Galatians6:1 Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself( NLT)
From the library of an old reverend, I read a book titled: "I Was Wrong" by Jim Baker. A very big book but I finished it in six days. It is an autobiography of the author who was a highly rated pastor in the U.S. in the 70s and 80s before he went to prison.
He had access to the white house and flew the Airforce one with the president. His incarceration made the headlines and he was despised largely by the Christian community. Some of the pastors he raised or mentored in the ministry turned their back against him while some of his trusted friends joined the conspiracy that brought him down.
The straw that broke the Camel's back was when his wife of decades(31 years) divorced him in 1992 and got married to the contractor who built their ministry property.
He had a television network called PTL club that hosted great men of God including our revered Benson Idahosa of blessed memory. In 1989, Jim Baker was sentenced to prison for wire fraud amid sexual scandal. In his book, he said: "I fell from a lofty height".
While in prison, he was washing the toilet and someone came telling him he had a visitor. He was reluctant to see who his visitor was. When he came out, he was surprised to see Billy Graham and his wife. Billy Graham hugged him tightly not minding the cloth he wore.
When he was released from prison in 1994, the Grahams loaned him a house and car for three years and Franklin Graham( Billy's son) bought him two brief cases in anticipation of his return to ministry.
Jim Baker said: “He saw me coming back. At that time, I still didn’t plan to come back.". When Billy Graham died, he visited to pay his last respect and he said: “They represented Jesus Christ to somebody who the world said was fallen and would never preach again". Now, that touched me deeply.
Hey! A fallen soldier can rise again If we pray and show him love. We often write people off and make them a subject of our ministerial gossip even to the extent of preaching against them on the altar. Very wrong.
When you talk more than you pray for a fallen brother, you're taking sides with the devil because the devil doesn't like when we pray for such people but he'll rather have us gist about them. We live in the days of smear campaign against preachers. The world is looking for the slightest error of preachers.
The faux pas of clerics from other faith don't make news like that of Christian preachers. Those behind such evil publicity are fellow believers who want to trend on social media. When we do that, we are not acting like Christ.
The love of Christ is not only for those in his "good books", his love is for all including that brother or sister despised by the brethren. Looking deeply into his heart, his desire is for the fallen soldier to be restored not despised.
- From today, ensure you start praying for the restoration of that brother or sister has fallen into sin. If you have access to such persons, greet, hug, fellowship with them and let them know how much you love them. That way, you may be helping someone back on his feet. The return of a wounded soldier can be deadly to the enemy. Ask Samson.