Unveiling The ‘Year of the Bride’: How God Saved Me from False Doctrine.
At 1:24 pm, on an ordinary April afternoon—I woke up, and suddenly, the fog of the past six months lifted, leaving everything startlingly clear.
Allow me to clarify further. When I say I was awake that afternoon, I mean physically. I was halfway through my workday at the office and halfway through Tiphany Montgomery's ‘Year of the Bride’ fast. I was drinking my second cup of coffee, a helpful aid to my persistent sleeplessness. On my desk was her notebook that I quickly filled with notes and thoughts documenting this 25-day fasting endeavor. While journaling, I poured my heart out—demanding God do something for me. These dangerous teachings led me to believe that I could move the heart of God to answer my prayer for a husband if I demonstrated that I had done enough. I had been obedient, hadn't I? I had fasted, I had prayed, and I waited long enough. I was so sure that I had earned His attention that my efforts should have been enough to move Him — telling God that if He truly heard the cries of my heart, then He would answer me.
And then, out of nowhere, something shifted. I felt a sudden, piercing conviction in my heart and a sinking feeling in my stomach. It was like my eyes were opened in an instant, and everything I had been demanding, everything I had been holding onto, suddenly felt very wrong. This was not my doing. I realized, amid my pride, that I had missed the mark completely. I was approaching God from the wrong posture—my obedience wasn’t a bargaining chip or a tool to earn His favor. My heart had been focused on what He could do for me, not on who He truly is. I woke up to the crushing burden of sin that had subtly ensnared my heart, warping my perception of the King of Kings. What had once been a steadfast—though immature—understanding of Scripture had gradually been contaminated by the seductive allure of New Age and Gnostic ideologies, ideas that stand in direct opposition to the clear teachings of God’s Word. How did I find myself here? Even as my zeal for God grew, I had, without realizing it, allowed myself to drift into a dangerous neglect of the truth.
“They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.” Romans 1:25
For several months before I woke up, I found myself journaling day and night — writing prayers, emotional outpourings, dreams, and what I believed were “biblical revelations” from the many teachers and pastors I had gathered for myself — even those who have self-identified as prophets, convinced they held the answers I desperately needed. Yet, amid all these voices, I spent most of my time alone in my apartment, isolated from family, not merely weeping but sobbing— lamenting over my life, fasting continually, and growing increasingly perplexed as to why my prayers felt unanswered and why I could not hear God’s voice. I feared that God was angry with me and disappointed in my failure to touch His heart. I grasped for Him and wrestled with Him, desperate to feel something. To get an answer to my problems. Sleep, when it came, offered no rest; my mind was consumed with confusing dreams that I tried to interpret, but the more I sought to understand, the more uncertain I became. My body, too, bore the weight of this spiritual and emotional turmoil—pain in my back and shoulders that others insisted was the result of a demonic affliction. My emotions were as volatile as my thoughts; the confusion in my mind was just as heavy as the physical pain in my body. I found myself lost in a labyrinth of theological chaos, with no clear understanding of how I had wandered so far from the truth.
But God.
My faithful Father and constant Friend. He never abandoned me or left me to wander in darkness, but in His infinite love, grace, and mercy, He relentlessly pursued my soul.
“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” even the night shall be light about me; Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You.”
As my eyes were opened, the light of Scripture began to burn in my heart. The first verse that came to mind was Micah 6:8 — “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
In Micah 6, the prophet presents a dramatic scene where Israel is put on trial before the Great Judge, God Himself. The Lord begins by lodging a complaint against His people: “O My people, what have I done to you? And how have I wearied you? Testify against Me.” The people, in turn, respond with bitter rebuttal, as if nothing they do is ever enough to satisfy God. They imply that He must change to conform to their expectations of who He should be. In His response, however, God’s answer is simple and clear: “I have already told you what is good. Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with Me.”
How profoundly simple. Instead of striving to please God in hopes that He would grant me the desires of my heart, I came to understand that God has already given us clear instructions on how we are to live. What’s more, the beauty of the Gospel is found in the realization that there is nothing we could ever do to satisfy a perfect God — yet, in His great grace, He has made a way for us to be reconciled to Him through Christ.
Over the next few weeks, I began to research the teachings I had grown accustomed to and, unfortunately, had come to believe were biblical: bloodline repentance, deliverance ministry, territorial spirits, breaking curses and covenants, and declaratory prayers, to name a few. As I dug deeper, I discovered that these teachings were rooted in the New Apostolic Reformation, Word of Faith, and Latter Rain movements — all of which pose serious dangers to the precious body of Christ. These movements lead you to believe that you are the savior of your own story, convincing you that Jesus came merely to give you the freedom to take control and shape your own destiny, which is far from the truth. I began to share what had happened to me as I became entangled in those movements, blind to the dangers that lay within. I lost and suffered much for this because these teachings, though cloaked in the language of spirituality, only led me further from the truth and continues to hold its members in a suffocating grip. Yet in the midst of it all, I found the real Christ—whose worth surpasses all the treasures of this world, whose radiant beauty outshines every fleeting comfort of this present world. What I gained in Him is more precious than anything I ever knew, more priceless than anything or anyone that could have held my heart.
All in all, God is merciful and has a beautiful sense of humor. Soon after I surrendered my searching, my praying, and my fasting for a husband, He brought him into my life. He blessed me with a truly wonderful, godly man named Christian, and we got married on February 1st, 2025. I am blessed beyond measure and overwhelmed with gratitude for His grace toward me. No prophecy could have foretold the way God has orchestrated our love story—it's one I can't wait to share with you. God moved countless pieces behind the scenes for our paths to cross, and all glory is due to Him alone.
Friends, as believers, we are exiles in a foreign land, a world where we have no true citizenship. It is a realm where the prince of this age will stop at nothing to deceive us, enticing us to believe a false Gospel or, worse yet, no Gospel at all. The Word of God warns us in 1 Peter 5:8: "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."
Here is the Gospel in its simplest form: you and I are sinners, utterly incapable of saving ourselves because of our sin and our fallen human nature. Jesus came to redeem us, offering His perfect life, His sacrificial death, and His triumphant resurrection on the cross. Those who call on His name will be saved and sanctified by the mercy of God. On that blood-stained cross, Jesus cried, Τετέλεσται — It is Finished. This was not a cry of defeat but a triumphant declaration of victory. It is Jesus who paid the penalty for our sins in full. It is Jesus who defeated Satan and all the powers of darkness. Believers don’t have to rebuke demons or break curses, nor do we have the power to do so. It is Christ and Him only — there is no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved. Acts 4:12
Because it is finished, just as Paul said, I am fully persuaded that nothing — “death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38
Amen.
