“Should I?  Shouldn’t I?  Can I CHANGE the church…thru my prayers?”

By Pam Sheppard

When I left the church in 2004, I did not know that it was a permanent move.  I expected that the Lord would lead me to another church affiliation.  I had my eye on Rev. Paul Morton’s organization, the full gospel Baptist.  It seemed a great choice for me because I had been  ordained and served in a denominational church  very compatible with  the Baptists, yet I was also a Pentecostal in orientation, belief and practice.

So when 3 years passed and I did not have a leading to join another church, I wondered why. It didn’t take long for me to be answered once I sought the Lord in prayer.  In less than a week, a kind of telepathic communication took place to let me know that I was not to join any organized church.

I was spoken to in a kind of parable.  I was asked, “Pam, would you put curtains up at the windows of a condemned building.” I thought of all of the condemned buildings I had seen growing up in the inner city.  I answered in my mind. “No, I would not.”

Then came a kind of speech that went something like this.

“A homeless person will make a home in a condemned building.  To escape the elements of the weather on the outside, he will satisfy himself and “make do” with no heat, no running water, no lights, and he will share his dwelling with its occupants: the rats and the roaches.”

Then I was hit in the face with the next outrageous statement.

“If you try to edify the organized church with seminars and conferences, you will be putting up curtains at the windows of a condemned building.”

Wow.  I was stunned. I had already begun to conduct deliverance seminars with the first one in Bermuda and the second one in Lawrenceville Ga. I was planning the third when this spiritual conversation transpired.    Metaphorically speaking, it was clear to me that the condemned building was a symbol of the entire organized church.  It this “strange conversation” was from the Holy Spirit—then the metaphor clearly suggested that the organized church is condemned, in other words, judged already.

In keeping with this parable of sorts, sheep who attend church regularly are those who are afraid of the outside elements of a dangerous and sinful world—and rightly so. Therefore, it makes sense to run inside of church walls for protection.  Yet in keeping with the symbols, when churchgoers run inside, what they find is no light.  God is light.  In Him there is no darkness at all.  No light–No “God!!!  The “voice” went on to say that the rats were the pastors and church leaders and the roaches were those who sat on the pews.

No running water in the condemned building means no rivers of living water, No Holy Spirit.  No heat.  No fires of the Holy Spirit. This parable was clearly saying that the Holy Spirit has left the organized church.

I didn’t want to believe that I had heard from God about this.  I was pastoring a church that I myself had founded in 1996 and I did not want to close it down.  However, I knew that if this was God speaking to me, I MUST close it down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Are you a minister or minister-to-be and you believe God has called you OUT of the church?  Are you confused about who is speaking to you, in midst of your busy-ness for God?

In my book below, I warn ministers and ministers-to-be of the dangers of operating in ministry within the institutionalized, organized church.

THE MAKINGS OF A FALSE PROPHET

               

                                                      by Wenona Russ

‘The Makings of a False Prophet’ is a book that looks at the motives for wanting to be in ministry as well as serving as a tool one in ministry can use to gauge where they are in the HEARTS as it pertains to ministry.  Many a TRUE prophet turned false as a result of not taking heed to the very foundational and practical things the author shares in her 50-pg book.  THIS is the stuff they WON’T tell you in Bible College or the School of the Prophets and/or Apostles!  ‎’The Makings of a False Prophet digs deep into the heart and soul to determine the authenticity of a genuine call from the Lord, and how to keep that authenticity pure and undefiled.  You will be blessed by this book if you are truly ready to examine yourself and see not only if you are in the faith, but if you are really called.  It is an eye-opening and realistic view at what ministry is-and what it is NOT.