Tag Archives: bible

Church Assessments 1/11/25

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Summary So Far:

Let’s look back on where we’ve been over the last two weeks before moving on. It helps to summarize the main strategic points. I always welcome questions but since I don’t regularly receive that kind of feedback, I try to anticipate the areas that might be more difficult to digest easily.

True Doctrine:
Repeatedly, I have expressed the need to hear God’s voice in prayer so that you can know true doctrine. All the churches locally teach contrary to each other on some areas of doctrine. For example: 1) Methodist, Church of God, Presbyterian, and some nondenominational churches teach that women are equal partners to men in leadership and ministry. Women can be ordained as preaching pastors in those denominations. But in the Baptist, Church of Christ/Christian, Pentecostal, Apostolic, and some nondenominational churches, women are considered to be subordinate to men in areas of leadership. Also, 2) Some denominations believe that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit such as healing, speaking in tongues and prophecy can no longer be delivered from the Holy Spirit to His people. (Evidently the Holy Spirit lost His power or permission somewhere along the way.) And finally, 3) Some churches believe that there is a corporation of three gods that make up a god-head while others correctly wholeheartedly love only one God and are in covenant relationship with Him.

If you don’t know where you stand on any of these issues, please go back and read the study pages and articles posted on the previous days. I will continue to build on these topics but having a firm foundation in the Scriptures will be helpful to you as we progress forward.

Discerning God’s Voice:
Knowing God and learning to hear His voice in prayer are crucial to being a true disciple. As discussed before: 1) You must be in unbroken/restored covenant relationship with God which means that you must have a sincere forgiveness conversation with Him asking for specific areas of mismanagement (sin) to be evaluated and restored. You must learn from your specific mistakes so that you can prevent repeat occurrences. The conversation should never be “I’m sorry for everything.” Sin and temptations should be intentionally discussed for improvement. 2) You can only have one God, not three. God is Spirit. When God’s Spirit made Himself known in a human-born, flesh and blood frame, He was fully God (as Spirit) and fully man (as flesh). The flesh part was crucified on a cross so that we no longer need a priest to intercede or a blood sacrifice for atonement. Instead God gave us access through the torn veil to approach Him alone in prayer to humble ourselves and ask for forgiveness for sin. That is how we restore covenant relationship. 3) We must seek God, not advise God. That will require a major prayer shift for most people who have grown up in the church and heard prayers modeled that inform or advise God. We must learn to shut up and listen to God rather than counsel Him about matters that He intimately knows better than we do. Who wants a God that needs our advice? I don’t. Sure we’re allowed to talk to Him about our concerns, but we’re not supposed to try to convince God that our ways are better than His.

Women in Ministry/Leadership:
Too many women seem to be content with being lazy or refusing to accept the anointing and giftedness from God. Yes, I blame some of the false doctrine on the women who sit back and accept it. 1) The Holy Spirit anoints men, women, and children for ministry. He looks for a yielded spirit, right covenant relationship, spiritual maturity, and courage to step out. There is no gender bias from the Holy Spirit. There is no age requirement. There is no seminary degree or college certificate required. An hour spent directly with the Lord is equivalent to about 10 hours of doctorate studies. To repeat, you do not need a secular degree if you are learning at the feet of Jesus. He is the one and only God. There is no authority higher. If He anoints you, He expects you to be bold in that anointing. 2) The Bible clearly records that there were women leaders throughout history that were anointed by God as prophets, judges (deliverers), apostles, deacons, teachers, etc. While the law of the Pharisees prohibited women from leadership, they were also the ones who refused Jesus and crucified Him on a cross. You don’t need permission from a Pharisee to be God’s anointed daughter. 3) Women, we have an advocate who will fight for us and with us against those who perpetuate the lies of the devil about our royal authority as daughters of the King. We must use our voice of truth to speak out against the demonic oppression being delivered through those who don’t know God or true doctrine. You cannot be lazy and indifferent. You must stand up as true Kingdom champions, not little princesses who sit silently by while the devil makes a mockery of your spiritual DNA and heritage.

Attached are two pages about “The Laws of the Pharisees” from The Rogue Prophet Magazine, “Spiritual Crimes Against Women in Ministry”, August 2023, pages 6-7. I hope you will study the Scriptures included on these study sheets and speak with God about them. As I always say … “Don’t believe me. Ask God Yourself!”



