The Destructive Nature of Wrong Healing Theologies

The way the Charismatic church preaches healing is spiritually devastating and falsely puts the sick person's trust in revelation and in the men giving the revelation, instead of putting their trust and focus on our Lord Jesus Christ. As a Charismatic believer, I am deeply grieved by what I have seen in the church towards our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who are sick. 

Beneath all of the window dressing, healing ministries teach that healing is received by obtaining knowledge or revelation. If you are lucky, you might get one prayer out of a minister before they start to pile on the "how to be healed" homework. This is when the healing minister sends you a video, a book or invites you to come to one of their "training and equipping" classes. In these classes they will tell you all the reasons why you should be healed, yet they are unable to demonstrate it.

Charismatic healing ministers teach people these 4 basic “truths”:

• It is always God's will to heal.
• We have all power and all authority to heal the sick.
• Healing is always today. There is no delay nor waiting.
• It is part of the atonement. God said, "yes" to your healing 2000 years ago.

These are the basics of healing you will find in every Charismatic church or every healing book you read. It's all the same, but repackaged, renamed or "rediscovered" year after year after year.

Now there are generally two different camps or viewpoints when it comes to receiving healing in the Charismatic.

The first camp are those who preach a hyper-grace/Finished Work healing methodology. They say that you were healed 2000 years ago, but now you need to believe it in order to receive it. They will say things like, "Healing is already done in the spirit, but now we need to bring it into your reality". There will always be some variety on that theme because they have to explain why Christians are still sick despite it being "finished" at the Cross. They will have you focus on your identity in Christ and other related teachings where knowing “who you are” is the most important thing. Those who get healed by the grace of God are then seen as more spiritual sons of God than those who remain sick.

The other camp are those who believe there is a root cause for why you got sick in the first place. This camp says you need to discover that root cause in order to "close the door" that the enemy has used to gain entry. These people believe in breaking curses, believe that your words have intrinsic power to create or destroy and will usually make you repent for sins you may have never done or have already repented of and no longer partake in. This particular camp loves to get you to open up to them in order to dig into your life to find the root. These things then can be used against you to manipulate and control you.

Both schools of thought about receiving healing are destructive to the spiritual well being of the sick in the church.

Healing ministers teach a very impersonal God who desires His children to partake in a works based healing theology that requires one to rehearse phrases, repent of sins already repented of and other strange superstitious and ritualistic behavior. For instance, I heard with my own ears a popular "Identity" and "street healing" minister tell a stroke victim to “stop saying my stroke, but instead just say, the stroke”. 

The main reason why all of these ministers teach that healing is received by special revelation is because they are the ones who claim to have all power and authority, that it is always God's will to heal and that healing is part of the atonement. They need EXCUSES as to why people who come to them are not healed.

Some ministers like Todd White and Dan Mohler will say something like, “We are growing in this guys. There is something we're not seeing. If we had the revelation, all would be healed”.

This is total garbage and offers the sick person absolutely no solid foundation to stand upon! Now instead of having people continue to look to Jesus Christ and trust in Him, we send the sick and those wanting to pray for the sick on a revelation fishing expedition. 

Teachings like this make God impersonal. They paint God as someone who is waiting around until man figures out some secret revelation in order to begin healing His children. 

Ministers like Todd White and Dan Mohler betray their own basic healing truths. If God's will is always healing and we have all authority and power to heal and there is no timing on His part and it is part of the atonement, then healing should have happened. Period! Yet this is why hidden behind the "basic truths" these ministers preach, is a never ending journey of discovering more revelation or looking for answers. This is why sick people go from person to person, book to book and conference to conference because they have been sold the lie that in order to be healed they need to find the revelation. 

These ministers REFUSE to go back to the Word of God and re-evaluate what they believe. They continue to make up new revelations and come up with answers that are unbiblical and foolish. They set sick people up to become disillusioned and often times many leave the faith.

When a person is not healed, the healing ministries are suggesting (directly or indirectly) that something is wrong that needs discovered and fixed. One minister I used to follow even says, "The deficiency is never with God", which is suggesting not only that a deficiency exists, but that it is the sick person's fault.

When you look at both schools of thought, do you notice a common trend? It is man-based and it is self-based. It is all about preaching new revelation as a means to see healing or to see more people healed. It is a Gnostic view of healing that can be found in the New Age movement.

These teachings put sick people at odds with God and suggest that God is withholding healing because they aren't quite figuring out the atonement or the root cause. These healing theologies cause the sick to learn not to trust God in their sicknesses, but instead is telling them to trust in themselves, their doctrine or the minister who is teaching them healing. Sick people are constantly looking for answers or for other people to give them answers and this is how deception and error enters in to their lives. These errors can then extend to other areas of their faith.

Once a sick person tries everything that these ministers throw at them, then what? What do we have for the sick? Can we encourage someone to continue to follow the Lord even in their weakness and sickness? Sadly the answer is NO. I was that person who went to these ministers and they had nothing but taglines and catchphrases. They have absolutely nothing to offer the sick. It was this struggle and battle that allowed the Lord to open my eyes to other deceptions that I write about on here. It was in this battle that I finally found the Lord and stopped going from minister to minister to find Him.

A complete tearing down of healing theology needs to happen in the Charismatic church. We need to put our focus on Jesus Christ and teach the sick to trust Him no matter what happens. We need to stop telling people to look for secret revelations on healing. This is leading many astray. The sick children of God are being ravaged by thieves and wolves that have found their way into the church. God have mercy!

Don't Hop on the Charismatic Church Revelation Train!

For ministers in the Charismatic church to remain relevant in your life they have to convince you they have some new revelation and knowledge that you really need to know NOW! And they will convince you they are the only ONE who has discovered it. In the end, your focus will not be on Jesus Christ or the gospel, but instead the ministers feeding you the revelation. Yet people will defend it because they say these minister are helping them to know "Jesus", yet little to no Jesus is ever preached. Any time Jesus is preached it is only to say He was an example to show us how we too can walk in power on earth. Even when talking about Jesus, they are actually diminishing Him and instead boasting about what man can do.

We have to be careful we don't get lured into the many different facets of the Charismatic Industrial Complex with their revelations, books, movies, videos and music. This stuff does not please the Lord at all because the focus is always on MEN and not on God.

"Buy my latest book on how to see the sick healed and come to the new Dominion, Authority, Sonship, Revelation School of Power and Identity! We will teach you how to walk in the power and authority that Jesus walked in. Bringing heaven to earth is our God given birth right and mandate. Are you ready to change the landscape of the nations?" (Yes I made this up, but it is real buzzwords that are often used).

^Don't fall for the spiritual hype!

