I want to leave my church ... but is it right?

[lettheredeemed]

Rachel 15,

I am always saddened by news of this sort. Jesus knows exactly what it is like to not be accepted by those from His church. But rather than moving away He led and loved inspite of what others thought of Him. I know that at times this is a really hard thing to do. It may be that when you find another church that the situation may be the same. People are not that different from church to church. We are all sinners that have been saved by the mercy and grace of the Lord Jesus. When the pressure gets tough lean on Jesus. He can take the pressure.

 

[RJ]

Church should be a place where you can develop relationships in Christ, your Christian extended family.
Most all activities are a form of worship, this is not exclusively for the Worship Service.

Many complain about not being fed in church but we are called to do the feeding and we are primarily there to worship God.

But Church isn't everything!
Don't get me wrong, Church is important but it is not the most important thing.

I tell the SR. and Jr. High Sunday School, that there are thre things more important than anything, more important that the Church, Pastor, sunday School, Worship service and all the rest and they are:

You, the Bible and the Holy Spirit. That should always come first and if you are not maintaining your spiritual fitness where you are, go to a church where you can.

Your feelings about one church could very well be the Holy Spirit nudging you to go the other.

If you are honest with yourself and truly seeking God's plan for you, any association with a church or church individual resulting in a negative is not good.

Your Spiritual well being is much more important than any of that, and that comes from being steadfast in God's word and allowing the Holy Spirit to give you discernment.

Keep growing spiritually in God's word and as you mature He will guide where to go and who to feed.

 

[petrasar]

Dear Rachel,

I had similar problems- both with 'charismatic' people and with my anxiety. What I am about to say here is based both on my own experience and on the Bible.

First of all, many mental issues are directly being brought about by the Devil. However, psychiatrists and therapies will help you a lot- but do not forget to include God in the process of your healing.

Sometimes we are lost and we need another human being to help us find our way back to God. I felt like that and it seems to me that you feel like that too. It is a good thing to find someone who has more faith than you- but how do you recognize such a person?

First of all, they need to truly believe in God- not only claim to. You shall recognize them by their good deeds. They should not be bragging about their 'special strength or connection with God'. As soon as I read that the church you are referring to is supposed to be the best one, and that the charismatic lady speaks about her strength- then I do not think her charisma and successes come from God. Quite opposite, I am afraid.

Do you know that devil can sometimes wear the clothes of an angel, and actually do 'good things' if it suits his nasty goals? Devil can influence priests and pastors- they help you for a while and in the meantime make you feel more distanced from God.

My suggestion is to move to another church and try to find someone who actually believes. Those people should not take money for their deeds, nor brag about themselves. The church you went to is more concerned with the competition as to who is
better, which church deserves more from God etc. The Holy spirit will lead you if you feel like finding another church or person who will be able to help you truly reconnect with God.

God will heal you- read the Bible and pray.

 

[DancingFeather]

Is it right to leave your church? Yes it is!

I really want to do the right thing but I'm really struggling in a big way at my church at the moment. Sorry but I think this going to be long to explain, but I hope someone can help me out here.

When I joined the church I was very ill with psychotic depression and God healed me of the psychoses and I just have some depression now. However, I've still got a lot of working through of problems because I had quite a dysfunctional upbringing that affected me a lot. I recently found out that I scored highly for having a borderline personality disorder (probably caused by childhood trauma). It can't be treated by drugs, but only by long-term therapy which I'm about to start.

When I first went to my church they put me in a group for special needs led my a very charismatic woman who took me under her wing. However, several times I struggled in the relationship and withdrew when I felt that I couldn't relate to what she was saying and lost trust. She has told me that this was because I went into deception because of the Devil.

Anyway, eventually each time I went back - I felt quite dependent on her to help me out and really wanted God.

But, to be really honest, one of the things I struggled with is that she talked about her own life a fair bit and I found this difficult. I did not find it helpful and while I listened I didn't really understand why she was talking in our sessions. Then sometimes I felt frustrated because we would get delayed in progressing through books like Steps to Freedom by Neil Anderson (which we never finished in the end) and in my mind it felt like it was often because she would talk a lot about her own life and how God was using her. I did not know how to talk to her about this without sounding rude, ungrateful or selfish. In addition, I said I was willing to help her out if she needed it and she asked me if I would clean for her at home, which I then did on a regular basis. However, it became apparent that there was not going to be an end to this because she had a bad back and so I started to feel trapped in the arrangement.

Finally, because I began to question whether I was being exploited I left the church.

Anyway, this person has been promoted within our church to have her own 'ministry' helping people with deep needs. I met up with her again one time and again I felt kind of 'mesmerised' by her and drawn to going back to church again. I was told by her that our church has been prophesied over as being at the point of the spearhead of churches in our country. I remember her talking about what a good church our one was. I started to feel in immense conflict because I felt comfortable going to another church, but I felt that if the first church was better or closer to God then I should go there.

I prayed for several days but felt there was no clear guidance. Finally, I said to God I want to be close to you and at the church where I will be closest to you, and partly because of what this person said and partly because I enjoyed the worship, I decided again to go back to the first church.

I told this person the conclusion I had come to and she said that it was a revelation from God and I went forward for prayer the first service I went back to. She came forward with me and said she had a picture of God touching my heart and said that it was confirmation that I'd made the right choice.

HOWEVER, since I've gone back problems have arisen again that I've found really difficult. I realise I have a lot of issues to work through, but at this church there is a lot of pressure to get involved in different ministries and volunteer to help out. I'm realising more and more that I struggle with boundaries and I volunteered to work on reception but I'm now really questioning my ability to stick to this commitment - because its causing me a lot of social anxiety - I would really rather not now and want to stop.

