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We are in a season where there are more than 40, 000 Christian denominations, and a lot of strange things happening in the church. As a result, we have a set of Christians who have opened blogs and YouTube channels dedicated to exposing and calling out false teachings and false prophets, in defense of the truth. They analyze different sermons by different preachers, and label those who are true from those who are false, those in error, those to follow and those to avoid completely.
In that same vein we have preachers who say they are called to correct other ministers, and to call out falsehoods in the church. As a result, the bulk of their sermons are dedicated to preaching about what other preachers are doing wrong.
There are six biblical and spiritual challenges with these kinds of ministeries, and this teaching is here to reveal them, and hopefully you will find it edifying and helpful.
1. Who Ordained You for The Work?
When you set up a Whatsapp platform or a YouTube channel with a purpose of administering the word of God to the church of Jesus Christ, then that YouTube channel or Whatsapp platform has become a pulpit.
People who have YouTube channels that address Christians and teach them about false prophets and true gospel , are actually preachers. However, anyone who stands to minister to the church of Jesus Christ, must be careful to make sure they have been called and sent by the Spirit of Christ to do so, or ordained by the church of Christ.
Even when the church needed people to oversee an issue of serving food in the church, men had to be ordained to serve food, who were full of the Spirit and the wisdom.
Acts 6:2-3, 6 (NET)
2 So the twelve called the whole group of the disciples together and said, “It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to wait on tables.
3 But carefully select from among you, brothers, seven men who are well-attested, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this necessary task.
6 They stood these men before the apostles, who prayed and placed their hands on them.
This so called discernment ministry is actually a teaching ministry. So before you start creating weekly messages to administer to the Church of Christ, ask yourself, who ordained you. Is it Christ? If not, then who is sending you?
Many times, you find people, who have no spiritual or formal biblical training, standing to rebuke and correct Pastors, Prophets and Bishops of the church. So before you set yourself as a teacher of teachers, ask yourself, who ordained you for that role. You should not just stand to minister in the temple of God, the house of God, without being ordained, anointed, permitted or sent by the Master of the House.
2. There is no Gift, Ministry or Office of The Critic In the Church of God
We used to have book critics, then film critics, now we have church critics. God has set up and appointed people to various ministries of the word.
1 Corinthians 12:28 (KJV)
And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
There is one ministry which you don’t find here, and that’s the ministry of criticism. There is no office of the critic in the church. God does not call or appoint people to become Church Critics.
If you see a YouTube channel where 99% of the videos are dedicated to analyzing and critiquing other preachers, then that person has ordained themselves as a critic.
However, the bible does not use the word Critic, it uses the word Judge. A person who dedicates a whole ministry to be critiquing the sermons of other preachers, has set themselves as judge in the church. They have now taken the seat of Christ.
James 4:10-12 (WEB)
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.
11 Don’t speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother and judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.
12 Only one is the lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge another?_
Imagine a conference with seven pastors who preach. After the service someone comes and stands in front, and starts saying, okay, here… The first pastor was wrong here, the Second missed a verse, the third should improve here, etc.
Whoever does that, means they have set themselves as a judge, as a teacher of the pastors. It means they have given themselves a greater office above that of those pastors.
James says, humble yourself. You are not the lawgiver and judge.
3. Satan is The Accuser of The Brethren
In heaven there is a ministry of accusation. In this ministry, Satan is the angel who goes before God and tells God what his people are doing wrong.
Revelation 12:10 (WEB)
I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, the power, and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ has come; for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.
The word Satan actually means adversary or ACCUSER. Take note that Satan brings these accusations before God.
However, in heaven we have a lawyer, an advocate who defends the believers when they sin. That lawyer is Jesus Christ.
1 John 2:1 (NET)
(My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.) But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One,
Be careful, in your bid to expose preachers in error, that you don’t end up partaking in the ministry of accusation. When preachers sin, and do wrong Satan goes and accuses them before the Father.
Jesus does not have a ministry of accusation.
John 5:45 (NET)
“Do not suppose that I will accuse you before the Father.
John 3:17 (NET)
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
So if you see someone who has a ministry, where in every sermon they are bringing accusations against other preachers, then ask yourself whose minister they are.
If you have a YouTube channel, where every video, week in, week out, is dedicated to telling people what’s wrong with different preachers, then you are operating a ministry of accusation. So be careful, that you don’t join in such things.
4. You Need Authority To Correct Certain People
I am not saying the body of Christ should go without correction. God has set up, Apostles, Prophets, Teachers and Pastors, who have oversight over churches, and these have authority to preach true doctrine and correct errors.
2 Timothy 4:2 (KJV) Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
This admonishing is not being told to everyone, but to Timothy, who had been appointed and ordained by Paul and the elders, through laying on of hands to oversee several churches
1 Timothy 4:14 (NET) Do not neglect the spiritual gift you have, given to you and confirmed by prophetic words when the elders laid hands on you.
