I apologize to everyone for not putting out a blog post of late. It’s not that I don’t have lots on my mind to write about, it’s truly that I’ve been extremely busy. With Christmas, ministry and my work from home job (painting pet portraits), as well as my son’s upcoming wedding, I’ve been slammed and probably a bit overwhelmed by the busyness. So, I’ll be continuing this pause for a few more weeks as my son’s nuptials come and go and I can finally catch a breath. I can stop all the sewing, altering of dresses, food planning, cake making and taste testing, building of arbors, making floral arrangements and centerpieces. Anyone that has planned a wedding on a budget can certainly understand. It will be absolutely blissful when the day comes, the two of them are married, and I can go back to my routine of painting, ministry and my blog. As much routine as ministry allows anyway! So, please bear with me as I navigate this season.

When I come back I really do want to address some really concerning issues such as witchcraft and occult within the church. This topic has been near and dear to my heart because I see so much of it within the church today, even locally. I was shocked the other day when I heard a local Baptist pastor say in his opening remarks of his sermon how we needed to empty out ourselves, to breathe in God, breathe ourselves out, allow the breath of God to infill us, and to empty our minds. He went on this whole little tangent that sounded exactly like something that I’d hear if I went to a new age meditation class. If we took out the word God and instead inserted the word Universe, the mantra would have been identical. I was flabbergasted that he thought that this was biblical!

The very next morning, after listening to a portion of that mystical sounding sermon, I opened up Facebook to see a friend of mine warning against Priscilla Shirer and Beth Moore who are promoting prayer circles. These prayer circles are not the type of circles that you would expect in church where it’s a group of ladies who get together to pray. No! These prayer circles are about marking a circle on your floor and praying within that circle. You can use chalk, or tape, or even your children’s toys! As I was reading it, I thought to myself, well why not go all the way and use salt, add a pentagram, burn sage, and cast some spells while you’re at it! No, I’m not endorsing witchcraft. I’m totally being sarcastic. How in the world do these, so called, women of the Word think this type of practice is acceptable? I don’t understand it. Drawing a circle and standing in it while you pray is found nowhere in scripture. This is pure occultism and new age. Why would we model a practice after the occult? That doesn’t even begin to mention how decreeing and declarations prayers is akin to casting a spell. Decreeing and declaring is not prayer.

Anyway, all that aside. This was supposed to be a quick note. I’ll begin by touching on all these subjects after the wedding. I truly look forward to diving into these topics biblically after mid February. I hope you all will stick around for that. God Bless.

Sincerely,

Malinda Adams

When I was involved within the Word of Faith movement I was ordained as a Woman Pastor. Specifically, I was a Minister of Music. I was employed at a Word of Faith church in 2006 through 2009. Most of my life, I had felt called to be in some form of ministry, and even as a teenager, I’d desired to be involved in music ministry using my talents for the Lord. Having grown up within the Pentecostal church for the first 16 years of my life I had been rightly told that I could not be a Pastor. However, not all the teachings that I’d grown up hearing about women and their roles was correct and biblical. Many of the teachings I’d heard were legalistic and confusing so I never really understood what I could and could not do as a woman in the church and no one ever taught me.
At the end of 2003, I read a book called “10 Lies that the church tells women”, written by J. Lee Grady who is the editor of Charisma magazine. At the time, I thought this book was revolutionary! It seemed to open the doors to many ministry opportunities that I’d long desired to have, and I was finally validated in my pursuit of my ministry endeavors. This book made me feel important. I came across this book at a dark time in my life when I was being completely rejected by my husband (now my ex) and I’d just had a baby a few months prior. I was completely unloved in my marriage, and I was desperately searching for validation from someone and from anywhere. Honestly, it was a perfect set up for me latch onto false teaching, and that is exactly what I did. This book would later become the foundation of why I thought it was okay for me to be a woman pastor.

In March of 2004, I moved to Panama City Florida and began attending a Word of Faith church. It wasn’t long before I was thrust onto the stage and being mentored by the woman worship leader in that church. She retired in April of 2006. Despite my husband being extremely abusive and rarely attending at all, the church leadership felt it was okay for me to be in a leadership role and in early 2006, I began leading worship at that church. In Sept 2006, I began Bible college through AFCM International which was accredited through Rhema Bible Institute. In October 2006, I was brought on staff to replace the former Worship Pastor who had been falsely accused of sexual misconduct. In 2008, I graduated and was ordained as a Pastor in my church, although I never used the title. Despite me being egalitarian in my views at that point, I still had this nagging sense that I shouldn’t be a senior Pastor, nor should I use the title of Pastor. It was only on rare occasions, in arrogance, that I used the title at all, but I certainly had no qualms about speaking to mixed crowds and preaching from the pulpit. I did that regularly. I even did a twelve-week bible school video series on the topic of healing that was sent out to third world countries to train ministers. I regularly prayed, prophesied, and gave mini sermons as I lead worship in the church. I firmly held to the false belief (thanks to Grady’s book) that Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” meant that I could stand in the office of pastor and prophet within the church. That scripture, ignorantly taken out of context, was one that I quoted often as justification for my rebellion. As you’ve probably gathered, I no longer feel this way. Just like with everything else in my life, the more I studied scripture in context, the more my life was aligned with scripture. At one point, I had to sincerely repent of my false beliefs and my rebellion against God’s clearly defined roles for women. Women cannot be pastors.

Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of poor excuses to defend women pastors. I’m not saying that women can’t teach, minister, or spread the gospel. There are many examples of women doing just that in scripture, but what you never see anywhere is a woman being a pastor. There’s a single brief reference about Junia in Romans 16 as a possible apostle, but when you really research that out in the Greek, a better translation would be “Well known to the apostles”. Nowhere in Romans 16 does it indicate that any of the women mentioned were pastors. Also, when we look at the very clear texts in 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Timothy 2 about the order IN CHURCH, both passages command women to be silent in the church. In 1 Timothy 2 it even explains why, citing the order of creation. Then immediately, the context of 1 Timothy 3 goes into the qualifications of Elders/Pastors, and it is extremely clear that role is for men only.
One thing I noticed when refreshing my mind with the contents of Grady’s book, was that when addressing the issue of women pastors, he completely avoided the passage in 1 Timothy 2 and chalked it up completely to cultural issues in the Ephesian church. He completely ignored the fact that this pastoral epistle was passed around as instruction and scripture to more than just Timothy himself. He used the personal instruction of using wine for Timothy’s stomach as a strawman argument to ignore the other commandments of the Lord in that book. He also missed the context in 1 Corinthians 14 and skipped verse 33 entirely which would have inconveniently disproved his assertion that both passages were cultural only.
The end of verse 33 reads like this, “as in all the churches of the saints”. Remember that punctuation isn’t included in the original manuscripts and was added later. So, the passage could be read two different ways. Either way it completely refutes Grady’s claim that women being silent in the church was only a cultural issue for the Ephesian church and the Corinthian church. Grady makes the claim that it was women involved with pagan religions or Gnosticism trying to disrupt the church services in both churches. He also made the claim that women were uneducated back then and would interrupt the service to ask questions of their husbands. While historically, there may have been issues of Gnosticism and the uneducated women being disruptive, it doesn’t negate the clear meaning of the text in both passages. So, let’s take a look at the passage in 1 Corinthians 14 from verse 31 to the end of the chapter.

31 For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. 32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. 33 For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. 34 Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. 35 And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church. 36 Or did the word of God come originally from you? Or was it you only that it reached? 37 If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. 38 But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant. 39 Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues. 40 Let all things be done decently and in order.

So, if we read the last part of verse 33 as the beginning of verse 34, it makes it pretty clear that this is the practice as in all the churches! Plus, it is reaffirmed in verse 37, that these things, the order of the church are the commandments of the Lord. There’s no arguing with that. Grady, in his book stops at verse 36 conveniently. Then he goes on to argue that Paul was quoting the Corinthians and somehow refuting the Corinthians. I’ve heard this refutation argument before and in light of 1 Timothy 2, which is a clear passage on the order of the church, it doesn’t hold water. Plus, when the Apostle Paul is arguing in other passages of his epistles, he always goes on to explain why they are wrong. He doesn’t rebuke them and then just leave it so ambiguous. Clearly, the meaning of the text is the text, and this is to all churches (vs 33) and it’s a command of the Lord (vs37). You honestly have to be willfully ignorant to read those two passages and ignore the clear meaning of the text. Which, I have to admit, at one time I was just that. It took me a long time to come around on that particular issue and not once did I have a pastor explain it to me. I wish they had because I probably wouldn’t have attended some of the churches that I’d attended which led to more instances of spiritual abuse. I know that I’ve said this in past posts, but biblical churches have biblical leaders. If your church has women pastors, then that’s not a biblical church!

I know that I can’t cover every question in one blog post about women in ministry. I personally hold to the KIS method of things. KIS stands for Keep IT Simple. The simple truth is that women can minister, evangelize, spread the gospel, teach, practice hospitality, and preach to other women and children. No one is prohibiting that. Although Grady goes into extremes in his book claiming that Complementarians want women subjugated and silent about spiritual matters even outside the church. But here’s how I keep it simple: since the passages about women being silent are in the Context of IN CHURCH, I govern myself accordingly. That’s it! It is not that hard. I still teach women’s bible studies, teach youth and children, serve by singing on stage and play the piano, evangelize and minister praying for people outside in the world. Me not getting the opportunity to preach in the pulpit in no way hinders my ability to minister. I minister almost daily apart from the pulpit. I don’t pray out loud in the church service, nor do give the call to worship despite me being the main singer and only lead instrument in my church. I’m pretty much quiet the entire service. Although, I’ll say this, my singing voice is pretty loud even without the microphone. My musician friends nicknamed me Pipes McGee. I don’t know why they nicknamed me that, but hey, I can sing loud. My point is that I still use my gifts to serve in the church. My husband, who is the pastor, makes all decisions regarding the music ministry and everything goes through him. He’s the Leader, not me.

