Eph 4:11-12 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, (12) for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
The Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of His Church, gives, appoints, and calls men to His Church for the building up of the body of Christ. He called the original few as apostles, but down through the history of the church He has continued to call and give to His people evangelists and pastor-teachers.
Now, think carefully on this and I think that some lights will come on for you as to why so many abuse victims are treated so wickedly by their churches and the leaders in them. The Lord GIVES these ministers to His church. That means (as you can see in a multitude of Scriptures) that He calls them to their calling. He gifts them, like he did Jeremiah, with a burning of His Word within them, though now that Word is found in the Bible.
Consider then – if a man is not called and appointed to preach and teach and shepherd His church, then he is unauthorized to do so. He is a mere hired hand who looks after himself rather than Christ’s flock. And I want to suggest to you that many, many church leaders today are self-appointed. They are not called by Christ. They are self-exalting, looking to preach a message that pleases the unregenerate and builds a man-made tower of Babel kingdom for that counterfeit’s own glory.
What, then, do you suppose a widow or orphan or victim of evil abuse in a marriage is going to receive from such a trespasser in Christ’s church? I can tell you –
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
(1Co 13:1-6)
Do you see it? These counterfeits can have great degrees from the most illustrious seminaries. They can write books which sell thousands of copies. They can develop a name for themselves in “christendom.” They can build massive mega-churches. And yet, they and all they do is worse than nothing. Why? Because Christ’s true shepherds love their Lord and they love Christ’s people. They treat the sheep kindly. They do not compromise the Lord’s truth so as to protect their own kingdom. When a poor suffering woman, for instance, comes asking for help from a wicked narcissistic false christian husband, a real shepherd will protect that lamb. If he does not, if he does not act in accord with the love of Christ, then all of his great kingdom is nothing. It’s a sham.
I suggest to you that we all need to rethink very carefully this matter of Christ’s call to His true shepherds, and to re-evaluate how we might have assumed wrongly that the leader we are listening to has not been sent by the Lord. And if that be the case, what is going to happen to the sheep in such a kingdom? Noisy gongs and clanging cymbals. Where the love of Christ is absent, everything else is worse than nothing.
Susan Tramper
Jim Baker passed today.
Jeff Crippen
Definitely a wolf, certainly not called by the Lord. Listening to such a man is to be led down broadway.
lg
I think the whole concept of “church” in contemporary USA is completely not Biblical: millions of dollars on buildings and maintenance, huge paid staff, staging, concerts, lengthy sermons with one guy pontificating to the passive masses…. This is not a Biblical model for “church” or “holy convocation.”
Most contemporary churches are not houses of worship but entertainment centers that are based on the expansion model and ideas promoted by man, not in the Bible.
Our American “churchianity” model is a recipe for attracting wolves, false shepherds, and corruption.
Jeff Crippen
Absolutely. These “things” are not the church. They are edifices built on sand destined to crumble. Christ builds His church and it looks nothing like this.
Zee
Every church locally or even in the next state that we’ve tried several times each has had “Church-Planting” messages in place of sermons from the Word of God.
Raising building funds for ever-expanding building projects as well. Attempting to build their own empires based on the models of the rich mega churches.
Wow. Has the meaning of a local church changed drastically.
Haven’t found a true physical church in nearly a decade of searching. Very discouraging because we do want true human Christian fellowship.
We’ve stopped looking.
Jeff Crippen
Zee – Many real Christians are in the very same predicament you are. That is why we invite them to join us here at Christ Reformation Church online. It actually works quite well and people who plug in with us, listening to the Sunday livestreams and midweek Bible study livestreams (all are uploaded to Youtube and sermonaudio.com/crc) find that they hear God’s Word preached and taught, but they also have more contact with me, the pastor, than most physical church members do. I mean, just how well does a pastor of a, say even 500 person church have with the individual members?
Zee
Pastor, you are 100% right. Sadly, I have health issues related to my lifelong abuses by ex-family. So I can’t always watch your sermons live. But I send them to myself each week and watch them when I feel up to it. It’s a great blessing. It does feel like being part of a community. I urge anyone in my predicament regarding difficulty finding a church to livestream the sermons and watch the Bible Studies. Solid Bible teaching of the kind I was looking for all those years. And with a keen expert knowledge about domestic violence and abusers posing as Christians. What a bonus!!
And yes, you have been available with such sound advice and insight to me when I have had a question or problem and I’ve reached out to you. That has never even happened in a medium-sized church I’ve ever been to. Forget the huge ones.
You are very kind, fatherly and understanding especially knowing my complex history. Your wisdom has helped me move forward numerous times when I’ve been stuck. And I thank you.
God bless you and Verla.
Jeff Crippen
Thank you Zee. Apologies for taking so long to approve your comment. I have been away from the computer for longer than usual.
Healing
I’ve become disillusioned with the church because of how some of them have recently allowed convicted abusers in their ranks. There have been current situations in which church leaders have knowingly had registered sex offenders in their congregations but failed to tell the members. That’s ridiculous. There’s nothing vague or he-said-she-said about an RSO. Contrary to what NAMBLA will tell you, nobody is on the registry for public urination. You do something really terrible to be on it. Yet, there are some churches who have recently allowed these types in.
Jeff Crippen
I agree. The real challenge facing all of Christ’s real people in these evil days is to find a true church where true Christians gather to hear a genuine pastor preach God’s Word. That is why some years ago we started inviting people to join us, even if the fellowship needs to be at a distance via livestreaming. We have been extremely encouraged by the results and at least half our our congregation consists of people who have joined us in just such a manner. It is real fellowship and I communicate with many of the members every single week.