PUT OUT OF THE SYNAGOGUE

By Pam Sheppard, author of "The Fake Jesus: Fallen Angels Among Us, Faces of the
Religious Demon, The Making of a Prophet: A Spiritual Indictment to the Organized
Church, To Curse the Root.

I am here to blow the trumpet in Zion. To sound an alarm that only the elect
shall here and heed. The Lord sounds the alarm in the endtimes saying, "Come out
of her (Mystery Babylon) my people, lest ye receive of her plagues." To some,
Mystery Babylon is a nation. This is partially true, yet I believe that Mystery
Babylon consists not only of a nation but also of the organized church in its
apostate, blasphemous condition.

I also suspect that there are only two ways "to come out of her." To be PUT OUT
or to be called out by God. In my case, both options applied. Jesus Himself
forwarned the elect of God that they would be "put out of their synagogues." (John
16:2) Most assuredly Jesus prepared His disciples to endure persecution while
they established His church after His Ascencion. History confirms the
fulfillment of the Lord's prediction, for free thinkers have been "put out of
the church" in every century. However, could the Lord's words be a prophetic
sign, not only to the beginning of the church age but also at the end of it?If the
church age is about to ebb, could it also be that dedicated churchgoers of our
time will also be called out and perhaps even "put out" of their local
assemblies and denominations?

In pursuit of a reflexion upon endtime signs, the purpose of this article is

twofold: first-to prepare and to calm the hearts of those who may be driven out
oftheir local churches and assemblies and second--to begin to explore the Lord's
"the new thing" which I believe the bible refers to as "the latter rain." It is my
contention that the latter rain is a final outpouring of the Holy Ghost on all
flesh, a move of God that I suspect will occur,for the most part, outside of
the organized church as we know it today, using as its foundation those who have
been "put out" of our present day "synagogue", the organized church.

IN the mid 80's , I was watching television and I saw a news clip of a huge line
that stretched around the corner from a NYC theater where Madonna was appearing.
I paid particular attention to this news flash, primarily because people had
brought folding cots to sleep on for days, so that they could be first in line. I
remember thinking, "they should be lining up like that for Jesus Christ." That
same night, I dreamed about a similar line. The line began at a theatre in my own
community, stretched down the highway to the NYS Thruway to the Selkirk exit
which is a 12 mile long line. Flying over the line and looking down at it, the
Holy Ghost and I had the following conversation. He said "Pam,do you see that
line down below? You are going to minister to every person you see standing on
that line." In my mind, this was inconceivable. I asked Him "where and how."
Then He flew me in an eastward direction, pointing down to a little complex,
declaring "from there." I asked, "how am I going to fit all of those people in
that little house?" He didn't answer and I woke up.

Several years later,I was sitting at my computer, and the Holy Ghost reminded me
of that dream. I was stunned. He interpreted the dream Himself. "Remember that
line of 12 miles in length? Remember you asked me how you were going to fit all of
those people in your house? Remember that when you dreamed this, you were living
west of the highway and not east of it? Well Pam, today you are living east of
the highway, and today you are ministering to hundreds each day from your website
while you"chat" and send emails from your computer, eat your dinner and even
while you are sleeping in your bed. As in that dream, those you minister to 24
and 7 are 'on line.'"
Even though computers had been around for years, I was unaware of them when I had
that dream in the 80's. They were not even using computers at my secular job in
those days. Even after I had my own personal PC both at work and at home, it took
a minute for me to get into the computer lingo,ie. "going on line", "download" or
"surfing the world wide web." So as I sat at my computer screen about 5 years
ago, the Holy Ghost interpreted my dream for me, letting me know that with a
computer, (with 12 being the number of fulfillment and completion), a 12 mile
long highway of people is a drop in the bucket when you are tallking about "the
world!!!".

