What is Worship?
— Read on pamsheppardministries.com/2019/09/08/what-is-worship/
Tag Archives: led out of the church
What is Worship?
7 SepWhy and How Does An Ordained Minister of 25 Years Leave the Church?
27 Oct
My personal testimony of how I came to leave the church is in the first chapters of my book “Come Out of Her, God’s People”. Most of my life I have been open and transparent, caring less about what others had to say about me. Lately, I have become quite private and much more guarded. I suspect that its a matter of “increased wisdom.” I personally wonder today if perhaps in “Come Out of Her, God’s People,” I may have shared way too much about my intimate life. In fact, I recall a few rather ignorant, jealous , ineffectual hypocrites attempting to take advantage of my openness in order to slander me. It did not work. Actually, it is difficult to slander a person who is not bound by the world’s religious standards. Even so, I am more guarded than I used to be. Nevertheless, since readers have reported how much my testimony helped them, I don’t regret writing the book.
In regards to when and how to leave the institutional church, it has been my experience that the Holy Spirit will inform you when it is time for you to make your move. In fact, if I had not heard from Him in 2003, without a doubt, I would still be there. Why? Because the denomination left me alone to my own devices and as a result, I was enjoying myself doing my own thing in ministry. I was deceived into believing that I had the best of both the denominational and the charismatic church worlds.
So at the season that the Holy Spirit led me out of church, I was pastoring a work that I had founded myself in 1996 for about 8 years at that time. Therefore, it had never crossed my mind to leave the church because in my own mind, I viewed myself as “there but not there.” So within my rational mind, it would be a mistake for a minister of the gospel to leave the church system after 25 years of faithful service. I was not about to rock the boat on my own, as such an action was way too preposterous an idea–absolutely inconceivable. I was settled and comfortable in the denomination, in spite of the fact that I had never really been embraced with open arms. Not only did I have spiritual covering from a well-respected denomination that left me to my own devices, I also had almost complete independence to bring forth Pentecostal, word of faith teachings in a cold and dry denominational setting.
So what happened? How was I led out?
First of all, I had a dream. A very clear, significant dream where the Lord actually appeared and spoke to me. I never saw His face, only his feet and the back of His robe. I wanted to believe it was the devil because I didn’t like what I heard and saw in the spirit. I was called by name. the Spirit said “Pam, I cannot use you in this place. You are a light— hidden under a bed. You MUST leave. But let them PUT you out!”
Put ME out? This MUST be the devil, I thought to myself. They can’t put me out. I have been a faithful servant in this denomination for 25 years.!!!!
Well, I did not have long to wait. I was at the Y, doing my afternoon lap swim when my pregnant daughter came waddling in and screaming “they are after you, Ma! The denomination is investigating you.” I got out of the pool, sat on its side and listened to my daughter’s emotional report. She had run into the proverbial grapevine.
Yet this was not gossip. It was true. My dream was confirmed in less than a week. The denomination was setting me up to PUT ME OUT. A hidden religious enemy, a ministerial collleague targeted my website. At the time, I was exposing error among the mega preachers. I was not running a smear campaign but where there was error, I was boldly calling names. The denomination feared that I would cause some multi-millionaire to sue them. Ironically, an enemy that I had personally mentored had secretly planted the seed of fear in the Bishop’s ear. Since he never liked me in the first place, the Bishop grabbed that seed and ran with it. Under the Bishop’s wishes, my colleagues in the district voted to take my name off the rolls, under the pretense that I did not send them the annual dues of $660. I did not send it because I was purposefully facilitating my leaving by not showing up and also not sending them the money!!!! I did what the Lord said. I LET THEM PUT ME OUT!
It took almost a year from the day I had the dream in early July 2003 for the denomination to remove my name from its rolls on June 25, 2004. I remember the day I was “put out” because I had a startling dream that very morning. I saw my head under the chopping block. I was beheaded. With that dream, it was revealed to me that I have the same ministry as John the Baptist: Like the Prophet John, my job is to preach repentance and prepare the way for the Lord’s SECOND coming.
Anyway, I still had my church that I had founded. Since the denomination had not embraced my church, the Bishop had no authority or power to close it. So I continued leading my church, expecting the Lord to send me to another church affiliation or denomination.
