I sometimes get a nasty letter or email from someone who has seen part of one episode of one of my TV shows (if you don’t watch me on TV, you should, go to www.tree.church/tv and find out when we are on near you) and let me tell you, I never even think about that accusation for a second because there is no proximity between me and the accuser. It is easy to dismiss that accuser because they are ignorant of what I do and why I do it.
Satan is aware of this principle that proximity makes accusations more powerful and more hurtful. He would much rather accuse you through a member of the church than someone outside of the church. He would much rather use someone on your team to accuse you. He would much rather accuse you through someone you thought was a good and godly friend who had your back.
When satan wanted to raise his hand up against Jesus, He did not choose some random villager or someone who was healed in one meeting and never went to another meeting. No – that is not what happened. What happened was spoken of in the Psalms:
Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me (Psalm 41.9)
That’s satan’s favourite kind of accuser to use. If someone close to you lets down their guard and forgets to walk with the Lord and keep their heart pure and free from offense, and starts accusing you, then satan knows that increased proximity will make the accusation so much more powerful and hurtful.
Another aspect to this is that the closer someone is to you – the more credible other people think the accusation is. People would have listened to Judas’ negative and hate-filled and satanic inspired rhetoric because they would reason that as a disciple of Jesus who walked closely with Jesus, he would know the real truth! When someone who is very close to a pastor or leader starts accusing them, many in the church can be deceived!
To protect yourself from that, you need to stay away from accusing voices. In Africa there is a proverb that says if a fish tells you that there is a crocodile in the water, you should believe the fish – because fish know the water. Imagine that a pastor gives someone credibility and then that person uses their credibility to make accusations!
What does this mean for us? All of us who are close to a pastor – elders, friends, associate pastors, husbands, wives, childrens, siblings – you need to know you are on satan’s hitlist. He wants to drive you into offense so you end up being an accuser with proximity. If God has given you the honour of that position, make sure you submit to God and resist the devil. Make sure to treat your honoured position with honour. Make sure to work extra hard to keep your heart pure and clean and walk in faith and unity.
The word needs more comforters and less accusers. Make sure you are in the right camp!