What are your pastor’s priorities in leading his flock?

Readership: All
Reader’s Note: This post is the sixth in a series on Gnosticism.
Length: 1,800 words
Reading Time: 6 minutes + 2 minute video clip

Introduction

Throughout history, fools have rejected sound wisdom because it is not beautiful, convenient, exciting to the ego, nor glorious. In justifying their foolishness, they label it as carnal, embarrassing, mundane, profane, reprehensible, troublesome, unattractive, or even heretical.

“Tiberius knows more than a Christian should about Salaheddin’s intentions.”

“An army of Jesus Christ, which bears His holy name, cannot be beaten!”

“There must be war!  God wills it!”

Utter foolishness!

Later in the story (The Kingdom of Heaven), their entire army is slaughtered by the Muslims in the desert. Their most valiant heroes are beheaded and eaten by vultures, and they leave Jerusalem undefended. The city later falls to the Caliphate.

The Foolishness of Clinging to Naïve Innocence

On Saturday, I received an email from a long time reader.

Hey SF,

I just spent the morning reading up about your last few posts regarding Gnosticism. I was at an auto shop all morning waiting for my car to be repaired, and I had nothing to do. Before this reading, I knew of Gnosticism, but didn’t know much else. By midday, I had my car back and was heading to work.

During this time, my pastor asked us men in our small group how our morning was going. I responded where I was and that I was reading up on Gnosticism. His response was that I should be reading God’s Word and to stop reading about Gnosticism.

I didn’t know what to say. He’s not wrong, but I don’t think I was using my time foolishly. I’ve refrained from responding too much because I don’t want to say anything that I would regret later. It just sounds like he’s assuming that I’m reading your posts at the expense of God’s Word, even though the day wasn’t even over.

His pastor is talking to him as if he were a child.

And that voice inside him telling himself not to respond out of anger, embarrassment, or fear of regret is preventing him from engaging in a discussion. (The way parents, wives, leaders, and pastors talk to men as if they were children fosters and encourages such timidity.)

Don’t be afraid of conflict. Conflict improves discernment. Make it your friend and ally.

“As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”

Proverbs 27:17 (NKJV)

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

Matthew 10:34 (ESV)

…and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household church!

Trust that the truth will come out through adversity.

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Continuing the reader’s email…

“The reason why I held my tongue was not timidity, it was because of anger. I knew I would say something that would create discord and get us nowhere. But I do agree that he was being condescending, I just couldn’t quite put my finger on it.”

To be generous, it seems like this pastor has a bit of inner game in being a shepherd. His approach of mocking and dismissing Gnosticism is probably intended to decrease any general interest in the subject that could have been aroused in the group by the reader’s expressed interest in it.

The Communications Game

When he told the men’s group he was learning about Gnosticism, maybe they thought he was seriously interested in becoming a Gnostic. (It is rather popular these days.) So first, make sure they understand this is not the case.

The reader indicated that he was aware of this.

I did give an initial rebuttal to him, mentioning that I was reading so that I can recognize it and to do some self-reflection (i.e. Have I said or done anything that fits the description?). This was also to give him the benefit of the doubt, since he didn’t know my intentions for reading about Gnosticism.

His response was that if we don’t prioritize the Word, then the danger is knowing a lot of useful information without a solid foundation of truth. He reinforced the first statement by saying that only God’s Word gives life and equips him to be a complete man of God. I didn’t respond because I was still fuming, at the time.

His pastor seems to be placing an emphasis on knowing how things are supposed to be, which admittedly is a good foundation, but at some point, you’ll have to start examining the counterfeits and making distinctions.

Second, you can talk to your pastor on the same childish intellectual level. The point is not to be demeaning, but to keep it objective. If you speak on the topic from the same viewpoint that he has, using some of his language, then he and others in the group are more likely to understand your stance. With tact and patience, it is possible to do this without being a disrespectful @ss and creating discord in the men’s group.

A little bit of communication can prevent much error and confusion.

Finally, don’t forget to pray.

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The Argument

I’ve put together a childish little Platonic argument here below for you to express to your pastor (or anyone really) why learning about Gnosticism (or any other Red Pill stuff) is not a debaucherous waste of time.

