Written by Ricky Saulters, Pastor , on Wednesday, 07 November 2007

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The system of which I was a part of had developed its own traditions which were politicized until it became the standard modus operandi.  This structure of religion achieved its goals by manipulating an individual’s personality and God created purpose. Their ambitious aims were fueled by their ability to instill fear through threats of recompense.  Their message was clear, “you will be totally alone should you venture outside the safety of us, your elders, who ‘know’ what God’s will is for you and all others of your ilk and kind.” 

Through those years of entrapment, as well as the healing process God is completing in me since I found deliverance, I have discovered that anytime an individual or group incorporates in its core values a need to control others, its cursed with the fruit of its own manipulation; passionless, insecure; unstable; spell-bound followers.  I have also discovered that well-meaning men who have used control have often been plagued by the fear and insecurity that results in shallow leadership borne out of management, not relationship.  Love never controls, but rather woos and beckons us to the table of Divine fellowship. Some of the well-meaning “elders” are laden with issues of insecurity that is borne out of the fear of losing control, and if they lose control, some of their followers may excel beyond where they themselves have always been.  Ultimately the root attitude is pride – but tragically the fruit is the destruction of anyone whose vision beckons them to a divergent path of inspiration or thinking.  

Principally this tragic tale of treachery is played out in the writings of the Exodus.  The Bible records that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and therefore, they worked them ruthlessly.  (Ex. 1:12-13 NIV).  I find it interesting that the Hebrew word used to describe “dread” carries with it the connotation of abhorrence for something and this abhorrence is directly connected to the Egyptians discernment that Israel was vastly outgrowing the traditional perimeters of the land.  So as the people of God and their future increased … so did the control, abuse and brutality of their captors. 

It must be said at this juncture that insecurity and control always go hand in hand.  Someone once said, “The issue is never the issue … the issue is always control”. So it is with religion.  Religion kills Jesus, while relationship beckoned him to the house of sinners and gluttons.  Too often there is a desire to preserve the demarcations of the past, not in an attempt to help protect the integrity of the future; but to allow the structure to live in the past and attempt to resuscitate its former glory!

Anytime there is manipulation, control or abuse there is a strong emotional connection to fear … a fear of being discovered for whom or what someone really is; a fear of a certain weakness being divulged and made public, or a fear of simply losing the control one has enjoyed in their past.  Therefore, the supposed alternative to being controlled by your own fear is to enslave others through their fear by exercising leadership styles of manipulation and ardent control. This robs the follower of their “personal identity” and “purpose” while allowing the abuser to feel important, justified, secure and ultimately in control. 

This kind of “lordship” over others creates a system of a perceived faith that is placed in men, regulations and groups rather than in Jesus Christ.  A true relationship with God is based on perfect love, and perfect love literally dismantles all fear and its symptomatic processes.  This is the essence of two diametric governments, the government of love and the government of mean-spirited control.  The reality what is produced by the “control-monger” is a pseudo-faith that has such levels of toxicity that it poisons an individual totally and crushes their spirit completely.  Isolation and depression soon follow the man who has surrendered his destiny to the harsh hands of tyrant leaders.  Toxic Faith creates devastating imbalances in the psyche of those who have found themselves in its clutches.  In fact, recovery, many times, can be just as difficult if not more so, than deliverance due to the fact that these wrong “mental” systems must not only be broken down – they must be carried away and completely replaced.  For many young leaders who are finding their way out of “religious systems,” the challenge of bringing an old mind set into a new dimension is frightening. In my personal journey I have learned the need for balance.  Balance is much needed in a generation of post-modern deconstructionist who are determined to find their destiny and the possibilities of the freedom Christ Jesus allows them in their journey of discovery. 

In my own life, I have found that it is so easy to become imbalanced.  In fact, you can become imbalanced in your search for balance!  You can become pharisaical about Phariseeism.  You can become so narrow minded in reference to revelation that you ostracize and shut out those you are trying to deliver. 

Many times we have been so trained by “wrong thinkers” that when we are brought out of a wrong concept and mind-set, we actually bring with us on our journey all of the attitudes and ego’s that we so desperately wanted to avoid.  Hence, we end up in a new vista (new place) with a new view and yet we remain plagued with an old state of mind that demands the same way of living.

One of the greatest examples of this is the Puritans, who were later called Separatists, because they sought to be different than the Church of England.  The Church of England insisted that everyone worship like they deemed necessary and they also believed in the State governing the church.  The tragedy is that the Puritans had become so ingrained in their tolerance for their rights to practice their beliefs, that they became intolerant of anyone who thought any different than they did.  So the Puritans left a man made system of forced religion (Church of England) and in essence created another.

They had revelation, but they set it in an old frame work and in so doing, they actually became what they tried to get away from.  This is why we must be careful when coming out of religion; because it is possible for us to be free from religion, but to have never gotten rid of the religious attitudes that have been ingrained within us!

