Author Profile

Darin Hufford

AJ Butel Darin Hufford is the founder and director of The Free Believers Network. Darin speaks all over the nation through conferences, seminars, and church services. He is the author of two popular books: The God's Honest Truth and The Relationship Code, and has served as a pastor in one of the nation's largest churches. Darin is best known for his many teachings on the Love of God. Here at This Side of the Cross we will be featuring a small portion of the teachings that Darin has given over the last eighteen years of his public ministry.

Darin currently lives in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife, Angie and their four daughters, Landin, Sidney, Emma, Eva and his son Jude.

Website: www.freebelievers.com | Article Archive here | Darin's Latest Book "The Misunderstood God"

Beating The Rock - Darin Hufford

There’s a story in the Old Testament where Moses and the newly liberated Israelites are fresh in the wilderness just after having escaped the Egyptian army through the Red Sea. The Israelites are thirsty and immediately start complaining. God tells Moses to take his staff and strike this rock in the middle of the desert and water would flow from it. Moses obeys, and water springs forth. Enough to quench the thirst of over a million people and their animals.

Later on, the Israelites find themselves right back in the very same place and in great need of water. Like clock-work the people begin complaining and Moses goes to God for answers. God brings Moses back to the same rock as before, but this time He tells Moses to take the staff, gather the assembly together, and SPEAK to the rock before their eyes instead of striking it.

Moses, in his anger and frustration, gathers the assembly together in front of the rock, takes his staff, and strikes the rock two times. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

Moses pays a great price for this little episode. God takes from Moses the honor of being the guy who gets to lead the people into the Promise Land. He was only allowed to stand upon a mountain and see this land from a distance, but he couldn’t lead the people into it.

For the first ten years of my Christian walk I shook my head at this story. It didn’t seem fair. In fact, it angered me because Moses was the most obedient guy in the bible, and God held him back from entering the Promised Land for something as stupid as this. The punishment just didn’t fit the crime in my opinion. If THIS is what it takes for God to strip His promises away from us, I thought; then we’re ALL screwed. I eat this kind of disobedience for breakfast. Moses made this one little mistake after giving his entire life to God, and the Lord takes away the very thing Moses worked his entire life for. So much for the word “PROMISE.” What’s up with that anyway? What kind of a God would PROMISE you something and then not give it to you for getting pissed off at the same people God Himself wanted to wipe off the face of the earth just one book earlier??

You’d think that God would be even more understanding with Moses when it came to being upset with these particular people. Moses does something as simple as striking a rock instead of speaking to it and God takes everything away from him in an instant?

Years later, as I began to know the true Heart of God for relationship, this story took on a completely different meaning for me. I began to see the purpose of the two incidents being recorded in Scripture and what was really taking place in this story.

The first time the people needed water, God told Moses to take his staff and strike the rock two times in front of the Israelites. This is a picture of Christ being stricken. It’s also a picture of law. Moses is given exact directions on how to get the water and he follows them to a “T”. It’s almost caveman like. He strikes the rock twice with the same magic wand he struck the Nile river with, and water gloriously springs forth. All he’s got to do is follow the formula and the magic happens. It’s heartless. It’s mindless. Even a monkey could do it.

The next time around however, God instructed Moses to SPEAK TO THE ROCK. This is an entirely new covenant!!!!! This is a picture of the very essence of the New Covenant. It’s a picture of RELATIONSHIP. Can you see how this story goes from following rules and formulas to trusting in intimacy? Scripture later explains that this “Rock” was Christ, or a picture of Christ. He need not be stricken twice. He was crucified once, for all mankind. It is not rules and regulations that bring us closer to God at this point; it’s simply believing and trusting.

The reason why this is such a devastating story is because Moses insisted on doing things THE OLD WAY. He was presented with the quintessential spirit of the Promise, and he rejected it in front of the very people he was supposedly leading towards it. The lesson learned here is NOT that Moses should have obeyed God’s instructions, but that NO ONE can enter into the New Covenant realm through Old Covenant formulas. You cannot have it both ways.

The Promised Land wasn’t withheld from Moses because he disobeyed God. It was withheld because he embraced law-mindedness over intimacy. His “Believe” was put in the wrong thing. In fact, the Promised Land or the “Kingdom realm” is hidden from anyone who rejects its essence and relies on law to find it. It remains invisible to the man who attempts to obtain it through obedience, ritual, or formula. In fact, the law itself becomes the blinders that make such a person stumble around in darkness, unable to behold the Kingdom. Paul once said that, “... for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.” (2 Co 3:14-15)

Whether we want to admit to this or not, the sad fact is that Christianity HAS subscribed to Old Testament beliefs and because of it, we have not witnessed a damn thing! This is precisely why the vast majority of Christians in every denomination DON’T WITNESS. It’s not because they don’t care and they don’t want the Gospel message spread to the ends of the earth. People aren’t witnessing BECAUSE THEY HAVEN’T WITNESSED ANYTHING!!!!

In essence, God was saying to Moses, “Put down the stick.” It’s time to lay down your little sacred tools and start trusting in something entirely from the heart; relationship. This must have been a difficult request for Moses. He had come to rely on his staff. He had come to believe in all the tools, objects, and utensils that he personally supervised while they were being overlaid with gold and silver. We always associate the Pharisees with those who loved and relied on the law, but remember it was Moses who actually wrote it. The Pharisees even referred to the law as, “The law of Moses.” Imagine how difficult crossing over from the Old to the New must have been for Moses.

In this particular Testament-Taste-Test, Moses favored the Old wine over the New. He was the first in a long line of people who would make the very same choice. Christ Himself said, “No one after drinking Old (Testament) wine wants the New (Testament), for they say, “the old is better.” This was true for Moses and it’s true for most of modern day Christianity.

Sadly, the very heart of this story with Moses is being played out week after week in churches throughout America and the rest of the world; and just like Moses and the Israelites of his time, I see millions of frustrated Christians with their staff in hand, striking this rock, and that for all they’re worth trying to get a drink of water. They’re dying in the wilderness without getting so much as a glimpse of the Kingdom that was promised to them. Our leaders lead us towards it, and even right up to its edge, but they themselves never enter because they choose the old over the new.

Sadly, because Christianity today does not want to give up the Old Testament, we have done our best to weave both covenants together in a way that makes them void each other out completely. We’re safe, and then we’re not safe. We’re loved, and then we’re not loved. Salvation is free in one moment, and then in the next it’s not. We’re forgiven, and then we’re not. We’re paid for, and then we’re in debt. We’re not under law, and then we are. God will never leave us, and then He does. We’re set free, and then we’re caged again. We’re given a guarantee of what is to come, and then we’re told there’s no guarantee. It’s all free, and then we’re charged for it.

Christianity has become a deadly roller coaster of contradictions and confusion at every turn. We take people to the top, give them just a glimpse of the Kingdom, and then we go into a nose-dive into a world of fear, insecurity, confusion, and condemnation, followed by a series of loops and turns that actually make you believe you’re going somewhere. The problem is that when the ride is over, you’re right back where you started, and there’s a guy ushering you off the car and pointing towards the exit sign until next week.

