Perhaps you read my previous blog entitled “Mario, where have you been?”
I went through a fiery ordeal before I obeyed God and wrote it. I thought, “Why should I wade into such controversy and incur the grief?”
Over 95,000 people read it on our website, alone. Ninety seven percent of the comments agreed with the article. You couldn’t get 97% of the population to agree that the earth is round.
It strengthened our support among local pastors nationwide. That is something very precious to me—winning souls and getting new converts into healthy churches.
These pastors felt correction was long overdue. Pentecostals and Spirit-filled believers were fast losing credibility because of the prophetic swamp. Not to mention the slander on the gospel.
This is not a defense of what I wrote. The truth of what I said stands. I wrote this blog only to the honest hearts, who sincerely wonder why I did not go to these false prophets first before going public. I am also providing it as ammunition for those who agree with me. It will help them rebut those who reject the truth by using this as an excuse.
Mario, why didn’t you go to these false teachers privately, before you corrected them publicly? Several who asked this question cited Matthew 18:15, “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.”
Let me explain why this verse does not apply to this situation: These two false ministers did not sin against me. They did their damage publicly and to the church. Jesus did not take either the Pharisees or the money changers aside privately before He rebuked them publicly. A verse that fits is this situation is 1 Timothy 5:20 says “Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.”
Likewise, Paul did not have time to touch base with every false teacher before they rebuked them. The shepherd never negotiates with the wolf before going into action.
By the way, both Paul and John both wrote letters that rebuked false teachers by name.
Paul did not take Peter aside privately before rebuking him publicly. Galatians 2:11-14, “Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, ‘If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?'”
Think about it. Peter—a true man of God—was rebuked publicly, without a private meeting. How much more then should false ministers be rebuked publicly?
Again, I wrote this to help the honest hearts who were troubled by the public rebuke.
What I said about Kat Kerr and Robin Bullock stands. There is no need to defend it. Facts are facts. I stand by what I have written. I simply told the truth. What you do with the truth is your responsibility.
Winston Churchill said, “The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.” {eoa}
For the original article, visit our content partner at mariomurillo.org.
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Mario Murillo rose from poverty in the Mission District of San Francisco. After being revolutionized by Christ, he felt a call to evangelize at the University of California at Berkeley. The students rejected his efforts until a desperate prayer led to an unprecedented supernatural outpouring. Students started to report miraculous healings. After a four-day conference in San Jose, California, extended to six months, with nearly 250,000 people in attendance, he launched his international ministry. Since then Murillo’s voice has been heard by millions around the world, bringing a message that zeroes in on the hurts of society and Christ’s power to end addiction, racism, violence and disease.
