A Letter From A Calvarite

I am just a simple Christian. I love the Lord and want to do His will and be like Him. However, I have been following some blogs on the Internet for some time (almost 2 years to be exact), and I had no idea that Christians do warfare with each other like this! Aren't we supposed to fight the devil instead of one another?? Maybe I am naive, but wow! we are worse than the American presidential campaigns! Anything we can say and dig out, whether it is true or not, is just put out there in your face! To be honest, I don’t know if Pastor Prince Guneratnam is right, or this teh tarik group is right, but one thing I know, hitting below the belt is WRONG!

I used to think that Christians had this great promise from God, that our minds could be renewed, our lives transformed, so that we would be just like our Lord Jesus Christ. I thought Romans 12: 1-2 was like God’s treasure given to us so that we could be salt and light to this world. I didn’t realise that this “transformation” of standing for “truth, transparency and good governance” could also mean dragging someone’s reputation through the mud, calling deacons liars, and pastors worse names even than liars ... I didn’t know being salt and light to the world meant going to the newspapers (who just want a sensational story to increase their sales) with a nice banner that would shame Jesus’ church and His reputation, either. Worse still, I didn’t even consider, at one time that suing deacons, pastors, and the church of Jesus Christ was standing up for truth and transparency. Wow! So this is christianity today!

My dear brothers and sisters through Jesus’ precious blood, I know that history and the bible teach us different stories about how to overcome conflict and disagreement. Jesus may have whipped the moneylenders from the temple area, but you know, he showed deep respect for the priestly and temple office. He told the ordinary people that even the Pharisees taught the right thing to do. He said, “Do what they tell you; just don’t do what they do.” If we really think that the pastors and deacons of any church are not being fair or pastoral enough, Jesus comforts us with good advice, “Hey, guys, do the good things they teach you...just don’t do what they do.” We can also add—“and don’t you rebel against them by going to the newspapers...!”

When Paul came before the Sanhedrin for preaching Jesus and hanging out with Gentiles, the high priest Ananias told those around Paul to smack his face! And Paul got really mad, so he said: “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall!” (Acts 23: 3) But when Paul realized this was the high priest, you know what he said?? Read verse 5: “Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people’.”

You know, the bible is still true even today. We cannot fight spiritual battles using worldly weapons. If the pastors and deacons are so bad as some people say, then do what Jesus did with his enemies: leave them to God. God alone will vindicate His cause of transparency and truth ... using the weapon of the cross. We cannot win souls by using the latest sophisticated method or gadget. We cannot grow a church by using marketing strategies and branding a product, we cannot solve conflicts and quarrels by shouting matches, propaganda, demonstrations, signing memorandums etc etc. This is not the way of the cross.

I’m not even sure about all the quarrelling that has been going on in Calvary Church. But your name should tell you how you should behave. You are called by the name of Jesus’ dying place...Calvary is the place of the cross. All who come in must “take up his cross, deny himself, and follow me”. I’m not even sure who is right or wrong, whether the pastors and deacons are such terrible people as some say. (Wow, they sound worse than the crooks in Pudu Jail!—Oh, no more Pudu Jail now!—Are you very, very, very sure they are like this?) But I cannot agree with the way that some sheep have chosen to express their unhappiness. Brothers and sisters, this is not the way. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 14: 12).

You want to demonstrate? Then demonstrate love. Never mind your enemy’s response. You demonstrate the life of the cross. God will win your battle for you if your cause is right and just. But make very sure of this: do not ask God to stand on your side, because you are just a little human being. Make sure you are found on God’s side... The cross is always the winning side.