Wolves among us~~

[mrs.wilde]

hello, it's very important for us to be wholeheartedly commited to Him meaning we read the NT thoroughly from beginning to the end and do our best to obey His teachings. if we are not commited christians we are decieving ourselves and will be decieved easily. if we want to protect ourselves from false churches , pastors or christians, wholehearted commitment is the key.

sincerely, mrs wilde

 

[angelwind]

I too got caught up in a cult-ish church. Of course little by little you question, but when you're not allowed to question anything and always feel condemned no matter how much you do, you need to be careful. I cannot blame my church for everything nor the devil and I won't. I also made some bad judgments as I stumbled recently. So I take responsibility and repent for my own wrong-doing. But now I am without job or wife and lost a couple of family members along the way last year. Now my family has kind-of 'dis-owned' me and I am trying to get back on track on my own through prayer, but that is not easy nor wise. Please pray I am led to a good church soon where I can get re-involved in the community as I feel quite lost right now.

Hind-sight is 20/20 and looking back I would have never kept going to this church if I would've known the wreck it would've made my marraige and some-what caused me to stumble back into old habits. I definitely know what I believe no matter how much people laugh at me. That part I can handle. But I cannot handle not being a part of my community and not being a positive one especially and it's slowly killing my spirit to serve. I do not want to fall back into selfishness as that has never been what I'm about, but at one point in my life I found myself there and I'm slowly going back... sigh

Funny how you start to respond to what someone else is saying and you open up all this stuff... But if you all would throw up a prayer for Steve while you're at it I sure would appreciate it.

God bless and hang in there, I know in my heart He has a good home for us after this is all said and done, but we all need a good place of encouragement and positive unity while we're here as well.

I'll pray for you Steve, I am still paying the price for being in a very unbalanced church at the beginning of my walk too...my health was broken...but the Lord has done marvelously well in leading me to level ground in my spirit...He will not leave you, nor forsake you...you know that.

Somehow we need to get Jesus first...family next, then church...I pray you will not give up...nor dispair...will grow in His light and truth more and more each day.

 

[Tavita]

hello, it's very important for us to be wholeheartedly commited to Him meaning we read the NT thoroughly from beginning to the end and do our best to obey His teachings. if we are not commited christians we are decieving ourselves and will be decieved easily. if we want to protect ourselves from false churches , pastors or christians, wholehearted commitment is the key.

sincerely, mrs wilde

Not only the NT but the whole counsel of His word. mrs wilde is right, it's by being totally committed to Him spirit, soul and body and by working out our salvation with fear and trembling, ready to listen and obey His word to us and not man's. And also being ready to face and repent of the bad attitudes and secret sins we ourselves carry. When you're really committed to the Lord in this manner, you will hear Him speak to you in wisdom and discernment and you'll recognise the false from the true.

 

[mrs.wilde]

Not only the NT but the whole counsel of His word. mrs wilde is right, it's by being totally committed to Him spirit, soul and body and by working out our salvation with fear and trembling, ready to listen and obey His word to us and not man's. And also being ready to face and repent of the bad attitudes and secret sins we ourselves carry. When you're really committed to the Lord in this manner, you will hear Him speak to you in wisdom and discernment and you'll recognise the false from the true.

thank you for your support. its so sad that so many christians dont know this simple formula and missing out all the blessing He is giving us. love mrs wilde

 

[Joy]

Not only the NT but the whole counsel of His word. mrs wilde is right, it's by being totally committed to Him spirit, soul and body and by working out our salvation with fear and trembling, ready to listen and obey His word to us and not man's. And also being ready to face and repent of the bad attitudes and secret sins we ourselves carry. When you're really committed to the Lord in this manner, you will hear Him speak to you in wisdom and discernment and you'll recognise the false from the true.

Tavita

Thank you so much for what you have shared. We not only need to understand that we are required to make a full commitment to the Lord, but we also need to know how this is worked out in our daily living and you have explained both.

Karen

 

[heron]

If anyone wants to quietly run through their thoughts about their church, here's a link to a free online workbook with leading questions that you can print out.

http://www.josiahnews.com/faith/topics.htm

I have watched several great churches slip into cultish mentalities. It's rarely an obvious transition. You just start seeing abuses of one member after another; control issues; insults and intimidation (as some of your sad stories pointed out); favoritism and pastor groupies; jealousies of other ministries translated into high pride in theirs; teachings based on other teachings instead of directly from the Word.

All of these thing can happen in every wholesome church. The key--is anyone is repentant about it? Are the checks and balances systems working to keep leaders accountable?

One easy question: is your minister building up the individual gifts of all members, to empower them for service?

I find that's often the first to go.

 

[SeekAnd]

are you talking about the " in God we trust,all others we virus scan" title?

Yep, its a very appropriate sentiment for this thread.

 

[JesusServant]

I'll pray for you Steve, I am still paying the price for being in a very unbalanced church at the beginning of my walk too...my health was broken...but the Lord has done marvelously well in leading me to level ground in my spirit...He will not leave you, nor forsake you...you know that.

