DESECRATING THE SANCTUARY
By: Derrick P. Rodgers

The term SANCTUARY is defined as the holy place, the holiest part of the church. “Set apart a space,” as a sacred or “holy place” that represents something treasured, a place of refuge, the area dedicated for the glory and presence of God to reside.
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There has been much emphasis placed on the temple, the building, and the physical location of the church not being important, or not possessing any relevance in the eyes of God because we the people are the church. Well that’s true; we the people are the Ecclesia.

Nonetheless, the extreme devaluation of the “actual physical location” that has been dedicated to God has opened the door to streams of desecration causing many to disregard and disrespect the house of God by behaving in all sorts of unseemly ways. Now, by no means am I insinuating that one building or location is superior over another, nor am I suggesting that there is salvation in a building or actual place. My goal here is to address specific activities that are burgeoning more eccentric in the place we have dedicated as holy unto God.

The perpetual cycle of striving to be relevant and trendy within today’s culture has caused far too many Christian leaders to defile the house of God with extreme, and in some cases, bizarre activities that are being performed in the sanctuary. We are behaving as if anything is fair game in the house of God as long as it fulfills the bottom line for some, which is to fill seats.

Here are some of the activities being administered in the sanctuary we have dedicated as the sacred and holy place:

1. BASKETBALL SANCTUARIES: removing the seating and reeling in basketball hoops, or constructing the sanctuary to become a multi-purpose recreation room.
2. AUTOMOBILE DEMONSTRATIONS: turning the pulpit area into an automobile show room, this includes people riding motorcycles and bicycles throughout the sanctuary.
3. NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTIES: secular music, dancing and drinking in the sanctuary.
4. BRINGING PETS TO CHURCH: it’s called doggie worship. The appeal is to recognize the deep connection between people and their pets if you want to minister to the whole person and to what makes that person whole, which includes their pets.
5. FASHION SHOWS: this is demonstrated where the red carpet is run via the pulpit and through the area of the alter.
6. COMEDY SKITS AND PERFORMANCES: both Christian and secular comedians performing comedy skits in the church.
7. NIGHTCLUB PARTIES: both young and old people dancing and partying in the sanctuary to secular music, sung by iniquity practicing artists, with low colored lights.
8. BEER AND BIBLE STUDY: drinking beer and cocktails in the house of God.
9. MIMING IN THE SANCTUARY: performing a dance with white face paint as a mask, which is rooted in ancient idolatry.
10. TELEVISED SPORTING EVENTS: this includes watching events like the Super Bowl and boxing fights in the sanctuary.
11. HALLOWEEN PARTIES: children and some adults dress up in costumes and celebrate a fully demonized holiday in the church.
12. EASTER EGG HUNTS: this is where children participate in searching for eggs throughout the sanctuary in hopes of winning prizes.
13. SAME SEX WEDDINGS: homosexuals exchanging vows to commit perversion with one another. This satanic ritual is taking place in God’s holy sanctuary.

While some of these activities may be innocent activities within themselves, there is a time and appropriate place to exercise these functions. God’s holy sanctuary is not the place for youth and community recreation hour. Whether or not people like it; God’s house is to be a “house of prayer” that is to be reverenced and respected as such. Nonetheless, due to the desperate attempt to participate in church growth strategies along with the effort to keep up with the next pop fad— many church leaders have fallen prey to implementing such activities.

While some church leaders are sincere in implementing these activities, a close examination will reveal these types of activities are rooted mostly in church growth strategies that are wolf in nature. Whatever happened to church being a place for prayer, worship, and administration of the word of God without all of the added fads?

For surely, The Lord our God is not pleased with the evolution of the use of the sanctuary. Many will say that I’m just spoiling good ole church fun and entertainment, which brings me to the concern about that very mentality, which is partially responsible for the problems within the church today. We have turned the sanctuary into a cultural entertainment center suitable and attractive for non-regenerated people to remain in their dysfunctional state.

We must understand that we serve a Holy and righteous God who deserves a holy and respected sanctuary. While there is much disagreement between Christians, Jews and Islam, you will not see these activities being performed in Jewish temples, or Islamic mosques. The misguided liberty of Christians has led us to defile the sacred and holy place of the sanctuary, a place where the glory and presence of God should always dwell.

Now, before you deem what I’m saying as legalistic, I’m not saying that you can only worship God in a traditional church building or the sort. The point is— what activities are we allowing to be conducted in the place we have dedicated as the sanctuary of God?

Due to churches having beer and cocktail socials over Bible studies and now that marijuana is increasingly becoming legal, I’m concerned that some in the church will start having “weed smoking summits” over Bible study, all in the name of reaching the loss. Don’t be so quick to discard it. Many of the things that are being done in the sanctuary today used to be considered unspeakable and completely unacceptable, such as drinking beer and cocktails in the church and same sex persons marrying one another in the church. The question is where will all this end.

The quest to grow churches and be accepted by Egypt [the world] has caused the church to lower its standards, compromise its principles and offend their God.

These patterns of ministry are many times birthed out of the bowels of wolf theology and constructed as whitewashed walls as acceptable patterns of ministry. Let us repent of the sin of self-pleasure and return back to placing reverence and respect for God’s Holy sanctuary by removing all the desecrating acts.

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‘You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:30)

nor shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the Lord. (Leviticus 21:12)

Watch your step when you enter God’s house. Enter to learn. That’s far better than mindlessly offering a sacrifice, Doing more harm than good. (Ecclesiastes 5:1)

Honor and majesty are before Him; Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. (Psalms 96:6)

They have set fire to your sanctuary; they have defiled the dwelling place of your name to the ground. (Psalms 74:7)

‘Therefore, as I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you; My eye will not spare, nor will I have any pity. (Ezekiel 5:11)

Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ” Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. (Matthew 21:12-14)

Going into the Temple he began to throw out everyone who had set up shop, selling everything and anything. He said, “It’s written in Scripture, My house is a house of prayer; You have turned it into a religious bazaar.” (Luke 19:45, 46)

But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, “Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.” And when they heard that, they entered the temple early in the morning and taught. But the high priest and those with him came and called the council together, with all the elders of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. (Acts 5:19-21)