Theology - The Queen of Sciences

There is growing up a generation that was not taught the Bible stories, taken to church or much experience of Christian prayerful living.  Small wonder that these one see little need for 'religion.'
They claim, "One does not need a god to be moral.'  Meaning they do not believe in God and do not think it relevant to themselves as moral people.  They can make 'good' choices without the guidance, background and education of Bible training, exposure to Christianity, or understanding of the ethical attitudes of Jesus.
My father was the son of a missionary and deeply scarred by the experience.  However, growing up in China of the early 1900's, he also learned about the ethics of people without the Christian ethic.  You could not trust the Chinese in their business dealings.  You always had to be on guard against trickery - the stone in the pile of wood when you got paid by the weight of the wood.
Dad's conclusion was that you cannot have a highly developed society without built in ethical training developing ethical character in which one could trust.  He observed that much trust was involved in western business and financial transactions.  He discerned that things would not be the same if we lost the religious training and ethical training that was the foundation of character in the West.
That is why mom and dad took us all to church.  They believed that this grounding is important.  They were right.  It is important to be exposed to the religion and ethic that is the backbone of the West.
In my generation television came in and replaced religion as the major influence on morals and ethics.  The driving force behind television was not developing character but training people to consume goods.  This is a battle that religion, to a large extent, lost and commercial interest won.
Now we can see that dad was right.  We will see what it is like to live and work with people without an ethical backbone - people you cannot trust.
 
Now to the question as to why Theology can be considered the Queen of the Sciences, I will quote:

"we strongly believe that no education is a useful education without the study of theology. One's theology (understanding of God and his eternal law) determines how facts, events, and philosophies are judged.  It is necessary to have a good (correct) theology in order to make good moral judgments, rightly discerning between right and wrong. 
     A popular phrase we often hear is "you can't legislate morality."  However, every law in every land legislates somebody's morality.  We see the strife in medical arenas concerning abortion, cloning, grafting, etc.  Difficult choices have to be made about what is right and wrong.  Many of us are under the counsel of psychologists, psychiatrists, ministers, and others.  Depending on the counselor's view of man, God, and true mental health, is the success of the treatment.  In the arena of the structure of authority we have to know what man's inherent rights are and where those rights come from before we can determine if a government is righteous. 
     One's theology affects his every action and belief.  It is the framework upon which hangs all we learn from history and the framework upon which the future is built.  The "Queen of Sciences" should order and illuminate all the other disciplines, providing one with a genuine liberal education.  The Tanglewood School Curriculum, recognizing the importance of the study of theology, provides a place for planning and record keeping in the teacher's Corebook. We encourage each parent to study and to aspire to a correct theology and to instill in the child an understanding and love for this sacred discipline.
     After all, as was once said, "The only rightful purpose of education is to know the truth and to live by it."

This is from http://www.tanglewoodeducation.com/queen.htm

Matthew 18:18 - what means 'bind' and loose?

This e-mail arrived with a question about binding and loosing in Matthew 18:18.  Here is the letter.


Hi,

I just read you information on cursing from the Internet – via Google.

Most of it I agree with and see the wisdom of not continuing a practice of prayer that I really thought was correct. So now, what about Matthew 18:18, which says “whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven;”  what are we to “Bind” and what are we to “Loose?”  What does that in your opinion refer to?

Thank you for your input.

God lover

"Study to show thyself approved..." 2Tim 2:15

I explain this on the Listening-prayer web site in the section called Demonic, negative and unhealthy Spiritual Warfare under the title Spiritual Warfare: Binding and Loosing.


In the Jewish New Testament (David Stern, 1989), the translator explains the meaning of "bind" and "loose" to the Jew.  This would mean that the leadership had the  authority to set up a new religious community and establish the rules of this community.  The new community formed around Jesus was not to be bound by Jewish law.  They could, in effect, establish new rules for the new community.  God's authority would be behind them in this.  And so it was as we see in the Book of Acts.

In North America it has fed in to the power drive and wrongly interpreted as 'I can take authority in Jesus name over Satan and territorial spirits.  That, in fact, is very dangerous advice as it puts us in a position of rebellion against authority.  It encourages acting in pride and arrogance.

