Test the Fruit

This post is not for everyone. It’s important for you to take this back to the Lord and confirm with Him that this is for you. Not every word is meant to be applied to your life in the immediate moment. If you are receiving this in season it should not be the first time you are hearing about it. If the Lord has not been speaking to you about this already, take the wisdom and knowledge as a form of learning the ways of the Lord that you might choose to walk in them. If this is for you it should serve as confirmation and give you understanding. This particular post is meaty and was a command of the Lord to release. Glory be to God!

A few years ago as I was being refined in the gifts of the spirit, the Lord encouraged a friend of mine to share a dream. She saw us going through some blueberries and we thought they were ripe but when you look in them some were filled with mold. We needed to be more careful which fruit we ate. I knew what it meant to “know them by their fruit” but I did not yet understand the Lord was telling her about the next season we were going to walk into. It wasn’t until today that He revealed the fullness of what that dream meant and now He is encouraging me to share it with you as an intro to this word. Testing the fruit is not about what it looks like, it’s deeper. You can not judge them by the presence of fruit, you must test it thoroughly. Observe what vine it came from. The following is my testimony of how the Lord taught me by His Holy Spirit to test the fruit. I am writing this because I have been called to testify by the Spirit of the living God and before you read this I want you to know that a false witness is one thing the Lord hates. By knowing that— everything I say has to be truthful or I will be under penalty of perjury in the heavenly realms and the Lord will not be mocked. I fear the Lord. I hope if you’re reading this you receive wisdom, knowledge and understanding. I now know what Paul meant when He said, “remember me in chains.”

Throughout my life I have attended many churches. I moved more than the average person and in each place the Lord met me in a family that invited me to a church. I observed them all, enjoyed them all, served in many and was hurt by few. When I moved to the town I live in currently I did not have a church home and was led into a life of rebellion with partying and worldly living but as God began to call me out of it He encouraged me to go to church. I did not know what I was looking for but I was already seeking the Lord for truth. I knew I was being called but did not know how. One of the first things the Lord healed me of was church hurt and because He granted me authority in that area of my life I was equipped to explore the churches and not get attached or idolize them. He built me in my upbringing to understand a healthy church relationship is not about pledging allegiance to the physical church but to Jesus that lives in it, and sometimes that means not returning or stewarding your time or energy into it because either He needs you elsewhere for His purpose, or it’s not rooted in His kingdom. Over the last 4 years I have visited 5 different churches and observed them by the leading of the Holy Spirit. Here is an account of my experiences and how the Lord confirmed to me His presence in those places, or lack thereof, over time. I have to disclose that throughout this journey I was also walking through deliverance. I was not perfect when He called me. Apart from Him I am imperfect, but in Him I have been made new. This was never about a perfect person walking in to a place and judging it. It was an imperfect person being sanctified through many seasons and being called to testify after receiving deliverance, chastising, revelation and instruction by the Holy Spirit. As the Lord restored me to Him, He revealed to me this purpose and has called now the appointed time. This will be heavy and to some, offensive. There is a court case open in the heavenly realms that I will talk about later in this post. He has instructed me to structure it this way. Victory belongs to the Lord.

I had just begun studying my Bible. The first time I opened it I opened up to a page that read, “For Jerusalem will become what her name Ariel means, an altar covered in blood” I had been dabbling in oracle and tarot cards under the deceit of a spirit of divination that came through an open wound of unhealed betrayal and the Lord had called me to open my Bible. From that moment on I began to seek and observe differently. I prayed to the Lord that if it was not of Him, He would show me. I was forgiven and given grace and mercy because I was ignorant. I couldn’t understand why the information I was learning through different decks of cards would be considered evil if I wasn’t using them to try to manipulate spiritual law. The truth was that I was not fully learned in the laws of God and in humility the Lord led me to repentance by His grace. It took a while for me to fully walk out of the behaviors and renounce the practices but I was grateful for every way the Lord revealed to me. My lack of knowledge was the open door. I felt like I was studying spiritual history and receiving so much wisdom. I had no idea what the truth was but I did know when I opened the Bible that day, the Lord said to me, “You will become a living sacrifice, your life is an altar, it’s time to choose to die.” TERRIFYING but because of my background and foundations in the church I was not afraid. I am grateful to have understood that the Lord was asking me for allegiance. He reminded me of a sermon I heard back in a church from my hometown, I was a teenager and I could never get this sentence out of my head, “One day the Holy Spirit will call you out by name for a purpose much bigger than you and when He does, you will know beyond understanding.” From that day forward I surrendered and everything the Lord began to reveal to me as impure or unclean was removed from my life by His grace. Not all of it was easy and it didn’t happen all at once. It was a journey and some of the truths He revealed were hard to accept but He was gentle even in the crushing. Some things He allowed to stay with me longer than others but eventually I had been fully delivered and set free from all wickedness by Jesus alone, He alone gets the glory. It was always Him and I will only ever continue being this way in Him. John 8:36, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” There is much more to witness when it comes to the deliverance journey I could never fit it all into one blog post but today I have been called to testify about how He refined me in the gift of discernment regarding the church as I was walking through deliverance and growing in spiritual maturity. With God as my witness, this is all true and confirmed to be true by the One who sent me. Glory be to God.

