Author Archives: Tammie Edwards

Church Assessments 1/2/25

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Crossroads Community Church, “Eyes to See”

The devil and his minions have a primary objective to infiltrate the church with doctrines of demons. Satan is a liar, and he is very clever in his deceit. As Christ-followers, we need to be able to have spiritual vision that can detect evil. As Christ-followers we need to hear God’s voice so that we can step in obedience to Him. We need to be set apart in order to see what’s creeping in to the churches.

Crossroads Community Church is planning a 21-day fast this month. So let’s talk about what spiritual fasting is and what spiritual fasting is not. A biblical fast is not about abstaining from healthy foods. Daniel and his friends abstained from the indulgences of the pagan culture, not from healthy eating. A true spiritual fast is about setting yourself completely apart to seek God. In Isaiah 58, (please read the chapter, it takes about 5 minutes), God lays out where their fasting has gone wrong. In that text, He clearly is annoyed that they think their fasting is about forcing God. We don’t get to force God to do anything. (Who wants a God that can be intimidated by fasting?) Fasting doesn’t accomplish our list of demands. What we should hope for instead is that we are given spiritual eyes to see good versus evil.

Please read the seven letters to the churches in Revelation, chapters 2 and 3 (10 minutes). Do you see how John penned a consultation of strengths and weaknesses about each of the churches? Actually, it was mostly weaknesses, but who’s counting? Could you listen for God to tell you what He sees in your church?

I hope Crossroads’ members, staff, and friends will set themselves apart to sincerely SEEK GOD, not tell Him. Put aside all the religious traditions and clutter. Remove yourselves from the indulgences that are so easily available to distract you from your Kingdom purposes. (Eat healthy to keep your strength up. You’re going to need in the fight ahead.) For some, God will give an increased spiritual discernment that is listed as discerning between spirits in the miraculous gifts (1 Corinthians 12:4-11) as a manifestation of the Spirit. In other words, God will be right there with you pointing out the evil. But if you turn a blind eye to what God is showing you because it’s too hard to confront, God won’t bother with opening your eyes further. And you will sit in your comfortable stinking pew until someone else has the courage to step forward. If you didn’t discern it, that was a message of warning from God.

Oh, Crossroads, how I hope that you will use that 21 days to build your relationship with God. Don’t flaunt yourselves. Instead humble yourselves. Be eager to know God’s will, not busying yourselves telling God all the wise advice that you’re sure He needs. Because from what I can tell, most think that God doesn’t know what’s going on unless you give Him counsel. Are the words “shut up, and listen to God” too harsh? Maybe, and maybe some of you need harsh. Just sayin …

Perhaps you haven’t been taught how to discern God’s voice in prayer. Well buckle up! Your training is about to begin! During your 21-day fast, I will post here to help you learn. I hope you really want to know God, because He wants to be known. The devil has been working overtime to cover your eyes. I pray that you will have eyes to see truth!

Church Assessments 1/1/25

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Women in Ministry (Part 2 of 7)
Christian Apologetics

Various and wrong interpretations of Scriptures have created a very fractured church. Just in the churches in my hometown, I have witnessed hugely different theologies even within the same denominations. You may have noticed that the word “denomination” is not that far from the word “demonization”. That’s because a doctrine of demons or false theology has reared its ugly head and spewed a wrong interpretation of Scripture. I’d like to say that some churches have appropriately separated themselves from the churches who teach falsely, but that doesn’t seem to be the case since nearly all churches are teaching falsely on one or more topics rather than consistently bringing sound Biblical doctrine. Locally, there is even a pastors’ coalition that is willing to hold hands with false teachers in a unity-of-disunity cult.

The lack of truth coming from the pulpits is likely born of two major shortcomings: 1) Failure to seek God; and 2) Refusal to honor God above catering to congregational politics.

If a preacher doesn’t hear God’s voice in prayer, he/she has no business teaching others. Hearing the enemy’s voice rather than seeking God is largely why false doctrines are handed down from generation to generation. Those doctrines of demons keep getting confirmed through the false teachers and received by the ignorant listeners. Both parties have a responsibility to God to seek Him and hear His voice about true doctrine. Please hear me, the Church is a mess of false doctrines and country club religion. It’s the Pharisees on steroids. If you don’t smile pretty when a pastor is preaching falsely, your membership is revoked. Why isn’t dedication and allegiance to God enough to make Christians openly stand opposed to false teaching?

