Life After Delivery

John 3:4, "Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?"

*Note: When the author renders the word 'Church' as shown here, he is referring to man's design for a Business entity we commonly refer to as traditional 'Church.' When he renders the word church in all lower case lettering, he is referring to Christ's authentic home church, which He created and continues to build. 

I found the following exchange on the internet written by an unknown author. It immediately compelled me to write this piece while the piece as a stencil to guide my thoughts. The obvious analogy of the story is clear, but after reading on I will unveil what it said to me all too well. I'd like to extend my thanks to whoever wrote the piece, for it is a beautiful picture of what I wanted to say throughout this blog. Here goes: 

In a mother’s womb were two babies. One asked the other: “Do you believe in life after delivery?” The other replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.” “Nonsense,” says the other. “There is no life after delivery. What would that life be?” The other replied, “I don’t know, but there would be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths.” The other says, “This is absurd! Walking is impossible. And we [eat] with our mouths? Ridiculous! The umbilical cord supplies us nutrition. Life after delivery is to be excluded. The umbilical cord is too short.” “I think there is something and maybe it’s different than it is here.” the other replies. “No one has ever come back from there. Delivery is the end of life, and in the after delivery it is nothing but darkness and anxiety and it takes us nowhere.” “Well, I don’t know.” says the other, “but certainly we will see mother and she will take care of us.” “Mother??” You believe in mother? Where is she now?” “She is all around us. It is in her that we live. Without her there would not be this world.” “I don’t see her, so it’s only logical that she doesn’t exist.” To which the other replied, “Sometimes when you’re in silence you can hear her. I believe there is a reality after delivery and we are here to prepare ourselves for that reality…"
~Author Unknown

This story talks about God's existence and life after delivery. One baby see's the infinite possibilities of life outside of the womb and believes there are wonderful experiences waiting for him after he is delivered. He see's that he is being prepared to interact within these experiences and is excited to do so. He is unafraid and believes mother will be there waiting to take care of him and his sibling. The other can't see beyond his surroundings. To him, there is no light, no possibility of movement outside of the womb and no life. To him, life exists now, and when it's done, it's over with. No mother, no care, and no comfort awaits. There will be only darkness and void. Obviously the author intended us to view our spiritual surroundings in a similar manner. He (or she) wisely takes us back to the womb for a snapshot of what we might say during this fictitious exchange. 

To those who fit the description of the baby full of positive expectation, the point parallels how we see ourselves in the light of God and His creative powers. This new life after delivery will be full of possibilities and wonderment. To those who think like the Nay Sayer baby, what we once thought was true by observation, logic and reason will turn out to be a false assumption. What a surprise he is in for! No wonder why he get's slapped in the tush when he arrives into this world. The piece makes it clear that God exists and there is life after delivery whether we like it or not. We are expected to fulfill our purpose. We are expected to grow and ultimately acknowledge that God indeed exists, and we were made by Him and for Him.

Now to the analogy I saw within this analogy. Is there life after being delivered from the Institutional 'Church?'  For that matter, is there life after Income Tithing and being shunned by those who once called you, "Brother?" These are the thoughts that gripped my soul as I was reading the story, for these are the very thoughts I had when I took a leap of faith and stepped out of the Institutional 'Church' model several years ago for good. My biggest fear is that there would be no social life with my dear friends after I was delivered from the Institute. All of my friends centered around 'Church.' After all, they were my 'Church' family. Considering the possible loss of most of my friends, I hesitated from leaving even though I knew in my heart that leaving was something I had to do. In the story above, "Mother" is a picture of God. And, just like the babies in their mother's womb, He surrounds us. He gives us nourishment. He takes care of us. He did it in our past surroundings and He will do so in our future surroundings. What was I supposed to fear? But fear I did. Why? Because just like the Nay Saying baby not seeing past the walls of his mother's womb, I couldn't see beyond the four walls of the Institutional 'Church' model. It turned out to be a substitute mother better known as Mother 'Church.' Be that as it may, I was afraid of the 'unknown.' It was as though I was about to defect to a country that was strange to me. I was terrified! And the thought of leaving the Institutional 'Church' structure most 'Church' goers are in, I am sure, would that this move might terrify most of them as well.

I won't go into the reasons why I left the Institute. I have an article readily available entitled, 'Why I Left The 'Church' that might satisfy one's curiosity. But, let's just say that the Institutional 'Church's' DNA doesn't match up with Christ's church's DNA. There are plenty of articles on this blog site, and by those who understand what biblical church is, which can easily be obtained on the web for more detailed examination. One book I thoroughly endorse is 'Biblical Church' by Beresford Job. To find it, there is a link Provided in the Links section to the left called House-Church.org. Putting this aside, let me say, that there is no malice or ill will expressed towards those still undelivered within the Institutional 'Church' walls. We still love our entrapped brothers and sisters and wish nothing more than that God's will be done in their lives. 

The whole point behind our pleading is to persuade those still in the womb ('Church'), that there is life free from the debt, free from the influence of a controlling clergy and freedom from being under the thumb of a business organization. Christ never placed any of these constraints on His church. So why do we think we are doing God service when we Proclaim that this form of slavery is what He wants? He meant us to be free in Him, not pseudo-spiritually and pet-doctrinally suffocated by those of the Institutional clergy. Staying within the Institutional womb, without acknowledging that freedom lays without, is suffocating in and of itself. Let me say that there is life after delivery.

