Over the course of our time in the public eye of Christendom, there has been a lot of opposition to the way we go about doing things–how we confront error, the delivery of some of our messages, and the aggressive nature towards certain doctrines, traditions, and mindsets that we have taken.
You will not see us malign anyone’s character or their intentions, their heart towards God or their heart towards other people. You will not see us do anything to seek to damage anyone’s reputation, accuse people falsely, or have any malicious intent towards others. You will not see us doing things to discredit the worth of people or their ministries.
That’s called slander. There are a ton of people who build their entire “ministries” by tearing down others. We will not do that. Ever.
What you will see and likely have seen is that we unashamedly confront mindsets and traditions that are very prevalent in the church today that keep people in bondage.
We wouldn’t have the majority of the New Testament if Paul didn’t think it was important to confront error and teach Truth. Most of his letters were letters of correction to well-intentioned but incorrect churches who were steeped in error.
The trouble and the tension with what we do is as follows:
Since so many people are so emotionally and mentally attached to what they do (performance) and the ministries/teachers they respect and listen to, if anything that those well-respected teachers preaches is even mildly confronted or corrected by anything we’ve put out, people have had a tendency to put up a huge wall and get offended, leading to them (the hearers) shutting down or slandering us.
So we are faced with an interesting dilemma–one that was shared, I am quite sure, with Jesus and the apostles as they came on the scene preaching a message that, quite literally, was diametrically opposed to the popular teachings of the religious leaders of their day.
They weren’t persecuted because they were nice to everybody and wandered around talking like Mr. Rogers.
They were persecuted because if what they were preaching was indeed Truth, that meant that everybody around them was wrong.
But Truth is Truth. And once you know Truth, it sets you free (John 8:32).
What most people don’t know, is that there is a condition on Jesus’ statement of Truth setting you free:
“…Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” – John 8:31-32
If you are not holding to Jesus’ teaching, by His own words, you aren’t really His disciple and you don’t know the Truth, and you are not free.
We try to do everything that is in our ability to show spiritually starved people what Jesus really said, what He really did, and the vastly amazing implications that has for you as one who profess Him as your Lord and Savior.
Unfortunately, a lot of what is taught in the church today is not what Jesus taught and actually is diametrically opposed to what He taught and especially the finished work that He did on Calvary to atone for sins and pay for your freedom.
So naturally, we get some pretty heated flack from those whose traditions and mindsets and doctrines we confront.
And two of the most frequently used oppositions to anything we have said, done, or teach are the following:
- “You must walk in ‘honor’…don’t be ‘dishonoring’!
- “You can’t just speak the truth…you have to speak the truth ‘in love’!
I am going to do my best to address this issue of honor.
The “speaking the truth in love” thing is so frequently thrown out it’s essentially the person saying:
“I am agreeing that what you are saying is true, but because the way you said it hurt my feelings a little bit, I am perceiving that as unloving, and therefore I am going to ignore the fact that what you said is true and thus stay the same in my lies.”
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In regards to HONOR
Centuries ago, honor meant standing up and fighting for what was right no matter the cost.
Honor was a whole lot more than treating someone nicely and being friendly and jovial towards that which defied freedom.
Honor certainly was not blindly accepting or believing something someone said simply because of who said it.
I believe that is called being naïve.
Honor meant openly defying tyrannical oppression and defending, sometimes violently, the cause of righteousness and truth despite the persecution that vehemently came their way.
Honor meant being willing to confront someone, unafraid of consequences, because that person was harming someone innocent. It meant loving a person so much that you were willing to have your intentions be misunderstood for the sake of standing for truth and setting them free with it.
That is honor.
Religion today teaches that “honor” is just blind, dumb submission that doesn’t ask questions.
Religion today teaches that “honor” is obedience to what man says, yet ignoring what God has already said.
Religion today teaches that “honor” is not correcting anybody, not standing up and saying that certain messages or teachings are wrong, all for the sake of “love” and “unity”.
And I would propose to you that is all a lie from the pit of hell.
The devil doesn’t have to work very hard to keep the church running in circles. Man-made doctrines about “honor” and “walking in love” are working a fine job doing just that by keeping Christians SILENT about the very issues that are keeping people in bondage.
The Bible calls that “fear of man”, “people pleasing”, “ear tickling”, and “flattery”.
HONOR is to do to others what you would have them do to you.
