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WHY
SHOULD I NOT LET OTHER WHICH IS THE WORD OF GOD? Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Cut your hair, and wear a suit and tie when you go up to the temple. OR Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. |
RAPE
OF THE CONSCIENCE AS
A FORM OF MIND CONTROL
I have been young, and I am now old, and many times I have seen what I am going to describe to you below.
Mind control has been used for hundreds of years, but in our time it has been used in masterful ways by Adolph Hitler, the Soviet Union, the Communist Chinese, and North Korea. Mind control is also used by pastors of many churches to change thinking Christians into slaves of the guruistic Jackboot pastor.
There are just two ways to help Christians make life changes and build up a system of ethics, moral standards and something to live for. Thus.....
Method One- The pastor spends many hours reading the Bible and in deep study, after which he teaches in such a way that the hearer is encouraged to take the truth and build his zeal and conscience on it. The result, in the course of time, is a flock of well fed sheep who love the teacher, but even more, they are deeply in love with the Savior of the Word of God. They have all formed their own personal moral standards that can last a lifetime.
Or.....
Method Two- The pastor is a lazy slob. So, he abandons teaching because he has very few new thoughts in his own mind. He resorts to forcing standards and Pharisaical laws onto the members until they abandon mental activity and simply hand their mind and conscience to the master, a man filled with lust for power. This hireling is a moral disaster, and he often moves on to satisfying his sexual and egomaniac lust at the expense of the saints.
Pastor One depends on the Word of God, taught by the illumination of the Holy Spirit, to change lives.
Pastor Two uses raw mind control and brainwashing techniques not unlike those used in WW II by Nazis while brainwashing prisoners of war.
When Pastor One one day moves on to pastor another church, the saints go right on living with the godly standards they formed for themselves by learning what the Bible taught about the issues of life.
When Pastor Two leaves the church, often in shame for having bedded down several women in the church, the members all backslide because their whole mindset and conscience depended on the pastor to enforce the standards.
How is mind control accomplished?
BEFORE READING THIS NEXT SECTION, PLEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO ABOUT GASLIGHTING.
PASTOR JEFF DOLLAR TALKS ABOUT YOUR PASTOR AND YOUR CONSCIENCE.
First, the most potent tool in mind control is guilt.
In the social everyday world, the message is broadcast to the victims in the media, by power people in high places, and by academics. It is essential to convince the masses, one at a time, that they are guilty of doing evil, especially in their thoughts.
The conscience is a thought based entity. We want to act, but our conscience interrupts and tells us that we are about to do something antisocial, culturally wicked, or spiritually displeasing to God. And, we know from past experience that we will feel guilty if we go forward and act.
The most powerful thought control message today is Climate Control. Every effort by the totalitarian state and media is being used to make us feel guilty so that we will accept all the added taxes that will be levied to pay for the solution to Climate Change. Anyone who asks a question or speaks a blasphemous word against Climate Change doctrine is damned to social Hell. It has become a world religion, and you have submitted to the guilt trip if you have decided to stop speaking your mind on this new religion.
JORDAN PETERSON SHOWS THAT EUROPE BECAME DEPENDENT ON RUSSIAN ENERGY BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT IT WOULD SOLVE CLIMATE CHANGE. This video makes it clear that Europeans believed the lie of Climate Change propaganda and will freeze this winter (2022) for making fools of themselves. And Ukraine will be a totally destroyed nation. Both the West and Putin will call it a victory. Can you see how deadly it is to listen to propaganda experts? And, Europeans will go silent when they realize what fools they made of themselves.
Silence of the masses is the tell tale indicator that the people have gone dumb and submitted to the tyrants.
What does this have to do with the Bible believer and his conscience?
"You just don't love the Lord like you ought to." That is what one preacher told people who did not tithe as a legal obligation to the New Testament Church. This sort of statement is based on the preacher's lust for cash in the offering plate. He has NO idea how much his victim loves the Lord, but he says this to strike fear and guilt into the member. He is using guilt, which he plants in your conscience, to make you want to love the Lord more by covering the preacher in cash.
In the local church, jackboot preachers understand the power of guilt all too well. They know that, if they can convince the church member that he is guilty of evil, he has him whipped. The member will submit eventually. This may be about dress standards, tithing, handing out tracts, booze and smoking, or a thousand other well established "Baptist standards." The preacher starts with a self-evident issue like booze. Most Baptists do not drink, so they do not feel guilt. But then, the preacher moves along to other issues like tithing and church attendance.
The member does not tithe, so he feels guilt. He only comes to the worship service in the morning, so he feels guilt because he does not come to Sunday School. VERY FEW Baptist preachers are thankful for the people in front of them. They attack the people who are missing and accuse them of not loving God. The preacher does not teach what he believes the Bible says about tithing so that the Holy Spirit can convince the member. Ninety percent of all Baptist preachers do not believe the Holy Spirit can convince the believer of anything without the help of the pastor. These pastors have an alien holy spirit.
So, the member is now feeling guilt for not tithing. The preacher builds on this guilt by showing all the ways not tithing does harm to the local church and how mad God is with him. The member walks the aisle during an altar call and tells the preacher he is making a covenant to tithe. The preacher exalts the member for submitting to the standard. The member is not becoming more like Jesus. He is handing his mind and conscience to the preacher who then feels he has taken power over the member. And, he has.
Another aspect of guilt is the group effect.
The other members are keeping track of you in an ungodly way. They watch to see of you attend "every time the doors are open." If you miss a Sunday, they do not ask you if you have a problem and need help. They tell you, "We missed you last Sunday." This reinforces your guilt for skipping a Sunday, even if you did have something preventing you from attending. These group members, most of them anyway, have no other real feeling for you. They simply want to please the pastor by helping him nag you and keep you guilty. Their attack on you is meant to keep you guilty for not meeting the "standards" of the church. This is a classic example of gaslighting. The sincere member who really cares about you will stop by your home to see if you have something he can help with. If the group and the pastor never show up at your front door, they don't really care about you personally. They just want you to be there every time possible, especially for when the offering plate is passed.
I have been a pastor for quite a few years, and I grew up in a pastor's home. I know the temptation to think of the offering when attendance is way down. But, that thought is of the flesh and the devil, and any pastor under the power of the Holy Spirit will squelch the temptation to fret about the offering and get busy feeding sheep.
The final destination of guilt is that you hear you are wicked and falling short of being a victorious Christian so often, whether from the pulpit or in personal contact with members, that you are overwhelmed by it. At that point, you may mentally cave in and start believing the lies they are telling about you. You will be driven by guilt instead of the love of Jesus Christ and his Word. The key to avoiding this is to see what members are doing to you, AND LEAVE. If you stay, you may well become mentally ill and find it very hard to recover. Your conscience will become totally warped as you allow people to manage your conscience instead of the Holy Spirit.
In the world of sinful men, the person who submits to the rule of the officials is given praise and glory. He is allowed to work for the politician on his campaign staff and made to feel like he is saving the nation from total disaster. He is helping Make America Great Again, or he is saving women's rights to kill their babies in the womb. He feels heroic, and he works even harder for the controller.
The tyrannical preacher in a local church praises the church member openly so that the group knows that to submit to the preacher's standards will get them promoted and praised openly. Those who do not submit are given a label and openly told, "You need to get under authority," which means they need to hand their body, mind, and soul to the preacher. So, one by one, they all submit.
Some missionary organizations list donors in their promotional news letters. This is ungodly. It tells those who have not given that they are stingy and wicked for not giving. Jesus bluntly taught against doing your alms before men. He taught also that if you get your praise here, God will never reward you for your giving in Heaven. Preachers know this teaching of Christ, but they boldly trash this truth and flatter those who give. If you let the preacher's flattery put you under guilt, whether he flatteries you or snubs you for falling short of his standard, you have been brainwashed.
Here is what God thinks of your jackboot preacher:
Psalms 5:9 For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.
It is instructive to see that the Antichrist will use flattery to conquer the world:
Daniel 11:21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
Flattery is ONLY a tool of Satan. Any pastor who needs a long introduction, with smooth words of praise, before he preachers, is a bastard (Hebrews 12:8). When a pastor flatters you, you too are a fool if you inhale the incense. I suggest you tell your pastor that he may not flatter you for anything you do for your church. Also, do all your giving with cash so that the pastor does not know how much you give. You do not need a tax receipt for your giving if you simply take the Standard Deduction on your tax return.
The Third and final tool in mind control is the threat of being tossed.
Every member of Facebook understands that he can be tossed off of the social club he loves, so he stops speaking his mind. His reward is to have friends. Being denied of friends is one of the most powerful forces in any culture. Loneliness can actually kill you. Being tossed out of a university for questioning the status quo is terrifying to any Ph.D. who values his place in the order of the peck. This tossing weapon will become more and more personal and threatening in the near future in all areas of life. It will not be the government that tosses us. It will be social media, stores, schools, our employers, churches, and community privileges. The day may come when we have to show a Climate Change card to prove we support the new world religion.
To the church member, the threat is of being "churched," which is a wretched use of a biblical word to mean excommunication.
