Needed: Bona Fide Warnings

This past Monday a couple of short articles in a national paper caught my attention.

“Colorado: Durango -- A man who authorities said was drunk when he called 911 to falsely report a plane crash is now responsible for the estimated $30,000 spent responding to the report Thursday. Edward Pretzer, 59, was arrested on suspicion of false reporting.”

“Missouri: St. Louis -- Firefighters suspect a blaze that killed three young siblings Saturday started in the apartment’s kitchen. Fire. Capt. Rich Hilligardt said smoke detectors in the north St. Louis County apartment contained dead batteries.”

In the one incident a false warning resulted in a huge financial cost. In the other, no warning at all (dead batteries) led to loss of life. How sad that tragedy often occurs when warning systems aren’t implemented properly.

The Bible speaks about such -- spiritually speaking, that is. It involves the worst tragedy of all.

First, there are those who do not warn God’s people of danger. They will not warn of a spiritual menace that in encroaching. They will not rebuke an individual or a church when a sin has already pervaded. They are like those dead smoke alarm batteries, of no good use whatsoever.

The Scriptures compare such men to “silent dogs” who “cannot bark” when trouble lurks, dogs who are always “dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber” (Isaiah 56:10, ESV). What good are watchdogs who don’t bark?!

Warning about sin and/or those things that would lead to sin is one of the duties of both pastors and evangelists (Titus 1:9-11; 1 Timothy 4:1-6). If we are a child of God we ought to appreciate such a responsibility and encourage the fulfillment of it. Beloved, we don’t want a smoke alarm that won’t detect a fire; and we don’t want watchmen who won’t identify sin and alert us about it.

But there is another group of men who can also prove costly to God’s people, those who ‘falsely report’ trouble when there is none. And the Bible speaks of them. “Woe to those who call… good evil” (Isaiah 5:20).

The prime illustration of this in the Bible is that of the 1st century Pharisees. On one occasion Jesus’ disciples were eating grain while going through a field on the Jewish Sabbath. This was a good thing. But to the Pharisees it was evil (“not lawful”, Matthew 12:1-2). Later, Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath, calling it “good.” But the Pharisees saw it as a reason to “destroy Him” (12:9-14). To them it was evil.

Calling something a “sin” that isn’t can prove costly. Though it didn’t Jesus and His apostles, it has many times kept godly people from doing good deeds. It also often causes division, as there will be those who know better and refuse to bow to man-made dictates. Too, there is the principle of ‘crying wolf’ (or to borrow the previous illustration, a dog who barks at anything). A church that has had to deal with watchmen that have unnecessarily cried ‘danger’ too many times will probably not be as quick to act as they ought when a real threat appears.

What is needed? Needed are men who know the Scriptures (or who are training to know them) well enough “to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14, ESV), and who can warn (or not warn) accordingly. Needed are vigilant and courageous men who can eye sin and error and will warn us about it (Ezekiel 33:7-9).


--Mike Noble