In the very beginning of this I was invited to a church called Valley Bible Fellowship. I went with someone close to me and we were both spiritually immature, seeking the Lord and had a good experience. The people were kind. I saw what the Holy Spirit looked like in others but I did not yet have understanding nor was I walking consciously led by the Holy Spirit. I was in the process of learning Gods voice and this church taught well. I recognized some of the people there. I felt welcomed and they had a great kids program for my daughter. We went for about two months straight and then stopped going. My deeper studies were happening at home. I was reading and studying my Bible daily throughout this time and the Lord began to separate me further from friendships, habits and mindsets that kept me bound. As He did, I began to grow in spiritual maturity at a rapid rate. This church did not speak about the gifts of the spirit. It felt like many of the churches I had visited in childhood in the way that they practice healthy Christian living and preached the gospel well. This was a safe place for me to return to the Father I had walked away from in my rebellion. It felt like picking up right where I left off. I was gaining knowledge and this place was of God but they weren’t teaching me what I needed to know as pertaining to my season. At home, I was learning how to develop a spiritual hygiene routine so I could make room for the Lord and be separate from the world. Valley Bible Fellowship was established, with multiple buildings around town, they serve in their community and they fed me when I was needing encouragement and a good word but God was calling me to something meatier. Something that would edify what He was doing in me. I did see people being led to Jesus in that place. I have not been there in years nor has the Holy Spirit led me to updated information other than they are still consistently filling their churches and they are still His. It was a territory that I passed through in the wilderness and I am grateful for it. They belong to the the Lord. That church is His.

As I continued to walk the Lord stripped me of all my worldly friendships and started connecting me with people who were also seeking Him and transforming their lives. There was a season where He connected me with one of His daughters and we walked through curiosity together. We went to the gym together often and she invited me to church with her and her now fiancé. It’s been a blessing to witness the transformation of her life from afar. Anyway, she invited me to New Life Center. They are also a church with multiple facilities here in town that have been established for a long period of time. I actually remember visiting it over ten years ago before I ever even moved here and it was filled with laughter and children running around. It was bright and beautiful but when I went this time things were different. This church was very collectively and without shame going through a season of discomfort. The pastor gave a word and then on stage was very openly admitting that He can feel that revival is near but that it would be a newness that symbolized the ending of a generation and a beginning of new era. They were under construction. I remember still being confused at this time. I was observing, there was not a lot of life in this place but later the Lord would reveal to me what it meant.

The two parts that stuck out to me most were the prayer and the altar call. The pastor was vulnerable and asked the congregation to get on their knees and join him in prayer for restoration and revival. He sought guidance for the next steps of the church in faith with the church family. At the time, I was in my sanctification process and was turned off by what they were asking us to do. I did not feel comfortable being “forced” on to my knees to pray for a church that I didn’t even know. I know now that pride was clouding my judgment. I did not yet fully understand repentance or sacrifice or even what it meant to intercede or partner in agreement in prayer. My flesh wanted to rebel against kneeling at the feet of Jesus. Later, the Lord revealed to me that the way they had approached their situation with humility was teaching the truth to the people and it was because of that humility and true desire for the Lords presence in that place that He began to bring it back to life. It was the first time I had ever witnessed God break down and restore. I visited them during a pruning season and though I had not yet been walking in the prophetic realm, it was the Lord speaking to me prophetically about myself. To this day it is growing and people are being brought to Jesus in that facility. In that time God was showing me where I was in my journey. He had begun to strip away what once was and He was teaching me in that experience what it looked like to drop to your knees in search of the rebuild. Then they did an altar call, this altar call was beautiful. They invited the younger adult generation to the altar to pray over them specifically to petition to the Lord to increase the anointing on the new leaders. The elders and current leaders of the church opened up in prayer and walked through each person that chose to go up, covering them and pleading on their behalf that God would increase the anointing on their life and guide them to assume their positions. They did not claim any power to anoint on their own, they knew they were anointing only by the power and authority of Jesus Christ according to His will. That was the only experience I had at that place. I did not love it nor did I hate it and the wisdom I received from it came at a later date but since my visit I have witnessed it bring families back to life. I have close friends who have been baptized and started their journey with Christ. I have seen no idolatry in that place. I can see the Holy Spirit in it and through revelation and correction He revealed to me that when I was there it was not a lack of His presence in that place, it was a desperation for more of Him and that was also where I was as a woman of God. I did not fully have Him in the way my heart was desperate for, I wanted more. The Lord has revealed to me the validity of this church and it’s foundation. Jesus is there. That church is His.

The next church I visited was called Discovery. By this time the Lord had started speaking to me personally. I was starting to grow in my spiritual gifts. Still not fully delivered but hungry for Jesus. I can’t thank the people from my childhood enough for taking me to church. I understand and have witnessed others walk this walk without Jesus at the root and I mourn for them. Lately I have sat in gratitude for the elders that looked over me in the spiritual realm when I was too young to know. I felt called to discovery church. This was the first place I went to by myself. The last two experiences were guided by the Holy Spirit but without my knowledge. Before, I had no idea and now I felt something shift. I wasn’t being led in obedience yet, it was more like exploration of something I had not yet understood. Curiosity. Seeking truth I had not yet found.

