Someone wrote a comment on YouTube that I'll respond to here for higher visibility.
Comment:
There has been a discussion of this over on LDSFF. Most consider it that you have now gone over to priestcraft or are now on the path of Denver Snuffer setting up a splinter ministry. I feel you are accomplishing good work and I don't see what you are doing as being about you. I'm not interested in becoming a follower of Rob Smith, BUT I am interested in becoming a better follower of Jesus Christ, and you have helped me do that. Thank you.
Response:
If there is a person who finds that something I do helps them better understand or live like Jesus, then great. I do not see value in anyone paying attention to anything I do outside of that.
However, most Christians do not live so as to maximize what they know about Jesus and how much they live as he would in their place. Many people, including at least some on LDSFF, would rather spend massive amounts of time gabbing about things that in no way change the fidelity of their lives to the example of Jesus than to make the slightest change to increase it. Look at any church I know of for a great example.
The only honest response to an apparent contradiction against the backdrop of great good is to dig deeper. Weak, corrupt, and/or evil people will always seize on any opportunity to oversimplify something to the point where it is easy to dismiss it without requisite reasons. One who cannot define priestcraft beyond “money plus preaching” has no business judging another. They would condemn Jesus and his apostles—whose ministry was funded by others—as well as other lesser known or lesser regarded servants of God. Obviously there is more to this than simply “money plus preaching = evil.” As for setting up a church: Those who might say this have not defined the words they are using nor back-tested their definitions against holy people past. In order to say this truthfully of me, one would have to use a definition that would make it a thing that is very different than other things it is used for. If I am setting up a church, every person should do the same.
As for a “splinter” group: I don’t know what I would be splintering from. I began believing in God when God told me he existed. I have always used anything I can find to try to draw nearer to him, but I have never knowingly supplanted him as my purpose or supreme source. Everything I’ve ever taught has been my own lived and sincere belief, not an unengaged parroting of someone else’s belief. I understand that not all are like that, but I don’t know why anyone would think anything different of me. I teach what I sincerely believe is true, and the source of whatever authority I have is the overlap between what I share and how God actually is. I understand that not all are like that, because they claim their authority comes from something else, but I don’t know why anyone would think this of me. I understand that most people out there are merely sharing their opinions and are just another voice. I don’t know why anyone would think this of me. People would do well to become better than to assume that everything must be exactly what they have experienced before, especially when it is obviously not the same.