I Wanted to Know the Subtle Differences

About ten years ago I asked the Lord in prayer to show me what was on His heart about the church.  I wanted to know the subtle differences between the true and the false.  Not only did I ask Him to show me these differences but I also asked Him to reveal what He wanted me say and/or do about it.  Did I really know what I was praying at the time?  No.  But I’m very grateful for being given the opportunity to do so and although the revelations have come at an extremely high cost, I would not change that prayer for anything.  It is still my prayer today.  The revelations are still coming and the cost for receiving them is still extremely high!

One of the reasons for the prayer was due to my experiences among Christian people in a fellowship that I had at that time recently made up my mind to disassociate myself with after being amongst them for nearly seven years.  (See my posts:  Melbourne Christian Fellowship – Why I Left It. Part 1,  2 & 3.  In fact, had I not prayed that prayer, that 3-part testimony would not have been written some eight years later.  I have learned by experience that simply praying, going to church, listening to sermons, reading my Bible and doing a mid-week Bible study is never going to be enough if one truly wants to know the mind of God and what is on His heart at any given moment.

We nod our head and speak loudly our, “Amen” as we hear them preach, “Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock,…….” Matthew 7:7, but so far as I can discern there are few who actually pray in the manner required for the discerning of what is truth and what is error.  As has been written elsewhere on this blog, truth is not the primary reason for people to gather together as Christians in the church or home groups.  If it were any different it would show up as such, but it does not.  ‘Ask’ means to: beg, call for, crave, desire, require. ‘Seek’ means to: go about, desire, endeavour, enquire, require.

Not long after becoming a Christian I studied the major doctrines of Roman Catholicism, Mormonism and the Jehovah Witnesses, and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit it was not difficult to grasp that which conflicts with the Bible.  Even though the same terminology is used by each of them, I found their meanings to be as different as chalk and cheese.  But it’s a whole different ball-game when one is associated with a group such as I have written about in that 3-part testimony.  It took years of asking, seeking and knocking to get a handle on the subtle differences that were taught as truth.  The biggest problem being partial truths taught as whole truths.

I am also extremely grateful to God for placing this prayer on my heart for two other very important reasons.  The first is; I am released from all care for my personal reputation with regards the thoughts and opinions of those who disagree with me in the fellowships that I’ve been formerly associated with.  The second reason is; those who do disagree will find that God will answer them too if they should seek Him in the same manner on exactly the same matters.  God has no favorites Acts 10:34.  That means God will respond if they too will cry out, “Lord God, I want to know what is on Your heart about the church.  Show me the subtle differences between truth and error and then show me what You want me to say and/or do about it.”

In conversation with an elder at the last institutional church I was associated with, we were talking about truth & error one day and I told him that I had prayed that prayer on a regular basis.  He responded by telling me that it was, “a very brave thing to do,” but, he would never do it.  With such a confession I knew that it would not be too long before those words would come to test him.  They did a year or so later.  He appeared to hold views that were biblical.  In elder’s meetings and from the pulpit for example, he spoke of himself as a, “friend of God.”  Yet when lies were expressed by another elder which brought deception to the fellowship, his serpentine behavior showed the opposite.

This man was always the first to slink away whenever challenges were forthcoming in that fellowship.  For example: he used to agree with me privately that it was not biblical to have a woman as an elder and/or pastor with authority over a man 1 Timothy 2:12.  But he got around that Scripture by saying that the lady in question was not his pastor.  He told me, he had a male “mentor” (former pastor) outside the church whom he personally looked upon to still be his pastor.  To further that justification he sometimes had this man come and preach in that place.  That elder never told the lady pastor of his true stand on that matter.  As far as I know I’m the only one who did so.

He was not the only elder to manifest the serpentine spirit in that place.  In conversations with another elder, I frequently made mention of my intention to bring before the church the error of having a woman in that leadership role.  He smiled a lot and told me that both he and his wife would support that stand.  The church had its meeting and the lady pastor was voted out.  I thought it was because of our united stand according to the Scriptures.  I was wrong.  The lady was out because this elder, plus his wife and some others did not like her.  The truth of this came to a head when they stood against me when voting for a lady elder whom they did like!  All done in the name of Jesus and in the name of love! 

