Ministry SHARED BELIEFS

Amos 3:3 NKJV "Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?"    

Matthew 18:19 “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven."

Deuteronomy 32:30 “How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight”

Leviticus 26:8 “... five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword."

If there are any RMI beliefs that you are uncomfortable with, we ask that you share those with us. There are some things I am not happy we hold to, but nevertheless, I am HIS servant and over more than 3 decades of ministering, I have come to understand why He had us say or do something that is very clearly in the Bible (or is not clear), which is why we hold to what is said in His Word, rather than what we would prefer to say or believe.

For instance, the most volatile principle deals with what we deem as adultery. In another commitment I shared how our RYM book was stolen from us from a woman who believed that adultery was the unforgivable sin. So she stole the disc to protect others from the lies we were spreading. 🙁

Then, more recently, we had a woman who decided she needed to get in touch with every minister and email all of us, to state how adultery was not only forgiven, but she was living with her 3rd ex-husband, who she was "planning" to marry, and began to spread rumors about my personal life, which were simply not true.

We understand that everyone is on a Journey and that each of us must be willing to allow others to move through their own journey. Regardless, it's important that you understand RMI regarding the "sin" of adultery and forgiveness, which the Lord answered a question I had for many years. It had to do with why Joyce Meyer who was “blessed” with Dave and a ministry etc. even though her marriage to her husband is her second marriage. 

What the Lord showed me is that He is not holding this sin against HER, Joyce, but against those who ARE responsible for what she went through. Very much like Adam being responsible for the sin of eating the fruit, which is passed down through him and not Eve, so too with Joyce Meyer whose father molested her from the age of 3. When she was old enough to marry, she married the first guy to get away from her father, which was her first husband. When her oldest son was just a baby her husband took all her money (she worked from a young age almost obsessively to have money so that she would not have to ask her father for money and make herself more vulnerable), and abandoned her at a cheap motel.

Not too long after she met Dave, her current husband, who had actually asked God to marry someone “he could help.” Dave was a well-grounded Christian and loved Joyce unconditionally even though she was so damaged and hard. The rest is history as they say. 

So, who are we to cast the first stone at anyone, or think for one millisecond that we have any clue what His plans are for anyone else’s life when we can’t figure out what He is doing in our own life?!? 

In addition to not judging "lest we be judged" if you ever question or hear rumors about anyone or about anything, be sure you first SG to know the truth. Then, if necessary, go to that person, HOPEFULLY, without condemnation or demanding an answer. Just as you would want others to think well of you, you need to think well of others and not assume the worst—instead, assume they are innocent.

Years ago, in the early years of my ministry, I was waiting to speak to a large conference of women. Just minutes before I was to speak, the pastor of the church came in to tell me about something he had heard. Then he firmly told me that unless I explained, he would have no choice but to NOT let me speak in his church. (I could tell by how angry he was that he believed the lie.) However, I said nothing because to clarify the rumor that he heard about "me" was actually about someone else, my husband, which would mean uncovering someone else’s sin. 

When I said I was sorry but I couldn't explain, he walked out of the room, but then came back even more angry. He went on to say that not only would he NOT let me speak, but he would announce (the rumor) he heard! My heart was pounding out of my chest, but I heard the Lord say to not open my mouth, reminding me of Isaiah 53:7 and also 1 Peter 2:21-25 and that it was time to choose to do what I knew was right, even though that I would suffer the consequences. 

The pastor ordered me out, and for almost a year, the women who were at that conference (or who were told by women attending) would actually run after me in stores I was shopping in with my children to confront me! They’d even corner me in the bathroom of my own church, and one even spit in my face while in Walmart with dozens of people watching.

Yet, even as bad as all this was, and what got me through it, was remembering that I was not hanging on a real cross. When I was being spit upon, it was my cross to bear, but it was only just a teensy tiny glimpse of what the Lord did for us!

There was only one woman, who did not attend the conference, but had heard all the rumors, who called and left a tender voicemail, "Erin, sweetie, I'm here for you. Call me." She never asked IF it were true, which in fact it wasn't, because she knew me.

No one else asked IF it were true, they assumed it was. Even the pastor didn't ask, he told me I had to tell him the details of what I knew, which would have been uncovering someone else's sin, which I simply knew I could not do.

Love "believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” 1 Corinthians 13:7–8.

Just recently we had a minister who chose to believe that RMI (and me personally) was aware of a disdain movement and was supporting it. Instead of assuming and believing the best, she set out to let others on her team know about and question our authority and my motives personally. Thankfully her misguided mission was intercepted and we were able to lovingly rectify the situation, allowing her to work alone until we felt we could trust that she wouldn't be used to cause division in the future. 

The drama and attacks are ongoing and no doubt will continue as it says in 2 Timothy 3:12, “Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" but again, it's nothing compared to what He went through for us, leaving us an example to walk in His footsteps, right? Since writing this lesson there was a huge campaign to not only destroy me personally but also to destroy thousands of women who were coming to RMI finding hope and most importantly—beginning to understand His love in order to have an intimate relationship with their HH. This was probably the most difficult of all because to get at me, they hurt innocent lovely women. Nevertheless, this is NOT about me, it never was about me, but about Him.

