MURDERED SHEEP

I woke up the morning of July 5'th after having had the following vivid dream which I believe was from God.

I was on a rugged mountainside. I was armed with a rifle, dressed in a black S.W.A.T. style uniform. In front of me on the ground was a dead wild mountain sheep that I had just killed.. I was feeling very excited and happy over my successful hunt.

I became aware of other hunters all around me; hundreds of them. I didn't recognize any of them. They were all dressed in black & armed as I was and each was next to a fresh kill. Some were covered in blood as they knelt to field-dress their prey. Everywhere I looked I saw the same and I became horrified when I realized that I couldn't see any living sheep anywhere.

Alarmed, I dropped my weapon and called out: “We have to stop this or soon there wont be any more sheep left!”. All of the other hunters looked at me as if I were insane and laughed and proceeded to butcher their kills. Then I woke up with the understanding that the hunters were all shepherds of God's flock that were murdering the sheep that they were supposed to care for and that God was really, really angry.

My wife wife Helen & I have been committed Christians for nearly forty years. We recently resigned as elders & members from the church we had attended for the last three years. We didn't resign because of scandal or 'issues' with any of the other leaders or members; but because God spoke to us and told us to. It's been a month and the only answer we had to give anyone was that “God said so”. But now I believe God is providing us with a clearer understanding of why He told us to step down & leave. For the record: we were not salaried staff and I can think of no specific instance where either Helen or I did anything to anyone that we or anyone else at our local body would consider abusive. We left on good terms with love and honor from our former church pastor and fellow members.

So what exactly is God trying to show me? What is His specific gripe with the leaders of His church that has Him so angry? We're still praying through that. But He has shown me that the way we 'do church' here in the United States at least, is largely ineffective at reaching the lost and making disciples for Jesus. It has become bloated and unwieldy, dependent on money and numbers of seats filled to maintain the ever increasing expense of paying salaries & benefits, maintaining buildings & programs, and acquiring the cash to accomplish that and do more of the same. Church was never intended to be a business. The Church is a body. Specifically the Body of Jesus Christ. We are His physical manifestation on the earth to be used by the Holy Spirit to reach the lost and make disciples of Jesus. Sadly, we seem to have abandoned discipleship in favor of success measured by body count and bank balance.

Biblically, elders are responsible to God to shepherd His sheep. His flock. We're supposed to lead the people under our care to good spiritual food and pure spiritual water. We're to protect the sheep from threats and abuse. As elders at our church we did our best to be obedient and faithful stewards of God's household. Along with our fellow elders and leaders we tried to build up the church the way it is 'supposed' to be done according to our understanding. I feel that God has showed me is that in spite of our best intentions and desires, that instead of doing what we're called to do, to serve and protect God's flock, we are actually destroying it. What we are doing is effectively feeding ourselves and consuming the flock instead of protecting & nurturing it. The survival and growth of 'The Ministry' has become the objective. If we manage to do that we pat ourselves on the back, pleased with our measurable success. In the meantime the people of God are largely un-discipled, un-transformed, and lacking in any real fruit.

I believe God is saying He isn't pleased at all with the way we're going about the Kingdom's work. God wants the elders to stop the butchery of his sheep. Now.