This is a picture of what happens when we refuse to let go of the Old Testament and fully embrace the New. We simply cannot have it both ways. It’s like watching a guy get married, but still maintain a “single-man” mentality in his heart. He destroys himself, his wife, and their children. Marriage only works when you give yourself over to it fully and let go of the single life forever. The difference between Old Testament and New Testament is that now God is married to us. Though HE has not changed from one covenant to the next, THINGS have changed. The intimacy that He desires to share with us now, is a thousand times greater than it was then. There’s NO room for the Old covenant in our hearts anymore because we are married now. In the Old Testament, we dated Him. He kissed us good night at the end of of the day, and we waited until the next time He showed up. Today, however, He lives inside of us. We sleep together and are one in every respect. To intentionally bring back the Old Way is a betrayal to the very heart of what we have with Him now.

The more I speak with Christians from all over the world, the more convinced I’ve become that this generation has absolutely no idea what was accomplished on the cross. I think people are trained to just say, “Jesus died for our sins” without having any depth of understanding beyond that. Amazingly, I’ve found that even pastors and teachers are almost completely ignorant of the changes that have taken place because of the death and resurrection of Christ.

I honestly believe that this is more than just a theological misunderstanding.

There is something hypnotizing and alluring about the law. Pastors literally get a high when they go through Old Testament passages concerning the temple rituals and the law. They’ll memorize the priestly procedures and go over and over them in their mind like an obsessive compulsive person. Even the mere mention of grace sets them off and causes an inner panic. They despise the freedom brought on through the cross because it threatens to strip away the very thing they’re addicted to - control.

Every area of a modern day Christian’s life is so saturated with Old Covenant residue that I honestly wonder if Christians today would even choose a New Testament relationship if it were offered to them point blank. Most Christians have no comprehension of what that means. It quite possibly wouldn’t even be attractive to the average churched person in America.

Most of us have been raised in a world where Old Testament thinking is the dominant mindset. Every single principle in Christianity has been poisoned with this thinking.

When we worship, we believe that God shows up because we’re told, “He inhabits the praises of His people,” so we do our best to lift Him up so He’ll “show up.” When we pray, we do so with a “God is not in us” mentality. We throw out fleeces, pray the prayer of Jabez, and listen for an audible voice from the sky like Moses did. We even focus our eyes on the upper right-hand corner of our bedroom as though He’s somewhere out there looking down on us.

When we give, we sit around and wait to receive something back because we’ve been taught if we give freely, we will receive freely. We read our bibles because we think we’re still in the same predicament as King David was thousands of years before Christ. We think we have to meditate on it night and day or we won’t ever know God. We even refer to our bible as “The Word” as though the Word never became flesh and dwelt among us. We go to church thinking we’re still in the Old Testament Era when God’s temple was a tent or a building that people come to in order to meet with Him. Rather than embrace that WE are now the temple of God, we prefer it the old way. When we do show up to church, we do so with the same Old Testament mindset that people had in Moses’ day. We wait for our leader to go to the mountain top and get the revelation from God for us. Rather than know and hear God as individuals, we have traded that New Covenant attribute for the way it was before Christ.

Several years before I ultimately resigned from being a pastor, our church took part in the National Day of Prayer. This is a time when all denominations come together and set aside our differences just to ban together and pray for our nation. The key verse for this particular event was 2 Chronicles 7:14

“ If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

This bible passage was plastered on billboards, canopies, brochures, and flyers all over the city. This passage completely negates the cross! It puts us right back in the pre-Christ time period when everything was based on works and law. Amazingly, I don’t recall one single Christian in my group of almost thirteen-thousand saying a single word about this. They all bought it hook-line-and-sinker. Today’s Church has eliminated the works of Christ altogether. Is it any wonder why we show up to these events with our staff in hand, striking any rock within reaching distance in an effort to get just a drop of water? We are a generation of women at the well who politely refuse Christ’s offer to give us living water that will spring up within us. We don’t want that. We like drawing water every day. It puts us in control.

I honestly believe that the only difference between the Old Testament lifestyle and modern day Christianity is that today, we don’t sacrifice bulls and goats. There is no doubt in my mind that if given the opportunity, many churches would go as far as to resurrect the whole sacrificial system again. According to the theology of a great number of Christian people today, the only ones who benefited from the death of Christ where the cattle and the sheep. Because of what Christ did, they get to live. We no longer sacrifice them, but other than that; NOTHING else has changed.

This mentality is what I referred to in my book, The Misunderstood God as an “Anti-Christ mentality.” At any point where we hold to Old Testament principles, we are embracing an Anti-Christ position. We are rejecting what was accomplished through Christ on our behalf. Our religion proudly proclaims the death of Christ on the cross, but we routinely deny the resurrection. Oh, don’t get me wrong; we pay it lip-service, but when it comes to what we teach and preach every week; we don’t believe a word of it.

We are infatuated, enthralled, enchanted, enamored, and hopelessly in love with Old Testament thinking. At the risk of sounding offensive or off color, I want to define exactly what the spirit behind modern day Christianity’s obsession with the Old Covenant is all about. This generation detests intimacy and prefers to do things manually. They actually enjoy “beating the rock” if you will. It’s SO MUCH EASIER than

having to actually have relationship and involve another person. The “manual” way gives us all the control we crave, and make no mistake about it; our infatuation and attraction towards Old Testament principles, coupled with our complete disregard for the intimacy required in the New Testament relationship, is without question, a perfect picture of spiritual masturbation. It’s a way to avoid the intimacy of lovemaking and become one with ourselves.

If that offends you, let it, because this is the state of Christianity. Our religion is afraid to commit to the New Covenant completely because it knows the moment it does, people will be set free and they won’t continue to serve the system. Eventually everyone gets tired of the sticks and stones game and they want something everlasting. As long as we continue to vacillate between law and grace we will never experience the spring of living water from within that Christ talked about to the woman at the well. Our generation spends Sunday after Sunday beating the rock, in an effort to get another sip of something that was promised to us fully and naturally through Christ. Christ's words to the woman at the well are just as perplexing to us today as they were to the woman he was speaking too. We haven't found this water because we refuse to put our staffs down and speak to the rock!

Beating The Rock - Darin Hufford

Poor Mans Revelation - Darin Hufford

I think one of the biggest things I’ve found myself trying to strangle out of my spiritisthat dreadful, us-verses-them mentality that seems to creep to the surface of my heart when I’m in the midst of another frustrating conversation with someone who clearly hasn’t begun the “grace walk.” I’ve got a lot of Christian friends who are still in bondage to religious thinking and they all think I’m off my rocker because of the things I write about. For the most part I try not to get into any meaningful “God conversations” with these people because it’s like banging my head against a brick wall. Every now and then I’ll think I saw a twinkle of something flickering in one of their eyes like they may be about to get this, and I’ll jump up on their lap and start explaining the grace message at a hundred miles an hour. Before long I realize that, that twinkle I thought I saw, wasn’t a twinkle at all. It was just the lighting in the room coupled with wishful thinking on my part. I usually end up walking away feeling embarrassed, frustrated, unheard, judged, hopeless, and misunderstood.

