How To Spot Religious Abuse

Note: After posting these signs one by one on my Facebook wall, I had mentioned that when all had been posted, I would combined them together and place it all in a blog. Here it is. I originally ended with five signs, but I added one more that I had forgotten to mention. Keep these close by and refer to them as often as you need to. It will enable you to make the right decisions in choosing a church and also to keep the church you are presently serving in accountable to the Word of God.

We are blessed with so many wonderful and caring churches that teach the Word faithfully and impact the people who attend. But like people, not all churches are healthy. The reason is that not all people are healthy spiritually and churches are made up of people – the healthy and unhealthy. Some have more healthy people in it and others are plagued with the opposite.

When a church loses its focus which is to build up people and empower them to do ministry (Eph. 4:11-12), it can become toxic. When this occurs, people get turned off. No one wants to be part of a church that is judgmental, promotes conditional love, teaches salvation at a price, rules by self-righteous people, alienates itself from others and divides families.

However, what makes this kind of church worse is when its congregants believes it is doing right and acts out of a mindset that it is indeed biblical and healthy.  This then is quite deceiving when new people come for a visit and they don’t know anything of their group dynamics and control.

Therefore, if you are visiting a church for the first time and you want to know whether or not it is spiritually healthy (not perfect, but “becoming”), what signs should you look for?  You need information. Don’t be afraid to ask. You as a guest are expected to ask and inquire. I want to share with you five warning signs of an abusive unhealthy church by stating them as questions you need to ask.

Question #1: (To the Pastor) – “Who are you accountable to?”  Sign: Look for unchecked authoritarian leadership.

If the pastor tells you that he is only accountable to God, then a big red flag ought to pop up in your head. Danger and abuse are more assuredly in that church!

You see, the pastor may preach awesome messages, be well liked, spiritually caring and conservative, but if he is beyond confrontation and necessary correction, then he is serving as a loner and that is not healthy especially in ministry.  He is more likely independent and not part of a structure of accountability. He is a one man show. And God help the church member who gets in the way and makes waves by asking penetrating questions.

Abusive pastors often come from troubled backgrounds and are very insecure persons despite the “take charge” image they may project. They are power hungry people who crave visibility. Leaders who inflict spiritual violence often hide behind the smoke screen of authority to gain power. 

It is important to understand that religiously abusive church leadership is most visible when it demands public and private attention to be given the authority and control over the flock by the pastor. Often, in aberrant churches, this is not an easy thing to discern, and yet, it is frequently one of the danger signs that are too easily overlooked. Such leaders will seem too quick to chastise members, often in harsh forums of public rebuke.

Question #2: (About the Congregation) – “What are its overall spiritual condition?” Sign: Look for signs of imbalance.

Too often, church members of authoritarian churches are frequently comprised of young, spiritually immature Christians. This kind of church is successful because it is meeting basic human needs - the need to belong, the need to be affirmed, to be accepted and to be part of a larger family. It is not unusual for the leaders to assume the role of surrogate parents, especially for those young adults who come from dysfunctional family backgrounds.  Because of such deep yearning needs of those in the congregation, the authoritarian church pastor will attract and seek after in order to exploit his flock through manipulative control.

The abusive church leader or pastor will encourage in his membership an unhealthy form of dependency, spiritually and otherwise, by focusing on themes of submission and obedience to those in authority, i.e. himself. He wants to create the environment and impression that people just aren't going to find their way through life's maze without a lot of firm directives from those at the top. These firm directives are fleshed out in a demanding lifestyle rigidity that is actually a form of controlling and abusive legalism. A black and white view of the world is the mentality that is created in the minds of the abusive church's congregation.

Do's and don'ts found in church-supplied codes of conduct are taken so seriously that they have a stifling effect upon the spiritual liberty that Christians should enjoy and impose a dangerously controlling conformity upon the congregation.  Fear of messing up replaces joy of discovery. So then, a major component of such control is the usage of unspoken expectations: moral directives that everyone in the group knows are "the law", the way "things are", but which are never explicitly spelled out until one just so happens breaks one of them. It is then that personal punishment or sanctions are imposed.

