September, 2024, I found myself at a conference in Nashville, TN listening to various sermons, worshiping the Lord, and having the most amazing discussions with a group of fiery women who I now consider close friends. While I didn't feel the weighty presence of God 100% of the time, it was unmistakable that the veil between heaven and earth had been worn thin by worshiping Jesus in Sprit and truth, faith-filled prayer, and repentance. I can't remember the last time I felt this way. It felt like I was standing under a spout of revelation from heaven about God's word and His Person, and it was overwhelming. There were times where I couldn't get low enough to the ground. I would bury myself into the ground if I could. God's holiness is truly something not to take lightly. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that "our God is an all-consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29), and if you play with fire, you're going to get burned, but God's people are going to be refined.
A Hot Coal From Heaven Dropped Into My Lap
During this conference, there was a brief panel discussion among the speakers, one of which was Christine Caine, an internationally known Christian voice from Australia. She said something that struck me, and it was:
"I didn't know what career-Christianity was until I came to America."
The listening audience rang out with an "Oooohhhh!" across the auditorium. My mouth went agape. What she said wasn't news to me, but hearing it confirmed from the mouth of someone coming from a different country felt even more sobering, even sickening. As I was pondering these words, it seemed that almost out of nowhere, the presence, or should I say--the FEAR--of God fell on me in a way that is difficult to describe. With it came some of the strongest words from the Lord that I've ever heard outside of what the Old Testament prophets were commanded to prophesy to unfaithful Israel, yet, these words were completely bathed in the love of God. The words of the speakers began fading out of focus as I mentally went aside with the Holy Spirit to hear His heart on the matter, and to examine this hot coal He dropped into my lap. It was burning me, and all I wanted to do was repent with tears, for myself, and on behalf of the American church.
Now that you know the background of how the Lord gave me the message to deliver, please know that even now as I write, I've never before had this much fear in mishandling a word from the Lord. My usual protocol is to go ahead and share what I heard to social media, but this time felt different than times previous. If I followed my usual protocol, this message could do more harm to the church than good, and I don't dare approach the Lamb's Bride, His church, with a sword (Revelation 19:5-9). The fear I speak of isn't a fear of man of what they might say, but a fear of the One who sits on the throne, of whom I'll stand before and give an account. This word was also weighed and reviewed by prophets who walk in the fear of the Lord, according to Paul's protocol regarding prophetic words (1 Corinthians 14:29).
The Message
What I heard from the Lord seemed to come from left field, as the panel didn't even talk about this subject. I was dumbfounded when I so clearly heard:
"The church condemns the transgender movement, but transgenderism started by the world watching the American Church."
I was speechless. Astounded. "Lord, what did You just say?!" I exclaimed in my spirit. He continued:
"The church has become 'TRANSGENDER' in the sense that the American Church has tried to transform herself into something she was never created to be (i.e., celebrity Christianity, casual Christianity, career-Christianity, etc.). The American Church has wielded the knife against its own reproductive parts, and a church that can't multiply eventually dies. The identity crisis that America is experiencing now first started in the church, and the world is reaping the consequences of this. The body of Christ in America is like the celebrity that has gotten so much plastic surgery and body modifications that she is no longer recognizable. She has become unnatural. She no longer looks like a bride.
"It's time for her to remove the wig. It's time to dissolve the fillers, and the Lord will reinstate the true identity of the American Church and adorn her in the clothes that she was always meant to wear, which is the righteousness of Christ in the truth of his death and resurrection from the dead."
What is the Church's True Identity?
Before we can repent of this as a church, we need to understand as a church not only what we're turning away from, but what we're supposed to be turning toward, since the former without the latter is mere behavior modification with no real power to sustain righteous change. The question then becomes:
Who has God called the American Church, and the global church in general, to be in the earth?
The word for "church" in the New Testament is the Greek word ekklesia, which on a surface level, indicates a gathering of citizens from their homes to a public place; an assembly. However, upon further research, we find that this was originally a term referring to a group of people who had a governmental and executive function within ancient Greek society. This Greek word was a political term before it was ever adopted as a religious term (For more on this subject, read the below article in Additional Resources). In essence, the church was and is intended to function as God's governing body on the earth, and Jesus said that "the gates of hell will not prevail against it," (Matthew 16:18) indicating that demonic governments, agendas, and strongholds will ultimately be overthrown by His church that stands on the authoritative truth that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, and with this governmental authority, is a set a keys we've been given. These aren't just any keys to any ordinary city. These are the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, of which we are citizens (Philippians 3:20), and Jesus Himself indicates that with these keys, the church has been given the power to bind and loose, which are rabbinical terms actually meaning to "prohibit" and "permit" respectively (Matthew 16:19). It seems that for better or for worse, the church has been given these keys, and I'd like to submit that the American church, forgetting her authority, has left these keys buried in her pocket so that Satan is more free to run unchecked and unrestrained.
