A false pastor
“Then they said to him, ‘Please inquire of God to learn whether our journey will be successful.’ The priest answered them, ‘Go in peace. Your journey has the LORD's approval.’” (Judges 18:5-6)
What do a false pastor and a false church member have in common? When I look at an Korean Newsnjoy, I can see several things in common: (1) They can't stand the criticism, contempt, and persecution towards them, (2) They like only complement by people who say ‘You are doing good job!’, (3) They want to show off their righteousness and faith, (4) They are narrow and closed-mined, (5) They know only themselves and get angry instead of repenting their wrongdoing if someone point it out (Internet). What do you think about these five common things? I think there is one more thing in common besides these things. It is none other than that false pastor lies and the false church member believe his lie. The false pastor is a hired hand (Jn. 10:12). He never takes care of the sheep (v. 13). When he sees a wolf coming, he leaves the sheep and flees (v. 12). The false pastor never lays down his life for the sheep (v. 11). Rather, he feeds himself (Ezek. 34:2). Nevertheless, the false church member follows such false pastor. And he or she firmly believes the word that comes out of the false pastor's mouth by saying, “Amen.” As a result, the false pastor and the false church member sin against God.
In Judges 18:5-6, there is a scene of conversation with five warriors of the descendants of Dan (v. 2) and a young Levite who served as a priest in Micah's house (v. 3). The content of this conversation is the request of the five spies to the young Levite and the Levitical priest's answer. The request of the five spies was, “Please inquire of God to learn whether our journey will be successful” (v. 5), and the Levite priest’s answer was, “Go in peace. Your journey has the Lord’s approval” (v. 6). From this content alone, we look like the five spies of the descendants of Dan and the Levitical priest seem to be fine without any problem. But when we look at the context, I cannot help but to think that they are all problematic people. First, when we consider the five spies of the descendants of Dan., the Bible says that “the tribe of the Danites was seeking a place of their own where they might settle” (v. 1). Obviously, the tribe of Dan, who was assigned their lot by lot under Joshua's leadership (Josh.19:40-46), occupied the land to some extent. But it wasn’t long before the Amorites took their land (Judg. 1:34-36). The reason they were so defeated by the Amorites was because of their unbelief. Looking at this, the tribe of Dan was revealed as the most unbelieving tribe among all the tribes (Park). These five spies from the tribe of Dan, the most unbelieving tribe, ask the Levite priest to inquire of God for them to show their faith. But one thing we need to make clear here is that they asked the hired priest (Judg. 18:5). In the end, their unbelief made it impossible to distinguish the true priest from the false priest. How can we know that the Levite priest in Micah's house was a false and a hired priest? When Micah said to the young Levite, “Dwell with me and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a suit of clothes, and your maintenance” (17:10)., that your Levite agreed to live with Micah (v. 11). The reason the young Levite agreed with Micah's proposal was because what Micah did for him (18:4). So he had Micah hire him (v. 4). The Levite priest who was thus hired by Micah's house later was asked by the five spies of the descendant of Dan, “… come with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?” (v. 19, the Levite priest glad, and took the ephod, household idols and the graven image, and went among the people of the tribe of Dan (v. 20). Is this young Levite really a priest? Isn't he a hired priest? The five spies of the tribe of Dan said to the young priest, “Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether our way on which we are going will be prosperous” (v. 5). At that time, the Levite priest said to them, “Go in peace; your way in which you are going has the Lord’s approval” (v. 6). Upon hearing this, the five spies who left Micah's house eventually came to a place called Laish, which they saw was very good (v. 9). Why, in their opinion, Laish was a very good land, because “there is no lack of anything that is on the earth” (v. 10). The land was “a spacious land” (v. 10), and “a secure people” (v. 10) who were in it living in security” (v. 7). The people were quiet and secure (v. 27). Because there was nothing lacking in the land, the people living there were prosperous (v. 7). So when they returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, they told their brothers “Come on, let's attack them! We have seen that the land is very good. Aren't you going to do something? Don't hesitate to go there and take it over” (vv. 8-9).
As I meditated on these verses, I thought that there is nothing more dangerous if the false church members have their own conviction that the false pastor's lie (prophecy?) has been fulfilled. The reason I think so is because when the five spies of the Danites came to a place called Laish, where there was no lack of anything, and saw the land, they must have been convinced that their way was before God, according to the word of the Levite priest who was living in Micah's house. In other words, I think those five spies from the tribe of Dan, the most unbelieving trbie, were convinced they had reached Laish when they went on the road after hearing the flattery of the young Levite, the hired priest. Even though in reality, the land of Laish was a very good land and there was nothing lacking, but in the end, the Danites there fell into idolatry, the engraved image Micah made (vv. 27, 30, 31). In the end, unbelief not only makes us to see the false priest, but also makes us to hear and believe the false priest's lies and makes us to obey. As a result, unbelief caused the descendants of Dan to disobey God and sin against Him.
Don't you think there are many false church members who disobey God and sin against Him like the descendants of Dan? Worse than that, there are more and more false pastors that those false members are following. And when we see false church members who hear the lies of these false pastors and believe their words and obey them, it is very unfortunate that both false pastors and false church members are being deceived by their lies. In particular, when we see enthusiastic false church members who say that they have received grace (?) by the false pastor's lies and obey them with confidence, it makes us feel really frustrated and pathetic. But how could this be the church members’ fault? This is the responsibility of the false pastor. The responsibility is that he isn’t preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Rather, it is because he is preaching the the false gospel. The responsibility is because he spreads cheap grace. The responsibility is because he isn’t preaching the truth of God, but rather a flattering lesson that scratches the itchy ears of false believers (2 Tim. 4:3). Why is the false pastor so irresponsible? The reason is because the false pastor is pursuing a Laish-style life. In other words, the false pastor is looking for a place that is very good for him, a place where he lacks nothing, a place where he can live leisurely and without worries, a place where he can enjoy peace and safety and where he can enjoy wealth. Although the false pastor cries out with their lips, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want” (Ps. 23:1), in his heart he actually he longs for and prefers a life in which there is no lack more than God. The false pastor is truly irresponsible not only before God but also before the members of the church. After all, because of the false pastor's unbelief and disobedience, the false church members are also bearing the fruits of disbelief and disobedience. And it seems that there are more and more false church members in this world because of the false pastors. Although we deserve to be criticized, we are being praised. So what should we do? When we are criticized, we should repent, but instead we are only getting angry. The problem seems really serious.