It accomplishes the opposite of what is intended.  One loses protection.  One's position in the battle is exposed.  The enemy penetrates and attacks supply lines.  This is experienced as money always disappearing, losing jobs, just about to get a job and it goes to someone else.

Read more of my articles on listening-prayer.com and this should all be explained.

George


My articles on the internet about cursing include the following:

1. Types of curses by George Hartwell on HealMyLife.com
2. deliverance from curses by George Hartwell Christian counsellor
3. Jesus in between prayer to break a curses, breaking and removing a curse, 
4. introduction to how to break a curses on Listening-Prayer.com
5. How to break a curse with Jesus in Between - a Christian perspective on breaking curses and spells
6. Breaking a Shame Curse by George Hartwell Christian counselor how to break a Shame curse
7. How to Deal with Oppression from Spells, Curses and Voodoo on Listening-prayer.com
8. What is a curse, a spell, Christian understanding of curses, spells, voodoo
9. 
   

Am I in a cult? How to discern a cult.

Calling a church a cult is pretty extreme so I need to suggest some criteria for such a label.

One definition of a cult-like church is that there is spiritual abuse.  Spiritual abuse also needs to be defined because that is a strong term.  Spiritual Abuse is when the agenda of the church or the pastor overrides the needs, gifts and calling of the person.

Unfortunately that is a very abstract and general definition.  Unfortunately most institutions calling themselves 'Churches' will tend to fit into that definition to some extent.  Unfortunately, most churches exist to some extent, for their own sake or to benefit the pastor more than they exist to nurture, encourage and equip the Christian to live out their life in their home, community or workplace in victory.

Let be more specific in guidelines or markers.  An unhealthy church does not leave you feeling encouraged and built up but you leave the Sunday worship service feeling burdened or guilty.

Jesus said "come unto me you that are burdened and heavy laden and I will give you rest."  If the service ministers that Jesus then you will find relief from guilt and pressure to perform 'religious' duties and encouraged and empowered to live your life with Christ in you and the Kingdom of God invading your places of home, work and study.  This will happen without striving.

Freedom is present where Christ is present for he came to set us free.  What that looks like in the local congregation is that everyone is expressing themselves in their own unique way.  People dress different.  You can look around and see many different ages, colors, genders, dress, financial levels.  The people are not all dressed the same.

In some churches there is a drift toward a 'deliverance' ministry or to 'spiritual warfare.'  It is a danger sign if the focus of prayer, preaching and song is on attacking evil, binding demons and naming different powers of darkness.  Flee such a place because they are attracting demons by giving them so much attention.

Are people in leadership so 'super spiritual' that they do not manage their everyday affairs well.  It is unhealthy to be so focused on 'saving the world' that you neglect your family.  It is unhealthy to be so focused on 'spiritual things' that you neglect your earthly responsibilities.  You need to feed your rabbits, take the dog for a walk and have food in the refrigerator for the household.  Practical stuff, believe it or not, is spiritual stuff.

A healthy church will have healthy small groups.  People will be able to study the bible and not always the sermon notes from the pastor's sermon.  There should be some personal sharing and getting to know one another.  If you can sense a healthy refreshing sense of freedom and encouragement.

As a church becomes more controlling it comes closer to being an unhealthy church or a cult.

1. The teaching suggests that other groups are wrong and you would lose out by leaving this church.
2. More extreme, the teaching suggests you are lost from salvation if you leave this church.
3. The pastors speaks and teaches that bad things happen to those who leave the church.
4. The pastor or others pray negative prayer (curses) against those who leave their church.

I have talked about 'exit control' in another blog.  These are some guides as to whether you are in a healthy or unhealthy church or a cult.  Learn to discern and to trust your gut feeling.