Tired of Generalized Prophetic Warnings

Hey everyone I have decided to start sharing some of the short posts I make on my Facebook page here on my blog. Hopefully this is the first of many to come this year. God bless you all!

I've heard a lot of ministers talk about "an entertainment culture in the Church that the Lord wants to remove", but then these ministers who give the warning somehow exclude Hillsong, Bethel, IHOP and other popular churches from being included in that. If it isn't them, who could God possibly be talking about?

I've grown so tired of the generalized prophetic words and the generalized warnings. It's time to start using names of movements, churches and ministers in our warnings because otherwise it is pointless and no one thinks they are talking about anyone they may be following or have "liked".

It seems due to our sinful nature, we will exclude our favorite ministers and churches from examination as if they are outside of any sort of correction or error. When names are given in connection with the teachings that are in error, only then we will force people to have to start analyzing and facing head on the deceptions that have come into the Charismatic church.

Sonship and Identity in Christ Error (Manifest Sons of God and Joel's Army)

During this long wilderness season the Lord has shown me exaggerations in various aspects of teachings. When God first opened my eyes to these things, I went into panic mode because I was so overwhelmed with "how big" the deceptions were. I did not even know what to do. I felt so grieved in my spirit. Over time, the Lord calmed me a bit and now I am finally able to write (and publicly share) about these deceptions in a more clear, edifying way.

At the end of 2013 God really started to challenge me with what I believed. I've written briefly about this before, but God showed me that I didn't even know the basic tenets of the faith. Sure I could repeat catchphrases and taglines from specific ministries, but beyond that I did not have any foundations on the Word of God. God showed me that I had accepted deceptions in my walk with Him. He gave me an unforgettable warning dream that was a catalyst for me in the spirit.

Two of the things God showed me were:

1) exaggerations found in identity teachings ("Who we are in Christ")

2) exaggerations found in what it means to be "sons of God" on earth.

There are truths in these two teachings that people need to know about. However it seems in people's enthusiasm they have added exaggerations and deceptions. When we get revelation about a scripture and find we have been missing out on an aspect of God's love or grace for us, then we must be very careful with our next steps. We must not overcorrect and then find ourselves in a ditch on the other side of the road. Some examples of this are when a person gets hurt in the Charismatic church and then they become Cessationists. Or when someone gets hurt in a legalistic church where they did not have an accurately understanding of grace and then they go on to adopt "hyper-grace", "once saved always saved" or Universalism.

If you are in a similar season right now with God, you must be very careful with your next steps. We must not exaggerate real biblical principles found in the Word and we must remain balanced in ALL things. Yes even the good things of God can be over-exaggerated to the point where they become error and in some cases even heresy. I have had people vehemently tell me it is impossible to exaggerate the good things of God. I beg to differ! It is becoming increasingly popular for people to say that since God is love, He would not send people to hell, so there is no hell and everyone is already saved and forgiven in Christ. This is just one example of an exaggeration and/or misunderstanding of God's love, which actually becomes heresy.

For those of us who have confessed Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives, there are promises that God has made that we can be fully assured of. However some of these promises are things that we will only inherit when Jesus returns and we are made like Him (1 John 3:2-3). Many today are teaching that all of the promises from God are available today. These exaggerations have created many paper tigers in the Church who are seemingly "on fire", but their identity as a son of God is based upon exaggerations and not on the Person of Jesus Christ. They are more interested in what it means to be "a son of God" and knowing their "rights" instead of knowing THE Son of God and surrendering their lives to Him. 

Many have taken bits and pieces of scripture here and there to make it say things that are not truthful. Some groups believe that not only will they see all these promises in this life, but that it is a requirement in order for Jesus to return. 

Yet the truth is the exact opposite. Upon Jesus' 2nd coming is when we will see many of these promises fulfilled. They put the cart before the horse.

First the Errors

Many ministries have gone through the bible and picked out all of the promises that we have in Christ. Ephesians is a particularly popular book where this is done inappropriately.

Many will read through Ephesians and pull out these following promises.

We are in the heavenly realms and have all spiritual blessings.

We are always holy and blameless in His sight.

We were predestined for adoption as sons in Christ Jesus.

We have redemption through Jesus blood, the forgiveness of sins.

We have all wisdom and understanding.

We are citizens of heaven.

We are seated in heaven.

Are all of these true? Yes, but not necessarily today or in this life as we know it. There are many promises in this list that we will only fully inherit on the Last day when Jesus returns to earth. Paul even states that the Holy Spirit is given to us as "a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession"(Ephesians 1:13-14). This is why biblical scholars use the word, “positionally” because while we can be certain of these promises from God, we aren't actually experiencing them now and will not until the end. 

For some people being told this is painful because they truly think they are in heaven right now on the throne with God. They really think they are in charge of bringing heaven to earth. They have been lied to that every promise is now and today and some think they can be immortal on earth. They have been told that God can't see sins and can "only see Jesus". Some have used many of these teachings to justify sin and mysticism in their walks with God. 

This is what they have been taught and they don't know any better. 

The promises themselves are not in question, but it is the time in which we receive all of these promises that is the point of contention.

I'm going to list 2 of the errors and briefly explain it to make this as simple to understand as possible. These are really complex teachings so please understand an entire book could be dedicated to these topics.

1). Some ministries exaggerate the Finished Work on the cross and say that once Jesus died that all of the promises made to us are for now on this earth, in these bodies without any delay to those who "know who they are in Christ".

2). Some ministries teach that as believers we have all authority in Christ and that we are in charge of bringing heaven to earth. They say we must pray for "God's will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven". Many use this portion of the Lord's prayer to say whatever is found in heaven, that we should have today, but only to those who know their full potential as sons. They make knowing your identity as a "son of God" out to be a spiritual journey very similar to what is seen in the New Age with Christ Consciousness and their understanding of "At one ment". Their understanding of being "in Christ" is more similar to the New Age idea of Oneness than a Christian viewpoint of salvation.

The main problem with these exaggerations is that they boast in man's abilities and create elitism. They deify man and make Jesus "just a man". They make the cross not a place of surrender to our will, but as a means to obtain power. Proponents of these teachings believe all of heaven is for the taking and we should not settle for anything less "as sons of the most high God". Many point to the miracles that Jesus performed and say that He did all of these things "just as a man in right relationship with God who knew His identity". When you piece all of this together, they are basically saying that those who "know who they are in Christ" should not only be walking in everything that Jesus walked in, but we will do greater. If you ask them who is doing this currently, they will say, "we are still growing in this" meaning that there is no one who is doing it. 

