Red Flags In Church Leaders, Pt. 1

One major red flag in any leader within the church is a leader who despises cats.

Let me explain.

Cats, as a whole, are very independent creatures. Anyone who says "I'd never have a cat. They wouldn't do as I say." Tells me they are a controlling and manipulative person. Now, controlling and manipulative people arent exclusively cat haters. But cat haters are 100% controlling or manipulative. Its like rectangles and squares - controlling and manipulative is to rectangles as cat haters are to squares.

Lets add in some theology here. Jesus is the Lion of Judah - a cat comparison. We see Jesus go and do as He pleases according to the Father's will and the religious affiliates and the leaders within the religious communities did not care for the independence occurring, nor their "underminded authority." Any leader who hates cats would quite probably have hated Jesus soley due to their inability to control Him. Not exactly a good quality to have in someone who is claiming to lead how God wishes.

Now, don't get me wrong, there could possibly be some church leader out there who absolutely despises all cats (and I mean despise. Not "they stay in their space I stay in mine." Not grumpy Dad with pet he didn't want vibe. Not even someone anti animal period. We are talking 100% utterly despises cats, specifically, with burning hatred kinda of vibes. Where you mention cats to this person and the whole mood shifts to a tense and negative atmosphere kind of person) and they be perfectly able to listen and obey God regardless of their personal views of what they got told. I imagine one of those kinds of worship leaders would appear when the 80s and below generation of Wildcat fans lets go of the 1992 UK v Duke Basketball game.

Regardless, the point is the biggest red flag any church leader could have is an inability to be ok with not being in control. Anyone who spends time correcting and rebuking their sheep 24/7 or anyone who gets told about a personal decision made by a congreation member that the leader disagrees with and doesnt pause to ask God whether they need to state anything on the matter or not, is someone to avoid like the plague. Because these people always evolve further and further into cult leaders every year they do not abide by rebukes or they wrangle congregations to hardly push back on any iffy statement or decision made by church leaders. And cult like behavior, in regards to a leader having an iron fist to keep control, is not Godly.

Not once did we see Jesus push, force himself, make someone do something, nor rebuke everyone and their mother on the life they are living during His time on Earth. In the Old Testament, we even see multiple instances where God allowed His mind to be pursuaded towards change to take in accounts the desires and wishes of His people - from Abraham's prayer for Sodom to God providing a speaker for Moses to soothe his fears on speaking to allowing His people to kick His Son out of towns for speaking the truth. God has, not once, removed the free will of a person through manipulation nor coercion of punishment (when I say punishment, I am not speaking of a natural consequences such as God not preventing events already in motion due to yours or other's actions after telling Him to f* off nor the consequences of being warned what events will occur due to poor decisions being made. Those are no different than someone going up to a CEO to say "hey if we buy this, we will be bankrupt. We shouldn't do it" and the CEO ignoring the warning. Because then thats on the CEO for ignoring the warnings and wisdom provided. Nor are punishments when God directly states to someone these are due to xyz as this is more parenting very specific types of people and is a discussion for a different day).

Any leader who seeks to have minions in the church who tell them how wonderful, amazing, God ordained they are and then seeks to twist the congreation into an image of their own making is a black flag of death to run far away from. I would argue that, even if this is the only red flag showcased, that people should still flee this church leader foe their own mental health, safety, and possible physical health.

Until next time-

Stay Blessed (with only some stress),

Kefira