HONOR is to fight for what is RIGHT, and GOOD, and TRUE despite the cost and despite all of the slanderous accusations and lies that will be railed at you for doing so.
“He has honor if he holds himself to a [righteous] ideal of conduct thought it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to do so.” – Walter Lippman
“Nobody can acquire honor by doing what is wrong.” – Thomas Jefferson
I would add that it is not honoring to sit idly by when you know that something is being spread or taught that is not in alignment with the teachings of Christ.
“All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.” – Edward Burke
It IS honoring to ask questions. It IS honoring to confront error with Truth. It IS honoring and it IS loving to stand up for Truth because that is precisely what Jesus, the apostles, and so many martyrs throughout the ages have done as they have given their last breath to stand for righteousness and the finished work of the cross.
How “honoring” were the apostles by today’s standards in Acts 4:18-20 and Acts 5:29 when they boldly and brazenly refused to “submit to leadership” or “honor the authority” of those ‘churches’?
How “honoring” was Jesus when He called the leaders of His day “sons of the devil” for how much they were burdening other people and teaching man-made tradition? (Matthew 15, Matthew 23, Mark 7)
How “honoring” was Paul when he said if anybody taught a gospel contrary to the one he taught, that they should be eternally condemned? (Gal. 1:1-10)
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind,To set at liberty those who are oppressed;To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” – Luke 4:18-19
Honor is setting the oppressed free and bringing good news to those who have been downtrodden and heavy-laden.
THAT is honor.
Anything less falls miserably short of what God ever designed “honor” to be.
And now that you have seen what the Father sent Jesus to do:
“…Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent ME, so I am sending YOU.” – John 20:21
Real honor fights for what is right and good.
Real honor fights for what is True.
Real honor fights despite people misunderstanding intentions.
Real honor stands up against that which enslaves the innocent and helpless.
Real honor opens the eyes of the blind and unstops the ears of the deaf.
Real honor defies tyranny.
Real honor does not compromise for the sake of making people feel good.
Real honor cares more about the freedom of people than the comfort of those who spread lies and are in bondage.
It always comes back to JESUS.
“Honoring people does not mean putting up with lies, it means dismantling them no matter who says them. It’s not honor or love to defend stupid stuff because your pastor or favorite preacher says it. It’s quite the opposite.
The kind of “honor” that is so popular in church today kills people; it’s a devil.
Real honor will never compromise the Truth of Jesus just so it can get along with people, but it will die fighting for Him. Hebrews 11 is what real honor looks like. The life of Jesus is what real honor looks like.” - Daniel Silva
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I hope you have been as impacted by this as I was by writing it and the understanding of what it really should look like to “be honoring”.
The world around you is ravaged with darkness.
These broken ones are fearful, helpless and alone — who have filled their lives with all sorts of depravity and empty material things in a vain attempt to satisfy the longing of their soul for just a taste of Divine Love.
The cries of the lost who have been blinded by the god of this age rise daily to the Throne of God as the people of God sit idly by and do nothing.
Who will rise to confront the tyranny and the oppression that has so brutalized those helpless to fight back?
Who will stand in defiance of the onslaught of the forces of hell and say “ENOUGH!” ?
Who will speak with the conviction, authority, and boldness that pierces hearts and obliterates lies with Truth?
Who will arise from the obscurity of man-made religion and confront hypocrisy and challenge the only ones empowered to help the helpless?
Who will help remove the chains of powerless traditions and the constraints of control and deliver others so that they can be deliverers?
Are these ones who are scrambling daily for their next fix of drugs, sex, alcohol, and entertainment not worth the time and effort it takes to embrace them and love them as they were created to be loved?
Are these ones who are drowning in a sea of mindless self indulgence that bespeaks their own crisis of identity and screams a cry of help not worth leaving your prayer meeting to demonstrate the depth of the heart of God towards them?
Do you not yet realize that you are the Father’s plan for transformation in your city?
Do you not yet realize that the resurrected Christ lives and breathes and dwells within you, most likely imprisoned by man-made rules imposed upon you by powerless and controlling leaders who have elevated themselves and their ministries above the very Word of God?
Do you not yet realize it is not “honoring” to blindly believe everything that someone says simply because you think they have good intentions and they seem to be a nice person who has good oratory and public speaking skills?
Do you not yet realize that Christ-in-YOU is the answer to the very prayers you have been praying for countless hours on end at untold numbers of meetings and conferences?
