Whether you believe in it or not, guilt by association is a real thing, and if you want to understand how accusations and accusers work you have to understand this! It is essential, so please read carefully.
This is the principle expressed, and you cannot break this principle, and you will injure your relationships by trying: people who accuse someone will also accuse the people who associate with that person.
Now, what does this mean for you if you are part of a church or ministry, especially if you are in leadership? It means this: if you are not prepared to be collectively accused, you are not really on the team in your heart. Sometimes a pastor in a family of churches, or an elder in a church, hears accusation about their pastor or leader, and they want to be the not-accused, they don’t want the accuser to accuse them, so they act like they are not on the team. They do a Peter and deny their connection with someone who has discipled them, loved them, increased them, inspired them and challenged them!
I rejoiced when as a youth pastor I was finally accused alongside my senior pastor. It made me feel like I was part of the team, that I was closer to the leader than I was before. No one is greater than Jesus, so everyone who is like Jesus, doing things for Jesus, will be accused. And they accused Peter with Jesus, so they will accuse you alongside your lead pastor! It should be considered an honour – it is a sign of how close you are to the leader, how much you have learned, how much you are part of the family. You should thank God He has brought you to a leader, and developed your loyalty to the part you are accused too!
What was the accusation thrown at Peter? It’s in Luke 22.58: After a while someone else looked at him and said, “You must be one of them!” “No, man, I’m not!” Peter retorted.
Peter sounded like Jesus, looked like Jesus, had caught the DNA of Jesus, and was therefore accused of being one of them. That should have been a moment that made Peter proud – they noticed I look like Jesus! They know I am part of something!
But sadly Peter replied “I AM NOT!” – to avoid being accused Peter denied being part of the team. I know people who pretend they don’t listen to Kenneth Copeland to avoid accusations. I know people who pretend they don’t listen to Andrew Wommack to avoid accusations. I am sure some people have failed to defend me or pretend they don’t know what I am about to avoid accusations. And all of those things are totally forgivable by the grace of God.
However, what I admire is the man of God who keeps on living even under a smear campaign, who gets on with getting the Word out. Who does not fall about because of the accusation of a young, tiny, little maid – or a disgruntled person who doesn’t go to church anymore – or a negative person who cannot see anything good and has no fruit in their life – or anyone.
You have to have a spine to be in the team, to be one of them. And part of that is dealing with any accusations. It should be that if they accuse one of the team, they accuse the entire team.
Talking personally about Tree of Life Family, we are not running a cult. We don’t shun people, we don’t cut people off. Some people have said otherwise, but they are not telling the truth. However, having said that, I am not comfortable in the presence of someone who is accusing one of the team, and it surprises me when other people on the team are.
I once got a phone call from one of my elders, and he told me a lady who was leaving the church offended had called him and spent two hours on the telephone accusing me. He wrote the accusations down and wanted to see me to go over them.
I refused. I said, did you know before she called you today to accuse me, she called me to accuse you. But that conversation never lasted two hours, it barely lasted two seconds because we are team and I won’t receive accusations like that. If they are accusing you, they are accusing me. I actually hung up on her because she wouldn’t stop accusing this elder, then he listened to her run me down for two hours. It wasn’t a few weeks later he left the church, because of borrowed offense based on lies. Why – because he didn’t have the backbone to be in the team.
Part of the motivation of an accuser is to bring shame. If they cannot make the person they are offended at and accusing feel ashamed, they will try and make others feel ashamed just by being with them. They are doing the work of satan, and part of satan’s goal is to break godly, divine relationships that are going to propel people forward into ministry and life, so they go for the Peters and what brings them the greatest joy is when the Peters go “I AM NOT!” and deny their place on the team!
The good news is if you have failed, there is a way back onto the team, you have repent and make your allegiance to the team clear and apparent. Peter was eventually crucified for being on Team Jesus – and he was happy to do it. That’s the way to overcome guilt by association, to embrace it – to celebrate your association.
Selah!
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