The Hidden Cancer in the Church: How Offence Steals Destiny

The Hidden Cancer in the Church: How Offense Steals Destiny

Why so many are quietly derailed—and how to walk free

I’m overwhelmed this morning—not with dread, but with the goodness of God. There are moments when you feel the tenderness of the Lord so strongly that it’s almost weighty… and at the exact same time, you feel a reverential fear, not because God is harsh, but because His love is holy. His love doesn’t just comfort—it corrects, realigns, and rescues. And if we ignore His warnings, we don’t become “free”—we become vulnerable.

Today, I feel the Lord pressing a message that isn’t popular, but it is protective:

Offense.

Not offense as a small irritation. Not offense as a passing mood. But offense as a spiritual trap—an invisible hook that can quietly pull a believer out of love, out of alignment, out of planting, and out of destiny.

Jesus didn’t treat offense like a minor emotional issue. He treated it like a stumbling block—something that can hinder you from seeing truth and derail your walk (Matthew 11:6; Luke 7:23). And if the enemy can’t destroy your faith in one moment, he will try to erode your love over time, until you are still “a Christian,” but no longer walking in freedom.

The trap-stick in the shadows

There’s a Greek word tied to offense: skandalon—a trap-stick, a snare, a stumbling block. It’s where we get the idea behind “scandal,” but the biblical meaning is sharper: something designed to catch you and make you fall.

And that’s exactly what offense does. It rarely shows up as a raging demon with a loud voice. It often arrives as a reasonable thought.

• “I can’t believe they did that.”

  
  
  
  

• “How could they treat me like that?”

  
  
  
  

• “No one sees me.”

  
  
  
  

• “I’m done.”

  
  
  
  

• “I’m not going back.”

  
  
  
  

• “I don’t need that.”

  
  
  
  

And if you don’t deal with that seed quickly, it becomes a root.

Scripture warns about roots like this—roots that defile, trouble, and spread (Hebrews 12:15). Offense doesn’t just affect one moment. It multiplies. It travels. It spreads. That’s why I’m calling it what it is:

the hidden cancer in the church.

It starts small. It grows quietly. It begins to affect the whole body.

A dream the Lord used like a trumpet

Several years ago, I had a dream that struck me with the weight of Heaven. In the dream, the Lord brought a couple in front of me—people who had once been prominent in church life. The Lord illuminated them to me, not to shame them, but to reveal what was underneath. And the Lord said plainly:

“They left out of offense.”

Then, in the same dream, Rick Joyner and Chuck Pierce were present, and the Lord spoke again:

“Many have left their ministry out of offense.”

When I woke up, I didn’t wake up with a sermon idea. I woke up with a burden. Because I sensed what the Lord was showing me wasn’t rare—it was epidemic.

And I heard this in my spirit: “This is spreading in My people like a cancer.”

Not everyone leaves because they stop believing.

Not everyone falls away because they stop loving Jesus.

Some people drift because offense took root—and once it rooted, it began to govern them.

And here’s what offense is really after:

your place of planting.

The enemy loves to uproot people. Because planted people grow. Planted people flourish. Planted people carry authority. Planted people bear fruit.

But uprooted people? They stay in cycles—relocating, restarting, constantly “recovering,” and often losing years of advancement they could have had if they stayed healed, humble, and aligned.

When offense becomes chains

I’m convinced many believers aren’t bound by witchcraft, or even direct demonic oppression, the way they think. Many are bound by chains they picked up through a wound they never surrendered.

Offense becomes a chain because it keeps you tied to the moment that hurt you.

It keeps you rehearsing it.

Reliving it.

Retelling it.

Rebuilding it.

And the tragedy is: sometimes people call that “processing,” but it’s actually practicing captivity.

Paul spoke of training himself to live with a conscience “void of offense” toward God and people (Acts 24:16). That means freedom here isn’t accidental. It’s disciplined. It’s intentional.

And James gives a simple, violent instruction to our flesh: be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to take offense, slow to anger (James 1:19). In other words:

Maturity has a speed limit.

Offense often comes from moving too fast—assuming too quickly, judging too quickly, reacting too quickly, and speaking too quickly.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t lead with knee-jerk reaction. He leads with holy restraint.

Two roads: love covers or offense repeats

The Bible doesn’t just expose offense—it gives you the cure.

“He who covers and forgives an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates even close friends.” (Proverbs 17:9)

Read that again. It’s painfully clear:

• Covering seeks love.

  
  
  
  

• Repeating creates separation.

  
  
  
  

This is why offense destroys relationships: it turns you into a repeater. You don’t just remember what happened—you rehearse it. And whatever you rehearse becomes stronger in you.

And Scripture calls it glory when a person can overlook a transgression—meaning it takes strength to restrain yourself and not retaliate emotionally (Proverbs 19:11).

Overlooking doesn’t mean pretending it didn’t hurt.

Overlooking means refusing to let pain become a prison.

The warning nobody likes to quote

Jesus’ end-time warning is blunt:

“Many will be offended… betray one another… and the love of many will grow cold.” (Matthew 24:10–12)

That’s not just prediction. That’s diagnosis.

Offense rises → betrayal increases → love cools → deception spreads.

And once love cools, everything changes. Your discernment becomes suspicious instead of Spirit-led. Your relationships become transactional. Your church life becomes distant. Your heart becomes guarded.

This is how people become “right” and still become cold.

And the scariest part is that many don’t notice it happening, because the cooling is gradual.