One of these people flat out told me he thought I was arrogant and that I acted like I had come to a “more significant revelation of God than he had.” He insinuated that I was boasting in what I had received from God and was patronizing him because he didn’t see the things I saw. He thought I was purposefully trying to point out his lack of revelation and compare it to my abundance. Truthfully, that was the furthest thing from my mind. I wanted this guy to get this and I did everything I could to help him understand it, but in the process of doing so, it became increasingly obvious that his eyes were not going to open to this and in that process he became understandably insecure.

I remember leaving that confrontation many years ago feeling like I shouldn’t be comparing my revelation to his in any way, and the very fact that I could see a difference at all was proof that I had crossed some invisible line of “spiritual correctness.” I remember trying to convince myself in some kind of politically correct sort of way that in the future I shouldn’t acknowledge anyone’s lack of revelation as a “lack of revelation.” If I were truly spiritual I would be as blind as a bat to things like that. It brought me back to the whole politically correct racism conversation where somehow we’re not supposed to notice that Asian people are smart or Irish people have red hair.

There is clearly a powerful move of God that is taking place across the world where our understanding of who He really is, is being expanded in ways we’ve only dreamed about. This current revelation of God so life-changing and significant that I can tell who “gets it” and who doesn’t from a helicopter hovering two miles above the earth. I’ve come to the conclusion that, like it or not, there is an obvious difference between people who have received this and people who are blind to it. I will no longer beat myself up for being able to detect this difference. This isn’t to say that I think I am more spiritual than people who don’t get this message, but I will say that I’m more free than I was before I opened my eyes to this.

Having said all of this, I think it raises a significant question that must be answered. Why do some people get this immediately and others can’t see it to save their lives?

What does it take to “get this” revelation?

Is this a matter of God giving it to each of us or did our eyes open because of something we did?

I understand that it’s become very popular for people to say things like, “God just hasn’t revealed this to them right now,” or “They just haven’t come to this in their journey yet.” I’m not dismissing the idea that there might be a timing issue connected to this, but I think my biggest question is whether or not the “timing” has to do with “God’s timing” or ours. Is this something that God opens our eyes to, or is it something that WE open our eyes to? THAT is precisely where I want to park for a moment.

I believe that most modern day Christians would say without hesitation that this understanding we possess concerning the heart of God is something that only God Himself can open people's eyes to. The problem with believing this way is that many people end up with that overly spiritual glassy-eyed look on their faces, bumping and tripping over things right in front of them because they’re trying to focus their eyes on the unseen realm. The “revelation from God” mentality sometimes causes people to start looking for signs on cereal boxes and produce stickers in a desperate attempt to hear from an inaudible God so they can get the divine password their friends have gotten, and be in the club. I’m not denying that God gives us revelation, but I think He does that in the course of life. When we set out to specifically GET revelation from God in the spiritual realm I think we often go spiritually overboard and do some pretty whacky stuff in the process.

Let’s face it; it’s hip to get something straight up from God Himself. When you actually get the thing that you claim you got from God, it feels TOTALLY cool because you’re the onewho got it. For one thing, it appears to everyone including yourself that He’s not mad at you. You feel good about yourself, confident and strong. Claiming divine revelation rocks the house when you’re the one who received it. When you’re not that person however, it sucks big time. You walk around feeling as insecure as you did in junior high, wondering if you said or did the right thing, worrying you might be in trouble with God, or if you just missed Him altogether.

It’s not surprising that when we start talking about a new revelation and understanding of God, some people get defensive and close down. I think the reason why most people who don’t “get this” are intimidated and insecure when it’s presented to them is because they don’t think they have what it takes to get to the “spiritual level” they think they need to get to in order to receive something like this from God. I think that this “get it from God” way of thinking is the primary problem.

Most people have tried to be that deep supernatural person they’ve dreamed about, but for some reason the heavens didn’t open up to them like they seemed to for the traveling evangelist or the famous author who gave them the “three steps to reaching God.” They can’t even imagine what kind of “pressing into God” it would take to get what we have, so they just give up. The climb is just too intimidating. The fact that they don’t understand it NOW is proof to them that God has rejected them and has hidden this away on the grounds of their own spiritual incompetence. When they see that someone clearly has something they don’t have, they automatically assume it’s because they didn’t jump through the same spiritual hoops as that person did.

I think the majority of Protestant Christians have been taught specific steps they must take in the spiritual realm in order to obtain revelation from God. They’ve been drilled with a lifetime of three-point sermons that outline step by step what supernatural calisthenics they must perform in order to hear and know His heart. In addition to this, they’ve also been given a lengthy list of things they must NEVER do, and another list of personalcommitments they must make and master before God will open their eyes and ears to revelation of Him. Some have been taught that real revelation requires the pulling out of the supernatural “big dogs” like fasting, praying in tongues, a Greek and Hebrew dictionary and an olympic sized swimming pool of anointing oil. Amazingly, even after all that, I have found that people who diligently subscribe to all these religious practices are the least likely to get this message. Though these practices have their place in the Christian life, they are not the avenue through which this particular revelation comes.

So what does it take to get this message?

When a person isn’t getting this, it’s not because they haven’t spent enough time in the Bible. It’s not because they haven’t prayed or fasted enough, and it’s not because they harbor some secret unconfessed sin in their life. In fact, it has nothing to do with any of these things. The revelation of the grace and love of God is plain as day to some and yet completely confounding to others. God actually made it this way and He takes great pleasure in it being this way. The deciding factor which determines whose eyes pop open and whose eyes don’t is NOT based on spirituality; It’s based on HONESTY.

I learned almost ten years ago when I first started preaching this message that if I could get people to a point of absolute honesty with themselves, they’d get it. Almost every sermon I preached back in the beginning, started out with about twenty minutes of me trying everything in my power to prep the people so they would willingly put their guard down and JUST BE HONEST for once in their lives. I knew then, that if someone was willing to let go of all their religious obligations and be completely sincere with themselves about what was working and what wasn’t, they would receive this.

I call this revelation, “A Poor Man’s Revelation.” I love it. I love the fact that ANYONE can get this. The playing field has been leveled. You don’t have to be a Greek or Hebrew Scholar. You don’t have to be an eloquent “prayer warrior” or a super spiritual Guru. It doesn’t take any special gifting, commitments, or theological training. All it takes is good old-fashioned honesty with yourself. I believe that this fact is what separates the “getters” from the “non-getters.”

It absolutely rocks my world to see how rarely the “spiritually wise” people in the church get this. All their years of study and dedication to the system mean nothing because they refuse to tell the truth to their own heart. On the same note, it’s a total gas to see the number of folks who would be considered spiritual failures by today’s religious standardsbecause of their fumbling prayers, their lack of bible knowledge and their shoddy attendance record, yet they get this message with almost no effort. It’s simple for them because they’ve got nothing to lose by being honest.

