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We have had many messages on the earmarks of the body of Christ. We have studied the body, and talked a lot about what distinguishes the body of Christ from Babylon. I would like to review the characteristics of the body, but only as a prelude to looking into the identifying characteristics of Babylon.

We can say that some characteristics identify the body and everything else is Babylon, but that may not be totally accurate. Some churches and fellowships are not Mystery Babylon, not one of her harlot daughters, and yet not the beloved of the Lord. They are one of the virgins without number. See Song of Solomon 6:8.

What makes Babylon Babylon? First, what makes the body of Christ the body of Christ? It is vital that we know what the body of Christ is, and how it is distinguished from Babylon. When Bro. Lloyd Goodwin first came to Africa in 1978, he said he was the first true man of God in the body of Christ to come to Africa in 2000 years. Pastors who had come to listen to him rose up with challenges. They asked him what he thought they had been doing for years. Brother Goodwin told them they were in Babylon. There is a difference between Babylon and the body of Christ.

St. Paul's Cathedral in London, UK

There are at least five distinct characteristics that are earmarks, or identifying marks of the body of Christ. Let’s just review those in summary form:

1. A different message. This fellowship goes deeper into the Word of God than any other people. We don’t just have a few professional scholars, but the average layperson has a deep love for, and an understanding of, the Bible. The ministry of the Word is our prime focus.

• The importance of doctrine. We value truth. We constantly seek to correct erroneous understandings of the Bible. We want the message that the early church preached.
• Foundational truths. There are at least six foundational truths that distinguish this people from all other groups. These are: the godhead; the mortality of the soul; hell; the limited body of Christ; the separate bride of Christ; and understanding the beast and Babylon.

2. A different spirit. The attitude of the people is one of charity; the divine love of God of I Corinthians 13.

3. A different purpose. The mission of this body is not just to save the lost at any cost; it is not even just to prepare people to inherit eternal life – our purpose is to give the world one final witness and to prepare the rulers of the world to come.

4. A different order. To the fullest extent possible, we seek to follow New Testament order in our services. The pattern of worship is different. The lack of a pre-planned agenda for each service, the openness of each service, etc. are all different than most church organizations.

5. A different organizational structure. We are not a denomination. Our churches are not organized into a man-made organization. We don’t have membership rolls, a ministerial hierarchy or an earthly headquarters.

It would be tempting to say that anything that does not meet these essential points is Babylon; but that may not be true. What, then, are some of the identifying marks of Mystery Babylon? Remember that it was the apostasy of the early church that created Christian Babylon. What was once pure and holy became contaminated and profane. Isaiah 1:21-23 prophetically proclaims that the faithful city (the true work of God on the earth) did become a harlot. In fact, the early church was corrupted by apostasy until it became the mother of harlots.

How can we identify the subtle trends that lead a church which was once part of the body into Babylon? Every true church in the first century eventually had the candlestick removed. What must we avoid to prevent that from happening to us? What makes Babylon, Babylon?

I offer the following partial list of the earmarks of Babylon.

1. Traditions which void the Scriptures

It is tempting to say that traditions which are not found in the Bible are a characteristic of Babylon. And they are; but not every tradition is Babylonish. Our local church has a tradition of praying at the close of each worship service, but that does not violate the Bible. Some traditions are good, godly and appropriate.

But Jesus strongly condemned the traditions of the Jews in Mark 7:1-13. Those traditions were wrong because they transgressed the commandments of God. When a people attach a deep religious significance to a tradition; when they enforce traditions on the people without biblical sanction; when they inflict punishment on those who do not conform to traditions, they are Babylonish.

And whenever traditions are in conflict with the mandates of the Bible, those traditions are wrong, and even sinful. We should constantly re-evaluate any traditions that creep into our worship. There are things about African culture that we cannot have in our church services. There are things about American culture that we cannot allow to be a part of our church operations. We want the culture of the Bible.

2.A man-made organizational structure

The spirit of Babylon is a spirit of a man-made organization. In II Samuel 6, King David attempted to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem. They placed it upon a new oxcart. But the Lord was displeased, and there was a breach. In I Chronicles 15:2, it is reported that David understood that the ark could not be carried on a man-made cart, but had to be borne on the shoulders of the men of God.

Even so, the body of Christ cannot have a written constitution, bylaws, supervisory directives, and an earthly headquarters. Our headquarters, our home office, is in heaven. But an earmark of Babylon is the development of an organizational framework.

