Tag: Wolves

 

You Be the Judge

Beat Deception With Discernment

I read an article by Bob DeWaay recently and most of this rumination is based on his work.  

How often do we hear “Don’t be judgy” by people who appear to have read only one Biblical passage, “Do not judge lest you be judged”? It’s in Matthew and it’s valid.  Then there’s  “But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.” It’s 1 Corinthians 2:15 and it’s valid.

The common thread between these seemingly divergent commands is the value and protection of the sheep.  You don’t want to break their hearts and you fight to make sure they aren’t torn apart by wolves.

In the first setting, Jesus has been warning about personal motives and sin and so the warning to not judge is in the setting of favorably comparing ourselves to others and passing judgment on their hearts.  That’s strictly God’s role and we dare not cross that line, or we shouldn’t.  “Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts, and then each man’s praise will come to him from God” – 1 Corinthians 4:5.

In our ignorance and presumption, we can damage the beloved flock and we do so based on nothing more than inflated self-esteem.

Do you know what else damages the flock?  Wolves.

So this is where we let ‘er rip   

When we are assessing who is a wolf and who is not, we have the word of God as the standard. “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.  I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them“. Acts 20:28-30

Now if your pastor is a good shepherd and not just a hireling, he will have the profound knowledge and fortitude to protect the flock.  It’s his responsibility to make sure the sheep are safe from wolves thus there must be some way to identify who is a wolf and who is not because some will spring up from among our own selves.  

We know that wolves ‘speak perverse things’ which are twisted or distorted scriptures.  They do this to draw disciples after them, they are looking for followers of themselves and their peculiar doctrines (i.e. ‘fresh, new revelations’).  “Their interest is money, not the safety of the sheep.  Jesus is the true shepherd, and the under-shepherds (pastors) are to feed the sheep the pure words of God and guard them from perverted words.  Those who refuse to do so are hirelings.” – Bob Dewaay

When false teaching is allowed into a church, people’s salvation is at risk.  The current tsunami of delusion and lack of discernment, popularly known as ‘tolerance, unity and love’ is causing many pastors to ignore “Holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and refute those who contradict”.  Titus 1:9

The duties of pastors and elders are very clear in Acts 20.  They are to teach true doctrine, correct false doctrine, and protect the flock from the wolves.  Sadly, those who do so today are often accused of being divisive or sinning because they have “judged” when Jesus told us not to judge.  This is a fundamental error.  We are not to judge motives or relative degrees of righteousness, but we must judge public teaching.

This will bring you into conflict with people, some of them pastors, who have only a shallow understanding of the Word.  You will be told to “zip it” and to never publicly contradict what is being broadcast from a far-reaching pulpit.  The truth is public teaching is an open matter.  Often pastors will quote Matthew 18, and tell you to go to your brother in private.  That’s another fundamental error and also a sign your pastor doesn’t know scripture sufficiently.  You go to your brother in private when you know he is in sin and is hiding it.  It’s a way to help bring him into the light and back to the path.  Public teaching is a different matter entirely.  It’s already in the public domain, no sense in trying to close that barn door when the horse is running free.

“What often happens today is that public teachers proclaim false doctrines.  When confronted about this, they point to an orthodox statement of faith.  But what they teach publicly is damaging to those who hear them.  Whatever they may claim to believe, their public false teaching needs to be publicly confronted.” – Bob DeWayy

If we refuse to judge and correct false teaching, we’re throwing the sheep to the wolves.  What would Jesus do?

 

 

 

 Never Cry Wolf

Wanted: Compliant Church Goers – No Discernment Required

Years ago a  drug-using career criminal uttered the phrase “Why can’t we all just get along?”,  and now the church has seemed to make this their theme.  Don’t try to be theologically correct, never disagree publicly over Biblical truth, never notice or warn about sin – just fall in line and be nice.

I attempted this at the church my husband and I attended for 21 years, after falling into line and being nice for years.  I was charged with being a slanderer and a gossip.  I even got called a Pharisee.  If you haven’t been branded a Pharisee yet, you just aren’t trying.  

 

The funniest part of being called a Pharisee for an expressed adherence to the Bible is that Pharisees imposed extra-Biblical rules on everything.  That’s what they were known for – so if someone calls you a Pharisee for following the Word, you know they are confused.

Living out the stain of  Biblical accuracy will also bring out the following:

  • You have a  ‘religious spirit’
  • You are being ‘judgy’
  • You have a critical spirit
  • You always have to be right

I recently read an article on disagreeing on doctrine vs personal offense.  Essentially this means that if you disagree publicly with a public message and your pastor is offended, church discipline is inappropriately applied.  I was disfellowshipped, not for being in sin, but for standing up for the Word. 

The Apostle Paul warned in the book of Acts, chapter 20, about savage wolves coming in among the church “not sparing the flock.”  It would seem the worst attack on Believers is not from the obvious evil out in the world, but it’s an attack from within. Not only are unaware sheep being savaged, but the sheep who recognize the danger are being silenced.  In my experience, a pastor with sound doctrine was defending false doctrine for the sake of unity.  I never thought I’d see the day that wolves were being used as Border collies to herd the sheep but here we are.

