Bullying Pastors Want Loot, Not Fruit

By Patricia Backora Ezek.34:1-6 Shocking blog posts on the Internet testify to the outrageous psychological abuse being perpetrated on the Body of Christ today. Young married couples struggling with bills and the soaring cost of living are being pressured to pay tithes to preachers who live much more luxuriously than they do. Some people go to bed worried that they will lose their salvation because theyre stealing Gods tithe in order to eat. Others toss and turn all night, eaten up by a sickening fear inside because some preacher has told them that if they dont win more souls to Christ they will lose their salvation, which BTW, is based on GRACE, Gods free gift, not on our works, as taught by Paul in Romans 4. Yet preachers deny that Paul meant what he said when he taught this foundational truth of the gospel. Preachers insist that while you might be saved by grace, you earn the right to keep your salvation by doing good stuff for God, contrary to Gal.3:3, which warns against putting faith in the works of the flesh (carnal self-effort to please a holy God). God, the preachers threaten, will prune believers off the Body of Christ as dead branches if they dont hurry up and bear more fruit (persuade more people to repeat the sinners prayer). I use the word repeat because while you can sometimes guide someone in what they ought to pray, many people mouth words they dont really understand or mean. Making vain repetitions (Matt.6:7) is a religious act, not a heart cry to God. God does not hear an insincere utterance and it wont take effect. it is ultimately the Holy Spirit who breathes life into souls dead in trespasses and sins. Free films and concerts can lure the fish to the Lords net, but only He brings about the New Birth. Christians are Christs fellow laborers in the Gospel, but they dont give birth to new converts. God does (John 1:12-13). We are born of God (I John 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18). We are children of God (Rom.8:16, 21; 9:8; Gal.3:26; I John 3:10; 5:2). Converts to Christ are NOT born of the will of man, but of GOD! Although Paul does say he begot certain other believers through preaching the gospel (1 Cor.4:15; Philemon 10), it is God Who regenerates souls to newness of life through the power of His Spirit-activated Word (James 1:18). It is only in our capacity of ministering that anointed Word to lost souls that we can say we had any part of birthing them into Gods Kingdom. God has children, but He doesnt have grandchildren. The church is engaged to Christ, not married to Him yet. Whoever heard of an engaged girl being required to bear fruit (reproduce) before the wedding, or the Bridegroom will break off the engagement and send her into everlasting hell fire? Whoever heard of an engaged girl being required to go out and work to earn her own engagement ring? Gods people have been traumatized by guilt pressure preaching to the point of sleeplessness, depression, anxiety and tears. Many have been so badly wounded they run away from the condemnation spewing forth from the pulpitjust to keep sane. Pharisaical preachers have ruled the flock of God with force, and driven them away from a Jesus Who is markedly different from that gentle Chief Shepherd of the sheep who said: Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matt.12:29-30). Legalistic preachers truly think the yoke Jesus has put on Christians isnt heavy enough so they increase the burden they must bear by preaching saved by grace, kept by works.