Voting, caucusing, politicking, and lobbying in state, regional and national legislative bodies are foreign to the operation of the body of Christ. Just as there is no earthly executive branch providing government over men called of God, so there is no legislative branch adopting rules, regulations and laws to govern men of God.

A very important principle to us in this fellowship is found in I Corinthians 11:3-4. Bro. William Sowders taught us that the head of a man of God is Christ. Any God-called man ministering with an earthly covering dishonors Christ. An organization is an earthly covering. Credentials to preach, issued by a religious organization, are an earmark of Babylon.

3. Regional bishops / Ministerial hierarchy

The concepts of regional bishops and a ministerial hierarchy crept into the early church. Popular pastors developed greater authority – all with the best of intentions. As pastors sent out other men into the ministry, those men naturally looked back to their pastors for advice, guidance and direction. Others became influential, leading men, because of their intelligence, great gifts from God, or influential churches. Others naturally deferred to them.

Initially, many of these men were honorable men, just trying to be a benefit to the general church. But power continued to flow to them, and power can corrupt. When there were vacancies in churches, the powerful, the influential preachers in the region were called upon to send out, and ordain, other pastors. Instead of calling a group of local elders “bishops,” that title began to be reserved for the leading, influential men.

This was a part of the falling away of the early church. Like Diotrephes, some men loved to have preeminence. III John 9. They accumulated influence and power. There is something in the nature of men to seek positions of authority. But there is also something corrupting about such power.

Jesus was against men seeking offices of authority. Matthew 23:6-12. We should be very careful that we do not set up a ministerial hierarchy. To do so would be a step toward apostasy and Babylon.

4. A strange spirit

The spirit that characterized the worship services of Babylonish churches is strange. We are not referring to the Holy Spirit of God, but to the mannerisms, the sounds, the types of music sang and played, and everything that goes into religious worship. Maybe it doesn’t seem strange to the religious world, but it is to the Lord and to His people.

When Moses and Joshua returned to the camp of Israel from Mount Sinai in Exodus 32, they heard a strange sound. Verse 17. Joshua was alarmed at the sound. The people had made a golden calf and were worshipping around it in a strange manner. The spirit around the golden calf was noticeably different than the spirit when the children of Israel were rejoicing after the parting of the Red Sea and the defeat of Pharaoh. It was different than the spirit that would characterize the worship at the tabernacle Moses was going to have constructed.

In Leviticus 10:1-2, two priests of the Lord, Nadab and Abihu, offered strange fire on the altar of God. Whatever was strange about the fire these two priests offered, God did not recognize it as true worship. He judged them for offering it. See Numbers 3:4. These were sons of Aaron; they had functioned as priests to the people. Exodus 24:1, 9-11. But they started some strange worship.

An earmark of Babylon is a strange style of worship. There is an order in the body of Christ, one that the Lord recognizes and honors. We cannot substitute something strange in our music, in our preaching, in our spiritual activities, lest we become Babylonish.

5. A ritual-based order

Jesus warned in Matthew 15:9 that people could worship Him in vain. In Matthew 7:21-23, He said He would reject people who claimed to prophesy in His name, cast out evil spirits, and do many wonderful works. Some religious worship, even worship of Jesus, is in vain. In Matthew 6:7, Jesus said that vain repetitions are not true worship. Yet Babylon’s standard worship rituals are nothing more than vain repetitions.

Worship in Old Testament Israel was very ritualistic. Holy days, offerings, temple ceremonies, etc., were all teaching tools to point Israel to their Redeemer. But the New Testament church is not ritualistic. The congregation is not to be passive while observing a professional priesthood perform sacred rituals. Worship is not that way in the body of Christ. Even the rituals we have, communion and water baptism, require participation by the saints.

Rituals, of course, demand professional priests. New Testament order did not make use of the Levitical priesthood. There are five offices in the ministry: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. There is no office of priest. Only Jesus Christ is a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. In the church, we are all a royal priesthood. I Peter 2:9.

Babylon does not have Spirit-led services; their worship services are pre-planned and pre-programmed. Sermons can be announced at least a week in advance, every song is determined before the service begins, who will speak, how long they will speak, and other such items are in a pre-set agenda.

It was not so in the early church. Acts 13:2 was a Spirit-led service. While they were ministering, or serving, the Holy Ghost spoke – likely in tongues and interpretation – saying to send out Barnabas and Saul for a work the Lord had for them. “How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.” I Corinthians 14:26.

