rebellion dressed up as love
Rebellion.
It’s something that everyone knows all too well, for we have all fallen short of God’s glory. But what I want to know is, do you see the rebellion in your so-called Christian life? Do you see how you are honoring God with your lips, but your hearts are far from Him? I’ve encountered many people in my life who don’t. Strangers and family alike. I was even told today by a stranger who inserted herself into a conversation I was having with a woman who handed me a gospel tract that my rebuking them wasn’t loving.
What is loving according to these two women was not keeping the Fourth Commandment, women not wearing head coverings when praying or prophesying, being members of denominations, allowing women to take on pastoral roles, and not rebuking those in sin. They had every excuse in the book as to why they were right to do these things. Basically, to them, it’s loving to let people follow tradition, to be in sin. They say they can do all of that sin, and still claim God’s name, and that it’s wrong if anyone says otherwise. To them, it’s wrong that I live my life separated from the false doctrine and tradition that has infiltrated Christianity because, according to them, my life is lacking “accountability.”
Their words, their beliefs, aren’t love; it is rebellion dressed up as love. And God does not love rebellion (1 Samuel 15:23), and neither should you. You should not fellowship with those who are against God, no matter how innocent it may seem. False doctrine is never innocent. Bad company will corrupt you, like it has corrupted the women I spoke to (Ephesians 5:11, 1 Corinthians 15:33).
They say they are being held accountable, yet they are following false doctrine unchecked by their community. This shows they are not being held accountable to God’s standards; they are being held accountable to man’s standards. Standards that clearly lack the act of loving rebukes (Revelation 3:19). At the end of the day, we are responsible for working out our salvation with fear and trembling because God will hold us accountable against His standards. It is not going to be a group grade at your judgment; it’s going to be just you and Him. And you will have to answer for everything you’ve ever done (Romans 14:12, 2 Corinthians 5:10).
So if you are like those women I encountered today, please repent like I told them to repent. Stop following tradition and follow God now. Show God you love Him by doing what He says today before it is too late. You will not get a second chance to make things right with Him when He stops sustaining your life. You won’t. You only have today. And today, those two women walked away from me, mad that I said women cannot be “ministers,” instead of letting the truth set them free.
And I want to clarify that women are ministers, but not in the way those women were using the word. The fact is, all Christians are ministers, because we are in a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9). But when it comes to women's leadership and teaching of men, God’s exceptions, like Deborah, are not rules. He has made it clear that women are not meant to have authority over men or teach men in all facets of life (1 Timothy 2:12), not just in the building that is called a church. Like I told those women today, we are the church (1 Corinthians 12:27). We are the temple of the Holy Spirit 24/7. That building people call a church isn’t any more special than the Safeway I was speaking to them in.
Their spiritual blindness couldn’t let them see that, and I pray to God that He opens their eyes, that they repent, like I pray for you. Because this is not fun and games, it really isn’t. You do not want to be one Jesus says depart to (Matthew 7:21-23). So please, please, please go to Him, ask Him to get the junk out of you, ask Him to guide you to all truth, and He will answer like He did for me.
