Our nation is riveting with church scandals of clergy abuse, misappropriation, manipulation, molestation, and domination by leaders and pastors. This is so sad and certainly gives fuel for the unbelieving scorners and scoffers of Christianity.
And we also know that this is nothing new, but the current ability to expose and distribute this information through social media is a new phenomenon in today’s culture. While I am certainly not in favor of any type of abuse (being the victim myself of spiritual abuse), I do think we must be careful what this is doing to our hearts. I was very disturbed to see a local podcaster park in front of one of these troubled churches and live-stream for hours. At one point, he turned to face the church and yelled at the church building. He looked foolish and was apparently trying to beef up his own podcast audience numbers. What would the scorners of Christianity say to such antics?
There is not a pastor alive that I believe would not like to say, “I wish I had done some things differently.” And, there will always be those who get offended because the pastor didn’t do things the way they wanted. Someone recently told me God sent them to our church because they would get balanced Biblical teaching there, but then they got offended and left because we decorated for Christmas. I suppose God forgot when He told them to come that we have always decorated for Christmas.
However, there is a major difference in making a mistake or having a misunderstanding or even a difference of opinion than in taking advantage of a person or group of people for personal gain. This is a serious heart issue within the leader. Unfortunately, one of the most used tools to manipulate a person or group of people has been through the prophetic message, or in these recent abuse cases, manipulative prophetic ministry. In my opinion, this is witchcraft activity at its height.
My question is how do so many seemingly mature believers fall to such deception? The answer is clearly lack of personal relationship with God and lack of knowledge of God’s Word. As I look back over the years, I have observed that people are hungry for the supernatural, and will take shortcuts to get it. We had a man come through our area about 30 years ago and his claim to fame was when he prayed for people, they all fell as if slain in the spirit. I was a church member at that time and looking back, it was fascinating to see the power of expectation and suggestion. Soon, everyone would fall just by the waving of his hand at a particular seating section. Like obedient little children, all knew the cues. I will never forget the night that my eyes were opened. We had started service anticipating what the night might be. We were in worship and the guest had not arrived yet. About 15 minutes into the worship time, he came in through the back door with an entourage and the focus went from worshipping God to watching him walk in, cross the church, and capture everyone’s attention. Suddenly, God was second billing. This man was eventually ‘run out of town’ due to gathering female groupies and leaving large bills with the area churches. I’ve learned if ministers cannot worship God with the church and be on time, rather than being stylishly late, they lose the right to speak to the people.
Fast forward 20 years and I am now the leader of a church and I am introduced to a man from a huge, world renowned ministry. I was just being introduced into the prophetic move of God and this man was a supposed prophet from this well known ministry. Large ministries in our area were supporting him and my thought was “what do I know” in light of these larger and more experienced ministries that I respected. So he came around a few times and was even at our church once. He released some personal and accurate information about myself and my husband, that at that time I thought only God could have told him. Later I found out it was really Facebook and not God. When did the truth come out? We were in a local facility with a prayer and worship event and he was the main speaker. It was not a very large venue, less than 100 people, and the worship was breath taking. And then this man comes to the stage and I could feel the Presence of God exit the room. Suddenly, it was no longer about God, but about this man. He began to give out address numbers and phone numbers, as if God was giving him this private information. I felt like I was in a nightclub magic show. He gave me and my husband a number from someone in Hawaii and said the Lord wants us to call that person. We threw away the number and walked out of the meeting. Later his own son exposed him for doing these types of deceptive prophetic antics to gain his way with people, even to the point of molesting women by enticing them through false prophecy.
In both cases, immaturity was leading us down a dangerous path, but knowing the Presence of God saved us from continuing. When a person is more important than the presence of God, there is a serious deception taking place. We must be sensitive to God’s Presence and not be so enamored with someone that we hang onto every word and follow the “pied piper” like little ignorant church mice. We must spend time in God’s Word and in His presence to recognize the fakery that is taking place.
We are approaching Pentecost Sunday, representing the outpouring of Holy Spirit and the birth of the church. Holy Spirit is our guide and teacher who is leading us into all truth. How well do we know Him? How often do we grieve Him with foolish behaviors and attitudes? Paul told Timothy in the last days there will be enticing doctrines of demons that people will follow and then be led astray. This is only possible when we do not know the Word of God and the God of His Word.
We have watched the church become weakened by dimly lit pulpits that teach feel-good messages to draw crowds and entertain people. We have removed the Presence of God by applauding the presence of man misunderstanding that the Holy Spirit will not stay in such a place. We have mistaken crowds for God’s approval.
One of the most recent egregious acts of exposure now reports this minister is returning to ministry and there is a group of people supporting this return. This man over decades has been confirmed to have molested numerous women with “prophetic words from God”. How do people not see truth? They can’t see what they do not know. Their eyes are darkened and the light they think they have is actually darkness. Jesus warned about this deception.
Yes God forgives and restores the fallen to Himself. But there is a cost of such acts that may prevent the future leading of others. I believe most of these ministers start out with good intentions, but the devil knows which buttons to push. The craving of attention, prosperity, and fleshly lusts require more and more until God’s way is not fast or easy enough, and the devil is happy to accommodate the need.
What is the solution? The solution is Prayer and the study and meditation of God’s Word! And, we must guard our hearts of all offense. We must let go of the right to retaliation and revenge against those who have hurt us. A clean heart will keep an open flow of God’s Spirit flowing into our lives and hearts. Humility is important and we must have the heart felt attitude as did John the Baptist, “I must decrease so He can increase.”
As we observe these failures in others, we must be willing to look at our own hearts and daily cry out to God to examine our deepest parts and reveal any sin present. We cannot afford to have attitudes of fleshly lusts, offense, or resentment taking root in our hearts. Even as leaders, we are often misunderstood and may feel abused by others. This cannot settle in our hearts or we too will react in our flesh and lose the precious Presence of Holy Spirit. I think of Jesus who entered into Jerusalem among crowds crying out Hosanna. Yet on the cross He was abandoned by all but one disciple and His own mother. The crowds that praised Him also crucified Him, but He knew God’s purpose and plan in His life. In Jesus’ early ministry, the devil offered Him everything He came for, without the cross. Jesus chose the will of God, knowing the pain and shame it would carry in the eyes of man, but the ultimate glory it would reveal.
We are in such serious times and time with God and His Word must be a priority in our lives, or we too can be swept away by the deception of the devil. Stay Strong in His Word! Keep a clean heart! Grieve not the Holy Spirit! Walk in Love!
There is a way that seems right but it is wrong. There are many good ideas that are not God ideas. We must discern the difference.
