And we wonder why we don’t grow, why we don’t get healed, why we don’t get delivered from addictions and life controlling bondages. We know the mainstream church is apostate and “off track”, yet we slough off doing anything else about it—- taking any personal responsibility or accountability. There can be no other answer than what Ian has on his blog, and this cuts to the core of everything I’ve ever seen out there in “church land”.
The answer is NOT to “sit there alone if you have to, for the rest of your life to avoid the boogie man {{{{{{{{{church}}}}}}}}}} with all those scary “shadow people ” in it, like one online guy is suggesting. HE clearly doesn’t have the answer or even the right doctrine! Because, how can you have the right doctrine that he and other “mystery meat teachers” claim to have without a spirit-filled fellowship without the presence of the Holy Spirit in manifestation and the flowing of the Holy Spirit corporately as a unit, (which is what the body is supposed to be). It’s like a leg trying to walk by itself, or an eye trying to speak. IOW, dysfunctional.
The Word of knowledge, the Word of Wisdom, or prophecy and interpretation will not be in operation where it’s not allowed, where it’s not believed, where it’s despised.! So, how can these pseudo churches expect to be a united Body of Christ, the Ekklesia, when the Holy Spirit is not in charge? When instead, He is being restrained, grieved, resisted, and quenched?
Brethren, I am so hungry for more of the LORD, I’m bordering on breaking out into righteous indignation and a “money changer moment” on this issue, not like Jesus did, but I think you know what I mean. If I caught someone whipping my child, or stealing from him,…. I’d react, wouldn’t you? Yet, these apostate teachers are mistreating the Lord’s sheep everyday, stealing the pure word of the Lord from them by feeding them bad sheep chow, and getting paid for it, usually A LOT OF MONEY!!! And the sheep are not looking so good because they’re on a bad diet from what these hirelings are spoon feeding them.
There is an entire generation of both adults and youth that are being deceived and cheated, yes, cheated, out of the most glorious life in the spirit because they are not being taught by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God as we are told to do. And we are being herded into situations where we find it impossible to locate a church that actually obey the gospels and the New Testament teachings as in the book of Acts!!
What a load of absolute rubbish I heard recently, that it would be better to JUST SIT THERE ALONE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE THAN GO TO AN APOSTATE ORGANIZED CHURCH! Where does it teach THAT GARBAGE in the bible? It DOESN’T! It says WE ARE TO BE THE CHURCH!
The answer obviously, is right in the book of ACTS. We are to BE THE CHURCH, BE THE EKKLESIA….. right in our own HOMES!! IN ONE ANOTHERS homes, breaking bread together, and I dare say that meant sharing the Word of God together as well as physical food. The early primitive church did it that way, and that was the most pure, holy church, the most spirit filled church in the ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH!
If you are serious about Jesus, if you want to grow, be healed, be delivered, or even saved, you will have to have an active FAITH and actually DO something about it yourself in obedience to Jesus. He did SAY to follow Him, not just sit there and do nothing. Faith worketh by love! An active faith that works by love involves action, participation! Not just sitting there listening to false teachers complain about the apostate church. They are part of the apostate church. Didn’t you know you can be just as apostate sitting outside one of these churches as you can on the inside? Ian’s not complaining, he is one of the few that is accurately speaking about the solution TO the problem, not just the problem without offering a solution.
Brothers and sisters, let’s bone up on the Word, especially the NT, lets first of all pray, pray, pray until we hear from the Lord on this, do some fasting….. however your health allows….. maybe it will be a Daniel type fast. Then,…….. no more excuses….let’s pick our shoes up off the living room floor, and buy an extra chicken or two, or even make a pot of chili or soup, and then invite a few Christians for bible study and fellowship. And please know that by doing these simple things that are for our example in the Word of God does not mean “works” that are going to negate the “grace of God”. No, in fact it is grace in action. Praise God!
Don’t forget to pray beforeyou are to gather together to honor the LORD, and then just see what happens! I did say “Christians”. You want to worship the Lord, have prayer, flow in unity as the Body of Christ, and have communion, fellowship, love and accountability for one another. This is not to be an “outreach” or a hospital for sinners.In fact, let’s stop right here a minute and allow me to stress, even though you aren’t going to bully your guests, you will still have to be careful about others trying to co-opt your gathering and hijack it. Don’t let that happen. Nothing will mess up a fellowship and shipwreck it any faster than that, or allowing outright unsaved people living in sin, into your fellowship. Be very careful about that, especially if you are not a very seasoned Christian yourself. Let the Spirit guide you in this as in all things.
Ok, if you say you just can’t do all that…well, then I guess it’s pretty much like IAN said in another post, it looks like you’re just not serious enough about your walk with the LORD, and it’s going to show up in your life and become evident. There are no two ways about it. Once you have been shown a truth, you will be accountable to obey it. No if’s ands or buts. I don’t know about you but I am excited! And I am not just going to sit here and do nothing while the house burns down.
