Twenty-four-year-old Lindsay Smith wanted absolutely nothing to do with Christianity. Her experience with Christians did little for her as a child because she had the ability to see into the spirit realm, and the Christians she encountered ignored this particular ability, not realizing she was actually seeing demonic principalities.

“I was seeing, like, in the spirit realm,” Smith says. “I was seeing ghosts, I was seeing stuff I would tell my Christian family like this is what’s happening to me; I’m literally being able to see in the didn’t know this was a demon, I didn’t know I could rebuke it in Jesus’ name.”

In her interview with Delafé Testimonies, Smith shared how this inability from the Christians in her life to explain to her what she was seeing or help her led her to believe that she simply didn’t fit the mold of Christianity and that she must then be better suited for a different religion.

“I was seeing all these spiritual things and I didn’t would just tell me it was my imagination. They had no explanation for me and so that kind of made me think in my mind, ‘okay, well, my answer is not in the Christian church. My answer has nothing to do with Christianity. I must be a different religion.'”

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From here Smith turned her back on the idea of Christianity altogether and found herself into anything and everything that might potentially have filled her soul. From astrology, crystals and sage to an addiction to marijuana, Smith tried everything that might potentially bring rest to her soul. She even attempted a confusing LGBTQ relationship. However, none of these things ever lasted. Smith said that one of the biggest issues she didn’t realize she was dealing with was generational curses.

“The root of it was depression. If we’re being really honest, the root of it was depression, generational curses, trauma, fear…” Smith says.

Another grip that the enemy had on her was discipleship from a warlock who sought out to teach her about stars, astrology, natal charts and more. It was around this time that Smith was invited to a Bible study. While she still had a great uphill battle to climb, this would be the beginning of Smith’s introduction to Scripture. Eventually, she desired to know that if Jesus was real, He would help clear up her mind to understand what the Bible was saying. God did exactly that, but Smith still struggled with tarot card usage.

“He spoke to me ‘astrology is not in the Bible. Just throw away the cards,'” Smith recounts. “I knew it was Jesus instantly this time. It was different because I was praying and He spoke back…[I] went on YouTube [and] instantly searched ‘Jesus.’ [I] saw hundreds of new age to Jesus testimonies.”

After spending a week watching testimony videos, Smith decided to turn her life around once and for all. She threw out her witchcraft books, sage, crystals natal charts and marijuana.

“I was like repenting crazy,” Smith said. “I was like, ‘Jesus, you’re real. I didn’t think you were real this whole time and now you’re so real to me now.'”

There really is a spiritual world all around us, and we have the choice to choose either light or darkness. Just as Jesus turned around Smith’s life, He is still after the next generation to be fully whole and set free. We saw a glimpse of that during the Asbury Revival as it spread out to the nation.

One of the key elements to truly gaining freedom in Christ is experiencing deliverance from the spiritual traps that so many are held in bondage over. Imagine if a Christian had actually explained to Smith the kinds of demonic spirits she was seeing years prior; what pain and suffering may she have been spared from?

That’s one of the reasons why deliverance ministers like Greg Locke and Alexander Pagani are experiencing a surge of people coming to them for deliverance; they see the needs of those who find themselves stuck in the darkness, trapped by demonic spirits and other bondages. They know that only the truth can set the captives free. The church is in desperate need of more people who are willing to preach the gospel with effective discipleship and deliverance. {eoa}

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Abby Trivett is a marketing copywriter and coordinator for Charisma Media.

The Bible tells us, “Be wise relating to outsiders. Make the most of every opportunity. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so you know how you are to answer everyone” (Col.4:5-6).

In the center of this Middle East crisis, we have a phenomenal opportunity to engage with Jews and Muslims and reach them for Christ!

In Acts, an angel appeared to Phillip the evangelist and told him, “Go to Gaza.” On the way he had a divine appointment and reached an African and baptized him as well! God wants to reach everyone with the good news!

