THE BROKEN CHURCH

I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn't play

And in the streets, the children screamed
The lovers cried and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken

And the three men I admire most
The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died
Don McLean,  "AMERICAN PIE

" The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised," 
Jesus of Nazareth,  Luke 4:18

Almost without exception scholars of every shape, color and stripe use these words of Jesus to explain His mission according to His own words.  Almost without exception those same scholars use these words of Jesus to explain the work and attitude of the Church and Christians.  They  have said, that with Jesus' ascension He left the Church to be His presence and do His work until the end of time.  IF this is true then any honest assessment of the Church today is that..... THE CHURCH IS BROKEN.

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me"  Over and over again the New Testament writers exorted the believers to be filled with the Spirit.  The fullness of the Spirit was how the Christian received the power, the love, the strength and the will to be like Christ.  Do you remember that Christians received that name by their enemies at Antioch.  The word Christian means, "little Christs"  Copy cats of Jesus.  A citizen of Rome wrote a friend about Christians saying that they must indeed be fools, but that they loved each other "and their enemies".

What is the Church like?  How does it mirror Christ and His life? A Christian told me the other day that she could tolerate those who were not like her.  She was insulted when I told her that her statement of tolerance was really a statement of intolerance and bigotry.  Jesus did not tolerate, he accepted and appreciated.  Today the Church battle is not just with the "unlike" and different folks.  It is against each other. If there are what one Church considers unbiblical practices by another, they will destroy in the name of truth and righteousness.  Love our enemies?   We cannot even love one another. Do good to then which spitefully use us?  I dont' think so, we are headed to court and I will be driving your new car if my lawsuit is won. If one desires your cloak, give him your coat also.  Hey buddy, get a job and you can buy your own.  Too many damn people want something for nothing.

"To preach the Gospel to the poor"  We are reminded over and over that the word, gospel, means "good news".  At the birth of Christ, angels sang to the poor shepherds, "good tidings (good news) to all the earth.

  Everyone supposedly has a good word from God.  Things were going to be different.  Good News....the Savior has come.  Good News.....mankind is loved and forgiven.  God News, God feels compassion for us as a father feels for His children  Did not Jesus go to the poorest, to the disenfranchised?   Did He not go to the lame, the children, the dirty, and to the insane?  He hugged the lepers.  He forgave the adulterous.  He sat and ate with sinners.  Is this the Church? .  Today the Church reaches out to those that are like us, to the influential, and to the powerful.  Today there is not good news coning from the churches.  There is no room in the pews for the poor.  There is no good news to the destitute and old. We celebrate power, money, influence, and the beautiful. THE CHURCH IS BROKEN

 "Liberty, binding the brokenness?' " Lifting the fallen, forgive the guilty?" " Setting captives free?" What is the reality?

Imprison with traditions.  Condemn.  Destroy.  Shun.  The Bible is a hatchet.  The Church is a country club.  Bigotry.  Prejudice. Become the pawn of politicians.

broken hearts!
                broken lives!
                                  unrealized hopes!
                                                        no place for dreamers!
                                                                                       crushed under the heels of the hypocrites and haters!.
                                                                                   

                                    

                                                          What have we done?
                                                          Oh the blood, Oh the blood
                                                          The "witches" we have burned.
                                                          The people, the children, Oh God the children!
                                                          The murderous  apathy.
                                                          Without humility
                                                          Hatred behind the words of love.
                                                          Twisted truths, and outright lies.
                                                          The Bible Bloody! used to slay thousands
                                                          upon thousands.
                                                          Receiving mercy, but giving none
                                                          The birthright sold for a pot of beans and a bag of gold..
                                                          Betrayal of the humanity we were to serve.
                                                          Betrayal of that simple man of Galilee.
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                                                          Could there be a hell hot enough for

                                                            THE BROKEN CHURCH?

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