Pray for Doug Phillips and Vision Forum Ministries

Anything in particular you want us to pray about?

Ok, I just came up to speed on what he did. It's all over the Internet. Just read his resignation letter, he has pretty much lost everything. Even though I disagreed with his unbiblical view of Patriarchy teachings, I never expected this and will pray for him and his family and all the people that were hurt and damaged by him.

It is heartwarming to see all the good that God is bringing to light in the Doug Phillips situation. Obviously, many prayers are being answered. I can understand now why the Lord allowed Mr. Phillip's works to be exposed. Of course, God is not one to cover things up. He cares for Doug, also.

And yes, there are a lot of broken lives over this but what many people are finding out just may bring real healing and Biblical understanding to their marriages and their families.

http://spiritualsoundingboard.com/2013/11/23/in-the-wake-of-the-doug-phillips-affair-a-mother-grieves-and-seeks-our-prayers/

http://homeschoolersanonymous.wordpress.com/?s=doug+phillips&submit=Search

I thought, "yes"...let me pray...but first I thought it wise to ascertain the whole situation.

Bless God I did.....because I stumbled upon a whole vipers den of "spiritual abuse"......detailed in many many more grievous occurrences than this particular situation.

i'm in earnest...out THERE...on the web, are a plethora of hurt, abused saints, who have actually taken to posting their travails at the hands of ecclesiastical leaders..."pastors" and the like.

Doug, i'm not being contentious....no, my brother, no....i'm just heart broken at the many who have been stumbled, or God forbid, even had their faith, shipwrecked, because of such men.

its THOSE "helpless and harassed" I pray for...I also thank God with all my soul, that the human vessel of Jesus, my mentor, God led me to, is a dear, sweet God fearing honorable man.

I've said enough.

Yes, Neil. There are "Christian" cults as bad as Islam in the way that they treat the women in their family and the church. I think that is probably the type of spiritual abuse that you have come across. And just like in Islam there is a big problem of pornography and lust in Christendom and the tactics that men are taking to deal with their lust is putting clamps (legalism) on Christian women rather than dealing with their own sin.

This is probably one of the top 3 major problems in Christendom that few are talking about as evidenced on SI for instance. Very little talk about how pornography is ruining churches, marriages and families. Overly controlling and patriarchal men are being exposed having very severe personal problems. Steve Gallagher is often quoted by Greg and is one brother who is out there talking about these issues. And there is a plethora of web sites that are talking about them, too.

It is unfair to blame women but these cults believe that Eve is responsible for sin in the world and that is why they treat Christian women the way they do.

There has not been enough said and these issues need to be talked about and not hidden or swept under the carpet.

I wouldn't call David a tare, but He was certainly dealt with by God and his family and followers suffered.

So, I would not call everyone a tare who falls and I am not quite sure if you are saying this, so please correct me if my interpretation of your posts is in error.

beloved,
I have been waiting a number of days to write this post, because when I read the OP, as I said, I went to look up, WHAT, needed to be "prayed for"...and as I wrote, this 'look' led me to various websites, detailing what happened to the man, who was asked to be prayed for.

and when I started reading, my heart started breaking, because all of this...MESS, is NOT why Messiah Jesus bore the humiliation of the Cross for, and shed the Precious Blood that cleanses us from ALL SIN....

....and the first website I was led to, was the first one you have listed in your signature line.....which most definitely I recognized. I read EVERYTHING....not only on the man who's listed below as "needing prayer", but also to the situation that led the dear sister "JA" to even put up that website....what SHE and her daughters, and other women, from that other "church", and that other "pastor" suffered......its terrible, my heart grieves on SO MANY COUNTS.

Now "just-in", if you are "JA"...know this; I, in my weakness, bathed you all in prayer, for you have suffered mightily...my prayer was and is, that you all be comforted by The Comforter, God the Holy Spirit....that, God forbid, your faith in Messiah Jesus NOT be stumbled at all....recognizing that you all might be joining Jesus in the Fellowship of Suffering...for a Time.

if this IS you "just-in"...or you know of "JA", she did not DO the wrong thing by exposing, what this other "pastor" did, (not the one below, i'll get to him in a bit)which was to sue, in a SECULAR court, five women for "defamation" in the amount of $500,000...and the end result was that the judge not only THREW OUT this "pastor's" sinFULL suit, (sinful, because the whole suit was absolutely against Scripture, ie 1 Cor chapter 6), but also made him accountable for the extensive legal fees incurred by these dear sisters, which were $50,000, if I read correctly...maybe $100,000. But even that amount cant mitigate the suffering of heart and soul.

I am not going to detail that case here, one can go to your first link, and start reading...but its truly heart rending, just as that website took me to OTHER instances of ecclesiastical ABUSE, "JAX" and "Wartburg", to name two.