I’ll say this for all the women who, like me at one time, have taken those passages of scripture out of context, been willfully ignorant, refusing to acknowledge the truth, I’d rather be in submission to Christ than to have my own way. A woman in submission to Christ in her God given role is more effective in ministry than a woman in sin and rebellion. I encourage you to really search this out. Galatians 3:28 is about salvation for the Jew, the Greek, the slave, the free, for men, and for women. It is not a blanket verse to mean any gender is qualified to Pastor and hold authority over men. Actually, nowhere in that passage does it mention Pastors at all. Instead, it is a wonderful passage about Salvation to all despite their birth, their heritage, or their gender. That’s freedom right there! I pray that you’ll bow your knee to Christ in submission and repent like I did. It’s never easy acknowledging your sin and turning from it, but He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Amen!

Not too long after my divorce, I had a defining theological moment, a profound realization, that my ex-husband wasn’t saved despite him claiming to be saved. Years prior, I had wrestled with the passage in Matthew 7:21-23 in regard to my former Word of Faith Pastor, but for some reason or another I hadn’t made that correlation with my ex-husband in the same regard. It was a bit of a shock to me honestly to realize that not everyone who says that they are a Christian actually are. Of course, I knew that those who are in cults aren’t Christians. I’d been taught that much, so I knew that Jehovah’s witnesses and Mormons weren’t Christians; they served a false Jesus. I also knew, because of my grappling years earlier, that False teachers weren’t true believers. But when it came to the average non-leader “Christian”, I really don’t know why I just didn’t put two and two together that there would be false converts. No one had ever discipled or taught me to discern whether someone was a true believer or not. As I sat on my living room floor, building an art canvas, for a commission, the realization just broadsided me and immediately I began to weep. A song had been playing on the radio as I was working, and the lyrics were about repentance and the saving work of Christ. It was in that moment, that I realized that my ex-husband had never really repented of anything in his life, ever. Repentance is a mark of a true believer and in that moment, scripture after scripture was running through my head and it explained so much of what had transpired in my marriage. No wonder my ex-husband had an adultery, drinking, pornography, and violence problem! It’s because he was a slave to sin, an unbeliever! The evidence of his life was overwhelming; he said one thing, but did another.

The Book of 1 John is probably one of my favorite books of the Bible because of the realization that I had that day. The book itself lays out a very black and white, this or that, clear guideline to judge whether or not someone is, or is not, a true believer. Actually, the Apostle John is my favorite of the Apostles because of his very black and white personality. I appreciate his directness because my own personality is much the same. It is the clear guidelines laid out in the book of 1 John that helped me make judgment calls in regard to other believers and the validity of their profession in comparison with their actions that would help me in the future and even today. This is one topic that I teach on regularly with those I disciple as it safeguards against false teaching and spiritual abuse.

The book of 1 John is full of mirror opposites. There are four marks of the true believer and there are five marks of the false believer. The True Believer has clear evidence which are: Righteous living, keeping the commandments of God, love of the brethren, and orthodox belief in the deity of Christ. The five marks of the false believer are: living in unrepentant practiced sin, does not follow the commandments of God, hates the brethren, wordly in their philosophies and practices, and they have false professions about who Jesus is. If we were to break down those five characteristics of the false believer and take a look at each one, not only will we be able to identify false teachers easily, but probably a bunch of false believers as well. It is possible that some people that you may identify with these five characteristics may be infants in their faith, but it always comes back to repentance. As Christians, we still sin, but never should we have a practice of unrepentant sin. There is no such thing as an alcoholic Christian, homosexual Christian, Christian Witch, Adulterous Christian, Violent abusive Christian, Conman Christian. If we identify as followers of Christ, we cannot identify with past sins that have been buried with Christ. We are to walk in newness of life and the old things have passed away. Romans 6.
Quickly, I wanted to just break down the five Characteristics and provide you, dear reader, with appropriate scripture references. Of course, I encourage you to read through the book of 1 John. It is only five chapters, and you will see every point that I’m referencing and be able to see it all in its context.

