I've recently been hearing, and reading, where Christians are tearing down other Christians, especially singers, by claiming they're not Christian at all and citing ridiculous reasons to justify their judgments. First off, we're not supposed to judge one another, period! Oh yes, I know all about the verse that says we should judge by fruits, but that's not what the scripture said; we don't judge the person, we judge the fruit, is what the scripture says! But, one of the biggest arguments I'm hearing about Christian singers is one that I thought we had settled back in the late 60's, early 70's: that Christian singers should stop trying to use contemporary music, sounds, rhythms and so forth set with Christian lyrics. Really? I recall Reba Rambo took a lot of heat back in the day when her first solo album was released because it was more folk and pop than what the "church" thought it should be. Because her solo projects didn't sound like the projects of The Singing Rambos with her Mom and Dad, she had gone rogue, backslidden and was just out trying to make a name for herself or was trying to crossover into a pop music career is what people were saying back then. Well, I happen to know for a certainty that there was a time when Ms. Rambo almost did go into the secular field but she didn't because she could not, would not, abandon her faith and the ministry that God put in, and on, her heart!
I heard a Christian brother accuse Lauren Daigle of not being a true Christian because she spoke something about meditation and he decried her statement as proof that she's nothing but a "new ager" who is trying to lead people astray. Well, I'm wondering how he explains the 20 scriptures in the Bible that tell us to meditate? I have to take Lauren Daigle's word that she's a Christian, but Lauren's music is proof enough of her message: God's love and His desire to save souls! Every song I've heard from her is directly from scripture as far as I've been able to understand them. I really don't think anyone who wants to steer people away from God is going to write and sing about the stone being rolled away from Jesus' tomb, to be honest.
But really what it boils down to is: we are giving in to our flesh and tearing people down; we're giving into judgmentalism and deciding who is, or can be, a Christian based on our own thoughts and beliefs. That's not the way it works, folks. We are God's children and He is the only One who gets to judge the hearts of people. Yes, we can look at people's fruits to determine if their fruit is good or not, but only God sees their heart and knows what's there! I would never call a person lost who says they're a Christian; I may see some action they've done or some words they've said and question their closeness to scripture but it has never, is not and never will be my place to make the judgment of whether they are a Christian or not. Only they and Jesus know that answer. And if they are a Christian who is straying away from His truth, it's not my responsibility to stand up and shout about them playing a part, it's my responsibility to go to that brother or sister and tell them I'm worried about the things they're doing or saying and ask them to search their heart for their true motives and leave it at that, other than praying for them.
Let's all work harder to push our flesh out of our daily walk and remember that we are to be focused on God's kingdom and not this world; we are to be busy leading souls to Jesus not telling the world our thoughts on other people's Christianity. There are way too many lost souls for us to be tearing one another down; the devil is doing enough of that. Let's just love one another and love the lost into the wonderful life with Jesus that we should be enjoying.
