Recently I learned of some more things that had been said of me in discord over the past years that were totally malicious and without substance. I learned this close to one year later and learned it through one of the people that had been directly connected to the accusations. I was shocked, appalled and hurt to know a man of the cloth could and would go to such extremes. We are suppose to be shepherds, not wolves. It made me understand why certain people had totally written me off, and while that hurt me too, it upset me that no one would approach me and find out if this hearsay was real or not. I do credit one man named Lou for coming directly to me and asking me questions when he was in doubt, but he too had never heard such atrocities and was shocked as well. If someone really knows me they would know that the pain I have gone through before I was a Christian was so intense as a victim that I would never be involved in such atrocities as a culprit. And that's what troubled me, because no one ever came to me, they just took this man at his word. I thought I had shucked it off, and one night in my alone time with God it was heavy on my heart and this is what He said to me. Jesus said to me this, "Where are your accusers?" I had to stop and think and reflect and it became apparent to me what God was trying to tell me. I have been so blessed over the past year, and I have learned and been witness to the awesome trust and power of being totally obedient and committed to what God has in store for us here in
Urbana. My accusers are not around me anywhere and I am surrounded by some of the greatest people that only want to grow in their relationship to Christ. They are hungry to know more about this God thing and they know that we as a church will GO and make disciples and will share this God thing with others.
After reflecting on the blessings God has bestowed upon me God spoke to me more about the scripture of John 8:1-11. Our church uses that a lot to help people understand that we are a non-
judmental group and only Jesus is worthy of judging us.
The Adulteress and The Church
As we look at John 8:1-11, we can take several things from this passage. There is the fact that there are those who judge us and feel they have the right to bring us down and will try. There is the fact that some of us are in a life of sin that is of a different type than others, IE adultery versus gossip versus deceitfulness. All are types of sin and no sin is greater as a sin is a sin, but to the Pharisees, they felt seeming by this, that some sins were greater than others. Jesus quickly dispels that and we ultimately find out that no one is worthy of judging us other than the Lord Himself.
But have you ever just sat back and looked at this passage from the view of the adulteress, or through the eyes of the accused? And then have you ever looked at this and saw exactly what it holds in similarity to the churches and the
unchurched of today?
Here is this accused adulteress being drug around by men, not women, but men. She is being paraded in front of another group of men in Jesus and His disciples and yet she is being charged with sleeping around. Can you imagine the fear that could potentially be running through her mind right now? Someone has gotten wind that she has been with a man or two and now they are parading her out in front of and in the hands of several men. I know if I was in that situation I would be trembling with fear that perhaps because of my charges these men may be contemplating something far worse, I mean how do I know, I am woman and they are men, the very thing I supposedly am very friendly and loose with. Then one of the men screams out that she should be stoned and now she is really frightened. She knows she has done wrong but never to any type of group thing like is being presented at the moment. And what if these guys are just going to perhaps knock her silly and then the group of them will take advantage of her in her untoward condition? By history we know that orgies and things of that nature were a reality in those days, but no where do we see that this lady had any part of such a life. From what we can gather through deeper study of the scripture, it would appear she has just skipped over from one man to another who was married or something of that nature, because the studies mention the man she was involved with, by Roman law, should have been brought before a judgment seat as well, but the Pharisees
didn’t bring him at all. Which then makes one wonder if the accusations were real in the first place, and if not then can you imagine how much more fear would have been in this woman?
Finally as the fear is about to leap from her throat, the Messiah speaks on her behalf, or does He? As Jesus does and knowing full well these guys have violated their own rules of conduct, and knowing the hearts of these men, and trying to make His point that sin is not calculated by its degree but that a sin is a sin and a way of life, Jesus gives them permission to stone her; but only allowing the one without sin to cast the first stone. Now think of the fear in this ladies heart. She has just been given the stoning order and she never even got to plead her case. If it were me I would be frantically crying right now and scared to death so they
wouldn’t need to stone me. But as we see, these religious know it
alls, figure out what Jesus is saying to them and end up leaving one by one, until it’s just Jesus and her.
WHERE ARE YOUR ACCUSERS? To me that is powerful! To me that is how the church of today needs to be. Think about it. A person new to the church or new to church at all has just walked through the doors of the church. How will they be greeted, how will they be met? Will they be welcomed with open arms as if they were one of the group right from the start or are they going to feel like the paraded adulteress in front of a group of judgmental characters not knowing what their demise for the day may hold? How do we act with these new people? Do we give them judgmental glances, do we keep our distance, and do we gawk at their outward appearance because we are mesmerized by the skin art and their piercings or their choice of cloths? Or do we just love them for who they are and not even let that be a factor. And then do we cap off this fear with the ultimate comment of shunning them because of their outward appearance? Or do we let them know in our own way we are comfortable with them because we know Jesus only judges the heart and that as the story goes we are not worthy of judging anyone. It
doesn’t matter if we verbally condemn them or just seemingly condemn them by disassociation, they will get the point and they will either feel welcome and safe or not wanted and accused.
A church should be a place where anyone can come and know and feel the phrase, WHERE ARE YOUR ACCUSERS? There are none here. If we are to live and be as Christ taught us to be in that we love our neighbor as ourselves and that we are not worthy to judge anyone, only He is, then anytime someone comes through the doors of the church and ours in particular, we should be able to say, “Neither do I”, in reference to Jesus not accusing the adulteress any longer. The church is the body of Christ and He taught us to love regardless of past. There are tons of accused out there, and unfortunately there are tons that feel paraded when they enter a church. Let’s be the church that says you are safe here. We
aren’t perfect, we have pasts, and we will take you just as you are because we all just want to become closer to this man called Jesus, because we know in today’s world He is the only way we can make it.judging us, no man or human being. Then God spoke to me and put it to me in a way I would like to share with you. Below is my writings on what God has revealed to me through these scriptures as it relates to the church today.
Blessings to All
