1: “Sheeple?”

Hola! Welcome back.
(btw, I’m going to include footnotes. They’ll provide further context if you need it, without taking up space in the actual post. Just click on the lil number, or scroll to the bottom of the page to see them.)¹

I want to address something.
This blog is centered around the idea of being “Brought Back.” And we’re going to get to what that actually means, where you’re brought back from, where you’re brought back too, etc, etc.

But there’s something really important I want to address first.

I suspect you were hurt at some point.

Specifically hurt by someone who was supposed to represent Jesus well.
(mentor, pastor, prophet, deacon, elder, priest, parent, friend, cousin, aunt, etc).

First of all – That’s real. And you’re not alone.
Years before I was born, my parents helped start a church (my dad was one of of the elders that ran the church, and my mom was the worship leader). The people on the elder-board were all long time friends. My parents actually went to college with some of them. But, after decades of leading together, there was a church split.
My parents were thrown under the bus and my family was pushed out of our community.
The pain of betrayal is real. It hurts.
A lot.

It hurts enough to make you want to walk away.

Ezekiel 34 is a prophecy that God gives Ezekiel (the prophet the book is named after).
The prophecy is for the Leader’s of Israel – aka, the shepherds of God’s people. (Sheep analogies are popular in the Bible. Stick with me.)
The first part of the chapter is calling out the leader’s for being horrible leaders. The second part is God explaining that He’ll provide a Good Shepherd to recover the “sheep” (God’s people) that those leaders hurt.
(I’m going somewhere with this…)

Christian’s have various callings and responsibilities they need to fill. But, we’re human. We aren’t able to do everything perfectly²
…Which is why we need Jesus…but we’ll get to that.

There are people who claim to be “Christian” that get off on the power trip more than they revere³ the Lord.
These people don’t depend on Jesus. And they continuously fail to represent God well, but insist that they should be trusted.
(It’s like if someone were to attack you, and then insist that what they did was the “right” thing to do, and you need to calm down and, “just trust” them).

There are God-centered shepherds who may mess up, confess, seek forgiveness, and grow.
And then there are self-centered “shepherds” who are simply wicked – They’ve shut God out of their hearts, while parading around with banners, posters, and social media posts that display His name.
These shepherds are fake. And they’re dangerous. And they are not true Christians.

Because…

Love does not get excited when there’s injustice.⁴
And if you have been hurt by fake Christians claiming to love and serve God,
I see you.
I’m sorry.

If you walked away from God because of how He was represented, I get it.
I don’t blame you.
Actually, I think it’s brave of you to stand up to injustice!

Fighting injustice – that’s what Christians are called to do.

Calling out injustice is a good thing to do.
When Christians aren’t loving, they are not representing God well.
And that’s why we need to make a distinction.
Someone I respect a lot often says:

“God is God. People are people. And people suck.”

No matter how much a person is meant to represent God, they will fail.
And their failures will never change who God is.

The pain caused by people misrepresenting God is valid.
Don’t hear me say, “You need to forget your pain and move on.” It’s not that simple.
What I am saying is – give credit where credit is due.

God is not sinful. The pain we experience is a by-product of sin.
Either, we feel pain because of sin (wickedness) creating injustice in our lives: (war, corruption, abuse, condemnation, hatred, child deaths, sickness, etc).
Or, we feel pain because sin is being highlighted in our lives:
(For believers, this is the same thing as growing pains. Sin is highlighted so that it can be removed and you can grow closer to God⁵, just like your legs ache when you’re growing.
For those who don’t believe in Jesus as their savior, this type of pain is like going outside when it’s super bright out. You’re used to a darker setting, so the light is actually painful).

So, yes, for those of you hurt by people in the church: the pain is real.
And give credit where credit is due.
You were hurt by people acting in sin and creating injustice in your life.
Or maybe, you were hurt because your expectation of God wasn’t consistent with His character, so when you were disappointed you blamed Him.

