Plumbline Faith
@PlumblineFaith
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Straight talk from a lifetime of service to the King of Kings. By Jim Wright - a husband, church sower, local elder, victim advocate & retired int'l attorney.
United States
Joined November 2023
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Mono-church?
When a church or movement organizes around the vision, natural abilities, or spiritual gifts of a particular leader …
It will grow rapidly at first but then stagnate as it eventually bumps up against his limits.
This is not how it should be.
“Church” must never
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Have you been deceived with modern day myths on tithing?
Tithing is never mentioned in the New Testament as something for Christians to do or as a valid practice within the church.
Nope, not, nada, just ain't there.
In fact, there is no historical support for the tithe being
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The idea that Christians should tithe to churches isn't found anywhere in Scripture.
In fact, it didn't arise until the 5th Century - many hundreds of years after the New Testament was written.
It emerged only after the "church" had become something far different than a
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Many “go to church” for a directed Sunday “service” performed by the “anointed” few in an odd building where they:
• Sit in regimented rows;
• Listen to a monologue “sermon” by the "Lead Pastor;” and
• Are entertained by a staged “worship” band.
Some, however,
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Reformed Theology says it's impossible to reject God's grace when offered ...
Based on the philosophic concept that doing so would involve human autonomy against God's sovereignty.
The flaw is that Reformed Theology does not see that there is a third option, which runs
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A local pastor introduced himself to me and asked about “my” church.
I shared how we don’t follow the post-New Testament model of a sole-proprietor “pastor” who preaches and runs the “service” every Sunday.
Rather, my role is to be an elder who – with others – unassumingly
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How to produce adolescent, self-absorbed “Christians” who remain stuck in their own issues and never seem to grow up:
Convince them Jesus is “all about a relationship”.
Really? Where do you get that from Scripture?
Oh, right. I forgot …
That’s how we avoid Christ’s
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The two main criteria most Christians look for in a “church” these days are:
Do they like the “Lead Pastor” ...
And the “service” he puts on for them each week?
Interestingly, these are post-Biblical concepts not found in the New Testament.
In fact, both are contrary to what
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Nothing in the original language or context of the New Testament even remotely matches our current, prevailing concepts of …
“Church,” “pastor,” “teach,” “preach,” “tithe,” “ministry,” “communion,” “worship,” and so much more.
Which begs the question:
What do people think
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The next time some preacher, televangelist or church tries to put a self-serving guilt trip on you to tithe to them, understand that there is nothing in the Bible that shifts the tithe forward from the Old Testament to them ...
Or imposes it on Christians.
Because what they now
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“Worship” these days is more pagan than Christian.
It is no longer about reverent obedience to a Sovereign God, but about the pagan practice of stirring up intense feelings which in turn conjure up some man-made god or deity.
It does this by creating the expectation that the
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@JamesIsaacs440
Helping victims over many years has taught me an important fact:
Sexually exploitive church leaders are some of the most charming, engaging and gifted people you’ll ever meet.
After all, how do you think they keep getting away with it?
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I’d rather gather together with a few in your living room and be the church, one with another …
Then sit in rowed seats with a thousand in some building called the “church” to watch staged shows.
#SimpleChurch
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What we mean by “worship” today seems to have become a distraction …
From what God means by “worship” in the New Testament.
In the original language of the New Testament, the Greek words translated “worship” mean a lifestyle of Godly obedience and reverence …
Not music or
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I’m not sure who scare me most:
Folks who believe God only speaks through Scripture …
Or folks who believe God tells them things which trump Scripture.
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I’d rather gather together as a functional community of believers who express Christ’s presence already in each of us – one to another …
Than go elsewhere for a scripted performance which tries to “usher” us into His presence – stage to pew.
The more I learn to “be the
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@WebsterSetFree
Next time I have spoils from fighting a war, I'll be sure to tithe on it.
Yup!!!
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When you step back and start looking at "church" as we've come to know it, some things just don't make sense.
Isn't it time to finally say no to the "show" and scripted "church" - performed by the few for the many from their raised platforms?
