Are We Contentious?

by Pastor Emanuel Rodriguez

2024 RVG Bible Conference in Cajamarca, Peru

We live in a new day and time when people, including preachers, have become so soft that if anyone offers a strong opinion about anything they are seen as contentious.  Passion nowadays is misrepresented as a bad spirit.  Righteous indignation is seen as a bad attitude.  A zealous and courageous stand is seen as pride and arrogance.

It reminds me of the time when David’s older brother Eliab accused David of pride and a bad heart.

1 Samuel 17:28  “And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.”

Yet the truth is that David was not being prideful at all.  Notice how his zeal and courage was misrepresented as naughtiness of heart; a bad motive.  Eliab’s accusation and misjudgement of David was the response of a coward.  Eliab was a trained soldier in Israel’s army.  Why didn’t he accept Goliath’s challenge and defend Israel?  Yet here comes a young man full of zeal and valor and instead of supporting his courageous brother he criticizes him.  Be careful with those who refuse to take a stand yet have no problem standing against those who do. 

What was Eliab’s problem?  Envy.  David’s valor put Eliab to shame.  The sad thing is that it didn’t have to be this way.  Instead of maligning his brother he should have supported David.  David was his brother.  Where was the brotherly love?  Envy is horrible because it will cause you to turn against the ones you should be supporting.

The RVG Bible Society has become the #1 leader when it comes to helpful information on the Spanish Bible.  I say this simply due to the amount of information we have made available. We give God the glory for this!  Motivated by a sincere but fervent passion for the purity of the word of God, we have worked very hard to provide the Spanish-speaking world with good information.  We have worked very hard to put in the time, do the homework, and educate folks on very important topics concerning God’s word.  Our website currently has over 200 articles touching on every angle you can think of on the subjects of the purity and preservation of God’s words.  (There is more on the way.) There is not another source online that provides more free resources and materials as we do to educate folks at www.sociedadrvg.com.  We worked very hard to accomplish this and we continue to do so with many projects on the horizon.

We are also working hard to make the RVG more available around the world.  We are collaborating with distributors in 16 different countries.  This is a great challenge but we are working on it.  Every day we make a little more progress.

We are excited to see what all God is doing with the RVG Bible.  You would think that all of our Fundamentalist brethren would likewise be just as excited, yet many are not.  Rather than cheering on the valiant Davids who have stepped up to take on Goliath, they have chosen to be critical Eliabs instead.

How did David respond to the criticism of his envious brother?  His response was, “Is there not a cause”?  David’s cause was righteous.  There was a war going on.  Why wasn’t Eliab the soldier more stirred up about the blasphemous giant who was threatening to enslave Israel?  Instead, he was more upset with his sincere brother than he was the real enemy. 

Likewise there has been a war going on against God’s word ever since the serpent questioned it in the Garden of Eden.  That subtle serpent continues to work hard to corrupt and destroy God’s word.

The RVG Bible Society is not your enemy.  The Devil is!  The Critical Text is!  The heretics that mutilated copies of the Scriptures as far back as the 2nd century were the real enemies.  And those that continue to support this early corruption through their promotion today of the Critical Texts should be the ones opposed.

The RVG Bible Society is dedicated to stand for the purity of God’s word.  We expect opposition from those of the opposing viewpoint; the Critical Text crowd.  What’s sad is to see Fundamentalist brethren who ought to be united with us in defense and propagation of the pure words of God.  Yet these are some of our loudest critics!  They have been misled with the spirit of Eliab.

Why did Eliab criticize David like he did?  To appease his cowardly conscience.  He wanted to silence David.  The Eliabs of the world think that if they can silence David it will appease their consciences and save them from being seen as cowards.  Just as misery loves company, Eliabs want David to be just as silent as them.  So long as there are no Davids standing up to Goliath they feel justified in their refusal to step up to the challenge.

We at the RVG Bible Society have resolved in our hearts to never again remain silent for the truth.  We tried that approach already and we found out that it doesn’t work.  The critics want us to be silent so that they can control the narrative.  Never again.  We are going to continue to speak up, louder than ever before. 

God knows our hearts.  David wasn’t perfect.  We aren’t perfect either.  We really do love God’s words, however, just as flawed David really was a man after God’s own heart.  We will not apologize of our passion for God’s word.

May we be clothed with humility, constant in prayer, and our speech seasoned with grace.  However, speaking up, presenting facts, providing information, and even exposing error is not having a contentious spirit.  This is what EVERY effective man of God has always done.

When a preacher is more upset about your tone or your audacity to expose error and tell the truth than they are the errors and the ones propagating misinformation, you’re dealing with an Eliab.

David was too filled with the zeal of God to be silenced.  You know the rest of the story.  David was not deterred and went on to win one of the most legendary victories of all time for the glory of God.  David went on to win more great victories and inspire more giant slayers.  That’s what champions do.  Cowards inspire no one. 

On the other hand, you never hear of Eliab ever again.  The Eliabs of the world will all become irrelevant.

Dear friends who love the RVG, do not allow Eliab to silence you.  Do not let Eliab discourage you.  Do not let Eliab convince you that you’re doing anything wrong for taking a bold stand for the purity of God’s word.  You are not being contentious.  We are earnestly contending for the faith.  There is a difference.