Identity Theft of the Soul

Apr 28

Written By Sheryle Cruse

Matthew 16: 13-18:

**“When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, ‘Who do men say that I am, the Son of Man, am?’**

So, they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’

**Jesus said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’**

Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’

Jesus answered and said to him,

‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this (revelation) to you, but My Father who is in Heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock (revelation that Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One sent from God) I will build MY church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.’”

First let us look at the church.

“Ecclesia” (Greek: translates to “church” and refers to the community of believers in Jesus Christ; the Body of Christ.

It can also refer to a local congregation. The term originates from the Greek words “ek” (out of) and “kaleo” (to call), meaning “called out ones.”

The Church has, and has always had, issues about doctrines, methods, sanctifications, and rules and regulations. The type of “theft” I will get into, should never happen within the confines of a church.

Referred to in the above “Ecclesia.”

This word, when translated to English, becomes church.

This word “church” appears 114 times in the New Testament, often referring to the universal Church, the Body of Christ, worldwide, or a specific local gathering of Christians.

Again, what is the church?

And who are you, specifically, within this context of church?

I am not talking about your servanthood in the church.

I am pointing to your “condition” spiritually, emotionally, physically, and mentally. This includes everything like marriage, children, jobs, finances, dreams of a better life, etcetera.

How can we be separated from the world, and its lusts if we, ourselves, are the product of having our true identity stolen?

How so?

Every person in church has a condition. Good or bad.

This Christian life is a roller coaster at times, either in a storm, coming out of a storm, or headed into a new one. Not a bunch of time to relax between storms.

Thank God that Jesus is in the boat with us during all our storms.

Our daily, weekly, and Sunday routines come with then, a condition. It is called an opinion or attitude to be influenced regarding our understanding of “church” as we live out our Christian Walk.

We sometimes evolve into a counterfeit or fake Christian. Not wanting to, but we get tired of routine, and our true identity gets stolen in this process of complacency.

We find ourselves hiding behind our own religious beliefs, no matter what the sermon on Sunday.

Even if we feel conviction about something that is not right in our personal lives, we lean on our traditions and beliefs, rather than repenting on a bended knee.

Jesus said in Matthew 11: 28-30…

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Identity theft begins in our soul.

**If you are laboring in any way and are heavy laden or burdened down from your past issues that are unresolved, then your soul has been stolen.**

Piece by piece, your life is tormented as it is shredded into small pieces of time past.

It is like the memories won’t stop, no matter how you pray.

The strength and power you need to overcome your past, or present situation, is gone.

Zapped, and tapped out.

How so?

Your soul is sick. Your mind, intellect, and emotions are dying a slow death.

Is your current family happy?

Are you relied upon, keeping order in the home?

Does everyone around you, including people at work, or distant friends, need your time and insight?

You are only human.

Your soul is “damaged goods,” and even if you recognize the damage, why would you continue in a cesspool of sadness over things that happened years ago?

How can you help someone who is damaged too, if you are beyond hope?

We must get our identity back by finding out all over again, who is Christ, the Anointed One, and let Him fix us.

I see no benefit in vomiting up the past. It is truly gone.

If we have the Mind of Christ, the damage from yesteryear can’t hurt us or drive us to sorrow and depression.

You are in a trauma toilet going clockwise and being flushed down the sewer of identity theft of your own soul. Maybe you do not recognize it, but you should by the end of this story.

Just because your true identity in Christ is gone, does not mean you can’t get it back.

Stolen away through time and pressures of life.

Jesus said, if you are heavy laden, take His yoke upon yourself, and learn from Me.

Are you learning anything about your soul lately?

You and I will never achieve peace through strength. Saying we are a Christian, and that we go to church, does not give us enough power to blow fuzz off of a peach.

You and I are in a “spiritual war,” and we are losing ground daily without our soul back in place within our lives.

We hide behind a mask of fear and worry. The spiritual face we counterfeit daily, is wrong, and it is sin to think we can be pretenders, when we really have no hope in surviving.

Do you hide in a drowning sea of sorrow and pain?

Sometimes, unknowingly your identity is stolen away from you, and you are left confused about who you really are in Christ.

He is more than your Savior.

He is your only source of peace.

Yes, His Word, the Bible helps.

We must live what we read, or we are hypocrites. Whitewashed tombs, full of dead men's bones.

Ask the Pharisee’s, they will tell you all about that cleansing of the outward cup but leaving the inside dirty with despair, and religious ideologies.

Jesus said in verse 29 that He is gentle and lowly (humble) in heart, and you will find rest for your SOULS.

This identity theft also left your spiritual bank in the red. Overdrawn and about to have it all closed out. There are no other banks that would let you open a new account, if the last one died on the vine of vehement living in your past.

This lack of identity causes us to sometimes try and be someone we are not.