Instead, let's start being the
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@JustSom99117602
That's great! We have the freedom to give as God directs us personally. What we don't have is the right to misuse Scripture to impose a 10% non-agricultural requirement on everyone else.
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The irony of hard core “Calvinism” is that it diminishes God’s sovereignty …
By claiming He can’t delegate to others the option to reject His grace when offered.
Can a God who is so limited truly have absolute sovereignty?
This is the inherent contradiction in their
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@StephaniePille7
So have your people give 10% of their garden produce to a Levite, and let the Levite tithe on his tithe (i.e., 1%) to maintain your church.
Because that's the tithe you are referencing.
But you really don't want the actual tithe as defined in Scripture, do you?
Instead, you
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@JustinBerkobien
I pray that they find authentic freedom in Christ from their life controlling bondage.
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Tired of scripted, impersonal "church?"
Change starts with questions.
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@TexasSpiderpig
Did you know:
In the New Testament, the context of the Greek words translated as "preach" or "preaching" are always outside the church to convert the lost ...
And never in the church toward believers?
Or that the original Greek words almost always translated as "teach" or
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@autocorrect2_0
Yup.
We can't deny the Trinity.
I know this may mess up some of y’all …
But that Jesus you see in the New Testament is also God in the Old Testament.
Every last bit of it …
Including the parts you don’t like.
And He’s the same Jesus today and forevermore.
Any other
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@hcastanza
@mikebickle
I am aware of NO instance where Scripture condones the cover up of improprieties by those who claim to be leaders of God's people.
In fact, the Biblical approach – both Old and New Testament – is quite the opposite.
Furthermore, truly repentant leaders will not try to hide
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Sola scriptura is great ...
Except when it comes to ecclesiology, it seems.
Let's be honest.
What we call “church” these days is so far removed from the New Testament …
That we dare not let those who see that truth …
Also speak that truth …
Without “correcting” it with a
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PROPHETIC AUTHENTICITY
Over the years, I have taken a very public stand against the proliferation of for-profit non-prophets who peddle their wares to gullible believers.
In response, I’m often asked if I believe there are prophets today. I think that’s the wrong question,
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Few are willing to do the hard work of actually being the church.
You know, an active community of believers who encourage and minister to each other ...
Both when they gather together and throughout their daily lives.
Most, instead, are content to pay others to do "church"
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@Jmath777
Really?
You make lots of out of context presumptions.
The New Testament gives an explicit standard for giving, and it ain't the tithe. In fact, it is in direct opposition to the mandatory tithe.
"Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not
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@LampfortheLight
Christians who are more focused on some Great Escape than the Great Commission …
Got messed up priorities.
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I routinely asked men who gave their lives to the Lord in the jail and I mentored there, why it's so hard for them to become part of a church when they get out.
I then followed up by asking whether, after being released, they were ever invited into someone's home for a meal and
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Over the years, I have taken a very public stand against the proliferation of for-profit non-prophets who peddle their wares to gullible believers.
In response, I’m often asked if I believe there are prophets today. I think that’s the wrong question, because “prophet” in the
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@BethMooreLPM
Are you also disgusted with the hypocrisy and arrogance of Christians (like Beth Moore) dissing other Christians who voted for Mr. Trump?
I'm not defending Mr. Trump's personal flaws.
In fact, I intend to vote for DeSantis in my state's March primary if he's still in the race
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If insanity is doing the same things over and over, and expecting different results …
How can anyone defend “church” as we’ve come to know it?
Often, it’s primarily about a carefully produced weekly “service” designed to advance the “institution’s” own interests by feeding the
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@birdeyhunt
There is no general requirement in any part of Scripture to "give everything." Rather, as Christians we acknowledge that God is sovereign over all things, and we serve as stewards over everything we have because He's given all things to us.
Let's keep it real: I highly doubt
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@blaiseforet
In Hebrews 13:17, some English Bibles tell us to "obey" those who "rule over" us in the church. These are very unfortunate translations.
In the Greek, the verb translated "obey" is in the middle voice and means to "be persuaded". Yet it is often wrongly translated in the active
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Tired of paid "professionals" doing church for you on Sunday mornings?
