Faith Full Stop

A Spirit of Offense and A Religious Spirit Working Together

“Church Hurt” = Church-People Hurt

Being hurt in church is a real thing, and it’s likely more common than we know or care to admit. But, what many call “church hurt” is actually people hurt. We’ve heard the phrase, “Hurt people hurt people,” which is true. When we are unhealed, we are prone to navigate life from and operate out of wounding, not wholeness.

It stands to reason then that Christians, being people, can also be unhealed and operate in the church from a place of wounding. We can say, “Hurt Christians hurt Christians.” And it is okay to admit this. In fact, it’s best that we do admit this and bring it out of the darkness into the light. We are all in a process, and we are all in different places in our processes. When we know Jesus, we know the process is about progress, not perfection. Thank You, Jesus, for the blood!

All that being established, let’s call “church hurt” what it is: church-people hurt.

The Spirit of Offense

Jesus warns us of offense in Matthew 24:10 (NKJV) when He teaches His disciples about the last days. He says, “And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.” He does not say the Church is immune.

We know the enemy is an opportunist, prowling for prey (1 Peter 5:8). If and when offense takes root, he can perpetuate division, distraction, and disunity within us and therefore the Church body. Offense is a trap designed to keep us in the bondage of hurt, pride, unforgiveness, and other things, which can lead to isolation, broken relationships, and spiritual stagnation.

Offense can lead to feelings of betrayal, hate, hurt, rejection, anger, outrage, disbelief, etc. All these feelings are normal and valid when we’re offended. We’re human, and Jesus makes room for our humanity and our emotions. However, He did say we are not to sin when in our feelings (Ephesians 4:26-27).

Instead, we are meant to bring these feelings before the Lord for healing. Without healing, understanding our own hearts in the matter causing the offense, and forgiving those who have offended us, a spirit of offense can creep in and exploit church-people hurt.

The Religious Spirit

A religious spirit will always take our eyes off Jesus and His finished work on the cross and redirect our focus to man / people (men and women alike). It can cause us to focus on people’s shortcomings, sin, and their inability to follow “the rules” or meet our expectations.

A religious spirit is completely devoid of the real and true revelation of Jesus the Christ. It will reject, twist, and even weaponize truth. It is an accuser, condemner, and finger-pointer. It breeds perfectionism, performance and works, judgment, and pride. It is based in law; it is not Spirit-led. It is anti-Christ.

Jesus and His Ministry: Truth vs Religion and Offense

As Christians, we know and believe Jesus is fully Man and fully God. This was a new and very foreign concept to the religious system in place during Jesus’ earthly ministry. It created tension, to say the least.

In the gospels, we see regular interactions between Jesus and the religious leaders of the day. Jesus was endlessly confronted, questioned, accused, and persecuted by them. He rebuked them every time with the truth He was sent to proclaim. The proclamation was that He is Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Jesus as Man; Christ as God; fully Man, fully God.

However, the religious leaders were unable and unwilling to see Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah; they could only see Him as Man, as described in John 10:33:

³³ They replied, “We’re stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man, claim to be God.” John 10:33 NLT

So, these leaders, presumably operating under the religious spirit’s influence, were blinded to the real and true revelation of Jesus as the Christ. And in their limited view of Jesus as Man, Christ’s truth offended them repeatedly. In fact, Matthew 13:57 says it:

So they were offended at Him. Matthew 13:57 NKJV

I believe this demonstrates how the religious spirit partners with the spirit of offense. In offense, we tend to forget the truth of Christ, His cross, and His grace.

This is a pattern repeated over and over in the gospels. It continues in the Book of Acts as Jesus’ disciples begin to build His Church. I believe we continue to see this interplay today.

Interplay: The Religious Spirit and the Spirit of Offense

If we put the above together, we can summarize as follows:

The religious spirit directs focus to man (people) using rules, performance, perfectionism, expectations, pride, judgment, self-righteousness, etc.

The spirit of offense then magnifies the person, the circumstances, and offense, opening the door for and ushering in all kinds of other things with it.

Together, they shift the focus away from Christ, the cross, and His grace and trap believers in unforgiveness, resentment, bitterness, etc.

The enemy’s objective here is to divide Christ’s Body. A house divided can not stand. (Matthew 12:25)

A Time to Heal

Church-people hurt is difficult because we get hurt in the last place we would expect to be hurt – in church! Ensuring we deal with it and heal from it is imperative to preserve both the meaning of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection and unity in the Church.

Healing comes when we refocus on Jesus and surrender people, offense, religion, and wounds to Him. He will restore all that was lost, stolen, and broken with His truth and love.

Here are some practical steps to healing and remaining healed:

• Ask Holy Spirit to reveal where and how religion and/or offense is working in us.
• Choose forgiveness (multiple times if needed – 70×7!) and ask the Lord for His perspective on the situation and how He wants you to handle it.
• Repent for partnering with all spirits that are not the Holy Spirit.
• If led by Holy Spirit,
  • seek inner healing and deliverance.
  • seek reconciliation. Pursue a conversation with the person or persons involved in the church-people hurt. So much can be resolved through a simple conversation!
• Actively recognize religiosity and legalism in ourselves and replace it with Jesus’ love, grace, truth, and freedom (Galatians 5).
• Guard our hearts against offense (Proverbs 4:23).

In Closing

A few points to close this out:

• There are many facets to church-people hurt. The interplay between the religious spirit and the spirit of offense is just one of many aspects and possibilities. Conversely, this interplay can apply to many painful, hurtful situations, not just those labeled as Church-people hurt.

• This post is not about situations where there is spiritual abuse or other forms of abuse happening within the Church. While there is overlap, abuse is a serious topic on a whole other level, and it is deserving of its own coverage.

• As with everything I post, please seek Holy Spirit for yourself.

• Thank you for reading! Be blessed today and always!