The Elephant Behind the Freedomist Pulpit

A pulpit is only as good as what is behind it. In the case of freedomists, what is there is an elephant; and the presence of this particular elephant among the promoters of the gospel of liberated indulgence should not be excused, especially if they know it is there and justify its presence.

This elephant is bitterness. Biblically, we find it in the account of Cain and, from the New Testament, we can argue that it is the catalyst for anger, wrath, malice and other absolutely forbidden luxuries of the wounded soul. It is not a badge of godly passion.

Many souls have experienced serious and dark crises, including abuse far more significant than a childhood spent without dancing, movies and the like; but bitterness turns real or imagined victimized people into targets. They become, like Pinocchio, vulnerable to a new breed of predatory control. Peter described the predators as those who promote a personal agenda of promiscuousness with a sales pitch for “freedom" to souls who feel a burden of bondage. 

Bitterness rises when one strays from grace. Far from being a demonstration of righteous indignation, it is a dark and defiling contaminant. To be on guard for such straying means taking ownership of one’s own capacity for bitterness and being ready to help others who are being harassed by it. It is serious. An embittered soul can malign many good and grace-driven people in his vendetta against legalistic injustice.

The freedomist must face the elephant and determine if he has become a voice which indulges gracelessness in the name of grace; but the legalist must look to his own heart as well. Churches are full of sullen members harboring bitterness toward God because he has not honored their self righteousness by giving them the good kids, good health, and good success they think they deserve.

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You and Brunhilde at The Dead Salamander

[The fourth of six vignettes in the publication The Withered Grape which describe picture scenes in navigating self denial and self control through the seas of legalism and freedomism.] 

Orlando stood at the counter. You hoped he would join you at your table by the window. Then you saw her - Brunhilde Smythe.

Worse! She saw you!

Her eyebrows popped up. She tapped on the glass and motioned for you to meet her outside.

“Really,” she says as you approach. “This is very disappointing. I heard you had been seen here, but I hoped it wasn’t true.”

You open your mouth. She continues, “There are people who look up to you; and for you to be seen in a place like this creates confusion.”

No one contradicts Mrs. Smythe. That’s why you are surprised at the sound of your own voice.

“As a matter of fact, Ma’am, Jesus confused folks about where he hung out, too.”

Undaunted, she presses on. “Jesus is Jesus.”

“True, but Jesus told a lot of us not-Jesus folks to follow him. Seems like he would have said something about making real-life contact with sinners being an exception? And, I have friends from church and we watch out for each other.”

“I’ll overlook your rudeness,” she sniffed. “You’re young, after all."

“You will not overlook it. You never overlook anything that doesn’t fit into your picture of the way things should be. And you're only forty-something. Mr. Reynolds is sixty-two and he's a deacon and he encourages me to..."

She sniffs. “I tell things the way they are."

“No, ma’am. You tell things the way you think they are. That isn’t always the same thing.”

Her head goes back. She looks down her nose. “I see being here has already taught you to be disrespectful.”

“Reading my Bible has taught me not to bow to something that’s not true just because somebody tries to bully me. I’m sorry you don’t approve of my being here, but, honestly, when I open my Bible every morning I don’t ask God to show me your will for my life.” 

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I Believe You Will Not Violate Me

Violation is the most reprehensible betrayal of trust and the most damning to those who do it.

To trust that you will not hurt your friend unnecessarily understands that intervention pain can actually be a part of friendship. To believe you will not own him or her is more serious. Ownership is God’s prerogative. The belief that you will not knowingly mislead him or her requires your willingness to distinguish between truth and your opinion based on truth. All of these trust issues include the possibility of failure and room for repentance, confession and restoration of trust. In fact, the process of working through such failures can reinforce true brotherly love. Jesus modeled this in response to Peter’s failure.

Violation, on the other hand, is the deliberate ensnarement of a friend. It defiles his personhood; it minimalizes her self-worth and self-respect; and it can harden their heart toward Christ and the Gospel.

Violation may involve luring a friend into a sexual experience or using sexual satisfaction as leverage for control in a marriage. It can be sordid manipulation – maneuvering him into a position where you control him under threat of exposure. It is the very core of both emotional and physical abuse. It is the heart of a bully and it is the trap of every cult which dominates its followers with a self-proclaimed power to withhold salvation.

The person who can commit such criminal behavior toward one who trusts him as a friend has already abandoned major absolute self denial categories in his life. Those areas will be found in orientations against which he has ceased to do battle. These he knowingly covers with enough of a persuasive veneer to satisfy a community without boundaries. Sadly, the church, which should be the last place he would go undetected and accommodated, can, through a false understanding of love, be his safest haven.

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