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In 1 Samuel 30 David faced a situation like Israel right now. All the wives and children were taken hostage and God showed them exactly what to do to emerge victorious.

These are in Scripture to inspire and help us in a time such as this.

Do you know the 5 pillars of Islam? Do you know what they believe about Jesus? Do you know what the differences are between Christianity and Islam?

Take 12 and get equipped to be effective in this time of opportunity to advance the kingdom of God! {eoa}

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Without vision—apart from obedience to all the Lord has commanded in Scripture—the thread of our lives quickly unravels. Missteps and mistakes are, more often than not, the result of a failure to plan.

Clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson recently spoke with author and talk radio host Dave Ramsey about the value in and importance of financial planning—something many Americans fail to do.

“I’ve had lots of clients who were much better off when they had no money at all,” Peterson said. “Those were often people who had addiction problems, because, as soon as they had any money at all, they were in the bar and into the cocaine until they were face-down in the ditch. So there’s all sorts of causes of poverty and certainly one form of poverty and one cause of poverty is absence of a plan.

“You need to develop a vision for your life and that makes delaying gratification, for example, and not engaging in impulsive momentary pleasure worthwhile because you’re building toward something you actually want to attain,” he continued. “We’re very bad in our society—appallingly and miraculously bad—at helping people develop a vision.”

The Canadian professor and renowned speaker chastised the school system for failing to teach children how to effectively plan for their futures, calling the number of people now living in poverty a “miracle of stupidity” that could have been avoided.

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“Our school system was set up to produce mindless, obedient workers,” he told Ramsey. “We haven’t updated our notion of what schools are for 140 years.”

A failure to plan, Peterson asserted, is a major reason people in the U.S. end up trapped in poverty. In fact, choosing to plan—in any area of life—seems always to improve one’s quality of life.

Peterson claimed those who use “future authoring”—the practice of taking time to map out with a pen and paper one’s future goals—improve their grade-point averages by 35% and decrease their dropout rates to 50% below the national average.

“It’s the No. 1 thing we should be teaching people—and we don’t do it at all,” said Peterson. “Who do you want to be and why? What do you want your life to look like in five years?”

For the rest of this article, visit our content partners at Faithwire. {eoa}

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Reprinted with permission from . Copyright © 2023 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.

In a recent Charisma News interview with Pastor Mike Shreve, the dangers of engaging in practices like astral projection and mantra chanting are brought to light from a Christian perspective based on specific chapters in the Bible.

It is essential for Christians to understand the spiritual risks associated with these activities and how they conflict with biblical teachings.

Astral Projection: A Deceptive Spiritual Realm

Pastor Shreve shared his personal experience with astral projection during his time as a yoga teacher. He described spending long hours in meditation, chanting mantras and attempting to explore the supernatural world. He explained that he had left his physical body and entered a spiritual realm.

This experience led him to a profound realization: there is a realm that exists between the heavens and Earth, a realm never explicitly addressed in Scripture. This realm, often overlooked, is described as the second heaven. The Bible explicitly refers to Satan as the “prince of the power of the air.” This implies that Satan operates in a spiritual realm that is subtly higher than the Earth’s physical atmosphere. Any pursuit of supernatural experiences outside of Christ opens the door to satanically inspired deceptions.

In Pastor Shreve’s understanding, this second heaven is a domain dominated by angelic and satanic activity. It is a realm where spiritual battles unfold, and demonic influence is pervasive. Attempting to penetrate this supernatural world through practices like astral projection inevitably leads to deception, as the realm is ruled by Satan.

Mantra Chanting: A Misguided Path

Chanting mantras is another practice that appears harmless on the surface to many who practice it. However, Pastor Shreve draws a parallel between mantra chanting and the Bible’s warning against “vain repetitions.” In Matthew 6:7, Jesus specifically cautioned against using empty, repetitive words in prayer, as the heathen do.

