Do you have a reputation as a troublemaker?

Well, if you live as a stubborn, uncooperative, get-in-the-way-of action pain, that is likely not at all good. If you are a bully, pushing people around and heaping contempt on others, that never rates as good. Abuse is anti-God. If you talk about people behind their back, listen to gossip, disrupt godly justice and destroy reputations you work for the Enemy, Destroyer, against God.

But maybe you find yourself on the other side, wrongly accused of being a troublemaker.

Jesus was accused of being a troublemaker, for instance. An accusation does not make a truth. Indeed, accusations by those who refuse to submit only to the authority of Jesus, the Head of the True Church, intend to stop God’s mission.

Prophets trouble those who refuse God or have abandoned Jesus. Religion murders them, tortures them, kidnaps them, exiles them. Just read the Bible.

For example, the great prophet Elijah constantly irritated King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, two of the most unholy monarchs in the history of the Jewish people. “When he [Ahab] saw Elijah, Ahab said, ‘Is that you, you troublemaker of Israel?’
Elijah answered, ‘I haven’t troubled Israel. You and your father’s family have done it by disobeying the Lord’s commands’ (1 Kings 18:17-18 God’s Word [GW]).

Now here an enemy of all God-called people considered the righteous prophet a troublemaker. In the eyes of God Almighty Elijah was a faithful servant.

So who is calling who a troublemaker?

If the accusation
1. is made by only one voice:
“One witness is never enough to convict someone of a crime, offense, or sin he may have committed. Cases must be settled based on the testimony of two or three witnesses” (Deuteronomy 19:15 GW);

2. is not processed according to Matthew 18:15-17:
“If a believer does something wrong, go, confront him when the two of you are alone. If he listens to you, you have won back that believer. But if he does not listen, take one or two others with you so that every accusation may be verified by two or three witnesses. If he ignores these witnesses, tell it to the community of believers. If he also ignores the community, deal with him as you would a heathen or a tax collector (Matthew 18:15-17 GW);

3. is supported by backroom manipulations or kangaroo courts:
“One of those Pharisees was Nicodemus, who had previously visited Jesus. Nicodemus asked them, ‘Do Moses’ Teachings enable us to judge a person without first hearing that person’s side of the story? We can’t judge a person without finding out what that person has done’ ” (John 7:50-51 GW);

then the accuser(s) stand condemned.

Do you have some apologies to make to anyone? Jesus, the Judge of the Final Court, demands justice.