Most of us have read the verses from Matthew chapter 7 where Jesus speaks of the false prophets as “wolves in sheeps clothing.” Then He says “you will know them by their fruit. A healthy sound tree bears good fruit, but a rotten tree cannot bring forth good healthy fruit.”
In the same context a couple of verses later He says that “not everyone who says Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom.” To some He will say “I never knew you.” Even though they say to Him “We prophesied in Your name, We cast out demons in Your name.” He will say to these, “Depart from Me you who act wickedly (disregarding my commands.)” Matthew 7:15-27 Amplified Version
In the same context he goes on to talk about how important to build your house on the rock and not the sand. It is no small thing for a church to be built upon the sand by omitting the Word of God when forming and disregarding His commands.” It is a foolhardy thing! That house or church is doomed to fall.
When one enters a main stream Bible-believing church , he can be pretty sure there is accountability. Even if a pastor there is dominating , narcistic, and self serving you know they will not last long before they are voted out.
In a church that has no accountability a new member doesn’t know how the church began and what it was founded upon. Often the stipulations of the Word of God are neglected, and overlooked when a well-meaning someone wants to start a church.
In the non-denominational church where I attended as a new Christian back in 1986 , I had no idea for many months that the Pastor and his wife had recently been divorced from their former mates as Christians , and had begun praying together and believed they were led to start a church. God’s Word does not allow for His Church leaders to be divorced. So the foundation of this church was weak , and would never hold up over time.
True to form , history repeated itself and fourteen years later the same fruit appeared again when the same Pastors’ wife and her step-son, along with a young man (a preacher wannabee) conspired together ie: prayed to cast her Pastor husband out of the church as a reprobate ,and the three rebels led the church members to shun him. I stupidly assisted in these regards.
The young man (preacher wannabee) then was divorced from his wife, and left his four children, married the original Pastor’s wife , and the two of them led the second church together for 17 years, until another church split occurred in May of this year . I once heard a servant of the Lord say that these kinds of churches usually only last 12 or 13 years. They lasted 17 years, but many were ostracized, abused, and deceived in order to keep it going….
When the original split occurred, most left the church in 1994. The wise ones left, and I was one of about 19 who stayed. I was totally caught up serving a charismatic woman, who led the church with someone elses ex- husband..; I loved her, loved the “gospel message” that I heard , and I refused to listen to my conscience screaming within me or the Holy Spirit’s still small voice. . I believed her evasive and spiritually twisted reasons that it was ok for them to divorce their mates, to marry each other and lead the church , that because her husband had actually divorced her it was alright for her to lead the new church married again to someone elses ex-husband. I believed that God put them together to serve Him and the church. I had no wisdom and my family has suffered dearly for it. I had on not rose-colored glasses but deceptive lenses and blinders..
The basic message seemed to be the same as one given in any healthy, sound, mainstream evangelical Bible church. The doctrines included “The Cross” , “The Blood Of Jesus”, and most of the other deep Christian doctrines. We always said it was a lot like a Billy Graham Baptist Church. It was anything but!
With it’s roots (foundation) being flawed, and no one to be accountable to, it just kept repeating the same history and bearing rotten fruit. . There were divorces, broken homes , and good people who loved the Lord were again and again pushed out of the church and shunned as unacceptable… The unhealthiness in the church finally progressed to a point where the Pastor’s wife helped Christians divorce one another . After my family left in 2006, it got worse and again true to form (history repeating itself once again) an elder with four children who serves as a “missionary” became divorced from his wife and married a divorced woman half his age. In any main-line church no missionary serving in that capacity would be allowed to continue serving in that capacity after a divorce. This is definitely a red flag!
So again history repeated itself. A second split has now occurred from the same defective / unhealthy root of human design. The church formed after the original split of 1994 is now down to less than a handful of members, but new ones who come in and are searching for Truth will have no idea of the churches’ beginnings and ongoing unhealthy / unsavory charactor. Like lambs to the slaughter they simply meet these nice people who seem to be Christians who are saying all the right things. When they come to their senses it may be too late to avoid a terrible spiritual shipwreck, and emotional pain and abuse from these wolves in sheeps clothing and too often people actually lose their faith as well as their crucial connection with God Himself…. The same is true of the unhealthy off-shoot of the original church…
So, it pays to ask questions. Find out who has left the church and talk with them as to why they left and what they saw that was offensive to their consciences… Are there people of good charactor who are being shunned or talked about as evil by leaders or members? Satan knows all the right things, he uses deep spiritual doctrines for his stratagies and he loves to deceive religious people.
A word to the wise from one who learned the hard way: Don’t be deceived by what seems like the right words, what appears to be deep spiritual wisdom, the old hymns etc. , and pay attention to your own conscience and inner voice. Listen for God’s still small voice. If something doesn’t seem right in the church it probably isn’t!
This week ;Pat Robinson , a well known Television/Evangelist caused an uproar in religious circles when he said Alzhiemers is a death of sorts and is valid scripural reason for someone to leave his or her mate..This is a travesty to the faithful men and women who have stood by their mates through years of hardship and losing thier life long marriage partner to that dreadful disease… When a man who is leading others, has studied the Word of God for many years takes a stand opposite of God’s own words, beware!
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