The night before I went I was in my Bible and the Lord had spoke a word to me. I wrote it all out. I was in awe of the way I was hearing in His word. He had been speaking to me consistently now but I still needed growth. I was a child in the spirit and the thirst for connection was apparent. My first experience at Discovery Church, the pastor spoke to the congregation about the same thing the Holy Spirit spoke to me the night before. Some things were word for word identical to what I had written in my notebook. This was when I realized that my spiritual understanding of the voice of God had come into alignment with where I was in my walk. This was the first church that I felt the Holy Spirit in the place, and in me. I was no longer separate from His Spirit and I could hear His voice clearly. Knowing this, I was eager to continue being fed in this church. They planted a seed after a sermon during the announcements. They were having a meeting called “Track2” later that afternoon and it would be about discovering your spiritual gifts and serving in the church. I was encouraged in my spirit to go and never felt pressured by the people presenting it. In that meeting there was a very small group of people curious about what spiritual gifts are and how they can be used to serve in the church. They helped us to discover which gifts we have and I felt edified, seen, and confirmed to be on the right path. I did not feel encouraged to serve in that church, though. I was there to be discipled and to worship. They helped me acknowledge Jesus in my gifts, invite Him to be the root of them and the Holy Spirit continued my training one on one in His presence. This was only my first experience here and since then I have been connected to multiple friends that the Lord has used to help build and grow the gifts of the spirit through sanctification, community, surrender, grace, love, and by the leading of His Holy Spirit. None were flesh led connections, none were rooted in sin. Each was connected for His purpose by His Spirit and we are all excited to be disciples. We are growing in numbers and I realized in this place is where the Lord began to rebuild and multiply me. In this place is where my daughter found community in the youth groups. In this place my favorite person received the salvation prayer. Jesus is in that place and His Holy Spirit baptizes people within it as well. I had been baptized in water earlier in life when I was a kid, again as a teenager and a third time as an adult. At Discovery, I was baptized in the Holy Spirit. I was born again in the spiritual realm. That was something that came after deliverance and discipleship. I think there is a misunderstanding when it comes to water baptism for those who do not have a foundation of Christ. You don’t receive the Holy Spirit the moment you are baptized in water. It is a separate baptism that is a result of a process with Jesus. Many of God’s children are led astray when they get baptized expecting the Holy Spirit to descend on them and their wilderness to be the same as Jesus’s was. Realistically, we are more like the Israelites who wander, rebel, and backslide for lack of knowledge. The good news is that because Jesus is with us in it, we will get through it but we have to be willing to admit we don’t know everything we thought we knew.

I have been at Discovery for nearly three years now and I have not felt conviction about the way that they are structured. They have an extremely large congregation, they do not build idols on the stage, they have small groups of all kinds that people will be led to by the Holy Spirit. They ask for offering and give to the community then deliver praise reports to let the people know where they are giving to. They do outreach locally and in other countries. They are moving by His Spirit as a body. This church is a journey church rooted in Christ. That is not all that the Lord showed me, though. He started speaking to me about godly marriages in my walk. He revealed to me a lot of misunderstandings that I had about the order of things and by witnessing the pastor and his wife in this church I was not only presented with a good example but given instruction by the Lord to study on my own to gain deeper knowledge of what a marital covenant that glorifies the Lord looks like. I never understood why He had me seeking this deeply in regards to pastors specifically but He walked me through an entire season of witnessing the way they lead a church aligned with His word and His order of things. They successfully represent a godly marriage, not by perfection but through vulnerability and humility. They never sought to create an idol out of their relationship or each other and also make points to reject glorification. They teach together with the male as the head— If the wife ever preaches he covers her, he sets the stage for her and the glory is always verbally and through the way that they live given to the Lord. God not only confirmed in my spirit but spoke to me through dreams and visions revealing that this place was built on a foundation of Christ, rooted in His Kingdom and leads His children to discovering their identities in Him while learning how to serve. He showed me that in His sight the pastors are an honorable reflection of a godly marriage and are leading in a way that pleases Him. They are consistently expanding and ever since I locked in, so am I. Discovery was a safe space for my gifts to be nurtured and for me to be fully delivered from evil. I walked out of sin shamelessly and all by the leading of the Holy Spirit and glory truly, from beginning to end, being given to the Lord. They never sought to manipulate or control my journey with Christ, it was a place of guidance and freedom. The Lord is not just in this place. He built it and breathed life into it— from the root to the fruit.

While I still attend discovery, I had received a clear instruction from the Lord to go check out another church. He told me that He would send me in there, that I wouldn’t go outside of myself for the invitation and that when I went He wanted me to take my notebook and observe. Obviously at this point in my walk I have been delivered, sanctified, chastised and refined in the gifts of the spirit so I could understand clearly the direction of the Lord. He did not send me in before growing me in His love and teaching me His voice— not just what He sounds like in one way. I knew His tone. I felt His heart. I knew His law and His Son. He did not send me out before I knew Him intimately. There is a difference between being able to hear His voice and being able to understand His commands. It comes with developing a strong spiritual core and surrendering yourself back to Him fully without selfish intentions or expectations of gaining fleshly desires. You need to know this. The next church is called Faith Church.

