Lovesick Scribe Podcast | “The Standard of Truth: A Conversation Between Former Wayward Sheep” (Ep. 125)

This past weekend, I had the joy of spending time with a dear friend of mine, Dawn Hill. Dawn and I first got introduced to each other a couple years ago through our involvement in the American Gospel 3 docuseries project that is set to release in the Fall of 2023. Dawn was a false prophetess in the NAR for almost 20 years, and I learned that we experienced so much of the same spiritual abuses and deception when my husband Paul and I were involved in the Word of Faith movement many years ago.

While I was visiting Dawn, we sat down for an impromptu podcast episode trying to answer the question: What is our standard of truth? Below is some more reflection from Dawn on what we discussed in the podcast:

Have you ever heard someone say, “It is not the Father, the Son, and the Holy Bible?” If you have ever rebutted a practice or belief with Scripture, pointing to the context and the importance of rightly dividing the Word of God properly, you likely have heard this statement. It is an interesting statement when I think about it because there seems to be an issue with having a high standard based upon a proper understanding of Scripture, though those who would make such a statement would profess to having a high view of Scripture. I think it is worth noting that the author of Scripture, the Holy Spirit, cannot be divorced from His own Word. Yet, statements like this are made to draw a distinction between those who place value on the move of the Holy Spirit and those who would be deemed as void of the Holy Spirit. 

Having a high view or high standard of truth as a believer in Christ is vital. What does it mean to have a high standard of truth? It means having a firm foundation upon the final authority as Christians, and that is the Word of God. It is not enough to simply quote a Bible verse or to say the name of Jesus in a message. We know that false religions profess a Jesus of sorts, and we know that false teachers can quote Bible verses. This is why it is important for us to abide in His Word and to know what God has spoken. 

Many are looking for answers to questions and difficulties in life, and many want to know the Lord in a greater way. Unfortunately, there can be a tendency to lower the standard in order to achieve these desired answers and results. in 2 Timothy 3, we read Paul’s words to Timothy regarding what the last days and what to expect from false teachers in their character and conduct. These false teachers would have a form of godliness but deny its power. They would creep into homes and captivate weak women who were weighted with guilt from sin, women who would not come to the truth of saving faith in Christ Jesus. Some of these women may have even gone from one false teacher to another, wandering further and further away from the truth of the gospel. 

It is not hard to see this in our time with the rise of popular teachings about health, wealth, and prosperity. We see many flocking to alleged Holy Spirit infused gatherings where the fire of God is claimed to have fallen. People are seeking to hear God for themselves while receiving a prophetic word from their favorite minister. We hear of people perpetually seeking out deliverance from indwelling demons while professing to be Christians. There are countless conferences, webinars, and online courses to spiritually fatten the masses. You can allegedly learn how to interpret your dreams and visions. Books abound with the next one claiming to fully equip others in the area of prophecy and spiritual warfare. People are told to receive impartations and activations of spiritual gifts from anointed leaders. Let’s not forget the music, the bait that lures people into specific teaching from specific teachers. 

While there is nothing inherently wrong with attending a conference or in reading a solid and helpful book, the concern lies in the content and the low standard of truth being perpetuated. The concern is that personal experience and emotional hype begin to set the standard and are used to interpret Scripture. There is great concern that many are not hearing the true gospel of Jesus Christ and are accepting a low standard of truth, or trust is being placed in an individual’s personal revelations rather than what God has already revealed in His Word. 

I think of these women in 2 Timothy 3, and I recognize it is not isolated to the first century church. It is alive and leading others astray. Paul told Timothy what these false teachers would do; they would be lovers of self and of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness yet denying its power (2 Timothy 3:2-5). The instruction was simple: avoid them. These false teachers will go from bad to worse in their deception personally and among those they influence. Paul later goes on to encourage Timothy in the way he should walk and conduct himself, pointing him to the “sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 3:15) The Word of God was the high standard in Paul’s time, and it has become timeless in that truth for us today. 

When our standard of truth is low and swapped for another, we will overlook teaching and conduct contrary to Scripture. We will set subpar standards for ourselves and others. We will ascribe God’s name to things completely negating His instruction and ushering in rebellion against God Himself. We may even tolerate another gospel without even realizing it. To be loving yet frank, we will make statements such as the one I noted earlier, not realizing that such a statement attempts to undermine the foundation of our faith. It denigrates the Word that is God breathed. But the standard of truth matters. The gospel of Jesus Christ matters. We must have a high standard with the foundation being His written Word rightly understood. This is not demanding perfection from fallible people or idolizing the Bible, but it proclaims the perfection of God revealed in His Word by His Spirit and through His Son. Holding to a high standard of the Word of God agrees with God’s own view of His Word. 