A preacher once told me I needed to "join the church" and become a member. When I told him I was already a member of the Church as a member of the Body of Christ, and I did not want any other membership to distract me, he told me that they could not excommunicate me if I was not a full fledged member.
What treachery. Is excommunication a benefit or privilege of church membership? Answer: Yes, but only where the jackboot preacher rules the kingdom. Why? Answer: Because you cannot be NOT excommunicated, which is a reward for submitting, body, mind, soul, and pocket book to the preacher. This whole concept is a perversion of Apostolic teaching in the New Testament. Tossing saints is the opposite of the way of the Lord Jesus.
John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.Also, beware of dire threats.
"If you leave this church, you will deny the Lord and become totally defeated."
"If you do not submit to your pastor, you will become demon possessed."
I have heard many such threats. These threats are exactly the same thing the African witch doctors used in Africa where I grew up. They would threaten a tribal member that if they did not submit totally to the witch doctor, they would die. What the pastor wants is to plant the superstition in your mind that, if you leave that church, you will be committing spiritual and even physical suicide. Will you believe this insane lie? If you believe that wicked pastor, I have a bridge I would like to sell you in Brooklyn, New York..... only $14.95.
IF YOU STOP TALKING, THE MOB WILL DRIVE YOU MAD
“When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber.”
Winston ChurchillPhilippians 4:5
Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
All mind control in the local church is done through the conscience. This is because the preacher cannot legally flog you with a whip, he cannot have you arrested and tried in local court, and he cannot physically torture you legally. So, he has to use your mind and conscience to take control of you. He does this by alternately throwing you kisses and then slapping you verbally, and often in front of the whole assembly. This uncertain behavior of the pastor keeps you in perpetual suspense, not knowing if you will next be slapped or hugged. I have experienced this in a Baptist church I tried to live with.This tactic has been used many times in the past, especially with prisoners of war in Korea, Russia, and China. The object is to break down the victim's intentions to keep their mental state sound. The name for the morbid art is brainwashing. A pastor who launches such an attack on the mind of a member is nothing but a modern version of World War II Nazi mind control experts.
Why do people stay in these churches?
Answer: After submitting to this form or mental rape, and coming to believe it is the part of the normal life of the Bible based local church, you become terrified of freedom. The very thought of leaving this church and finding another fellowship puts you into a panic. The preacher regularly tells you that you have no business going anywhere near another local church, even if it is the same doctrine as yours. So, you keep attending and convince yourself that there is nothing better. Freedom of thinking, as given the saint by Christ, is finally seen by you as evil, and you keep your place in the pew as warm as possible to avoid the threat of being "churched" (excommunicated). At this point, you have been brainwashed, and you need help from a pastor who loves sheep instead of thrashing them.
Why does the pastor not deal with you personally when he has an issue with your conscience?
Men who torture other people do so publicly. The reason is that they want the onlookers to become terrified and stay in line with the ongoing scheme of things. A classic example of this was with the torture during Medieval times by the Roman Catholic Church. Heretics were burned at the stake in the town square while everyone stood by and watched. This not only discouraged other heretics from joining the heretical movement. It also kept the faithful from even thinking about looking into the heresy. Any onlookers who felt sympathy for the victims soon shut their mouths lest they also end up being burned alive.
Also, pastors who bully church members want the other members to share any guilt those pastors may feel later. By participating and saying nothing to stop the bully pastor from attacking you, the pastor terrifies the other members who may feel you are being abused. So, the pastor needs to make a public example of you. This is why bully pastors do not hesitate in abusing the kids of adult members he is attacking. He wants even the youth to be terrified of having second thoughts about the attack on you and your kids. I am not making this up. I have received many emails over the years from church members whose whole family were being viciously attacked by a pastor and his deacons.
One lady, after being openly abused by her pastor, left that church. Afterward, the pastor and youth leader followed her home in their car after dark with their headlights out. This was done simply to haunt the lady and torture her with fear. One young man fell out with the pastor and his ex-Marine assistant, and they showed up one day where he was living to use violence on him. He did not answer the door, and they finally went away. Many abusive pastors will do things that are clearly illegal and libelous to torment a member, even after the member leaves the church. Some pastors will learn where the member goes to church next and call that pastor and try to black ball the member in the hope that all other churches in the area will refuse them entry. A pastor here in Texas I heard about would punch one of his deacons in the face regularly. Believe it or not, the deacons who were physically attacked by this beast of a pastor did not leave the church, and they did not punch the pastor back. That pastor needed some serious old fashioned Irish ministry to HIS face.
It is urgent that you understand that it is not YOU that has a problem. It is your pastor, and it is entirely possible that your pastor is not even born again and is possessed of devils. Abuse of church members is absolutely not like Jesus as he ministered to his disciples and friends in Galilee. In order for a pastor to lower himself to the level of a beast of prey as he bullies the saints, he MUST be getting help from Satan.
What are the consequences of submitting to a mind control freak or a preacher?
Answer: Your kids, one by one, will figure out that this church is Hell on earth, and they will rebel against it. The sad part is that they often rebel against the Christian faith altogether, and you end up going to Wednesday evening prayer meeting and asking the folks to pray that your kids will "come back to Christ." There is absolutely no chance of that happening once they find out what having their mind back feels like.
2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
If you are terrified to think for yourself because your conscience tells you that you are offending God and your pastor, you are a slave to your pastor. You have NO business letting you or your family arrive at a place where you all fear a man in the Lord's Church.
Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Can your pastor kill your body and soul in Hell? If you say Yes, I must tell you that your mind is gone. You are a mental slave to your pastor. I cannot help you. Your mind and conscience have been raped, and you like it. How utterly sad.
Sam Gipp, a four flusher evangelist to Baptists, has said, "There is one man who stands between your family and Hell..... your pastor." That is a bold faced lie. Jesus stands between me and Hell, and no one else will take his place. He is the only one I allow to mess with my conscience, and I am glad he does. You should be glad he messes with my conscience also. A sinner like me running loose could cause a lot of sorrow to someone. Anything I get right is ONLY to the credit of Jesus Christ. Anything you find helpful at this journal is again ONLY because it was first the idea of the Holy Ghost.
One more caveat about bully pastors who despise believers who manage their own conscience:
Many emails I have gotten from saints whose pastor was trying to own their conscience for them have told of sexual abuse and child molestation. When a pastor forces a list of Baptist Standards onto his church family, he is VERY OFTEN really a sex predator. He will use his standards as an excuse to discuss sexual issues with the teen aged girls and boys. This will open the way to make sexual advances on both girls and boys. Some of the most vocal preachers on the topic of homosexuality have been flaming queers in secret.
GOD DOES NOT NEED DIM BULBS IN HIS CHURCH
God wants his people to be thinking people.
Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD:.....
A pastor who campaigns in the pulpit for modest dress of women in the church is almost always watching porn on the Internet in secret. And, he will rape your daughter just as soon as he can take charge of her mind. If you get clear signals of such things, DO NOT confront the pastor. LEAVE THAT CHURCH. Anything you say or do to confront the thing will result in a vicious attack on you personally, and you whole family will be marginalized by the leaders. If you already know of sexual abuse or pedophilia by the pastor or deacons, REPORT IT TO THE POLICE AT ONCE. Show no mercy. It will be a great ministry to that church if you manage to destroy that pastor and help him into a stiff prison sentence.
TO PASTORS: If this discussion makes you mad at me, GREAT. I will do anything legal to destroy you. If you have seen what I am talking about, and you agree with my thoughts, SO WHAT? Are YOU teaching the saints to guard the keeping of their souls and conscience only under the authority of the Holy Spirit? It is not enough for you to agree with another man like me. You are not my servant, and I do not want you to follow me. YOU are the man who will answer God if you do not guard the saints you have under your influence and show them how to live in victory even if you are not there to tell them what to do. And, if you know another pastor in your area who shows all the signs of being a bully, a brute, and a sex pervert, you are morally obligated to put that pastor under spiritual arrest, even if it means his alleged "ministry" is terminated.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
Jeremiah 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Your pastor cannot seek God for you. Nor can your pastor find out what God wants you to think about ANYTHING in the Word of God. God wants you to meet him in the Word and make up your own mind. You pastor is ONLY called of God to read the Bible and explain what it means by what it says. Acting upon what he taught you is between you and the Lord. If your pastor is not a bully and tyrant, and if he teaches the Word of God clearly and with godly authority, you are told in the Bible to pay attention to his teaching and use it to learn God's will for your life. But, it is 100% your duty to apply the truth you learned to your own life.
Beware of labeling and clichés
This is a bit of a rabbit trail in the overall topic of the conscience, but it is so powerful and deadly that I feel it must be discussed.
Labeling is a deadly form of warfare when used by a tyrant and his followers. It consists of one word ammunition used to categorize people and stigmatize them. It is also used in place of using intelligent words to build concepts in teaching and conversation. Labeling is for lazy slobs, not for zealous teachers.
"You are a heretic, brother." "You are a Calvinist." "That man is apostate." "You are a legalist." "You are a Pharisee." There are virtually thousands of these cliché type labels.
The most common use of labels is on social media during verbal warfare.
