Mark 9:38
“Now John answered Him, saying, ’Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.”
I know we don’t like to admit it, but this verse is a mirror of how the body of Christ behaves today. Notice John said that they rebuked the man because he didn’t follow “them” not because he didn’t follow Jesus! Isn’t exactly how some in the body of Christ get on to others because the others belong to a different church body or worse- a different denomination. The disciples were not thankful that the name of Jesus worked period, or that demons were going out and people were set free, nope they just wanted the entire church membership to be with them. Of course Jesus then rebuked the disciples and told them either people gather with Him or scatter from Him and that if someone is using His name to do the works of God then he is a gatherer. It is absolutely amazing to me that not only the disciples were subject to this type of pious spirit, but we today certainly are. Far be it from us beloved to rebuke someone for using the name of Jesus and helping people just because they aren’t members of our church or denominations. They are part of the body of Christ and that’s that!
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