There are some things jumbled up here. The more excellent way has to do with love and spiritual gifts, not this doctrine of personal correction. I can only assume she is getting this from Matthew 18 but those verses are dealing with when a brother sins against you personally. Thirdly, the theology of Apollos did not need correction but rather enhancement. He only had heard of John's baptism. Thus he was not being rebuked for turning away people during a hurricane. He was not being corrected for then lying about it. He was learning the rest of the Gospel. Lastly here is she seriously suggesting that everyone should have boarded a plane and flown to Houston to ring Joel's doorbell?
"I'm grateful for the men and women who have loved me enough to quietly pull me aside and correct me. They could have easily called me out publicly, and many onlookers would have admired their insight. Instead, they put my welfare before their ego. As a result I continue to look to them for guidance, and their influence extends far beyond one encounter. Has social media warped our thinking? Might privacy produce better outcomes?" -- Gaye Clark
No Gaye, no. Now privacy may cause you less embarrassment but you chose to make these points public. By addressing you privately I ignore everyone who may have read your piece and been genuinely confused why you are doing theological gymnastics to defend one of the most obvious wolves on the planet for his completely indefensible behavior. One last attack eh? This is not about my ego. Of these I am the least. Those in discernment ministries certainly do not do it for the hallelujahs and amens because they are few and far between. If it was ego that motivated me perhaps I would preach to people that this is their best life now. Perhaps I would persuade them that they can speak things into existence and that they are little gods. Perhaps then I would write several books about how much God wants to bless them here and now. I would have to ignore half the Gospel to accomplish this but ego is the goal right? Maybe I would then need to open a church in a basketball arena and embark on a worldwide tour of popular television shows to sell my brand. If it was about ego that is.
Here is the thing though. Even if I had done all of this I would know better than to not even plan for how to help my neighbors during an impending disaster. I certainly would not turn people away by telling them I was closed due to imaginary flooding. I would not provide a list of other places people could go instead of my 17,000 seat arena. I would not then lie about it when the truth is so easy to access in this digital age. These things that I wouldn't do are not motivated by Public Relations. They are not motivated by branding and image protection. I wouldn't even say that it wouldn't be Christian. That falls so utterly short of the mark. It wouldn't be human. Isn't that the point that people like Gaye Clark are missing here? I am sure her heart is in the right place but this article defends the absolutely indefensible and attacks people who stood up for the truth. Joel Osteen was not the victim here. Those were the people he turned his back on. The Gospel Coalition should have known better.
Reverend Anthony Wade -- September 22, 2018
