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.