Various sects and word of faith churches made me some offers. However, it was quite clear to me that all they wanted was my money as well as my attendance at their various meetings and conferences so that they could obtain MORE money via conference fees. These mega ministries also planned to tax my church and take for themselves a hefty percentage of our donations each month. We were small and poor. I could not rob my own congregation to send hard-earned dollars to an aloof, uncaring mega preacher’s ministry, just to pay to sit on the front row of some televised conference.
So I waited 3 years. My next sign was more powerful than a dream. I was wide awake. I heard a voice in my head ask me this question, “Pam. would you put curtains up at the windows of a condemned building?” I looked around to see if someone was there, but I was alone. I answered in my head “no.’ The voice continued. He talked for what seemed a long time. Then He said “Pam. You are planning to travel around the world to conduct deliverance training seminars in any church that will open its doors to you.” I answered, “Yes.!” I had already been to a church in Lawrenceville Ga and one in Bermuda.
The voice then said “Well. Pam. Conducting seminars in any church is like putting up curtains at the windows of a condemned building, I have already judged HER.”
Now I did not want to believe that my 25 years in ministry was full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. So I tried the spirits for one year. Out of it came the book called “The Fake Jesus: Fallen Angels Among Us. Even more books followed. One conversation with the Spirit of God in 2007 led to a total of four more books, well over 1000 pages!!!
So for the next 14 years, I have gladly put 25 years of religious acts without power behind me. In 2008, I closed the church that I had founded after 12 years. I simply put my religious past and all of its fake fruit behind me, moved forward, baggage free– following the leading of the Holy Ghost. For the last 14 years, my life has been filled with peace, revelation, real power and wondrous anticipation.
If the Lord is leading you out and you want to talk about it, give Pam Sheppard Ministries a call at 888-818-1117 or complete the contact form below:
Leaving Churchianity for True Christian Fellowship by Pam Sheppard
16 OctMost of us in RESCUE have already come out of the institutional church. A few may be at a place where they are wrestling with the idea of coming out of the institutional church.
One of the things that is very frightening for a churchgoer contemplating leaving church is the idea that once they are out, they will be like a fish out of water. They may feel like they won’t survive without the fellowship, the ‘teaching’ (even if the teachings are false), the worship, even though it is attracting demons, have created an emotional tie to a building, where people really do not know each other, much less love each other.
One of the very real needs for ALL believers is the need to have a safe place where they can be real. Where they can confess their faults, one to another, in the fear of God.
And be healed…And be set free.
If we are all honest, we can truly say that most of the time when we went to confess our faults to others in the church, that we were condemned, ostracized, rejected…NOT restored or healed.
Which is why we have Rescue..an online christian fellowship for those who dislike churchianity; have been damaged by church, and see who church as dead and corrupt.
For more information about Rescue, call 518-477-5759 or email us at rescueonfb@icloud.com
Religion Takes Away Your Identity
2 Oct
One thing I have really disliked about religion (well, there are many, but I will focus on this one! lol), is that being religious makes a person become something they are not. You all know what I am talking about. There is just this certain way people become when they turn religious…even in the way they speak.The religious practices and rules make us feel like we have to do certain things, and act a certain way to be accepted by God, be righteous, or “get into heaven.” It’s like a switch turns on for them to act a certain way when the subject of God or Jesus comes up. All of a sudden, they know all the righteous things to do and say. Interesting…
I do not miss the long, drawn out, religious prayers, that are nothing but FLUFF, leading people to believe that they have attained a certain righteousness with these deep prayers. I remember going to all-night prayers. I HATED them. Why? Because people would use all these religious terms, trying to sound all holy, instead of just talking to God (or who they thought was God) like they talk to a regular person. The constant, “Father Gods,” or the “Oh, Almighty God,” religious sayings after every sentence drove me CRAZY!!!! I am the type of person who just talks normal when I pray. I don’t see a point in saying all this religious stuff to try and impress God. I’m sure he will hear my prayers if I just talk to him, like a normal human being.
