Thread by @GbengaWemimo

Many a believer would suddenly remember the offense of a fellow believer while they were sleeping or working or just going about their daily business
The perceived offense might be real or imagined
Maybe the fellow said something unkind about them to others or they felt the

person disrespected them or their doctrine in one way or the other
This thought would get a hold of them until they start feeling angry, upset and/or sad
Sometimes they pick up their phone and call another believer, any believer regardless of the level of maturity of such to

discuss the issue, at other times they stew in the matter for hours, brooding over it until they were given more reasons to support the original thought which amounts to building up a case against this fellow or calling more people to talk about this fellow in order to let the

issue off their chest
They tell themselves it is the Holy Spirit that was ministering to them to take a decisive action or deal with the fellow who they are now convinced was walking in error
At the end of the day, their actions boomerang! The one who was so eager to call and

talk about this fellow gets a direct call from the fellow or the pastor
The fellow says "I was told you said this and that about me, why?"
Or the Pastor will call and say, "So and so called me over some accusations you levelled against such and such"
At that moment they begin to

stammer and lie
"I didnt say anything like that, all I said was...."
They begin to twist their own words and in the same breath, they accuse those who said what they said of taking their words out of context or slandering them...
The one that didn't call anyone suddenly gets a

headache, most likely a migraine and from that point the fellow he or she had in his heart becomes an enemy
Someone to avoid and take action against in due course
Fellowship becomes dodgy for the former, he or she does not want to fellowship with the brethren again because "they"

had countered his or her accusation and the pastor may be using him or her to preach or even invite him or her to a meeting to face his or her accused and things would become uncomfortable from that point
For the latter, the person he or she kept in their heart becomes a subject

of derision
Every good news they hear about this person makes them uncomfortable
They desire to hear and collate more bad news about that fellow so that other people will collaborate their accusation and prove them right
If they don't hear anything evil, they say the person was

only being slippery and would one day be uncovered
They will insist they are right and would hold on to the grudge they bear
They would have redefined this fellow in their heart as an hypocrite, a wolf in sheep clothing or a spawn of the enemy
All the while they see themselves as

justified, right and even claim it was the Holy Spirit that set them on the course they have followed not realizing they had, in all honesty, acted exactly as the devil has influenced them to act because he is the accuser of the brethren.
God does not accuse his children, he

chastises them for their wrong
The devil however is an expert as sowing the seed of discord among the brethren
The one thing he targets is the state of our minds because he knows this affects our fellowship both with God and other believers
Does this mean some believers don't do

wrong and ought to be called out?
No.
This is not a "touch not my anointed" plea
This however is a plea to follow the scripture to the latter when dealing with a perceived wrong
We sometimes don't know why people did what we perceived as wrong for which we have taken an offense

this was why the scripture says we should go to fellow directly and invite another mature believer along
This other believer must not be told what had happened beforehand
When we get to this fellow, we must state what was on our heart that we have perceived as an offence
We must

give this believer the benefit of the doubt and allow him or her the room to explain
Once the matter had been explained, we must be willing to apologize or accept an apology from the fellow and then let the matter rest
If this was a crime, like theft, rape etc, we must not keep

keep quiet so as not to make a victim of another by covering up the deed of the perpetrator
We must act immediately by presenting our evidence to the church authority or if it was the senior pastor that did this evil, we must go to the police
Even though we might be hurting, we

must resist the temptation to turn to the mob for gratification
The church is not as slack as many of us assume. I have seen a Pastor derobed in public by the church authority after their careful consideration of the evidence and testimony against the pastor
The first thing to be

done was to suspend the perpetrator until the investigation is carried out and then to mete out the appropriate punishment
Even in this wise, we must not forget that we owe the perpetrator a duty of love and restoration
The rapist can change and so can the murderer! There is no

offense a believer can commit that would warrant keeping malice or binding ourselves with the cord of unforgiveness
If however, we realize we have accused someone falsely or misjudged them in any way, we should not sit on a high horse of pride by insisting we are right even after

we have seen that we were wrong
Again, self has no place in this kingdom of His own dear son. We have been joined to the Lord and we have become one spirit with him.
Do you remember how much King Saul hated David? Do we also remember how David honoured Jonathan's descendant even

after Jonathan died?
David was not consumed by hate, he mourned Saul all day and composed a song for him. David called Saul and Jonathan "Swifter than eagles and stronger than lions" and he did everything to preserve their legacy when an Amalekite came to him telling stories to

ingratiate himself with David while preying on the known fault lines between the late Saul and David. Jesus prayed for Peter even before he was betrayed and Paul restored Demas to the faith
We must give a fellow believer the opportunity Jesus gave us by dying for us while we were

yet sinners
We must avoid holding a conference with the devil in our hearts while assuming we are in touch with the Holy Spirit
When a voice of accusation arises either within our hearts or from the lips of another believer, we must not allow such to fester until it becomes a

stronghold that handicaps our walk with the Holy Spirit
Jesus was accused several times of many things, the scripture said they hated him with no just cause and yet he said "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do"
There is no greater example for us to emulate than

Him
If we dont emulate him, we expose our hearts to the manipulation of the devil/demons because they are always in a constant state of accusation
They twist our thoughts and perceptions until we gain a reputation as a false brethren and become the evil we wanted to eschew

-GSW-

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