Discerning the Heart of Things

It would be helpful if we went past surface issues and symptoms to the heart of things. It is evident that some ministers have made sexual mistakes and/or mistakes with mammon. If one looks deeper, they will usually find that these people were off track earlier in their ministry of the Word. They are wrong in their behavior and it hurts the Church, but the truth be known being off in the Word effects more people and is more devastating in the long run to the body of Christ. Being off in the Word opens the door for these and other things to continue to hinder the Church being salt and light to the world. (Note: They may still speak of Jesus, sing Amazing Grace, befriend you, move in gifts, and teach you things of the Bible that you do not know, in fact, that is why it is so deceptive).

There are some professing Christians, who see no real problem with making sexual mistakes, and there are some who do see a problem with it, but usually both sides are not looking with real discernment. There are few who look deeper into the heart of the matter. One of the main reasons that many do not look deeper is because they presently can not look deeper. Why? They have not had their senses trained or fully trained to do so. They have only been trained to look from surface points of view. Some of the surface points of view say yea, and others say nay! That is because people are approaching things from the viewpoint of opinions, personal beliefs, cultures, personal preferences, traditions and the likes. It is the difference in flesh and spirit; it is the difference in pure spirit and mixture of flesh and spirit. It is why some stay with the same minister, and others go away mad and stay mad.

If one begins to look deeper, they will see a major difference in a minister who makes a mistake and a minister who is a mistake. But remember, one can not look deeper with untrained or half-trained spiritual senses . The devil sends ministers to devil worship churches, and he sends ministers to Christian churches. For most Christians there is no need to have trained senses to recognize a minister in a devil worship church as being from hell, but what about in a Christian Church? A devil from hell in a Christian Church is not going to openly say the same things as one in a devil worship church. It usually will take highly trained senses to discern and judge them. Eventually, untrained Christians may pick up little flaws, but they will not usually see the real problems. If certain problems become flagrant, some may get upset, but they can get upset without knowing that the minister was a mistake to begin with. They can not see that the minister was sent from hell and not from heaven to begin with.

A good study of 2 Corinthians 11:12-15 will be helpful in beginning to see the difference. Now, concerning true ministers in error look at how Paul handled Peter. For handling some other minist ers look what Paul said in Galatians 5:12. There are wonderful truths to be found to help train our senses in the letters to the churches in the book of Revelation. The Church at Ephesus had been given one of the highest revelations concerning the body of Christ. A few years later they had a great spiritual resume and would have been famous today. They would be on the front page of Christian magazines and their ads would be everywhere. Preachers would invite their minister to hold revivals and conventions, but Jesus would still be saying, „Repent or else."

To sum up what I am writing is to say that the body of Christ needs disciples who are intimate with Jesus and thorough in their knowledge and understanding of the Word. These disciples will be able to discern and deal with things appropriately. They will not have to wait until things are made public to the world; they will discern when the Word is not being rightly divided. Presently and regretfully, there are ministers wh o are off track with the Word but still on TV and published in books and magazines. Some people today are seeing that something is not right but they are being critical and judgmental which is what Matthew 7:1 speaks against. Others are partially seeing a problem, but are so bound by cheap grace that they cannot properly discern and judge as 1 Corinthians teaches should be done. Others are going with the flow because they do not know better. May God help us all to mature in Christ and to become the Church that Jesus so desires (Ephesians 4:13-16).

There are some ministers today who were God called and have fallen away. Some will not repent and others may repent. One thing that would help is to have a restored Church that is unified in faith. The Church restored would judge and call for repentance with such love, power and unity that many would repent. The others would be properly dealt with and the body of Christ would be protected.