IS IT TIME TO LEAVE YOUR CHURCH? WHY I LEFT MINE: Christian Blogger Lorilyn Roberts

If you are like me, your church is your family. It’s where you go for help, where you go for prayer, where you share your dreams, where you worship the Lord you love, and where you unite with like-minded individuals who share your commitment to Jesus Christ.

When I divorced in 1986, I stayed in Gainesville, Florida, because I didn’t want to leave my church.

When I arrived home with my first daughter from Nepal on May 8, 1994, which happened to be Mother’s Day, my prayer group greeted me at the airport. One of the church leaders prayed over us.

My church was my primary source of support through my year-long bout with late-stage breast cancer. To this day, some people in the church are still some of my dearest friends.

So, what happened that led me to leave my beloved church in October 2020?

The final betrayal to me was when the church leadership abandoned the preeminence of the unborn baby in the mother’s womb. If you aren’t pro-life in every way, then you have left your first love—Jesus Christ.

I have since learned that some of my closest friends and cohorts are pro-choice. They won’t come out and say it, but the truth speaks louder than words when pressed.

One friend said other issues were as important to her as the abortion issue, and she wasn’t a one-topic voter. In fact, she had become a registered Democrat. She hated Trump. A cohort this last week said she could not talk to me about her position on abortion. She also hated Trump.

After being shocked by what they said, sadness filled my heart. I can understand why someone who isn’t a Christian might think abortion is a viable birth control measure; I can’t understand how a Christian could ever feel that way. 

Is it because the evangelical church has become so compromised, so wishy-washy, so consumed with materialism and losing tithers that, in essence, they are the end-time Laodicean church? Neither hot nor cold, they can neither inspire a generation of soul seekers for Christ nor can they discern the signs of the imminent return of Christ.

I’ve discovered many folks who profess to be evangelicals have an amillennial view of the reign of Christ. That means they don’t believe in a literal thousand-year worldwide rule of our Savior as King of kings. 

We live in a time of “tribal” warfare, and I believe this is intentional by God. It’s easy to believe there is safety in numbers. Surround yourself with liars, and you will become one yourself. I understood the millennium just from reading the Bible. I had to have someone interpret amillennialism for me because I could never find it in the Bible.

My former, long-time church in Gainesville, Florida, is filled with doctors, professors, and intellectuals who are much more learned than I am. How easy it is to be intimidated by “teachers” who are more educated. You believe they know better than you—especially a church that “worships” knowledge and prides itself on its meticulous study of Scripture and rightly dividing the Word.

If you visited my former church, that is what would impress you—the supremacy given to Bible study and becoming a learned disciple of Jesus Christ. Of course, there are other good things about my former church, but it’s the lack of living out that faith in accordance with the Scriptures that shattered me.

What specifically led to my leaving? My former church refused to post a letter from James Dobson that I wanted to be made available to the congregants that focused on the differences between the Republican and Democratic platforms.

During that same general time, one of the pastors led a prayer from the pulpit, encouraging the congregation to bend the knee for our confessed and unconfessed prejudice toward African-Americans.

I sent a blog post to my pastors about the origins of Black Lives Matter and a video by Pastor Brandon Holthaus at Rock Harbor Church, in Bakersfield, California, concerning the dangers of Critical Race Theory. One of the pastors emailed me back, “If I follow this pastor’s thinking to his logical conclusion, he would call me a useful idiot.”

That same pastor said it was wrong to close our southern borders to families with children coming here for freedom. We agreed to disagree. I worked as a court reporter for over twenty years. I believe we must follow all the laws of this great nation as they are written. We can change those laws if they aren’t working. We can’t find all those missing people who have entered our country illegally once they are here. I captioned one of the hearings on C-Span where they talked about this very thing. Most of them never show up for their court hearing. That’s why we have so many illegal aliens in our country.

Think about the ramifications—actually, now you don’t need to. Just watch Fox News and see the consequence of open borders—the heartbreak, the misery, and the suffering. We will be paying the price forever. How sad for all those victims—and it was completely avoidable. My former pastor got what he wanted.

Someone who shall remain anonymous told me that every elder of my former church voted for Biden except one. How tragic. Years ago, there was a book for kids titled, What Would Jesus Do? I wonder, would Jesus have voted for Trump? God has allowed Biden to be our president for a time, but I don’t think he was God’s choice.

When my former church implemented the mask mandate, I returned once. After an hour of torture, I realized I could not sit through a church service wearing a covering over my face and worship the God I love.

One of the elders on the board of my former church is an infectious disease doctor, and he went along with the official treatment narrative of the CDC. Because he said Remdesivir was the best treatment available, everybody at church believed him—everybody except me. He also said hydroxychloroquine was an unacceptable alternative. I knew that wasn’t true.

What about the church’s position on Israel? One member told me she did not believe the promises of God to Israel applied today and that she supported the Palestinians. Now I think this perversion of truth permeated the church’s underlying thought. I don’t remember ever praying corporately for Israel. Based on a sermon one of the pastors gave on the Olivet Discourse, I asked him afterward if he believed in Replacement Theology. He asked me what that was. Perhaps he just wanted to make sure he understood my question. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. 

I anticipate a rocky road ahead for the Christian church. Many evangelical leaders, because they hate Trump, have lost, in my opinion, the ability to lead. John Piper, Max Lucado, Russell Moore, and Tim Keller are four high-profile Christian leaders whose books I read and pastors/authors I admired. I gave away all of my books that they wrote, and I had dozens.

I know many people will disagree with me, and I’m okay with that. I am accountable to God for everything I write and for what I believe. I fear God—not man. For those who share my deeply-held beliefs, know you aren’t alone. Just because a doctor, a pastor, or an intellectual tells you that abortion is acceptable, be a Berean. Search the Scriptures and ask yourself: How is abortion different from child sacrifice to Baal? We know what God said about that. What you may not know is that there is power in that blood—and the Satanists need that power to carry out their demonic purposes. We are waging a battle for the souls of humankind—people that God sent His Son to die for. 

Satan hates all human life, and babies in the womb are an easy target because they are defenseless. Too many have closed their ears to their helpless cries and hardened their hearts to the truth.  The babies’ organs are harvested—harvested while they are still living. Imagine having your limbs pulled off and your organs removed while you are still alive. And you want to tell me you can’t stand up for the unborn child? Anyone who voted for Biden or who calls himself pro-choice will have to answer to God.

I have now officially joined a Messianic congregation, Kol Simcha, in Gainesville, Florida. I am growing once again in my faith and am thankful to be part of a dynamic pro-family, pro-Israel, pro-freedom church that loves the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua Hamashiach. I feel a soul connection and find peace and serenity with other believers who are waiting expectantly for our Savior’s return.

Amid a world turned upside-down, where evil is called good and good is called evil, I’m thankful to unite with others who share my heart for God. I believe no matter what comes, I am safe. I am where I need to be.

If you are unhappy with your church, ask God to lead you somewhere else. Don’t stay in a compromised church. While I believe revival is coming, I also think persecution is coming. 

If the government can mandate a young child to wear a mask, shut down churches, and lie to you, it will have no qualms asking YOU to take the “mark of the beast.” It’s only a matter of time.

Get ready now to fight the greatest battle you’ve ever fought. If you aren’t willing to live for Jesus Christ, you will never be willing to die for Him.