11 Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
James 4:11-12 (NIV)
Pray for discernment. (May 2023)
There are too many Christians speaking against other Christians right now. I don’t know how many are actually being led by God to do so, but I suspect very few. I was listening to a preacher talk about their age today. They’re at a point in life where they are done caring what others think about them. If someone doesn’t like their ministry, oh well. They’ll keep serving God. — That’s what I got out of what they said.
As I was meditating on this, I realized that we shouldn’t wait until we are older and wiser to stop caring. We should do it at any age….PROVIDED WE ARE IN GOD’S WILL. If we know we are in God’s will, what others say should not matter. We do it, through obedience to His timing and direction. Anything outside of that, well, that’s between you and the Lord.
Furthermore, however, when Christians are speaking against other Christians, we must be very careful to not believe what they say about someone, but to ask the Lord about what is being said. There are certain well-known preachers out there that I refuse to listen to. I have a check in my spirit – an uneasy feeling – when I hear them talk or when others share what so-and-so said in a sermon recently. There are some that I used to buy their books, but I no longer do because something doesn’t sit well with me any longer about them.
Does that mean God isn’t using them to share His gospel? Some say yes. Some say no. I say, “Who am I to say one way or the other? If God can use a donkey, He can use anybody.”
God will do what God will do. He is sovereign.
Now, God has given us His Holy Spirit, who lives inside of us, whom we can commune with every moment of our lives about anything and everything. Through Holy Spirit’s guidance, I can discern what is of God and what is not.
But…
I don’t know what Holy Spirit is telling someone else. I’d like to think He does, but that’s not how discernment works. For me, I can discern when God’s presence is near me. I can discern when evil spirits are near me. I can sense with something is dark. I can feel when I am under spiritual attack. I can discern whether someone is speaking from their own flesh or through the Holy Spirit.
Well, I’d like to think I can most of the time, but truth is, learning to discern is a lifelong process.
Getting back to Christian vs Christian, I come back to something the Lord told me earlier this year. He said, “Pray for discernment.”
When the Lord told me that, initially I thought it was for me. But no. He said I am to pray for discernment for others.
We are in the last days, folks. Jesus is coming soon. 2 Timothy 3:1 says in the ESV, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. ” The King James Version calls them “perilous times”. NIV says “terrible times”. Look around and we’re starting to get that way, especially here in America.
In the NIV it goes on,
2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—
Verse 5 finishes it off by saying, “having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”
Have nothing to do with such people.
That might seem simple to do. Just cut off everyone who is like this, right? Wrong. If there is a pattern of behavior that is abusive, have nothing to do with them. If there is a pattern of someone boastfulness or proud of themselves instead of God, have nothing to do with them. If there is a pattern of someone who is without love, unforgiving, not loving the good, ungratefulness and so on, have nothing to do with them.
But, if it’s a one-time thing of conceit, loving money, without love? Guess what? You need discernment.
Let’s look at the rest of that section of Scripture, starting with verse 6, to see what kind of patterns we should be looking for:
6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.
This entire passage is painting a picture of those who would deceive people in the last days.
Titus 1:10-11 says, “For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.”
The “circumcision group” that Paul mentions here in his letter to Titus references Christians that came from a Jewish background (physical circumcision). For us who are not Jews, there is a circumcision that happens – it is a circumcision of the heart.
28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
Romans 2:28-29 (ESV)
Who is teaching things “they ought not to teach” – “for the sake of dishonest gain”?
That is a question I cannot answer for you. It is imperative that in these last days, that we stop looking to people for answers to spiritual questions. We need to stop elevating men and women who are preaching the Word of God to (secular) “star” status level. Jeanne Wilkerson said,
The storms of life are on us! Even the Christians. Men and women who are in the limelight! Satan is attacking and if we do not watch our step and maintain our hold in God by prayer and the Word, many will be on the casualty list in this hour.
Jeanne Wilkerson, hopefaithprayer.com
We must not continually tear other Christians down on our social media channels. We must pray for them. We must pray for them to have the mind of Christ. Pray that they will be transformed by the renewing of the mind with the Word. Pray that they will humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways.
Pray that they would submit themselves to God, resist the devil so that he will flee from them. Then, pray that they draw near to God so that He would draw near to them. Pray that they would desire more of God and His truth. Pray that they walk in His ways. Pray that they would seek His face. Pray that they speak only what the Lord directs them to speak.
Pray that they would be filled with the love of God, so that, in word and deed that love comes forth from them.
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Sunny Cadwallader 
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