Where is Character

Honk if You Love Jesus

2010-09-09T06:16:00.000-07:00

It seems the new thing on Facebook is to put a post such as Jesus is my Savior.... and put like this or post this and lets see how many true Christians there are on facebook. Copy and past this on your facebook page.

I just think it is so easy to like something ... re post something ... quote a bible verse... or honk if you love Jesus.

I wonder how many true Christians would jump on the bandwagon if we posted something like.... love the person who stabbed you in the back at work and strive everyday to show them the love of God...... Love every Christian the same whether they believe the way you do or not.... Love you neighbor as yourself no matter who they are or what they do.... Love people and show them everyday no matter what they say or do..

I think that is not as popular because it involves crucifying your flesh and making yourself act loving toward others when your flesh is screaming...... but look what they did to me...

I just wonder how many people who are so quick to post a claim that they are a christian or that they love Jesus are walking the "love your enemy" walk ....or... "the do good to those who hate you " walk.

I'm not saying that LOVE JESUS posts are bad.... not that bible verse posts are bad.... I'm just saying that I haven't seen much "loving those who hate me" actions in my lifetime and without that .... all the posts and quoting are in vain.

Following the Leader

2010-03-17T20:07:00.000-07:00

There is a great post today on the blog of "Former Leaders Journey" about validating or following a particular leader. There is a link to that blog on the side of my blog. Not necessarily the video but Former Leader's post really hit home with me. I am still sickened daily by the leadership that I followed and endorsed for more that a decade.

The Seven Deadly Sins

2010-02-22T16:20:00.000-08:00

The pastor at the church I have visited a couple of times has started a series on the seven deadly sins. I just love it! It is the first time in years I have heard sin addressed so directly from the pulpit. Not only is it addressed, it is made clear that we are responsible for our actions and there are very real consequences for them. He also addresses the results that these sins have on our relationship with God,our relationships with others and on our spiritual health. All the teaching has been so practical and what is so refreshing is that at the end of each service there is not just an invitation to receive Christ as Lord and savior but also opportunities for repentance and dealing with areas in our lives as Christians where we need to repent and turn away from sin in our lives that hasn't been dealt with.

The first lesson was on envy. The Bible says in James 3:16 where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you have disorder and every evil practice. I have seen so much of this firsthand and in the church at that.

At one church that I attended we were taught to never be satisfied with what we had materially and that our faith would become stagnant if we were not constantly "raising our vision" to the next level of material things and "believing God for them" we were instructed to write a "vision list " and write down all the material things we wanted, how big of a house we wanted, what we wanted our salary to be, etc..... along with our spiritual goals of course. Sometimes when someone achieved a material goal, huge house, being left large sums of money, etc. they would be called upon to speak on what their faith had gotten them and the whole service would be devoted to that. Hands were laid on the chairs in the auditorium and they were prayed over in diligence and instructed to "grow millionaires".

Envy is insatiable, envy cripples our ability to examine ourselves - to see our motives, envy cripples our trust in God, envy never stops at that sin - it always grows into other sins, it causes one to take matters into their own hands to make what they want happen, envy cripples our relationships, envy cripples our ability to enjoy what we have, envy is a heart problem and begins in the heart, envy is not something that happens to us..... it is something that comes from us.... from our heart.

I believe that this constant pursuit of and pressure to achieve material things and money with "our faith" bred envy within the church, and as a result bred evil practices that changed innocent peoples' lives in horrendous ways.

Hocus Pocus

2010-02-19T22:55:00.000-08:00

The other day I was reading some comments and someone commented on a sentence used in a pastors message. The quote was this..... "If you don't have a relationship with JESUS, if you don't believe it when you use His name, you might as well be saying hocus pocus". This struck a sore spot with me. Over the past years that seems to me, what the majority of using the name of Jesus is to many Christians, is hocus pocus.

In the past 18 years I have heard the name of Jesus used to call in the money, the vacations, change personal circumstances for comfort and want, keep people out of jail and twist the courts after they have committed horrible crimes, and almost every other selfish and self centered reason imaginable. Rarely have I heard it used in a way that a person was willing to sacrifice their life to Him in service. I have heard it used in prayers for others for healing but not nearly as much as for personal gain.

I wonder when Paul and Silas were in prison, why they didn't use the name of Jesus to get themselves out. The Bible says that they were "praying and singing praises to God" and an earthquake shook the doors of the jail and they were free. Funny how it doesn't say they USED the name of Jesus to get out or how they used their FAITH to get out. Unlike Christians of today they weren't miserable in their circumstances, even though their circumstances were that they were in jail. Even when God freed them they didn't even escape because they didn't want the heathen jailer to get into trouble. Wow!

How different from many Christians I know today who can't wait to USE the name of Jesus to get out of their circumstances. How different from many "faith" preachers of this day and time who would have used the incident to proclaim what they had gotten with THEIR faith and how they had USED the name of Jesus to get it.

Believing that the name of Jesus has power has nothing to do with having a relationship with Him. Doing what He says and practicing what He tells us to do is what a relationship with Him is about. Not using His name and knowing it has power.

In Luke 6:46, Jesus asked "Why do you call me Lord, Lord when you don't do what I say?" Matthew 7:15 -23 talks about those who stand before Jesus and say "Lord, Lord, didn't we cast out devils, heal the sick and perform miracles in Your name?" and He says he never knew them. Obviously they didn't have a relationship with Him yet they knew the power of His name. They used it and it worked for them. No different than saying "hocus pocus".

In the amplified version Jesus says to them "depart from Me, you who act wickedly, disregarding my commands". He didn't say, sin is no big deal as long as you know the power of My name and what My blood bought........ He dismissed those who "disregarded His commands"!!!! Now I haven't heard that preached in church in a very long time.

I was talking to a friend the other day and he told me that he would be surprised if it was many more years before Jesus returns. In the course of our conversation he said..... " folks just act any old way they want these days." When I asked him if he was talking about the world or Christians he was referring to Christians.

I think maybe the name of Jesus has been reduced to "hocus pocus" to many, many people and the blood that he shed has been reduced to a "get out of jail free" card that many think enables them not to be accountable for their actions.

Yes His name is powerful, and He did shed His precious blood and He deserves for us to take up our cross and follow Him every day and live a life of service and obedience, not a life chasing the health, wealth , prosperity and do whatever gospel.

Rocket Town

2010-01-30T23:28:00.000-08:00

The other day I was downloading music and I came across an old song by Michael W. Smith. If you are familiar with the song then you would remember lyrics but if you are not.... it is about a bar called Rocket Town and how it was the most popular and happening place to be. But there was on there who stood out. One who wasn't there to party but to witness. One who didn't want to make sure he was treated right but turned the other cheek. There was something about him that made him stand out in the crowd. It was the presence of God in him. One who spent his weekend nights not thinking of himself but thinking of how he could bring others to Christ.

What happened to Christians like that and pastors who provoked their church members to be like that?

It seems like these days, many Christians and many pastors aren't any different than the world. Their focus is on themselves, having and achieving position and material things, using their faith mostly for believing for material things or events in their lives to propel them to their desires for themselves. Yes tons of Christians are in the bars but they are there to party not to witness. Many Christians think nothing of planning to get drunk with their friends, having sex without being married, cussing, lying, and manipulating and using others. Many Christians don't want to hear about sacrifice, holiness, accountability, responsibility, obedience or taking up their cross and following Jesus. There also seems to be few or hardly any pastors preaching about these things.

Most messages seem to be about what we can have, how we can get it and don't worry about what we do.

We don't seem to hear parents talking about forgiveness and turning the other cheek. Instead we hear "you don't mess with my family" Aren't we glad that God didn't have the don't mess with my family attitude or there would be no blood of Jesus to pay for our sins.

I can't remember when the last time I heard a message about how Jesus told us to forgive 70 times 7 .....was that each day???? Yes it was if someone asked you to forgive them. Now I'm not talking about being a doormat for someone but I am talking about forgiving them. I mean if someone hits you in the head with a bat you can forgive them, love them, help them without handing them another bat and standing there waiting to be hit again if they have done it several times before.

I certainly don't claim to have all the answers but I do believe that these are the things I should be seeking after instead of how to use my faith to get what I want or need. Didn't Jesus tell us to take no thought for these things that our Heavenly Father knows what we need and He will take care of us? Doesn't the Psalmist say that he was young and is now old and he had never seen the righteous forsaken or their seed begging for bread. Didn't Jesus tell us to seek first the kingdom of God and His RIGHTEOUSNESS and He will give us everything we need? I happened to notice that Jesus didn't say what we want or desire. How strange that was not what I was taught in church. Jesus also knew that when He died His blood would make us righteous and yet here he is telling us to SEEK after righteousness. I wasn't taught that in church either. One translation tells us that the heathen seek after these things. Wonder if a nice vacation falls into that category...... maybe so.

I may not know a lot but I do know that God is going to take care of me. It really doesn't matter where I live, what I wear, what I eat or what material things I posses. I am happy and content knowing Him and I have decided that I am going to put my focus on seeking first the kingdom of God, His way of doing things. I also know that through the blood of Jesus I am righteous but I also have decided to seek after His righteousness because that's what He told us to do.

You know once I heard a sermon about how when we look good we attract people to God. I think that that poor preacher needs some help with what attracts people to God. The Rocket Town christian not only attracts them but offers them a foundation other than money, things and looking good to build on.

I have two versions of Matthew 6:28-34 listed here if you would like to read them.

The Amplified Bible - Matthew 6:28-34
And why should you be anxious about clothes? Consider the lillies of the field and learn thoroughly how they grow; they neither toil nor spin.

Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his magnificence (excellence, dignity, and grace) was not arrayed like on of these.

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and green and tomorrow is
tossed into the furnace, will He not much more surely clothe you, O you of little faith?

Therefore do not worry and be anxious, saying, where are we going to have to eat? or, What are we going to have to wear?

For the Gentiles (heathen) wish for and crave and diligently seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows well that you need them all.

But seek (aim and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides.

So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble.

The Message Translation Matthew 6:28-34

Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as and inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion - do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp of shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.

If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers - most of which are never even seen- don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with GETTING, so you can respond to God's GIVING. People who don't know God and the way he works full over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

Give your ENTIRE attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen o=tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

Birmingham News Religion Top Stories 2009

2010-01-19T22:50:00.000-08:00

On December 26, 2009, on the front page of the Religion section of the Birmingham News the top 20 church stories in 2009. In the opening paragraph one of the four stories first mentioned was the "sentencing of a megachurch youth minister as a sex offender". This sad but true story ranked number 2 out of the top 20 stories of the year.

This story of perversion on such a twisted level managed to outrank several truly wonderful stories such as, Matt Pitt, the founder of the Basement who is actually changing the lives of youth in the city and turning them toward God instead of using them to satisfy a sick and perverse lust for young flesh. It also outranked a story of an anonymous donor who wrote a check for $720,000.00 to keep a beloved Methodist church camp open and running.

The number 2 story reads:

"Former Word of Life Christian Center Executive Pastor and Youth Pastor David Webb was sentenced on July 30 and reported to federal prison on Aug. 31 to begin serving a five year sentenced for transporting a minor girl across state lines for sex. David Webb, former executive pastor and youth minister for Word of Life Christian Center on Derby Parkway, was indicted in January and PLEADED GUILTY to having sex with an underage girl in his youth group. He's now serving a five-year sentence in federal prison. "

Many deny this ever happened and this man pled guilty to "save the church" which would mean he would have had to lie in open court to the judge. This would have meant that he would have also lied when the judge asked him point blank in open court if he did "eventually succeed in having sex with her" to which Webb replied "yes sir"

The Reaping

2010-01-17T21:57:00.000-08:00

The other day I heard a person talking about a local church in our area that claims to be a faith church. The pastor there prides himself on being a faith teacher. Ninety percent of the messages on CD that I have heard from that church center around USING faith to get material things, money and what an individual wants for himself. I have spoken to and know so many that have come from churches like this that have been used, taken advantage of by the leadership, raped by staff members, shunned, lied to by the leadership, controlled by the leadership, manipulated by the leadership...... the list of abuses for leadership's selfish and self centered gain goes on and on.

The popular sing song rhyme for the new year at this church is:

IN 2010 THE REAPING WILL NEVER END!!!!!

I feel sorry for many of these pastors, their families, and many who have foolishly followed their example of the treatment of others in the body of Christ. If the reaping has begun for them and will never end they are going to need God to have mercy on them!

It almost reminds me of Pharaoh who spoke his own judgement out of his mouth.

The Beginning of Faith

2009-11-12T17:56:00.000-08:00

This is the first passage in the New Testament where the word "faith" is mentioned. How fitting that it is mentioned by Jesus.

Matthew 6:20-35 (King James Version)
20But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
22The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
24No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
25Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

It seems to me that in this passage, Jesus is telling us to "take no thought" for what we will eat, drink or wear. In the sentence where He mentions faith it is like if we think that we need to ask Him for these things then we don't have faith. Not that we should use our faith to ask for and attain these things. He is saying that God knows all our needs and if we seek first the kingdom of God then God will provide these things for us without us even thinking about them. He says that these things are what the Gentiles seek after.

The next passage where faith is mentioned again is by Jesus:

Matthew 8:5-11 (King James Version)
5And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,
6And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
7And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
8The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
9For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
10When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
11And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus marveled at this man's faith. He didn't feel the need to confess repeatedly, ask again repeatedly or figure out how to receive. He KNEW that what Jesus said would be done and he knew it even without Jesus being there.

Matthew 8:24-27 (King James Version)

24And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.
25And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.
26And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
27But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

Here in this passage Jesus told the disciples that they had little faith. Maybe it was because they were so afraid of their circumstances and they didn't KNOW that He would take care of them. Whatever the reason, it had nothing to do with their material needs.

The next:

Matthew 9:2 (King James Version)
2And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.

In this passage, the people NEVER asked Jesus for anything. He SAW their faith and healed the man. Could it be because He saw that they KNEW that He would heal the man if they just brought him to Jesus.

This is just the start for me. I doubt that I will comment on every place in the New Testament where faith is mentioned and yet I might. I know that this seems to be the beginning of the truth that what I have been taught about faith is definitely false teaching.

What is Faith

2009-11-10T18:42:00.000-08:00

For the past fifteen years, I have been deceiving myself by listening to teachers and preachers teaching the faith message. I neglected my responsibility to prove out what I heard by the Word of God and listened to the false teaching that faith was for me to use to get things for myself.

Whether it was for circumstances to change to my advantage or for material things that I wanted or needed. I foolishly believed that if I got things using my "faith" that I actually had faith. I have come to believe that faith actually has nothing to do with material things or circumstances that I want.

The word "faith" is used in the King James Version of the New Testament 231 times. In glancing through the passages that contain the word "faith", I found that I could not find any passage where we were instructed to use our faith for money, houses, clothes, jobs, or any material thing. I can't find where we were instructed to use our faith for the necessities of life or to get what we want. I have come to the conclusion that our faith is for furthering the kingdom of God, to help us live holy lives, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation, and to love others with the love of God.

My blog posts may not be so controversial for a while but I am going to satisfy the questions I have about all I have been taught for the last fifteen years. I think faith should provoke us to want to DO something FOR God not GET something FROM Him. So I am going to go through and actually READ every passage IN CONTEXT where faith is mentioned in the New Testament and see for myself what it is. Maybe then I will get back to my "first love". I remember it and can feel it tugging at me. I am determined to rediscover it.

Faith in Action

2009-10-26T18:11:00.001-07:00

James 2:14-18 New International Version (NIV)
Faith and Deeds
14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

I remember in my former church the pastor proclaimed himself to be a faith teacher. He professed to have a great anointing in the faith area. On more that one occasion I heard him call his wonderful faith that he had perfected "BMW faith". He got all kinds of material things with his faith. His great BMW faith got him a BMW, houses, fine dinners, top of the line suits, top of the line shoes, jewelry for his wife, extravagant vacations, the best of everything. He encouraged and provoked his congregation to believe for the best of all material things. After all, he taught that if you had nice things, money and looked good that it would attract people to God and if you looked not so good that no one would be attracted to God. Of course there is not one place in the Bible that teaches this, but he was such a master manipulator that as he strung one scripture after another together, taken out of context, to form his wonderful faith doctrine , I bought it hook, line and sinker.

Never were we pushed or provoked to use our faith to reach out to the community, to reach the lost, to feed the hungry, or to help the needy. Our church did have a prison ministry but no outreach to the community unless there was gain in it for the church.

I went to Linn Park in downtown Birmingham last Sunday morning and I saw a man with GREAT FAITH for the first time. He arrived at the park before 7:00 a.m. and began to set up. He had a small trailer equipped to serve hot food. He pulled out his generator to power his speakers and sound system. He was not there to preach church. He was not there to teach faith. He was not there to take up and offering. He was there to tell people about the saving grace and the love of Jesus Christ. Jesus was not a part of his message. The name of Jesus was not thrown about as a way to get things. The message was Jesus and only Jesus. He came there for people who had nothing to give in return. He was there for the homeless, the forgotten, the ignored and the destitute. He came to tell them that Jesus loves them, that He died for them, that they are of value to God, that they were important. My former pastor referred to these type of people as "losers". This man looked on them as treasures. After he and the others who had chosen to come out in the cold on that Sunday morning had ministered to all who wanted to receive Jesus as their personal savior and all who wanted prayer, he opened up the window of his trailer and began to serve a hot meal to each individual.

