I’ve had a bit of a wander through the Garden with Father this morning. I was reflecting on the recent foolishness from one of the foundational leaders of the church of the last century. A gifted Bible teacher has declared that Charismatics and their worship styles are blaspheming against the Holy Spirit and that they are not even saved. That bothered me, actually, to be persecuted by such a gifted man. Years ago, this man, and others like him, gave me a solid Biblical foundation that has given birth to a living relationship with a loving God. Im thankful for that foundation, and more thankful for the love relationship it birthed, so theres not a snowballs chance in the lake of fire that I would abandon the life within me that he himself helped birth, in order to follow his current distraction. My first instinct was to rail against him; his arguments are flimsy, and really quite easy to dismantle. Right behind that reaction came a wave of grief: Wait! This man was an influence in my formative years! And now he’s condemning me to hell? Now he wants to be my enemy? Both of those gave way relatively quickly to pity (his product sales are failing in this digital generation, so he’s facing some real tough financial decisions), and I’m not even sure that’s the right response. I’m still working on it. And that’s where this mornings walk with Father has been so precious. He pointed out that persecution is no big thing, not in the light of eternity. (What?) It carries a fairly substantial blessing with it (Matthew 5:11), and you have to admit it, no part of persecution exists beyond the first century of our endless and eternal life, so maybe I need to not fuss so much about it. [Note: this is NOT to dismiss the blood of the tens of thousands of my brothers and sisters spilled in martyrdom every year, but that is another story.] But that wasn’t his main emphasis. His main emphasis was that, in spite of stabbing me in the back, this man, this stumbling teacher is still my brother. He’s not my “father” (Matthew 23:9 comes to mind), but he sure doesn’t need to be my enemy, either. He and I, in fact, have a common enemy, and despite his not insignificant accusation of 700 million of his brothers and sisters, the man is still a very formidable warrior against the enemy of his soul and mine. It was with the Word, Father reminded me, that Jesus faced down the devil in the wilderness, not with signs and wonders. [Side note: Im concerned that the event of this brilliant Bible teacher fouling up may turn people off from learning to study the Word with excellence. Lets guard against that. There is no greater foundation for our study, but even that is meaningless except the Spirit of God breathe into the Word, and breathe the Word into our lives.] So that’s working in the back of my mind. And then I stumble across the website of a friend of mine. He’s a pastor in a small town (that’s hard work right there!), and over time we’ve had some really excellent and eye-opening conversations about topics that we don’t see eye-to-eye on. He’s a man of real integrity. And then I stumble across this detail on his website: he’s been trained by the Bible teacher that has applied to become my enemy. Well no wonder we don’t see things eye-to-eye. The guy that trained him has recently condemned me to hell. That explains some things, doesn’t it? But then Father reminds me of Matthew 7:16: You will know them by their fruits. Hmmm. My friend is good fruit. My friend is the fruit of the guy that wants to “excise me from the Body of Christ.” My friend is the good fruit of the guy who makes himself out to be my enemy. And Father reminded me: it’s not his choice if he’s going to be my enemy. That’s my choice. He can’t be my enemy unless I let him. So I’ve decided that I’m not accepting applications for enemies right now. Sorry if you were hoping to apply. But if you’d like to check back again in a millennium or two, we can check again, but today, Im not looking for enemies. But Im still welcoming brothers and sisters, even those who have fallen, like this great man, along the way. (Feel free to share this, if you think it helps.)
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 22:22:10 +0000
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