It's been an interesting couple of days since people discovered the last post. I've gotten emails from a few people who described in detail to me the accusations again Pr. Yang. And I have to admit, those emails got me thinking a lot about what I posted.
What struck me most is that while the accusations against Pr. Yang sound pretty harsh, I can tell you flat out that there are at least three other ministers whose behavior has been even MORE damaging to the church than his has been.
I've really been debating whether or not I should write this post; after all, it concerns some really disturbing things about highly respected ministers in the church. These are men that I once respected, but their behavior has been so shameful that someone needs to stand up and expose them for who they are. I've held my tongue on these men for years, but in light of all that's happened recently I cannot anymore. The Word of God instructs us that such deceit is to be brought to the light.
I won't mention their names, but I will describe the things they are doing. See if you won't agree with me that harsh disciplinary action must be taken against them.
The first minister has been a minister for a very long time. I'd always thought of him as more open-minded than most, and in fact, even though he was older than us he'd routinely sit down to lunch with us and talk with us very openly and frankly about issues in the church. Specifically, we'd discuss those areas where we felt the church's culture needed to change. And he agreed with us. He said flat out that he felt the church was sometimes too unwelcoming to members who didn't necessarily fit into a certain "mold".
But one day during lunch when a bunch of ministers and elders were visiting the church from headquarters, he seemed to have changed overnight. Just a short time earlier he would hang out with us and talk with us openly and honestly about church issues. But all of a sudden these ministers showed up and not only did he not sit with us, he acted like he didn't even know us when he was around them! And I thought to myself, what a jerk. A hypocrite like this isn't fit to be a minister in the true church.
And then there's another minister I heard about from someone in another local church. He was an outspoken minister, so much so that the church leaders didn't want him to visit their church. But this minister was stubborn and wouldn't take no for an answer. So he did something incredibly unprofessional. He went behind the church leaders' backs to write directly to an influential member of that church. This member passed this letter to other members and it caused all kinds of chaos. I actually saw a copy of the letter. In it, the minister insulted the church leaders and even used words like "evil" and "malicious" to describe his fellow workers for God. Again, utterly shameful behavior that should not be tolerated.
Finally, there's a third minister whom I respected at one time, but lately he's been preaching what seems to be heresy about the Holy Spirit. I know this is one of the things that Pr. Yang has been accused of, but this other minister took it to the next level. I actually heard him preach that ministers in other churches have the Holy Spirit! As unbelievable as it sounds, he actually preached that as long as these other ministers talk about the divinity of Jesus Christ, it means they received the Holy Spirit. I really can't believe that this minister hasn't been called out for this yet, because I think reckless preaching like this is dangerous.
We're supposed to be the true church, and yet from these three supposed "men of God" we see even more reckless and hypocritical behavior than the things that Pr. Yang was accused of. If Pr. Yang is a tool of Satan, these ministers are 10 times that.
In fact, when I started this post I said I wouldn't mention their names, but because I feel so strongly that I feel that I must expose their names here.
The name of the first minister is Peter. The second one goes by the name of John. And the third one is called Paul.
Okay, you see what just happened there? In all three cases, everything I described about these men was factually accurate. But in all three cases my conclusions were completely wrong. In each case I told one point of view of the story, but you didn't hear the whole story.
When Jesus described the process to confront someone who sins, he said this:
If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
There's an old Borscht Belt joke that goes something like this. A man walks into a psychiatrist's office and the doctor says, "you're crazy". Stunned, the man asks the doctor, "can I get a second opinion?". And the doctor replies, "ok, you're ugly too".
When Jesus, as well as the verse he's quoting in Deuteronomy, says to take witnesses along in a dispute, they're not saying to cherry-pick only those people who agree with your opinion. The whole point of getting multiple witnesses is to make sure you've looked at a story from all sides. And Deuteronomy goes on to say that the judges who hear these witnesses are obligated to investigate it thoroughly.
And so the question I have for any of you involved with Pr. Yang's case is. In the dispute about YM, or for that matter any "controversial" issue that faces the church, are you looking at it from all sides?
I've heard a lot of comments from people telling me I "shouldn't judge". After all, the Bible says "judge not, that you be not judged".