But, the most powerful use of labels by lazy slobs is in everyday use. These labels almost always say little or nothing, but they have the power of shutting down someone who is in the act of thinking and choosing their words thoughtfully. Often, labels are used to make a virtual criminal of someone as retaliation for thinking too much.
Black Lives Matter, Climate Change, Critical Race Theory, MAGA, "The Science," Politically Correct, Socialist, Capitalist, Communist, Progressive, Racist, Misogynist, sex pervert,
All of these are substitutes for speaking in developed thought. Labelizing is the height of lazy thinking and speaking. Worse, those present usually have no idea what the label really means.
Labels, when used in the context of a fully developed thought, are legitimate words which add meaning to conversation and speech. But, when used as ammo to shoot at someone we disagree with, labels are worse then meaningless..... they are wicked and meant ONLY to wound the victim.
So, how about labels in Christian fellowship. When a pastor slams you with a one word label, he is not trying to help anyone be a more useful member of the church. He is declaring war against his victim. If you are the victim, either have a clip of your own ammo ready, and hammer him right back with a nasty label, or walk off and do not come back.
I challenged a big mouthed "faith healer" in a donut shop who was declaring his powers to heal people for the whole place to hear. I asked loaded questions and quoted the Bible, and he eventually figured out I was a preacher. He gathered his family, and they went out to their car to leave. I apologized to the owner for the ugly scene, and the owner thanked me for confronting the trouble maker.
As I walked out to my cat, the faith healer, standing by his car, pointed his bony finger at me and yelled, "You have sexual sin." Everyone outside was a bit shocked, and I went blank mentally, not expecting anyone to do such a stupid thing in public. Later, I wished I had said, "And, you have fleas." If you think fast on your feet, feel free to hand the attacking pastor some of his own medicine in the form of a silly label to mock him.
A pious saint reading here will tell us we should not shoot back. I disagree. God himself is not at all shy with the wicked.
Psalms 2:4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
"BAPTIST STANDARDS"
ARE THE SPIRITUAL EQUIVALENT OF A PREFRONTAL LOBOTOMY.I suggest you see if you can vex a tyrant preacher when he uses labeling to attack. And, feel free to use derisive labels on a pastor whom you have just seen attack some other saint with mindless labels.
Having said that, I would also caution you. If you see that the person, especially a pastor, has used labeling instead of a developed thought, politely ask him, "Brother, would you explain why you labeled that man that way please?" If the pastor attacks after a polite question, blast him with a label, and walk off.
Let us all make a real effort, in coming days, to NOT label people, even sinners and heretics. Labeling teaches nothing. We must speak in developed thought, and we must resort to quoting the Bible to stigmatize the wicked. Just because a man is a real heretic is no excuse for using mindless tactics in dealing with him. The most powerful way to mark a heretic is to quote some heretical thing he said.
As to the conscience and speaking words:
Psalms 19:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
Ecclesiastes 12:11 The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
Solomon likens wise words to goads which are designed by masters of thought to shepherd ignorant people.
Wise words teach, rebuke, guide, comfort, and encourage because they are based on well thought out concepts spoken with grace. Please read that again before you move on. How about printing out that sentence, with the verse by Solomon, and give it to each of your kids to pin up somewhere?
Death of the soul
The day may well come, when you get so used to the torture foisted on you by your pastor, that you feel cleansed of sin as he thrashes you. You no longer go to Jesus to confess your sins. You wait until the preacher puts the hammer to you, then you walk the aisle and pray at the weeping rail. This happens over and over, and you finally come to crave a thrashing by your pastor because this results in you feeling cleansed of sin, and you then imagine you have a clear conscience. Only the insults and verbal attacks of your pastor will do to make you feel clean again.
Your conscience is now shriveled up and dead. Like any other member of the human body, if you do not use it for a long time, it will stiffen up and become useless. There are Hindu holy men in India who sit along the roadside nearly naked, and they hold one arm straight up and never move it. Eventually, their arm is frozen in place and useless. A man's conscience can become made worthless if he lets another man tell him all the rules of living, and he makes those rules his only standard of right and wrong.
This state of existence is a form of mental illness. The world calls it sadomasochism, and it is paralleled by violent sex in other venues. You have no idea how utterly sick you are, and you also look like a perfect fool to God. He gave you the Holy Spirit to lead you into truth and talk to you about your conscience, and you have told him he just cannot do the job like your pastor can.
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
There is no life choice or situation you can experience which the Holy Spirit cannot deal with and show you how to make choices that will result in a clear conscience. You do not need a pastor to do this for you. All he is called to do is teach the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit will then show you how the Word answers every one of your life issues. Read that again please.
If you never hear from the Holy Spirit, you are not born again. Perhaps your problems with your conscience is a result of never having confessed your faith in Jesus Christ from the get go. That would explain why you need the pastor to hammer you and help you adjust your thinking about the issues of life. Your soul is dead, and you need to be converted.
HERE IS THE GOSPEL AND HELP YOU MAY NEED TO UNDERSTAND IT
THE MALIGNANT NARCISSIST
You need to understand that this can be anyone in your circle of friends, family, workplace, or church life. It can be your pastor, your spouse, or a coworker. If you are in college, it can be a teacher or a fellow student. These people are morally sick, and they are mentally broken as well. They have killed or seared their conscience so that they have no guilt as they attack you and try to pollute your conscience with guilt, laws, and fantasies of failure.
1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;The reason these tormentors have no guilt as they attack your conscience is because they believe there is no power in authority over them. It may seem hard to accept, but any pastor who tries to rule your conscience is a practical Atheist. This is because he has totally rejected the work of the Holy Spirit as the ruler of your life. If he has any respect for God, this narcissist pastor is, at best, a Deist. He believes God is ruler of the universe, but this God of his is much too busy with other things, so he has handed your pastor the authority over your mind.
The same sort of attack on the conscience can be used to turn an entire community or even a nation against what is right and good, by just one or two evil people and their cohorts. Hitler’s Germany is a perfect example.
Donald Trump is a classic example. His father attacked his conscience by turning his siblings against him, and then he built up Donald so that he would become twice the megalomaniac his father was. So, it is no wonder that Trump builds up those who submit to him, and then when they back off, he thrashes them viciously. The pinnacle of Trump's sick arrogance was in October of 2022 when he put Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo on notice that they were not to run for nomination for the Presidency in 2024. He told them that they would be disloyal if they did so. Disloyal to whom? The American people? Disloyal to the Constitution? Trump, though out of office, still believed he owned the consciences of those two men he attacked.
If you do not submit your conscience to the narcissist pastor, or whoever is attacking you, you will be marked before all people as a traitor to Christ, America, and every other worthy entity he can come up with.
Will you continue to let the sick malignant narcissist to take charge of your conscience?
HERE IS A VIDEO THAT IS ONLY EIGHT MINUTES LONG. This is exactlly what I am talking about.
This is the most important video posted in this article. Do not skip it if anyone is troubling you now.
This man deals very directly with the problem, and if you are struggling with a malignant narcissist in your world, you will see that YOU are not the problem..... THEY are. Once you see this clearly, you will then be able to go forward and extract yourself from the terror zone of the narcissist. The speaker used the abbreviation of "Nark" for a malignant narcissist sometimes. When the speaker talks about "no contact," he is not saying to break contact with all people. You MUST break "all contact" with the narcissist who is tormenting you. Trying to stay in contact with them in any way will result in more torment. They will even chase after you after you shuck them off.As an afterthought, I want to deal with an issue from the world around us. The "woke" and "politically correct" mob fit perfectly into this picture. They specialize in attacking the conscience of anyone in front of them. Do NOT give them the time of day. Take every precaution to not be where they are. The day may come when they will start reporting anyone who will not submit to them to law enforcement for fictitious crimes.
EYES OPEN, NO FEAR FRIEND.
BRAINWASHING This was written by an African to explain how Critical Race Theory is taught. Ten monkeys were caged in a building. At the middle of the open hall building there is a ladder, leading to a bunch of ripe yellow bananas hanging from a hook on the ceiling. Every Time a monkey tries to climb the ladder, all the monkeys are sprayed with ice water, followed by army ants, which made them uncomfortable Soon enough, whenever a monkey attempts to climb the ladder, all of the other monkeys, not wanting to be sprayed on, set upon him and beat him up. Soon, none of the Ten monkeys attempted to climb up the ladder despite salivating for the ripe banana. One of the original monkeys is then removed, and replaced with a new one. Seeing the yellow ripe bananas and the ladder, he wonders why none of the other monkeys are doing the obvious. But undaunted, he immediately begins to climb the ladder. All the other monkeys fall upon him and beat him silly and he has no idea why. However, he no longer attempts to climb the ladder. A second original monkey is removed and replaced. The newcomer again attempts to climb the ladder, but all the other monkeys hammer the dickens out of him. This includes the previous new monkey, who, grateful that he’s not on the receiving end this time, participates in the beating because all the other monkeys are doing it. However, he has no idea why he’s attacking the new monkey. One by one, all the original monkeys are replaced. Ten new monkeys are now in the room. None of them have ever been sprayed by ice water and army ants. None of them attempt to climb the ladder. All of them will enthusiastically beat up any new monkey who tries, without having any idea why. This is how critical race theory is taught in order to create mindless people who do what is expected of them but never know why. This plan also works in churches to teach Baptist Standards. |
WHAT
IF I HAND MY CONSCIENCE TO A MAN,
ESPECIALLY A PASTOR?
