Spiritual abuse (19/7/11)
"Spiritual abuse is that which uses God's name as a tool to control and manipulate others"
Our salvation is by faith in Jesus' completed work for us on the cross....and the relationship with God that gives us....it does not require additional input such as church membership, tithing, and service in the local church!
Our relationship is with GOD directly (Heb 8:11) and NOT through a 'pastor'
Spiritual abuse takes laws or 'principles' from the OLD Testament and subtly makes them a requirement for believers to be blessed, healed, anointed, or sometimes even to retain salvation.
Such abuse brethren according to the scriptures is from the PIT OF HELL...
2 Cor 11:3-4
3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted — you may well put up with it! NKJV
Gal 1:6-9
I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. NKJV
Deceivers WILL rightly face the wrath of the Father ...in whose name they have and continue to perpetrate such deceptions.
A strange co-incidence is that most deceptions seem to focus around obligations of the believer to give his money to ministers in order to be blessed...rather than receiving the blessings Christ provides for us by FAITH ...have you ever wondered why?
Matt 11:28-30
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." NKJV
In very few places are christians living in the fullness of this promise....have you ever wondered why?
Churches today have in many places become the source of abuse and control rather than a place of healing and liberty!
John 13:12-17
12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. NKJV
Brethren this is BIBLICAL leadership...it is getting down on your KNEES and washing the feet of those you SERVE... being a SLAVE and not ruling over them ... and certainly NOT demanding submission....or money!
A key indicator of ABUSE is when there is an almost unwritten rule that people cannot talk about or question what is said from the pulpit ........ and must not show any signs of dissent.
The problem is also demonstrated when leadership describe those who ask questions as being un-submissive, rebellious, divisive or offended or having an 'orphan heart'.
It emphasises 'submission' over TRUTH!
It empasises 'authority' over SERVANTHOOD!
It rejects accountablity to the body....usually saying that they are only accountable to a group of their peers! (usually self selected)
Matt 24:45-51
"Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. 47 Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. 48 But if that evil servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, 50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, 51 and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. NKJV
Servants who think you are rulers.....remember that it is HIS household you are looking after (yes, and He is MY DADDY)
Servants your ONLY role as a ruler is to FEED THE SHEEP ...not to extort money from them (John 21:15-17)
Servants realise that YOUR eternal destiny is at stake if you abuse your fellow servants....according to Jesus in this passage anyway!
Gal 3:1
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? NKJV
WITCHCRAFT is not when the children of GOD know that a deception is being preached (1John 2:21 & 27) and REFUSE to accept it. It is when PREACHERS go beyond what the scripture is saying ...and ADD requirements to the gospel....and try to demand that it be accepted.
I will not submit to deception....will you?
I will not submit to those who seek to 'lord it over' others....or exercise authority over the brethren....will you?
I will not stand by as others are deceived and manipulated and suffer extortion.....will you?
Luke 9:54-56
"Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?"
55 But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. 56 For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them." NKJV
Leaders today are still calling down fire on God's children.....when they do not conform to their preferred profile and behavior!
We have all probably heard preachers warning that "God will get those who oppose them"....hinting at Ananias and Sapphira....and even Miriam....or Korah....or Achan type scenarios. This is no more than a wicked attempt to use fear to manipulate people.
'My Daddy loves me....He would not hurt me because one of His servants complains about me....I AM His child!"
Today many church leaders ask those who question to leave...putting them out of the church as the bible warns us of.
3 John 9-10
I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. 10 Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church. NKJV
Christian leadership is an authority to SERVE....NOT to Lord it over or exercise ANY authority over brethren!
Matt 20:25-28
"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. 26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave — 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." NKJV
Most leaders today use the contradictory mis-translation of Heb 13:17 as an excuse to ignore Jesus' clear instructions above. A great site for a comprehensive rebuttal of the false translation of this scripture to justify 'ruling over and demanding submission' is
http://www.wickedshepherds.com/ObeyThem.html
Matt 23:8
8 But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren NKJV
Servants do not stand behind pulpits and rant and rave at God's children....they come beside them and HELP them.....lifting them up and setting them on the right path.
Biblical leaders are those who go before the people and show them by their godly walk and example how they too can follow JESUS.
1 Peter 5:2-4
2 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; 3 nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; NKJV
Lord why do your 'servants' not hear your heart? Why are they behaving in such an UN-Christlike manner?
I have NEVER in 30 years heard preachers quote the following scriptures on SUBMISSION...as they attempt to use the word as a tool to exert ungoldy authority OVER others
1 Peter 5:5
Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, NKJV
Eph 5:20-21
20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God. NKJV
John 2:24-25
24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. NKJV
Jesus does not require us to 'commit ' to men....he ALONE is the head of the church
The primary purpose for demanding submission today revolves around control....and false assertions of the 'right of support' which is justified by saying you must belong to a church where you can be 'fed'....meaning that THEY get your money!
Acts 20:33-35
33 I have coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. 34 Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me. 35 I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" NKJV
2 Cor 12:14
And I will not be burdensome to you; for I do not seek yours, but you. For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. NKJV
Leaders today in the main ARE financial takers and not givers!...Amazing how even Jesus words 'you MUST' can be ignored?....(as they in audacity demand 'submission' contrary to God's way of servanthood)
Matt 10:8-9
Freely you have received, freely give. NKJV
Very few leaders worldwide will FREELY give FIRST .....and then rely on that which is FREELY given in response.
They seek to DICTATE falsely what God 'requires'.....and want it 'first'
The pulpit has become a platform for deception and control.....rather than a place of truth and service.
(Is it any wonder that more people are leaving 'church' via the back door...burnt out and sad...than are coming in through the front door?)
Children of God stand up and walk in your God given liberty
Gal 5:1
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage" NKJV
2Cor 3:17
"Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is LIBERTY" NKJV (NOT bondage)
Luke 4:18-19
18 "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." NKJV
Brethren this is referring to freedom from RELIGIOUS bondage......which is sadly still rampant in MOST 'churches' today!