TEMPTATIONS

This morning, I was reflecting upon the years I spent in a spiritually abusive church. I was trying to remember what held us there. Out of my mouth came a prophetic utterance that said it all.

There was a time that Tammy and I were given the opportunity to become Pastors of a wonderful church in a little town in northeast Ohio. I went to our pastor for guidance; his advice was, “You have so much talent, you don’t want to bury it up there where it will be isolated and hidden.” He followed that with the promise of full-time employment “just as soon as the church can swing it” and thus we decided to stay where we were.

As Tammy and I were talking, I said, “I promise you the Kingdom’s of the world”. Where we were, I was being seen on the Pastor’s TV show, the Church was on the verge of imploding, but we thought it was on the verge of exploding and the pastor I was under had a lot of connections and was widely known.

As the words slipped out of my mouth I was reminded of Jesus in the wilderness and I began to analyze the tricks the devil had used to keep me enslaved. The devil has NOTHING original; in this instance, the pastor was saying it would be a sin for my ministry to be hidden, what was the temptation of Jesus in Luke 4:5? “And the devil, taking him up into a high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.” He said, “This will all be yours’” We stayed because this little church in a secluded burg could not offer our ministry the exposure that surely God wanted for us – how foolish!

Secondly, through the years another “tool” that was used was first the promise and then our dependence upon financial support from this church. I wanted to be “full-time in the ministry” so badly that promise after promise held us there and once we were put-on full-time, our dependence upon the support kept us there. What was the first temptation to Christ? Luke 4:2” Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.” The devil said, “here’s the stone, turn it into bread!” He used sustenance to tempt him, nothing new.

Finally, when all else failed and he was through with us and we had awakened spiritually to the abusiveness of the situation, the Pastor vowed to destroy me. If the enemy can’t woo you or when you awaken to his lies, he will seek to destroy you, but he can’t because you belong to God. Luke 4:9-11 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in [their] hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” Satan tempted Christ to kill himself, knowing that he couldn’t do it to him. This pastor tried to ruin my marriage, my reputation and although he sent us out with “his blessing”, later publicly vowed to destroy our ministry.

Tammy asked me a valid question this morning; she asked does any of that matter after all these years? And it does, only to warn others that the enemy will use even ministers and churches to abuse you. He will use “Ministry opportunities” to sidetrack you; he will fatten you up, just to dine off of you and when all else fails he will seek to destroy you. You needn’t fear, the enemy cannot defeat you; 1Jo 2:13, 14 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him [that is] from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him [that is] from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.” AMEN!