I stood and watched with tears in my eyes and asked God to forgive me for all those wasted years that I allowed my selfishness and self centered thinking to put me in a position to believe a false doctrine that faith was all about getting things for myself and getting the good life for myself.

I could see this man in Heaven with a multitude coming up to him and thanking him for touching their lives for Jesus. I could see Jesus telling him that when he had done this unto the least of these, he had done it unto Jesus. I could see Jesus telling him, "Well done my good and faithful servant"

I don't think I will hear those words because I believed for a car, a house, a job, clothes or money. If I recall correctly I believe that Jesus told the multitudes to take no thought for these things, but seek first the kingdom of God and all these things would be added unto us. Maybe if all these things aren't being added unto us it has nothing to do with what we believe God for, maybe it has to do with us seeking after the wrong things.

Churches, Working Together or Dividing

2009-09-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

In the church that I was a member for over a decade there was put forth and taught a mindset that I have never seen or heard of in any other church that I attended or visited. Members of this church were never to visit other churches unless they were out of town or attending something special with a family member at another church. If a member of my former church visited other churches because they wanted to and it was found out then they were looked upon as traitors. We were taught to look down on other churches because they were not as enlightened as our church and were not as excellent. The pastor professed to know all the truth and, according to him, was always right. Many times he pompously declared from the pulpit that he could wait till we all get to heaven so that Jesus could inform us all that he (the pastor) was right.

This church never joined itself with any other church in our area or city to help anyone or reach out to the community. At one time we had a luncheon with a speaker who was a self made multi-millionaire. The purpose of this guest speaker coming in was to help raise the vision of the people in the church so that they would all become more prosperous and hopefully rich. When a pastor of a neighboring church was invited to the luncheon by a church member the pastor of my former church wanted to know why this neighboring pastor had been invited because we were trying to build our church, not theirs. The pastor never had one good or encouraging thing to say about any other church in our city, on the contrary he constantly criticized other churches and pastors from the pulpit.

Recently, I was totally surprised at something that happened in the church that I have been attending lately. The regular drummer had to be out of town on Sunday morning. The drummer who usually fills in for him had to work. Sunday morning, as I sat in my seat, I recognized someone in the sanctuary that I know personally and I know is a regular attender of a church other than this church. As it became time for the service to begin this individual sat down behind the drums. He proceeded to play with the band and did an excellent job. When the music was over, he quietly made his way to the back of the church toward the door. The pastor stood up and recognized him for being such a blessing by filling in and playing the drums for us, thanked him for his willingness to help and wished him on his way as he went to attend the service at the church where he chooses to worship.

Who would have ever thought that this could happen! Members of the body of Christ, from two different churches in the same area, working together and helping each other with no jealousy, criticism or envy. What a blessing it was! Christians from different churches working together to further the cause of Christ and not their own importance or agenda.

The spirit of separation and division is not of God. He desires His children to work together and help each other. Not separate themselves from other Christians because they don't go to the same church.

A pastor who seeks to divide his congregation from the rest of the body of Christ is operating out of a spirit of fear, pride and selfishness. Fear is the opposite of faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God. God hates pride. A true christian is not selfish.

If you are in a church where the pastor promotes division from the members of the body of Christ who do not attend your church and not unity he is in direct contradiction of the Bible. Find a church where the pastor operates out of a heart of love and not selfishness. Find a true pastor after God's own heart, and quit listening to one who pulls you away from the heart of your Heavenly Father.

The Drunkard and the Glutton

2009-09-23T07:32:00.000-07:00

In the King James version of the Bible the term "drunkard" is used 5 times. Twice it is used in the same sentence with the term "glutton" and once it is used in the same sentence with the term "fornicator". In all 3 of these sentences the glutton and the fornicator are equal to the drunkard.

In these verses that I mentioned, Deut. 21:20, Prov. 23:21, and1Cor. 5:11, the drunkard, the glutton and the fornicator are pointed to as someone who will come to poverty, should be stoned to death as a rebellious son, or someone believers should not even eat with.

In reading these verses the twisted mentality of the leadership of my former church appalls me.

I remember at one time when I was a youth worker a young adult was disqualified from participating in the youth band because he had been seen in a restaurant ordering an alcoholic drink with his dinner. He was not drunk nor was he a drunkard. Just because he was seen ordering and drinking this one drink he was instantly "unfit" for the "excellence" we put forth in ministry. Yet people who were extremely fat to the point of being obese were brought in to minister from the pulpit. There were extremely fat people who led praise and worship and who were youth workers and children's church workers. A man involved in fornication was left on staff until he left town and was still endorsed by the pastor of the church to minister to youth at a youth camp.

How can the leadership of a church pull out the sections of the Bible he wants to use and completely ignore the rest. He can do it when his church is a business to him. He can do it when he is not a pastor after God's own heart. He can do it when his parishioners represent dollar signs instead of the body of Christ. He can do it when he and his family are his number one priority and not the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In this instance a person who loved God was denied the use of his gift to serve God because the church leadership was more interested in an image that what was right. The Bible does not say there is anything wrong with a drink, it says it is wrong to be drunk.

In the other instance a man who was known to be involved in sexual sin was left in a ministry position and on staff. The Bible says not to even eat with a fornicator, much less leave him in ministry.

I'm not saying that I would never eat with a glutton, drunkard or a fornicator. I know that we live under grace and there is forgiveness and restoration for the repentant. The fact is that the qualification to be involved in any ministry area at my former church was that you support the pastor and his family one hundred percent. Right or wrong, whether you agreed with them or not, your total support was mandatory or they found a way to keep you in the rejected group till they found a way to get rid of you.

Beware of the red flags. Don't make excused for a pastor who is ignoring and twisting things in the Bible because he is a good speaker, supposedly "anointed", puts on a good image, or seems to have it all. If it seems too good to be true...... IT IS.

Never Leave Your Man of God

2009-09-15T19:59:00.000-07:00

In my former church we were constantly taught that one of the most important things about our christian walk was to have a "man of God" to sit under and to "speak into our lives". Now it was very important also NEVER to LEAVE your "man of God" if you wanted to experience God's richest and best in your life.

In the New Testament, the phrase "man of God" is only mentioned two times. In second Timothy 3:16 the term "man of God" is referring to believers being equipped for every good work. In first Timothy 6:11, Paul is telling Timothy that as a man of God he should flee the things of the world and pursue righteousness.

Not one place in the New Testament is the church taught that they are to focus on ONE "man of God" to lead and guide them and speak into their lives. We have the Holy Spirit on the inside of us to lead and guide us into all truth. We are Jesus' sheep and we follow His voice.

This man made doctrine on "needing" a "man of God" to pledge our allegiance and support and financial gifts to has been put together by men who call themselves pastors and prophets in order to gain financial wealth, material gifts and keep their supporters under their control.

The body of Christ needs to wake up and realize who they are in Christ and realize that God speaks to each and every on of us. He is perfectly capable of leading, guiding, protecting and blessing us without a go-between to tell us what He wants or is saying.

We need to get out from under the control of these manipulative, greedy, materialistic imitations of pastors and find some true pastors with a pastor's heart to hook up with and DO the work of the ministry.

Are You a Tither???

2009-08-04T17:21:00.000-07:00

I remember in my former church a common question asked by the pastor, his family, and his staff was, "Are you a tither?" and " Are they tithers?"

If someone asked for prayer for something, someone to agree with them, healing, a situation, or any need they may have the pastor or his family members first response was "are they tithers???" They also claimed what they wanted from God and demanded it because they were "tithers"

At times when invitations were received by staff or the pastor's family members they wanted to know if the one the invitation was from was a tither before they made a decision to go or send a gift.

Many times when people wanted an appointment for counseling, I was instructed to pull up their tithing record so a decision could be made if they could see the pastor or anyone for that matter.

The staff was REQUIRED to tithe in order to be employed by the church. If the pastor or one of his family members became suspicious that a staff member had fallen behind in their tithing, I was instructed to pull up their tithing record and the staff member who had fallen behind was called in for a correction conference.

In reading the new testament and the eye witness accounts of those who came in contact with Jesus I am amazed that he never once asked anyone if they were a tither!!! He only asked them if they believed! Multitudes came to Him.

Some asked Him to bless them.... tithing was not required for Him to give His blessing.
Some asked Him to heal them.... tithing was not required for Him to heal them.
Some asked Him to COME with them and heal or minister to their family members... He ALWAYS went willingly and tithing was not required for Him to go with them.

My former church wanted the congregation to believe that tithing was a requirement in order for you to receive anything from God. Maybe this was because of the luxurious lifestyle they were living as a result of their enormous salaries and the personal things that were paid by the church for them.

Sadly they neglected to put the emphasis on the BLOOD OF JESUS that purchased everything we will ever need from God. Tithing is not required for us to receive everything that God has for us but the blood is what was required.

We should give to God and His work out of a heart of love, not because it is extorted with fear and promises of riches and material things. A person who gives out of a willing heart and giving nature gives way beyond the tithe anyway.

You can't buy God with your tithes. The bible doesn't say that we overcome anything from tithing. It does say ... that we overcome by the "blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony".

That is the blood and believing...... not tithing.

The Flesh Church

2009-07-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

I remember sitting in my former church before I knew the truth about all the sin going on for years behind the scenes and wondering why our church never grew. I also wondered why many wonderful ministers that had come in the past never came anymore. I wondered why members and staff members that left on what seemed to be good terms with a wonderful public sendoff never returned to visit even when they were in town. These things really bothered me. Of course the "pastor" always put a spin on how the church was growing and thriving, yet it never manifested. The numbers went down instead of up. The "pastor" would criticize the church down the street that was growing by leaps and bounds. He criticized the things that they implimented such as free coffe, free CDs and other things to be a blessing to their people. At that time my former church was charging 1.00 for an 8oz. cup of coffee and 7.00 for a CD that cost about .50 to make. He called it the "seeker friendly church". Then one of the few traveling "ministers" that still came to the church on a regular basis came up with the name "flesh church". This same "minister" called precious Christians that had left the church "bowel movements". Now these Christians didn't backslide or fall into sin, they just wanted to attend another church. Probably a church that focused on Jesus and people instead of pride in "our faith" and using it to get money and material things.

Now this "flesh church" actually had over 19,000 people come to hear the gospel on Easter weekend. My former church didn't have 600. My former church's vision was for members who PROSPERED and had material things. My former "pastor" said that we were God's garden and if we didn't LOOK GOOD that it reflected badly on God. One important thing on the "flesh church's" vision was to start a medical clinic to help the community and be a blessing to those who could not afford medical care.

I recently had an opportunity to experience the effect of the flesh church's impact on the community when I accompanied someone to their new Medical Clinic. A visit to this clinic is 30.00 if you do not have insurance and 0.00 if you do. They do their best to prescribe medications that are on the Wal Mart 4.00 list of medications. The staff is friendly and caring. They have quality doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, and office staff. The facility is immaculate and remodeled. Everything I experienced was excellent.

The pastor of this "flesh church" doesn't stand in the pulpit and boast about his airplane, fancy suits, his anointing, his great gift of teaching or his BMW faith. He is too busy doing the work of the ministry, carrying out the great commission and doing something to help and impact the community. When you go to the clinic, the doctor doesn't even ask you if you are a tither before he prays for you.

It is a good thing that there are "flesh churches" that are doing something for Jesus. My former church is too busy trying to keep the former executive pastor from spending 10 to 20 years behind bars for the impact he had on the community.

That's Not Grace!!!

2009-06-15T12:27:00.000-07:00

The other morning I heard a message by a wonderful pastor that I love and respect very much. The message was about Elijah and some of the miracles that God had performed in his life. As I was listening to the message, I began to think back on many of the messages that I heard at my former church. Many of these messages were about what I had to do in order to get God to move on my behalf. I was instructed to "Sow a seed if I had a need". We were always hearing about what we were supposed to do in order to move the hand of God. If we needed a financial miracle, we were to sow a huge financial gift into the church, if we needed a personal miracle in our lives we were to serve and serve in the church, and things like that.

In the course of this message, the pastor brought out the fact that God performed miracles and provided supernaturally for Elijah even when he was not moving in faith. God didn't look at Elijah and say, "Well if he does this then I will provide a way for him", that God moving on our behalf is not contingent on whether we tithe or not or whether we "do" something to earn it or qualify for it. That's not grace!!!

The dictionary defines grace as the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God. This grace comes to us not because of any thing we can do but because of the blood that Jesus freely and willingly chose to shed for us when He chose to make the ultimate sacrifice and gave Himself for us. Grace does not mean.... "if you do this, then I will do this"!

Since the time that I left my former church, God has done so many awesome miracles in my life and blessed me so abundantly it is almost beyond belief. Yet I did not do one thing to merit or deserve any of these miracles or blessings. I actually made it a point NOT to do anything that I had been taught I was supposed to do in order to be blessed by God because I needed to remember the God that I knew before I allowed myself to be manipulated into trying to be some kind of "faith giant" in order to receive from God. He does it because I am His, because He loves me, because I know Him and because my savior, Jesus, purchased it for me with His blood. I asked Him to forgive me for ever belittling what was purchased by His blood by thinking that I could get something from God because of what "I" could do. Thank goodness I realized that I don't have to perform my way through life, I can just look to Him and live a life more wonderful than I could have ever hoped or imagined.

Dentist Drama

2009-06-04T21:19:00.000-07:00

Today I was remembering an incident at my former church where a staff member gave a testimony that occurred at the dentist office. This person went to the dentist and was so consumed with the realization that they had a "pastor" that they began to cry in the dentist chair. The testimony centered around how awesome the pastor was and how they were moved to uncontrollable tears at this realization. This person cried so much that the dentist ( unable to do any work on this person at this time) had to wait till the deluge of tears subsided before they could continue the appointment. All this over the realization that they had a pastor?????? I found myself wondering if they had ever had to delay a dentist appointment due to tears over the realization that they had a SAVIOR?????

I began to think back on how twisted the priorities at mfc were. There were many services that centered completely around the pastor! Not Jesus! The pastor's, achievements, anointing, family problems, successes, desires and agenda. There were many services that people walked away having never heard anything about Jesus, just about the pastor.

Many church members now sport bumper stickers on their cars supporting the pastor. Not one of these has a bumper sticker supporting JESUS! WHEN DID THE PASTOR BECOME MORE IMPORTANT THAN JESUS?

It sickens me to realize that I was drawn into such a farce and allowed myself to be so monumentally deceived! I have my focus on track now and Jesus and righteousness are number one! If you are in a church that "promotes and pushes the pastor" get out. The church should be promoting one thing, JESUS!

Does It Ever End

2009-06-01T18:41:00.000-07:00

In the past seventeen months, since I have realized the truth about what had gone on, was going on, and is going on in my former church, my life has changed enormously. Once all the control, lies, deception, sin, greed, corruption, and crime began to surface and continued to surface, a very rude awakening began for me. Not only did I realize a pastor and his family that I had served faithfully and sacrificially, were nothing of who they portrayed themselves to be, I discovered that they would stop at nothing to perpetuate their family ministry no matter what level of degradation and sin they had fallen to and been involved in. Along with this stark realization came the earth shattering revelation of the vast number of loved ones in my life that had been used, abused, violated and scarred for life as a result of this ministry.

Since this realization of the atrocities that have gone on over the years has come to light, there is not one day that goes by that I do not think about all the loved ones that have been affected and the horror that they live with on a daily basis. I keep thinking that one day I will wake up and this will not fill my thoughts. I will admit that it has gotten better, however, that day has not arrived. Even now that the ones who committed the crimes have been arrested and it looks like justice will be served, for the victims, it will never end.

Since making the choice to stand up on the side of righteousness and refused to be controlled and ultimately leaving my former church, God has shown Himself stronger to me than He ever has in my entire walk with Him. He has brought me through day after day and blessed me so abundantly above and beyond anything I could have ever hoped or imagined in so many ways. Even in the midst of all the twisted and deranged things I have been told and all the questions I still have I have about how people like this can be allowed to commit such atrocities and continue to do so even after being exposed, I have made a conscious decision to move on with my life and focus on the wonderful blessings that God has put in my life and trust Him to somehow help me to one day live free of the constant thoughts of the nightmare I have seen my loved ones live through.

On that note, I want to say that there are wonderful churches out there that are truly consumed with a desire to actually minister the love of God in action to a lost and hurting world. There are churches where the pastor is interested in all people, not just the tithers. There are churches whose members don't sever lifelong friendships because someone left the church. There are churches that address and handle correctly rampant sin in the church and church leadership instead of trying to cover it up, excuse it and lie about it.