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The core of the issue with mantra chanting is the belief that it can control an impersonal force or power. This practice treats God as if He were a machine, responding to the right code or incantation. However, the Bible teaches that God is a personal being, not a force to be manipulated.

When we pray and communicate with God, it should be a dynamic, creative expression of our thoughts, needs and worship. God is not swayed by monotonous repetition; He desires a genuine, personal connection with His children.

The Biblical Way: A Personal Encounter with God

Pastor Shreve emphasizes that rather than attempting to penetrate the supernatural through astral projection or manipulate divine forces through mantra chanting, Christians have a unique and true path to God.

When one is born again in Christ, the Holy Spirit enters their heart, bridging the gap between humanity and divinity. God’s longing for a personal relationship with humanity is evident, as stated in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” This highlights His unwavering love and desire for an intimate connection with us.

The dangers of astral projection and mantra chanting are clear when viewed through the lens of biblical truth. These practices can lead to spiritual deception and undermine the unique, personal relationship Christians have with the living God through Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible warns against engaging in occult practices and emphasizes the importance of seeking God in the way He intended, through faith in Jesus Christ. {eoa}

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James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.

Pastor Nik Walker is a traveling evangelist, and at the age of 25, he’s been involved in many extended revivals during his short time in ministry.

But when it comes to extended revivals, Walker says, kingdom leaders must listen to the voice of God to know exactly when to end them. What’s the cutoff point? When is it enough?

That, Walker says, is always a challenge, but it has a lot to do with repentance, but also with how long the church itself is prepared to keep the revival moving forward.

“For me, that’s the hardest thing to do, to know when to go,” says Nik Walker, founder of Nik Walker Ministries in Tennessee and a protégé of Perry Stone’s. “We always leave that decision up to the pastor and I don’t recall ever having a revival season come close to where the pastor and I didn’t come to an agreement on that.

“It depends upon the church and what they are ready for. If you have, for example, maybe a revival meeting where 200 people get saved in two weeks, the church now has the responsibility of discipling perhaps 200 people. So, is this church ready for that? Is the church’s nets ready for that catch of fish, so to speak, without the boat sinking?”

Walker says that the church where he had just held a revival that lasted 16 days—New Life Church in Sandusky, Ohio—they were ready for what they experienced during that three-week period. There were about 130 people baptized and most of them were rededications. Revelation 2 would tell us that if you have left your first love, you can return to your first love by doing your first works over again, which is repentance and water baptism as referenced in Acts 2. So, the Lord gave this church what it had been praying and fasting for.

Walker’s ministry has experienced extended revival in the past. Earlier this year, meetings in West Virginia were scheduled to last a few days but wound up lasting 15 weeks, with multitudes getting saved and healed in a depressed area of the state where a great deal of hopelessness abounds.

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But Walker says sometimes it’s difficult to know the difference between a series of good meetings and genuine revival. The answer to that question is, he says, “revival is always filled with repentance.”

“That’s the essence of revival because the dead are coming back to life and the sleepers are being awakened,” Walker says. “That’s always how revival is referenced, whether it’s a series of three services or three weeks of services. You saw it earlier in the year at Asbury, where there was no preaching and there were no real services. It was just 24-hour, 24/7. I got to go experience one of those.

“So, revival comes in all shapes and sizes; whatever the church is ready for, He will bring to them. I’m grateful to run with pastors and leaders that not only hear the Lord’s voice, but they know when to quit.”

In Sandusky, there was no need to quit. A powerful move of the Holy Spirit overwhelmed New Life Church, and Walker says it was filled with repentance.

“I will usually bring a little horse trough with me in a trailer and we just perform spontaneous baptisms,” Walker says. “That’s a big part of evangelism ministry. We always put it right at the front of the pulpit and give a call to spontaneous baptism, rededication and repentance.

“I was telling the pastor here, Dustin Ours, that [we] saw more families get into this horse trough at this revival than any other revival. We baptized nine or 10 families of four at a time. So, the Lord really did some amazing things with the family unit.