Before I ever went to this church I was a regular at their coffee shop in front. It is a cute little faith based coffee shop that plays worship and has cute bubbly baristas. Going to a coffee shop that appeared to be rooted in Christ felt better than stewarding my money into places that are worldly. I also visited their gift shop that is very cute and the sweetest girl works in there, I loved our interactions. Everyone in the shop and coffee shop were so sweet and genuine. I even considered selling my Faith based merch in their shop and the pastora agreed— I had never met her before but I talked to the girl at the register and she reached out to the pastora to inquire about it. I was in the process of finding a price suitable but discontinued the process by the leading of the Holy Spirit and then was commanded to go to their church and observe. The Lord told me to go and take my notebook; I knew that He was sending me there for a reason but He had not disclosed what it was. This was in November of 2024. I had already been acquainted with the coffee shop and gift shop for about a year. Without seeking to go, a friend reached out to me and asked me to go with her. When I was invited I knew this was what He was preparing me for. Before I get in to this I need to explain something, I have been to many churches, I have seen deliverance, received deliverance, and witnessed the manifesting and casting out of demons. None of what the Lord revealed to me brought up fear in me. I observed, received, took it back to Him and He continued to speak. This has nothing to do with what deliverance looks like and everything to do with the validity of it. I am fully aware that if any of this is untrue the anger of the Lord will fall on me. I am not afraid; the Holy Spirit is my Advocate and He has come to deliver His children from that place. Here is my experience with that church.

I walked in and was welcomed by a greeter that asked if it was my first time. Upon learning I had never been there before they seated my friend and I close to the front and in the center so we were in the direct view of the speakers. I saw a couple familiar faces and was excited to see what everything was about. I did not know then what God was having me observe I just knew He wanted me to. The service I attended was Friday night. I wasn’t called nor encouraged to a Sunday service. The Lord saw the Friday service as the main service because that is how they present it to His chosen children. They go seeking Holy Fire. The intro prayer was a man praying a deep heavy warfare prayer. He was praying against any enemy attacks over the church itself. He was making a mockery of how the Lord builds and protects His churches. I remember thinking to myself, “What is going on behind the scenes that this church feels it’s necessary to openly declare to be under spiritual attack in front of the people?” I felt completely turned away by it and not welcomed as a new visitor but I gave it the benefit of the doubt. Having been through demonic warfare in the past I did not recognize this as something that God would lead His church to do in this way. A church structure is meant to follow an order. If an entire church is being effected by an attack there is something in the church that is giving an enemy legal rights. The man led the people to all pour out their spirit over protection of this church claiming to be bringing down the fire of heaven. He kept saying over and over loudly, “SOMETHING IS HAPPENING! I FEEL IT! SOMETHING IS HAPPENING” to create a supernatural environment in the building. It was not only uncomfortable it was extremely long and felt like harvesting of spiritual gifts and manipulation of the children of God. As if he was setting the stage for each person to be warring for their own family but then also pushing an agenda of the church. It felt like a manipulation of the intercessors. I was not afraid, I had peace. I was observing.

The worship was beautiful but now after the first prayer I was exhausted. I felt like my spirit was being drained. Through the worship, though, I witnessed people worshiping the Lord in their hearts. It was led beautifully and it felt genuine. I was able to remain in the presence of the Lord myself and it was like I was being refilled. I was able to give my praises to Jesus and I understood in that moment that I can be in the presence of the Lord even if His presence isn’t in a place. Catch that in your spirit. You can be in the presence of the Lord and the person next to you can be out of it. You can be in the kingdom while they are in the world. What’s in you does not always match your environment. Just because YOU have the Holy Spirit does not mean the place you are in is filled with it. For the first time, I had entered a church when I was filled with the Holy Spirit but I did not feel the Holy Spirit in that church.

The pastora came out with a sparkly belt and a sparkly microphone that caught my attention and she began to speak about how she only wears certain clothes in the church— certain shoes she has set aside prophetically to symbolize her cleanliness walking into the church. I recognized that as giving a pair of shoes power as if she can control what she carries with her by declaring a pair of shoes clean. It felt like teaching people to create talismans and idols out of objects and this was not revealed to me until after I had come and gone. The Lord also revealed this to me as a false form of cleanliness. We are cleansed by His blood not by prophetic acts. He also reminded me of how she encouraged people to perform prophetic acts to come in to agreement with the words she was speaking. She had the people running around the church in a circle. I believe in prophetic acts but this did not feel biblical, it felt ritualistic and performative. I know the Lord teaches through them but it didn’t feel right. She was not confirming what God had already spoke in everyone she was encouraging them all to claim a thing that was not spoken to them but to her. This was not prophetic etiquette. I also felt uncomfortable that she operates under the title of prophetess and was being called mama by the congregation. God had recently taught me that His children are not meant to identify with their gifts or glorify them so how she carried herself directly conflicted with the way the Lord was teaching me. I still felt peace and knew that God would reveal His purpose in me being here at the appointed time.