So what you want to look for is a congregation that is being “empowered” to serve God and love their families by its leaders. You do not want to find people in the church who are simply “yes” people to its leaders, who will blindly do whatever they are told to. They ought to be people who are encouraged to “search the Scriptures” (Acts 17:11) in order to keep the leadership accountable to what they are teaching. You do not want to hear people say, “We do this or don’t do this because that’s what our pastor tells us.” Your aim is to be part of a church in which its members are encouraged to think for themselves, who are told that they can, with the Holy Spirit’s help read and understand the Scriptures, and if they mess up, God’s grace and forgiveness is in abundant supply.

Question #3:  How does the church handle people who leave? Sign: Look for two things: First, are the people afraid to leave the church? Second, do the leaders make people afraid to leave the church?

You see, what you want to discover here is this: The body of Christ is universal and not merely local. By this I mean, there is no one church that has it all. Some churches are gifted with great teaching and preaching, some would want to go there. Some are gifted with an awesome youth program, and some families need to go there. Some are blessed with inspiring praise and worship, some need to be there. Some have it all together with a budgeted mission and outreach ministry that reaches out to the world because members in this church are able to finance it. Some like this. Some like churches where they do not need to serve, but just sit and listen to the message, while others like a church where they are challenged to serve.

My point: No church has it all. And when someone within the church, senses the need to go to another church, does the congregation and leaders begin to ostracize the person or family in order to make them feel like they lost their salvation and are going to hell?

Beware of churches that warn of certain doom if you leave their “covering,” (i.e. you leave the church to go someone where else) or if you “break covenant” with them (membership). Once banished from the group, little compassion is shown. I have personally witnessed from experience and have talked to others, that former members of aberrant churches, when contemplating leaving the group, were issued dire warnings that they were backsliding, compromising and facing judgment from God.

As a means of preemptive control, the public teachings and private social life are regularly used to deliver indirect, yet unmistakable hints to potential "troublemakers" and the membership at large that one could never gain the same depth of spiritual truth anywhere else.  So in other words, this is the only church that fully and faithfully teaches the Word of God. All other churches are weak and deficient in this duty. Therefore, if you leave, you will be harming yourself and family spiritually and remember, “We told you so!”

Thus, only among the group could true insights into life be found, the real interpretation of the Bible be discovered, and the closest and deepest fellowship be experienced. With such carrots dangled on such long sticks for all to see, the reinforcement of the group's exclusivism is accomplished, making the fear of leaving to be the ultimate horror to be avoided at all costs.

Question #4: How does this church deal with sin? Sign: Look for signs of obsession with discipline and excommunication from the fellowship.

Church members who are seen as stepping out of line will find themselves being shunned or criticized by the so-called "true believers" in public, and will usually face much harsher treatment in the larger abusive church congregation. Some will go so far as to deny you to partake of the Lord’s Table (Communion Service).

Demeaning public rebuke, even ridicule from the pulpit is one means of religious abuse disguised as "discipline."  You’ll hear messages that are no mistakenly geared right at you.  But more often such power ploys are extended across the congregation or congregations in question through even subtler and indirect ways.

Question #5:  Does the church strongly encourage distancing members from those who are not part of its fellowship?  Sign: Isolation of members from outsiders.

Abusive church leaders want to maintain control over the flock. So one sure way is to prohibit any outside contact with those who are not a part of the church’s fellowship. In some instances, for church leaders to come out and say, “Thou shall not talk to any outsiders, would be a bit too strong and all kinds of red flags would be raised. So what leaders would do is plant more of a subtle approach. They will create bible studies and small group meetings during the week so that virtually every day of the week is a meeting that one must attend. The average family of this church will be so busy attending meetings on a daily basis that it would be literally impossible for involvement with outsiders to generate. Church leaders will teach and give the impression that the more meetings you attend, the more spiritual you are becoming.

It is not uncommon for such leaders to say things like, “Love not the world and neither the things in the world.” Or “Come out from among them (the world) and be separate.”  Or “Satan is the god of this world, and whoever is friends of this world is an enemy of God.” All of these are found in the bible, but they must be understood in their rightful context.