“On a Monday night, we had a woman who brought her infant child who was less than a year old, but was born at 26 weeks. He has had a feeding tube since he was born and had a hole in his heart. They came that Monday night and we laid hands on this baby. They came back later as we were baptizing people and the baby’s aunt got in my ear. She said that she had the baby that day, and they went to the doctor to run some tests and they were supposed to put a permanent feeding tube into the child. … Not only did they take the feeding tube out, but the hole in his heart closed. So, we saw some really wild miracles at that revival, including a woman who turns 90 this year that received physical manifestations of healing.

“The Lord is just demonstrating in this generation that He can touch the things we have called untouchable,” Walker says. “There’s a reason why revivals come about it, and you saw them [in Sandusky].” {eoa}

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Shawn A. Akers is the online editor at Charisma Media.

Parents across the United States are waking up to the fact that kids are not being educated in public schools anymore, they are being indoctrinated.

A new survey by The Washington Post confirms many parents are fed up with the ineffective system spewing Marxist diktats on students, and are now homeschooling their children instead.

Compiling data from over 7,000 school districts in America, the Post found that there are now between 1.9 million and 2.7 million students being homeschooled.

Nonbinary teacher pleads with tiktokers to donate money so she can buy more LGBTQ books for kindergartners.

Some LGBTQ children’s books contain messages about trans toddlers and how doctors guess a baby’s gender and can be wrong.

This is what’s going on in your kids’ schools.

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) October 29, 2023

While many of the “experts” expected that parents would send their children back to school once the pandemic-era restrictions were lifted, the increase in homeschooling students shows this is not the case.

“Homeschooling’s surging popularity crosses every measurable line of politics, geography and demographics,” says the Post’s analysis.

As reported by The Daily Wire, “The analysis looked at data from 32 states and the District of Columbia, which represent more than 60% of school-age children. The data is incomplete because some states do not have reliable tallies of homeschoolers, and 11 states, including Texas, Michigan, Connecticut and Illinois, do not require families to notify the state when they decide to homeschool.”

Meanwhile, the world’s largest podcaster, Joe Rogan, was joined by Tim Kennedy, a Master Sergeant with the US Army Green Berets and a Special Forces sniper with multiple combat deployments, to discuss the radicalization taking place in America’s classrooms.

Kennedy started an organization of his own to combat the “public school problem,” because the system in place has “indoctrinated this entire generation to hate America.

“When you look at the public school system and the Department of Education, it’s just a broken system,” Kennedy says, arguing most teachers are decent people but “they’re in a system that is forcing them, or they’re allowing to manipulate kids to radicalize them into really anti-American ideas.”

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Unfortunately, for every good teacher who is dedicated to their students and giving them the best education possible, there are those who seek to push their personal belief-systems onto the children and drive a wedge between them and their parents.

These are the people teaching your kids

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) November 1, 2023

The Marxism driving this wave of gender confusion, racial hostility and economic insanity is derived from the various ideas and notions of Karl Marx, avowed atheist open about his resentment toward God, Christianity and capitalism, all three of which helped build the United States into the prosperous and blessed country that helped save the world from others who subscribed to Marx’s failed theories.

The scheme behind Marxist theories is the tearing down of religion, and the removal of God in all aspects of society. His replacement? A substitute god in the form of the State and its institutions.

Higher levels of academia have been infested with this corruption of thought for decades, filling the ranks of corporate America with “woke” ideology that is now trying to push their messaging through commercial means.

The removal of The Ten Commandments and prayer from schools are among the greatest factors that misdirected American history and education onto a much darker spiritual path. One devoid of God and His morality, His principles, His design.

Now, students are taught to hate America, and that she is an evil that must be done away with. They are being taught the gender is in a spectrum, and that God got creation wrong. Teachers have instilled in their students a demonically driven hatred for the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, so deep that Jewish students are being threatened with death and harassed on college campuses across the country, while student Hamas supporters march in protests carrying German Third Reich symbols.

