Must Christians Repent for Other Peoples Sins?

By Patricia Backora Dispensational errors happen when Scripture is misapplied. Scriptures which God specifically directed to ancient Israel have been transplanted to the Church, including warnings of impending doom addressed to Israel AS A NA I!N. So long as they didn"t drift into idolatry, God"s ancient Chosen #eople saw themselves as being one people united around the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac and $acob. he Nation of Israel was conscious of the fact that e%cept for the &strangers' living among them, they all shared a common ancestry and hence, they were all part of the same big family. (ut do we have the same spiritually intimate, &e%tended family' relationship with our own secular nation as ancient Israelites had with their own nation) In I Corinthians *+,*-. #aul spea/s of the $ewish nation as being bapti0ed unto 1oses in the cloud and in the sea. hey dran/ of Christ, that spiritual 2oc/ 3typified by the water which gushed forth when 1oses spo/e to a literal roc/ in the wilderness4. Israel was to the !ld estament what the Church is to the New estament. hat entire nation was rec/oned as God5s congregation 36%odus *7,*89 *.,8-*+9 *:,*4. he Church is called the (ody of Christ 32om.*7,;4. his concept is taught time after time in the epistles of #aul. $ust as the $ews were &bapti0ed' unto 1oses by passing through the 2ed Sea at the 6%odus, so God"s people are bapti0ed into Christ by the Spirit of God 3I Cor.*+,*-79 *7,*<4. ime and again the $ews are admonished to mourn and weep in repentance for the sins of their nation. 6ven though Daniel was a very righteous man 3God indicates he was an e%ceptionally righteous man in 60e/iel *=,*= and 7+4, still Daniel mourns and weeps in Daniel chapter 8 over the sins of his own people, a nation chosen by God to be >is own special treasure 36%odus *8,;-.4. Daniel laments over the destruction of far-away $erusalem, God"s >oly City. (ut Daniel doesn5t repent for the sins of (abylon, the idolatrous nation in which he finds himself a captive. 6ven when the $ews were scattered in heathen lands God saw them as !N6 people whom >e had chosen for >imself. his is totally unli/e your typical modern-day secular nation which tends to be a vast salad bowl of dis?ointed entities who generally have nothing to do with each other unless they wor/ with each other or are somebody"s friend or

blood relative. Citi0ens of modern nation-states hold many diverse religious beliefs. 1any believe in no god at all. In the New estament, Israel is cited as being analogous to the (ody of Christ, as being one people God has chosen and called out from among the heathen. @e are the emple of the Aiving God. @e are a royal priesthood and a holy nation 37 Cor. .,*=-*B9 I #eter 7,8-*+4. God5s New Covenant holy nation is not an earthly territory li/e America, (ritain, Crance, etc., although it includes individuals from those countries who have been reconciled to God through Christ. @e are a nation whose true citi0enship is in heaven 3>eb. **,*.9 #hil. <,7+4. @e are to be IN the world, but not !C it 3$ohn *:,*=,*.9 7 Cor..,*:4. As believing Gentiles who have N! spiritual connection with our secular society, we do not share the guilt of the sinners around us who re?ect Christ and commit outrageous acts of sin against >im. All Israelites considered themselves part of the same erring nation, whether they had personally committed certain sins or not. 6ven if individual Israelites did N! commit adultery or idolatry, they felt that when God ?udged their nation for such sins, there was a collective GDIA (E ASS!CIA I!N which obligated them to confess and repent of these sins as though they themselves were personally guilty of them. 1uch in the same way that the father of a family will apologi0e to the community for vandalism his teenage son has committed, because his son"s sins reflect on him. Ai/e it or not, other people"s sins can rub off on us if we feel that we"re one heart and one soul with them, and even of one purpose with them. hat could be one reason why #aul disapproved of believers marrying unbelievers. 6stablishing a soul-tie with another person causes you to be much more affected by what the other person believes or does. Ananias and Sapphira both died for committing the same secret sin. #erhaps it was Ananias" idea, but his wife was in on it too 3Acts ;,*-**4. In 7 Corinthians .,*= #aul says, (e not uneFually yo/ed together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness) And what communion hath light with dar/ness) @e who believe are called GrighteousnessG and GlightG. In 1atthew ;,*= $esus says GEe are the light of the worldG. @e have the Aight within us but Christ also CAAA6D DS lightH #hilippians 7,*; also refers to believers as being lights which shine in this world. (y contrast, unbelievers are referred to as dar/ness. @hile we must live side by side with sinners until $esus comes, we are no longer part of a sinful, Christ-denying world presided over by satan.