Catering to congregational politics is why some preachers knowingly teach falsely. Either they have been teaching wrong for so long they can’t risk losing “big money” client-congregants by correcting wrong theologies or their jobs (and livelihoods) are on the line if they step out of “denominational” stance. I say risk everything to stand right before God. Unfortunately, many of the preachers in pulpits across our country don’t know God and are cowards trying to pretend that their seats of honor give them the right to bamboozle those who are earnestly trying to learn truth.

It always has made me laugh that the word apologetics is so close to the word apologize. Yes, there definitely should be some apologizing going on! When debaters use a one-verse theology to prove a bogus interpretation of Scripture, they should be asking forgiveness. You’ll see on the attached pages and in the days ahead how often that foolishness is used against women in ministry. Usually with the verse disproving it just a few lines following it. That’s when you can know that some form of selfish gain is at the core of the false theology. How else could you explain intentionally ignoring the context of the passage or the heart of God?

If I decided to build a bogus theology against men in the church, I could easily do it using passages of Scriptures. For example: “Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.” (Leviticus 19:27 NIV); “Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:28 NIV); “Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.” (Galatians 5:2 NIV).

I could debate that if I were not greeted by men in the church with a kiss, that they were disobeying Biblical commands since there are no less than five verses that say to greet each other with a kiss … (Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:26, 1 Peter 5:14). Do you see where I’m going with this?

“For I strongly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt until today, warning them time and time again: Obey My voice.” (Jeremiah 11:7 HCSB)

Source: The Rogue Prophet Magazine, “Spiritual Crimes Against Women In Ministry”, August, 2023

Church Assessments 12/31/24

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Women’s Ministry (Part 1 of 7)
Crossroads Community Church of God

Women need training, mentoring, and counseling just like men do. Many women have been sexually abused or traumatized by men. Have you seen the statistics? When there is not a women’s minister, and women are uncomfortable privately meeting with a male minister, the church loses its value as a place of refuge for hurting women. As far as I can tell, Crossroads Community Church of God is in need of a Women’s Ministry Director. There are no scheduled Bible studies on the calendar/website. There is no designated women’s minister listed as staff. A spiritually healthy church should have a vibrant women’s ministry.

Male ministers don’t seem to be allowed to privately message or respond to an email from women. As a female prophet trying to deliver a word from God, all that I can have are one-sided communications with men in leadership. I evidently don’t deserve a written response or an appointment for face-to-face discussion. God said that they’re intimated by me. Can’t say that I blame them. I’m so very scary! So, it seems that all women are equally ignored whether they are strong or weak.

The Lord wanted me to include this brief story. Many years ago, a pastor at a local church that I was newly attending referred to me as just some “hottie” in the church before he proceeded to livestream himself attempting to cast out a Jezebel* spirit from me. In his mind all strong or cute women must be demonically controlled. That pastor was unsuccessful at evicting the Holy Spirit from me. But Pastor Marcus lost his church shortly after, and he is dead. God doesn’t mess around with that stuff. “Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm.” (Psalms 105:15 NIV)

*Note: Jezebel was a Baal worshipper. She was not at any time a prophet of God, or ever claimed to be a prophet of God … in fact, she killed the prophets of God. She called herself a prophetess of Baal. There is nothing Biblical to support that she was attractive or seductive. The only mention of beauty related to Jezebel was that she “painted” her face just before she was thrown to her death to be eaten by dogs. Certainly, wearing cosmetics does not imply that a woman is possessed by an evil spirit, but persecuting prophets of God would indicate a problem. So, you go girl, and be as cute as you want!

The various denominations of the Christian religion have different doctrinal stances regarding women in leadership. The Church of God corporately promotes a good doctrine about women in leadership. In their doctrine, women are equally (to men) anointed by God in the church. In the Church of God denomination, women can be ordained and are able to teach both genders and preach.

