WHY I SAID "YES" TO SPIRITUAL PORNOGRAPHY

I read a most convicting blog post recently by Jason B. Ladd. He wrote about the spiritual pornography that many Christians are addicted to. Having written a memoir called How I Was Razed, I recognize all too well how the aberrant house church satisfied my lusts rather than teaching me biblical truth.

When I first visited that pseudo-church in 1971, I became captivated by the lay minister's mystical doctrines. He explained mysteries which most preachers I'd heard never even hinted at being knowable. Like most folks, I wanted power over my life and to possess secrets which the rest of the world's people didn't.

Brother Herald (not his real name) taught about spirits and even appeared to have saints of old take over his body and teach us. I sat mesmerized as he spoke, feeling privileged to be one of the advanced Christians. In fact, I looked down on "ordinary" believers as being stupid for not seeking deeper knowledge.

This faker also said it was permissible for us to listen to spirits, provided we tested them with the question regarding Christ coming in the flesh. The bible is filled with warnings about communication with spirits as they masquerade as dead saints or loved ones. Brother Herald ignored those admonishments and taught us to do so as well.

Prophecy was another satanic deception he used to lure us away from the main and plain things of Scripture. In his view of eschatology, we wouldn't be raptured but would have to go through the great tribulation. Brother Herald further encouraged us to hoard food for the coming mark of the beast when nobody without the mark could buy or sell. Because he said so, a store room in the house church was stocked with many boxes of canned vegetables and jam which, so I was told by the elders, would be multiplied by the Lord's power through the three-and-a-half-year period of the mark.

Brother Herald also told us that we could use the power of Jesus' name to do miracles and teleport from place to place. He boasted of doing miraculous healings, such as putting a girl's brain back into her head and sealing it up after she was struck by a car. He also claimed to have walked on water and announced that he raised Joseph,, the one sold into Egyptian slavery and who later became prime minister under Pharaoh, from the dead. The reason we never did do such things was, according to him, our faith was weak.

I now realize that I was like the followers in the sixth chapter of John's gospel. I wanted what I could get from Christ rather than to be his servant. I also recognize that all these supposed healings and new revelations proclaimed by faith healers are fake. Even the gift of tongues they claim to practice is mere gibberish.

To read more about the wondrous way God led me out of that spiritual bondage and into the light of his glorious truth, visit Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm Publishers. You can even use Amazon's "look inside" link to read some of the book for yourself.