STRIKE THE SHEPHERD AND THE SHEEP SHALL BE SCATTERED
“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”
- II Cor. 2:1
As I pointed out in part one of
this series, I am an old man who has seen a lot. In addition to having raised a
family, and in addition to having been the longest serving rector in the
history of a Continuing Anglican parish in North Carolina (a parish founded in
1979), I have also survived the wounds and scars of spiritual warfare, and so I
can impart some sound and practical wisdom. For purposes of this series of
essays, let me say directly to every aspirant and postulant to holy orders, like
as my father laid down his life to enlist in the war against Nazi Germany, the
fact that he survived the war and came home (wounded, the Purple Heart among
his medals) does not alter the fact that he volunteered to, as far as he could
predict, die in battle. He once told me that the only way he could carry on in
combat was to expect to be killed, and to have as his only goal to never let
down his comrades in arms. It was a heavy load for an eighteen-year-old.
Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.
- Zechariah 13:7
If you are presenting yourself for the ordained ministry
then beware of this common problem: Among the people you will be called to love
and to serve, exercising the kind of authority every parent knows (who must
both rule his children as well as serve them in lowly and humble matters before
they can feed, clean, or clothe themselves) as responsibility rather than as power,
may very well be those who will unexpectedly return hate for your love. The
Accuser (Satan) and Slanderer (the devil), one and the same, will attack the
local church by attacking you. I do not say that you should be suspicious or
paranoid, but rather that if you find yourself among the majority of good and
sincere clergy, do not be surprised or shaken by betrayal. Do not be surprised
if “the unkindest cut of all” comes from one you trusted, one you thought of as
reliable.
Yea, mine
own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted
up his heel against me. - Psalm 41:9
For it
was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have
borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did
magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: But it
was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet
counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company. Psalm
55:12-14
To those of
you who are laity, I issue this warning from my many years and experience: Do
not become Satan’s mouthpiece.
And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among
you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves. – I Thessalonians
5:12,13
Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken
unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation…Obey them that have the rule over you, and
submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give
account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. – Hebrews 13:7,17
Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or
three witnesses.
- I Timothy 5:19
These things
were not written without reason. Remember this attack of the enemy against the
people of God in Jerusalem, as written in the Books of the Kings. The messenger
of the enemy king attacked the people of Judah by slandering King Hezekiah. The
idea, as always, was to “Smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered.”
Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews'
language, and spake, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of
Assyria: Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be
able to deliver you out of his hand: Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the
LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be
delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. Hearken not to Hezekiah: for
thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his
fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern: Until I come and
take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of
bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive and of honey, that ye may live, and
not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, The
LORD will deliver us. – II Kings 18:28-32
More times than I can count I have seen the pattern. A
member of a local church either discovers a flaw, or imagines an offense, or
listens to gossip or slander. This leads to that lay person becoming afraid that
the pastor or rector (or vicar, whatever the title may be) is somehow going to
fail and take down the church with him. I have seen very good and excellent
priests subjected to a zealous crusader who takes it upon himself, or herself,
to “Save the church” by trying to destroy the very kind of elder (presbyter,
i.e. priest) that Saint Paul, as we saw above, commanded the people to “esteem
very highly in love for their work’s sake.” It is no mystery why he followed
that immediately by adding “And be at peace among yourselves.”
Have I endured such attacks from Satan through such a
zealous crusader or two over the years? Oh yes, I have. For example, I once “learned”
that I had “driven away” a couple during my time as a rector. I thought, that’s
funny. I distinctly remember them being members of the parish right up to the end,
by which I mean that I recall, after her husband died first, taking Communion
to the elderly widow every week until the day that I led her family in prayer
in the hospital room while she was departing this earthly life. She had been
shut-in during her final years, needing an oxygen machine to stay alive. My
educated guess is that when this couple could no longer attend Sunday services, someone
with a big mouth assumed that they had left the parish, and that, of course, it
was my fault. In such cases, the big-mouthed gossip never bothers to ask any
questions. Facts are not important: Only the godly crusade against the priest matters!