There is a great need for this generation to go through a Faith Detox.  In fact, many people don’t need to be inspired, or shout, or have revival; you need to sit still long enough to let the Holy Spirit change your thinking and detox your ideas.

There are a great number of Christians today who are suffering from Toxic Faith Syndrome.

Toxic Faith is what occurs when a true, authentic relationship with Christ is replaced with a devotion to so called “religious” (man-made) structures of individuals who create positions that serve self rather than honor God.  This in turn causes a defective faith, where abuse and manipulation become the “addictive” components that create the ebb and flow of a “systematic religious” life. 

In a world of Toxic Faith, family life, personal needs and creative release are deemed “selfish and contrary” to the mission of the system.  Soon people become compulsive, driven by perfectionism and the underlying passion to prove their worth (value) to a person or group and tragically, God is nowhere in the picture.  In this pursuit, their emphasis is outward – its performance and its show.  Many of us have grown up in a generation that knows how to shout, prophesy and purport spirituality, but possess no visible fruit of the Spirit and have no lasting impact on our world. 

In essence, this type of thinking avoids both reality and responsibility.  For as long as there is enough Scripture to quote, prayers to pray and works to do, everything else becomes insignificant in comparison with the need to uphold the integrity of the structure and the esoteric views of the group.  Soon a mindset develops where it is an “us against them” attitude and the main focus is keeping an image; every word of prophesy is about what “their” church, “their” organization or “preacher” is going to do and how important they are to work of God world-wide, when the reality is we are not even reaching our cities and towns!!! 

The importance of this matter is that this type of involvement is not only destructive and dangerous, it has absolutely nothing to do with God or true faith; and is only surface level and filled with performance that causes all attention to be upon the faults of others rather than on self examination.  Furthermore, soon a certain church, preacher, or group then becomes the only valid or authentic link to revival and blessing … rather than God.

The finality of this type of atmosphere is religious addiction as well as a never ending string of activities to get God’s favor through pleasing others, rather than a lifestyle of trusting and resting in what God has already done for us on the cross, as well as taking the oversight to do what God would have us to do as responsible and knowledgeable humans.

There are 4 forms of Toxic Faith:

1. Compulsive religious activities:  These are actions driven by guilt and the fear of not living up to others expectations.  It’s an “earn as you go” lifestyle, with the hope that one day you may earn enough points to get God’s blessing and the Pastor’s approval.  This causes a loss of reality and creates folks who pray for God’s financial miracles but won’t take time to learn to manage money.  It causes worshipers to think that the louder and more active their praise becomes the more spiritual they are.  It is an arena filled with folks who are resented if they say, no.  But, the truth is, the busier we are for God, the less time we have to be at home and deal with relationships, children, bills and ourselves.  Therefore, many are “involved” at the expense of being real!

2. Laziness:  This is the most common form of self-defeating behavior.  These people will spend hours in counsel, days in prayer and then not even do the simple things that God has already spoken to them to do.  Laziness is a lifestyle of disobedience. Lazy people often pray for deliverance, never thinking that perhaps God has allowed them to be in their present circumstance to teach them important lessons for living the journey.  If you keep going through the same things, it is probably due to the fact that you have not done the right things while you were there. What you do where you are, determines how long you stay where you are.  This group is represented by folks filled with unrealistic expectations and a refusal to face reality.

3.  Extreme Intolerance:  At this stage there is no room for opinion, differences of view, or different personalities.  Instead, there is judgementalism, rigid rules, a focus on the negative and a desire to control everyone else so they can be like the group.  It is here that people will sacrifice relationships with family, friends and church members to uphold a certain standard or a personal conscience issue in an attempt to elevate their spirituality or beliefs above others.  For the intolerant person, there is no division or recognition of the fact that the sin and the sinner must be separated. Nothing could be further from the truth.  These are they who are unwilling to look at the soul and the wounds and the pain that causes sinful actions.  In fact they want to expose the sin, rather than help the sinner.  They control relationships based on others belief in their spirituality.  And like a witch casting a spell they manipulate through toxic faith and false religion.  They say things like, “God showed me a dream about you.”  And even though they haven’t been to church in 6 months, they are now a prophet.

4. Addiction to emotional highs:  At this level it’s about how often they shout.  Can I tell you that all the verses we use about worship were OT and from a man who would be classified as impulsive, emotionally imbalanced, and immoral.  He wasn’t considered God favorite because he shouted and danced, but because he allowed his passion for God to show through his personality.  Many of the things we call worship are not Biblical at all - they are self centered, a show of a person and many times bring confusion and disorder to the service.  The tragedy is that, like any addict, there is always a need for another fix and if it is not obtained they are depressed, down and spend all their life seeking the next high, rather than finding stability and peace in Jesus Christ.

