Question #1: Have you ever seen something so clearly but others could not see it, and you felt frustrated? Up until my forties, I had strong eyesight, especially at long distances. When hiking, I would point out distant peaks or spot birds far out, and tell my buddies, “Look! See him? A peregrine falcon, just to the right of the cypress limb jutting out from that ledge!” And when my buds could not spot the bird, I would feel frustrated, thinking to myself, “How can you guys not see that? It’s clear as day.”

Question #2: How much more important, therefore, is it for Christians to be people of discernment? Just this week, another up-and-coming pastor was confronted by his own fellow elders at Pray’s Mill Baptist Church in Douglasville, GA after they had accumulated mounds of evidence about their own pastor. What had their own pastor been doing? Among other things, the lead pastor had established anonymous email and social media accounts wherein he would mock and troll those he was trying to sabotage, men of whom he was jealous. Let that sink in: this was the lead pastor doing this. Now the pastor is another ‘former pastor.’ What’s more, he only admitted his devious ways after multiple denials. He dug his heels in for a long time, despite being discovered. So that surely prompts us to ask, Is this genuine repentance now or just embarrassment over being discovered?

I find no joy in seeing yet another so-called pastor being revealed as a fraud and a snake. Scripture warns us of this repeatedly (Acts 20:29-30; John 10:12; 1 Cor 11:19; 2 Cor 11:13, etc.). In this case, Josh repeatedly tried to sabotage his fellow elders; he aimed to marginalize his own people. He labored furtively, surreptitiously, to freeze out his own staff. And why? For his own ambitions. Out of his own insecurities. That is shameful, and now the effects of his schemes are making waves throughout spheres of evangelicalism.

Question #3: How does one remain patient while at the same time praying for people to be discerning? Poole wrote of it this way: “God expects of us that we should so keep in mind his former dispensations of providence to us, under straits and difficulties, as to trust in him when his providence brings us again into the like difficulties.”

As I tell my fellow soldiers and Sunday school class often, “That’s easy to preach but hard to live.”

God sends judgments at times in ways we might not think. Sometimes those who are supposed to shepherd the flock of God instead divide it and devour it as part of their ambitions for their own name. We should heed Poole’s counsel. Why? Because God’s providence often means enduring the false in order to later discern the true. In the interim, keep praying for discernment–for oneself and for the sheepfold.