Tag Archives: the church

Why and How Does An Ordained Minister of 25 Years Leave the Church?

27 Oct
By Pastor Pam Sheppard 

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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:

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People Pleasing, the Flesh and Resisting the Devil

25 May

By Pastor Pam

Consider Jonah and his disobedience and sudden flight from God to a ship filled with men about to be shipwrecked because of Jonah’s folly. So to find out why they suddenly entered into a severe storm, the men on board cast lots and the lot fell to Jonah. Once Jonah was revealed, he confessed. You would have thought that the men would have immediately picked up Jonah and thrown him off of the ship. Instead, they tried to row faster. Yet when all human effort failed, they reluctantly threw Jonah overboard and peace immediately prevailed for them.

Why didn’t Jonah just jump overboard himself? Perhaps it was not physically possible and he needed someone to lift him up and cast him into the sea. My suspicion is that as it is in most cases, the people who are bringing storms into our lives are “all about self,” especially when their needs are being met by us.

However what I have learned by experience, is that once the cause of an attack has been uncovered or revealed to me, my next step is to refuse. Sometimes you have to refuse a condition or persuasion that is within your personality or in other words, a refusal may have to be made to your flesh.

For example, if you are a person that must be liked or approved of by others, you will have to refuse your flesh in this regard. If you can answer an emphatic “yes,” to the following statements as conditions of your own flesh, refusal will eventually be in order, if you are going to effectively resist the devil:

• I try to avoid being alone

• I let other people decide what to do.

• I get upset when people don’t include me in their activities;

• I am stressed if I don’t include other people in my plans;

• I am easily led;

• I hate any form of confrontation;

• I can’t stand being left out of things;

• I am emotionally dependent upon people.

So one way to crucify your flesh is by refusing to act out its nature.

Besides refusing your former nature without Christ, there are times when you also have to refuse your former perception or understanding as it relates to spiritual and religious matters. In fact, refusal is one of the ways that we cast down our imaginations, and every thought that is contrary to our obedience to the inner leadings of the Holy Ghost.

For example, if you have assumed that God would not allow the enemy to deceive you under any circumstances, to resist the devil that is assigned to you, you will have to refuse every thought connected to this false assumption. I personally know from experience that I can be deceived by the enemy because I have been, several times in fact.

Here is a personal example. It has been revealed to me that in 1996, I founded a church based upon the nature of my flesh and the leading of the religious demon assigned to me. Certainly, I believed that I was led by God at the time. However, with the discernment and the enlightenment that I have received over time, I can look back now with such understanding. What was confusing and complicated in 1996 is obvious and simple today.

Once my eyes were fully opened in 2008, I had to exercise refusal by closing the church doors. Certainly I had to face opposition to closing it. In fact, for a year, services continued in a members home, until her eyes were also opened and the doors of the church were permanently shut, never to open again.

As soon as I took the first step of refusal as I resisted the devil, the next revelation followed. Since the enemy was the secret force that led me to start this church in the first place, it logically and spiritually follows that each and every person who played a significant role in its operations was sent by the enemy also. In 13 years, several people were involved. Out of all of them, I have contact with two persons from the former church.

I published a e-book entitled “Be Delivered From Deliverance Ministry”.  If you have been in  bondage to people pleasing with deliverance workers who caused your spiritual and physical condition to worsen, you need this book.  If you have ever been in a deliverance session that lasted longer than 5 minutes, this book is for you.  If you have read a lot of books on deliverance ministry, this book will un-ravel the confusion and de-mystify how to cast out demons.

If you have questions about deliverance call 1-888-818-1117.

For links to get any of Pastor Pam’s other books CLICK HERE.

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