Survival Handbook for the Church

We know that we are in a war, it is how we engage in spiritual warfare that will mean blessing or cursing for the Body of Christ.
I thank John Paul for his book: Needless Casualties of War. I call it a survival handbook for Christians because those that do not read and following Jackson's warning are being decimated.
Personally, I lost my marriage, my home, my children, my job and ran home to my mother with my tail between my legs. I was whipped and all the time I was boldly binding the principalities over my city and workplace.
After I attended a PCM with Leanne Payne and heard and heeded her warning, I began to see my life turn around.
Friends who I knew were "binding" dark powers were also suffering in theirs lives: children in rebellion, ill health, loss of marriage relationships and, for each of us, financial difficulties.
The teachings that John Paul Jackson addresses - Peter Wagner and others - might as well be demonically inspired because they will drag the church into defeat faster than anything else I know.
Before Jackson's book, I already had the warnings of a few isolated teachers as to stopping the focus on demons, spiritual mapping, binding territorial spirits.
There was a warning in Let Us Praise page 71. There was a warning in the teaching of John Dawson about an incident in New Zealand which backfired on a native Christian leader in the midst of a large praise and teaching gathering. There was a story in a vision of Rick Joyner where he is up on the mountain and given the cloak of humility and, in contrast, some leave the mountain to attack and are devastated.
This stuff is life or death, health or sickness, victory or defeat for any that have got involved in 'binding' Satan or Princes of the air.
And, of course, Leanne Payne, she has been on this and written about it in two books: See Restoring the Christian Soul: Overcoming Barriers to Completion in Christ through Healing Prayer on wrong ways of doing spiritual battle, especially chapter 14 and and Listening Prayer: Learning to Hear God's Voice and Keep a Prayer Journal, chapter 4 on Intercession, and chapters 14 and 15 on the related problem of neo-gnostic ways of prayer.
Big mistake. Big strategic error. Do not continue with this stuff. Read John Paul and the others and heed.
I have several articles on Listening-prayer.com about this:

• Biblical spiritual warfare and false spiritual warfare
• Spiritual Warfare Principles - Biblical Do's and Don'ts of Spiritual Warfare
• Why I do NOT suggest binding demons, evil spirits, territorial spirits or Satan, ever!
• Everyday life and Spiritual Warfare
• Spiritual Warfare and 3 Accountability Questions 
• 24 hour Prayer Shield - a daily prayer cycle

"I can ask anything" faith

A discouraged woman writes that God has not answered her prayers and she is very discouraged and has lost her faith.  She has "I can ask anything" faith.  She knows the letter of the teaching but does not have the wisdom of experience and full understanding.

What does "I can ask anything" faith looks like?  This is her understanding of prayer: "The Bible also tells me that I may ask anything and have whatsoever I desire so that my joy may be full."  She says: "I know that again I can ask of anything and as long as i believe that it shall be done for me."


This Discouraged One has not read my understanding of prayer.  I suggest that she read Prayer guidelines on my web site www.HealMyLife and that she investigate www.Listening-prayer.com as well.


There she will discover my understanding of prayer is not "I know that again I can ask of anything and as long as i believe that it shall be done for me."

Jesus who moved with much authority and great faith never imposed his will on the Father but said "I do nothing but what I see the Father doing."  This humble constraint puts us back in our place.  We seek first God's will and God's kingdom not that what we want.  Jesus said God would take care of that stuff.  Our needs would be met.

This is a clue to a whole new attitude toward prayer.  We do not 'write out own ticket with God.'  We cannot have anything we ask for if we have faith because heart faith is a gift of God that comes when we are in alignment with God.  We get in alignment with God by listening to Him.  God sets the agenda not us.

I tell her: "You need to be taught to surrender to God, to let go of your agenda, to submit to God's will, to offer this situation to God, to praise God in the midst for how he is going to use this to transform you into the image of Christ.

Let you heart be broken through submission to God not frustrated by trying to pressure God.  A broken and contrite heart He will not despise.  This means our heart yearns for what God years for not our will.  Godly brokenness creates godly beauty.  Seek what is beautiful to God.  Be His bride (first)."

She has lost her faith.  I tell her that her "loss of faith" may be good:  "Your understanding of what "faith" is to accomplish is not really that of the servant of God.  It needs, therefore, to be broken so that God's truth can be discovered.  You had God in a small box under your control.  God as your puppet did not behave.  You lost faith in your puppet God.  Good.  God is no one's puppet.

Be open to something new.  Find it through worship.  Worship means surrendering everything you hold on to to God.  Let there be no agenda of yours between you and God.  Ask God to show you anything you are trying to impose on your relationship with God.  Surrender it until you start to feel peace and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Let go of your agenda (and your idols) let God (true God) invade your life.

