Jesus Chases The Money Changers Out of The Temple:
Ok, so not all churches, “pastors” or Internet so-called “ministries” are as obvious as ole Leroy Thompson, Mike Murdock, or Cashflo Dollar. They’re more subtle on the Internet, where they can’t scream in your ear….but…they still have that little emotional appeal to Christians to “support” what they have designated as their “ministry”. The only thing is, you never know for sure whether you’re supporting the work of the Lord, or….their new 5,000 ft, 5 bedroom, 3 bath house, or whatever.
On the other hand, some of them use the old poverty ploy. This is a good one that deserves real credit for creative innovation. With this one, they tell their online groupies, or “fellowship”, they have given up all to serve the Lord and spread his gospel. That they barely have enough to live on, buy gas for their 20 yr old car, or pay the electric bill, etc etc. No, I’m not kidding. Actually, it doesn’t take a whole lot of searching to locate these money buzzards. So, what is a good tip off that you just might be dealing with an Internet Money changer? Very simple. It’s the all too familiar Pay Pal Donate button.
Some of these PayPal money changers even have TWO PLACES to donate on their site. Just to make sure you didn’t see the first one. Here’s an example of this:
““As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” 1 Peter 4:10
“This ministry work would be furthered in the hearts of men and blessed to have you assist us in any of the following ways (email button at bottom). We are all Christ’s disciples, servants, and friends (John 15). As blood-bought members of Jesus’ body, we are all just regular people – former sinners now saved by His glorious grace – who have His desire inside of us to help others grow in His grace and for lost souls to be saved/rescued before it’s too late (Luke 19:10; Mark 4:19). Each of us know inside that our time is short – we have a very limited window and must act now. Many who read these words desire and have even prayed for something to do for Jesus.”
Uh, you have to zing past the PayPal donate button to get to the aforesaid email location. There is also plenty of stuff he wants you to do to “spread the gospel”, namely send $$ and post stuff to link to his website, which of course will inevitably lead to the all too familiar Pay Pal donate button.
All of these guys, (and women too), have a gimmick to appeal to Christians. Some even claim to be “Watchmen on the Wall” to explain to Christians who, what and where the false churches, teachers, doctrines, etc; are that you’re too dumb to figure out for yourself. I’m asking you…as a Christian, really? Are you really so biblically and spiritually challenged that you haven’t figured out by now who to beware of or who to trust?
Maybe some of these guys, who you never see in person, by the way, are doing an Internet phishing scam. Kind of like tossing out a line, in the form of a Pay Pal “donate” button, to see if maybe the net will drag in a real haul, (of $$$).
Maybe, some of them DO actually work for a living, and tell you so. But how do you know for sure? Where are their elders to keep them accountable? Very likely you will NEVER see an actual accounting for either the amount of money they’re raking in, or where the money is actually going and for what purpose. I mean, couldn’t you find some area where to spend the “Lord’s Money” on ministry service? A little old lady having a hard time of making ends meet? Or a widow with a couple of grand-kids she’s raising? Or a disabled vet having a hard time finding work? And so on….
I suggest you do a little check up online and spend some time googling. I’m pretty sure you’ll see what I mean before very long. Please, in the interest of being a good steward, be very prayerfully selective of who you send money to. Again, please follow the leading of the Holy Spirit regarding this issue. Anytime you see that Pay Pal donate button, you may be dealing with an Internet Mystery Meat Ministry pimp who’s trying to grab his piece of the donation pie. He will never be there at your bedside to pray for you in person if you should fall sick. He will never be there graveside to minister to you or your family when a loved one dies. If you’ve never met this individual face to face, think twice about sending him money.
From this blog:
“I close these word of warning/caution with a quote taken from someone who, in my personal opinion (as a professional apologist for over 15 years), is one of the worst of the worst ODMs. This ODM has posted her attacks repeatedly against God’s people and encourages others to do likewise (very much like Jezebel encouraged false charges to be brought against God’s people, see 1 Kings 21:10). She stated the following in one of her recent posts:
“Technology affords so many opportunities now to communicate with others and the world that can be used for good. It also offers us many new snares and opportunities to sin. . . . [W]e need to be ready to examine ourselves and honestly look at our motives and behavior in light of God’s Word. If we can’t control the temptation a technology brings, we need to do rapid surgery and get rid of it so that Satan does not gain a foothold in our lives. If we can use a technology for God’s glory with a clear conscience, we need to carry on and thank God for the opportunity.”
Indeed. I couldn’t agree more with this individual. Now, let us all pray that such people will begin following their own words of counsel and in so doing, not only avoid hypocrisy, but also avert God’s judgment and God’s chastisement in their lives.”
