The Ministry of Ham
 

The past few days I have been thinking about some of the things I read, and the consistent theme of criticism that seems to pervade the communication of some.

I will be the first to agree that there are problems in the Apostolic movement, both in the pulpit and in the pew. This is true of any group, because of a little thing called humanity.

But I am repulsed by the attitude that seems to be driven to expose and highlight every flaw and vulnerability and weakness both in the Church and in the ministry. I believe this is an insidious spirit that often gets a grip on people when they have been wounded or treated unjustly.

Let us look at a few Scriptural examples of this spirit at work...



Gen 9:20 ¶ And Noah began [to be] an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:


Gen 9:21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.


Gen 9:22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.


Gen 9:23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid [it] upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces [were] backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.


Gen 9:24 ¶ And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.


Gen 9:25 And he said, Cursed [be] Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.


Gen 9:26 And he said, Blessed [be] the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.


Gen 9:27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

Ham found his father naked and drunken. What was his response?

His shirt tail didn't hit his backside twice before he had gone and told his brethren.

His brothers, by contrast, walked in with a blamket with their backs to him, and covered him.

What was the result? They were blessed, and Ham's seed was cursed.

I have noticed one thing about those who constantly criticize and take upon themselves the role of "whistle-blower" to reveal every flaw they can find in their leadership: their children seem to pay the biggest price.

They grow up having been weaned on disrespect and distrust for the gift God gave the Church, and they live enslaved by their attitude and sin, because they don't trust the means God gave for sending them the message of deliverance.

How about other professional critics? How did they fare?

Sanballat was another...


Neh 2:17 ¶ Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we [are] in, how Jerusalem [lieth] waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.


Neh 2:18 Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for [this] good [work].


Neh 2:19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard [it], they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What [is] this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?


Neh 2:20 Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

Nehemiah and his men were builders.

Sanballat and his crew were scorners and critics.

Who got the good reviews in the Word? You be the judge.

David has his detractors also.


2Sa 16:5 ¶ And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name [was] Shimei, the son of Gera: he came forth, and cursed still as he came.


2Sa 16:6 And he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David: and all the people and all the mighty men [were] on his right hand and on his left.


2Sa 16:7 And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial:


2Sa 16:8 The LORD hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the LORD hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son: and, behold, thou [art taken] in thy mischief, because thou [art] a bloody man.


2Sa 16:9 ¶ Then said Abishai the son of Zeruiah unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head.


2Sa 16:10 And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the LORD hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so?


2Sa 16:11 And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold, my son, which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life: how much more now [may this] Benjamite [do it]? let him alone, and let him curse; for the LORD hath bidden him.


2Sa 16:12 It may be that the LORD will look on mine affliction, and that the LORD will requite me good for his cursing this day.

Fast forward a few years and you will find that Shimei could not even keep himself inside the boundaries of Jerusalem when Solomon gave him mercy. He was slain.

David? His memory is still honored.

There are others...

Judas was a critic.


Mat 26:6 ¶ Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,


Mat 26:7 There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat [at meat].


Mat 26:8 But when his disciples saw [it], they had indignation, saying, To what purpose [is] this waste?


Mat 26:9 For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.


Mat 26:10 When Jesus understood [it], he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me.


Mat 26:11 For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.


Mat 26:12 For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did [it] for my burial.


Mat 26:13 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, [there] shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.

Judas thought the money could have been used for a better cause. Sort of reminds me of some that are constantly fussing about the money spent on sanctuaries of worship--they aren't the first ones to think somebody else's expression of worship was too extravagant.

The career of Judas is well known.

I could go on, but this is probably enough to make my point.

The ministries of Ham, Sanballat, Shimei, and Judas are still alive and well.

And they still bear the same fruit.

Great post Coon. We need people like you around here to keep things in prospective.

Coonskinner, what of all the criticism of the org in the past few days?

Does that fit into the spirit of your post?

That's quite a mouthful you've got there ... quite a string theology ... good job, Chap. If validating your position with scripture is reassuring then you have my blessing

PP,

I am heading out the door to have lunch with a couple who called and wanted to meet with my wife and me.

I will address your post later.

Another good and timely post CS.
Lord help us all to not become even in a small part of the ministry of Ham.

coonskinner,
I am one who would want to let the Spirit lead me in "covering a sin" rather than exposing it (or looking upon it). How well I live that, day in and day out, still seems to have some fluctuation.

How do you understand (differentiate?) the witness of the settings you are using and ITim 5:19. Is anything done on a forum absent the two witness requirement since the observation is open to all?

Great posts are common for you, Coonskinner. This one is even better.

These are the kinds of posts that keep things in perspective.

Well looks like you have a fan club CS .... The Dean ... [I know who you are] loves it!!!!

It was a great piece. :thumbsup

Please do note though... that Sanballat was in league with Tobiah.

Nehemiah was indeed a builder and also a voice which was harsh in Jerusalem.