Where do you even find that in the New Testament?
I’ll take simple relational church over staged scripted church any day of the week.
#SimpleChurch
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@ScottAniol
God ordained the trajectory of the bullet before the foundation of the world?
You mean the bullet that missed Trump and killed a father who was shielding his wife and daughters??
How sick.
Maybe God is so sovereign, He could ordain before the foundation of the world ...
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@BethCavete
I was a grad student studying theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philly during the late 1970s. I got a lot out of it, but it always struck me that parts of their hermeneutics were driven more by a priori philosophical presuppositions, than doing the hard work of
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Judge not?
Over the years, I've helped investigate and expose many sexually abusive "church" and "ministry" leaders ...
And even helped put some in jail.
When the facts finally came out, their supporters always fell back on the same old response.
They'd repeat the lie, used
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@Protestia
For many, "church" has become a circus - a staged show where they go to be entertained, amazed, awed and sent home feeling good.
This perversion is sustained by convincing folks that the more they are entertained, amazed, awed and feel good ...
The more "God moved" and the
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Congregational singing and music are important for our gatherings, but the New Testament doesn’t call that “worship.”
Rather, the New Testament says that living lives of reverent submission and faithful obedience to God …
Is true worship.
When we say that singing and music
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Starting indigenous, simple churches in our regional jail over many years taught me many eternal lessons.
I vividly remember one young man who attended one of our meetings. He was very troubled because his son kept getting into all kinds of trouble.
He couldn't understand
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@chrisholloman15
Yup.
Rather than dividing different passages in Scripture into separate little boxes, I'm much more interested in doing the hard work of trying to harmonize all of Scripture with all of Scripture!.
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The two main criteria most Christians look for in a “church” today are:
Do they like the “Lead Pastor” and the “service” he puts on for them each week?
Interestingly, these are post-Biblical concepts not found in the New Testament.
In fact, both are contrary to what the New
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@TheRhetorRick
It's in the Progressive Existential Revised Version (PERV) ...
Where the true Word of God is whatever feels right to you.
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@GeorgeEWade
Animal sacrifice also is commanded in the Old Testament. Is it then, by your logic, still to be practiced today by Christians?
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@Chris_Nich0ls
Not sure what that means, but I certainly don't believe that a home is the only legitimate place to gather as the church.
I also believe that church as the New Testament commands it is participatory, elder overseen, and multi-gifted with ministry one to another as an expression
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My wife Marianne and I are retired and love to head out several times a year to see the country in our RV. Our trips typically last from 1 to 5 weeks and over the last four years we've visited more than 40 states. Here we're at Yellowstone National Park from last September.
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“Worship” these days is often more pagan than Christian.
It is no longer about reverent obedience to the Sovereign God of Scripture, but about the pagan practice of stirring up intense feelings which in turn conjure up some man-made god or deity.
It does this by creating the
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Few are willing to do the hard work of actually being the church.
You know, an active community of believers who encourage and minister to each other ...
Both when they gather together and throughout their daily lives.
Most, instead, are content to pay others to do "church"
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These days, church “leaders” seem more interested in an elevated stage to deliver a prepared message …
Than living among us to make disciples as a prepared person.
The problem is …
Many folks seem to want it that way.
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Tired of the “institution” and looking for simple, relational church instead …
But your friends aren’t interested?
Consider opening your life, your home and your kitchen table to the lost, the unseen, the ignored, the marginalized, and the lonely.
After all, if your
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Jesus never said to be a “servant leader.”
Instead, He said to be a servant …
Just a servant (period).
Anything else is more about you …
Than about Him or others.
Moses didn’t want to lead.
Jonah didn’t want to preach.
Jeremiah hesitated to speak for God.
Beware of narcissists who exult that they are God’s chosen to rule us.
“But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My Word.”
Isa. 66:2
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Over the years, my wife and I have ministered to literally thousands of individuals trapped in life-controlling bondage.
Addiction, sexual perversion, gender confusion, abuse, violence, despair, chronic homelessness ...
