Indeed, there has probably been no greater time during which the Church as a whole entity have come under attacks in diverse forms, especially due to the intermittent news of misbehaviours or scandals involving preachers (popularly called 'Men of God')...
In this piece, I would be targeting my thoughts towards the believers primarily, so as to know how best to protect their Faith-life, irrespective of the present-day challenges and the more trying times which are certain to come against the Church and believers, just as Jesus stated clearly, about the End-Times:
"...Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold..." Matthew 24:9-12 (NKJV)
Indeed, it is gradually becoming common-place to hear criticisms and castigations against preachers or men of God due to one scandalous news or another, especially in this social media Age...
However my focus here is talk about what the attitude of a true believer should be with regards to such occurrences...
Because unfortunately we would discover that when such negative news spreads, those who tend to attack the 'man of God' the most are actually people who claim to be 'Christians'; with many actually believing that they are doing God's work by 'exposing' the works of the Devil... And it becomes even more disturbing when you discover that many of those who would participate in such 'protests' or 'movements' especially on social media would hardly participate in evanglism or in a cause to propagate the Gospel, nor do they boldly share their Faith with others...
I am definitely not insinuating that the errors of 'men of God' (especially false ones) should not be pointed out and corrected (with wisdom and discretion)... But I am saying that the best person in the position to correct or discipline a 'man of God' is the God Who called the man (especially for true men of God), because not just anyone is qualified to criticize a man truly called of God (especially those who are elderly and have a track record with God), and truly as some believe, one may actually incur God's wrath in some instances...
Also I am saying that our efforts towards propagating the Gospel as the good news that it is should be greater and given the highest priority than our efforts in pointing fingers to expose the faults or spreading the bad news about some happenings in Church, or to fish out the 'bad eggs' among the fold...
So the question is:
What should be the reaction or action of the true believer on hearing such news?
Maybe taking a bearing from Jesus' own ministry work on Earth would help...
We recall that Jesus had 12 Disciples whom He selected by Himself... But one (Judas) was among them for a selfish purpose... And guess what!... Even Jesus who was fully aware of Judas' heart allowed him to stay on in the team; And Jesus even sent him along with others when He sent the 12 out to do God's work, as the below Scripture says:
"...Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick... So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere." Luke 9:1-2,6 (NKJV)
My guess is that many may have even followed Judas just as they followed Jesus and Judas probably may have even performed some miracles too and came back with great testimonies like the rest...
The next question is:
What do you think would have been the reaction of those who probably followed Judas briefly, on hearing later of all his 'evil' deeds?
My guess would be that they would probably look for some other Disciple to follow, or better still follow Jesus Himself...
It was not also recorded that the remaining Disciples spent all their time discussing and announcing about 'The Fall of Judas'; but rather they focused on "The Call of the Master" - carrying out His Great Commission...
From the above analogy, we can then tell what is expected of the true believer...
Rather than participating in spreading the news of the great error or great fall of a 'man of God', it would sure pay Heaven and the believer more if such energy is channelled towards propagating the true Gospel keeping the focus on Christ, knowing that the spread of evil can only be conquered by spreading good...
The great Apostle Paul said:
"Pattern yourselves after me [follow my example], as I imitate and follow Christ (the Messiah)." 1 Corinthians 11:1 (AMP)... In other words, Paul, even with all his great revelations and knowledge of Christ, instructed that his followers should only follow him as long as he is following the ways of Christ...
So, the true believers' primary goal is to keep following the ways of Christ, not focusing their energy on 'exposing' those who are not following Him... To focus on such is to fall for one of the greatest distractions of the Enemy in this End-Times, because many more false ministers of the Gospel will arise as the End approaches...
"...Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]..." Hebrews 12:2 (AMP)
The believer must also keep in mind the obvious reality that men are made up of flesh and blood, and that includes 'men of God', so they are not 'supermen' immuned to making mistakes or facing challenges, and the Church as a Body will only attain full perfection when Jesus returns...
Therefore the necessity of always remembering ministers of the Gospel in our prayers cannot be overemphasized, knowing that they are often the Enemy's priority targets...
However, the only way to stay safe is to cultivate a growing personal relationship with God and Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, as that is the only way to avoid falling for the deceptions and distractions of this Age...
And in all our conversations or actions, we should endeavour to ask ourselves:
Is what I am saying or doing now helping me or the unbelievers around me to draw closer to God? OR
Am I rather helping to even discourage those who are trying to grow their spiritual lives, thereby impeding the overall progress of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
And in all our conversations or actions, we should endeavour to ask ourselves:
Is what I am saying or doing now helping me or the unbelievers around me to draw closer to God? OR
Am I rather helping to even discourage those who are trying to grow their spiritual lives, thereby impeding the overall progress of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
Thank you for reading!
#JesusChristIsLORD
#GODisStillinCharge