You will find true love, true peace and true joy."

Control Exit with Threats - Demons #7b

(This continues my discussion of Chapter 7 of Demons in the Sanctuary by Mariam Bellamy, Trafford Publishing, 2008)

Exit Control through Threats and Fear

Some pastors suggest people leaving their flock are in danger. They teach that harm may befall those “out from under his covering.”

To imply that some harm may happen if you leave is to play on people’s doubts and fears. It would then take a lot of self confidence to exit.

One’s pastor is respected, his word heeded. When your beloved pastor creates doubt and fear – in fact suggesting that God will punish you if you leave – of course you will hesitate about leaving.

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A selfish pastor may use manipulation, control and intimidation to stop people from leaving his church. The selfish pastor is out for gain and will miss the financial and volunteer time of those that leave.

A true shepherd pastor who has a heart for his people is hurt when people leave. The reason is that they care about their people and will miss them. They will not use Control and Manipulation to hold on to people because that is not compatible with love.

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Rick Godwin “Exposing Witchcraft in the Church” (Charisma House, 1997) argues that the use of manipulation, control and intimidation is witchcraft. I do know that people who turn to witchcraft often do so to gain control.

Those in witchcraft use dark forces to gain power. The use of dark ungodly forces to gain power over others is a form of control and is rebellion against God.

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It is painful to admit that any pastor could stoop to informal witchcraft to control people and block the exits from the church. Pastor Rutherford uses informal witchcraft when he makes a connection between a boy who turns to murder and his parents opposing Rutherford six years ago: “His father rose up against me, you know. He was one of those who tried to get rid of me six years ago.”

I call it ‘informal witchcraft’ because there is the implication that those who confront or question their pastor could receive such an extreme ugly consequences such as a son who murders an elderly loving Christian couple.

Mira sensed his belief that those who oppose him will suffer untold agonies and perhaps even death as a result of their obedience. She understood that he was sending her a message.

Pastors who resent those who oppose them may speak curses against those that stand up to them, question them or leave the assembly. I have written about this on www.listening-prayer.com in writing about how to break a curse.

Pastors sometimes join in 'prayer' against those that oppose them and generate a Christian curse. Dennis Cramer writes of this in "Breaking Christian Curses: Finding Freedom from Destructive Prayers."

The most horrible and deeply evil practice is for Christian Pastors to stoop to the actual use of witchcraft to attack those who might interfere with their empire and ambitions. I am talking about personally using voodoo dolls and generating spells against other Christians. An alternative to this is contacting a group of witches and giving them names to pray against. I believe that there are pastors who have reached this level of deprived spirituality.

Other posts in this series on Demons in the Sanctuary: 1. Masculine Tough and Feminine Soft, 2. Narcissistic Personality Pastor, 3. Nicolaitanism – triumph over the lay people, 4. Church Scandal and Financial Wrongdoing, 5. Attitude of a Good Pastor.  6. The Blessing of Unity. 7. Touch Not God's Anointed, 8. Spiritual Covering, 9. Control Exit with Threats,
See also the blog on "What do we know about Ralph Rutledge?"   The wolf in Sheep Clothing,  Character Issues to Observe,  Good Boundaries make Good Ministers, Thesis, Method, Observations and Conclusions about Ralph Rutledge, Ralph Rutledge Defrocked

Spiritual Covering Broken - #7 Demons in the Sanctuary

Demons in the Sanctuary - #7 - Spiritual Covering Broken

We could call this chapter ‘oppression in the sanctuary.’ Just reading the chapter is difficult for me because I start to feel oppressed. The central character Mira is tormented by a dream. Then there is a description of a young man who has appeared in previous chapters. Previous he was described as drifting away from God, dabbled in satanic ceremonies and saying “I think it’s time for me to try Satan.” In this chapter he murders and elderly couple with senseless violence.

The shock of this must be set in context. What happened? Is this related to the church? The leadership struggles? The pastor? What is the meaning of this horrible act?

The man was the young drummer from the worship team so he was involved in the church and some might say ‘under’ pastor Rutherford’s covering. At this point we are not so sure that being under pastor Rutherford’s covering is a good thing.