Ezekiel 34:4: The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. People get so depressed and fear-ridden about falling short of the institutional churchs expectations that they sadly turn their backs on church attendance altogether. The tragedy is that the REAL Jesus is often forsaken along with the harsh, slave-driver image of Him pushed from the pulpits of so many radical churches. A fatal contradiction is being pushed from the pulpit: The Word of God declares we are saved by grace through faith and not by our own works (Eph.2:8), and we are no longer slaves but sons (Gal.4:7). But preachers still say that those who dont win enough souls to Christ, fast, teach Sunday School, give extra on Honor the Pastor Day, etc., just might get consigned to Gods reject heap. Emotional extortion is used by the worst of the worst to rob Gods people of the rest of faith, whereby a Christian ceases from His own works and depends on Christ alone to make him acceptable before a Holy God (Heb.4:10). A money and power-hungry preacher puts himself between Christ and His Bride, which is spiritual perversion. God will curse you and send you to hell if you withhold your tithe! greedy preachers thunder from their powerful pulpits. If you love money more than you love Jesus, youre no disciple of His! So pay up! Guilt and shame are appealed to here, and the believers love for Jesus is questioned. Keeping back money badly needed to feed children or keep a roof over their head is construed as defrauding God because it isnt put into the church treasury instead. Recently I read about an alleged vision where some South American pastor went on a tour of hell. This man claims to have seen a non-tithing pastor burning up down there, lamenting that hed never have another chance to go back and pay Gods his tithe. The burning pastor hadnt been aware he was required to tithe just the same as pew Christians. He thought he was exempt just for being a pastor. Even if the alleged visitor to hell was sincerely mistaken,, I see some clever psychological trickery in this little story, which would serve to try to trip up Christians who know the REAL truth about the tithe. Most of the time, threats of going to hell are directly aimed at Christians out in the pews. Preachers know theyve created an us vs. them clergy-laity divide in the Body of Christ which Christ never intended to be there (see Matt.23:8). Ive lost count of the times pulpit preachers would be preaching and say, Im speaking to myself too, not just you. The so-called visitor to hell seemed to be including himself as being in the same boat with other believers in being expected by God to pay tithes, and he knew hed be less likely to turn off pew Christians by telling it. So if the vision is taken at face value as being valid, Christians would think this pastor wasnt out for himself to make a fast buck off them. Spurious visions and scary trips to hell carry a lot of weight with Christians hungry for the supernatural. Why not base your beliefs on visions and just save yourself the trouble of cracking open the Bible and seeing what it REALLY teaches about the tithing law (the very nature of a law is something you HAVE to do, or youll be punished for not doing it). I encourage every Christian to either get an EXHAUSTIVE Strongs Concordance like I have, or get a Bible concordance installed on your computer if you dont feel like lifting that big, chunky thing or flipping through thousands of pages. Then look up every form of the word tithe, tithes, or tithing, and SOO-PRIZE! You wont find even ONE commandment to pay tithes on monetary wages!

Monetary tithing was NOT enforced in the Church until the sixth century A.D., when it was made church law by the Roman Catholic Church. According to McClintock and Strongs Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, two church councils were held legislating mandatory tithing on money. The first was the Council of Tours in 567 A.D. The second, the Council of Macon in 585 A.D., enjoined the payment of tithes under pain of excommunication. A lot of Baptists (and Pentecostals) pat themselves on the back for not being like the Catholics, but there you have it! Not to mention the fact that so-called Protestants have other things in common with Catholics: a preprogrammed order of service, stained glass windows, steeples, choirs, pastors vestments, pulpits, sermons (which priests called homilies). Ive got news for that visionary pastor. Neither pastors nor so-called pew Christians are required by Scripture to pay tithes of any kind, and gosh, I just didnt know visions were more important in formulating church doctrine than the written Word of God. When tempted by the devil, Jesus said repeatedly, It is written (Matt.4:4,7,10). Funny how God would wait till a man is already dead and in hell to let him know Hed rewritten the terms and conditions for the tithing law, and he should have paid them even if it wasnt commanded in the Bible. So God allegedly pulled a fast one on that preacher in hell and revised His own tithing law so modern believers now have to tithe on money, instead of ONLY Israelites UNDER THE LAW being required to tithe