John said, Master, we saw a man driving out demons in Your name and we commanded him to stop it, for he does not follow along with us. But Jesus told him, Do not forbid [such people]; for whoever is not against you is for you.

…And when His disciples James and John observed this, (that a Samaritan village would not receive Jesus on His way to Jerusalem to become God’s Passover Lamb) they said, Lord, do You wish us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elijah did ? [II Kings 1:9-16.] But He turned and rebuked and severely censored them. He said, You do not know of what sort of spirit you are, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them… (Luke 9:49-56 AMP) (Insert mine.)


It’s no coincidence these two lessons are side-by-side each other in the Word of God. The first one not only depicts who is FOR Jesus, but also that it’s wrong to forbid someone from teaching just because they don’t “follow along with us”. And the second one reveals what we are NOT to do when someone IS found to be against Jesus—we are NOT to destroy them!

A true teacher leads to the True Christ, while a false teacher leads to a false Christ. God said that we’re ALL looking through a mirror dimly, that NOT ONE of us will know all Truth until we’re standing face-to-face with Jesus. (1 Cor 13:12) That means each and every one of us will make some mistakes along the way. Therefore, if we’re judging people as false teachers merely because they’ve erred before, WE are the ones actually in error. Furthermore, knowing God said that NOT ONE of us will be error-free until we’re with Jesus again, wouldn’t such a requirement for perfection of teachers actually disqualify EVERY single teacher then? Not ONE teacher would remain amongst us!

Brethren, I pray we all study 2 Peter 2 in its entirety before ever falsely accusing, judging, and destroying the integrity of any of God’s anointed teachers again. For ABBA strongly warns us not once but TWICE not to touch His anointed (1 Ch 16:22; Ps 105:15), indicating to me what a serious offense this is to Him.

“Trample not on any; there may be some work of grace there, that you do not know. The name of God may be written upon that soul.” ~Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)


Do not speak evil of one another brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

There is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? (James 4:11-12 NKJV)



© 2010 by Tracie Justice