DIVISIONS AND HERETICS

    During the Middle Ages, in a small village in Germany, a Catholic Bishop decided to force all the “heretics” to leave his area. Naturally, there was a big uproar within the Anabaptist community. So the Bishop offered a deal. He would hold a religious debate and if the Anabaptists won, they could stay. If the Bishop won, the heretics would leave. The Anabaptists realized that they had no choice. They looked around for a champion who could defend their faith, but no one wanted the job. It was too risky. They finally picked an old cobbler named Peter, who seemed to be half willing to represent them. Not being used to saying very much, he asked only for one addition to the rules of the debate; neither side would be allowed to talk. The Bishop was a little perplexed, but agreed anyway.

    The day of the great debate came. Peter and the Bishop sat opposite each other for a full minute before the Bishop raised his hand and showed three fingers. Peter looked sternly at him and raised one finger. The Bishop waved his fingers in a circle around his head. Peter pointed to the ground where he sat.  The Bishop pulled out a communion wafer and a glass of wine. Peter pulled out an apple. The Bishop stood up and said, "I give up. This man is too good. The Mennonites can stay".

   Back at the Catholic church, the cardinals gathered around the Bishop, asking him what happened. The Bishop said: "First, I held up three fingers to represent the Trinity. He responded by holding up one finger to remind me that there was still one God common to both our religions. Then I waved my fingers around me to show him that God was all around us. He responded by pointing to the ground, showing that God was also right here with us. I pulled out the wine and the wafer to show that only by partaking of the mass can we have access to God. He pulled out an apple to remind me that we are all sinners because of Adam and that God has provided forgiveness for everyone through Christ's death on the cross. He had an answer for everything. What could I do?"

   Meanwhile, back at the cobbler's shop, the Anabaptist community crowded around Peter, amazed that this old, almost feeble-minded man had done what all their scholars had insisted was impossible! "What happened?" they asked. "Well", said Peter, scratching his head, "First he said to me that all the heretics had three days to get out of town. I told him that not one of us was leaving. Then he told me that loyal Catholics surrounded this whole city. I let him know that we were staying right here. And then… he brought out his lunch, so I brought out mine." 

TODAY'S HERETICS 

     The first time I heard this story was the night I was ordained as a minister in the Mennonite Church. It was told to remind me of the perils of communication and the folly of judging people just by what we see. It also reminded me that I was joining a group who has a long history of being called heretics.

    I was a heretic long before I began to associate with Anabaptists. For some reason, I have always had a hard time conforming to the accepted norms. I question everything. This has allowed me to approach scripture objectively, rather than just repeating what others say about it. It has helped our church find its unique purpose rather than being content to conform to people's expectations of what church should be like. It has also kept me from embracing many of the popular doctrinal trends, which often burst upon the scene like fireworks, fizzling out when the next one appears dramatically beside it.  

DEFINITION OF HERESY 

     One of the things I learned about heresy, which surprised me, was that the word `heresy’ is neither bad nor good. According to the Strong's Concordance dictionary (GK. 139) `hairesis’, specifically means “a choice” for example “a party or sect”. It can also mean “disunion”. It comes from the Greek word  `haireoma’ (GK. 138) which means “to take for oneself, or to prefer”.

      I used to think that you had to be weird to be a heretic, or at least believe strange things. I have learned that a heretic is simply one who holds an opinion contrary to what is accepted by the masses, on any given subject. There are good heretics and bad ones, healthy heresies and deadly ones. Are you a heretic?  I hope so. What the church needs now are more good heretics who stand up for what they believe, even if it goes against the grain of popular opinion. 

    The reason heresy is considered to be so bad is because it always results in some form of division. Division occurs when a person or group `takes to themselves’ the distinctives that are important to them. Having the freedom to embrace our choice of doctrine or practice is worth fighting for. After all, the Lord does not call us to a kind of unity without this kind of diversity. Forced uniformity is often the mark of a cult, an unhealthy church, or a misdirected social group.