1. The False believer lives in unrepentant practiced sin. 1 John 1 deals with that right off the bat in verses six and seven. “If we say”, John makes that statement three times in the chapter. Notice how there’s a clear difference between the profession and the action in these verses.
   6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
   Just notice the contrast between the true believer who acknowledges their sin and repents, and the false believer who believes they are justified or without sin. Justifying sinful behavior should never be the practice of a true believer.
   1 John 3:10
   In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
2. The False believer does not keep the commandments of God.
   1 John 2:4-6
   He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
   These verses are pretty self-explanitory. This one is reminiscent of the first one, but it encompasses more things other than sin, but being Christ like in our actions. The false believer is a great pretender, but they cannot hide their true natures forever.
3. The False believer hates the brethren.
   1 John 2:9-11
   He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. 10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
   1 John 3:14,15
   We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
   1 John 4:20
   If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
   These sciptures are pretty harsh and extremely clear that those who hate the brethren will not inherit the kingdom of God. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard a “believer” say that they don’t need, and can’t stand, to go to church because they can’t stomach all the hypocrites there. They literally despise the gathering of believers. Then there’s the false brothers who defraud believers. I saw a testimony the other day about a man who went into business with his Pastor to do some construction projects, only for the “Pastor” to defraud him and withold all payment from him causing the man to almost lose his home. My husband and I have had our own instances with so called brothers and sisters in Christ spreading falsehoods about us. None of that is loving the brethren.
4. The False believer is wordly in their philosophies and practices.
   1 John 2:15,16
   Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
   I have noticed the False believer is caught up in all things wordly. They are more concerned with their own prosperity than about others. Health, wealth and prosperity is their goal and they get easily ensnared by every wind of false doctrine. They tend to have a lot of idols in their lives as well.
5. False believers have a false Jesus and make false professions about who Jesus is.
   1 John 4:1-6
   Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
   4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
   False believers always twist and distort the true nature of Jesus. It is not just Jesus’ deity that they attack, or distort, it is that they make their “Jesus”, their god, into a wordly god. A god that is in the image of a corruptible man (Romans 1:22). Their “Jesus” may say things like “love is love” and only “whisper” about homosexuality. Or their god wants them to be happy so he excuses their adultery. Their god forgives their sins and allows for continued unrepentant sin without consequence. Their god is a powerless subservient god, dependent upon them to decree or declare something into existence before he has legal authority to work upon the earth. Their god is not the God of the Bible, nor is He the Soveriegn, Holy three in one.
   1 John 5:7
   For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.
   There are many more scriptures apart from the book of 1 John, but this book just gives such a clear guideline for us, as believers, to follow so we can be discerning. I wish that I had been discipled earlier in life and learned these things so that I would not have been so easily decieved. I definitely would have made different choices in my life had I known how to discern between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. I’m just forever grateful that God pulled me out of false teaching and continues to grow and mature me in my walk with Him. Here’s a few other references for you to consider. God Bless.
   Galatians 5:19-21
   1 Corinthians 6:9-11
   Ephesians 5:5

“Let’s stir up the gifts. Everyone pray in tongues.”, the prophet demanded of her audience as she and everyone else closed their eyes and proceeded to fill the room with gibberish.