Many in these groups completely downplay or throw away the idea that Jesus while on earth was fully God as well as fully man. Here is a comment on a YouTube video from Bethel church that presented the Manifested sons of God doctrine. 

"Funny. Don't you realize that Jesus although THE Son of God emptied Himself of His deity while on earth? And in so doing, did nothing of His own power, just like Peter? Even Jesus had to use the power of the Holy Spirit just like we as sons of God do." [Emphasis mine]

This is absolutely not biblical and yet it is a common line of thought in many ministries who preach divine healing, Sonship, dominionism and Manifested sons of God. 

When we stop teaching the basic tenets of the faith in our churches this is how people become deceived. 

When we stop reading the bibles for ourselves and allow others to read and interpret it for us, this is how people become deceived. I was once there myself.

Those in the Manifested sons of God movement all agree that the risen Jesus Christ is God with all authority and power. None of them will refute that or even attempt to deny that. However they do not all agree that while Jesus was on earth that He was still fully God capable of using His divine attributes. They will say things like, "Jesus was God, but He did everything he did as a man in right relationship." They use this opportunity to introduce a known heresy called Kenosis theology. 

The Person of Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully Man. You cannot remove 1 aspect of His nature without actually misrepresenting the Son of God and denying the hypostatic union of Jesus Christ. This is not just deception, but this is in fact heresy. 

Unfortunately many in these movements misrepresent Philippians 2:5-8. The reason for this is because they believe Jesus is the man model that shows true sons of God what they are capable of walking in on earth. However when these ministries talk about "walking like Jesus", you will notice it is rarely about surrender, humility, righteousness or obedience to the Lord's will. It is ALWAYS about authority, obtaining power and performing signs, miracles and wonders. If they happen to teach on surrender, obedience and humility, it is only as a means to show people how to obtain greater authority, power and revival. This is toxic!

It is sad to say, but many who are following these ministries just want God-like powers. The thought of having access to infinite power is quite pleasing to our childhood dreams and visions of being a superhero. (You will see many in these groups actually love Superman and other superheros). I can tell you first hand, that the devil knows our desire for power and man's desire to want to feel special. We actually see that was one of the things Jesus was tempted with by Satan while in the wilderness (Luke 4:5-8). We are to resist the devil and all of his schemes, not rewrite scriptures to make room for them. 

Since Jesus was in fact fully God and fully man on earth, we have to recognize that He was special. He is different than you and I. He was not born of man but of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). He had no sin nature (1 John 3:5). God the Father equipped Him specially for His ministry on earth. He was not "just a man" walking in right relationship with God. He did not give up His divinity nor any of His divine attributes. Even before His incarnation, Jesus was and has always been God (John 1:1-2)! Jesus has always existed even before Abraham (John 8:56-58). Jesus was capable of turning the stones into bread in the wilderness (Luke 4:3-4). Jesus was capable of calling down a legion of angels (Matthew 26:53). Jesus was capable of getting Himself down off the cross (Mark 15:30).

Yet it was in His obedience to the Father and the Father's will, that He refrained from doing certain actions. It was not that He was incapable of doing it or that He ceased having those attributes. I do not believe we can look at the Scriptures and to Jesus' earthly ministry and make the argument that He did everything as a man with the Holy Spirit. They diminish the divinity of Jesus Christ in order to exalt man! 

The example and model we should take away from Jesus' ministry on earth is not that we can have power and walk like Him, but that we have the pleasure of walking in humility and obedience to the Father's will regardless of what that might look like. 

For me and my husband being obedient to the Lord meant walking through a long wilderness of chronic sickness. It meant being repeatedly broken mentally and emotionally. It meant extreme pressure put on our families and finances. 

For Jesus being obedient to God's will meant He had to suffer a horribly painful death on a cross. 

For some people the allure of having power and being seen as someone who "does miracles" is exciting. Not everyone in these movements have good intentions. It's not that they want to do evil with this power, but it is not from a place of surrender to the Lord's will. Many think they can "use the power of the Holy Spirit" as they please, but this is not true. The Holy Spirit is not just a power, but a Person in the Trinity who is God and also has a will that will not contradict the will of God the Father. 

The Truth Can Be Unappealing

Unfortunately when someone is told the truth, it can be quite unappealing. Perhaps even reading this today, some feel like Eve in the garden when the serpent tempted her to eat from the tree. The sin looked appealing to her and the truth spoken by God seemed less appealing than the lie spoken by the serpent. The lie was more fun and more thrilling than what God said to her and she sinned. I truly believe this whole movement is simply a sweet tasting lie from the devil that questions God's authority. His old tricks in the garden still work today.

In addition it is extremely untruthful and damaging for these ministries to teach that every single promise from God is what we should be seeing in this lifetime. Of course they all have disclaimers and excuses as to why we aren't seeing it. In my eyes it just further shows their insincerity. Even pointing out to them that the earth is still cursed by God and there is still sin, sickness, death and pains on this earth, does not work. They actually see the suffering on this earth to say it proves more people need to be activated and become manifested sons of God in order to bring revival and the Kingdom on earth. They have reasons for everything, which keeps their followers from asking questions and digging into the Word of God on their own. 

I'm Not Cessationist

The difficulty in writing a post like this is that many people will immediately label me as a Cessastionist or someone who does not believe in the supernatural. Yet I most definitely believe that the gifts are in operation today. I most definitely believe in healing, prophecy, words of knowledge, words of wisdom and discerning of spirits etc (1 Corinthians 12). I believe in the roles stated in Ephesians 4:11-12. One does not have to believe that Jesus was "just a man" or other manifested sons of God errors in order to believe in healing or in the gifts of the Spirit. One does not have to diminish the deity of Jesus Christ to believe in the rest of scripture.

I believe we can always pray and ask God for our needs (Philippians 4:6). The bible tells us the Holy Spirit equips us with gifts that He gives as He wills (1 Corinthians 12:11). 

However we must always know that in the same way Jesus "emptied Himself", we too must come before God in humility and surrender to His will on earth. I believe Scripture proves that God's will for earth is in fact different than His will for heaven (Daniel 4:35). We see in Revelation this earth will ultimately be destroyed and replaced with a new heaven and new earth. The Lord's prayer was meant to be a prayer of surrender to God's will, but in these groups they actually make it about their authority and power. They will twist even the Lord's prayer to create unbiblical teachings. 

The truth is God has the final say in all matters and His ways are not always going to line up with our ways and our will. We are to confirm to Him and renew our mind to His ways, not the other way around. 

Repackaged Heresies of the 80's and 90's

The phrase "manifested sons of God" comes from Romans 8:19. "For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God." (KJV). 