Then there’s the “acts of worship” people put on as they suddenly hear a religious song, or get in an atmosphere of falling into an altered state, thinking they are worshiping God. To me, worship is in EVERYTHING I do for God, it’s my life…not just some religious state I get in when I hear a religious song or something. When I was in the IC, I felt something was a bit odd how a certain song will come on, and people would suddenly CHANGE.
Then, there’s the constant referral to scripture for everything you say, as if quoting Bible verses makes you more spiritual than others, or closer to God. I used to be in discussions where I had to have a scripture to back up everything I was saying.
Let’s not forget the SERMONIZING..the religious, on cue rise and fall of a preacher’s voice, just to get a huge reaction from his/her audience.
While I was in the church, I hated the bondage. I suspected something was just not right with having to follow all these rules, and do certain works to transform myself into become this IMAGE of what a “christian” is supposed to be. I yearned to just be REAL. To be FREE. To be NORMAL. Religion took that away from me, and made me this person who would put on a form of Godliness in any situation related to church, God, Jesus, etc.
Today, I can happily say that I am FREE from all of that. I don’t need to say religious lingo to talk to God. I don’t need to act a different way, just because spiritual topics are being brought up in a conversation. I don’t have to suddenly go into this altered state of worship, to try to feel close to God. I don’t have to talk a certain way, citing Bible verses everywhere I go, trying to appear righteous. I’m just ME…Learning truth, living my truth, and being REAL. No fake religious mess. And you know what? God still accepted ME. Just the way I am. Finally, I do not have to live a life of being fake, engaging in religious works, just to feel that I am close to God. No more religious songs, no more religious facebook groups (of God knows WHO is really saved in there), no more pressure to go to church to “earn” or “maintain” my salvation, no more feeling like I have to sound a certain way in prayer, no more listening to pointless sermons, that have nothing to do with the truth, but rather a point the preacher wants to get across, no more saying “grace” before meals, as if something is wrong if I DON’T say grace. I know that GOD IS NOT IN ANY OF THAT. RELIGION IS MAN’S INVENTION OF WHAT THEY CONSIDER TO BE THE PATH TO GOD, INSPIRED BY THE DEVIL. IT IS COUNTERFEIT. IT IS NOT REAL. IT IS A FORM OF GODLINESS THAT DENIES THE POWER OF JESUS CHRIST. I NO LONGER STRUGGLE WITH MY IDENTITY BECAUSE OF RELIGION. I KNOW WHO I AM, AND AM HAPPY I HAVE THE FREEDOM IN CHRIST TO BE ME, AND NOT SOMETHING RELIGION HAS CREATED ME TO BE.
IF YOU HAVE ANY RELIGION IN YOU, LET IT GO. YOU WON’T FIND GOD THAT WAY. JUST STOP BEING RELIGIOUS, AND START ANEW. GET OUTTA JAIL, AND BE FREE. Learn who God REALLY is, and maintain YOUR IDENTITY.
Has religion taken away YOUR identity and you need help putting your life back together? If so, we can help. Contact Rescue at 518-477-5759 or rescueonfb@icloud.com
The Church Exodus, Part 4
1 Apr
“Leave the church: A Historical Perspective of “the Great Falling Away.”
By Pam Sheppard
Once I heard in a supernatural way that the organized church had already been judged, I decided to try the spirits to see if they be of “God by studying church history. History was not one of my favorite subjects, but my hypothesis was that if the church had already been judged, history would reveal the truth.
I began with the premise that we are in the generation of the 7th church age. In the first 3 chapters of the book of Revelation, the Lord spoke to each church age. I was able to pinpoint and find in the history books each church age: Ephesus as the first age of those who lived in the generation of the Lord’s crucifixion, resurrection and after the ascension. The persecuted church at Smryna lined up and overlapped the first age, under cruel Roman domination, with the saints being crucified upside down, beheaded, and stoned to death.
With the rise of the Roman Emperor, Constantine, the organized church was established with the compromising church at Pergamos, which eventually became the Catholic Church. History revealed that the churches at Thyatira and Sardis are tao phases of Catholic Domination that spans several centuries until Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation of the 1500′s. Protestantism was the Lord’s favored church, from 1500 to 1900 when it too became as corrupted as the Catholic Church.
