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I have decided not to publish the video I had intended to this morning. The powerful video was created by Lion of Judah Motivation. The channel creates original motivational videos which are originally scripted and narrated by their team of in-house speakers. Which Includes Edris Heral, Raymond Barba, Matt Moore, Amy Moore, Jacob Robinson and many more.

Social media can be the most troubling these days. Publishing it would have potentially erupted into a concern about evangelism and theology. I am just not up to it. I am seeing fights between the usual suspects like atheists, agnostics, and Christians. More frequently it is between Catholics and Protestants, Protestants and Protestants, Theists and Christians in general. The list and the fights go on and on. In fact, there seems to be an eagerness for a fight. That is the point.

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So instead of the video, I point you to two articles worthy of consideration.

The first is Two Dangerous People in Your Church!  Daniel McCoy is the editorial director for Renew.org as well as an online adjunct instructor for Ozark Christian College. He has a bachelor’s in theology (Ozark Christian College), Master of Arts in apologetics (Veritas International University), and PhD in theology (North-West University, South Africa). His books include the Popular Handbook of World Religions (general editor), Real Life Theology: Fuel for Effective and Faithful Disciple Making (co-general editor), Mirage: 5 Things People Want From God That Don’t Exist, and The Atheist’s Fatal Flaw (co-authored with Norman Geisler).

So, what makes someone a divisive heresy hunter or disruptive tower toppler? Let’s make a couple really important clarifications: The truth is, some heresies need to be outed and some towers need to be toppled. People who care about right doctrine aren’t what I’m calling “heresy hunters.” And neither are people who care about challenging rigid traditions, which lift us farther aloft from the needs of everyday people, what I would consider “tower topplers.” Such people on both accounts are best described as “Christians.”

What I’m calling heresy hunters and tower topplers wield constructive tools like truth and grace into battering rams. It’s important to discern when a concern for truth crosses the line into eagerness for a fight, or to discern when a desire for Jesus-style status-quo table-flipping crosses the line into a game of Taunt the Traditionalist or, worse yet, Jesus Jenga (where you pull out enough theology planks to where eventually the whole thing crumbles). Tower topplers push, while heresy hunters pounce.

Here’s what makes heresy hunters and tower topplers two of the most dangerous, divisive types of people in your church: They make fellow Christians worse.

The second article is from Michael Brown. It is God Uses Imperfect People. Michael Brown (www.askdrbrown.org) is the host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio program. Connect with him on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.

There’s an old joke about someone who is looking for the perfect church. They tell a friend, “If I could just find that church, I’d attend regularly and become a member.”

The friend replies, “But the moment you join it would become imperfect.”

Exactly. That is the state of the human race. In that same spirit, it has been said that heaven will be at one and the same time a great eye opener and a great mouth closer.

You will be shocked to see certain people there, and they will be shocked to see you. Of course, we can smile at these anecdotes and jokes, but when the rubber meets the road, it can be a little unsettling.

We wonder to ourselves, “How can God use him? After all, he doesn’t agree with our doctrine, and we know our doctrine is sound. Why would God send revival to his church?”

Or, “How can God use her? After all, she’s a woman, and women should not be preachers or teachers. Why would God bless her ministry so powerfully when she shouldn’t even be in ministry at all?”

Conversely, those same people might look at us and wonder, “How can God use them when they are so biased and judgmental?” The divine answer would be the same, “I’m using these different people because they’re the only ones available!” There is no such thing as a perfect minister or a perfect believer. Every one of us has some flaw, some weakness, some doctrinal error, some weakness, some blind spot. Every single one.

To be clear, I’m not talking about rank heresy, such as denying that Jesus rose from the dead or saying that the Bible is nothing more than the word of man. And I’m not talking about gross infractions of God’s moral standards, such as unrepentant adultery or theft.

Instead, I’m talking about the blind spots we all have, the shortcomings we all have, the failings we all have, even the best of us. The Lord still uses us, even in our imperfections.

So, that is it. I think you missed a great video.

What troubles me most in some of these conversations on social media is the harshness. The Apostle Paul said it well:

… to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

Source: ESV (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Titus 3:1–2

And then there is this:

I therefore, a prisoner for the Master, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of the Messiah’s gift.

ESV (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ephesians 4:1–7