When read in context, Paul is clearly talking about when the Lord returns and not some time prior to that date. We see that clearly in Romans 8:23-25. When the Lord returns, that is when we are officially adopted as sons of God and we obtain the redemption of our bodies. Right now being adopted as a son of God is one of those positional promises that we can count on, but we do not know the full extent of what that means or looks like. That is what Paul was talking about when he says we are eagerly waiting and groaning in Romans 8. He was not talking about eagerly waiting and groaning for a super class of Sons of God or end times army who will subdue the earth and restore the Kingdom on earth. When read in context, the Manifest sons of God teachings are an obvious misunderstanding and misrepresentation of Paul's writings.

However it's important to understand that most who believe in these errors today do not use the labels I have used in this post! There are some who do, but it has mostly blended in with the teachings of “Bringing Heaven to Earth”, Dominionism, Spiritual warfare teachings, 7 Mountain Mandate, Sonship, "Knowing your identity", the Finished Work of the Cross and Hyper-grace. Many of the names used for these teachings in the 80's and 90's have been abandoned such as Kingdom Now, Manifest Sons of God and Joel's Army, but have been replaced with new names and new ministries like Spiritual Air Force Academy (SAFA), Sonship, Lifestyle Christianity, Azusa Now, Appeal to Heaven and New Breed. Any ministry that has a view that an elite end times army or movement is rising up should be looked at with discernment. 

Many of the same leaders from the 80's and 90's are still a part of these newly named movements in some capacity or another. They are becoming older in age and have begun to pass the torch to their younger spiritual children. Because of this, there are many new names  that are not well known, but are becoming more popular as the years go on. 

Understand though, despite the change of names or the leader speaking the message, the foundational errors are still there and need to be resisted. They still preach a message that an army is rising, which creates elitism. They still believe in exaggerations about Sonship and our authority. They exaggerate what the work on the Cross accomplished. They still teach dominionist ideals. We must recognize the actual teachings instead of relying on specific labels or names of leaders, so that we can identify them for years and generations to come. The banners of old have been picked up by aging spiritual fathers which are now being passed on to their young spiritual children to carry to the next generations. This is how deception is carried from one generation to the next. 

There is much more that could be said on this topic because it is so complex and so in depth. I hope to be able to write more about this in the future.  I hope it is a blessing to those who have read it and makes people begin to question and look into some of the well known names and teachings in these movements. 

Revised Oct 2016

Rejection Leads to Confidence

God has used rejection from people to build confidence in me that could not have been made any other way. Now I am still trusting that God will bring people into our lives that we will be able to fellowship with on a more consistent basis. However I do believe this time alone was God ordained just as Jesus, John the Baptist and Paul were alone in their wilderness seasons. 

My hope is for people to see that God can and will use everything that happens to us for His good and that includes the rejection we may have experienced in our lives too.

Ultimately God wants us to learn to depend on Him and that usually includes taking us out of our own comfort zones. Each of us have our own comfort zone and God will tailor the challenge specifically for us. 

God wants us to surrender our lives to Him. He wants us to willingly come to the place where His will is more important than ours. He wants us to leave the comfort zones and learn to trust Him into the calls He has placed on our lives. 

The Devil Wanted Me Dead

Looking back now, I realize the devil was out to get me in my junior year of high school. At 16 years of age, the devil wanted me broken and dead. 

During marching band camp, I started to have symptoms (fainting, lightheadedness and heat intolerance) that would eventually be diagnosed as Postural tachycardia syndrome.  No one (not even doctors) listened to me back then and I suffered undiagnosed with this condition for 8 years. I still suffer with this illness today.

I also found myself in a very controlling relationship for a few months. When I tried to dump that boyfriend, he threatened to harm me and harm himself. It was also during this time where a family member psychologically abused and raped me. It was a traumatic time for me.

It felt like a horrible nightmare except it wasn't a dream. It was real life. 

As all of this was going on, not a single one of my friends (nor my family) knew anything about it. I suffered in silence in my junior and senior years of high school. People just knew that I became an emotional, broken and messed up person who wanted to die. I couldn't talk to them about the symptoms I was feeling nor could I tell them about the events that took place. Unfortunately those friends stopped talking to me in my senior year and I was alone back then too.

Thankfully when I was born again, God was able to heal me of the trauma from that season. 

After high school, I entered into the work force and was going to college full time. I started to feel increasingly unwell though. I first quit college in the beginning of 2004 and then eventually quit working all together at the end of 2005. At the age of 21, I was already disabled and unable to hold a job or go to school. Looking at my life by worldly standards, I had absolutely nothing going for me. I was a burden and waste of space. 

As I got sicker, I started to look online for support and answers. It was on forums, yahoo groups and websites that I started to make friends with others who had the same story as me. It was great! I was so happy that finally there were people who understood chronic illness and its limitations at a young age. 

For about 3 years I had many wonderful chronically ill friends online. I became a researcher and guinea pig. I subjected myself to treatments in hopes that I could help others. I was part of a community and felt like I belonged. I finally thought that I was making some sort of contribution to the world. Not everyone agreed or liked my style, but I talked to people on a daily basis online and considered many of them great friends. 

In this time frame, my husband also became chronically ill and times got much worse. We entered into a new level of hell.

Things Got Harder After I Was Saved

When I came to believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior in 2012, God called me out of those chronic illness communities. I had to stop looking at treatment protocols and researching potential cures for chronic illness. That did not go over real well with my chronically ill friends and I walked away from many friendships there. It was hard, but it was part of "taking off the old and putting on the new". God was very clear to my husband and I that we were forbidden to go back to these groups and we were forbidden to even discuss these things with people. I still hold to that today.

I was a new believer in Christ and started to become more active in Christian circles. I figured making friends was going to be much easier. I was wrong. Very quickly I realized that many people want to use you in the Church too. 

They want you to be a testimony for their ministry. 

They want you to join their church. 

They want you to participate in events and ministry. 

With both of us having unpredictable chronic illnesses, we knew it was not going to work well. My husband and I were the odd people out, often times sitting outside during worship because it was too loud. The noise sent my body into sensory overload and it caused horrendous pain in my husband's ears. It was a mess. 

Just a few short months after being saved, I began to write on my blog about things God had shown us. 

This was not a comfortable place for me to be in. I had little to no bible knowledge, little experience as a born again Christian, zero experience in ministry and yet God said to write! I had to extensively research, pray and wait on God to write every post. It is hard writing deep theological posts with migraines and brain fog, but somehow God gave me the strength to it. Although I have many unfinished blog posts that hopefully one day will be published...haha!

In May of 2014, someone locally unfriended me due to one of my blog posts and it caused me to begin questioning everything I thought I heard from God. I was close to shutting down my blog and forgetting about it all. I was in total anguish. 

