An Essay to encourage gentle souls blighted by online Pharisee trolls

A good few years ago now, I wrote a blog piece that, later, also featured as a guest essay on the ‘Unfundamentalist’ website.

Because my present series on the Problems of Evangelicalism is very much a critique of the way in which Religious people, by their actions and attitudes, drive away those who might otherwise come to faith in Christ, I have reblogged the essay here because it is just so relevant, and may hopefully give encouragement to those engaged in ‘blogsphere combat'^[1] with online Pharisee trolls who would ‘shut the doors of Heaven in men’s faces’

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people ‘s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in!” – Mt 23:13 (ESV)

These kinds of people are a proper pain in the rear end. They are ‘blind guides'^[2] and they themselves deserve all the misery that they try to dish out to others from the wellspring of darkness in their own hearts. “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” Lk 6:45 (ESV); Mt 12:35 (ESV). It is easy to tell where the evil lies just by looking at its fruit (Mt 12:33)^[3]: the evil treasure produces rejection, sadness, despair, darkness, guilt, condemnation, hopelessness, and above all fear; whereas the good treasure produces light, hope, healing, love, freedom, laughter, lightness, righteousness, peace, faith and joy. This is easy for everyone to see; everyone, that is, apart from the blind guides themselves. You could almost have taken that from the list of the two lists of the fruits of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit, found in in Galatians 5:19-23; although the lists are largely different, the principle is there as plain as day.

And so, I would like to re-present this essay for you today, hopefully as an encouragement for those who come across this ‘brood of vipers’ (Mt 3:7 and Mt 12:34)^[4] on a regular basis. As you read this essay, I recommend that you keep in mind the good and wholesome fruit that your comments produce in your readers, as opposed to the rotten and putrid fruit that the Pharisees’ comments produce. And the obvious gentleness of your own comments when compared with the hard, unbending harshness of those Pharisees’ comments. In that way, you will see the good you are doing, and be encouraged in the process.

Be blessed!

This post is written to those believers who write on the Internet about Grace. People who write to encourage others, to build them up, not tear them down.

I am a member of several Facebook groups where people of the Spirit voice things from God, things new and old. Old widsom, and new wisdom. Things for the building up of the Saints (Eph 4:12). Jesus Himself said that there was so much more He wanted to tell us (Jn 16:12), and this kind of publishing is part of that. Much of this stuff is the prophetic Word of God for today. You can tell by the fruits manifested in their readers that these words are bringing life to those that read them.

But there is also huge discouragement, and often even despair, for those who write. If you are one of these writers, you will know exactly what I’m talking about. On public posts, you are torn to shreds by (sometimes well-meaning) Religious people who don’t like what they read. The Scripture says that people would be offended by the message of Jesus, and this is for several reasons. Mostly, though, the offence is found in the simplicity of the Gospel message, where St. Paul simply preached Christ crucified. Jesus has accomplished all that is necessary for the way to be open to God, and He invites us into His Presence. And this is counterintuitive. We humans naturally feel that surely there must be something we have to do, some sacrifice we have to make, something we can feel, think, do or say that somehow will make God more pleased with us.

But, actually, no, there isn’t. He’s already more pleased with you than you can possibly imagine! And that’s what is so offensive to people: that nothing they can do – or not do – will make them any more or less acceptable to God.

And so, I would like to encourage all my readers here today who write for Jesus.

People like me, who share regular blog posts containing what we believe to be the truth about God and how much He loves us, and how especially fond He is of us. People who write occasional pieces just expressing how they are feeling and how God is meeting them right where they are at. Or people who just build up others by sharing simple, gentle encouragement, whether in forum replies such as on the Patheos website (my favourite channel being ‘Unfundamentalist Christians‘^[5] ), or even just in gentle Facebook replies.

To all such people I would say this:

Listen: your posts are encouraging far more people than you realise!

You are blessing hundreds and thousands of people simply by writing your gentle words of Grace!

When I post on the Patheos forums, and my posts are torn to shreds by the Religious gatekeepers; the Pharisees, or maybe just those who are secretly uncertain of their faith and feel that my words shake their foundations – and reply with violence because they feel threatened – I don’t worry about it.

Because I know that my posts have been read by my intended audience – not the Pharisees, but those who are broken, hurting, feeling rejected by the prim-and-proper religious elite. Those of ‘different’ sexualities. Those who have received abuse at the hands of those who should have been healing them: corrupt church leaders; antagonistic judgemental people pointing out their ‘sin’; ‘Sin-police’; those who deem themselves ‘fruit inspectors’. I take these people on, not to try to turn them or convince them – God will do that for them in His own time; indeed, only He can do it anyway – but to let those thousands of ‘invisible listeners’ and ‘lurkers’ know that not all Christians are like those people who cause harm. There are indeed Christians who gently manifest the presence of Jesus in their writings, and, to those bloggers like me who want to be that gentle, I would say, “Keep it up!” You are touching many more people with God’s love than you can possibly realise!

I leave you with a comment that was sent me by a man in New Zealand, to encourage me about my other website, ‘VintageWorshipTapes‘. On that site, I restore and make available electronic recordings of old worship tapes from the seventies, eighties and nineties. The comment still moves me to tears even now. Here’s what he said:

“One day, when we are in His Presence, you will find out just how many people were encouraged by what you are doing”

Wow! And I think that’s today’s take-home message 🙂

An edited version of this post was published on the Unfundamentalist website on 7th May 2018. Click here to see it on that site.

The next essay in this series will reinforce these concepts with ideas from a slightly different angle. Something to look forward to 😉

Grace and Peace to you!