What is the role of a church?
By:
George Corazon
When should a church
get angry? Is anger sin? Is it true that Almighty God gave us the emotion of anger
that can be
used constructively or destructively?Did Jesus get angry? Yes!. When the cause is
righteous, anger is love's clearest voice. There is a time to get up on your feet
and allow righteous anger to motivate you into righteous action. There is a time to
become passionate about righteousness and justice. The tragedy of our day is that
the situation is so desperate, but the church is not. We watch our homeland get raped by
ungodly thieves and occupiers while our response is simply go along and get along.
We need to be angry enough and say we are not here to go along and get along, but
to fight the good fight of faith. We are supposed
to be the salt and the light. How can we claim to love our people and stand passively by
when they are wounded and exploited by greedy men?
How can a church preach love when it shows no love? If someone brings harm to your
family or rapes your children, would you not get angry? So my question is why are
the Lebanese churches across the US, Canada and the rest of the world are not angry?
Why do they stand by and do nothing?
I am not writing to criticize the clergy. On the contrary, I am saying that their role is
so important. Meanwhile we have an obligation to hold them accountable to a higher
standard. Yes, some are respectable, but unfortunately there are many others who are
actual wolves camouflaged in sheep clothing.Beware of the clergy leader who believes to be
above criticism simply because he has a cross around his neck. Is this concept godly?
Men are judged by their actions not words. Jesus himself pointed out
the evil of false
clergymen. He told them, you are of your father the devil. Remember the story about
the man who went from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves. He was robbed and left
half dead. The priest passed by and walked on the other side, the Pharisee passed by and
walked on the other side. Then the Samaritan came by and bound his wounds and helped
him. The world will never forgot that Samaritan, not for his riches or genius but
because he was merciful. Jesus painted the religious crowds as cold, pompous,
careless and mean spirited.
Many churches use the excuse "we do not get involved in politics".
This is just an excuse to avoid doing their duty and responsibility. We need
religious men who have guts enough to speak up against injustice to anyone of any faith.
We are not talking about politics, we are talking about having mercy. You can
be as religious as you want but if you have no Mercy,
you have lost touch with God. You can preach all you want, but if you have no mercy
you have lost touch with God. You can sing hymns all you want, but if you sing without a
merciful heart you are a fake. Mercy and compassion
are the core of the faith.
Why should churches have mercy? Why should they get angry and speak up against
injustice? Here is what pastor John Hagee have to say: "Christianity
without mercy is just another cult. If satin can take out mercy from churches, he
can kill Christianity. Mercy is the most important aspect of your faith. It is
the evidence that God is working in your heart. Mercy is greater than sympathy. Tears are
absolutely meaningless without action". The truth is, if you are not merciful,
you are not a child of God.
What is it to be merciful? It is more than just handing out blankets and sandwiches to
people on the street. It is more than doing and serving. You can do and serve with a
heart of iron. You can do and serve like a machine, like a religious robot. When you
are religious you can have ceremony without compassion. When you are religious, you can
have ceremony without righteousness. When you are religious you can serve
denominations and never let God in the door.
The Greek word for mercy is to be beneficial. What good is a tree without fruit or a well
without water. A church without mercy is a fraud. If a church is not beneficial, it
should be burned or sewed for false advertising. If a church is too busy with buildings
and budgets to show mercy, then it should write on it's wall that the glory of God has
departed. If God isn't there, you shouldn't be there."
What kind of church do you attend? Does your church have mercy? Does your
church show compassion? Are they too busy with programs and dinners? Is your
church neutral? Or do you attend a church filled with enough compassion to get angry
enough to take action? Is your church asking you to speak up against ungodly politicians
who raped Lebanon? Is your church asking you to show mercy? Is it asking you to be
angry about the death of 140,000 innocent people? to be angry about corrupts
politicians ? Does your church ask you to follow God and not political leaders,
parties or even religious leaders?
I will close with what Dante said "The hottest place in hell is reserved for the man
and woman, who in a moment of moral crisis took a neutral stand". Is your
church taking a neutral stand?? Does your church have the philosophy of "go
along and get along"? If so , it is time to find another church.
USA
20.5.02