Christians are really no different that anyone else in the world…they like to be entertained, (religiously of course). What better place to come than to the Hillbilly haven, the Little Las Vegas of Missouri.
Have you ever been to Branson, Mo? As part of our antique business, we would sometimes make a loop through the Ozarks in search of treasures. The Qzarks are a treasure trove of collectibles and antiques. We would often go THROUGH Branson, but we never felt led to stop and “do” the Christian “shows” which many others do. I’m not saying there’s anything horribly sinful about indulging in an orgy of Branson show biz type entertainment, but I’m just wondering how conducive it is to our Christian walk. Frankly, I can’t see Jesus and the disciples setting up a show like one of these in Jerusalem in order to entertain the folks. Oh well, I guess that’s just me.
Branson will probably be blowing and going up until the time that God shuts the door much the same way he shut the door on the ark in Noah’s time. As Jesus warning about the end of the age will be as it was in Noah’s time, that people will be eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, pretty much as these things are going on today, especially in Branson, MO and “Silver Dollar City”.
It’s your choice how you spend your time, and whether you want to be “entertained” or not, going on “mission cruises” and the like, but as for me, I just want to follow the LAMB where ever he leads, and so far, it hasn’t been to Branson, Silver Dollar City, or any of these Christian entertainment places.
My unsaved Christian boss I used to work for, would brag that he and some other guys would often attend Christians Singles groups in Tulsa, and they had a running bet which ones could lure the most women for a weekend to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, right next door to Branson, Mo. so they could “do the town” and be entertained. Is this crazy, sad, or sinful or all of the above?
Of course, “The Jim Bakker Show” has set up shop here where I suppose tourists can buy tickets and set around at table in a night club like atmosphere to see “the show”, or is it a “spectacle”? I think the latter from what I’ve seen. But…you can probably buy some Jesus junk while you’re there to support the cause and maybe take back home to put it in your Jesus junk collection…if you think Jesus would be pleased.
Christian women as well as Christian men need to be aware and alert to the Spirit of Delilah, and, it’s not always about sexual seduction!
There is a lot to meditate on when studying the story of Samson and Delilah. This video illustrates some very insightful points, and I especially like that it’s being brought out in the video that the women of God can be seduced away from serving God by a man, just as easily as men can be seduced away by a woman.
Once your eyes are open to that, you can begin to see any number of ways Satan will try to use someone to introduce a spirit of Delilah into your life. They may not always be as obviously from the world as Delilah was, it may even come from inside the Body of Christ, or your own family or friends, but nevertheless, always a spiritual harlot coming with distractions away from the LORD.
Test yourself in this area, to see if you are or have been under the influence of a Delilah spirit, whether male or female. In the Bible story Samson went to Delilah. In real life in this hour, it may be that way, that men of God go into Delilah via the TV or Computer, but on the other hand, it very well may be that women are coming to them. Or, in the case of Christian women, it may be a Delilah spirit operating through a man is attempting to seduce them into spiritual adultery.
A Delilah spirit is more than a Jezebel spirit that wants to control. It is a parasitical spirit that will attempt to drain the very life from an anointed person by consuming their time, energy, money, and also try to usurp God’s place in the Christians life until they are destroyed. Run, don’t walk away from such a relationship!
The spirit of Delilah: Hindrances to the flow of truth Share Written by Don Nicely Friday, 02 January 2009
Judges 16:1-21 (NKJV) 1 Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. 2 When the Gazaites were told, “Samson has come here!” they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, “In the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him.” 3 And Samson lay low till midnight; then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron. 4 Afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by power what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict.” 7 And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” 8 So the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, and she bound him with them. 9 Now men were lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he broke the bowstrings as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches fire. So the secret of his strength was not known. 10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now, please tell me what you may be bound with.” 11 So he said to her, “If they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” 12 Therefore Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And men were lying in wait, staying in the room. But he broke them off his arms like a thread. 13 Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me what you may be bound with.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of the loom”– 14 So she wove it tightly with the batten of the loom, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled out the batten and the web from the loom. 15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you, ‘ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where you great strength lies.” 16 And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, 17 that he told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to god from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” 18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought he money in their hand. 19 Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. 21 Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following, written by Don Nicely illustrates a male point of view about the sexual seduction of Delilah operating through porn. Men, this is a very strong spirit. One that destroyed Samson. Please don’t let it destroy you. And…be aware, the spirit may not be the stronghold of pornography at all, it may indeed be a female entity operating in this spirit, but nevertheless, pornography may open the door for it in order to weaken and set you up for spiritual adultery and ultimately, spiritual death!
Written by Don Nicely
Delilah was a master in the art of seduction. She knew the secret of keeping a man in a constant state of desire for her. She was so good that she was able to seduce Israel’s deliverer into believing that she loved him.
