WHAT I DO NOT WANT MY READERS TO THINK By David Cloud

(Ladies and Gents, This came across David Cloud's Mailing List and I think it bears posting here.... This is to refute that lie that people believe that he's got some kind of cult following...enjoy)

WHAT I DO NOT WANT MY READERS TO THINK - Part 1


By David Cloud

I receive a lot of correspondence from readers, and sometimes, after
I read an e-mail or letter, I am left thinking that I must not be
getting across the right message. The following are some of the
messages that I do NOT want my readers to receive from my ministry:

1. I DO NOT WANT MY READERS TO THINK THAT AN INDEPENDENT BAPTIST OR
FUNDAMENTALIST BIBLE-BELIEVING CHURCH IS APOSTATE JUST BECAUSE IT HAS
SOME THINGS WITH WHICH I DO NOT AGREE. Let me make this very clear: I
do not support those who separate themselves from all churches today.
While I believe that God's people must be discerning and cautious and
not overlook error, at the same time we are to be patient and
faithful to God's ordained institution, the church, and to
God-ordained pastoral authority, and I believe we should strive as
much as possible for unity and not disunity among true believers.
Both things are emphasized in Scripture, though it is not always a
simple matter to obey both of them at one time. This is why I have
been a faithful church member ever since I was saved 33 years ago,
even though I have never been in a church that I considered anything
like ideal! My article "Keys to Fruitful Church Membership" deals
with this issue. If you think that you are justified to separate from
all churches today because of David Cloud's writings, you are
mistaken. I do not preach that and I am not pleased when people do
that.

2. SIMILARILY, I DO NOT WANT MY READERS TO THINK THAT THEY SHOULD
HAVE A BAD ATTTIUDE TOWARD PASTORS AND CAUSE A LOT OF TROUBLE IN
THEIR CHURCHES. If you have to leave a church, and there are many
times when that becomes necessary because of sin and error, do so in
a godly manner and leave a good testimony "as much as lieth in you."
I believe anything less is not the will of God. I realize that
compromised Christians can be quite vicious and can tell lies about
men and women who try to correct error, but we must be careful that
we do not give occasion to the flesh and fight error in an ungodly
manner. There is definitely a time to approach a pastor about
problems, but this needs to be done in a godly and wise manner. God
has given pastors great authority (Heb. 13:7, 17). Some of them, like
Diotrephes of old, have abused their authority, it is true; but
pastoral authority is of God, nonetheless. Not everyone in the church
has the same authority. This does not mean that we overlook things
that we believe are wrong. Pastor are not popes and they do not have
unlimited authority (their authority is limited by the Bible) and
have no right to demand unquestioning loyalty, and churches must not
follow pastors in error; but as a church member, I must always
remember that the pastor has authority that I do not have and that
he, not me, will give an answer to God for pastoral decisions.

Recently I heard from a man who is in a church in which the pastor, a
Bob Jones man, has apparently labeled him a troublemaker because of
his defense of the King James Bible. He said there is not a good
alternative church in his area and that his family is being blessed
there. Some of you might strongly disagree with me, which is your
privilege, but I instructed him as follows: "I understand the
difficulty of your situation. Just stay there and pray much for the
Lord's will to be done in the church and in your family and be a
fruitful church member who is a credit and honor to his Lord. You are
not the pastor and you will not give an account for the decisions the
pastor makes. Your presence and prayers just might keep the church
from going over to the modern versions. Be gracious and patient in
all of your dealings, and the Lord will use you. P.S. If the church
actually goes over to the modern versions, I would strongly recommend
that you get out. It would be good to be praying for God to send a
man to your community who will take a stand for the preserved
Scriptures and who understands the destructive character of modern
textual criticism and to pray that if the time comes for a move, that
your family will want to follow you. Be the kind of Christian husband
and father that will make your wife and children want to follow your
teaching and leadership."


(to be continued on first reply)

 

3. I DO NOT WANT MY READERS TO THINK THAT JUST BECAUSE I WARN ABOUT
SOMETHING IN A MAN'S MINISTRY OR ABOUT AN INSTITUTION, IT MEANS THAT
I NECESSARILY THINK THAT HE OR IT IS APOSTATE. Dave Hunt is an
example. I love Dave Hunt and am thankful for his ministry, but that
does not mean I will close my eyes to what I believe are his errors.
I disagree strongly with his relationship with the Calvary Chapels
and with some other matters, and I feel so strongly about it that I
have warned our readers, but at the same time I am thankful for all
of the good things in his life and ministry. The same is true (to
various degrees) for Peter Ruckman, Jack Hyles, Curtis Hutson, Jerry
Falwell, the Baptist Bible Fellowship, Bob Jones University, Bill
Gothard, the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship, and many others. I have
given some type of warning about all of these people and
institutions, but I do not consider them enemies of the faith. Unless
an individual or institution is indeed apostate (to turn from the
faith), meaning that it has gone off into a false gospel, a false
christ, a false spirit, and other such cardinal matters, I believe we
can mark error (public men and ministries require public judging) and
still have a godly attitude toward those who err, meaning that we can
still count them brethren and be thankful for them, even if we feel
forced to point out things that are wrong and even if we feel that we
must separate from them in some cases (2 Thess. 3:14-15). (By the
way, if any of my readers happens to count some of these as truly
apostate, that is your privilege, but I don't.)