I am currently attending a church that the main goal is to love people and minister the love of God to them regardless of where they go to church or if they tithe or not. The desire of this church is to minister to the community as a whole, and to love people with the true love of God. I thank Him for this opportunity to do something for the kingdom of God after so many wasted years in a church that did more harm to people than anything else.

No, I don't know that it will ever end but I do know that there is hope, purpose, joy and happiness after the nightmare of a controlling, manipulative and abusive church. Thanks to the love, grace and mercy of an ever loving and faithful God!

Attention to Evidence

2009-04-23T21:33:00.000-07:00

In my former church there were some things in the New Testament, that were basic teachings to the new church, that were completely ignored the last couple of years that I attended there. One thing that really bothered me was that no one could get baptized at the church. It was just not important to the pastor. OH, he may say it was or is important to him, but what is important to you, you give attention to. Let me tell you, there was never a service that the TITHE wasn't paid attention to. But baptism was not mentioned in over two years.

In the New Testament, everyone that got saved got baptized. Jesus was baptized. Not only could you not get baptized at this church, if you were someone who was unschooled in the Bible or had no knowledge of Christianity, you could have attended this church for over a year and you would have no knowledge that there was even such a thing or what it was, much less why it is done or what it symbolizes.

In looking back to when there were baptism services at this church I remember that there were very few people baptised at the last couple of services.

I realized that without baptism services there is no evidence of how few people are being saved and making a real commitment to Christ at the church. I remember it got to where there were so few people being saved in the services and of the few that came forward hardly any ever came back more than once or twice. I realized that the absence of baptism services kept the evidence of this from being apparent to the congregation.

When the service closes and the pastor gives an invitation it is usually for more than just to get saved and give your life to Christ. There may be several other invitations, healing, recommitting your life, being filled with the Holy Spirit and other things. In this way, people in the congregation just see people come forward and then when they are told that so many people are being saved they just believe it and with the absence of baptism services there is no evidence of the truth.

There was also no evidence of the poor being helped by the church, widows being helped by the church, people being taught to live holy lives, or peoples' individual needs being ministered to.
A healthy, New Testament church should have EVIDENCE of these things.

James 2:14-18 (Amplified Bible)
14What is the use (profit), my brethren, for anyone to profess to have faith if he has no [good] works [to show for it]? Can [such] faith save [his soul]?
15If a brother or sister is poorly clad and lacks food for each day,
16And one of you says to him, Good-bye! Keep [yourself] warm and well fed, without giving him the necessities for the body, what good does that do?
17So also faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative, dead).
18But someone will say [to you then], You [say you] have faith, and I have [good] works. Now you show me your [alleged] faith apart from any [good] works [if you can], and I by [good] works [of obedience] will show you my faith.

If you are attending a church and your pastor claims to teach FAITH, claims to live by faith, hear from God by faith, claims he is the one to teach you faith, then look at his WORKS. Not his works of standing in a pulpit and claiming to know it all but his works in the community, his works among the congregation, his works SHOWING his faith. There should be EVIDENCE. Evidence of his faith by his works, his actions, evidence of what the church is doing and accomplishing.

Pay attention to the evidence. If you can't see any, then you are being deceived. You need to find a church that it is evident what they are and what fruit they are producing.

Its All About The Word

2009-04-07T22:57:00.000-07:00

In my former church, we were always told, "It's all about the word", meaning it was all about the Word of God. We were taught that...

-we were not supposed to listen to peoples problems.... when they began talking about them we were to just "tell them the word"

-attacks came against the church because that church was the only church that preached the word the right way and the devil was trying to destroy it

-we were to speak the word all the time and not give voice to illnesses, situations, or anything that did not line up with the word

-the preaching of the word, the way the pastor interpreted it was more important than anything.. even people

In reading the gospels, and looking at the ministry of Jesus, it is obvious that the most important thing to Him was people. The Bible says that Jesus was the Word of God in the flesh. Yet, He did not teach and preach that He was the most important thing. He was not here to promote Himself, He promoted doing the will of the Father and loving PEOPLE.

Yes the word is important. It is alive and powerful. It is the good news to all men. It is the answer to every problem. It is the standard we live by. It is truth. But the most important thing to God is people.

Jesus spent His life here on earth serving people, healing them, showing them love, helping them, putting them first until He made the choice to die for them. Yet we have pastors now that won't give the people in their congregation the time of day. Won't attend their funerals. Have no interest in helping them with their problems, answering their questions, or listening to them when they need someone to talk to. Need to see their tithing record before deciding whether to attend something they have received an invitation to.

Preachers today need to wake up. It is not all about the preaching of the word with whatever twist or "new revelation" they want to push! It is about taking the gospel of Jesus to a lost and hurting world. Feeding the hungry, giving to the poor, ministering to the needy and the hurting, and genuinely loving people.Its about using the word to do this, not using it to get what they want. It is about using the word to teach others how to live, how to love,how to serve and how to live holy lives. It is not there for people in the ministry to use it to excuse whatever sins they choose to engage in and then keep them in ministry positions no matter how atrocious their lifestyles are.

In careful consideration I have comet to the conclusion that it is not ALL about the Word, it is ALL about people.

The Eli Generation

2009-03-25T08:22:00.000-07:00

In mfc we were taught that the anointing to be in ministry ran in the family. In other words if a man was a pastor, his children were automatically anointed to be in the ministry. In mfc this seemed to be the case whether you had had any formal bible training or not. It also seemed to be the case regardless of how much sin was in your life. Of course you didn't have to be born into the family to qualify for this anointing, you could marry into it.

In this day and time I have seen too many similarities in the priesthood era of the Old Testament and the pastor and brother era of the New Testament. (Matthew 23:8)

I have realized that there is no place in the New Testament that supports this view. A person in ministry must have a true, God given desire in their heart to be a servant and to be a servant at all times. That is the example set forth in the New Testament for people in ministry. I also read that the Paul wanted the people who helped in ministry to be "of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom" (Acts 6:3)

If someone is full of the Holy Ghost, then the characteristics of the nature and person of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost are evident in their constant, daily lives and actions. Someone full of the Holy Ghost doesn't have to tell people that he is ..... it is evident. If someone is honest, they don't lie and cover up sin, if someone is full of wisdom they don't twist the Bible to fit their agenda. NOT the case with the leadership in mfc.

In the Old Testament, if you were a priest, it was because you were born into the tribe of the Levites. All the Levites were priests. This was s substandard system compared to the New Testament system where we are all equal as brothers and can all have a one on one relationship with God the father, made possible by the cross, as the system of the law was to grace.

In reading the story of Eli and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas this is evident. Eli's sons didn't feel a god given desire to be priests.... they were just born into it. (1 Samuel 2) The Bible says that they were evil men.

It seems today that there are many men in positions of ministry that were just born into it, or married into it who have no real desire to be a servant of the Lord or truly minister to His people. There are also those who are just in ministry because of what they can have or get by being in ministry.

In looking for a place to be an asset to the kingdom of God, we should look for a church where the pastor and his family have the attributes of Paul and Stephen of the New Testament and not the attributes is Eli and his sons of the Old Testament. Lets leave the Eli generation and move on to the generation of the servant.

Is Your Church Promoting Jesus or the Pastor

2009-03-22T14:46:00.000-07:00

I have noticed in the last few years how in many charismatic churches the pastors, guest speakers and "prophets" spend more time promoting themselves than they do promoting the gospel of Jesus Christ and the work of His ministry.

I heard so many sermons in my former church by the pastor tooting his own horn that it was almost an inconsistency for part of the sermon or the majority of the sermon to be about anything other than him. These messages entailed his achievements, his great anointing, his great wisdom, how he was always right, how he was to be respected, how he was to be honored, how the world needed to hear what HE had to say and nothing or no one else compared to HIS interpretation and delivery of the Bible, how we needed HIM to speak into our lives, and much more.

When guest speakers came in, whether they were billed as pastors, evangelists or "prophets", they preached on pretty much the same things. The only difference was they had to toot their own horn too. They also had to make it clear, along with the respect, honor, and devotion that was due to the home pastor, what was due to them.

Now of course, all these men managed to find scriptures to interpret for us to somehow substantiate all of this propaganda they were spewing forth. They also managed to spend enormous amounts of time convincing the congregation to GIVE, GIVE, GIVE.

In retrospect, I began to realize how the sermons I had heard for several years actually had nothing to do with the message Jesus taught or the messages Paul taught.

I also began to realize how warped the tone of the congregation was when congregants that never displayed stickers proclaiming Jesus on their vehicles began sporting stickers promoting the pastor on their cars.

Of all the sermons I have heard since leaving my former church, no matter what church I heard them at, NONE was about the pastor of that church. Not one man promoted himself or even mentioned his accomplishments or attributes. Of all the sermons I have heard they have been about Jesus, His love, His grace, the work of His ministry. No one has tried to manipulate $$$ out of congregants pockets.

Once, as I was helping clean up after a service and I heard a congregant say, "Wow! Now that's something I haven't seen in a long time, a pastor who will take out the garbage!!" As I heard this I thought, you know, neither have I.

I so deeply regret all the years that I spent buying into this false "doctrine of the pastor" and convincing myself that I was doing something for God when I could see that there was no work of the ministry of Jesus in the church.

I encourage you, find a church where the pastor is more interested in Jesus than he is in himself. Find a church where the pastor would be appalled of someone put a sticker promoting him on their car. Find a church where the pastor is interested in being a servant and not a diva. Riding to visit those in the hospital and not riding in a limo. Flying to the side of those in need and not flying in his own plane. More interested in the size of the peoples' need than the size of their wallet. Believes you are worthy of his time because you are a person Jesus died for not because you are a regular tither. A pastor who, in times of trouble, asks you,"What can I do to help?" and not "Are you a tither?"

It is time for all of us to examine what we associate ourselves with and what and who we support. It is not acceptable to stick our heads in the sand and say, "Well, God called me here and there is nothing I can do about how things are handled." That is nothing but an excuse not to spend the time and effort or have the backbone to be a good steward.

We have been called to be good stewards of what God has given us. That includes our time, our money, our endorsement and our service. Let's make sure that we are involved in things that will stand the test of fire as gold and not burn up as wood, hay and stubble.

Welcome to the New World

2009-03-10T22:22:00.000-07:00

In the past several months I have felt as if I have been on a journey. A journey searching for a new church home. After leaving a very controlling church, I wondered if I would ever find a church that I felt that was mine and a pastor that I could trust. I wondered if I would ever find a place where I felt the pastor was actually a shepherd. A pastor that did not view himself above his flock. A church whose main purpose was to be there to serve the community and help those in need of help. I truly believe that I have found my new church home.

Although I know that no church is or can be perfect, I am so looking forward to serving in this church and having a chance to affect lives for the kingdom of God. I have already seen many wonderful and drastic differences in my new church and my former controlling church and I feel I will continue to see more.

Here are some of the differences that I have seen so far and some I trust I will be seeing as time goes on and the church grows.

A pastor who is the leader of a democratic church and not a dictator.

A pastor who views himself as a servant and not someone to be served.

A pastor who expects me to work with him and not for him.

A church who sees the lost, the poor and the needy as good ground not as undesirables.

A church who measures the worth of the people by the fact that Jesus died of them and not by the size of their wallet.

A pastor who desires to preach and live the Word of God not to twist it to benefit his own personal agenda.

I feel as if I have been on a long journey across a vast ocean. An ocean of searching for a real church, searching for a man with character as a pastor, and searching for a church with a vision to be the hands and feet of Jesus. An ocean of wondering if I will ever feel at home in a church again, wondering if I could find a place where I can fully enter into praise and worship again, wondering if there will ever be a pastor that lives what he preaches, and a pastor that I can trust.

I feel as if I have set foot on the land of the new world. A world where I am excited about serving God alongside others. A world that will make a difference in peoples' lives for the kingdom of God. A world that views souls for the kingdom of God as profit and not dollars racked up and raked in for the pastor and his family as profit. A world where the pastor's vision is to help people in need pay their bills and not to pay for his own personal plane.

I humbly fall to my knees and thank God for bringing me to this new world, for rekindling the flame of love for Him in my heart and for allowing me the chance to serve in a place that will certainly make a difference in this community for the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Matter of Love

2009-02-15T15:06:00.000-08:00

I heard a message today on love. The gospel is about love. It is about actually loving others. All others. In my former church I heard a lot of messages on "walking in love" but not on actually loving them. After hearing this message today and realizing how different it was from the messages on "walking in love" that I have heard I began to realize some things.

In my former church I did hear many messages on "walking in love" but I never saw love in action. "Walking in love" was the way you made yourself treat another person no matter how you felt about them. It was like it really didn't matter how you really felt about them, as long as you were able to make yourself "walk in love" towards them no matter how you really wanted to act then you were obeying God. NOT!!! Jesus told us to LOVE others, our enemies, those who persecuted us, basically EVERYONE.

As I read the gospels, I can see that Jesus didn't have to "walk in love" toward people because HE actually LOVED them. It spilled out all over them. There was no denying it. He considered them more important than Himself. His love for them constantly showed in everything that He did. That is what we are supposed to do, not just act like we love them.

Did Jesus ignore those who would not be considered "good ground"? No... He loved them. Did He call those that did not understand idiots or stupid? No... He was patient and loving to them. When people came to Him in need of help or counsel did He ask them if they were "tithers" and refuse them if they weren't? No... He ministered to them. Did He put those in their place if they didn't recognize His "anointing" or his proper title? NO... He ate dinner with them. Did He pray destruction over those who were beating Him and nailing Him to the cross? No.... He asked God to forgive them for they didn't know what they were doing.

If we really love someone we act like it. It does not have to constantly be a conscious choice to act like it. It shows in everything we do. The challenge to us is not to make ourselves walk in love toward others, the challenge is to love them.

Does love mean we ignore sin? No. Does love mean we refuse to expose and deal with it? No. Does love mean that our actions and choices don't have consequences? No. Does love mean that we blindly follow a leader because they say they are anointed and they hear from God? No.

Yet love, true love, the God kind of love shows through. It shows through in the good times and the bad. It shows in the pleasant situations and the unpleasant ones. I am tired of those who say they love but it never shows. You can say you love others all day but if it is not evident by actions it is not true.

Let's be the kind of people that there is no question of whether we love others or not. All others. Let's be the kind of people that it is evident that we love others because it can be seen in all we do.

The Ministry of Love

2009-02-02T06:24:00.000-08:00

In the last year that I was at the controlling church where I had dedicated over a decade of my life serving because I truly believed that I was doing a work for God, I began to come to some harsh realizations. It was truly a sad time in my life when I realized that I had spent the majority of all that time furthering a man instead of the gospel and the kingdom of God.

What glory does it bring to God for you to...... think you go to the best church and talk about it like it is the only place that is offering "the true Word of God"; bring someone to church who needs help and ministry and all they hear about is how to get rich and if you are not rich then you are not living God's best; the pastor stands in the pulpit and promotes himself and his wonderful spiritual insight; the pastor continually criticizes people and other churches from the pulpit; the gospel is presented in the light of what God can do for you materially and situationaly and never what you should be doing in service to God; serving the pastor and his family is taught as serving God; people come to the church for financial help and are turned away empty handed because spending money on excellence and image is much more important than helping the poor and needy; the poor and needy are not good ground to sow into the rich and successful are; prayer groups pray destruction and not blessings on their enemies..... the list could go on and on.

The gross absence of the ministry of love in my old church suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks. The pastor loved to talk about "walking in love", especially when he wanted the congregants to walk in love toward him and his family regardless of how haughty and arrogant they were. No matter what went on at the church or how wrong it was no one was ever to voice it, ask about it, or question it.

How is it walking in love when a pastor refuses to council anyone who is not a regular tither? How is it walking in love to belittle and criticize from the pulpit, ignore the poor and needy, never have any outreach to the community, and preach 90% of your sermons on money and getting what you can get from God. How can a pastor of love encourage you to shun and excommunicate those in your life that have left HIS church?

Love is so simple, you just do it. You love everyone no matter what they are, what they have done, where they do or don't go to church, no matter how they have treated you, no matter what they have said about you, or if they have tried to destroy you. Love may be simple, yet love has a requirement. We have to crucify our flesh. We have to put others before ourselves. We have to want to show them love more than we want to have our way.

If you are attending a church whose pastor wants the spotlight and wants to be walked in love toward instead of spotlighting everyone other than himself and showing sacrificial love on a regular basis..... find another church. Don't overlook it like I did and years down the road wish you had been a part of a ministry that actually touched peoples lives in a real way instead of one that promotes a particular man and his "wonderful" delivery of the word of God.

It is the love of God in VISIBLE OPERATION that draws men to Him. Not money, things and sermons that tickle the ears.

Faith in God or "MY FAITH"

2009-01-10T09:33:00.001-08:00

In these last days the "faith message" has become a big movement all over the United States. There are many churches known as Word of Faith churches. A man named Kenneth Hagin started a bible college because he said that Jesus appeared to him and told him to go and teach His people faith. In the last year I have noticed some things that don't seem to be right about the "faith message" that I have heard. The message of faith has become such a doctrine of itself to certain groups it is like an idol or like a god. In Word of Faith circles, faith teaching grossly outweighs other foundational teachings of the New Testament such as salvation, baptism, obedience, holiness, humility, and love. Faith has become a "how to get what you want" doctrine and a "how not to have to put up with anything you don't want" doctrine.