It was a time when the Philistines were pillaging and terrorizing everywhere they went. And I might add that they went at will. Young men were taken captive to a life of hopeless servitude. The young girls became their sex-slaves that were subject to every filthy whim of their masters. For forty years this went on without resistance. In utter desperation Israel prayed and pleaded with Jehovah to deliver them. Finally god’s merciful ear was opened to their cries. And he sent an angel to appear to a childless couple and promise them that they would have son. He would not just be any little boy, but the deliverer of Israel. A dedicated, consecrated Nazerite (one who is separated to God) who would grow up and be a deliverer to his people. His name was to be Samson which means, “shining one.” Now there were three components to the special Nazerite vow of separation.
First he had to abstain from drinking fermented drink of the vine. Then he was not allowed to touch a dead body of any kind and finally no razor was to ever touch his head.
Unfortunately Samson treated this special call of God with disdain. On the outside he looked as though he was consecrated, but on the inside he was out of control. He continually ignored the wisdom of his parent’s words and acted in his own best interests most of the time. Rather than displaying zeal for the house of the Lord he allowed his sexual passions to run amuck. Instead of leading Israel into the victories promised her-most of the exploits against the Philistines were charged with vengeance and pride. He lacked the true holy fervor that inflamed the other Old Testament heroes of the Lord. Samson’s life was one long story of self-indulgence. His devotion to God was superficial at best with merely an outward appearance of consecration. This unfortunately led him to be an easy prey for his enemy.
Samson ignored his father’s warnings and sought out the forbidden fruit of heathen women. Then lust for sexual satisfaction opened the door for his enemies to get past his incredible God-given strength and attack him where he would hurt the most. Eventually through a series of poor choices he would find himself enslaved to his passions. As with most sexual addicts he would do well for a while, but then the thought of those delicious enticements would have him back on the road to Gaza and eventually land him in the lap of a true Philistine champion by the name of Delilah.
Now because of God’s power in Samson’s life he truly was a mighty man. The strength of ten men at least no Philistine soldier was a match for God’s man of power. They once locked him in the city to capture him while he was asleep and he woke and pulled the gates of the city from the ground and plunged them into ground on a nearby hill. Yea no man could match the power of Samson. He had Holy Ghost power. But they knew he had a weakness for Philistine women so they hired the most beautiful prostitute in the land to seduce his secret out of him. So they did, and it worked for Samson soon noticed the beautiful Delilah eyeing him over. Little did he know that with her eyes she was laying for the path of destruction for his life. Soon Samson found out that you can’t take fire into your bosom and not be burned.
Proverbs 6:27 (NKJV) 27 Can a man take fire to his bosom, And his clothes not be burned?
She toyed with him and pleased him sexually until he was caught in her licentious spell, making him powerless to resist. Slowly day after day he became formless putty in the master seductress’s hand. As he quietly laid his head in his beauty’s lap, he was calmed by the soothing voice of comfort from her, she asked him for the mysterious source of his great strength. Three different times Samson played with her each time getting closer and closer to the truth. Finally out of desperation she cried out; “How can you say you love me when your heart is not with me?” She pleaded with him and even threatened to stop being his little sex kitten unless he told her the truth. Finally he gave in and told her all his heart.
Judges 16:17 (NKJV)17 that he told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazerite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”
He told her his secret being weary of the whole exploit and then he laid his head in her one more time. But this would be the last time. She quickly called for a barber and had his head shaven. Then she called for the Philistines to come and take him away. His strength immediately left and he didn’t even realize that the Spirit had left him. You see Samson had already broken the two other segments to his vow. Once his hair was cut away Delilah called the Philistine masters to come in and they invaded like a pack of wild jackals, they swarmed into the bedroom and captured the bald-headed Samson. They very first thing they did was to drag Samson to the town square and gouge out his eyes with a hot poker. Now he is blind in the natural like he’s been living blind in the spiritual. He was oblivious to the enemy’s secret attacks through lust.
When sexual lust takes over a person one of the first things to go is your vision. This spirit of Delilah has usurped great power against the Christian church in these last days. Statistics say that one of every three pastors has a pornography problem. And 50% of all men that are alive today have the same problem. Delilah has sunk her fangs but good into our American culture. Television advertising, bill boards, magazines, DVD’s and all the legal lewdness that has become the normal way of living and dressing.
In my own life as a young I was introduced to hard core pornography by my father. He was an addict of the stuff for sure. And soon I became one as well. That’s why at my new birth I was led to this story of Samson and warned by God that I would be like Samson. He told me that he would place a special anointing on my life and that if I didn’t fight off the spirit of lust from my life I would end up like him.
At that time I became delivered from Delilah and all her cravings. God gave me a wonderful wife and a great marriage shortly afterwards. You see true love is what conquers the spirit of Delilah. My struggles with pornography faded away the moment I fell in love with Susie. I then began to hate the stuff, even despise the mockery and belittlement that it does to a woman’s life. Friend pornography is a grinding wheel that just has you going around in circles for the enemy. People that are enslaved by it will never go anywhere in life.
Samson now he’s bald, blind and as weak as a lamb. So the Philistines chain him to their grinding wheel and force him to grind their bread for them.