I believe that this is the primary difference and reason why those who are in positions of spiritual authority in the church are usually the least likely to get this revelation. They don’t because they won’t. They won’t because it’s offensively simple. Getting it would mean they’d have to admit that all their knowledge and accomplishments don’t mean jack. They’ve spent a lifetime climbing the religious-social ladder, memorizing, supporting and proclaiming church doctrines. They’ve put their belief in a system rather than in an actual person. Many times their entire identity is wrapped up in that system. It’s wrapped up in “being right.” I have found that most Christian leaders will stand there and lie till their dying day rather than come clean about what’s really in their heart. They’ve become so programmed to be dedicated and so dedicated to the program that being honest isn’t even an option anymore. When you spend a lifetime building a kingdom on the foundation of religion, the last thing you will ever do is be honest and risk losing everything in a moment.

I think that in many ways, the Christian “religion” has effectively disqualified thousands of people from simple sincerity. People have been trained to not trust themselves. Over the years I have found that a staggering number of people have been evicted from their own hearts. They’ve been taught to despise themselves so much that many are afraid to even take a peek into themselves to find out what they really think.

Modern day churches have basically evicted people from their own hearts and have taught them to follow a script instead. Surviving in Christianity today is about memorizing the answers and reading the lines. Very little is authentic anymore.

It always amazes me when I am confronted with the one or two people in the crowd who don’t get the message when I preach somewhere. Every one of their comebacks when they debate with me has a scripted sound to it. They literally sound like they’re reading a screenplay that was written by a pastor. I can’t get a personal opinion out of them to save their life. I think people have learned to trust the script over what’s actually on their heart. The religious script is a safety blanket for thousands of people today, and it’s astonishing to watch how quickly a person will go from speaking authentically from their heart to running back to the script the moment they feel intimidated or uncomfortable.

I no longer suggest to people that they should pray to God and ask Him to give this revelation to them. I simply tell people who can’t see this, that they’re not being honest with themselves. They’re believing in a script that they’ve read for years and they’ve never stopped to ask themselves whether it’s working or not. Even though they know damn well it’s NOT working, they will act as if it is, because their social standing and reputation is what really matters to them. I think for many people, getting this message is about coming to the end of their rope. It’s about finally getting to the point where they’ve got nothing more to lose by just flat out being honest. I’ve never believed that this revelation is a deep spiritual one. In fact, that’s what I love so much about it. It’s obvious to little children and impossible for the wise and learned.

(First posted on Sept 28, 2010, on the Free Believers Network - Ed.)

Into The Wild - Darin Hufford

When I left the institutional church, I wasn't bitter or hurt. We had our share of letdowns and painful events while in that system, but our leaving had nothing to do with that. I had merely come to a point in my life where I was so sick and tired of Church and the whole system of Church, I never wanted to go back. The last sermon I preached as a pastor was called, "Into the Wild" and that title later became the name for my weekly podcast show, "The Into the Wild show" www.intothewildshow.com

After being away from the institution for about six months, I started to see how deeply it affected me. I felt like a tiger born in captivity, growing up in a zoo, and one day, someone left the cage door open. I walked through it innocently and unknowingly. Once I was out of the cage and in the wild, I began to discover that, for my entire life, I hadn't been a tiger. I was just a stuffed animal on the shelf. It wasn't until I was in the wild that I found the true meaning of "Tiger." In my freedom, I learned that the very essence of who I was created to be had been stolen from me by the institution.

I think we spend a lot of time trying to make "church" better and more tolerable. Every year, there are more and more conferences presenting new, improved ways to "do Church." It reminds me of zoo-keepers who decorate the tiger's cage to look as much like the tigers' natural habitat as possible. Thick trees, a pond, grass and a cave for privacy, are all lovingly placed around the pit so the tiger won't know the difference. The one ingredient, however, that cannot be given to the tiger is freedom. Sadly, this is what makes him a tiger. You can't cage something that was intended to be wild. When you do, the TIGER inside the tiger dies and all you have is a lazy stuffed animal with matted fur and a hollow, far-away look in its eyes.

In the wild, a herd of zebras may stop to drink at a watering hole. If you're on an African safari and witness that, it's an amazing sight. That doesn't mean that by catching ten zebras, putting them in a pen, and sticking a bucket of water in front of them, we can rightfully say, "Oh look - a herd of zebras has stopped to drink from a watering hole." That's a lie! This is exactly what we do with what we call "church." We capture a group of Christians, put them in the same room and say, "Oh look - a bunch of Christians gathering for fellowship." It's a lie! What is sad is that we justify it by telling ourselves that we are not to forsake the gathering at the water hole. The very thing that would have happened naturally becomes scheduled, mapped-out and dictated.

Christians who have the living love of God in their hearts will naturally connect with people and have relationship. They don't need to be monitored and dictated by a hierarchy. Things that happen naturally don't need any help or assistance from an outside source in order to make sure they continue. Any form of assistance on the part of humans will inevitably kill the essence of a natural thing.

It's that "NATURAL" part that I want to get at. When I talk about living in the wild as a Christian, some people immediately associate that with some sort of vicious, drooling beast that lives alone in a cave and lashes out, mauling everything crossing its path. Wild does not mean rabid. It's simply means free. Free to be what you will. Even a flower can be wild. I cannot stress the importance of this in the life of a Christian. Institutionalism has done everything to insure that this freedom is never realized in the heart of one Christian. That wild essence must be strangled because the heart in which it dwells will naturally demand freedom. Know this: Until a Christian is free from organized and planned religion, he or she will never really know what it means to be a Christian. They'll just sit in their pews week after week, like stuffed humans with matted fur and a hollow look in their eyes. Many will not even know that they're missing anything. They'll drink when they're told and they'll eat and fellowship upon command without having the slightest idea what true Christianity is all about. This caging of the natural is perhaps most heart breaking of all.

Sometimes I feel like the tiger who escaped captivity and tasted freedom for the first time. Now I'm back at the zoo trying to convince the other tigers to leave with me. The problem is that the tiger in them is comatose, so they neither have the will nor the desire to experience the wild. They're not even sure I'm telling the truth and everything within them suspects that I'm not. They are slothfully satisfied in their captivity. The thought of having to hunt for their own food sounds too much like work. They wouldn't even know where to begin. The zoo has made life easy for them. Why leave? The zoo has convinced them that their cage IS the wild.

It kind of reminds me of the slave days. Certainly there were loving slave owners who treated their slaves well. They didn't beat them or over-work them. They provided them with comfortable living quarters, clothing and good food to eat. They may have even treated their slaves with respect and dignity and allowed them to live with their families and have a day or two off each week. The problem, however, is due to the set-up itself. Irrespective of how these men and women were being treated, they were still slaves. They may have been loved and cared for, but they were not free. No amount of care and favorable treatment could wash away the fact that thousands of people with thousands of dreams were forced to pick cotton for someone else. When the slaves gained their freedom, many of them stayed right where they were. In their minds, they had a good thing going. They liked their "master" and they had grown accustomed to life as a slave. Sadly, their hearts were convinced that they were born to pick cotton. The institution of slavery attacked their essence.