“That’s our cue to leave.”, I whispered to Trinity as we gave each other wide eyed looks. She immediately bent down grabbed her purse, the party favor bag that we’d each been given, and she went the extra measure to remove her high heeled shoes. We made an immediate beeline to the sanctuary doors that lead to the fellowship hall, being as quiet as we possibly could to escape discovery while everyone had their heads bowed and their eyes closed.
We had been about to be cornered by the Prophet lady before our escape. She wanted to pray for us, possibly lay hands on us, and give us a “prophetic word”. No…. just No. It wasn’t going to happen.
We ran, literally, from the fellowship hall, nearly getting stuck inside by the doors that I initially thought were locked, then down the hallway, and out the front doors of the church. I was scrambling for my keys in my purse, managed to grab them, only to drop them in the sand in my haste. We both jumped in the car with Trinity struggling to put her heals back on her sand covered feet. We drove off before anyone could realize that we’d left so abruptly. We ran like someone was chasing us!
By now, you’re probably wondering what the back story to all of this is and why we felt the incessant need to leave with such haste. Well, in order to understand that you should refer to my introduction post to see my background which is my journey out of spiritual abuse and false teaching. If you’ve read that post, then you may be wondering how a Baptist Pastor’s wife ended up in a meeting with a Prophet.
Well, it all started with my future Daughter in Law, Trinity, getting invited to a ladies’ tea party, while she was at work, by a kind lady named Patsy. Trinity decided to attend, I just so happened to be available at the last minute to go with her and so we went. We arrived and there were only a few ladies there. We were told that one lady would be giving her testimony and then another lady would be speaking during the course of the event, but we had no idea as to the actual schedule. The whole event wasn’t very organized and honestly that didn’t bother me in the least, but that made it difficult to orchestrate a polite exit. Since the AC was out in the fellowship hall, it was decided to start the tea with the testimony in the Sanctuary of this former church building. (The church that had formerly met in that building had been closed for 8 months and the building subsequentially purchased by someone else. So, the entire ladies tea was not affiliated with a church.) We graciously sat in the cooler Sanctuary as we waited for things to start. Meanwhile, we couldn’t help but overhear the conversations that were happening around us.
The names being dropped was like a who’s who of Heretics-R-US; names like Benny Hinn, Kathyrn Kuhlman, Bill Hamon, Beni Johnson, Sid Roth, Joyce Myer. The main speaker and a few others were speaking these names with pride and adoration. Abhorrence is the feeling that I associate with those names along with verbal warning to any who will listen about their false doctrines and the false gospel that they peddle! During our eavesdropping, Trinity and I were consistently giving each other the side eyeballs and whispering to each other. We weren’t sure exactly what to do. I tried soliciting advice by texting my husband. The spotty reception in the building was making that extremely difficult and none of our texts were going through in a timely manner. By the time I got a response from my husband, the meeting had already started. He didn’t know exactly what we were being subjected to because of the failed text messages. His advice was to try and stay, when the texts did finally come through, to trust our judgment, and to use any opportunity available to speak the truth to these ladies.
I won’t say much about the testimonies given. Those are their stories to tell, but I will say this, their testimonies were devoid of scripture and at one point one lady said, “God told me… but I wasn’t sure if it was God, me, or a demon”. The end of the story had a good outcome, but the most concerning thing about all of it was the focus on feelings and the experiential. Nothing was grounded in the Word of God and there was definitely a lot of false teachings thrown in there about generational curses and any number of slams on doctrinal beliefs and denominations other than those that operate in the “Five-Fold Ministry”. At the end of the two testimonies and a “tongues and Interpretation” (to which my linguist future Daughter in Law pointed out, differed greatly in length from the “tongues” part to the “interpretation” part) it was announced that we should probably do the tea portion, so the sandwiches didn’t go bad in the unairconditioned fellowship hall.
So, we went and sat down, and it just so happened the Prophet sat across from me. I’ll refrain from giving more impressions about her other than I was extremely wary of her. She had already been telling everyone that she was a prophet and that she had come down from Tennessee specifically for this meeting. During the course of the tea, I did what I could to refrain from conversation with her and ended up speaking to Patsy, the lady who had invited Trinity to the tea. I was able to share part of my testimony of having come out of false teaching. She seemed really interested and even made mention of me possibly speaking at a future event. I’m doubtful that will happen now, especially after our hasty exit! It was on the heels of that very conversation, that it was time for the guest speaker: the prophet.
We had been there probably two hours at that point. I’d made mention to Patsy moments before we entered back into the sanctuary that we’d more than likely have to leave soon and wouldn’t be able to stay much longer. Had I known what was about to transpire, I would have left in that moment!
One of the first things the Prophet did when she got up to speak was to look me dead in the eyes and declare, “I am a Prophet!”. She knew from the tea that I was a Baptist preacher’s wife and I felt like that was a direct challenge. The very next statement was, ” I operate in signs and wonders, so pray right now for the miracle that you want, and it will be given to you!”.
I want you dear reader to notice the “I” statements there. Notice how God wasn’t mentioned. Immediately, my mind went to two scriptures; the first being Matt 24:24 and the second being 2 Tim 3:8,9
Matthew 24:24
For False Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.
2 Tim 3:8,9
Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.
When I thought of the passage in 2 Timothy, I had no idea the folly that was going spew out of this woman’s mouth as part of her testimony. If anyone was paying attention, they would have seen how her words, the testimony of her life, didn’t align with someone who walks with and abides with Christ. Jannes and Jambres also worked in false signs and wonders.
She shared how she was saved in her late teens and saved out of drugs and alcohol which wasn’t at all bad. But then she went on to tell us the very first scripture “god” ever gave her was in 2 Peter 2: specifically, the verse about carousing in the daytime. I honestly nearly choked when she said that considering that particular passage, in context, is clearly about false teachers and their sin. As she went on to tell more of her testimony, it became abundantly clear that she was indeed a false prophet!
I suggest, Dear Reader, that you stop reading and go read the second chapter of 2nd Peter. My Study Bible has a heading at the beginning of that chapter, “The Rise of False Prophets”. I’ll just include the first three verses of that chapter so it will whet your appetite.
2 Peter 2: 1-3
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
Go read the rest of that chapter, Dear Reader. I encourage you to really think on it; break it down, line by line. False teachers and false prophets are sensual, unreasoning animals, driven by their desires, and who despise authority the scripture says. God says clearly that because of them the way of the truth will be maligned!
Back to the testimony of “the Prophet”…. I know that we all make mistakes and make poor choices at times, and I am, most certainly, not perfect. I have been divorced. I was victim of domestic violence. I got into bad relationships after my divorce. I’ve done stupid things that were contrary to the Word of God. I have also repented of those things and at one time in my life, I was just as this woman was, a false prophet. It breaks my heart that I may have led anyone astray. One thing I’ve never said though, was that I was without sin, even in my rebellion. That singular statement, in “the prophet’s” testimony shook me like no other. She said, “I am without sin so I can prophesy”.
She was telling us all about her life of multiple marriages and divorces, relationships to narcissistic men and how she’s been a prophet for many, many years and operating in the prophetic. In the middle of all of this she announces how she’s without sin. 1 John 1:8 immediately came to mind.
1 John 1:8
If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
“The Prophet” was definitely deceiving herself unfortunately because she was telling us all, just three years ago, how she realized that her first ex-husband was really the love of her life. She described for us how she went to pick him up after his 26-year stint in prison and how she subsequently remarried him. She described how when she went to pick him up, she didn’t initially recognize him because he’d aged so drastically in prison, but then proceeded to tell us how hot his body was. She told the group how he had gotten “saved” in prison, but then discovered that he was a con-man and a narcissist. She then proceeded to tell us how she had then divorced him again and was later “delivered” from a “spirit of narcissism”. Trinity and I did side eyeballs with each other on that one because no such spirit exists in the Bible! The speaker then went on to talk about generational curses and how we need to decree and declare them out of our lives. Sidenote: decreeing and declaring was the second thing she claimed “god” revealed to her.
Dear Reader, I want you to understand where this teaching of generational curses comes from and where it is located in the Bible. Also, I want you to understand that if you are a genuine believer, generational curses DO NOT APPLY TO YOU. Here’s why: There’s multiple verses that talk about visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations, but there’s always a qualifying statement. Let us look at Exodus 20:5,6 for example. Context is king and false teachers and false prophets ALWAYS take scripture out of context and twist it to deceive people.
Exodus 20:5,6
You shall not worship them (idols) or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those (here’s the qualifying statement) OF THOSE WHO HATE ME, but show lovingkindness to thousands, TO THOSE WHO LOVE AND KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS.
So Dear Reader, look for those qualifying statements. Not only that, but does not God say that we are new creatures in Christ in 2 Corinthians 5:17?
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
The false doctrine of generational curses applying to believers makes a mockery of the finished work and atonement of Jesus on the cross. Jesus said, “It is finished!” in John 19:30. So then, was Jesus a liar? If we still need to decree and declare and get deliverance by some series of works, prayers, activations, special anointings, laying on of hands by key people…. if we are doing all these works to be truly saved and set free from sin, then who saved us? Did we save ourselves then? NO! 1 Corinthians 1 clearly lays that out for us that it so that no man may boast! We don’t save ourselves. Also, none of this generational curse nonsense is talked about by the apostles. It’s not there, so throw that nonsense out!