These indictments of the public education system, and much more, have led to the boom in homeschooling families who are tired of their children being taught anti-God, anti-American and anti-family values.

“Many of America’s new homeschooled children have entered a world where no government official will ever check on what, or how well, they are being taught,” the Post noted.

And we thank God for that.

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James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.

Without vision—apart from obedience to all the Lord has commanded in Scripture—the thread of our lives quickly unravels. Missteps and mistakes are, more often than not, the result of a failure to plan.

Clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson recently spoke with author and talk radio host Dave Ramsey about the value in and importance of financial planning—something many Americans fail to do.

“I’ve had lots of clients who were much better off when they had no money at all,” Peterson said. “Those were often people who had addiction problems, because, as soon as they had any money at all, they were in the bar and into the cocaine until they were face-down in the ditch. So there’s all sorts of causes of poverty and certainly one form of poverty and one cause of poverty is absence of a plan.

“You need to develop a vision for your life and that makes delaying gratification, for example, and not engaging in impulsive momentary pleasure worthwhile because you’re building toward something you actually want to attain,” he continued. “We’re very bad in our society—appallingly and miraculously bad—at helping people develop a vision.”

The Canadian professor and renowned speaker chastised the school system for failing to teach children how to effectively plan for their futures, calling the number of people now living in poverty a “miracle of stupidity” that could have been avoided.

Get your FREE CHARISMA NEWSLETTERS today! Stay up-to-date with current issues, Holy Spirit news, Christian teachings, Charisma videos & more!

“Our school system was set up to produce mindless, obedient workers,” he told Ramsey. “We haven’t updated our notion of what schools are for 140 years.”

A failure to plan, Peterson asserted, is a major reason people in the U.S. end up trapped in poverty. In fact, choosing to plan—in any area of life—seems always to improve one’s quality of life.

Peterson claimed those who use “future authoring”—the practice of taking time to map out with a pen and paper one’s future goals—improve their grade-point averages by 35% and decrease their dropout rates to 50% below the national average.

“It’s the No. 1 thing we should be teaching people—and we don’t do it at all,” said Peterson. “Who do you want to be and why? What do you want your life to look like in five years?”

For the rest of this article, visit our content partners at Faithwire. {eoa}

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Reprinted with permission from . Copyright © 2023 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.

What would you rather have your child doing: conforming to the culture and be out trick-or-treating, or be on stage worshipping God during revival?

With the Holy Spirit moving mightily across America, many parents decided they would edify their children and build their lives upon the solid rock of Jesus Christ for Halloween this year.

Revival services have continued for over a week now at Free Chapel in Gainesville, Georgia. They have been led under the authority and leadership of Pastor Jentezen Franklin and Evangelist Perry Stone with packed altar calls every night.

On Halloween, however, spontaneous praise broke out after Stone invited the youth onto the stage and Franklin led them in worship after the sermon had finished.

After one song was finished, you can hear some of the youth beg Pastor Franklin for “one more song,” as they could not get enough of praising the Lord in communal worship.

“Out of the mouths of babes,” Franklin said, keeping the now-worship service going and dancing on stage right along with the young people.

“You know what this is?” Franklin asks. “This is the generations getting set free, and they don’t care what people think. They do not care! Why are you in church on this night? You must not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ!”

A little farther north in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, Pastor Greg Locke of Global Vision Bible Church was having a service that was setting youth free as well.

Joined by leader of The Core Group Jenny Weaver, Locke invited all the children up onto the stage to worship the Lord when they could have been out celebrating Halloween.

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“Adults, I don’t think you’re giving these kids enough credit for skipping out on what the world’s doing tonight and coming to the house of God,” proclaims Locke.

After marching around the massive tent set up at GVBC, Weaver had the children back up on stage and led them in receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit followed by more intimate worship of the Lord.

