Facing 'problem people'? Some scriptural help

The senior pastor of a large church tells the 12-year-old friend of his daughter that his wife is soon going to die, and that his daughter's friend will be his next wife. God has told him this (so he says).

On this basis he pressurises her into situations she would rather not be in. “God doesn’t mind," he tells her, “He understands the pressure I’m under." Eventually, she learns how to avoid being on her own with him.

However, she says nothing, neither then nor later. She thinks: “How would I possibly explain it to all my family and friends? Everyone holds this pastor in such high regard, no one would take me seriously. And he's warned me not to damage the work of God.” So she keeps quiet.

But the effects of her abuse are permanent. Both her marriages end in bitter divorce and her grown-up children find her difficult and tend to avoid her. She attends church only intermittently and when she does she often suffers from flashbacks. She finds joyful praise particularly difficult and struggles to switch off bitter and resentful thoughts. Her hold on Christ is tenuous.

Meanwhile, the pastor’s ministry goes from strength to strength. He is widely admired, and well remunerated. He ends his life with his reputation intact and at his funeral is eulogised in glowing terms. Where is the justice in that?

The young pastor starts his ministry full of optimism. However, after a couple of years, one vocal member of the congregation begins to take a stand against his preaching. The man is forthright in his criticisms and others begin to join him in their complaints. Things come to a head at a particularly difficult business meeting and the young pastor realises that he has no choice but to leave.

However, this leaves him and his young family without a home, without an income, and without a church family. Other local ministers are agreed that a promising young pastor has been badly treated but no one seems able or willing to do anything about it.

Meanwhile his chief critic, unabashed, continues to call the shots in the church the young pastor once served. He and his wife feel very much alone with their sense of injustice, and harm done to the cause of Christ. How is that a fair outcome?

And what about all those who make false promises in God’s name, promises that are nothing more than a means of controlling others and taking advantage of them? When do they answer for the wrongs they have done?

What does the book of Jude say to these people?

While some find the language in the book of Jude alarmist, sadly the "problem people" he describes (Jude 7 and 16) are still very much a feature of our Christian world today. And as these examples show, the damage people like this do is often profound and lifelong. It is even more distressing to think of the dishonour they bring to the name of God.

In this context, it is deeply reassuring to be reminded that God is a God of justice (Jude 14-15): "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed." Indeed, we can be sure that His commitment to punishing wickedness is thorough, righteous, fair – and terrifying.

God’s justice is real. This truth has the potential to be a huge reassurance for all victims of abuse in God’s name. Nobody else is willing or able to do anything to right the wrongs but He sees, He knows, and He will be the judge.