The age of Laodicea is the LAST church age, and we are living in it. It consists of an idolatrous, charismatic witchcraft Catholic AND Protestant church. While the Catholics have perverted the gospel of Jesus Christ with the deification of Mary and the worship of various saints, Protestantism is equally perverse. By studying church history, it became clear to me that the 7th and last age of Laodicea is a fulfillment of the Apostle’s Paul’s predictions that in the last days, there would be a great “falling away.” Paul warned the Galatians that all who add to or detract from the gospel of Jesus Christ would be cursed. He also warned that some would depart from the faith because they listened to seducing spirits teach doctrines of devils. I didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to discern that there are far too many doctrines of devils for me to even try to count today.
However, the two most powerful ones—more powerful than the prosperity gospel–is the easy believism or the “I accept Jesus into my heart” gospel and the speaking in other tongues.
The “I accept Jesus” practice was first started by Charles Finney. Born in 1792, Finney is a hero of Billy Graham and many other well-known evangelists of today. In no uncertain terms, Finney preached that man can save himself by making a conscious decision to simply “cooperate with God.” Therefore, Finney is the founding father of practically ALL of Protestantism, both traditional and emergent churches, denominational and charismatic churches who all teach an “I accept Jesus” gospel.
Add to the “I accept Jesus” crowd, those who abide by the Pentecostal teaching that the evidence of salvation is that you speak in tongues, and you have the other half of “the great falling away.” These two false doctrines combined, have caused countless seekers to “fall away.” To fall away is not necessarily to physically depart. For most of those who have already joined the ranks of the great falling away attend some church every Sunday morning.
Regarding tongues, it is a doorway for demons to enter human flesh. Since the tongue talker allows his or her mind to enter into passivity while uttering, speaking in tongues causes Christians to unknowingly enter into an altered state of consciousness. Under such circumstances, spirit entities are provided an opportunity to torment, oppress and possess.
Satan has had an agenda to infiltrate and control the organized visible church since the days that the Emperor Constantine organized it, in 313 AD. He has been working for quite a few centuries. His mission was accomplished in the 20th century.
For these reasons, I warn: Leave the Church. God is not there.
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Two books, “The Fake Jesus” and “The New Idolatry” detail historical proof that God was not the founder of the organized church. Yet for many centuries, His longsuffering and mercy endured. Both books historically connect the dots. To review and/or obtain the ebooks, click here.
The Church Exodus, Part 3
1 Apr
A FORMER PASTOR WARNS: LEAVE THE CHURCH! Part 3
By Pam Sheppard
I started out for 33 years of life an atheist. In 33 years, I attended church just ONE day in my life. Once I had a ‘Damascus Road” type of experience with the Lord, I was sold out for Him. And it was two years—1979–before I attended any church. I went because I had 3 consecutive dreams of a local pastor, and all 3 dreams urged me to find this man, the late Rev. Lester. (not his real name.) Not once in more than 25 years did I ever consider that it was NOT God who sent me those dreams. I didn’t find out until AFTER I had finished my 4th book, “the Fake Jesus:Fallen Angels Among Us.” How did I find out? The Lord spoke to me and quietly said, “I did not send you those 3 dreams that sent you to that church.” Simple.
Why did He wait so long to tell me this? Well, I never asked Him. I kinda “knew” without asking. I needed to know the depth of perversion and depravity the organized church system actually is “from inside.” You might say, “I was a spy.” I was never really a part of the system because the demons in it recognized that I was a spy before I actually knew it myself. The Lord allowed a messenger of Satan to give me 3 dreams and several confirming signs that I was supposed to be there. I was a church person for 25 years, in ministry about two years after I first arrived. I was in a denomination where several churches in a region are “connected.” So I got to know about 100 ministers, about 10 percent of them as close regional associates.
Well, I knew it was depraved from the beginning. My first pastor was a closet homosexual who also practiced a Caribbean form of witchcraft called “obeah.” He was one of the first to die of AIDS in the early 80’s. Most of the ministerial elders that I had to submit my ministry to were depraved. Thieves, drug abusers, fornicators, homosexuals, child abusers, you name it, undercover and sometimes openly, they did it.
