deconstruction of faith – Sons of Issachar

497. Escaping the Cult of Fear-Based Religion

Mike Parsons –

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Deconstruction has continued to go on all the way through that period, so that I could be free from the religious perspectives that had kept me in bondage; kept me from knowing the true nature of God, the true nature of myself as a son of God and the true nature of creation and all of the wonderful things that we have embraced as being part of that. But it’s not an easy thing. You know, I’ve got to be honest, it is indoctrination.

People who have been in a cult and come out of that cult, it’s very difficult to get the cult out of them. They have to go through a process of deprogramming, which is not easy because the programs are based on reward and fear, which is exactly what the evangelical programming is based on. Fear of hell, fear of losing your salvation, fear of being punished, fear, fear, fear. But perfect love casts out fear. So where is God within that?

479. Unmasking Fear: How Religion Manipulates Belief

342. “God Punishes Those He Loves!”

254. Restored to Sonship

495. The Implosion of a Religious Mind

Mike Parsons –

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One by one all those pillars began to collapse and fall. Augustinianism was another pillar. I mean, I’ve never studied Augustine. I knew a little bit about Augustine and but I never studied him. I didn’t know what Augustinianism was. So I had to go and look it up.

When God said, “One of the pillars is Augustinianism,” I thought “How did I get that as a mindset?” Because it was embraced within Brethrenism and other streams of thought.

Hebrew mindsets, Greek mindsets, both included within the pillar system of my mind. Again, I thought, how did I get those? Because they’re based within the system of teaching that I had received all the way through.

So eventually when all those pillars collapse, what is there now?

The Mind of Christ.

363. Deconstructing the Pillars of Your Mind

490. Can Changing One Belief Change Everything?

Mike Parsons

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“Do you want me to remove these pillars from your mind?” asked the Father.

I believe six of them were religious pillars, and three were cultural or scientific. It was then that I realised these pillars were framing how I viewed the world and understood reality around me.

The first and strongest pillar was evangelicalism. He removed that one first, shaking me to the core by taking it away. Every evangelical thought I had was challenged, especially the idea of penal substitutionary atonement, which was the first belief to be questioned. God didn’t just take the pillar out; he shook it, challenging my beliefs and creating instability in my belief system around those topics. And penal substitutionary atonement was the first to go.

363. Deconstructing the Pillars of Your Mind

299. PSA Sounds Nothing Like Jesus! (Penal Substitutionary Atonement [1])

250. Pillars In My Mind

304. Wrath is not the solution | Penal Substitutionary Atonement [2]

482. Is Your Heart Aligned with God’s Kingdom or Culture?

Mike Parsons

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There are many questions we should be asking and signs we should be looking for. If God is doing something—like Enoch appearing or other unusual things—what is that about? I cannot give a hard, fast answer, but I do believe God is challenging us to think and to question what we believe. What are the foundations of our lives and the way we live? Are they kingdom foundations, or are they cultural?

If they are cultural and oppose God’s kingdom, which is love, then we must ask, where is my heart? Is it aligned with God’s heart, or with the culture where I live? I do not want to be known culturally as British. Yes, I was born in Britain, it is on my passport, but I do not want to be subject to the culture of Britain if it is anti-kingdom. I would never call myself a British Christian, or even a Christian. I just want to be seen as a follower of God, of the Father.

So, what might cause me to have views which may be contradictory to the kingdom? We need to ask: what has shaped my life, my thinking, my belief systems, my worldview? Are they aligned with God’s heart, or do they need deconstruction? I see three main areas where God is challenging people (there may be more): religious deconstruction, political deconstruction, and financial deconstruction. A friend of mine said God was taking him through those things, and I realised he was doing the same with me. I now know to look at things differently in those areas and make sure that I am not thinking in a cultural way that puts me into contradiction to God.

So, financially, my views have changed from religious rules about tithing to simply asking, “God, what do you want me to do?” Politically, I had to face assumptions about why I voted as I did. I had assumed God agreed with me, but he showed me I had never asked him. I had to be completely unravelled and deconstructed in that area. Now I ask, “Is there a way you want me to vote?” And if he says it does not matter, then I examine my own heart and motives. Each of us may have a different way of looking at that question.

God wants our whole mindset aligned with the kingdom and with one another, to become one mind, the mind of Christ. That requires major shifts, deconstruction, and honest questioning of why we think, believe and act as we do. Most people never really consider these things, but I believe it is part of the process God is taking us through so that heaven can be established on earth.

For the past ten years, God has been deconstructing most of my old assumptions. My thinking has changed in many areas. This does not mean there are simple answers, because each of us must discover what God is asking of us in our own sonship. But it does mean we must begin to make decisions based not on selfishness, economics or cultural conditioning, but on God’s heart.

Strong opinions are often shaped by culture rather than by God. Even in raising my children, I tried to let them think for themselves, yet they still reflected my political views. That made me wonder whether I had been more vocal than I thought. The key is not to pass on political perspectives but to help people find God’s heart.

