So
I have seen some of the ICC’s recent sermons and then was going through some
friends posts on social media and I came upon a conversation between one of my
friends and an ICC leader. They were arguing about how to approach a leadership
that is in sin (in the ICC’s case, severely corrupt, as my friend argued) and
the ICC leader had this to say:
“As
a disciple remember that we must be very careful how we speak about any
authority in this world whether corrupt or benign. God takes this very
seriously. David himself showed a respect toward Saul, even though Saul was
corrupt. This was because David understood the sovereignty of God. When we talk
bad about God's leaders whether factually accurate or not, we are calling God's
judgment and decisions into question. We see examples of the outcome of this in
the Scriptures.”
This
was in the context of talking about people who criticize the ICC leadership.
This kind of thinking is in complete ignorance of other scriptures about issues
of corruption as my friend Josh soon pointed out to him; “You used David and
Saul as an example but how about more clear examples that line up with prophets
addressing church leaders in the old testament. Consider Jeremiah at the city gates
or Jesus in the temple. God is absolutely Sovereign and all believers are ambassadors
of the truth. Remember Jesus flipped tables and made a whip. Jeremiah preached
at the city gates and phineas picked up a spear.”
Not
to mention that Revelations 2:2 calls us to test for “false teachers”; "I know that you cannot tolerate wicked
men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and you
have found them false."
