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SPIRITUAL STRANGENESS: The Jezebelian Church WomanThe Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders known as the DSM-IV is anot only a classification of mental disorders but can also be used as aneducational tool to categorize and shed some light upon various definingfeatures. In the DSM-IV, a mental disorder is defined by presenting a list ofessential features that viewed together would suggest a particular diagnosis.Just as the ?physical' is connected to mental disorders, there are also ?mental' or ?soulish' disorders that affect the spirit. In this regard, , Iperceive a significant correlation between mental illness and what I havecoined ?neurotic spirituality' or ?spiritual strangeness.'How does such a thing happen? Well, in each case there are different variables,circumstances and situations. However, there are four primary reasons fordeveloping spiritual strangeness: a lack of repentance, a belief in "anotherJesus", a seeking after signs and wonders, and the influx of charismaticwitchcraft. The key lies in learning how to avoid spiritual traps that have beenset by religious demons in organized churches. Through study and the experience ofhard knocks, I warn you that the person whom the religious demon seeks is one whoDOES have faith, but anchors his faith in a delusion, an illusion or an obsession,and ends up believing that he is saved when he is not.This is a most serious situation. Not only is the person's eternal soul at riskof perdition, it poses a special dilemma for deliverance. Why? Because a personwho thinks that he is saved but who himself is lost is incapable of beingprotected by the onslaught of demons that will attempt to enter him once demonshave been cast out of him. A lost person is defenseless because he is incapableof operating in the spiritual armor provided by the Lord Jesus Christ. He cannotpull down strongholds in his life because he has no helmet of salvation---nobreastplate of righteousness---no shield of faith,--- no girdle of truth--- nofeet shod in the gospel of peace and by no means, no authority to use the word ofGod as an offensive weapon.(Ephesians 6:10-18)Furthermore, I cannot overemphasize the importance of repentance. As previouslydiscussed, John the Baptist was the greatest prophet, yet John never performed amiracle, cast out the devil or healed the sick. His entire ministry was preachingrepentance and baptizing repentant sinners to prepare them for the kingdom of Godand the coming of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Withoutrepentance there is no salvation. Repentance is generally preached among word offaith ministers as a change of mind or a turning one's back on sin. However,although the mind is involved, just prior to salvation a sinner must experiencethe sinful uncleanness of his own nature. He must also realize that he can donothing about his sin except reach out for the Savior. The sinner should alsoexperience sorrow over his own sin, a godly sorrow that will bring him to thecross of Jesus Christ. So repentance not only involves the mind but the emotionsas well.Then there is the matter of how and why those who manifest symptoms of "spiritualstrangeness" came to Jesus. The way to Jesus is narrow and there are noshortcuts. "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God" (Acts14:22) There are questions that I ask prospective clients that are designed toassess whether or not the person understands the gospel and if he was led to Jesusand not to a particular organized church assembly or to a particular doctrine.A major feature of salvation is faith. There is a true faith and there is acounterfeit faith. Assessment of faith should be to ascertain whether or notone's faith is in Jesus Christ or is faith merely in one's own faith or in a dogmaor principle concerning faith. Much of faith teaching today emphasizes earthly
 
blessing and attainment. There is little understanding of how the just must liveby faith.Another prominent component of salvation is fruit. There are many who receiveconstant word and yet they are not fruitful. The primary task is to determinewhether or not the professing Christian has a love for religion, a love for thesupernatural, a love for church or a love of for the Son of God. Where love forthe Son of God is concerned, I try to uncover how does the person in questionrelate to Jesus. Is the Lord still "the baby Jesus" or is He still "on thecross?" Does the person understand resurrection? Is Jesus viewed in the power ofHis resurrection? Where is Jesus now? Is Jesus a substitute for a humanrelationship? Is He a suffering martyr or is He the ruler of the universe? Inother words, is the "spiritually strange" worshipping the real Jesus or a fantasyof his own imagination? This is how I discern whether or not a professingChristian is worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ in spirit and in truth.The counselor side of me is a watcher of personality and behavior. Of course, theprofessing Christians whom I have observed the longest were those with whom Ifellowshipped for several years. As mental illness is defined by a groupingtogether of various features and manifested behaviors, I believe that spiritualstrangeness is the spiritual fruit of charismatic witchcraft, the religiousdemon's handiwork and the partnership of other lesser demons working in consort.I believe that the people whose personalities that I am about to describe arepeople who for all intents and purposes, would not be considered to have a mentaldisorder according to the world's system of diagnoses. In fact, I am pretty surethat neither woman has ever been on the couch in a psychiatrist's office. Thesetwo women are professing Christians, whom I personally believe suffer from aspiritual