I have learned that one will lose friends but gain lots of enemies when one decides to stand up and speak up for truth.  Labels such as: self-righteous, spiritually proud, deceived, wrong-spirited, legalist, judgmental, intolerant, having no love……that’s been all part of the deal for me and there was a time when it shocked and hurt.  Not now.  I know I can expect little else and am resigned to that fact.  This does not make me bitter or resentful.  On the contrary – if it were not for the grace of God it would be me dishing out those labels upon somebody else.  I have nothing to be proud about.  In fact, in the natural I can be all of those things and more.

That being said, I have also learned to take people’s words at face value only. What one says he or she is or believes, may or may not be so.  Christian or otherwise it makes little difference.  It is not a time to be distrusting and “always on the lookout” for suspect people, but it is a time to be cautious and wise.  For example: if one is thinking of joining a new church, it is wise to find out what the leadership actually believes, not what is simply printed on their Statement of Beliefs.  Sometimes their core beliefs are hidden and they will only expose them by way of subtle gradualism.  For further insight, see my post: The Spirit of Cultism Entices People.

A young pastor spoke of his love for the book of Genesis.  It sounded like a blessing in today’s theological climate where the book is ridiculed and discounted by Bible colleges and churches alike.  The only problem with the pastor’s love for it, however, was his way of interpreting that book.  He did not accept the literal, plain-sense creation narrative as given in the first few 20-odd verses of Chapter One.  His people were pretty much ignorant of the book so it was easy for him to get them to swallow his take on it.  The problem with that will show up later for them though when they discover his interpretation clashes with that of the Lord Jesus and the apostolic writers.

Another pastor spoke of his belief of the Bible as being the word of God to man. But he too questioned the validity of Genesis in, “the light of what science reveals to us today.” Like so many, he spoke of the need to be cautious with the first 11 Chapters of that book, especially when talking to unbelievers.  His thoughts on the book of Revelation were similar.  If pastors of people are prepared to question the literal truths of those two books then I believe they devalue all 64 books of the Bible in between.  Not only that, but in my opinion they make themselves illegitimate servants of God.  They disqualify themselves.

The fact that we don’t often understand God’s revelation in these two books is not a cause for anyone to add to or subtract from them.  It is a cause for us to be in awe of God, to humble ourselves, fall prostrate to the floor and – beg, call for, crave, desire, enquire and require!  And on top of that … wait for Him to reveal in His time, which could take months or even years before some of those truths can be grasped.  Then once they are grasped, further prayer and waiting upon God will be required so as to be empowered by His Spirit to stand up in the midst of all that hell will bring against you in the proclamation of them.

As a result of my prayer, God’s revelations have come at great cost – especially in the area of severed relationships.  But how about the blessings?  They’ve been awesome!

• Time for prayer and study
• Power and faith to be obedient to God
• Release from the fear of man
• Spiritual insight and knowledge given in great measures
• Power and faith to stand up for God and His word
• Assurance of the Lord standing with me
• Power and faith to face the spirit of male chauvinism head on
• Power and faith to face the spirit of feminism head on
• Power and faith to challenge the hypocritical actions of Bible-compromising elders and pastors
• Power and faith to stand up and bring warnings to the church knowing I would make “enemies” as a result
• Power and faith to stand alone if need be

Again, God has no favorites.  If He did, I would not be among them.  So what does this mean for you, the reader of this post?  It means God will do exactly the same for you if you should decide that you too will pray, “Lord God, I want to know what is on Your heart about the church.  Show me the subtle differences between truth and error and then show me what You want me to say and/or do about it.”  God’s revelations will come to you at great cost.  But also, you will find His blessings to be awesome.  “Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.” Psalm 51:6. “Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven.” Psalm 85:11. “Buy the truth and do not sell it, also wisdom and instruction and understanding.” Proverbs 23:23.