Handling Corrections – Dangerous Trends Have Emerged! Necessities for Ruptures Before Rapture. (A Spiritual Drawback Of “Benefits Orientated” Gospel & Services)
Handling Corrections – Dangerous Trends Have Emerged!
Necessities for Ruptures Before Rapture.
(A Spiritual Drawback Of “Benefits Orientated” Gospel & Services)
Pst .Toks Oshokoya
Preamble:
Firstly, let us contrast carefully between two dichotomies – the “Benefits-Oriented” Gospel & Service to God, and the
“Responsibilities-Orientated” Gospel & Service to God.
Some are born again but don’t know the TRUE GOSPEL.
TRUE CHRISTIANITY is not a benefit-oriented service. Christ came to establish a life that we all must live. HE WAS SERVING THE FATHER FOR THE PURPOSE OF THE FATHER. HE LIVED A SACRIFICIAL LIFE. SINCE he grew he lived a life of responsibility.
Abraham became rich for GOD’S PURPOSE. (To be a blessing and the father of many nations).
As Is Observed, The Focus, Generally, Is Too Much On “Benefits”, Hence There Is Need Now To Balance What We Declare, Hear & Understand
Mark 4: 23 – 25
If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. And he said unto them,
Take heed what ye hear
: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.
Luke 8: 18 KJV
Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.
“So pay attention to how you hear…” NLT
“…So be careful that you don’t become misers of what you hear. Generosity begets generosity. Stinginess impoverishes.” MSGE
“Be careful therefore how you listen.
For to him who has [spiritual knowledge] will more be given; and from him who does not have [spiritual knowledge], even what he thinks and guesses and supposes that he has will be taken away” AMP
The Resultant Effect:
One of the prominent resultant effect of this unbalanced brand of the gospel is the new wave called HYPER-GRACE (Once Saved, For Ever Saved Message).
This bring us to the subject of today – Handling Corrections.
What is CORRECTION?
1 something that is substituted or proposed for what is wrong or inaccurate; emendation.
2 the act of correcting.
3 punishment intended to reform, improve, or rehabilitate; chastisement; reproof.
4 Usually, corrections. the various methods, as incarceration, parole, and probation, by which society deals with convicted offenders.
5 a quantity applied or other adjustment made in order to increase accuracy, as in the use of an instrument or the solution of a problem: A five-degree correction will put the ship on course.
6 a reversal of the trend of stock prices, especially temporarily, as after a sharp advance or decline in the previous trading sessions.
Synonyms: alteration/amelioration/amending/amendment/changing/editing
improvement/indemnification/mending/modification/rectification
redress/reexamination/remodeling/repair/reparation/rereading
revisal/revising/righting
Antonyms: blunder/goof/mistake
How Important Is the Need to Correct or To Be Corrected?
(My other note here)
The act of correction is a spiritual work. Correction is more of a spiritual matter.
And before you correct you to be prepared. That person who wants to bring correction must be properly prepared being conscious of all the 3 graces capacities bestowed unto to be responsible in the Kingdom.
At the point of correction or time of correction you must not be standing in a lower grace level than you should. Before you correct someone that is wrong, you must be prepared to do it rightly, because if you don’t correct the person the God’s way, he may go to hell. Correction must be done in love, and the person correcting has responsibility. Correction is a spiritual responsibility.
When correcting without proper preparation, you are likely to responding at a much lower grace level than what God has called you into.
In the New Testament we have been enabled in three types of GRACES –
As a King,
As a Prophet, and
As a Priest.
As New Testament believers, we ought to be operating in the 3 offices – King, Prophet and Priest.
Read Isaiah 33: 22
For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver,
the Lord is our king; He will save us.
In the New Testament
1John 2:13-15
I speak to you, children…I speak to you, fathers… I speak to you, young men
Note – same order twice. Why?
1 John 2:12 The epistle indicates the different category of maturity level and predominant disposition.
1= Children, fear of sin and acceptance
2= Fathers, they know God.
3= Young men, they are strong
Note – To Children, the care is about “is this right? Am I forgiven?”
To Fathers, maturity has come. Full comprehension of God’s nature and character.
