Kelli Trujillo Supporter Loving Wife, Mother, Grandmother, Teacher, Musician

This behavior from your pastor is greatly concerning UNLESS you’re a newer Christian still learning the ropes and you have friends who attend churches that don’t fully adhere to biblical principles. There is an increasing number of churches that have abandoned God’s word. But even so, he should be gently leading you, not bossing you around. Your statement “doesn’t allow” is a red flag. If he is forbidding it simply because he thinks you should only associate with people in your church for no sound reason, it’s probably a tactic of fear, manipulation and control on his part to try to keep you and others from leaving his church and going elsewhere. 

A warning sign: He uses scriptures to insist you OBEY, such as 1 Peter 2: "13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good." 

Or Hebrews 13:17: "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.”

Or Eph. 5:21: "Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ."

I am very familiar with the tactics of leaders like this, because I attended a church where similar things were taught from the pulpit in order to keep the members in line and to keep people from leaving the church.

Be very careful; this is a VERY DANGEROUS way for leaders to behave, and it's NOT godly.

Here's what leaders like this conveniently ignore as they're quoting the above scriptures to you:

First of all, Paul taught that the body of Christ is NOT divided. 

1 Cor. 1: "11 For some members of Chloe’s household have told me about your quarrels, my dear brothers and sisters. 12 Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter, ” or “I follow only Christ.” 13 Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not! 14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 for now no one can say they were baptized in my name."

Also 1 Cor. 12: "12 There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body. It is the same with Christ. 13 We were all baptized by one Holy Spirit. And so we are formed into one body. It didn’t matter whether we were Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free people. We were all given the same Spirit to drink. 14 So the body is not made up of just one part. It has many parts."

In addition, the Bible condemns leaders who mislead and mistreat their people.

Jer. 23: "1 'What sorrow awaits the leaders of my people—the shepherds of my sheep—for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for,' says the LORD. Therefore, this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to these shepherds: 'Instead of caring for my flock and leading them to safety, you have deserted them and driven them to destruction.’”

Let me ask you this: If your pastor told you God had spoken to him and that he wanted you to purposely harm yourself, your child, or someone else dear to you, would you do it? Hopefully not, but unfortunately, many cult leaders throughout history have been successful at convincing people to do such things. Just because this pastor preaches from the Bible--if indeed he does--it does NOT necessarily mean that he is not running his church in a cult-like manner. The church that I attended was definitely what some would call a "sociological cult," meaning that the Bible was taught and Jesus was supposedly at the center of the church, but the actions of the leadership were very cultish in nature.

I have more I could say on this topic, but I'm running out of space. I highly recommend finding a different church. Please read this article about how to recognize if your church is a cult: 

https://eitan.bar/articles/christian-cults/

14 hours ago • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Donna Williams Supporter

May I encourage you to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit concerning this matter. There is definitely a problem here.

The Bible does encourage us to submit to leadership, however this is a matter of control. 

Your pastor is not walking in the Spirit of God. We are the body of Christ, though we may fellowship in different places of worship we are one.

The Holy Spirit will never keep us from associating with other believers.

This is why it is imperative for us to have a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit who is the one who leads us and guides into all truth.

I am really concerned about the leadership that you are under, and it is possible that your pastor is under the spirit of witchcraft that operates to manipulate and control people. 

Or it maybe fear of losing the sheep to other congregations, whatever the case it is unhealthy.

I know Holy Spirit will lead you in the right direction. I will be praying for you!

18 hours ago • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report