agricultural produce (Lev.27:30-34)? If God DID add such an amendment to His old tithing law, and people went to hell for breaking a new ordinance that wasnt even in His Written Word, thats called an ex post facto law. This means that even if you committed the alleged offense before a law was passed against it, you could be sent to the slammer for it. What if the current ban on smoking in public places were an ex post facto law? If somebody smoked in a restaurant back in 1960, and somebody supplied evidence of that to a court in the year 2014, the smoker would be fined for something which was perfectly legal back in 1960. Hardly seems fair, doesnt it? If God really does add ex post facto laws to His Written Word, that would open a big can of worms and make Christians wonder: What OTHER brand new laws has God secretly written that I dont even know Im breaking, that He could send me to hell for? Funny that this poor man didnt find out till it was too late that Peter lied when he said that Gentile believers were not required to keep any of the old Law of Moses (Acts 15:24). Funny how this pastor would believe that so-called visions have equal authority with whats written in the Word of God. Not ONE Scripture in the entire Bible supports tithing on wages, or on nonagricultural items. Tithing, along with all other laws written in Leviticus, the Book of the Law, was given BY MOSES FROM MOUNT SINAI TO ISRAEL ONLY! (Lev.27:30-34). The burden for producing the tithe was put only on the LAND, not on poor wage earners. Tithe-payers were given a rest from tithing every seventh (sabbatical) year, because no crops were gathered in that year. How many modern preachers give their people a break every seven years from tithing to THEM? Paul never taught tithing to the churches of Jesus Christ, only cheerful giving OUT OF WHAT YOU HAVE, not out of what you cant afford (2 Cor.8:11-12;9:7). The Church Council of Acts Chapter 15 didnt order converted Gentiles to start tithing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit to add NO GREATER burden than four lifestyle restrictions listed (Acts 15:28-29). If the earliest churches did not have to keep tithing (and other laws), what right does any man have to reimpose this dead law on the Body of Christ? Old Covenant priests took tithes from the Levites, but they themselves did not tithe. Which goes to show that if modern preachers really ARE the NT equivalent of OT altar

priests, the pastor in hell was RIGHT in thinking he didnt have to pay tithes like everybody else. But that assumption is false. ALL believers comprise Christs New Covenant Priesthood (I Pet.2:5,9). Any seminary-educated preacher who extorts tithes of anything from Christian believers is a liar and a fraud who enriches himself by putting extra burdens on Christs priesthood of all believers. Christians are the sheep of Gods pasture. Sheep dont bear burdens. Donkeys do. Church tithing was carried over from the Catholic Church, not even from the Old Law of Moses! Whoever brings himself back under the Law doesnt get blessed for it. Instead they come under the Curse of the Law (Gal.3:10). The Bible does not promise prosperity to those who donate money to the rich (Prov.22:16). Instead, it promises a worsening of poverty as the reward of such a gift. Preachers are also extremely legalistic about witnessing (using some 4-step formula to sell Jesus to total strangers). The congregation, especially young, energetic believers, are pressured to storm the streets and persuade strangers to repeat a short prayer after presenting a few easy steps to salvation. Nothing is said about a seed planted needing time to mature and ripen. Many times people arent given time for the Holy Spirit to do a deep-down work of convicting for sin, to lay the groundwork for a true spiritual regeneration to occur in the sinners heart. Jesus wants a godly sorrow to take place in the heart of a lost person (2 Cor.7:10). True sorrow for sin leads to repentance, or a turning away from sin. A superficial nod of acceptance that Jesus died to save all men and He loves everybody just isnt enough, although it is less messy than confronting a lost person with his lost condition. Jesus said: Except ye repent (turn away from sin) ye shall all likewise perish (Luke 13:3). There is a big danger of false conversions resulting from a stranger feeling pressured to pray, with no change of his eternal destination. He might pray just to get the salvation salesman off his back so he can go on his way in peace. At best, hell walk away as the same old sinner who feels a bit better about himself. We must boldly (not stupidly or rudely) share our faith AS GOD LEADS and tell people the truth, while at the same time trusting the Holy Spirit to ripen the harvest for the Gospel seed sown and bring them to salvation. At other times you will find that people are READY to commit all to Christ. That may very well happen because the Lord has ALREADY been dealing with them for some time. If so, chances are, some other soul winner planted the gospel seed in their heart, with seemingly no immediate results. Many people have been eaten up with guilt because they failed to persuade another person to come to Christ before that one died. Preachers have shouted about blood being on the hands of Christians who didnt win all the lost around them, with many sleepless nights and nervous breakdowns resulting from such spiritual abuse. Before you heap condemnation upon yourself (or allow others to do so), several things ought to be considered: 1. How did the sinner treat every mention of the name of Jesus when he was alive? For that matter, how did he view your claims that Bible was the only true Word of God? If he kept on throwing your holy things back in your face, your loving witness to him was like casting pearls before the swine (Matt.7:6). 