The Devil's Lies Must be Exposed - Do Not Be Deceived

[Helen]

The health and wealth preachers really do damage because I know how badly they misled me before I developed any discernment.

Paul faced the peril of false brethren. There's a difference when a moment or two of worldliness breaks through in a Christian - I've seen it even in myself. It's when the intent is malevolent or extremely selfish or prideful when I see it as crossing the line.

I wish I had never had to go through that issue at the Independent Bible church and I wish to God my daughter never had to go through it. But God must have had a reason for it. We started attending a Baptist church and have been there for a number of years. My husband became the head trustee for awhile. So our move there was good for the church too because my husband is in construction and helped the church a great deal.
It's funny. I couldn't put my finger on it but I think my spirit sensed something off in the Independent church, even before we had that happen. I wish I had paid better attention to my uneasiness there. I just didn't like it there. But every time I go into the Baptist church I have a sense of God and the feeling that I'm at home. I don't know why God let us wander in the wilderness before finding this church but maybe someday He'll tell me:)

I think that you hit the nail on the head there, when you said- "I had an uneasiness when we went there.."
I really do think that God matures us in having our ear tuned to His leadings. Obviously your inner-man detected something 'off' but we over rule the prompt and go ahead. Then, later we get more sensitive to His prompting and leading.

We did similar , and it cost us!

We moved from one city over to Vancouver. It was a mess.
My old mum and dad lived with us for over a decade..she was going into senile dementia....that move made her much worse ( the stress of great change)

Also, even though my husband was promised lots of work ( he was a wallpaper hanger) ...the Designer retired and Dave could not get work there...poor guy had to dive back 11 hours to where we came from, and his old contacts for work..sometimes away for 10days at a time. The humidity in Vancouver is high. It's like breathing water!! ha! My poor old dad , who already had a bad heart...went into heart failure. A whole year ...a mess. The Church that we had moved over for...at the leaderships request....was a political mess, (every one jockeying to be top dog among the leadership. )
My son in law , a doctor, said- "Get granddad out of there and come back to dry Alberta or he will die there."

So, financially poorer , both parents weaker and sicker, we moved back to Alberta. Very obviously we did NOT hear right!! The OT story of the Old Prophet lying to the young prophet ( which died) comes to mind..we were hoodwinked by man...asked to come and help etc...we did not really hear "from God" , we trusted that this guy "had the word of the Lord".

But, that said...I dod not believe God wastes any experience that we go through.
I think he always will teach us something...bringing something positive out of a negative experience. My husband got depressed because his work did not take off. So my continual phrase to him, while we were there was - " Well we have to live through this day...we can live this day worrying, or we can praise the Lord and just enjoy our day. " Finally he did. We'd get my parents and the dog into the car and drive down to the beach ...walked along the shore throwing sticks for the dog..then go and get Fish and Chips...the old English kind :)
We learned to overcome the negatives.

I'm sure one day God will show you something you learned by your blip in life on life's path , too.
He is always faithful :)

 

[Soverign Grace]

I think that you hit the nail on the head there, when you said- "I had an uneasiness when we went there.."
I really do think that God matures us in having our ear tuned to His leadings. Obviously your inner-man detected something 'off' but we over rule the prompt and go ahead. Then, later we get more sensitive to His prompting and leading.

We did similar , and it cost us!

We moved from one city over to Vancouver. It was a mess.
My old mum and dad lived with us for over a decade..she was going into senile dementia....that move made her much worse ( the stress of great change)

Also, even though my husband was promised lots of work ( he was a wallpaper hanger) ...the Designer retired and Dave could not get work there...poor guy had to dive back 11 hours to where we came from, and his old contacts for work..sometimes away for 10days at a time. The humidity in Vancouver is high. It's like breathing water!! ha! My poor old dad , who already had a bad heart...went into heart failure. A whole year ...a mess. The Church that we had moved over for...at the leaderships request....was a political mess, (every one jockeying to be top dog among the leadership. )
My son in law , a doctor, said- "Get granddad out of there and come back to dry Alberta or he will die there."

So, financially poorer , both parents weaker and sicker, we moved back to Alberta. Very obviously we did NOT hear right!! The OT story of the Old Prophet lying to the young prophet ( which died) comes to mind..we were hoodwinked by man...asked to come and help etc...we did not really hear "from God" , we trusted that this guy "had the word of the Lord".

But, that said...I dod not believe God wastes any experience that we go through.
I think he always will teach us something...bringing something positive out of a negative experience. My husband got depressed because his work did not take off. So my continual phrase to him, while we were there was - " Well we have to live through this day...we can live this day worrying, or we can praise the Lord and just enjoy our day. " Finally he did. We'd get my parents and the dog into the car and drive down to the beach ...walked along the shore throwing sticks for the dog..then go and get Fish and Chips...the old English kind :)
We learned to overcome the negatives.

I'm sure one day God will show you something you learned by your blip in life on life's path , too.
He is always faithful :)

I'm trying to be more in tune with inner leadings - like you said, we sometimes dismiss those sometimes mild feelings or shrug them off when we shouldn't. Your story sounds like mine - it turned out to be a disaster to ignore those promptings.

Your story is a cautionary tale - you trusted someone else's leading. James Dobson talked about that in his book "Emotions."

But as you said, God will take that experience and use it for your good. I know that experience in the Independent Bible Church left scars on us but it showed me very clearly what to avoid. I would never ever stay in a church like that again. At the first hint of spiritual pride and authoritarian leadership I would get out. I would never subject my family or myself to that again. I did go on Yelp and warn others about that church - so maybe I saved someone else from grief.

Thanks for sharing your experiences - it helps to hear of others missteps. I'm always looking for ways to hear from God - it's hard but looking back I can see that those twinges of uneasiness were speaking to me. I wish it came more as a thump on the head:)

 

[Helen]

Haha!! Yes, I think sometimes we have cloth in our ears...as my old mum used to say
But if He had to clump us strongly, we would never get quiet enough to learn how to hear the "still small voice". :)
@Soverign Grace