Church Assessments 1/10/25

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The Covenant Priority

Loving God wholeheartedly is the priority. We do that through having true heart relationship with Him, hearing His voice in prayer, and walking in obedience. In case you need to hear that again, the covenant relationship is about knowing God and walking with Him. If you can’t get that right, then why bother with trying to disciple others?

Evangelism is not the priority. Evangelism is not what saves you. Knowing the Savior and obeying Him is what is priority. Please listen, reading the Bible (which the devil knows better than you do), putting money in an offering plate, faithfully attending church, or loving your neighbor is not the criteria for having a heavenly home for all eternity. Your personal relationship with God is what matters. True discipleship is learned at the feet of Jesus. True discipleship must come from learning to hear God’s voice in prayer and obeying Him specifically.

The priority is not in how many souls you win or in loving others. I’m sorry, but it just is not. If you spend your whole life loving others well but ignore the priority relationship with God, you’re still going to hell. Discipleship is about knowing God. If you want to help others to know God, then you must begin with teaching them the importance of knowing God personally and WHOLEHEARTEDLY. It’s not a secondary priority — it is the first thing. You will spend your whole life with that priority. If God leads you to help a neighbor or to evangelize, then it becomes an act of obedience to your priority relationship. I hope I’m making this clear. Everything else should not be on your radar unless God puts it there. That’s how you choose God first every time.

This story is an example of specific obedience. One day I was driving down the road, and my spiritual vision was directed to a woman sitting at a park. I asked the Lord about the woman. He said for me to take $20 (the last $20 that I had until my next pay day several days later) and to tell her that God specifically asked me to give her the money. So, I did exactly that. I confidently (yet discreetly) approached her with the $20 in my outstretched hand and said “God asked me to give this to you.” She immediately began to cry and said that she was sitting there thinking about running into traffic (to end her life). God knew her need and entrusted me to show up exactly when and where He wanted me to. If I didn’t hear His voice, it would have been nearly impossible to be at the right place at the right time to do His work. But the story doesn’t end there. The next week, I was driving by the same area and saw a homeless man holding a sign asking for money. So, I asked the Lord, “Do you want me to help him?”. The Lord firmly and resolutely answered, “No! Do not go near him! I’m doing something in his life. I do not want you to help him.” The tone of God’s voice made it clear, that the young man was being punished by God. If I had not heard God and decided that it was my Christian duty to help the young man, I would have been working contrary to God’s will. That would not be obedience. It would be the opposite of obedience. Charity is not obedience if it works contrary to God’s plans. Too often, we can assume that we know God’s will when we haven’t bothered to have a conversation with Him. How hard is it to take the time to seek God before walking in a direction? Learning His voice is instrumental to following Him.

Attached are two pages describing the covenant relationship. I hope it helps. I want you to learn to seek God and follow Him. Please know that this post is my specific act of obedience to God. He woke me up at 2:00 am to direct me to type this message to you. He spoke every word of it and authorized me to post it. My priority was in obeying Him whether you take the time to study or not. I’m not responsible for you. I’m responsible to obey God. So just like that $20 that I gave the lady in the park, I’m handing this to you. Maybe God knows that it is exactly what you need. I’ve done my part to obey God. Will you?

(Source: The Rogue Prophet Magazine, “The Top 10 False Teachings In The Churches”, June 2021, pages 12-13)

Church Assessments 1/9/25

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Wide Phylacteries?

“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;” (Matthew 23:5-6 NIV)

Why did Jesus so openly speak harshly about the religious leaders of that day? Please read the entire discourse in Matthew 23. Surely He knew that they would pursue Him and kill Him for exposing their ugly hearts. But still, He spoke up about the wrong motives of the religious elites. So, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that He would deliver the same type of messages through His prophets. (Well, to be fair, it often does surprise most of them.)

Why do some of the pastors locally claim to hear God’s voice in prayer while they stand in the pulpits of churches steeped in false doctrine? Let’s talk about Dennis Taylor at Park Avenue Baptist Church. He’s big enough to handle this conversation. Dennis claims to hear God’s voice, and I don’t doubt that he does. But, Dennis has two strong false doctrines that he needs to contend with. He needs to ask God about the false teaching surrounding women in leadership at Park Avenue. Why is that false teaching not being dealt with? The other false doctrine that needs to be resolved is their three Gods theology. There are not three Gods. Christianity is Monotheistic, meaning one God. The word trinity is not in the Bible. (See attached pages.) Brad and Barry at the Grove Church have these exact same two false teachings as would be expected since that church is a church plant from Park Avenue Baptist Church.