You are not alone. You live with hundreds of people, in fact, with social media, you can easily become involved with 1000 people personally over your whole lifetime. It is like ripples in a pond. What you do affects all those people around you to a small or very large degree. And, what they do and say affects you.
This is very true in Christian churches.
The jackboot pastor uses words, repeated over and over, until you either check up on him by comparing his words with the Bible, or you cave in and accept his words as truth. Sadly, the vast majority of church members do not want to check up on their pastor. They are too lazy, or they are obsessed with the Internet and social media. Thus, the pastor has the majority of the members around you in his tight fist, and you are the odd one out.
The pastor uses words about Baptist standards, clichés like, "Trust me, God wants you to Blah, Blah, Blah." An example is tithing. He preaches on tithing very frequently, and he works it into almost every message in passing. He talks about tithing in church foyer conversations, at the church dinner, and in the homes he visits. When you hear his words often enough, you zone out and accept them as truth. That is what he wants. What he is doing to you is brainwashing you, and he has NO conscience telling him he is a creep. The bottom line is, he is lusting for the cash flow.
1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
There are many other propaganda words the jackboot pastor uses in preaching and in conversation. They are all meant to break down your zeal to get knowledge from the Bible and hand your mind and conscience to the pastor. All the people around you may have caved in and handed their consciences to a pastor who is a bastard son (Hebrews 12:8). Who will ever give your family an example of a healthy conscience if you hang around this freak show? There is no resemblance between a pastoral tyranny and the ministry of Jesus Christ or the Apostles of the early Church.
I have known many people with whom I totally disagreed in some issue of life. One fellow was a very positive personality in many ways, and he was well liked in our church in California. But, he was convinced that the FBI was constantly following him and the rest of us. His life was way too plain and uncomplicated for anyone in law enforcement to want to follow him around.
I am a great skeptic of conspiracies. I refuse to take them seriously unless I can catch the conspirators in the act of conspiring and acting upon their alleged doctrine. This fellow was the opposite. Every conspiracy was very real to him.
One day he told me the FBI was poisoning food at the super market trying to kill him. He told me he was being very careful of what food he bought. I made an observation in a benign but subtle way, saying, "Wow, they must be really clever to poison food at the market that only you would buy. If they poisoned the wrong tomato, they could kill someone else." He thought long and hard about that, and suddenly he decided that was impossible. He totally abandoned that conspiracy on the spot.
Why did I bother with the man? He was a fantastic sleuth for information and research. He researched the water table under the desert in our area for the water company which was a small town company. He traced it from the High Sierra Mountains, far in the west, all the way to the Colorado River far to the east of us. This established the fact that we had some of the best water in California, and the water company changed policies because of that. I admired the man's strange ability to grab an idea and wring every detail of fact out of it.
So, if I joined this brother and the conspiracy seekers and believed every one I heard, I would cause two very bad things to happen:
1. I would spread conspiracy lies all around my circle of friends and put more people in bondage to terror of fictional tales.
2. I would be of no use to the Lord, for people like my friend, who needed all the help they could get to deliver them from their irrational fears. You cannot help a fallen man stand up again by laying down in the gutter with him.
So, if you cave in and abandon your responsibility to make your own way through life by robbing the Holy Spirit of the only biblical authority over you conscience, you become useless to the Lord and to other saints you know. You will be a blessing no one who has biblical personal standards and responses to life's moral issues. In fact, you will probably become a real pest to your friends as you try to preach them the gospel of Baptist standards. This is also why tyrannical pastors are so terrified of people who do their own thinking. These slop hog pastors know that you will become an agent provocateur if you start finding your own standards from the King James Bible.
Philippians 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.Paul taught the Philippian Christians to "work out" the issues of life between them and the Holy Spirit because Paul could not be there all the time to do it for them. And, Paul did not tell them that it was their pastor who worked in them to do God's pleasure. Read the verse again. Indeed, memorize it.
Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
God expects YOU to guard your own heart. When a preacher tries to take control of your mind and heart, you can give him a pat on the head but make your own way through life, or, even better, you can kindly tell him that all of your standards, and those of your family, you will work out between you and the Lord. If he rebukes you, ask him if the Bible tells you to hand your mind and conscience to another man. Insist that he prove to you from the Bible where Jesus or the Apostles told believers to not use their own minds to be right with God. He will quote you some Bible text out of context. Rebuke him, and show him Philippians 2:12-13 above. He will still come up with Bible texts taken out of context, so tell him you will study them yourself and make up you mind with the help of the Holy Spirit. Of course, when you do this, the pastor will probably start shunning you and soon find a reason to toss you out the door. He does not care to let a thinking man hang around for long. Thinking is contagious.
The kind hearted narcissist pastor
The most deadly tyrannical pastor is not the brutal bully type. You should be able to figure him out if you are awake. The most deadly pastor is the kind hearted narcissist. He truly wants to see you come to total Christian victory, and he is always very kind in his words and approaches to you.
But the kind hearted narcissist is, nonetheless, obsessed with taking charge of your conscience and that of your family. He does not trust the Holy Spirit to do that for you, so he lovingly confronts you over your issues of life and conduct. If you resist his advances, he may actually begin to weep and beg you to submit to the Baptist Standards in order to avoid your life becoming a total disaster.
But, if you hold your ground and, also lovingly, tell him you are working out your own salvation and standards, the point will finally come when he decides you are a lost cause. At that point he does a Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde on you, and he will become angry with you. He may just shun you from them on, or he may actually show you the door.
The deadly aspect of all of this is that the kind hearted narcissist is a flaming hypocrite. He appears outwardly to be decent and caring about you, but in his soul he craves control over you and all the members of the church. He is a practical Atheist because he does not really believe Jesus Christ should have control of the local church.
So you see why I keep talking about you leaving at some point? When you get the signals that the whole local church principle of life under Christ is totally warped, why would you not move on to find other fellowship?
JORDAN PETERSON:
YOU CAN SEE THIS WHOLE PICTURE PSYCHOLOGICALLY IN THE WOKE CULTURE TODAY
Children and tyrannical Pastors
When you submit to a tyrannical pastor, your kids watch from the sidelines. And, the average pastor tyrant will target children also, demanding they submit to Baptist Standards, or whatever rule list your church promotes. This will be done the same way the pastor treats the kid's father..... with threats and fear. The results can stay with a kid for life. Here are some ways:
1. The kid sees his father reduced to slavery and frequently insulted by the pastor. This gives the kid the image of a father who has no survival instincts as he cowers before the pastor. If this is you, you will one day have a kid who is terrified of life and unable to assert himself in the market place. He will have been convinced by the pastor that all men are evil, and he will be unable to relate to unsaved fellow employees of neighbors. Kids are best approved in society if they are polite and pert. That means they are respectful to everyone, but when asked a question, their mind goes into gear, and they can answer and contribute from knowledge they have gained.
There is possibly nothing more heart breaking than to meet a kid who cannot show respect to people because his soul and personality have been reduced to a puddle of jelly. He also goes mute when asked a question. He is doomed for life unless this state of mind is reversed. Tyrannical pastors make cur dogs of kids. Some tyrannical pastors try to inspire kids, and when he is done with them, they are cheeky brats and always eager to insult adults. It can go either way, and this is done by enforcing Baptist standards. Again all denominations have preachers like this, even the Catholic Church.
2. The kid can easily become an extension of the pastor's tyranny because the brutal pastor appeals to latent urges in immature children to be cruel. This is what you are trying to train out of you kid, while the pastor turns him into a social pest as he nags other kids. You will one day have a snot nosed brat on your hands and no way to reverse his behavior because he believes he is being just like Jesus as he torments his friends. Your kid's chances of finding good employment are nil.
3. The next one is obvious. Your kid soon has no friends. No one wants to be around him, especially friends whom he needs to develop normal social interactions. Also, adults will avoid your kid because he is arrogant. We had a young lady from our town go off the Bob Jones University, and then she came home, she chose our church to attack with dissertations on standards. She would stand in the foyer of the church after morning services and lecture us all about Bob Jones' version of holy living. People shunned her so bad that she finally went across town and took her "ministry" to the Fundamental Baptists.
4. One day, your kid will have grown up, and if he is not in jail for some social crime, he will catch on. He will see you as a wimp who sacrificed him to the tyrant preacher, and he will hate God. After he leaves home and the church, the tyrant pastor will curse him and black ball him and tell the members they cannot talk to him. I have seen pastors even tell the parents they must totally break contact with an older child. The pastor will also use your kid as a sermon illustration to terrify more kids into submission, and YOU will one day realize you set up the whole horror story by doing nothing when you could.
