Free Believers i.d.ing religious behaviour ..

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Symptoms you may be suffering 
from a religious behavior management disorder:


1. You feel spiritual pressure to be a good Christian, 
rather than confidence that you are able to live 
from your new and supernaturally-strong heart.


2. The message you’re hearing from church leadership 
is chiefly about avoiding sin, 
rather than indulging the goodness of your new heart.


3. Fear of not living up to God’s or others’ expectations 
is stronger than your sense of God’s delight in you.


4. Spiritual heaviness.


5. You're constantly being asked by leadership to be more committed.


6. Every message is about getting you to do something, 
or to stop doing something.


7. The leadership is more concerned with managing people's sin, 
than releasing a new life that is now within them.


~ Ted Nelson
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15 signs that you’re dealing with one of the “chosen”:

1. Others who don’t agree with me are unbiblical 
while I am always biblical.

2. The original Greek/Hebrew is never pulled out 
to support other people’s point, but always my own.

3. Others who come to different conclusions than me 
while reading the same Bible are twisting scripture, 
while I always know and speak the “untwisted” version.

4. Satan has blinded the minds of others 
when they do not see things they way I see them. 

My mind is never blinded.

5. If anyone strongly disagrees with what I believe 
then they are a Heretic.

6. Any verbal Christian who disagrees 
with what I think scripture says is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

7. The gospel that I preach is always the same gospel that Paul preached. 

Anyone who differs from what I preach 
is preaching a different gospel than Paul 

and is therefore an anathema and cursed.

8. If I can use more words (the bigger the better) 
than others in a comment thread, I win.

9. If anyone sways from the penal substitution theory of atonement, 

then they do not believe in the Jesus or God of the Bible.

10. Orthodox belief is always what I believe.

11. Others are on slippery slopes, not me.

12. I have a pure reading and understanding of scripture; 

my opinion, preferences, culture, personal beliefs and upbringing 

have absolutely no influence in my biblical understanding.

13. I am always part of God’s in-crowd.

14. There is an absolute Truth, and I know it. 

Anyone who disagrees with me is believing and speaking lies. 

Satan has deceived them.

15. In the end, me and my God will win. You’ll see.



~ Jeremy Johnson+
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1. Does your church tightly control the flow of information within its ranks?
2. Do they use public shaming as a method to gain the compliance of followers?
3. Is your spiritual leader intolerant of questions or critical inquiry?
4. Is your spiritual leader the exclusive means of knowing "truth" or receiving validation?
5. Do they have unreasonable fears about the outside world 
such as evil conspiracies or persecutions?
6. Are you discouraged to associate with former members, 
being warned that they are "evil" or "defiling"?
7. Is leaving your group to join another church equal to leaving God?
8. Does the surrounding community view your church as a cult?
9. Do they consider it evil persecution when criticized or questioned?
10. Do the goals of your spiritual leader 
seem to supersede any personal goals or individual interests?
11. Do you fear being rebuked, shunned, or ignored 
for expressing a different opinion?
12. Do former members often relate the same stories of abuse 
and reflect a similar pattern of grievances?
If you answered "yes" to three or more, 
your church is showing signs of being unhealthy. 
If you answered "yes" to six or more, 
your church is very unhealthy. 
If you answered "yes" to eight or more, 
your church is more than likely a full-blown authoritarian cult.
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