09/10/2026
💣 When Pastors and Churches start acting like “The Mob.” 🔫
Sometimes I wonder if we’ve forgotten the difference between being a genuine church family and becoming “the family.”
There seems to be a contingency of folks in the Church who don’t act much differently than the mob—or, for that matter, a gang.
You’re welcomed into “the family,” loved, celebrated, and embraced—as long as you remain loyal to the family. But decide it’s time to leave, disagree with leadership, ask uncomfortable questions, or speak honestly about something that happened, and suddenly somebody puts out a spiritual “hit” on you.
“Blood in, blood out” is a term associated with gang culture—the idea that once you’re in, you’re in, and getting out comes with consequences. Sadly, some church cultures can begin to operate with their own version of “blood in, blood out.” You’re family when you come in, but try to leave and suddenly you’re treated like an enemy.
And then there’s “the code of silence.” Don’t talk about what happened. Don’t question the leadership. Keep family business inside the family. Protect the organization and its reputation at all costs. And if somebody does speak up, instead of honestly examining whether what they’re saying is true, sometimes the first response is to discredit the person saying it.
Sometimes Holy Scripture itself gets weaponized to defend leadership rather than examine what actually happened. “Touch not God’s anointed.” “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.” Or the conversation gets shut down with, “God told me.”
But I have an honest question… Why is questioning church leadership considered “touching God’s anointed,” while that same leadership apparently has permission to “touch” everyone else?
And while we’re at it, “Touch not My anointed” was NEVER a biblical command forbidding people from questioning church leadership surrounding questionable conduct. In context, it was about God protecting His people from those who would harm them. Asking a pastor a legitimate question about finances, their conduct, or accountability is not “touching God’s anointed.”
We are ALL anointed! What does that mean? At its simplest, to be anointed means to be set apart by God and empowered by His Spirit for His purposes. Every born-again believer has the mighty Holy Spirit Himself living on the inside of them. We are all temples of His glorious presence. That doesn’t mean we all have the same calling, gifting, or responsibility in the Body of Christ. We don’t. But the person behind the pulpit doesn’t have a special claim on the Holy Spirit that the people sitting in the congregation don’t have. Leadership should be honored, but the same Holy Spirit who lives in the pastor lives in every born-again believer.
“But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.” — 1 John 2:20 CSB
“Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” — 1 Corinthians 3:16 CSB
So if we’re going to talk about being careful how we “touch God’s anointed,” maybe we should remember who God’s anointed are. We are ALL His people—from the pulpit to the pew. Pastors, leaders, elders, volunteers, and the person sitting quietly in the back row—we all belong to Jesus. His people are precious to Him, and nobody becomes less precious to Him because they walked out the doors of one particular church.
Someone asks legitimate questions about financial accountability, leadership decisions, moral conduct, or something that happened behind closed doors, and suddenly they’re rebellious, dishonorable, divisive, or dangerous. But leadership can publicly question their character, attack their motives, warn others about them, or use the pulpit to take shots at them—and somehow that isn’t considered “touching God’s anointed”?
Scripture should never be used as a weapon to protect ourselves from accountability, and “God told me” should never become a spiritual trump card that makes a leader unquestionable.
Then there’s LOYALTY. In the mob, loyalty to “the family” and “the boss” is everything. Unfortunately, that mentality can creep into churches too. Loyalty to a pastor can quietly become more important than loyalty to the truth. And sometimes simply remaining friends with someone who left “the family” is enough to make people question your loyalty too.
Sometimes the pulpit itself becomes the weapon. When people leave a church, or decide they can no longer sit under a particular pastor’s leadership, their leaving itself becomes the proof that something must be wrong with them. Their character is questioned, their motives are assigned, and before long they’re being labeled rebellious, dangerous, “marked,” or even “cursed.” All because they dared to leave “the family.”
People do not belong to pastors. They belong to Jesus. A local church is part of the Body of Christ, but it is not the entire Body of Christ. Leaving your church does not necessarily mean someone has left God, missed God, rebelled against God, or abandoned “the family.”
Paul had to correct this very mindset…
“For whenever someone says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ and another, ‘I belong to Apollos,’ are you not acting like mere humans?” — 1 Corinthians 3:4 CSB
Paul’s answer was essentially… We’re servants. God is the One who gives the growth.
Pastors are shepherds under the Chief Shepherd, Jesus. We are entrusted with His sheep; we don’t own them. If someone leaves, we should love them. Reach for them when appropriate. Try to reconcile genuine hurts. Pray for them. Bless them. And if God is leading them somewhere else, release them without trying to destroy their reputation on the way out.
And if someone has legitimate concerns about leadership, those concerns should not automatically be labeled as rebellion, dishonor, offense, or an “Absalom spirit.”
Truth should never be afraid of examination.
The Church isn’t the mob. There should never be a spiritual “hit” put out on someone because they left “the family.”
They’re still family whether you put out a spiritual “hit” on them or not. They still belong to Jesus, just like you do. They’re still part of His Body. Changing church gatherings doesn’t change that.
Jesus is the Head of the Church. It’s His family. Maybe it’s time we all start acting like family and try to sort things out the Jesus way.
W.❤️
