Break Free from the Religious Spirit

In this episode, Dr. Self discusses what to do if you are trapped or attacked by a religious spirit. Breaking free from this situation is essential for your mental and emotional well-being and spiritual relationship with the Lord. This critical podcast is for you and those you may want to help who are stuck in this dangerous situation. 

John 8:36  Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.  

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Show host bio - 

Dr. Ray Self founded Spirit Wind Ministries Inc. and the International College of Ministry. He holds a Doctorate in Christian Psychology and a Doctorate in Theology. He currently resides in Winter Park, Florida. He is married to Dr. Christie Self and has three sons and a daughter. 

Transcript

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Hey everyone, Dr. Ray Self. Welcome to my show, Self Talk with me, Dr. Ray Self. Thank you so much for being a part of the show. I appreciate you very much. This show is sponsored by the International College of Ministry. That's the ministry that uh…that I, I started years ago, and…enrolling now. Holy Spirit-filled, online college. So check us out, icmcollege.org. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you for everyone listening to the show today. I pray that my words be a blessing to them. I pray for the Holy Spirit to be with us, to touch us, to speak through me, to open up our hearts and ears to hear what you would have us to say today, Father. Thank you, Jesus. Amen, amen. 

So I've been talking about the religious spirit and how dangerous and damaging it is. And to describe the religious spirit again, I would say it is a spirit of control, it's a spirit of manipulation, it's a spirit that causes mental confusion, it's a spirit that causes shame and condemnation. All these don't come from Christ. God's not the author of confusion. Jesus took our shame and condemnation to the cross. But this spirit operates many times through churches and religious organizations. And sometimes through well-meaning, good people who've just sort of gotten deceived and got into that. How do you know, again, if you're being uh, harassed by this spirit? Well, if you're in a church that has this spirit, there's a lot of rules, a lot of structure, a lot of dos, a lot of don'ts. So many dos and don'ts that you're constantly feeling like you're walking on eggshells or under pressure to conform to do things correctly, and you never really have peace or feel fully okay and accepted as you are. You always feel a little bit flawed and not quite measuring up; you need to try harder, work harder. 

You see, we're saved by grace, not by works, and this spirit is harmful. And I want to talk today about getting free from it. And I wanna tell you a story about this spirit that I think will help you understand how bad it is. This spirit almost killed me years ago. And it, it's that bad. I was part of a church that was a good church; there were a lot of miracles happening and signs and wonders in this church, but the pastor had become more and more legalistic. And he started talking a lot about dos and don'ts. “Don't do this, don't do that,” I remember so much so that whenever you prayed for someone, there were so many rules about how to minister to someone, that it became confusing. You really weren't sure what to do because you're afraid you're going to do something wrong. I don’t know if you've ever been in a situation like that. But it's a tough, it's a tough situation. So the pastor got into this, one time, he got into this teaching where he was teaching that you don't ever pray for someone ever, ever, ever unless the Holy Spirit directs you or leads you to pray for that person. Well, that sounds good, but actually it's unscriptural because the Bible tells us to pray without ceasing, to pray for one another that we may be healed. So, we have a commandment from God to pray for people, so for him to say you don't pray unless the Holy Spirit directs you to pray, is– sounds good, but actually it's not good, and it can become very, very, uh, controlled. 

So this church had got into a lot of rules and regulations, you know, and– oh, big one is, “Don't you ever, ever, ever say anything against the pastor. Touch not God's anointed,” which is one of the worst things ever. Ever. Ever, ever. He's a man of God, you know, “A curse will come upon you if you dare openly question him.” Well, that's what cults do and that's, that's not a good thing. That's a whole nother story in itself. So I had been, I was in a part of my life - this was many years ago, uh, gosh, maybe 40 years ago. Long time ago. And I was in a desperate situation. I was very depressed, very anxious, very discouraged, uh, just, really…you name it. I was in a black place, dark place. Uh, some people call it the dark night of the soul. I was there. So I go to church, and I find a couple of friends of mine there that are ministers, and I said, “Hey, guys, I'm not doing well at all. I need some help. Could you please pray for me?” And they hesitated, and I'm thinking, why are they hesitating? And then they, they, they stopped, and they kind of whispered to one another, and then they said, “Uh, Ray, I'm sorry, we cannot pray for you because the Holy Spirit didn't tell us to do that.” I'm going, great. I'm desperate, and…that, that just…great. I mean, I was– even talking about now, I get confused by it. I left the church, got in my car, driving down the road. So discouraged, so depressed, I even had suicidal thoughts. It was that bad. And I didn't realize it, but I'd just been attacked by the religious spirit. 