Listen to this conversation with Dawn Hill and I as we discuss the hyper-charismatic movement and the importance of holding to a high standard of truth: The Lovesick Scribe Podcast: The Standard of Truth- A Conversation Between Former Wayward Sheep on Apple Podcasts

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Ex-Psychic Saved Podcast with Jenn Nizza | “Manifesting is Infiltrating the Church” (Ep. 5)

I was able to sit down and chat with my dear friend Jenn Nizza again, but this time for her podcast that just launched in January 2023! In this episode, we continued our conversation about how manifesting/Law of Attraction has become a common practice in evangelicalism. Check out more details about the episode below!


Ex-psychic Jenn Nizza, who regularly speaks on the spiritual dangers of the occult, is warning about the growing prevalence of “manifesting” within the church. 

“It’s infiltrating the church,” Jenn Nizza proclaims on this episode of the “Ex-Psychic Saved Podcast,” noting she embraced manifesting when she worked as a medium. “I fell into it and started believing it, and then I taught it as well.” 

Manifesting, which the New Age movement calls the law of attraction, is essentially the belief people can will or make certain things happen in their lives. As Crosswalk notes, “It is the belief that positive or negative thoughts bring positive or negative experiences into your life. It says that thoughts are energy; and energy can attract similar energies to itself because there is an attractive magnetic pattern to the universe.”

Nizza sat down with Emily Massey of WeWouldRatherHaveJesus.com, to discuss this issue and its presence within Christian circles and to warn that the “name it and claim it” mentality amounts to “idolatry.” 

Massey noted culture is dominated by crystals and other tools that mainstream this type of spiritual practice. As for her own experience in the Word of Faith movement, she said there was an intense focus on the power of words.

“For me, as far as the practice was concerned, everything came back to not only the positive thinking … but it goes beyond that to where it affects your speech,” she explained of her own past experience with manifesting. “You have to guard your speech … you must … speak out these positive, what they would call confessions.”

It all came down to not “sowing” negative words, believing these words would have a certain power after being spoken.

“It’s that whole — ‘Don’t, don’t, don’t speak it, don’t claim it … we have to be careful with our words because they can be manifest into reality,’” Massey said.

She took aim at these ideologies, noting the idea people could “manifest” something into reality “is not biblical faith.”

“Biblical faith is solely trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ,” Massey said. “We believe in the Gospel, we believe in the finished work of the cross, and we believe the words of Christ and the word of God, and that is what we put our faith in Christ.”

But she said others in these movements “distort the definition of faith to mean ‘a force.’”

Listen to the conversation HERE

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Interview with “Ex Psychic Saved”Jenn Nizza| The New Age in the Church: Law of Attraction

In this interview, I was able to chat about the similarities of Word of Faith doctrine and the New Age’s Law of Attraction with Jenn Nizza- a professional psychic medium who practiced many other forms of divination. Jesus Christ saved her out of the New Age/Occult and she now shares her own testimony and the stories of many others saved by grace! Join us as we shed light on the dangers of these New Age practices infiltrating the church!

In this video, Jenn speaks to Emily, who has been saved out of the deceptive Word of Faith Movement! What Emily tells Jenn in this video does not sound any different than what she was doing when she was in the New Age! Let us all pray for the prosperity gospel preachers and those who are led astray by the false teaching.
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Forsake Following Your Heart

Shortly after college graduation, I became a born-again believer in Jesus Christ; I repented of my sin and surrendered my life to Christ, committing to take up my cross and follow Him no matter the cost. Yet, I still wanted to pursue my original plan of becoming an actress in Los Angeles. As a Christian, I believed I was called to be a light in a dark place so that meant that I was supposed to use my talents for Christ in Hollywood. I was receiving mixed messages from trusted believers because they kept telling me to trust God with the plans to pursue my dreams. This just led to more confusion.

Trust God with my plan and my heart’s desires?