Telling >> Pointing >> or Leading?

It’s important that we ALWAYS lead by example—we never want to point the way, but instead to build a bridge and move forward hoping others will follow. 🙂

There are plenty of people preaching and teaching, but until you actually do something, you will fail to widen the narrow path that many are unable to travel. Take a moment to read the two poems on this page and ponder them before continuing to read...

The Bridge Builder

 

Be VERY Careful about Referencing

Even though the trend is to link everything, and “Google” the worldwide web for answers, it took me years of making this mistake before I really understood the dangers of who I referred women to read further. 

A few authors I often referred to later went off into other things like encouraging counseling and psychotherapy (even though one minister, she herself, never was counseled or had psychotherapy, but was ministered to by the Lord—just as I was and most of you were too). Two others I once referred to, later divorced their husbands after each having an affair and said it was “God who brought them together." God help us! The final wake up call was someone who shared how his “alternative” lifestyle was God ordained. That did it.

So, that’s why, whenever you refer to someone, like an author or minister or ministry, you need to make absolutely sure that it’s pre-approved by us, since you are representing our ministry. If you do so within your SMM, it's perfectly fine because it IS your ministry—just be sure you are not using any of our official logos because, trust me, people will undoubtedly blame us for anything and do their best to destroy us. That's the enemy's favorite tactic. We, supposedly, had a minister working for us who said something to a woman, who later could have taken out full page ads for all the damage she did to our books when she went into a tirade in dozens of reviews that weren't reviews but spewing all sorts of verbal vomit. Poor thing. 

So, as I've come to do following His lead is to simply take what tidbit you learned, find a principle in HIS Word to confirm it, and simply leave out who the author is—highlighting the Author and Finisher of our faith. John 12:32 KJV “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”

Here is an example of a Praise Report I was in the middle of approving and discussed it with the author. In her PR it said and later simply removed what is in red:

I began to study called ….(she named the book)

Week 1, Zephaniah 3:17 was my memory verse for the week. My eyes opened wide and the smile on my face you can feel from miles away. At the time of opening this study, I sought Him first and came to the conclusion to begin reading the first Monday of the month. That particular week, there was a lot going on and I kept reminding myself that this is a spiritual battle and it belongs to Him. My Heavenly Husband is in control and I need not fret but continue to worship Him.

As a minister, we need to always be extremely mindful and careful when we could potentially cause someone we’re ministering to go to off course. In this instance above, I took time to Google this author because I knew our Encourager Readers would too, and though at first it appeared she looked really good, her blog had something that I realized was NOT at all “good” to promote.

And then I advised our Encourager Team and what I want to say to each of you too: “In the future, unless a PR refers to a book on our Reading List, it's better to remove that portion from the content like you'll see I did and left it in red for you to see and then remove before it's moved and used. Thanks! :)“ 

Then I wrote personally to the minister who submitted this Praise Report.

Dear NAME, I know that you are spiritually mature enough to discern where the author may be leading YOU astray and there is a LOT she appears to have written that appears very good 🙂 BUT should a new believer begin to follow her blog, and that leads them astray, then that’s a dangerous practice. 

I know you minister to others and hope you have not encouraged other books that are not on the Recommended Reading List but am very glad this came up so we can add it to Commitments made by ministers so they understand this principle too. To be honest, the only safe recommended reading are authors who have passed on and are with Him— because you don’t have to be concerned that later on they’ll go off in a direction where others could be sucked in. 🙂

Everything the Lord leads YOU to learn, take it, find it in His Word to confirm it, live it and then share that with anyone, just don’t reference where it came from, but give Him the acknowledgement and PRAISE that it came from Him!

So after years of seeing the devastation of too many women being led astray or often women who know the background of someone, who were offended (thinking I knew and we lost the opportunity to continuing ministering to them due to not ever being able to know everything)—we ask what I have learned to do.

Never reference a book other than the Bible or what’s on the Recommended Reading List but instead, continue to give Him the praise and realize all that’s helped you is from Him, not the author, but the "Author and Finisher of our faith" Who is showing you something wonderful that you should pass along!

Being an avid reader, very often I began to recognize a book I knew my former pastor or a speaker had recently read—even though they never mention the source. This is being wise and discreet, along with understanding that each of us is led and learning from the Lord through each and every experience we encounter. God uses people we know or books or articles we read and even jobs we take to mold us into the person He wants us to be and who He wants to use to help others! 

This means, “..if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” John 12:32 KJV.

COMMITMENT

You will be asked if you are confident that you share the beliefs of this ministry, which we do our best to align with what the Bible says, not what we want or would prefer to say. Also that you are confident that you know who we are and that you will also commit to never spreading rumors about anyone or anything, ever. Not about us, not about anyone. Instead, you commit to make sure you judge others as you would want yourself judged (see Matthew 7:1-12).

We also ask you to refrain from referring anyone, such as an author, or ministry or anyone or anything else that has the potential to lead someone astray or offend them due to the inability to know what that person or ministry will say in the future or has said, which has the potential to lead others astray. Instead, leaving room and letting the Lord lead them.

"It is better not to vow or make a commitment than to make a one and not fulfill it" —Ecclesiastes 5:5