However, in other Christian denominations, women are not seen as equals in leadership roles especially if men are present. When I led women’s Bible studies at one local church, I was not even allowed to lead a prayer if a man were present. The protocol was that I was supposed to defer to any man to speak any corporate prayers even if he didn’t know God. In another church (A Church of God denomination), an egotistic male associate minister, Scooter, thought that he had the right to be at every women’s ministry gathering and Bible study to oversee our activities. Obviously, I resigned from that church staff when he insisted on being my supervisor. He didn’t like that I wanted to teach women that God is not mute. If God couldn’t speak to His daughters, then the minister got to be the authority on all matters. Scooter quickly fractured that church, that had grown from 25 to 300 members in about a year’s time, and destroyed a beautiful women’s ministry that so many worked to create. All that destruction because he needed to lord himself over women in ministry. Too often, little men are easily emasculated by the presence of strong women. But listen, Kingdom women, don’t reduce yourself and God’s power through you to satisfy useless idiots. God wants us strong and on the battlefield against the enemy just as He leads.

I have led, hosted, or facilitated women’s Bible studies and simulcast events at the Library, YMCA, work conference rooms, and at three different churches. I’ve seen the women hungry for connection with God. I’ve seen them starved for spiritual growth in the church. I’ve seen women hurting and in need of spiritual counsel that they can’t get in the secular marketplace. I’ve seen women in need of deliverance ministry because they have not been taught the importance of covenant relationship with God. I have actively participated for more than 20 years in daily conversations with God, listening to His counsel about the doctrines in the church. God has equipped me and entrusted me with this voice of truth. I will not waste it! So, if I step on some toes along the way, well … should I say sorry in advance? Because it’s probably going to happen if you are immersed in false teaching or if you are a man/woman who has too big an ego and too little courage to seek God.

So, in summary. The Church of God has good doctrine about women in ministry and leadership. Does your church? Crossroads, you might do well to publish your specific doctrinal stance about women in ministry and leadership (under your “what we believe” section) as an example to other churches. Maybe, a reader here is a woman’s minister at a church where there is false doctrine about women’s giftedness from God (for example the Baptist Church). If you are, I encourage you to seek God about removing yourself from that church and going to a church where the doctrine is worthy of your talents and anointing. Staying where the false teaching is ignored will not end well for you or anyone you love because you are effectively complicit with false teaching. But always, seek God yourself.

Tomorrow, in Part 2 of 7, we will look at specific doctrines. I will include study pages too. I’d like to recommend one book: “10 Lies The Church Tells Women” by J. Lee Grady. It’s an easy read with much Scriptural foundation but without being overly technical. I have another book to recommend, but it reads like it was written by an attorney. So, we’ll save that one for later.

She’s Out There!

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“My child’s out there, and she desperately needs to hear what you have to say.” Those were the first words I heard the Lord say to me as I was awakened from a dream this morning.

God knows how to well place a dream, that’s for sure. I was all prepared to write about women’s ministry this morning before the dream but now I’m more inspired than ever. Please let me share the dream with you in case you are the “child” He was talking about.

In the dream, there was a little orphan girl that was being placed from home to home. When I met her she was between homes. She was put in my care for the day with the idea that I might adopt her. But it seemed like there were huge distractions with everyone vying for her attention. I decided that I would teach her to hear God’s voice in prayer so that if she went to another home she would at least hear the Father’s voice. But it was impossible, nobody would leave us alone long enough to have the conversation. The social worker swooped in and dragged her away because she knew what was best for the child. That’s when I awoke and heard the Lord say “My child’s out there, and she desperately needs to hear what you have to say.”

So we are going to discuss women’s ministry today, and every day this week until I get the message across that God wants. If you’re God’s child, and you desperately need this message, please fight the distractions, and lean in. I’m going to do my best to reach you.

This may be the only true women’s ministry that you will find in our town. There is way too much country-club religion out there that distracts us from our Kingdom purpose. Most churches devalue our anointing and destiny calling by relegating us to baking a casserole or sitting pretty and being silent. Oh honey, you were made for so much more. Over these next few days, I will be talking directly to you. I will give you Biblical facts and testimony to help you study this subject with God. I will teach you to hear God’s voice in prayer so that you are equipped to rise up and be heard. I will not be dissuaded from this message. I will not be stopped. Will you?

It’s God’s Church!

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To piggyback on yesterday’s rather “hot” post about God not needing permission, I want to communicate that the churches belong to God, not to the pastors, not to the congregants, not to the board or to the deacons and elders.

God, aka Jesus, is the head of the church — nobody else. As the boss, God is allowed to bring a word of caution, instruction, and rebuke to the church. Again, He doesn’t need permission.

