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Frank Viola | Beyond Evangelical
Official Blog of Author & Speaker Frank Viola. Digging below the surface and moving beyond the shallows in today's Christianity.
Sowing Seeds of Discord: Part IV
Sowing Seeds of Discord: Part III
Thanks Frank, for this wonderful eye opening message to God’s people. The devil has used this subtle medium to cause uncountable division in Churches, especially in Nigeria. Am happy you addressed this satanic monster clothed in a simple garment, yet unidentified as “heresy”. I pray every gifted believer on the verge of breaking any Church will take this spiritual nugget seriously! You are blessed and lifted!
I belong to a fellowship-group in a traditional church. We meet once a week. God has opened my eyes for the house church movement or organic church. Do you mean to say that it is wrong to share in this group what God has showed me.
Excuse me for my english I am from Sweden
1. This post applies to ANY kind of church form or structure. So the type is irrelevant.
2. The post has nothing to do with sharing in a group. It has everything to with causing division among a body of believers. An example is given showing what that could look like.
Thanks for this series, for walking through this passage and breaking down what it actually means to sow seeds of discord. I think the idea of unity it buzzed about congregations a lot, without necessarily having a good definition. I have been in churches where it meant to always agree with the pastor (even when he is wrong on a fact). I have been in churches where it meant directional agreement in a very vague way. Your biblical description of what it actually means to be discordant is very different. I wish there was more biblical teaching like this.
Thanks for this. One of my pet peeves is no one knowing what ‘heresy’ really means. And when you hear what some people divide and hurl ‘anathemas’ over! I was thinking just the other day that even when John says to watch out for Diotrephes, it is because he was causing division.
Frank, I thank you very much for this series. You have reached into the heart of the great divider of the body of Christ. Your vital message in this series is so profoundly important to all of us in Christ, so much so, that I obviously fail to express the outstandingly dire and vital need of your words for the body of Christ in this day. Really and truly, thank you Frank.
Thx. for the encouragement.
Frank thank you so much for this series. Loved how concise you made this article and treating the concept of heresy as something I think Paul talked more about in his letters versus “false teaching.” Thanks again.
Thx. Paul often combated false teaching in his letters. The two main false teachings he addressed were legalism and libertinism. I sketch those out in “Revise Us Again.” Interestingly, those two false teachings are still very much alive today in Christianity.
Wow… this is the one I was unaware of. Great revelation here. Thank you.
We should always be aware that God can speak to us through anybody and we should always be willing to hear a word against what we are saying or doing. God is looking for us to be humble, broken, and teachable, no matter what position we may hold or how much we are looked up to by others.
I’m not sure how this fits into this post. I don’t see anyone disagreeing with that. The article is about gossip (which is a sin) and heresies which bring division (another sin). I would say that people who commit these sins need to be open to be corrected and repent of them. I guess that’s how it fits.
This was just awesome! I ended up leaving a small group after the gatherings turned into one small battle after another. The battles seemed crazy to me. One person would be indignant because she thought we were not singing enough. Another would interrupt people in the middle of saying something because she thought we should be spending more time in silent meditation. Another would be offended because she thought no one took her gift of prophecy seriously enough.
With all sincerity I tried in as peaceful of an attitude as I was able to say that none if this mattered. That it was Who we talked about and not how much we talked that mattered. That the order of worship made no difference, nor how much focus and attention we put on any one aspect of worship. That the only thing that mattered was WHO we worshipped. But I was responded to as if I were speaking a foreign language, at best. And in the end, the last meeting I attended was an all out brawl, with no mention of Christ whatsoever. Three and a half years of that was very discouraging and left me starving to hear the name of the Lord exalted and proclaimed!
Thanks for this series, Frank. I appreciate your reminders — especially the bit about judging people’s motives. I had been doing that (but privately) in a situation recently, and you brought it out for me so I could realize what I was doing and stop it before I messed up and spoke it aloud.
And this one is excellent. I hadn’t thought about truth (misused) being a heresy, but what you say makes sense. It is definitely something to keep in mind.
This has been a great series Frank! Thanks for sharing and reminding us to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
How timely that you linked to Zens’ article again. I had been drafting a post in my head and planned to come here to find it at some point soon.
Re: “In short, if we’re properly following the Lord, our spiritual instincts will tell us if we’re using a truth in a divisive way.”
One would also hope that we’d be open to realizing if we are or are not following Jesus correctly…because I think most people would say “of course I am following Jesus the right way”.
An, neat. Yes, that’s right; even those who cause great harm to others and even lie about them are often deluded into thinking they are following Jesus in those actions. That’s why Paul often said, “Do not be deceived” when he would talk about various fleshly behaviors. Even those that are clothed in pious rhetoric.
Exactly!
Excellent point.