My friend, are you in the right divine alignment for this new year - and for this coming decade and the rest of your life? If not, there is an absolutely urgent need for you to examine every aspect of your life and align yourself properly...especially in the area of making sure you are in a healthy church, not a toxic church.
I have agonized to release this word today.
I didn't want to publish it; but as I prayed, I could feel the Holy Spirit urging me strongly to do so. In short, one of the biggest things people are delivered from at our live events is church hurts, church wounds, and toxic church experiences.
Freedom from church hurt is absolutely necessary if people are to grow in the Lord, because YOU MUST BE IN THE CHURCH TO GROW...and who wants to be in the church when they're so hurt by a toxic church experience that they can't can even darken the door of a church without trauma?
But normally no one in church leadership wants to talk about church wounds.
Related: Read my blog series on healing wounds in the church for help with the healing process from wounds in the church.
- How to Respond When Hurt at Church
- When it hurts to go to church
- How to Forgive the Church for Hurting You
- How to Forgive the Church as a Whole
- Healing from Spiritual Abuse, Toxic Churches and Toxic Pastors (Video Course)
- 10 reasons to leave your church
It seems "politically correct" to pretend that no one in the church is being hurt. Nobody wants to tell the truth, because in my opinion:
- No one wants any of their friends in ministry to think they are talking about a particular church; And
- Nobody wants their friends on duty to get mad at them.
And to be perfectly honest, I don't want my friends on duty to be mad at me either. And I don't want any of my friends who attend or lead different churches to think I'm talking about them. I understand the hesitation and caution, and that's why I haven't said some of the things I'm going to say today.
But you know what else?
If I want to be a liberator and help people to see the truth that sets them free, then I must be a herald of truth and a writer of truth.
And being a truth teller isn't always easy.
Before you read this, let me first say this:
- I speak the truth today because being under a toxic (read: demonic) church guise is one of the most destructive things people can experience on their Christian walk; And
- God's people must be free from ecclesiastical wounds, ecclesiastical injuries, demonic spiritual covering and toxicity of every kind; And
- I love you, my readers, enough to tell you the truth so you CAN be free.
I don't record cheaply - or record at all - in any particular church. As I wrote this list today, I wept before the Lord and called upon Him to intercede for churches and pastors caught in this web of demonization and demonic activity that I list below.
My heart breaks for the body of Christ and for any local church that is not functioning in God's highest and best for them.I love the local church.
But the fact remains that some shepherds are wolves in sheep's clothing, misleading, controlling, or otherwise crippling the body. And we would be lying if we didn't publicly admit it in the church.
The truth must come before the cure.
So I believe the Lord asked me to release this list. And I believe I share the Lord's heart for you on this matter when I say that one of my highest wishes for you as we begin the New Year is this:
If you are in a toxic church, LEAVE IT. And find a new church that's wholesome and holy.
Why?
Because a toxic church will destroy your life and you won't even know it's being destroyed. Being in a toxic church puts you under a wicked blanket. THIS MEANS YOU SUBMIT YOURSELF TO DEMONS and you may be thinking "the demons are your demons so they don't affect me" but if you think you are wrong.
So here are 21 signs of a toxic church or pastor (and the pronoun “he” could equally apply to “she”):
- The pastor is in charge, not the Holy Spirit.
- The pastor is "right" instead of the Word being right.
- The clock, the sermon, the announcements, the schedule, and the written order of worship are paramount in worship, regardless of what the Holy Spirit is doing or showing He wants to do.
- The pastor practices nepotism. In other words, how much you cling to the pastor will bring you friendship, high esteem, opportunity, discipleship, affirmation, etc. - rather than your godly character and the fruit of your life being what matters.
- Anyone who leaves will be blacklisted.
- The pastor “interviews” you to get information about other people and makes you feel special because he has shared confidential information with you. (But what you don't realize is that he's doing the same thing to you with other people.)
- People are removed from leadership without being told why or what they did wrong.
- The pastor uses the pulpit as a whipping boy to speak ill of people with whom he does not personally confront.
- The church consumes people and then throws them away or spits them out. (For example, the church involuntarily "pulls" older staff who are still competent because they want to be filled with a younger group. This often leaves the older minister without honor or financial support).
- Chronic financial problems.
- Prayer is not emphasized and practiced, both privately and collectively.
- The pastor accuses you of doing, saying and thinking things that you are not doing, saying or thinking - but **he** is doing, saying or thinking.
- The pastor believes there is an age limit for anointing.
- Pastor and staff lie.
- People are preached about it, but not discipled and brought up to do the work of ministry.
- The pastor openly opposes and even ridicules the work of the Holy Spirit.
- No one is encouraged to start an independent ministry except the pastor and his cronies.
- Women are not equipped and qualified to act in managerial positions.
- The pastor believes that some of the gifts of the Spirit (e.g. prophecy, miracles, different languages) no longer work today.
- Believe that any of the five offices of ministry (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher) is no longer relevant and necessary in today's church.
And the #1 sign of a toxic church, more important than any of the things listed above, is:
The pastor and leaders do not preach and believe that the Bible is the inmost, infallible Word of God.
I could go on, but you get the picture.
When you and your family are under such a shell, IT KILLS YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE, your finances and your family even though you don't know it. Please please I beseech you in the name of Jesus, step away from subjection to demons and get out of this church.
as soon as you goimmediately and verballyRenounce your consent to the veil you have been under - and renounce it verbally, reject it and break the veil itself - and bind yourself to Jesus. Command every wicked one to leave you in Jesus name and ask Jesus to fill you with His Spirit where these things were.
Then you will find a holy and wholesome church that both preaches and practices the Word of God and that worships God the Father, God the Son AND God the Holy Spirit.
Villages.
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