Pray For Those Pastors Who Have Hurt You

The sad truth is there are pastors and leaders who are in a position for their own gain and desires.

These type of controlling pastors have hurt many people.

These types of pastors can be described as:   controllers, manipulators, narcissists, cult leaders, false pastors and dictators just to name a few.

I have seen varying degrees of these types of leadership with some being more damaging than others.   But worse yet, I have seen the negative effects and damage these types of pastors/leaders have inflicted on people.

Here are some characteristics of an ungodly, narcissist pastor/leader:

*He tells you that as your pastor he is your ‘anointing cover.”

*He name drops of high profile ministers he knows.

*He feels the church is riding on the coattail of his anointing and faith.

*He keeps reminding you from the pulpit what a good teacher he is.

*He removes associate pastors who preach better than him or is more popular than he is.

*He makes people feel that they cannot make important decisions and know God’s will without him.

*He exalts himself before ‘his’ people all under the guise of how humble he is.

*He treats people who leave ‘his’ church as fools.    All kindness and friendship is withdrawn.

*He is accountable to NO one.

*He threatens those who leave ‘his’ church with fear.  He tells them they are in rebellion, God’s blessing and favor will be lifted from their life, they will no longer enjoy the over-flow of his anointing and Satan will have free reign over their lives.

*He is insensitive to the feelings and needs of others.

*He always has to be right.  He has to look good in front of others.

*He is a conversation controller.

  *He always feels misunderstood.

*He feels that he has been taken advantage of over and over----he has a “knife in the back syndrome”.

Satan will cause you to think that the controlling pastor’s influence is greater than it is.  Don’t give in to Satan’s lies and intimidation. 

Trust God to be your strength and defense.   Keep your heart pure, forgive and pray!

Pray for those who have abused, cursed and hurt you.  Pray that they will come to a place of true repentance.

“ ¹ I have a message from God in my heart
   concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God
   before their eyes.

 ² In their own eyes they flatter themselves
   too much to detect or hate their sin. ³ The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful;
   they fail to act wisely or do good. ⁴ Even on their beds they plot evil;
   they commit themselves to a sinful course
   and do not reject what is wrong.

 ⁵ Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens,
   your faithfulness to the skies. ⁶ Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
   your justice like the great deep.
   You, LORD, preserve both people and animals. ⁷ How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
   People take refuge in the shadow of your wings. ⁸ They feast on the abundance of your house;
   you give them drink from your river of delights. ⁹ For with you is the fountain of life;
   in your light we see light.

 ¹⁰ Continue your love to those who know you,
   your righteousness to the upright in heart. ¹¹ May the foot of the proud not come against me,
   nor the hand of the wicked drive me away. ¹² See how the evildoers lie fallen—
   thrown down, not able to rise!”      Psalm 36   NIV

Jesus Loves Me!

Church: "Healthy" or "Sick"?

Lukewarm churches slip into a place where the stench of death is all around.  In the book of Jude verse 4, we are warned to be on guard against those who have "crept in".

Deception and death quietly slip in under the disguise of "spirituality".  It may look and sound good,  and be wrong. Satan himself is known as masquerading as an "angel of light."  2 Cor. 11:14.  He knows exactly how to deceive man with religious spirits, kindred spirits, and a mesmerizing spirit.

Here's a few areas that need to be assessed to determine if "your" church is sick - unhealthy - lukewarm:

• Leadership is authoritarian.  They lead by control, not by humility.
• Leaders focus on their authority, and remind others of it.
• Misplaced loyalty to leadership, instead of Jesus.
• Leaders say one thing and do another.
• Leaders contradict themselves.  Their words and actions do not line up.
• Leaders strive to  keep up a good appearance.
• Leaders self-appoint themselves with honorable titles and elevate themselves above others.
• Leaders use emotional control:  affection, guilt and fear to manipulate others into loyalty and devotion.
• Leadership makes church a place of slavery, a place people want to leave.
• Leadership controls people, worship, offerings, makes all decisions and puts others down.  They believe they are the one who can do the "job" right.
• Leadership controls all meetings.  They will even come in and stop a meeting if they succumb to their paranoia.

Actions in a lukewarm church is often motivated by selfish ambition, pride, and manipulation, rather than by faith, love, grace and mercy.