Back to “the Prophet”. I want you to notice one other thing Dear Reader, “the Prophet” in this account did some very unbiblical things. She remarried her first ex-husband. Why, if she’s the sinless believer that she claimed, would she go against what is clearly laid out in scripture about not remarrying your first ex-spouse after you’ve remarried another. That, Dear Reader, is found in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 and that action is actually called an abomination before the Lord.
So, throughout her talk, I was seeing instance after instance where this woman was in rebellion to God. I was taking notes through all of it and showing scripture after scripture to Trinity on my phone. It was around this time in her talk that it became imperative for Trinity and me to leave.
Patsy, decided to interrupt at this point to inform “the Prophet” that another lady, Trinity, and I had to leave early and that if “the Prophet” wanted to lay hands on us, pray over us, and give us a “prophetic word” she’d have to do it soon so that we wouldn’t miss out. Immediately, I locked eyes with “the Prophet” and waved my hands and said “No!”. “The Prophet” immediately dismissed me saying, “it’s ok Malinda”. She then proceeded to command the audience, “Let’s stir up the gifts.”.
I want to point out that neither Trinity, nor I, asked for prayer, nor had we expressed that we desired a “word”. I wasn’t sure whether or not we were going to be called up front, but I wasn’t going to allow someone, who I definitely knew to be a false prophet at that point, to lay hands on me or to speak over me in any way. This was going to be forced upon us and I wasn’t going to allow that. It was either leave or stand and rebuke the woman publicly. Honestly, I was leaning towards publicly rebuking her but thought it wiser to leave. Leave, we did, with extreme haste.

Up until that point, we had listened to people talk about omens, witchcraft prayers (decreeing and declaring is spell casting), using the Lord’s name in vain, speaking falsely for God, false generational curses upon believers, fictitious demonic spirits that inhabit believers (spirit of narcissism), Gnosticism (secret knowledge), occult law of attraction (speaking things into existence), activations, giving birth to spiritual things (more occult/new age), and works based salvation which is a false gospel; all of which are doctrines of demons.

