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November 2008

How to react when Spiritual Leaders fall / backslide:

Sometime back I heard the very distressing news of the divorce of a couple I knew personally. They were known not only in Indian but had made waves in international ministry too. Then somehow everything crumbled. The husband fell victim to an addiction and eventually things got from bad to worse, leading to a messy divorce.

Their divorce was even more painful than most, because they had often testified openly on how the Lord ordained their marriage and how the Lord brought them together.

Everything they had once done for the glory of God now seemed like a testimony for the evil one.

I couldn’t understand how and why the Lord would permit this to happen. I prayed to Him, distressed, searching for answers.

Instead, in the weeks that followed, I learnt of another couple in local ministry who though still living under the same roof, were for all practical purpose separated. The husband had been one of my early mentors and someone whom I had looked up to when still an infant new-born in the Spirit and again I couldn’t understand how something of the sort could happen.

While I sat focusing on these two couples in prayer one day, quite disturbed, quite at loss to understand how and why these things could happen, God touched my heart.

He reminded me of a time I had a conversation with Fr. Mathew Elavunkal, the then Director of Tabor Ashram.

Fr. Mathew, with the great wisdom of the Spirit that he is bestowed with, once said to me: “Why is it that people don’t look at the 99 priests who have left home, family, wealth, position, comfort and so many other things, for the sake of the Lord and His kingdom – but instead they look at the 1 priest who in his humanness has fallen?”

The Spirit of the Lord then brought to mind so many wonderful couples I know who were and still are serving the Lord with honest hearts.

Having shifted focus off the few fallen, I could again be joyful and praise God for the many who have and who still are laboring for His glory.

Every time lay people or consecrated people serve the Lord in any sort of ministry (big or small), they are caught up in the spiritual battle that is constantly being fought between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. They are tempted & persecuted in myriads of ways constantly. Unless they are deeply rooted in prayer and protected by the precious blood of Jesus, they can be subjected to the very real danger of falling away from His Grace in perhaps just a single moment of weakness.

Often times the Lord, who is slow to anger and rich in mercy, brings them back into His fold. But sometimes the sheep stray too far and do not head the cry of the Lord to come back to Him.

In times like these:

(01) We should never judge the fallen or their actions. Understand that they are human & that they are under much more spiritual attack than most people because of their ministry. Do not gossip! Do not gloat!
The Lord strictly warns us not to judge lest we be judged too (Mathew 7:1-6). Similarly we are warned all through scripture not to gossip (Psalm 101:5), as those who do will not inherit the kingdom of God. Understand that what you may know about the situation or what you may have been told about the situation may not be the complete truth. Trust in God to judge his people with mercy.

(02) We should not let the fallen bring us down too. Think not of the few who have fallen, but of the many who are still toiling in His vineyard.
Often times we look upto the people the Lord has anointed rather than the Lord who has anointed them.
And often we have unrealistic expectations on these men of God - truly some of us expect Christian leaders to be holier than thou & completely be freed of any sin. But since we are all sinners, leaders are also bound to fall to some degree. If and when these people fall, we are in the very real danger of falling away along with them too, if our focus was on them rather than on the Lord.
If someone who has been a role model for you has backslidden or fallen away from Christ, find a new role model rather than move away from the Lord.

(03) We should not question whether God had ever anointed them in the first place.
When the first couple I spoke of divorced, everything that they had ever done for the glory of God was questioned by many. People began to tear down all the good they had done as if it mattered no more.
Similarly in the case of another more recently married preacher at an international revival, who was tempted by another woman, fell & eventually had to step down from his position in his church. People started questioning whether all the healings at the revival were “real” or not.
Instead of doing such things, we could remember the story of King Saul, who was the very first King anointed by the Lord over Israel. How Saul fell – and how God raised up a David in his place.
And how David did not judge or condemn Saul – but instead still respected the anointing of that the Lord had once given King Saul – even though Saul was now fallen. Even though Saul was persecuting David personally (to the extent of trying to kill him), still David refused to harm Saul when he had the chance, saying “I will not put forth mine hand against (King Saul); for he is the LORD's anointed.” 1 Samuel 24:10-12

FINALLY,
(04) We should Pray for these fallen souls - our Lord is the God of the impossible – and oh, what a great testimony it would be for the fallen to come back & make things right with God again! Pray for all those in ministry, especially your leaders whom you know, that they may have the Grace of the Lord not to fall.
Do not give up on the fallen. Even St. Peter denied the Lord but came back to eventually being the Rock of the Church as we know it.

What are you doing to ensure that your leaders, your role models, the people in spiritual authority over you etc, do not fall? You should do the one thing you can – soak them in prayer. Pray daily for your leaders, this is indeed what the Lord has told us to do (1 Timothy 2:1-4 ) & is the best way to ensure they remain always close to His heart.

Melody
November 2008

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