2. Maybe, just maybe, if you HAD browbeaten that person long enough, he would have mouthed a prayer just to get you off his back. But praying under HUMAN pressure is the spiritual equivalent of a shotgun wedding, with very insincere results. Remember this: Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord (Heb.12:14). Can you HONESTLY say you could have persuaded that one to turn away from his cherished sins (which might include perversion, hard drinking, lust, profanity, etc.)? If you can truly say you wouldnt have had the

power to persuade him/her to give up those things forever, you cant be held accountable for the path that one took. There must be a willingness to FORSAKE all sin before a person can be truly converted (changed). 3. After you planted the Gospel seed through your witness, did that one do his worst to rip it back out so it wouldnt take root? Did he brush off your walk with the Lord as something weird and not take you seriously when you spoke of it? How could you be held accountable if he did? 4. Perhaps this person hurt you so much that you yourself went into emotional meltdown. In your numbness you were unable to feel any compassion for him/her. If that happened to you, you yourself were (temporarily) taken captive by a devil who took full advantage of the situation. Just because sinners are in greater peril, doesnt mean Christians arent also being attacked by satan. Many, if not most of Gods people, have periods in their lives when they barely feel saved anymore (satan puts that doubt there). You might be in a place of little or no true fellowship. There is NO ONE on earth you can share all your heart with! Unless the believer has learned to rely SOLELY on the Lord while hes alone in his personal wilderness, satan can overwhelm that Christian with disillusionment, trials, etc. (I Pet.5:8) I dont believe a Christian can be possessed, as such, but he/she can be so bound by satans demons that they are temporarily UNABLE to reach out to the lost. Even years down the road, after you have recovered spiritually and regained sensitivity toward Christ and His love for others, satan will keep you awake nights and accuse you of failure to prevent someone from going to hell. Theres no worse soul torment! While someone else was in eternal danger, you were too traumatized by the enemy to respond. You yourself ought to have been ministered to, as a casualty of this war against satan. But you felt all alone in your struggle against the devil. Any soldier whos been blasted in the chest on the battlefield cant be expected to carry on with the fight. 5. There are cases where the Holy Spirit stops contending with lost sinners altogether because they have crossed a line known only to Him. They love their sins too much to give them up. God will not always strive with man (Gen.6:3). Modern man is used to convenience, and things always being there waiting for him when he has the time to get back to them. People want to wait till theyre too old and worn out to have fun anymore, then they just MIGHT think about their souls. But God is not at mans disposal, to be sent away and then recalled like a servile butler when the person decides hes had enough of sin and wants to make sure he catches the last train to heaven. God is not a genie in a bottle to be kept on the shelf till you need His services. We live in a push-button age of instant oatmeal, microwave dinners, quick downloads, etc. This attitude of demanding instant soul winning results is reflected in much of the condemnation roared by preachers from pulpits. How many souls have YOU led to the Lord this past year? If you cant count even two, youre in deep trouble, buster. Youre in danger of being cut off as an unfruitful branch! Ive heard preaching like this before, especially at a radical church I went to many years ago. All the condemnation preached at that church drove me out, though Id had good friends there. I recently read a post or two where people are worried sick that God no longer loves them because they arent doing enough for Jesus. One guy wrote that he felt suicidal. Preachers hardly ever mention that Noah lived and preached for hundreds of years and only took seven other souls with him onto the Ark (all family members). But the Bible still honors Noah as a preacher of righteousness (2 Pet.2:5). God called Jonah to preach to the Ninevites, mortal enemies of Israel. Jonah hated them. God had to send a hungry whale to drag Jonah by the scruff of the neck to get the job done.