Please, if you really hear God’s voice in prayer, then you should be able to discern the false teaching in the churches. Being a pastor at one of God’s churches carries a lot of responsibility. If you want to enjoy the seat of honor, then at least be right before God in your teaching. I am certain that Brad needs to apologize to God for some very stupid comments that he has made from the pulpit about women not needing to submit to God directly*. In case you’re wondering, God told me to write these exact words so know that these men and their false doctrines have not escaped God’s radar. He’s very well aware of every word and every motive.

*Brad @ the Grove Church said that women have it easy because they only have to submit to their husbands, but the men have to submit to God. (Brad said this in a recorded Father’s Day sermon a few years ago. It makes me want to vomit.)

Dennis, Brad, and Barry, God asked me to help you learn about your false doctrines so you can clear up those mistakes before God has to take further action. Please seek God and study the Scriptures with Him present. If you want me to come alongside you and teach you to hear His voice more clearly, I am willing to do that even though I don’t forgive you for the mockery that you have made about women in leadership. You would need to repent of your mistakes before the same audience that you have spewed your garbage theology to before I could forgive you. God may feel the same way. Ask Him!

To the readers of these daily articles, I sincerely hope that you will ask God about everything written. I always say “don’t believe me … ask God yourself!” It is your own responsibility to be right with God. I’m confident that I have done exactly His will in relaying these messages.

Source: The Rogue Prophet Magazine, “The Covenant Voice of God”, August 2024, pages 12-15, The God of the Covenant.

Smoke & Mirrors 1/8/25

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If God were robed in a flesh-and-blood frame today and He walked into your church, how would He be greeted? Would you be embarrassed to be part of the theatrical mess that most churches have become? Would He welcome the cameras or refuse them? Would He give the look to the false teachers that makes them know that their days are numbered? Would He perform miraculous signs or leave you in your unbelief?

Just because you can’t see God with your physical eyes, does not mean that God is unable to see everything that’s going on in your church. He’s allowed to be disappointed with what the church has become. He’s allowed to have an opinion about everything, even the things that you personally hold dear.

Why doesn’t the church seek God? Listen, I’ve visited nearly every church in this town. There isn’t one that God is wholeheartedly pleased with. He points out the pastors who have a heart for Him, but He also points out the areas that they are failing in. Why have they wandered away from God’s heart? Why have they resorted to smoke and mirrors rather than sincerely inviting God in to inspect their doctrines and correct them? Is it because the church is largely a business more than it is a house of God?

The pastors can’t be expected to tell on themselves when they realize that they have been or are teaching incorrectly because they would lose their denominational pulpit. For example, Steve Yuke stood in the pulpit at Park Avenue Baptist Church nearly every week for years knowing in his heart that the doctrine about women in leadership was false. He even went as far as saying that he was not a Baptist because of that false doctrine. Let me say, that takes courage to do. I’m surprised that he got away with it for so long. But, did he have the power to change the false doctrine? If so, God expected him to do it … more than he did.

Some reasons that there is not a move of the Spirit of God in the churches today are:

1) God will not put His signature of authority on churches where there is false teaching. The book of Revelation records that God will remove the lampstand from the churches who don’t wholeheartedly want His will.

“Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” (Revelation 2:5 NIV)

2) Why would God want to compete with all the theatrics? He sees every motive? He sees the fundraising techniques employed while very little is being done to accurately teach truth. For some churches there is more emphasis on honoring law enforcement, harvest festivals, community marketplace, exercise classes, car shows and car-care ministries, etc. than is put on actual teaching of the Bible. It’s funny, too, that for all those other things the congregants are expected to make the effort to show up rather than having it livestreamed into their living room. For some reason, they can show up for the festivals but not for the teaching. Why do you think that is? Maybe it’s because they don’t have to. And guess what? God doesn’t have to either.