So when I was confidentially apprised that the reginal director was planning to
come against my website , I knew that the time had come for my departure. In
short, the religious demon used the first woman ever to gain power within the
denomination in our region in 150 years to sabotage my website. Rose( not her
real name) covertly warned the Bishop, suggesting that my website should be
investigated. Due to the dream of the 12 mile line and the very recent
interpretation of it, I realized just how crucial the website was to my
ministry, a thing not to be tampered with by anyone. Wow!. It was really time to
go.Once a close friend, prayer partner and confidante, Rose instigated this "move
to put me out of the synagogue", assuming that she could hide her involvement
under anonymity, ie. that some unknown person on the world wide web had
complained to the Bishop. As such, Rose continued to grin in my face, pretending
that she had nothing at all to do with actually initiating the investigation
herself. As is the case with women new to organized church politics, another
woman minister that Rose confided in did not keep her secret. The second woman
revealed the secret plans to a male minister who behaved "like a friend to me".
The long and the short of it is that "I found out." Consequently, one whole
year before I left the church, I knew well in advance most of the details
concerning the denomination's "so called" investigation.

So about a month after a colleague "pulled my coat" to what was about to

transpire, the Bishop formed an investigative committee and conveniently
appointed Rose as the chairperson. A few secret meetings were held where Rose
handed the committee her investigation report a year later. Those on the
committee were also supposed to be "my friendly associates." However, they
passively accepted Rose's report and kept her secret. Committee members did not
really understand what was going on and they also did not care. Even though they
did not relish being a part of a secret plan to destroy another colleague's
ministry, "they went along with it all" to protect themselves. Religious politics
can be as cut-throat as its secular counterpart.

The "investigation" did not target deliverance counseling, the prayer line or
other links. The denomination's major anxiety was my role as a watchman on the
web. The leadership knew that they could not handle yet another lawsuit. What
if one of the "mega preachers" took the denomination to court over something I
might published about him or her on the website? The "megas" have loads of dollars
to employ teams of lawyers for years on end. As is often the case in religious
proceedings, the committee did not do its homework. Due to the fame and fortune
of public figures, tv evangelists are legally subject to public scrutiny, with
practically no holes barred on the internet. In fact, people without integrity
are making some of the most foul, outrageous, slanderous comments about mega
preachers on the web, with absolutely no fear of legal reprisals.

In truth, the website investigation was merely a smokescreen for the Bishop to
finally "PUT OUT" a minister that he considered to be one of the denomination's
bad pennies. Outside of the bishop,everyone else involved had their own motives
that evolved around fear, envy, competitiveness and ambition. In spite of evil
motives of the flesh, this entire fiasco was a good experience for my own
spiritual development. It was an experience that the Lord used to refine me within
the fire. So if you are either "put out" or "driven out," just know that the Lord
will not leave you or forsake you. In fact, He is really behind the whole thing,
as He warns in Rev. Ch: 18, "Come out of her, My people."

I don't usually share about this incident because it provides ammunition for
detractors. Those who seek to "skirt the truth" through excuses and denial,
invariably accuse me of being "bitter" and vindictive. Professing Christians who
refuse to even consider a view that may challenge their own, are always looking
for any rationalization that can assist them to remain blind. Even so, I share
this testimony today because I believe that it will help those of you who will
eventually be "put out of your church." When you are, my hope is that when you are
accused, you will not feel abused and react emotionally. Simply "watch, wait and
pray." Wait I say on the Lord, and He will direct your path."

Controversial, public ministry has its challenges. I have simply come to terms
with the inevitablity that people are going to believe what they choose to believe
as they minimize the truth and desensitized themselves to "what's goin on". Just
know this. My entire ministerial life, I was only a member and a minister in one
denomination. I have no need to reveal it because "who they are" is not
important. Only a microcosm, they remain bit players in the unfolding drama of
the entire organized church. Forgiveness was not difficult for me in this
instance and without any effort I was able to sincerely declare,"Forgive them
Father, for they know not what they do." Forgiveness also necessitates that we
"own up" and take responsibility for our own mistakes. In my particular case, I
understand why the Bishop desired for a long time to "put me out of the
synagogue!" . In his mind, I was bringing charismatic practices into the
denomination that he loves---- whose traditions he is dedicated to protect. Yet,
he neither protested nor did he take a stand when his own wife began to recommend
a book to the entire denomination,--- a book authored by a well known
charismatic whose character has recently been publicly exposed.