The pastora continued by calling up a couple children below the age of 18 by name for deliverance and healing in front of everyone as well as telling one that she could see that high ranking angels of the Lord had been assigned to them. She just called out names and people would walk up and she would say whatever and do whatever she claimed to have been hearing and being instructed to do but it did not feel right. She claimed to be seeing in the spiritual realm about what they had going on personally at school and what was happening in their individual lives. She did this in front of the entire congregation and even brought one girl to the floor and had her throwing up but not once in her deliverance did she bind up nor send this demon to the feet of Jesus. The entire encounter felt like it was an action to create a reaction and gain attention from the people. It was extremely showcased. Deliverance and warfare were the bulk of this experience and I was at peace and excited to be there witnessing but I knew in my spirit it was not Jesus. The actions and spiritual reactions were real and I knew that but the presence of Jesus in it was not. I knew then that everyone in that room was being exposed to unbound demons that would have to go somewhere and when they were cast out they would attach to anyone in the room with an open door or weakness. This is why people in that room are having to continuously go back for deliverance. They are just loosing demons in that place that are jumping through the room from vessel to vessel. It’s poor spiritual hygiene. Protect your eye and ear gates. It’s similar to why spiritually sensitive Christians are advised not to watch horror movies. If you are easily effected by what you see, or going through a process with open wounds that need to be healed, you should not be in a room where demons are being loosed. To let that be a room just anyone can walk in to is ungodly and puts people at risk. My joy came from being in obedience but I was also feeling mourning for this experience. The pastor, her husband, never was on the floor but his voice was in the background of the entire sermon and the Holy Spirit dropped “Double Double Toil in Trouble” in my spirit. The Lord compared this experience to the scene from a movie with the witches all gathering for a meeting. If you guys have watched that movie you would know that little scratchy witchy voice in the background when all of the witches are sitting in front of the big cauldron trying to end the goodness in the world, that was what the Holy Spirit dropped in my ear at this time. They were siphoning the energy of the innocent in that movie. In the church he makes sound effects behind her preaching and has the body of the church say things like “I receive” and “mama” throughout her sermon to foster edification. It’s all set up to create an illusion. None of it is Holy Spirit led. When that movie dropped into my spirit I acknowledged it and giggled I didn’t realize at the time it was God revealing to me things. Her deliverances are not of God.

The sermon was masked as teaching but it was broken language. My spiritual ears heard everything she said and it didn’t even confuse me, she simply was not teaching biblical wisdom nor was it spiritually sound. I immediately recognized this as suspicious. When we are called to teach the Lord tells us to study the word to show ourselves approved (2 Timothy 2:15) and the way she did not move through the scripture confidently showed me that something was not right. It was not teaching. It was not anointed to teach Gods word. Throughout the entire sermon she used about 4 verses and it was the first few verses of the Bible. She spoke about one word. “Brood” where she then explained how God brooded over the waters and witches brood over our lives as Christians, seeking to steal our lives. She taught that we as Christian’s should also intentionally be up late at night brooding to counteract that. That we should be fasted and brooding over what we want in life. She was encouraging manifestation, tip-toeing around the word. Her way of teaching about fasting and prayer is manipulating what we are meant to utilize as a way of humbling ourselves before God, into actions that would force supernatural movement in ways that are rooted in self idolization and glorification. She was preaching a prosperity teaching and encouraging children of God to come to their own defense instead of call on God as their defense. The way she teaches is a counterfeit way of teaching the children of God how to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and discern the will of God over their lives. It is a church filled with distraction and deception. The Holy Spirit was in my ear speaking to me of the truth of what His word says and how her words and His did not match. God says we are to meditate on His word and His will. He never calls us to do as witches do. He would never command us to do the same things they do as a practice. The only example of God commanding someone to do as a magician did was Aaron and it was to invalidate the magicians and even so His instruction came from God alone for Gods purpose. God creates, the enemy imitates. The Lord wakes us up in the night when we are assigned as watchman and He trains you in that position. It is Him that leads in warfare. His children being appointed to positions is HIS. He appoints watchmen at His will through Christ Jesus. She was training a collective of people without authority, order or knowledge and leading them into the spiritual realm through back doors and windows leaving them more easily accessible to demonic oppression.

For this to have been my first experience I was grieved for anyone that walked in while not being fully delivered of witchcraft. She was teaching witchcraft and manipulating the word to hide it. Anyone who has been wounded or oppressed by witchcraft spirituality would walk into that place and be comforted by the familiarity. She then began to speak of dreams and claimed that we can control and manipulate our dreams. Another lie. The way she preaches about dreams and the way we are meant to navigate them is the same as astral projection. She was telling the children of God when you have a bad dream just cancel it and brood over what you want in place of it and manifest things differently. Dreams are a gift and at times God reveals enemies in them, we are to take heed. I also know that it is important to walk in authority in dreams but that comes through and in Christ. It requires humility and surrender, not manipulation or control. We are to take every dream back to the Lord and His word. He completes it with an interpretation by His Spirit through another or yourself if the gift of interpretation has been given to you. It is meant to be surrendered to Him fully. Her teaching was basically telling the children of God that if they see something they don’t like or are afraid of, to rebuke it and carry on. If anyone were to ever be warned about her church but listen to her teaching they would be taught to rebuke a lie simply because it feels bad, when it was actually God trying to reveal a hard truth.

Her biblical language was minimal and her voice did not feel anointed. You do not have to be a scholar to be a teacher in the Kingdom but you do have to be anointed and she was not. If you know the Lord you will know what I mean when I say “feel” anointed. She was not filled with the Holy Spirit. There was constant noises being made by her husband to encourage a reaction from the people. It felt like the bulk of her presence was her knowledge of the spiritual realm and in my spirit I understood that she had not been in there legally. God was reminding me that demons know more about the spiritual realm than humans do because they live in it. She also told her entire congregation that when you are in that building you are entering a new dimension. Claiming that faith church is a portal that opens up and puts you on kairos time. The spirit in that woman is deceiving Gods people into believing that this place is in the presence of God rooted in the Kingdom and the Lord has revealed to me that this church is not His nor does it belong to His Kingdom. This is not up for debate. Take it back to God. I heard Him clearly when He said, “That is not my church.” The offering was structured as such: you put your money in an envelope and then they do what can be called a ritual that basically gives power into the money and is stewarded as a form of financial blessing to the self, declaring prosperity because of your giving. It was not about giving in faith and trusting the Lord to multiply but rather like trying to force the hand of God to multiply financially through declaration, not His will. I don’t have better words to describe this but it felt odd and uncomfortable.