Reading the text gives you the impression Jonah didnt even WANT those souls saved, because he hung around waiting for God to nuke Nineveh. Jonah wouldnt have shed one single tear if God had fulfilled his prophecy of doom over that city. But God still gave Jonah a rich harvest of souls. Good salesmanship and a sweet disposition dont guarantee genuine conversions to Christ. But most people, whether saved or lost, have at least a dollar or two in their pockets. To keep new saved souls pouring into THEIR church to keep a steady flow of cash filling up their offering plates, preachers threaten their congregations with the parable of the unfruitful branch in John Chapter 15. What, exactly IS the fruit Jesus is referring to? Who the unfruitful branch which doesnt abide in Him and is cut off and cast into the fire? Is Jesus threatening to throw you into hell if you dont gather in X number of souls in a year? Matt.7:15: Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheeps clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Verse 16: Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Verse 17: Even so, EVERY good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. Verse 18: A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Verse 19: Every tree that bringeth forth not good fruit is hewn (chopped) down, and cast into the fire. Verse 20: Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. In Luke 3:8 John the Baptist tells the people what fruits are demanded by God: Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, etc. Verse 9: And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn (chopped) down, and cast into the fire. Verse 10: And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do, then? Verse 11: He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat (food), let him do likewise. Verse 12: Then came also the publicans (tax collectors) to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? Verse 13: And he said unto them, Exact (collect) no more than that which is appointed you. Verse 14: And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages. Contentment is the opposite of covetousness (greed), a bad fruit of the flesh (I Cor.5:10). How many prosperity preachers encourage Christians to aim higher, not for spiritual treasures above, but for earthly things that perish? Christians are taught to never think they have enough and always strive for more. And what about John the Baptists exhortation to collect no more than your due? How many preachers find every excuse in the book to take up extra collections? More on the SPIRITUAL fruit God is looking for in a Christian: James 3:17: But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

Verse 18: And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. Gal.5:22: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith (faithfulness), Verse 23: Meekness, temperance (self-control); against such there is no law. John the Baptist didnt threaten his converts with hell fire if they failed to drag more folks back to the river for him to baptize. God wanted fruits of goodness in these peoples lives to PROVE their repentance! The evil Pharisees who attacked Jesus werent manifesting any Fruits of the Spirit. Instead, they had a murderous desire to get rid of Jesus so they could keep on oppressing the people without opposition. Throughout the Old Testament, the fig tree is used as a type of the Nation of Israel (see Jere.24:8;29:17). God spoke of evil and vile figs (bad fruits of the nation) which could not be eaten. Many Israelites had fallen into idolatry so God found the fruit of this nation bitter. Shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus cursed the fig tree for failure to produce fruit (Matt.21:17-20). Christs first disciples were Jewish, but the Jewish nation as a whole would not receive Him. In A.D. 70 the Temple was destroyed and the Jews were exiled from their homeland as had happened before. Do abusive preachers manifest the nine Fruits of the Spirit, as they roar at their congregations to give more and work more to bring in more souls to THEIR services? Could it possibly be that OTHER numbers are whirling around in their head, and preachers wouldnt give a hoot if they had heaven all to themselves? Dont kid yourself. A heckuva lot of preachers are hard-nosed businessmen, like carnival hucksters. If I get X number of faithful believers to attend MY church, MY offering will shoot way up. Now for a few questions about the Fruits of the Spirit: 1. How much LOVE do rich preachers show when they condemn poor families for spending their tithe to take their children to the dentist? 2. How much genuine JOY do you see on a stern Pharisees face as he tells you God will send you to hell for withholding His tithe? Rather, such preachers steal the joy of the assurance of salvation out of Christians hearts. 3. How much PEACE is in the church when the preacher fries his congregation in hell for failure to win more souls (increase church membership)? 4. How LONGSUFFERING is the covetous preacher when a big recession strikes and he starts hearing more clinks than rustles in the offering plate? 5. How much GENTLENESS does the preacher show when he hears bad news about several bad tithe checks bouncing? 6. How much GOODNESS does the preacher show when you tell him you just gave the church your last five by faith only to discover your car was almost out of gas and could you please borrow it back till payday? 7. How much MEEKNESS does a preacher show when he boasts that if you dont pay the kind of offerings he demands and do enough work for the church, youll end up being his shoeshine boy in heaven? 8. How much TEMPERANCE (self-control) does a prosperity preacher show when his second (or third) wife gains two pounds and he feels like he needs a fresher image to enhance his ministry? 9. If that preacher didnt grow any temperance in his life, chances are you wont see much FAITHFULNESS on his tree either, just wife number four on his arm. If you dont discern the fruits of the Spirit in the life of that preacher who yells about giving and getting busy for God, chances are hes got ulterior motives for pressuring you to be win souls for Jesus and close the deal after preaching a three-minute sales pitch to a total stranger.