I’m not judging you.
I have no right to nor do I want to.
Why would I judge you for having a valid response to real pain?

…But:

“God is God. People are people. And people suck.”

I’m a person. Sometimes I suck.
And I interact with people, and sometimes they suck.
God is the only One who will forever stay the same: loving, perfect,
and who will never sin against me.

Christians have various callings and responsibilities we need to fill.⁶
The good news is that Jesus is fully God, meaning He doesn’t have any sin, and He’s fully human, meaning He’s called to the same roles/callings Christians are. And Jesus perfectly fills every role.⁷

Aka, where human’s fail to represent God accurately, Jesus succeeded.

Back to the shepherds/leaders metaphor:
Where humans jacked up being “good shepherds” (leaders of God’s people),
Jesus did not, has not, and will not.

God’s standard for a Good Shepherd (a righteous⁸ leader who represents God accurately and loves His people correctly) is pretty simple:
-Feed the sheep (The people you’re called to lead).
-Take care of the weak sheep.
-Tend to the sick and injured sheep.
-Search for, and find, the sheep who wandered away and got lost.
-Protect the sheep.

The sinful human shepherds in the Old Testament screwed up so badly God sent them this message through Ezekiel (The prophet I mentioned earlier):

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I now consider these shepherds my enemies, and I will hold them responsible for what has happened to my flock. I will take away their right to feed the flock, and I will stop them from feeding themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths; the sheep will no longer be their prey.”⁹

And God doesn’t stop there. He goes on to say:

“For this is what the sovereign Lord says: I myself will search and find my sheep. I will be like a shepherd looking for His scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day. I will bring them back home to their own land of Israel from among the peoples and nations. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel and by the rivers and in all the places where people live…I will search for my lost ones who strayed away, and I will bring them safely home again. I will bandage the injured and strengthen the weak…”¹⁰

So we see that God set a standard, and the people who were supposed to meet it failed.
So what does God do?
–He disciplines His people for failing to meet the standard (not in a cruel way, but like a coach making his players run laps for poor sportsmanship. Though, admittedly more extreme).
–God meets the standard Himself. (He cares about His people so deeply, that He would rather meet the standard Himself than let His people suffer under unjust leaders).

So, how does God meet the standard?

Let’s fastforward several hundred years to a place somewhere around Jerusalem.
Jesus, (Who, being the Son of God, is God Himself)¹¹ is talking to His disciples, some bystanders, a dude He healed from blindness, and the religious leaders of the day (human ‘shepherds’ who have been royally screwing the job up).
Jesus is laying out an analogy about sheep and shepherds (seem familiar?)
He says:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices His life for the sheep.”¹²

Now, fast forward a bit more:

There’s an innocent man,
stripped naked, and taunted;
beaten so badly His mom couldn’t recognize Him,
hanging on a cross by thick nails driven into His flesh¹³.

And what does He say?

“When Jesus had tasted it, He said, ‘It is finished!’ Then He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit.”¹⁴

Jesus sacrificing His life for humanity proves that He’s the good shepherd.

But, what does that mean for us?
It means that Jesus is the only One who can truly fulfill the standard of being a Good Shepherd, and the only One who can meet our needs.
For every believer:

-He feeds us (spiritually and physically)¹⁵
-He takes care of us when we’re weak¹⁶
-He tends to us when we’re sick and injured¹⁷
-He searches for, and finds, us when we’re lost¹⁸
-He protects us¹⁹

Sidebar:
The bad shepherds in Ezekiel 34 were bad because they turned away from God and were depending on themselves. They were focused on pride, lust, greed, and status.
There are Christians who are ‘good shepherds’, meaning they represent God well. They’re able to do this because they keep their lives centered on God and constantly depend on Jesus. They ask Jesus, as the ultimate Good Shepherd, “what should I do?” “how do I pray about this?” “What should I say?”
So, not all Christian’s are bad. And just because we’re human doesn’t mean that we can’t, or won’t, represent God well.
There are plenty of Christians who do rep Him well.
Those who don’t, aren’t actually depending on Him.
It comes down to this: God is God, people are people. And when people don’t trust in God to help them represent Him well, they suck.