The lust of the eye had led him astray, but the loss of his sight had caused him to see his sin for the first time. It’s sure that Samson was a better m an blind than he was when he could see.
Finally after years of repentance his hair once again grew back and he was granted his strength one last time to avenge his God against his enemies.
Finally Samson would fulfill his call of deliverance and push the great pillars that held the Dagon temple up and destroy the temple and more than 3000 of the pagan god.
Friends the bible tells us to run from fornication and the sexual advances that it makes. If you do you will be prevented from being shipwrecked on the shores of unfulfilled pleasures and enslaving passions. If you can find yourself today caught in its web of deceit it’s not too late. The call of God is always before us; “repent, and turn from all your transgressions so that iniquity will not be your ruin” and that includes secual ones. Flee from that soothing voice of Delilah and into the loving arms of a savoir that alone can satisfy all your needs.
So….is this what passes for Christianity these days?
If so, now we have an idea of why it says in the bible, “Jesus wept”.
Hmm, for some bizarre reason I’d never seen The Jim Bakker Show”, maybe because he was a little before my time, back in the days of being a newly saved Christian. I just knew that “humpty dumpty” had a great fall and figured that he wasn’t going to be put back together again, but lo and behold, as it says, here he is back again, and apparently using that same old format that he and Tammy Faye used back in their pre-disgraced days of the PTL Club.
Folks, this is truly disgusting, and frankly, I don’t know how long God is going to put up with it. Yes, I know that it says God is longsuffering and his mercy endures forever, but does his patience include eternally turning a blind eye on those he has already chastened and warned severely, previously? You’d think Jim would get the idea after awhile, but no, here he is again at the Jim Bakker club complete with tables of deluded guests being entertained with pseudo sanctified drivel and vomit at what he’s trying to pass off as the table of the Lord. It’s a shame! No wonder the world has begun to laugh at Christianity. It’s those like this that cause the way of truth to be evil spoken of.
I wonder…does he, or his new side kick replacement of Tammy Faye, really think they can rebuild what God tore down once? This makes me angry, yes, but it also makes me sad because I know he is deceiving people and scamming money from them, just like a multitude of other false prophets and teachers.
Friends, I just know that the apostasy that’s spreading like cancer is not of God and is surely going to bring down the wrath and righteous anger of the LORD, because it bears NO resemblance to the early church that Jesus set up in the book of Acts. Jim is looking more and more comical and ridiculous all the time. I’m not sure how anyone can take this man, (or woman), seriously!
Well, the election frenzy is over, and like many of you, I’m glad because I was so sick of it, the lies, the blarney, the promises that will be broken that were never intended to be kept in the first place. But today I happened to come across this on YouTube that blew me away. Now, I know there are many on the Internet that “like” Rick Joyner, and see nothing wrong or dangerous about him, claiming that if a “man of God” has repented of some besetting sin, then I suppose we should all embrace him, have a big group hug, and go back to setting under his teaching, (kinda like the Jimmy Swaggart thing). Well, I’m not buying that. But anyway, I never followed Rick Joyner in the first place, but what little I do know about him has red flags all over it, and I’m talking about what he’s been up to recently. And I’m going to cite this video that was made during an interview on the Jim Baker show, (another false prophet), but that was posted on Right Wing Watch, who posted the video on YouTube. Good heavens folks! Since when do unbelievers have more discernment than Christians about what is true, wholesome and godly? http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/joyner-romney-white-horse
Before the election, I posted several posts concerning the falsehood of “The White Horse Prophecy”, as well as the outrageous promotion of Mitt Romney by many evangelical Christians. It was absolutely staggering the deception that was occurring during this election season.
I ask in this post, “Should Christians be Concerned?” Apparently Rick Joyner isn’t? And thought at the time of this video that it would be wonderful if Mitt Romney were to be elected, because, in his faulty opinion, Mitt Romney would then fulfill “The White Horse Prophecy”. This is absolutely appalling that someone who is apparently popular within a major segment of Christianity could make such a crazy statement.Popular or not, he is so far off base in his discernment it’s astonishing to me that he has a following left to support his so-called ministry.
Joyner says in the video he has researched “The White Horse Prophecy”, and KNOWS the false prophet Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion is who prophesied this nonsense, yet, Joyner continues to wax eloquent endorsing Mitt Romney, just as Pat Robertson, Billy Graham and many other so-called evangelical Christians. Or, are they evangelical or indeed, are they even Christians? Folks, I am just at the place where I am starting to believe they aren’t, and that the bulk of right-wing Christianity has gone haywire and become apostate. I am not going to be a part of this ecumenism, making alliances with the world. Making a covenant with death and hell! How about you? Are you willing to come out from amongst them, so that you don’t have to partake of their sins…or their plagues!