Also, I've just been put in a life group where the leaders' son is seriously ill at home at the moment and she has many commitments including fostering a young child with behavioural difficulties. I really don't want to burden her with my issues. My first experience at the life group left me feeling like a fish out of water, if I can use that phrase, because they were all couples and much more mature, succcessful in business or church ventures. I tried to phone the previous person who helped me at the church to talk to her about the possible diagnosis of 'borderline personality disorder' but I just felt frustrated by her reply, which was 'don't receive it' - even though she had recommended I continue seeing a psychologist. Once again, I don't feel I can really relate to what she's saying - maybe she's more spiritual than me - I don't know, but somehow we're not connecting.

I guess my problem is that I know our church strives for perfection, but it also expects a lot from its congregation. I just don't feel I can be myself here and be honest about all the struggles I'm having and feel okay here. But I feel bad about leaving a church which might be 'better' than the other local church - even though I feel more at home in the other local church.

Do you think that in God's eyes it will be okay if I change my mind again and go to this other local church? I just want to be out of so much pressure and conflict that I've been experiencing. I want to be able to take my 'mask' off and just be honest and say hey, sorry, but I'm not able to do very much at the moment churchwise but I'm willing to come as much as I can. I worry intensely that I'll be letting God down if I leave and in the future He'll tell me that I made a big mistake, even though it's already got to the stage where I don't want to go to any of the church services.

Many thanks to anyone who can help at all.

You are seeking God's True Church. You want to serve Him and right now God is harvesting all those who are sincerly seeking Him as we are living in the End Times. We are living in the begining of sorrows.

But where is God's True Church? Where are God's People? How can we know? How can we be sure?

Well, I prayed to God when I left my church as I realized that the more I seeked God ..the more I understood the Bible, the more I saw that my church had different concepts of God.

When I truly seeked Him, He lifted the veil of deceit that I had and while I was praying, I was sitting in front of my PC. A site showed up, just like that. I thought it was a spam and deleted it. It came back again. I deleted it..then it came back a 3rd time and this time I didn't delete it because I realized it was God showing me where to go online to where I could find out where not only where His True Church was but also Where were His people.

It is amazing when the veil is lifted off your eyes and you are no longer blinded by the angel of light..Satan..how no one can deceive you again and how easy it is to recognize who are True Christians and who are not, who is the the True Church of God because the True Church of God has the same concepts of God.

I still have 4 posts to do before my 49 posts to be eligble to write the link.

I will be back to give it to you very shortly. Now is the time to pray to God fervently to lift the veil off our eyes and to stop Satan from blinding us with his false light.

 

[DancingFeather]

Where is God's True Church?

This is the link I said I would write as soon as I had my 49 posts written as the faq demanded.

Go to this link, look for the booklet. Where is God's True Church.

Read it, take your Bible, check it out and the answer is right there in the Bible.

 

[Veracity]

It does not sound like the Lord has given you peace with this church, at this point it sounds like you need to be where you feel comfortable and fed, where you are growing in Christ. You should not have to worry about how the people at the church feel, we are all the church, not just one congregation in a group of many, when you are where He wants you to be, you will feel peace not oppression or condemnation or like you are a fish out of water.

Just hang onto the Lord, I used to think staying out of church would make things more bearable, I understand the background type issues, but it is good to be where people truly love the Lord, it is a comfort and a support for healing emotionally. You are important enough to feel good about going to church, without feeling guilty.

 

[DancingFeather]

When We Don't Feel Comfortable

:hotfly:When we don't feel comfortable it is because we have intuition that something isn't quite right. What we must do is pray and ask for guidance. Then search in the Bible if your church is following God's concepts and not their own. A true church follows everything that Jesus did. Does your church follow the Holy Days? Do they keep the 4th Commandment? Do they follow in Jesus footsteps exactly as He said we should do?

You see, Jesus said that many would come in His name and give in front of the people a seemingly that they are following Christ but they are wolves in sheeps clothing. They are pharsees in which their cup outside is all shiny but inside full of blasphamey.

You see, the True Church follows to the letter what Jesus said to do and what His Father sent Him to teach us how to pray and how to obey His Father..as Jesus came to accomplish and not abolish what His Father had already set.

His true servants will be preaching with increasing power the message of the coming world-ruling Kingdom of God and themessage of heartfelt repentance and total surrender to God and to His laws, which Jesus Himself preached.

God's Church Does the Real Work of God.

If your church does just one thing that isn't of God's concept, then they are not His true church. It is like baking a cake, if you don't follow the receipe and leave out one ingredient, the cake will not turn out as it should.

One just needs to see how your church is following Jesus footsteps, see if they are practicing ALL of God's concepts and not doing as they see it should be or do their thing. One rotten apple can spoil a whole basket, therefore if they do one thing..like not obey the 4th commandment, then they are not of God.

I never felt right in my church and when I asked questions they had an answer that just didn't fit right. I prayed and asked God to show me The Way and if my church was not His to take me out. Boy, did He ever!

If one doesn't feel comfortable, there there is something not right and maybe it is God who is calling you. So you must listen and ask God if what your are feeling is true.

Jesus said, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. John8:31-32.
Prove all things; and hold fast that which is good. 1Thessalonians 5:21

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Luke 4:4.

Therefore, if your church is not living by *every word of God* exactly as God commanded ..then you leave that church as when Jesus returns and they say, didn't we do this or that in your name..etc. Jesus will say that He doesn't know them as they did not live by every word of God.

So, God's true church *must* acknowledge the inspired authority of the bible, and must base it's teaching solidly on that foundation otherwise Jesus will not *know* them.