I stayed as long as I did because the religious demon assigned to me played a convincing game to prove that God had me in the system to cause the system to repent. So I was on my knees, sobbing, wailing and travailing for 25 years. When things only got worst, commonsense should have told me, “Hey Pam, Don’t you “get it?” God is not answering your prayers in this matter. Why can’t you ‘figure it out?’ If God has not answered your prayers for repentance for 25 years, perhaps it is because “the time of repentance is over. It just ain’t goin to happen, Gurl!!! Get up off your knees!”
I was pretty comfortable in the denomination in 2003. I had started my own church and I kept my self separated from the religious politics, and the Bishop did not particularly care WHAT I was doing. He treated me like I didn’t exist, and that worked well for me. Then one day, the Lord spoke to me in a dream. He showed me that “it was time to go.” He said “but let them PUT you out.” Since I was not in any kind of trouble with the upper echelon, it seemed implausible that they would put me out. Well 9 months from the dream, my name was removed from the denominations rolls.
Once out, I devoted myself to my online ministry which had begun in 2002 and to the church that I had founded in 1996. From 2004-2007, I waited for the Lord to send me to a different denomination, with my eyes on Full Gospel, non denominational groups. It didn’t happen. Then in 2007, the Holy Ghost spoke again. He compared the organized church to an inner city condemned building. In short, He said “I’ve judged it already and I am no longer there.”
I said to myself “this COULD be the devil. It was too incredulous for me to believe that the Holy Ghost was not in the church. I was in a state of shock. So I tried the spirits through the study of church history for one year. After that year, I knew I had heard from the Holy Ghost. He is NOT there.
Since God is not there, no point in ME being there either!
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In my book “the New Idolatry,” I warn ministers and ministers-to-be of the dangers of operating within the institutionalized, organized church. It is a must read for spiritual discernment in the enemy’s hour of delusion and deception. For the e-book, click the title link above and for the soft cover, click the book cover to the left.
The Church Exodus, Part 1
31 Mar
A FORMER PASTOR WARNS: LEAVE THE CHURCH! Part 1
by Pam Sheppard
Even though I was an atheist without church background, born again at home 34 years ago, I still became a product of the church when I joined it in 1979 and entered into ministry in 1981. At a bare minimum, I preached at least 52 sermons a year for 25 years, having pastored 3 different churches. Yet when I look at the fruit of my ministry, I find little to none. You see, no one is really getting saved at church altars. At least, not since the 70′s. The old saints knew that “church” had grossly changed from their recollections of the 30′s, the 40′s and 50′s. They KNEW that the people had not been born again but they did not know the reason.
Does that make me sad that I had no fruit? No, it doesn’t. The irony is that if I had remained in church, I would have had a completely different assessment from “being inside.” For churchfolk have a broader yardstick by which they measure fruit. In fact, I would have been considered “one of the most fruitful” for my effect upon people with my preaching appeared to have a profound impact upon the congregants. Yet, for one who now has “an ear to hear,” I can hear the enemy’s mocking derision. “Pam, you thought that you were all that and a bag of chips but you were no different from the rest of your sinful,uninspiring colleagues. You have no fruit because religions demons have been in charge of the church since the Holy Ghost left it!”
Once I was willing to come face to face with this truth, then my spiritual eyes were opened to the fact that these times of ours are like a puzzle made easier if we can discern the grand design and rid ourselves of assumptions gleaned from“churchdom” that primarily consists of faulty biblical interpretations. For example, the church has interpreted the Lord’s parables about the kingdom of God as evidence of the Church’s great triumph and victory, as we assume we know what the Lord meant when He said, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against the “church,” a subject that I have addressed in several of my articles and books.
The fact of the matter is that the enemy has assigned religious demons to every church in the entire world and the evidence confirms that either God is dead or if the Holy Ghost was ever in the organized church, He has certainly left it. My faith causes me to only accept the latter. So, once we discard the assumption that the church will ultimately bring the world to Jesus Christ, then we can better interpret the truth. For the Lord’s parable of the Mustard Seed and the Leaven point to the spread of apostasy and corruption over centuries of time, particularly in light of their scriptural context in connection with other scriptures.
