Millstone Shepherds

Okay, there are primary faith issues and secondary issues. There are issues we can (if we try) have polite but spirited disagreements on and issues we must come to agree on. According to many on social media, HERESY is just another word for 'we disagree.'

So I would like to return to the basics

• LOVE GOD with all your heart, soul, and mind and others as yourself. Mt. 22:36-40.  
• Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

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Next, we must study God's Word and seek Him in prayer to cultivate and grow the truths found in Mt. 22:36-40. and James 1:27 lest we be swayed by Shepherds wearing millstones. 
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• For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 
• In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Hebrews 5:12-14

I am reading an excellent book by Megan Basham, Shepherds for Sale, which exposes the issues of Big EVA and others promoting a woke theology. I have observed this problem for years in the  seeker-friendly church model where putting people in the seats is job 1, and pastors become more concerned with appeasing a secular/pagan society than offending Almighty God. We want to be liked even though Jesus said ​

• Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! Luke 12:51

Again, having a different opinion is one thing, but never willfully distort God's teachings out of ignorance, convenience, or indifference. 

• It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. Luke 17:2

With this concern in mind, let me share with you my collection of what I would call Millstone Preachers

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AGAIN, it is okay to disagree. Catholics v Protestants, Pentecostal v Reformed, etc., etc., and the above Millstone examples are for those who go too far in preaching another Gospel.  For those shepherds, God will not judge kindly.

• Therefore, the people wander like sheep oppressed because of the lack of a shepherd. My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders. Zechariah 10:2-3

But take heart, for we have God's Word to read and learn from. His Spirit will always guide us. So, let's be still and confident in the Lord.  And, of course, find a good church, a community where you can belong, led by a pastor who embodies these principles without any signs of a millstone.

Have a blessed Millstone-free day

​Jeff