No perfect church

Thanks for this reminder. It is way too easy to obsess over "the enemy". It also calls to mind something Jesus said about the speck in your neighbor's eye and the plank in your own.

I think that Rod gives good advice. Getting off of the internet & getting out and experiencing the real world and doing as Jesus taught is good for the soul.

It, also, helps to gain perspective in a world that uses the media so easily in forming perceptions. When I can't stand Christians, I go to a church to hang with some Christians so that my perceptions are better balanced. Conservatives might find the same outcome if they visited some organizations known as being liberal or progressive.

I agree that brokenness and corruption recognizes no ecclesial boundaries, but I do think that more is found in some religious settings than others. I think that people should always do a lot of research before joining a church. Follow the money-look at the financial reports very closely.

Examples:
I went to a Charismatic Revival Meeting when I was in my 20's. It was creepy. There was a lot of physical healing going on(people with physical deformities like one arm being shorter than the other)& a lot of prayer prior to money collection that would make it hard for one not to give generously.

Today's news had a story about a man found performing an exorcism on a 3 year old child by the girl's grandfather. The mother was found naked in the room. I tend to distrust religions that focus too much on the devil and not enough on God.

I agree that things like infidelity and abuse can be found anywhere & parents need to be cautious.

I just want to add this because I don't want to be misunderstood, I don't think that the people with the physical deformities ever really had physical deformities. I think that the healers convinced them that one arm/leg was shorter than the other & the healer, through prayer, fixed the problem. I think that only one person actually had a physical deformity. Her one leg was shorter than the other, and she proceeded to limp down the aisle convinced that she had been healed.

That was snotty. Don't be snotty.

Heh, reminds me of the joke about the man looking for the perfect wife: Turns out he wouldn't just have anybody, you know. She had to be perfect. He dated hundreds of girls but they weren't perfect, so that was it for them.
At long last he met her: the perfect girl.
There was just one problem: she was looking for the perfect man!

>>>- if that's what God calls you to do -- by all means fight intelligently, which means in part don't make the fight the focus of your spirituality. Which is very, very easy to do, because it's so dramatic, and it offers such immediate rewards. In the end, though, it could well be fatal.

Rod, therein lies the mistake. The initial PREMISE is wrong.

God does NOT tell you to STAY and "fight" God is VERY POINTED in telling you to LEAVE when the "fruits observed" show that your choice of church was wrong, or they chose and walked the wrong path. What sort of irks me, is all these intellectual types and bloggers stuggling so hard with this or that question....why is it that the ABSOLUTELY LAST PLACE they will seek guidance is with God's Holy Word?

You asked why the Pentecostal churches are so dynamic and growing, having walked the path from Catholic to Presbyterian and found things VERY wrong both places, I ended up in one of those Pentecostal churches. And you know what, the MAIN difference is those people actually BELIEVE God knows the answers, put them down in black and white, and really, REALLY try to use that advice when struggling with church issues or problems.

Now the question on the table is... "Do I STAY AND FIGHT or leave" .. Right?

May I submit for your consideration the ANSWER as given by God?

>>>>>>>>>Revelation 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

I read that, believed that, and LEFT.