I have a good friend who believes that a sentient race of lizards lives on the dark side of the moon. His job is to maintain his fighting ability so that when they invade, he will be one of those heroes who will repel their invasion. But they are among us right now taking human form. He met one once and lived with him in our house. They became friends of a sort although my friend was always wary of his opponent’s motives and actions.

When he told all of this to my wife in the kitchen one day, she had a hard time keeping a straight face but realized he was totally serious. He had just been baptized in the church but getting him to renounce these kinds of beliefs was difficult since they formed the core of his identity. That is why he trains all the time and looks like a monk with his head shaved and his body toned with training over the years.

He even taught these beliefs to his daughter, who started to hear voices in her head. Apparently, he was on his way to becoming a monk in Nepal, when he heard the news that his girlfriend was pregnant and that he needed to stay around and be a father. Which, to his credit, he did.

I’m not one for conspiracy theories and, in a minute, I will tell you why.

But the whole concept of the dark side of the moon lends itself easily to such things. After all, even though the moon does rotate on its axis, the rate of rotation nearly matches its orbital period around the earth which keeps the same side facing the Earth. NASA, as well as the Chinese, have sent probes to the dark side of the moon and we even have a map of sorts that shows us what is there. But the Chinese claim that there are indications of caves on the dark side of the moon and that could be where the lizards have their base. Who knows?

But seriously, I am not a big conspiracy theory nut.

After reading Chuck Colson’s book called Life Sentence which was the story of his conversion from legal “hatchet man” for President Nixon to the leader of Prison Fellowship, I no longer believe that mankind is smart enough for conspiracy theories (although they make great movies). After all, some of the most powerful men in the world who knew the secret of the Watergate scandal, couldn’t keep their mouths shut for a couple of months and collapsed under the pressure of the questions and threats of the FBI within a few months. No bamboo shoots up their fingernails. No waterboarding. No threats against their families. Just normal legal and political pressure to tell the truth or go to jail.

Chuck Colson even had to tell the prosecutor how to ask him the right questions so that he could get him charged correctly and send him to jail. Of course, he had become a Christian by that point and wanted to confess to the crimes that he did, in fact, commit (but that they didn’t know about). He went to jail for a while and found his calling as a leader of a new ministry called Prison Fellowship. He also wrote many wonderful books and is considered to be one of the great spiritual leaders of the last generation.

But that is why I don’t believe in conspiracy theories.

That glimpse into the real world of powerful people supported my belief that we are just not smart enough to be able to control any kind of worldwide conspiracy. Add to that some of the documentaries on the Cold War or the use and management of the nuclear bomb threat during that time.

There is a good documentary on Netflix called Turning Point that will open your eyes to the truth. In fact, there were a number of times when nuclear war almost broke out because of technical failures or a lack of communication between the Russians and the Americans. If it weren’t for a few brave souls who decided to deal with the situation properly, we would all be dead. One of them was commended for his actions but the other one was stripped of his rank and dismissed because he didn’t follow orders (thank God). All very precarious. And don’t think it’s much better today. It may be more sophisticated, but man has never created a weapon that he didn’t use sooner or later.

Besides, I am a writer, and I understand something about all of these movies that so entertain us about conspiracy theories and the heroes that stop them. The thing about writing is that you are God. Yes, you are. You can make your characters seem bigger than life. They can know what you want them to know. They can shoot straight and make every shot count when the bad guys seem to miss everyone important. It’s amazing what you can do as a writer. The thing is that it isn’t true. Police work is not how they show it on television shows. The CIA does not work the way it looks in the movies. Real life is far more mundane and boring although at times we may have a bright spot or a real hero who solves a real problem.

But that isn’t a conspiracy.

There is no worldwide cabal that is in charge of our destiny. There is no small group of international financiers who manage all of the world’s resources. There are some very rich people who have a lot of influence. There are institutions, with rules, that can move the needle on the world economy at times, such as the Federal Reserve but that is a far cry from a conspiracy theory.

So why am I making such a big deal about conspiracy theories in a post on the Dark Side of Church Discipline?

Good question. It’s simple really.

As a Christian, I believe that there is a spiritual war going on and that there are spiritual beings who are dedicated to our downfall. That is where the conspiracy theories come in, at the spiritual level. Ultimately, we are protected by God but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t working behind enemy lines and that we have to deal with the schemes and strategies of the Devil and his demons.

Now, you might be thinking that I am the crazy one here, and maybe I am. But that is what I believe based on the evidence of the Bible and the experience of believers over centuries of fighting this battle. The Bible talks about it everywhere so there isn’t much doubt that if you are a Christian you believe in a spiritual conspiracy theory run by the Devil and carried out by his demons. The war has been won but there are still battles to fight.