I’ve been getting many inquiries from Christian women on the subject of domestic violence in the home. For that reason I will be starting a series on this issue which has been so misunderstood and caused so much pain to so many good Christian women who were endeavoring to both love and honor their husbands, and their Savior through obedience to the Word of God.
We’ll begin with a study of “The Great Ecclesiastical Conspiracy”
Both Christian men as well as women need to study this epic teaching. It is in-YouTube Video form as well. It explains that King James himself had a vested interest in making sure that certain words were put in this translation. Words like”rule” and “submit” were intended to reinforce his headship and control over his kingdom. It’s only when we become aware of the truth that it has the power to set us free from the shackles of legalism. The Lord said, “My people perish for lack of knowledge”. Knowledge of what? God’s Word! Indeed, knowledge is power. Let’s make sure we are armed with the truth so that we will not succumb to the lies and deception. As one of the Lord’s sheep, even though your pastor or husband is bound by man-made doctrines and traditions of men, of legalistic teachings, by studying the truth, prayer and fasting, you will not have to be. Jesus said to those disciples who believed him, “If you will continue in My Word, then you will be my disciple indeed and then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” Jesus and his pure doctrine supersedes the faulty, unloving notions of men.
“THE GREAT ECCLESIASTICAL CONSPIRACY”
This is HARD!! Many will not be able to hear this at all!
Is it really possible that the Authorized King James Version of the Bible was INTENTIONALLY DOCTORED to reinforce and support a “priest class” and institutional, political hierarchies. The Protestant Reformation didn’t go far enough. It didn’t really eliminate the temple worship and priest class, it just put a nicer face on it.
This explains why things are this bad. It explains why most of this thing we call “Christianity” is in fact, not at ALL what Jesus had in mind. This explains why so many are being abused in a “system” that was NEVER what God designed in the first place.
My Story of an Encounter with an Abusive Christian misogynist: I hadn’t been posting much for quite some time. Looking over the web offerings, I figured there were enough sites to offer help,warning and healing for those who had just come out of spiritually abusive situations, or….were still in one, and looking for answers. I was wrong. Just when you think there is nothing new to add, some new abuse presents its ugly head, or perhaps an old abuse presenting itself in a new and novel way. So…I guess it’s time to fire up the blog once again.
I post quite a few resources offering “other” folks help, warnings, etc…but this time it happened to be me that got spiritually stung and hurt…again. Me, who should know better how to avoid such situations and people. Me, who has had her guard up and warns others about how to avoid snares, spiritual abuse and the pain that goes along with it. So….how and where did it happen? On an Internet voice over chat room called PalTalk. PalTalk has a fabulous potential for interaction with other Christians, but it can also be a very dangerous place, especially for vulnerable believers who have been isolated, and left abusive church fellowships and/or even been rejected by friends for leaving these churches.
What happened was that I had been visiting, with great caution, spiritual radar detector turn on, a few spiritual chat rooms and had begun to meet a few people there I felt fairly comfortable with and that seemed to be mature Christians with a healthy grasp of scripture and sound doctrine. This seemed to be a godsend because I was needing the fellowship with like minded believers…perhaps more than even I recognized at the time. However, Satan, never a day late or a dollar short, recognized it and I now believe I was set up for a hurt. Looking back, thank God it was only a hurt and not something much worse.
I had been listening to a man who seemed to be above average in godly wisdom and experience. A really interesting man as well, who I’d seen in various Christian chat rooms, sometimes speaking, or other times posting comments and scripture. We began to cross paths, and he developed an interest in me. To be frank, I was both flattered and also, a bit in awe of this guy. This was filling a need in me for fellowship after having been isolated for so long after leaving the apostate church. We were on the same page…..or so I thought.
After about a month of meeting in various chat rooms, and also spending long hours in private chat rooms, sharing and talking about God, and our experiences, what we had in common, laughing, and praying, I began to trust this man and let my guard down. Something I haven’t done in a long time, and I’m not sure I realized just how much I opened up to this man at the time.
With male, female relationships in any realm, there is always the issue of dominance, but especially in the spiritual realm of Christianity and God ordained authority. I’m not going to get into the scriptural aspects by posting scripture on here. Most of you reading this blog are already aware of what the bible has to say about it. As for me, I don’t have a problem with allowing men to be men, and the authority figure in spiritual relationships………as long as they don’t abuse it, and in the process, begin to abuse me. I am God’s and he is and always will be my husband and the final authority.
