The Church Lady

Are you following the Man of Truth or playing church?

Years ago, the church I was attending had a time for people to come down to the altar at the end of service to pray for their needs or the needs of other people.  One lady stood out particularly.

I never knew the name of this lady, but she always dressed up in clothes that let everyone know that she was a church lady.  So, I called her the church lady.

The other thing that stood out about the church lady was her prayers.  Every time there was an altar call she was down at the altar weeping loudly for the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ) to save her husband.

Over time, I learned more about her husband through her loud prayers and the words that the other women would say to comfort her.  Her husband was basically what we would have called no-good growing up.

He would do things like gamble away the grocery money and leave their kids without food.  Yet, he always seemed to find a way to get cigarettes and alcohol.

He may have stolen those or bought them before he began gambling.  He hung out in smoky bars and sometimes went home with other women.

Still, he insisted that he loved his kids and would do something once in a while to show them.  So, he came to church one night to see them in the Easter play.

That Easter play shattered him.  As soon as it was over he was down at the altar begging God to forgive him and weeping over the terrible way he had treated his family.

He was a changed man after that.  His surrender to the Man of Truth was total and it showed in every area of his life.

His kids never went hungry again and he began to use his money for the Kingdom of the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD).  He was constantly reading the Book of Truth (The Bible) and making changes every time he found something that he needed to improve.

Everything began to change both in his home and outside of it.  He was determined that for his house, they were going to serve the Father of Truth.

A year later, the church lady divorced him.  This was not what she had expected him to do when she had been crying out at the altar.

Why was that?

As long as her husband behaved badly, then it was easy for the church lady to look more righteous than him.  She could use his bad behavior to beat him down with guilt.

The day his sins and guilt were washed away, the church lady lost her position as being more righteous than him.  When he started doing what the Book of Truth said for him to do, she was longer in charge of their house.

The church lady could no longer say that her husband was keeping her from doing what the Father of Truth wanted her to do.  She could no longer claim that she could not submit to her husband because he was telling her to do things contrary to the Book of Truth. 

The church lady had picked and chosen which commandments to keep, while her husband was determined to keep all of them.  She wanted just enough of the Man of Truth in her life to be esteemed by the other women in the church, while the Man of Truth was now the life of her husband.

Ultimately, the church lady was rebelling against the Man of Truth.  She did not really want him to be in charge of her life. 

She wanted to follow the Man of Truth partially without obeying him in everything.  She wanted salvation without total surrender.

You see the church lady only wanted someone to play church with her.  She had never wanted a husband that would take his place as the head of the house.

You might be wondering, what does playing church mean?

Playing church is treating going to church like playing a sport.  When people play church, they do a lot of things similar to playing a sport.

When people are playing church, they replace the commandments of the Father of Truth with rules that make them appear to be winners.  Like some sports, the rules are sometimes obscure and open to interpretation.

When people are playing church, they are competing with other people who are also playing church.  Like every sport, they devised their own way to determine who is winning and who is losing.

When people are playing church, they seek to keep people out who will not play church with them.  Like some sports, they seek to keep out sincere people who want to do what is right.

When people are playing church, they are concerned about others seeing everything that raises their score but try to hide anything that will lower their score.  Like in many sports, they will try to look for technicalities that keep their score from being penalized for their mistakes.

When people are playing church, they try to recruit those who will raise their score and then begin teaching them how to win at playing their game.  Like many sport teams, the value of other people is based on how well they can play the game.

When people are playing church, they understand that it is a team sport, and their family is the core of their team.  Like any team sport, the score of the team depends on the performance of each team member – so each family member is pressured to appear to be perfect.

When people are playing church, they will pay tithes to get out of keeping commandments of the Father of Truth that they find inconvenient and uncomfortable.  Like many sport teams, they give large donations to the officials to gain the privilege of their members being above the law.

When people are playing church, they make a big deal over small matters of no eternal consequence while ignoring important things that are putting them in danger of eternal judgment.  Likewise many sports fans will make a big deal of all kinds of statistics about their favorite team while ignoring the actual score of the game.

When people are playing church, they will sometimes say things to intimidate the competition wrapped in pretty sounding phrases.  Like in many sports, they have their own version of trash talking.

When people are playing church, they start talking differently than they do in other settings.  Instead of speaking sports talk, they talk church talk that only other church people understand.

When people are playing church, they put on act at church so other people will think they are holy to hide their wicked thoughts and intentions.  Like many sports team seek to confuse their opponents with trick plays into believing that they are going to do one thing while they are really planning on doing the opposite.

When people are playing church, they are very focused on wearing beautiful attire to cover up their ugly hearts.  Like members of a sports team have special clothing to wear when they are playing their sport, people playing church have their special church clothes.

When people are playing church, they will make sure people know about any donation that they make to help the poor.  Like many sport teams, they want to make sure that people give them credit for the good that they do for others.

When people are playing church, they will make long prayers in a loud voice to let everyone know how holy they are.  Like many in sports, they loudly advertise how good they are at playing the game.

When people are playing church, they are very focused on church music with a style that fits inside their cultural box but is only played when they are playing church.  Like the fight song of a sports team, the church music is meant to let people know that the game has begun and to help keep the crowd engaged in the game.

When did people begin playing church?

People have been playing church before the first church building was ever built.  There is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9-10).

Hypocrites in the synagogues replaced the commandments of the Father of Truth with rules that made them appear to be winners (Mark 7:7-9).  They devised their own way to determine who is winning and who is losing (Romans 10:2-3).

