Spiritual covering is yet another doctrine of demons that puts God’s people in bondage by taking one scripture out of its natural context and forming a teaching that brainwashes and hoodwinks those who submit to it.

When people try to control you, you are going to react in one of a few ways. You are either going to give in and acquiesce, give up and pretend that “all is well, ” when deep down, you are really seething inside.  This is a dangerous reaction because your inner rage will eat away at your health.

Now if you are like me, you are going to resist. The bible says that rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft. True—-if it is God that you are rebelling against. However, if religious pretenders and hypocrites try to throw what they call a spiritual covering over you, rebellion is good, but running is even better!.

As a minister in an authoritarian bureaucracy ruled globally by just 12 bishops, I watched and experienced how the traditions of men made the word of God of none effect. In certain denominations and even in the charismatic movement, bishops rule the pastors under their authority like holier than thou puppet masters. In the denominations, the power and control of the Bishops lie in their ability to appoint pastors and fill pulpits. Any pastor in full time ministry is totally dependent upon whether or not the Bishop chooses to favor them with an appointment to a church  that will be lucrative enough to financially provide for himself and his family. In the non-denominations, What you have is a clique based upon popularity.  If the bishop is a mega preacher of 25,000 members or so, then the money must first flow to the bishop—the man or woman of God FIRST, with a slow trickle effect of money rolling down to the most obedient, the most compliant, those who suck up and kiss “royal behinds.”

The denominational  “spiritual covering” net entrapped me for 25 years. Since spiritual covering is really about money,  those who “cover,” desire to be paid by YOUR hard earned cash for their “blessing” that trickles down to you in slow, tediously slow  drops.  In my particular situation, I was not well liked by bishops because I had a full time secular career. As such, I could not be placed under any Bishop’s thumb in order to survive financially. So my punishment was that I was appointed to those churches  that could not afford to pay a full time pastor’s salary—churches that no pastor without a secular job could survive serving. In most cases in such a system, the pastors’ primary objective is to protect his own power base and therefore, their interactions with the Bishops are usually characterized by subservience, flattery, subtle manipulation and “out and out” lies.

The irony is that in the denominational set up,  the Bishops are dependent on the ministers they rule to advise them since the Bishops don’t usually live in the communities that they oversee. So a bishop  needs his ministers to tell him the truth. However, a Bishop’s ministerial advisors are so threatened by him financially speaking,  that one lie begets yet another lie and the entire leadership system operates on a foundation of lies, cover-ups and pretenses. With Satan being the father of lies, no wonder the devil has a seat in such a religious/political system.

Within a complex bureaucratic hierarchy as I have described, sin spreads like leaven from top leadership in a circular, downward fall, then in an upward spiral. As the root of such a system is rotten, the deception within charismatic, non-denominational systems spreads far beyond just a few pastors or a handful of ministries. Ministers and laypersons within a charismatic system alarmingly and systematically mimic the same key people. Leaders watch and imitate well-known leaders as they pass on the same false teachings.I personally have moved beyond correcting either system by any attempt on my part to fix it.

In my ministry, I work with associates.  My associates are my equals. Everyone of my associates is valued because  they are valuable.   They work with me and help me because the Holy Spirit has revealed to them that I am both a lover of truth and of freedom.  If somebody RULES over you in ministry, you need to know tha you are not serving the One who died to set the captives free, but rather you are serving false gods And, if you cannot recognize and admit to yourself that your beloved church or ministry, or pastor  is practicing, unbiblical and ungodly doctrines and practices, then you are definitely brainwashed and under the spell of “deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons” and these demonic lies are “seared in your own conscience as with a branding iron” (1 Tim. 4:1,2). And, that means you need deliverance to be set free from Satan’s bondage and deception. It also means you are deceived about who you are serving. You are not serving the true Jesus, but the Fake One, who is the master of idols — which is idolatry, which means you are an “idolater,” and idolaters do not inherit eternal life or have an inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God (Gal. 5:20,21; Eph. 5:5)!

So RUN from your captors and RUSH out of the arms of the Fake Jesus Sananda Immanuel into the arms of the True Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who died and was raised from the dead to set the captives FREE! “He whom the Son sets FREE is FREE INDEED!

Here is the deal. The bottom line. Anytime you come away from a corporate experience with demons attacking you, you need to “book.” To “book” is to hit the road Jack, and don’t cha come back no mo, no mo and no mo!  Sing along with the late Ray Charles and “hit the road, Jack, and don’t cha come back no mo, no mo, no mo, no mo!!. Hit the road Jack, and don’t cha come back no mo!!!!!.” What you say?”Yeh! Now sing it again before you submit yourself to their demons.

Sheppard’s Counseling Center provides training to ministers who have left the organized church, from 3 months, to 6 months, to a year in a unique deliverance mentoring model called Spiritual Empowerment Workshop or the SEW Program. Training is oral and by telephone  for those who are in full-time jobs. For others, training modules are written and  with video lessons, assignments, on the job training, OJT with pay, done on-line. Some remain with SCC and become affiliates and associates. Others go and do their own thing.  We don’t try to control or rule over anybody.  If you are interested, call 518-477-5759 or send an email to pamsheppard911@yahoo.com .