It’s possible to be near Jesus and still get offended

Jesus said: “Blessed is the one who takes no offense at Me.” (Matthew 11:6; also Luke 7:23)

That means offense isn’t only about bad people doing bad things. Sometimes offense is about truth confronting the parts of us that want to stay untouched.

People were offended at Jesus’ authority (Matthew 13:57).

People were offended at His sayings (John 6:61).

People were offended because He didn’t fit their expectations.

So here’s the sobering reality:

If offense can happen around Jesus, it can happen anywhere.

And if it can happen anywhere, then the solution is not to find a perfect environment.

The solution is to become the kind of believer who refuses the trap.

Offense will make you your own final authority

I’ve learned something painfully simple: you know you’re in trouble when you become the final authority in your life rather than the Word of God.

Offense pushes you into self-rule.

Because once you’re offended, correction feels like attack. Accountability feels like control. Leadership feels like manipulation. People trying to help you feel like enemies.

And you stop being reachable.

Scripture calls that unteachable. It describes the scoffer whose attitude blinds them and deafens them to wisdom (Proverbs 14:6).

Offense can make you so certain you’re right that you can’t even hear God when He’s trying to save you.

The unforgiveness that blocks Heaven’s flow

Jesus warned that if we do not forgive from the heart, we position ourselves for spiritual consequences (Matthew 18:35). Not because God is petty—but because unforgiveness keeps your heart locked.

And when the heart locks, the flow stops.

That’s why Peter says love must be intense and unfailing—because love covers a multitude of sins and offenses (1 Peter 4:8). Love doesn’t ignore reality; love refuses to be poisoned by it.

And let’s be honest: some of us are carrying things we call “discernment,” but it’s actually unforgiveness wearing a religious suit.

The Son of Man will remove “causes of offense”

Jesus said angels will gather out of His Kingdom “all causes of offense” and those who practice lawlessness (Matthew 13:41). That phrase should jolt us. It shows how seriously Heaven takes this issue.

God is not trying to build a church full of offense. He’s purifying His people.

Not to make them fragile.

To make them powerful.

Because offense makes believers reactive.

But freedom makes believers authoritative.

Let healing start with the leaders

I felt the Lord say in that dream-burden: “Let healing start with the leaders, and let it spread out from there.”

Because if leaders carry offense, congregations learn offense.

If pastors carry offense, churches normalize offense.

If ministries excuse offense, believers adopt it as “how it is.”

But in this hour, God is raising leaders who are not just gifted—but clean.

Not just anointed—but humble.

Not just loud—but loving.

Because God is not impressed with powerful meetings that produce powerless relationships.

Endurance isn’t just surviving pressure—it’s refusing the trap

Jesus said, “The one who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13)

Endurance is not only about lasting through persecution or hardship. Sometimes endurance is about lasting through relational strain without letting offense harden you.

Sometimes the enemy doesn’t need to “take you out.” He just needs to cool you down.

But I hear the Lord today: Chains are coming off.

Some of you are going to be free—not because the other person finally apologizes, but because you finally surrender the right to stay bound.

Freedom is not an agreement with what happened.

Freedom is an agreement with Jesus.

This is the final hurdle before outpouring

I can’t shake this: offense is one of the last major hurdles before a great outpouring.

Because offense blocks unity.

Offense blocks trust.

Offense blocks spiritual family.

Offense blocks corporate authority.

Offense blocks the flow of grace.

But when offense breaks, love floods again.

When love floods, unity strengthens.

When unity strengthens, authority rises.

When authority rises, the church becomes dangerous to darkness.

So here’s my call, as plainly as I can say it:

You don’t have time to drag offense into your next season.

You don’t have time to lose years of destiny over one wound.

You don’t have time to stay unhealed when Heaven is offering freedom.

Let the healing begin in me.

Let the healing begin in leaders.

Let the healing begin in homes.

Let the healing begin in churches.

Because love is not weak.

Love is warfare.

Much love.

Prophetic Declarations (Warfare Style)

• I renounce offense as a trap in Jesus’ name.

  
  
  
  

• I break agreement with bitterness, resentment, and inner accusation.

  
  
  
  

• I refuse to rehearse what God is telling me to release.

  
  
  
  

• I will not lose years of destiny over one moment of pain.

  
  
  
  

• I forgive from the heart—fully, freely, and finally (Matthew 18:35).

  
  
  
  

• I bless those who wounded me, and I release them to God.

  
  
  
  

• I shut down every internal courtroom where I play judge and jury.

  
  
  
  

• I choose love that covers, not a mouth that repeats (Proverbs 17:9).

  
  
  
  

• I receive restraint, wisdom, and holy self-control (Proverbs 19:11).

  
  
  
  

• I declare my conscience will be clear toward God and toward people (Acts 24:16).

  
  
  
  

• I will be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, slow to take offense (James 1:19).

  
  
  
  

• I will not be unteachable—wisdom will find me and correct me (Proverbs 14:6).

  
  
  
  

• I refuse the end-time cooling of love—my love will burn hot (Matthew 24:12).

  
  
  
  

• I will not stumble over Jesus—truth will purify me, not offend me (Matthew 11:6).

  
  
  
  

• I declare offense will not derail my calling, my family, or my future.

  
  
  
  

• I step into freedom—chains are breaking now.

  
  
  
  

• I declare this is a threshold season—the final hurdle is coming down.

  
  
  
  

• I receive fresh love, fresh oil, and fresh fire in the Holy Spirit.

  
  
  
  

• I declare a great outpouring is on the other side of surrendered hearts.

  
  
  
  

• I will endure—and I will finish clean (Matthew 24:13).