4. I DO NOT WANT MY READERS TO THINK THAT THEIR CHURCH SHOULD BE LIKE
WAY OF LIFE LITERATURE. Some parts of my ministry, the warning part,
is somewhat unbalanced of necessity. That is the nature of the
Fundamental Baptist Information Service and even of O Timothy
magazine, to a lesser degree. I have no intention of trying to be
completely "balanced" with that part of my ministry. Those are voices
of warning and exhortation. There are plenty of "positive,
encouraging" ministries out there; that part of the equation is very
well taken care of today. But there is little by way of serious and
pointed warning. The name of Way of Life Literature came from my
Bible reading one day about 28 years ago, when I read the words in
Proverbs 6:23: "For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light;
and reproofs of instruction are the way of life." I thought, that is
what we need more of today; we need more reproofs of instruction,
and, praise God, such reproofs are the way of life. If done in a
godly manner, instructive reproof is not destructive but is edifying
and life giving. To warn people of danger is to help them, if they
will receive the warning. Thus, some parts of my ministry are quite
"negative" on the whole and focus on pointing out heresy, exhorting
to separation, and such things. At the same time, I would not want to
be in a church that focused on these things. And I would not want to
see anyone try to make the Fundamental Baptist Information Service
their "church." A church should most definitely preach against error
plainly and warn about things. Most churches today fall very short of
doing what they should in this area, but that is certainly not all
that a church should be doing or even mostly what it should be doing.
Separation is crucial, but separation in and of itself is nothing.
Separation is merely the wall of protection that we put around the
Lord's work, but having separated, we must busy ourselves with that
great work, which is described in Matt. 28:18-20.

When I preach in the churches we started in South Asia, I do not
preach strictly about the type of things that appear in the
Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Only rarely do I preach
about "issue" type things, such as the charismatic movement. The
overwhelming majority of my messages are about prayer, holiness,
separation from the world, evangelism and missions, love for Christ,
faithfulness to the Lord's work, Bible doctrine, and such.

The 15 Bible college courses I have developed for training preachers
and church members do not focus on the type of things that appear in
the Fundamental Baptist Information Service. They deal with such
things as "How to Study the Bible," "Bible Prophecy," "Church
History," and "Bible History." Only one of the courses deals
exclusively with warning of error.

Even in my writing ministry, I do not focus exclusively on warning.
The Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity and Things
Hard to Be Understood, for example, took more time to produce than
probably all of the other things I have written combined, and they
are tools for Bible study and general Christian living. Thus, even my
ministry is by no means strictly a warning ministry.

Do you see what I am saying? Every church should warn plainly about
error, but a church is not merely a warning station. Please don't
measure your church by the Fundamental Baptist Information Service or
O Timothy magazine in the sense of thinking that your pastor should
be like Brother Cloud. In that aspect of my ministry I am not a
pastor; rather, I am exercising, I believe, a unique "prophetic" type
ministry (not referring to prophecy as fore-telling, of course, but
as forth-telling). My aim and desire is to be a help and blessing to
pastors in providing them well-researched information to assist their
ministries, knowing at the same time that there is much more to their
ministries than warning about error.

5. LASTLY, I DO NOT WANT MY READERS TO THINK THAT I AM ANYTHING. I
have no desire to create a following of any sort. I do not consider
myself better than anyone. I am confident that some of the people
that I warn about are better Christians than I am in some areas of
their lives and ministries. I am a big failure in many ways. I own no
Christian perfection of any sort. I am just a man who was saved by
God's undeserving grace and called to preach His Word. I am convinced
that God called me to this difficult ministry and I intend to
accomplish it by His grace and I do think that I have exercised some
zeal for it and am biblically qualified for it, but I was a nobody
when he called me and I am a nobody today. I do not preach myself and
I have no intention of doing so; I preach God's Word. I do not
measure things by my puny standard, but by that of God's Word. At
least that is my desire and intention. I want to measure myself by
the same standard, and I invite my readers to measure me and other
men by that same rule. "Prove all things; hold fast that which is
good" (1 Thess. 5:21). John the Baptist was wise and godly when he
said, "I must decrease." That is what every preacher needs to say.
The Apostle Paul said, "Follow me as I also follow Christ," and we
can and should say that; but we must also acknowledge that we are not
apostles today. The only infallible authority is the Scriptures.
There is no infallible preacher, none that are even close.


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Edited to add copyright notice - thanks WD

 

So, you see guys... you're wrong about David Cloud. He ain't another Ruckman.

-WTD :type:

 

I think you guys are nasty and it's obvious, [personal attack snipped].

-WTD

 

Thank you Squire! That is the point I was trying to make. and of course, these cheeseheads on here, don't get it. (but of course, this is Baptist Board, what more could I expect? )

Again, Thank you for making that point. :thumbs: :thumbsup: :wavey:

-WTD