So, the Apostle Paul tells you what to do:
Romans 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.If this picture, or anything even slightly like it, is what you are going through, you MUST self-excommunicate yourself and find another church. If you linger at the mercy of the tyrant, you are a simple minded dim bulb, as Paul implies.
Pastoral Authority
We must answer a question that many Christians want answered:
HOW MUCH AUTHORITY DOES A PASTOR HAVE OVER THE CHURCH MEMBERS?
ANSWER: NONE
A pastor derives no authority based on his experience, knowledge, education, or degrees Nor does his title he claims to have from the text of Scripture, like Pastor, Bishop, Presbyter, or elder entitle him to anything. As a teacher he has the authority to open the Word of God and exhort the saints, and they should be eager to hear what he has to say, But, This gift and title of Teacher does not give him authority to take change of anyone.
There is no Bible text that tells pastors to take authority over people of any sort. All of the texts commonly used by pastors to prove they may take power over the members are twisted out of context.
We all seem to be tempted with the sin of craving power over other people. So, it should not shock us if some pastors are obsessed with the urge to take power over you and your family. It takes a large man, given to sound doctrine and submission to Christ, to stay humble as he fulfills his work as a Bible teacher and pastor.
ONLY THE WORD OF GOD HAS AUTHORITY. Read that over a couple more times please.
Christ is the Head of the Church. He rules his Church through the Word of God. When a pastor studies the Word and teaches it, he is doing everything he is called to do. The pastor is not responsible for applying the truth of the Word of God to the believer. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. When a pastor takes on the role of enforcer in the life, mind, and conscience of the believer, that pastor has robbed the Holy Spirit, AND CHRIST, or their office of Head of the Church.
Colossians 1:17 And he (Christ) is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
This means that any pastor who lays forth a list of rules of conduct, a covenant, a doctrinal statement, or any other edict other then the King James bible, that pastor has added to the Word of God and should be soundly rebuked. We are not talking here about small issues like asking you not to park in front of the door, or asking the people to move forward rather than try to see how far toward the back they can sit. We are talking here about such things as deciding how long the ladies' skirts should be, or what the men should wear to go to church.
1 Corinthians 4:6 And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.
Anything that is directly spoken about in the Word of God, a pastor may expect you to apply to your life. But, when he leaves the literal use of the Word and adds rules and regulations, he is a heretic. This is why many pastors today refuse to teach tithing as a requirement. Tithing is NOT directly required of church members in the New Testament. If it was, it would be all over the Epistles.
There is NO pastor during the past 2000 years who has acquired superior knowledge from outside the Word of God. Oh, for sure, there are thousands who thought they did, and they are quick to let you know that "The Lord showed me this," as if they just got advanced revelation. There is no such thing as advanced revelation, whether we talk about the Pope inventing Purgatory, or you Fundamental Baptist pastor declaring a dress code of the church.
When a pastor goes beyond the Word of God to make rules and standards, what he is really doing is showing that he either A. Us too lazy to study the Word and be content with it, or B. He does not believe the Holy Spirit is able to change the consciences of the believers with ONLY the Word of God.
Listen to Paul talk about authority and his ministry:
1 Corinthians 3:5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.God gives the increase. Only God must be trusted to make the application of the teaching of the Word to your life and conscience.
What are the standards of life for you? What are the rules of living for you?
IT IS ALL OF CHRIST, ALL OF THE TRUTH, AND ALL OF SCRIPTURE. It is none of your pastors notions of what you should decide to do to be righteous.
Baptist Standards do not exist in God's economy of Church life. Only a hireling pastor brings them into existence, and God hates them.
Mark 7:7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.This also applies to any traditions or standards of any denomination.
Back in the 1960s the Assembly of God has rules forbidding ladies to use make up. No matter how ugly a lady was, she was not to do anything with cosmetics to cover warts of blotches on her face. So, what did the young women of that era do to keep the law of man but still try to improve on how they looked. They came up with the beehive hair style. Some of the AOG ladies have beehives two feet tall, and their vanity was not restrained by the Word of God.
When you make laws of your own, preacher, you will miss something every time, and the members will find a way to satisfy their old nature by some trick you missed.
Furthermore, saint, YOU can open the King James Bible and find the answer to your questions about life and what the Lord might want you to change. The preacher is not the only one the Holy Spirit talks to. And, you parents, stop making rules you invent. Find a teaching in the Bible that covers the issue you want to deal with in your kids, and teach them to make their own standards as the Holy Spirit reasons with them.
"Suzy, here is what God says about texting and driving. Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. What if you miss something and run into another car? You could cause the death of your neighbor. Do you want them to do that to you? If not, should you text and drive?
Again, PASTORS HAVE NO AUTHORITY OVER THE CHURCH MEMBERS. Only Christ, the Head of the Church, has all the authority over the members.
Tyrannical pastors have a very strong feeling that they are entitled. They believe that God wants them to have total power over the local church. They believe every member should obey them explicitly in every way they ask. They believe they own the member's tithe, and they demand it regularly. They may also believe they own the husband member's wife if they want her for a church secretary or Sunday School teacher. They even sometimes believe they own your kids, and you must send them to every church sponsored event for kids. Lastly, they are sure they own YOU.
If you decline to hand over total control of your life, wealth, and family members to the pastor, he will get a long serious look on his face and say something like, "Brother, you need to get under authority." He is not encouraging you to get under the authority of Jesus Christ. He means you need to be his slave and do his bidding.
Do not be deceived. If you ask ANY pastoral authority freak if you should be under the authority of Jesus Christ, he will tell you that you should. But, he will then go into a legal language perversion of Scripture in which he ends up convincing you that Jesus abdicated his right to your soul, and he, the pastor, received ownership of your soul from Jesus. He will use several Bible texts out of context to prove he owns your total obedience.
Lately, I have heard pastors salting many conversations with comments about pastoral authority. It has become an addiction to many Fundamental pastors for many years. The Apostle Peter had something to say about how pastors should relate to the members and who should have authority over your life.
1 Peter 5:1 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre (money) , but of a ready mind;
3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.Verse 2-3 show you what a pastor should be like. If your pastor is a bully and tyrant, he is not a pastor at all. He is a plant by Satan to ravage the flock of God.
Verse 6 shows you who should have authority over your life and family.
Verse 7 makes it clear that God is the one who cares for you. Some pastors care for the members, and those men are priceless. But, no man on earth can care for you like God can.
There are thousands of pastors in America, most of them Independent Fundamental Baptists, who preach and enforce pastoral authority. They quote one text in particular to prove they have a duty to God to put you under absolute rule by them:
Hebrews 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
First, the text does not indicate if the verse is talking about government leaders or church leaders. But, in order to avoid hate mail, I will assume it is talking about church rulers.
I talk about this problem in other articles on this journal, so we will concentrate on the jackboot tyrant of a preacher and your mind and conscience.
Whom does the Bible say is supposed to own your mind and conscience?
Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
The mind of your pastor is just as prone to defect as yours. So, see if you can fill your mind with the Word of God until your mind is like that of Jesus.
Romans 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Pastors who are obsessed with modesty in woman are almost always perverts who are into porn and hoping to bed down your wife or daughter. Do not hang around a church where the pastor supervises the ladies' dress standards. That is YOUR job, sir. See if you can find a pastor who minds the things of the Spirit, that is, he spends his time teaching the Bible instead of trying to reorganize your conscience.
Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
This teaching of Jesus applies to all areas of life. You cannot serve your pastor and Jesus Christ at the same time. Pastors who enforce pastoral rule (dictatorship) in their churches claim that you can indeed totally serve God and serve your pastor also. These men will even give an altar call asking everyone who is 100% for the pastor to come forward. This sort of trick is nothing but mind control to force you to leave Jesus behind and follow a man.
One Baptist pastor said, "You follow me, and I will follow Jesus." That is Roman Catholic teaching, not biblical teaching. Never stop following Jesus in order to follow any man, and I don't care if he is a famous Baptist guru. Jesus said "Follow me,,,,," So, why are you following Pastor Wonderful?
Romans 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Here is the Hebrews text again, the one tyrannical pastors use and misinterpret the most:
Hebrews 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
The Hebrews text is NOT telling you that you must become the servant of your pastor. Whatever the Holy Spirit meant in that text, he was not contradicting himself. God wants you to be HIS servant, not the slave of a jackboot pastor. And, that especially includes your mind and conscience. God, by the reading of the Word of God, wants to be the one in charge of your standards and choices in life. Any man who takes over that role in your life is your witch doctor, and he has replaced your Lord.
It is time for some teaching of the meaning of words in a Bible text. Do not skip this video please.
EXEGESIS OF THE HEBREWS TEXT
There is a world of difference between a godly pastor persuading you what the Bible teaches and demanding that you lock step obey him and his standards for your life.
While I was growing up in Africa in a missionary home, we heard many things about witch doctors. African witch doctors were masters of striking fear into the people. They would tell them that if they did not do what he wanted of them, like give him a goat, the spirits would attack them and kill them. If the threat did not work, he would cast a spell on the victim. This was so powerful in the mind of the victim that he would curl up in a corner and slowly die, even though he was in good health.