3) Another reason that God doesn’t move more visibly in the church today is that every move of God is suspect. You might ask, what do you mean by that? At some churches, the miraculous gifts of the Spirit are not welcome. Their “what we believe” statements deny that God is allowed to work supernaturally any more. What bogus crap is that? Just because they haven’t been entrusted with anointing from God doesn’t mean that God is powerless to anoint. God refuses to anoint those who are not in unbroken covenant with Him or are not spiritually mature enough to handle the gifts. I can say with all certainty that every one of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit are real today and entrusted to God’s anointed messengers. But for those who have never experienced the gift of speaking in tongues, they don’t believe it’s real. For those who have never laid hands on someone and delivered God’s healing touch, they will deny it. For those who have never brought a word of prophecy from God, they will persecute the messenger every time rather than receive it.

I’m just saying that God is not impressed with the smoke and mirrors. If there is a sincere, honest pastor who wants to reform the church to what God intends then open yourself up for inspection and let God make the changes that He desires. You will have to take risks if you have a denominational benefactor who is lobbying for other than God’s choices. But if you truly want a move of God in the church today, then you are going to need to do things His way.

Church Assessment 1/7/25

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Hidden Motives!

Prayer cannot be disguised to fool God. Fasting doesn’t add to the level of deceit. Either you are seeking God or you’re not. So, Crossroads Community Church, you have been delivered a message about the areas that God wants you to seek Him. Stop pretending that God isn’t allowed to send prophets.

This is a list of what God has asked you to seek Him about:

1) The Lost Sanctuary: Your need to livestream everything is ruining the intimacy of the church family. Evidently, you didn’t get the message earlier because you are planning to livestream the discipleship Bible studies making it impossible for students to ask questions without being recorded. Big mistake. But don’t believe me … ask God yourself. (God knows if you’re asking Him about this, and to date, you have not.)

2) Clearly defined staff roles: It doesn’t seem that you have made any progress in this area. God says that the pastor has difficulty delegating authority partly because he doesn’t trust others to carry God’s anointing and partly because he doesn’t like to share the recognition when a job is done well. Right now, the only two clearly defined roles are as senior pastor, and youth pastor. No women’s minister, no worship leader, no men’s minister, no facilities’ manager, no sound/visual leaders, just bookkeeping roles as far as I can see. If an anointed Christian came to your church, they wouldn’t know where to plug in at because there are no clearly defined roles. Again, don’t believe me … ask God yourself. You still haven’t bothered to seek God on this subject. Quit telling God your plans, and start asking Him for His. (*Leadership roles from website attached.)

3) Fasting/Prayer: It seems that you have set yourselves up as mini-gods hoping to convince God that your ways are better than His own plans. Perhaps God wants you to make changes in your church before He can entrust you with the 21 souls that you are demanding that He send you. It seems that you are not ready. But don’t believe me … ask God yourself.

4) Women’s Ministry: For whatever reason, the church seems determined that they don’t want a designated functioning women’s ministry. Well, that’s the very thing that God is going to hold out for. He’s not going to send His daughters to your church if you won’t provide a vital set apart women’s ministry for them. So, do all your religious practices, find all the workarounds you can think of, but in the end God can be much more stubborn than you can. But don’t believe me … ask God yourself. (Note: the women’s minister can NOT be a man.)

*Screenshot of the Crossroads Community Church staff from the website attached.

Church Assessments 1/5/25

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Fasting From Negligence!

Crossroads Community Church starts a 21-day fast today. Their goal is for God to position 21 souls in their sphere of influence. In an earlier post, I promised to help them in their efforts to be able to hear God. As a deliverance minister, I would not advise anyone to fast from healthy foods. We have an enemy that would love to gain access when we are weak.

Fasting does not force God or make anyone a better Christian. So I often roll my eyes when I see that a church is doing a corporate fast. But that’s where they are so let’s see if I can save them some trouble by prompting them in a few areas:

There is no Biblical command to fast from food. In the temptation of Jesus in the desert (Matthew 4:1) we can see that the Spirit was ready to be tempted by the devil when the body had fasted for 40 days. Note: Jesus is the Holy Spirit who was in a human-born, flesh-and-blood frame. We are flesh and spirit. When our flesh is weak, we had better hope to have a strong spirit being protected and led by the Spirit of God.