What more will it take to shock you out of complacency?
What more will it take for you to realize the depth of your own laziness and disobedience to the Commission you signed up for when you committed your life to the Author of Life?
What more will it take for you to realize that the entire PLANET is CRYING OUT for answers to the horrifying nature of sin and death that comes at them from every angle–every second of every day–and they are POWERLESS to stop it without Christ–and that YOU are His ambassadors on this earth?
What more will it take for you to realize that YOU ARE CRYING OUT TO GOD FOR THAT WHICH YOU ALREADY HAVE?
How selfish are you?
How self-centered can you be that day in and day out you spend untold numbers of wasted hours in nice, comfortable church meetings or rattling away on the internet about your latest “glory party” while the world around you perishes without a saving knowledge of the One who paid their penalty for sin—and the only reason they don’t hear is because the Church isn’t doing its job?
How can you be so selfish to write this off as simply someone penning an article who has an “evangelistic anointing or calling” when God is no respecter of persons and Jesus never told a single disciple that they didn’t have the responsibility to demonstrate His Kingdom to the world around them?
How can you remain so blind when the Truth stands right in front of you beckoning you to come and help Him bring His Love and Forgiveness and Grace and Power to the people whom He died for?
Will you rob Him of the reward of His suffering?
How can you think it is even remotely okay for you to ignore the commands of the King of the Universe to not only love Him, but to love those around you and demonstrate who He is to them?
Is there not a cause? Are the giants in this land not ours for the slaying?
Are you so fearful? Is your devil bigger than the God within you?
Will you be amongst the remnant that grow a backbone and stands for what is right?
Have you been so inundated with mindless religious traditions and nice sounding music and fantastic ear-tickling books and prophecies that your ears have been deafened to the cries of the desperate ones around you?
Are you so wrapped up in your own self-righteousness that you feel the need to rub the sins of a group of people whose nature is to sin in their faces, instead of loving them and showing them who Truth is?
Are you so blinded by your own ambitions to be a Christian superstar and being recognized by some mega-money-hungry-ministry that you are not willing to spend time fighting the devil off of the sick, helpless and dying in a hospital room because it might take more than a 30-second prayer?
Are you so enamored with the thought of being an “itinerant minister” and conference speaker that you spend thousands of dollars and years of your life to move your entire life to attend “schools” and learn a whole bunch of religious, unbiblical-but-good-sounding-stuff that thousands before you have spent and yet the world still remains unchanged and you’ve not heard of these self-proclaimed ‘world changers’?
Does it not strike you as even remotely strange that there has been all this “praying for revival” and how little “revival” has resulted?
Are you even slightly aware of the fact that the notion of actually going INTO all the world to preach and demonstrate the Gospel was what Jesus said—not you sitting huddled in a room, an auditorium, or even in a ‘prayer closet’ begging Him to do your job?
Has it occurred to you that by going from meeting to meeting, church to church, conference to conference because of how good you feel afterwards and the emotional highs you get— that you are addicted to spiritual masturbation and self-gratification?
Have you considered looking into whether or not your “Christianity” actually reflects the Christ whom you profess?
Do unbelievers like to be around you? Do they tell you that you’re “not like other Christians” that they have met because you actually love them and show them that they are worthwhile?
Or are the only people that seem to like you already “Christians”?
Have you even stopped to think about the fact that it was the “Christians” of Jesus’ day that were the very ones that had Him murdered because of how aggressively He confronted their hypocrisy and hell-inspired traditions of man-instituted bondage?
Or that the “sinners” of His day actually liked being around Him because He didn’t rub their sin in their faces and judge or condemn them?
Which side of the fence are you on?
How angry is this article making you?
If it is, have you considered why it’s making you angry?
Is it because your own hypocrisy and disobedience has been laid bare before you and that I am telling you that you are playing a demonically perverted game—a masquerade to the whole world around you, yourself included—that you are not actually living the Christian life?
Is it because as you read these words you have realized that you are now responsible to actually do something with the life that has been granted to you rather than going to another good meeting?
Is it because I am calling YOU, oh fair Christian, to repent of your hypocrisy and demonstrate the life and character of the One whom you profess with your lips?
Or is it because you have realized that you have been blinded and duped by the great deceiver–the father of lies–that old dragon who thrives on rendering useless the very ones (you) whom God ordained to crush him (satan) under their feet?