This brought me to a fork in the road and I had to make a decision. 

Was I going to listen to the people who were upset with me? Was I going to let fear of man take over my heart? Was I going to follow God and continue to speak regardless of it being out of my comfort zone and regardless of the potential fallout? 

I didn't have an answer to those questions at the time. I felt so lost and confused on what was the right thing to do. I didn't want to make people angry, but I also did not want to be silenced either.

What I have learned in this season is:

If we choose to remain silent when God tells us to speak it is disobedience.

If we choose to remain silent for fear of what men will say it is disobedience.

Fear of man may disguise itself as humility, but it is actually false humility! False humility can lead us into a place where we are pleasing people at the cost of obeying God. This is what the devil was after in my life. He wanted me to turn from God and to listen to the other voices around me instead of the only One who matters. 

With my history of losing friends, the devil just kept telling me how much of a bad friend I was to everyone. He kept telling me that I should have kept my mouth shut. He kept saying,  "See what you did!". On the other hand, I knew the things God had shown us were truth and important to talk about.

I was being pulled in all directions and at that point my own heart was betraying itself too.

A Prophetic Word Changed It All

I thank God for a perfectly timed prophetic word in July 2014. If it were not for that word, I truly believe this blog would no longer exist. That single prophetic word changed everything. It gave me the confidence to continue to open my mouth and speak as God was commanding me to do so instead of cowering back. 

God said to me in that word, "When you feel insecure, when you're pushed back on stand in the confidence of the Lord and open your mouth and do the things that he has given you to do."

However when I opened my mouth, I heard from people around me....

...You are just "hurt". 

...You are "critical". 

...You are being "judging".

...Who made you judge?
...You are casting stones!

...Who are you to speak?

Nowadays when these accusations and labels are thrown at me, I know they are originating from the flesh or the devil. I simply continue on speaking what God has called me to do because I know that those people are not hearing from God. 

When I no longer needed validation from men and knew God was with me, it gave me the confidence to speak.  It doesn't make it easy or fun. I still have feelings, emotions and can be hurt by words said to me by friends, family and strangers online, but now I know I'm in God's will. That is the most important thing.

Sometimes I make mistakes and ask forgiveness where necessary, but when I make a mistake it doesn't mean I should stop speaking all together. The enemy wants us to feel insecure, so that we stop speaking.

I truly believe the enemy will speak to us through other Christians to get us to second guess ourselves and to second guess what God has already spoken. He will bring back old labels, old hurts and old wounds that God has already healed. He wants us to begin to believe those lies again about ourselves so we do not continue on in our calling from God. YES the enemy will use a Christian to do it too. I've seen it time and time again with the emails I've received from strangers via this blog. 

Some of the most demonic, twisted words have come out of the mouths of Christians and Christian ministers in this season!

I admit, I'm a broken disaster on most days. Sometimes the attacks take a toll on me. It just shows me how much I need to depend on God to do any of this. If I had my way, I'd never speak out ever again. Yet because I have walked through this season with God, I know that I can't walk away. If I have truly laid my life down to Him, then I must speak.

With everything that has happened to me in my life and the way that God has redeemed it, it has given me a boldness in certain areas that scares people. I think most people would expect me to be hurt and unhealed emotionally. I think most people would expect me to be a doormat. I think most people expect me to be depressed and constantly negative. I think when people meet me in person, they are shocked of the joy and the smile on my face despite the hardships I write about on my blog. 

How did this happen? Only God can do it. You can't learn it from another.

You have to get to a place where you have nothing to lose anymore. 

You have to get to a place where doing God's work is more important than having men on your side.

Thankfully I know I can trust in God. I know that God has different thoughts about me than those around me who yell and curse me. 

Somehow in His amazing ways, God can use everything that I've been through in my life and use it for His good. He has used all of this to prepare me for the call on my life. 

I now have compassion for those who have been the victim of incest. 

I now have compassion for those who are chronically ill and doctors cannot help.  

I now comfort those who feel alone in their walks with God. 

I now comfort those who have been believing God for healing and it has not yet come.

I now point people to the One who truly matters; Jesus Christ!

It was in this season where the dependency of man was removed from me and I've had to learn what it means to really truly depend on God. That involved tears, pain, frustration, anger, lack and confusion at times. It is a normal part of the process!

When I stopped looking to men for my help,  I stopped sending others to men too. 

I started telling them directly about Jesus Christ and did not refer them to a book, teaching, video or healing course. These days I'm rather selective of the things I recommend to my friends, strangers and family because I know the impact it will have on that person's walk with God.

You don't learn to trust God by watching a video or reading the latest Bethel book or going to the next conference. You learn this by surrendering yourself to God as you go through tough times in life. There is no other way and no shortcuts around this.

What the devil has tried to use to literally kill me, silence me and wound me, God has redeemed. The devil sends his little minions from time to time in the form of baby Christians to attack me personally, but I just sing praises to God that the enemy lies are just that..LIES!

It is in this season where I had to decide if I was going to let the words of people get me to back down. Do I care that much about what people think about me to disobey God? Would I allow false-humility to keep me from fulfilling the call of God on my life? 

For some what I say looks critical and judging. 

For some my testimony and who I am today is offensive. 

For some they say I'm too young to speak.

For some they say I haven't been trained properly to have an opinion or voice.

There is always something that people will say about you, but the only thing that truly matters is what God is saying. It is common for people to label others with terms that have negative emotions or connotations attached. They do this to write you off, to discredit you in order to do character assassination. 

Jesus tells us an important lesson in Matthew 10:24-28 (emphasis mine).

24“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. 25“It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household! 

26“Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27“What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. 28“Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

For those who God has called, there comes a place where you have to simply say to the people...."I'm continuing on and doing what God has called me to do. You can smear my name. You can do character assassination. You can even kill my body, but I'm going to continue with what God has called me to do!"

Once you are truly able to get to this place, then you are free. It doesn't mean the words won't hurt or you won't have dark days, but overall you realize that only following God and fearing God is what matters. 

Feeling Alone in the Storms

I've been really quiet on my blog because it's been a very difficult, trying time (once again) in my life. There has been so much stress and pressure put on me and I did not feel like writing.

This blog post is going to be pretty emotional and raw.

Let's talk about friendships or really the lack of them. I wrote a post about this same topic in the beginning of this year here where I've had to let go people I've met in this season.

Ever since I was a teenager, I've had trouble keeping friends. In all of the friendships I've ever had with women, there was always this element where I had to be fake. I couldn't actually be honest and truthful with them because it might hurt their feelings. For me this does not work. I like to just say it like it is instead of me festering or holding on to things inside of me. However I realized that 99% of the population does not work that way and so it causes problems.