  • Gnosticism (or Covert Contracts, Gynapotheosis, Gynocentrism, Oneitis, etc.) is a sin of idolatry and rebellion.
  • It is everywhere!
  • We are not aware of it.
  • We need to repent from it, root it out, and fight against it.
  • How can we repent and fight against it if we don’t even know what it is?

Study this and put this into your own words, and maybe he/they will “get it.”

You might want to mention some things you’ve learned about Gnosticism (or whatever) to demonstrate that it is a relevant issue to our faith.

You might even ask him why Gnosticism (etc.) is wrong, or why it is wrong for you to learn about Gnosticism, and I’m almost certain he’ll give an awkward answer that will prove he doesn’t really know what it is. He might say it’s an ancient religion or cult, or maybe even some new age philosophy, but he won’t know it’s influence on modern culture and the church.

Heck, I didn’t really know what it is until I started writing this series. Then I discovered that I’m more Gnostic than I thought! I’ve had to repent!

The point of this interaction is not to “win” the argument or humiliate the pastor in front of the group (that would be bad so try to avoid it), but to open up a discussion that would prove to be spiritually edifying and strengthen the faith of everyone in the group. A proper response from the pastor would be to engage with the group by offering some teaching on the subject. Of course, this would require a bit of work and study on his part. (Maybe that’s what he’s trying to avoid.)

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Conclusions

A lot of pastors and shepherds prioritize the preservation of peace and harmony in their flock simply because it makes their job easier. Some leaders/pastors genuinely believe that maintaining a Steady Eddie approach is their most important duty! Thus, their general focus is on tamping down anything that might cause confusion, discord, or possible division. It is for this reason that many leaders/pastors don’t want to address politics or social issues, and although they must address religion, they try to keep it as remotely theoretical as possible. They refrain from digging into the tack issues of the day. Furthermore, leaders/pastors intentionally shoot down the prophets in the church, because they don’t want to deal with the spiritual turbulence and social turmoil that surrounds a burgeoning mystical approach to faith.

This kind of leader/pastor is like a surgeon who faints at the sight of blood.

But the thing is, if you want to kickstart a lively discussion in which people would open up, and start thinking and talking, and start working out the tougher issues in their faith from a personalized standpoint, then someone will have to make some controversial statements or bring up some touchy topics. I don’t see any way around this. This goes back to what I wrote above about conflict.

Be assured, God will see to it that there are a couple people in the group who are odd, quarrelsome, and disruptive. Given the opportunity, they will hijack the conversation and create confusion and discord. It will be a lot of work for the pastor to stay on top of things. It is better if there are at least two or three men working alongside the leader to shore things up.

So, the group leader/pastor needs to decide what he wants to do in leading the group. Does he want to have a group atmosphere of tentative peace and pseudo-unity where no one really opens up and grows? Or does he want to get out the sword of the spirit and start slicing and dicing the truth? (Ephesians 6:17)

You may want to have a talk with your group leader/pastor and tell him these things, and try to determine where his overall interests lie. If he is open to the idea, try to work out a game plan for inducing growth in the flock while also increasing brotherly comraderies. It would be ideal if the leadership can attain the same mind concerning their strategies. (Philippians 2:1-4) Have the mind that you are a part of the leadership, even if you don’t play an official role.

Serendipity

Here’s something else readers may find interesting…

On Thursday, I inadvertently forgot to take my USB memory stick home from the office and thus was unable to finish working on the posts I had originally planned for Friday and Saturday. (These posts will be continued tomorrow.) So to meet my posting schedule for the week, I had to come up with another angle on Gnosticism, which turned into Friday’s post, Breaking the Stronghold of Gnosticism (2021-10-29), and Saturday’s post, Knowing One’s Self (2021-10-30). As it serendipitously turned out, these posts were directly related to the reader’s email question. I find this interesting, because after getting the reader’s email and looking back, it seems like this happened because God knew what he (and probably other readers too) would be facing by diving into this topic, and He then changed my writing plans to match this need.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Romans 8:28 (KJV)

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