What Big Teeth You Have

For you gladly put up with fools since you are so smart! [KJV – “For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise”] In fact, you put up with it if someone enslaves you, if someone devours you, if someone captures you, if someone dominates you, or if someone hits you in the face. I say this to our shame: we have been weak.

-- 2 Corinthians 11:19-21

This statement is made by Paul in the context of chiding the Corinthian church for its acceptance of false teachers. The Apostle to the Gentiles was not unfamiliar with irony. It does not matter how pure or noble a movement may be, there are always jackals hanging out in the fringes and the shadows looking for easy pickings and personal gain. It was so even with the early Christians. There were charlatans dogging the footsteps of the Apostles. As soon as Paul established a church and left a city, the false apostles moved in to infiltrate the body of believers, gaining power and prestige through deception. As long as there have been true believers there have been Elmer Gantrys.

Human nature is such that we look for leaders, and those who say the right things, appearing confident and concerned, may not get thorough scrutiny. They may be boastful fools with no real experience, but we tend to suffer them gladly. I sometimes think there is a segment of the population who will equate a domineering, arrogant, abusive personality with talent and intelligence. After all, if the man or woman in question was not “gifted”, why would they be arrogant? It helps me explain the slavish devotion to Bill Clinton, and the popularity of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, John Kerry, John Edwards and the Obamanation.

As a true follower of Christ, Paul lived by the Lord’s instruction that “he who would be greatest among you must be the servant of all.” Most genuine men and women of God do not go out of their way to accumulate wealth or status symbols. They do not demand that poor and middle-income church members sacrifice so that “leaders” may live in opulence. In this sense, Paul said that he had been “weak” by not abusing his privileges as an Apostle. The false apostles, prophets and teachers fleece the flock rather than acting as good shepherds. Yet, people endure, not just the ravages of thieves and control freaks, but, even worse, the abuse of false doctrines that would put them back in bondage after Christ has come to set us free.

God will not allow the person truly seeking Him to go astray. We need to trust, first, the voice of the Holy Spirit. We can have the mind of Christ; we can understand what God is saying to us through His word. Many times we gain insight and understanding from those with the gifts of teaching and preaching. We are often encouraged and uplifted by our brothers and sisters in the Lord. None of us make it on our own. Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto. Nevertheless, we should not allow ourselves, or those around us, to fall victim to glib fools or to submit to abuses of authority under the guise of Christianity.

Jesus did not expect us to be gullible. “Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves,” He said – not mean as a snake and silly as a bird. There is no wisdom or virtue in ignoring evil or refusing to call it what it is. “Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good” (Romans 12:21). Just because we are not allowed to use the same tactics as the worldly does not mean we should surrender to them.