People want you to be fake. I refuse to do it.

Inevitably I've always been the one blamed for being a bad friend and then a "break up" happens. It is always in these times where the other person's true feelings finally come out. This is when I see they were the ones festering animosity this whole time and it's a big mess. After various messages back and forth, I realize that there is no possible way reconciliation can happen because it wasn't real to begin with.

It is like I was friends with a facade, not the actual real person within them.

I've seen this cycle time and time again in my life. Today, this is why I'm upfront and real with people.

My husband told me this quality in me is why he fell in love with me. He loved that I had an opinion! Apparently on our first date I was ranting about the Catholic church?! haha! I don't even remember that, but it's obvious that God put us together. No one else I ever knew liked that quality about me!

It is the thing everyone else hates that my husband loves.

I say it like it is because I will not fester and harvest things inside of me. Any time I've violated this rule of mine, it always comes back to hurt me in the long run.

In these fake friendships, I always felt like I lost my freedom and my voice. It was like that person expected me or even peer pressured me into doing what they were doing. I hated it. I had to put up an act. I had to always agree with them. I had to like the things they liked. I had to basically be them and I hated it. It's like a bad controlling relationship.

To me that is not a friendship but that is honestly a prison. Today I refuse to befriend someone if that's the terms they have for friendship. I absolutely despise it and will eventually push the person away on purpose.

To add insult to injury, having a chronic illness does not help things either. It tested all of the friendships I've had.

The main problem is that....

I don't have kids.
I did not finish college.
I don't work.
I can't regularly go to church.
I can't "hang out".
I hate talking on the phone because it aggravates my health problems.

That pretty much throws every friendship and way of making (and connecting with) friends out the window. All of the things that people do with their friends, I cannot possibly do and it always puts strain on the friendship. If I do end up making a friend, eventually the emails or texts stop and then I never hear from them again. Time and time again.

So for me, all that I have are online friendships and I am grateful for those who have stuck around even if it's just 3-4 of you. I thank God for you every day.

I feel like most of those whom people think are their friends are an illusion.

They are there for you today because:
...you still agree with them.
...you can still hang out.
...you work with them.
...there is something in your life that connects you.

If you remove all of that, will they still be there? For how long? A few months? I had amazing friends when I worked at Kohl's and Pier 1, but that was over 10 years ago now and those people are gone. I personally have never seen a friendship ever last when there is nothing to keep a person connected.

This is a sad post, but one I wanted to write today. I really don't have any friends. No one calls. No one texts. I get no phone calls on my birthday. I get no invites to weddings. I get no invites to bridal or baby showers. Honestly if I died today, I do not think anyone locally outside of my family would actually care. I've had to come to the reality of that and somehow be OK with it.

I simply have no one at all in my life except for my husband and God.

I've entered in a time where my husband cannot help me in the place I'm in. He cannot help me with the struggles and pain that I'm feeling in my heart. I have been so emotionally and physically unwell, but instead of God bringing me people to comfort me, He has taken more away.

It might seem strange to many of you reading, but I believe that God has brought me to this place. He has brought me so alone and so low to show me that He is enough. I don't need likes on Facebook. I don't need a certain number of friends on Facebook. I don't need more followers on my blog or even more visitors here. I really only need Him.

Jesus was betrayed and abandoned by the only people and friends He knew. God knows the pain I'm feeling and I continue to trust that He will bring my husband and I community and friends that will accept us as we are today. Neither of us have that right now.

Who is the Thief that Steals, Kills and Destroys in John 10:10?

¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)

We have all heard this scripture, but who do you think is the thief?

Most reading this today would likely immediately say, "the devil " because it's been repeated over and over again by many ministers. However is this an accurate assessment based on the context? I do not believe so. I too used to say "the thief" was the devil, but as I started to read John 10 thoroughly, I had to come to the realization that I was wrong. I've even written a blog post using this verse, which I no longer agree with. I believe there is a lesson in the Parable of the Good Shepherd that Jesus was trying to share that has been lost because many have made "the thief" in this particular parable, the devil. I've seen many use this verse to promote theologies that are otherwise not supported in the bible, so I think it's important to step back and really take a look at this verse.

First let's refresh ours minds of what occurred before Jesus gave the parable.

In John 9, Jesus healed a man who was born blind. It caused quite an uproar because no one had ever been healed of a condition like this before. The Pharisees were not happy when they heard it was done by Jesus and they began to interrogate the man and his parents.

The man told the story of what happened to the Pharisees, but they did not want to listen. Then they called this man's parents in and they were so fearful of the Pharisees, that they essentially left their son to explain it yet again. God used this man who had been born blind to confront the Pharisees and to reveal their true hearts and spiritual condition. God used "a foolish thing to confound the wise". The Pharisees became angry and they kicked him out of the synagogue.

Jesus states in John 9:39-41:

“For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

It is in this exchange that Jesus exposed the Pharisees for what they really were; blind guides leading other blind people to their destruction. The Pharisees said they could see and were followers of the Law and Disciples of Moses. Yet they purposely denied Jesus as the Son of God. Jesus said, "Because you say you see, your sins will remain."

God is merciful to those who are in ignorance and do not know, but His wrath is upon those who purposely close up the way of salvation and abuse His sheep. Although Jesus opened the eyes of an actual blind man there was a spiritual element to what He was teaching. Jesus was clearly teaching about opening the eyes of the spiritually blind.

This is extremely important to remember as we head into the Parable of the Good Shepherd in John 10.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.^"

Here Jesus is saying you must enter through the door that leads into the fold. Later on we will see that Jesus is the door. However, the "fold" that Jesus is referring to here is the pasture that holds God's sheep. Therefore, if a person does not enter through the door (Jesus), but climbs up some other way, Jesus says he is a thief and a robber. These thieves and robbers are false teachers (the Pharisees) who were not sent by God. These false shepherds have entered into the pastures of His children, but were not granted access. They gained access unlawfully.

² But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. ³ To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 

Here Jesus is using an analogy to assert His deity and is showing that He has been sent by God.

In these two verses we see that:
God the Son is the Shepherd.
God the Son is the door to the fold.
God the Father is the doorkeeper.

Jesus is saying that He has been sent by God to shepherd the sheep. The sheep (God's children) know the true shepherd's voice and He calls them by name and leads them! You can see the difference in descriptions here. God calls us by name, but thieves and robbers do not. They do not even use the door and instead gain access into the fold through unlawful means.

⁴ When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵ A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” ⁶ This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.

Here Jesus is saying He brings all of His own into the fold. This is likely talking about God calling each of us by name to believe in Jesus for salvation.