Email commentaries that I receive from you the reader frequently mention
"my transparency." Here's the deal. I can share as I do primarily because I have
no one to fear except God Himself. In other words, no one can hurt me by my self
disclosure. I will never run for political office. I seek nothing from you. I do
not seek your tithes and offerings. Nor am I seeking a following to join me in
ministry. If you buy a book that sells for $25, the ministry gains $2. With
little to gain and nothing to lose, I can be an open book without the
anticipation of reprisals from anyone. Therefore, I lose no sleep over being
"transparent." My primary goal is that each reader gleans and benefits from the
rough road that I have travelled as a born again believer in Christ Jesus for 31
years. Hopefully, my self disclosure will alert you to avoid some of the pitfalls.
I consider my job to be easy primarily because I don't take more upon myself then
I am called to do. In fact, I sleep 10 hours a day. All that is required of me
is to remain on the web and the Holy Ghost does the rest.The Lord's yoke is truly
easy and His burden is certainly light in my life today. I don't even have to
wrestle with demons face to face, as people are being delivered over the
telephone, all around the world. day and night.

In truth, the Holy Ghost is my only covering. I don't have to worry about
regional directors, bishops, or secular bosses and administrators or a husband to
stand in my way. Not that I am against marriage. I simply no longer have the
commodity of time to learn the ways of yet another man so as to be his helper.
Even though I am transparent, I make it a practice NOT to share the experiences
of family, the local sheepfold and other personal associates without their
permission. If I share my professional experiences with a client in counseling,
the background of the client is camouflaged with no identifying information
disclosed. Most important, no human being controls my income or my livelihood.
Therefore, I am free to be an open book. It took years to get here and I relished
it. As a state government worker, I once had to be closed and cautious but those
days are over. The way I determine "what to share" is by the perceived needs of
you, the reader. If I believe that exposing myself could possibly help you,
then I share. If I don't, then I keep my sins and my personal business between
me and God. Only with Him am I completely transparent.

Another reason why no person can pull my strings, is that I have never been
"fearful." A fighter by nature, the overcoming of hostile emotions is truly a
major part of my victory for believe me, I have never been a victim, not even as
an African American. In all of my years, no white person has ever called me the
"N" word. Of course, racism has been a part of every black person's life and none
of us can say that we have never been exposed to it or affected by it but Jesus
Christ healed me long ago of all hatred, vengence and reverse racism. In fact, I
do not know people after the flesh but after the spirit. So clearly and in all
good conscience, by "putting me out," no one in the denomination had the power to
cause me to feel victimized or even mildly resentful. For 25 years, church
leaders were basically pleasant, as they tried to mask their feigned acceptance
and politely hidden distaste for me behind hypocritical pleasantries that
were not difficult for me to discern. Because I preached against a tolerance of
sin, I certainly did not expect to be "enthusiastically embraced," for the word
of God prepared me to expect persecution for standing for righteousness. Even
so, if I did not allow it, no one would have been able to "put me out"of the
denomination if I chose to stay,not even the bishop himself.

They all knew this about me so everything was implemented under a veil of
secrecy through channels of "proper protocol". Those involved were completely
unaware that I too was secretly watching them as I "peaked through their veil
of lies and cover-ups."This is quite an accomplishment for a person like me. By
nature, I am a bold, fearless confronter. In fact, I had a knick name among my
secular peers who were all male but one. Spoken with affection and respect, the
men I worked with for 17 years referred to me as "the woman with gonads."
Consequently, it is truly not in the nature of my flesh to just sit back and
watch weak,tongue in cheek, half steppin so called ministers and church leaders
"schemin" behind my back without my own initiation of a vociferous
counterattack. In my flesh, I am the kind of person who actually loves a verbal
fight and it is built into my personality to confront people face to face. The
pride nature of my flesh is relentless upon a perceived enemy. In fact, my
father used to say, "Pam, you should have been a lawyer." I disagree. Unlike a
lawyer, I only contend with what I perceive to be "the truth."

