Struggling with thoughts of Inactive God – 2

A sister by name Daisy was getting married to Mr. X. The news came as a shock to us. We knew Mr. X. He was a scoundrel and a cheat. We had previously warned Daisy about him and later on she had broken her relationship with him. But now we were hearing about her weird behavior. Our jaws dropped on getting her wedding invite. She knew how big a charlatan he was! Yet her decision to choose him again was hard for us to digest. We all started discussing it and each one of us gave a different reason for her weird choice. My guess was that she was infatuated. So I said, “She must be deeply in love with him. And love is irresistible. It will not cease. Though there be prophecies, tongues it will all cease but…  ”

Expectation vs Reality

One of my friends suddenly rose and announced in a loud voice “there is nothing called as love. It is all utter nonsense.”  I let him know that there is something called as real love, like that of parents towards their children. They will lay their life for the protection of their children. Likewise, I said there is sometimes real love between a boy and a girl. But my friend began losing his temper. He was adamantly beating upon the same point that love is nonsense. There ain’t any human love! We knew why he was filled with rage. His emotional outburst and use of high pitch to make us all believe that there is nothing called as love, was a spurt from his past experience. He was someone whom you could describe as burnt child dreads fire. He himself was in love once only to realize later that he was cheated. We knew how he felt. Mending mirror seems impossible when it breaks. It takes time for wounds to heal. But that didn’t make his ideology right. It was his trauma and experience out of which his ideology appeared. The truth that he once thought as truth wasn’t truth but deception (his imagination that the girl loved him). And when the truth of deception was made bare (her true nature), then it shattered his belief in the truth of love.

So what is my point in telling you about the incident? This is the second article in continuation with my previous one. As I did inform you that we received email communication from one of our brothers. He once believed in TPM and its ministry. He thought TPM saints are holy, selfless, pious men serving God wholeheartedly. He thought doctrines of TPM are apostolic. But when the lewd deeds of TPM apostles came to limelight, then it was hard for him to swallow it. He said, “I cannot believe unless I see with my eyes”. And then his mind began reasoning “if this is all true then why is God silent, watching these scoundrels and wolves deceiving many innocent souls?” Just like my friend who found difficult to believe in love after having faced deception and deceit by the girl whom he loved, our brother is beginning to lose trust in God. His girl cheated him but that does not mean every girl is cheating. Yes, there are charlatans sitting in the church but that does not mean God is dead.

Identifying where we went Wrong

Let me tell you the reasons for that brother’s dilemma

• There was a wide gap between what his expectation was and what reality was. He expected every member of “TPM faith home” to be God’s child. He expected the TPM clergy to be messengers of God. What he learned later shattered his trust.
• Secondly, he expects quick judgment of God on these false men.

Wheat and Tares

What we are seeing within the walls of TPM is not a new thing. It may be a new thing to many but as Solomon says – there is nothing new in this world. As it was, so it shall be (Ecclesiastes 1:10)! Scumbags existed during Old Testament times too. And they lived together with sincere honest souls. Wicked Cain lived along with righteous Abel. A mixed-race came out of Egypt and crossed the red sea. The church (congregation) in the wilderness (Acts 7:38, Exodus 12:38) was a mixed multitude – not Israelites alone!  When entire Israel went whoring after Baal, God had his seven thousand men reserved (I Kings 19:18). There was Judas among the twelve. Peter, John, Jude, Paul all of the apostles make mention of false teachers in the church ( 2 Peter 2:1). We know of Roman Catholic Church and its existence since the fourth century.  These wheat and tares exist together (Matt 13:30). It is in the same sea that good and bad creatures live and grow together. What our brother expected was that the wheat grows in a separate field and tares grows in another field. He thought TPM is a church full of wheat and other churches or world are tares. He thought TPM walls separate good people from bad people. He thought God’s people are found in TPM. But in reality, the walls of TPM (or any other church) are manmade. So when our brother saw that the filth within the walls of TPM was no different than the filth that was outside the walls of TPM, he began reasoning – “Is God still there?”

Why no quick judgment?

Secondly, our brother expected quick judgment on these phony preachers. But he forgot that bible mentions that there is a time for everything. The Preacher in Ecclesiastes says there is a time to be born and a time to die, a time to kill and a time to heal (Eccl 3). He mentions in his ending chapters that there is a time for judgment also (Eccl 11:9; 12:14). God has fixed a certain time for judgment (2 Peter 3:8-9).  Until then he waits for sinners to repent. He is longsuffering (Exodus 34:6). God has a measure till which he waits. Once the water goes above that level, he begins executing his judgment (Gen 15:16, Zech 5:6-11, I Thessalonians 2:16, Matt 23:32).  Peter says God knows how to reserve wicked unto the day of judgment (2 Pet 2:9). In Parable of wheat and tares, Jesus said, Let both grow together till the harvest of the world.

Conclusion

Our brother’s case (the one who emailed us) must not be that intense, but there are people who cannot come out of shock after exiting cults. The spiritual and physical abuse they suffered become like un-healable wounds in their souls. It is hard to adjust to the new reality when all your life you have been forced to drink waters from filthy cisterns. But we know from God’s word that many have traversed this path before us. Apostle Paul says, “..we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears (2 Corinthians 7:5).” But then he also says “We are troubled …. yet not distressed; we are PERPLEXED, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, BUT NOT DESTROYED (2 Corinthians 4:8-9);”

So dear brothers and sisters,

Rest assured that though you walk down through fire, it will not quench you. It may appear to you there is no God and you may be perplexed by what you go through, but he is keeping an eye on you and is able to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy (Jude 1:24). You may feel restless, perplexed. You may be in that period when in utter despair you might say like Peter, “I don’t know who this Jesus is!” But Jesus promised, “No man is able to take them from my hand.” So for all children of God scattered in various organization and denominations – we know that all things will work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). Just ensure that your foundation is not on that Sand build by Pastor Paul and Co. Build your house on the Rock Jesus Christ.