My Theology Got Cooked: The High Cost of a 'Good' Detour
The Danger of 'Good' Decisions
I've got something burning on my heart today, something the Lord won't let me shake until I share it with you.
Lately, as many of you know, Susan and I have been running hard for the Lord. We've seen His faithfulness on the streets of Troy and Daleville, Alabama. We've ministered in nursing homes and seen the peace of Jesus touch people. I've even had the privilege of leading worship for a men's fellowship. God is moving, and we are seeing real, tangible fruit. It's a blessed season.
But as I was praying about what to share, the Holy Spirit didn't bring up these recent victories. Instead, He brought back a powerful, painful memory from a few years ago. It was a moment that didn't just teach me a lesson... it completely cooked my theology. It exposed a massive flaw in my walk, and the price for learning it was steep. I believe the Lord wants me to share this with you, not just as a testimony, but as a sober, prophetic warning for every believer who is walking closely with Him in this hour.
We all want to do good things, right? As Christians, we're taught to be helpful, to bear one another's burdens, to have a servant's heart. But what happens when a "good" thing, a "helpful" act, is actually a spiritual detour? What happens when that "yes" you give to a friend is a "no" you're giving to a divine assignment? I learned firsthand that the consequences aren't just missed opportunities... they can be catastrophic, opening the door to spiritual backlash, demonic attack, and the complete abortion of a ministry assignment.
The Indianapolis Incident: A Commitment Without Counsel
The story begins a few years ago in Indianapolis. Susan and I had committed to a ministry we'd never worked with before to do a homeless outreach. Our time was set apart. We were prayed up, focused, and ready to serve. This was our assignment.
Then the phone rang. It was a friend.
"Hey Conrad, could you do me a huge favor? I really need some help moving furniture."
Without a second thought, without a moment of prayer, I said, "Yes."
Why wouldn't I? It's just helping a friend. It's a "good" thing to do. I figured it would be a quick detour, a simple act of service, and then we'd get right back to the "real" ministry of the homeless outreach. It seemed harmless. It seemed right. It was, in fact, a devastating mistake.
The 'Quick' Detour That Changed Everything
I want you to pause and think about how often we do this. We have our God-given assignment... raising our kids, working our job as unto the Lord, preparing for a ministry, or even just our committed time of prayer and study. And then the phone rings. An email pops up. A "quick" request comes in. It seems good. It seems helpful. And just like me, we say "yes" without ever consulting the One who gave us our primary assignment.
My "yes" was a prayerless decision. I had already committed my time, energy, and spiritual focus to the Lord for the homeless outreach. This new "yes" was a violation of that prior commitment. I had, in effect, made a new covenant with a "side event" without seeking the counsel of my King. And the spiritual world, which operates on legal principles we often ignore, took notice immediately.
The Immediate Spiritual Backlash
Within one minute of hanging up that phone, I was hit. It wasn't a subtle feeling. It was two distinct, intense, agonizing pains in my body. It was so severe I could barely walk. This was not a pulled muscle. This was not a random cramp. This was pointed. It was precise. It was an attack.
That debilitating pain lingered all day and all through the night. I was mystified, confused, and in agony. I was trying to figure out what I had done, what door I had opened. But the connection wasn't clicking.
The 3:30 AM Wake-Up Call
Then, at 3:30 in the morning, the Lord woke me up. It wasn't a gentle nudge; it was an alarm. And His voice was perfectly clear in my spirit: "You know those are demons, don't you?"
In that instant, it all made sense. The phone call. The prayerless "yes." The immediate pain. My theology, which had been a bit fuzzy on this, was suddenly "cooked" into sharp focus. I had stepped out from under the Psalm 91 covering of my divine assignment. My disobedience, my presumption, had given the enemy a legal right to "buffet" me. This supernatural Christian life we're called to is real. The authority is real, the assignments are real, and the spiritual backlash is also very, very real.
Biblical Precedent: The Gibeonite Deception
As I was processing this, the Lord immediately brought a story to my mind, one that perfectly mirrored my own failure: Joshua and the Gibeonites.
