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No Time for
Accusers!
MP3
I would venture to conclude that being the target of accusation is
worse than terminal cancer or even being crucified. Accusations
cut deeper than torture or disease. They are devastating.
Ironically, it matters not whether the accusations are valid or not.
In many Bible dictionaries, for the word "accuse" or "accusation" you
will see the notation (see Satan). Satan is the chief accuser and
accusing is his primary modus operandi. He accuses and influences
others to accuse. The word accuser is the rendering of two Greek words.
The first is kategoros, that is, a
prosecutor, or plaintiff in a lawsuit, or one who speaks in a derogatory
way of another and diabolos, meaning
adversary or enemy. This word is rendered "accuser" in the King
James Version and "slanderer" in the Revised Version (British and
American) and the American Standard Revised Version.
The question is, can a firstfruit Christian ever be justified in
bringing accusation against a brother or sister in the faith? Does
Jesus Christ want us speaking in a derogatory way of another and thus
becoming an adversary or enemy of the accused? Does bringing an
accusation, even if you feel your accusations are valid, sound like a
positive step in the Salvation Process? Clearly the answer is a
resounding "NO" to all three questions.
Accusation is of Satan and not our brother Jesus Christ. Some
might feel they have due justification for bringing accusation against a
brother. One sinful human bringing accusation against another
sinful brother. It does not make sense. What if you were an
angel, would you then have justification to bring accusation?
Could you, as an angel bring accusation, say, against Satan?
Clearly an angel would be justified in bringing accusation against the
most evil being in the Universe, wouldn't he? Let's see...
Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with
the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against
him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
–Jude 9
How can I bring accusation against my brother in face of this scripture?
Even with the scripture regarding bringing accusation against an elder,
it is a process of last resort. The elder has to be openly sinning
in the congregation without repentance. The accusation can only
be brought with one or two witnesses to the open, unrepented of sin.
Further, the whole episode cannot be repeated outside of that
congregation of loving, Spirit-filled firstfruits.
Why do people bring accusations anyway? What does spiritual logic
and experience show us? Let us enumerate a few:
1) They are influenced by Satan.
2) They are offended.
3) They are bitter.
4) They are seeking to displace the accused from his or her position of
service in the church.
In almost all cases, the accuser is lacking in faith, not immersed in
the Word of God, not focused on his own Salvation Process and/or in the
process of backsliding himself. As Garner Ted Armstrong said so
many times, the accuser is often guilty of that which he is accusing the
other.
Most accusations I have heard against others come from people who were
never eyewitnesses to anything. Most were accusations of imputed
motive. That is, the accuser supplies what the motive must have
been for the accused. Sadly, once the accusations are made, other
individuals are often swift to believe them and to even add to the
accusations. Some have even become obsessed with the destruction
of the accused, wanting him or her out of their position of service,
ordination and out of the church. Accusation is abundantly
destructive and can destroy an entire congregation. This is why
the chief accuser, Satan uses it.
One thing we can count on is that more and more accusation will come
upon the church of God and much of it will be from within.
Notice...
But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth
his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and
drink with the drunken; –Matthew 24:48-49
For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if
a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the
face.
–2 Corinthians 11:20
I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the
preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will
remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious
words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the
brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the
church. –3 John 9-10
And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall
hate one another. –Matthew 24:10
Knowing it is coming, what are we going to do? Are we going to
focus on the turmoil or the Work of God and our own Salvation Process?
I frankly have no time for accusers. Did Christ?
At the last came two false witnesses, And said, This fellow said, I am
able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days. And
the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what
is it which these witness against thee?
But Jesus held his peace.
–Matthew 26:60-63
They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek
my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long.
But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth
not his mouth. Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose
mouth are no reproofs. –Psalm 38:12-14 [see also: Isaiah 53:7; Daniel 3:16
and Acts 8:32-35].
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