Whenever I hear “you don’t always have to be right”, it only makes me wonder why not.  Why strive to be wrong some of the time?  It’s not my accuracy I’m standing up for and it’s not as if we don’t have a way to measure any given opinion.  

Is it too much to ask, that we find our unity on the common ground of irrefutable truth?  If my experience is anything to go by, tragically, the answer is a resounding YES.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t Shoot the Messenger

Save Your Ammo for the Wolves

Most people think that if we just teach the truth then we don’t have to address error. However, error dies a slow death and must be exposed by the Truth.

The writers of the Bible did not believe in the concept of “just teaching the truth.” Numerous letters were written addressing the false views and practices that arose in the early Church that challenged the Truth. (1Cor., Galatians, Colossians, 2 Thess. 2nd John, Jude, etc.). They were both taught what is right (the Truth) and warned about what is wrong.

How Are We To Practice Biblical Judgment?

The Bible teaches and encourages us to judge, not to ignore. There are two prominent Greek words translated as “discernment.” One is anakrino, which means to “examine” or “judge closely.” The other is diakrino, which means “to separate out,” “to investigate,” or “to examine.”

If something is harmful to others and destroys the Truth we are encouraged to say something, not ignore it. If we know it is wrong, it becomes sin not to speak (James 4:17, Romans 14:23). But we are to have a right attitude in this as well. Because people do not often listen to the content as much as the attitude in it, they often will not hear what one is saying. They look for an excuse to blame the challenger instead of addressing the issue.

Jesus called false doctrine the leaven of the Pharisees. We are to be careful as to what we eat. Jesus further states, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing.” (Mt.7: 15). How can we know false prophets unless we make a judgment call based on the Word of God? If we know that there are false prophets, wouldn’t neglecting the examination of all teachings be opening up the sheep to the attacks of these “ravening wolves?”

Only a wolf would want to protect others of his kind and not protect the sheep. Mature Christians live in the attitude of discernment because they love God’s Word of Truth above all else. They are willing to judge everything that comes along by what Jesus said (Heb.5:13-14). They do everything they can to avoid deception instead of thinking that it is an impossibility. ~The Bible In Context

 

Contend for the Faith

Or Shut Up for Unity

 I wonder if you can follow and defend false prophets and false teachers and still be saved.  Some do this in ignorance, some in the firm belief they are furthering God’s kingdom.  He is the judge and that comes as an enormous relief.  So why should we contend for the faith?  Does it matter?  Are we simply being annoying or are we actually helping keep some from hell?

Oh Shut Up

If the followers of false apostles, prophets and teachers are still going to go to heaven, what’s the use of warning them?  I’ve tried and have been warned against being a pharisee, blaspheming the Holy Spirit and operating in a religious spirit.  My pastor did a podcast on ‘Christians attacking other Christians’ calling it opposition research based on “fear, anger and pride”.  He also asserted we are majoring in the minors and should not pass judgment on disputable matters.  There was a cautionary statement that if we do not seek out the false teachers individually first, we must not criticize them, we should rather “just be quiet” or we look foolish.  The problem is that there are different Biblical instructions for individual offense and false teachers broadcasting lies.  

So when the Apostle Paul was writing his second epistle to Timothy and he warned sharply “not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers.  Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  But shun profane and idle babbling, for they will increase to more ungodliness.  And their message will spread like cancer.  Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort . . .”

If my pastor is correct, Paul should not have uttered a word about this, and should not have warned the church until he had a one-on-one with Hymenaeus and Philetus.  We don’t know if he did, the Word is silent on that.  What the word is noisy about is warning the church.  Should we follow Paul’s example in this modern day – or just shut up for the sake of peace and unity?

If it’s merely ‘Christians attacking other Christians’ then it’s just division and strife for the sake of arrogance.  So are we pretending to be on a wolf hunt but the pelts tacked up to the barn wall are all wooly?  What are we hunting?  How do you tell a wolf from a sheep?  Well, for starters, you can go by what it’s eating.

This is where verification through the Word comes in so handy.  The Spirit of God will never stray from the Word of God.  If the Bible is silent about something, we can be too.  If the Bible is noisy about something, we can be too.  The Bible says we can know people by their fruit.  If preachers are attempting to separate the Spirit of God from the Word of God that’s a clue. Here’s what wolves say “I feel that the Lord is saying . . .”.    Feelings aren’t truth.  If you are using feelings to feed on sheep, you’re a wolf. 

This is what I wish my pastor had said because some pastors are giving wolves cover by demanding people’s assent through silence. I will not go gently into that dark night.

 

Go ahead, call me divisive, proud, fearful, angry, I’ll take it.  Still, I’ll listen rather to Paul who said to Timothy “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine.  Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.” ~I Timothy 4:16

Good doctrine is important.  Action against false doctrine is commanded.  We are called to stand.