She cornered my DH in the office for about 20 minutes before Sunday School yesterday and told him that he was worldly, that he was shady and she didn't trust him, and that he was the reason our church wasn't growing. And that he does not report to the SP; he reports to the board, and yada, yada, yada.
Our SP called a meeting after the service was over and made it very clear who the authority is in the church (him!), and who the rest of the staff does and does not report to. Oh, yeah - and DH was accused of gossip because he went to SP and his wife about the situation - she had threatened not to pay him until she felt she could trust him! She kept wanting to know what her "power" was and where was her "authority." She agreed to "try" to trust DH and basically play nice. What ended up happening was that DH told her exactly how he had been feeling, and SP basically told her in no uncertain terms where her "power" is and is not.
BUT...our SP has a call in to our presbyter to ask for advice about removing her from the board...
In the meantime, it's getting ugly. God has called me to some major prayer and fasting and spiritual warfare this week. Our YP has been getting nitpicky calls from her almost daily, and she (YP) has been getting migraines from the stress. The devil is using this woman to try to take us all out with stress and discouragement so that we are no good in supporting our pastor and his vision. She is like Al Quaeda. There is no negotiating. Her objective is to take us out. Period.
I'm not wimping out - I am still in this fight...we all are! But we are contacting everyone we know this week who is a powerful prayer warrior, because we need this situation to end. I know that in the church we will always have antagonistic people, but this goes beyond an antagonistic person! This is all the forces of hell coming against us and trying to stop what God is going to do, and they are using this woman to do it.
Our SP believes that the upcoming Kids' Festival is a huge key in getting families to come and in helping grow our church. I am trying to stay positive, and just continue planning the event and writing my sermons, and everything and NOT crack under the pressure.
I guess...just pray!! That's what we need to do most of all. The devil knows he's losing, and he is launching a huge attack in desperation before the religious spirit that has plagued our church for the 50+ years it's been in existence is defeated.
The devil is such a liar!!! Puppetmaster, after just going thu this myself and actually it isn't quite over, i can completely relate to the stress you all are going through. Sometimes the only way to get thru something like this is with much prayer and fasting and constantly renewing your mind...Over the last couple of weeks, i've lost 8 pds (not all due to fasting) but i have had to be determined that this too will pass.
Your SP is going to have to stand strong and take the necessary steps to remove her and thank God he has supportive people like you and your dh to support him.
I will be praying for you and your leaders...and your Kids Festival will be a wonderful success in Jesus Name!!
Had an awesome time of prayer this morning...God just kept bringing things to my mind to pray for, and I have this feeling of excitement about the Kids' Festival - it's gonna be BIG, people! Pray for me...a local business has agreed to sponsor the dunk tank, and I'm going to get dunked if the boys bring the most visitors (DH gets it if the girls bring the most ).
My DH brought up a good point today, and that is that she will only have power if we let her. It's like in the movie Independence Day...when Bill Pullman's character asks the aliens, "What do you want us to do?"
"DIE!" the alien replies.
And Bill Pullman turns to the army and says, "Nuke the b__________."
Jesus in me is bigger than the religious spirit that is using this woman and her cronies, and what He wants me to do right now is plan the biggest, baddest Kids' Festival that this town has ever seen...write my sermons...practice my puppet songs and skits...and rally my (and God's!) team to accomplish great things through God. The community support has already been overwhelming - As I mentioned, some of the businesses are supporting our "big" games; a local restaurant has donated 150 hamburger patties and all the plastic silverware, and a whole bunch of people are planning on donating as soon as they get the "official" stamp of approval.
This is how we will "nuke," or destroy the plan that satan has for this town. As my DH said, the Lord is coming in like a flood, and everyone's going to have to make the choice to either swim in it or drown!!
(Freaky...I just realized that we had a prophet come to our church a year and a half ago and say the same thing...and then one of my workers had another word and cried out to God for the children of the church and the community! Hmm...and people say God doesn't use prophets anymore!!)
As far as Jezebel goes, well, in the end, she fell from the window and was eaten by dogs . I'm tired of being the wimpy Elijah who runs out to the desert to hide and lick his wounds - I want to be the victorious one whose anointing was so great, that Elisha asked for a double portion of it!! Wow...that would make a great sermon! I'll file that away for the next time SP asks me to preach (and not tell YP, or she'll use it first ).
Okay, so is the spiritual analogy here that Jesus is looking over to God the father from the right hand, saying, "Nuke the __________" at your CA? Ha! Ha!
Okay, so is the spiritual analogy here that Jesus is looking over to God the father from the right hand, saying, "Nuke the __________" at your CA? Ha! Ha! OKAY, SERIOUSLY.......good analogies. That'll preach.
LOL !! I was referring to the devil, but however God wants to take care of the problem is up to him (If we had an evil, mischeivous grin emoticon, it would be inserted here!!
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