We've been there helping others, up close and personal.
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@TimAAmor
Oh, get serious.
Name a single person of any note who claims "the Bible is God."
You can't.
This is just a specious post bearing false witness against those who dare affirm God's plenary authority of Scripture over YOUR own sensibilities to the contrary.
Prove me wrong.
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How do cultish groups, “churches” and movements attract people?
It’s simple:
Feed the need for validation …
Through a false Jesus who reinforces our own hopes and fears.
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Sharing Christ by handing out meals across some impersonal divide to “others” whom we deem “less fortunate” …
May have its place.
But not as a substitute …
For experiencing Christ one with another by opening our homes and sharing meals and life together with “brothers” whom
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@ChristinaForet
You don’t reconcile with church “leaders” who use and abuse others …
Or who facilitate such evil by protecting abusers within the church.
You stop them, as commanded in 1 Tim. 5:19-21.
End of story.
Only if there’s true confession and public repentance …
Can another story
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@isaiah489
Churches are good at institutionally building themselves and their platforms these days ...
But not so much relationally building and equipping disciples.
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@starcazm
Yup.
When integrity is displaced by loyalty to a leader …
When folks sit silent amidst disclosures of wrong …
When comforting assurances are offered and accepted in lieu of open, true repentance …
It’s not a church …
But a cult.
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Here's my mom, who lives with us and turns 90 in a few weeks, playing hymns and sharing Christ's love on the piano at an assisted living center that she frequently visits near us.
Why? Because, she often says, God's given her a "deep burden to help old people" - as though she's
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Many claim to have a “high view” and believe in the “authority” of Scripture, but be careful.
Often, they are playing verbal games rooted in the existential philosophy of “theologians” like Karl Barth.
He taught that Scripture is “authoritative” only as a helpful – but flawed –
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One of many memories of planting churches in the local jail involved going with another brother named John to encourage one of the fellowships we helped establish there.
When we arrived, John felt the Lord’s prompting to ask if anyone was struggling with anything and needed some
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@HwsEleutheroi
Those who reject God's authority of Scripture as His written Word ...
Are not my brother.
Because they serve a God of their own imagination ...
Who is not my Father.
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@mika_edmondson
We will have achieved true equality as a nation only when we can openly and frankly discuss the character, background and ideology of a black woman running for President, just like we can with any other candidate ...
Without being called a sexist or a racist for doing so.
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@DishingTheBiz
Helping victims over many years has taught me an important fact:
Sexually exploitive church leaders are some of the most charming, engaging and gifted people you’ll ever meet.
After all, how do you think they keep getting away with it?
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@reachjulieroys
When integrity is displaced by loyalty to a leader ...
When folks sit silent amidst disclosures of wrong ...
When comforting assurances are offered and accepted in lieu of open, true repentance ...
It's not a church ...
But a cult.
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@RichardDawkins
@Ayaan
Dawkins does protest too much
His faith is clear to see
For everything, he does believe
From nothing came to be
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It's popular these days to say that Jesus is all about a relationship.
Ok. I get it. People are sick of dead religion. So am I.
But that begs the question: a relationship on whose terms?
Don't let the shortcomings of some ...
Make you fall for the lies of others.
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When integrity is displaced by loyalty to a leader …
When folks sit silent amidst disclosures of wrong …
When comforting assurances are offered and accepted in lieu of open, true repentance …
It’s not a church …
But a cult.
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Deconstruction?
I'm all for examining our assumptions, traditions and doctrines in light of Scripture.
But “Christians” who reject God’s plenary authority, as expressed through His written Word …
Become their own standard for what’s ultimately true, real and right.
Is it any
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I love mercy but discreetly conceal carry.
If that seems like a contradiction, then maybe you’ve confused faith with comfort zones and mushy sentimentalities.
Where God often sent me, however, life was raw and edgy …
And evil real.
Yet I saw lives redeemed on a daily basis.
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Today is our wedding anniversary.
Our wonderful life together has been an enduring testament to a simple truth:
In marriage, the greatest gift we can give each other is the ability to love and be loved.