Not until you gain your freedom, will you recognize what you really want to do in your life. There are many Christians who have settled for picking cotton when they were created for something much more beautiful and fulfilling. Captivity steals your essence. It separates you from it, and over time, you forget it was ever a part of you. The only way to survive as a slave is to shut down your inner dreams and desires and go with the flow of what's happening on the outside. Over time, you begin to believe that your captivity IS your calling. All of your hopes and dreams conform to the confines of the cage. Once that happens, you can pretty much kiss your wild essence goodbye.

Being released into the wild after a lifetime of captivity is both exciting and terrifying. I have many people come to me, petrified by the road before them, after walking through the open doors of religion's cage. They fear that they don't know enough to survive in the wild. They want to learn as much as they can about living in the wild so they won't fall flat on their face. More than anything, I find that people don't trust their hearts to carry and lead them. They want a teaching, a map, or a list of directions because they've never listened to their own heart and followed their dreams. When trouble or loneliness comes, they are tempted to run back to the cage and mindlessly follow the instructions of the institutional system. I understand this feeling and everything in me wants to reach out and help people in this phase of life.

There is nothing to learn about living in the wild. It's not a matter of learning, but of UNLEARNING . When a wild animal has been raised in captivity and is being prepped to be reintroduced into the wild, that animal is not being taught. The animal is being un-taught. Sometimes the only way to un-teach an animal that has learned to rely on captivity is to give them nothing at all. So many free believers run the risk of becoming like the bears at Yellowstone Park. They're free and wild, but they feed themselves by going to the visitor's center and eating scraps from tourists. They become professional "dumpster divers" which is exactly what I see in modern day Christianity! That is not wild living. There's a point in every Christian's life when they have to just trust that they are a Christian.

I hear sincere-hearted people nervously talking about how they can best "walk out" the Free Believer message and a part of me wants to grab them and shake them. Bears don't "walk out" being a bear. Tigers don't "walk out" being a tiger. They just are. It's not a question of what to do! It's a question of who you are. Settling in and trusting what you are is what it's all about. This is the first step to discovering the voice of your heart and being in tune to your spirit's cry and purpose. So many Free Believers begin to doubt themselves and they lose confidence in their ability to really, truly know what exists within.I can't tell you how many times I've heard this. Some people have even become panic-stricken because they don't feel like they have a clue where to start in their effort to reclaim their heart's desires.

This has been voiced to me so many times that I am beginning to recognize an epidemic. The old way of thinking inside of me is begging to write a sermon series on how to do this. Unfortunately that would only perpetuate the problem and lengthen the healing process in people's lives. The problem is that the system of slavery we were raised in has caused us to be terrified of doing nothing. We have been led to believe that we must always be growing and moving forward in our lives. Even a hint of idleness is evidence that we're on the wrong path or not getting something. I would like to put that lie to rest. Nothing could be further from the truth.

When a tiger that has been raised in captivity is released, there is one important skill to learn. He has to first learn to do NOTHING, and do it well. For most Christians, this sounds like heresy. It feels totally wrong because all we've ever been told is to produce, produce, produce. The moment we stop producing, we begin to feel guilty and condemned. We start getting a feeling that we're missing something and perhaps getting left behind the pack.You have to put that out of your mind and allow yourself to be comfortable doing absolutely nothing. I believe that until a Free Believer can accept this, they will never get in touch with themselves. In other words, don't sit around thinking about how you can grow. That's silly. Don't sit around pondering what you need to do in order to be a better Christian. Stop trying to be spiritually busy. Just do nothing. I promise that the rest will come on its own. I guarantee it.

We've been brain washed in so many ways, it amazes me at how many of us sit around worrying about things that happen totally on their own. Some of us are like a zebra that tries to have more stripes or a cheetah that tries to add spots. Believe it or not, as a Christian, you don't have to worry about your purpose. Sadly, we have grown up in an institution that constantly produces books, sermons and study guides on how to find your purpose and live in it. Think about that for a moment. That's got to be the stupidest thing ever. If you have a purpose, it's because the One who created you, created you with a purpose. "Finding it" is not your job. It shouldn't even be your concern. Your purpose is your stripes and your spots. It's just a silly thing to concern yourself with. Stop looking for it and worrying about it!

This generation of Christians worries about some of the most ridiculous things in the world. This is clear evidence of the amount of devastation that has been caused by organized religion. What generation before us ever had to worry about knowing themselves? Where in the Bible did anyone ever have to find themselves and know their own hearts? For that matter, when did anyone in Scripture search for their purpose? It didn't happen. Unfortunately, we have been deceived into believing that the very things that happen naturally on their own, must somehow be discovered and controlled by us. Poppycock!!!

Do you ever worry that you won't know if you're hungry or not? Do you sit around and worry whether or not you'll know your hand is being burned if you accidentally hold it over the stove? Do you fret about knowing if you're tired or not? Do you stress about whether or not you'll sneeze if something gets in your nose? This is how ridiculous we Christians sound when we start distressing over whether or not we'll know our purpose, or hear what our heart is telling us. We do this because the slave master of religion has forcefully hijacked the natural things in our lives and has taken control. The answer is not to "Learn them back" but to do NOTHING. When you're hungry, you'll know it. When you're tired, you'll be in tune to it. If you're uncomfortable, you'll know to switch to a different position. If something's funny, you'll laugh. If you have an itch, you'll know to scratch it. Don't waste time fretting about these things, because they happen naturally. When the Spirit of the Lord lives inside of you, you don't have to remind yourself to do the things that naturally occur in a Spirit-filled life.

The Man and Me - Darin Hufford

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground."

"Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny."
-Thomas Jefferson-

The first time I actually saw the man, I was in my early 30s and newly married. My wife and I were attending a church service together where we personally knew the pastor who was delivering the sermon. This was his first ministry job and we were there to cheer him on. He had just preached a great sermon and was coming in for a landing. It was time for the "altar call" at the very end, when I noticed THE MAN appear out of nowhere.

This young pastor, who was so full of passion and zeal for reaching hurting people, suddenly began showing signs of inner conflict. It was brief. Perhaps only ten seconds in all. Unless you really knew this pastor you, would have missed it. Because of our relationship with him, we immediately saw the battle for control and then, without warning, THE MAN took over. Our friend, the pastor, was nowhere to be found and the man closed the service. He gave the salvation invitation and then presented a broader invitation for people who needed to pray regarding the topic of the sermon. He did it in such a manipulative way that everyone in the building was afraid to NOT come forward. It was hard to watch.

Within a very short time, the front of the building was filled with people crying out to God and praying together. At the first window of opportunity, my wife and I made a break for it and before we knew it, were cruising I-17, trying to get home in time for the Survivor Finale.