This being said, the answer is not for Christians to seek to overthrow man-made governments and to install a theocracy in which people are forced to abide by biblical principles, where we wage war against unbelievers (God forbid!). We were born-again into a supernatural war against the "god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4) who has his own governmental network of what Paul describes as "principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age," and "spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). Therefore, we don't fight flesh with the flesh, but these demonic strongholds, within both individual people and territories, require spiritual weapons in order to be effectively torn down (2 Corinthians 10:4). Such weapons include prayer and fasting, according to Jesus after His disciples failed to cast out a demon (Matthew 17:21). These disciples failed to help a boy get free from the power of demons because they hadn't grasped how to execute their governmental authority from Heaven by developing a lifestyle of prayer and fasting. Let that sink in.
Then, if you see secular America ravaged by a mass identity crisis, adding to it depression and anxiety on an unprecedented scale, know that it's because the church forgot her own identity first, and thus dropped their weapons. If you see governments trying to legislate the chemical castration of children so that they can switch genders, don't gawk at them. We should gawk at ourselves, weeping and mourning, knowing that corporately, we have failed to step into our God-given identity, so that those outside could see our example and follow suit. Instead, we have played the hypocrite like the religious leaders of Jesus's day who had the façade of governmental authority, and did have some authority in a natural sense, but from Heaven's perspective, they "shut the kingdom of Heaven in people's faces, for [they] neither enter [themselves] nor allow those who would enter to go in" (Matthew 23:13). These men were well adorned on the outside, but Jesus called them white-washed tombs. They placed their identity in an artificial righteousness developed from their works and public appearance, and not authentic righteousness that only comes from faith in the one true God.
Jesus's disciples, on the other hand, were messy--even foolish--but unlike the Pharisees and scribes, they were their authentic selves, and the only image they wanted to emulate was the humble Jesus of Nazareth, who "made Himself of no reputation" (Philippians 2:7), and "had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him" (Isaiah 53:1). While many wanted to be conformed to the superficial image of the Pharisees, with all its glitz, glamor, and praises of men, Jesus called people to be conformed to His lowly one; one that to the world isn't the most glamorous or attractive, but it's the only one that's real. It's the only one that has power. When we try to take the Pharisaical route of superficiality, we tie the hands of the Holy Spirit for the sake of appearances and ego, and the people around us continue to be subject to demonic oppression, even by our own hands.
Let's Repent
Today in America, the Lord's eyes are roaming to and fro, and He's skipping over the polished pastors in suits, who speak smooth words that sound like heaven, but they are living like hell behind closed doors. Instead, He's looking for those in the dirty, clothes of a fisherman, like what some of the original disciples wore. Outwardly, they smell funny. They look funny. But their identity is established in the One who has made Himself of no reputation, dropping everything to follow this Man, who is no mere Man, so he can learn how to cast his net over his city, state, or nation, to reconcile people to God, out of the grips of Hell, so that Heaven's population can expand. The ones that God is looking for don't dress in spiritual drag trying to win people over to a false gospel. They win people to the truth by The Truth, and where there is truth, there is life.
Lord, help me, and anyone who feels convicted by this message, to step into our true identity as the church. Continue to teach us what this means. In Your mercy, show us all the ways that we have misplaced the source of our identity, becoming conformed to the wrong image, in pursuit of what we thought we should look like. We repent for pointing people, intentionally or unintentionally, to a perverted image of You. We know that we're not true partners with the Holy Spirit to bring people into the kingdom when we do this. Give us a greater conviction to pray and fast for America and whatever plans You have for this land. We repent for not continually walking in the reality that Jesus is the Son of God who sacrificed Himself on a bloody cross because of our sins, and was raised to life 3 days later by the Spirit, and is still alive today. This truth is the solid rock that your governing body is built upon, which puts to flight the hoards of Hell. We consecrate ourselves to You once again, and we throw off the false to embrace the true. Holy Spirit, thank you for helping us look more like the Bride of Christ.
In Jesus name,
Amen.
The Secret Girl
Additional Resources:
What Does Ekklesia Mean? https://abetterfuturenow.com/what-does-ekklesia-ecclesia-mean/#objective
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