Unfortunately, though, wounds from past hurts, wrongs and regrets brought
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Few are willing to do the hard work of actually being the church.
You know, an active community of believers who encourage and minister to one another ...
When they gather together and throughout their daily lives.
Most, instead, are content to tithe so others can do "church"
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Like Paul dealing with the Judaizers of his day, what about Christians who still insist that we all be Torah observant?
The Law given as part of the Old Covenant is no longer in force (including the Decalogue), since the Old Covenant no longer is in force.
However, the moral
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@erichoke
Yup.
When your ministry becomes your source of validation ...
It truly is "your" ministry.
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Tragically, some throw off the limitations of pastoral monopoly …
Only to fall prey to the tyranny of modern day claims about “apostolic” hierarchy.
Maybe that’s why the New Testament instead prescribes the safety of multiple elders to watch over local churches …
And protect
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@pazclm
@StephaniePille7
Never said that.
Do you presume that the only way to give is by tithing???
Because that's not what the New Testament says.
Instead, it gives a new standard which is directly contrary to the Old Testament tithe:
"Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart
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Earlier today, Marianne and I shook off last week's dreary weather to take a hike under glorious sunny skies to see Virginia's blooming bluebells in all their grandeur.
Life is good.
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@joyklaprade
@bbtbpod
If you’re confused about why it takes sex abuse victims so long – if ever – to build up the courage to speak up …
Look no further than your own reaction when it involves abuse by someone you support, like or know.
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How do abusive "spiritual" movements happen?
The spiritually broke, in search of intensity ...
Are manipulated by spiritual narcissists, who gave them what they seek ...
And call it "God" ...
Thus trapping them in tangled webs of dependency, ego, and deception.
@IHOPKC
and
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The great failing of the "prayer movement" was its focus on generating manipulated feelings of intensity ...
And calling that "God."
True spiritual warfare, however, is not waged in some cliquish "prayer room" …
But by going forth to assault the gates of Hell.
Authentic
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@ihopkc
@bennettisaac
God is a God of justice and wants repentance, not your status quo attempts to convince people all is ok.
"I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you
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@TheBandEastward
How about who ministers to whom?
Here's just some of the New Testament imperatives about our gatherings as the church being participatory, with ministry one to another out of the diverse gifts God distributes among us ...
Rather than ministry by the "one."
These are not
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Because He loves us, God offers grace without merit …
But also requires repentance in return.
Anything less on either point …
Emasculates the Gospel.
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When evil demands compliance …
Integrity demands resistance.
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When “church” and “worship” are about stirring up carnal feelings, God's not there.
And that thing you feel?
It’s not God, because it's more about you ...
Than Him.
It may be intense, but trust me …
It ain’t Him.
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“(Riddle) dismissed my concerns about spiritual abuse, describing Alan as apostolic and prophetic, and suggested that enduring such treatment was the price for revival."
Hmm ...
One sure thing I have observed over the years:
Without exception, if someone needs to be called
BREAKING: Worship musician
@jeremymriddle
has been removed from the Arise Shine Conference in May, following allegations he spiritually abused former staff at the embattled Dwelling Place Anaheim, led by Pastor
@Alan_Scott
.
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@Jmath777
You presume regarding giving to the local church in Corinth. Maybe they did, but there is no Scripture which says so. All we know is that Paul urged them to give to help destitute believers in Jerusalem. Whether that was on top of some other regular giving to the Corinthian
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Judge not?
Never have two words been taken so out of context to distort what Jesus actually said …
Which explains the mess we’re facing in our culture, churches and politics.
May God’s people and those of goodwill begin to judge righteously once again.
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For many, "church" has become a circus - a staged show where they go to be entertained, amazed, awed and sent home feeling good.
This perversion is sustained by convincing folks that the more they are entertained, amazed, awed and feel good ...
The more "God moved" and the
4
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Clergy fraud, abuse and predation?
When we capitulate to evil in the name of “peace,” we become the evil.
When we suppress truth in the name of “love,” we become the lie.
When we excuse abuse in the name of “unity,” we become the abuser.
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