    To the Jews, Jesus was a heretic, and so were all the early Christians. After the Roman persecution stopped, the church began to kill Christians. The reason? Heresy. One of my favorite heretics was John Wycliff. When he was summoned to trial to be excommunicated for heresy on a number of occasions, he simply failed to show up. Later, after he died of old age, the Catholics dug up his bones and burned them because they still considered him to be a dangerous heretic, even though he had been dead for over sixty years. John Huss was burned at the stake because he was a wonderful heretic. He had become born-again after reading Wycliff's books and shared this experience with his students, which sparked a revival in Czechoslovakia. When they burned him at the stake, it caused a revolt that raged in Europe for the next thirty years. Three hundred years later, young Martin Luther was condemned by the church for being a “follower of Huss!”  This was the worse accusation they could throw at him. 

DIVISIONS ARE INEVITABLE

    When the Apostle Paul learned there were divisions at Corinth, he said he partly believed it, as if it were inevitable. "For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be divisions so that those that are approved of God may made manifest among you." (1 Corinthians 11:18, 19) 

    Which part could he believe? Was there a reasonable division that the apostle Paul would accept?

     The word `division’ Paul used here is often translated heresy. According to the Strong's Concordance dictionary (GK. 139) the word heresy, `hairesis’, specifically means “a choice”, for example “a party or sect”. It also can mean “disunion”, that comes from the Greek word haireoma’ (GK. 138) which means “to take for oneself, or to prefer”. 

SPLITTING WITH GOD’S APPROVAL

     All heresy is divisive, but not all divisions are bad. Martin Luther's protest was never intended to split the church, but it did, thank the Lord! In time, it would also be apparent that it had God’s approval on it. In fact, in the mid-1990’s the Catholic Church said that the Lutheran Church was of God. It only took about 500 years for it to be made manifest to them. It took a lot less time for the rest of us. What began as one man's protest resulted in a division of unparalleled proportions. Luther’s departure from the accepted orthodoxy of the day, which was dead and deadly, was quickly manifested as being approved by God.

    After the Protestant Church was established, it incurred a number of healthy splits within itself, and it still continues to split. Sometime later, the Church of England, which was influenced by the Protestant Movement, also split from the Catholic Church. They, in turn, burned a great number of their own followers as heretics, just because they challenged the doctrinal beliefs and practices of the larger church. "Fox's Book of Martyrs" chronicles much of this persecution within the Church of England. John Wesley refused to leave the Church of England even though he had a different vision of what church could be like. It was not until after his death that the Methodist movement split from the Church of England, bringing about a robust kind of Christianity which put a new church in nearly every village in North America. Today's Protestants are greatly indebted to the Wesleyan movement, but as good as it was in the beginning, in time, a number of new movements also split from within it. One such group call themselves Pentecostals.  These “Full Gospel” heretics have done more to spread the gospel around the world than any other group before or since. They went from being the little persecuted churches on the wrong side of the tracks to what is often the largest church in town. That is, until the next movement came along, which was not fully aligned with traditional Pentecostalism. An example of this would be the Latter Rain movement of the 1930’s and 40’s. Although they were "Full Gospel", they believed and practiced a number of Biblical things that were not accepted among Pentecostals. For that matter, the Charismatic Movement has not always been warmly embraced by Pentecostals. Even today, there is a growing “renewal movement” creating divisions around the world. For many Pentecostals, the jury is still out as to whether or not it has the manifest approval of God on it.

     The apostle Paul said that such divisions served to make `manifest‘ those that God approves of. The word `manifest' is related to the word used for `assayer'. The Oxford Dictionary defines `assayal' as, "the good that is left after being purified by an assayer or refiner of metals". 

    In doctrinal terms, a truth that stands the test of time and debate is the best kind of truth to embrace.  Two people can say they have the will of God, or the word of God. Who can tell which is right at first? In time, it will always be made apparent.    

THE MANIFESTATION OF GOD’S APPROVAL TAKES TIME

    In 1983, five couples stood before a Mennonite congregation and asked for their blessing to start a new church. This did not go over well. The congregation complied with what the pastor asked of them and stood to give them their blessing, but it was not really from the heart. Neither was it in the pastor’s heart to release them, but he was trying to be open to what the group was asking for.