The powerful night of worship, prayer and deliverance was not over however, as Pastor Locke had one more punch to throw at Satan.

GVBC continued their “tradition” of burning occultic items, trinkets used in witchcraft, drugs and anything else that had snared people’s souls before they were delivered by the Holy Spirit from these practices, in the same obedience to the Spirit as those in Acts 19.

These events are not by coincidence. There is a lot of evil making its move in the world, and the Lord is countering these acts of Satan by raising up a generation in the last days that will glorify Him and proclaim His name in the face of certain persecution according to Joel 2:28-32. {eoa}

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James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.

The host of “Jeopardy!,” Mayim Bialk said in a lengthy post to TikTok that “nothing has prepared” her for the rampant antisemitism she’s seen in the wake of Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel.

The Jewish-American actor and TV personality’s 10-minute video was shared on X. In it, Bialik said there is “no excuse” for anti-Semitic behavior in the U.S., calling it “unacceptable.”

“Imagine if there was a massacre of an ethnic group or a religious group, the equivalent of 50,000 Americans,” she said. “And imagine if what happened after that was that, all over the world, there were marches of tens of thousands of people calling for further massacre of those people. … That’s what it feels like right now as a Jewish person.

“There has not been an experience in my lifetime that has prepared me for this,” the celebrity continued. “I have heard from many people my whole life that antisemitism is growing. That the Holocaust—while we say we’ll never forget—many have forgotten. And the swiftness with which the global population has seized upon the massacre of Jewish civilians living inside of a border. The swiftness with which the world has stepped up to redefine terrorism, to redefine statehood, to redefine the right of a people to exist.”

Bialik, 47, went on to say there is “a strain of antisemitism that is alive and well” in America, especially on progressive college campuses.

“It is thriving at my alma mater, where the chant, ‘We want a Jewish genocide,’ was echoed in the quad in front of Royce Hall.”

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The “Big Bang Theory” star was referring to UCLA, where she received her doctorate in neuroscience. She condemned the students at the Southern California campus who were calling for a “Jewish genocide,” describing their chants as “unacceptable” and “not normal.”

In fact, anti-Semitic language has become so commonplace on left-leaning college campuses, some donors are beginning to pull their funding from the prestigious institutions, The Times of Israel reported.

“We should not normalize it,” the celebrity said of the hateful rhetoric. “There is no excuse for calling for a genocide of an entire people. Period. Full stop.” {eoa}

For the rest of the article, visit our content partners at Faithwire.

Reprinted with permission from . Copyright © 2023 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.

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It was absolutely shocking to learn this past weekend that serious allegations had been brought against Mike Bickle, senior leader of IHOPKC. (This stands for International House of Prayer, Kansas City.)

Mike is a personal friend and, to my knowledge, a beautiful example of devotion to Jesus. He spent hours daily in prayer and the Word, lived very simply, donating large amounts of money to the gospel, and always embraced a message of repentance and purity. How could the charges be true?

Right now, we must pray for everything to come to light through proper, due process, and no conclusions should be drawn until then.

If the charges are true, focus must first be put on the victims themselves, working for their full restoration and healing. They are often forgotten at times like this, which only adds sin to sin and hurt to hurt. As for Mike, if he were found guilty, the focus should be on his personal, spiritual restoration, not on discussion about ministry restoration.

As for everyone else affected, let me speak as a father and elder, knowing how much mercy the Lord has had on me and knowing that none of us can boast in our own righteousness. All of us stand by grace, and none of us are too big to fall.

Let due process be done, whatever the consequences might be. But don’t throw stones, as if nothing like this could happen to you. Better to stay low and examine your own life. As Paul wrote, “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall” (1 Cor. 10:12).

What about those who were touched by Mike’s ministry? What about those who joined the 24/7 prayer movement because of his example? What about those who love Jesus more today because of one of his books or messages? What if the charges against him are true? Was it all a sham? Were you prayers in vain? Can any leader be trusted?