And so what the religious spirit does is there's always rules, regulations. “You cannot do this, you cannot do that. You must do this, you must do that.” And all these are actually not just structure, but they're kind of like rules to be right with God. Rules to be…really, if you’re really going to get your way to heaven, if you're really going to be spiritual. And see, that gets into works, righteousness. We're saved by grace, not by works, you know, through our faith. So that's not a good thing at all. Should we live holy? Should we try to do things right? Absolutely. We do that because we have the grace of God and because we've been saved. But that religious spirit will continually cause you to feel full of shame and condemnation. The symptoms, if you're being attacked by that, just to go over this. The symptoms of this spirit, if you have been harassed by this spirit, are the feelings of condemnation, feelings of shame, continual feelings of guilt, not measuring up, feeling stressed, feeling confused, and never really having complete peace where you can just let your guard down and relax. You're, you’re waiting for the other shoe to fall. And many churches-- cults especially do this, I mean, I'm actually talking about what a cult does,  but this– I'm not really referring to cults in this podcast, I'm talking about some nice churches that, that are good. 

Now, there's some times churches get into the religious spirit unintentionally, and it's not a continual thing, it's just a, you know, it's a slip up, it's a flaw, it's a mess up like we all do. But if you're in an organization that continually does this and they make you feel like you're not good enough, you'll never be good enough because you're not following every single rule and regulation and every, every condition that you have for holiness; all the conditions to be right with God, all the conditions to be right with the church. That's a religious spirit, and it stresses you out, and it causes confusion, and it actually gets in the way of you and God. It interferes with your relationship with God. Not only does it affect you emotionally and spiritually and psychologically, it affects your, your relationship with God. Because now the relationship is not based on unconditional love, being His adopted child, coming boldly to the throne of grace, the relationship is based on all kinds of conditions and rules. And it's, it's horrible. It's bad news, and it's common. But how do you get free? How do you get free? The first thing is recognize it. Know it's not from God, and it's not God's will for you. You think, “Well, that's– okay, I got it. That should be easy, right?” No, it's not easy because this spirit is a controlling spirit, and they've already told you that you're not measuring up, you're not good enough. So what most people want to do is we want to try harder, and we want to, we want to get in there and really get it right, “This time I'm going to get it right.” And it's a mission you can never succeed with. But there's a, a temptation and a, and a draw to keep trying and trying and trying harder, and you get, get drawn deeper and deeper and deeper into this. So deep that it's difficult to withdraw because you know, “What if I disappoint someone? What, what if, what if God gets mad at me?” And so, it's difficult to get out of it. But it's critical that you do.

So when you recognize this spirit, learn how to set a healthy boundary. Boundaries are a limit. What you will allow in your life, and what you will not allow in your life. What, what you will say is… yes to and what you say no to. And it's okay to say no to this stuff. It's okay. And you'll get harassed by it. The moment you say no to the religious spirit, they're going to up the price. They're going to up the attack, they're going to up the condemnation. And you'll be labeled. You'll be blackballed, but be, be expecting that. It's okay; that's their issue, it's not your issue. That's their garbage, it's not your garbage. That's the essence of boundaries. But God wants you to take care of yourself. Guard yourself, guard your spirit, soul, and body. I'll encourage you, start to separate yourself. Detach from this people, this organization. Pray for the Lord to give you the courage. Find friends who understand this spirit and the harassment and the attack upon your life. Find some reinforcement. Find some people outside the organization who can help you, who can counsel you. Start to distance yourself. Maybe…I know it's kind of scary to get out of this because you, you've been– some of you may have been in this thing for so many years, you think, “Well, if I get out of it, something terrible is going to happen to me. At least I'm comfortable with it, I'm used to it.” Well, you know, being comfortable with something that’s bad doesn't mean you should stay in it. But we do get comfortable with, with un– being uncomfortable. 

