Wednesday, September 28, 2011

'Righteous' Indignation the Wounded Offense



In the cult I was in there was always name calling & name dropping against all the 'fallen or false christians' that 'were' a part of the organization.

There was a root of hurt as to the reason why. Like a festering wound; there was never a turning of the cheek. It never set well with me… people fall off the hay-wagon every day, but why this incessant need to bring up the example by means of running the AWOL under the bus instead of moving on?


This 'hurt' began to turn into a false righteous indignation.

Let me share the definition for:


indignation |ˌindigˈnā sh ən|

noun

anger or annoyance provoked by what is perceived as unfair treatment


So yes, those people were wrong to turn and attack the brethren, but in the end Jesus said… "Forgive them for they know not what they do."

The prince and power of the air blinds the minds of people, who in turn behave badly against the saints. Christians against Christians is his special target practice. Wake up. So if we can get that thorough our tough skulls, then we will not continue on with this petty fleshly retaliation against others made in His likeness.


I had a spirit of indignation… it is a real spiritual vice… just like anger is, or any other sin that repeats over and over and contrary to the fruit of the Spirit. Just look in the thesaurus and see what words hold hands in similar meaning with indignation.


Indignation is scary because you'll find you're RIGHT. You're absolutely RIGHT. The offender was clearly in the wrong… you tell other people about it and they cheer you on enthusiastically… they bring fuel for the fire, and pitchforks and weapons. But in the end it doesn't 'feel' right.


Let me share from my personal experience, an episode I had that woke me up to seek repentance and change...



Now mind you… I had come across all sorts of whacko christians that would attack me and I would have just the right scriptural words to smack them into submission… and of course never feeling quite right about it despite the crowd of supporters about me cheering me on… But what woke me up, was this same sort of situation but with an unbeliever suppressing a person I cared about that was a very weak christian.


I hadn't seen my friend in a while and we had talked about going out for the evening somewhere where we could dance. When it came around time to leave the very obsessive/controlling boyfriend told her he didn't want her to go.


[around them there parts, might I add I'm voted most straight-laced, party-pooper… so it's not like she was in bad company.]


So she came over to me and tearfully relayed his displeasure and I went ballistic on him; calling out every bad fruit and making it glaringly clear of his paranoid domination… all in front of all his friends that were sitting nearby.

He was so embarrassed that all he could do was quickly high-tail it away.

One by one all his friends came up to me saying "You're right… I'm glad you did that…" ect.

[I didn't follow the scriptural method of: "Go to them privately FIRST"]


And I knew he wasn't a Christian, so I didn't even have to throw damnation into the mix…

…and what was I thinking when I KNEW that it was a spiritual problem, not to be dealt with in the flesh!!!But for days and days, the Holy Spirit would churn in my heart after the event would replay in my mind, showing me it had the same feeling as when defending against the railing 'christians'… I began to seek Him for answers.


Hebrews 12:12-15

"Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.

See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled…"


I have a huge heart for the body of Christ… I do get upset when I see falsehood that leads the sheep astray, but even when a person does not repent [Matthew 18:17], we are commanded to love our enemy and pray for those who persecute us and do good to those who hate us. [Luke 6:27]


Is exposing these wayward 'christians' valid? Yes… in your church or covenant group of believers following the method in Matthew 18:15-17:


"If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you h ave won your brother.

But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED.

If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector."


The problem you will find by people that feel it's their mission in life to expose false teachers, prophets ect. is that they cannot be content that their rejected correction to such people is all that was required of them and that God will deal with the individuals later.

Instead of sharing the precepts of falsehood or warnings of bad cult fruit to truly educate the body, they focus on the individual and the sin. Let me back up to Hebrews 12:15 again: "See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled…"


Ostracism received in trying to correct the leader can be brutal, whether the situation be death threats, curses via christian witchcraft, public embarrassment and poisoning everyone against you -- lies -- deception. But after you've followed the biblical path of Matthew 18:16-17 what are you called to do?


[Oh, here it is in the book of I’mmaliah 10:4 "Run thy wayward brother under the camel bus"… okay, I hope I don't get accusations of adding or taking from the scriptures… I'm being facetious people!!!!]


Worry about your own salvation… turn the cheek and allow Jesus to heal the wounding. If the wounds are happily exposed, and the crowd gathers… indignation reigns and the MANY who listen to the bitter rant become DEFILED.


When a person tries to justify this concept of necessary exposure with public condemnation under the guise of "I have to protect the sheep", I say, "NO you don't, Jesus does!"

"But people are being led astray… I HAVE to."

You know what… quit treating people like stupid babies and edify the spirit within them to seek after the truth!

If you continue on with this agenda the next ill to set in your ministry is a sort of elitism where all the hurt wounded people hang out and talk about how 'lost' the cult people are… how narrow the road is and so few find it with messages that imply that you've found it because you all have suffered persecution. Geez, abounding love and forgiveness in that dead end! [facetious Alert!!!!]


If this is you there is still time to reroute and come clean. The Lord has given me a significant earful on how serious this indignant path is. How the devil is right there as you overcome one serious bondage to jump right into another.


How dangerous is it to call people out & judge then...when it births from a root of wounding or offense....then it slips into what for the sake of God? Back to that righteous indignation stuff.... but it's not really righteous...it's root is offense, pain, hurt.... and it DEFILES MANY.

www.hearingGod.tv

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