A few years ago we met a girl, a neighbor, we began to interact, we created a friendship. As the months went by she converted to Christ, in the moments of greatest need she was of great support and we began to have confidence.
This girl begins to come and tell us about irregularities that her leader does and "bad" things that happen in the group where they attend. Many times she comes crying and we listen to her and give her advice. Other times my wife visits her, gives her words and advises her.
On some occasions she came and I gave her the word from God and she just cried, then apart I told my wife that the things I told her were exactly what was happening in her life and in the group where she congregates.
Then he comes and tells us that the pastor of the church tells the leader of his group that they are going to found a church with that group and that they are going to send them a pastor. Upon hearing this, the group leader launches a "coup." and he stays with the group and forms "his" own church with them.
I tell him that this is not from God and that he should know that if God called him at some point he is going to pastor, he should only wait for his time.
She continues to come and my wife continues to visit her from time to time and if God did not give a word for her we gave it to her (we are not one of those who love to give a word, if God gave it and confirmed that it was for her we gave it to her - Sometimes God gives a word for one and one thinks it is for another-)
And she keeps telling crazy things that happen in her now "church." She confirms that she is still there because she likes how they treat her and her son and because she is already a counselor and leader of the church and because she likes the Pentecostal style...(Note that at no time did she say that she is there because she has grown up in the knowledge of God nor because she is convinced that the word given is biblical)
At a certain moment I felt from God that it was time to stop advising and giving her words and suddenly that burden that I had to help her spiritually stops, the same thing happens to my wife and she stops going to her house to visit and talk about things. the word, he only comes once every so often to say hello and see how he is.
She began to complain that my wife no longer came to her house to speak to her and that we no longer listened to her when she wanted to tell us about the (crazy) things that were happening in her church (The truth is that when she started talking we changed the conversation) and that "we had changed", that we had become believers.
My wife told me that she was not going to give him the bread that her pastor did not give him while she was still there because they made her and her son feel good. But she was still our friend and we continued to help her in every material way we could (until today).
This reminded me of my own story, I was young, my parents had been through many churches and we came to one that was just starting and we liked it, we started, we grew with it, over the years when the church was already grown they began to some pretty crazy or bad things happen, or rather, I experienced several of them myself.
One time we were going by bus to a young people's activity "Christians All", I was sitting in the middle seats and I saw that about five times they gave me a glass so that I could pass it to the seats behind and then again to the front seats and I said to myself "What is it about this cooler that spins so much?", I uncovered it and smelled it and it had rum, yes, alcohol -My dad was an alcoholic, I think I can know what rum smells like-
On several occasions after leaving praise rehearsals (Saturdays 9pm) -I belonged to the praise group- The worship leaders along with the youth leaders went into a club to drink alcohol -No one told me, I saw it - and the shepherd knew it! and no, he never told them anything.
Those were two things I remember most. My parents saw many more "irregularities" that the leaders and the pastor did apart from a rather heretical gospel that was lived and preached, in fact the other churches called us "the Club" but, guess what? We were still there because my father was already the leader of those above and we had already created an emotional bond with everyone. And that is the situation of many today in heretical churches.
When God took us out of that "church" (I was about 20 years old, now I'm 44) I remember crying a lot... for my friends I had in church and for how cool the church was! -No, when I left I did not suffer for anything spiritual-
And many, like what happened to us and the girl I spoke about above, are in churches like this and the attachment is more emotional than spiritual, it is not because of the word, it is because the church is how they like it and they are attached to it. soulful and non-spiritual things.
But like "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I judged like a child; but when I was a man, I left childish things" (1 Corinthians 13:11).
A mature person in the faith already understands that the emotional remains in the background, that what matters is that the word that is preached is 100% biblical without adulteration and that those who preach it live it.
It is interesting that the apostle Paul is going to give advice on apostasy and the first thing he does is refer to the immaturity of those whom he is going to advise (Hebrews 5: 11-).
A young and immature woman comes to a boy and can convince her with the proof of love and with a 3-bolivar talk, but a mature woman cannot be convinced with the emotional aspect.
Likewise, a mature man or woman in the faith will never remain in such churches, whether they give him the position of supreme pastor or have a million friends in the congregation (so that he can sing louder) or treat them like kings and everyone. In the family they have them in the highest positions.
Let us remember that a church MUST treat well and love all its members but we cannot describe a church as "of God" because it treats people well. In fact, the most heretical churches are the ones that treat people better and "with more love."
I remember that one time I was doing some bad things and the pastor did not want to tell me so that I would not feel bad and what he did was preach about the situation in which I was sinning.
This went on for several weeks and I continued in my sin until one day I found out and I told the pastor "Don't do it again and if you have to correct me from the pulpit there is no problem because you allowed me to spend all these weeks offending others." "The person I love most in the world (my God), while you, supposedly loving me, didn't say anything to me? I don't accept it."
It was an attitude that perhaps few will do (Maybe I was an extremist but I still think that way) but let's understand that true love corrects because while that pastor pretended to be loving me by not telling me anything, he really wasn't loving me at all because he was allowing me to sin against MY BELOVED and That's not loving me.
But today's pastors prefer to say "the work is of the Holy Spirit" and escape from their work. Obviously it is also so that people do not get upset and leave because the idea is to have the church full, but that is another post. As I once said: "If the work is of the Holy Spirit, let there be no pastors and that's it." And as a man of God said, "The Holy Spirit convinces but uses people" but that is another post.
There are others who remain in a heretical church because they feel comfortable, no one challenges them to grow, to advance, and the mediocre ones will say that that church is the best because they feel comfortable. They are stagnant waters and they love it. They say "I already know how to pray", but the truth is that you never finish learning to pray, "I know how to worship" but the truth is that you never finish learning to worship...
NOTE: It's not that we are masochists (Oh, yell at me, pastor! Kick me, insult me, pastor!), I like to be treated well, to be taken into account, but I cannot be an emotionalist and believe that a church is of God because I They treat you well or because you feel good there.
Kisses
elprofebubba
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