GRACE was offered and given, as Onesimus sought to CHANGE.
... If CHANGE.. then RESTORATION.. but that doesn't erase a measure of consequence that comes with the sin you willfully committed.

~ Which makes me wonder.. what exactly is COMPLETE RESTORATION.. we envision it as everything going back to the way it was originally before that sin occurred.. but is that what we see in Scripture.. is that the way God defines it?.. I think we mistake COMPLETE RESTORATION with COMPLETE FORGIVENESS.. and they are very different things from what I read as I seek to understand God's words rather than pastors and leaders in the church...

~ I wish there was a way to strip everything pastors or ppl have told us about God and we could just sit and read thru the Bible for the first time again as tho it were a letter straight from the heart of God to us personally.. I wonder how far from the mark we would find ourselves from where we are today...

~ Every time I hear a pastor share or a message preached.. I will weigh it to the Word of God seeking that His Spirit help me to discern it rightly with all sincerity and zeal to understand the God that I love and serve.. and I will question what doesn't seem to line up to me.. no matter who it offends, tho my heart is truly to be at peace with ppl.. it has been my experience that pastors much like doctors take up offense quicker than any profession on the planet when someone questions their expertise... more often than not I am the one who has missed something, I am the one who God has to take to the woodshed and teach me a thing or two or twenty, to rewire my brain and my heart to put me in touch with what He has taught someone else long before my milk guzzling self centered self.. but sometimes.. bad leadership reveals itself as it veers from the word of God and steps into -isms and selfish ambition coupled with false humility..

~ Pastors and leaders and you and I have gone from putting God first to putting mentors first.. that is idolatry.. no matter who it is whose opinion and teaching it is that we give credence to before all others.. if we close our hearts and minds to something God may be trying to speak to us or some common Joe just because our high and mighty mentor said it was something different.. we just silenced God and given our worship to another.

~ A good pastor, good leadership, is a rare thing.. a precious thing that is to be treasured.. but never put above our God and His Word.. it is a sobering thing.. bad leadership or the lack of leadership is never a reason or excuse to separate yourself from the Church as a whole.. if it is your heart to not obey God's mandate to fellowship with other believers.. then everything on the planet will give you an excuse.. so it will be easy for you to find one, but.. God says to not give up on his ppl or on him or on the world. Don't use evil as an excuse to do evil.. if you are a follower of Christ.. you should be meeting with other believers regularly.

~ Like I said.. there are some pastors and leaders out there that can be counted on to teach the whole Truth of God.. who are approachable when you question something.. who will walk thru the scripture with you and search out an answer as God leads you both to it.. Godly voices, leaders totally in love with and committed to the Truth of God and not a man, not even themselves.. not puffed up, rather sincere, respecting mentors of their own but never above the Word of God.. it is refreshing and assuring that God continues to raise up such leadership and guards it in this dark time...
"God gives us 2nd chances, but how do we access it? Repentance... Encounter TRUTH, TURN from sin, TRUST God..." (Pastor friend currently in KY)
That is the change, the requirement, the stipulation, the IF...
THEN there is complete restoration and new beginnings.

~ Sharing the Gospel and teaching the Word of God.. and leaving out the IF's.. is like the half truths that Satan spewed out as he tempted Christ in the desert.. we have taught such error for so long that we have come to believe much of it ourselves.. we are blind and leading others that we have blinded into the ditch and all manner of destruction..

but I believe that God is about to open our eyes and restore our sight..
the question is..
What will we do when he restores our sight?