Yet as I quietly observed the mendacity of "church folk" , I learned how to be as

wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove. My ability to trust God literally
soared. He opened my spiritual eyes to every scheme that the enemy was planning
against me and I simply "stood still", pretended I was blind, as I quietly
watched, waited and prayed. Successful at leaning on Him completely, I learned how
to "give up a fight" as well as how to put a battle into His Hands. Over the
years, I have observed that the enemy usually defeats me by drawing me into
meaningless, unwinnable batles. He will use this tactic with assertive people, so
"BEWARE!" His strategy is to pick a fight with the strong, -----a fight that he
knows is not worth the victory or for circumstances hidden from you, you have no
means of winning. Then when he challenges you, he knows your style. The usual
pattern of the strong is "not to back down." His tactic is to attack intensely
and repeatedly, in order to fool you into thinking, "wow, the devil is fighting
me so hard on this matter, this battle must be real important to the Lord, so I
won't let up either." This is what he wants you to think so that you will hold
on to what is actually of no value and waste time and energy that could have been
reserved for the real battles.

I learned the intricacies of this particular "wile of the devil" because this
strategy has been used against me numerous times. In my case, demons bank on
the fact that I do not naturally throw in the towel. Well, this time, they out
foxed themselves. I didn't have to throw in the towel because I simply "refused
to fight" in the first place. As a result, I was flooded with the peace of God
throughout the entire year my website was "secretly under investigation." I agree
with Paul. When I restrained my own human might, then the Lord stepped in with
His.

How was I able to restrain myself? Simple. It was the signs THAT I DID NOT SEEK,
YET THE LORD SENT THEM. Besides the sign of the "12 mile line," I had so many
signs over the years that as soon as my so-called friend set the plan in motion,
I immediately understood that the time had come for me to leave. "I HAD to go."
Actually, a week before these events transpired, I had a dream where I was
informed that if I did not come out, the Lord would not be able to use me---I
would be like a candlestick hidden under a mattress. This is what I discerned in
the spirit--- I saw a snuffed out light. The snuffed out light was ME if I put up
a fight to stay.

I also understood that the Lord did not want me to leave by a personal
resignation. As a fulfillment of prophesy, the Holy Ghost desired that the
denomination " PUT ME OUT." In the final dream on these matters, I was compared to
John the Baptist---shown how Rose had become "a head hunter." With fifteen years
seniority in ministry over Rose, I myself played a significant role in both be-
friending and supporting Rose in her new and unprecedented appointment to church
leadership, never expecting that she would be the person who would eventually be
the one who would drive me out of the denomination. As I watched Rose in the
spirit, she metaphorically put my ministerial head on the chopping block.
With signs like these, I said to myself, "Pam, you are about to get your head
chopped off with "a Judas kiss". Just sit back and watch what the Lord does."

I didn't have long to wait. The very next day,I got the phone call. On June
17,2004, the Bishop led the assembled church body of about 150 of my ministerial
peers to unanimously vote to remove me from the denomination's rolls.

Surely, I always had a choice. I could have prevented being "put out" by simply
showing up to the required meeting. None of them would have had the guts to put
me out face to face. In addition, I could have obeyed them and simply deleted
the watchman pages of "TV Trouble" and "Beware Christian" from
http://www.healingwaterscc.com/ As much as some people wanted me "gone," no one
could have legally put me out with cause if "I myself didn't provide the cause."
Actually, I was not removed from the rolls because of the website. I was
officially "put out" because I did not send in my annual dues of $660, nor did I
attend a required annual meeting. I had spoken to the Bishop and asked to be
excused, but when he arrived at the floor of the gathering, he "implied" that "I
did not contact him and therefore he had not excused me from the meeting," when
"he did." Without anything in writing, it was his word against mine. I could have
brought him up on charges as well, but such an action would have hindered the
Lord's plan for my departure.

Other than for the website incident, I was not bothered by anyone in the
denomination. As such, I was relatively free to function in my ministry with
minimal hindrances for several years. Without a doubt, I truly loved the
denominational flock and I still do. The problem was that I had received too many
signs over two decades of time. It is my heart's desire to be obedient to God and
to man, if and only if man's way is not in rebellion to God's will . My decision
to allow the denomination to "put me out" was based upon one question that I had
to ask myself."Pam, do you want to be a part of the latter rain or do you want to
remain in a dry, barren place?"

I chose the rain.