The next part was an altar call. I felt pressured and funneled into the altar call. She calls everyone up and has oil on her hand and claims to be anointing each and every one of their heads. It is a quick paced hectic experience. It is not peaceful it is a performance. She gives power to this experience and I watched as the people around me, who had been in that church for a while, ran to be touched by this woman and how they truly believed that her breath and the words she spoke over them could tell them who they are, give them spiritual gifts and bring them healing. The lighting of the space set a dark tone to relax the children of God and keep them moving with the flow without feeling like there was much choice in the environment. It’s a forced flow. Like a funnel. Jesus was not glorified or at the root of any of it. I prayed the entire time for a hedge of protection around my friend and I. I am grateful to have had others witness me throughout this process that can attest to the truth as well. I was already repenting for following the crowd but held my friends hand and prayed over us the entire time. The woman put oil on my head and said “this is an intercessor!!!,” over and over. It was like she was trying to give me an identity that the Lord had already given me. She could not hear my prayer, I was praying protection from her. My friend and I both knew what I was praying. She stayed there and proceeded to imitate forcing the “holy fire of God” into my womb with her hands and walked through the entire line of the entire church one by one. Some falling to the floor. Some standing firm. Others to their knees. All being recorded. The sermon was on a Friday night and did not end until 10 PM. I felt like my time was stolen. I was so sad because everything I saw in that church made me have to let go of the coffee shop too. I had gotten comfortable in that place and I love the people but when the Lord revealed to me what is behind it I realized I had been deceived and manipulated and the people that are deep in that church are as well. This is a public recant of any influence I have had leading anybody to that coffee shop. I love everyone there even if I don’t know them, but some I do and I truly hope they take this back to the Lord in prayer. I mourned to learn all of this and the Lord weeps for His children. His anger is not directed at you it’s at the root of that place and the ones who are leading it. It is not the Holy Spirit that lives in it, it is a familiar spirit and you do not belong to it.

I took all of this back to the Lord and He told me to continue to observe. I watched a few more sermons from my phone that I don’t have any memory of and went to another one in person. I had invited a close friend of mine to come with me to see what she experienced but the Lord gave her a dream telling her that He did not want her there and He said that the church did not belong to Him. In obedience to the Lord she never stepped foot in that place and remained a watchman in the spiritual realm covering me as the Lord guided me through the next experience. This time I went the pastora and her husband were not there. A different pastor spoke. The couple that leads the church were not present they were out of town being fed by another prophetic voice. It was a younger man that led and I felt the presence of the Lord in Him. It was a sermon that was genuine and there were no theatrics. The energy of the room was completely shifted I did not experience anything in this time that felt like it mocked the Lord. It was a nice experience. I then realized that it was not the people in the church that built an idol of the pastors. Most of them were there truly seeking the Lord. This was how the Lord revealed to me His anger was not on His children but directed at the pastors. The leaders. The ones who are abusing His sheep. I didn’t return after this. I totaled two in person experiences and one or two unmemorable online watches.

My next experiences were conversations with the Lord. He led me to Acts 16:16-21 and spoke to me about the woman who had a spirit that enabled her to tell the future. She made lots of money for her masters in doing so and when the apostles spoke out against her, her masters responded in anger throwing the apostles in jail. In this way the Lord prepared me for what it might look like for me if He ever called me to reveal the spirit in her. I am still not afraid. Brood all you want, the Lord is my defense. God revealed to me in that moment that not every voice that speaks to you about who you are in Christ is a voice from God. Not every prophetic voice is moving as a prophet of the Lord. Just because she spoke with accuracy and in front of everyone boldly did not mean she was inspired by the Holy Spirit. She was using her “gift” to gain money and attention. That woman in Acts was filled with a demonic spirit that was shouting out trying to label the apostle and draw attention to herself through what she knew. This is the same for that pastora and I pray she receives deliverance. In the same night he led me to Acts 16, he led my friend and sister in Christ there as well. The entire time she had never been in the church itself and He revealed to her everything that He was speaking to me along the way, confirming I was not hearing from a spirit that was not the Holy Spirit. I was not coming to her first God was coming to us separately about a topic and then His Holy Spirit would bring us together to connect the dots. That is how God moves through the prophetic realm. He was confirming to me everything He was speaking the whole way through by His spirit. This pastora is not of God and she is not using her gifts for the Kingdom of Heaven. She does not serve the Lord. She serves a god but it is not the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Through a collection of dreams, visions and revelations that I have personally recorded and if ever asked by the Lord I will reveal— He revealed to me that the foundation of that church was built on witchcraft and wickedness and proceeded to tell me that the lead pastors are not only out of order but they are collecting gifted children that are anointed for positions in His Kingdom. That the woman should not be the head of the church. That spiritual gifts and deliverance were never meant to be made a mockery nor an idol of. He sees the church for what it is in the spirit and it is not as they try to portray it in the physical. He said He sees that they have placed a business in front of their church to lure in His children and He is angry. They create an illusion to foster in gifted children and that is also a form of witchcraft. He showed this place to me like a house of a funnel web spider. They wait in their funnel- shaped burrows with only their front legs exposed, and then rush out to capture insects or small animals that cross their trip wire. They funnel their prey in by hiding behind an illusion. He sees them harvesting the gifts of His children and keeping them out of their true purposes and positions by keeping them there with false promises, accurate prophecy and false prosperity teachings. By serving in that church you are serving in a counterfeit kingdom. It’s as if the spirit that leads in the church feeds on deceiving chosen children of God by seeking out their gifts, flattering them and giving them positions that feed their flesh, keeping them from the fullness of their promises and in a state of wandering in the wilderness. It keeps the individual from forward movement in their own journey to the promised land. The Lord also compared her to “the other mother” in Coraline, stealing the eyes of innocent children by feeding them spiritual deceit and masking it as love. That church is manipulating lost children that have been oppressed and are just looking for the love of God. They use their coffee shop to create an environment that reflects Him to manipulate children into a church that is not His. He told me that in order to move forward in my personal journey I needed to remove everything that I received from that church and I then went through a process of breaking unintentional agreements or covenants I had unwillingly come into agreement with as well as praying over my womb and anointing my home. This entire time I said nothing to anyone else about what God was speaking to me about intimately aside from those who had been called to bare witness to my experience. I fasted and prayed and the Lord confirmed. I took notes; I still didn’t know what He would have me do with it all. He told me not yet. At the same time He was speaking to two more of my sisters in Christ about this place. They were both called to stay away and to pray over the innocent ones that are in there. The Lord told me this place was like Sodom and it would be dealt with as Sodom was because of it’s root. That in time it would cause an uproar loud enough for Him to get off His throne and deal with the wickedness in that place. His anger is not at the children but at the pastors. They have built idols of themselves and built that church on a foundation of lies and witchcraft. It was not built by Him and it does not belong to Him. He specifically showed me His anger that they have the church call them Mama and Papa. They are no spiritual parents to His children and He will not be mocked. These titles they have given to themselves are positions they received through the flesh not by His Spirit. To be given the honor to be used as a shepherd to His people is only His to give. These pastors were anointed by man not the Lord, the same way they “anoint” others. They have led His people in wickedness and have abused His children. He is coming to defend His children. Every knee will bow.

