It should be made very clear that Mike and Pam Mathews love the Church of Jesus Christ very much. Since the day we were both saved in November 1991 we have faithfully attended or preached in a church. We presently attend and tithe to a spiritually progressive church in Ozark MO. I say this to make sure there are no misperceptions of our love for the Church as you read the information on the web pages or in the book.
This being said we also want to make it clear that we are more in love with Christ than the church structure. In addition what we are not in-love with and even find extremely distasteful are:
1. When people and ministers are more in love with an institution than why the institution exists. Their love and commitment is for buildings, denominations, fraternities of clergy, pastors, charisma and money.
2. Ministers who have literally abused the gospel and scripture by manipulating their position as the ‘sole’ or ‘primary’ gifts to the church while never helping the body of Christ exercise their gifts. Scripturally there are16-24 gifts mentioned, and every believer has a gift to utilize.
3. The ongoing in-ability of ministry leaders to beg for talented individuals such as musicians who perform on Sunday’s while the real gifts of the spirit sit idle. The church that accelerates in talent, but uses few spiritual gifts and people. Ministers find talents easier to manage and flaunt than spiritual gifts.
4. The cover-up of institutional church sin among para-church leaders who are afraid to speak up in fear of losing their financial support base. This has left exposure and communication of church sin up to the secular media.
5. Ministers who have remained stagnant, proud, and stubborn to the point they have hurt the Church and repelled people and the church from growing. These ministers literally refuse change in fear of losing the meager little bit they have leadership over.
Our love for the Church is such that we want to challenge the distasteful aspects of fleshly churches -- back to Christ. The real great ministers and transformers of the Gospel which include Jesus, Paul, and the Apostle John all found it necessary to speak up against the fleshly driven churches. God has been preparing many individuals to step-in and speak-up against the flesh of the man-made church. I realize that these same people will always be accused of being negative or anti-church. However, I believe the more a person is in love with someone (Christ) the more they will speak on His behalf, and not on behalf of a pastor, church building, or denomination. In fact the more they are in love with Christ the more they will discern and challenge people to meet Him and not the church program or building.
We believe we are in a time-era where God is cleansing the Church as he prepares it for His return. This means that we will see many transformations in churches and Christians; if they are willing. It also means many ministers and churches will miss out on what God is doing.
The word that God gave me a few years ago is ever applicable to our day. “I am coming back for a church that is prepared, clean, and pure; but first I must raise the church back to life. It will be as the moment I raised Lazarus from the dead. The people were more concerned that His body stunk than the reality of the moment that a new life was on the other side of the wrapping and stench of a few day old dead carcass. When I raise the church it will be messy, smelly, and sticky as one unravels the bandages that are stuck to the skin of a decomposed body.”
Mike and Pam Mathews do love the Church of Jesus Christ, but we love Christ more than the man-made fleshly elements of the church. Unfortunately, many people can’t distinguish the difference. Our main hope for the book ‘What in Heaven and Hell is Happening’ is that people will start to question the false aspects of church and the life of Christ will come alive in many churches. In addition, people will truly question the motives of the selfish and sinner ministers and ask them to step down or repent quickly. It’s time for God’s change.
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