Church Gone Wrong

“He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt 24:51).

If Christianity is true, if the church can be so good, why are there so many bad people in the church? We cannot deny that people have done terrible things in the name of Christ. What we can deny, however, is that these people are the product of Christian teaching or that they somehow disprove Christianity.

The first question we should ask about the people who do terrible things in the name of Christ (or any religion) is whether they’re following the teachings of the religion they claim to be part of. Did Christ teach us to force people to “convert” at the threat of death? Did the apostles teach that leaders should steal money and wives and flee to a new city? Do the scriptures say that preachers should accumulate wealth from church members who can barely feed their families?

Do we even have to answer that? When we point out the terrible things people do, the “none of this in the Bible” is at least implicit if not explicit. And if they’re not following Christian teachings, they aren’t an indictment against Christianity.

So where do these people come from?

First, the Church is made up of sinners. I wish it weren’t so, but Christians are capable of doing the same things after they trust in Christ as they were before. In the earliest days of the church, sin quickly made itself known. The church in Corinth had a lot of problems, including sexual immorality “of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate” (1Cor 5:1). Sometimes people give in to greed or lust. Sometimes they are angry or spiteful. We should not be surprised when sinners sin, even though we hope for better from them, and the scriptures demand better. But it’s a process; it doesn’t happen overnight:

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph 4:22-24).

Second, not everyone who claims the name is actually a Christian. Jesus told a parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared” (Matt 13:24-26). The weeds, or “tares” traditionally, are fake believers who, according to Christ, will reside inside the visible Church until the judgment when they will be separated from the true believers (v30).

Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt 7:21). Not everyone who claims to be a follower of Christ actually is. The best way to tell who is and isn’t is by their actions: “By their fruit you will recognize them” (Matt 7:20).

Sometimes the person in question is even a leader in a church. A pastor is supposed to be “above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money” (1Tim 3:2-3). Sometimes people become pastors who do not fit this description. Sometimes pastors cease to fit this description. Some become lovers of money; others fall to sexual temptation. Many of them may never have been true believers — perhaps they were simply looking for a career where they could use their talent for speaking (or manipulating people).

Some are even called “false prophets”, wolves in sheep’s clothing (cf, Matt 7:15, Acts 20:29) who are in the church to cause harm. Whether they themselves know it or not, the devil wants them to do as much damage as they can to the church, its reputation, and the cause of Christ.

We cannot allow the evil men do to make us turn our backs on the Church. The Church is the body of Christ — this is how we can be part of Christ’s work. We will never be able to do what Christ wants us to do unless we are together.

Some will say, “I love Jesus but not the Church.” We don’t have that option. As Voddie Baucham has said,

If a man says to me, “Hey, you’re really cool. I’d like to get to know you. But I don’t like your wife,” we’re not going to be friends. She is my bride.

The Church is the Bride of Christ. She may not be perfect, but she is beautiful to Christ, and he is making her into what she ought to be. Our option is to be part of that or not be part of Christ.

As the saying goes, if you ever find a perfect church, don’t join it — you’ll just mess things up. But don’t worry, you won’t find one. All we can do is find a dysfunctional little church family and fit our particular crazy into it as best we can then seek to follow and imitate Christ together.


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