WHO ARE THE REAL TROUBLERS OF THE CHURCH!
FOR SOME YEARS, I have been racking my brains and vexing my spirit to discover the real reason why so many are so critical of writings which genuinely expose falsehood and reveal truth. I do not mean nastily vituperative writings such as one gets from the pens of professional heresy-spotters — you know, the modern Inquisition type of people who flourish in certain ‘fundie’ sections of the churches and thrive on browbeating anyone who doesn’t measure up to their rules and shibboleths. I am instead referring to reasoned, calmly-written expositions rooted in love, but which major on truth. I know that many of you have had a similar experience, so I am writing this for your encouragement.
Every time I have written something which I am convinced in my heart is a timely word of exposure, the inevitable responses come in which complain about me being “too judgemental”, “too unloving”, “too harsh”, “too emotive”, “too hateful”, “too divisive”, etc. I remember receiving a lengthy letter from a Church of England Bishop some years ago who claimed to have read some of my publications, and he said that all the way through reading them he had one scripture buzzing through his brain — “Judge not, that ye be not judged”, which is an old chestnut used to shut people up who say awkward things. (See my article, “Ethical Quandaries: Is It Always Wrong to Judge?”). It was clear from his letter that he had not read the publications at all but had only dipped into those bits which exposed his own denominational apostasy. I wrote back a gentle letter saying that I could understand his concern and was genuinely willing to alter what I said if he could show me where I had exercised hypocritical condemnation anywhere in those publications (for that is what Matt.7:1 is really all about, as it is not at all about exercising discerning judgement). If I had been unfairly critical and the criticism could not be sustained, then I wanted to be the first to know about it and will always retract falsehoods or misrepresentations if they can be shown to be so. Well, of course, I never heard a word of reply. And it has always been the same with these folks! They are so willing to accuse you of serious things — causing division, telling untruths, failing to love the brethren, etc. But when you ask them to point to what it is precisely which is so offensive, they never, ever respond. This is because they do not have a leg to stand on.
I have been most intrigued by this phenomenon — indeed, I am prompted to write an entire paper on it, so endemic has it become in the evangelical scene. I am now convinced that the real reason that these people respond as they do is not because they have anything genuine to say about one’s writings but because they have their own secret axe to grind. And that axe of theirs goes like this:- Because your writings have touched a nerve, and have exposed something which they are into, but which they are going to cling to at all costs — because you have revealed to them a folly of theirs which they are not willing to face up to — and because you have actually DARED to highlight all that, in order to avoid the painful process of change, they are forced to lay into you with a multitude of counter-accusations. So, just like King Ahab, who was the real “troubler of Israel” (and not Elijah), they accuse the truth-tellers of being disturbers of their phoney peace (see First Book of Kings, chapter 18, verse 17). The problem is not that you’ve disturbed THE peace but that you have disturbed THEIR peace! I am convinced that 99.9 times out of 100, this is the real reason that they are so ready to hurl derogatory epithets in your direction. That is why the above Anglican Bishop reacted as he did — because he couldn’t stomach the exposure of his denomination as a falsehood-promoting organisation. So, rather than face the truth or at least investigate it, he resorted to cheap denunciation of the writer as a hypocrite! Do you think that such duplicity is what God intended for the progressive sanctification of His people?
Another example: I wrote a piece in a national Christian paper exposing the Toronto Blessing for what it was (and still is!). Within a week of publication both Canon Michael Green and the late Anglican Bishop, Sandy Millar, had written lengthy letters to the editor complaining about what I had said. Among other things Michael Green accused me of making up things in the piece which he found unbelievable. I then wrote to him and sent video evidence to prove that what I said was true. I asked him to substantiate all his complaints in detail. My letter was written in a reasonable tone. Needless to say, I received no reply whatsoever. I ask you: Who was the real “troubler of Israel” — in this case, “troubler of the Church”?
We need to be aware of this phenomenon because it is greatly used by the prince of darkness to undermine the work of Watchmen in the Church. Do not ever be afraid to stand up to these real troublers of the Church, even if they have swanky titles or “Dip.Th” after their names. Follow up their accusations in minutiae. Gently ask them to point out to you word for word where it is exactly that you have (according to them) been “harsh”, “unloving”, “emotive”, “hateful”, “divisive”, etc. I guarantee that they will be speechless. You will hear nothing from them. This is always the way; and the reason is because their original accusations are groundless. Exposure of the truth only seems harsh and unloving and divisive to those who love the Lie. Or, as the old saying goes: “Truth seems hateful only to those that hate the truth!” It takes real courage to be so open to correction in a day when godly rebuke is regarded in such a negative fashion.