Many Christians say that it is essential to be 'under a covering.' They assume that it is better to be 'under a covering’ than not being ‘under a covering;’ that being ‘under a covering’ is a good thing.

This story forces us to dig deeper and understand more about a spiritual covering.

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Jesus - Our Ultimate and Primary Spiritual Covering

Our first covering is provided by God. It is a blood covering because we are talking about life or death matters. Disobeying God in the Garden of Eden lead to death and an uncovering. God made clothes from animal skins to cover them (death of the animal to provide the covering.) That prefigures the death of the Lamb of God who takes away our sins and this blood covenant is our ultimate and essential covering.

A Good Secondary Spiritual Covering

Our pastor (or other spiritual head) is secondary to Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. A secondary 'head' is only effective as a covering if their spiritual life opens heaven over them and others around them. If they are filled with light then that light will help protect others under them. If they have a humble prayer life and a broken and contrite heart before God, then they can help provide protection for others ‘under’ them.

A Poor Secondary Spiritual Covering

Those we submit to (this can even be mutual submission rather than one ‘head’) are not effective covering if their spiritual life is all pretense, if the moral life is shattered and if they have opened their life to satanic powers in those or other ways. Instead of heavenly angels and the Holy Spirit, this ‘covering’ may open them to powers of darkness. That rips the covering off and exposes the flock to oppression.

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The Horror of an ‘Open Heaven’ to Darkness

Pastor Rutherford breaks the news to Mira about the horrible double murder by the young drummer. But something is wrong! Wrong attitude! “He seems unconcerned.”

On the other hand, Mira’s heart is pierced to know that the young man attended the Good Shepherd church and “yet had completely lost his way.” She is deeply concerned.

Our Lord Jesus Christ - the good shepherd - is concerned about every lost one, every one that loses their way, every one who drifts away from the church. Mira has the heart of the Good Shepherd.

Pastor Rutherford recounts other murders that happened on his watch, while he was the pastor (shepherd) of the flock of the Good Shepherd Church. He should be alarmed at the fact that this is not an isolated event. But our author does not portray him as concerned but as mumbling as he munched on a sandwich. Here is the real horror in this chapter.

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I am alert for any patterns of evil or harm in a person’s life. Alerted to such a pattern I immediately start sniffing around to discern where the ‘covering’ is broken, where the spiritual attack comes from. My job as a shepherd (counsellor) is to protect my clients and move them into safety and protection.

Any pastor in Pentecost with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and years of experience should also be immediately alert and humble when seeing problems in the covering they provide. They sense danger to the flock and they take action to deal with it. (I always remember that this story is based on the ministry of an experienced Pentecostal minister - Rev. Ralph Rutledge - in an independent charismatic church.)

Why does Pastor Rutherford not get it! Why is he nonchalant about three murders in his church? Why does death not evoke horror in him?

Where is his spiritual maturity as a pastor and a man of God who has been filled with the Spirit? Where is the fruit that goes with the talk?

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In conclusion be aware that a ‘covering’ can be good or bad. If the man is in darkness the ‘covering’ – spiritual atmosphere – will be dark as well. If the man is in sin then the covering is broken in the area of his weakness and others may be vulnerable in this sin area as well. If the man is demonized then there will be a demonized church. That is not a good covering at all!

A good shepherd will be alerted by problems and act to discover the spiritual problem and to deal with it. Among other things that means dealing with unconfessed sin issues.

Other posts in this series on Demons in the Sanctuary: 1. Masculine Tough and Feminine Soft, 2. Narcissistic Personality Pastor, 3. Nicolaitanism – triumph over the lay people, 4. Church Scandal and Financial Wrongdoing, 5. Attitude of a Good Pastor.  6. The Blessing of Unity. 7. Touch Not God's Anointed, 8. Spiritual Covering, 9. Control Exit with Threats,

See also the blog on "What do we know about Ralph Rutledge?"   The wolf in Sheep Clothing,  Character Issues to Observe,  Good Boundaries make Good Ministers, Thesis, Method, Observations and Conclusions about Ralph Rutledge, Ralph Rutledge Defrocked