Again, we wait for due process to run its course before coming to conclusions or asking deeper questions about Mike’s own life and walk with the Lord.

Yet the truth be told, without throwing stones at those who fell, we have had all too many scandals in recent decades, bringing deep reproach to the name of the Lord and leaving many hurt and disillusioned. What do we do at times like this?

We start with this biblical principle: “What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: ‘So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge'” (Rom. 3:3–4, quoting from Ps. 51:4).

No matter who fails, God remains true.

No matter who falls short, God remains the same – perfect in His goodness, His righteousness, His justice, His mercy and His love. Only God is God!

If Mike’s writings helped you draw closer to Jesus, be thankful for that. The closeness you enjoy is real.

If Mike’s example motivated you to live sacrificially and devote thousands of hours to prayer and worship, be glad. Your prayers were not in vain. (And they were directed to the Lord, not to people.) Your worship did reach the throne of heaven. (You weren’t worshiping Mike; you were adoring the Creator and Redeemer.) Your sincerity has not changed.

And, at the end of the day, none of us are indispensable in God’s kingdom. To quote Paul again, “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building” (1 Cor. 3:5–9).

That’s also why (as my wife, Nancy, has often pointed out) Jesus never overpraised people. We often do, but He did not. As John explained, “Now while [Jesus] was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs He was performing and believed in His name. But Jesus would not entrust Himself to them, for He knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for He knew what was in each person” (John 2:23–25).

His glory is housed in the tents of our human bodies, and everything good thing we have is from Him. As David himself wrote, extolling the mercies of the Lord, “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust” (Ps. 103:13–14).

On our end, as we serve the Lord, some of us at great cost, even to the point of martyrdom, we are only doing our duty. As Jesus taught, “when you have done everything you were told to do, [we] should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty'” (Luke 17:10).

We also have to understand that human nature is very complex, and we can struggle between serving the Lord and yielding to the flesh or between faith and doubt. That means that someone can write a beautiful song of praise to the Lord in the midst of a protracted struggle with doubt. They emerge from a season of doubt with beautiful words of adoration and worship, only to fall back into doubt again. But that worship song was real, and we can sing it to the Lord even if the writer ultimately fell away.

The same thing could hold true with a leader struggling with sexual sin (or gambling or drinking). They download porn, they weep in repentance, then they get up and preach a powerful message, expositing the Scriptures with accuracy.

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That message still stands and inspires even if the person who delivered it fell short (or if their repentance was only short lived).

We also know that people can operate in supernatural power while living in sin, like Samson when he uprooted city gates of Gaza on his shoulders and carried them off shortly after sleeping with a Philistine prostitute (see Judges 16). As stated in a different context, the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable (Rom. 11:29). Perhaps the prophecies and visions and words were real, even if the human vessel was falling short.

This is a chilling warning for those of us who point to the success of our ministry or the anointing of God on our lives as proof of divine favor. Careful! God knows our hearts.

As to whether you can trust your pastors or elders or spiritual leaders (after all, you think, if it turns out Mike Bickle was leading a double life, how do I know that others are not?), let me say three things.

First, the great majority of leaders are not involved in sexual or moral scandals. If they were, the church would have collapsed and died centuries ago. It makes good sense to believe the best unless there is evidence to the contrary.

Second, trust the leaders to the extent they have earned your trust. As far as they have modeled a godly life before you (or, before those who know them best), you can trust them accordingly. As Hebrews states, “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith” (Heb. 13:7; see also 1 Cor. 11:1; Phil. 4:9; 1 Thess. 2:9-10).

Third, don’t exalt people. Don’t make servants of the Lord into superstars. Don’t give them status that belongs only to the Lord.

In the end, there is only one Savior, and His name is Jesus. Looking to Him, we will never be disappointed, and only He can bring life out of death and light out of darkness.

Our eyes are on You, Lord! {eoa}

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