Nevertheless, as I have tried the spirits for myself, I have certainly looked into my own heart to see if there is any bitterness due to never really being embraced, accepted or loved by the organized church. I anticipate that those who remain steeped in ”church business” will counterattack with various rationalizations to discredit my belief that “the church age is over.”
I expect that. Yet, it is important to note herein that 3 years AFTER I left the denomination, a Bishop made me an incredibly good offer that I turned down. This bishop offered to support every aspect of my ministry–an offer that would have made me a best selling author. Yet God spoke clearly. He said “the Bishop’s offer did NOT come from ME!” The truth of the matter is that my very life is at stake if I return. I will be turned over to Satan for the destruction of my very soul.
So I speak on behalf of no one but myself. For surely, if I had been embraced by the organized church, I would certainly not “know what I know” today. In fact, I believe that God has given me great grace by allowing me to experience non-acceptance so that my eyes would not be blinded by what I perceived to be “my success” in ministry. In truth, after 30 years in ministry and 34 years saved, I can count the fruit on one hand, with perhaps a finger or two to add-on.
The bottom line is this: I was one of the most dynamic preachers, one who was considered a healing evangelist with power to cast out demons. Yet I have done my own assessment and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that many who responded to my invitation after hearing one of my sermons were not saved. Moreover, those from whom I cast out demons may have been delivered from torment but only one of them that I know of is actually saved.
I also can remember my laying on of hands to many who claimed to be healed yet they were not or the “healing” was only a temporary remission of symptoms and persons died from the very diseases that they had confessed that they had been healed of. No fruit. This is not fruit. Once I humbled myself to this truth, more truth came. You see the hearts of the godless have already been hardened and the hearts of countless believers have been blinded by the god of this world. Souls are still being saved, but my ministerial experience is that the Lord is not saving people in church.
The work of the Holy Spirit is being conducted during a period of transition where the former church order has ceased as an effectual system, where a remnant of sincere people have been brought to salvation in spite of the powerlessness of the organized church. The work of the Holy Spirit today is not with the crowd but with the individual. My ministry today is directed toward the distracted, the deluded and the deceived believer because the gospel has already been preached worldwide.
I don’t think there is a soul in the world who has not heard of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Yet churchfolk STILL don’t understand the cross or the resurrection, so it is understandable that there is very little fruit of salvation occurring in the church. The reason why they don’t understand is that preachers continue to preach doctrines of devils. Without the power of the resurrection, no man is saved.
The book “Come Out of her, God’s People,” provides a detailed account of my memoirs as a pastor and an evangelist in a well-known African-American Denomination. This book is less about me and more about why I believe that the candlesticks have been removed from the entire organized church. Click the books cover for the e-book and the title link for the softcover.
The Church Exodus, Part 2
31 Mar
“Should I? Shouldn’t I? Can I CHANGE the church…thru my prayers?”
By Pam Sheppard
When I left the church in 2004, I did not know that it was a permanent move. I expected that the Lord would lead me to another church affiliation. I had my eye on Rev. Paul Morton’s organization, the full gospel Baptist. It seemed a great choice for me because I had been ordained and served in a denominational church very compatible with the Baptists, yet I was also a Pentecostal in orientation, belief and practice.
So when 3 years passed and I did not have a leading to join another church, I wondered why. It didn’t take long for me to be answered once I sought the Lord in prayer. In less than a week, a kind of telepathic communication took place to let me know that I was not to join any organized church.
I was spoken to in a kind of parable. I was asked, “Pam, would you put curtains up at the windows of a condemned building.” I thought of all of the condemned buildings I had seen growing up in the inner city. I answered in my mind. “No, I would not.”
Then came a kind of speech that went something like this.
“A homeless person will make a home in a condemned building. To escape the elements of the weather on the outside, he will satisfy himself and “make do” with no heat, no running water, no lights, and he will share his dwelling with its occupants: the rats and the roaches.”
Then I was hit in the face with the next outrageous statement.
“If you try to edify the organized church with seminars and conferences, you will be putting up curtains at the windows of a condemned building.”
