A Matter of Question, revisited

If you remember a few weeks ago, I brought up some questions raised by a Twitter post by a pastor (I guess, never saw any credentials) which had a statement that COULD be taken as "Biblically, we have no right to protest the government".  I responded just to that, and the pastor came back with a verbose three-or-four comment reply.  I had no problem with that, except at the end when I got sideways accused of twisting his words (never mind that I POSTED his words).  However, in the course of his responses, he came up with something else I disagreed with.  I wish he would have replied to my questioning him on the point, but apparently he only wanted his 'open discussion' in the hit and run realm of Twitter, and not here where we might debate.  Since he didn't, I let the one thing bug me for lo these eight days, until after a prayer session, I asked God to lead me to guidance on it.  So here is what he said that I disagree with, in surrounding context, with the point du jure highlighted for my emphasis:

The problem we have been taught wrongly what repentance actually is. It is not a work that a person performs to become saved it is the WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT the Holy Spirit pricks the soul of the person inspiring repentance and a change of mind and heart towards those called by Christ. We as Christians should not quench the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is shy and when our actions produce wrath ("Table Flipping Ministry") we limit the Holy Spirit in his work. We are becoming the stumbling block because we think we know best and in our pride we prevent the Holy Spirit from convicting of sin.


Now, if you are intrigued by my response to him at the time, here is the post in question, and you can observe what fun the comments were.   All I want to confront is those four bold case words:

The Holy Spirit is shy


Let me just say that I don't disagree with 95% of what he said around it, depending on how you want to take "table flipping ministry".  And in my original response, I told him, "perhaps shy wasn't the word you were looking for, I don't know."  But let's be fair and look up the word, shy:

Definition of shy (Entry 1 of 5)
1: easily frightened : TIMID
2: disposed to avoid a person or thing
publicity shy
3: hesitant in committing oneself : CIRCUMSPECT
4: sensitively diffident or retiring : RESERVED
also : expressive of such a state or nature
a shy smile
5: SECLUDED, HIDDEN

(Merriam-Webster)

Now, let me show you the passage God led me to:  Micah chapter three.

Mic 3:1  And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice?-- 
Mic 3:2  you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin from off my people and their flesh from off their bones, 
Mic 3:3  who eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones in pieces and chop them up like meat in a pot, like flesh in a cauldron. 
Mic 3:4  Then they will cry to the LORD, but he will not answer them; he will hide his face from them at that time, because they have made their deeds evil. 
Mic 3:5  Thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who cry "Peace" when they have something to eat, but declare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths. 
Mic 3:6  Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision, and darkness to you, without divination. The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be black over them; 
Mic 3:7  the seers shall be disgraced, and the diviners put to shame; they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God. 
Mic 3:8  But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. 
Mic 3:9  Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who detest justice and make crooked all that is straight, 
Mic 3:10  who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. 
Mic 3:11  Its heads give judgment for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money; yet they lean on the LORD and say, "Is not the LORD in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us." 
Mic 3:12  Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height. 


Did you happen to catch those definitions anywhere in that speech?  I didn't think so.


I think what the good pastor was angling for was, we have to be careful in confrontational situations to not let our anger drift from 'righteous' to 'wrathful'.  The Spirit can lead us in righteous anger, as He led Jesus in His 'table flipping ministry'.  But, as humans, we can 'snatch the steering wheel away' in stressful moments.  At that point, He may well 'prick the soul', if we are well practiced in His warnings, or He might just step back and let you crash the car if you won't.

But shy?  This was the second time the good pastor gave a wrong impression.  In the original article, I made it clear that not having talked to him, it was only the impression that I got from the way it was worded that he held a position against protesting.  However, his responses did nothing but increase that perception.  So maybe he does have a "shy Holy Spirit", and that is why he questions whether a person can act in Spirit-fueled righteous anger or not.  But God showed me last night that a "shy" Holy Spirit is not a reality.