The following is an edited excerpt of something I wrote elsewhere, when someone asked me essentially, “What do you mean when you say, “heresy hunter” … are you talking about people who have questions about the Lakeland Revival, concerns about Todd Bentley, or who have decided that this revival isn’t something they wish to participate in?”
Heresy Hunters (aka doctrine police) are people whose stated aims and goals are to ferret out heresy in the church. They generally call themselves “discernment ministers”. Most have no ministry beyond pointing out alleged errors on the part of church leaders. Most of the ones I’ve dealt with are rabidly anti-charismatic/anti-pentecostal.
They will write volumes of information (often 50 printed pages or more) carefully documenting their allegations. They write “open letters” to the people they’ve labeled as “heretics”, often demanding they agree to the hunter’s position publicly, and often including threats “Or I’ll expose you” or “I’ll start a campaign against your publisher” etc. When they hear “no” or get no reply, they take that as more “evidence” against the alleged heretic. They also write “open letters” to countries, heads of state, etc. regarding these alleged heretics, urging the country not to allow the minister in.
Now. I have no problem with free speech. If you want to write to the editor of a magazine, or to a publisher, or to the President of Timbuktu, more power to you -even if it’s about a minister. If there’s a particular cause you want to take a stand on (for example, the acceptance of homosexuality in the church), more power to you. If you don’t like Todd Bentley, that’s great. If you’ve got honest questions about the revival, wonderful. Rev. Merry (now a frequent commenter on this site) is a perfect example of somebody who’s got a BIG problem with some of what’s happening at Lakeland, but I don’t consider him to be a heresy hunter. He may talk quite a lot about the subject here and there, but it’s obvious that he’s got a life, a ministry, and better things to do than chase Todd Bentley.
The folks I call heresy hunters live sleep breath and poop NOTHING but rage against the supposedly egregious errors of people who
a) are supposed to be their brethren in Christ
b) they have no positional right to correct
c) really don’t care what the heresy hunters think anyway
d) aren’t going to bother listening to you because of how they approach them
AND
the HH’s have absolutely no fruit in your life (other than pointing out these egregious errors and sins in the church) because THIS is their life
It’s better than the pop-tarts celebrity gossip column. Really.
And if you don’t take them seriously… if you don’t agree with their interpretation of the Bible or events…they’ll condemn you, too. They’ll even tell you that you’re not saved.
Some of the heresy hunters out there are terribly deceived… but may I add that there’s some heresy hunters who I do not consider to be brethren in Christ… sorry but if your stated aim is to hate and incite hatred, and your “Jesus” is what has incited and encouraged you to do this – you’re not following the Jesus of the Bible, who I follow. If you’re more concerned about satan than Jesus, that makes you a satanist…not a Christian. If you hate all Christians but yourself and the few who agree with you – sorry buddy, you are deceived. If you say that hate really is love – all I can suggest for you is to throw yourself down at the feet of Jesus and repent.
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