He asked me to remind everyone of a few promises (threats) for those who teach falsely in His church. He also doesn’t need permission to act swiftly. So here goes:

“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6 NIV also Mark 9:42 & Luke 17:2)

“For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.” (Jude 1:4 NIV)

“Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered STRANGE FIRE before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.” (Leviticus 10:1-2 NAS)

“But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.” (2 Pet. 2:1-3 NIV)

“But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.” (2 Peter 2:12-18 NIV)

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. ‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.’” (Matthew 23:13-15 NIV)

“‘How can you say, ‘We are wise, for we have the law of the LORD,’ when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely? The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, what kind of wisdom do they have? Therefore I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says the LORD.” (Jeremiah 8:8-12 NIV)

Will you pursue knowing God’s will about any false teaching? Do you have the courage to admit wrong doctrines and to correct errors? Are you sitting in that comfortable church pew breathing in false teaching and refusing to combat it?

Church Assessments, 12/28/24

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Crossroads Community Church of God

God doesn’t need any person’s permission to be God. I hope you heard that loud and clear. Read it again. God DOES NOT need your permission to be God. Certainly, you’re not the one that God wakes up at 3:00 am to discuss these church assessments with so you might not understand how important they are to God. But I do. God chose me as His prophet. God anoints me as His prophet. God constantly humbles me as His prophet. God holds me in place and refuses to let me choose anything other than His will. There are promised wrath constantly held over me if I refuse Him. Maybe that’s not the God that you know, but you also don’t know God very well. I hear His voice every day. I must seek Him for every decision. The life of a prophet is very confined and isolated. But hey, if you think you want this role, please tell God that you give Him permission to use you to deliver this message. But until then, this is where He chooses to deliver His messages about the churches. Jonah spent three days in the belly of a whale and put the entire ship of people in danger because he refused God’s request to deliver a message. I don’t want that.

All of that is said to remind the readers that none of this is meant to harm a specific pastor. I’ve already clearly stated that the pastor at Crossroads Community Church has a heart for God. There are other pastors in the assessments ahead that will hear a strong word of rebuke from God. I will not refuse God’s message. You can shoot the messenger all you want but God has no problem removing pastors from pulpits without notice or consent. Recently, there was a local pastor who God had me deliver messages to for two years. I sent mailed letters. I sent emails. I sent private messages on Facebook. I created and printed newsletters and doctrinal magazines and sent them to the pastor all at my own expense. All of the messages were to alert the pastor to false doctrines in the church. I invested a lot of time and energy. When God had enough of it, though, the pastor was quickly removed from the pulpit and replaced. God is not messing around with this. Please people get on board with this move of God. I’m not ever at any time asking you to believe me solely. I’m asking you to seek God on these subjects. Quit being lazy and non-committal and get in the game. Choose God! Seek God! Want God’s will! That’s all that I’m asking of you. Get your head out of your android and seek God!

Oh, and by the way, God is watching every word that is posted on social media. He sees if you imply that He needs your permission to use me in this way. You will just bring His wrath on you if you try to dissuade me from bringing His message. But I already know that some of you are more stupid than useful. Sorry, that’s just the facts. Don’t provoke God. It’s easier for me to deliver a tame message from Him than to feel the full weight of His displeasure and wrath in the words. God knows that I don’t like to watch when He disciplines you. I never could stand to see my siblings get the belt growing up. Still don’t like it!

Monday’s post will be about Women’s Ministry and doctrines surrounding women in leadership roles. Please be ready to study something more important than video games and celebrity gossip.

Church Assessments 12/27/24

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Crossroads Community Church of God


“Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, ‘I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.’” (Jeremiah 1:9-10 NIV)


The Lord may have chosen Crossroads Community Church as the first church for assessment largely because the problem areas are mostly surface issues rather than core doctrinal areas of concern. The senior minister, Pastor JC Weeks, has charisma and anointing from God. Every sermon that I listened to from him was on the mark for communicating a word from the Lord. Aside from a few churchy phrases that could be misinterpreted, he consistently displayed good doctrinal stance. I can’t say that about very many pastors locally.

Today, God wanted me to talk about two areas for improvement that are good for all churches to assess. I can’t stress enough the importance of talking these over with God. Please, if I don’t get any other message across, please hear me in this. God wants to talk with each member, minister, and staff about His church. The responsibility is not solely on the senior minister. God expects all of us to bring our gifts, talents, and voice to improving the church. None of us should sit back and be entertained. God is watching.