While it is true that Christians ought not to love this world system, nor put the things of this world above their relationship with Christ, isolation from the world was never Jesus’ intention. He was the one who said, “Be salt and light in the world” (Matt. 5:13-14).  One does not light a lamp and hide it where it can’t be seen and useful to others (v. 15). When abusive church leaders literally keep their saints locked away attending meetings after meetings and not encourage them to “go and make disciples” (Matt. 28:19), this is a positive sign of religious abuse.

It is also not uncommon within these types of churches to observe that even family relationships within the group become severely disrupted and strained, since the demands for attention to be given to the "spiritual family" become all too important. Parental and marital bonds may be strained or shattered over the need for individual family members to more fully identified with the church group, and non-member relations outside of the group are often stunned at how cold and distant their once loving family members became when they "got religious” and began attending “that church.”  The abusive church's "spiritual family" then becomes the recipients of the warm family ties and affections that group members desperate need since they have withdrawn from their own family.

This is one of the most heartbreaking and shattering consequences of religious abuse dispensed by such churches. Many people who have suffered unspeakably agonizing losses of their marriages, children and parents at the hands of abusive group leaders, end up committing themselves to the church while ignoring the warnings of loved ones. Yet they are unaware that their relationship with their church leaders and their obsessive commitment to the church is far too spiritually polluting, smothering and destructive and it will produce disastrous consequences.  

You’ll hear stories like this one where a wife will come to her senses and leave the church, but the husband will remain and later be counseled to divorced her since his she has now become part of the world system.

6) Does the church encourage its members to withdraw and isolate from the “outside?” Sign: Look for signs in which the leadership discourages its members from rubbing elbows with other churches and its members.  This is known as “information control” and it is a crucial element to control its members’ minds. 

When you go to a church and you hear the same pastor preach week after week, and on top of that, he belittles other churches and pastors on a regular basis, you know something is not right.

Also, news events, local issues, and personal events are reinterpreted by the church leadership in such a way so as to lead the congregation to see the world as they wish it to be perceived. Bible verses are misquoted as divine sanction for these actions, citing the need to be separate from the doomed and satanic world order outside of the group's domain.

This contributes to the construction of a completely sealed society of people who effectively shut out the world from among them, even though they may continue to move within it. Newspapers, television programming, and even ordinary social interaction with other members of the larger culture become strongly discouraged. The issue goes way beyond a pious avoidance of tempting imagery and thought but actually is a means to stifle and control the thoughts, consciences and spiritual autonomy of the individual member.

Abuse in the name of the one true God who is the embodiment of love and grace is certainly one of the great tragedies of our time that have both broken His loving heart and aroused His wrath upon church leaders who have savaged His flock. The Gospel of Jesus Christ can never be served or proclaimed where fear, coercion, and outright spiritual trauma is inflicted. Only the cause of religious tyranny and megalomania is advanced.  Instead, love, sacrifice, prayer and a strong commitment by church leaders to empower God’s people with His Word and to live out daily Christ-likeness, are places of worship where you want to take you and your family and friends.

When Is It Right To Offend a Non-Christian?

Let me begin with this case study: Let’s say you have a neighbor you have been praying about for quite some time. He is unsaved. You have had talks with him and even invited him to church. You have done your best to behave like a believer around him.

Let’s say one day he sees you and says to you, “Mack, I’ve been thinking about what you have been telling me about Jesus. I just need a little more clarification. But I am starting to open up concerning spiritual matters. Would you like to come over for dinner on Saturday?” Your heart leaps for joy. This is what you have been praying for. This is an open door from the Lord! Obviously you say to him, “Yes, I will be there on Saturday.” Then you add this: “Bill, can I also bring over a friend of mine. He is a new believer. I’ve been mentoring him and I think he would really benefit from our conversation.” Bill says to you, “Sure bring him over. I’ll see you both on Saturday at 6:30pm.”

Saturday comes and you are at Bill’s home right on time. You also have your friend, “Joseph,” who is a new believer with you. He looks a little nervous, but you assure him that he is there just to listen and learn.

Bill lets you both in and tells you that dinner is ready so he shows you to the table. He has the table all nicely set. You see the nice green salad, mash potatoes and gravy, warm buns, ice tea to drink. The main dish is yet to be brought out. The smell coming from the kitchen is awesome.

