A Berean

Since the time the Lord brought me out of the false healing movement (International Association of Healing Rooms), the false prophetic and false dream/visions it has been my hope to help others see the truth. Through the leading of the Lord, his great love and mercy, I have seen that take place, time and again. During the past 8 1/2 years, I have learned a great deal and oftentimes the learning has been the result of the gifts and love of my brothers and sisters in Christ, most often than not, other bloggers as well as my readers.

For these moments I am deeply grateful as I have seen the Lord bring together believers who were, and still are without a meeting place. Yet, it was in the early days, between the months of April, 2008 and June, 2009 when I, like Mary, who sat at the feet of Jesus to learn because there was no where else to turn. And like before me, Simon Peter, and the woman with the vial of oil, I clung to him and only to him, uncaring of what others thought of me, because he has the words of eternal life (John 6:68, Luke 7:37).

When I first embarked upon this journey I had no real plan in place. I felt greatly responsible for the damage I had done and I wanted to set things right though I had no idea what that would look like. I realized my greatest downfall first, my own ignorance of the scriptures. Second, was my willingness to submit to others who I believed knew more than I did. I also acknowledge a big part of that willingness to submit was out of balance, and a trap of Satan to which many of us fall prey.

There do exist ideologies and belief systems resulting from teachings which are not scriptural, yet they are taught by people who have a need for control and attention. They are taught to people who believe they are lowly and are in need of someone to reign over them. And though believers are admonished in scripture to search for the truth and to test the teachings of others, we do not. As we read these two verses in Acts 17, we find the result of that research is to find the truth and believe.

11Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true. 12As a result, many of them believed, along with quite a few prominent Greek women and men.

We are responsible for our salvation and we are told to work it out in fear in trembling (Philippians 2:12). Again, we do not. And the resulting entrapment is of our own doing as we have allowed the father of lies to gain entrance into our lives and separate us from Christ who has set us free from the assignment of death.

Recently, as you have read, I had the experience of trusting a teacher I deemed to be from the Lord. As a group we were invited to ask questions and the result of our questions brought a storm against us that has not yet abated. Of late, we have been called feminists and Jezebels, and are accused of doing the work of Satan.

While I feel bad for people who have the need to control others, I will not stand for it. And I will continue to preach the one and only Jesus, the Messiah to as  many who will listen, male or female. I will continue to encourage healthy, doctrinal sound conversation here, held in the search for the truth, as bereans, as defenders of the faith, until such time as the Lord says to stop. Why? Because the it has been by the hand of the Lord that this blog came into being.  Together, we have grown and thrown off the wiles of the devil. It is the true work of a believer to make disciples. I believe there are many out there who still need to be pulled from the fire of charismania. As I have stated in the past, I will not wear a burqa. There is too much at stake.

Going forward, I will be looking at some very interesting and enlightening research regarding the roles of Christian women, written by men and women who not only know the scriptures, but understand the meanings, the culture and the events that took place during the times the scriptures were written. The omission of these important details have been the result of some very bad teaching regarding the roles of women.

False Christianity set by man, and their resulting bondage be damned. Literally.

Christ came to set us free and I will stand for that freedom.