So the next time you feel moved to accuse someone of being too harsh, unloving, hateful, divisive, etc. when they have exposed falsehood of any kind, be sure to check out your own heart first and see whether you are merely knee-jerking against something false in yourself that you have been fingered about, which you are unwilling to give up, and which you will go to great lengths to cling onto — even accusing others of sinful attitudes in order to wriggle out of your dilemma. This is yet another aspect of the way that so many of those who profess to be ‘Christian’ have serious psychological issues which they are not willing to work through, even though that is a necessary part of the metanoia experience. For if one does not slough them off, one will just be a liability in the Church and among one’s friends and family. Spiritual transformation must inevitably lead to a transformation of one’s psychological and emotional patterns, or one has to doubt that such transformation has taken place.
Another example: In the wake of the death of Diana Spencer (Princess Diana or Lady Di), I had an e-mail exchange on the subject with a man who is supposed to be one of the world’s leading Baptist writers and thinkers. He said that he was “honestly profoundly unimpressed with the material on Diana. It is ad hominem to the extreme, sensationalistic in excess, and weird at best. You provide nothing but opinion and guess work”. During the course of my writing about that subject (which I admitted was speculation mingled with fact), I stated that the driver of the car in which she died was an MI6 asset — a fact which was later publicly proven to be true. Yet I was pilloried for saying so at the time. However, this ‘leading Baptist writer and thinker’ should really have said: “I don’t understand what you’ve written here. It is beyond my grasp with the knowledge that I have at present. Time will tell whether what you say is true. I will carry out my own investigation”. You see, my friends, the real reason why he knee-jerked against what I said about the Diana business (and there is always a real reason lurking in the background 🙂 was because elsewhere in my writings I had made a brief critical remark about the theologian Karl Barth. But, like so many neo-evangelicals, he is a great supporter of Karl Barth; so it was like a red rag to a bull. My having said a single sentence about Barth, he then spent 450 words defending Barth, accusing me (wrongly, as it happens) of knowing nothing about the man, etc. Then, in the same letter, he launched his broadside against what I’d said about Diana. This is just another example of that phenomenon we described above — “You have exposed something which they are into, but which they want to cling to at all costs; you have revealed to them the folly of their ways which they are not willing to face up to, and in order to avoid the painful process of change they lay into you with a multitude of counter-accusations”.
Why do you think that King Ahab said what he did to the prophet Elijah about him being a “troubler of Israel”? Because deep down within his being he knew that Elijah was in the right and felt him to be a threat to his falsehood. Why do you think that Pashur, the chief policeman of the Temple (whose job was to root out false prophets), was so ready to put Jeremiah in the stocks after he prophesied the truth? Because Jeremiah’s prophetic accusations (see Book of Jeremiah, chapter 19, verses 14-15) revealed Pashur’s inadequacy in his job. Rather than admit it, he set upon discrediting Jeremiah. Why do you think that Cain was so ready to destroy Abel? Why do you think that Saul was so ready to destroy David? Why do you think that Diotrephes was so ready to get rid of others out of the church (Third Letter of John, verses 9-10)? Why do you think that the Pharisees accused the Lord Jesus Christ of being a troublemaker, a lunatic and a demoniac? Because deep down they knew that even His very presence was a threat to all the junk which they had erected as truth, but which was in reality a gross lie. Rather than admit the truth about themselves, they spewed out false accusations against Him. In the world of psychology, it is called “projection” when people project their own crap onto you, as if it is you who is the guilty party rather than them. So, if you are a forthteller or truthteller, you had better be ready to have the twisted innards of others splurged all over you, if it has not already happened. Such are the real troublers of Israel. It has always been this way — and will continue to be so until the Day comes when there will be no more cover-ups, no more whitewashes, and no more fending off the truth through phoney charges.
For everyone’s workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work. Frankly, I can hardly wait!
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© 2023, Alan Morrison / The Diakrisis Project. All Rights Reserved. [The copyright on my works is merely to protect them from any wanton plagiarism which could result in undesirable changes (as has actually happened!). Readers are free to reproduce my work, so long as it is in the same format and with the exact same content and its origin is acknowledged]