If a person has been spiritually abused they will usually be very guarded about boundaries. With me, this is extremely true. Very guarded, even with women. God has given me a level of discernment through hours of prayer, tears, and experience that I am very grateful for. But experience is very expensive in terms of having gone through situations and learning from them, (as you learn not to stick your hand in the fire after the first time, or take fire to your bosom and expect not to get burned).
With abusers, somehow they have the uncanny ability to avoid being detected at the very beginning of an encounter with their victims. Even when one has developed a level of spiritual discernment, if they have an opening, such as loneliness, or need for fellowship, as I did, they are fair game for a predator to slip through the boundary and get inside where they can do damage.
So, to describe the scenario further, there was no question of a romantic relationship developing, so that seemed to make this friendship safer where I could relax and enjoy this mutual love of God with this man…He was well read in the scriptures, and shared many spiritual experiences that gave me no reason to doubt or be afraid of him. For the most part, I felt safe, and anyway, wasn’t I a safe distance from him in PalTalk. How could this godly man possibly hurt me? But in all relationships, sooner or later, traits will begin manifesting. One of the first “disagreements” I had with this man, was over the issue of misogyny. He was adamant that women were the worse abusers of men, and that men were “just as” or more abused than women. In fact, he was a little too adamant about it…to the point that I might have thought at the time he was a misogynist himself, a closet woman-hater. Little did I know at the time, just how right on my discernment radar was absolutely spot on. But……I chose to ignore it, but the red flag was up.
The saying goes that women have a high level of intuition, and I think there is something to this…..but especially true with spiritfilled women who have spent much time in the scriptures and in prayer. In any case, the red flag was up.
Sooner or later, a persons true colors will manifest, as the scriptures say, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks”. On PalTalk, for those who aren’t familiar with it, there is a way to talk directly to a person, just like you would talk to them on the phone. Also, there is a way to text little messages to a person, or leave notes for them. So, what happened next between me and my new spiritual friend is this, I’d left a text note for him to read later. The note was a short synopsis of my understanding of “Paul’s thorn in the flesh” and I wanted to make sure we were on the same page. I told him if he agreed with this to just disregard my note. What happened was that he didn’t read or understand what I’d said in my text note, and became irate, accusing me of “being a rebellious woman in the church and one of those women who usurp male authority in the church”, as well as some other accusatory, nasty and overweening remarks aimed directly at me. This floored me, and cut to the quick. I was not only astonished but felt attacked and falsely accused…..which I was.
I have been abused by both women as well as men in the church, but this frankly, was a new experience. I had let my guard down and this woman hating predator got through the door. I sent him a note in text, politely explaining my position and that in no way was I or ever had been a rebellious woman seeking to usurp male authority. He sent back a lame excuse. I began trying to quietly shy away from him. The trust had been broken. However, not satisfied he came back and contacted me again and began criticizing me, telling me what I should think, what I should do, and “to obey”, not exactly explaining whom I should “obey”, but rather indirectly indicating it should be him.
By this time, I am wanting out. And also by this time, his true colors are showing and he is in full attack, wolf mode and begins to rip me up, telling me everything, (in his opinion), that I’ve done wrong, and what is wrong with me, and that I’m not really “walking in the spirit”.
After this last attack, I sent him back a note saying that Jesus would never talk to me, or treat me the way he did, and that I was not going to accept being spiritually abused in this way. After that, apparently he realized he was not going to be able to dominate me or manipulate me, and so sent back a hateful note with more accusations telling me I was not willing to accept “admonition”, (a handy buzz word for handing you your lunch), and then blocked me from further contact with him, as if that were going to be a problem for me. I was grateful it was over. However…there was the aftermath to deal with.
The aftermath was and is the old spiritual wounds this man left in his wake. Old wounds from the past abuse I thought were healed and now have found out they were still lurking under the surface, and this man ripped them open again. Now, I am praying,Jesus, just please come and love me, comfort me, heal me once again. And LORD, I thank you that you revealed to me what was going on, and that I have the right not to obey mean and cruel commands set up by those assuming false authority in your name. Or accept down in my heart false accusations of wrong doing, by those who would make sad those you haven’t made sad. And also, Jesus, I don’t know who or what made this man the way he is, but please convict him, heal him but keep him from hurting anyone else this way”.
Friends, there is a reason for having healthy boundaries in our lives and guarding our inner circle. Please pray for wisdom and discernment in all your relationships. There are spiritual abusers out there who will cut your soul down to the roots if you allow them to. If you see you’ve opened the door to one of these…back out, run away quickly and never forget to ask the Lord Jesus Christ for help and protection. He is our gentle and good shepherd. He is our protection from wolves that wish to rip us to shreds, and He will never do anything to spiritually hurt and wound us.
Spiritual Abuse Sanctuary 