The scribes and Pharisees sought to keep others out who would not play church with them but were sincere in their desire to what is right (Matthew 23:13).  They were concerned about others seeing everything that raised their score but tried to hide anything that lowered their score (Matthew 23:14).

The scribes and Pharisees recruited those who would raise their score and then began teaching them how to win at playing their game (Matthew 23:15).  They looked for technicalities that kept their score from being penalized for their mistakes (Matthew 23:16-22).

The scribes and Pharisees paid tithes to get out of keeping commandments that they found inconvenient and uncomfortable (Matthew 23:23).  They made a big deal over small matters of no eternal consequence while ignoring important things that were putting them in danger of eternal judgment (Matthew 23:24).

The scribes and Pharisees put on act so other people thought they were holy to hide their wicked thoughts and intentions (Matthew 23:25).  They wore beautiful attire to cover up their ugly hearts (Matthew 23:27-28).

These hypocrites made sure people knew about any donation that they made to help the poor (Matthew 6:2).  They made long prayers in a loud voice to let everyone know how holy they were (Matthew 6:5).

Is everyone in church playing church?

The first thing that you need to recognize is that not everyone who is in every church is playing church.  Some are sincere in following the Man of Truth and some are not.

A church is often like a field that has both true wheat and false wheat (tares) sown in it (Matthew 13:24-26).  The Man of Truth will separate the true from the false in the judgment at the end of the age (Matthew 13:39-42).

Not all of the physical descendants of Israel are part of the Israel that keeps covenant with the Father of Truth (Romans 9:4-6).  In the same way, not everyone in a church is part of the church that keeps covenant with the Man of Truth.

You can tell who in the church is part of the Children of Truth by examining their actions to see who is obeying the commandment of the Man of Truth (Matthew 7:16-20).  It is not enough to call Him their lord – they must obey him as well (Luke 6:46).

You can know what is in their heart by listening to their words (Luke 6:43-45).  If they are seeking after the Kingdom of the Father of Truth, then they will be talking about the things of that kingdom because that is where their heart is at (Luke 12:31-34).

If they have hidden the Word of Truth in their heart so that they can keep the commandments of the Father of Truth, then they are going to be talking about the Word of Truth (Psalm 119:11-13).  If they are in love with the Man of Truth, then they are going to be talking about him because he is their greatest treasure (Colossians 3:1-4).

However, those only playing church will be loved by the world instead of being hated by the world like the Children of Truth, because they belong to the world (John 15:19).  Those playing church only want to talk about the things of this world like sports, and will not want to hear what the Word of God has to say about how to live their lives (1 John 4:5-6).

Those with a wicked heart will be focused on accumulating wealth on this Earth for their own pleasure, so they will constantly be talking about gaining money (Luke 16:10-14).  This love for money will cause them to stop keeping the commandments of the Father of Truth and eventually destroy them (1 Timothy 6:9-10).

So, how can you stop playing church? 

If you will judge if you have been playing church and repent if you have been, then the Father of Truth will not  need bring trouble upon you to get you to repent (1 Corinthians 11:30-32).  So, you must first examine your words and actions to see if you have been playing church (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Afterwards, you need to ask the Father of Truth to examine your heart (Psalm 26:2).  You need Him to search your heart to see if there is anything in there that would drive you to return to playing church and remove it from your heart if there is (Psalm 139:23-24).

After you have stopped playing church, then you will be able to clearly see how to really follow the Man of Truth (Psalm 26:3).  You will also be able to clearly see who else is playing church (Matthew 7:3-5).

You will then need to separate yourself from them (Psalm 26:4).  You do not want to be judged with those who seek for the favor of people by putting on a religious show to cover up their lack of love for other people (Luke 20:46-47).

You may even come to see that your entire congregation is playing church, and you must leave it (Psalm 26:5).  They might have financial prosperity, but their focus on that has blinded them to the poverty that playing church has brought to them (Revelation 3:17).

You must separate yourself from anyone who teaches that financial property is the proof of being like the Father of Truth (1 Timothy 6:4-5).  They encourage people to play church instead of really following the Man of Truth, so they can sell merchandise (2 Peter 2:1-3).

Perhaps you have been in a congregation where everyone is playing church that is led by religious professionals who encourage people to play church.  Perhaps you have sincerely thought you were following the Man of Truth because playing church is all that you have ever known.

Perhaps you are tired of the emptiness that playing church has brought to your life, because a full life does not come from owning an abundance of things (Luke 12:15).  Perhaps, you are ready to gain the true riches of finding your contentment in the Father of Truth that leaves you content as long as you have food, clothing, and shelter in this world (1 Timothy 6:6-8).

When you sincerely love the Man of Truth, then you will follow him fully and come to really know him (John 14:21).  You will obey the commandments of the Father of Truth when you really love Him (1 John 5:1-3).

You will no longer have a carnal mind that cannot obey the Law of Truth (Torah aka The Law) when the Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost) is leading you (Romans 8:4-7).  You will understand the Word of Truth because you will have the mind of the Man of Truth instead (1 Corinthians 2:12-16).

If you have been playing church, then it is time to stop playing church and to come into the House of Truth instead.  You will never find yourself playing church in the House of Truth.

You come into the House of Truth when you surrender control of everything to the Man of Truth because you believe the Father of Truth raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9-11).  Then you will experience the peace and grace that can never be experienced by playing church (Ephesians 6:23-24).

Come into the House of Truth!