We believe in being led by the Spirit. The spirit of Babylon does not give room for the Holy Ghost to operate.

6. False doctrine/ smooth things

Babylon started as false religion – teaching things that were not the truth. An earmark of Babylon has always been a turning away from truth to fables, errors, and messages that only tickle ears, but don’t change hearts. A rebellious people will not listen to truth; instead Isaiah 30:9-10 says they will ask the prophets to prophesy smooth things. They want their messages to be easy to swallow. The preachers are not to make any demands on the people. Do not ask them to sacrifice, or to change their lives.

In II Timothy 4:3-4, Paul wrote against preachers who just tickle the ears of the saints. The Gospel is supposed to challenge the people to change for the better; it is not to flatter their vanity. The early church transformed into Babylon because the preachers did not stand firm on the order and truth given to them by Jesus and His apostles.

Jeremiah 50:6 says that it is the shepherds who caused the sheep to wander. But the saints are willing accomplices in this. Jeremiah 5:31 says that when the prophets prophesy falsely, the people love to have it so. At least most of them do.

The problem with this, of course, is that it leads to corruption of the purity of the church. It is not body order. It facilitates apostasy. When preachers stop preaching against worldliness, and when the church forgets that it has been called out of the world, it becomes Babylon.

Paul warned in II Timothy 3:1 that in the last days of the early church the people would be turned away from truth. That is because false teachers would prophesy smooth things. Those became the popular preachers. Those “hard” preachers, who condemned worldliness and demanded discipleship, were not so popular.

Where did these false preachers and false teachings come from? Jude 4 says that those who were leading the church into error crept in unawares. They did not come in from outside the fellowship. They were raised up in the fellowship, but to the surprise of many, they corrupted the truth. Paul wasn’t as worried about outsiders corrupting the Ephesian church; he said that men would arise from the inside, speaking perverse things, to draw away their own disciples. Acts 20:30.

The Apostle Peter wrote in II Peter 2:1-3 that there would be false teachers in the church. They would not come in from outside; they would be among the people. They would “privily” bring in “damnable heresies.” Respected preachers would err from the truth, and stealthily corrupt the work of the Lord. When truth is overwhelmed by error, that is Babylon. We may not have all the truth, but we are coming out of error, and not going into error. That is an important distinction. The body of Christ may not have every truth right; but we are not moving into apostasy.

This is a 4 part series, we will be posting these series on a weekly basis and will update this post with each new installment of the series until its complete.

• The Missionary Journeys of Paul – Part 1
• The Missionary Journeys of Paul – Part 2
• The Missionary Journeys of Paul – Part 3
• The Missionary Journeys of Paul – Part 4

If you weren’t able to make the meeting or even if you were and would like to recapture the moments from each service this photo album is an excellent way to remember the meeting. To order click the link below.

The 2009 May M…

Des Moines, IA Gosp…

By Daniel Goodwin

The local church is called an elect lady by the Apostle John. She is called a body, the body of Christ, by the Apostle Paul. The New Testament, therefore, compares a local church with a human body; specifically, a woman. This local assembly is not a storefront mission, or a newly-planted work. It is an established church, with all the benefits and detriments associated with age. This elect lady has the wisdom of experience, the accumulated knowledge of years of Bible teaching, and the spiritual understanding that comes with those years of operating in New Testament order.

All of those are benefits of the years. But the detriments of aging can also affect this elect lady. Just as a human body weakens and gets frail in its advancing years, even so a church can lose vitality and zeal over time. Every assembly has the potential to become lukewarm. The warning of Revelation 3:15-16 is that if a church becomes lukewarm, it will be spewed out.

An assembly becomes lukewarm whenever a significant portion of the saints become lukewarm. A church is not a building; it is a group of people who have been called out of the world, and called into the body of Christ. There are ten signs to tell if you are losing the fire of your zeal for the Lord. You have become lukewarm when:

1. Prayer ceases to be a vital part of your life.
2. Your love to read and study the Bible ceases, and you are content with the knowledge you already have.
3. Compassion and love for others grows cold.
4. Sports, recreation, entertainment and vacations become a large and necessary part of your thinking.
5. Acquiring money and goods is more important than acquiring the things of God.
6. You carry bitterness, anger, or hard feelings toward other saints, and murmur against them.
7. You watch morally-degrading movies, TV, web sites, and read morally-debilitating literature.
8. You find yourself adapting contentedly to the world’s lifestyle.
9. The slightest excuse seems sufficient to keep you from doing your spiritual duty.
10. Church attendance, especially midweek prayer services and Sunday night worship, is no longer important enough for you to make the effort to be there.