To Young Men, Age of Strength with little balance in character
Stage of Power, Deliverance, Displays of Prowess….
The atmosphere is TOXIC
Explanation of Principle 44
1Cor 15:30-44 the physical is explained from the spiritual.
The toxic environment that we are in the world today is producing spiritual toxic environment. THERE ARE NEW VOCABULARIES NOW –
Don’t judge me!
You are too legalistic!
I know Who I am in Christ!
[1] GRACE REGIME – Are we free from being corrected because of GRACE?
Jer. 31: 31-34
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Matt 7: 1 – 4
Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. ….
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
[2] Should Anybody Still Teach Us?
1 John 2: 20 – 28
But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
[3] What If This Matter Is Not Handled Well?
Jer. 10: 21 – 25 KJV
For the pastors are become brutish,
and have not sought the Lord:
therefore they shall not prosper,
and all their flocks shall be scattered.
O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself:
it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
O Lord, correct me, but with judgment;
not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing
Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not,
and upon the families that call not on thy name:
for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him,
and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.
NKJV
For the shepherds have become dull-hearted,
And have not sought the Lord;
Therefore they shall not prosper,
And all their flocks shall be scattered.
NLT
The shepherds of my people have lost their senses.
They no longer seek wisdom from the Lord.
Therefore, they fail completely,
and their flocks are scattered.
AMP
For the shepherds [of the people] have become like brutes, irrational and stupid, and have not sought the Lord or inquired of Him or required Him [by necessity and by right of His word]. Therefore they have not dealt prudently and have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.
[4] Shifting Ancient Landmarks on Correction (Paradigm Shift?)
There is a very dangerous movement that is quickly emerging throughout many different regions, churches, fellowships and networks.
Our God says: Preserve traditions that are godly which do not contradict God’s laws!
Prov 22: 28
“Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set”
Job 24: 1-4 “Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?”
Some remove the landmarks;
Prov 23: 10, 11 “Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless: For their Redeemer is mighty; He shall plead their cause with thee”
This continued erosion of values, according to God’s Word, will always breed unnatural disregard for elders, fellow human beings, disobedience, self-centeredness, lack of respect to agreements, embolden wickedness and oppression!
God says – maintain landmarks or else PERILIOUS TIMES will come heavily on us.
Perilous Times & Men = TOXIC ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE
2Timothy 3:1 – 7
Talks about, last days and with regards to Christians as well!
Perilous times will come – Apostasy, falling a way – the act of professed Christians who deliberately reject the revealed truth.
Talks about the last days and perilous times, when you see that the correction you are giving is been taken for bitterness that is the time to quit your work with such a person should end because at the end of the day the person will not yield any fruit.
“…. from such, TURN AWAY!” What?
[5] Our Unalterable Charge
2 Tim 4: 1 – 5 “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and His kingdom;
Preach the word;
be instant in season, out of season;
reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all long-suffering (not forever suffering) and doctrine (teaching and ingraining the principles and character of the Message).
Talks about with all patience and teaching.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
AMP
Herald and preach the Word!
Keep your sense of urgency [stand by, be at hand and ready], whether the opportunity seems to be favorable or unfavorable. [Whether it is convenient or inconvenient, whether it is welcome or unwelcome,
you as preacher of the Word are to show people in what way their lives are wrong.]
And convince them, rebuking and correcting, warning and urging and encouraging them,
being unflagging and inexhaustible in patience and teaching.
For the time is coming when [people] will not tolerate (endure) sound and wholesome instruction, but, having ears itching [for something pleasing and gratifying], they will gather to themselves one teacher after another to a considerable number, chosen to satisfy their own liking and to foster the errors they hold, and will turn aside from hearing the truth and wander off into myths and man-made fictions.
As for you, be calm and cool and steady, accept and suffer unflinchingly every hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fully perform all the duties of your ministry.
MSGE
I can’t impress this on you too strongly. God is looking over your shoulder. Christ himself is the Judge, with the final say on everyone, living and dead. He is about to break into the open with his rule,
so, proclaim the Message with intensity;
keep on your watch.
Challenge, warn, and urge your people.
