Woman, why are you still there?

If one more "leader" tells me that I can't read the Bible, say a prayer (anywhere!), visit a sick person (not even my own relatives and friends) or visit another church service (not even with a relative, for a funeral, wedding or whatever), unless I get their permission, which I won't because they have decided that God gave them ownership of all things considered worship and that they will not "allow" me or anyone else to do such things that praise and worship God unless they feel like it, then I am going to LEAVE!  

I have had some awesome pastors  in the three churches I've been in since 1962.  But, these past few years, there seems to have been either a "new" way of pastoring or a really old, mean spirit of "leading" that has shown up in and about my life.  No, I'm not the only person who has experienced this and I hope I'm not the only person who is tired of it.  

We are so programmed to look to a person who is leading a spiritual organization, that we stay even if we're being programmed to believe that God gave all things considered worship to the leader to dole out permission to use, in the organization and in our personal lives, at the leader's discretion or feelings...even to the point where we're not even worshiping anymore...because we don't have "permission" to praise and worship.  

Psalm 150:6 - Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord....but, only if I give you permission.

2 Chronicles 5
13 It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord;
14 So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.

If the goal is to make your individual or corporate worship experience a bad one, then who is that leader worshiping? How will the glory fill the temple if everyone' is mad and the one who is to usher the glory in is the one who orchestrates the anger?

Why is the leader so invested in each individual's personal life that he/she has the nerve to restrict people to do nothing without the leader's permission?  Weird.  Strange.  Imperfect leaders dictating who can praise and worship God, as if God agrees with the leader because the leader is the leader.  


Scenarios:

I would hate to slip and fall in the store and have a person lean over me and say, "I would pray for you while we wait for the ambulance, but my pastor doesn't allow us to pray without their permission.  Oh, wait.  Maybe I can call hiim/her and ask if I can pray for you."

No, Mom, I can't go to church with you for Spring Revival.  My pastor doesn't allow us to visit other churches.  He/she is the only one we can hear preach.  Maybe, when you die, I will be allowed to attend your funeral at your church."

These scenarios may sound ridiculous and unbelievable, but these things are happening in churches in America.  I'm not talking about tiny, 5-member churches in someone's backyard storage unit.  These things are happening in "decent" well-established churches.  

Giving in to cultish leaders does not equal salvation.  Even Jesus is not cultish.  He knocks.  If we answer, we answer.  If we don't, we don't.

Women, those probably most susceptible to such leadership, remember, if it doesn't match Christ in any way, then it's not Christ.  I am so proud to have come from parents who were not bully-ish, controlling, and cultish, because it helps me to not submit to or be attracted to those type people. 

IF one has to bully you to get you to "submit" then either they aren't depending on God to make them your leader or they are not a leader or they are not suppose to "lead" you anyway.  I've never been a pastor, but I've been at the mercy of a few.  I'm sure there is a learning curve to pastoring that is never completed, yet when God says, "RUN", then you need to RUN..  Perhaps, the pastor is leading the "wrong" people.  Maybe he/she is a Youth pastor, evangelist, deacon, etc trying to pastor.  It's not just a job.  It's a calling and maybe they have misidentified their calling.  

Leaving is not to be taken lightly.  Don't die spiritually waiting for a change in the leader that is not going to happen and be not entangled again with the yoke of that type of bondage.  Sure, there are some things we must suffer through, but there are other things, mountains, that we don't have to climb.  


Now, GO! (Matthew 28:19-20)
 

© 2017  

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