A healthy environment is:

• A place where leadership is concerned about loyalty to its members.
• A place of blessing and refuge.
• A place people want to attend.
• A place where leadership is concerned and tries to meet the needs of their people.
• A place where leadership inspires, builds up and genuinely loves its people.
• A place leadership has totally surrendered to the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 7:15-23 (The Message)

 
15 - 20 "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 or your pocketbook. These diseased trees with their bad apples are going to be chopped down and burned.
21 - 23 "Knowing the correct password—saying 'Master, Master,' for instance— isn't going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, 'Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.' And do you know what I am going to say? 'You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don't impress me one bit. You're out of here."

Is Man in Charge or the Holy Spirit????

How does a church become lukewarm?

A lukewarm church does not produce on fire Christians but rather show - Christians who become comfortable in the pews.     NO Convictions----- NO Change!

Complacency is birthed in a lukewarm environment where the ‘disease’ of deception consumes God’s people.

How does this happen to a Church that was once on fire for God?  What has happened to God’s Church?

Just when did man take God’s place and His Church become their church----their kingdom?

There are many, many churches today that have slipped into a place of lukewarm—cultic like environment.

My prayer is that these postings will help each of us find the answers to these questions.  People involved in church situations that just don’t seem quite right might be wondering if anyone else sees what they see.

All churches have problems, no church is perfect and some do heal.  Sadly, the churches that have slipped into a lukewarm state have become unhealthy spiritually.  They not only have problems but have caused offenses, hurts and leave many Believers angry and embittered.  Instead of unity, growth, and healing, we see death and denial.

When this happens, leadership becomes paranoid.  The church starts mistreating, abusing and/or exploiting their people.  This behavior leads to a cultic environment, which means the pastor will use deception, manipulation, control, emotions and other unethical means to gain and maintain control of ‘his’ members.

Therefore, as a Church Body we can no longer allow ourselves to remain in denial.  We must rise up and take responsibility to protect God’s Church.

 ^“I wrote you in my earlier letter that you shouldn't make yourselves at home among the sexually promiscuous. I didn't mean that you should have nothing at all to do with outsiders of that sort.  Or with crooks, whether blue or white-collar. Or with spiritual phonies, for that matter.  You'd have to leave the world entirely to do that!  But I am saying that you shouldn't act as if everything is just fine when a friend who claims to be a Christian is promiscuous or crooked, is flip with God or rude to friends, gets drunk or becomes greedy and predatory.  You can't just go along with this, treating it as acceptable behavior. I'm not responsible for what the outsiders do, but don't we have some responsibility for those within our community of believers?  God decides on the outsiders, but we need to decide when our brothers and sisters are out of line and, if necessary, clean house. “             1 Cor. 5:9-13  Message Bible

We need to make an assessment of the Church.        Are we pleasing God or man?

What is my church environment like?     HOT----COLD----LUKEWARM---or  DEAD?

Is man in charge or the Holy Spirit?

“….the First of God's creation, says:

"I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You're not cold, you're not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You're stale. You're stagnant. You make me want to vomit. You brag, 'I'm rich, I've got it made, I need nothing from anyone,' oblivious that in fact you're a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless.”                 Rev. 3:14-16   The Message Bible

Pastors: Servant Leaders or Dictators????

Pastors are usually chasing the latest fad, while churches are shrinking, and people are suffering spiritually as a result of power.

The pursuit of power, control and manipulation always contradicts God's desire for HIS people.  The attempts to gain favor and control over God's church will always end with the devastation of lives.

Jesus gave His warning to the church in Revelation Chapters 2 and 3.  These warnings apply to us, the 21st Century Church.

Many churches today are shrinking and dying due to the lack of a servant leader.

In a lukewarm church, many of its people seek a position of favor with the pastor, rather than a true desire to please God.  They become man pleasers, wanting approval and positions of recognition.

John 5:41-44 (The Message)

      "I'm not interested in crowd approval. And do you know why? Because I know you and your crowds. I know that love, especially God's love, is not on your working agenda. I came with the authority of my Father, and you either dismiss me or avoid me. If another came, acting self-important, you would welcome him with open arms. How do you expect to get anywhere with God when you spend all your time jockeying for position with each other, ranking your rivals and ignoring God?"  vs 41-44

When we seek the honor of man, we do so at the expense of our relationship with God; man will soon take the place of God in our lives.

