“WOE TO THOSE WHO CALL EVIL GOOD AND GOOD EVIL”

Isaiah 5:20

This Old Testament judgment was one of seven woes proclaimed against the nation of Israel for breaking God’s law and despising the word of “The Holy One of Israel”.  They were in rebellion, chapter 1:2, and because of it their sacrifices were futile and an abomination.  Moreover, there were those who called this evil good and the ways of God evil.

In so doing they were forerunners of the New Testament Scribes and Pharisees, Matthew 23, religious leaders of the nation against whom the Holy One of Israel pronounced eight woes on account of unscriptural practices.

These leaders also set aside divine instruction in favour of their own doctrines, Mark 7:6-9, humanly devised precepts that caused God’s people to stray from the divine pattern communicated through Moses.  Evil called good.

Sadly, the flesh, the will of man rather than the will of God, has consistently intruded into the house of God in all ages of divine testimony, including the present age of grace.  Some Christian leaders today seem all too ready to set aside the divine pattern – in this age communicated through Paul – in favour of their own ideas, thus leading the flock astray.  Good called evil.

Its dire effects have been observed throughout the Christian era and many have suffered for taking a stand against such ungodly conduct.  To regard this spiritual evil as good infers that scriptural principles are evil!  It is one thing to be guilty of gross disobedience due to ignorance, quite another to do these things knowingly.

In our own times, in one location, local church leadership ignored scriptural witness relating to City Missions (see article ‘The Activity of Spiritual Evil’) and to indiscriminate receiving to the Breaking of Bread, sometimes referred to as “the open table”.  These errors were then compounded by proscribing any further teaching on the relevant scriptures, I Thess.5:19.  Inevitably, the assembly suffered as a result of the Mission influence and the free-and-easy reception policy.  Evil called good.

In a further example, leadership failure has been observed regarding the Lord’s humanity (see article ‘The True Manhood of Christ’) and the spiritual nature of The Faith. In both cases there was denial of these fundamental truths.  Good called evil.  On this occasion the leaders compounded their error with conduct more typical of the unregenerate (see article ‘Aggression in the Christian Sphere’).  All this in an assembly considered by some a model New Testament church.

These things ought not to be.