Book Club Pressures
One church that I was a member of had a women’s group that established a reading book club. The women read various books on spirituality which included but were not limited to demonology, deliverance, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Jezebel spirit, prayer and intercession, and a host of other topics. Because of my work schedule, I did not partake of these meetings very often, but when I did, I often felt like a fish out of water.
There seemed to be an air of superiority when it came to certain topics the women discussed, and any newer members to the group that added any knowledge about topics were greatly scrutinized by their spoken words. Yet, at the same time, the women perceived to be in power skimmed off of the knowledge of everyone. Then they would use what they learned to teach to others outside of the group and outside of the church.
Certain members of the group frowned upon some of the reading material, the sharing of information, and the growing bond that some of the women were forming with each other. Those elite members who did not care for the book club ideas took their grievances to the pastor. The pastor then gave forth so-called revelations from God to the church members about what was going on.
In essence, the pastor and the leadership team wanted to put a stop to the book club by censoring most of the reading material. The pastor mentioned that it was noticed by leadership that a growing number of people were subscribing to books instead of to the word of God. So after an initial speech and sermon on the matter, the pastor and leadership designated “spies” who reported back all that took place during the book club meetings.
One of the last of the very few times I was a part of this book club, I listened to some of the women go back and forth about particular topics of discussion. The leader of the club had opened up a forum of discussion pertaining to certain books that the church leaders decided should be banned from reading. Although a few women mentioned their concerns, there was nothing that anyone could do to stop the banning of these books in the club.
If a church rules that certain books be banned from being read within the confines of their church walls, then that is their right to do so as a church. However, further problems occurred in this book club when the pastor and leadership team decided to regulate the reading materials within members’ homes. This was not their right. What I choose to read in my home is my business. If no one else saw a red flag, I did.
Mainly, I ignored this church’s rules when it came to what I chose to do with my time outside of the church. For doing so, I faced a lot of the pastor’s wrath, but I held firm as did so many others to the point that a showdown occurred during a week night bible study meeting. During the meeting, one member had been reading a book on spiritual warfare and had the book inside of a mesh pocket of a duffle bag. The pastor saw it and apparently addressed the member about it prior to the start of the meeting. What happened next was mind-blowing.
Instead of the bible study remaining on a continued topic, the pastor used that hour of time to collect inventory about the types of books within members’ possessions. Many members blindly gave up their supposed book counts and titles, but me and a few others were incredulous to this intrusion into our private lives and chose to remain silent. Although I had nothing to hide about the types of spiritual books I read, I realized that this peer into the lives of church members was nothing more than a way to control the intake of information.
The pastor and leadership were concerned with losing control of the members. They did not want members ascribing to book theology that they considered to be erroneous. Yet, it turned out more of being their way of gaining access to what members learned outside of the church and how members interacted with each other in doing so as well. Directly stated, the pastor wanted accountability from members about the books they were reading. So a book collection drive was started to carry this project out.
I chose not to join the book collection drive. The books I had purchased were not only useful to me but had been expensive to part with in that moment. Although I enjoyed learning and researching for its own sake, during this particular time period in my life, I was on a quest to understand my spiritual experiences. Reading books regarding spiritual topics was my favorite past time. So imagine the horror of having to part with books by taking them to the congregation and giving them away.
In reality, though, we were not giving them away to anyone but the pastor and leadership. I was unsure of their plans, but they had no intentions of returning the books to the members. They wanted to peruse the contents and decide on what they believed was true and false as it compared to what they believed as if members could not make such determinations themselves. The pastor and leadership team wanted to destroy the books.
Most of the books I had interests in were far too deep for me to even want to discuss with this particular group of church members because the books would have indeed been considered controversial based on the information I gleaned from the women’s group. Anything wrapped around controversy made a member a target of public bashing and innuendos. I did not want any part of that. So I chose not to participate at all.
Despite the push from the leaders that the book collection drive was scriptural, I found no such biblical basis for it. We were not Ephesians, and I personally did not need to prove to the church my allegiance to God by showing them my books. In fact, the true purpose of the leaders wanting to have a book collection drive in the first place had very little to do with allegiance God. I would find this out soon enough.
Find out what happened in the next post.
My Voice Unchained 