But, rather than waxing autobiographical, allow me to relay a true story I got from a priest, a rector, whose identity I will withhold. It has elements of a pattern I have seen all too often from both laymen and laywomen.
“One person once got it stuck in his head that I was failing to grow the parish, based on some standard he created subjectively in his own mind. I wished at the time that he would say so in front of all the people, because the majority of them had joined the church during my time as rector. I, being myself a sinner who needs to confess like every other member of the Body, enjoyed the thought of watching their reactions. But then again, when people did point out to him that they were happy that I was there, or that they had joined specifically to be in my parish, he seemed able to block out their words. In an email this person said to me, ‘I am never more energetic than when I am fighting for the parish.’ The irony is, fighting against the rector was the most effective way to harm and endanger the parish, of which he did his share because his unpleasant behavior had a negative effect on attendance. My biggest mistake was letting him become a member of the vestry, a conciliatory gesture that backfired.” I am not referring to an unhappy discovery of any actual scandal. Indeed, I have seen the worst of such things, including the painful revelation of a curate in Catonsville, Maryland (where I was serving as the organist before I was ordained) who was arrested for sexually abusing boys in the neighborhood. I am not naïve. Wolves in sheep’s clothing deserve to be exposed. As much as I appreciate the courage of Saint Thomas Becket, whose duty to conscience qualifies him as a martyr indeed, I must disagree with the cause that impelled him to that crown. No priest had any moral right to be tried by an Ecclesiastical Court only, when his crime was that he “debauched a virgin,” even back in the Medieval period. The curate in Maryland went to prison, as he deserved. His crimes caused a lot of damage to the parish for several years that followed.
But,
for our purposes it serves well to remember that “The north wind driveth away
rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue (Proverbs 25:23).”
In your own church, if someone comes to you to “share a concern about Father,” I suggest that you would do well to display an angry look. Satan is not
attacking only the man upon whose shoulders the burden of responsibility lies,
but also the whole church by attacking him. Even churches that survive as a “Going concern”
can be damaged spiritually, as salt that has lost its savor, no longer a
gathering of joy and light, and no longer a witness.
Make
no mistake about it. The word “Satan” means one that accuses, an adversary, a
prosecutor. As the word has come to us it means, of course, an evil rather than
a righteous prosecutor. The word “Devil” means slanderer. To aspirants, postulants,
and those already ordained and serving: Do not be shocked if these things
happen to you. Concerning such people who may attack you, remember the example
of Christ: “Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.” In all likelihood
they really know not what they do. Such people imagine themselves to be “On
a mission from God.” They are on a self-appointed crusade to save the very
church that they are, in fact, attacking. When Satan takes people captive to do
his will (II Timothy 2:26), he induces in them self-deception. He appeals often
to someone’s carnal desire to have power. I have never understood why some lay
people think that being responsible for a church is some kind of desirable
hobby, or why they imagine themselves to be competent to exercise a profession
(yes, even more of a profession than law or medicine) for which they
have neither the education nor the experience, and certainly not the temperament.
There is something about being in control, exercising power, that provides
Satan access to the mind and heart of a certain kind of person. Often this
appeals to someone who has worldly wealth, and wishes to add power to wealth,
or to someone who feels a need to be admired.
Again, the subject of this series is Satan’s
devices. If we are ignorant of those devices, we are at a disadvantage in very real warfare. The scriptures have much to say about our struggle that is not against
flesh and blood. The Church is not a vacation cruiser. It is a battleship.
Become familiar with your battle station instead of looking for the Shuffleboard.
You are called to be a disciple, not a customer (Acts 11:26). The customer is
always right; but the disciple is not above his teacher, and the disciple comes
in order to learn. You cannot teach a customer, which is why the Church has no
need of customers. It is the customers who make demands, who expect service to
be anything but reciprocal, and who flash their money around to provide
incentive. Do not be a gossip, do not engage in slander, do not be eager to
believe evil of anyone, and drive away every backbiting tongue by letting your
displeasure be made visible.
And, finally, “Know them which labor among you, and are
over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves.”
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