Some people vote based on economics, others on compassion, but the real question is whether our choices reflect God’s heart or merely our conditioning. I am not convinced God is as invested in political systems as solutions as we might think. Much of the prophetic movement seems to have become politicised in a way it never was 20 years or so ago, perhaps out of disillusionment when promised revivals did not happen as expected. Whatever the reason, it seems to have become blind to the real issues in some way…

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288. Enoch’s Secret to Walking with God

241. You Have Not Desired

277. On Earth as in Heaven

435. One of the Saddest Things

Mike Parsons

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What you’ve experienced, no one can challenge—unless you let them. I don’t need to enter arguments or debates about theology because I’ve encountered the living God face to face, and I know him. No one will convince me of anything other than that God is love, no matter what theology or doctrines they use to try and challenge me. I know God is love.

Here’s a quote from Keith Giles—one of my favourites—from the Gospel of Philip. And yes, there are other gospels beyond what’s in the Bible. If you’re interested, I’d encourage you to explore some of them—with discernment, of course. These texts can offer insight into truths that aren’t necessarily in the canon of Scripture. That doesn’t make them wrong.

The quote says: “If you become whole, you will be filled with light. But if you’re divided, you will be filled with darkness.” That’s not a legalistic rule-following salvation message. It’s not a rule—it’s an invitation to transformation. As we are transformed, we are transfigured—filled with light. But if we’re broken, fragmented, divided, then we experience elements of darkness that limit who we really are. We are beings of light, made in the image of God—who is light.

The Gospel of Philip doesn’t offer easy answers, and that’s what makes it powerful. It invites us into the mystery. It invites us on a journey rather than offering a neat doctrine. Isn’t that what faith is really about? Don’t settle for doctrine or theology—go on a journey to experience the mystery, the intimacy of God himself.

He is the light that lights every man who comes into the world. That’s in the Bible. Everyone has the light of Jesus—the light of life. Some know it, some don’t. But the gospel is that all will know it. That’s the message we carry: that all will come to know. And we want them to know now—not to wait until their deathbed or even after they’ve died. We want them to step into the fullness of who they really are now, and to know that God is with them and in them.

If you claim to teach grace, but add a condition—a caveat that requires self-effort to receive it—you’ve left grace and entered the land of mixture. As Paul said, that’s another gospel. Don’t fall into it. Don’t believe a gospel that places conditions on grace or love. There is nothing we need to do to receive it. We simply accept it. There’s nothing we can do to make it true—it already is.

When people say the Bible is their authority, what they’re really saying is their interpretation of the Bible is their authority. That was me for much of my Christian life. I believed the Bible was my authority—but which version? Which interpretation? My own? Or what I was taught and conditioned to believe growing up?

SERIES INFORMATION: This video is an excerpt from Mike's current teaching series, Restoring First Love. Get the full length videos every month, only at eg.freedomarc.org/first-love

One of the saddest things

One of the saddest things I’ve seen on Facebook was a quote from Paul Washer, a pastor in the Southern Baptist tradition. He said, “The moment you take your first step through the gates of hell, the only thing you will hear is all of creation standing on its feet, applauding and praising God because God has rid the earth of you.” That, to me, is the saddest thing I’ve ever heard. It so completely contradicts the reality of who God is and what his love is like.

I looked the guy up. He pastors something called “Grace Community Church.” If that’s not the biggest oxymoron I’ve ever heard, I don’t know what is. Someone who read the quote wrote, “It’s not the guy I have a problem with—he’s sincerely saying what he believes to be true, and for him, it feels compassionate to share it that way. The issue is the distorted portrait of God being painted with these horrible words. Think about it: God is obligated to torture you forever because you’re worthless and unholy? A holy, just God must rid the earth of you—a divine image-bearer—and all creation will stand and worship when it happens? How could something be so utterly wrong?”

It’s wrong because the people who created that doctrine never met the Father face to face. They only studied the Bible and believed what they were told it says. But when the only thing you’ve received is the Father’s love, the only thing you can give is the Father’s love. No judgment. No hate. No “us vs them.” God treats you as his child, the apple of his eye, the treasure of his heart. You are loved unconditionally. You don’t have to perform to earn that love. And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

When the only thing you receive is the Father’s love, that becomes the key to everything. The Father’s love is what brings change and transformation in us so that we can love as we have been loved.

Here’s another quote, this time from Brian Zahnd: “We all make errors in our theology—you and me both. So my recommendation is to err on the side of love.” Why? Because God is not doctrine. God is not denomination. God is not war. God is not law. God is not hate. God is not hell. God is love.

Let’s focus on that reality: God is love. That is the truth. That is the reality. God is love. There is never a time when God isn’t thinking about you. You were on his mind before the foundation of the world. His thoughts toward you are always good.

Unconditional love doesn’t demand a choice or decision. It simply loves. It accepts. It includes. Jesus included everyone in his death so that everyone would be included in his resurrection. He saved the whole world—not just some, not just those alive in his time, but all of mankind. All who have lived, and all who ever will live. All died with him. All have been resurrected with him. That is the power of the gospel.

If we want to discover truth, we must be willing to set aside comforting illusions and traditional preconceptions. We must let truth declare itself to us. The whole truth. Nothing but the truth. As Don Keathley says, “Be willing for truth to challenge what you currently or previously believed.” Don’t cling so tightly to doctrine and theology that it keeps you from the truth—and keeps you in bondage

Mike’s latest book, Unconditional Love, is out now as an ebook on our website and will soon be available to order in paperback from your local or online bookseller.