The majority of faith teaching is centered around material things.

Have faith in God. In Matthew 11 Jesus spoke to a fig tree and told it to wither and die. A couple of days later when they passed the tree it was dead and the disciples were amazed. This would have been a perfect opportunity for Jesus to launch out into a great and profound teaching on the ABC's of faith, but yet He didn't. All He said was "Have faith in God" How could it be that He neglected to take this opportunity to tell us that we could have anything we ever wanted and live like King Solomon if we would develop, exercise and use out faith.?

In our former church we were constantly challenged to develop and exercise out faith. We were told to never be satisfied with where we were or what we had. If we were, then we were stagnant. We were to constantly be using our faith to believe for more and better things and then when they came to us we were told not to stop there, but to believe for bigger, and better and more things. We were also taught to use our faith to change our circumstances to get what we wanted. I can't find anywhere in the Bible where these things were taught.

We were also taught that we were to rely on our faith. If we didn't receive what we wanted or needed it was because of our faith. Our pastor was also always giving us examples of what all he could get with HIS faith. He had money because of HIS faith, expensive cars because of HIS faith, went on great vacations because of HIS faith, didn't have to go by the rules because of HIS faith, received VIP treatment because of HIS faith, he would never have a child die or be terminally ill because of HIS faith, he could speed without getting tickets because of HIS faith, he could shop at the most expensive stores because of HIS faith while some were told that they had not bothered to develop their faith or that they only had Ford faith. This led into faith comparisons and obvious pride.

Why didn't Jesus teach this? Maybe because this is not what faith is all about. Maybe we are supposed to be using our faith for the harvest, for the lost, to help the poor, to feed the hungry, to be able to love the unlovable, to turn the other cheek, to esteem others above ourselves, to crucify our flesh and to know Him more.

In all the time I have been a christian, I have never seen faith in action like I read about in the New Testament church. So why didn't they use their faith to get rich? Why didn't they use their faith for houses and lands? Why didn't they use it to avoid getting eaten by lions, dismembered, burned alive and crucified? They did use their faith to spread the true gospel that Jesus died for their sins and that people needed to REPENT and turn to Jesus to be their Lord and Savior. In all my years at my former church I don't recall hearing much on repentance. I NEVER heard a message on crucifying the flesh.

In 2Timothy 4 the Bible talks about people with itching ears who will follow teaching that appeals to their fancy. The Message translation calls it "spiritual junk food" and the amplified translation refers to it as "what is pleasing and gratifying" and "teachers chosen to fulfill their own liking". The faith message certainly fits these two descriptions.

Galatians tells us not to follow "any other gospel". I don't want to follow a gospel that encourages me to be focused on me, MY faith and what material things I can get with it. I believe I will stick with the gospel in the Bible.

The Walking Dead

2009-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

I know of a church not unlike the church that I formerly attended. Many of the same guests visited both the churches. It seems like WOF preachers all have about the same circuit. One particular minister fancies himself a self proclaimed prophet and seer of great esteem in his own eyes. While in a service at this other church he boldly prophesied that members who had left that church due to heinous acts committed and mishandling of those situations would drop dead before the end of the year if they did not repent. Yet there is no repentance necessary for standing for righteousness and holiness. I personally have a friend who is one of this group. I will call them the walking dead. Many have chosen to stand up for what is right and discontinue blindly following the blind. Here on January 1 not one person who left has dropped dead. Could it be possible that this self proclaimed prophet was WRONG??????? I thought if a prophecy didn't come true that meant FALSE PROPHET....... What do you think?????

Lucky for them that false prophets aren't stoned these days.......kind of like sin doesn't matter.

Great Description

2008-12-17T22:05:00.000-08:00

Today I read a great description of my former pastor on a blog I like to visit called "Loving Jesus, Leaving Church". There is a link to this blog on my blog list. The sentence went like this,"A charismatic personality, a silver tongue, a Bible college education, administrative gifts, leadership skills, and the ability to inspire people are about as useless as a tie in a jungle if one is lacking a Christ like character."

As I read this I realized that this described my former pastor so accurately. Only instead of leadership skills he had dictator abilities. I also realized that a tie in a jungle is probably much more useful than he was. Maybe I would compare him to a glass of sand for a man who is dying of thirst.

My earnest prayer is that all of us would surround ourselves with and listen to those who provoke us to be more like Christ and not those who would teach us to be selfish, self centered, money hungry blessing grabbers focusing on ourselves and our lives instead of reaching out to a lost and hurting world.

Whose Place Is It

2008-12-15T15:04:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking about many of the teachings that I received at my former church. We were taught,(from the old testament of course), all about "the man of God" and how important he was. We were taught that we NEEDED a "man of God" to submit to, to speak into our lives, to hear from God for us, to correct us, to pray for us, that we were to give to him, serve him, honor him, highly esteem him, call him by the title of "Pastor" just as we would Father or Teacher. We were taught that he was never to be questioned, his actions were never to be questioned, his absolute authority was never to be questioned, he was never to be treated as a common person, that he was accountable to no one, that he was to be catered to, set apart, pampered, and doted on.

Now that I look back, no wonder there was so much teaching from the Old Testament on some of these things. In that dispensation of time the people needed the priests to hear from and talk to God for them because Jesus had not come. Yet in this time, the way some of these new breed of so called pastors demand and desire to be treated, goes way beyond the treatment of the Old Testament priests. The place they want to occupy in our lives entirely oversteps their bounds.

I see that this new breed of pastors wants the place of authority in our lives that the priests of old had and even more. They are not satisfied that you give to the body of Christ, to missions, to the poor, to the needy,or to spread the gospel. It has to be to their church and what they choose to use your money for. They are not satisfied with your money alone either. They want your total commitment, your loyalty, your honor, and your time.

When Jesus came and died for us and rose again, HE became our high priest. When He sent the Holy Spirit to live on the inside of us from the moment we accept Him as our Lord and Savior, He expects us to listen to Him...... not a man. He wants us to follow Him.....not a man.

I have begun to see that these men want the place of God in our lives. Why else would they want us to follow every word that proceeds out of THEIR MOUTHS????? Why are they tickling our ears with promises of wealth and riches, control over all our circumstances, excused sin with no responsibility for it. ( I am not saying that our confessed sins are not forgiven and washed away by the blood of Jesus, but I am saying that sin has consequences) Why are we not seeing people in these churches have a burning desire to serve others, devoting their efforts to reaching the lost, feeding the poor and helping those in need? On the contrary they are taught that the poor and the needy are not "good ground", that they need to give to the prosperous. How far from the teachings from Jesus is this????

Is this different than the devil wanting the place of God in heaven? It seems that God's place in our lives should be for Him and Him alone? I have wondered how I allowed that to be invaded in my life for so long before I saw the truth. It may not be the same thing but it is frightening to me how much authority and influence I allowed a man to have on and in my life.

So, whose place is it to occupy the office of speaking into my life, teaching me, correcting me, guiding me, intercede for me and for me to submit to? IT IS GOD'S PLACE. I have decided never to give it to a man again.

Where Do We Go From Here

2008-10-30T05:37:00.001-07:00

I was reading a blog that I have recently found called "What Really Matters" and the last post really hit home with me. The reality of what thousands of people have experienced all over the country from controlling and manipulative pastors who are out to make a name for themselves and live like "the lifestyles of the rich and famous" without any regard for who they destroy on their so called "path to prosperity" is such an atrocity. Multitudes have come away from these churches having to pick up the pieces of their spiritual lives. Others have not only had spiritual abuses to deal with but have had physical abuses as well.

In the wake of the last twenty years of my life I find myself asking a lot of questions. In the end I wonder, where do I go from here? I also wonder if there are others asking themselves the same question.

When I visit a new church, I find myself listening to the pastor preach and I wonder... Can I trust this man? Does he live what he preaches? Does he use people for his own selfish gain and then toss them away? I he a practiced liar? Does he even know what honor is? Does he demand honor and respect that he hasn't earned? Does his family laugh at me ? Is he a monster in disguise? Does he pick out the parts of the Bible he likes and build doctrines around them and ignore the parts that he doesn't want to live by? Does everyone in ministry have ulterior motives?

I wonder about the people I meet. Do they stab everyone in the back? Is there anyone who doesn't sleep with people they are not married to? Are they all liars when it is convenient for them? Do they all think that they are above the laws of the land and that the rules don't apply to them? Is anyone ethical in business?

I guess I have been in a church where the leadership and everyone that follows the teaching closely are so totally consumed with their lives, their desires, their confessions, their blessings, their vision, and what they can get from God that I wonder if everyone is that way.

Do I ever want another pastor? Will I ever call a man "Pastor" again? DEFINITELY NOT!!
Will I ever join another church? Do I NEED a church covering??? NO! What did the church covering I had get me??? What did it get others that went there? The answer to these last two questions is not a pretty one.

Will worship ever be the same for me? I'm getting there. Do I believe that prayer can change things? Some yes, some I am not sure. When will I sift through all the false teaching I have listened to for years? I am not sure. Do I believe that I ever really know someone?? Maybe not.

In the Bible, Paul wrote, " follow me as I follow Christ". Is there a leader like that today? I don't know that I believe there is.

I do know that God is faithful and He loves me so much that He sent His son to die for me. He understands everything about me and He knows that I love Him with all that I am. He is not pushing me to find a church, commit to a ministry, or place myself under a man .... it was a man that put all that pressure on me in the first place and not God. It was a man that demanded that from me. A man who wanted my time, a man who wanted my devotion, a man who wanted my loyalty, a man who wanted my money, a man who wanted my trust, a man who demanded my honor, a man who wanted my service to him and what he wanted to build, a man who wanted to build an empire for himself. I will never again allow myself to be deceived by a man or fall into the trap of serving a man.

I don't know where I go from here, but I do know exactly where I am. I am returning to my first love. I am completely trusting in and leaning on my Heavenly Father and being led by the voice of my Shepherd. I am where He is there to comfort me and guide me. I am where no matter of how much of a failure I feel like He is there to tell me that I am chosen by Him and He chose me knowing full well every choice and mistake I would make in my lifetime. He is there to tell me I am not a failure but a joint heir with His son. I am where no matter how much of a burden it seems I have He is there to tell me that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He is always there telling me that He is proud of me. I am where I know that He will never leave me of forsake me.

No, I can't answer all the questions right now and I don't have to. I know that some will be answered and more will arise. It doesn't really matter where I go from here because wherever that path leads I will go with Him and for now that is enough for me.

The Gospel of ME

2008-10-12T15:32:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been reflecting on all that I learned at my former church. Even though all that I learned there is not wrong, I do think that even the majority of the right things centered around "The Gospel of Me" and not the gospel of Christ.

The reason that I say this is that even though some things were correct, they were taught for the wrong reasons. Everything centered around the "Me" way of looking at things. WE needed to be blessed. WE needed nicer things. WE needed authority to make Our lives better. WE needed to look good and that would make others want to know Jesus. But it is not true.

As I read the gospels it is all about OTHERS. We should put OTHERS first. We should care about OTHERS. We should give to OTHERS. We should bless OTHERS. We should help OTHERS. We should esteem OTHERS above ourselves. All the power and authority and faith available to us through Jesus is not so WE can have everything we want....It is for OTHERS !!!!!!! We are to be looking for ways to SERVE OTHERS and not focus on ourselves.

We were taught that sin was no big thing as long as we were on the right path. The path to prospering. The path of tithing. The path of serving the church. Never mind that there was no ministry reaching out to the lost and hurting community. The lost and hurting community was to come to the church, get a vision of how their lives needed to be by looking at ours, tithe and give, get their words right and line up with how the pastor said it was supposed to be. Never mind that there were people being hurt and treated badly by those in the church.

Let me tell you, sin IS a big thing. Just ask those whose lives will never be the same as a result of the sin in the church. The gospel of ME doesn't want to hear or teach this truth.

I have decided to focus on the gospel of Jesus and throw the gospel of ME in the trash. I have decided that it is more important to be pure and holy than to be prosperous and say all the right things. I have decided that it is not all about ME but it is all about OTHERS. I have decided that I would rather be an example of humility than an example of pride, an example of love rather than prosperity. And for those who may not know, love is a verb. Just like faith without works is dead, love without corresponding action is not love.

I want others to want to know Jesus because of the way I ACT and not because they want what material things I have. I would rather have OTHERS in heaven with me later than have material things here on earth. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean living in poverty, Jesus said that as I seek first HIS kingdom then HE would provide for me. He is a good provider.

The gospel of ME wants me to focus on using my faith to provide for myself instead of just resting in the provision of God. I think that is exactly what the devil wants too. If he can get me focused on getting all I can from God for myself then I am no threat to him at all.

Let's come out of the fog of the gospel of ME and live in the light of the gospel of Christ.

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

2008-10-04T20:42:00.000-07:00

I remember a song that we used to sing in church when I was a young girl. I attended a Baptist church. The song said," Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.

I remember there were all kinds of people in my church from the very wealthy to the not so wealthy. In the church that I last left the scope of people was the same. One church was denominational and one church was Word of Faith. Even though the scope of income in these two churches was the same, the amount of materialism in them was very different.

In the Baptist church no one's faith was ever judged by others. No one was looked down upon if they did not have enough money. People of the church and the leadership were always anxious to help anyone in need. No one's "faith" was judged by how much they had, what things happened to them, how their children acted and things like that. As a matter of fact, their "faith" was not JUDGED. Neither were the people. We were all a part of the family of God and that is all that mattered. We were taught to seek and follow Jesus not jobs, money, houses, clothes or any other material things. We were taught about treating others right.

In the Word of Faith church there was so much materialism, criticism, legalism, judgementalism,
and self. There were things that I learned in the Word of Faith church that have made a great difference in my life such as who I am in Christ, my authority over the devil, and the fact that EVERY thing that happens in not always God's will. However all these things are useless if it is all centered around me, what I can have, what I can get, what I can control and that I can do anything I want and treat others any way that I want. All of this is not the Gospel. There was no focus on helping and reaching out to people and when there was, for a little while, from time to time, it was all about raising the numbers and then after a bit it just faded away.

I know that no one has all the answers. I certainly don't. I do know that God sent Jesus to die for PEOPLE. I know that everyone who is born again has been given the measure of faith. I know that we are all JOINT heirs with Jesus. I know that through the BLOOD we are all righteous. I know that we all overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. I know that there is not an elitist group in the body of Christ. I know that we can take God at His Word because He watches over His Word to perform it. I know that the fruit that we were saved to produce was souls brought into the kingdom of God and not material things.

I have decided to turn my eyes upon Jesus and get to know Him and not spend my time and effort on getting things for me. I would rather have the brightness of Him in my life than the dimness of what I can acquire of the material things that the world has to offer.

Great Post

2008-10-03T07:20:00.000-07:00

I was reading A Former Leader's blog today, (a link to this blog is on my blog list) and the post titled "Upsidedown Kingdom" really spoke volumes to me. I thought that this post was awesome. It really brings out what the ministry of Jesus was like. I know that in reading the New Testament, that the ministry of the church that I had been involved in was far from the ministry examples I see here in the Bible. Thank you Former Leader for a great post.

Saul, Saul, Why Do You Persecute Me?

2008-09-26T20:42:00.001-07:00

In the book of Acts a man named Saul was going down a road to Damascus. He was a man that loved God. He was a religious man. He was going to hunt down and kill those who called Jesus their savior. He was going to kill those who were preaching the good news about Jesus. He thought that he was doing something good. He thought he was serving God. Jesus, Himself, knocked this man off of his horse and asked him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' The man repented, asked Jesus to be his savior, and went on to write the majority of the New Testament.

Jesus told Saul that he was persecuting HIM... Jesus, because he was persecuting those who believed in Him.

Today we have preachers who are supposed to be full of the Holy Spirit, standing up in pulpits, slandering and insulting people who are in the body of Christ, people who are their brothers and sisters in the Lord. Calling them clowns, punks, pea brained christians, flesh churches, idiots, and other things like that. How is this any different from Saul???? These men are persecuting Jesus by slandering members of the body of Christ and using their pulpits as a platform to do it.

Maybe it is time for these men to be knocked off of their horses. Maybe if they are, they will wake up and see that they are doing the work of the enemy and not the work of the Lord.

Faith or Formulas

2008-09-22T20:01:00.000-07:00

Faith. What a huge subject to examine. The Bible talks a lot about faith in the New Testament. My former church talked and taught a lot about faith. We were a faith church. The pastor there supposedly lived by faith. He taught the people to "live by faith". We were taught not to be satisfied to by where we were in life because then our faith would become stagnant. We were to always be "stretching" our faith. This meant to always be striving for the bigger or better house, the nicer car, the better job, a bigger income, nicer clothes etc. We were taught that these things made others look at us and want to know Jesus.