The first area to seek God about is 1) THE SANCTITY OF THE SANCTUARY. Most churches are livestreaming services or recording worship. Having cameras in the sanctuary interferes with heart intimacy and cheapens the whole experience. Please talk with God about this. Ask Him if He wants cameras recording worshipers or if He would prefer a more intimate environment. This is a huge deal for God. Please don’t dismiss the subject because it doesn’t suit your own goals.  

The second area to discuss today is 2) CLEARLY DEFINED ROLES/STAFF. When visiting the church, I want to readily know who the women’s minister is. Who is the youth minister? Who is the children’s minister? For me, I want to connect with those people to know about the individual ministries. At Crossroads Community Church there were no scheduled new membership classes to discuss the church doctrines, and there were not clearly defined ministry roles. If you visit Park Avenue Baptist Church’s website, (@ https://www.parkavenue.org/staff) you will see clearly defined staff roles for every ministry. I would use their site as a roadmap for how to represent staff roles. (I’m not saying that Park Avenue Baptist Church has everything right, because they absolutely don’t have good doctrine about women in ministry, but they do have this area presented well.)  

Again, please pray with God about these areas for your own church. Study what I’m saying. Put yourself in the shoes of a new guest. Would you be willing to invest yourself in a church where you have limited vision of their doctrinal stance or ministry offerings?  

We will continue to look at Crossroads Community Church strengths and weaknesses in the days ahead. We will look at several important doctrines too. Please seek God on how you can invest in the Kingdom agenda.

Church Assessments

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And so it begins …

The Lord is wasting no time in getting right to it. God has been waking me up in the early morning hours for many days recently to discuss reviewing the churches locally. I had thought that He would wait until the new year to begin the process of communicating this information. But it seems that today is the day to embark on this journey with you.

In the early chapters of the book of Revelation, we can read the seven letters to the churches penned by John. Those words were from Jesus, even using first person language as “Here I am, I stand at the door and knock …”. As a prophet of God, who has been hearing His voice in prayer for over 20 years, I am tasked with bringing a similar message from the Lord to the churches. (Please believe me, I can come up with 1,000 different things to do with my time rather than provoke the churches against me. I’m well aware of how the prophets were persecuted in Biblical times.)

These assessments of the churches will include reviewing their strengths and weaknesses to help them grow. The primary critique though must be in solving doctrinal issues. I’m inviting all of you to join in on helping the churches in their needs AND in asking God how you can step out of your comfort zone to be used by Him. Many churches are dying and need to be revived. Some of the smaller churches that I visited have just a handful of older people hanging on and doing their best to help. I can understand why this is important to God.

So, while we will look at doctrinal problem areas in each of the churches, we will also look at their men/women’s, children/youth, and music/worship ministries. We will also assess their facilities and outreach strengths and weaknesses. Several local churches are in need of roof repairs as a result of hurricane damages this year. They are struggling to have the money to make those repairs. Drawing attention to it is an opportunity for some readers to help in discreet ways.

Several churches are looking for worship leaders and youth ministers. All of us are a little too invested in our smart phones and not enough invested in building up the body of Christ. Maybe that is something that can change for us in the new year. Please talk with God about it.

The first church that we will be looking at in the local community is Crossroads Community, Church of God, on Knox McRae Road. I have visited the church on several occasions, watched online sermons, reviewed their website and Facebook pages, and discussed with God what He wants brought forward for review. None of this is about criticizing anyone. It is for the purpose of making things better. To do that we must look at ways to build up and ways to tear down. If you’re going to be actively involved in improving the churches, then you must seek God and listen to His voice in prayer.

Restored Covenant?

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Without fail, as part of my bedtime routine and early morning wakeup conversations with God, I ask Him a series of questions to gauge my position under His authority. One question is “Lord, is there anything that I need to ask forgiveness for?” His response is “You have done my will exactly.”

You might think that being exactly in His will would warrant great reward and no difficulties. The consistent rewards are: 1) I continue to hear God’s voice; 2) He makes His presence known; and 3) He chooses to protect me and my children from the devil’s activities against us.

My obedience, however, does not equate to an easy life. Most of the time, it feels like I am in a perpetual spiritual bootcamp being constantly trained, pushed to the limits of my capabilities, and purposely weakened and humbled. That probably doesn’t sound like favor, but it is growth. That growth is required for God to continue to trust me with the anointing of hearing His voice and the supernatural anointings of the manifestation of the Spirit of God. So don’t look at me or my physical surroundings to gauge my walk with God, and I will not judge your hard situations as punishment from God either. Although, if I hear God say that you’re being punished, well then, I’m not going to argue with Him or assist you outside of His will.