Later that night, after the anger and fury over Richard Hatch winning the million dollars subsided, my wife sleeping soundly, I was lying awake replaying in my mind that final part of the church service. Seeing the man for the first time, I was perplexed and a bit discouraged. I didn't understand where he came from. I secretly wondered if my pastor friend wasn't lying awake at the very same time kicking himself for letting the man take over. I made a promise to myself in that bedroom over a decade ago. I promised that I would never allow the man to do to me what I had seen him do to my friend.

Though I had never personally met the man, I had already decided that I did not like him. I knew then that I would someday hold the same ministry position as my friend, and until that time came, I was prepared to do whatever it took to keep to that promise.

Over the next three years, I watched the man show up at every service my friend preached and do the exact same thing I had witnessed the first night. He came earlier and earlier each week until he finally took over my friend's position entirely. It was difficult to watch, because by this time, I had developed a hatred for the man. I had not yet met him personally, and that was fine with me. Sadly, my relationship with my friend had pretty much dissolved into nothing. I could no longer look him in the eye because I had lost so much respect. It was beyond my comprehension how he could just sit back and allow this to happen. He didn't seem to offer any resistance to the man. I eventually ended the relationship completely.

I did not know at that time that in less than a year, I would be formally introduced to the man myself when I was hired as a pastor at the same church.

Meeting the man

I had seen enough of him over the years to know what he was like. I knew what he did and how he thought. That is why I was unsurprised when I was preaching my first sermon and he showed up trying to take over. I knew he was coming, and that first night, I stuck to my guns. He left in a huff and made a comment to me about how my ministry career will be "short lived."

I remember driving home after that experience wondering how long I could continue to resist. I even considered the possibility that he might be right. Perhaps I was being rebellious and merely refusing to acknowledge his point of view. I had about eight other pastors on staff at my church that I was friends with and every one of them believed in the man. The man controlled their entire ministries and they were all happy. They all love him. Several of them even came to me in love and understanding and tried to reason with me in order to get me to open up to the man. They warned me of the dangers of resisting. Maybe it was just me. Maybe I was the problem and the man was really there for my benefit.

Still, I had seen the man hurt too many people. I'd watched him cause too much destruction to change mid-stream. In bed that night, I re-committed myself to my former promise to never allow him into my ministry. If holding to that meant my ministry career would be short lived, so be it.

Needless to say, he didn't stop.

One time I preached a sermon about how tithing was not a New Testament concept. My congregation went from their usual weekly offering of nearly $3,000 to a measly $700. The man used to meet me alone in my office late at night and try to convince me to go back to the people and tell them I was wrong. He showed me on paper that I would be out of business in six months if I didn't listen.

Another time a bunch of my people who were usually in service every single week, were not attending as consistently. The man brought it to my attention and said it was because of the freedom I was giving them in my sermons. He tried to get me to drop little statements when I was preaching that would make them feel guilty and obligate them to show up. I remember him dropping words like "faithful" and "committed" in my head when I was preaching. It was difficult to keep my wits about me and not accidentally say what he wanted me to say. I had to speak slower and weigh every single word before allowing it to leave, because the man was standing right next to me trying to confuse me.

The man showed up in my office when I was writing a sermon hoping to give his two cents' worth. I hated every one of his ideas, and he couldn't stand mine. He would always try to get me to mention him in the sermon as though he and I were friends. I could see that people were becoming more and more suspicious of him and I think he knew it. When I refused to do what he wanted, he would remind me that my paycheck comes from him and I would eventually be without one if I didn't start giving him more respect. This was a common occurrence.

I think the worst thing he did was when he went to my family members and won them over. He convinced them that I was being totally rebellious because I wouldn't listen to him. My family started pleading with me to accept the man and promote him. They confronted me on my attitude and accused me of just trying to stir up controversy. I came from a long line of preachers who all knew and loved the man. My grandfather, my uncles, my cousins, and even my sister and brother-in-law, were in the ministry and they all got along with the man. They told me it wasn't the man, it was me. I was the one with the problem.

I did not know that the promise I made to myself about not giving in to him would some day cost me my family relationships. One by one, every one of them separated themselves from me because of my unwillingness to submit to the man. This was perhaps the most devious thing he did to me over the last decade. It was also the most difficult time in my life. It caused me to question everything I thought I knew.

I discovered what ticks him off more than anything in the world: GRACE. He cannot sit still during a grace message. Something happens deep within him that is almost scary to watch. It's like he is controlled by a combination of anger and fear. I always got the feeling that the very sound of grace threatened the man's existence, and his reaction confirmed that. He also had spies sent to my group when I preached. They would report any use of grace back to the authorities.

I was surprised at how much control he exuded over the people. Even when he was abusive and downright hurtful, it seemed that people would overlook it and continue to support him. So many folks sounded like the typical battered wife who makes ridiculous excuses for her husband and tries to convince the world that he really loves her and is a great guy. It was as though he had drugged them with something that would make them follow him like lifeless zombies. He also had them in so much fear that they were terrified to speak a word against him in public. It reminded me of the KGB in Russia.

I was also surprised by how often the people would openly trade in their freedom in exchange for a quick fling with the man. When given the choice; a surprising number of people chose the man over freedom. It was as if they despised him and loved him at the same time. They could not find any inspiration in the world of freedom. They felt they needed the man standing over them with threats of hell and damnation in order for them to get motivated. When the man was no longer there, they found themselves idly doing nothing.

Eventually the man made good on his promise to me. He did everything he could to get me out of the position I was in as Pastor. After gaining the love and adoration of my extended family, he began launching attacks on my immediate family. He got people in our church to exclude my wife from conversations and activities. He even threatened to turn my own children against me if I didn't hand over the reins to my ministry. After four years of this constant battle, I finally resigned.

Ministering to The Man

I honestly felt that if I separated myself from the church and the man, I could concoct a plan to help the man change his ways. I knew he had problems, but rather than just expose him or complain about him, I figured I could help. It seemed like the Christian thing to do at the time. Besides, everyone I knew was telling me that I was wrong to talk badly about him without first trying to help him think differently.

I met a group of friends who had left their church because of the man, just as I did. They had a weekly meeting in their home and they invited me to come for a visit one week. I was more than happy to attend. I thought perhaps I would meet some friends who understood what I went through with the man in the church I had resigned from.

The meeting started out great. It seemed that everyone in the room knew about and hated the man. They talked openly about all he had done to them before they left their church. I felt right at home for the first time in years. About five minutes into the meeting however, I looked up and was astonished and completely taken aback by what I saw. Sitting right there among them, in a cheap disguise, was THE MAN! I couldn't believe my eyes. No one recognized him, but I would know that guy anywhere. I immediately lunged forward and tore off his disguise, exposing him to everyone in the room. To my absolute dismay, these people didn't thank me at all. They didn't react like I would have expected. In fact, their reaction was more towards me than the man. They were furious with me, and demanded that I leave and not return.

