Yet, I agree with you , tearing down dead churches, (organizations who think they are a part of the Church of God.) to destroy their bad witness is a good calling. I have helped rid the country of 2 dead churches and get rid of their buildings, sold or demolished. One is a home now. This is part of God's calling on my life. To turn a church building into a useful purpose is a worthy cause, the steeple is a testimony to God"s once using it as a meeting place for God's witness to the world. New England is full of old churches ,some need to be destroyed and some preserved as beautiful samples of yesterdays story for the future to follow. Love to all, Hoffco
An aside: concerning the bold statement that the religious spirit (some call it the 'Pharisee spirit') is what maintains the existence of most churches (church buildings) rather than their being maintained by Jesus Christ Himself, here's a short true story: I was in Michigan for a while in '12 and was going to a church that was struggling with how to proceed. They had no permanent pastor and were trying to decide whether to hire another pastor, sell the building and meet house to house, and there were two other options. I was amazed to learn that they had about eight separate teams or ministries (the intercessory team, the prayer group, the leadership board, etc.) that were separately praying for God's wisdom on the matter, some members of one team also a part of other teams. I had no idea how they should proceed... until I asked God. Immediately, He told me that they should sell the building and begin meeting house to house, explaining why that was the best option (which, of course, made perfect sense). I reported this back to one of the men on the leadership team... but though they were 'praying to God', they didn't want to follow Him (a phenomenon in so many churches). That was the same church in which the Lord finally 'came in' at a Bible study in which the leader started with 'the program'; when I got a chance to say something, I began to talk about the things regarding the Kingdom of God (i.e. the things on God's heart, not on our agenda). Immediately, the atmosphere began to change, and peace settled around us so that even those who preferred that God stay away settled down and chucked the anxious striving. Then the Lord showed up and listened as we talked. I recorded that at number 4 on this link so no need to repeat: http://christianchat.com/bible-discussion-forum/84689-experiencing-gods-presence-my-experiences.html. The religious spirit opposes God's right to rule in the churches-- i.e. His right to dictate how 'the program' goes. Any church that operates within a tight program (i.e. the same thing every Sunday) and doesn't want to budge or relax its control and allow the Lord to enter in and minister to the people is under the grip (the control, the rulership, the 'strong hold') of the religious spirit (religious spirit: "We'll do Christianity our way and our time and call it God").