Suppose a leader is not a false teacher or prophet, but that leader allows a false teacher/teachings/prophet to grace God's holy pulpit and speak to the flock that God has put into their care. In that case, that leader not only falls under the same "woes" Jesus gave in Matthew 23 but puts themselves as one of the many false prophets Jesus spoke about in Matthew 24:11. They are complicit in and of that false leader's teachings and will be held accountable for the parish that perishes; the flock led astray by that leader's false ideology. Recommendation of or giving any stamp of approval to a jack-leg carpenter (a false teacher) makes one just as responsible for spreading their unscrupulousness, making the one who gave their support to and recommendation just as liable for the displacement of those who follow that leader (Jeremiah 23:1).
We have got to stop viewing false teachers/false teaching as mere differences of opinions of scriptural interpretation/exegesis, when in fact, it is the distortion of God’s word for the willful misuse, exploitation, and destruction of God’s creation by greedy, self-centered, narcissist men and women, who seek to steal, kill, deceive and destroy. They are those who emulate their father, the Devil (John 8:44, John 10:10).
One cannot wash their hands nor dissolve themselves from being culpable of the souls effectively damaged by a dilapidating, poorly built house they helped construct and take no responsibility for it just because they don't live there. One of the misconceptions and the reason why the Church has this easy accessibility to false teachers, in my opinion, is that it has so long existed in segregated entities; we have for so long viewed and accepted the Church through the lenses of denominations and have normalized this colonial construct of dividing that which is one into many sections making it easy for conquest and subjugation. This was not the divide during the time of the Apostles, where leaders like Paul and Peter considered themselves pastors of all churches and could freely dispatch leaders to churches across the globe with no discrimination. Or at least a division that the Apostles warned about and put great efforts in trying to avoid. Paul came against such divisiveness when he said:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. ~ Galatians 3:28
And why he said in 1 Corinthians 12:20-27:
"As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." ~Paul
This colonial construct and mindset of the Church has sliced the Church into many pieces, so much so that the one body that consists of many parts no longer functions as God intended (1 Corinthians 12:12-27).
And so to be called to the pastorate or leadership doesn't just make one a pastor of one's own little island (one's own church); instead, it is a call and responsibility to the universal Church of God to expose and thrust out these false prophets and there ideologies and exploitive ways. The colonial construct of denomination makes the Church a perfect breeding ground for these false teachers and their teachings. Especially in these times when leadership and the camaraderie of leadership are based on personality rather than on the power of God. The church has existed for so long in this denominational construct, and like colonialism, many have profited from these denominational barriers. Attempting to remove them would tear down this variant of the Church; it would completely overhaul this rapacious religious establishment, a demolition long needed for fundamental reconstruction of the Church. And why Paul said what he said in his defense of the faith to the church in Corinth:
By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am "timid" when face to face with you, but "bold" toward you when away! I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete. ~2 Corinthians 10:1-6
And so it is imperative that the Church, in these last days and uncertain times, put itself back into the hands of the Master Builder (Matthew 16:18) and return to where the builder of the house receives all glory and praise than the house (Institutional Church and leaders) itself (Hebrews 3:3). Then the on wouldn't have to ask the question "Where is the Church?"
There is no reconstruction without demolition.
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