It took me a long time to understand what people meant about how the religious spirit works. I was irritated when people began talking about and labeling people with these religious spirits. Religion can be pure and undefiled and good. Unfortunately, what was intended to be good was used to oppress and hurt people, choking out freedom and love and handing people heavy yokes instead.
In God’s name, there have been prideful people who exchanged the message of the Good News for a legalistic institution they could control.
What I can’t get out of my mind lately is how desperately churches need to minister with trauma-informed care. Consider how disastrous abusive marriages have been and are. But marriage CAN be pure and undefiled and good. This institution also was created to be good but has also been used to oppress and hurt people. Likewise, idolizing the institution of marriage over a person’s safety chokes beauty out of their relationship and hands the abused shameful, heavy yokes instead.
In God’s name, this relationship, created to be good, has been exchanged for a legalistic institution that could be more easily controlled.
Did you know that laws in various countries, including the US, allowed husbands to physically discipline their wives? Domestic violence was legalized starting around 753 BC in Rome. Up until the 1970s, women in various states didn’t even have the right to press charges, leave, or divorce their abusive husbands. It wasn’t until the 1990s that all 50 states deemed marital rape to be illegal.
I genuinely believe that trauma-informed ministry models could significantly contribute to the most outstanding revival the world has ever known.
This is what the Lord promised Israel when He instructed the Israelites in the kind of behaviors and sacrifices that really pleased Him:
Then you will call out, and the Lord will respond; you will cry out, and he will reply, ‘Here I am.’ You must remove the burdensome yoke from among you and stop pointing fingers and speaking sinfully. You must actively help the hungry and feed the oppressed. Then your light will dispel the darkness, and your darkness will be transformed into noonday. The Lord will continually lead you; he will feed you even in parched regions. He will give you renewed strength, and you will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring that continually produces water. Your perpetual ruins will be rebuilt; you will reestablish the ancient foundations. You will be called ‘The one who repairs broken walls, the one who makes the streets inhabitable again.’ You must observe the Sabbath rather than doing anything you please on my holy day. You must look forward to the Sabbath and treat the Lord’s holy day with respect. You must treat it with respect by refraining from your normal activities and by refraining from your selfish pursuits and from making business deals. Then you will find joy in your relationship to the Lord, and I will give you great prosperity and cause crops to grow on the land I gave to your ancestor Jacob.” Know for certain that the Lord has spoken.
Isaiah 58:9-14 NET
https://bible.com/bible/107/isa.58.9-14.NET
Imagine what God could do if people turned from their idolized ways and called on His Name in Spirit and Truth! We should definitely stay aware of how we esteem God-ordained institutions.