Dear Reader, take the things I’ve said into account. Consider the pleas of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians if you find yourself on the side of the false prophet.
Galatians 1:6-9
I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!
Galatians 3:1-5
You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
This whole blog post will be sent personally to the Organizers of the tea in letter form, and it will stand as an open letter against false teachers/prophets and their false doctrines.

The purpose of this blog is to biblically confront and expose the two-sided coin of false teaching and spiritual abuse. Wherever there is spiritual abuse, there you will find false teaching and vice versa. I’ve experienced spiritual abuse in multiple churches and the common thread was there was always false teachers in those churches who were the ones doling out or allowing the abuse. It is the common method of operation for false teachers to abuse and devour the sheep; that’s why they are called wolves in sheep’s clothing. This blog is to help people make biblical connections between the hurt they may have experienced and the false teachings that may have led to that abuse. I’ll begin by giving you a bit of my background and why I’m passionate about these topics.

I grew up in my early teen years attending a Pentecostal church in Canada. It held to the typical doctrines of what is equivalent to the Assembly of God here in the United States. During my later teen years, my family and I began going to a Word of Faith church and we also attended on occasion the Toronto “Outpouring” with John and Carol Arnot. We all quickly delved into these new and fascinating doctrines that focused so highly on the experiential. Later I even attended a Word of Faith Bible College, so enthralled I was with these doctrines. I grew up watching Benny Hinn on TV and even went to one of his crusades. I continued along those same lines for many years after becoming an adult and marrying, finding other preachers to follow like John Bevere, Joyce Myers, Creflo Dollar, Dutch Sheets, Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, and many others that moved in those circles along with those who frequently posted on the Elijah list.

In 1999, I got married to my first husband. He moved our family from Michigan to Panama City in 2004 in order to isolate me from my Canadian family. That year I began attending Cornerstone Family Fellowship, which was another Word of Faith church connected to Rhema Bible Institute out of Tulsa, OK. In 2006, I became their Worship Director, and I was on staff for just over 3 years. Those years were horrific with spiritual abuse and sexual harassment by the pastor. Not to mention that my ex-husband was also, physically, emotionally and sexually abusing me at the same time. But, because of my false doctrines it was wrong for me to confess anything negative or else I was speaking my very real misery into existence and claiming it as true. It was true, but to speak it meant that I was accepting it as true. Hiding the abuse meant that I was “too blessed to be stressed”.

In July of 2009, I miscarried for the 5th time. I miscarried my baby on a Sunday morning. That morning my Pastor told me this, “I understand that you’ve had a difficult morning, but go put a smile on your face and lead the people”. Only by the grace of God did I get through that morning. Two days later I was pulled into the office by my Pastor, his wife and the associate Pastor and I was told, “the Holy Spirit told me to nip this in the bud, but if you get pregnant again, I’ll have no choice but to fire you”. He also proceeded to tell me that because he was an apostle that if I disobeyed him and got pregnant again that I’d be in sin. He claimed that it was my lack of faith and negative confessions that killed my baby. I was devastated! Three months later I finally had the courage to leave that church and that is when my journey out of spiritual abuse and out of false teaching began. The false teaching and abuse permeated every aspect of my life, including my marriage. I was married to a man who was a Christian in name only and after 15 years of horrific abuse, spiritually, sexually, physically and emotionally, I realized that the false teaching that I’d grown up in had kept me in an abusive and adulterous marriage to an unbeliever. I divorced him in 2015. I didn’t realize until after the divorce that my ex-husband had not been a true believer. Fruit was non-existent in his life.

Upon leaving that church God kept leading me to different resources and individuals who had also left the Word of Faith movement along with the New Apostolic Reformation (a movement name coined by C. Peter Wagner). During my research I learned mind boggling things like how Kenneth Hagin plagiarized all of his books from the late E.W Kenyon. I began to see how popular scriptures were being twisted and taken out of context. I remember a particularly egregious teaching on Jude 20 by Kenneth Hagin, which was perpetuated by many other leaders that I followed, that the words building yourself up on your most holy faith, was in the original BIBLICAL Greek, akin to charging a battery. I want you, dear reader, to think about that for a second. When in biblical times were there batteries? How can a word mean something that didn’t yet exist? The more I researched, the more I studied, the more I saw how these men and women, who I’d once held in high regard, as the charlatans that they are. What they preached did not line up with the Word of God when it was in context. Many of them preached that we are little gods, taking that out of context from John 10:34 where Jesus is talking to the unsaved Pharisees. Joyce Myers is one who teaches that believers are little gods because of this one verse. But when we study the bible properly and ask the simple questions, who, what, where, why and when it is super easy to see that Jesus is quoting Psalm 82:6 and this was a condemnation towards the Pharisees for setting themselves up as gods over the people. If you look at Psalm 82:7 the verse says, “Nevertheless you will die like men and fall like any one of the princes.” Those Pharisees knew exactly what Jesus was saying to them! This greatly angered them because if you keep reading in John 10:39 those nasty, overbearing Pharisees were seeking again to seize Him and Jesus eluded their grasp. If Jesus had been declaring some doctrine that we are little gods, like Joyce, Creflo, Hagin, Copeland, Prince, Hagee, Johnson, (the list is a long one) like all these false teachers claim, then why would the pharisees have been so angry? They were angry enough to try and imprison Jesus. These were just a few teachings that God was exposing to me as false. This truly was a journey that God was leading me on in trusting Him and learning to rightly divide His Word.