Finally Bill comes from the kitchen with the main dish. He is carrying a pork roast. You can smell the seasoning and it looks great. Bill sets the pork roast on the table and says, “I’ve been working on this pork roast and dinner all day. I hope you fellas like it. Oh, I forgot the salt and pepper. I’ll be right back.”

As Bill heads off into the kitchen, Joseph, your young mentee says to you, “I have a problem.” You say, “What is it?” He says to you, “This pork roast. I cannot eat it.”

“What? What do you mean, you can’t eat it?”

Joseph says, “It’s my Jewish upbringing. I was always taught that eating pork is bad for you and a sin against God. Therefore, I feel like I shouldn’t eat it.”

Okay, now you are faced with a problem. You do not have time to explain to Joseph that in Jesus, he is free to enjoy pork.  So now you are faced with your own decision: Should you not eat the pork and risk offending your unsaved neighbor whom you have been praying for, or should you eat the pork and risk offending your younger brother in Christ?

You reason to yourself: “Well, if I offend my neighbor and not eat his roast pork, he may say, “Forget this stuff. I want no part of it.” But if you offend your younger brother, so what? At least he’s saved. He’ll grow up in Christ eventually and see that it’s not wrong to eat pork.”

Pause: What would you do? What decision would you make? Would you abstain from eating the pork and risk turning away your unsaved neighbor, or would you eat the pork in the presence of your younger brother in Christ and risk offending him?

Do you know that the Bible addresses this issue? Notice the passage below:

23 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. 24 No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. (In these two verses, Paul is stating a principle that he will expand on in the following verses. The principle is this: Although I have been given freedom in Christ to enjoy life, there are some things that I should not do, not because it’s wrong, but because to someone else, it is wrong.” Now he gives an example.

25 Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, 26 for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”  (Meat sold in the markets back during this time was really cheaper than meat sold out of the market. The reason why the meat was cheaper was that some of it had been used in idol worship. The meat was not touched or messed with. It was simply put on an altar, given over to an idol and brought back to the market to be sold. The market had to sell it cheaper than other meats not used in idol worship only because it was used. But you know that the meat is still good. Nothing wrong with it. Now Paul is going to give a case study which is similar to the one I gave at the beginning.)

27 If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. (Don’t ask questions. The less you know where the meat came from, the better.) 28 But if someone says to you, (i.e. someone who is with you who may have issues with the meat), “This has been offered in sacrifice,” (he says, “Hey, this meat was purchased in the market. It was probably offered to an idol. I can’t eat of it) then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience. (Did you get that? You have a choice: Offend the unbeliever or offend the believer. Paul says, don’t offend the believer.) 29 I am referring to the other person’s conscience, not yours. (You are abstaining from eating the meat not because you have issues, but for the sake of the other person with you. It is his conscience that is the issue, not yours!) For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience? (In other words, “Why do I have to give up what I like to eat for the sake of another person’s conscience?”) 30 If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for? (If I am thankful and cool about it within my own conscience, why am I the one who has to abstain?)  In the next few verses, Paul tells why).

31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (First, you ought to do whatever it takes to bring glory to God. If eating meat glorifies God, then eat it! But if it doesn’t, then there is no question what should be done. Abstain in order to glorify God!) 32 Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God — (Second, don’t eat the meat if it will cause someone to stumble. You see, the issue is not whether it is good or bad to eat the meat. The issue is this: Will eating meat bought in the market tear down the faith of another member of the body of Christ? If eating meat sold in the market place does this, then I should not eat it. By doing so, I bring glory to God by not causing a member of Christ’s church to stumble.) 33 even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, (Although I do my best to try to please everyone, I know that that it cannot be done. This is why Paul uses the word “try.” I try, but I am unsuccessful. So then what? Then this: I ought to live my life not seeking my own good, but the good of many!  Notice that Paul did not used the word “everyone?” He said, “many.” In other words, by taking a stand to give up your freedom for the sake of another person’s conscience, you won’t please everyone, but you will do good to the many.  This then is the third reason why it becomes necessary to be willing to give up our freedom: It brings with it the good of many. By trying to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. But my doing what is right, you end up not pleasing everyone, but you will do the “good of the many”).

so that they may be saved – 1 Corinthians 10:23-33  (Fourth, in this situation, the best way to win the lost, is by loving your brothers and sisters who’s faith is challenged over such issues. God will use your love as a means to speak volumes to those who are lost and without Christ.)

