Thursday, September 24, 2015

Problem No 6: Constipation and/or diverticulitis


If This is the first time you have come to the website, you will find it easier to understand if you read the introduction on the left first, and then the previous blogs before reading this one.



Symptoms and cause  
Probably everyone knows what constipation is, because it is something that everyone experiences from time to time, and usually it is not serious, and given a dose of laxative, or increase in water, fruit and vegetables the problem is solved.   Just imagine, though, if the symptoms are not addressed and ignored?    Chronic constipation! It will produce a blockage in the gut, and waste matter which should have been passed out of the body backs up and begins to produce problems for the body.  Diverticulitis is such a problem.  Over time the little sacs begin to form in the gut, and bits of matter, on the way to be dumped get stuck and trapped in these sacs, so instead of going out of the body, and being rejected they fester and will cause an infection without treatment toxic material enters the blood stream, white cells begin to make antibodies, and the body responds with a fever and a severe stomach ache, which can be debilitating.  Work and things that need to be done, come to a stand- still, as the body tries to fight the infection.  Without treatment, presumably the body would be able to eventually overcome the infection itself – but it would take time, as the body weakened by sickness tries to get back to normal.
In the spiritual realm it is possible to have both, chronic constipation or diverticulitis.  O yes, unfortunately the church overlooks this problem to its peril, but the church is becoming weaker and weaker, because it does not address this issue. 
In the human body the intake of food and drink is a normal part of life – it is taken in, and goes through the digestive process.  All that is of use is withdrawn as it passes along the system, and the body discards and rejects what it doesn’t need.
The church, Christians, take in many things, and just living in the world will result in some things entering the body of Christ which are junk food, or things that have little or no good to the needs of the church, and the Christian life of its members, and needs to be discarded – false teaching, compromised teaching, Syncretism – “ the combining of different, often seemingly contradictory beliefs, while melding practices of various schools of thought.”  These sort of things will give a minimal amount of challenge and discomfort unfortunately they enter the church Sunday by Sunday.  People who have sinned and ignored the prompting of the Holy Spirit to deal with the sin and act as if all is well.  The sin can have a negative effect on the church if it isn’t dealt with – anger, resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness, and such things as mentioned in  Galatians 5:19.  When these things enter the church, and no confession is made, sin is not dealt with and forgiveness is not sought or recognized as a need, what happens?  Yes, it remains in the body and will begin to infect the rest of the body of Christ.  (Achan’s sin in Joshua 7, meant that the whole of Israel was infected and if the sin had not been dealt with, what would the result have been?) If left untreated the body of Christ will be destroyed.
 

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