After my divorce, God brought my wonderful Husband Geoff into my life, and we married in May of 2018. He was instrumental to introducing me to some really solid biblical teachers. He and I went through a severe instance of spiritual abuse at the church we were both attending just weeks prior to our wedding. I had been at that church for a year, and he began going in earnest about eight months prior to our wedding. We were both involved in ministry at this church. I was a worship leader there and he was leading the men’s ministry. Together we ended up confronting both the false teaching and the spiritual abuse that was happening and left that church just three weeks after our wedding.

While we were there, we came to realize that multiple Elders were disqualified from ministry in that church as they were abusive in their speech and conduct. The teaching Elder’s wife was also giving false prophecies to people and having authority where she should not. People actually would joke that it was “the church of (insert her name here)”. I personally received a false prophecy from her telling of my death and destruction if I left the church and didn’t submit to her abusive version of a “restoration process” because she deemed that I had a “seed of division” in me. I had exposed an Elder in their church, with my son as a witness, as abusive after the man had screamed at me and hid his abuse while on a phone call with me. I had put the phone on speaker phone and had my, then 17-year-old son, stand as a biblical witness against this Elder of the church. Since, I had exposed the abuse to the Lead Elder and they all refused to confront the issue, the Lead Elder and his wife determined that I needed to go through a “restoration process”. This process was to be where I was expected to be fully submissive in all decision-making processes as a worship leader to the very Elder who was so abusive to me on the phone. Keep in mind, dear Reader, that I left a very abusive marriage in 2015. I know what abuse is and there’s no mistaking it after living with it for 15 years. There was no mistaking this Elders words as anything other than pure abuse, but that is exactly what the Lead Elder and his wife claimed. They claimed that I had misunderstood his words and intent. His words were wicked, evil and there was no misunderstanding the intent of his words especially when he lied to cover up his abuse. It was clear that this man was a reviler and disqualified for ministry according to 1 Timothy 3:1-7. I had also not been the only individual in the church to make that determination and be subjected to his abuse. Multiple people had come forward, and multiple people had left that church when these men (the Lead Elder and the other Elder) were not removed or even confronted for their sin. Biblical churches have biblical leaders. Abusive churches have abusive leaders who are always false teachers.

It was a few years after leaving that abusive church that Geoff got the call to Pastor a small country church in the panhandle of Florida. We’ve been there for a few years now and those members have become dear to our heart; they are family and my Husband, with my full support, does all he can to protect the little flock that God has entrusted him with. That includes teaching them about false teachers and the false doctrines that they teach. Titus 1:11 shows us a clear principle that false teachers destroy entire families, teaching things they should not for the sake of sordid gain. My husband and I do not ever want to see those who are brothers and sisters in Christ have their lives destroyed by false teaching. If ever you or someone else you know has had to leave an abusive church, you know how devastating that can be. Our very lives become intertwined in our church families and when we have to leave, because of abuse and false teaching, it often feels like a limb severed. We lose friends. We are gossiped about. We may even in some cases lose jobs and livelihoods. We feel alone and heart broken. False teaching destroys lives, and it often takes us years to recover. Some even stop attending church altogether, which leaves their spiritual lives stagnant and stunted in its growth. So, this blog is to connect the two sides of the coin and show you, the reader, the biblical side of things. It will have both personal stories, as well as solid biblical responses.

If you’d like the nitty gritty to my story, you can check out my former blog that I wrote years ago that I no longer have access to. Www.myjourneyfromspiritualabuse.blogspot.com Just keep in mind dear Reader that I was still sorting out many doctrines and it was indeed a journey that God used to bring about correction and sanctification in my life. I’ll forever be grateful to my Lord for that very process that brought me to the truth and the freedom I now have in Christ. Those trials that I went through produced some good fruit that I enjoy today, which includes a God centered marriage. I hope that you enjoy my posts and my biblical insights as I continue this journey with you all.
God Bless,
Malinda