Be a Spiritual Stonebreaker

“We would be more able teachers, and not so easily carried away by every wind of doctrine, if we sought to have a more intelligent understanding of the Word of God.” – C.H. Spurgeon

I was aghast as I watched the scene unfold from a church in Atlanta, GA.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was invited to speak at the Atlanta Berean Church, a Seventh Day Adventist congregation. Yes, THAT Fani Willis, the one who indicted former President Donald Trump last year and recently admitted to having an affair with the married man whom she hired to prosecute Mr. Trump. Ms. Willis is also accused of improperly using department monies to fund lavish trips with her married lover, Nathan Wade.

Politics aside, who thought it was a good idea to allow this woman to speak from the pulpit for 20 minutes, cherry-picking Scripture verses to portray herself as a victim? Likewise, who was responsible for presenting her with a Black History Achievement Award at the same time that she is being investigated for financial impropriety and perjury?

The Bible is clear that (1) only men can serve as pastors (I Timothy 3:2 and Titus 1:6); and that women should not teach doctrine to men or have spiritual authority over them (I Timothy 2:12). And yet, the pastors and elders of Berean Church abandoned their pulpit to Ms. Willis, who seized the opportunity to misconstrue Scripture for her own selfish purposes.

Oh, how we need the spirit of discernment in our churches today!

Ironically, Atlanta Berean Church is named for the Bereans in Acts 17:10-11 who, instead of taking Paul’s teachings at face value, went home and “fact checked” what he had said against other Scriptures. Paul wasn’t insulted by their actions, but rather commended their diligence and allegiance to true biblical teaching.

Here is what Charles Spurgeon, the “Prince of Preachers,” had to say about such matters…

“As the Holy Spirit, the Author of the Scriptures, is the only one who can enlighten us rightly to understand them, we should constantly ask His help to lead us into truth… Stones are not broken except by a constant, diligent use of the hammer; and the stone-breaker must go down on his knees. Use the hammer of diligence, and let the knee of prayer be exercised, and there is not a stony doctrine in revelation that is useful for you to understand that will not fly into shivers under the exercise of prayer and faith. You may force your way through anything with the leverage of prayer. Thoughts and reasoning are like the steel wedges that give a hold upon truth; but prayer is the lever that pries open the iron chest of sacred mystery, that we may get the treasure hidden inside.”

“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” I Corinthians 2:14 (NKJV)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President