A lot of people take this to mean that you shouldn't criticize anyone. But if that were the case, then as a parent you're committing a sin when you tell your child not to stick his fingers in the electrical socket. It would mean teachers are committing sins when they give one student an A and another an F. It would mean that there shouldn't be any courts. What, you just murdered someone? Well, who am I to judge?
That's ludicrous of course. And that's contrary to the Word of God. In 2 Timothy 4:2 Paul instructs Timothy to "preach the word, be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction". In 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul writes "all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness". Were these verses only intended to be used by ordained full-time ministers like Timothy, or were they intended for any of us who have been called into the royal priesthood?
Yes, Jesus said not to judge others. But then he continues. "A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap." A lot of us skim over these words without really understanding what Jesus is talking about, but if you've ever baked a cake in your life you know. You take a big measuring cup and stick in into a bag of flour. When you take it out, if you're anything like me, flour fills up the air and falls all around you. When you take a knife and try to level the flour against the cup, more flour spills all over and, again if you're anything like me, ends up getting all over your clothes.
Of course Jesus isn't talking about flour, he's talking about sin. What Jesus is saying is, if you do judge, be very, very careful. If you dare to judge someone or something, you need to examine yourself very, very carefully before you utter one word. And you need to think very carefully about what would happen if the shoe were on the other foot. Would you be able to stand up to the same kind of condemnation that you're dishing out?
I didn't start this blog to be the Pr. Yang Apologetic Blog; as I wrote in my first post I started it to reach out to my fellow "lost sheep of the True Jesus Church". But since the last post caused such a stir, I'll spend a few more posts on it. For all you guys who couldn't care less about the whole situation--and honestly, unless you're someone who's already involved in it I strongly suggest you do NOT get entangled in this mess--don't worry, we'll get to the "real stuff" soon :)
But for those on each side of the whole Pr. Yang debate/debacle, let's try something fun. Whatever side you're on, do this. Take a sheet of paper and write all the grievances you have about the other side. They're short-sighted. They're hypocrites. They're dangerous. They refuse to consider the whole story. They're making judgments without really understanding the other side. They don't take the time to examine themselves. They close their ears when people bring up questions or want to discuss the truth. They cannot take criticism. They are too proud and they are driving people away because of it. They have been warned many times but fail to heed the warning. They are hurting the church, especially new and impressionable believers. They are the cause of divisions in the church. They do not preach according to the Word of God. They are not on God's side.
Now, take that sheet of paper, cross out the word "they" and insert the word "I". And again, I'm talking to members on both sides of this debate, not just one.
Did you find just one thing that possibly might apply to you? If so, put down your rock for now and walk away until you get that taken care of. And if you didn't, for the sake of your soul I'd urge you to look again and again and again until you're sure you're in the clear. And if you think you're in the clear, I'd suggest you ask your closest friends and family in the Lord to really check you on that.
As for me, that's what I did. I did it a hundred times. I prayed about it. I talked to brothers and sisters on both sides of the debate to make sure I got sufficient information from both sides to speak about it as objectively as I possibly could. And it wasn't until I was absolutely convinced that I was speaking the truth in love about the church, and not fulfilling some personal vendetta that I pressed the "Publish" button on that post.
As I wrote in that post, yes, maybe after all that I am still misguided. If so, then this blog will fade into blissful obscurity and I can go on with my life knowing that yes, I guess this posting was of "human origin" after all. But if for some of you there's just one thing in any of these horrifically long posts that might be from the Lord that resonates, pray on it and ask the Lord what you can do about it. That's not something I can tell you, only he can.
As far as whether I will be judged by the same measure that I doled out, that'll be something between God and me. And for you commenting on these posts on this blog, on Facebook, or on other various blogs, that's just a little something for you to chew on as well before you click "Submit" or "Like".
In my next few posts, I'll dive a little more into the complete stories of each of the "shameful" ministers I mentioned above, because each of these examples is very much relevant to our current crisis. Stay tuned.
Oh, and my apologies to all who almost had a heart attack when they read the title of this post. But I hope it worked :P
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