There is s very similar power in the threats of tyrannical pastor. One pastor was so angry at me for teaching what Jesus taught about divorce and remarriage that he prophesied I would become discouraged and quit the ministry altogether. I simply laughed at the preacher, and here I am still teaching the Bible thirty five years later, and I am still serving the Lord. Another preacher threatened a man that, "If you do not submit to me, your pastor, you will become demon possessed." He did not submit, and he did not become possessed.
Whatever authority a pastor has in the local church, he does NOT have the authority to demand your mind and soul be handed to him. Nor does he have any authority to tell you what your conscience should tell you about anything. His authority from the Word of God is ONLY to teach you, and your responsibility is to listen thoughtfully, and go home and compare his teaching with the rest of the King James Bible. If his teaching agrees with the Bible, only then should you decide if you need to make changes in you conscience.
Spiritual Warfare and the mind
We are not talking now about only the conscience. The mind is very sensitive to fear. The mind responds to fear caused by real danger in what is called "Fight and Flight." The digestion stops, the blood is sent to the limbs ready for action, blood pressure is raised to take extra oxygen to the muscles, and the senses become more alert.
But, the mind plays other tricks on us. Fear, whether real or imagined, can cause physical reactions and even disease-like symptoms that are real but not caused by real disease. A world famous hunter whose gun jams as a rhino or elephant is charging may wet his pants as he tries to escape. A soldier, just before a very ominous battle, may vomit. A child, going to school for his first day, may lose control of his bowels.
My personal experience was frustrating. I had flown around the world to Africa and back and forth across the USA many times. Then, in order to help my son drive his belongings home after an employment venture, I boarded a plane in Arizona, and as the plane took off (the time when air flight is most dangerous) I had a panic attack. After much praying and talking to myself, I managed to get some control. I changed planes in Ohio, and I told the Lord I needed a lot of help. The second plane was much smaller than the first one, and the cabin was terribly close. The Lord did help me..... he put a salesman next to me. When I found out he was a salesman, I almost laughed at the Lord's sense of humor. All I had to do to get thoroughly distracted was ask what the man sold. Away he went, and I got the longest sales pitch in history all the way to Grand Rapids, Michigan. By trying to think about everything he told me, I was able to avoid the panic attack on the second flight. I have never figured out what caused my change in dealing with flying.
There is NOTHING wrong with these people. They cannot control what their mind chooses to do in a fear situation. But, they CAN often control the perception of fear.
So, I got to thinking about this response of the mind to spiritual warfare that we sometimes experience as Christians. I know that spiritual warfare experiences I have had caused me to have physical symptoms. Also, those who are possessed of devils often have physical symptoms. Please notice all the mental issues Jesus had to deal with. Many of them appear to have much to do with Satanic attacks on people.
Matthew 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.Fear and torment are favorite tools of Satan.
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
The big game hunter knows that when he hunts lions, they will attack by instinct when they sense they are being hunted. They will also roar to instill fear into their victim. Your sincerity and zeal for Christ will NOT terrify Satan. He believes he is a match for any believer. So, as you become obsessed with spiritual warfare, fear will be you emotion many times. A brother and I went to help a young man possessed of devils. We failed to have friends in warfare prayer for us, and the man became fierce like a raging bull. We fled in fear while quoting Bible texts about the Blood of Jesus. If we had not had fear, we might have been physically attacked. A second encounter with his devils resulted in deliverance and his confession of faith in Christ. That time, we had several people in warfare prayer as we ministered to the fellow. But, the lesson we learned was that Satan is not timid. He believes he is more powerful than God, and he gets great joy out of terrorizing us.
Fear is given to us from God as part of our emotional make up. Fear keeps us from all sorts of peril. But, when we immerse ourselves in fearful things, our mind finds ways of telling us to stop it. We get an overload to the soul.
So, when a pastor becomes obsessed with spiritual warfare, he will totally immerse the church in the fear of Satan. He will, of course, talk about boldness in the battle, but our minds do not easily produce boldness because fear is so powerful an emotion.
If your pastor has become obsessed with devil possession and spiritual warfare, he is off target. He is told by Jesus, "Feed my sheep." When he abandons systematic teaching through the WHOLE BIBLE, and he concentrates on attacking Satan and resisting him, your pastor is leading you into a world of fear and frenzy. This will affect your mind, and you may develop physical and mental symptoms.
What should you do? Answer: Find another church. Your pastor is highly unlikely to listen to your concern if you ask him to return to balanced Bible teaching. In fact, he may accuse you of being possessed of devils and claim Satan is using you to keep the church from spiritual victory. He will also tell pastors in the area to beware of you if you try to change churches. Just leave, and if the pastor shows up at your door, tell him to go away. He may actually be possessed of devils himself.
If you hang around this man, and if you imagine his obsession with Satanic warfare will not affect you, you are thinking in the flesh. The things we allow to go into our minds will affect us one way or another. But worse, your kids may develop phobias and terrors and have nightmares as they are forced to listen to a litany of Satanic activity. It is YOUR job to protect your wife and kids from danger, and this is one time when you must act, or God will hold you responsible for the aftermath.
Also, while you, with the help of your pastor, are preoccupied with Satan, you are getting farther and farther from God. As you imagine you hear the voice of Satan attacking you, it may be the Holy Spirit trying to call you home. I am not making this up. I have seen pastors who were far from their first love, the Word of God, chasing devils and making themselves useless to Christ and his Church. Why follow them?
My favorite example of this danger of getting far from God, while doing what seems like a good thing, has to do with the sport of boxing and the "corner man." The corner man is a boxing designation. In general, a corner man is a person who is permitted to be present in a fighter's corner during a boxing match in order to provide advise or assistance to the fighter. The farther the boxer gets from his corner, the less he can hear from his corner man. Oh, he is brave as he prances over the his opponent's corner. But, he is vulnerable because he cannot get advice he needs to defeat his opponent. The closer you get to the devil, even with sincere combat zeal, the farther you are from the Holy Spirit.
The "Corner Man" of the believer is Jesus Christ. Are you far from him while you are involved in some spiritual warfare obsession? It is time to get back to your corner, saint. And, it is time to find a pastor and church that has a balance between spiritual warfare and the "peace that passeth understanding" from whole Bible teaching.
1 Peter 2:25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
In regard to the conscience, which is our original discussion, while we are picking fights with Satan, we can become deaf to our conscience as we show our boldness in battle. This is why so many deliverance ministers end up in adultery and moral defeat. They are far from home with regard to their conscience.
MAKING IT SAFE
No local church, home, nor Christian college was ever made safe by "Baptist Standards" or rules and regulations.
The church is only safe when the members are totally free, AND feel responsible, to make the rules and standards of their life, home, and fellowship. They are taught the Word of God and internalize it until they come up with standards which self-regulate the believers, and thus the church is safe.
The pastor who refuses to follow this biblical plan will make himself an absolute tyrant and kick the Holy Spirit out of the church.
Then, one day, the members will eat the forbidden fruit, and all Hell will break loose in the church. This often happens when the pastor decides he is above the rules he made, and he beds down one of the ladies in the church.
So, how is it possible to obey Jesus Christ
and also obey "them that have the rule over you"?First voice- the voice of God: Isaiah 30:21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
Second voice- the voice of church leaders: Hebrews 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
The Greek word used in the Hebrews text has the meaning of agree, assure, believe, have confidence, be (wax) content, make friend, obey, persuade, trust, yield. This is not a mindless response by the church member. It has the meaning of agreeing because you are given enough information to respond positively. It most certainly does NOT imply a knee jerk obedience to a dominant person over you.
This kind of "obey" is a response to a pastor who studies the Word of God and teaches it. It also does NOT eliminate the church member's duty to examine everything the pastor teaches with the Word of God.
And, no pastor or other Christian has any authority to make rules for you that they cannot show you in the Word of God. Nor does any pastor of alleged patriarch have any authority to tell you what God's will is for you.
Acts 17:10 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.
11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.Luke wrote the book of Acts, and he was with Paul when he was on his missionary journeys Luke knew that Paul approved of these Jews who checked up on him.
Thus, in the two texts above about the two verses, the voice of God behind you is of infinitely higher authority than the voice of church leaders. Where they disagree, the church leader is in error, and you must not obey them at that point.
I can assure you that the Bible is not telling you that the voice behind thee will be the voice of a man. It will be the voice of God the Holy Spirit. The teaching that the voice behind you is the voice of man is a Roman Catholic teaching, but it has come to roost in Baptist (and other) churches.
In matters of church life, and the family of believers, we should obey those who rule over us. If the pastor asks me to wear a tie to church, I will wear a tie, or else I will go find a church that does not have Baptist Standards. To rebel or whine is silly because I have ties, and I know how to tie one.
But, if the pastor tells me that by wearing a tie I am showing that I have spiritual victory, and that I am right with God and man, I will slap him verbally at once. THAT is mind control, and he is trying to own my conscience. Now, I may slap him ever so gently, and I will do it in private to avoid causing discord, BUT I will verbally slap him. He has no way to prove tie wearing makes a Christian godly.
You see, what that pastor is trying to brainwash into me is that when I keep the Baptist standards of my pastor, only then can I be sure I am right with God. That is blasphemy.
