Tag Archives: unity of the Spirit

The Healthy Church Vs. The Unhealthy Church: Unity of the Spirit (Continued, Part 3 of 3)

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Let’s continue the conversation about the disunity in the churches. Remember that the unhealthy church is a headless body. It tries to operate without the head of the church. God is the head of the church. God is not a book or an interpretation of a book. The unhealthy church body without the head is spiritually blind and deaf. They do not have eyes to see or ears to hear. Their version of unity is a consensus of opinions of man rather than unity with the Spirit. Their doctrine is man-made instead of Spirit-led.

Again, we will briefly recap where we left off in my top ten list of false doctrines in the churches: The FALSE DOCTRINES that we previously discussed are: 1) Mute God; 2) Three Gods; 3) Jesus as a Separate God; 4) Automatically Forgiven; 5) God Needs Counsel; 6) The Holy Spirit is Unable to Anoint; and 7) Women Must Be Silent and/or Women Are Not Allowed to Lead in the Church.

The remaining three false doctrines, of my top ten list, are outlined here:

False Doctrine #8) All are Saved from Hell: Modern Christianity has often done a poor job of expressing God’s heart on the matter of an eternal home and how to secure the coveted destination. Many wrongly teach that God, because He is loving and merciful, cannot have justice or wrath against rebellion and unbelief. Their theology suggests that God would never send anyone to hell. But if there is anyone in hell, and there are, can you guess who sent them there?

* “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’” (Matthew 25:41 NIV)

Suggesting that all are saved who took a one-time oath of allegiance is bogus theology. From that false theology spews so many others. It’s likely why so many don’t seem too concerned about the consequences of their rebellion. They are not afraid of God’s wrath because they don’t believe that He is allowed to be angry with a broken oath of allegiance. If we can break our oath, then God can certainly refuse to be our God. If He’s not your God, then He is not your Savior.

* “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21 NIV)

False Doctrine #9) Forgiven by the Blood/Cross: We are forgiven by the will of God. While the atonement process that happened at the cross gave us direct access to God for a forgiveness conversation, it did NOT replace the need for actually asking for forgiveness from God.

That forgiveness conversation also affords you to ask God questions about how you can respond better during the same temptation going forward. God has a will. The cross or the blood at the cross do not have a will. Those are non-thinking things.

God views your heart and motives. The cross and blood cannot view your motives. God has sovereignty over life and death. The cross and blood do not have sovereignty over life and death. The healthy church distinguishes the difference.

Ask God for forgiveness every time. (I ask God every day if there is anything that I need to ask forgiveness for. I listen for His answer. Either it is a time of hearing that I did good or it is a time for me to learn to do better. But it is always a way to safeguard my relationship with God. I don’t ask a cross or blood to forgive me. I ask God to forgive me.)

False Doctrine #10) Spiritual Warfare is Not Real: If spiritual warfare is not real, then why did Jesus evict evil spirits and cast out demons? Why does the Bible warn to resist the devil and to put on the armor of God? Who did the Lord have a conversation with about Job? Why did Jesus have a conversation with the devil in the desert (Matthew 4:1-10) if the devil is not real?

* “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour?” (1 Peter 5:8 NIV)

Now that we have studied those top ten false doctrines, we must NOT stop there. There are many more false doctrines that can be addressed. I can name a few to get you thinking: fasting to force God’s hand, baptismal regeneration, and closed communion. In closing, it’s easy to twist Scriptures to create a theology that gives you what your itching ears want to hear. But knowing that God is watching and examining our motives and heart, should make each person hesitant to jump on the bandwagon with false teachers just because it’s easier than the investment of studying and seeking God.

Are there any of you that will insist on truth from the pulpits of the churches?

The Healthy Church Vs. The Unhealthy Church: Unity of the Spirit (Continued)

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As God and I were talking this morning, He highlighted a very important word of wisdom for me to share. And it’s this: the unhealthy church is a body without the head. But the healthy church has God as its head. The unhealthy church has its own interpretation of Scriptures as its authority, while the healthy church has God as its authority. Of course, a headless church cannot function in the miraculous gifts that reside in the head. That is why they are spiritually blind and deaf.