I began to do some reading on what the Bible says about faith. I could not find one place where Jesus taught us to use our faith to gain material things. He actually told us not to even think about the material needs in our lives. He said that as we seek first the kingdom of God that all the things we have need of would be added unto us. He actually said that the Gentiles seek after material things. He never told His disciples to go out and tell others of all the nice things that they could have if they followed Him.

We were also taught a lotabout confession. We had lists and lists of scriptures to confess that related to one situation or another. There were confession books and prayers to pray over and over. In Matthew 6 Jesus talked about prayer. He said that the heathen pray using vain repetitions because they think they will be heard for their much speaking. Is that any different than believing that something will happen for us because we say it over and over? The example of prayer that Jesus gave is simple and pure. It is not a constant and repetitive confession.

Faith is a much bigger thing than a cheap meal ticket or credit card without a limit.

Stephen did miracles through faith.
People were healed through faith.
We are justified by faith.
We are made righteous by faith.
Whatever is not of faith is sin.
We live by faith.
We walk by faith in the Son of God.
We receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
We are the children of God by faith.
Faith is one of the fruits of the Spirit.
We are saved by grace through faith.
We have the shield of faith.
We inherit the promises of God through faith and patience.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen.
Faith without works is dead. ( this does not mean faith to get rich)

To say that God has given us faith for us to get material things for ourselves cheapens and degrades faith. I went to Hebrews 11 and read the people of the Old Testament that were mentioned for their great faith. Solomon, the wealthiest man that ever lived was not mentioned as having great faith to attain riches. The ones mentioned here are those who lived by faith and overcame by faith.

How sad it is that in a time where we have the means and ability to reach a lost and hurting world with the true gospel of Jesus Christ that faith has been reduced to a get rich and get what you want scheme and true prayer has been reduced to repetitive formulas.

Provoking Others

2008-09-16T19:50:00.000-07:00

In a church I attended many, many years ago I had a group of friends that I spent time with. One day one of them received this letter in the mail. I watched her as she opened it and began to read. As she did, tears poured from her eyes. Then, a smile came across her face. I asked her if something was wrong. She just handed me the letter. I later asked her for a copy of it.

Here is what it said:
Dear ........,
I just wanted to tell you what a blessing you are to me. When I look at you, I see such a strong desire and commitment to serve God. As I see you with your children I am so blessed by what a wonderful mother you are.
The faithfulness and fervor with which you serve God provokes me to righteousness. I pray in the name of Jesus that God will richly bless you and abundantly meet every need in your life; exceedingly above anything that you ever thought, or hoped, or dreamed.
Thank you for being such a blessing to my life and helping me to grow by seeing the love of God in your life and your faithfulness to Him.
Love in Christ,
...........

I still have a copy of this letter. I remember thinking that I wanted to affect some one's life for God in that way. My friend hardly knew the person that sent this letter but the way she acted and the way she treated others has affected this person and provoked them to want to serve God and show the love of God.

My friend was not a person that was well known, was not beautiful to look at, was not classy, did not have money, did not drive a nice car, did not live in a nice house, did not dress in nice clothes and did not have "great faith". It was not any of these things that made another person want to serve God. It was love. It was not just having love, it was SHOWING love.

The Bible says in Romans 2:4 that it is God's kindness that leads us to repentance. It is being loving and kind to everyone we come in contact with that makes others want to know Jesus. It is what people saw in Jesus that drew multitudes to Him. Had He not loved them completely and unconditionally all of His teaching would have been in vain.

I do desperately want to provoke others. I want to provoke them to righteousness. I want to provoke them to love. If I can let the love of God show through me enough to do this, God will have given me the desire of my heart.

Those Who Labor Among You

2008-09-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

The other day I was thinking about all the years I had spent at my former church. I began to wonder how I had been so deceived for so long and what I needed to do in the future to make sure that I never found myself in that situation again. The Bible verse that says, know those who labor among you, came to me and I looked it up to see exactly what it said. Here it is in the amplified version:

1 Thessalonians 5:12-22
Now also we beseech you, brethren, get to know those who labor among you [recognize them for what they are, acknowledge and appreciate and respect them all]--your leaders who are over you in the Lord and those who warn and kindly reprove and exhort you. And hold them in very high and most affectionate esteem in [intelligent and sympathetic] appreciation of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we earnestly beseech you, brethren, admonish (warn and seriously advise) those who are out of line [the loafers, the disorderly, and the unruly]; encourage the timid and fainthearted, help and give your support to the weak souls, [and] be very patient with everybody [always keeping your temper].See that none of you repays another with evil for evil, but always aim to show kindness and seek to do good to one another and to everybody. Be happy [in your faith] and rejoice and be glad-hearted continually (always); Be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly]; Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will]. Do not quench (suppress or subdue) the [Holy] Spirit; Do not spurn the gifts and utterances of the prophets [do not depreciate prophetic revelations nor despise inspired instruction or exhortation or warning]. But test and prove all things [until you can recognize] what is good; [to that] hold fast. Abstain from evil [shrink from it and keep aloof from it] in whatever form or whatever kind it may be.

I italicized the beginning and the end of this passage because that is what stood out to me the most. I typed all of the passage because I am so tired of having several single scriptures read, out of context, and strung together to create a new doctrine that does not line up with what the Bible teaches.

This scripture tells us to get to know those who labor among us and those who are our leaders. The leaders at my former church did not want to get to know anyone that they were leading, and they certainly did not want those that they were leading to get to know them. They were secretive about everything that concerned their lives. They didn't want anyone to know anything about them. They only wanted people to know the image that they built for themselves and as the years went on it became apparent that this was a very false image.

It also tells us to test all things and hold fast to what is good and to stay away from evil. I began to look in the New Testament to see what leaders should be like and what I should hold fast to and what I should stay away from. I found this in Matthew and I felt like the New Living Translation gets the point across the best.

Matthew 7:15-23 “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.'

I looked at the way the leadership in my former church had behaved. The way they treated people as a whole. It was so wrong. I looked at peoples' lives that had been mistreated by the leadership and the results of the way they had been treated. It was definitely bad fruit. I see by this scripture that all because someone 'prophesies, casts out demons and performs miracles' in Jesus' name it means nothing if people are treated as something to be used today and discarded tomorrow. According to this scripture someone who doesn't even know Jesus could prophesy, cast out demons and perform miracles, and at my former church there were no demons being cast out and no one performing miracles.

Proverbs 29:4 in The Message says: A leader of good judgment gives stability; an exploiting leader leaves a trail of waste. I have personally seen the trail of waste left in many peoples' lives by my former leaders.

The New King James version says it like this: The king by justice establishes the land, but he who exacts gifts and tribute overthrows it.

The dictionary definition of justice is:1) the quality of being just; fairness 2)the principle of moral rightness 3)conformity to moral rightness in action and attitude, righteousness 4)the upholding of what is just, especially fair treatment, and due rewards in accordance with honor, standards or law.

The Bible has this to say about justice in Matthew23:23 in the NIV says:"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

The most important things about the ones who labor among you is how they act. If I ever choose another church to be a part of and become a member of I will make sure that the ones in leadership positions do not neglect the more important matters such as justice, mercy and faithfulness. I will make sure I get to know those who labor with me. I will choose a church where the leaders want to labor with me and not control me and require that I labor for them instead of for the gospel.

Empowering or Crippling

2008-09-11T20:31:00.000-07:00

Is your pastor preaching things that empower you, help you to mature spiritually and bring you to the place where your walk with God is more of a one on one level between you and God? Or is your pastor putting himself in your walk with God as a "go-between" between you and God and teaching you that you need YOUR PASTOR to be there to teach you and speak into your life so that you can have God's best?

A true pastor, a shepherd after God's own heart would have a purpose for you. That purpose would be to bring you to the level of spiritual maturity so that you didn't need him to guide you. He would encourage you to seek God on your own and hear from Him. He would desire above all things to bring you to the place that you could go out and minister to others. Even if you were not called into the full time ministry, his desire for you would be for you to be fully equipped to minister to anyone in any situation. A true pastor would not desire the place of authority in your life. He would actually want you to be independent of him and fully dependant on the Holy Spirit.If you felt in your heart that God wanted you to go somewhere else, even if it was another church, he would encourage you to follow God's leading. His desire would be for you to honor God, not honor him.

A self seeking pastor who is a shepherd after his own heart would have a totally different set of desires for you. His would set himself up as a gift of God to you. He would teach you that you need him for a covering in your life to keep the devil away from you and keep you safe. He would teach you that you need him to "speak into your life" the things that God would want you to know. He would teach that you should respect him the way you respect God and give him a place of honor in your life. He would teach you that you not only need to tithe but that you need to give and give and give so that you can be blessed. He would never want you to leave his church because then he would loose his control over you and most importantly he would loose your money.

Why would a true pastor want his sheep to be dependant? Examine your pastor and examine your life and your spiritual walk. Is your pastor feeding you truth that empowers you and enables you to become mature in the Lord. Or is he bringing you to the place where he is becoming a need in your life? Don't sit under a pastor who thinks more highly of himself than he should and claims a place in your life that he shouldn't. Find a pastor that wants you to be yourself and let God guide you. Not one that cripples you and makes you a spiritual invalid dependant on a man. Look for a pastor after GOD"S own heart not a pastor after his own heart.

How Did They Ever Make It

2008-09-08T05:33:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up and suddenly I realized that Noah did not have a pastor. How on earth did he ever manage to understand that there was going to be a flood without someone to speak into his life? How did he ever manage to build that huge ark without the messenger of God whom God had chosen to put His word into, to go and tell Noah what to do? How did Noah survive all that time and keep the devil at bay while he was getting that ark built without a spiritual covering to keep him safe? Moses didn't have a pastor either. How did he ever manage to lead the entire nation of Israel out of Egypt without a pastor to tell him what God wanted him to do.

We have been taught that we must have a pastor. That without a pastor to "speak into our lives" that we will not have the guidance from God that we need. That we need to become a "member" of a church in order to have a "spiritual" covering. Without that covering we are just out there unprotected and a prime target for the devil. That the pastor has some great insight into life and we are to do what he says and follow his instruction and advice because he hears from God "for us" and without this pastor we cannot hear from God on our own. That if we don't do what our pastor says then we are no doing what the Word of God says.

It is like as new testament believers we have been taught that we are in many ways no better off than the old testament children of God. They had to have a priest to go to God for them but we have to have a pastor to hear from God for us and instruct us in what He would have us to do.

These pastors seem to forget that we actually have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us to lead and guide us into all truth just like they do. We all have been given the same measure of faith just like they have. We have the same authority over the devil that they do. We are a part of the same body of Christ that they are. We are joint heirs with Christ just like they are.

I have watched so many people make terrible decisions and mistakes based on what a pastor told them to do and told them it was God. I have heard pastors say things that they said God told them that weren't right. I have watched pastors manipulate and control others. I have seen pastors delve into others lives and tell them how to live when they and their own families do not live according to the Word of God. I have seen pastors that are not men of their word.

Abraham , Noah, Moses and many others somehow managed to make it without a pastor. They actually did what it took to know and communicate with God themselves and they did not even have the Holy Spirit on the inside of them. I do not need a pastor to tell me what God says or what His word says. I do not need to be told how to read and be a doer of the Word of God. I do not need someone to tell me what songs I need to sing to worship God. I am a child of God. I know Him. I am His sheep and I hear His voice and the voice of another I will not follow. I made that mistake for over a decade and I will not make it again.

Abraham, Noah and Moses made it and so will I. I will make it with God. I will make it as the head and not the tail, above and not beneath, I will make it in victory, I will overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of MY testimony..... Not what a man tells me to do.

Fishers of Men or Fishers of Blessing

2008-09-05T20:58:00.000-07:00

In the past few years at my former church a very disturbing question loomed constantly in my mind. Why was the church pastor never preaching or teaching about reaching the lost? Why were there no discipleship programs? Why was everyone who did not have the evidence of God's "blessing" in their lives looked upon as having no faith, or not doing the Word? Why was it the wealthy and prominent that were the focus?

One day during church we were singing some old songs about what Jesus had done for us and what victory we had. The pastor had made it common knowledge that he never liked the new worship songs such as Hillsongs and others like that. Suddenly I realized something. He only liked songs that talked about what he had, what his inheritance was and what he could have because of the cross. That was it! He wasn't interested in songs of adoration to the Father, adoration of Jesus, songs of surrender, or songs about crucifying the flesh. He wanted to sing about what he could have and what he could get and what he could do because of his authority.

I began to realize that all our teaching was about what we could get or have. Never about the majority of things that Jesus actually taught during his ministry. Nor about the majority of things Paul wrote to the church about. Any teaching was turned to warn ME and what I could attain or overcome. Never was it about others. Don't get me wrong, others were mentioned, but the teaching basically centered around "me".

I remember that Jesus said that He would make us "fishers of men". I realized that it had been over a decade since there was anything taught regularly in the church that could qualify as being a teaching on how to be fishers of men. It was taught that when we have money and nice things then it would draw others to Jesus. The Bible does NOT teach that. It is the way we treat others and the love we show that draws people to Jesus. It is how we act when we have been treated wrongly by others that draws people to Jesus. It is the things we do for others with the love of God evident in it that draws people to Jesus. Not our money or what we have.

It became evident to me that the church was totally focused on fishing for blessings and not men.
I believe that the deceitfulness of riches has replaced the burden for the lost in many of our churches. I have decided to be a part of a church that is full of fishers of men and not fishers of blessings. I know that as I seek first the kingdom of that God will bless me without me spending my time and effort seeking those blessings.

Don't Touch God's Anointed

2008-08-31T13:15:00.000-07:00

In my former church, we were taught that the pastor has special anointing and that his anointing was such that it was greater than other peoples. That he was on a much higher spiritual level than all of the other people in the church. That no one was ever to question his decisions or what he did. He said on several occasions that no one in the church was qualified to correct him, that only another great preacher or prophet could do that because no one else was on his spiritual level. He put himself on the same level as an Old Testament king or prophet.

In 2Corinthians chapter one, Paul is writing to the church. First, he refers to himself as Paul, An apostle. He didn't demand title or "honor" and yet I am sure that he was much more educated than any of the pastors or so called prophets in this day and time who do demand these things. He actually comes across in his letters as humble. A quality these pastors and prophets of this day seem to lack.

In verses 21 - 22 of this same chapter he talks about the difference in him and the others in the body of Christ at Corinth that he is writing to. The Amplified translation says it like this, "But it is God Who confirms and makes us steadfast and establishes us (in joint fellowship) with you in Christ, and has consecrated and anointed us (enduing us with the gifts of the Holy Spirit). (He has also appropriated and acknowledged us as His by) putting His seal upon us and giving us His (Holy) Spirit in our hearts as the security deposit and guarantee (of the fulfilment of His promise)." This says that we are all anointed. Even Paul didn't claim to have a greater anointing than his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. He made it clear that there was NO difference in him and them.

We were always taught that scripture "touch not mine anointed" when anyone questioned what the pastor was doing or had done. This scripture was pulled out and quoted by itself. I went back and looked at both of the places it was used in the Old Testament (in context) and it is talking about the children of Israel. This scripture does not give pastors and "prophets" free reign to do anything they want to anyone they want or criticize and bash anyone they want and no one can correct them because they are "anointed" .......We all are! Nor does it give them to run the church like a dictatorship.

1 Timothy 5:19-20 NLT says, "Do not listen to an accusation against an elder unless it is confirmed by two to three witnesses. Those who sin should be reprimanded in front of the whole church; this will serve as a strong warning to others." This is laid out quite plainly. If your pastor refuses to listen when accused by many witnesses and refuses to reprimand sin in the church there is a problem.

It amazes me how many Old Testament scriptures pastors demand that their congregation observe, yet they seem to ignore the majority of the New Testament instructions that we (and they) are supposed to be living by.

In our former church we were taught that God created the earth and gave us dominion over it.
We are the ones who allow or don't allow certain things. If we see things that are very wrong going on with leadership in a church and people being used and abused we are taught that we are not to do anything about it because we are not on the same spiritual level as these leaders and we are not to touch God's anointed. Not only are these things in contradiction with scripture, they are in direct contradiction with what is taught at these churches. We are the ones that have allowed it and it is up to us to speak up and exercise our authority and put a stop to it.

Back in 2 Corinthians, verse 24 of that same chapter Paul said,"Not that we have dominion (over you) and lord it over your faith, but (rather that we work with you as) fellow laborers (to promote) your joy, for in (your) faith you stand firm.

If Paul didn't consider these practices right....they are not! Our pastors should be fellow laborers with us, not dictators ruling over us and calling us dummies and idiots. A pastor should fit the example set before him in the New Testament and not abuse God's anointed. God loved us so much that He gave His only son for us and He doesn't even lord that over us or rule us. A man has no business trying to do that either. Pastor or not.

Pastor or Businessman

2008-08-27T20:37:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been thinking on what a pastor is and should be. A few months ago I found myself a part of a church where the pastor is thought of and treated in a way no other pastor I have ever had has. He also thought of himself the way no other pastor I have ever had did. He also pursued material things the way no other pastor I have ever had did. He required more attention, recognition and first class treatment the way no other pastor I ever had did.