disorder. The two women that I chose to present herein are classicexamples of spiritual strangeness. Though both cases are similar but the twowomen presented display different manifestations of the spirit of Jezebel.The spirit of Jezebel has many faces. It is a religious demo who has a form ofgodless but denies the power of resurrection life through excessive polity,feigned poise and a striving for position. The central issue is domination andcontrol. I have already mentioned the important role played by Presiding ElderRose Smithsonian in having me removed from the rolls of the Denominational Church.The reason why she was so used is because her personality is akin to the Jezebelspirit. However, I will begin by presenting first the profile of Sister Black,followed by a profile of Rev. Smithsonian.Sister Black has been a well known, beloved lay leader in her denomination formany years. In fact, she was a pastor's wife for most of her adult life, widowedrecently. Much could be written about Sister Black. Suffice it to say here thatshe and I have communicated on frequent occasions over a period of twenty years.Bar none, every conversation that we have ever participated in over the years,either in person or by telephone, Sister Black has completely monopolized it. Infact, her entire conversation is devoted to her own life and Christian experienceand she does not appear to notice.Sister Black seems spiritually sane, as she is particularly popular among thelaity. Often she has been elected to represent her community at national churchmeetings and conferences. However, ministers within the denomination secretlyshare among themselves that they believe Sis. Black is a frustrated lay member,perhaps called to preach as a minister herself, but for whatever reason, has notheeded the call. Therefore, the ministers agree that Sis. Black is a subtle yetdivisive passive/aggressive hindrance in any congregation.
 
Consider this recent episode. Two months after I became a grandmother, we spokeover the phone. Sis. Black commented "well, I guess you can't wait to be agrandmother." Slightly exasperated, I remarked: "My grandson was born two monthsago." Three months later, we spoke again. She asked, "So when is your daughterdue to have her baby?" My reply? I said to her "My grandson's name is Isaiah,and he is now over 5 months old. You ought to be ashamed of yourself for askingme that question again. What do you think my daughter is, an elephant!!!"And what was Sister Black's response? "Well," she retorted with a high mindedsound, difficult to describe. "I am not into things these days. I am only intoworship and into God. The Lord is all that I have on my mind." However, thecenter of her conversation was not the Lord Himself but as usual, about her ownspiritual journey. Her priority in conversation is most often her pastor and hisparticular approach to leading "her" church and how the members seek her for thecounsel that her pastor is not capable of providing.Since his appointment to Sis. Black's church, she and Rev. Johnson have beenpersistently battling each other over various church projects. The warfare seemsto be centered in a battle between new members and those who have been membersprior to Rev. Johnson's appointment. Sis. Black pointed out that she has been co-chairing a project with another sister in Christ and that her pastor has beenavoiding her and communicating with the other co-chair. Now these are practicallyher exact words. "Isn't the Lord's sense of humor so wonderful? The co-chairfell and broke her ankle and can no longer function as co-chair. Now Rev. JohnsonHAS to speak to mebecause the other co-chair is out of commission. Isn't the Lord grand?"This is a clear example of neurotic spirituality or "spiritual strangeness".Sister Black sincerely believes that God broke the ankle of her co-chair to forceRev. Johnson to have to communicate with her. Sister Black has a reprobate mindand yet she affirms that she is a part of the remnant church. Admittedly, herpastor DOES have his problems. However, in a very elusive way, Sis Black uses her"spiritual experiences" as a weapon to contend with him. For example, she willlook like she is completely consumed or "caught up" in the Holy Spirit?--fallingback and wailing loudly. Others have to jump up from the pews either to restrainher or to hold her up to keep her from falling and hurting herself or those whomay be sitting near her.As out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, Sis. Black told me of oneof her "spiritual fits" which occurred as the service was being brought to aclose. While the congregation was singing the doxology, suddenly, Sis. Blackindicated that "the anointing" came upon her and she fell backwards into aeuphoric state, a form of being slain in the spirit. Most of the congregants leftthe sanctuary, but a group of 10 or more women stood by her and ministered to herfor another 45 minutes. Sis. Black retorted, "Pastor didn't even stick around tominister to me. Well, too bad, we all got caught up in the glory cloud and hadourselves another wonderful worship service, praise the Lord! Pastor just wentinto his office, slammed the door and sulked."What diagnoses out of the DSM-IV is suggestive of Mrs. Black? I would suggest toyou that her spiritual strangeness can be compared to the diagnosis ofnarcissistic personality disorder.Yet Rev. Smithsonian is an even more serious example of neurotic spiritualitythan is Sis. Black. Rev. Smithsonian's outward demeanor is that of a compliant,pleasant and polite nature. Generally there is an artificial smile on her face.She presents a façade of goodness, persistently sharing a belief that people are"nice" and she very rarely is caught not being "nice" herself. Yet, somewhere in
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