The paradox is this:  Freedom from Toxic Faith is not about abstinence or moderation like alcoholism or drug addiction because it is impossible to serve God moderately.  Too little faith is also toxic.  But once faith is toxified there must be a time set aside for detoxification.  This in turn allow us to plunge into a personal relationship with God, where there are no limits and we become one with the Master and all of life; our family, finances, job and passions all are elements of service unto a God who allows us to be us, while causing us to be conformed to His image.

So here lies the challenge:  Each of us must look deep inside to determine, not only if our actions are correct, but if our motives are right.  I strongly believe that God desires to bring about a healing and a deliverance from the Toxic Faith experiences that so many of you have experienced.  I know that He did it for me. Only when we are healed of our toxicity, can we in turn become the catalysts of healing that our generation requires for their liberation.   

God desires to use us as the Aurora Borealis of hope to hopeless preachers and ministers! We are the radiant expression of deliverance to those who remain trapped in a world of manipulation and religion. Are you willing to share your love, testimony, and grace to change a heart and detoxify faulty faith. If you are, God is looking for you.

It is true; the bane of spiritual potential is self preservation. It keeps us from opening up the possibilities and the development of authentic relationships that God has most certainly designed for our fulfillment. 

You may appreciate this metaphor if you have a musical background - If you choose to deafen your ears, you will never again have to hear the sounds of slander, tongues that malign or backbiters;  however, you will also never again hear the harmonious sound of a symphony, you will miss it's rhythm and content and the tenor of its sound.  The choice we have to make is whether or not we are willing to miss the latter by refusing the vulnerability that we may experience again with the former.

Too often when we find deliverance we then rebel against anything that remotely resembles what enslaved us.  If there was a thought, action or use that was overtly misapplied, we then totally disassociate completely from its application at all.  

Due to these examples in our past many of us have become proficient at acting them out again after being hurt, abused or done wrong. We tend to throw out, altogether, the necessity of apostolic oversight and certain valid principles that protect and secure our fundamental need to be totally devoted to God all the while void of the temptations and seductions of the world.  In the end we miss the importance of godly leadership and the generational impartation that comes with it.  

We don't need to ban Spiritual Authority, we simply need to define it Biblically and then perfect its perimeters.  When we do this, religion loses its manipulative, regimented strangle-hold on us and then, we are permitted as a people to explore the depths of personal relationship with Jesus. It is here that the Holy Spirit will cause us all to examine our motives and intents as He guides us into Truth.  

Here are a few things I have begun to implement in my journey.  Balance is critical to me as I work my way through the myriad of pit-falls on the way out of religion and into a relationship with Christ:  

A true Father - Son relationship with Spiritual Oversight is at the core of all things linked to destiny.  God’s divine way has always included the vulnerability of trust as we put our lives in the hands of Spiritual Oversight.  To find true Spiritual Oversight, you must enjoy a working relationship of balanced reciprocation. If one side is doing all the giving, all the work, all the receiving, or all the credit - the relationship will soon become manipulative and controlling.  

A true Father - Son relationship must be totally based upon the principle of LOVE. Anything less will lead to control on the part of the Father and a loss of identity and confidence on the part of the Son.  But, you must be willing to try these principles again for the sake of your future destiny with out bringing into this new setting your old hurts.  

A true Father - Son relationship must be a labor of work ... together. Pastor Hutchins has afforded me the honor of working with him, not for him! He is willing to "push" my personal gifts to the forefront for the good of my ministry, all the while taking credit for nothing, other than to be a facilitator. In return, I desire to do whatever he needs and be a part of his ministry to enhance his position. It must be a mutual activity where each side is giving and receiving.  

The answer to your need, as you progressively heal and again find the release of your giftings and a renewal of your anointing, is really inside of you already. The very acts of submission, loyalty and passion that led you to the place where someone hurt you are the very same things that can lead you to the place where you can be restored. Many times we are wounded simply so that we are qualified by God’s grace as vessels who may be used to become healers to the hurting. Ministry is not about teaching people, it is about touching people.  

True ministry is costly, but it is also eternally valuable! Don't allow your pain to prompt you to withdraw. Let it cause you to search for the authentic place of anointing.  

I would urge you to get acquainted with the ministers in the New Church Order and realize that the world holds millions of Spirit-filled, Spirit-led, Pentecostals in experience, Apostolic in doctrine, people!  People who are, in most cases, looking for someone just like you! The body of Christ is a vast organism, don't let someone who really doesn't represent the heart of Christ dim your eyes to the fact that there are so many who speak from His heart with compassion, a crucified ego and a desire to help others achieve purpose.  

My prayers are with you and may your journey bring you fulfillment in Christ.

Last update: Wednesday, 07 November 2007

Published in : NCO Blogs, Guest Blogs

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