I began to realize that his characteristics, lifestyle and habits were that of a businessman and not a pastor.

A businessman:
seeks to drive a nice car
desires fine clothes
is always looking to make a profit and get more money
craves eating the best food and in the best restaurants
needs nice accommodations
avoids those that do not further his career
spends time with those who have a lot of money
expects to be addressed with a title
arranges to have people there to cater to his needs
draws attention to himself and his achievements
furthers his own interests
puts himself first
acknowledges his own qualities

A pastor:
seeks whatever transportation will take him to where he needs to go
desires that the needs of others be met not to have expensive clothes
is always looking where to use what money is available to him to help others
eats whatever and wherever
will stay anywhere as long as he can be a help and minister to others
avoids no one
spends time in ministry to the poor, lost, broken and hurting
neither demands nor desires any title
arranges to have others needs met
points all attention to Jesus
furthers the gospel (the good news that Jesus died to save us)
puts all others before himself
is humble and never toots his own horn

If you are in a church where your pastor has more of the traits of a businessman, you need to look for another church and another pastor. He can't be both. He is either one or the other and a businessman has no business trying to be or claiming to be a pastor.

Choosing to be a pastor is choosing a life of servitude.... not choosing a life of being served and pampered.

My Church - Your Church - The Church

2008-08-24T18:08:00.000-07:00

Several months ago when I left the controlling church that I was in the one thing that was of foremost importance to me was to GET OUT. I knew that there was an urgency to get away from the manipulation and control. I knew that I had spent over a decade at that place not just making friends but being part of a family. It was a family within a family. A body of believers within the body of Christ. A family that the pastor of the church had no desire to actually be a part of other than to rule over and control. I was seeing the family I had come to love dearly being torn apart. Some were forced to leave and others left because they had come to the realization that to stay was spiritually dangerous. Those who left were shunned, and those who stayed were warned not to associate with them lest bad things happen to them. This was all orchestrated by what was supposed to be loving and Godly leadership. Those who stayed and chose to associate with those who left were looked down on by those who chose to shun. It broke my heart to see all the unkindness and dissension being shown. I watched the family that I had seen stand behind one another in good times and bad being scattered all over.

Many who left went to other churches, some have no desire to ever go to church again after what they have experienced and some have church at home. In the midst of what seemed to be a hopeless situation, however, I saw some who had "ought against his brother" go to each other and talk things out. I saw families restored, friendships restored, people prosper, peace flood their lives, and love flood their hearts. When I have seen them, many actually look years younger.

I have had to repent before God for giving His honor to a man. A man that demanded it, basked in it and taught that it belonged to him but a man none the less. I have realized that I should never given a man this place in my life. I was told he was qualified to occupy this place yet I have no one other than myself to blame for listening to this wrong teaching. AGAIN, I did not read my Bible. I have realized what a heavy burden it was to constantly struggle to live up to a false standard, and how debilitating it is to sit under false teaching.

A while back, I went to dinner with several others who had also left the church. It was such a time of refreshing. We were all so glad to see each other and so glad to be together without the shadow of control over us. It didn't matter that each of us went to different churches. We didn't have to hash out the mysteries of the deep things of God before we could enjoy each others company. There were no doctrinal agreement requirements for us to qualify to be together other than we all love Jesus. We didn't have to spend the entire time trying to convince each other that one knew all the truth. We didn't have to guard every aspect of out personalities for fear that something we said or did didn't line up with some rule being imposed over us. We just loved each other. We just enjoyed the company. Each of us knew we were just loved, not judged. How wonderful when the realization comes that we can just love and be loved for who we are. As I sat at the table and looked into the faces of these precious friends that God has placed in my life it brought tears to my eyes. It didn't matter if we all agreed on whether tongues were for today, if every or any "word from God" delivered by a man was real, if God wants us all to be rich or not, or what we should wear to church. What matters is that God put us in each others lives. He brought us together and gave us to each other to hold each other up, be there to encourage each other, pray for each other and desire the best for each other. I refuse to casually discard these treasures that I have in my life that will last for eternity like an old pair of shoes that have worn out their usefulness the way that some do.

Yet we all do agree on some things. We love God with all our hearts. We want to see others come to know His love. We want to see the hungry fed. We want to see broken hearts healed. We want people to see His love in us. We want to be His hands and His feet allowing Him to minister through us to those He gave His life for. We love each other and we are friends...real friends.

I was taught at my old church that "it is a matter of life and death where you go to church". Paul said that to live is Christ and to die is gain. I intend to LIVE! I am going to live for Him with all I have and I will never again let a man tell me how to do that.

My friends, I love you with all my heart. I treasure each and every one of you more than you will ever know. I thank God for you. You, along with my actual family are the greatest treasures in my life.

Your church or my church? Who cares. I am privileged to be a part of "His Church" along with you.

The Flesh Church

2008-08-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

This week on a "live stream" service I heard a preacher constantly referring to "flesh churches"
I began to think about all the churches that I have been a part of in my life, all the ones that I have visited, and all the ones that friends and family have been a part of. I remember the things that I loved about being a christian and how I knew that God had called me and that I had a ministry. A ministry of love and reaching souls for Jesus. Helping the hurting and needy. Upon leaving my former church I remember realizing all the years that I had wasted serving a man who demanded it instead of serving Jesus.

When I came to my former church I remember how it bothered me that I saw few of these ministries. I convinced myself that it was alright and that they were just into the deeper things of God. As the years went by, the church became so centered around money and the pride of the leadership that it was hard to stomach. I saw how people were treated and humiliated.

All of this was to make the pastor feel better or let the congregation know how he was in the right and others were in the wrong...... flesh

There were parties and events to make the pastor feel loved and appreciated.....flesh

There was rampant sin in the leadership (but only some, not all).....flesh

Honor to the pastor was expected and required.....flesh

People were judged by how they looked.....flesh

The rich were praised.....flesh

Private not commercial flights.....flesh

Only the best clothes.....flesh

Shots and fad diets to get skinny.....flesh

When there were special meetings:

Feed all the ministers by special invitation...flesh

Buy big name ministers expensive gifts.....flesh

Decorate so everything would be pleasing to the eye.....flesh

Money, money, money come to us so we can have it all.....flesh

Give jewelry to adorn the flesh.....flesh

Talk about how faith is classy.....flesh

Ignore reprimanding sin and responsibility for one's actions.....flesh

Require forgiveness but slander those who have "done you wrong"...flesh

Ignore those you see who, have left and gone to another church, try to be pleasant to you.....flesh

Pray for bad to come to those who have wronged you.....flesh

The list could go on and on. This church is the complete example of the flesh church. I remember looking at the leader of this church and realizing that there is not one thing about him that reminds me of Jesus. I remember that there was not one area of his life that I wanted my life to resemble in any way. I remember that I realized that if his life and relationships were an example of the "blessing of the Lord" then I didn't want any part of that particular type of "blessing". I know people who don't even know God with more love and integrity in their little finger than I have seen displayed by the leadership of this church.

A Spirit church would have:

Members who were loved and appreciated regardless of their pocket book

People being saved during a week long, 12 service meeting

A pastor who is a shepherd not an elitist

Ministry to the poor

A pastor who showed up at funerals

Teachers

Safety

Congregation members who feel loved

Giving to the poor and widows, not the well off already

Examples of the fruit of the Spirit in the lives of their leadership

1 Corinthians 13 in operation from the pulpit

A guest minister should know something about the churches he is talking about before he opens his mouth in judgement or support of those churches. For him to speak against other pastors and call their churches "flesh" when he doesn't know first hand what he is talking about is wrong. I thought that we were not supposed to "touch God's anointed" He needed to deal with all the flesh in the church that he was standing in before he began to attack others.

How pleasant it is now to sit in a service and not hear one church or denomination bashed from the pulpit. Not hear one community member slandered from the pulpit. Listen to someone preach who does not have to be constantly tooting his own horn and demanding glory for himself. Not to hear money and tithe rammed down my throat. Tithe is great, but I would like to see some mercy and justice.

Deceitfullness of Riches

2008-08-17T09:33:00.000-07:00

What exactly is the deceitfulness of riches? It could be.......choosing to keep all your riches and not giving to God...... or ......thinking that the measure of riches you posses shows your faith.

In the parable of the sower(Matt.13), Jesus speaks of the Word of God being sown in peoples' hearts. In one verse He talks about the seed that is sown among the thorns and the deceitfulness of riches that chokes out the Word and makes it unfruitful in their lives.

I have always heard this taught by preachers. They say that the deceitfulness of riches is what occurs when we begin to desire things to the degree that we withhold the tithe and spend it on ourselves, something we want, or, when we use the tithe to pay our bills because we don't have enough faith to give our tithe first and know that God will somehow get our bills paid because we tithed first. This breaking of the letter of the law brings the curse on us and on our finances and chokes the Word that has been sown in our hearts out.

What if that is not what the deceitfulness of riches is at all. What if the deceitfulness of riches is distorting the Word of God where money is concerned.

Many preachers believe that God's people are entitled to be rich, wealthy with money, especially the preachers. They spend and enormous amount of time teaching the letter of the law on tithing. They teach their congregation to focus on money. Calling it in, talking to it, and using their faith to get it. They place much more importance on tithe, giving and money than they do on love, repentance, joy, giving to the poor, helping those in need, loving your enemy, praying for others, reaching the lost, the cross, the resurrection, salvation and countless other aspects of the gospel. Everyone is focused on money. The Word of God is choked out.

1Timothy3-10 in the Amplified says: But if anyone teaches otherwise and does not assent to the sound and wholesome messages of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) and the teaching which is in agreement with godliness (piety toward God) He is puffed up with pride and stupefied with conceit,(although he is) woefully ignorant. He has a morbid fondness for controversy and disputes and strife about words which result in (produce) envy and jealousy, quarrels and dissension, abuse and insults and slander, and base suspicions. And protracted wrangling and wearing discussion and perpetual friction among men who are corrupted in mind and bereft of the truth, who imagine that godliness or righteousness is a source of profit (a moneymaking business, a means of livelihood). From such withdraw. (And it is, indeed, a source of immense profit, for) godliness accompanied with contentment (that contentment which is a sense of inward sufficiency) is great and abundant gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and obviously we cannot take anything out of the world; but if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content (satisfied). But those who crave to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish (useless, godless) and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction and miserable perishing. For the love of money is a root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have been led astray and have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves through with many acute (mental) pangs.

The Bible says to seek first the kingdom of God and all these things (material things) will be added unto you. Yet churches have service after service and preachers have sermon after sermon based on getting material things. They claim that this is to get the work of God done yet the work of God is not getting done using the finances they already have available. The Word of God is not only being choked out of the congregations' lives, but the Word is so choked out of the pastors lives to the degree that only a tiny amount of the Word is being sown into the people.

If the letter of the law on tithing is not what we are supposed to do as the New Testament church. If true new testament giving is cheerful and as each has purposed in his own heart (2 Cor.9:7), then it will be more than enough to supply all the need of the church. New Testament giving would be more than the tithe. It shows such a lack of faith on the preachers' part to constantly harp on tithing and giving, trying by manipulation to pull every cent out of churchgoers. It shows that they do not think God is capable of speaking to His children's hearts and prompting them to give out of a heart of love. Not only do they lack the faith for God to supply their need, they keep the word "tithe" in front of the people so much by beating them over the head with the law that they are supposed to be redeemed from, that they feel once they have given their ten percent, they don't want to think of giving anymore. They have had it forced on them by a law enforcer till they don't want to think about it anymore.

Matthew 23:23-24 says: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

There is rampant sin in the church among some leadership. Many come to churches every week and never hear the weightier matters taught. Many never hear repentance taught. They are told they need to be saved but are never explained what happened at the cross and what it meant. They are just told to repeat a prayer that they don't understand. The gospel is the good news about Jesus, not about money.

Glory to God

2008-08-12T19:47:00.000-07:00

I know many of us stand in church during song service and shout "Glory! Glory! Glory to God! Glory!" When we tell others of something we have been believing God for or something good that has happened to us we will say, "Glory to God!" It is like that phrase or those words have become so commonplace to us that we give little or no thought to what it means, or if we are really giving or bringing glory to God.

We have been taught that looking good, having nice things and having money draws people to Jesus and brings glory to God and not having nice things and not looking well dressed and well off makes God look bad. That is not true. We have been taught that digging in the Bible and finding a verse that somehow applies to something we want, or to something we want done and standing on it until we get what we want brings glory to God and draws others to Him. That is not what Jesus said.

In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus is teaching on the mountain and in His message He is speaking of those who will be blessed. In the Amplified Bible, the word blessed in these passages means....."happy, to be envied, spiritually prosperous--with life-joy and satisfaction in God's favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions". The word blessed has nothing to do with having money or nice things. It means to be spiritually prosperous regardless of outward conditions. He goes on in this passage to explain who is blessed... the humble, those who rate themselves insignificant...those who mourn...the mild, patient and longsuffering...those who hunger for uprightness and right standing with God...the merciful...the pure in heart...the makers and maintainers of peace...those who are persecuted for righteousness sake (for being and doing right)...those who are reviled and persecuted and have evil spoken about them for Jesus' sake. He tells us...Matt.5:16 Amplified.."let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven." THIS is what brings glory to God. The way we act, what we are and how we treat others, not how much money or nice things we have or how good we look.

All the money, nice things and expensive clothes in the world will not glorify God. Only people themselves can do that and not because of what they have but because of how they act toward others and who they are. All the polish and practice at looking good cannot disguise the way a person acts when they are persecuted or treated badly. Do they turn the other cheek, give their coat when someone takes their shirt, go two miles when forced to go one, give to those who beg, love their enemies, and pray for those who persecute them? And I don't think Jesus meant pray for bad things to happen to them or that God would "beat their enemies down before their face".
Jesus said that if we only greet our brethren... the heathen do that, and if we only love those who love us, what reward do we have.

Love in action and the fruit of the spirit being evident in our day to day lives is what draws others to Jesus and brings glory to God.

It is time for us to grow up! We are not a bunch of kindergartners on a playground. We are supposed to be God's children letting Him live through us. We should be concentrating on "growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity" not concentrating on what we have or what we can get.

Who are the Teachers and Why

2008-08-09T22:33:00.000-07:00

Where in the New Testament are we taught that we need a "man of God" or a "covering" in order to serve God in what we are called to do. I began doing a word search of the New Testament on teachers, pastors, overseers and leaders to see what the Bible had to say about these things.

Overall, the New Testament teaches that we are all the "body of Christ". It does not teach that we are all a bunch of little bodies under many coverings and that there are separate "men of God" that are ordained to "speak into our lives" or "receive the Word of God for us". It does not teach us to slander or criticize others in the body of Christ because they are not as "spiritually knowledgeable" as others. It does not even teach us to go to a "church building" and sit under the "pastor" there in order to receive from God. There are many other practices that the New Testament does not teach. I have decided to focus on what it does teach and only that. If I can't find it in the Bible, then I am not interested.

In Hebrews 10:24-25, the Bible tells us not to "forsake the assembling of ourselves together". The New Living Translation says it like this, "Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near." I see here that it is not telling us to go and sit and listen to a preacher tell us how to get blessed, get more money, serve that particular ministry leader, or stretch our faith to get things for ourselves. This passage tells us to be about doing acts of love and good works which has nothing to do with getting something for ourselves. It also doesn't tell us that we have to be in a formal church building to do this.

There is nothing wrong with going to church. I believe that going to church is very important, but there is also nothing wrong with meeting with each other outside of the church. It also doesn't tell us that we have to join a particular church so we can be "under" a particular man of God. We joined "The Church" when we asked Jesus into our hearts and made him the Lord of our lives, and Jesus is our man of God, our advocate, our "covering". There is nothing wrong with joining a church. It helps us come to know other believers and become active in ministry. It gives us a local "body of believers" to stand with us and fellowship with. The problem comes in when a local church teaches that it is the only church with right teaching and that other churches are wrong, dumb and in error. Matthew 6:33 in the NLT says,"Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." Romans 14:17 NLT tells us that "the Kingdom of God is living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit". This is not equivalent to living a life of getting what we are entitled to, or what we believe for, or what we confess from God.

Jesus, himself, said in Matt.23:8-12 said,"Don't let anyone call you 'Rabbi,' for you have only one teacher, and all of you are EQUAL as brothers and sisters. And don't address anyone here on earth as 'Father,' for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father. And don't let anyone call you 'Teacher,' for you have only one teacher, the Messiah." If you are in a church that the pastor there insists or expects you to call him, 'Pastor,' as a title and feels that he is above you in some sort of spiritual rank, then he is wrong. According to Jesus we are all equal. Look for a church with a pastor that sees himself as your brother.

