THE BLEEDING CHURCH - Part 1

[Dr. Melody Barclay]

The Bleeding Church: The church with an issue of blood.

Unfortunately, in some of the Black inner-city communities and nations, the most terrible crime is the Black on Black crime, or the Blacks killing the Blacks. The Blacks are killing their very own race senselessly. And it does not just exist with the Black race that I can speak well of because I am Black. But we know it is happening in other cultures too in the East. However and with whoever, it’s another form of genocide. Genocide is a systematic plan of the annihilation of a racial, political or cultural group. So you
may say, there is a spirit of genocide working and prevailing in or over our city, as well as in many other urban communities.

But what is worse, we see the same thing going on. The greatest crime in the church is the saints on saints crime, or the saints killing the saints. The same killing, murdering, and assaulting their very own, is going on in the church, and the church is hemor-aging. It’s a very bloody issue. It’s the church with an issue of blood.

But why really, is it a bloody issue? First of all John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Jesus was beat to a bloody pulp, then crucified with nails driven in His hands and feet, and pierced in the side with a sword. The movie “The Passion of the Christ”, regardless of the rave reviews that it had, it really only gave us a glimpse of what it was really, really like. And even though millions of dollars were spent in making the movie, it still could not capture the pain, suffering and agony that Jesus went through and suffered Jesus gave 100% of Him self for 100% of us. The only wrong with that equation today is He is still giving 100% of Himself while some of us are only giving Him 95, 85 and 75%. And like milk, some are only giving 2%, 1%, and like the fat free milk, some aint giving Jesus no percent at all. It is because of this we have a bloody church. Because the Church is not giving up their whole selves to the Lord, because there is pain and unforgiveness that they won’t give up or let go; because they are envious or jealous; because they are insecure, intimidated by others because they don’t know what their true identity is in Christ, they are bleeding profusely. They are causing others to bleed. Because of their fleshiness and hardness, because of unforgiveness and bitterness, because of their loveless ness, they are bleeding profusely and they are causing others to bleed. So again we have a bloody church, a bleeding church, a church with an issue of blood. And because of the profuse bleeding, a slow decaying, dying church is the result. This is why churches can’t grow. This is why they can’t get to levels of maturity and prosperity in every area. Because of all the killing going on. Just like somebody in a car accident or someone who gets a deep cut to their veins or arteries, they can bleed to death. They can also suffer from internal injuries, unseen from the outside or with the naked eye, and they bleed to death internally. Even so in the church, there is a lot of internal bleeding going on. People are smiling, dancing, shouting, worshiping and attending services regularly; they have been seriously injured by what some saint said or did, you can’t see it from the outside but on the inside there is massive internal bleeding going on.

ARE YOU STUPID, DUMB OR WHAT?

“Are you stupid or dumb or what?” This was my angry response to watching the news on television, highlight another homicide of a black youth in my city. This is a good question to address to the church. Are you stupid, dumb or what?, to kill or hurt the ones that Jesus died for?; Are you stupid, dumb or what?, to kill and slay your own, and offend the ones that Jesus gave His life for?. The saints will borrow some money from some one and won’t pay some or none of the money back. They took the borrower’s word and trusted that they were going to pay it back They trusted them that they were going to do like they said. And now they act like O’ well. They don’t have no explanation, then if you get an explanation from them, they really don’t have any intentions of paying you back, after you trusted them. And then there may be some other things that they said or did, or were supposed to do, and they didn't come through or betrayed you. That hurts right? People feel used and taken advantage of, and that hurts. They feel lied to, and that hurts. Are you stupid, dumb or what? Many pastors have been in this same predicament, where they went out their way to loan their members and non-members alike money, or to bless them in some other kind of way. Only for them to be ignored, used or taken advantage of. It would behoove any of us to be Spirit-led and Spirit -directed in any of our giving. Some times we can’t always help people and sometimes we are not supposed to. Some times the Lord may lead you to hold back your hand from being a blessing to some one even though you can, just so that He can cause a person to trust only Him, or He might want to test and try their faith, to get them to rely upon Him only to meet their needs His way.

Another way the church offends another is when the saints approach someone in a warm friendly and Christly manner, and when the other person see them coming, they irun away from them, evade them or ignore them. Does anybody out there know what I mean? Where is the brotherly love? And if they just can’t get away from them and they just got to confront them, they try to fake a smile. People know when they feel love. They know when your hug and your smile aint real. Some saints have had some serous rejection in their lives, that they need great deliverance and healing from. And so when you’re not Christ-like, warm or sweet, they take on more rejection, you add assault to injury. My question to the church is again, “Are you stupid, dumb or what?, that you would hurt and injure those who Jesus Christ gave His life for. As believers, we just don’t know how much it hurts and grieves the Father, that there is so much lovelessness in the church. One morning while I was in worship service at a church, the Lord spoke to me and said “It really hurts me that My people don’t really love one another, it bothers me that they would hurt and offend one another.” When the Lord spoke this to me, I could feel His grieving heart and thegreat, great pain of it I wept and wept throughout the entire service. Even during the message I cried. I tried to contain myself as much as I could, but the pain and tears persisted. In other
words, God is tore up about how the saints are doing the saints, He’s really tore up about how His people are doing one another.

Continued - See Part 2

Continued- see Part 2.

[SANDRA DUKES, am]

Dear Dr. Barclay,
Thank you for such a powerful message it so sad but it is so true , hopefully when people like yourself speak out it will uproot this scourge that is infecting our churches and our communities. God Bless You