diff --git a/pkg/operator/render/options/config.go b/pkg/operator/render/options/config.go
index 0d840a2b8f..2f016f5b5e 100644
--- a/pkg/operator/render/options/config.go
+++ b/pkg/operator/render/options/config.go
@@ -1,7 +1,16 @@
 package options
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
+
+	apierrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
+
+	utilerrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/errors"
+
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/meta"
+
 	"github.com/openshift/library-go/pkg/operator/resource/resourceread"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/equality"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/schema"
 	"k8s.io/klog/v2"
@@ -57,29 +66,148 @@ type TemplateData struct {
 	FileConfig
 }
 
-func (c RenderedManifests) ListManifestOfType(gvk schema.GroupVersionKind) []RenderedManifest {
+func (renderedManifests RenderedManifests) ListManifestOfType(gvk schema.GroupVersionKind) []RenderedManifest {
 	ret := []RenderedManifest{}
-	for i := range c {
-		obj, err := c[i].GetDecodedObj()
+	for i := range renderedManifests {
+		obj, err := renderedManifests[i].GetDecodedObj()
 		if err != nil {
-			klog.Warningf("failure to read %q: %v", c[i].OriginalFilename, err)
+			klog.Warningf("failure to read %q: %v", renderedManifests[i].OriginalFilename, err)
 			continue
 		}
 		if obj.GetObjectKind().GroupVersionKind() == gvk {
-			ret = append(ret, c[i])
+			ret = append(ret, renderedManifests[i])
 		}
 	}
 
 	return ret
 }
 
+func (renderedManifests RenderedManifests) GetManifest(gvk schema.GroupVersionKind, namespace, name string) (RenderedManifest, error) {
+	for i := range renderedManifests {
+		obj, err := renderedManifests[i].GetDecodedObj()
+		if err != nil {
+			klog.Warningf("failure to read %q: %v", renderedManifests[i].OriginalFilename, err)
+			continue
+		}
+		if obj.GetObjectKind().GroupVersionKind() != gvk {
+			continue
+		}
+		objMetadata, err := meta.Accessor(obj)
+		if err != nil {
+			klog.Warningf("failure to read metadata %q: %v", renderedManifests[i].OriginalFilename, err)
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// since validation requires that all of these are the same, it doesn't matterwhich one we return
+		if objMetadata.GetName() == name && objMetadata.GetNamespace() == namespace {
+			return renderedManifests[i], nil
+		}
+	}
+
+	return RenderedManifest{}, apierrors.NewNotFound(
+		schema.GroupResource{
+			Group:    gvk.Group,
+			Resource: gvk.Kind,
+		},
+		name)
+}
+
+func (renderedManifests RenderedManifests) GetObject(gvk schema.GroupVersionKind, namespace, name string) (runtime.Object, error) {
+	manifest, err := renderedManifests.GetManifest(gvk, namespace, name)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return manifest.decodedObj, nil
+}
+
+func (renderedManifests RenderedManifests) ValidateManifestPredictability() error {
+	errs := []error{}
+	decodeErrorsObserved := map[int]bool{}
+	metadataErrorsObserved := map[int]bool{}
+
+	type compareTuple struct {
+		i, j int
+	}
+	compareTuplesErrorsObserved := map[compareTuple]bool{}
+
+	for i := range renderedManifests {
+		lhs := renderedManifests[i]
+		lhsObj, err := lhs.GetDecodedObj()
+		if err != nil {
+			if !decodeErrorsObserved[i] {
+				errs = append(errs, err)
+				decodeErrorsObserved[i] = true
+			}
+			continue
+		}
+		lhsMetadata, err := meta.Accessor(lhsObj)
+		if err != nil {
+			if !metadataErrorsObserved[i] {
+				errs = append(errs, fmt.Errorf("unable to read metadata for %q: %w", lhs.OriginalFilename, err))
+				metadataErrorsObserved[i] = true
+			}
+			continue
+		}
+
+		for j := range renderedManifests {
+			if i == j {
+				continue
+			}
+			rhs := renderedManifests[j]
+			rhsObj, err := rhs.GetDecodedObj()
+			if err != nil {
+				if !decodeErrorsObserved[j] {
+					errs = append(errs, err)
+					decodeErrorsObserved[j] = true
+				}
+				continue
+			}
+			rhsMetadata, err := meta.Accessor(rhsObj)
+			if err != nil {
+				if !metadataErrorsObserved[j] {
+					errs = append(errs, fmt.Errorf("unable to read metadata for %q: %w", rhs.OriginalFilename, err))
+					metadataErrorsObserved[j] = true
+				}
+				continue
+			}
+			if lhsObj.GetObjectKind().GroupVersionKind().GroupKind() != rhsObj.GetObjectKind().GroupVersionKind().GroupKind() {
+				continue
+			}
+			if lhsMetadata.GetName() != rhsMetadata.GetName() {
+				continue
+			}
+			if lhsMetadata.GetNamespace() != rhsMetadata.GetNamespace() {
+				continue
+			}
+
+			if !equality.Semantic.DeepEqual(lhsObj, rhsObj) {
+				if !compareTuplesErrorsObserved[compareTuple{i, j}] {
+					errs = append(errs,
+						fmt.Errorf("%q and %q both set %v.%v/%v in ns/%v, but have different values",
+							lhs.OriginalFilename,
+							rhs.OriginalFilename,
+							lhsObj.GetObjectKind().GroupVersionKind().Kind,
+							lhsObj.GetObjectKind().GroupVersionKind().Group,
+							lhsMetadata.GetName(),
+							lhsMetadata.GetNamespace(),
+						))
+					compareTuplesErrorsObserved[compareTuple{i, j}] = true
+					compareTuplesErrorsObserved[compareTuple{j, i}] = true
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	return utilerrors.NewAggregate(errs)
+}
+
 func (c *RenderedManifest) GetDecodedObj() (runtime.Object, error) {
 	if c.decodedObj != nil {
 		return c.decodedObj, nil
 	}
 	obj, err := resourceread.ReadGenericWithUnstructured(c.Content)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to decode %q: %w", c.OriginalFilename, err)
 	}
 	c.decodedObj = obj
 
diff --git a/pkg/operator/render/options/generic.go b/pkg/operator/render/options/generic.go
index d9e16538ce..c0efaea8c6 100644
--- a/pkg/operator/render/options/generic.go
+++ b/pkg/operator/render/options/generic.go
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
-	"os"
 	"text/template"
 
 	"github.com/ghodss/yaml"
@@ -90,10 +89,11 @@ func (o *GenericOptions) Validate() error {
 		return errors.New("missing required flag: --config-output-file")
 	}
 
-	for _, filename := range o.RenderedManifestInputFilenames {
-		_, err := os.Stat(filename)
-		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("--rendered-manifest-files, value %q could not be read: %v", filename, err)
+	if renderedManifests, err := o.ReadInputManifests(); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("--rendered-manifest-files, could not be read: %v", err)
+	} else {
+		if err := renderedManifests.ValidateManifestPredictability(); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("--rendered-manifest-files, are not consistent so results would be unpredictable depending on apply order: %v", err)
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ func (o *GenericOptions) Validate() error {
 	default:
 		return fmt.Errorf("invalid feature-set specified: %q", o.FeatureSet)
 	}
+
 	return nil
 }