Nothing does more damage to the Gospel of Jesus Christ than when His leaders compromise their integrity. The church can sustain great blows from her adversary the devil (1 Peter:5:8Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.), if in those attacks she can discover great riches and deep purposes that propel her forward. There is something mystically unifying when a body of believers recognizes the hand of Satan in a situation. The healthy church body binds tightly together in warfare and moves to rectify whatever must be rectified.

One the other hand, when the leadership of a local assembly rejects the commands of Christ and the safeguards that exist for both them and their church, it is very difficult for a local church to recover from the damage.  The foundation of truth that girds the local assembly begins to shake violently whenever a leader or teacher compromises themselves and what they have supposedly stood for. 

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