How so? Here’s an example: Bill returns back from the kitchen with the salt and pepper and he looks to you and says, “Okay, we’re ready to eat.”

Right then you could say, “Bill, I have something I need to share with you. I hope you will not be upset, but if you are, I understand. Joseph, my brother in the Lord, grew up in a Jewish culture. He was taught from a very young age that eating pork is wrong. You see, the bible does mention this in the Old Testament. But he has not been taught on how his relationship with Christ has set him free from the dietary laws that were handed down by God to the Jews. So in his conscience, he cannot eat your luscious pork roast.

“And here is the thing, I cannot eat it too. It’s not because I feel the same way, I don’t. But I love my younger brother and I do not want his conscience to be offended. If I eat the pork and he is offended, I will also be offending God. So, please excuse us both from having to eat your pork. We’re so sorry. But we can still eat what you have here on the table and we are so grateful for your hard work and for inviting us over for dinner.”

Having said this, Bill has two possible responses: “What?  You silly Christians! Now I know why I did not want to become one in the first place!”

Or, “Wow, I have never seen such love demonstrated in all my life. I work at a job where it is everyone out for himself. I grew up in a home where little love and consideration was shown. But if you are willing to abstain from something you are able to do for the love of your friend, that shows support. Are all Christians like this?”

You laugh, “Well, we all got a lot of growing to do. But Jesus did command us to love one another and when we do, He said others will know that you are truly my disciples.”

“Now you got attention,” says Bill. “If that’s what Jesus taught and if that is how Christians ought to love, then I want to know more about your Jesus.”

Conclusion: You see, if I choose to offend my younger brother and eat the meat, hoping that by doing so, I could win Bill to Jesus, it won’t work! Why? Because God is also offended, I have sinned against Him, and now I expect Him to open up Bill’s heart and be introduced to Jesus? God is not going to bless where sin has the upper hand.

But if I do the right thing, and by doing so, I glorify the Lord by not offending my brother by eating meat that he believes was offered to an idol, God is pleased, and I stand a very good chance of winning Bill to the Lord. In fact, I stand a greater chance of winning Bill to Jesus by honoring my brother’s conscience, then I do by weakening it.

It is never cool to flaunt your freedom around as if you’re making a statement, “Look what I can do as a Christian!” Eating meat offered to idols or drinking alcohol are not signs of maturity. Anyone can do that! Abstaining from such things for the sake of a challenged brother or sister – a blood bought member of God’s family – now that’s real maturity that God will honor and as a result, He will showcase that kind of love for others to see.

Agape entails sacrifice. The world will not notice our agape by our freedom to do what they can also do. Rather they will come to see our agape when they see how much we love and care for one another. If we throw our own under the bus, then we are no different than those in the world.

Is It Possible For People To Be Good Without God?

More and more the culture in America is becoming increasingly secular. This is largely due to the influx of atheists and secularists who are hell bent on removing anything that represents God – whether it’s the Ten Commandments and prayer in public schools or ousting churches from using public school facilities.

Atheists and secularists will not stop until every aspect of Christian morality is supplanted by the new morality of the postmodern philosophers–a morality with no absolutes, and without God.

To give you a taste of the kind of thinking that is permeating our culture, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, an influential liberal partisan in the Culture Wars, believes that it is wrong to have faith in God as necessary for moral goodness. In Letters to a Young Lawyer, Dershowitz argues that obedience to the God of the Bible can often be immoral. We should not be good because we fear divine punishment, Dershowitz argues, but because we aspire to good character. “In deciding what course of action is moral,” he instructs, “you should act as if there were no God. You should also act as if there were no threat of earthly punishment or reward. You should be a person of good character because it is right to be such a person.”