Remember the context. God had given Joshua a crystal-clear mission. He had just told them: "Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, 'Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess.'" (Joshua 1:11 KJV). The assignment was clear. The command from God was even more specific: "Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst." (Exodus 34:11-12 KJV).
No covenants. No side-deals. No mercy for the "inhabitants of the land." The mission was total possession.
Then, the Gibeonites show up. They're inhabitants of the land, but they're deceptive. They come with moldy bread, worn-out sacks, and old wine bottles. They look pitiful. They look harmless. They present a "good" reason to be spared. And what does Joshua do? Something along the lines of what I did.
"...and the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD. And Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them." (Joshua 9:14-15 KJV).
They "asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD." That was the failure. They trusted their own eyes, their own logic, their own "good" intentions. And my "yes" to helping my friend move furniture? That was my Gibeonite deception. It was a "harmless" request that looked like the right thing to do. But I, too, "asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD." I made a covenant with a "side event," and in doing so, I had just allowed a "snare in the midst" of my primary, God-given mission.
Repentance, Warfare, and a Lingering Lesson
There at 3:30 in the morning, I repented. I got on my face and asked God to forgive me for my presumption, for my disobedience, for walking by my own "good" sense instead of by His Spirit. I confessed my sin of making a prayerless commitment that violated my assignment.
Then, I moved into authority. I wasn't just a victim; I was a disobedient son, but a son nonetheless, with the name of Jesus. I took authority over those two demonic spirits that were causing the pain, and I commanded them to leave. One left immediately. The other one, however, required me to stand firm. I had to press in, to stand on the word and the authority I have in Christ. Spiritual warfare isn't always a one-and-done "poof." Sometimes you have to stand your ground until the enemy fully yields. Finally, it too left.
I was reminded of Paul's words about his "thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure." (2 Corinthians 12:7 KJV). My prayerless pride, my "I got this" attitude, had invited a messenger of Satan to buffet me. But in my humility, as I repented, God's grace was right there. I was vividly reminded: "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV).
The Sobering Aftermath: When I Didn't Fully Learn
This is the part of the story that's hardest to tell. It's the most sobering part of all. You would think that after a night of demonic attack, divine correction, and spiritual warfare, I would have immediately called my friend and said, "I can't. I made a mistake. I have to stay on my assignment."
But I didn't. My flesh was still in the fight.
I still went to help move that furniture. I had repented for the disobedience that led to the attack, but I hadn't yet fully submitted to the original instruction. I still tried to do both. I tried to serve God and serve my "good intention."
And everything... everything... went wrong.
It was chaos. Absolute, complete chaos. We went to get food, and our bank cards wouldn't work. We tried to reach the person we were helping, and we couldn't get in touch with them on the phone. Every step was met with frustration and roadblocks. This wasn't just "one of those days." This was the hand of God not being upon our efforts. The hedge of protection was not on this activity. We were operating "outside the camp," and we were exposed.
Then the disaster hit. A super heavy piece of furniture we were moving fell. It didn't just tip over; it fell and completely crushed my friend's ankle.
The True Cost of My 'Helpfulness'
In that moment, the full weight of my decision crashed down on me. But the crushed ankle and chaotic day weren't even the highest price. Here is the punchline, the part that should shake every one of us:
The entire homeless outreach was lost.
Because of my "quick detour," because of my prayerless "yes," the entire kingdom purpose for our trip in Indianapolis that day was aborted. We never made it. The ministry we were supposed to do, the people we were supposed to reach, the souls we were supposed to touch... it all evaporated. All because I thought I could fit in a "good" deed that God had not ordained.
Main Message: The Higher the Calling, the Stricter the Walk
This is the warning I feel so strongly for all of us. When we're casual believers, God's grace covers an amazing amount of our sloppy living. But when you press in, when you raise your hand and say, "Yes, Lord, use me. Send me. I'll go," the standard changes. The expectations are higher. The walk becomes stricter.
We are called to be living sacrifices. Paul begs us: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Romans 12:1-2 KJV).