Now.
To summarize this post.

(Point A) You, or someone you know, may have been hurt by people who misrepresented God.
You, or someone you know, may have experienced painful disappointment. Like, maybe thinking God was going to do something (or not do something), and then getting slapped in the face with the opposite reality.

(Point B) While that pain is real, we need to make a distinction between people and God.
God is God, people are people. And people (who don’t depend on God) suck.
People (including you and I) will never accurately represent God every time.
However just because God is misrepresented doesn’t mean He changes.
(Just bc they didn’t get Flynn Rider’s nose right doesn’t mean his face changed…)²⁰

(Point C) Jesus, fully God (without sin) and fully man (under the calling and responsibilities He gave us) perfectly represented God and fulfilled God’s promise of being a Good Shepherd. So now, not only can we trust HIM to fulfill that role, but Christian’s who depend on Him are able to represent Him well, while ‘shepherding’ others.

(Point D) Jesus will never fail you. He will always provide, protect, tend to you, strengthen you, search for you, find you, love you, and ultimately bring you back to Himself.
HE is trustworthy.
HE succeeded.
HE is Good.

“But, why hasn’t He been a Good Shepherd to me?”

A while ago, I was on the phone with the woman discipling²¹ me, and I told her,
“I don’t feel His comfort.”
I had been grieving my dad a lot, and the Bible says that the Holy Spirit (God’s Spirit, aka God) is our Comforter²².
I was seeking that comfort, but I wasn’t finding it.
She told me something along the lines of,
“Maybe you have to endure not being comforted to experience His nature as a Comforter.”²³

…I was very confused.
Like, what?
How does that work?

But, I realized, when I started acting in faith:
I wasn’t actually looking for God to be my Comforter. I was looking for Him to be my painkiller.

I thought “Comforter” = “Takes the pain so I don’t feel it.”
But it doesn’t.
“Comforter” = “Someone in the midst of the pain.”

If you don’t see how Jesus has been the Good Shepherd in your life, I’d encourage you to change your definitions.
Maybe, you’re looking for the pain to be gone instead of having Jesus despite the pain. Jesus never promises that we won’t have pain.
He does promise to be with us.
And He is with you.

The question is: are you with Him?

A Shepherd can’t shepherd those who aren’t His sheep.

Love ya! See you in the next post 🫡

Footnotes:

1. This is an example of a footnote. I’ll use footnotes to define terms that either have several meanings, or are “Christianese.” I’ll also put Bible references and sources in the footnotes, bc you shouldn’t listen to people who can’t back up their sources. Fact check me! And if you find something incongruent, lmk. Fr.
   Sometimes I also put lil jokes and references in the footnotes. If you don’t get them, I’m sorry you’re missing out on how funny I am. ↩︎
2. Footnote regarding the image…AI generated it, which is cool and everything, but I wanted to clarify that most people in the Bible were not white. Middle Eastern and African were the most common ethnicities. Though, the Roman’s were probably white. ↩︎
3. Revere: Feel deep respect, admiration. The term “Fear of the Lord” is typically used in this context. Reverence is not an evil, terrifying fear, but a deep respect and honor for the holiness of God. Reverence is what motivates Christians to be holy (aka, live by the Word of God). A lack of reverence leads to “Christians” who claim to know Jesus but don’t live that way. Like the bad shepherds in Ezekiel 34 we talk about in this post. ↩︎
4. 1 Corinthians 13:6 ↩︎
5. Psalm 24:3-6 shows us that you the closer you get to God’s presence, the holier you must be. God is the One who makes us holy. He reveals sin (wickedness, aka unholiness) in our lives, He works with us to remove it, and He replaces it with Himself (aka, holiness). This leads us closer to Him. And we rinse and repeat. ↩︎
6. Just to clarify, those callings and responsibilities happen after salvation. They aren’t a means to be saved. They’re like chores assigned to kids in a home. It’s just a by-product of having a relationship with God, and does not earn you salvation. ↩︎
7. John 1:1-34 gives the full context, but see verses: 1,4-9,14-15,26,29-31,34 for a snapshot. ↩︎
8. Righteous just means ‘right’ but specifically in context of God’s standard of what’s right. To be righteous in God’s eyes (having ‘right standing’ as some people put it) means to meet God’s standard of what’s right. We can’t do that alone, it’s only because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross that God sees us as meeting that standard. We’ll talk more about that in a different post, but if you’re interested, read the book of Romans in the New Testament. ↩︎
9. The verse quoted is Ezekiel 34:10, the standard stated above the quote is from Ezekiel 34:2-8, New Living Translation (NLT) ↩︎
10. Quoted Ezekiel 34:11-13 and the first half of verse 16, (NLT). I added the emphasis for a more explicit contrast to show where the human shepherds failed. ↩︎
11. This is because of the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, are all distinct persons and yet One. No, it doesn’t make sense. No, humans can’t make it make sense. This is one of those things that we just gotta except. We except things like that when we do math (1+1=2 because that’s how numbers work), so you’re fully capable of accepting it. Besides, who wants to serve a God who’s small enough for them to understand? Doing that just makes you a fake god. ↩︎
12. John 10:11, (NLT) ↩︎
13. Luke 22:63; Luke 23:13-25, 33,41,47; Isaiah 52:14 are Bible references regarding the statements of Jesus’ condition. The rest is drawn from history, details of which can be found here: https://www.gotquestions.org/crucifixion.html ↩︎
14. John 19:30, (NLT) ↩︎
15. John 4:10 (Living Water), John 6:35 (spiritual Bread), Matthew 6:25-27 (physical provision) ↩︎
16. Matthew 11:28-30, this is a metaphor that applies across our lives. Whether the burden is in our spirits (connection to God), our souls (mind, will, emotions, relationships), or our body (physical things/connection to the world) ↩︎
17. Mark 2:3-12 shows how He heals us of spiritual sickness (the sins that were forgiven) and physical illness (the healing that took place). Mark 2:17 also shows that Jesus came to help those who are sick (in their spirit, soul, and body). ↩︎
18. Luke 15. Whether they’re lost because they wandered, were lost by somebody else, or intentionally ran away. Jesus finds them and welcomes them home. ↩︎
19. There are people and spiritual forces (we’ve been talking about spiritual things this whole post, it’s not a crazy or creepy thing, it’s just a reality that there’s a spiritual dimension), that are actively trying to steal God’s people from Him. John 10:10 shows how Jesus refutes what the agenda of the ‘thief’ and actually provides something better. John 10:11-13,17-18 show how Jesus sacrifices His life to protect the sheep from the “wolf”, and John 10:28-30 show that no enemy, thief, or wolf can steal God’s people from Him. ↩︎
20. If you don’t get that reference, go watch Tangled. ↩︎
21. Discipleship is when a more spiritually mature believer helps a less spiritually mature believer. God loves to work with people, so He often uses believers to guide, pray for, speak to, other believers. A discipleship relationship is where God brings two people into a type of friendship, for the sake of growing them closer to Him. The person I’m talking about is fs more spiritually mature than me, and God has been using her+continues to use her to give me wisdom, love me, and help me grow closer to Him. ↩︎
22. John 14:16. Different translations use different words (Advocate, Encourager, Counselor, Comforter) but Comforter is still an accurate translation and one of the aspects of God’s character as a Good Father. ↩︎
23. This is def not an exact quote, and lowkey, she might remember it differently. So, woman who shall remained unnamed, if you’re reading this specific footnote, and you’re like, “Yo, that’s not what I said”, my b. That’s just how my spirit took it. ↩︎