Jesus (the Shepherd) has gone ahead of the sheep. He is our example. He shows us the way. The sheep will follow Him because they know His voice. A stranger's voice they will not follow, but instead they will run away because they do not know the voice of strangers. The strangers here are the thieves and robbers that Jesus spoke about in v. 1. They are the ones who have gained unlawful access to the fold. These are the Pharisees, false teachers and false shepherds.

Now Jesus begins to explain this verse in a more plain sense, so they could understand.

7 “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. ⁸ All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.

Jesus was stating here that He is the only way. He is the door (and the Shepherd). He is our salvation. He is telling the crowd you cannot follow any other person or way into the fold. He says, "Those who came before Me were thieves and robbers" These are the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders who killed all of God's prophets. The Pharisees and Jewish leaders were not sent by God and did not lead the sheep by God's authority. They climbed up some other way to deceive the sheep. v.1.

⁹ I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

Here Jesus talks about what a person will find in Him. Jesus is the door to salvation. If a person enters through Jesus, he WILL be saved. Those who enter in through Jesus will go in and out of the fields and find pasture. In this pasture we find forgiveness of sins, love, rest and eternal life! 

In verse 10, Jesus is using the idea of a thief to show the contrast between Him as the Good Shepherd and those who are false shepherds. If a person follows the thief, he will steal from the sheep, kill the sheep when it suits him and ultimately destroy the sheep. There is no salvation in the thief. There is no life.The false shepherds and teachers do not care about the sheep, but will actually send them to their destruction. Yet Jesus says,"If you follow Me, then you will have life abundantly." I believe Jesus is talking about eternal life here.

Having gone through all of this verse by verse, I no longer belief that verse 10 is talking about the devil as "the thief". We all know that the devil is our adversary, who prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). I am in no way trying to make him look "good" because he is not. However we need to be true to the scriptures. This parable is not talking about the devil, but about false teachers, false shepherds and anyone else who keeps the means of salvation away from the people. It is talking about those who were not called by God, but pretended to be one of His shepherds.

In this particular scripture, Jesus was most definitely talking about the Pharisees, but it is something we should heed even today. There are thieves and robbers pretending to be shepherds who have not been called by God, but are in this for their own selfish ambitions.

As we continue on in the parable, I believe it's even more clear that the thief in v 10 is not the devil.

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

Here Jesus is telling us that He is the good shepherd and He is foreshadowing the cross, but we can use this as an example of how we should treat the sheep that God gives each of us to care for. A good shepherd would lay his life down for his sheep. He takes care of them regardless of the cost to himself. Jesus leads by example and He shows us the heart of God for His sheep.

¹² He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³ He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. 

Here Jesus is showing us the contrast. Hired hands are the thieves and robbers that were previously discussed. They only care about the sheep in so much for what the sheep can give them. They do not look to the sheep as their own and so would not lay their life down for them. They are in this for themselves and their own selfish ambitions whether it be money, fame or status.

Good news though. Jesus is not a hired hand! He is the Good Shepherd! God takes possession over us as His children and He is our Father. Jesus willingly surrendered His life for us!

We also see in v. 12, Jesus talks about a wolf coming to the sheep and the hired hands do not care. The wolf could be the devil, hunger, sickness and trials in life. When a hired hand sees the wolf come, they flee because they do not care about the sheep. They only cared about themselves and their own safety. They do not want caught up with the wolf because it is more than they had bargained for. They run and let the sheep to fend for themselves, but a sheep is no match for a wolf and the sheep are scattered! Sheep need a shepherd, but this hired hand was not it and it lead to their destruction. It is the hired hands (thieves) that lead the sheep into being slaughtered.

¹⁴ I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, ¹⁵ even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.

Once again, Jesus says, I am the Good Shepherd! He is contrasting Himself to the thieves, robbers and hired hands that came before Him. The hired hands do not care about the sheep, but He says, "I care about the sheep because I know you by name. I own you. You are mine!" Jesus the good shepherd does not flee when the wolf comes, but will lay down His own life willingly! He shows us the kind of service that we should all follow in. Hallelujah!
  
If we quickly look to Ezekiel 34:1-10, we see that what Jesus was talking about here was prophesied through Ezekiel about the false shepherds in Israel.

Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, ² “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock? ³ You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock. ⁴ Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them. ⁵ They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered. ⁶ My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill; My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was no one to search or seek for them.”’”

⁷ Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ⁸ “As I live,” declares the Lord God, “surely because My flock has become a prey, My flock has even become food for all the beasts of the field for lack of a shepherd, and My shepherds did not search for My flock, but rather the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock; ⁹ therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁰ ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand My sheep from them and make them cease from feeding sheep. So the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I will deliver My flock from their mouth, so that they will not be food for them.”’”

God was not happy with the way the shepherds of Israel were treating His sheep. They slaughtered the sheep, took their wool and ate them for food, but did not care about them at all. This is exactly what Jesus was talking about in John 10 with the Parable of the Good Shepherd. This is one of those scriptures that actually shows that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah in the Old Testament.When Jesus was born of a woman and came into the world in flesh, God was taking His sheep back out of  the mouths of the false shepherds in Israel. Jesus is the Good Shepherd as opposed to the shepherds of Israel who were thieves, robbers and hired hands.

I truly believe when this parable is read in its entirety and alongside Ezekiel 34, it becomes very clear that "the thief" discussed in v. 10 is not the devil. It is certainly talking about false shepherds and false teachers. If people want to debate that the Pharisees and false shepherds in Israel were doing the devil's work, then that is something as a Church we could certainly debate. However, I still think the point must be made that in this parable, Jesus really was talking about the Pharisees. It ties into what had just occurred in John 9 nicely as well.

I personally feel we should refrain from using this Scripture to create theologies that are otherwise not supported in the Word.

What do you think?

The Unstable Foundations of Hyper-Grace and "Finished Work" Doctrines

Over the past 3 years, I became aware (and deceived) by the “hyper-grace” teachings while seeking God for healing. I truly believe the only thing that kept me from fully embracing hyper-grace is the fact that I am sick and have a real need. I've had chronic illness for over 14 years and doctors cannot help me. I need to see the reality of what Jesus did on the cross in my life, so catch phrases, slogans and simply believing things differently will not cut it for me. I need the real supernatural power of God to hit my body.

The hyper-grace message became very popular because many people live with a lot of condemnation and do not have a basic understanding of the true message of God's grace.

Since I've been sick most of my adolescent and adult life, I used to struggle with a lot of condemnation. I've never been able to meet up to anyone's expectations in life.