One of them called me at home later that night and explained that they all knew it was the man, but they felt it was okay that he attended because he was wearing a disguise. They promised me that he behaved in their meetings, and he didn't try to take control. They wanted him there because they were trying to minister to him and help rehabilitate him. They considered him their personal project. She told me that I had been a little too harsh and I needed to give him another chance. Rather than just abandon him forever, they had decided to take the high road and reach out to him.

The more people I met outside the church, the more I began to open myself to the concept of rehabilitating the man. It made sense because the man clearly had a huge influence on the church. If we could successfully change the man for the better, we would also be affecting millions of people who have suffered abuse by the man. The effects of this could reach around the world and back. For the next year, I spent every waking hour trying to come up with a model of behavior that we could present to the man. Perhaps we could teach him to focus on helping people instead of using them. Maybe we could take some of his power away but still give him a role in the church. Our goal was to help him understand things like grace and forgiveness. I would soon find this dream and goal to be a dead end road.

After discovering that was impossible, I began to go through the Bible line by line in an effort to separate the teachings that the man came up with from the actual teachings of Scripture. It was a tangled mess. He had successfully woven his ideas into almost every principle and concept of the Bible, and strangely, I noticed a common denominator in the overall message the man was promoting. What I found literally made me gasp in disbelief.

Discovering the essence of "The Man"

Today, almost five years later, I see the man with completely different eyes. As I observe the modern day "church system," I am beginning to see things that I did not expect when I first departed five years ago. Believe it or not, I've always tried to maintain a middle-ground position concerning the man. I've been as careful as I could, to not become a sour-faced church-basher because of what he did to me. It wasn't church that did these things, it was the man. In fact, I've been more unprejudiced and tolerant towards him since I left church than many of my Free Believer counterparts out there in cyber world.

I've stated publicly that I think there are many wonderful Pastors with sincere hearts who are not out to control and manipulate the people in their church. Pastors who have made it their personal goal to encourage others into a life of freedom and relationship with the Father. Pastors who have set aside the man for the most part in an effort to focus more on the people in their congregation. I still stand by that statement just as strongly, and because I know these pastors exist, I have been long-suffering towards the man and have refrained from launching bloody attacks. I was careful not to lob a grenade at him and take the chance of hurting one of the hostages he had in his grip.

The last five years of my life have been like an unfolding murder mystery where the character I expected but wasn't sure about has turned out to be the evil master-mind behind it all. The further away I move from the man as a Free Believer; the clearer my vision becomes. As I grow in the wild, and my eyes continue to sharpen, I find myself becoming less and less tolerant of him because I now see his essence. Bit by bit, little by little, I am discovering truths about the man that have brought me to the point of believingthat the man is not only an unfortunate hindrance to the saints and needs fixing or rehabilitating, but that he is in fact the mortal enemy of all believers! Rather than receiving a revelation from God about how to fix the man's behavioral problem and salvage his position in God's church, I got the revelation that the man did NOT come from God, but straight from HELL!

There is no chance that the man will become saved in this lifetime or any other. Trying to reason with him and encourage change is not only a losing battle, but it's a complete waste of time. He will never change. In fact, there is not one single piece of him that is open to it because his entire essence is bent upon destruction. This is not a statement made out of bitterness. What I am telling you is absolutely true. No amount of gentle talk and loving patience will change the man because he isn't interested in either. He's been faking it all along. He has fooled people for almost 2000 years, making them believe that his intentions are to benefit the body of Christ. Nothing could be further from the truth because:

"The Man" is a devout atheist.

When I began to identify the teachings that came straight from "The System that runs Church," I found that not only were they NOT found in the Bible, but they were completely opposite from the words of Scripture. The man's teachings are easy to identify because the heart of all of them is self-serving. They are teachings that ensure the man's future at any cost. I've found that this is the one common denominator to all teachings that were created by the system.

The pattern to these false teachings is pretty much the same every time. God is made to look terrible and relationally-repulsive. If you don't please Him, however, you'll go to hell. The man steps in and convinces you that serving and supporting the man is the same as serving God. Now you need the man to keep you out of hell and away from God at the same time. // // -->

It' s the perfect crime. Kidnap a child, convince him that his father gave you permission to do so. Make him think you love him and then slowly turn him against his father. Before you know it, you don't even have to lock the cage. You can take the cuffs off and open the door wide, and the kid will choose to stay with you. Where else is he going to go? The only thing you have to worry about is the possibility that the boy's father may someday find him and prove to him that he's been lied to. If that ever happens, you're toast.

Almost every practice or ritual we have been taught in church is based on the man's unbelief in God and his constant self-preservation. This is precisely why Christians in this generation are so confused. Their pastor clearly teaches about God, but the system that their pastor serves is atheistic. It is almost impossible to recognize when you're in the thick of it, but once you separate yourself from it and put some distance between yourself and your religion, it becomes embarrassingly obvious.

Evidence of atheism

The system proudly preaches that we need to step in and "disciple" new believers. Christianity has even coined the term, "The discipleship movement." It is based on this generation's belief that it is our job to walk with and disciple new Christians. Think about this for a moment. This has happened because today's Christians simply do not believe in Jesus. Rather than make disciples of Christ; we make them our disciples because there is something inside of us that just intuitively knows that they won't grow if we don't step in and do things ourselves. That "intuition" is unbelief. Suggesting that we simply turn people over to Christ sounds idealistic. To even mention the idea is considered unrealistic and fanciful.

The man teaches us that the "main way" we hear God's voice is through reading the Bible. This is an atheist's way of turning something that is invisible and spiritual into something physical. It's interesting that the Bible never once makes this claim about itself. This little "saying" was created because the man is physical and incapable of spiritual communication. For the man to survive in the Christian religion, the very definition of spirituality must be altered and reformed into something a bit more concrete. That way, divine inspiration could be claimed by anyone with a Bible and a set of reading glasses. People who claim to have heard from God on their own, aside from their Bible, are skeptically frowned upon and sometimes even excommunicated altogether. If you really sit and think deeply about this teaching, you'll see that it came about because the man doesn't believe there really is a God.

This is also why the man teaches people that God speaks through the Pastor's sermon. What we are really saying is, "If you've heard us, you've heard God." In other words, look no further. It is not by accident that the majority of Christians have been trained to go to a paid staff Pastor in order to hear from God. Though the man would almost certainly not admit to such training, he cannot argue against the results. This is a disturbing and accurate description of the man's offspring in this generation. In fact, in many Christian circles, I've found that "spiritual maturity" is defined by a person's willingness to question or doubt their own ability to hear God's voice, while at the same time, having complete confidence in their Pastor's ability. Spiritual growth is gauged in the man's house by how much trust is put in the man and how little trust you put in yourself.

The man not only gets us to second guess our ability to hear from God, but he also convinces us to question our ability to even hear from ourselves! From the moment we enter the man's home, he requires us to forfeit any and all traces of self-confidence. I call this the stupefaction-doctrine. Amazingly he has successfully convinced an entire generation of institutional offspring to believe that they are nothing more than stupid, simpleminded, idiotic, scatterbrained, asinine, pea-brained, dense, dimwitted, ignorant idiots. We're made to feel like our personal intelligence lies somewhere on the scale between a fichus tree and a rock.

