The Gift Of Discernment – An Unwelcome Gift

53 New Theses For The Wittenberg Church Door

1. Scorn those who have the gift of discerner of spirits.
 
2. Mock those who don’t have the gift of discerning of spirits, but are simply trying to be good Bereans to search the Scriptures if these things be true.
 
3. Accuse those who have the gift, of having an anger issue and are bitter.
 
4. Suggest that the one who has the gift of discernment should get Christian psychotherapy.
 
5. Endorse simony to pay for the counseling. Why get the counseling for free (which is Sola Scriptura) when you can pay for it, or your insurance company will pay for it?
 
6. Use the pulpit as a turret to mow down those with the gift of discernment, but don’t name names, so you can preserve plausible deniability.
 
7. Confuse the congregation by telling them you are opposed to Christian Psychology but promote Counselors who are redeeming psychology for Christ.
 
8. Neuter those who have the gift of discernment.
 
9. Neutralize and marginalize those who have the gift of discernment.
 
10. Intimidate the congregation by telling them to be careful about naming names, so they don’t?
 
11. Threaten members with church discipline if they ever try to pit a pastor against another member.
 
12. Tell any member who sends articles warning about false teachers, that these issues are not “essentials” therefore they need to endeavor to preserve the bond of unity.
 
13. Imply that the brother who has the gift of discernment is causing division in the body.
 
14. Accuse the person exercising their gift of discernment, with promoting yellow journalism.
 
15. When you can’t refute their argument from Scripture, ignore them or ad hominim attack them personally.
 
16. Don’t necessarily state outright that the discerning brother is a trouble-maker or guilty of infighting… simply imply it.
 
17. Never commend the Berean or one with the gift of discernment, or thank them them for the warning.
 
18. Never reward the messenger, but tell them they are the enemy casting stones against pastors and the church.
 
19. Never make restitution for the damage caused by failure to heed the warnings of a discerning brother of sister.
 
20. Tell the discerning brother they might be correct, but they must keep it confidential, and censor that person from telling anyone else because we must not air our dirty laundry to the public.
 
21. Tell the congregation to delete any email or text messages that question your teachings.
 
22. Tell the congregation they can’t question the pastor’s sermon…but if they do, tell them they took it out of context, even though the biblical context can’t rescue them.
 
23. When a brother rightfully proves inconsistency in an elder’s teaching or practice, don’t repent.
 
24. Reward loyalists or promote them, but not the ones with the gift of discernment.
 
25. Simply deny that there is any strange fire in church.
 
26. When a discerning brother is slandered by a Christian speaker, do not defend that brother, but keep quoting the speaker, and bring in more speakers of the same erroneous bent.
 
27. When a sister or brother is brave enough to warn or confront, tell the church the messenger is the one with the problem.
 
28. Condemn the innocent, reward the guilty.
 
29. Publicly declare from the pulpit or to anyone who asks, that it is the elders who are the victims and the messengers are the ones inflicting wounds on the pastors and the church.
 
30. Mark some false teachers, but not those who promote those very false teachers.
 
31. Scold the congregation for being obsessed with “finding dirt” on someone, when they are simply doing what they are supposed to do by vetting elder candidates and performing due diligence and being a good steward of what God entrusted them with.
 
32. Be sure that your first instinct is to question the credibility of (rather than commend) someone’s testimony before even examining it, rather than taking it seriously enough to examine it further.
 
33. Dishonor modern day Deborahs and Esthers with public humiliation and defamation of character, so it is unlikely they would ever be believed… and so that they can never get their good name back.
 
34. Broadbrush discernment ministries as though they are heartless, reckless, don’t check original sources, don’t show both sides of the story, are consumed with the “crisis of the day” but take no time to comfort the afflicted.
 
35. Perpetuate the myth that the motive of most people who are in discernment is not to bring Balm of Gilead to wounded churches and Christians, not to equip, nurture, and protect churches, but is to simply destroy good Christian leaders who are doing more than others for the Kingdom of God.
 
36. Tell discerners they are spending too much time testing the spirits and not enough time building the Kingdom of God and comforting the afflicted.
 
37. Belittle discernment brothers from the pulpit without allowing the discernment brother to have the pulpit to present an opposing view.
 
38. Never praise those contending for the faith but tell them they are attacking the church.
 
39. When a discernment brother or sister is under attack or persecuted, abandon him or her.
 
40. Hammer away from the pulpit week after week against discernment ministries for their lack of humility and unity…be relentless, lest any saint consider exercising the gift of discernment given them.
 
41. Question the heart of those contending for the faith, and tell them it is they who must repent not the leaders who imported the false teachings in the first place. And tell the brothers to be careful lest they fall. But conveniently omit the leaders from being careful lest they fall, otherwise there would not be a need to contend. But don’t question the heart of the leader’s whom God supposedly has raised up in the church.
 
42. Publicly declare that you wIll expose a false teacher, then renege by claiming you can’t slander a brother and that you are grateful for all the good things you had received under this false teacher’s ministry.
 
43. Hold discernment ministry and ministries in contempt and never relent.
 
44. Tell discernment ministers they have vain imaginations.
 
45. Sound the alarm that discernment brothers are not of good report, lest other members or the public be seduced into believing their report.
 
46. When a discerning brother points out that you (as an elder) are promoting a prospective elder who promotes false teachers on Facebook, you simply tell him that what you do privately is separate from what your duties are as a pastor and that you are entitled to a private life.
 
47. When a discerning brother inquires why a fellow elder won’t publicly mark an internationally famous false teacher, that you have publicly marked, and wonders how “two could walk together who are not in agreement”, you respond by saying: “it doesn’t matter because this is not essential and that diversity of opinions is what makes our church special and unique.”
 
48. When a discerning sister or brother writes a letter to the entire congregation about the looming threats and dangers to the congregation, you respond by saying they are slandering the pastor.
 
49. When asked for specifics of how this discerner has slandered, you respond by saying: “I used the wrong verb”, but you don’t actually repent.
 
50. Never forget that the goal of the gift of anti-discernment and antidote for discernment, is to destroy the credibility of discernment ministries, and the key to the death of discernment, is ecumenism, emergent church, psychotherapy, and mysticism, and be sure to deny that you are any of the above.
 
51. Warn the discerning brothers that they are rabid dogs foaming Scriptures at the mouth.
 
52. Inform the discerning brother or sister that their views are totally subjective, that we now have more precise tools for measuring spirituality known as Psychometrics.
 
53. If a discernment ministry ever challenges you or your leadership authority, threaten to take their ministerial credentials from them, and if they persist, threaten to sue them to seize their church property, bank accounts, and ministry assets.
 

DISCLAIMER:
 
This is a composite list of true testimonies and potential components for this gift, but all will not necessarily apply to your local church or denomination. The contributors to this list are anonymous in order to protect themselves and their families from retaliation.