But when you get free from it, what you're going to find is peace. You'll find that God…you'll find that…which is already there, but you're going to discover in your spirit the unconditional acceptance and love that God has for you. And your body will relax, your spirit will relax, you'll, you, you'll feel better about yourself, and, and you– your relationship with God, it's, it's already there, but you're going to feel more in touch with God. There's so many benefits to it. But break free. He, who– the bible says who the Son sets free, Jesus said, “Who the Son sets free is free indeed.” Jesus wants to set you free from the spirit of religion. It's the spirit that He fought against when He was in His ministry, okay. Now, I'm not condemning people who perpetuate this, this spirit. People– most most people do the best they know how because that's what, what– all they know. And the people that are perpetuating this religious spirit, most of them I would say are not bad people, they're just people that are incorrect and that believe they're correct. And so we have mercy on them. 

But you do not have to subjugate yourself, and you should not subjugate yourself to this spirit. Set yourself free. You have a responsibility to yourself. Self-care is not selfish. Now sometimes you'll feel selfish for doing this, “Well yeah, I'm selfish because, you know, I have a, a ministry at this church and I have a responsibility at this church and you know, I'm not being a good steward.” No, you're being a good steward of your body, of your spirit, of your soul. Your temple of the Holy Ghost. That's who you are. And God expects us to do that. Let me tell you something. Your job at the church is replaceable. Nobody's Irreplaceable. It's okay to care for yourself. Now listen, I'm not encouraging people to go leaving churches all over the country, I'm just saying I know there's some people listening to this podcast that are being victimized by the religious spirit, and you're getting condemned and shamed, and you have no peace. You don't feel it's okay to be who you are, you don't feel fully accepted, you feel like you have to play a role, you have to measure up constantly, and it's tiring. It's tiring just talking about it. It's time to be free from it. Recognize it. Set a healthy boundary. Separate yourself from it. Know that you may be harassed, but it's God's will for you to be at peace and to come boldly into the presence of God at peace. And find that healthy church, a healthy church; don't leave the church altogether. Do not do that. We, we need the church, the church was established by Jesus. But this spirit has infiltrated the church and has hurt a lot of people. 

God loves you. You're His child, He doesn't want you to be hurt. He does not want you to be abused, He wants you to be free, amen. I'm going to pray for you. Heavenly Father, I thank you for everyone listening to the show. I pray, Father, against– we rebuke and renounce this spirit of religion that's trying to manipulate and control and uh, cause shame and condemnation, is trying to undo what you did at the cross, Jesus. I renounce this spirit. Holy Spirit, come upon anyone listening to the show right now that needs to be free; they know “this is me.” Lord, give them the courage, give them the ways and the means to set– to be free from this attack upon their spirit, Father. Lord, I thank you, Father, for your anointing. I thank you, Father, you can set people free, and it is your will for us to be free. Free to worship, free to love, free to be all you called us to be. We declare your freedom, we believe your freedom, and Father, we thank you for your freedom today. In Jesus name, amen. Amen. Thank you for listening to the show today. Uh, I'm Dr. Ray Self. Again, sponsored by International College of Ministry, icmcollege.org. If you'd like to donate, that'd be cool, we're a 501c3, that would help us a lot. icmcollege.org/donate. Be sure and go to the website for the show, uh, and subscribe, give us a review, share this - that helps us build the, the downloads. I think we have a good message here, and it just needs to be given. So, we praise you, God, praise you, God, praise you, Jesus. Thank you so much for listening to Self Talk. I am Dr. Ray Self, and God bless you.

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