I ask myself, "have these men no Fear of God?"....but its deeper than that, because in reading of all these terrible situations, there is a wicked commonality...a thread, connecting.....I see the words "Christian reconstructionism" ......"patriarchy"..."Quiver full" .....then one is led to what that old man MacArthur in the autumn of his days, just decided to attempt to bludgeon the Body of Christ with....this "strange fire" conference, where for all intensive purposes, he proclaims part of the Body of Christ as "apostate" ,because they believe the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are STILL in operation TODAY.....and he doesn't....he's a "cessationist".

so now we have ONE MORE "theo-argument" to add to the plethora of other divisive "theo-arguments".

The reason I brought that up, it seems to me, MOST of these cases of pastoral abuse...the "pastors" in question, seem to follow a peculiar strain of "beliefs", that just add up to a TERRIBLE WITNESS to a dying world, because what would make any helpless sinner, ENVIOUS, of so great a salvation?

that $500,000 lawsuit?...the secular press, especially televised news, was ALL TOO HAPPY to pick up on that...I myself, while reading about it all, SAW THE NEWS CLIPS!!!

and it was NOT these dear sisters that filed this lawsuit, it was the "pastor"....and to this day, even though he's been "DE -credentialed" as a "minister"...is he repentant?...is he in his prayer closet, with torn clothes, and ashes on his head, begging God for mercy?

no. he's more defiant then ever, I will not detail the ways. its the same way, the man in the OP, all he did was issue a VAGUE press release...."resigning"....and parsing words, such as he didn't "know" the "other woman" in a biblical sense, but he did make sure to shutter his TAX EXEMPT "ministry", while keeping his for profit "business", that I believe peddles materials to the Christian homeschool network...and I understand everyone needs to eat, needs to clothe their wee ones, keep a roof over everybodies head...I get it.....but some of these men, who purport themselves as "leaders", "shepherds", or "pastors"....they are playing with Fire, God have mercy on them.

just on a personal note, two weeks ago, I was talking with my mentor on the phone, which is something I love to do, and told him, "y'know, I cant be a pastor, because i'm a divorced man"...he agreed....he told me, I "could preach, or exhort"....I didn't say anything, either yay or nay, but the reality is, I wont play games with God....believe me, I am very skilled in public exposition, and I've read my Bible countless times...in my prayer time, I've wept buckets of tears.....but I didn't take care of my wife, my son's mother, and she saw fit to divorce me....and brethren, I cant even begin to tell you, how many times I've confessed my sins to her, to God....begged her forgiveness, took ALL responsibility for the dissolution of our marriage....remained single...and she knows, very well, that my prayer is that we are rejoined...in marriage....she also knows that I KNOW, that the pillars of our union, might have been ground into dust, and I have to accept this as the price for not TAKING CARE of our marriage.....so how could I POSSIBLY stand in front of the congregation ....and preach?...or exhort? I WILL NOT be a hypocrite!!! because I fear God...I revere God...and I love God...and seek His Heart, thankful for the Precious Blood of Jesus, that cleanses all sin...I will not be a hypocrite.

I said all that to say this; MEN, take care of your wives, treat them with tenderness, love and liberty in Christ....do not stomp on their souls, do not subjugate them, using cherry picked bits of Scripture...and definitely do NOT fall prey to your own craven lusts, then term your partner in adultery as a "jezebel"....as I have seen done in some of these cases...and God forbid! if you have gone astray....be fearless in your confession to God and your wife, repent, and seek reconciliation with your whole heart, mind, body and soul...and MORE the so, if you are a pastor! for if you are a pastor, and have fallen into adultery....your "public" ministry is OVER....be real with God, and be real with your wife, for THAT is the only "restoration" you should consider...BEG her forgiveness, seek Godly counseling towards reconciliation, pray for it....but no more public ministry, there is MUCH you can do in private ministry....that's why its called a prayer closet....but hold on TIGHT to that marriage, fore that is the woman you will be holding hands with in the New Jerusalem.

I only write this because, if I knew THEN, what I know NOW?

I would still have my marriage....but Praise be to God, my son's mother....her and I to this day, have the most loving discourses, conversations, interactions....and I attribute that to the Spirit of Christ, That lives in both of us.....

before I finish this post, I want to "give" you all something, that God gave me, after I had read of all that hellishness of pastoral abuse...I needed to hear a lovely, God fearing man speak, someone who is genuine...someone whom God gave a Gift to, and is true, and authentic....which is the testimony of the Scottish preacher and "revivalist" Duncan Campbell. Duncan was the human vessel God used in the Hebrides Revival of 1949-53...in what i'm about to link, he doesn't speak of the revival, he just shares HIS OWN testimony, including 17 years of "barrenness" that he walked in, as a preacher...in my humble estimation, this is a man of God, we should seek to emulate:

https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/visit.php?lid=380

I pray I offended no one, in Jesus love, neil

Hi Neil,

No, I am not JA, but my heart breaks for him/her too. The stumbling blocks we put before one another are really horrible and they are usually put on others by people that have fear instead of faith and so they operate in the spirit of control and manipulation. Well, you have a very good introduction into this particular version of stumbling blocks now.

Interesting that the Lord says this:

Luk_17:2 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

and then we have this:

Rev_18:21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.