What is even more astonishing is that he has somehow convinced people to stand up and proudly proclaim their incompetence to the world! Those who do this in the most prolific manner are applauded and hailed as our leaders. This is another sign of "spiritual maturity" in the man's house. If we openly talk about how easily deceived and led astray we are, and how we can't trust ourselves as far as we can throw ourselves, we are praised and lifted up as a spiritual example to all. The baffling irony is that in the very next breath, we proudly proclaim that we are "children of God." This is either irrefutable proof that God was loaded on LSD when He created us or that He just doesn't exist at all. Our belief in these lies and the teachings themselves are evidence that "the system" that runs and controls the institution of church is inherently atheist.

This fact becomes glaringly obvious every time we have a big fundraiser for our next building. We flat-out manipulate people for money by promising them prosperity and healing, or by using fear and condemnation. Once the carnal and terrified have pledged their life away, we rejoice and say, "Look what the Lord has done." The "Pledge Drive" alone is rooted in UNBELIEF. Seriously, if the man really believed in God, why would he do a pledge drive and pry the money out of the people?

The Man's God Complex

Unbelief exposes itself in many ways, but perhaps its most common and telling manifestation is when someone actually begins to believe that they are God. This is simply not possible unless you first believe that there is not another. This characteristic is unmistakably woven into the essence of the system that rules church. The man unashamedly calls himself the body of Christ, and he even refers to his building as the house of God. He has hijacked nearly every Christian custom in an attempt to divert all focus and attention to himself. To speak against the man is to speak against God Himself!

Over and over, I watch the man publicly proclaim his divinity and each time I am astounded at how readily people buy into it. I have family members who don't even think I'm a Christian any more because I quit going to the man's house every Sunday. The man has taught them that he is God and in their hearts they now believe it. He has fooled them into looking to him to supply all their needs. He 's successfully convinced an entire generation of his offspring of this terrible lie. Sadly, many people who attend his church actually came because they were sold on the idea of him rather than God. When the truth of God's heart is revealed to these people they are repelled because it goes against the heart of the man. It was the man they wanted from the beginning.

Unbelievably, the man has taught millions of people that he is, "The body of Christ." Anytime any scripture refers to "the body," the man has psychologically inserted himself into that role in the minds of the people. A term that so beautifully refers to believers everywhere, has now been stolen away by the man. Now the average Christian is taught that if they don't attend the man's services, they are "outside the body." How in the world has this happened?

Things that only God Himself is responsible for have been hijacked by the man and are now distributed as the man sees fit. Things like "spiritual food" that Christians need in order to survive, are now considered to be the sole responsibility of the man to distribute according to his wisdom. The man has taught the people that if they don't go to his house; they don't eat. This is the number one thing I hear from Christians of this generation. "I go to get fed," "Who will feed me if I don't go to church?" These statements are spoken without the slightest check in people's spirit, because the man has convinced them that he and he alone is their provider. In fact, they can't even pick up a spiritual fork and bring it to their own mouths any more. The man does it all while they sit there in their pews drooling and snorting like helpless infants.

The man warns us that we'll starve to death if we ever leave him. He tells us stories about others who left, and were reduced to skin and bones in a matter of weeks. Repentant runaways stand before us and testify about the world of famine that exists beyond the man's property line. They tell dreadful tales about the guy who foolishly attempted to handle a fork on his own, only to jab himself straight in the eyeball and nearly lose his vision forever. They plead with us not to try this at home. Just leave the spiritual feeding to the man.

They lovingly explain to us that because of our inner nature of ignorance and stupidity, we are quite likely to mistake a bowl of rusty razor blades for oatmeal, or a can of ignited gasoline for a glass of milk. What would we do then? There's no point even risking it because we're just too stupid. Being as dimwitted and simpleminded as the man has taught us we are, we would almost certainly be deceived by the first heretical teaching that came along. Why take a chance on accidentally selling mama's last cow to an evil stranger for a handful of magic beans? If you love mama, you'll just shut up and stay in church.

Since I left the institutional church almost five years ago, I have had no less than 300 sincere people sternly caution me concerning the dangerous position in which I've placed myself and my family. They'll ask me who my "covering" is, because in their minds, the only valid covering in all the world is the man. When I tell them that the man refusedtocover me so I asked God to do the job and He agreed, they shake with anger. I can literally see them burning in their hearts at me! Entire ministries have blackballed me because I wasn't under the covering of the man. Incredibly these people went from thinking I was IN danger without the man's covering to believing that I was A danger. Believe me when I tell you that the man has convinced today's Christians that he and he alone is God Almighty, and the overwhelming majority of them have bought into it hook, line, and sinker!

Even our worship to the Father has been confiscated and put under the man's authority. Christians today have been bred to believe that they must go to church to worship. Think about that one and consider the ramifications for just a moment. This underlying message that comes from the man is evidence of a God-complex and further evidence of a heart of unbelief that there even is a God.

I can almost audibly hear the sound of people reading these words and saying to themselves, "That's not true of me and my church. They have always taught us that worship is a lifestyle and we can do it every day." I said the man was an atheist, not a stupid atheist. He's like the abusive husband who pronounces the words "I love you" and then beats the hell out of his bride. Now her heart tells her he hates her, but in her head, she can never rightfully say he doesn't love her because he told her he did. For every 100 Christians who tell me that they don't need their church to worship God, about 95 NEVER worship Him unless they are in church. Our heart knows the truth, but our head believes the man.

The man believes he is God so much that he even directs all Christian giving unto himself and he does so without any regard for consequence. Giving means one thing to the system of church. It means give to the man. Every single Bible verse that has anything to do with giving is cleverly altered. Pastors twist verses that are clearly about giving to the poor, the hungry, the widows, the fatherless or the homeless, and when they're finished, it means GIVE TO THE MAN. Amazingly, the people scurry for their pocketbooks and race to oblige him. In fact he flat out declares publicly that when you give to the man you're giving to God Himself. What more proof do we need?

The man has made God the boogie man so that we would never have intimacy with God and leave the man. As long as we are afraid of God, but still need Him for heaven, we will need the IC to keep us in line with mindless and heartless rituals to just meet the mark to go to heaven. The grace message causes people to stand on their own and love him. Once that happens, people no longer need things like accountability to keep them in line. Grace threatens the very existence of the man and he knows it.

For many, learning to live life without the man is a difficult process. His superstitions have been drilled into their heads for years. Most people sincerely wonder if they can even survive apart from the man and an amazing number of folks find themselves running back to him the moment they feel insecure. They've been programmed to do exactly that. One of the reasons why I started the Free Believers Network is to provide a place where refugees can heal and learn to live apart from him. This is very much like a battered wives' shelter and your success depends on your resolve to live without the man.

Darin Hufford

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