1 John 2:27 NIV says, "As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit- just as it has taught you, remain in him." Colossians 3:16 in the amplified says,"Let the word spoken by Christ, the Messiah, have its home in your hearts and minds, and dwell in you in all its richness, as you teach and admonish and train one another in all insight and intelligence and wisdom (in spiritual things, and as you sing) psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody to God with (His) grace in your hearts." We are supposed to be teaching each other. Everything taught should line up with the entire Bible in every way. If you are in a church that only the "Pastor" teaches on a regular basis and you are encouraged not to visit other churches "ever" and not to listen to anyone other than those that he personally endorses, this is a warning sign. If this Pastor is teaching predominately out of the Old Testament and pulling isolated scriptures out and building teachings around them, then you need to look in your Bible and see if they line up with New Testament teachings. If you have trouble making sure these teachings are totally correct, then find another church.

The Bible stated some requirements for those who would be leaders in the church. The Message translation 1Timothy3:1-7 says,"If anyone wants to provide leadership in the church, good! But there are preconditions: A leader must be well-thought-of, committed to his wife, cool and collected, accessible, and hospitable. He must know what he's talking about, not be overfond of wine, not pushy but gentle, not thin-skinned, not money-hungry. He must handle his own affairs well, attentive to his own children and having their respect. For if someone is unable to handle his own affairs, how can he take care of God's church? He must not be a new believer, lest the position go to his head and the Devil trip him up. Outsiders must think well of him, or else the Devil will figure out a way to lure him into his trap". These preconditions are not just suggestions... they are requirements, and not just some of them, but all of them.

Here are some questions for you to answer:
Is your pastor well thought of by outsiders?......Committed to his wife?......Cool and collected?.....Accessible?.....Hospitable?....Does he know what he is talking about? Are you sure?....Is his life public enough for you to even know if he drinks wine?....Is he gentle?.....Does every criticism get to him (is he thin-skinned)?..... Is he money-hungry? Is money mentioned in every service? Are you taught to give more to get what you need or desire from God?

If the pastor of the church you are attending does not line up with these things clearly spelled out preconditions in the Bible then you need to find another church.

A pastor's life should be a public life, not a secret life. Many people in the church should be involved in the workings and decisions of the church. Not just the pastor, his family and his hand picked "board". The church should not be a dictatorship.

The pulpit should not be used for a personal agenda or to criticize people or other churches. The church should have evidence and fruit of acts of love and good works, (this is not just teaching those attending how to get what they want from God).

Let's think for ourselves, hear from God ourselves, ask questions, require accountability and examine the "work of God" that we are involved in. Let's get on with God's business and quit focusing on our business.

Good Fruit & Bad Fruit

2008-08-04T20:46:00.000-07:00

In the Word of God we are told that good fruit and bad fruit cannot come from the same tree.

Matthew 7:15-20 in the King James Version says, "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. "

The Message translation says, "Be wary of false preachers who smile a lot, dripping with practiced sincerity. Chances are they are out to rip you off some way or other. Don't be impressed with charisma; look for character. Who preachers are is the main thing, not what they say. A genuine leader will never exploit your emotions of your pocketbook. These diseased trees with their bad apples are going to be chopped down and burned."

In looking at these scriptures I began to evaluate the fruit of the church that I used to attend. In a previous post, Where is the Fruit, I stated that I had searched for good fruit and had a problem finding any lasting good fruit. The bad fruit has a horrifically wide range. Many people over the years have been hurt and abused in many ways. Some never want to go to church again. Some feel that they can never trust church leadership again. Many who truly need pastoral guidance in their lives have never had it from a true pastor and will never give another pastor the chance to minister to them on a personal level.

I find it devastating that I was so enamored with the leadership of this church, with their charisma and practiced sincerity that I chose to overlook so many things that I knew in my heart were wrong. How did I allow myself to be so deceived for so long? Unfortunately, I did not read my Bible. Here in these scriptures, it is unmistakeably evident that I was part of a very bad tree. I will never again excuse things that do not line up with scripture or things that don't seem right about the church I am attending. I encourage anyone who is in a church that raises even the smallest question or doubt on the inside to step back and examine the whole picture of that church.

I know there are many churches and ministries out there that have leadership with character and integrity. Do not settle for a cheap fabrication of a shepherd after God's own heart. Follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and trust what He it telling YOU. Ask questions. If you are in a church where questions about the leadership are frowned upon..... leave. God is perfectly capable of leading you, His sheep, to green pastures and still waters, and a pastor who loves with actions that can be seen and not words without action.

Let's Have Some Balance

2008-08-02T20:58:00.000-07:00

Lately I have begun to wonder how so many churches can get so far in the ditch so to speak on one side or another. On one side you have the churches who do not believe in the gifts of the Spirit at all and on the other side you have all the churches who have perverted it to the extreme.

I grew up in a denominational church. I learned a lot about the love of God there. That He loved us so much He sent His only son to suffer and die on the cross for us in order to pay the price for our sin. I learned what true repentance was. That no one could go to heaven unless they realized that they were a sinner, repented of their sin, asked Jesus into their heart and made Him the lord of their life. I learned how to treat other people according to the teachings of Jesus and the letters to the church in the new testament. I learned about baptism. That when a person is born again (asks Jesus into their heart), that water baptism represents the old man dying to sin and the new man being alive in Jesus. This was such an important thing to God that even Jesus was baptised. I learned about the Lord's supper,or communion, that it was a practice of drinking juice and eating bread during the church service to remind us of what Jesus has done for us. He gave His blood and His body as the ultimate sacrifice. I learned about giving offerings and that it was important to be in church on a regular basis. That it was important to help those in need, those who were poor, those who were hurt, and those who asked.

Then I had my first taste of a full gospel church. I heard things being taught that I had never heard before. That being filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues was for today. That He speaks to us regularly and if we will listen to His still small voice He will lead us and guide us daily. That God still heals people and I can trust and believe Him for my health. That He is our provision. That the things that I say and do have a direct affect on the life that I live and that everything that happens is not God's will. I learned for the first time that God has given dominion on earth to us. He is not up in heaven playing us like a game. That He never causes bad things to happen or makes us sick to teach us something. That the Bible means what it says....period. That God's will is made evident in the Bible and I can pray, knowing His will and believe Him to watch over His word to perform it in my life.

In the denominational church we were taught that no matter what happens, it is God's will. That we have nothing to do with what happens in life. Basically that you are born again and you just do the best you can until you die and go to heaven or until Jesus comes back. If you get cancer, fall off a cliff, your infant dies, you get a great job, you avoid a car crash....anything: it is all God's will. That once you are born again, that is all there is. You have no responsibility for anything that comes along in your life. Just love God and obey Him.

In the full gospel church we were taught that everything that comes along is not necessarily God's will. That the devil comes to kill, steal and destroy. That the Word of God (the Bible) is alive and powerful. That we reap according to what we sow (and this is not talking about money). That we are redeemed from the curse of the law. That we have been given authority over the devil and that we overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. That we are to be doers of the word and not just hearers. That we have a responsibility to take the Word of God and apply it to our lives.

In the denominational church that I grew up in, it was impossible for anyone to come more than once or twice and not hear the good news that Jesus died for their sins. It was fully explained on a regular basis from the pulpit what it meant to be born again, exactly what that involved and then how to live a Godly and holy life with Jesus as Lord. They had the Lord's supper and baptism services several times a year. Messages were taught on what it meant to live a holy life and live for Jesus. WE were taught that every Christian made up the body of Christ and we could love and fellowship with them whether they attended our church or another church. It was all about us serving Him and bringing others to Him.

In the full gospel church it was impossible, at one time, for anyone to come and not be taught about who they were in Christ. That the work on the cross was all encompassing.... salvation includes health, provision, security, peace and joy. That we have authority over the enemy and we can exercise that authority in our lives. That God wants to be an active part of every tiny aspect of our lives. That we can believe the Word of God, stand on it and see it come to pass in our lives.

Yet in the full gospel church that I was in these teachings began to take a wrong turn. Forgiveness became and excuse for some to get involved in atrocious sin and never have to accept any responsibility for it. The tithes and offerings became a way to buy God's blessing and "miracles" or a way to incur His curse if you did not meet the letter of the law. The Word of God and the blood of Jesus became a basis for people to get what they wanted from God not give their lives in humble service to Him. The prayer of salvation became an after thought on services that were predominately centered around money and things and how to get them from God. Baptism services became a thing of the past with no plans to provide for them in the future. Living holy lives became not so important as long as you had a Godly goal in mind. All Christians were not worthy of our fellowship. It was dangerous to talk and spend time with those who were not as "spiritually mature or knowledgeable" as those at our church. If anyone left our church to go to another we were to break ties with them. They were wrong and deceived. It stopped being all about Jesus and us serving Him and it became all about us and what we could get from Him, what we could demand because of His Word and what we could get using His name. People in need, the poor, those hurting needed to use their faith and sow a seed.... not receive help from the church.

Somewhere there must be churches with balance. People who can believe the full gospel and still put the emphasis on salvation, winning the lost to Jesus and living holy lives. People that can live in the full blessings of God and still put Him first all the time. People who love EVERYONE with the love of God and put others before themselves. Pastors and preachers who can live in the blessings of God without allowing greed and pride to poison everything and everyone around them. People who live the truth for all to see and not an illusion or image that they have created to disguise who and what they really are.

Time is short. His return is soon. It is time for us to find the road of His love, His compassion, His completeness, His calling, His fullness, His fruit and stay out of the ditches.

Tithe, Tithe Let's Preach the Tithe

2008-07-28T23:04:00.000-07:00

What is the tithe? The Bible says that it is a tenth. A tenth of your increase... the things God blesses you with. Malachi 3:10 says "Bring all the tithes (the whole tenth of your income) into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and prove Me now by it, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. I truly believe this verse of scripture, just as I believe all scripture. I have been a tither and have seen God bless me greatly. I also know that tithing is not a requirement for me to receive from God.

Many preachers teach that if you do not tithe you are not going to receive anything from God. This includes healing, provision, blessings and guidance.Or that if you are believing God for something and you haven't seen it happen yet, then you need to tithe if you are not already tithing. If you are tithing, then you need to sow a monetary seed or a bigger monetary seed.If you do this, then what you are believing for will happen. They teach on the tithe to frighten and threaten people into giving. They make a huge production out of the offering. They preach sermons on the dangers of not tithing. They quote Malachi 3: 8-12 and explain that we are robbing God when we don't tithe and that when we do that He rebukes the devourer and we are blessed.... that we receive healing because we are tithers, that circumstances change for our better because we are tithers and that bad things won't happen to us because we are tithers. That we should find good rich ground to sow our tithe into so we can get more back. Give more offerings so we can reap more and more. Get into faith for bigger and better houses, cars, clothes, etc. We should never be satisfied where we are materially or financially..... that would be not using our faith. We need to constantly be believing and using our faith to get more and more material things. We MUST tithe so we can reap.

They don't preach on Malachi 3:1-7, that talks about giving offerings in righteousness, about God's judgement against manipulators, adulterers, those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, the fatherless and those who turn aside the temporary resident from his right and fear not the Lord. What good does it do to tithe if you already have incurred His judgement because you do not treat others right.

Yet after all this was written, Jesus came! He came to set us free. He loved us so much that HE died on the cross for us. He became sin for us so that we didn't have to be ruled by sin, by our flesh and so we didn't have to pay the price for our sin. He became poor so that we could be rich, have provision through Him, and have our needs met according to His riches in glory. He was beaten until He was no longer recognizable as a human being so that we could walk in health.

Oh how we belittle the great, unimaginable, inconceivable price that He paid when it is implied that the tithe has anything to do with us receiving any of this that He so lovingly purchased for us with His own precious blood.

Malachi was written when God's people were under the law. Now we are under the law of love. Faith works by love, not tithe. Why don't we have more preachers that teach love (how to treat others) and then use their faith for God to move on peoples' hearts to give. Why don't they be an example of something that people would want to give to instead of an example of money extractors.

II Corinthians 9 begins talking about an offering that is to be given to the Saints in Jerusalem from the Corinthians. Then in verses 5-7 he says,"That is why I thought it necessary to urge these brethren to go to you before I do and make arrangements in advance for this bountiful, promised gift of yours, so that it may be ready, not as an extortion (wrung out of you) but as a generous and willing gift. (Remember) this: he who sows sparingly and grudgingly, will also reap sparingly and grudgingly, and he who sows generously (that blessings may come to someone) will also reap generously and with blessings. Let each one (give) as he has made up his own mind and purposed in his heart, not reluctantly or sorrowfully or under compulsion, for God loves (He takes pleasure in, prizes above other things, and is unwilling to abandon or to do without) a cheerful (joyous,"prompt to do it") giver (whose heart is in his giving).

I am a tither and a giver because I love Him and I want to give to Him, not because I have to or I am afraid of what will happen if I don't. Yet I want to give to a ministry that is an example of love and not law, humility and not pride, one who gives to the poor and needy, not to the most prosperous ministry or person they can find because they think that this will bring the greatest financial harvest on their seed they have sown.I want to give to someone that is an example of the love, caring and compassion of Jesus and not an example of how to use His word to get rich.

A Word From God

2008-07-25T23:33:00.001-07:00

What exactly is a word from God? Service after service in charismatic circles ministers in the pulpit deliver "words from God". They may come with or without a message in tongues first. They are usually to well known members in the church or others in the ministry that may be attending the service. As the years have gone by and I began to look back on certain things that I thought were so supernatural and spiritual about the church I had attended, I began to realize some things about these "words" that were delivered.

First, when it was the pastor delivering the word, it was always to someone well known in the church, a prominent person... or someone that he knew of a situation already going on in their life. If it was a guest minister, they usually had a word for our pastor or other visiting ministers that they knew, or a word for our church concerning a church wide situation that was already going on. Every now and then someone visiting would give a general word for the church that was concerning the future. It was never for someone sitting as far back as the third row or behind.

Second, if the word delivered to an individual didn't happen the explanation was that they didn't line up or that they didn't receive the word. Concerning the words given to the church in general, some did happen, however, you couldn't tell if it was really God doing it or if it was the pastor making it happen. Many of the words were so general it could take decades or more to see if they were correct.

Third, and enormous amount of emphasis was put on these words. They were transcribed, typed up, made available , printed in bulletins, and brought up over and over. It seemed to be such an exciting thing for someone to have a "word". Everyone would stop and give their undivided attention when a "word" came forth.

I do believe in the supernatural from God. I do believe that He can speak a word to someone. I do believe in tongues and interpretation. Yet, I believe the words should not have a personal spin on them. I think that if they are truly from God, they should happen. I think they should be about the kingdom of God and not about money or things. I believe they should glorify God and not the ability of the man that delivered them. I believe they should excite people about Jesus and not the man that gave them. I believe that they should point us to the Word of God and get us excited about it and about Jesus.

God gave us His word. It is the infallible, complete expression of Himself. It is Jesus in print. It is every answer we will ever need. It is the solution to every problem. We should be so much more excited about the Word of God than we are about a word a man says that he heard from God.

I have seen so many people become confused or disillusioned because of a "word" that was given to them. I have seen many make mistakes because a minister told them to do something and said that it was God.

We have the Holy Spirit on the inside of us. He is our teacher. We are God's sheep and WE hear His voice. We have His word. The Word. I believe that I will test "words" from now on and measure them by the Word. I will also determine who I will listen to by the fruit that their public and personal lives produce. No fruit..... I am not interested.

Love or Control

2008-07-18T13:14:00.001-07:00

A thought came to me the other day. What place does control of others have in the walk of love and service to God? Why do some pastors and preachers use manipulation from the pulpit to control their congregation. They try to control what the members do, who they fellowship with and who they talk to. They even try to control what they talk about. They constantly manipulate them into giving more and more. They use fear tactics to try and keep anyone from leaving to attend or even visit other churches. When their children become adults, they exercise a huge amount of control over their lives and even their grandchildren's lives. Many who attend these churches follow these wrong examples.

A need to control shows fear and a lack of faith. Fear of what will happen if the people are not controlled. Fear is the opposite of faith. Shouldn't they trust God for everything. What if some don't tithe? Isn't God capable of supplying their needs? Isn't He capable of speaking to His own sheep and leading them to give? What kind of faith is it to constantly beat them over the head with messages about giving more money? What if some leave? Can't God bring more people in? More fear. What if some talk and say something wrong? So. Isn't God big enough to handle that? Jesus didn't worry about what people said about Him. Maybe that is because He was full of faith and love and He was without fear and sin.

God is love. He is the total definition and example of love. If there were any place in love for control then God would control us to some degree. Yet He is just the opposite. He never forces anyone to do anything. He never pushes Himself on anyone.....He is a gentleman. He tenderly and gently invites us, courts us and calls us. He stands at the door to our hearts and knocks.... not busts down the door. He won't even open it. He waits on us to open the door to out hearts and invite Him in.

God willingly and lovingly created us with a free will. Knowing how the human race would use that free will, He formed a plan before the foundation of the world to send a sacrifice to redeem us from the situation that our free will got us into. Even though He loves us with jealous love, a love that no man can fathom or understand, He chose to create us with 100 per cent FREE WILL, and absolutely zero control over us. He then sent His only son, Jesus, as a sacrifice for all who would accept what He did for them. He sent us His Word to teach us how to live our lives for Him. Yet after all this, He never makes or forces anyone to accept Jesus. The choice to follow Him is OURS.... not His.

