{"id":5823,"date":"2022-06-28T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-28T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joannalo.blog\/?p=5823"},"modified":"2026-07-03T20:51:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T01:51:19","slug":"when-church-hurts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joalo.org\/?p=5823","title":{"rendered":"When Church Hurts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I once thought hiding wrong,\u00a0was right<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We heard it as kids, \u201cJust walk away. It\u2019s not worth it.\u201d And frankly, most of the time,\u00a0it\u2019s not<\/em>. Turn a cheek, forgive, overcome evil with good\u2014and that\u2019s all true<\/em>. But Jesus never said\u00a0hiding<\/em>\u00a0wrong was right. He did say\u00a0nothing is hidden that will not be made known<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I knew a servant of great sacrifice. As a young woman in 1954 she put herself through college and pledged her life to serve God through the church. She became a principal\u2014an advocate for the impoverished. And she did it wholeheartedly for many years. Withstanding injustices, dueling politics, the everyday battles of missionary life wearing her fragile faith thin. Over time she lost something vital to her overcoming.\u00a0She forgot the power of Truth who drew her from the beginning.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would be her last years in the business of religious non-profit, she was shocked to find donor money wasn\u2019t adding up. Corruption was found out. Bringing it before directors, she was warned to shut her mouth. Afraid the many people served would cease to get help if the organization fell\u2014she kept the threat secret. Believing hiding wrong for the sake of right, was right. Deception ever louder than the truth, she lived the rest of her precious life hostage to a lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus was never alarmed by honesty\u2014<\/strong>He was livid over hypocrisy.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Saying<\/em>\u00a0all the right things while\u00a0doing<\/em>\u00a0all the wrong things.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we call ourselves Christian, and cannot\u00a0trust the\u00a0truth<\/em><\/strong>to save<\/em><\/strong>, how are we not acting like illegitimate children? Aren\u2019t we unwittingly becoming members of a pious country club? An exclusive organization for recreation and social activities, presuming we\u2019re all good enough because good is getting done? Where members regularly get together, put on airs, and practice their own personal gain?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Body of Christ is ever harder to recognize because of its countless amputations. We\u2019re losing the boldness to trust the truth ahead of our high-priced clubs.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThis age is full of shams. Pretense never stood in so eminent a position as it does at the present hour. There be few, I fear, who love the naked truth.\u201d
\u2013\u00a0Charles Spurgeon<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Luther Ingram performed a song in 1972.\u00a0If Lovin\u2019 You is Wrong I Don\u2019t Want To Be Right:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Am I wrong to fall so deeply in love with you\u2028Knowing I got a wife and two little children depending on me too\u2028And am I wrong to hunger for the gentleness of your touch\u2028Knowing I got someone else at home who needs me just as much\u2028And are you wrong to give your love to a married man\u2028And am I wrong for trying to hold on to the best thing I ever had\u2028If lovin\u2019 you is wrong, I don\u2019t want to be right.<\/em>

The song reached number one on\u00a0Billboard\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0R&B charts. These lyrics stayed in the\u00a0Hot 100<\/em>\u00a0for eighteen weeks, selling a reported 4 million copies. The song was later successfully covered by six more well-known artists, including Barbara Mandrell, Rod Stewart, and Isaac Hayes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, this song could be our National Anthem. And I fear it\u2019s been sung as much from Christian pulpits.\u00a0If naming wrong is right, I don\u2019t want to be right.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A New Testament story that comes to mind is the woman caught in adultery. A perfect example of how Jesus didn\u2019t come to leave us in darkness but to shed light on our greatest predicament, namely,\u00a0who we are<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scribes and Pharisees drag her to Jesus, not for justice, not for transparency, not to learn of His mercy and forgiveness, but for the express purpose of finding a charge against\u00a0Him<\/em>. Someone they envied greatly. What does Jesus say to the boys who are asking one thing and fishing for another. \u201cLet him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone who stands in the presence of Jesus cannot help being seen, regardless of whether they admit it or not, they are guilty. Wickedness at the root of us.\u00a0Jesus sheds light on lies that hide\u2014because nothing but the truth will save us.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If truth was strong enough to save our soul, why not trust truth to save us now?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cGod\u2019s heart for us is light. To shed light on who we really are.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Mary DeMuth<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

We all hide. The wrong we\u2019ve done, the wrong done to us. In darkness of heart we fear the finding out will somehow kill us. When the opposite is true. And here\u2019s the shining truth\u2026the only One who sees all wrong is the only One who makes all right.\u00a0<\/strong>God was there when you did it. God was there when it was done to you.\u00a0Jesus never said truth was easy, He said the truth was freeing.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo not rejoice over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.\u201d\u00a0Micah 7:8<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I once thought hiding wrong,\u00a0was right. We heard it as kids, \u201cJust walk away. It\u2019s not worth it.\u201d And frankly, most of the time,\u00a0it\u2019s not. Turn a cheek, forgive, overcome evil with good\u2014and that\u2019s all true. But Jesus never said\u00a0hiding\u00a0wrong was right. He did say\u00a0nothing is hidden that will not be made known. I knew […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143625079,"featured_media":5943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[106,1772448],"tags":[773157838,39201,5648,131095,16520,53735,6308,773157831,13097],"class_list":["post-5823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-truth","category-wrong-and-right","tag-church","tag-deception","tag-freedom","tag-hiding","tag-lies","tag-pulpit","tag-right","tag-truth","tag-wrong"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pacmrQ-1vV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15085,"url":"https:\/\/joalo.org\/?p=15085","url_meta":{"origin":5823,"position":0},"title":"Partners with Christ","author":"Jo Alo","date":"January 21, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Be ready to suffer.1 Peter 4:1How do the saints prepare for battle? 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