All the manifestation of the Spirit gifts are in the head. There are speaking gifts (tongues, message of wisdom, message of knowledge), hearing gifts (faith), sight gifts (distinguishing between spirits), or supernatural power that can only come from the head of the church (healing, miraculous powers, interpretation of tongues, and prophecy). It’s interesting to me that the passage of Scripture that contains the manifestation of the Spirit gifts (in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11) repeatedly says that the one and only Spirit distributes them. That Spirit is the Spirit of God who is the head of the church. His name is Jesus.

Let’s briefly recap where we left off in my top ten list of false doctrines in the churches: The FALSE DOCTRINES that we previously discussed are: 1) Mute God; 2) Three Gods; 3) Jesus as a Separate God; and 4) Automatically Forgiven.

Let’s continue my top-ten list of FALSE doctrines in the church.

False Doctrine #5) God Needs Counsel: I’m sorry but that is exactly how the unhealthy church prays as if God needs their counsel. If God needs your counsel or advice (or that of your pastors or elders) how wise is He? If God needs group consensus in prayer (aka 50 prayer intercessors) before He decides to be more loving, merciful, or compassionate, why bother with individual prayers? Ok those are intentionally sarcastically worded questions, but I hope they hit. It should be obvious that God doesn’t need our advice or suggestions. He is infinitely more wise and loving than we individually or collectively could ever be. Our hope in prayer should be to learn from God and want His will above our own. We can’t do that if we’re doing all the talking. Prayer without hearing God is just a spiritual masturbation. You’re only pleasing yourself. (Note: God said to say it that way. Don’t believe me. Ask Him yourself.)

False Doctrine #6) The Holy Spirit is Unable to Anoint: The unhealthy churches like to allow for the service (innate) gifts while mostly denying the existence of the miraculous gifts that require a manifestation of the Spirit. That’s likely because their God is confined to the pages of a book. But the healthy church knows that God is not dead. God’s supernatural power can be delivered to and through whomever He chooses and whenever He chooses without the permission of the body of the church.

False Doctrine #7) Women Must Be Silent and/or Women Are Not Allowed to Lead in the Church: We have too much Scriptural evidence against this false doctrine to not chalk this one up as a significant win for the enemy. The devil has deceived generations of the church into disqualifying God’s anointing on half of the Kingdom simply based on gender. The same one and only Spirit of God anoints women for ministry as anoints men. The unhealthy church demands that women are inferior in the Kingdom. Remember that God is the head of the church, and we (men and women) are the body of the church.

We’ll finish with discussing false doctrines 8, 9, and 10, in the next post.
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The Healthy Church Vs. The Unhealthy Church: Unity of the Spirit

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The healthy church walks with the Spirit of God, but the unhealthy church has “Him” locked in a book that they lord themselves over. As one who walks with the Spirit of God and hears His voice daily, the differences between the healthy and unhealthy church are monumental. I’m afraid for the generations who will be deceived into spending their lives stuck in the unhealthy church and living as if they have sovereignty over God.

Let’s talk about why there are denominations in Christianity. First let’s remove two big blocks of Christianity from this mix: Catholicism and Mormonism, and intentionally focus in on just Protestant churches. If there were truly unity of the Spirit in Christianity, there would be no need for denominations. Each denomination is a division based on different doctrinal interpretations.

Division is the opposite of unity. So, please don’t think that there is unity of the Spirit where there are denominations in the church. Each denomination carries with it a different set of rules or doctrines. That would not happen if all the churches were walking in unity with the Spirit of God. The individual denominations make no effort to settle doctrinal disputes as if God should be happy with disunity. Instead, they each stand boldly on their own interpretations of Biblical texts as if God doesn’t have a say.

What do you think are the major differences in doctrine in Protestant Christianity? Did your list include any of these that made my top ten?