Don’t ever quit. Just keep it simple.
You’re going to find that there will be times when people will have no stomach for solid teaching, but will fill up on spiritual junk food—catchy opinions that tickle their fancy. They’ll turn their backs on truth and chase mirages. But you—keep your eye on what you’re doing; accept the hard times along with the good; keep the Message alive; do a thorough job as God’s servant.
Many ways and forms by which corrections are brought:
1. By exhortations
2. By painful Experience and Circumstances.
3. By direct rebukes
There is Sickness before Healing.
There is Sorrow before Joy.
There must be Ruptures before Rapture.
Mind You:
You may hate, bad mouth or even beat the person that is correcting you e.g. Balaam.
The person who God is leading to correct You is not judging you but a blessing to you.
To Judge
· to pass legal judgment on; pass sentence on (a person): The court judged him guilty.
· to hear evidence or legal arguments in (a case) in order to pass judgment; adjudicate; try: The Supreme Court is judging that case.
· to form a judgment or opinion of; decide upon critically: You can’t judge a book by its cover.
· to decide or settle authoritatively; adjudge: The censor judged the book obscene and forbade its sale.
· to infer, think, or hold as an opinion; conclude about or assess: He judged her to be correct.
· to make a careful guess about; estimate: We judged the distance to be about four miles.
· (of the ancient Hebrew judges) to govern.
—verb (used without object), judged, judging.
1 to act as a judge; pass judgment: No one would judge between us.
2 to form an opinion or estimate: I have heard the evidence and will judge accordingly.
3 to make a mental judgment.
So, what is this trend that is said to be dangerous?
It’s the idea that correction from spiritual leaders and/or others is an immediate sign of rejection toward a call or identity in the kingdom. Many individuals are consciously making this assumption at the exact moment that they are corrected for an action they took, or a particular decision they made and/or a series of statements that have been made.
How is it that we have arrived at this pivotal moment in time where we are unable to receive proper correction in order to become better? Instead, we have many who are immediately taking offense and allowing rejection to become their identity to progress forward.
Prov 3: 8 – 14
My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord;
neither be weary of his correction:
For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth;
even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,
and the man that getteth understanding.
For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver,
and the gain thereof than fine gold.
Today, we have a serious problem, as we are quick to break off covenant relationships at the moment someone corrects us. It leaves me wondering when it became the norm to walk away from relationships at the first moment of correction. I am not talking about individuals who walk away after months and months of conversations and determining that no agreement could be made. I am addressing those who are corrected for the first time, and as a result, they immediately take a great offense, which enables them with the mentality to walk away.
Prov 15: 10 – 12
Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way:
and he that hateth reproof shall die.
Hell, and destruction are before the Lord:
how much more then the hearts of the children of men?
A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him:
neither will he go unto the wise.
Bad Trend
There is this trend that many people like and does not want to be corrected.
In the day that we stop taking correction then we stop our existence and our blessings automatically ends.
And if you are waiting for a perfect man to correct you then you have sealed your own doom. Because the one and only perfect man that ever lived on the earth was Jesus Christ. He came did His part and left.
God will and can use anybody to correct you.
Correction is just like you writing an Exam which you must pass and when you failed the Exam you repeat the class until you pass and get your promotion when you are corrected and you take to it you are elevated to a higher level.
Wrong Presumptive Mindsets
Some of us are thinking of all the corrupt, manipulative and dominating leaders who have spiritually abused others.
No one is implying that someone should ever sit under the authority of someone who is spiritually abusive. However, when we are talking about correction, we must be willing to recognize that it’s not always wrong.
A Dangerous Crossroads
We are at a very dangerous crossroads in time.
We have so much language on grace and love, but rarely do we see the fullness of these words in definition. We abuse the language of grace to become whatever we want it to be.
And we define love to be what we need it to be in the moment, but seldom defined by the Father’s nature Throughout Scripture, we see how the Father dealt with sin, and we continue to see that when Jesus was on the Earth (in the flesh), He forgave, but also declared “Sin no more.” Today, we express Jesus’ forgiveness for sin, but rarely call others into the reality of “sin no more” (No, I am not implying that you will never sin again.) We keep giving people a hall pass to continue however they choose, and in so doing, label it “grace.”