Wow. I was stunned. I had already begun to conduct deliverance seminars with the first one in Bermuda and the second one in Lawrenceville Ga. I was planning the third when this spiritual conversation transpired. Metaphorically speaking, it was clear to me that the condemned building was a symbol of the entire organized church. If this “strange conversation” was from the Holy Spirit—then the metaphor clearly suggested that the organized church is condemned, in other words, judged already.
In keeping with this parable of sorts, sheep who attend church regularly are those who are afraid of the outside elements of a dangerous and sinful world—and rightly so. Therefore, it makes sense to run inside of church walls for protection. Yet in keeping with the symbols, when churchgoers run inside, what they find is no light. God is light. In Him there is no darkness at all. No light–No “God!!! The “voice” went on to say that the rats were the pastors and church leaders and the roaches were those who sat on the pews.
No running water in the condemned building means no rivers of living water, No Holy Spirit. No heat. No fires of the Holy Spirit. This parable was clearly saying that the Holy Spirit has left the organized church.
I didn’t want to believe that I had heard from God about this. I was pastoring a church that I myself had founded in 1996 and I did not want to close it down. However, I knew that if this was God speaking to me, I MUST close it down.
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Are you a minister or minister-to-be and you believe God has called you OUT of the church? Sheppard Counseling Center would be blessed to coach and mentor you in ministry. We don’t believe in the spiritual covering practice or in authoritarian oversight. We will simply help, edify and support you so call 518-477-5759
“What Did You Say, Lord??”
1 Mar“…when I first heard it, it was even for me…It was hard…”
Pam is speaking of when God called her OUT of the institution we call ‘the church.’
I know many would say, ‘Would God do such a thing?” YES!
He did it for Pam. He did it for me. And He IS doing it for MANY…for the remnant.
God called me out of the Potter’s House in 2009. Now, you need to understand: I liked the PH. I liked TD Jakes. But when GOD calls you OUT, its time to come out.
The reason why so many find it challenging to leave the church because they always naturally assume that any voice telling them to leave their church is the devil. We have a warped view and perception of what the church is. We think church is the steeple, the people, and the pews.
THE INSTITUTIONALIZED CHURCH IS NOT THE CHURCH. WE ARE THE CHURCH!
THIS is what God is talking about in the Word when it says to forsake not the assembling of OURSELVES together. The Word is talking about US coming together in fellowship. What many fail to realize is that fellowship does not just manifest itself in the form of putting on your Sunday’s Best, jumping in a car, and congregating with 1000s of other people on Sunday. Fellowship CAN and DOES take place, streaming live webcast occur all the time of Internet. Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace-all the social network sites-are fellowshipping sites. Not necessarily religious ones, but millions fellowship online nonetheless. Chat rooms are another form of fellowship. They are not your traditional forms of fellowship, but the trend is leaning towards more and more people utitlizing this form of fellowship for one reason or another.
With that being said…
Since WE are the church, then WHEREVER WE GO, WE BRING ‘CHURCH” with US. Fellowship does not have to happen in a building.
So hopefully, as people realize this, they will be more willing to embrace that voice THAT IS FROM THE LORD that is telling you to leave the church. God’s ways truly are NOT our ways, neither are HIS thoughts our thoughts.
Religious Spirits 201
25 Feb
I know you have heard a lot of talk on religious spirits. If you are new to church (as we know it), or if you’ve been in church for over 40 years, this term may baffle you because you have been taught that – as the song goes ‘Religion SO sweet…’
We all have been lulled into a semi- or fully-delusional state where we are drugged into believing something we know deep down inside ‘just isn’t right.’ We just went to church and went along with the programs to get along. We didn’t want to rock the boat, so to speak, out of fear that we would be labeled ‘rebellious,’ ‘unfaithful,’ ‘unteachable,’ or a host of other names leadership likes to place on thinking people who were blessed with common sense AND wisdom to know game when they see it.
Yet even the most discerning, the most wise, the most street-wise of us check our brains in at the door of a church once we enter therein. We erroneously think that we are NOT supposed to use the wisdom and common sense GOD HIMSELF has blessed us with once we walk through the doors of a church. We erroneously believe that God does NOT deal with our minds at all. So any inkling deep down in our guts and minds that game is being played we suppress that, thinking that it’s the devil trying to get us ‘out of the ship.’