In one church we attended, the pastor, during most altar calls, would say, "Anyone who will not come forward to pray during altar calls is not right with God, and he cannot have any ministry in this church." What he was implying it that Christian victory was entirely dependent on my kneeling at his altar regularly. For that reason, I never went forward during altar calls. I refused to have my spiritual life reduced to ten square feet of red carpet. Ironically, that pastor was always sweet and jolly when talking to me away from the altar. There is something creepy about standing in the pulpit that transforms some pastors from kind hearted men into tyrants.
Read the Hebrews 13 text above again. The jackboot mind control pastor will use the end of that verse to try to imply that he is totally responsible for you by saying that he will give account for you to God one day. Thus, he implies that he is the final authority in your life. The way a pastor gives account for your soul is by studying the Word of God and teaching you. He does NOT give an account to God if you do not keep the preacher's Baptist standards.
Here is this principle in the Old Testament:
Ezekiel 3:18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Ezekiel only answered to God for passing on the words of God to the people. Ezekiel was not asked by God to force the people to dress and live right. Your pastor is only required by God to pass on to you what he learned in the Word of God.
The other Bible texts above make it clear that YOU, not your pastor, are responsible for your mind and conscience. This also applies to any spiritual decision you make in life. How much you give in the offering is between you and God (I Corinthians 16:1-2). Whether or not you also occasionally attend another church to enjoy their fellowship is NOT your pastor's business. How long your hair is, or how long your wife's skirts are, is YOUR business as the head of your home before God.As to your conscience, all of the issues of life are involved with your conscience in one way or another. Thou art the man. Take charge. If you need help in understanding what some Bible text means, or how it might instruct your mind, do consult your pastor, But, do not be a jerk and hand him your conscience. A godly pastor will help you understand the Word of God, he will pray for you, and he may make suggestions, BUT a true "man of God" will step back and expect you to make the standards for you and your family with only the Holy Spirit leading.
Bill was a young man having a very hard time to live in victory as a Christian. I had, from time to time, been talking about music of the World and the Bible believer. Bill had been listening. I knew he listened to some very nasty rock groups. One day he came by and handed me a cassette tape of Motley Crue. He told me to get myself set with the volume button, and jerk it suddenly to full volume during the short time between lines sung when singers inhale a breath. He warned me to be careful because I could blow my speakers up if I was late turning the volume down. I took the tape and did the experiment. During that time of seeming silence, a voice was screaming the F word, but the volume was very low. This was something I had only seen once in the 1970s with the Beetles, and I warned the church members of this assault on their subconscious mind with filth. Bill had caught this when his conscience pushed him to see if any of his music had the same thing.
I had said nothing to Bill before that about his music. That was because I DO NOT manage any believer's conscience for him. I teach the Word, expose evil as it appears in the world, and I let the Holy Spirit apply the truth to each believer in the way only the Holy Spirit can do.
Some time later, Bill's Mom came to me and told me she had suspected that their central heating of the home was messed up, and she went to the basement and decided to check the fire chamber of the heater. When she opened the door, she saw a pile of tiny rollers and pins and screws inside. She told me they could have only been from cassette tapes that had been burned up. Bill had put them into the furnace, and he turned up the thermostat so that it came on and burned up the tapes. He never told anyone, and he did not stand in church and brag about his spiritual victory.
I had made no laws about music for the church. I simply taught, and the Holy Spirit did the rest. And, what a victory for Bill. He figured it all out for himself with the help of the Holy Spirit, and he got the victory, not me.
The jackboot tyrant of a pastor simply DOES NOT trust the Holy Spirit to do what he did with Bill. The tyrant pastor also is not willing to step back and give the saint time to figure it out between himself and the Holy Spirit. What I am saying it this..... If your pastor is constantly telling you what is right and wrong for you and your family, he does not believe that God alone can change you. Your pastor believes he owns your soul and your conscience, and he has a perverted lust to manage your life and the lives of your wife and kids. He will never change.
Correction: Since I put this journal on the Internet in 1995, I must admit that I have had one, only one, pastor repent after reading another article similar this one you are reading. He sent email, and he said that he was mad at first at my article. Then, the Holy Spirit started working on his conscience, and one at a time he realized he was guilty of every quality I had listed to describe a jackboot tyrannical preacher. He said he was horrified at what a brute he had become. He said he was going to resign from his church the next Sunday morning and go find some other kind of work. He was a whipped puppy.
I wrote back and basically arrested him in the Lord. I told him that the Holy Spirit finally had him humbled and where God could use him. I told him that I was rejecting his intention to resign from his church. I asked him to simply confess his sin against the members of the church, by his bullying them, and OFFER his resignation if that is what they wanted. He wrote back and agreed with my suggestions, and he did the confession. The members, of course, were deeply moved and told him they wanted to keep him, as he now was, to be their pastor.
Pastor: If you are a jackboot tyrant, hammering the saints with Baptist standards and laws, and if you have not been in adultery or pedophilia and abuse of the saints sexually, how about talking to the Lord? Ask him what he thinks of your manner of doing the ministry. You will hear back from Jesus if you are serious. This is an altar call to you by Steve Van Nattan. If you will clean up the mess you have made of your ministry, confess to the saints that you have offended them, and ask them if they want you to leave the church, I can promise you that you will have peace with Christ for doing that. Will the people want you to stay? I suspect a Spirit inspired breath of fresh air will fill the room, and those people will love you and look forward to your ministry to them in love and patience and humility. There is probably only one in 5000 jackboot pastors who will rise to the call here to get right with Christ and his Church, but why shouldn't YOU be that one?
Church member: If your pastor is a jackboot tyrant, before you abandon your church and pastor, ask him to read this article. It may be that he will repent and be made useful to the Lord again.
The tyrant's club
THE CANARY DIED
The canary was in great good health until our pastor added the Bob Jones Rule Book to our church constitution.
That was when the canary died from the deadly fumes of legalism.
All over the USA there are groups of pastors, each pastoring a church, who hang together and exalt one another. They run back and forth preaching in each other's churches, and they defend one another when one of them is caught in adultery. Jack Hyles easily owned the largest pastoral club in America. Thousands of churches openly called themselves a "Hyles Church," as if that was their denomination. The men of those churches wore a lapel button that said "100% for Hyles," not "100% for Jesus."
The way to tell, at once, if your pastor has been seduced into a club of tyrannical pastors is that he will, in every message, make reference to the patriarch guru of that club. It may be Jack Hyles, Peter Ruckman, Bob Gray, Don Green, Clearance Sexton, Lee Roberson, or any number of other famous Amos gurus. Some will still be living, while others will be long dead and presented as legends for you to follow.
The horror of this club mentality is that the patriarch who rules is often a very wicked man. Jack Hyles is well known for his lust for young woman. Bob Gray was a self-admitted pedophile and went to prison for it. Don Green is a rabid Baptist standards freak. They all preach pastoral rule viciously. And, they cover for one another when one is caught in wickedness.
Worse, they exalt even the most wicked patriarch in their sermons as examples of Christian service, even after the patriarch serves time in prison for molesting children.
When your pastor exalts some famous Amos, do your homework, and find out if the man was really a model of Christian living. If not, do not waste your time reasoning with your pastor. He is seduced by the mystique of the patriarch, and he will only attack YOU for asking any questions. Just pack it in and move to another church.
Here is the Apostle Paul speaking about this sort of preachers' club"
2 Corinthians 10:12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.
A very highly loved and faithful preacher was invited to a pastor's conference as the main speaker. He got to the city, and he checked into a motel where many of the pastors attending the conference were staying. This preacher at once started reasoning with the motel manager, between meetings, regarding his soul and the Gospel. The manager listened politely. At the end of the conference, the preacher went to check out, and he asked the motel manager if he was ready to confess his faith in Jesus Christ. The motel manager told the preacher that he did not think the preachers had anything better than he had. The manager asked the preacher to come to his computer. He punched some buttons, and up came a print out of all the rooms, where preachers were staying, that had ordered pornography to be posted on the room TV. The preacher was horrified. All those preachers who were watching porn movies late at night had been shouting Hallelujah during all of the guest preacher's messaged. Indeed, those preachers had nothing to offer the motel manager. The old preacher was broken hearted as he told a friend of mine the story and cried like a baby.
I told you that story to make a point. There are many Fundamental Baptist (and other denominations) who are filthy dogs. If you see any signs of such thing in your pastor, you are an abject fool to stay in that church. We are not talking here about only your conscience. We are talking about your wife and children. Those preachers in that motel would gladly bed your wife down if they could, and they would do unspeakable things to your son and daughter.
Is your pastor a servant?
Micah 3:5 Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.
The most telling sign that your pastor is a tyrant is that he will bite you if you do not adopt his standards, especially his standard for giving. This is because, like the false prophet in the above verse, he wants you to put something in his mouth. This a word picture of the preacher who lusts for cash and demands tithing which is not taught in the New Testament.
