Discern Even When it Hurts

 “He (Jesus) saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” – Jesus, Matthew 16:15-18 KJV

Over the last few years, with all the exposure of leaders in the church, it has been easy to become discouraged, make excuses for our favorite teachers (more on that later), and even want to give up on Christianity. In this season, we must guard our hearts and remember the above verse.

In this post, I will not include much Scripture; I am simply sharing my heart. I just watched a promo for a men’s event where the wife was sitting at home, wearing a facial mask and her robe, and reading “Blessed Marriage” by Robert Morris. Morris recently resigned from his church in Texas and was indicted in Oklahoma for SA of a child. Why would you have his book so prominently “being read” in your promo? This same church just recently had false prophet Brandon Biggs on its platform. There are people I still like, but at this point, it goes beyond guilt by association; this is more than just a one-off conference with someone. The teachers I have enjoyed since my childhood just don’t have any discernment amid the housecleaning God is doing in His church.

For months, I have been praying that I would see things as they are and walk in truth. I grew up watching Rod Parsley, who, over the past year, has been exposed on the Mega Maniacs Podcast. It’s heartbreaking to realize the guy you looked up to as a child was not who you thought he was. In 2008, things in the charismatic movement began unraveling for me with the exposure of Todd Bentley and the leaders who restored him to ministry. In 2019, he was again found to be in all the same sin, which was followed by all the false prophecies in 2020, and things have continued to snowball.

This week, I read First Corinthians, and these verses jumped out at me;

“3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? 4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? 5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. 9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. 11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. 14 If any man’s work abides which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. 18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. 20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. 21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; 22 whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; 23 and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s. 4:1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. 4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. 6 And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. 7 For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?”

It’s so easy to look at our pastor or a well-known teacher and do precisely what Paul says not to; that’s why so many of these individuals can remain in ministry even after being found to be disqualified from it.

It’s not just guilt by association; you have ministers running cover for other ministers; they are going after people who are calling for holiness in the Church. There is the visible church in this world, and there is the true Church, the Church that will be without spot or wrinkle (Eph. 5:26-27). Right now, we are seeing God purify His Church, expose false prophets, and remove false shepherds. I’ve seen some people I know walk away from faith because of some of these things. I have watched others close their eyes to the truth and stay in bad environments, and then there is me, who has let some things go and tried to hold onto others, all the while knowing the Holy Spirit was leading me to walk away.

One thing I have learned recently is that truth is God’s. It doesn’t matter where you heard it from. The issue is not being attached to who you heard it from. I tend to read more about dead people than living ones because you know how their lives ended; you know who is biblically solid and who isn’t. I have no doubt that God will continue to work in me over the next few months, but I am moving forward by staying in the Word, in prayer, and fellowship with other believers. The thing that dawned on me this week is that you can’t just listen to what people say; you have to watch what they do and who they choose to continue associating with, as well as the books, conferences, ministers, churches, and other entities they endorse.

We will all miss it at times; it takes time to process what we leave behind, and it’s not always a clean and quick break; there may be a struggle, and you may find yourself going back (I have), but at the end of the day, we must recognize we belong to Jesus, not a man and his church or organization.

We must be willing to acknowledge when someone we trust is going in the wrong direction. We can’t allow ourselves to be gaslit about not speaking to well-known leaders who we all know we can’t talk to anyway.

Today, I decided to take some books off the recommended resources page, not because they aren’t good books, but because I don’t believe I can trust the authors going forward. One of my favorite books on Christian Antisemitism was written by a man who was recently disqualified from ministry but who has chosen to ignore the findings of the group he agreed to allow to investigate him. There are other books on Christian Antisemitism, even though I thought his was one of the best, I don’t want to recommend any of his books anymore. There are other ministries I have liked that have chosen to defend him; I am choosing to no longer follow them either.

Our sanctification and our souls are too important to be manipulated by people who are not true shepherds and have no evidence of the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. In the coming months, we will be gaslit even more. We need to be cautious of those who say all the right things; are they pointing us to Jesus, or are they trying to be the replacement for the one they are exposing? Discernement is key in these days. Watch and pray.