"I prayed, but I don't feel God's leading to loan you money..." or "I prayed, it's just I don't feel peace in lending you money..." These seemingly spiritual yet unconvincing phenomena often exist among Christians. These are said when things are asked that Christians don't want to do in order to avoid embarrassment or protect their own interest. God is just an excuse?
Pastor L from Dongguan, Guangdong Province, referred to these people as "pseudo-spiritual." So how to distinguish whether this "leading" comes from God or the desire of man?
How to distinguish "Pseudo Spirituality"?
The pastor showed that those who are truly touched by God live in the Truth beyond the world. They have real freedom and are willing to do everything according to the Truth. Even though they sometimes can't meet the standard due to weakness, they will honestly admit it and speak the principle of the Truth.
How can "pseudo spirituality" be understood? Some believe that when God created man, he gave him three aspects: spirit, soul, and body. The "pseudo-spiritual" place too much emphasis on spirit. These people associate everything with the spirit while neglecting reason, emotion, and common sense, which belong to the soul. There are problems when everything comes from a "spiritual" perspective even though many things can be solved with reason and common sense. There are many trivial things in life that the reason given by God can distinguish whether or not to do.
How to live in the Truth?
Pastor L shared the example of Paul. In Acts, Paul was a truly spiritual man that did everything as the Holy Spirit led him. Therefore, he didn't live in competition with man. Otherwise he wouldn't love those Jews, who wanted to kill him, so strongly. The truly free life is neither sad over things bound by others nor promoting oneself.
The pastor admitted that those who truly live beyond nature are like Paul. They couldn't care less about how others think or how important their things are. What matters is that they are in Christ when facing the issue.
Some Christians shield their own interest with God's Word to hide who they really are. Pastor L claimed that these people read and use the Bible according to their own desires. They still conduct themselves according their likeness. In the end, no one has right to judge them, but the King of Kings does.
Pastor L admitted that she was very angry at first seeing people like this. But God told her that "If you condemn them, I won't; if you judge them, I won't". She replied "No, God. I have no right to judge or condemn them. My right is to spread the Truth so that it can be shown in me."
Submit to man or God?
In addition, L talked about the churches she's seen during her visits to different places. Some churches do not follow the Truth but lower the standard of it to accommodate people. This reminded her of the old Paul, who disobeyed God to gain acknowledgment and praise from men. He ended up being abandoned by God.
Many churches, especially some rural ones, deem God's standard as too high and too strict. They selectively lower the standard to sustain the so-called interpersonal relationship. They dare not use the Way of God to point out sin and this results in God's temple becoming filthy.
Pastor L felt heartbreak. She shared her experience preaching in a church in Dongguan. The congregation was enlightened by her good sermon; in the meantime, they were afraid of her because the sermon was so strict that it showed their bad conduct. The elder of that church then asked her if she could lose some strictness and persistence. They were afraid it might scare off the believers. Pastor L said no.
"The fact showed that not only were the believers not scared off, they became closer to God when they learned the Truth that their inside was once again lit by it. Those who weren't willing to tithe are now willing to give, and those who didn't want to read the Bible started reading. They also see that God is responsible for His Word. This proves that people's worry is unnecessary," said Pastor L.
The pastor kept stressing that the church must walk in the Truth because man can only be relieved and have freedom through it. She also said that the church is a place for people to change their life, not to submit to society. She is also very gratified and happy seeing so many young people transforming their life after being cleansed by the Truth, willing to love Jesus with their life.
-Translated by Grace Hubl
