WHOSE HANDMAID IS THE CHURCH?

Church is called to be the handmaid of the LORD Jesus Christ. We are to serve Him, and His interests alone. We are to be His representatives and His ambassadors. We are not to do anyone’s bidding. We are not to serve anyone except, the LORD Jesus. 

In the times past, there were many an empire, and many a power, that wanted the church to be its handmaid. Even today, we that very much. Beware my dear people of God, however good may be the intentions, the LORD chose a different path, for us, as His disciples, and His ambassadors, for the work of redemption, here on the earth. We have to tread ever so carefully, if not, we will entangle ourselves in the affairs of the world, and pretty soon, we will be bidding for the empire, and its interests.

History is replete with many an example, where the church whored itself, all too happily, for crumbs of power. It happened with Rome, so also through the centuries following, even untill today.
Racism, Colonisation, Slavery, Murders and Killings in he name of doctrines and disagreements. The insightful thoughts of Philip Yancey, speaks volumes on this subject.
– “Be careful,” warned Nietzsche, “lest in fighting the dragon you become the dragon.” I see the confusion of politics and religion as one of the greatest barriers to grace. C. S. Lewis once said that almost all crimes of Christian history have come about when religion is confused with politics. Politics, which always runs by the rules of ungrace, allures us to trade away grace for power, a temptation the church has often been unable to resist.”

Philip Schaff, writing in his book, “History Of The Christian Church” comments thus about us and the Church…
– “More Christian blood has been shed by Christians than by heathens and Mohammedans.”

Jemar Tisby’s comments on the Church in the West, and its active participation in sinful practices even today are enlightening…
– “Christian complicity with racism in the 21st century looks different…[than its]… complicity with racism in the past,”…”Racism never goes away. It adapts.”

Frederick Douglass, a slave victim himself, from 1800’s, describes to us, the horrors of slavery, and complicity of the Church…
– “I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of the land… I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels. Never was there a clearer case of ‘stealing the livery of the court of heaven to serve the devil in.’ I am filled with unutterable loathing when I contemplate the religious pomp and show, together with the horrible inconsistencies, which every where surround me. We have men-stealers for ministers, women-whippers for missionaries, and cradle-plunderers for church members. The man who wields the blood-clotted cowskin during the week fills the pulpit on Sunday, and claims to be a minister of the meek and lowly Jesus. . . . The slave auctioneer’s bell and the church-going bell chime in with each other, and the bitter cries of the heart-broken slave are drowned in the religious shouts of his pious master. Revivals of religion and revivals in the slave-trade go hand in hand together. The slave prison and the church stand near each other. The clanking of fetters and the rattling of chains in the prison, and the pious psalm and solemn prayer in the church, may be heard at the same time. The dealers in the bodies of men erect their stand in the presence of the pulpit, and they mutually help each other. The dealer gives his blood-stained gold to support the pulpit, and the pulpit, in return, covers his infernal business with the garb of Christianity. Here we have religion and robbery the allies of each other—devils dressed in angels’ robes, and hell presenting the semblance of paradise.”

May the LORD Jesus grant us grace to know how fallen we are. Even as the redeemed of the LORD, we still have the potential to get misled, and we ourselves mislead all others. May we earnestly seek the LORD for His wisdom in walking His path, under His direction. Haven’t we seen the religious heads, and the priests of Jesus’ times? They believed they were right. They believed Jesus was wrong. They believed, their anger and hate towards Jesus is, the righteous anger of God. Oh how blind were they? The question to ask ourselves today is, WHOSE HANDMAID IS THE CHURCH?