1John 4:18 says, "perfect love casts out all fear".... I believe that perfect love casts out all control.
I choose faith and not fear. I choose to allow people to be who they are and not manipulate. I choose love and not control.

People....Trash or Treasure

2008-07-14T22:48:00.000-07:00

Could it be that the way that we choose to treat the people around us reveals the truth about how we feel about them? Do we view each and every human being that God created in His image as a treasure or do we view some of them as trash?

I had noticed over the years that there was a distinct difference in the way that people who attended the church were treated.It was as though people were sorted into groups according to how much money they made, how they dressed and what they could achieve using their faith. There were the "elite", the "prominent and preferential", the "desirables", the "commoners" and the "undesirables". Each of these groups of people had their own characteristics and their own level of acceptance with the pastor, the pastor's family,some of the pastoral staff and, of course, other church members.

First and foremost.....the elite. These were the pastor and his family and the super spiritual prophets and teachers invited to minister at the church. The ones who were ushered out into the sanctuary from behind the stage along with their entourage after the service began and made their timely exit before the service officially ended. This way they could be ushered out of the building or to the set aside area of the building where they were to be served a meal so that they didn't have to come in contact with the common church people.

Next......the prominent and preferential. These were the big money people. Those who were all about making the pastor and his family feel petted, pampered and served. The ones who took them on trips and bought them things.

Then came.....the desirables. The upper middle class church members. They were nice dressers and regular givers. They lived in nice houses and drove nice cars. They were heavily involved in the serving ministry. They may have not been where they are now when they first came to the church, but they were moving up, the money was coming in, they were a success in progress... they had faith. They set forth the image that the pastor wanted his church to have
......successful.

Now these first three groups of people had a pretty good life at the church. They were welcomed and accepted. If something good happened to them or they came into some good favor or a large sum of money they may have even gotten their name mentioned from the pulpit during a sermon or been asked to share about their good fortune with the congregation. During the services it was not at all uncommon for the pastor to have "a word from the Lord" for them or for members of their family. Many had regular seats that were reserved for them towards the front or on the front row. In times of crisis or trouble the majority of them could easily get an audience with the pastor to get help in their time of need. Some even had his cell number. The majority of these people were heavily involved in the servants ministry so the pastor, his family and his staff were very appreciative of them. They may have even taken the time to converse with them casually before of after the services. Some may have been invited to personal functions or out to lunch etc. Some may even been invited to eat with the special ministers, or invited to serve them food to them at their special dinners.

After that came.... the commoners. These people were just your average, run of the mill, everyday people. They ranged from those who came every time the doors were open to those who only came occasionally. Some served in the servants ministry and were regular givers and some did neither. Some may have been poor, in need, confused, abused, looking for direction, needing counsel, had questions about the Bible, needed fellowship, or needed someone to love them and show an interest in them. They may have felt lonely, sad, used, betrayed, disillusioned or abandoned.

Finally came..... the undesirables. The ones who were the down and out, nothing seemed to go right for them, no matter how they tried or believed or confessed, their situation didn't seem to improve. They may have had holes in their clothes, drove a rattle trap car, looked unkempt, dressed a little promiscuously, asked or said the same things repeatedly. Some were there every service and some may have only shown up once and never came back. Then there were all those in between.

These last two groups some were accepted and some were merely tolerated. Some more easily than others. Some were just endured until they finally left. Regardless of the situation, there was no way they could ever obtain an audience with the pastor. No matter how they may have longed for recognition and personal encouragement none ever came. Needless to say there was never a "word from the Lord" for them during a service. Yet it seems that in Jesus' ministry, He was here for these just as much as anyone else if not more so, the ones He spent time with, the least of these.

James 2:2-5 (NIV) Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say," Here is a good seat for you,"but say to the poor men, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor (or back row), have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my dear brothers:Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love Him? But you have insulted the poor.

I realize this is not exactly what I saw happening when a pastor favored the wealthy of his flock and basically ignored the poor, after all in this passage these appear to be first time visitors and the practices I am talking about were a constant ongoing thing. Yet it is obvious that something is horribly wrong with these practices. It is appalling.

I pray that these pastors will wake up and realize what ministry truly is and discontinue practicing what they have twisted it into. Too many people need to see Jesus and this does not resemble Him in any way.

Protecting the Anointing

2008-07-11T22:40:00.000-07:00

I have heard so many pastors and preachers in some circles talk about how they need to "protect the anointing". I began thinking on the fact that if it is really "anointing" from God, where in the Word of God are we taught to "protect" it. Why is it only their (pastors and preachers) anointing that needs to be protected? Aren't we all anointed to do the work of the ministry? Aren't we all part of the body of Christ. Aren't we all kings and priests? Yet we never hear sermons about protecting our anointing.......we hear sermons about serving and giving.

Jesus never seemed concerned with "protecting the anointing". On the contrary, He seemed to thrive on being with others. He wasn't upset by their questions, being crowded in a mob of people, or them asking Him to pray for them when it wasn't the formal invitation. He even loved it when little children ran to Him in groups wanting to love on Him and have Him love on them. Now that is anointing.

The anointing of today seems to be a fragile and touchy thing. All kinds of things can disturb it. Having to talk to church members, being asked to pray for or with someone, having to counsel people, being asked questions, not flying on a private airplane, not having all accommodations in order.....the list could go on and on.

What good is an anointing like that? I am told that it is so that the pastor/preacher can deliver a profound and unsurpassed interpretation of the Word of God. Something that will change lives. Something that will cause things to happen to the hearers of this message if they will do it. How am I to believe this when they portray the anointing to be so lame.

Shouldn't the anointing of God be powerful, strong, sure and true? How can such small things disturb it to the point that the ones endowed with it must be petted, pampered and secluded or something will harm it.

We are all anointed. Anointed to serve Him, minister to others, love the lost, show the love of God to others, love our mates, raise and minister to our children, rightly divide the word of truth, and hear from God.

If I am going to put any value in what a pastor/preacher who claims to have the "anointing" is teaching it needs to be someone who WALKS OUT the anointing they have for all to see their fruit, not someone who just talks the "anointing".

Well Done

2008-07-06T22:15:00.000-07:00

When I get to heaven, what do I want to hear God say to me? I think the thing that I long to hear the most is "Well done, good and faithful servant." As I look in the Word of God at the life of Jesus, I want to see what I can do in order for Him to look at me and say, "Well done good and faithfull servant".

Believeing for money, a house, a car, a vacation, for a good job, for good weather on an important occasion, clothes, jewelry, someone to let me have what I want, to have good health, a parking place etc. is not going to cause Jesus to look into my eyes and tell me "Well done good and faithful servant". I don't think there is anything wrong with making God the center of every single aspect of my life and expecting Him to meet all my needs acording to His riches in glory. I will admit that I ask Him for great parkng places all the time and He provides them. However, I do not for one second believe that this should be the focus of my faith or my walk with Him.I know of more occasions than I can count that He has spoken to me concerning even the smallest aspects of my everyday live just to make things better for me, but that is just one drop of water in an ocean of what faith in God is all about.

I want Him to be proud of me!!! I want Him to see me do without something that I want so someone else can have it, not insist on my way, not always have to be right, go out of my way to make someone feel loved when it is not convenient for me, put others first, truly love and be loving toward someone who hates me, do what is right when no one else around me is, forgive those who wrong me instantly whether they are sorry or not, not insist on my own way, be kind, be patient, do a job well when no one is looking, be happy and content in Him and above all be a servant.

I want people to be in Heaven because the life I lived. Yet I know it won't be because of the things I got by using my faith. It will be because of the love I lived by living my faith.

Where is the Love

2008-07-02T22:14:00.001-07:00

In the last few months that I was attending the church that I had attended for over a decade I began to question a multitude of things concerning the leadership there.

Why are over 80 percent of the sermons predominately about money?

Why do they try to make congregation members fearful of leaving that church and insinuate that even if they leave to go to another Bible believing, reputable church that bad things will happen to them?

Why are other churches and denominations constantly talked about negatively from the pulpit?

Why are people who attend the church or have attended the church called ugly names and criticized from the pulpit?

Why are there no programs directed to reaching out to the lost?

Why does the pastor never visit the congregation members who are in the hospital?

Why does the pastor rarely attend the funerals of congregation members who have died or immediate family members of congregation members that have died?

Why does the pastor not want to be around the congregation members or meet with them when they are in need of counsel?

It seemed like all these things pointed to a severe lack of love rather than a ministry built around love. In looking at the ministry of Jesus it is evident in the scriptures that his ministry was all about love and not about money or position. He was all about being a servant, not about being served. He was all about giving and not about collecting.

Jesus WENT to those in need, those hurting and those who were sick. He went to weddings and funerals. He made it clear that He was here to seek and save those who were lost. He didn't use fear tactics to get people to follow Him or make them afraid to leave, and He never insinuated that you could get things from God by "sewing your best financial seed". He never criticized his disciples or his followers in His messages. Even when His disciples came to Him and were upset because someone who was not one of them was casting out devils in Jesus name did not speak negatively about them. On the contrary, He said that if they were not against Him then they were for Him.(Luke 9:49-50). In The Message translation it says "He who is not an enemy is an ally". So why would a loving pastor criticize other churches and denominations?

Jesus was the example of love. He was the complete fulfillment of love. He taught us to live love, not just walk in love. Faith is wonderful but faith works by love. If love is not evident, faith is useless. Love is action. Love is the work of the ministry. You say you have faith? Show me your faith by your works (love in action toward others). Faith without works is dead. Why don't we get back to love and then our faith will mean something.

How Do We Know God Told You?

2008-06-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

How many times have many of us heard a pastor say from the pulpit,"God woke me up in the night and told me...." or "God told me this....." or "I know this is God"? I am wondering how we know this is actually God these people are hearing.

I believe we should judge everything we hear from the pulpit by scripture. So where are the scriptures that prove to us that all these things they are saying are actually spoken to them by God. I have heard pastors tell people to buy houses, that they were going to get houses, that they were going to get money, no..don't go this direction, yes...go that direction, sow this seed and you will receive what you are believing for etc. Yet I have found no scriptures confirming these things. Furthermore, I have found no place in the New Testament where Jesus ever ministered along these lines. He ministered about how to be a servant, loving people, obedience to the Father, forgiveness, not giving to get, not doing things to be seen by men, humbleness, faithfulness, treating others right, living an honorable life and things like that. He ministered on how to live not how to get.

I began to look back on decisions made by some of these people who say they hear from God. How their decisions have affected ministry and people's lives. How many of their choices that "God told them to make" had very bad effects on a great number of people.

I also looked back on times I trusted their judgement, took their advice or overlooked my better judgement and it was definitely not God.

I have decided that I don't need someone else to hear from God for me. I am His sheep and I hear His voice and I am through following the voice of another who has their own best interest at heart.

More Stuff

2008-06-29T20:25:00.000-07:00

In the church I was attending I got so tired of hearing sermons about getting more stuff. The message going out was constantly about how to get more money, bigger houses, nicer clothes, more expensive cars, take nice vacations, get more diamonds and jewelry, etc. "Get the double, the spirit of increase, sow more money to get more money, all the answers hinge on the tithe, call in the money, send the ministering spirits out to get your money, tell the devil to take his hands off your money".

I thought the object of being saved was to bear fruit.......that fruit being bringing others to Christ. Why were we not encouraged to use our faith to bring in a multitude of lost and hurting people to the church. Why not taught to sow our time and love into the lives of those who need Jesus, why not tell the devil to take his hands off of the ones he is holding captive in his web of deception, why not call in the fruit of the spirit in our lives, why not call in a double measure of holiness???

As I reflect over what the Bible has to say about these things, I am reminded of Jesus saying...."Take NO THOUGHT as to what you will eat or drink or wear". If we are constantly talking to and about the money, clothes, houses etc. it is abundantly aparent that we are taking alot of thought about these things! In fact they are not only thought about, they are constantly preached about. Why would we repeatedly have wonderful testimonies during church service about someone who got alot of money, got a bigger house or used their faith and became a millionaire? However never testimonies about a church member leading someone to Christ. If He told us to "seek first the kingdom of God and then all these things will be added unto you" then why do we need to consume time and effort in talking to them and use our faith to constantly call them in. These things actually have nothing to do with the kingdom of God.The kingdom of God is about people, not things.

When God asked Solomon (the richest man ever) what he wanted, he asked God for things that would benefit his people. Things like wisdom to rule and make Godly decisions.Then it was God's idea to make Solomon rich....not Solomon's.

Why don't we focus on living holy lives, having the fruit of the spirit evident and growing in our lives, really loving people with actions and not just words, seeking to know the compassion of Christ for others, and getting to know Him, not how to get stuff from Him.

The Double Standard

2008-06-19T20:22:00.000-07:00

In remembering the church I went to I have been thinking about things that I heard from the pulpit and the leadership. I began to see a double standard. It seems that the congregation and the pastor have 2 different sets of rules or standards.

1) -when things go wrong for members of the congregation they are reaping what they have sown or they need to obey God
-when this happens to the pastor and his family... they are under attack

2) -when someone does or says something wrong to the pastor or his family, they should be reported or handled
-when the pastor or his family does or says something wrong to someone they should just be forgiven and it should be forgotten

3) -when the pastor feels unappreciated and unloved by the congregation, they should have a party or a dinner for him to honor him and let him know how wonderful he is and how much he is appreciated
-when congregation members feel this way, they should be more mature, read the word and not whine or complain

4)-when the church has a financial need the congregation needs to give
-when a congregation member has a financial need, the member needs to give or give more

5) -the congregation members need to serve
-the pastor needs to be served

6) -the congregation members should never say anything negative about the pastor, his family, the church or other members
-the pastor can speak negatively about anyone, any church and any denomination from the pulpit as long as he doesn't actually tell some one's name

7) -congregation members should never compare themselves with themselves
-the pastor can compare his church with other churches from the pulpit to show how superior his church is

8)- people who leave his church are missing God
-when he left wherever he went to church before he started his church, he was following God

9) -when someone in the congregation falls into sin... they need to step down from helps ministry and wait for a period of time before serving again
-when someone in the pastors family falls into sin they need to stay in their position unless someone finds out and they are forced to step down

10)-the pastor questions anyone anytime he wants to
-no one can question the pastor

11) -the pastor does not keep his word
-congregation members are expected to keep their word

These are some of the double standards that I noticed in the church that I was attending. I don't think there is any room for a double standard in any area of ministry. The results are hurt, confusion, disillusionment, anger and many of seemingly wasted years.

One day I hope to find a ministry with a Godly standard instead of a double standard. I think I will examine the fruit.

Where is the Fruit

2008-06-18T20:23:00.001-07:00

The other day I was thinking about a church I had attended for several years. I began to reflect on what drew me there and what kept me there. I remember at first the teaching seemed to be so profound and fresh. I heard things taught there that I had never heard before. They all sounded so wonderful and so right. I will admit that I did learn several things there about believing the Bible and faith. However, in the wake of the last few months, many questions have surfaced in me. I was driving in the car the other day and a Bible verse came to me:"by their fruits you will know them".

I began looking at the fruit of this church. I will not even begin to list the bad fruit. If I started the list would go on and on. So I began looking for good fruit. I decided that the most important fruit of a church is reaching the lost.......not just reaching them,but leading them to Christ, people being born again, being discipled, and them in turn learning how to live for Jesus, putting Him first in everything they do, being a witness for Him so that their lives then draw others to Him.

Over the past decade I could not think of more that 1 person that fits that description. Sure people went forward at altar calls but they didn't come back on a regular basis. There was really no discipleship program for them and none to connect them with other believers in the church. I will admit that maybe I missed a few but in more than a decade, I, a regular attendee could only think of one.

This is a church that is supposed to be changing lives all over the world with its message. You would think that there would be some visible fruit.

What is a Leader

2008-06-16T22:10:00.001-07:00

Lately I have been disillusioned by almost every person that I have given a roll of leadership to in my life. I know that there were things about them that I thought I saw: things such as honesty, integrity, wisdom, honor, etc. Yet as the years have gone by and events have taken place, I have come to the realization that it has all been an act. A huge illusion created with manipulation, lies and twisted truths. I had clues all along that they were not what they made themselves out to be, but because of an image they managed to display, I foolishly excused all the seemingly small things that bothered me. I have begun to wonder if there are very many people out there in leadership positions who have character.

I do know people who have character. They are all kind, polite, humble servants. People who don't demand "honor" "respect" "position" or "title". They don't have to demand it because they already have it without desiring it. They actually have the love of God for others operating in their lives. Real love. Not just talk, not talk and some action, but ACTION. The kind of actions on a day to day basis that the others in their lives and others that their lives touch can feel and see. Love that is evident in politeness,caring, putting others before themselves and a willingness help(not let me tell you how to do it help, but get in there physically help). Love that comes out in them doing what is best for others instead of doing whatever they want regardless of all the lives it will affect. People who want to serve because they love God, not people who want to be served because they know His Word.

These are the people that I want to be around and spend time with. These are the ones that I want to emulate. These are the ones who I want to follow their example. The ones that don't know it. The true leaders.