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NASB | Matthew 18:15 ¶ "If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 18:15 ¶ "If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens and pays attention to you, you have won back your brother. |
Bible Question:
I am brand new to this site. I am in urgent need of advice from fellow believers. I am a member of a church in WV. My husband is a deacon. We have a man in the church who is more highly recognized and sought out than our Pastor. He was a "founder" of the church from many years back. My problem is with him. He has some very strange doctrine. I will mention a few. 1. Paul had the same experience as the apostles at pentacost ( I don't doubt this part), but in the same upper room and 40 years AFTER his conversion on the road to Damascus! 2. Lazarus was not really dead when Christ called him out of the tomb. 3. Satan, the devil, and Lucifer are not the same being. 4. Satan has been transformed into an angel of light and is now a good angel. 5. The devil is locked away in hell and does not go to and fro through the earth seeking whom he may devour. He claims he just paces back and forth in the pit. This is just of a few of the outrages he teaches. He preaches ocassionally in the church, but he is on our radio ministry every Sat. evening. He is not overt about this in these two situations. He is more subtle. He takes young believers aside and goes into their homes and subverts them. My husband and I have talked to the pastor about this and he seems unwilling to force this man to stop. He periodically preaches the truth about these things esp. the devil part, but does not contrast the truth to the lie. (gives the doctrine of the lie and shows how it is false). He says he has told this "elder" that he does not agree with this doctrine. But the man is in rebellion and will not stop teaching it to others. The last conversation I had with my pastor I told him he need to be more careful because he is responsible for the "sheep" and is responsible for what we are fed from his pulpit and from his church. He told me that he was no more responsible than anyone else. This brings me to my question. If he is telling us, my husband and me, that we are also responsible then I cannot let this go on. I feel one of us has to confront this and present the truth. We have to tell this man to stop subverting the others or we will take him before the church. Am I correct on this process? I have spoken with other ministers and the youth pastor and the church is so divided and torn. All with any maturity know this is a lie but the young christians are saying they are so confused and don't know what to believe. Any help from anyone even if you need to correct me I need to know. I plan to act swiftly. I am ready to leave this church if this doesn't change and I don't want to do that if I can avoid it. Thank you and God Bless you all. Theresa |
Bible Answer: The first thing you need to do is to look into your church's position on church discipline, and find out whether or not your pastor and elders are willing to enforce it. If your church does not have a clear statement about how church discipline occurs, or your pastor and elders will not abide by it, you will have a difficult time of it. Hopefully neither of these is the case. The second thing you need to do is to see if what this man is teaching actually goes against what your church has in its statement of faith. I do not know what that is, and I am not sure exactly all that this man is teaching. If your statement of faith is vague enough, you will have a difficult time bringing any action against him. If your church is anything like the church I left last year, people can teach just about anything they want. Hopefully your elders will be willing to exercise discipline, and your statement of faith is detailed enough to bring action against this confuser of the youth. Once you have determined the state of affairs regarding the first two things, you should take your husband with you and confront this man. If he does not repent, take someone else (another deacon or an elder would be good) with you. If he still refuses to repent, bring it before the elders. If he still refuses to repent, you may eventually have to excommunicate him. I pray that none of these steps will be necessary, but all of this is taken directly from the Scriptures, specifically Matthew 18:15-20. The Holy Spirit is present to validate and witness to the judgements of His church. |