RASNs in Church and the Damage they do to Children

Rev 2:20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

3Jn 1:9 I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority.

Christians know that they are to fellowship with other Christians, and that we are to remember the Lord’s Day and gather together in Christ’s church. We are to train up our children in the Lord and one key way we do that is to take them to church regularly where they hear God’s Word taught and preached.

But what happens when we are taught that the only way to “go to church” is to get dressed up, hop in the family car, and drive down to the church building where we go to Sunday School and then the worship service? What happens, I ask, when that particular model of “church” is clung to at all costs? What do I mean by “at all costs”?

I mean, being so stuck in our idea of “church” that no matter if Jezebel or Diotrephes is running the show there, we still persist in showing up there each week with our children? In that rut, we seem to think that it is better to be in a visible, brick and mortar building with a pulpit and pews, even if RASNs are in charge. What if, just what if….there is the option of a small group of genuine believers where God’s Word is faithfully preached and where the people really love one another – would you embrace it or would to cling to that brick and mortar synagogue of Satan?

Do you understand my point?

If you take your children to a “church” where false believers abound, where everyone is told they are surely on their way to heaven (even though they walk and live in unrepentant sin), do you realize what that is doing to the children? Kids aren’t stupid. They sense when they are uncomfortable around an adult, but they really have no choice in the matter. Sunday after Sunday they find themselves around Jezebel and Diotrephes. That after all is where the big pipe organ and stained glass windows and programs for every age group are – and you can’t have a real church without those props, you know.

Do we EVER read God’s Word? Which of the 7 churches of Asia were free of Jezebel and her kind? Just two, and here is one of them:

Rev 2:8-11 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. (9) “‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. (10) Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. (11) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’

So think about this carefully? Would you choose Smyrna? Or are the bells and whistles of Laodicea what you want? To insist on taking your kids to Jezebel’s church is surely spiritual child abuse – it is causing the little ones to stumble. And you know what the Lord thinks about that.