Somehow we need to get Jesus first...family next, then church...I pray you will not give up...nor dispair...will grow in His light and truth more and more each day.

Thank you angelwind.

God bless and my prayers are with anyone who has been manipulated by certain people for their own gain, it's quite sickening...

What's sad is my wife and I were doing fantastic without church when I came to Jesus and so many awesome things happened. It wasn't all roses, but it was worth it at the time. But I fear that we weren't ready for the type of church we ended up in. I wouldn't change a lot of the hardships I've faced in life because it's made me a caring person, but that is the one thing I would change if I could go back. It would've most likely saved my marriage and kept me from being a kook at work at the time. But I digress, we never know what would happen if we made different decisions.

 

[heron]

There's a great collection of cult definitions and tendencies at:
http://www.ex-cult.org/General/identifying-a-cult

It's very healing just to read it if you've had any doubts about your church. There's no clear dividing line between a church in error and a cult, but it's a good indicator of things heading in a destructive direction.

Some typical ones:
1. Their leaders may claim a special, exclusive ministry, revelation or
position of authority given by God.

5. There will be great emphasis on loyalty to the group and its
teachings. The lives of members will be totally absorbed into the
group's activities. They will have little or no time to think for
themselves because of physical and emotional exhaustion. This is
also a vital part of the mind control process.

8. Any dissent or questioning of the group's teachings is discouraged.
Criticism in any form is seen as rebellion. There will be an
emphasis on authority, unquestioning obedience and submission.
This is vigilantly maintained.


The wonderful thing about psychologists setting out these guidelines--we can see more clearly that God intended to protect us, and just because our leaders came up with spiritual reasons to do things, doesn't mean they are following God's lead. God is like a mother lion in defending his cubs. He is the shepherd that fights off our potential devourers.
The latest pseudo-spiritual teaching I've seen everywhere I go--"you need a covering" of authority over you. I have yet to see this play out in a beneficial way. Feel free to defend it, but only if you are willing to look at all sides of scriptural teachings on this.

Jesus did not have a covering, except for the temple leaders who he openly admonished. John the Baptist had limited contact with Jesus. King David did not have a covering. Paul roamed all over the countryside, and his letters were more about keeping the teachings pure than checking back in with his "covering." Most of the notable prophets prophecied against their leadership, with the intent to improve injustices and violations.

 

[SoulFly51]

Can anyone tell me more about false religions & cults? what to look out for?

Acts 20:29-30
29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.
30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.
(NIV)

I believe this passage does refer to false religions and cults, but I also believe it refers to people who claim to be Christians but teach things contrary to God's Word.

Here's a couple of quick examples: "All you have to do is believe." "Once-saved, always saved."

 

[heron]

"Christians but teach things contrary to God's Word"

...And good people can slip into it very easily.

 

[mrs.wilde]

Acts 20:29-30
29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.
30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.
(NIV)

I believe this passage does refer to false religions and cults, but I also believe it refers to people who claim to be Christians but teach things contrary to God's Word.

Here's a couple of quick examples: "All you have to do is believe." "Once-saved, always saved."

i invite you to my thread about OSAS. i sure can use your help. i am getting tired of responding to them. May be you can do much better than me talking to them. sincerely

 

[angelwind]

If anyone wants to quietly run through their thoughts about their church, here's a link to a free online workbook with leading questions that you can print out.

http://www.josiahnews.com/faith/topics.htm

I have watched several great churches slip into cultish mentalities. It's rarely an obvious transition. You just start seeing abuses of one member after another; control issues; insults and intimidation (as some of your sad stories pointed out); favoritism and pastor groupies; jealousies of other ministries translated into high pride in theirs; teachings based on other teachings instead of directly from the Word.

All of these thing can happen in every wholesome church. The key--is anyone is repentant about it? Are the checks and balances systems working to keep leaders accountable?

One easy question: is your minister building up the individual gifts of all members, to empower them for service?

I find that's often the first to go.

Thanks for this thread and all these posting...thank you for the link. I have found it takes His grace as well at work in my life...to enable me to stand and walk in freedom...even in the church. Also He has dealt a great deal with my pride...have had such stronghold in thinking I knew everything when I knew very little.

 

[angelwind]

Thank you angelwind.

God bless and my prayers are with anyone who has been manipulated by certain people for their own gain, it's quite sickening...

What's sad is my wife and I were doing fantastic without church when I came to Jesus and so many awesome things happened. It wasn't all roses, but it was worth it at the time. But I fear that we weren't ready for the type of church we ended up in. I wouldn't change a lot of the hardships I've faced in life because it's made me a caring person, but that is the one thing I would change if I could go back. It would've most likely saved my marriage and kept me from being a kook at work at the time. But I digress, we never know what would happen if we made different decisions.

I understand JesusServant...my marriage has suffered and my family as well...I am thankful to still have my husband with me. The Lord's power to save is amazing tho...we are still here in the faith, more on fire than ever.