Again and again, the phrase “follow your heart” was echoing through my mind. This phrase seems to be very popular in American culture, even among Christian circles. You can find these three words boldly displayed on T-shirts, on Instagram graphics, and even heralded by some influential professing Christian leaders.

“Follow your heart…”- just a harmless motto, right?

It sounds really encouraging, doesn’t it?

Yes, very encouraging, almost Disney-like, but definitely not Biblical!

The Lord spoke these words about the heart through the prophet Jeremiah:

“The heart is deceitful above all things,

And desperately wicked;

Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 NKJV)

As Christians, sometimes we fall into the trap of giving man’s words more weight than the Word of God. I wanted to encourage us to look to the direction found in scripture for those who are God’s children. A very familiar, but powerful passage found in Proverbs gives the believer wisdom:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct[a] your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV).

If we are putting our trust in everything or anyone but the Lord, we will constantly be disappointed and led astray from God’s perfect will for our lives. We must trust in the Lord with all of our heart, which should never be filled with more of this world than God’s Word. I’m so thankful that during that time in my life while I was faced with a major decision, I kept my heart full of God’s Word, which helped me renew my mind so that I was filled with faith to trust God when He began changing my desires to follow and obey Him most of all. One month after I made the decision not move to Los Angeles, realizing that it was pride that was actually driving the desire to pursue an acting career, I was introduced to my now-husband and the rest is His Story.

My advice to you, beloved one, is do not follow your heart- follow God instead. He knows what you need more than you do. Trust Him with your entire heart and let him mold it to look more like His. He will never lead You down the wrong path!

Father,

The culture around me is often very loudly proclaiming how important it is for me to pursue my dreams and destiny by listening to my heart and following it. But Your Word is very clear that my heart can often bring confusion and that the only One who can be trusted to follow is You. You have given me a new heart is Christ, yes, but my flesh is always at war with Your desires and longs to lead me away from Your will. I find Your will in Your Word, so I ask You to please help me have a hunger to hide it in my heart so that I will not sin against You. Your Word is what renews my mind so that I am able to walk in obedience and look more like Christ to the world so that they may know that Your ways and thoughts are higher and better than man’s. Help me to not lean upon my own understanding and trust You, not my heart’s desires. I long for my heart to be molded to look more like Jesus, but I cannot do that without Your help. Thank You, Lord, for leading me by Your Spirit and Your Word that is a light unto my path. In Jesus’ name, amen. 

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March on in truth!

Charles Spurgeon once said,

“Controversy is never a very happy element for the child of God: he would far rather be in communion with his Lord than be engaged in defending the faith, or in attacking error. But the soldier of Christ knows no choice in his Master’s commands. He may feel it to be better for him to lie upon the bed of rest than to stand covered with the sweat and dust of battle; but, as a soldier, he has learned to obey, and the rule of his obedience is not his personal comfort, but his Lord’s absolute command. The servant of God must endeavor to maintain all the truth which his Master has revealed to him, because, as a Christian soldier, this is part of his duty. But while he does so, he accords to others the liberty which he himself enjoys.”

Over this past year, my husband, Paul, and I have experienced a sense of urgency and heavy burden to preach truth in love and call out error through our online platform. We wouldn’t call it “fun.” It’s uncomfortable, but as followers of Christ, we know we are called to stand in boldness when God’s Word is being distorted. 

In the epistle of Jude, he exhorts believers to be defenders of the faith, to hold fast to our message as Christians, the glorious gospel.  

“Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.”

Jude 1:3, NASB

Engaging in Christian apologetics in today’s culture is desperately needed when defending the faith, even within the Church and especially in America because error abounds. We must stand for truth and become defenders of the Christian faith that has stood the test of time for thousands of years, even when wolves come in to devour the flock (Matthew 7).

It isn’t about a single person being right. It is about God being right because He is. He is Truth. If we are His, we will want to grow in that truth, boldly proclaim it, and protect it from error, even if it makes us uncomfortable or even experience pain and rejection at times. 

The gospel is offensive.

Truth can cut deep and point out things in us that we don’t want to see, but if we want to be conformed to the image of Christ, we must believe and follow truth. 

We should not have to apologize for our zeal for God’s Word and His glorious gospel because without those precious gifts from the Lord to us, we would not be able to revel in the benefits of the good news or share it with others so that their fellowship with their Heavenly Father is restored.

