Page 57 - RiseUpWarrior

Chapter 24 56 facts from the people. But when the government found nity ladder. But if you change churches, you won’t be out, they put the man in prison. I know people who left starting over with God (Unless, of course, you make the church, and basically left God over the confusion the change in disobedience to God.) I have seen people and disappointment. change churches for good reasons, but still be punished for it. I have also seen musicians change churches be- The other pastor I know was looking at pornography on the computer in the church offce for years while cause they were in sin, and never get punished. Because the church grew in size. It took years for the church to they were a good musician, the other church accepted see his problem. After he was fnally stepped down as them completely and let them start high up the ladder, pastor, it came to light that there were allegations of jumping straight into leadership and ministry. sexual impropriety from his last church. In the end, the Therefore it is important that you and I always keep question was, why was this pastor recommended to us? separate the church’s ladder and God’s ladder. They are One day he was on his knees praying and he passed very different. I propose that we all grow in maturity, away suddenly. It seemed that God decided to take him taking one step after another up God’s ladder. If we see home early. others fall over the church’s mistake, we should offer a hand to help them up. Humans are the ones who make In both of these circumstances the church leadership ei- ther wanted to hide the problem or they were not high the mistakes. In the end they need to be forgiven be- enough on God’s ladder to be able to see it clearly. In cause God still loves them just as He still loves us. the end, God brought both of these men to justice. Sometimes God will ask you to do something that is identical to the church’s ladder, and sometimes God I would like to go public saying that just because some- one is high up in the Christian community, it does not will ask you to do something that is completely against mean that they are high on God’s ladder. God sees the all earthly wisdom. They key is to always obey God, heart and sees all our sins. We can hide things from peo- when it makes sense to you and when it doesn’t. ple, but we cannot hide anything from God. Politics can seem bad, but in reality, this is good news. It means nothing that actually matters can be taken from One pastor I know was choosing from various pastors in the community to participate in a new leadership you. If something is taken, it didn’t really matter. training program. One of the pastors he chose had an af- fair with another woman and left his wife. Why was he chosen for this special opportunity? Probably because Just because someone is he was cool, and it made the program look cool. “Cool factor” will get you up the Christian community ladder high up in the Christian much quicker. But God isn’t wowed by how cool you are. community, it does not Also, denominational barriers can slow your progress mean that they are high up the Christian community ladder. If you are a part of one denomination, but switch to another, you often have on God’s ladder. to start over at the bottom of the new Christian commu-