Dear friends:I share the following message about a critical spirit with some
trepidation. That is because I have often been guilty, and it is something
I fight. So maybe this sharing will help bring healing to myself. I want
to be more like Jesus. "Help me, Lord."Avoiding a critical spirit does not mean we blithely ignore and not
criticize evil. There is a fine line here that we must carefully
observe. I cannot give you a rule on this. Allow the Holy Spirit to
control your words. Let us be especially careful about attacking people
instead of issues. Personal attacks are rampant on the Internet and it is
so easy to do because the writer feels insulated from his or her audience.
Some Web sites actually major on criticism of other believers, ignoring the
log in their own eyes. Then, with mob psychology, readers pile on and
spread the criticism all over the world, believing it must be true because
they "read it on the Internet" and it is their duty to tell others! God
help us.I am reminded that Jesus had hard words for His enemies and even publicly
called them names, such as "hypocrite, vipers, white-washed tombs,"
etc. However, we must be careful and not carelessly emulate this aspect of
the Savior's unique mission and use it as an excuse for a critical
spirit. Remember that His words came out of a heart of pure love, with
perfect wisdom. Most of us do not meet that qualification.The below is from Jim Watt of "Two Are Better Than One" Ministries. Thank
you, Jim.Jim
___________________________________________________________"TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE" MINISTRIES
Jim & Marie Watt
PO Box 25116 Federal Way WA 98093-2116
Tel: 253.874.4265 Fax: 253.474.0189
Email: jim2rbetter1@yahoo.com Web: www.2rbetter.org
August 12, 2005"CRITICISM ARISING OUT OF JEALOUSY"
The spirit of criticism, backbiting and evil-speaking comes from several
sources: jealousy, envy, an inferiority complex, a wounded spirit, etc.When one is correctly related to God in the spirit of Rees Howell, J.
Hudson Taylor, George Muller, Oswald Chambers and many others it is
because they have gone through the "Dark Night of the Soul" and become
identified with Jesus Christ in His sufferings. We learn this type of
obedience through our sufferings. The Holy Spirit is then enabled to exalt
Jesus in and through us. We have entered the strait gate and narrow way,
and few there are that have found it. This is the secret to entering into
Jesus' rest. We have then taken the yoke of Jesus upon us, and it is
apparent unto all that we have God's anointing to attest to this. This is
what triggered the rebellion of Korah, and raised up the Judaizers to undo
the work of the apostle Paul.I became pastor of the Kostner Avenue Baptist Church in Chicago in 1953.
Its founder was Louis Crittenden, affectionately called "Dad" Crittenden.
He called it "The Little Church on the Corner," a former Episcopal
building. When this church called me as pastor, God was in the process of
calling "Dad" home to be with Him. Formerly he was the head of Kimball
Piano of Chicago, and its chief salesman. I visited him once in the
hospital before his home going, but did not really get to know him well,
though I was asked to conduct his funeral service from our church.What struck me about this man, was that no one could remember ever having
heard him speak a critical word about a fellow human being, whether
believer or unbeliever. This struck me as most unusual. On one occasion one
of our church members had challenged him, "Dad, I'll bet you even have a
good word for the devil!" This challenge momentarily put him off balance.
But then his eye brightened and he said, "Well we could emulate his zeal!"Oswald Chambers had a "White Funeral." As a young man he came to the end of
his self-controlled life, and completely turned the rule of his life over
to God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. From then on he was crucified with
Christ; he no longer lived, but Christ by the Holy Spirit lived in and
through him. It was all based on the Redemptive work of Christ.He served as a student, but chiefly as a tutor in the Dunoon Bible College
of Scotland under its principal Mr. MacGregor for 9 years. It was during
this time that he experienced his "White Funeral" and entered into an
extraordinary ministry of Life in the Spirit, with Personal, Passionate
devotion to Jesus. Here are a few words from Mrs. MacGregor, the
principal's wife, who knew him very closely. "Two of Oswald Chamber's
sayings specially remain with me 'I refuse to worry,' with a very marked
emphasis on the 'refuse'. The other was, 'wherefore judge nothing before
the time, until the Lord come.' Refusing to worry, HE ALSO REFUSED TO
CRITICIZE, and it would be well if we could all take that stand." (p. 35,
'Oswald Chambers: His Life and Work," Mrs. Oswald Chambers, 1959, Christian
Literature Crusade, Fort Washington, Pennsylvania.)Note: Oswald refused to judge anything before the time, but left all
judgment to God and therefore refused to criticize. Again, another
example in the same spirit as Dad Crittenden.Why do I recount these two incidents? Because according to John Wesley, the
sin of a critical spirit and speech is of all sins, the most prevalent --
yesterday and today. Those engaged in intercessory warfare experience its
attack regularly and relentlessly. It is in the world. It is in the church.
It is practiced by the high and he low by pastors and lay people. It is
normally not even looked upon as sin.One of John Wesley's 52 teaching sermons for student ministers in training
was, "The Cure of Evil Speaking," based on Matthew 18:15-17. A man from
Ontario, Canada came to Chicago and preached it as his first sermon in a
church of some 1500 members, formerly pastored by Torrey Johnson. In a
gratifying manner, the entire congregation rose at the invitation to
signify that this text would be their only 3-fold manner in which they
would handle any interpersonal problem from then on.Within 3 weeks one member broke this covenant. When reproached and reminded
by the one he gossiped to, his reply was, "Of course I stood 3 weeks ago. I
wanted to make the new pastor feel good." "Well," his fellow member
replied, "I stood with the intention of neither speaking or listening to
words in violation to Matthew 18:15-17, and if you would like, I'll be glad
to go with you to confront the person you have just been speaking against."
He was told he could go jump into Lake Michigan! This was repeated when his
friend returned with 2 others and repeated his invitation. To the man's
shock he heard his name announced from the pulpit the following Sunday in
the context of the above. He immediately repented and made right his lapse
in the light of Matthew 18:15-17.Once more this had to be repeated in the church. From then on God's Spirit
started to move unusually in this Chicago church to the praise and glory of
God.Could the above be relevant for individuals, churches and communities
today? I believe so.Let us together make a covenant in the spirit of John Wesley, that any
interpersonal problems that arise will be handled in no other manner than
in the words of Jesus in Matthew 18:15-17. Then we too will be walking in
the spirit of Dad Crittenden and Oswald Chambers.Your friend, Jim Watt