Rest in Christ

When Consulting and Coaching Leaders I sometimes tell them that a favorite hymn of the church is by Kenny Rogers.

It goes like this:

You gotta know when to hold em

Know when to fold em

Know when to walk away, and

Know when to ______________!

(I bet you can fill in the blank. The person who makes comment number three will receive a free training book on timing of ministry interventions.)

The essence of Christian is having discernment about what is the best thing to do in a decision. Here is a time when God knew that the best thing to do was "Walk away from trouble."

"When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, ‘If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.’ So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle." Exodus 13:17-18 (NIV)

One of the problems with a lot of unbalanced theology is its obsession with "The Silver Bullet Syndrome". When there is trouble in river city, all we need to do is call for The Lone Ranger who will clean up the troubles and leave a silver bullet in his wake. And, it is solved in 30 minutes!

American loves the instant mashed potato, quick fix of a Silver Bullet Syndrome. We hear it all the time from preachers and evangelists who say things like:

1. Just come to Jesus and everything will be fine. It can be summarized by slogans like, "No Jesus, No Peace! Know Jesus Know Peace"!

2. The people who promote prophesy bring in "prophets" who will read your mind and tell you what will happen in the future. When the prophesy fails the person is left thinking they messed up God's plan.

3. Then there are the "Name it and claim it, blab it and grab it" healing guys. They promise the Silver Bullet of total healing with no relapses" to anyone who has the sure faith. When there is any pain or sickness the patient is made to believe that it is his lack of faith that has caused his relapse.

I am picking up the broken pieces of so many ministers and their wives who were taught this kind of toxic, self defeating theology that it is a near epidemic. Their depression, anxiety and family conflict to say nothing of the sexual compulsions and moral lapses are painful to see.

Even more disturbing is the awful, works righteous responses by so many ministries to suggest even harsher legalisms and punishments. These push the pain farther within the heart making it harder to root out and more likely that the people will fall again.

Will you help support our ministry to leaders in trouble?