He then gave me a warning for His children trapped in this church, if any of you are reading this: Seek His face about this. He is angry at them for luring you in because of your innocence and they are treating you unfairly. He knows you were attracted to the supernatural because you wanted to be closer to Him. He has warned them. They do know. Fast and pray, separate from that place. Fall to your knees and repent. Let Him reveal. Those that are united with the familiar spirit that courses through that place are operating in adultery, abandoning the covenant He made with you before you were born into this world and Jesus can bring you out of it the same way he brought me out when I didn’t know what I was doing. I received this same grace that He is wanting to extend to you and it did not come with condemnation, do not be afraid. He is gentle. If you choose that place over Him— you will be in idolatry. When the Lord revealed to me the truth about tarot and oracle, I trashed everything I had that was tied to it in obedience because I knew then that if I kept it, it meant I loved it more than I loved Him. If it wasn’t for a warning He gave me through one of my best friends, I would have still been deceived. The same thing He brought me out of is what He has trusted me to speak about. He loves you. Fear the Lord, not people. Seek diligently. Observe with wisdom. He warns against false witnessing. This is a commandment in the law of God. (Exodus 20:16) You can not lie to protect a wicked one or cause defamation to a righteous one. The punishment for accusing someone of witchcraft and it not being truthful is receiving the punishment that they would have if it were true. (Deut. 19:15-21) It is something that He hates. (Proverbs 6:16-19) Do not allow anyone to push you to change a narrative. He showed me a group of people sitting around with mics strategizing trying to fabricate stories on behalf of the ones He is dealing with. He will see and has already seen every lie and every elaboration you speak for on that churches behalf. Before you come in to defend this church; seek out His heart in it. To have His family testify against Him in the heavenly court of law is betrayal to the Lord and He desires for you to seek Him for truth and wait on His call to testify, IF you are called to testify. (Proverbs 19:9) Know His voice. There is not my truth and your truth in this matter, there is only the truth. A Heavenly court case is similar to the justice system here on earth except there is no corruption. It will play out the way it is meant to in a way that is right and just in the eyes of God. Allow God space to speak and come to Him humbly— open to correction and breaking any unlawful agreement you made unknowingly tied to that church BEFORE coming to its defense. Do not be afraid. Understand the Advocate you will be standing against is the Holy Spirit. Make sure you have pledged allegiance to Jesus, not man. A half truth is a lie, an assumption is not the truth and if you have not sought the Lords truth yourself and waited on His confirmation or lead, you are at risk of speaking lies in defense of His enemy. He will gently guide you out as you come into agreement with the truth because He loves you and is not angry at you He is angry at the oppressor. Do not let anyone form your decisions for you, observe. He showed me His presence will be in that place for the purpose of revealing truth to His children. He has not left you nor forsaken you. He is there to advocate on your behalf. Please take heed. 1 Thessalonians 5:20-22 reminds us, “Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil.” Please, investigate this yourself. Some of you may have already been hearing about this. Trust the Holy Spirit. In John 7:24 Jesus says, “Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.”