1 Peter 5:8 tells us to “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

Ephesians 6:11-12 NIV tells us to “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

2 Corinthians 2:11 ESV tells us to be careful “So that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.”

And I could go on and on with more than one hundred verses about the Devil and what he is up to in our world and our lives. But today, I want to talk about a particularly vicious attack that he uses in our churches. That’s why I call it the Dark Side of Church Discipline.

I have been talking about the dangers of the Religious Spirit and how it can develop into a Toxic Belief System that is enforced by Religious Leaders through Spiritual Abuse. Now it is time to talk about one of the worst cases of Spiritual Abuse perpetuated by the church, as a church, not just as individuals. It has destroyed ministries, ruined pastors and leaders, and led to ineffective and just plain boring churches. All in the name of some sort of status or rule of life or other such nonsense.

Does that mean that I don’t believe in Church Discipline? Of course not. It is a very effective way to keep each of us accountable for walking in the Spirit on an ongoing basis when it is done correctly. The problem is that it is very seldom done correctly.

I heard of one church in California that has a junior pastor who was caught in adultery and confessed his sin to his wife. Together they went to the leaders of their church expecting to be disciplined, stripped of his position, and thrown out of the church. That is the usual response. Instead, the leaders of this church worked with him and gave him a time of sabbatical so that he could give the reconciliation process the time it needed to bring healing. They worked with the church and did not keep it silent but taught the church the meaning and process of discipleship and reconciliation that make up the concept of church discipline.

Wonderful but very, very rare. And that’s the truth.

How many times have you seen leaders destroyed by scandals that are left unresolved? Just off the top of my head, I can think of the Gateway Pastor who got into trouble when he confessed that many years ago, he had inappropriately touched a twelve-year-old girl. There is no excuse for that kind of behavior, and I am not suggesting that there shouldn’t be repercussions both legally, if necessary, and within the church. The point is reconciliation. Where does that fit into the picture? Is it even happening? Who knows?

What about the Hillsong Pastor who knew that his father had committed child sex abuse, but he didn’t bring it to the police but covered it up? He chose to step down but where is the reconciliation, the healing, the renewal that needs to be an integral part of the process? There is nothing worse in my book than child sexual abuse and I think that pedophilia is a horrible sin. No doubt. But most cases of church discipline are not about these kinds of cases although I believe there can be healing even for the worst offenders.

Most cases are like the case of Jonathan Edwards who was dismissed from his position as Pastor by the Board because he demanded that his parishioners show some evidence of the Holy Spirit working in their lives before they partook of the Lord’s Supper. How terrible that sin was in the Board’s eyes and how common it is for Pastors to be dismissed for political reasons as if the Board knows the will of God better than the Pastor.

There are some terrible Pastors, no doubt, but that isn’t the point. The point is that church discipline has been used by ungodly leaders for centuries to impose their will. It is spiritual abuse at the corporate level.

Church Discipline is the most common form of spiritual abuse towards the Pastor or some other person, usually leaders, in the church. It is a key ingredient in the Religious Spirit that has invaded our churches and keeps our ministries weak and ineffective. It is used to stop change from happening. It is used to control leaders who are trying to make a difference in their churches. I have seen it happen and experienced it firsthand. Let me give you a couple of examples.

When I first came to Argentina, I was part of the Anglican church together with my girlfriend, now my wife and we were involved in the music ministry of the church. One of the parishioners had a sister who lived in Tres Arroyos and knew my ex-wife who lived there with my children. My ex-wife told so many stories of my bad character and evil behavior that I found it difficult to recognize myself. It was part of her strategy to make me out to be a monster to justify illegally bringing our children to Argentina. So be it.

But how did my Pastor and church react?

They benched me. I could no longer sing or read the Bible in front of the church. By benching me, the Pastor was saying that he believed the stories even though I had told him the whole story from the beginning months ago. But he bent to the will of the people in the church who didn’t know me that well yet. The Pastor claimed that it was better for one person to be disciplined than that the whole church be scandalized. I thought the church was more of a Three Musketeers sort of thing where we were “all for one and one for all.” Apparently not.

Vero and I were about to get married in that church and he was supposed to be the presiding Pastor. He refused to let us use the church and be the one to officiate at the wedding. It would be years later before he could bring himself to admit that he was wrong and make his apologies. But the damage was done. That is the dark side of church discipline.

I could talk about other churches and other accusations that have been made based on hearsay and rumors. And did anyone ever talk to me about it? Never. Did they want my point of view on what happened? No, not interested. Did they treat me as a believer and the glorious child of God I am because of Christ? Not a chance.