A theatrical player in a drama-filled life, going nowhere fast, waiting for the last curtain call, so we can run and hide.

There is a part of human nature that causes us to desire to be accepted in a world filled with rejection.

I know all about rejection, believe me.

The moment the Judge passed sentence on any criminal, the mask went on, and we had to become something else other than a drug addict and attempted murderer.
That was me at 18 years old. We all have a horror story to share. We were a product of our own environment, but the environment changes, like the weather, when we meet Jesus.

The first mask I had to wear, prior to catching the chain to prison, was a thing called survival of the fittest.

The chain is the bus a convicted felon gets on, strapped down with chains and handcuffs. Thought I would clarify “catching the chain.”

“They were PONDEROUS CHAINS!”

Survival of the fittest means more than being physically able to fight.

I had to prepare myself to resist, what this maximum-security prison I was headed to on the bus was going to dish out to me in 1976.

Resist in your mind first.

I was so drug-fried prior to prison, it was a miracle I survived like I did. I refused (in my mind at least) to succumb to the horrors that awaited me.

I resisted all the games in County Jail.

I resisted the pressure of someone trying to have me wear Mascara.

I did not have an identity problem. I knew what I had become.

I absolutely understood what my behavior would bring.

I did not care about the consequences from the crimes.

I did not want to live another day, so someone kill me soon and put me out of my misery.

My identity needed to be changed.

It did change when I met Jesus in prison. I still had “soul damage,” but in time, Jesus healed that too.

I know exactly what manner of man I am today.

I am God’s man.

I am a husband to one wife.

I am a father to two young men.

I am a preacher of this precious Gospel.

I am working full time at 69 years old, doing construction.

I am building an elaborate chicken coop. Yay chickens and eggs.

“I just wonder what came first, the chicken or...”

It does not matter. I am scrambling the first ones that come in about a month from now.

I am what Jesus wanted me to be from the start.

My identity was flawed. My addictions and violence were my fault.

I can’t blame Mama and her drama anymore.

I can’t look at my dead parents and say, “I want to be like Daddy.” If that were the case, I would have been murdered at 46 years old like my own Daddy.

I have outlived that curse for sure.

Theft is theft.

Someone or something (Satan) has ripped you off entirely of your mind, intellect, and emotional stability.

Tell me how to get out of this rut please?

First, you and I must take off the “false face” of happiness and joy. If you don’t have joy, do not pretend for someone else's sake.

Find out why you have no joy as a Christian. I will just bet, it stems from reliving old events in your mind.

Counseling may help, but it is not a cure-all.

There are several “church” conditions according to the Book of Revelation.

The seven churches and their distinct issues.

What kind of church lives in your heart today?

Is it Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea?

It has to be one of seven. Or maybe many at the same time.

These churches in Asia Minor, during the first century AD, receiving specific messages from Jesus.

(He is talking to you right now as you read this).

These churches exemplify different aspects of the church’s journey through history.

Highlighting both strengths and weaknesses.

The importance of staying true to God’s Word was paramount in all the messages from Jesus.

Did you or I forsake our first love, Jesus?

We are known, like the church of Ephesus, to be hard workers and full of endurance.

We hate evil too, but we have walked away from Jesus to a degree.

Our zeal became lukewarm in our devotions to God.

There is always hope if we repent.

The rest of the churches had issues too.

Tribulation, poverty, persecution, and faithfulness. Yes, faithfulness despite the trials.

One church sat in “Satan’s seat.”

Complacency and lukewarmness was also in other churches.

Philadelphia was steadfast, but not perfect.

There is no perfect church.

Remember, body of believers in Jesus.

Humans.

Someone once said, “If you find the perfect church, don’t attend it. You will mess it up with your presence.”

Galatians 2: 20-21 declares,

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes though the law, then Christ died in vain.”

Jesus lives in you?

Is HE happy being in your vessel?

He will give you, His Mind. The MIND OF CHRIST.

Your true identity will only be found in Him.

Pursue Him. Praise Him.

Cut loose your past, and all the idols that surround all of them.

Stop.

Do not yield.

You must stop in your tracks and look at your joy level and your hope level.

Once you analyze that, then get on your knees, like some of the seven churches did, and repent for living in a place of your past, that wants you to dwell there.

The biggest lie from Satan, is keeping us pre-occupied with our past, and our current tasks.

Busy, busy, busy we Christians are.

Stop, look and listen.

You and I better look and listen when we stop.

If we cross the intersection of life we are currently in, without our true identity, then we get run over and “squashed.”

Hard to scrape up a soul off the pavement of life, that does not know who they are in Christ.

The oncoming train is approaching. It is time to get off that track, before you get run over.

You and I have been ripped off long enough.

Ask yourself a question.

What am I doing daily, that glorifies Jesus?

If anything, you and I do, that is not building ourselves up in our most holy faith, then we are self-inflicting our own souls.