The top ten FALSE DOCTRINES in the churches that I see are:

1) Mute God: This one just floors me. Asking God about doctrine isn’t an option if God cannot speak. Did the devil ever get a bigger win with that false narrative planted in the churches for generations? However, in recent years, the churches are moving towards revelation that God does speak to those in covenant relationship. You don’t need to be sitting in a church pew or putting money in an offering plate to have real relationship with God. Perhaps the churches have enjoyed that false doctrine of “mute God” so that they could preach dependency on organized false religion.

2) Three Gods: There is not a trinity of gods. Christianity is a one-God religion, also known as monotheistic. Now, I don’t have a problem with identifying different roles of God. God is the Father. The Father did make Himself known for a limited time in Son of Man flesh and reveal His name as Jesus. The Father is Spirit, also known as the Holy Spirit. But to be clear, those are roles or positions of God, not separate Gods. There is NOT a God sitting next to another God on thrones in Heaven. If a pastor is praying to God talking about a second God, you can be sure that he/she doesn’t have a relationship with any of their supposed (three) “Gods”. The false “trinity” doctrine is another big win for the devil. If you’re confused about who your God is, then it’s much harder to be in covenant with only one God. If you’re not in covenant with only one God, then you won’t hear His voice in prayer.

3) Jesus as a Separate God: Jesus is God. Jesus is not a separate or subordinate God. Jesus is the one and only, Alpha & Omega. There was no God before Him or no God after Him. He is the one and only God and Savior. If you are worshipping Him as a lesser God than the “real” God, you are deceived.

4) Automatically Forgiven: If everyone is automatically forgiven because of the blood of the cross, who is in Hell? Listen, just because you make an oath of allegiance to follow God, doesn’t mean that you actually follow through with that wholehearted allegiance. If there were no consequences for breaking the covenant oath, why wouldn’t everyone just hedge their bets by reciting words to earn a “get-out-of-hell free” card? If you were saved by the blood that was shed on the cross over 2,000 years ago, why would you need access to a Savior who is alive today? We DO have access to God in prayer because of the cross. We can have forgiveness conversations with Him and learn from Him how to strengthen ourselves against temptation. We must actually have the conversation and be forgiven by God. We are not automatically forgiven.

The remaining six of my top ten false doctrines in the church will follow in a separate post. It’s a lot to take in all at once.
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Church CHECKUP!

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God asked me to put together this visual of the differences between a healthy church and an unhealthy church. Please listen, these are based on conversations that God and I have had over the years. My hope is to express God’s heart. But I ALWAYS want each Christian to seek God and hear from Him themselves.

Some of these are written in generalized wording that could be expressed much more detailed. But let’s use it as a way to discuss these matters with God.

One area that I see a great need in is having dedicated women’s ministry especially when there is a male pastor. Women have uniquely different ministry needs that cannot or should not be discussed with a man just as men have ministry needs that should not be discussed with a woman. We need women’s ministers in this town. If your church can afford to send $70K worth of shoeboxes full of dollar store “junk” to other nations, you can afford to pay a women’s minister (at least part time).

(PS This is still in draft form. God asked me to put it out publicly before finalizing it.)

Validated Trajectory?

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We all fit together when we’re truly using our giftings for the glory of God.

In ministry, the size of the audience isn’t what’s important. It’s the obedience to God that matters most. It’s not how many auditorium seats or media viewers that count with God. Sometimes your God-given message is geared specifically to reach the heart of one person. That word of encouragement or rebuke might reach them in the middle of the battle when they were ready to give up or give in.

God orchestrates everything in exactly His timing. He alone knows the heart of the receiver and the trajectory of the giver. In order for us to walk in concert with God’s will, we must be willing to actually show up even when it seems fruitless to our egos and outside of a negotiable timeline.

We must hear God’s voice to direct us. It’s not beyond God’s sovereignty to still use us as He sees fit, even when we refuse to listen. But how much more useful can we be when we choose to actually seek God for direction? When we allow God to harness our energy and path as we yield to His leading, we can accomplish Kingdom work efficiently and in season.

There is no unity of the Spirit collectively when some fight against the will of God. If we’re not using our giftings to please God, then we’re using them contrary to His will. What is the true motive of your heart? Is pleasing God foremost?