How do we properly discern a Religious Spirit?
Well, for starters, I want to present to you that after we are born again, we should not check in our brains at the door. EVERYTHING that God has allowed you to learn-whether it was via books and a teacher, or on the streets, or by life experience-EVERYTHING has been allowed to happen in your life so that you can LEARN A LESSON from it. The good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful. We have to learn to not have any regrets…even over mistakes.
Human beings are learning creatures. From the moment we are born into the earth, until the hour we breathe our last breath, we are supposed to be in a CONSTANT state of learning, and probably re-learning, too.
If your gut tells you something ain’t right, then TRUST YOUR INSTINCT!
A religious spirit knows how to look holy, righteous. Just by first glance, you can’t tell the difference between a holy person and a religious one. They will look just like the woman above.
But as time goes on, and you start spending time with that person, you will start to notice inconsistencies. Certain things just wouldn’t line up. You will start seeing glaring imperfections and brazen outright sin in their lives…but the more those weeds in their lives manifest, the more they try to COVER IT UP with works of righteousness, more church work, more random acts of kindness to strangers, more religious works.
The more works of religion and righteousness they do, you will begin to notice that their life does not line up with the Word of God. They will sin and not be convicted of it. They will not respond to the conviction of the Holy Ghost of sin and justify sin, or be in outright denial about their sinful state. And the more they do this, the more active they get in the church. They do more ‘church work,’ hold more revivals, conferences, and convocations, preach harder, prophesy harder…all in an effort to gain their OWN righteousness, to atone for their sins on their own. Their mindset is ‘If I stay in church enough, that will make up for my fornicating last night,’ or ‘If I do A & B, then that will make up for my dealing drugs at that school…’
The demon starts to manifest by then. And it looks a little something like this:
By now, the church lady is cussing, drinking, smoking, lying, threatening to cut folks. When she goes to church, she has her hands upraised. Praising God, speaking in tongues, running around the church, preaching….the whole nine. But when you see her in situations that require her to have patience, she has none. This religious spirit has NO patience. It wants what it wants, when it wants it! They gotta preach…NOW! They gotta prophesy….NOW! They gotta get married…NOW! You wanna see if someone has a religious spirit, tell them NO…or WAIT. If they go off in a tantrum, then you got a religious spirit on your hands!
A religious spirit also is very unaware of the very real fact that they are, too, flawed individuals…with sin. They swim in a pool of SELF-DENIAL. They are in self-denial about EVERYTHING. But the one thing they are in self-denial about is the state of their own selves.
A religious spirit is a potentially dangerous spirit, for there is nothing-NOTHING-a religious spirit WON’T do to protect THEIR IMAGE! THEIR IMAGE IS EVERYTHING TO THEM!!! They don’t believe in self-exposure or disclosure. When they fall into sin, drastic measures are taken to COVER UP their sin. If the religious spirit is a pastor, he/she will employ the help of the church to participate in the cover up. They will use fear tactics and mishandle the Word of God to manipulate and control people into doing what THEY want them to do.
A religious spirit NEEDS an entourage. They need a following. If they dont have anyone following them, they feel useless, rejected, persecuted even. This is when a religious spirit-that demonic spirit-will FULLY manifest….right before your eyes!
A religious spirit is a proud one. It won’t ever admit to being wrong, or doing wrong.
When you have discerned that you are dealing with a religious spirit, the only thing to do is to get away from them. Because until the person comes into the realization and revelation that they have something DEMONIC that’s driving them to do things in church, or do ministry, or for a good cause, there is nothing that can be done for them. Religious spirits are SO insidious and subtle that its hard to recognize….at first glance. It takes TIME to observe a person in all their various atmospheres to determine if they have a religious spirit or not.
In ’Faces of a Religious Demon’ by Pam Sheppard, many faces of the religious spirit/demon are exposed. It is one of the most thorough teachings on religious spirits that I have ever read.
To find out more on how to discern a religious spirit, get your copy today!
The First Step to Deliverance
Spiritual Warfare Library of PSM 