A sacrifice does not get to choose where it goes. A sacrifice stays on the altar it was assigned to. My "yes" to my friend was me, the living sacrifice, crawling off God's altar to go jump onto a different one that looked "good" to me. I was conforming to the world's pattern of "being helpful" instead of being transformed to prove God's "perfect will."
We are meant to be led by the Spirit. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." (Romans 8:14 KJV). I was led by my good intentions. I was led by my fleshly desire to be seen as reliable. I was not, in that moment, being led by the Spirit of God.
More Biblical Warnings on 'Side Quests'
This principle is all over scripture. My failure wasn't unique. One of my Inner Circle subscribers, responding to this story, pointed out another terrifying example from 1 Kings 13.
The Man of God and the Lying Prophet (1 Kings 13)
This story is one of the most sobering in the whole Bible. A man of God is given a direct, specific command from the Lord. He is to go to Bethel, prophesy against the altar, and then leave. God's instructions were explicit: "...for it was said to me by the word of the Lord, 'You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came.'" (1 Kings 13:17 KJV). The mission was clear. The boundaries were set.
The man of God does his job! He prophesies, the king's hand withers and is restored... it's a successful supernatural mission.
But then, the "side quest" is offered. An old prophet comes to him and says, "...I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, 'Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.' But he lied to him. So he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water." (1 Kings 13:18-19 KJV).
The man of God disobeyed the direct word of the Lord to follow a "word" from another man. It seemed spiritual. It came from another "prophet." It was a "good" offer of hospitality. But it was a lie, and it violated his primary command. The consequence? As he was leaving, a lion killed him on the road.
My friend's "harmless" request was my "lying prophet." in my particular scenario. They are actually a good friend; I am just using this as an illustration. It seemed like a good, godly thing to do. But it contradicted the mission God had already given me. I listened to it, and while a lion didn't eat me, my assignment was killed on the road.
The Internal Battle: Why Do We Still Do It?
It's easy to read this and think, "Conrad, how could you be so foolish? Especially after the demonic attack!" And that's a fair question. The answer is found in Romans 7, which another subscriber brought up.
We are still in this flesh. And the flesh is at war with the Spirit. Paul's struggle is our struggle.
"For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ... For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me." (Romans 7:15, 18-20 KJV).
My spirit knew my assignment. But my flesh, my "good intentions," my desire to be helpful... that part of me that is sin that dwells within me... rose up and took the bait. The "good" I wanted to do (the outreach) was hijacked by the "evil" I didn't want to do (disobeying my assignment by taking a "good" detour).
This isn't an excuse for our sin, but it is a critical explanation of the battle. It's precisely why we cannot trust our "good intentions." We cannot trust our feelings. We cannot trust "what seems right." We MUST be Spirit-led. We must ask counsel at the mouth of the LORD.
Conclusion: A Call to Radical, Prayerful Obedience
My "yes" was a small word with massive, kingdom-altering consequences. The walk with Jesus is a supernatural one, and the stakes are higher than we think. The closer you get to Him and the more He entrusts you with, the more precise your obedience must be.
This isn't about legalism. This is about intimacy. This is about staying so close to the Shepherd that you hear His voice for every step. It's about recognizing that we are on a mission, in enemy territory, and detours are deadly. We are not our own; we were bought with a price.
The warning for the Church in this hour is this: Stop saying "yes" to things God hasn't told you to do. Stop letting "good" opportunities from men pull you away from the "God" assignment He has given you. Your time, your resources, and your "yes" belong to Him. Before you commit, before you take that "harmless" detour, before you agree to help move the furniture... ask counsel at the mouth of the LORD.
The cost of a prayerless "yes" is just too high.
We Want to Hear From You
What about you? Have you ever had a "Gibeonite" moment? Have you ever said "yes" to a "good" thing and watched it blow up in your face, only to realize you had stepped off your assignment? What has God taught you about this kind of obedience?
Please share your thoughts, stories, and any verses that have helped you in the comments below. We sharpen one another!
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Grace and peace, Team Jesus.
Conrad
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