DON’T CONDEMN THE LORD’S SERVANT

I remember an incident that happened years ago when I was just a young man, pastoring a little church in north Texas. In a large metropolitan city about forty-five miles away, one of the ministers got into some difficulty and was dismissed from his denomination. Later during a sectional convention in our church, one of the district superintendents preached in the morning service and mentioned the situation. Although he didn't call this minister's name, we all knew who he was talking about. He condemned him and just preached him right into hell, so to speak. Well, some of the men who couldn't be in that morning service asked me about it later on. They asked, "Brother Hagin, what do you think about it? Was that minister right in what he said about that other minister?" I said, "Yes, I concurred with him." Well, about two weeks after that, my wife's parents came down to visit us. They lived out on a farm about forty miles away. My wife and two children went home with them after the Sunday night service. I was going to drive up there and join them after I attended to some church business. So my wife and our children were gone, and I was alone in the parsonage. I listened to the news on the radio (we didn't have television back then). The parsonage was an old house that was built before indoor electricity was available. When it was wired for electricity, they just put a chain hanging right down in the middle of the room to turn the light on and off.

When I was ready to go to bed, I just reached up to turn the light off and then knelt by the foot of the bed and prayed. Suddenly the whole room lit up! The Bible talks about a light Paul saw that was brighter than the noonday sun (Acts 9:3; 22:6). This light was bright like that. The whole room lit up brighter than when the light was on, and I could see every piece of furniture. And then out of the bright light I heard these words, "Who art thou that condemneth another man's servant?" I knew it was the Lord. I said, "Lord, I didn't condemn Your servant." I knew immediately who the Lord was referring to. He was talking about that minister who'd gotten into trouble. The Lord answered me again by saying, "Who art thou that condemneth another man's servant?" I repeated, "Lord, I never condemned Your servant." Then the third time the Lord said, "Who art thou that condemneth another man's servant?" I said the third time, "Lord, I didn't condemn Your servant." The Lord said, "Didn't you say. . . ," and then the Lord quoted what I had said about this minister. Well, you get in a situation like that and your flesh sometimes wants to take over. You remember when Adam got into trouble, he wanted to shift the blame to the woman. Then when that didn't work, he said, "This woman which Thou gavest me." Really, he was trying to blame everyone else so he wouldn't have to be responsible. The flesh always want to blame someone else. I said, "Lord, I was just quoting the district superintendent." The Lord said to me, "When you repeated it, that was tantamount to your saying it. Who art thou that condemneth another man's servant?" When the Lord said that, He just sort of knocked the props out from under me. So then I said, "I thought that minister was wrong. I mean, didn't he do wrong?" The Lord never told me whether he'd done wrong or not. But He asked me a question. He said, "Whose servant is he, Mine or yours?" I said, "If he is anyone's servant, Lord, he's Yours. He sure isn't mine." The Lord said, "Well, if he is My servant, then I'm able to make him stand." And, you know, the Lord did just that. The Lord made the man stand, and that fellow went on to become the most outstanding minister in that part of the state. He was very well respected, even though he'd missed it that one time in his past. Who are we to criticize the Lord's servants! Sometimes it's the things we say about other people that cause us ill health. (Kenneth E Hagin)

Great lesson.