But how does one know what is good unless there is an objective reference to go by?  If human beings are left to our own devices and limited to our own wisdom, we will invent whatever model of good character seems right at the time. Without God there are no moral absolutes. Without moral absolutes, there is no authentic knowledge of right and wrong.

So then, here is the point I wish to make. Since it is impossible to know right from wrong apart from God or some objective divine source, we should not be surprised when an atheists acts amoral. But what ought to bring to us a measure of disbelief is when Christians act in similar fashion.

I know that God is allowing one man – Mitch Kahle, to motivate the church toward greater advantages through persecution.  We must remember, however, to keep a proper perspective. Mr. Kahle is doing the church a great favor. He is getting us out of our comfort zone and complacency which is something we Christians often tend to gravitate toward.

Here in America, we know nothing or very little on what it means to be persecuted for our faith in God. About the only persecution we know is when people at work either laugh at us for standing up for something that is moral, or make sly remarks when we pray before we eat our lunch.

So when God allows someone like Mitch Kahle to give the church some challenges, we react by saying, “How dare he do that! I hope he gets what is coming to him. Who does he think he is?”

Mitch Kahle is acting normal. How can someone who is an atheist act morally right when he has no belief in God? If Mitch did act morally sound, then that would be for us a problem of epic proportion. How would we explain the moral behavior of an atheist?  We would have to then admit that it is possible to know right from wrong apart from God, and if that is so, then we got a lot of explaining to do.

Mitch is a blessing to the church.  He is acting exactly the way we want him to and expect him to. His behavior can booster our witness for Jesus Christ.

But what limits our witness and makes it hard to explain, is when Christians who have Jesus and therefore know what is right from wrong, choose to behave as if there is no God. We do not expect this to happen, but when it does, we just say, “Oh well, we’re not perfect only forgiven.” But when Mitch Kahle acts normal as a result of his beliefs, we look at him and think of a monster.

We need people like Mitch Kahle to wake up us Christians and hopefully as a result of being brought out of our slumber, to repent of our abnormal behavior and stop judging others for acting normal according to their beliefs.

Reality Check For the Church

Sarah and Matt live in an area of West Virginia that is prone to floods, so they’ve developed a plan to be prepared at all times: valuable heirlooms are stored in plastic in their attic, copies of important documents are kept in a safety-deposit box, and the car never has less than half a tank of gas in case they need to evacuate quickly. Sarah and Matt live in an area of West Virginia that is prone to floods, so they’ve developed a plan to be prepared at all times: valuable heirlooms are stored in plastic in their attic, copies of important documents are kept in a safety-deposit box, and the car never has less than half a tank of gas in case they need to evacuate quickly.

Because of the frequency of floods, it has kept Saran and Matt living in reality that there is a good chance there could be another one. You have to admit, the more floods that occur, the more people are prone to be prepared for future ones.

In the similar manner, God wants His people to live in reality. This means facing the truth, even if it does not sit right. God has sent judgments of the past – a flood, a fire and deportation. All designed to motivate His people to live in reality.

When I speak of living in reality with reference to judgment, here is what I have in mind: As a pastor, I often hear Christians wax eloquent on the Bible, God and Gays.  Everyone has their opinion and listening to them can be enlightening at times.

But one thing I have noticed when I listen to people who associate the judgment of God with the increase in gay rights is this: “God is angry with this country. It is only a matter of time before we will end up like Sodom and Gomorrah and be completely destroyed.” 

Because of the great influx of Christians who hold to this view – all or to some degree, their attitude toward gays is not that loving to say the least.

So, what I would like to do for just a short time is to give us all a reality check using the Bible of course, as our guide.

Let me begin with this question: “Why did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah?” If you were to ask this to the average believer, he or she would say, “Because the whole place was filled with homosexuals!”

But when I read the bible, that’s not what I discover. Look with me in Genesis 18. God and Abraham are dialoging about the subject of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Abraham asks God this question: “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked” (v. 23)? Then Abraham goes off into a few scenarios:

What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing —to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

26 The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake. ”

27 Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, 28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”

“If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”

29 Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”

He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”

30 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”

He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

31 Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”

He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”

32 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”

He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”

33 When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.

To sum this all up, God is saying, “If you can find me just ten righteous people living in this city, I will spare it from judgment.”