Finally, I am not overwhelmed with joy that Mr. O has been reelected, but on the other hand I wouldn’t have been pleased if Romney had been elected either. Romney has been dumped and will not be sitting in the White House, eating organic peanut butter and honey sandwiches on croissants, but what I am going to remind my Christian friends of, once again, Mormonism is not the kissing cousin of Christianity. It is not Christian by any stretch of the imagination, and that is what it would take to believe that it was….imagination!
Friends, Christians are loosing their discernment. We are not to embrace false religions in the name of peace and unity. Christians who believe, as some of our Christian “leaders” such as Billy Graham, Pat Robertson and many others who want you to believe Mormons are our Christian brothers- are selling you a bill of goods. Don’t buy it! Jesus Christ, our Savior and redeemer is seated at the right hand of God the Father…but not on a planet named Kolob.
Note! I have removed the source of this prophetic word as well as changing the title heading….. because the bible says to test the spirits. The reason for this is thatAFTER posting it, I later detected some other comments from the woman who gave this word that I felt didn’t line up with the word of God, that were just sort of “off”.
While speaking in the flesh, (not while under the anointing and unction of the Holy Spirit, a person may speak something in their own flesh that’s not quite right. And that’s what happened. In this case, the woman made a comment to someone that she “liked” Rick Joyner, and by saying this apparently indicated that she approved some of this teachings, etc. I DON’T. And so I have removed this woman’s name from this post as she does have a following and many baby Christians who are looking to her for leadership and truth. This is one reason the LORD urges us not to follow men and become devoted to their teachings instead of His Word and depending upon the Holy Spirit. I will mince no words in telling people to beware of Rick Joyner as I consider him a highly reactive and dangerous false prophet.
OK so about the prophecy, (below). I see nothing wrong with it and if it were given under the unction of the Holy Spirit, that is different from something merely spoken in the flesh. Nevertheless, we are told to judge these things, as many false prophets have gone out into the world. Use discretion and pray always for discernment.
“My children who think they know every step of what I will do in this time will miss My true plan for their lives. Be careful, My children, of thinking you can know all My thoughts, for you know not the full plan and intents I have for each of your lives. My plan and purposes may use ends and means you know not of, which appear to you to be evil, yet are in reality good for My Kingdom.
Many of My children wait anxiously for My Son’s return, yet are not ready for it. You have failed to submit your hearts completely to My plans and purposes, My children. Go into your prayer closets and inquire of Me that I may cleanse your heart of your own desires and replace them with Mine. Seek My true will and inquire before My throne of all that concerns you, for many of you believe your comfort is a right, yet was My Son in comfort as He gave His life for you on the cross at Calvary? Was He in comfort as He took the scourgings that led Him to that place? Was He in comfort when He cried out asking why I had left Him there alone? Was He? Do you think the men and women who followed Him were in comfort after He left the earth and ascended into Heaven? Were they in comfort as they stood for what they believed and were martyred, one by one? As the crowds jeered and threw stones at them? Your expectations are unreasonable, My children. You must face the Cross squarely on. Look at the truth of the cross and do not be deceived, lest the enemy use your unreasonable expectations to make you think I have deserted you in your final hours and you lose your faith.
Those of you who have given Me your lives, I have a plan for. You who are truly submitted, who make no demands or conditions, I shall use greatly. You who are humble. You who are prideful shall travel a different path than My chosen ones. My chosen shall know My glory in this time. They are those who shall do mighty exploits, through whose hands I shall do miracles, signs and wonders. They are those who shall attain to great heights in the earth and be rewarded in heaven for all they lay down for My Name’s sake, for My Son’s great glory.
Look at the Cross, My children, for the truth of what is coming
Just because it bears the name “church”, does not mean it’s safe. Sometimes churches can be the most dangerous place to be, and should offer disclosure statements or a label such as “Attending this church could be harmful to your spiritual health”.
Well, at least it’s been the “Churches dirty little secret” until the advent of the Internet when people like this woman “Brittany”, began gathering courage and coming forward with their stories of being abused in the organized church. Now, praise God, we are finding other blogs and websites devoted to exposing this horrible cancer of spiritual abuse that has existed inside the organized church, and helping people to receive comfort, fellowship and healing from Jesus and one another.
“Back in the day”, many of us, like me, for example, felt like we were the only ones who had ever gone through being betrayed and abused by the church, and didn’t know where to go or what to do. I thank Jesus He has made provision, through other believers online, and that is where I found answers and spiritual fortification after coming out of the Nicolaitan Institutional church.
However, I am aware there are some church folks that would like to cover up and keep their dirty laundry in the closet rather than cleaning up their acts and doing right, smugly inviting innocent people to come into their church version of Hotel California. Then, there are others who’ve contacted me recently who passively-aggressively suggest that I am using this blog to vent my own unresolved spiritual abuse issues. Whatever! They don’t know my heart! Nothing could be farther from the truth. The fact is, that I have been betrayed, used and abused, by church people in and out of church just about every which way you can! I shouldn’t be surprised by now that the enemy can even use those who come to you as Christians. I’m getting older and wiser because of these “learning experiences” but I have to admit I’m getting more than a little tired of it. The time is short and I don’t have time for game playing.
