FreshBread- Food for Thought From Raven Ministries
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The Fabric of Harlots by Faye Higbee
When garments are sewn together, a good tailor or seamstress will know what thread to use, what needle size to put in the machine, and which types of material work best together. If a garment is sewn with too heavy a thread, it can bunch up and not be smooth on the seams. Too light a thread will easily break. If you sew two pieces of material together such as a light rayon to a heavy denim, it will tear holes through the seam and the garment will be ruined. Too big a needle on light material will also create holes and tear it prematurely.
In God’s Kingdom, who we “stitch” ourselves together with will mean the difference between a strong, long-lasting bond and an easily torn harmful one. Are we of like mind and heart? Are we willing to care for each other? It is also the difference between the “harlot church” and the true church.
A prostitute does what she does for personal gain, and moves from partner to partner in search of money. She rarely makes true relationships, but rather shallow ones that use her and make of her an object of lust rather than the precious gem she was created to be. And so it is with the “harlot” church, the one that has moved into the shallow vein of using rather than the strong relationships that will hold together in tough times.
Read Rev 17 and 18
Traditionally, the “great harlot” is taught as the “whore church.” People have taught that it’s the Catholics, the mainline denominations, etc. That interpretation is incorrect- denomination has nothing to do with it. If you read the entire passage, it seems as though it is speaking of secular institutions. Or is it? Why has it been traditionally interpreted as part of the church?
It is believed that the “great whore” at least includes the church due in part to Rev 18:4: “And I hear another voice from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.’”
The Old Testament consistently called the chosen people of God “harlots” as they compromised with the world: when they built the golden calf; when they worshiped Baal, when they rebelled against Godly authority, when they failed to seek the face of God, when they treated His people poorly and used them, etc. (Jeremiah 23, Isaiah 58)
When the church adopts the ways of the world itself, it has committed the sin of adultery against God.
In Hosea, God chose Gomer the prostitute as the sign to His people that their actions were harlotry, that they had abandoned their part of the covenant with Him. Hosea was to have children by her because God wanted them to see that they were perpetuating apostasy by their continual breaking from the Lord. The “fabric” of the people of God was torn and unstable, rather than strong and faithful.
The current Body of Christ has “stitched itself” together with false unity- sometimes for personal gain, sometimes out of convenience, sometimes out of tradition. It is done without the heart call of the Spirit of God.
And just because someone is “Spirit-filled” does not mean they are part of YOUR section of the fabric. If there is no like heart, no love, the “unity” created is shallow and bound to fail, sometimes at the expense of the people who have done it.
4 years or so ago, Benny Hinn prophesied that a revival was coming in which there would be no cross. We are seeing around the country places in which personalities are elevated to celebrity status, but the broken and the lowly are not changed. Sometimes there are healings, but often there are many disappointments.
If you want to know the difference between the true church and the false church, check the FRUIT. How did Jesus operate? What did He do?
Jesus lifted the broken and healed to
change lives (examples: Bartimaeus, the woman with the issue of blood, the
woman of Nain, the disciples, etc). He lifted them from obscurity to favor, He
changed their lives. The woman at the well in
1 Corinthians 12 specifically says that
the part which lacks is the part that is given “greater honor” in the
Today we have the exact opposite flowing unchecked through the Body of Christ. There are important people, the celebrities, and there are the peons who are not allowed to speak or who are ignored because they are not “useful” to bring success. There are those who have given all that they have to follow a big name, but are ultimately thrown away as soon as their money and usefulness runs out. Relationships of value are nonexistent in many ministries. Why? Because, like Benny Hinn mentioned, the CROSS is absent.
So who cares about that old cross, anyway? Isn't that a bunch of religious bunk? Aren't we way past that?
The cross is an equalizer.
It takes broken, weary, lost people, and changes their lives to bring hope and
joy. Through the cross, God accepts
The Bible is clear that “two cannot walk together unless they are agreed.” The unity we seek is not in doctrine, or in big meetings with adoring fans, but of heart and Spirit, of truth and integrity. Jesus told the woman at the well that God seeks those who will worship Him in Spirit and in truth – truth being the honesty and love with which we deal with each other and with God.
In the Presence of God there is fullness of joy why? Because of total love. In His light there is no darkness. The closer we draw to God the more “naked” we become – in His Presence there can be no pretext, no falsehood. The false church refuses that love, that honesty and exchanges fame, fortune, the lusts of the flesh for it. Wherever there is a seed of self-seeking, the Bride’s dress is no longer properly stitched together and tears apart. (James 3:16- “Where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.”)
When the New Testament admonishes people to “crucify the flesh”, it really tells us that if we keep our focus on God in the midst of all that happens around us, we keep ourselves from seeking things that will cause us to fall into a pattern of harlotry. We won’t want to kiss up to the wrong people if we have no desire to be like them, or use people to further our plans. We won’t fall into deception if our focus is on loving the Lord and each other. We won’t be weak if we trust the Lord and rely on His power.
God is currently shaking everything that can be shaken in the church. A separation is occurring between those who are willing to stitch themselves to each other in love, and those who want religious confederations and self-important greed games. The social gospel will not stand in the light of eternity, but neither will a gospel that seeks self-importance and fame over the lives of people. When the new world order completely takes over, the true church will not be in the biggest buildings, they will be in the small groups where the power of God is revealed in love. The true church will be the garment of praise stitched together with love…and it will be unbreakable!
“These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen and faithful.”
Rev 17:14