Heather Norman Smith
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
    • Fiction
    • Nonfiction
  • Blog
  • Music
    • Original Songs
    • More Music
  • Speaking
Picture

Can the Servant of God be Both Anointed...and Wrong at the Same Time?

5/24/2017

2 Comments

 
My head has been swirling with questions for the last two days, and the Lord has been helping me work through some faith issues.  I have peace now, if not concrete answers, about all my recent questions, but not the liberty or leading to write about what I’ve learned except for my conclusions on one specific situation.  I have five half-written articles to prove it!  Now, on to our topic…
  
I’ve been very troubled lately by the dogmatic nature in which a preacher I know addresses a non-doctrinal issue.  For the sake of being discreet, I’m not even going to name the issue.  Let’s pretend the issue is "traditional versus casual dress" in worship services.  That’s not what it is, but it’s a similar type of non-doctrinal debate.  Let’s say that on social media this pastor is constantly commenting about how sinful it is for people to show up to worship service in casual attire, and he regularly decries any church that condones such.  I feel this pastor’s arguments are “profane and vain babblings” (2 Timothy 2:16) and the manner in which his opinions are delivered, regardless of whether he’s right or wrong, is contrary to the command of 2 Timothy 2:24 (“And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient.”)  However, that’s not even the point of this article.  The point of this article is to answer the questions, “Can I trust a preacher with whom I strongly disagree about one topic?” and “Is the anointed of God perfect in his understanding?”   

I feel like God answered these questions for me through a recent real-life incident.  My husband and I have been trying to give our oldest child more responsibilities, little tests of maturity to gauge how she handles certain situations.  Recently, he let her go into a gas station to make a purchase on her own (he was parked where he could watch her through the window).  He told her to buy two Slushees- one for her and one for her sister.  She came back with three Slushees and a pack of gummy bears.  My husband wasn’t angry with her, especially since she had brought him a treat too, but he encouraged her to only buy what she was told the next time.  

In this situation, my daughter was sent to do a job, which she did, but she overstepped the instructions she was given.
  In the same way, I think a minister can be truly called and anointed of God, yet at times be erroneous in their teaching or delivery.  Sometimes God picks a messenger, God gives them clear instructions, the messenger delivers the message, but because the messenger is human, they add unnecessarily to the original communication.  It doesn't mean that person wasn't sent of God.  It doesn't mean they are a false teacher.  It means they are human.     

In the scripture we find where Peter, upon whom the Lord declared He would build the church, was called out by Paul because he was wrong in separating himself from the Gentile believers (Galatians 2:11).
  Even the early church leaders made mistakes!  I don’t believe the mistake of the Apostle Peter nullified his ministry.  Believers need to be discerning enough themselves to not “throw the baby out with the bathwater”, as the idiom goes.  In truth, there’s probably no preacher or teacher with whom I agree on every single point of scripture or practice.

I’m thankful God has allowed me to come to a personal resolution on this matter.
  Obviously, I will not sit under any teaching that is contrary to the primary tenets of my faith, but in this situation, I will try to maintain respect for this pastor with whom I disagree.  I will on occasion listen to his messages.  I will pray for God to deal with him about his handling of non-doctrinal issues.  And, I will rest in the fact that God’s ministers are human, “nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure” (2 Timothy 2:19).
www.heathernormansmith.com

I really enjoy preparing the articles for this blog and sharing them with you!  I would love to have this blog reach a lot more people.  Will you help me?  Please consider sharing on social media, or via email, or just by telling your friends.  To be notified of new blog posts, please subscribe.  Thank you!
2 Comments
Christine Norman
5/25/2017 01:23:01 am

I really enjoy your comments! Thank you for your blog.

Christine Norman

Reply
Heather
5/25/2017 06:22:05 am

Thank you for reading, Christine!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    About the Blog

    Thank you for visiting my blog. I share devotional articles and musings about life, parenting, and the writing journey, as well as important news about my books. I hope you find something of interest here!

    #carselfie
    Heather Norman Smith

    Click below to sign up for my email newsletter, which includes links to my latest blog posts. Thank you!
    Newsletter Sign-up

    Categories

    All
    Bible Study
    Books
    Christmas
    Devotions
    Encouragement
    Foster Care
    Ministry
    My Life
    Parenting
    Prayer
    Spiritual Growth
    Theology
    Writing


    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    July 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    November 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    March 2016
    January 2016
    May 2014
    April 2014
    July 2013
    June 2013

    Southern Writers Suite T button

    RSS Feed

Copyright © 2022
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
    • Fiction
    • Nonfiction
  • Blog
  • Music
    • Original Songs
    • More Music
  • Speaking