When the Lord turns the light on and you then find the wolves in sheep’s duds attacking you, (which they will when the evil spirits in them begin detecting the light in you), and so the Spirit leads you out…you want to do everything you can to reach out to the hurting and disenfranchised. This is the main reason for this blog, and for those like Brittany, below. And also to inform these abusive churches, their game is up. And for the garden variety church goer that seems to believe that spiritual abuse doesn’t exist, or isn’t important…. that the Lord will take their blinders off to the terrible crisis that exists in the modern mainstream organized church, as well as in the little para church groups scattered all over the US, Canada and the Western cultures. It does exist, and it’s dirt ugly!
The following is “Brittany’s Story”. If you have a personal story, you are welcome to tell it here. It is very healing and cathartic to journal or talk about the spiritual abuse we’ve gone through whether it was in the home, the church or both.
” Hi there!
My name is “Brittany” and I stumbled across your blog quite by accident but I am glad I did. I have a story to share with you and your readers. I am keeping this post anonymous and have changed my name because I am afraid of being discovered with my story.
For seven years I was an active member of a small non-denominational church in the Northern United States. While I noticed some controlling behavior, it didn’t bother me because I came from a broken home and loved the idea of being accepted into a family. Aside from Sunday services, I also went to church meetings and functions throughout the week and I was well liked within the congregation. One summer, I was offered a chance to be a missionary to Haiti with an outside church group. I jumped at the chance and my church family seemed to be behind me as it was a longtime dream. The only real trouble I noticed was that my church leaders seemed to have much more communication with the people I was travelling to Haiti with than I did. I also found that they were warning this group that I was ‘immature’. (I am a professional adult with a good, stable life and they had nothing to base their accusations).
I went to Haiti and felt VERY controlled by the group that I was with. I told my home church about what was going on and they urged me to come home, so I did. When I got home, they were eager to pick me up and get me feeling better. Unfortunately, all I wanted to do was be alone and process things. They did not like that. I noticed things started to get really tense with my church. They stopped inviting me to functions and started to hold their gatherings in secret. I was promised to be included on certain activities but then they held them without me. People started blocking me from their phones and once great friends would no longer speak to me. Saddened and confused, I asked the pastor to arrange a meeting with myself and one of my church friends to get to the bottom of this excommunication. He agreed and I was relieved that this was all going to be settled. I arrived at the meeting expecting things to be worked out–but instead I was verbally assaulted and abused. Vile, horrible untruths were spoken about me; the pastor pointed his finger at me and spewed so much unholy anger. We didn’t pray, we didn’t try to reconcile, it was an all-out attack.
I have a medical illness that the church group knew about. When the stress of the situation started to put me in serious medical danger, they laughed at me and ignored my cries for help. I used my cell phone to make calls to people from the church that I knew. No one offered support for me. In fact, in the coming days no one would even confront the pastor about his behavior for fear that he would exile them as well.
During that meeting, several elders walked in unannounced and continued the ambush. I now believe that it was planned.
Aside from the PFA I obtained, there is nothing the police will do to shut this church down because of the separation of church and state laws in the United States. To this day I am haunted by nightmares and I always fear running into a church member when I am out and about. I know that they have tarnished my name in the town where I grew up and attended that church.
I would do just about anything to shut them down so that no one else has to go through what I went through. Physically, it took me 20 months to recover fully from their neglect of my medical condition. Spiritually, I am forever changed. I no longer support organized religion of any sort and have made it a priority to tell my story so that other people do not become spiritually abused.”
Don’t give up! Keep seeking God. The Spirit will lead and guide you to the truth as you persevere. I’m not endorsing the church that made these videos. I am endorcing Jesus and His Word. Seek Him in that!
If you’ve been victimized by an abusive pastor or church, I think you’ll find this article very helpful. From the title you may think I am suggesting just to “move out and move on”. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. There are those that have told me to “just get over it”, that if I were mature enough in Christ that I should be able to do just that. I feel I have…since the time I left the abusive church, or should I say, the abusive people in those churches, but this article isn’t for me, it’s for others who may still be in bondage in such churches and perhaps confused, hurt, in fear, and unsure about whether to leave or not.
When I left the abusive apostate church I was in, I was literally crushed in my spirit. I felt I had been betrayed by people I thought I could trust. No, let me rephrase that. I had been betrayed.
I was confused and hurting. At that time there was no one I could turn to that would understand. After all, all my friends were in “church”, and wasn’t “church” where you were supposed to meet God, and wasn’t it ordained that one should not forsake the assembling together with the brethren?
I thought to myself, what brethren? They were all locked into the system, and the system I thought I could trust, the one I’d believed in was a sham, corrupt.
God had been good to me since my conversion, or I should say since my baptism in the Spirit. I had grown in the Word, and the LORD had blessed me in so many ways.
It took a lot of disappointments and more growth in the Word before I began to get my eyes opened to the things in the several churches I’ve been devoted to, that just plain were not of God.
