Tag: false church

A Church in which Evil is Justified

~ Jeff Crippen ~ 1 Comment
Rom 6:1-2  What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?  (2)  By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

My good friend Phoebe who grew up in our church and who is a genuine Christian is a student at Portland State University (she is studying to be a physical therapist). She visited a “church” in Portland yesterday mostly just because a fellow student invited her to go.  She gave me this report last night.  This is very, very typical in these false churches today and I thank Phoebe for her analysis and discernment. By the way, this “church” is Bridgetown Church in Portland.

How Local Churches Become Enslaved to Evil – Part 5

~ Jeff Crippen ~ 2 Comments

Gal 5:19-21  Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,  (20)  idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,  (21)  envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

I suppose this could be titled “my experience with evil in the local church.” In this ongoing series of posts my purpose is to show how I have seen evil being allowed to come into the church and take control, enslaving all who yield to it. This kind of thing is, of course, the subject of much of the New Testament epistles as the apostles warn Christ’s people of how the enemy will come against them.

I became a pastor in 1983 when I accepted a pastoral position with a tiny church in the mountains of western Montana. I could tell many stories of the operations of evil there (though I loved Montana and still miss it in many ways), as I could in my experience at my second church in Alaska. But in this series I am just going to focus on the evil that I met in our present church which we came to 26 years ago. The stories I can tell would fill books.

Continue reading “How Local Churches Become Enslaved to Evil – Part 5” →

Christian – Do Not Permit Anyone to Put a Yoke on You!

~ Jeff Crippen ~ 2 Comments

Gal 4:3-7 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. (4) But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, (5) to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (6) And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” (7) So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Gal 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

People who were enslaved to some cult at one time generally have a pretty hard time getting free. Even if they get free physically by being rescued or fleeing, it still can be quite a task to get mentally free.

I have seen this dynamic in people who were in legalistic churches. They are still afraid. They want to serve the Lord. They want to do what is right. But they keep struggling because they have been taught for so long that their old law-preaching pastor and elders are in authority over them, that they must do what they are told, and that if they do not they will incur the Lord’s wrath.

Let me give you an example.

Continue reading “Christian – Do Not Permit Anyone to Put a Yoke on You!” →