In the church, most of the condemnation that people feel, stems from the fact that ministries are driven by teaching people a method instead of getting people to know Jesus Christ in a personal way. When we try to sell Jesus as a 10 step method, it only makes a person feel condemned and feel as if they are never doing enough. You will always find someone who prays more, reads the bible more, prays in tongues more (or maybe you don't pray in tongues at all!?), sees more people healed or does more street ministry. It's an easy place for people to self-condemn themselves. These checklists and methods also turn into weapons used against people too.

I think it's important to recognize that the main theme of the hyper-grace movement is their disgust and rejection of all methods that have been created in the church. Many of them have been hurt in an abusive church situation. I am not faulting them for wanting to move away from controlling types and it's one of the reasons why I gravitated towards their message too. The problem though is instead of simply rejecting the bad they have indeed over-corrected into error.

They believe that once Jesus died on the cross, that doing anything at all for God is considered works. They believe if you try to obey the teachings of Jesus, then you are pushing “works salvation”. Sadly if you teach on things like service and obedience of any kind that you are “legalistic” and “religious”. Some of them say praying is a work. Some of them say reading the bible is a work. Some of them say turning from sin is a work. Some of them say fasting is a work.

There are variations of exaggerations in these groups. Not all of them believe in the same exaggerations and it makes it difficult to succinctly point out all of the errors. A person is basically forced to use minister names because otherwise you might be using a broad brush on another group who doesn't believe in what the other group within hyper-grace believes.

They have gone from one extreme which is a long list of things “to do” to the other extreme where they say, “there's nothing left to do. Jesus did everything. Just rest”. They have confused the free gift of salvation with the costs of serving the God who gave us that free gift. 

First, it's important to understand that from what I've seen, no one on either side is preaching the idea of doing works in order to be justified (saved). Of course salvation is only found in believing in what Jesus did on the cross, but we should also obey God's will for our life.

But this is where the conflicts and disagreements begin.

Many will say that grace cannot be exaggerated. They say that God's grace is too good and I agree that God's grace is too good. The fact that God sent us His Son Jesus, to die for us, to redeem us even while we were still enemies of God, is amazing! But once we come to believe in Jesus, our life and actions do in fact need to change and this is where hyper-grace disagrees. They say, “It's already done in Christ”. “you are already holy and sanctified”. And yet there is a renewing that God must take us through in our lives to begin to react as Jesus would not as our flesh would. Unfortunately many in the hyper-grace groups do not believe that God can do a work in each of our lives. They do not believe in wilderness seasons. They do not believe that trials can be used to conform a person into the image of His son.

I suspect many people who come across the hyper-grace teachings are in fact temporarily set free! This happens because they realize that the man-made methods that they put themselves under were not of God. I myself had this realization in 2013. I stopped trying to fulfill some man made healing method and started to look directly towards Jesus. But this is where I differ from the hyper-grace camp... Looking directly towards Jesus and pursuing Him involves having to pay a price of some sort. We will have to pray and read the bible. It involves spending time with God. It involves having to turn your back to the things you once did and learn to live the life that he wants for you. It involves sacrifice at times. It's not an effortless journey. It actually is quite painful to die to oneself.

When a person does not have this real connection to God and trials come, many who believe in the hyper-grace, finished-work teachings walk away from the faith. I've seen at least 3 "leaders" in this movement shut down their blogs and FB pages. When the trials and struggles of life come, many of them are not built on the rock that is Jesus. While they reject the "methods of men", they have also done away with any personal relationship and intimacy with God too. When a group of people considers turning from sin and obeying the Lord as works, then how as a church can we restore such people back to the true gospel message? When a group of people think God is no longer doing works in His children, then how will they ever be prepared when storms come?

In my few years, I have seen more walk away from God in these groups than in any other group. I have a few Cessationist friends who are sick and do not believe in healing, but trust God no matter what. They are on stable grounds. I have hyper-grace friends who are sick and were believing God for healing, but when it did not come; They left the faith. The general attitude and mindset of those in hyper-grace is this. "Either God is good and He heals me now or God is not real” There is no room for long term struggles in their walks with God. There was no trust built in God, but simply they trusted in their doctrines and catchphrases. Underneath the catchphrases and slogans, when their life spoke louder than them, they had nothing at all to lean back on.

If those who have accepted hyper-grace were honest with themselves I believe they would see there's a lot of healing that needs to take place within their hearts. They are insecure of God's love and therefore have had to then say that God is always loving and there is no wrath. They are insecure about their salvation and therefore have had to say that you cannot fall away from the faith. They need black and white answers to legalistic questions about God and it has forced them to have to rewrite scriptures like Ananias and Sapphira. For example, some are now saying that Peter in his great power received from God, murdered them. They cannot accept that God may have judged them, but they will gladly turn Peter into a murderer. Wow!

Unfortunately sometimes we need to examine ourselves to see why we are believing the things we are believing. God put me in a situation that forced me to do it. It came down to humbling myself and realizing that what I had believed about God was not true.

The bottom line is that those believing hyper-grace have been deceived into thinking that service, obedience, prayer and reading the bible is works. They have been deceived that trials and struggles in life are strange things we should never experience. If you type in trial, struggles or wilderness into the hyper-grace blogs and you get almost no keyword hits. They have absolutely nothing at all for those in hard times. It is a teaching that attracts people with generally good lives, but gives them zero tools to endure when the wind begins to blow. It's not supposed to be that way! The gospel is supposed to get us through the good times and the bad times.

If we have lost our hunger for God, then more than ever we need to be alone with God and seek him! Unfortunately though, it is nearly impossible to talk to many in the hyper-grace/exaggerated Finished work groups. For having such an amazing revelation of God's grace, I do not see this same love and grace extended towards those who want to have simple discussions with them. They see the inconsistencies with everyone else, but are totally blind when they do it themselves. We can all get our feathers ruffled at times, so I understand and can relate. However I don't see the great revelation of righteousness, grace and forgiveness they all claim to have. If I don't see it in their life, then what and why are they even talking about this as if it's having any transformative effect? Do as I say, not as I do? Isn't this exactly what they were against in the first place? The hypocrisy that's in the Church and the pastor or church that hurt them? Have they simply become what they preached against? In many ways, yes I do believe so and they don't even see it.

We rest in knowing what Jesus did for us, but that doesn't mean we don't pray, read the word or turn from sin. It does not mean we do not commit our lives to God and serve Him in whatever capacity He wants for us. In fact because of what Jesus did, we have a hunger to do all of those things even more so because we see what He took for us. We should not arrogantly look at the cross and then think we are owed something from God.... Jesus gave us more than enough and we should have a joy in our hearts while following Him. No matter what life brings and sometimes it will bring tough situations.