If your pastor's manner of life and speech betrays a lust to be served, he is a hireling. If your pastor is well known for his zeal to serve the saints, you have a pastor who is following Christ. It is very rare to find a fat preacher who is a servant, and when you do, see if you can keep him. Fat preachers are gluttons and refuse to control their appetite. They are also often brutal and demand lots of cash and toys. Here is Jesus on this subject:
Matthew 20:25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.If your pastor demands to be served, and if he has no instinct to help when some event is being prepared, he is a hireling. The pastor who is trying to be like Jesus will try to be a servant to the members of the fellowship. There is NO exception in this given by Jesus. If Jesus, God in the flesh, served, there is NO pastor, evangelist, Bible college president, or any other famous Doctor of Theology who is exempt. A man who has no instinct to serve and solve the saints problems should be shipped off to sell insurance. He is no "man of God."
You have no business leading a rebellion against any pastor
There is NO formula in the New Testament telling us how to expose or destroy a pastor. There is no permission telling us we can divide the local church over some perceived evil we identify. You have NO alternative but to pack it in and move on to another church. I offer no Bible proof text here because there is none .
The only exception is in the case where a pastor is clearly a pedophile. Civil law and responsibility requires you to report that to the police. If some leader in the church tells you that you must let the leaders deal with the pastor, report that to the police also so that they know there may be several leaders in on the pedophilia.
I hear some preacher breathing a sigh of relief at my admonition here. Your day, sir, will come. You are possessed of a devil and not born again at all. There will be a special place in Hell for you creeps who ravage the sheep. Hell will not be hot enough for you.
Baptist Standards
This is perhaps the most grievous teaching of pastoral tyrants. I remind you that the Pharisees were the most troublesome people in the lifetime of Jesus. They constantly nagged him claiming that he violated the Law of Moses. And, the law the Pharisees used against Jesus the most was the keeping of the Sabbath.
So, do not be surprised is your pastor hammers you about Sunday issues. He will insist that you be at the church house "every time the doors are open," and he will tell you how to dress while at the church house. What goes around comes around. The same devils that possessed the Pharisees are possessing law making pastors.
Charlie was notorious as the village dope head and loser in general. He always dressed like he had just come from a baboon convention, and his hair covered about 80% of his head and face. I went to the junk yard he took care of to get parts for my cars, and I got to know him. He talked the talk of the faith, but he sure did not walk the walk.
One Sunday morning before church services I was in the meeting room getting things ready, and there was a huge roar as a motorcycle rolled up to the front of the church. I looked outside, and there was a monster chopper with the front wheel sticking out about six feet, and with lots of chrome. A man got off of the motorcycle, and when I opened the door, he yelled, "Hi Pastor Steve." I responded, but I also took a hard look at the man. He looked familiar.
Wow..... if was Charlie! His hair was cut and neat, and he had on all new clothes. Charlie shouted his way into the church house, and he told his story. He had been at a dope house, and he nearly killed himself on an overdose. During that event he cried out to God and promised God he would go "back to pastor Steve's church" if God would save his life. Charlie was from a Pentecostal heritage, so he was generous with his shouting praise to God, and frankly, I loved it. The contrast of the old and the new Charlie was so refreshing, especially since it ended in spiritual victory.
Charlie left the church that Sunday after services, and he told me later that he got to the main drag through out town, and he turned left. If he had turned right, he would have ended up back in the old dope house. Sunday evening, as Charlie came in the door, he shouted, "I turned left, pastor." What happened after that was startling. Charlie got so excited at the victory of turning left away from the dope party that he rode out of town onto a lonely frontage road beside the Interstate highway, and he began swerving back and forth riding and singing and using both lanes of the road.
WHEN PASTORS ANSWER:
When a pastor is asked a question, if he is a true servant of Jesus Christ, he will never answer with his own opinion if the Word of God gives the answer.
It is common today that many pastors are too lazy or arrogant to submit to this standard. When asked a question, they take no time to consider what is before them, and they blurt out a bad attitude answer with no regard for the Bible or common sense.
Ask a second question, or ask for calcification, and they blast you with hate and rage and accuse you of not "getting under authority."
2 Timothy 3:5
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.A cop pulled Charlie over and asked him why he was riding so wildly. Charlie held nothing back. He told the whole story to the cop and said he was just praising the Lord. The cop laughed and said, "You can praise the Lord all you want, Charlie, but please try to do it on your side of the road from now on."
What is the point of my parable? The point should be clear. In the past, Charlie had certain standards that he had totally abandoned, and when God saved his life, part of Charlie's victory was to put the standards back from when he walked with God long ago. Thus, the new clothes, a spotless motorcycle for Sunday morning, and being back with the Lord's people Sunday morning. All of these standards were CHARLIE'S standards, not mine, and not the standards of our local church. Every act of his journey back to victory came from Charlie and the Holy Spirit, not from me, the presiding bishop. And, when I left that church and moved on to another pastorate, Charlie did not abandon those standards because I was not there to enforce them. They were Charlie's standards.
Baptist Standards, and the rule of tyrannical pastors, includes a lot more then church attendance and long hair rules. Tyrannical pastors enter into many areas of your life and meddle and take charge. One pastor I heard of demanded that a man in the church ORDER his wife to give part of her time to be the church secretary. Another pastor convinced a teen age girl to abandon her home and become the assistance pastor's baby sitter and live in the home of the assistant pastor. Another pastor in the Detroit area demanded that the women of the church sew all of their dresses and buy none from stories. They also had to submit the pattern for any new dress for the pastor to inspect to make sure is would be modest.
Mind control freaks from Baptist land will take over every detail of your life if you let them. The only way to stay in a church and be your own free agent before your God is to tell the pastor, preferably about the second time you attend that church, that you are the head of your home, and you are not looking for another man to take charge of you wife and kids. If he rebukes you soundly for that, keep moving. Hell is lurking in that church. He may say nothing, but from then on, he will shun you. Keep moving. Now, if that pastor tells you that is exactly what he wants for you and your home, you have found a real man of God and a man you can trust.
There is a God given inner voice in your mind that is based in your long term memory. When you start to take certain actions, that voice speaks. God created man with this feature. The animals do not have it because they are not the friends of God. God wants you to listen to that voice. Your inner voice may not tell you the same thing that mine tells me. That does not mean my inner voice is superior to yours or visa versa. It simply means, unless the Holy Spirit, by use of the Word of God, changes that voice, listen, and act only when that voice of conscience stops talking to you. And, never let ANY MAN replace that voice.
According to Baptist Standards, a pastor should always wear a coat and tie when he presides over a service and preaches. I used to keep that law of the Baptist Pharisees' union. Then, while I was pastoring in the High Desert in California, I got tired of being hot while I preached. I started taking the coat off right after I went up on the platform. Then later, I took the tie off and wore a bolo tie..... much cooler. Finally, in another church I pastored I went to a long sleeve western shirt and bolo tie. At no time in that evolution did I feel guilty. Indeed, I felt cooler and more relaxed. But, any good Fundamental Baptist Pharisee pastor would tell me I was backslidden. It is so pathetic to see a Baptist pastor start preaching on a hot day, and part way through the sermon he will take his suit coat off. Almost always, these preachers will then apologize for doing so, as if they have sinned so grievously that the congregation must hear them apologize, and the people must forgive the old boy. What silly worthless guilt!
Aside from being cooler, I was also dressed more like the people in the church I served. That is good if I do not have to dress sloppy to get there. I also found that when I went out with my wife to eat in my more comfortable outfit, people responded to us better, especially the waitresses. Calm down, now. I am not a handsome dude. The way I dressed somehow enhanced how my wife looked. Waitresses were a lot more friendly to my wife. Tell me, sir, do you dress to make you wife look good? Or, do you look like a fugitive from the dumpster out behind the Goodwill Store? Sorry, there I did it to you..... messing with your inner voice. But, I ain't sorry, especially if some husband here starts making his wife look good by his dress choices. This is all about romance and loving the lady.
The point of the last paragraph is this: When you realize that you do not have to wear a three piece suit to be sanctified and serve the Lord, do NOT go to the extreme in the opposite direction and dress like a slob. It really provokes me to see a mega church pastor dressed like a rebellious teen ager. With their income, they have no excuse for looking sloppy.
Genesis 1:27 - So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
God did NOT create me in the image of a Baptist preacher.
Hey, that was a rare moment that I got off a great one liner. Memorize it please.
HERE IS A SLOP HOG PASTOR WHO LOOKS LIKE A SKID ROW BUM
Indeed, maybe that is not too kind to stick the bums with that preacher.
TAKE AWAY FROM PART TWO
You conscience may be distracted, indeed even owned, by someone other than Jesus Christ. Do you have a "Do Not Enter" sign on your conscience prohibiting the Holy Spirit from showing you things you need to change?
Also, Satan may have an attack going on to take over your conscience. To help him, he may have recruited other Christians, or even you pastor, to help him take possession of your conscience. By now, you may have all sorts of standards that guide your life which the Holy Spirit finds repulsive.
Will you take action, or will you go drifting along out of fellowship with the Holy Spirit?
SEND MAIL- Feel free to send your story. But, if it is a horror story about a wicked pastor, please promise me this will be the last time you tell it to anyone.
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