In deliverance ministry, I often see Christians aimlessly doing spiritual battle because they don’t understand the covenant relationship with God. If we are in unbroken covenant relationship with God, (meaning that we have kept our oath of allegiance to God or had a sincere forgiveness conversation with Him if we have sinned against God’s heart), then God will guard our minds from enemy influence. In other words, if we are right with God, the enemy cannot speak to us because God is present. If we are loyal to God, He is loyal to protect us. If we are not in unbroken covenant with God, then God is not obligated to be our protector.

So for those choosing to fast for 21 days, please be sure that you are in right relationship with God, for every day. Here are two questions that you can ask of God, every morning to be sure that you are in covenant with Him. (1) “Lord, will you please bind the enemy in every way around me?” Listen for His answer. If He answers something like this “I am with you. I will not leave you.” then He is telling you that He is guarding you from enemy access. If you don’t knowingly hear an answer then repeat this question after resolving the next one. (2) “God, is there anything that I need to ask forgiveness for?” Listen for His answer. Lean in to discern exactly what He is saying. If you think that His answer might be your own thoughts then you need to listen carefully to the words being used.* (Example below.) Once you have discerned areas that need discussion with God, apologize and be sure to let Him reveal to you how you could have done things differently; and how you will do them better next time. If you don’t bother to learn from your mistakes, you will likely repeat them. Take the time with God to resolve this so that moving forward you understand the error. If you have had a successful forgiveness conversation with God, then you are in a restored covenant relationship. You will know it because you will feel the burden lifted and you should continue to hear God’s voice in prayer. Remember seek God, not advise God.

*Example of God speaking to you versus your own thoughts. Many years ago when I was first learning to discern God’s voice, I was sitting at my computer playing Solitaire. My mind was focused on winning, of course. But, I heard a silent voice speak to me that was not my own spirit voice or thoughts. The question He asked me was “Who are you competing against?” Suddenly, I was having a conversation and not with myself because my internal conversation would have been subtly different. I might have asked myself “Who am I competing against?” Do you see that the direction of the first question was not coming from within, but outside of myself? (Please if you want to lock me up for explaining spiritual matters, it wouldn’t be the first time. I’m trying to help you, so don’t mock me.) God, will address you with words like “child”, “beloved”, or call you by your name. Listen carefully to the words that He uses in prayer. I encourage you to have a journal to write everything down at least until you recognize God’s voice from a stranger’s voice.

Ok, so I hope that helped. I’m always willing to respond to sincere questions about deliverance. I don’t want to see the enemy having his way with you. I’d rather see you walking obediently with God.

You can privately email me at the contact portion of this website.

Church Assessments 1/4/25

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The Ultimate Whistleblower!

Nobody can be trusted to reveal church corruption, deceit, and evil-doers like God can. God knows exactly what is happening inside and outside of the walls of His church. Unless, of course, God isn’t real in which case everything about the church is fake. Maybe a fake God wouldn’t send prophets either. What would convince you that God is real? How would you confirm allegations of corruption or “swampy” creatures in the church (or anywhere)?

What if you actually experienced God’s presence and heard Him tell you what’s going on? How could you be sure it was God and not the devil trying to deceive you? Would you just decide to ignore the situation because you didn’t trust yourself to discern fact from fiction? Maybe you realize that you don’t really know God, but you have rather enjoyed church attendance to the point that you don’t want to rock the boat or raise an eyebrow in suspicion.

Certainly, if God were real and had all the power that sovereign lordship implies, why would He need to send messengers? Couldn’t He just zap out the evil-doers? Couldn’t He just decide that those people don’t deserve a chance to turn away from their injustices? Couldn’t He demand to exact justice without affording a public hearing with a jury of their peers? If He’s God, He doesn’t need to hide for fear of retribution. So is He the ultimate whistleblower and did He try to reason with those doing wrong before making a public spectacle of their deeds? Hmmm?

Yes, I asked a lot of questions there, do you even want the answers? Who could you ask that you would trust? Have you heard of the word “prayer”? Prayer is a two-way conversation with a very real God. However, if you’re only having one-sided communication where you’re doing all the talking, then perhaps your God isn’t real at all or maybe you are actually the real god. That’s scary! However, if perhaps the real sovereign God and creator sent a messenger to teach you how to hear His voice in prayer, you might be able to discern whether or not He is real. Oh boy, are you up for that? Take a minute, decide, …

If the answer is “no”, then see you later. No hard feelings. But if the answer is “yes, I want to learn to hear God’s voice in prayer”, then hallelujah! We’re on a mission!

