The Body of Christ: A State of the Union Address

(Content taken from the lecture series this week with Jack Frost from Shiloh Ministries, notes from Adam McCain’s Real Christianity Class, and the 2004 Barna Report)

Every year George Barna surveys the American Christian Churches to keep a “physical check up” on the church. The 2004 Barna report shows the body of Christ in a critical condition.

Consider the following from his survey of American Christians:

90% of Americans marry.

51% of CHRISTIAN marriages end in divorce (this is the first time the Christian divorce rate exceeded the secular world’s divorce rate.)

70% of people admit to having cheated on their spouse

30% of male protestant ministers have had a sexual relationship with someone other than their wife while active in their ministry.

1 in 3 relationships (both teenage and adult relationships) are abusive

Of 1000 subscribing members of the magazine Christianity Today:

45% of the single readers surveyed were currently
involved in sexually inappropriate behavior

30% of the married readers were currently having
extra-marital intercourse.

A recent study showed that young girls would prefer to have cancer, be sexually assaulted and raped rather than be overweight

50 million Christian people rely solely upon the internet to provide ALL of their faith based experiences

80% of the 20’s age group quit going to church

only 16% of American Christians are being discipled for spiritual growth or attend weekly meetings; whether it be small groups or corporate worship services

1/3 of Christian parents surveyed said if they had it to do over again, they would NOT have children

53% of parents resent the inconvenience their children have caused them and their having to make personal sacrifices for the children

70% of the students at a top seminary in the USA report to being on antidepressants.

98% of pastors do not pray with their spouses

75% of pastor’s kids are diagnosed as “clinically depressed” and seeking professional counseling


The yearly “check up” for the church revealed some serious health issues.

Pastor Jack Frost from Shiloh Ministries (http://www.shilohplace.org) spoke to the issue by saying that walking with God is not about what we do but about RELATIONSHIP. So often we exchange true life giving relationship with the Father for one of legalism.

He gave his testimony about becoming a new believer and going straight to Bible College. He had experienced a radical salvation and deliverance from drugs when he received Christ. He had a dynamic encounter with the living God that radically saved his life. Upon arriving to Bible College he began to excel because he was a very driven personality and excellence was his goal. Immediately he began take the instructions and make them weightier than they needed to be. The school requested the students read three chapters a day, so he committed to reading 10 chapters a day. The school suggested 1 hour a day in prayer, so he committed to 5 hours a day in prayer…and eventually the tools that were initially meant to build discipline and relationship became a heavy yoke that he could no longer bear and maintain…so condemnation set it. He describes himself as someone who gained his total identity in his academic excellence and achievements…a story I personally know all too well. It has been 9 years since my college graduation and God told me from the day of graduation, when I received my degree, that I was not to frame it or display it in any way…and to this day I still have never been given that release. My degree sits in a folder on my bookshelf between two parenting books. God made a real issue with me that I need to find my identity in HIM and in the testimony HE has given me…not in my accomplishments.

On Tuesday Pastor Jack spoke about the necessity of “crossing the bar” and the importance of having a testimony of our own. We cannot overcome on the testimony of others…but the Word tells us that we can overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of OUR testimony. It is in relationship that we build a testimony of God working in and through us. We have no authority to speak on matters until we have our own testimony of Christ in our lives. The personal testimony of our relationship with God brings authority, the ability to influence and to bear witness. Many people have a relationship with God based on knowledge and truth, but lack intimacy with God.

Jack also spoke to the issue of giving the enemy territory in our lives by leaving open doors due to sin and darkness that we keep hold of in our own lives. He said the enemy traffics in the night to steal our inheritance. He said darkness is a moral state where we hide things and keep secrets…giving the enemy a foothold. He went on to say that we can be forgiven and still not be cleansed if we harbor darkness in our heart. He referred to the passage that says “Do not let the light that is in you be in darkness…walk in the light as He is in the light and so have fellowship one with another.” He spoke of the importance of bringing our hidden secrets and sin into the light…confess your sins one to another and be healed. It is in revealing the dark secrets and hidden things that will bring freedom and allow one to be freed from strongholds. Things hidden keep you enslaved. If you choose to remain in darkness, this is the inheritance you will leave to your children and future generations.