    It all started when the Charismatic movement came through the area and many were baptized with the Holy Spirit. It caused a great hunger in these five couples. They wanted something more than what they were experiencing in their church. While it was difficult to express this without putting down the church, they knew that they were going to establish a church that functioned differently. Even though they did not have any experience in starting a church and no pastor to guide them, they felt the Lord had put it in their hearts. So they approached the leadership for their understanding and consent. At first, this caused some hard feelings to surface. They had to sit through some pretty difficult meetings where their motives were sifted and their endurance was tested. Obviously, the pastor did not want to lose these people, as they were solid contributors to the work of the church. He also wanted the church to grow, not to split or be diminished in strength or numbers. They knew, however, that when other Mennonites had received the Holy Spirit, they had often moved out completely, joining independent churches in the area and burning their bridges behind them. This group was asking for something different. They wanted to start a Charismatic Mennonite church and stay in relationship with the other Mennonite churches.

    There were many meetings and lots of talk, which went on for about a year. Others from other area churches soon joined the first five couples with everyone still attending their own churches on Sunday mornings. They met together on Sunday afternoons. Once again they asked for the church's blessing and stood before them for the final time. This is how our church, Rhema Fellowship, began. Their first Sunday morning service was in the living room of a house. They had no pastor so they invited in guest speakers each week. I was one of those guest speakers who came through a few months later. Because I did not come from a Mennonite background, I had many challenges to overcome.

     In time, we grew and began to find our purpose as a church. We knew we had the approval of God, but it took many years to become accepted by the Mennonite community. In fact, by the time it happened, we did not need it in the same way. The pastor of the church our first families came from became one of our biggest supporters. He helped us in many ways and often expressed his gratitude that Rhema had been started. In time, all the other area churches have helped us in our mission work and today, there is little doubt in anyone’s mind that the work was of the Lord. It just took time. 

CARNAL DIVISIONS

     What kind of division could the Apostle Paul not believe was happening at Corinth? He said that the reason for such divisions among them was that they were carnal: 
"For you are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are you not carnal, and walk as mere men?" (1 Corinthians 3:3) 

     These carnal contentions are almost always centered around small offenses and petty attitudes. Rarely do we split over significant issues like the ones Martin Luther nailed to the Whittenburg door. Jesus said that little things such as giving cups of cold water were, in fact, great deeds that had great effect. In the same way, little peevish things are often the source of some of the biggest divisions.

      The other thing that split the church at Corinth was spiritual ignorance and arrogance. Although the Corinthians had the gifts of the Spirit, they caused divisions because they used them selfishly. Paul included chapter 13, a description of love contrasted with selfishness, in between chapters 12 and 14, which describe the use of the gifts. He did this to show the depths of their selfishness. They were to use the gifts to help strengthen the Body, not divide it.

      In this study so far, we have seen where division for spiritual reasons can benefit the Body. There are also carnal divisions, where the only one who benefits is the devil. There are times when we should repent and be reconciled. I have seen a couple of churches split because the vision or standards had changed. I have seen people agree to disagree and go their separate and be able to rejoice when they see each other being blessed. I must admit however, that I have seen many more splits where we all grieve over the loss.

    Today, it is inevitable for groups or individuals to leave the established church and form their own. This is not wrong in itself. God allows it and can even inspire it. How we do it, and why we do it, is what is important to Him. These two things can determine if God will approve of it or not. For example, if we are to leave our denomination or church to join another, we must do it in the open, clearly communicating our intentions. We must not willfully try to injure anyone; we must not tear down what we are leaving in order to build ourselves up. If at all possible, we should seek the blessing of those we are leaving. As far as it is within us, we should be at peace with all men. There are times when the process of leaving requires that we seek the counsel of those who are affected by our decision to leave. Some people start new works with the wrong motives. In time, God will clearly establish those works that He has inspired and approves of.