One of the strongest moves Nehemiah made was in chasing out Tobiah (Sanballats good bud). Tobiah was big buds with the priests and the priests had emptied the tithing storehouse, taken over the distribution of the tithe from the Levites and had housed Tobiah ( an ammonite who, by the law of God, was not to be allowed in the congregation much less shacked up in the storehouse) where the tithes should have been kept.

The relationship with Nehemiah and such outsiders as Tobiah & Sanballat has more to do with Nehemiahs actual chastising of the priesthood for their departure from the laws of God.

You might want to rethink using that example.

Are you the SWORDSMAN????? :slaphappy

Nope, I'm just plain ole RevDWW, and no other.

I figure why use my words when His do just fine. :thumbsup

Nicely written Coonskinner.:thumbsup

What is so terrible about Ham 's misdeed is is that Caanan was affected, we must remember that what we do has a lasting affect on somebody somewhere.

Awesome post Coonskinner.

The moral of the story for Ham was that he had to do something but he acted without wisdom. It sounds to me as though it would have been as big a sin to go back down the mountain and pretend that he did not see the problem.

He should have addressed the problem wisely, with dignity, and the grace his father had.

Ham was not cursed because he saw a problem, he was cursed because he didn't have the integrity or character or respect for his father to deal with it on his own...there was indeed a problem, and it did need to be dealt with.

Coop, you are hunting a fly with a shotgun...you may hit it, but what difference will it make either way? You are setting yourself up for reproach.

Read my post above...it may help.

Well then in this case, UPC is Ham.

No, I am hunting a Rhino with a b.b. gun.
I keep hitting him, but his skin is too tuff. :toofunny

So then, Coonskinner, how do you handle the situation when you marry someone who's been raised with this "ministry of Ham"?

Raising issues that need to be dealt with is not wrong, in fact open rebuke is often a good thing.

In fact, open rebuke of wrongdoing IS a good thing ("them that sin rebuke before all..." etc)

However, the problem comes when people seek to use their words to destroy the innocent and the righteous.

Evil must be exposed and dealt with.

But the Enemy has a plan he's been using for a long time, in which every small, minor failure is pointe dout and blown up out of all proportion and harped on incessantly specifically in order to create an atmosphere of distrust and suspicion and censoriousness - and he does that in order to neutralise people and get them all spinning in circles chasing rabbit trails that lead nowhere, eventually.

If someone is doing wrong, and using the ministry as a cover for their wickedness, they need to be exposed. Neither Jesus, the apostles, nor the prophets ever had a problem doing that.

But it is one thing to expose the ENEMY WITHIN THE GATES, it is quite another thing to murder one's own brethren in the name of "protecting the people"....

Prayer, patience, gentle correction, and a consistent example, all in the context of unconditional love.

good words PossumKiller.

Im glad to know ya.

The problem with criticism is it's easy to start and most folks don't know when to quit... imo....

...the spirit breathed....
there is life in these words

We all have the opportunity to either be a Ham or a Shem/Japheth.

We all have decisions we are forced to make.

YUP

Cooper,

You have testified to what a fine, upstanding man your old pastor was.

He even repented for preaching standards and being "hard."

So you really haven't suffered all that much according to your own testimony.
You are crying and moaning for attention, and to make excuses for your own lack of commitment to anything spiritual. You don't fool anybody.

I can always tell how accurate a post has been by how loud you squawk.

And this time, you squalled like a mashed cat. :)

Nobody is fooled, Coop.

You're not the walking wounded; you are the seated scornful.

Excellent post, CS. I totally agree. David said, "Examine the bulwarks of Jerusalem". Let's look for the strengths of the church.

There is a time and a place to deal with things.

No one is suggesting that corruption in high places not be dealt with in a Scriptural manner.

But the spirit of which I speak in this thread is the one manifested by those who continually engage in vacuous, broad-brush criticism of the church and the ministry, with a pervasive attitude of contempt and scorn.

You believe that the church has been engaged by this pervasive attitude of contempt and scorn?

The delivery of such a carnal-mindedness would seem to be limited to man-on-man.

Is this spiritual wickedness in high places coming to bear or is it folly among those who call themselves spiritual but are not?

The context of the origina post establishes that I was actually speaking of a lot of what i read on this forum.

There are some whose entire theme of communication seems to be criticism and "whistle-blowing," as they perceive it.

Nothing but scorn and contempt for the church and the ministry.

The Ministry of Ham

I thought this was a thread about Peter on the house top. :grampa

the remedy in the scriptures seems to be along the lines of...
mark them that cause such and seperate from fellowship (I am paraphrasing from memory without pulling up the cite, my apology in advance if I did the context little service).

On a related note, never fry bacon in the nude.

My first thought when I saw this thread title was that it was going to be something about GrannyCoonSkinner's cooking exploits.

:toofunny - that is just wrong coming from YOU!!!

Ham ministers to me it helps my sandwhich.