Prayer is the vehicle for conversation with God. Thankfully, we can silently pray anywhere at any time. We don’t need permission from anyone to seek God. However, to hear God speak to you in prayer, you need to be in unbroken covenant with Him. Covenant relationship simply means that you have chosen Him as your only God and choose to obey Him. Restoration of a broken covenant requires the forgiveness conversation discussed in paragraph 1 above. Again, hearing His voice doesn’t guarantee an easy life but it does position you to be exactly in His will when you obey His direction. There is one thing that I’m sure of … I would be completely lost without Him. Are you?

VENOM OR FERVOR

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Most of us would have no problem working up a venomous hatred for a person who intentionally harms children. We would feel justified to see the rapist condemned to maximum criminal prosecution. A convicted pedophile deserves to lose their genitals at the very least. I say all that as a reminder that we can work up a real hatred, and should, for evil. None of us would quote “love the sinner, hate the sin” to a mother whose beloved child was heinously tortured and brutally murdered by a terrorist. We would want to stop the evil one at all cost before they were free to inflict further harm.

God hates evil enough to flood the whole earth in Noah’s days rather than look upon it. His wrath is justified. But if God loves us unconditionally, how much evil are we free to get away with without consequence? Why would we want to? But hey what harm is there in allowing a little bit of greed or jealousy to find its way into our hearts? Did you feel the distaste for that thought as you read it? I did!

The prophets of the Bible had their lives torn apart by God so that He could send them to deliver a message from Him. They warned of impending doom if the hearers did not heed the message of correction. As a prophet, I’m often not happy with the investment that God expects of me to bring a word from Him to a false teacher. I’ve been doing this for years and it never gets easier. If I try to turn my heart off to escape the pain of repeatedly having the door shut in my face, God punishes me for not having enough fervor. If you don’t understand that on the surface then hear it from God’s own words to Jeremiah from Scripture. “I will pronounce my judgments on my people because of their wickedness in forsaking me, in burning incense to other gods and in worshiping what their hands have made. ‘Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them.’”

How much should God ignore the false teachers’ doctrines if their heart towards Him is right? It seems that they have just been taught wrong doctrine not that they themselves crafted it. So how much are they responsible for teaching it to God’s beloved children? It seems like a cycle of false teaching will continue to evolve unless God stops it. I will use an obvious example to help explain this concept. In the Catholic church one of the false doctrines is that the people should pray to Mary or dead saints to intercede, rather than pray directly to God. That seems like the most ridiculous assertion especially to anyone who has read and understood the Bible. We know with certainty that we are to pray only to God because we understand the covenant arrangement. We are to have no other gods. Praying to Mary or praying to a saint is an occult activity. Yet, that false doctrine stands strong in the Catholic religion and has for generations. You might ask, where’s the harm? At least the Catholics have a strong heart for charitable causes. Oh please, give me a break! I’m shaking my head as I type this because that’s exactly how many of you who are reading this feel despite that God hates that false teaching. He hates it!

So, does God hate the false teaching in your church? There seems to be little evidence of it since He allows you to sit in that church pew week after week never questioning the false teaching or trying to eradicate it. Heck, you bring your family to be immersed in it as though it’s a good thing. Maybe you’re too lazy to do the hard work, or maybe you cannot afford to lose your comfortable favor to bring a message from the Lord. Oh, but you have no problem mocking His messenger. Sit in your comfortable seat. Enjoy the air conditioning. Praise the Lord in His sanctuary. But know, the Lord will not put up with your insolence forever. One day, He is going to open your eyes and move you out of your comfort because you will suddenly see the evil, that can no longer be unseen. You will dread the day that you brought your family to a place where lies have been acceptable. You will taste vomit in your own mouth when you realize that you have been complicit in their deceit. You have joined in against God’s messenger because it was easier than standing strong against false teaching. But … you can’t be bothered to learn to hear God’s voice in prayer. That’s just too much dedication to expect from you. You can’t even be expected to read the Bible, can you? Isn’t that what you pay a pastor to do on your behalf? This message was entitled “Venom or Fervor”, but who am I kidding, I can’t get you to question your own moral compass much less the pastor’s. Certainly, you are all doing the Lord’s work, so have at it.