The danger of lukewarmness, of course, is that if you don’t repent and become zealous for the things of God, Revelation 3:19, the Lord will spew you out; or if enough saints become lukewarm, He will remove the candlestick. Elsewhere in this issue, we have a feature article on the effects of aging on an assembly. But here, we sound the warning trumpet: be sure you aren’t becoming lukewarm in your passion for serving the Lord.

Churches and movements have represented the present move of God, grown lukewarm and cold in less time than has passed from the calling of William Sowders to today. The early church became apostate in less than 100 years. Iniquity destroyed every church the Apostle Paul built – in just a few years after his passing. How long was Corinth or Ephesus a shining beacon of truth and godly order? 40 years? 60 years? How long has your church been a part of the body of Christ? It is hard to keep a “candlestick” assembly in existence as part of the true move of God for more than a couple of generations. What the first generation fights for, and the second generation builds, subsequent generations often lose. Hopefully, the feature article in this issue will help to identify the issues of an aging assembly, and point out the biblical remedies that can be employed.

In Philippians 2:12, Paul wrote: “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”

The word, “wherefore” in that verse, means that the statement links to what has gone before. Paul was exhorting the Philippians, beginning at the end of the first chapter, to live a Christian life. In Philippians 1:27, he was saying to let your manner of life be becoming to Christ. Or, let your life be lived in a manner that brings praise to the Lord. Stand fast, and strive for the faith of the gospel. Is there anything else that is a greater test of faith than to be asked to live our lives according to the Scriptures?

The gospel is “good news.” It proclaims the thrilling message of salvation. The gospel offers so much; but it also calls on Christians to live a certain way. The Word of God gives us much – peace, hope, comfort, wisdom, and more; but that same Word demands something from us. It directs us to live the way our Lord wants us to live. Philippians 2:3 forbids all strife or vainglory. Christian disciples are to be living without bickering, arguing, or seeking our own glory. The next verses tell us to look to Christ as our example.

Then Paul comes to verses 12-13. He did not want them to live right because of his presence. We live right for the Lord, and not for a pastor. Some people who were in this assembly years ago lived right for Lloyd Goodwin; but they did not continue to obey the gospel in his absence. They went worldly, and decided for themselves how they were going to live. We cannot do that. The Gospel tells us how to live. We aren’t really deciding for ourselves how to live; we are deciding whether to obey God or not.

As you work out your salvation with fear and trembling, remember it was not Paul, you Philippians; it was not Lloyd Goodwin, or Glenn Goodwin, ye Des Moines­ians; or insert your pastor’s name and your assembly; it is God who works in you to will and to do of His good pleasure. It is sad to see Christian witnesses collapse when the teacher is gone. I guess it is probably worse to see the Christian witness collapse when there is a teacher still there.

Preachers and teachers are helps, but living a consistent Christian life is something that you are to decide to do. You can do it through the grace of God. They preach the Gospel; but you are to live that Gospel. Remember, you are responsible. Paul says it is “your own salvation” that you are working out with fear and trembling.

Notice that Paul is not saying to produce your own salvation, or to attain it; he says to work out the salvation you already possess. He did not mean that if you work hard, you will be rewarded with salvation. God forbid! Salvation is by grace alone, not by works. Ephesians 2:8-9. This is where many people misunderstand this verse. You cannot work hard enough to earn your salvation. But you are to work hard in the salvation you have been freely given.

Paul had already told the Philippians, in the first chapter, that salvation was a gift. See Philippians 1:6. His theological position is not that they will someday be saved; but rather that they are saved, already. They were not going to be a Christian someday; they were Christians now. Because of that, they were to live like a Christian. That is, they were to “work out” – like exercise is a workout – the Christian virtues of life. The apostle was saying, “Because you have started as a Christian; now continue to live like one.”

Salvation in the New Testament encompasses justification, sanctification and ultimate glorification. What Paul was saying here is that because you have been justified by the blood of Jesus, now you should be working out your sanctification. You should be becoming more Christ-like. You should be overcoming sin.  We are to work this out. That is, we are active participants in this process.

The seed of full salvation has been planted in us. Now, we are to encourage this to grow and develop into full maturity and perfection. To work out our salvation means to bring to conclusion something which has already been commenced. The Lord has done so much for us, we should desire to please Him and walk worthy of Him in all things.