2 Timothy 1:6 (KJV) Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
So pastors, prophets, evangelists, teachers and apostles have the main mandate of building the saints for ministry work, and in that they will correct the saints and rebuke those under their authority.
As a result you find that, God also set that prophets should sit and judge the prophecy of other prophets by the Spirit, on behalf of the church.
1 Corinthians 14:29-30 (WEB) 29 Let the prophets speak, two or three, and let the others discern. 30 But if a revelation is made to another sitting by, let the first keep silent.
As a believer, you have the right and mandate to discern for yourself, whether a prophet is telling you the truth or not.
But when it comes to discerning on behalf of the whole church. It’s other prophets who have the authority to sit and evaluate by the Spirit. And if they receive a revelation, they can stand and address the church, and correct where need be.
So, in summary, I am saying, you have a responsibility to discern for yourself, whether a prophet is true or false. But before you start standing in front of the church, and make yourself a discerner on behalf of the church, you need to have the authority of Christ. And it takes someone appointed as a prophet to the church, to stand in front of the church and discern other Prophets on behalf of the church.
Every person can discern for themselves that a teaching is wrong or right for them. But before you can stand in front of the church you need to be appointed and ordained as a Teacher of the church.
Some people point out that Paul rebuked Peter. But they forget that Paul was at the same level of apostleship as Peter. Mark or Timothy would not have rebuked Peter.
Infact Paul charged Timothy not to rebuke his naturally older men who were under him, but rather to exhort or encourage them to do the right things.
1 Timothy 5:1 (WEB) Don’t rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father;
5. Don’t Judge Things Before Their Time
People have a tendency to rank men of God. We place some as Generals, others as Major prophets and others as Minor prophets. The bible tells us not to do that. It’s not time for us to make such judgments.
Such judgments will be made when Christ comes, who is the Master and Lord.
1 Corinthians 4:5 (WEB) Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each man will get his praise from God.
Romans 14:4 (WEB) Who are you who judge another’s servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand.
We are still commanded to test the Spirits to see whether they are from God or not. But be careful that you don’t start ranking men of God based on their gifts or achievements.
Only God knows people’s hearts. And don’t start predicting that this preacher will go to hell. You don’t know that.
6. Do Not Uproot The Tares
There are people who have anchored their ministries or YouTube channels on a drive to shut down false prophets and false teachers.
Such a mandate is against the purpose and word of Christ. Jesus told a parable of the wheat and the tares
Matthew 13:28-30 (WEB) 28 “He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’
29 “But he said, ‘No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
Jesus explains that the wheat are the sons of the kingdom, and the weeds are the sons of the evil one.
When the servants of Christ asked, should we uproot, he said No, lest in trying to uproot the weeds, you uproot the wheat also. Uprooting will be done by Angels at the end of the world.
So preachers who say God has called them to uproot and shut down false prophets, are in great error. The work of uprooting is for angels at the end of the world. Not for preachers.
Every preacher who anchors his ministry on trying to uproot false prophets will ultimately end up uprooting the true prophets also. Jesus reiterates this lesson, to his apostles in a practical way.
The Apostles found a man who was using the name of Jesus to cast out demons and do miracles, yet the man himself was not a follower of Christ.
Right now we have many such preachers. Who use the name of Jesus to do miracles, yet they do not follow him. The Apostles naturally decided to shut that man’s ministry. They forbade him from preaching. But Jesus rebuked them.
Mark 9:38-39 (WEB) 38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone who doesn’t follow us casting out demons in your name; and we forbade him, because he doesn’t follow us.”
39 But Jesus said, “Don’t forbid him
We have a commandment to identify false spirits, and false prophets, but it’s not in our place to try and uproot them.
We should also note that God himself says, he is the one who allows false prophets to rise, in order to test his people to see whether they really love him, or they just want money, or miracles or such.
Deuteronomy 13:1-3 (NET) 1 Suppose a prophet or one who foretells by dreams should appear among you and show you a sign or wonder,
2 and the sign or wonder should come to pass concerning what he said to you, namely, “Let us follow other gods” – gods whom you have not previously known – “and let us serve them.”
3 You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer, for the Lord your God will be testing you to see if you love him with all your mind and being.
So when you see a false prophet, who has true and real miracles, but wrong doctrine, then know that God is using him as a test for the church.
God allows false prophets who have real miracles and false doctrines to rise, as a way to test his people. When you start fighting against such a person using natural means, you will not win, because you’re fighting against God’s purpose.
In Conclusion
Test the spirits, discern false prophets, but do not start a ministry of accusation. Preach the truth, share the light, teach people how to weigh right from wrong, but don’t set yourself up as a judge of other servants.
If you have a calling to be a teacher, then teach the word. But in the church there is no office of the critic. If all you do is criticize the sermons of other preachers, then you are operating out of God’s will.
Be careful not to uproot the weeds from the field, they were sown by Satan, but God also uses them for his purpose.
The work of uprooting had been assigned to Angels at the end of the world. I hope with this teaching, many will be helped in having balance.
STAY BLESSED