We had someone in our international church who did not believe in women pastors, although we had one. So, he called me the Pastor. Each and every time he did so, I would correct him and rebuke him lightly so that he would have more respect for the one who was in charge. It didn’t matter. It got back to the Pastor, and I was the one who was disciplined.

My wife and I went to a bookstore to buy some books for the church, and we ordered the ones we needed for our new Bible Study group. When the bookstore called to tell the church that the books had arrived, they asked for Pastor Bert Amsing. I had not presented myself as the Pastor to them, they just made the assumption. But I was in trouble again.

These are just the light ones that should have been easily dealt with, but I was trying to work in a church infested with the religious spirit, so I didn’t stand a chance. All I could do is forgive every time it happened and take my punishment.

At one point, the Pastor had invited me to become her second in command and seek an official position with the church. After much prayer and talking with my wife, we agreed. They assigned someone from the Board to do some research on me although I had been with the church already for eight years or so. I was no stranger.

But this man went on a witch-hunt telling people, even family members of my wife, that I was in trouble with the church, and could they confirm so and so part of my character or some action in the past that I was supposed to have taken. When the time came to face the Board, I didn’t know that all this was going on. The meeting was very hurtful, and everyone assumed that the list of wrongs that I had committed was true without ever having talked to me about them. The Pastor sided with the Board for political reasons, and I was thrown to the wolves. The whole church got to know which wasn’t very helpful.

Why do I tell you about all of this?

Because I have a long list of sins against me. It is true. Some I have been able to reconcile and others not. Yes, I am divorced and my children from my first marriage do not talk to me. I am not reconciled to them. Yes, I left being a Pastor in Canada because I didn’t understand how to deal with the political issues in the church. Yes, the Anglican Church disciplined me and wouldn’t perform my marriage to my new wife. Yes, there are things in my past that I am not proud of.

They had a list of things against me. I told them that my list was longer than theirs and that God had the longest list of all. And he has forgiven me for all of them and thrown the entire list into the depths of the sea. But it made no difference. They expected some form of perfection that simply does not exist in anyone's life. The dark side of church discipline has raised its ugly head once again.

There is a reason why Pastors and leaders in the church keep their mouths shut about things that have happened in the past. If it is an ongoing problem or sin, it needs to be dealt with, but confession is a dangerous business especially if you are part of a church that has a toxic faith system and regularly practices spiritual abuse from a place of positional authority rather than seeking reconciliation and restoration.

It may not be popular or easy, but it is what God expects from us.

Paul gives us an example in his letters to the Corinthians. “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans” (1 Corinthians 5:1 NIV). That’s not a good start.

“A man has his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?” (1 Corinthians 5:1b,2 NIV). He goes on to clarify that he is now “writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat” (1 Corinthians 5:11 NIV). That seems harsh to most of us but only because we don’t understand the spiritual context that Paul sees clearly.

After all, he expects the Corinthian church to be an anointed church filled with people who are committed to the spiritual unity that comes from a focus on the ministry of reconciliation. When that happens, all past sins are confessed, repented of on an ongoing basis, forgiven, and reconciled. The people treat each other as they are in Christ not as they are in the flesh. But that doesn’t mean that you can consciously go on sinning. No way. How would that work?

This is a lifestyle situation. The man has his father’s wife. They are sleeping together but still going to the church as if nothing is wrong. The same is true for any kind of ongoing sexual immorality. And Paul includes the greedy, the idolater, the slanderer, the drunkard, and the swindler. These are all ongoing lifestyle sins, not one-time problems that have been dealt with or even lifestyle sins that have been repented of. Of course, they are incompatible with the spiritual unity we have in Christ based on the ministry of reconciliation.

So, the Bible (and Paul) are harder on conscious and ongoing sin than most churches are. That’s the problem with the religious spirit. Either we don’t protect our spiritual unity, or we easily condemn anyone who gets out of line no matter what they do (or don’t do). Do you see how the religious spirit brings you to the extremes rather than helping you to stay in the sweet spot at the foot of the cross?

Paul goes on to say “the very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?” (1 Corinthians 5:7 NIV). And that applies to more than just lawsuits in my opinion. It applies to all kinds of accusations made against you. Why not rather be wronged? Forgive and take your punishment and try to protect the name of Christ the best you can.

Paul talks about “grief” for the sinner, which is a far cry from the usual judgmentalism that accompanies the dark side of church discipline. Instead, they are proud of their freedom in Christ to do whatever they want now that they are believers. Another sign of the invasion of the religious spirit that Paul has to correct immediately.