The New Testament repeatedly admonishes the disciples of Jesus, the redeemed of the Lord, to live like a child of God should live. Ephesians 4:1 says to walk worthy of the vocation to which you are called. We have been called to be a Christian; it is our vocation, our profession. Don’t be sloppy and amateurish; be a professional Christian. Colossians 1:10 encourages us to walk worthy of the Lord. Paul in I Thessalonians 2:12 said to walk worthy of God.

This is how we respond to the grace of God. When God gives us grace, we are to walk worthy – or try to balance the scale – by working out the sanctification process in our lives. There is work involved. Becoming like Christ in our thoughts and appearance and entire life is not done in a one-time experience at the altar, or when we first receive the Holy Ghost. We are to go on to perfection. Hebrews 6:1. But this involves working out.

But even the response to grace – is grace. We could not work out our sanctification if it were not for God, which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. This is grace, for grace. John 1:16 states that we have all received of the fullness of Jesus Christ; and also received grace for grace. This is first grace that you are saved; and then it is the grace of God that you are striving to overcome sin. In I Corinthians 15:10, Paul said that it was by grace that he was saved, and it was also the grace of God that he was able to labor more than others.

There is no contradiction between verses 12 and 13 of Philippians 2. Work out your own salvation, but it is God who enables you to do that. You cannot earn your salvation; it is the grace of God that you are saved. You cannot go on to per-fection in yourself; that, too, is the result of grace. It is grace for grace, or grace in addition to grace.

The statement Paul made to the Philippians is that it is God who is working IN you. It is not something external; it is an on-going work on the inside. God is actually working to transform you – to change your thought patterns, your desires, your tastes, your mindset. Romans 12:2 speaks of a transformation through a new mind.

This is an astounding and important principle: God is actually working deep inside you, through His Holy Ghost, to change your nature. Now you want to serve God; because He put that “want to” in your heart.  If the “want to” isn’t there, you had better pray that He gives it to you. He is the One who puts the want to in you.

You were saved by grace, and now you are receiving more grace to desire to serve God. God is giving you the grace to respond worthily to the grace that saved you. The Lord motivates your very desires. The Bible tells us in Psalm 37:4 that God will put the right desires in our hearts. And yet you and I are told to work out our salvation. This is not a contradiction. God does not force our will. He does something more wonderful, and more gracious: He plants the desires in our hearts that our will responds to.

The book of Philippians assures us that God does this of his own good pleasure. That means that He has done this in spite of our sins and innate unworthiness. Even though we were sinners, deserving the punishment of death, God’s grace began the work in our lives, and is continuing that work. There is no spark of good in us. We have nothing to boast about. If we are ultimately glorified, we will have to give God all the glory.

And God is doing this – both to will and to do. This means that not only is God inspiring our will, He is also giving us the power and ability to overcome sin. The Lord is giving us the to do. You may say you are weak; that is alright. It is not your power that matters. God is not weak. God will give you the desire and the power to walk with Him in the path of holiness. God gives us both the “want to” and the to do.
Do you feel Him working in you? The chorus says, “There’s something within me, that’s holding the reins. . .” Is there? This is one of the ways we know the Lord loves us, and has saved us. He is the One who graciously caused us to feel the condemnation of sin, to seek Him. And, beyond initial salvation experiences, He plants a desire in us to change, to be true disciples, to become more like our Lord.

Paul also used the phrase: with fear and trembling when he said to work out your own salvation. Our Christian walk is not in brashness and arrogance, but in true humility. Fear, in Philippians 2:12, does not mean to be cowering and frightened. Hebrews 4:1 warns God’s people to fear that we might somehow come short of what is promised to us. This fear is a healthy fear. Many times, the Bible uses the word “fear” in a different way than modern language. In Isaiah 66:2, the word does not mean to be shaking in paralyzing fear, but to be trembling in respect and honor.

Philippians 2:14 tells Christians to do all things without murmurings and disputings.  Paul not only stated the positive – work out your own salvation with fear and trembling – he also helped out by pointing out things not to do. Do not murmur and dispute. That is, we are not to sit in the seat of the scornful. Psalm 1:1. We are walking with the Lord on a journey to a wonderful kingdom, just as the children of Israel were walking through the wilderness to the Promised Land. But they murmured. See I Corinthians 10:10.

God is giving you the will and the “do” in your salvation process. What are you complaining about? The Lord has designed the experiences you are to go through. Grumbling and griping are rebellion. Arguing with God, with His Word, with His ministry, with His plan; all of these are scornful statements and foolish statements for a Christian to make.

