Church Leaders

A Message to Church Leaders
By Michael Tummillo

More and more often, I'm hearing about churches whose leaders want to "deal with" a sinner in their midst. In every case, the one being "dealt" with wound up feeling crushed, abandoned, humiliated...anything but loved unconditionally and, certainly, left unrestored. In one case, a lady caught in sin (literally, set-up and caught on video tape...imagine!) was not only interrogated by the church elders but was ultimately sent by the church to receive psychological counseling. The mind boggles! The mighty army of God was unable to cast out the demons in operation in one of their members and, instead, turned to a psychologist for help! When that failed, her husband divorced her and she very unceremoniously left town. She visited my office just before she left. She was dazed and confused, her mind left reeling from the experience and concerned that there was a root problem of a demonic nature that all parties had failed to recognize and deal with. I asked her if she'd been hearing voices or seeing things, something I'm prone to asking quite often lately. Surprised, she said she HAD been hearing voices and that the psychologist diagnosed her with Disassociative Identity Disorder (D.I.D., formerly referred to as M.P.D. - Multiple Personality Disorder). She left town very soon after and I can only hope she returns or finds Christians in her new hometown with the faith to believe that Jesus still delivers the demonically oppressed and who can help her attain and maintain her deliverance.

Twice last week I was informed about churches - both of which happened to the same denomination - which were slowly falling apart because certain members of their "ruling class" decided they had grown tired of their young ministers. I know both of these men and they're both young and on-fire for God. They weren't disliked because of an affair with the church secretary or misappropriation of funds. No, someone in power merely decided there were either too many changes taking place, these men were too immature (though the "mature" leaders selected them) or the people weren't "being fed." By the way, the average pastorate of this particular denomination lasts about 18 months in America these days. Over 260 members of this group join Mormon churches every week nationwide. Our town's fastest growing religious group IS the Mormon church.

In another instance last week, I heard from a "Pastor A" - a man with a growing church that meets in the large banquet facility of a restaurant/bar - that "Pastor B" had confronted him about his perceived poor choice of a meeting place for church services. After all, liquor is served by the man to whom they are now paying rent. Forget the fact that Pastor A's church was bursting at the seams; he was meeting in a bar and Pastor B found that despicable! Sorry, Pastor B, but Jesus would be there. In truth, Jesus IS there, entering within the hearts all those who attend each Sunday. If anyone wants to flee the places where alcohol is served, one had better not attend a major league sporting event any more. Truth is, the entire state of Texas would be off-limits.