It took months to even begin to recover physically and emotionally from the trauma I’d suffered from the years in church. But spiritually, I was devastated, and had to “rethink” my entire belief about “church” and what it was supposed to be scripturally. What I found was that it had no resemlance to the early church…and the way the LORD set it up.
I’ve learned later that many people who leave an abusive church walk away from God altogether and just try to get on with their lives as best they can. But for me, I had some serious issues that I needed to work out spiritually and wasn’t satisfied with walking away from God, because I knew he was real, and my experience was real, and like Peter, I felt, “Where would I go LORD? Only you have the words of truth”.
About that time I had been wishing I had a computer. Then, by the grace of God I received one as a gift. It was then I began searching for what others had experienced and found that the doctrines I’d been taught in the churches I’d attended were wrong….what the LORD had been telling me in my spirit all along.
I also found others like myself who were leaving the apostate organized churches for the same reasons. They weren’t “backslidders”. In fact, they were people who were devoted to God and completely serious in their walk. But they had also eventually seen the abuses and wrong doctrines, and controlling natures of the bird cages they’d been in bondage to.
After you come out of an abusive church or spiritual situation, expect to have some emotional healing to go through. It’s not pleasant to be sure, but it’s normal. You may look at it as a blessing in disguise because once you’re out, you’re no longer being under the control and expectations of others to conform to their ways and doctrines. You will not have the liberty in the Spirit to come to know Jesus according to the Word of God in a personal and living way. The Apostle Paul spent much time alone with the Lord after his Damascus Road experience, learning from Him directly before he ever made contact with the other Apostles and brethren.
This time alone with the Lord, for me, became a time of refreshing, reorganizing my spiritual thoughts…and a time of healing eventually.
In a way, it was the biggest weight off my shoulders I’ve ever felt, even if at the time it felt beyond strange, with Satan laying a guilt trip on me that it was somehow my fault. No, it was not and I’ve come to accept that. For where the Spirit is there is liberty.
And God bless you as you continue your spiritual journey of healing and on to maturity in Christ.
I subscribe to a Google feed that sends me news of new church and spiritual abuses. Everyday there are at least two e-mails in my inbox with some distressing and shameful scandal. This time, it involves Victory Christian Center in Tulsa, OK….but only because one of the victims blew the whistle.
Not all church scandals involve a cult steeped in aberrant doctrines. Many of them involve churches similar to the one down the street from you and me. The ones that make the news are usually the ones that make it to court because someone filed a complaint. All too often, churches choose to keep their dirty linen inside the church walls. This in itself is a scandal, but one known only to God and to those who are scandalized, and hurt, by the complacency of it’s members.
This is more than just my opinion as I’ve followed these church failures, and yes, they are failures and more than that, they’re putting the name of Christ to an open shame…but it seems to me that most of these scandals involve either a money crime or a sexual crime. And for every crime involving churches, there has to be a victim. Sometimes it may be money donated by the congregation and then misused or stolen by the clergy, usually the pastor. The congregation is made up not only of the middle class and/or those who can afford a loss without it hurting them, but also of those who can scarcely afford to put food on their table. Then, on the other hand, a sexual crime usually, but not always involves a young child, such as the 9yr old girl raped and victimized by her pastor.
How often when a church scandal happens and a rogue pastor is exposed do you hear that we are just supposed to pray for him and then forgive him? I agree that we need to do that as well, but we clearly do NOT need to place him back in a place of leadership. The very fact that an ungodly crime happened in the first place is an indication that there is something very wrong going on in whatever church is involved. For example, why wasn’t the said wolf in sheep’s clothing and his behavior discerned by someone accountable? Isn’t that what elders are for?
Back when I was still a young in the LORD Christian, I sought God not only in church, but in His Word and in my prayer closet. I began to get “vibes” if you will that there were things going on in the church, (in this case, a spiritfilled church where such things as sex or money crimes should NEVER happen. The Holy Spirit was warning me, but the leadership seemed to be oblivious.
Like I said, it always seems to be about either sex or money….two of the deadliest sins that man is prone to be capable of. And two that God takes most seriously.
My friend told me that 3 years prior, during a men and boys only church outing that her son had been molested by the church youth minister at Fountain of Life Pentecostal Church in Dewey, Oklahoma. He was 13 at the time, but was so confused, traumatized and ashamed that he didn’t tell his mother until he was 16. At that time, she told a friend who was in leadership in the church, who then told the pastor. What happened then was beyond belief. Instead of confronting this perpetrator, the pastor preached what I heard was a fiery sermon the next Sunday, and the perp ran to the altar bawling and squalling. The church took this action as “repentance” and then without any form of counseling, or removing him from his position as youth minister. What were they thinking!??
Sadly, this damaged my friend’s son beyond belief. This happened many years ago, and although this young man is now grown, married and with a family, he still bears scars from this molestation. However, during the interim period he went through many difficult times that went unministered to by the church, even by then they knew about it. He’d just refused to go back to that church without telling anyone why.