Philippians 2:15-16: “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life.”  We are to be blameless (not necessarily sinless) in our personal conduct. And, that conduct is to do no harm to others. Remember, we are God’s sons. Like Father; like son. Our society is crooked and perverse. But we are to be lights.

We are not just to hold fast the word of life; we are to hold forth that Word. We are to be living examples of righteousness, shining out among the darkness of our society like the moon and stars shine out in the darkness of the nighttime sky. This is the working out of our salvation.

But the truth is: you need your pain. Pain is not a disease or physical condition: it is a symptom of a disease or condition. Pain is God’s way of telling you that something is wrong, and you need to do something to take care of the underlying condition that is producing the pain. Pain is valuable; else you wouldn’t know that anything was wrong.

Leprosy is mentioned frequently in the Bible. What is it? Leprosy is a disease caused by the Mycobacterium leprae bacteria. This bacterium affects the body’s nervous system, concentrating on the cooler parts of the body. Affected areas are skin, eyes, and muscles in the hands and feet. People with this disease live a virtually pain-free existence. Many of us wish for a pain-free life. Yet in fact, the absence of pain is what is so devastating to the leper.  Again and again they wound themselves; yet they don’t feel a thing.

Although leprosy is not yet fully understood, today there is a cure. A blend of drugs known as Multi Drug Therapy (MDT) is effective in killing all known strains of leprosy bacteria. But for most of history, the disease was incurable, and led to terrible deformities in its victims. It was the absence of any sensation of pain that caused lepers to eventually lose fingers, toes, hands, arms, legs and eyesight. Pain was given by God to protect His creation from harm.

Consider what would happen if you had no pain sensation in your feet. No one stands on both feet at the same time. (Not unless you’ve had military training.) Normally we stand on one foot, and then when the stresses and strains of the body weight are felt by that foot, slight pain comes on and informs our brain that the foot is under strain. We shift our weight to the other foot and subject it to the same strains until that foot is tired; then the cycle of shifting weights is repeated.

But if you had no sensation of pain, you wouldn’t shift your weight from foot to foot. Since your brain would receive no messages regarding the stresses and strains the tissues of the foot are being subjected to, you would continue to stand and stand and stand. This can destroy the feet. The tissues of the feet, including the skin and its surrounding tissues, the joints and the ligaments, and the bones, are all subjected to severe strain. The weight of the body on the feet crushes the skin and causes it to lose its blood supply. The strained ligaments around the joints tear, the bones fracture because of fatigue and you still do not feel any of these injuries; because you do not feel pain. So while these wounds and deformities occur, you would continue to injure your feet until they crumble to uselessness and finally need to be amputated. Pain is the symptom which you need to prevent this injury and subsequent amputation. Pain is a stimulus for rest.

This is true not just in the feet, but everywhere in the body. You need your physical pain. But you need your spiritual and emotional pain as well. Yes, the slights and emotional hurts that come from insults, betrayals, abandonments, and the mental anguishes of life are beneficial to us. We need those pains. Spiritual numbness will prevent you from changing your attitudes, emotions and thought processes. Emotional pain will develop Christ-likeness.

This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” II Corinthians 4:17 (KJV). Another version of that verse says: “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!” (NLT).

Some of the benefits of spiritual/emotional pain are:

1. It gives you the opportunity to forgive. The most noble, the most honorable, the most God-like act any human can perform is to forgive someone. Spiritual growth is dependent upon opportunities to forgive those who “trespass” against you.
2. Surviving anguish and hurt allows you to learn to connect with friends and family on a closer level. The fact that you faced, and survived, such pain frees you to concentrate on other relationships. When other hurts occur, you know you can get through them, and you can turn to a network of friends and family – for your own help, but also so you can now be a source of strength and a help to them.
3. Surviving such hurts gives you confidence that you can work through whatever trauma life throws at you. The same loving Lord who helped you before, will not leave you or forsake you now.
4. You become a deeper, less superficial person through your suffering. Every walk through the valley of the shadow of death deepens and refines your character. You can empathize with others who are suffering emotional trauma.
5. It causes you to appreciate the good things the Lord has provided in this life. You can contrast the good to the bad, and learn to lean on the Lord who provides all the good.

So the next time you experience pain, either physical or emotional, remember that God gave it to you for your good. But anything, to excess, can be harmful. Limiting pain can be good, too.