Category Archives: spiritual abuse

Dec 9 2015

Dying to Self – What Does it Really Mean?: 'An Excerpt From: The New Testament Prophet - Understanding the Mind, Temperament, and Calling'

death to self

Dying to self? What is it really?

There is a brand of Christianity that is always talking about the cross and the importance of dying to self. At best it is an imbalanced over-emphasis–a half-truth–and at worst, flat-out error. It promotes sin-conscious introspection, feelings of worthlessness, self-loathing, self-hatred, unworthiness, spiritual paralysis, and legalism. It promotes spiritual pride in a reverse sort of way—you are esteemed for how worthless you feel about yourself and how “humble” you have become in appearance to others who control access to power in the specific church culture.

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Oct 30 2015

Coming Out of the Institutional Religious System – The “IRS”: 'Hierarchical, institutional religion is already under a sentence of death.'

A guest blog by John and Katherine Matthews.

Leaving Institutional Religion

Leaving Institutional Religion

Unfortunately we missed National Coming Out day on Sunday, October 11.  Better late than never though, so in honor of that special day, it’s time to officially confirm that we are out of the IRS, aka the Institutional Religious System.  Yes, it’s true.

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Oct 30 2015

The Nones and Dones – Part Two: 'A Tidal Wave of Change'

The Nones and Dones - Frustrated with Church and Gone

The Nones and Dones – Frustrated with Church and Gone

My friend, Greg Albrecht, provided the following. It’s a fascinating, and sobering, postscript to my previous blog on “Nones and Dones: “The number of unchurched people in America would make the 8th most populous country in the world!”

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Oct 27 2015

The Nones and Dones: '65,000,000 Believers in the USA Are De-churched'

The Nones and Dones - Frustrated with Church and Gone

The Nones and Dones – Frustrated with Church and Gone

According to sociologist, Josh Packard, in his scrupulously researched book, Church Refugees, there are currently 65,000,000 individuals in the USA who are “done” with church, 30.5 MM of those, retaining their “faith,” the balance having no “faith affiliation.”

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Jun 17 2014

To Lead or Not to Lead? That is the Question

influenceA leader is not the chief visionary. A leader is not the chief executive. A leader is someone who accepts the stress and strain of the present inconvenience of service in order to bring the ones he/she serves to fullness of destiny.

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Jun 9 2014

Deliverance? by Bryan Corbin

cryingThe following true story was so poignant, timely, necessary, and clearly illustrative of why I no longer partake of common expressions of organized charismatic religion, I asked my good friend, Bryan Corbin, to guest-blog for me.

A recent incident, involving a young woman that Corbins have known for years, served to reinforce Bryan’s and my belief that much of what we call “church” misses the heart of God completely.

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May 13 2014

Royal Priesthood – Part 4: The Importance of Psalm 2 and Psalm 110

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0_61_geyser_old_faithfulUnderstanding Psalm 2 and Psalm 110 is critical to understanding all of the new testament and the genuine spiritual authority of a new covenant priesthood. These two Psalms are the scriptural base the apostles used to “justify” the existence of a new order of priesthood based on resurrection life! It is not an exaggeration to say, that the apostle’s interpretation and application of these two Psalms is the doctrinal foundation of the entire new testament, as they tried to explain the “Christ-event” to their generation.

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May 6 2014

Royal Priesthood – Part 3: How Do You Explain a Resurrected God-Man?

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empty-tombAbusive spiritual authority is epidemic. Reactionary responses to abusive authority are also epidemic. My friends Don Atkin, Greg Austin, and myself address what genuine kingdom authority looks like: a serving nation of priests, patterned after the Head, the High Priest of our faith, the resurrected God-man, Jesus, the Messiah. That requires, as Desi used to say to Lucy, “some ‘splainin’.”

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Apr 30 2014

A Blind Man with a Chain Saw – “Good Intentions are Not Enough”

Train_wreck_at_Montparnasse_1895So much interpersonal human damage is done by highly gifted (“anointed’) but relationally dysfunctional people. You can be a water-walking, Bible encyclopedia, “super apostle-prophet” or whatever, full of good intentions, and not truly know God, yourself, or others. You can preach, bring forth “outstanding revelation and insights,” and do wonders and be blind to the trail of human carnage behind you. It need not be so.

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Apr 28 2014

Fire On Your Head Podcast with Steve Bremner – Legalism and “Hyper-Grace?”

Hello friends,

For those who are inclined, attached is a podcast I did with my friend Steve Bremner, missionary in Peru, on the topic of legalism and grace, and the rhetoric that is abounding these days about the alleged dangers of a “hyper-grace” message.

Blessings to you all

Steve

http://traffic.libsyn.com/fireonyourhead/FOYH_115_Steve_Crosby_2.mp3