The Lord spent 5 months ministering to my spirit about that place, the people leading it, and His lost children before He sent me to the final church on this list. He has never set me free from the mourning for that place, though. I have continued to feel the heart of God weep for His children. In the recent months I was invited into another church. This one being the last of this assignment. Valley Bible Fellowship that I spoke of before has a huge facility on the east side of town and they are always full. Packed parking lot. The entire facility takes up a huge block. Just a short little hop, skip and jump away is a tiny little church called the Body of Christ Fellowship and it’s not much bigger than my house— I don’t live in a great big house. The Lord sent me to this place. It was the third church I knew I had heard God telling me to go before I went. He introduced me to it through a friend that invited me to a Bible study— she asked me to come help her test the spirit because she had been feeling called to steward in that place but as God was refining her gift of giving she wanted wise counsel from someone God had shown her would tell the truth. She gave me an entire background story on it and it was a beautiful story of a couple that grew old and passed away as pastors there. They spent their life together serving the Lord and paid off the building so after they passed they were able to pass on the little church to another couple within the church family and the Lord had confirmed to these new pastors that this was His will. They were originally going to move to Hawaii and when they heard the Lord call to them to continue the church they sacrificed their plans of retirement and took over the church in obedience to the Lord. They even sold their house, downsized and for a short while lived in a trailer behind the church so they could readjust the way they lived to be able to continue to steward their resources toward the church. They do not just hand this information out as some sort of qualification. It was shared through word of mouth. They never sought praises for their actions. They simply obeyed God and have been watched as they continue to do so. For the first two weeks that I went to this place I participated in a small Bible study on Wednesday night. It fit perfectly into my schedule while my daughter is being taught at Discovery. There were less than 15 people and they teach families together. Parents and children. It was beautiful and warm. The first time it was just me and my friend and the next time we invited our other friend. That second invitation was to the same Holy Spirit led person that was instructed to stay away from Faith Church but this time she was given permission to go to Body of Christ.

This church felt like home. I felt the presence of God not just in me but in this place. I had an overwhelming desire to give not just tithing but in a way that I could seek the Lord, intercede on this churches behalf and ask Him how I could effectively help by His hand. I was eager to use my gifts to give in any way the Lord would allow and it felt like a knowing I had never felt before. I felt Gods love in its walls. In this place I felt confirmed in the way my intercessory gift was triggered. I knew God was calling me to pray over them because they are His, there was no outside influence. This was the first time I knew the Lord was asking me to serve in this place. I didn’t know how and part of me still doesn’t understand fully but I knew I was brought there for a reason. The three of us chose to observe a Sunday service. It wasn’t a normal service as there was a grieving in the church so we were unable to experience the fullness of the usual and instead witnessed a stand in pastor that came from another small church to cover while the lead pastors made arrangements for the loss of their son. I connected with the word he preached. There’s also an older woman that actually feels like she is just a gift from the Lord she is so sweet. I hugged her before we left because I remembered her from the Bible studies and she was so happy that we had come to a service. I could feel her joy. These pastors did not seek money from their people even in their loss. They still put the well being of the church first. In fact, the pastors that originally established this place never even asked for money from the people. They gave their lives for the church. I’m witnessing right now the Lord test the heart of another set of pastors… test them in their faith and the depths of their love for Him. I am witnessing a crushing that crushes me to witness. This time, though, my spirit is inspired. I feel God in the bones of that church. I remember Job, stripped of all things and still loyal to the Lord. I remember Jesus, crucified on the cross for our salvation. To be given a church is to die for it. I remember what the Lord spoke to me when He began my walk and started speaking to me of my journey. It was time to die. He called me and He asked me to lose everything and this is what I am witnessing in motion. I can not say what is to come. They are in the process. What I do know, though, is I have been sent and I have been asked to intercede. I have nothing to give but what the Lord gives me. The Lords will, will be done. He is sovereign and I am honored to see Him move as often as He allows. If the foundation of this place is rooted in the Kingdom of Heaven and there is no trap door, God will restore. I know this because I lived it. He did it in me when the old version of myself was washed away. The foundation was firm so I could be rebuilt without being uprooted. I pray this is the case for the Body of Christ Fellowship. I am still waiting on the Lord to give me instruction about how this will play out but it is a significant difference than what I have experienced in other places. It feels like the Lord beginning to restore and sending in His children for aid in some way. All I know is that I am a student of the Lord and He has given me a place to serve by His Spirit. Discovery Church has helped me through deliverance for the receipt of the Holy Spirit and Body Of Christ Fellowship was a place I was sent to serve and witness in a different way.

This journey continues but I leave you with some key things I have learned so far. A good tree can not bare bad fruit and a bad one can’t bare good fruit. Both produce fruit and you can not trust what you see. (Matthew 7:15-20) The Lord does not look at appearances, He looks at the heart. A places circumstances does not reflect its fruit, how they handle it and how God responds does. The size of a church and how many followers they have does not determine their validity. It’s not about what a person or a place looks like, it’s about the foundation they were built on. The Lord sees what’s underneath and if you know Him— you will know what is of Him. It grieves me to say that those deceived are just that. He will reveal, heal and restore. I pray anyone suffering from church hurt can forgive themselves and Jesus. Not every church belongs to Him and He still wants you to seek His face so that He can lead you. I hope this helps you understand how to test the fruit. Utilize your gifts, don’t idolize them. Guard your heart and protect the anointing on your life that it would fall into the hands of Jesus at His feet. It is precious and it is a worthy sacrifice before the Lord. Make sure Jesus is IN your deliverance, not just the sounds of the letters that spell His name, but His presence; His Holy Spirit. If you find you realize you have gone astray, please know you can always come home. His family of believers will welcome you with open arms. You won’t be turned away. His grace is sufficient. Glory be to God and there is victory in the Lord. Holy Spirit have your way.

Until next time,

Ari