Still MORE on the fruit God is looking for: 2 Pet.1:5: And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; Verse 6: And to virtue temperance (self-control); and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; Verse 7: And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity (see also I Cor.13:1-7). Verse 8: For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle Peter shows us in the above passage that being fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ constitutes true fruitfulness, not yanking green fruit off the vine by pressuring a reluctant individual to repeat the sinners prayer. Thats just like delivering a baby five months before its due. For sure youll get it out, but that baby just wont survive. All youll get is a spiritual stillbirth. Out of a true love for Jesus will flow an ardent desire to BE a witness to others, not just go out there and sell Jesus. The only person in the Bible mentioned as selling Jesus was Judas Iscariot, and hes roasting in hell for it today. Seriously, anything done to try to earn or keep Gods favor is fatal to faith in Christ alone. The Way of Works leads away from the Cross, not toward it. Even the Pharisees boasted of all the sacrificial works theyd done, allegedly to please God (Luke 18:9-14). The sinner who didnt perform good religious works was the one who got justified, because he cried out to God for unmerited mercy (grace). Why do (some) preachers pressure young people to storm the streets for Jesus? The lack of people is the destruction of a princes kingdom (Prov.14:28). Young people are most likely to preach to other young people. Young converts have a longer working (and earning) life ahead of them than oldsters. Ever notice how preachers keep a tote board up on the wall to the right of the pulpit, letting everyone know how much money was donated, how many attended Sunday School and church, etc.? So much for giving in secret (Matt.6:3-4). Throughout the Bible, God lets us know He is not impressed by numbers. Big congregations can be hampered by ice-cold formality. Paying the upkeep on a huge building complex can be a white elephant on the backs of poor people who stay away for that very reason. Smaller fellowships dont cater to fleshly pride, but they can be better for people who feel intimidated by vast numbers in a huge auditorium. Preachers are often impressed by numbers and think their church will not achieve worthwhile goals without a huge congregation and plenty of committees. But God can save by many or by few (I Sam.14:6). A lot of church projects are nothing but expensive deadwood as far as He is concerned. Pointless programs, carnal concerts and fancy fixtures devour funds which could care for the poor and reach the lost in inner city areas. Billions are wasted on things that promote the church to the community. Worthless ego-boosters gotten by religious taskmasters at the cost of the rest and peace of Gods people will someday be burnt up as wood hay and stubble (I Cor.3:1115). When preachers beat on your conscience to try to control your life, theyre acting like the devil. Since Ive made a real effort (and had much more time) to serve the Lord in various ways, satan has played the rumba on my conscience for weaknesses and failures of the past. I have fought him in the following ways:

1. Satans attacks only began after I felt Gods approval on my work and felt His closeness as never before. Now, it just doesnt make any sense. Why would God shower Me with His love and approval for many months on end, then turn around and torment me with memories of past sins? That cant be the Holy Spirit. It must be a wicked spirit at work trying to tear me down. Seems to me that if God thought my sins and mistakes were unforgivable, He wouldnt have blessed me so mightily before troubling my sleep about the things of the past. So those torments couldnt have been the conviction of the Holy Spirit. It must have been a wicked spirit! Jesus plainly declares satan is the father of lies and there is NO truth in him (John 8:44). 2. One powerful weapon Ive used against the accuser is this verse: I Cor.6:17: But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.* * *When God sees me, He sees Jesus, because I am in Christ. My sins have all been forgiven by God, and He does not even remember them any more (Heb.8:12;10:17). How significant, that God thinks this truth is so important that He repeats it in the same book of the Bible! 3. Trying to argue the devil away isnt enough. Hes so determined to wear me down that still another weapon must be pulled out of my arsenal to fight the fiery darts of the enemy: praying in the tongues of the Spirit (I Cor.14:2; Eph.6:18). In the Spirit we pray mysteries to God. When Gods Spirit moves in power satan doesnt know whats about to hit him. Just reading about my war with satan should give you some idea of the harm done when Christians are ACCUSED BY PREACHERS of being unfruitful. When they hurt Gods people like this, theyre preparing peoples hearts for satan to plant seeds of condemnation and torture them, especially at night when they should be at rest. The quiet hours of such an oppressed saint are spent not in restful contemplation about the goodness of the Lord, but in futile hindsight: What if , ten or twenty years ago, Id been bolder or avoided making this or that mistake? God has put a NO FISHING sign on forgiven sins and failures of the past, but condemnation preachers lure sensitive souls out into forbidden waters to sink beneath troubled waves. Acts 20:29: For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Rom. 8:1: There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. ***** http://banpreachergreed.tripod.com