We must embrace the reality of our limitations and accept that some people are just not open. And when you try to force open their engagement, we move out of ministry into manipulation. We move out of calling and into control. There’s a word the Old Testament uses to describe people who are obsessively controlling, forceful, and manipulative, even with good intentions—the word is witchcraft. In the Bible, witchcraft is not an old lady with a black hat and a broom stirring broth. It’s biblical characters like Jezebel who try to manipulate outcomes so that things turn out the way they think they
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