As God’s children, we have been transformed by God’s love and mercy. We can live forgiven and free because of that. We should long to share that love with others by sharing truth found in the Bible, whether they have never heard the gospel, or they have strayed from its pure message and have begun following a false gospel.

We should never feel ashamed to share the hope of our message as believers, turning from our life in sin to turning to Christ alone who offers us new eternal life in Him that was purchased for us by His own blood. In Christ, we are forgiven. In Christ, we are God’s precious children. This is the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints of old and we must continue to pass it down to each generation and protect it from those who would want to twist its message. 

Do you have a desire to share truth with a loved one who may be caught up in deception of a false gospel or on your social media platform to reach others for the gospel?

Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the boldness and ask Him for a greater desire for His Word. It is so important to become a diligent student of God’s Word so that when the opportunity presents itself you are able to give a response for the hope that you have inside of you (1 Peter 3:15).

Stand firm, and march on in truth, soldier.


If you would like to learn more about my husband and I’s ministry, you can visit, www.wewouldratherhavejesus.com.

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Longing for the whole Truth!

Today, I’m simply here to just write.

Vent, I guess you could say…

…gracefully vent.

*Sigh*

I’m going through something right now. Actually, my husband and I are both going through something right now.

Little by little, we have been placed in situations of surrender and letting go of things we were holding onto for security and comfort and learning how to fully trust God alone.

The house.

The furniture.

The freedom of being a stay-at-home mom to then take on a side job to help out some friends.

And now our place of Sunday worship.

Over the last several months, everything that has been the foundation of our faith has been challenged, and we are left unlearning a lot of things once again. We are searching out the scriptures to discover why we believe what we believe. And what we have discovered is that we don’t believe, or agree with, much of what we have been taught.

Needless to say, it’s been challenging…

…especially for my husband, Paul, since he sat under the same teaching for 20 plus years of his life (almost 25), and after we left the church he grew up at in 2010, we were led to a church whose pastor also sat under that very same teaching for years.

When you hear the same teaching for 20 plus years of your life and you trust your pastor more than God, you embrace what you are being told as truth.

And sometimes as the only truth.

But there’s a problem with that- we need to find truth in the Word of God alone and not necessarily an interpretation of what you are being told is truth. It becomes a danger because we never line up what is being said from the pulpit with what the Word of God really says. We should trust the Holy Spirit to be our teacher. We cannot just embrace everything that proceeds out of the pastor’s mouth because, honestly, he should know more than us, right?

Sadly, this happens more often than not in the churches of America. Many people do not read their Bible, and we put all the responsibility on the pastor to feed us, teach us, guide us. His job is to definitely help us learn, but most importantly, encourage us and equip us to go home and study out what we just heard. He was never supposed to walk out our walk with God for us.

A scripture taken out of context and twisted to fit our methods, principles, main points, and often, our fleshly desires, has been genetically modified, my friends. #SayNoToGMO

We can’t just embrace everything we hear from people. It must line up with the totality of God’s Word, what is called the whole counsel of God. Not just one scripture…the WHOLE THING! Much of what is heard on a Sunday morning is out of context. We have experienced this first hand, and the Lord had to reveal it to us the more we studied out His Word for ourselves!

I don’t write all of this as a jab at any pastor or man/woman of God in particular, I’m just simply expressing where we are in our walk. We have been disappointed countless times by numerous teachers of God’s Word, whether those we have sat under, or those we have listened to through the information super-highway.

We aren’t giving up on the Church. Although we are disappointed, we aren’t surprised. The Word of God explains to us that this is going to happen in the Last Days. And clearly, we are in the Last Days!

My husband is responsible for our family. I am responsible for my own heart and what my son hears and has sown into his heart until he is old enough to guard his own heart.

Above all, we must always judge what we are hearing, even if it is coming from the pulpit.

Don’t allow people to tell you that you are not supposed to judge…

…that’s a real popular topic among believers and non-believers alike.

Jesus tells us:

“Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”

John 7:24, NKJV

What is “righteous judgment?”

“Judgment” in Greek in this particular verse means “the concept of determining the correctness of a matter.”

Use the word of God to discern what is false and what is unrighteous (Hebrews 4:12).

“If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.”

1 Timothy 6:3-5, ESV

Let the Word of God light your way, every single step. The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth and peace.

I’m holding onto the Word, who is also Jesus, the Word made flesh! He’s our only hope in these times of testing and times of deception we all face!

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