Is it because you have recognized the deception that has gripped you and the Church of the Living God and the very wrath of God towards sin, death, and bondage now burns within you?
If it is the former, then you will either turn from your hypocrisy or just harden your heart further to the voice of the Lord who has called you.
If it is the latter, there is much to be done.
The battle is ours to war–and victory has already been achieved on Calvary. There are giants in our promised land that are ours to slay.
Who will stand and fight?
Who will rise and defy the tyranny and oppression that has infiltrated the church as well as that which afflicts the lost?
Is it you?
I will see you on the front lines.
We’ve got giants to kill.
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Please watch the following video — it is a reenactment of a vision William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, had a few hundred years ago.
This is an article by Charles Spurgeon that rings just as true today as when it was written.
You probably won’t hear this passage preached out of on Sunday morning.
“Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.” – 2 John 1:9-11
So much for “honor” as it is so blithely taught today.
Church of Christ, awaken and get a tongue of FIRE and set people free!
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“I have not much patience with a certain class of Christians nowadays who will hear anybody preach so long as they can say, “He is very clever, a fine preacher, a man of genius, a born orator.” Is cleverness to make false doctrine palatable? Why, sirs, to me the ability of a man who preaches error is my sorrow rather than my admiration.
I cannot endure false doctrine, however neatly it may be put before me. Would you have me eat poisoned meat because the dish is of the choicest ware? It makes me indignant when I hear another gospel put before the people with enticing words, by men who would fain make merchandise of souls; and I marvel at those who have soft words for such deceivers.
“That is your bigotry,” says one. Call it so if you like, but it is the bigotry of the loving John who wrote—“If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work (2 John 1:10-11).”
I would to God we had all more of such decision, for the lack of it is depriving our religious life of its backbone and substituting for honest manliness a mass of the tremulous jelly of mutual flattery.
He who does not hate the false does not love the true; and he to whom it is all the same whether it be God’s word or man’s, is himself unrenewed at heart.
Oh, if some of you were like your fathers you would not have tolerated in this age the wagon loads of trash under which the gospel has been of late buried by ministers of your own choosing.
You would have hurled out of your pulpits the men who are enemies to the fundamental doctrines of your churches, and yet are crafty enough to become your pastors and undermine the faith of a fickle and superficial generation.
These men steal the pulpits of once orthodox churches, because otherwise they would have none at all.
Their powerless theology cannot of itself arouse sufficient enthusiasm to enable them to build a mousetrap at the expense of their admirers, and therefore they profane the houses which your sires have built for the preaching of the gospel, and turn aside the organisations of once orthodox communities to help their infidelity: I call it by that name in plain English, for “modern thought” is not one whit better, and of the two evils I give infidelity the palm, for it is less deceptive.
I beg the Lord to give back to the churches such a love to his truth that they may discern the spirits, and cast out those which are not of God. I feel sometimes like John, of whom it is said that, though the most loving of all spirits, yet he was the most decided of all men for the truth; and when he went to the bath and found that the heretic, Cerinthus, was there, he hurried out of the building, and would not tarry in the same place with him.
There are some with whom we should have no fellowship, nay, not so much as to eat bread; for though this conduct looks stern and hard, it is after the mind of Christ, for the apostle spake by inspiration when he said, “If we or an angel from heaven preach to you any other gospel than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1)
According to modern efficiency he ought to have said, “Let him be kindly spoken with in private, but pray make no stir. No doubt the thought was original, and we must not question his liberty. Doubtless, he believes the same as we do, only there is some little difference as to terms.”
This is treason to Christ, treachery to truth, and cruelty to souls.
If we love our Lord we shall keep his words, and stand fast in the faith, coming out from among the false teachers; nor is this inconsistent with charity, for the truest love to those who err is not to fraternise with them in their error, but to be faithful to Jesus in all things.”
- The Blueprint of “Renewing Your Mind” 11/24/2011 Brandon
- Decisions that Define Us – Graham Cooke 11/23/2011 Brandon
- Incomplete Vs. Complete Forgiveness 11/25/2011
- 20 Rob Rufus Quotes On Law vs. Grace 11/23/2011
- Organic Church Introduction 01/30/2012
- Dead to Sin and Alive to God! 11/10/2011
- Five Ways Jesus Revealed Grace 02/01/2012
- Do Everything Jesus Said? 01/29/2012
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