Colossians 1:26-27 the mystery which [has been] hidden from ages and from generations, but has now been made manifest to his saints; to whom God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you the hope of glory:

• Why are so many people disillusioned?
• Why are more and more people being disillusioned?
• What is disillusionment anyway?
• Is disillusionment the work of the devil, the flesh or the indwelling Christ?

Most Protestants (yes this includes Pentecostals) can see the error, doctrinally, and the idolatry within the Catholic church system as plain as day but are actually blind to the error, doctrinally and the idolatry within the Protestant church system. It is a blindness that can only be swept away by revelation given by Christ. To say we are right and they are wrong without even going to the Lord for His light to shine on areas that He wants changed is ludicrous, yet people dismiss the leading of the Holy Spirit so easily because it challenges the very ‘system’ they believe in.

Maybe you have been involved in ‘church life’ for many years, served the church through many different roles, faithful in attending, but then all of a sudden you become disillusioned. Why?

You see if you are in a church system, obviously you are influenced by it, you are taught by it, ‘corrected’ by it, told it is true, even that ‘truth’ is backed by scripture – but wait, even the Catholic’s think they have the truth, even to the extent that they say they are the one true church. So how do I know the ‘truth’ I know, is real truth. How do I know what I believe, is true?

It is true we don’t have the physical statues, false doctrine such as praying to saints as the Catholic system does, but does that mean we are right and they are wrong. Does it mean that we have a better ‘system’ because we don’t do those things? How do we know we are not found serving a different idol?

The idol called the church has many faces; it takes revelation to see truth.

A pre-cursor to revelation is disillusionment.

I am very disillusioned. But – before you think how bad that is, let me say, it is only good. Let me explain.

Isa. 43:18-19 (NCV) 18 The LORD says, “Forget what happened before, and do not think about the past. 19 Look at the new thing I am going to do. It is already happening. Don’t you see it?  (NIV) do you not perceive it?

Most people of the spirit are very perceptive. In fact we cannot be people led of the Spirit if we do not perceive things.

What you perceive determines what you believe. If people have no perception then they believe the wrong thing – they have false belief.  

Today many people’s belief is derived from education instead of perception, information instead of revelation

A while ago a person visited us who had a hearing impairment – their comment was that NZ was basically boring because they couldn’t hear the birds singing. They wore sunglasses that were more like blinkers so they could only see basically what was in front of them & missed out on a lot of the beautiful scenery. They perceived something that was untrue – (NZ is one of the most beautiful places in the world)

We believe only what we perceive. We believe only what we see. (ask for the teaching on ‘Seeing is believing’)

• So firstly we need to have ears that hear what the Spirit is saying.
• Secondly perceive correctly what God is saying or doing.

When God spoke to me about the state of the body of Christ a number of years ago I rapidly became disillusioned with the Church. People have accused me of this, but it is actually good, not bad.

If you have been a Christian for any length of time, you must have faced disillusionment in your life. Have you become disillusioned with life, with other Christians, with church, with yourself - with God? Do you find it harder than you thought to walk as He walked? Do you agonise over unanswered prayers, harsh or shallow people in church, a loss of joy, peace or passion?

If any of these rings true for you, then praise God! Disillusionment is a work of the Holy Spirit in the life of every believer. In fact, I will go so far as to say that, if you have never known such disillusionment as this, then you have not been growing as a Christian.

What is disillusionment anyway?

Firstly, to understand this - what is an illusion? The dictionary states an illusion is:-

• an erroneous mental representation
• something many people believe, that is false;

When we witness an illusion, we perceive something that does not correspond to what is actually out there—what exists in the real world. Illusions fool us. They convince us of things that are not true. Dictionary definitions of illusion usually state that an illusion is a sensory perception that causes a false or distorted impression, or a misrepresentation of a "real" sensory stimulus.

Biblically an "Illusion" is something that is false. A false way of seeing things or believing. An illusion can be in the form of false gods of whatever system (or mindset) we are in.

So therefore Dis-illusionment: - means the loss of false belief. Realizing that what you understood is not correct, what you believed to be so is not so.

For, what is it to be disillusioned, but to have your illusions shattered? And what are illusions, but untrue ideas and beliefs that we have acquired along our way? The Holy Spirit wants to root out your illusions, he wants you dis-illusioned – this makes way for revelation – revelation then brings forth truth. Education or knowledge, the things we have been taught, doesn’t bring truth it is revelation that brings truth.

For Jeannette and myself, one of the major reasons God bought us to Ashburton was to get us out of the church system. We had an illusion that what we were doing and had done for nearly 30 years, was God. When we became disillusioned with the ‘system’ we saw all its faults and errors in bold technicolour.

After some time we began to see that what God was doing - what we were perceiving, the revelation God was giving us could never have come while being part of the ‘system’ – Ashburton was to take us out, literally – the bible calls it ‘dying to self’.

After a while instead of seeing the faults of the church system we began to see the ‘system’ in us or the illusions we had, in us, for decades. The focus became the error in us rather than the error in them.
Disillusionment set in but - disillusionment, rightly understood, is a very beneficial force! The more illusions we can be rid of in this life - and there are many - the better! In fact, you will discover that disillusionment naturally leads to renewal. The Lord breaks down; but He also builds up.

In fact, it is sometimes so hard to have our illusions challenged, that we prefer not to grow any further, and to keep our illusions intact.

illusions are a false way of seeing things. Revelation is the true way to see things.

And these things have to do with how we see God, the Christian life, our brothers and sisters in Christ, ‘church’ and ourselves.

The reason that disillusionment is so widespread is because people consistently put their hopes in the wrong things. Even in Christian circles, they almost universally put their faith in organisations more than in God himself. When the organisations let them down (and they always do), there is nothing left for most people to do except hide their disappointment and carry on the best they can.

Disillusion is the child of illusion… i.e., we feel betrayed and let down because from the beginning we’ve had the wrong ideas, the wrong expectations.

You see, our problem is that we tend to try to box God into acting one way… our way… the way we want Him to act, the way we want things to turn out… and then if that doesn’t happen… we get discouraged, we throw in the towel and in despair, turn back to the old life.

Many people were disillusioned by the crucifixion of Jesus – wasn’t He supposed to bring freedom to the Jews, wasn’t He the King of a new Kingdom?

THE PROBLEM HAD NOT BEEN THEIR EXPERIENCE WITH JESUS, BUT RATHER THEIR PROBLEM HAD BEEN WITH THEIR EXPECTATIONS.  

Disillusionment means having no more misconceptions, false impressions, and false judgments in life; it means being free from these deceptions.

However, though no longer deceived, our experience of disillusionment may actually leave us cynical and overly critical in our judgment of others.

The problem is a disillusioned person is often cynical.

But the disillusionment that comes from God brings us to the point where we see people as they really are, yet without any cynicism or any stinging and bitter criticism.

The disillusionment with our own abilities is, perhaps, one of the most important things that can ever happen to us.

So with this in mind – are you disillusioned with church? Maybe it is the Holy Spirit wanting to bring you to a place of freedom from the illusions you had about the church system.
You have two choices

1/ Keep pressing in, trying to deal with the disillusionment, brush aside those feelings, thoughts and yes the promptings of the Holy Ghost so that you can stay in the ‘system’, stay in the familiar

2/ Ask the Lord to show you why you are disillusioned, what is it that you had false belief in?
Are you actually practicing churchianity instead of Christianity.

It may cost you everything – are you willing to die to self.