Some within this womb, or as we on the outside like to call, 'the Matrix,' often experience a false sense of security and belonging to God's plan for church within those walls. They do not realize it is a false security and sense of belonging because they've been listening to men behind a pulpit who are paid to tell them they're in the right place at the right time. I liken this to a baby lamb being raised by a family of wolves. The baby lamb get's fed, is Provided a den for shelter, finds water and questions not why he is being reared among his natural enemies. Why? Because that's all he's known. The lamb doesn't realize that his ravenous foster-mother wolf will someday end up devouring him. He knows he's a lamb, and knows that a wolf's den isn't an ideal place for him to be. But, since he is young and defenseless, he may feel that this is the hand he has been dealt and he'll go along and make the best of his situation for as long as he can. He doesn't know that the gate to freedom from the den is always open and he can leave when ever he wants. But why doesn't he? Because all of the other lambs around him in the same den are content to stay because previous lambs (who were long ago devoured) told them this was the place to be. Does this sound familiar? It should!

So why does the parishioner within the Institutional model listen to men instead of the One Who gives them life? Because they believe their surroundings are natural even though instinctively they sense that they are foreign. It was how they were reared. They are simply a Product of their environment. They are told by their parents and peers to listen to these leaders instead of reading God's Word for themselves. What a shock they will get when they are delivered from this matrix. I am not trying to suggest that all Institutional 'Churches' are dens full of wolves. Nor am I saying that this environment is evil in and of itself. What I am suggesting is that an Institutional 'Church' environment is as foreign to believers in the Apostle's day for how Christians met as much as a den of wolves is the natural habitat for a baby lamb. The Institutional environment doesn't match up with the Creator's design. The Problem is, these dens are full of lambs who are unaware of their ill suited surroundings!

Nonetheless, the delivery from the Institute will occur. This delivery will happen one of two ways. One way is when we pass from death unto life. After we are standing before Jesus at the Bema Seat, we'll see that our misgivings regarding house church were unfounded and the deception we accepted regarding Institutional 'Church' was unacceptable. Why would it be unacceptable to Jesus? Because He created only one kind of church, not a variety to choose from. If we created a club for our friends to be a part of, we wouldn't want to have them attend another type of club with our name falsely above the door, would we? Well, neither would Jesus. 

The second way we could be delivered away from the Institute is if we become silent and then tune our ears to listen. Ask God to show you through Scripture what I'm am talking about. Allow the Holy Spirit's small, still voice to lead us out of the false concept of Institutional 'Church.' Hopefully, some will hear Him calling them out while we're still kicking up earthly dust. Either way, He is the One Who delivers us into the reality He created for us. Just like the leap of faith we took to accept Christ to be our Saviour, the same leap of faith exists for us to be delivered from the water of the womb. I'll ask a metaphorical question: What would happen if a baby stays too long in his mother's womb and refuses to leave? No doctor is around and mother is unconscious. The baby sucks the last drop of life from mother and she dies. There is no more oxygen to sustain the baby within. What would happen? Eventually, the baby turns blue for lack of oxygen. In short, he suffocates. What I'm saying is, it's time to get out of the water and onto dry land where we belong.

Don't get me wrong. Even if we're like the Nay Saying baby, if we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus alone, whether we're in the Institute or out, we are still God's children. But if we're in the matrix of the Institutional 'Church,' we just aren't in His will for where we are supposed to be. Its just like the baby staying too long inside the womb. The Nay Saying baby thought that his confines were all that there was to life. The thought of leaving the womb was deemed impossible because he thought the umbilical cord was too short to sustain life beyond the womb. His attachment to the womb through the umbilical cord was life itself. So too is the mind-set of most 'Church' parishioners. I too was limited to better possibilities outside of those confines, never knowing where my true place in life was. 

In contrast, the positive baby was glad to be delivered from his confines, for he understood that something better awaited him outside of those walls. When I was delivered from the Institute, what I found was freedom, new friends and a new understanding of what Christ's authentic, organic fellowship was. Yes, we still have convictions and standards, but they're Biblical, and not from man's traditions or pet doctrines. Those of us who have been delivered meet in smaller intimate groups in homes, the way it was in New Testament times. The Lord's Supper, or 'love feast' is a full meal and not a token one shrouded in pomp and ceremony. There is no constraint of income tithes to siphon our resources away from our families and those with real needs like the poor, widow and blind. God, family, and then taking care of those in need is the order for our lives. The Institutional 'Church' and it's Programs have no say in what we do, no more than the Catholic 'Church' has jurisdiction over a Baptist 'Church.' Only Jesus Christ of the Bible has a say. 

Matthew 23:37,"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" Like the mother hen, He gathers His young under His wings to direct, nurture and take care of us once we are delivered from the darkened orb that once housed us. He'll do the same for you now, once you take a step of faith and enter into the environment He has Provided for us. There [is] life after delivery outside of the confines of the Institutional Church' System. Just because we cannot see it from within its darkened walls doesn't mean life after 'Church' doesn't exist. Just as the mother in the story surrounds them, Christ's Holy Spirit is all around us. For some of you, instead of bristling and fuming at this exhortation, let us be silent and listen to His whispers of encouragement. He isn't a fantasy. He is God gently guiding us to where He wishes us to be. Steer away from man's traditions about what church is and steer towards the Bible and see what God actually says about His assembly. Each time in the N.T. we see churches of intimate numbers meeting in homes. Christ's church didn't evolve into an Institutional model. The fact is, we haven't changed at all since He created His local home assembly. House church His way, is, and has been, the model of simplicity for Christian fellowship.

If you are wondering about what it is like to be in an environment of freedom and happiness away from organized religion, my exhortation to all within an Institutional 'Church' is to cut the umbilical cord of that organization. It served to educate me at a bare minimum when I was an embryo in Christ, but has since lost it's facade of legitimacy. Cut the cord and watch Jesus care for you as you grow in His grace. Remember; 'cut the cord.' Thanks for visiting and may the Lord lead you to life after delivery.