And the church? Well, sexual molestation of a minor child is first of all a CRIME punishable by law. This perp should have been arrested, taken to court and jailed. Also, the church could have been sued to the max by my friend. Neither happened and he went scot free to continue his hidden agenda in the church behind closed doors. Almost…….you see, what happened a few years later, this same perp died (in perfect health), of a heart attack at age 40. The first thing that came to me was….”God will not be mocked”, especially in his own house called by his name. The next thing that came to me was, “vengeance is mine, saith the LORD, I will repay”. Apparently, he wasn’t kidding when he said that. There was simply no other answer, or reason for this person to die.
God’s eye is on the sparrow, and he watches over his little ones. He warned those not to touch one of them, and what would happen if they did. Lest we not forget, we are held responsible if we turn a blind eye toward blatant and obvious sins and misconduct in the household of God.
Note from Scarlett: I was recently informed that the minor child who was molested by the “youth minister” in this case admitted to his mother for the first time, he was sodomized during this cam ping trip.
Since when did the Church become a Business anyway?
Thought you’d heard it all when it comes to the false “Prosperity Gospel” ? Well, think again. It seems these money grabbing charlatans never come to an end of schemes they can come up with to fleece the flock out of their hard earned money. PLEASE! For your own sake, and that of your Christian brethren, read the brilliant, blockbusting article below exposing the latest rash of get rich quick, (on your money) these wolves in sheep’s clothing have come up with! Jesus never said anything that wasn’t TRUTH, and when He said, “Money is the root of ALL evil”, it was a very serious warning. We know the world system is corrupt and out to steal everything they can, but folks, this sneaky thievery concerns the Church, His Body. Do not be deceived! http://www.christianresearchservice.com/the-cult-of-evangelical-leadership-part-2-cah-cow-fat-cat/
Ministry Watch does a good job….as far as it goes, but unfortunately doesn’t even scratch the surface of the plethora of the latest para-church groups that have sprung up since this video was released. Groups that operate seemingly under the radar, as opposed to most of the large mega “prosperity gospel ministries”.
One of these may have recently hung up their shingle in your town as it did mine! About 8 years ago, I happened to be invited to a get acquainted banquet of a new church that had come rolling into the city where I live. The price was $10 for the food, and the guest of “honor” was some other guy who was the main speaker that evening. What I remember so vividly is that the church “leadership” was all grouped at the head of the main table, then the guest speaker began his speech by dropping a bunch of names he had met personally…one of which was Rod Parsley. That was the first red flag. You know you can often tell a lot about a person’s eyes, and I can still remember his eyes, not having the soft light of the love of Christ in them, but even in a rather darkened banquet hall, they were glittering and black as pitch. He went on to tell how he was going to “grow” his own new church in another town, on the required tithes of the members he was going to get to subsidize his operation. His entire talk consisted of not one word about Jesus Christ and the gospel, but instead of money, money and more money. This all seemed to meet with the approval of the new local “church” leadership.
I don’t remember now whether the buffet was served before or after his pitch, but I do remember that when it was…the new church bunch and their guest speaker served themselves first. There were a couple of Christian friends who came with me, and collectively, we were shocked and saddened at this entire display of greed and outrageous flaunting of wickedness done in the name of our precious Lord and Savior. What was especially sickening about the entire thing is that this “new church” that had set up camp had as it’s proclaimed ministry purpose, “Reaching the Unchurched for Jesus”. Reading between the lines…or, translation if you will…conning a bunch of babies who didn’t know better, scripturally, into joining up with a “church” who’s real purpose was in enforcing the tithe to support themselves and their greed.
Of course, my friends and I left, and never went back, hearts broken for those innocent babes who were being led like lambs to the slaughter. Prayers went up, and I haven’t checked recently, but I believe this bunch has folded up and left town. Some fly by nights just aren’t as well organized as others…but rest assured, there are still many proliferating, and all under the handy tax exempt 501 C-3 status .
Maybe they all aren’t as obvious and blatant as this group of thieves and money changers, but the point is, we wouldn’t enter into a business deal without first checking up on the other persons character and background, and all the more so, of any “ministry” with whom you are considering placing you and your family under. And, by the way, that would include the Internet ministries that populate the Internet that are asking for money, even less innocuously, with a PayPal account. I’m not saying all of them are bad, but just suggesting to use godly wisdom and discernment. The following wisdom as stated on the article holds true for any of them!
You don’t know if he’s a gambler, a prescription drug addict, or an abuser of children. You know nothing about the man save for the image that is meticulously crafted, cultivated and finally “beamed” to your campus for your spiritual consumption. Consequently, you don’t truly have a pastor. Instead, you have a pleasing “image,” an “image” that knows how to turn a witty phrase as he delivers a sermon he often didn’t even write by his own hand.
Be as Jesus admonished his followers, “Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves”.
Spiritual Abuse Sanctuary 