An unhealthy soul tie creates a bond to a controlling leader/pastor.  This kind of control will destroy people spiritually.  In a controlling church, it is considered rebellion when someone questions the decisions or statements made by the pastor.  Anyone who dares to question them is usually confronted with rudeness or a request to leave or their character is attacked.

Individual ministries are no longer opportunities to serve, but rather necessary to prove one's commitment to the pastor, whether it's faithful attendance or over-extending one's self to prove one's loyalty then becomes the key to approval.

Church attendance is vital to our spiritual growth, as well as fulfilling God's Word.  However, we miss the point of going to church when we find ourselves attending in order to win favor or to learn approval of the pastor.

Paul, one of the greatest apostles and writers of the New Testament, never once claimed control over the personal lives of his followers.  He could have easily elevated himself to a self-important and controlling position over the church, as many pastors do today, yet, he knew that he was to be a servant leader, not a dictator.

2 Corinthians 1:24 (The Message)

  "We're  not in charge of how you live out the faith, looking over your shoulders, suspiciously critical. We're partners, working alongside you, joyfully expectant. I know that you stand by your own faith, not by ours." vs 24

Paul could have claimed dominion over another person's faith, but rather, considered himself a "servant leader", charged with helping people mature into their faith.  Paul led by example, not by emotions, fear, intimidation or control and manipulation.  Paul addressed those self-important pastors who bring the church into bondage by exalting themselves over others.  In other words, he tried to warn the church at Corinth that they were foolish to allow themselves to become enslaved to a controlling pastor.
 

2 Corinthians 11:16-21 (The Message)

 

  "Let me come back to where I started—and don't hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you'd rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn't learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it's a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn't admit it to you, but our stomachs aren't strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff." vs 16-21 

EVEN WHEN THE CHURCH FAILS, CHRIST REMAINS!!!!!!!!!

There are many lukewarm churches today producing "lukewarm - show Christians." A place where sin has found a comfortable dwelling. If you were to visit such churches, they would take pride in showing you their building and they would boast of their preaching and worship. You would find they have eloquent preachers who boast of their dreams and visions, yet the church is dead; death by spiritual pride and complacency. They love to have guest speakers who are of kindred spirits who come to brag how superspiritual they have found the pastor, and to exhort the congregation to "idolize" their pastor. They boast about their gifts and anointing in order to convince others to follow them, hence; idol worship!

Man then replaces the Holy Spirit and the lukewarm church becomes controlled by religious, deceiving demonic spirits.

Today's church is burdened with egos, greed, pride, selfishness, control and manipulation, haughtiness, and a false sense of "holiness".

One of the problems with church today is that it thinks nothing can be done without money: "If only we had the money, we could look like other churches; we could update our building and/or we could "convert our city, region and world". The church claims money "holds them back".

Most pew dwellers dread the offering because we know what's coming; a guilt-inflicted mini sermon on how we better'd give more if we want to be blessed and rich! I thought being a Christian meant I was blessed and my needs were met "according to God's Riches in Christ Jesus". (Phil. 4:19) No where in this scripture does it say I have to give out of guilt to receive. Yes, I must pay my tithe, otherwise, I will not be blessed, but rather I can become cursed.

So, why do I leave church feeling like I have failed God because I didn't give enough?

So many money-hungry, get rich, greedy preachers try to blame others for the death of the church because of the lack of money.

The Spirit of Lust = Greed = Never Enough = Never Satisfied!
The truth is, the death of the church is because of the lack of the Holy Spirit! The Light and Resource of the church has been replaced by the lust of money. The church has been overtaken by religious spirits. "....a form of godliness, without the power..." II Tim. 3:5

My question is, where are the preachers, worship leaders and saints who have the faith to believe GOD is their source? Where are the saints who believe God will supply all of their needs without begging for it? Why are we not seeing miracles today as the saints before us did?

The world will be convicted by the Spirit of God, not money!!!!! People will be changed when they see God active in YOU!
Sadly, people can belong to "God's" church, and not belong to God! They can go their entire LIFE and never hear the voice of the Holy Spirit!

