Look – God isn’t going to curse you at all, not even for leaving a Good Church. Stop believing the lie that some ignorant or hateful person has told you. Legalists and cult-style leaders will find every verse in their Holy Scriptures that point to punishment, especially in the Old Testament of the Bible to show that if you disobey them a chasm will open up and swallow you into the ground.
We have asked a lot of people two questions; 1) How long after leaving a bad church did it take to really believe you made the right move, and b) How long afterward did you suffer from anxiety and fear over God cursing you? The answers are sad.
having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. – Colossians 2:14 NIV
This is like a bad case of media – negativity sells. Fear moves money and people. Just watch the stock market for a weak. If a news story comes out that says something like, ‘Fears that this military may strike this military and what will that do to the economy?’. Bam – sell-offs.
Really arrogant people in positions of religious authority know how this works, and like this image, devote countless sermons to convince you that your next move will prompt a buy-in (God blesses you) or a sell-off (God curses you).
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, – Romans 8:1
Did we so easily forget the words of comfort given to us all through the Bible? ALL of the requirements of the law, ALL of the condemnation, ALL of the CURSE, was nailed to the Cross. All.
When I asked people, ‘How long did it take after leaving a bad church for you to feel like you’ve made the right decision?’, the answers were pretty random. Some people responded with a few weeks, months, or immediate.
However, when we ask, How long afterward did you suffer from anxiety and fear over God cursing you? the answers were aligned 85%+ to the answer, never. They have never stopped fearing the curse.
If you’ve made the ‘right’ choice to leave a ‘bad’ church, why hasn’t the anxiety gone away I ask? Nearly every answer centered around two things;
- Family/Friends have cut off the ‘offender’ or ‘backslider’ and that loss of connection brings great pain and anxiety and this is translated as being ‘cursed’
- Somewhere in the subconscious, the fear ingrained from all the stories about what would happen to them if they didn’t stay submitted to the pastor haunt their dreams and decisions.
For example – I remember about two months after I left the church, (and I was one of those that left with no second glances back) I was standing in my kitchen and I thought, ‘I wonder when something bad is going to happen now that I’m not writing a check to the church every two weeks.‘
You see, in my old church, Malachi 3:8 was brought out ALL the time to reinforce our requirement of paying 10% tithes and 5% offerings;
Mal 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Mal 3:9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
I won’t get into how stupid this is other than to say if you read Malachi 1:1, it’s to Israel if you read Malachi 2:1 the commandment and warning is to the Priests and Malachi 3:9 is cursing the NATION of Israel, not You or I. Done.
Furthermore – why have we forgotten the precious works of our Lord Jesus Christ? HE took the curse from us, literally. All the requirements of the law were nailed to the tree, paid in full.
There Is No More Curse – You are Free!
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” Galatians 3:13 NIV
I pray you are free from any fear and anxiety – you are no longer bound to the curses of the Law – now you are bound to the matters of the heart, through the Spirit. Fulfilling the Law of Christ is in obeying his commandments, and those were to Love God and to Love Your Neighbor. Your freedom from condemnation is LOVE.
“If you love me, keep my commands. – John 14:15
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. – Galatians 6:2
5 Responses
“And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.”
1 John 3.23
And you know what?
I too posted a post today about pentecostalism.
Keep warning the people brother.
Thanks Lee! I’ll look for your post
I needed this. I was inside the UPCI church.
Very controlling.
This is a great article that I needed! Please pray for me. I know we did the right thing leaving our former church but I can’t seem to fully let go. I’ve been gone from the UPC church for a year and I still find myself inquiring about the services and being grieved over people who have dropped us. I have even found myself driving by the church to see how many cars are in the parking lot. It frustrates my husband because he has had the ability to totally let go. I want to be able to let go and not look back. That church was my life for 45 years and indoctrination is powerful and very hard to break. Once again, I need prayers!
When I left, shortly after I developed tinnitus(ringing of the ears). It has been a big adjustment getting habituated to the constant noise in my head. However,I was so convinced that God was punishing me. I then read Toxic Faith you recommended and I realized that sometimes life just happens to us humans. It is definantly hard to break that thought process. It made me only view God as anything but loving. Rewiring is hard, but cognitive thinking helps. Reminding myself that God is love, God is love. The fear aspect of the UPC is its greatest accomplishment cause it takes hold and is hard to disconnect from. Thank you for these blogs. They have been so helpful to me. I look forward to reading them.