What Did Jesus Say?
John 5: 11-15
He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. … Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.
John 8: 6 – 11
When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
Throughout all the sloppy grace, we then declare the love of the Father, and yet we rarely demonstrate that love. When leaders take the time to correct our errors, our mistakes, our bad decisions, we quickly declare that those leaders are wrong and trying to stop us from being what we should be.
We get hurt, we get mad, we get angry and we get offended. We talk about love, but how quickly we abandon those for whom we declared love once they correct us.
At what point do we stop blaming everyone and everything on previous relationships?
Many are entering relationships like those who were once married but are divorced. If you have gone through a divorce and are looking to remarry, you cannot enter a relationship with someone with the assumption that your future marriage is going to end in divorce simply because you went through a divorce. You cannot make the assumption that your new spouse will fail you as your previous spouse did. If you do, you are setting yourself up for rejection before you even establish a relationship.
Jer. 2: 30
In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
Jer. 5: 3, 4
O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return. Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God.
Jer. 7: 28
But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
Children who mistreat their parents are an embarrassment to their family and a public disgrace. So listen, my child. Don’t reject correction or you will certainly wander from the ways of truth.
Listen Well, Be Willing to Learn
Listen well to wise counsel and be willing to learn from correction so that by the end of your life you’ll be known for your wisdom. A person may have many ideas concerning God’s plan for his life, but only the designs of his purpose will succeed in the end.
A man is charming when he displays tender mercies to others. And a lover of God who is poor and promises nothing is better than a rich liar who never keeps his promises.
There are some people who pretend they’re hurt—deadbeats who won’t even work to feed themselves.
If you punish the insolent who don’t know any better, they will learn not to mock. But if you correct a wise man, he will grow even wiser.
A corrupt witness makes a mockery of justice, for the wicked never play by the rules. Judgment is waiting for those who mock the truth, and foolish living invites a beating (Prov. 19:20-29)
Did you understand whom correction is for?
You. Me. Everyone.
Correction isn’t about rejecting me, you or anyone in particular.
Correction is about growing in wisdom and in truth.
So many times, we talk about loving one another, and yet how quickly we abandon that love because we disagreed with the moment of correction. We stopped walking in love for those with whom we declared we were running because we quickly believed that when they corrected us, they actually rejected us.
We are not talking about abuse, but correction.
Past Defective Leaders
Again, so many will start talking about the abuse they had from leaders in the past. Trust me, I get that. Regardless of the previous leaders you served under, how can every leader be wrong? The truth is, they can’t. If you’re exchanging leaders every year as if you were rewriting your New Year’s resolution, maybe the leader isn’t the problem. Maybe the problem could be the root of our issue towards correction. Maybe the problem is us.
Same Feather Bird Syndrome
We have a serious problem when we are always finding ourselves running away from others. We have a serious problem when we are quick to run in the midst of proper correction and then immediately discover others who come to us who are running as well. We find ourselves separating from others, only to find ourselves aligning with those who are familiar to us.
Time and time again I can give you example after example of people who declared they didn’t need to be aligned under any authority. And yet they soon aligned with those who were hurt, offended and dealing with rejection. We have all heard it before: “hurt people hurt people.” The hurt, offended and rejected have a way to find one another. Due to this nature, we (the ekklesia) are dealing with a very serious problem. We have to learn how to receive correction for what it is supposed to be. We cannot continue the cycle of taking on offense because a leader took the time to correct us.
Are there abusive leaders?
Of course. However, there are plenty of leaders who walk with integrity and honor. We cannot afford to encourage this mentality to keep growing. The correction we receive is to make us better, not make us worse than before. We have to learn that correction is not always rejection.
If we don’t, the next time we have to correct those we love, we will inadvertently position them to run away instead of into the arms of the Father. When we deny the need for correction, we end up raising sons and daughters to become prodigals, wishing the Father dead so they can go and do whatever they want rather than being a son child of the Father’s until the moment comes for proper promotion.
Let us become better.
Let us receive better.
Let us love better.
Let us exemplify grace better.