In his next letter, he talks about grief again when he says “If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent – not to put it too severely. (2 Corinthians 2:5 NIV). When you are in spiritual unity with people whom you love and they consciously commit sin and create a lifestyle around it, does it not grieve your spirit? Are you not in tears for their souls and in prayer for their restoration?

Church Discipline may be necessary, but it is a process of discipleship with the goal of restoring the person to the spiritual unity of a reconciled heart. They are told clearly that they are no longer in spiritual unity with the church and that they must confess and repent. If they do, it shows that the Holy Spirit is at work in them, and they are once again a part of the spiritual fellowship.

That is a long cry from kicking people out of the church because they did something wrong. How is that treating them like the glorious children of God that they are?

After all, they may not be believers in the first place and if they don’t repent that would confirm the case. In that case, they need to be presented with the gospel. That is what Jesus means when he says to treat them as “gentiles” (Matthew 18:17 NIV). So either reconciliation as part of their sanctification process or reconciliation with God as part of their salvation process. Either way, it is the same thing, just with different goals.

But Paul goes on with his comments about how to restore the sinner to the spiritual unity of the church. First, make it clear that this behavior, this lifestyle, is unacceptable to God. It is a willful sin and must be confessed and repented of. Without that, there is no reconciliation.

But the fact that they had already been part of the spiritual fellowship assumes that they have repented of other sins and have been reconciled to God. Treat them as the glorious sons and daughters of God that they are and believe and pray for reconciliation as you grieve for them.

“The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him” (2 Corinthians 2: 6-8 NIV). Obviously, he has confessed and repented and is “overwhelmed with sorrow.” Now is the time for forgiveness and reconciliation.

None of this takes into account what the world thinks, the social status of the church, or the opinions of the people who are not part of the spiritual unity of the church based on the ministry of reconciliation. We ought not to listen to the tares who think they are wheat but only to the Holy Spirit who will lead us in the process of church discipline that is meant to reconcile people to the fellowship without regard for what anyone else thinks. That is what church discipline is about.

But it rarely happens in a religious church.

It even rarely happens in a church that is trying to do things in the right way before God. Training is necessary. Grief is necessary. Spiritual Unity is necessary. Treating them as the glorious children of God that they are already is necessary. But most churches have written up protocols and policies for how to deal with these things and they are mostly a waste of time because they don’t understand what is really going on.

It's a conspiracy, don’t you get it?

A spiritual conspiracy to destroy our leaders. Who doesn’t have a long list of things that they are working on? And you wonder why most leaders are tight-lipped and private about their personal lives? But it doesn’t work. Everything will come to light at some point in time. And then you will have to deal with it whether you like it or not.

The only solution is the anointed church.

When you focus on building a spiritual fellowship who understands the dynamics of the ministry of reconciliation and you are constantly confessing your sins one to another (James 5:16 NIV) and you are working out your repentance on an ongoing basis, not always able to deal with everything all at once or even over a number of years. And that’s alright. I’m not sure that I will ever be reconciled to my ex-wife and kids. I hope so. I pray so. I grieve for them. I work towards it but these unresolved issues are not a reason for church discipline.

We cannot afford the passivity, or the aggressiveness of a church controlled by the religious spirit. It will destroy your ministry at some point. The only solution is to pray and work for an anointed church that will protect you as a leader as well as keep you accountable for your lifestyle of repentance. That is what discipleship is all about anyway.

The spiritual conspiracy against the church can be broken by a small band of brothers and sisters who are willing to pay the price to achieve the anointing of God on their spiritual unity. If the Pastor creates that kind of spiritual unity at the level of the Board and his team members, he is well on his way to protecting the ministry from the schemes of the Devil.

What we need to remember is that when we grieve the Spirit, either as individuals or as a church, we are in dangerous waters. Anything can happen. Our power is specific to the cross and to the power of the blood of Christ to deal with anything that comes your way. And if, like Jonathan Edwards, you are dismissed from your position as the Pastor of the church your family founded, then you can always preach to the Indians in true humiliation until God calls you to a new position as he did with Pastor Edwards, making him the first president of Princeton University.

God is always in control. No matter whether you can avoid church discipline altogether or you simply find a new ministry where you can start over and continue to serve God, in either case, you are more than conquerors in Christ when you prioritize your spiritual unity above all. That’s the good news.

God is an expert in turning the tables on the Devil and when things seem darkest, God is doing his best work. Keep the faith and keep on walking in the Spirit. It is the only safe place behind enemy lines and is the only place of great anointing for effective ministry no matter where you are, especially together with other believers.