Hey Sue,
So... I guess I'm struggling somewhat understanding what you mean when describing the institutionalised church as turning to the the gov as its head instead of Christ, being idolatrous, etc. I don't live in America -- what's going on with the church in the USA? Maybe you can list some examples of what you mean? Is the message of the gospel being compromised by something the church is doing?
Roads, the church, as you know, is a spiritual entity. We, the people of God, comprise the church. The true church is not an institution of humankind (did not originate with man), nor is it a human business (corporation), a social club, etc. Christ alone is to be its head, and the church is supposed to operate as Christ determined, such as is exemplified for us in the early part of the book of Acts. The church was not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, nor were they to look to human princes for protection or help. They were to rely upon the teachings of scripture and the testimony of the Holy Spirit of God within them to lead, guide, counsel, direct, etc. in the way they should go.
The problem with the institutional church here in America is really two-fold: 1) They willfully chose to come underneath the protection of the US government via the 501 (c) (3) tax exempt status, and they incorporated as a business underneath the government. I believe scripture prohibits this. What that did, in essence, was place the government in a position where it has and can determine what can be preached from the pulpit, and can prohibit messages it deems "hate crimes," although Biblical as the messages may be, and it can tell the church who they must hire, and what kind of insurance they must provide, i.e. specifically related to having to supply insurance to cover birth control under Obamacare, I believe. And, it is only going to get worse. We can see it going that direction in the military, and the controls of the government have been increasing rapidly over the people of this land, even as seen with the recent government shutdown, although I don't believe you can believe everything you read or hear in the news. So, by placing the government in that position, willfully and by choice, it put the government in the place of God over the church, i.e. if God says to speak against something and the government says, "NO!, then the church must abide by the government instead of God if they want to keep their status of tax exemption and remain a corporation underneath the government.
2) Going along with that, the church has turned into BIG BUSINESS and is marketed much in the same way as human businesses are marketed. I took business classes this last time in college, and I took marketing classes, so I know of what I am speaking, plus my husband and I have been in several of these churches in various cities, and we have seen how they have become more like businesses of humankind in place of being spiritual entities following after the teaching of scripture and the leading and direction of the Holy Spirit. Many pastor reads marketing book after marketing book on how to build his church. My husband and I were church planters for a while, too, so we know the training given to many of these pastors. We were told to use "needy" people until we got our "business" up and going, and then we were to weed them out. Wow! Our ministry was to the hurting, lonely, needy, etc. - the despised and rejected of the world. And, I have been the recipient of this "weeding out" too, as one pastor told me he was warned against people like me, i.e. he was warned against people with strong convictions, and his training told him he should get rid of me, so he did. I have seen pastors lie to their people, manipulate them, use gimmicks and tricks to try to get people into their churches, use worldly movies which (in full) have sex scenes in them promoting illicit sexual relations, but they use a clip they feel illustrates a godly principle. They use worldly methods to reach worldly people for what? Not for Christ!
They water down the gospel and they make it more palatable to the listener. They make it comfortable and non-threatening, i.e. non-judgmental, etc. leaving out words such as "sin", "repentance," "obedience," etc. so that people are not offended. My logo here offended one pastoral staff and so they removed it from our ministry saying it did not represent what their church was about. The picture is of the cross of Christ being available for us to come to it and for us to be crucified with Christ, and then to be resurrected with him, too, as he is resurrected (See Gal. 2:20). They don't tell people that coming to Christ means they have to die to sin and be made alive with Christ to new lives free from slavery to sin and free to walk in the Spirit and in Christ's righteousness, all because of what Christ did for us in dying for us, and in being resurrected so we could go free. And, so we have so many, many professing Christians in our churches who are indistinguishable between them and the people of the world, because they live just like the world lives, because no one is telling them that faith in Jesus Christ means death, and that we have to die if we want to live (See Lu. 9:23-25; Eph. 4:17-24; Rom. 6; 1 John; Gal. 2:20, et al).
That is pretty much the gist of it. The institutional church in America has made a covenant with the government, which God does not approve of, and she has taken for herself other lovers, and has become spiritually adulterous and idolatrous in that she lives so much like the world and follows after the ways of the world and the teachings of humankind. This does not describe all church congregations or every individual believer in America, but I believe a vast majority of today's church here in America fits in this category, and many, many people in America, even many renowned pastors and teachers, are seeing this and are calling it out and are calling to the church to repent and to obey God. A young lady told me the other day something to the effect that she has noticed that the closer she gets to her Lord, the more disenchanted she has become with the institutional church, i.e. the closer she gets to Jesus the more she sees how messed up the church really is and how it is in such need of revival. I pray all the time for God to revive his church. I believe he will, but that it may have to come through some really hard times, and I believe it will come through our government, I mean they will turn against the church, not that they were ever for her, but the church in the US is going to suffer some persecution that will bring her to revival, I believe.