Here was a city that had several thousand people living in it. God said, “I will pass this city by if I can find ten righteous ones.”

Well you know the story in Genesis 19. God rains down fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah. Why? Because of the proliferation of homosexuals?  NO! Because of the absence of righteous people! Did you get that? Reality check!  Don’t read Genesis 19 without reading chapter 18 with it. If you do, then you will come away with a distorted view of reality and why God brought judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah.

So then, since God destroyed both Sodom and Gomorrah, was it the gays who were at fault, or was it something deeper that most Christians look the other way from? Yes, Sodom and Gomorrah were populated with gays. But at the same time, these cities were unpopulated with righteous people – so what the in world was Lot doing all those years as he lived there? He was blending in rather than bleeding out the love of God. No one looked at Lot and said, “I want what he has!” As a result, the gay population increased while righteousness was found in less than ten people. Therefore, the fault clearly lies on the godly and not on anyone else. 

Still not convinced? One passage ought to convince anyone. But if you are still not convinced of what I just said, then notice what God says in Ezekiel 16:48-50: As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.

49 “‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.

Again, this is God speaking. God says, “this was the sin of your sister Sodom.” What was the first sin mentioned?

1.    Arrogance. Is this only true of some people or do Christians battle with this?

2.    Overfed. Now this never occurs within Christendom. None of us can identify with this, right?  :)

3.    Unconcerned. Again, this only occurs among other people, not those who name the name of Jesus!

4.    Not helping the poor and needy.  And may I add that this also applies to members within our own family. I find it disheartening when I see believers going out of their way to lend a hand to help a stranger, but when it comes down to their own immediate blood, there is a deep level of lack of concern.

5.    Haughty (v. 50). Which reiterates the sin of arrogance.

6.    Doing detestable things.  Now you can add to this whatever you choose to, but one thing you cannot do is to subtract all the sins mentioned before it.

My point: Do you still think that God simply rained down fire from above because it was all a gay issue?  It was because of all these things that there was a lack of ten righteous people.

Still not convinced? Two passages ought to do it, but you are asking for more?

How about Jeremiah 5? Here is what God says in verse 1: “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem,
    look around and consider,
    search through her squares.
If you can find but ONE person
    who deals honestly and seeks the truth,
    I will forgive this city.”

In the case of Sodom, God says, “Fine me ten righteous people.” Here regarding Jerusalem, God says, “Just fine me one righteous person.”  Jeremiah could not find one, and so God sent the Babylonians to invade the city in 605 and 586 B.C. and leveled the land and deported the people as slaves into Babylon. And by the way, Jerusalem was not known to be a gay city. When it came to judgment, it all boiled down to the lack of righteous people.

Remember reading about the flood in Genesis 6? God sent a universal flood that wiped out not only just a city or two, but the whole world! Why? Was it because of the proliferation of evil people?  Here is what God told Noah: “For you ALONE I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time” (Gen. 7:1).  It’s the same principle over and over. It is not the proliferation of evil people, but the absence of righteous ones that finally brings down the judgment of God.

Therefore, the church needs a reality check. Don’t read your newspapers and listen to the news and say, “Oh my God, we’re heading for hell in a hand basket! Look at all the sinners out there!”

Rather we all should say, “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner. Help me to be passionately involved in fulfilling the Great Commission which entails for me to go out and make disciples” (i.e. other righteous people). 

Because in the end, when America goes down, and it is only a matter of when, it won’t be because of the proliferation of gays, adulterers, fornicators, child-molesters, drunkards, swindlers, etc., it will be because of the lack of righteous people.  This then could only mean one thing: Judgment occurred as a result of the church not doing her job and living up to the standard God has equipped her to live by. Rather than bleeding out the love of God to those who do not know God, we blend in with the rest of the world our own form of judgmental attitude, hatred, strife, malicious gossip and a separatist holier-than-thou-mentality.

Again, here is a reality check: “For it is time for judgment to BEGIN with the household of God” (1 Peter 4:17). Make no mistake about it, God will judge sin and the sinner, but not before He deals with us.