By Their Fruits Shall You Know Them

If that tree in the yard produces apples, it is safe to call it an apple tree. There is a popular song that goes "and they'll know we are Christians by our love...". Perhaps Christ foresaw that Constantine would make Christianity the official religion of the empire? Perhaps he could envision the Church becoming financially and politically powerful. Whenever that happens in a human institution the potential for corruption exists. It doesn't matter what they say from the pulpit (although God still works through His Word, even when uttered by a sinful human). When choosing your friends, the people you can trust, you need to look more at the "fruits" they produce and less at the words they spout. Are the acts that they have performed loving acts? It is not up to us to judge their souls. We can get an insight into their reliability by witnessing whether their acts are loving.

An example from my own experience: The difference between the first and second Headmaster at Cistercian. The first, Damian, looked for the spark of intellect within each of the students, praised it, challenged it, fanned it as much as he could. He coined the motto "enkindle and enlighten", and that was precisely what he did. In spite of being in charge of the entire first ski camp (30 or so 4th and 5th graders for a week of skiing), he stayed up with me all night when I broke my leg, carrying me to the toilet, and comforting me in my suffering. He still had to run the camp the rest of the week. Then came the second, who dug up dirt on every one who may have been an obstacle to his grab for power. I witnessed his public abuse of some of the finest human beings I have ever known. The damage that he did was unnecessary and unloving. He did it to gain power without thought of the bodies he left in his wake.

Try to find people who have a track record of choosing good. You will know they are Godly by their love.