Security for the Flock.
Cancerous Leadership Creates a Sick Membership.
Our thoughts,
Can we identify the Pharisees by their behaviour and the product of their devoured membership? (Mt. 7:16)
Can a “gospel preacher” and his digested loyalists, publicly marked by the brotherhood as divisive slanderers (Rom. 16:17-18, Titus 3:10, 1 Cor. 6:10 NIV), lead the members of their local congregation towards heaven (”do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?”), or would they become twice the children of hell? (Mt. 23:15)
Can any local assembly infiltrated and taken hostage by such evil doers still be found as belonging to Christ? (Jude 1:19). Did Christ not command repentance from His local assemblies, or else they’d lose His Spirit? (Rev. 2:5)
What if a husband of one woman marries another man’s wife for other reasons? Though still identified as a “marriage,” God recognizes the adulterous nature and demands repentance, correct? God has made His judgment; it has already been bound in heaven (Mt. 18:18). “Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump” (1 Cor. 5:7).
Or what if the body receives a cancerous threat? If it does not move quickly to remove the hostile contamination, the body will die, will it not? Can disorderly brethren be of any assistance to our spiritual wellbeing? (2 Thess. 3:6).
Though in the minority, it is true in some cases that the efforts are successful in removing the cancer, slowly healing to once again receive a pure and healthy body. When discerning the history and condition of the body, being rotten to its core, it is best to simply obey the Holy Spirit and avoid the toxic location at all costs. When the rot is on the surface, we can cut it out and still find nourishment. But when the rot is found within the seeds, we throw the apple away.
Hear the truth: a local church leadership infected with pride and selfish ambitions no longer belongs to Christ, even if the sign outside says “church of Christ.” To belong to Christ is more than a sign outside. To belong to Christ is both inward and outward; Law & Love.
Friends, do not be deceived, do not be found in a house highjacked by Diotrephes and his recruited henchmen (3rd John). No excuses will be justified on the Day we meet the Maker. Not distance. Not ignorance. Nor cowardice. You don’t need to follow their intimidation and flattery into the eternal realm of torment.
Jesus set the Jews free, telling them they did not need any gatekeepers. Be set free in Christ, come find His Majesty’s faithful home, and know the love therein (Mt. 6:33).
We must learn to discern
Your servant,
Stephane H. Maillet
EastCoast church of Christ
#addedsouls