False Shepherds Discourage the Righteous and Encourage the Wicked
UPDATE Sept 2021: I have come to believe that Jeff Crippen does not practise what he preaches. He vilely persecuted an abuse victim and spiritually abused many other people in the Tillamook congregation. Go here to read the evidence. Jeff has not gone to the people that he spiritually and emotionally abused. He has not apologised to them, let alone asked for their forgiveness.
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[October 17, 2022: There have been some changes made to this post. For more information, read the Editors’ notes at the bottom of the post. Editors.]
(Ezekiel 13:21-23 ESV) (21) Your veils also I will tear off and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand as prey, and you shall know that I am the LORD. (22) Because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not grieved him, and you have encouraged the wicked, that he should not turn from his evil way to save his life, (23) therefore you shall no more see false visions nor practice divination. I will deliver my people out of your hand. And you shall know that I am the LORD.”
The Lord does not discourage His people. He does not, in that sense, “grieve them,” as Ezekiel puts it. The Good Shepherd encourages His flock. Not so the wicked, false shepherd who allies with the wicked man and encourages him in his evil. Listen to Ezekiel talk about these evil shepherds again:
(Ezekiel 13:8-10 ESV) (8) Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Because you have uttered falsehood and seen lying visions, therefore behold, I am against you, declares the Lord GOD. (9) My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations. They shall not be in the council of my people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord GOD. (10) Precisely because they have misled my people, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash.
I find the matter of this “whitewashing” particularly interesting. Jesus must have had this passage in mind when he told the Jewish leaders that they were like whitewashed tombs. Among other characteristics, false pastors / shepherds deal in falsehood, not truth. They tell the wicked that they have peace with God when in fact God’s judgment is upon them. They build their own “churches” that are full of the wicked, but cover it all up with the whitewash of their lying words. It becomes a den of thieves, a sanctuary for the wicked. Abusers who wear a façade of whitewashed religion love such places. In “churches” like this, the wicked are encouraged in their abuse of their victims, and the victims are discouraged and rendered injustice.
Thus, church leaders who effect injustice upon victims are demonstrating a key characteristic of false shepherds whom the Lord is against. Listen to the following comment on Ezekiel 13 by Wilhelm Walther, a Lutheran theologian from the 1800s. Walther points out that a false shepherd refuses to apply the Law of God to the wicked, and he withholds God’s good news from the oppressed:
Here you see how the preacher is cursed who knows that his congregation needs an application of the Law, yet for a piece of bread [i.e., for his own personal gain] he keeps silent. Woe to everyone who pampers secure sinners with soft pillows and cushions! These preachers lull to sleep with the Gospel those who ought to be awakened from their sleep by the Law. It is a wrong application of the Gospel to preach it to people who are not afraid of sinning. On the other hand, it is even more horrible if a pastor is a legalistic teacher, refusing to preach the Gospel to his congregation because he says, “These people will just misuse it anyway.” Should poor sinners therefore be deprived of the Gospel? Let the wicked perish! On the other hand, the children of God should know how near at hand help is and how easily it can be obtained. But anyone withholding the Gospel from those in need of consolation fails to distinguish Law and Gospel. Woe, and again woe, to such people!
Ferdinand, Carl; Wilhelm Walther (1905-07-02). Law & Gospel: How to Read and Apply the Bible (Kindle Locations 2442-2449). Concordia Publishing House. Kindle Edition.
Bullseye, Dr. Walther!
[October 17, 2022: Editors’ notes:
—For some comments made prior to October 17, 2022 that quoted from the post, the text in the comment that was quoted from the post might no longer be an exact match.
—For some comments made prior to October 17, 2022 that quoted from the post, the text in the comment that was quoted from the post might no longer be found in the post.
If you would like to compare the text in the comments made prior to October 17, 2022 that quoted from the post to the post as it is now (October 17, 2022), click here [Internet Archive link] for the most recent Internet Archive copy of the post.]
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- Posted in: Unjust church responses
- Tagged: church discipline, church response to abuse, false Christians, Jeff Crippen, protecting victims
A Cry For Justice 
🙂 This will come in useful to me in the next few weeks. Truth is always refreshing, healing and freeing. Thank you for being a shepherd of God’s truth.
This is great! Yay for Walther!
When Ezekiel says —
—does that mean like if the people build an idol, the prophets bless it? Or does it just refer to human endeavors of every sort, being “painted over” with lying words?
Katy – I will check a bit further on this, but the context of these verses is that the Lord had announced judgment upon the Jews for their continued rebellion. The false prophets were covering up and discounting this impending doom, saying “Oh, no. Everything is fine. Peace, peace.” They were whitewashing evil and the truth, making it look just great when there was rot and trouble underneath. I am going to try to sort out in more detail what the “wall” is or what it is a symbol of that the people were building.
Honestly, I swear sometimes the Lord uses this blog prophetically. I have lost count of the number of times I’ve come here and someone says something that just hits right where I need it to, though they have no idea they’ve done so. This little tidbit right here sets this easily-cast sheep back upright all by itself.
There is a reason for that in that something unexpected and discouraging happened just today (well, not really unexpected, actually, in that it was expected that Satan would do something in this time frame designed to discourage and derail or otherwise be menacing, and lo and behold he did). This reminds me God is not the author of these things.
BIT- thank you too! Your words are a real encouragement.
My life for 26 years. The aftereffects are still happening…. Thanks for this post.
You may need to edit this (maybe you can use the word “dung” instead), but in our house, we say, “Uncover the dung….” The “dung” being the injustice freely doled out to the righteous and / or oppressed in true “whitewashed” style, all done “in the name of Jesus” of course (John 16:2-3). We are pretty fed up with the many false shepherds occupying the pulpits (and not surprisingly, the wayward sheep following their teachers) who take shovels and toss “it” under the rug or under the pews!
Truth will prevail! All will be uncovered and revealed one day! Bless those who are bravely exposing these false shepherds and their false (smelly) message now by spreading the truth and thus saving souls and lives both physically and spiritually! Truth sets the prisoners free!
[As suggested by Bright Sunshinin’ Day, the word “dung” was used as a substitute. Editors.]
Hmm, so you’re sayin’ that a sign of a false shepherd is that the righteous consistently walk away discouraged, while the wicked keep feeling strengthened….wow….that’s exactly what it’s like when you’re caught in an abusive marriage and unfortunate enough to be in a typical evangelical church….spot on.