Even when the church fails, Christ remains! "Behold I stand at the door and knock..." Rev. 3:20

"So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily." Acts 16:5

THESE ARE DESPARATE TIMES!!!!!!!!!!!

The world is always at peace with lukewarm Christians and a lukewarm Church.

Satan sets up his throne in a lukewarm church.  Religious spirits, deception and familiar spirits take over the church.  This type of atmosphere is conducive for a Jezebelian leadership.

How would you recognize a lukewarm church?

I am glad you asked!   Here are a few ways to notice Christ has been replaced by man:

*The church is dying spiritually and financially.

*Members are leaving by the droves.

*Very few show up for prayer meetings.

*Money is a focal point.  The offering is taken with its own separate sermon designed to inflict guilt.

*No change is seen for improvement or growth.

*Man is in control.

*Offense ---Pride---Ego---Guilt---and Control RULE the Church.

*Leadership controls all areas and people.

*The Pastor has eloquence of speech but is not setting men’s hearts on fire.

*There’s no burning light of grace, love or humility.

*Leadership feels they are above reproach.

*Favoritism is obvious.

*Leadership’s words do not align with their actions.  Their actions speak louder than their words.

*A spirit of haughtiness prevails, coupled with rudeness.

*The rich families are acknowledged while the poor is ignored.

In Rev. 3, Jesus asked the church at Laodicea, “…do you not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked?”

Sadly, they were blind to the fact that they were spiritually poor.   Jesus looked at their spiritual condition and saw them as, “…wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.”

The contrast was between what they think they are and what they really are.  The contrast is between what they see and what Jesus sees.

What Jesus sees in us is more important than how we see ourselves.

Lukewarm—show Christianity all begins with spiritual blindness.  If you are blind, you cannot look at yourself and see how “naked” you are.  Mental darkness is deception and it feeds our spiritual vision.

Change begins when we see ourselves as Jesus sees us.  Repentance comes when we acknowledge deception/sin in our lives.   We then learn to depend upon Jesus instead of ourselves.

Repentance brings change.   Change brings you into the presence of God!

“Be holy for I am holy.”  1 Peter 1:16

“ ^11-16Don't waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It's a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ.

   Wake up from your sleep,
   Climb out of your coffins;
   Christ will show you the light!
So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!”  Eph. 5:11-16   Message Bible

WHAT IS THE TRUE MOTIVES OF OUR HEARTS?????

Jesus desires that we be hot with an on-fire love for Him.

Lukewarm lives turn people away from Jesus.

Lukewarm-Show-Christians have to keep trying to convince others they have been touched and changed by Jesus.  They spend their time and energy telling everyone they are a Christian when their actions and countenance should speak for them.

Lukewarm prayers and Show Christians mock God!   What an insult it is to come before God with a heart filled with worldliness.  We kneel in an attitude of prayer so we can ask God to give us our fleshly desires.

We are always asking for what is best for us.

When’s the last time we asked God what He wants?

We approach God with the hope of getting rich and popular.  We are deceived into believing we can waltz our sinful heart into His presence and leave with no conviction.

It amazes me that the priest in the OT were afraid to enter the Holy of holies in fear of dying due to sin in their lives.  Today we walk in like we are above reproach.  As if God has given us a free pass to enter His presence with sin.

We are ‘coached’ at church to believe we are in God’s presence when most of us there have hidden sins.  There was no prayer of repentance before the service---performance started.  Yet we are led to believe we can be ushered into God’s presence with our hidden sins.

We weep, get all ‘electrified’ spiritually and leave with a false sense that we were in God’s presence.  This is giving us permission to live a double life-----lukewarm Christianity.

Afterwards, we get in our cars, in the church parking lot, light up a cigarette, drink our alcohol, swear, yell at our family or friends, run each other over trying to get to McDonalds or grab for our computers. In other words, life continues on without change!   Sin still exists in our lives and we believe we have been blessed by God’s presence.

Being in the presence of God would bring radical change to our lives!

We would fall prostrate, crying out for forgiveness!   We would be so convicted of sin that we would change!

What is hidden in my heart?

What do I think about all day?

What or who controls me?

Is God pleased with me or nauseated?

“ ^16-18My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical,(opposite) so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?

 ^19-21It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

 This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.”   Gal. 5:16-21 Message Bible

Jesus Loves Me!