There are two prerequisite points that need to be clear if you want to hear God’s voice in prayer. The first one oftentimes gets lost in churchy language. 1) You must be in covenant relationship with God (God is His title — Jesus is His name.) Being in covenant relationship means that you have chosen God to be your only God. You can have no other gods. You cannot value anyone’s authority higher than God’s authority. The moment that you choose a secondary god or a counterfeit authority, you have broken covenant. Thankfully, God does afford us all the opportunity to apologize for the foolishness of choosing other “gods”. Sincerely asking for forgiveness, learning how it displeases God, and promising to not do it again is how we can restore the covenant relationship. So … are you in unbroken/restored covenant relationship with God? It is a necessity to hearing God’s voice in prayer.

The second prerequisite is that you are seeking God to know God. 2) Seeking God means the opposite of telling God. It means that you are humbling yourself and asking questions to get to know His will. If you’re only wanting to hear God with the hope of getting winning lottery numbers from Him, He isn’t going to waste your time or His with that nonsense. He is looking at your heart, and knows it better than you do … unless of course, He isn’t real. Then you know best.

Please gauge for yourself … is what I’ve told you here correct? Could you set yourself apart in a distraction-free area and have a candid forgiveness conversation with God? Could you seek Him? If you did and you heard His voice, would you believe that He is real?

Church Assessments 1/3/25

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Women in Ministry (Part 3 of 7)

This series of church assessments began right where God wanted it to with reviewing a local church, Crossroads Community Church of God. When I first attended the church at the beginning of November last year (two months ago), I had hoped that God was finally bringing me to a church home …

I have missed having a church family. But what God was wanting was for me to evaluate it from a perspective of would I invite others there. I am mature in my faith walk. I have grown to know when there is false doctrine or impure intent. But not everyone has had the benefit of God’s specific direction, shared spiritual experiences and years of study on doctrinal issues as I have. Yes, some can spot a used car salesman better than others just by their tone and insincere gestures, but not many understand how clever manipulators can twist the Scriptures with subtle nuances to fool many. The moment that I’m no longer simply a guest at a church and considering making it my home, it’s going to get a deeper dive of inspection into every aspect, especially if I’m going to invite others into that home church. God wanted me invested.

However, when I asked the church for information via email (in writing so that I was not vague), I was ignored. That makes everything suspect. If you cannot confirm your doctrinal stance, then maybe it’s not clear for a reason. I honestly, at this point, don’t know what the reason is. I don’t have clarity because I can’t get answers or feedback. Unless I see changes to the website or other social media avenues, I’m going to wonder why the coverup.

So, I’m clearly stating. Crossroads Community Church of God, please make your doctrinal stance clear on women in leadership and women in ministry. I can’t be the only one who cares. You have only about 30 regular (adult) attenders at your church and half of them are in the band, working sound and visual, or up on the platform in some way.

Can you not see that your church is dying because you don’t have a strong women’s ministry? If you have good doctrine, you should be standing firm on it. Please also make it clear who is overseeing women’s ministry. Is there a contact person? Is there a regular meeting to invite ladies to? Is there anything at all for a woman to grow in the Kingdom? If not, please just say so. And darling, if you were putting as much energy into this area of your church as you are for community events like chili cookoffs, money-changing marketplaces, and exercise boot camps, you wouldn’t be provoking God to bring a message from me. Just sayin … I’m getting tired of it. He’s not letting me sleep because this is His push to open your eyes. So wake up! I can’t honestly see myself being friendly about this much longer. You may think, well it’s only been two months. So I ask how long do you need? Do you need me to write out your doctrinal stance and post it on your website or Facebook page? Do you not know what it is?

If you can’t be bothered to email me some form of response (TammieEdwards@therogueprophet.com), or post something on your public social media on this matter, then I’m going to assume that you have some big secret to hide. God knows that you have read every single one of these posts. You’re not fooling God.

For Kingdom ladies, here are two study pages that you can discuss with God. I hope more than anything that you will find shelter with Him. (Source: The Rogue Prophet Magazine, “Spiritual Crimes Against Women in Ministry”, August 2023)

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