A point he made concerning sexual sin is that, for many, once it has been forgiven, there is such a nature about sexual sin that it will cling to you like a garment of shame and many a believer, though forgiven, cannot walk in freedom due to the guilt and condemnation they feel towards themselves. Looking at the statistics from the “check up of the church” sexual sin is a very pervasive sin that is keeping people completely bound and tormented.

Pastor Jack said that we could learn to conquer these sin issues if we could understand the battle between Spirit VS Flesh, Grace VS Law, and Blessing VS Cursing. We don’t have to jump through hoops and perform a “dog and pony show” for God to gain his love and approval. He loved us while we were yet sinners. We have to learn to find a way to receive His love as He intends for us to experience His love. Pastor Jack said there was a huge danger when we have come to a place that we have no anticipation or expectation of love and affection from God or the people we love…that is when we begin to live in isolation. In isolation the enemy can cut you off from fellow believers and battle you in your mind with vain imaginations. You must overcome these dangerous thoughts with the truth of God’s word…”I have loved you with a loving kindness, I have loved you with an everlasting love”. We are loved, but it is hard for many to receive that love, or believe that love because we have believed a lie and placed ourselves in isolation and have grown to have no expectation or anticipation that people will love, accept or approve of us. We must transform the attitude of our heart to receive His love rather than walk in shame and condemnation.

He went on to describe 4 types of darkness:

1. Attitudinal sins: competition, envy, jealousy, selfishness
2. Another’s darkness can invade your life. Unresolved conflicts can lead to manipulation and control.
3. Love and criticism cannot co-exist. Unresolved conflict puts you in bondage.
4. Our masks, walls, cover-ups and pretenses: light reveals and darkness hides. Darkness is never stagnant. The sin of “hiddenness” is hypocrisy.

We must reveal our darkness to be fully healed and walk in the light. Things hidden will keep the church enslaved to sin…there is no victory in hiding our sins, but there is great freedom in bringing the darkness into the light.

There is a place of “Divine Immunity” where we can come into the presence of God and just receive the Father’s love—no strings attached. There is a realm of oppression that many Christians cannot seem to break free from. One of Pastor Jack’s examples was from the Sermon on the Mount. If we are angry with our brother we are guilty…unresolved conflict. He said it is possible to be right in correct judgment in what we are angry about towards our brother…but when we do that we have agreed with the accuser of the brethren and removed ourselves from the place of divine immunity. Rather, when we find ourselves in unresolved conflict with a brother we need to follow a Matthew 18 principle and make a peaceful resolution if at all possible.

It takes no spiritual maturity to see fault in another. It takes maturity to be able to say “forgive them for they know not what they do” and hold no ill feeling toward the person. If you leave unresolved conflict in relationships it is as if you have given Satan a legal copy of a key to your home, your church, or anything you have of value—for his own personal use.

Looking at the Barna report, clearly there are sin issues in the church that must continue to be dealt with in local churches on personal levels with much love and grace. Another question to consider is have we gotten so bad at handling personal relationships with God and our fellow believers that we have made ourselves sick?

A recent scientific study proved that if you are not touched at least 12 times per day in a healthy way that illness physically sets in within the human body. Illnesses that were followed in this study included heart disease, arthritis, skin conditions and many more. The physical body literally withers in health with the lack of the human touch. This study was also used to verify and confirm a previous study done on newborns that showed a 90% infant mortality rate among newborns in an orphanage that were only tended to in terms of being given nutrition and changing of diapers. Otherwise the babies were left in their cribs with no human interaction. 90% of the babies in the study died. The other 10% who survived were followed for 5 years and those children developed severe anti-social behaviors, attachment disorders and the doctors had said they believed these children would be a menace to society until their death.

How many people have fallen into sin that they are afraid to bring into the open for fear of condemnation? How many people are living in a personal isolation believing the lie that they are unlovable? I don’t have the answers…and I could only venture to guess that, looking at the Barna report, these are some questions that need to be asked and answered on a personal level within our sphere of influence with our Christian friends. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring GOOD NEWS!! There is HOPE. There is FREEDOM. And there is NO CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST. It is time we love –truly love one another, and bring our darkness into the light so that we may BE HEALED. And according to the study on human touch…we could likely HUG our way to wellness as a body of Christ that ministers hands on with people by developing relationships and friendships that go beyond the walls of the church.

Dawn