@hen sin or any other disorder affects one part of the (ody, AAA the members suffer with it 3I Cor. *7,7.4. >ave you ever been able to get a sound sleep if your head is pounding with pain) he nation of Israel was a close-/nit C!11DNI E of believers in the one true God. 6%cept for Gentile believers li/e 2uth and 2ahab, who became part of God"s !ld Covenant people 3$oshua .,7;9 2uth *,*.4, all Israelites were descended from the same patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and $acob. #eople entered into the Nation of Israel through natural birth or, in the case of males, through physical circumcision. oday people enter into God"s spiritual >oly Nation, the (ody of Christ, through spiritual birth and by spiritual circumcision, or the putting off of the sins of the flesh 3Colossians 7,**4. In ancient Israel the secular society and the congregation of the Aord were one. Dnder the New Covenant, the secular society and the Congregation of true believers in Christ are separate. Israel was a theocracy presided over by God. he nations of this world are presently under the dominion of satan 37 Cor. =,=9 Gal. *,=9 6ph. .,*74. So what dispensational error am I focusing on) he religious lie that since we were not saved through our own human merit, we are ?ust as bad as unbelievers and should repent of the perversions of wic/ed society as if we5d committed them ourselvesH Christians are often admonished that when their land is full of sin and perversion, it is they who are primarily responsible to mourn and weep in repentance over that sin, rather than the sinner. o the e%tent that believers have failed to be salt and light in the earth, Christians share in the blame. (ut free will remains, with nations as with individuals. Christians should ta/e every opportunity to spea/ out in defense of righteousness. hey should denounce the wic/edness in their midst, even while remaining in this world but not being of it. God draws a clear distinction between those who love sin in society and those who are saddened by it 360e/.8,=-.4. God deals differently with both groups. If perversions have been legali0ed because Christians didn5t bother to go out and vote against them, then those Christians do need to repent of their SIN !C N6GAIG6NC6 which contributed to moral corruption in their community. If Christians persuaded a sinner by word or e%ample to fall into sin or failed to warn him to turn from his wic/ed way, they share in his blame. (ut the true Christian does not visit prostitutes, rob A 1 machines, push drugs and porn, engage in lewd acts, etc. >e is not liable in the sight of God for those filthy abominations which corrupt modern society, and so long as he does not commit them, he will not be held accountable for them by God.

he faithful believer should cry out unto God to save those who do such things, but why should he himself repent of them) Did God command righteous Noah to repent on behalf of those who perished outside the Ar/) Did Noah feel guilty because he was safely sheltered inside the Ar/ and sinners were outside (E >6I2 !@N C>!IC6, drowning in their own unbelief and rebellion against God) It is the enemy of God who commits terrible abominations and refuses to repent of them, not God5s own dear children. 6ach individual man, woman or child shall be held accountable for his or her !@N sin, not that of others. 60e/.*B,7+, he soul that sinneth, it shall die. he son shall not bear the iniFuity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniFuity of the son, the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wic/edness of the wic/ed shall be upon him. Spea/ing of false guilt transference, this verse pretty much blows a hole in the modern-day deception of &generational curses' teaching. According to Generational Curse theology, if one of your distant ancestors told fortunes with horseshoes, it gives satan legal grounds to ma/e your life hell. 6ven if you don"t have the foggiest notion such an eccentric ancestor even e%isted. Generational Curse theology teaches that you must confess 6I62E sin your ancestors ever committed, especially those of witchcraft or the occult. Daniel actually confessed the sins of his forebears. Cor Daniel to be able to do this, he must have had access to accurate written records or oral traditions about his ancestry. he $ews were heavily into ancestral research, at least before itus destroyed the emple and all reliable records of $ewish genealogy. 6ven before this historic event, #aul discouraged Christians from involvement in genealogy 3I im. *,=9 itus <,4. If #aul thought Christians needed to renounce the sins of their ancestors, or repent of them, surely he would have commanded demonically oppressed Christians to do e%haustive research on Ancestry.com to find out whether their great-great-greatgreat Grampaw (ill really did deserve to hang as a horse thief. eachers of Generational Curse theology cite that scripture where God says >e"ll visit the sins of the fathers onto their descendants down to several generations 36%.7+,;4. @hile such teachers differ widely on how many generations of sinners helped put you under satan"s power, it says here that only the CA >62S contribute to the curse. >owever, you"re left in a state of blind confusion wondering whether only your

direct dad-to-dad lineage is to blame for all your woes, or if your grandmas helped mess your life up too. So you really should cover all bases. 1any, if not most, teachers of Generational Curse theology say you"d better play it safe and confess all sins which date bac/ from the 6N > generation, not ?ust the third or fourth, ?ust in case you"ve caught the CD2S6 !C >6 (AS A2D 3Deut.7<,74. So you"d better dig through ancient archives to try and figure out whether you"re descended from the son of some rascal bac/ in the *:++"s who made hay with the village mil/maid before they made it to the church on time. #reachers yell and scream every Sunday about >6 CD2S6 !C 1AAAC>I where grasshoppers will gobble you up in your sleep unless you cough up ten per cent of each and every paychec/ and for/ it over to the preacher. !r at least, that"s how >6I2 version of 1al.<,B-8 comes across. (ut do preachers apply AAA scripture the same) Sometimes that wouldn"t be in their best interestsJhmmmJ hat enth Generation CD2S6 !C >6 (AS A2D prohibits the curse-sufferer from being in the congregation of the Aord. And genealogical bastards aren"t allowed into church till ten generations pass to breed that curse out of their family. So any Christian who"s tired of getting hit up for tithes can invent some illegitimate ancestor as a ready-made e%cuse to stay home. (ut seriously, if one ! &curse' scripture is applicable to modern believers, this one is tooH And if so, every Christian should have to do ?ust li/e the $ews used to do and /eep a family genealogical chart to prove to church leaders that all their ancestors bac/ to the tenth generation were legally hitched and they are not under the CD2S6 !C >6 (AS A2D. (ut if the preacher wants that tithe money bad enough, he"ll tell them they"re under grace, now lawJ6KC6# C!2 1AAAC>I <,B-*+H (ut then again, maybe the preacher really does preach AAA the Curse of the Aaw, so he might post bouncers at the church door who will only let tenth-generation &legitimate' Christians come in. And if the preacher S IAA wants money from every entity who isn"t eligible to worship there, he could ?ust leave a donation bo% outside the church doorH If you thin/ AAA your ancestors, not ?ust your direct dad-to-dad lineage put a curse on you, you"d need to do a thorough enough ?ob of researching the sins of AAA your ancestors, not ?ust the nine or ten &dads of the dads' who led up to yourself. And if you include AAA your

forebears, male and female, in your search for hidden sin, you need to remember that for every generation you go bac/, you must D!D(A6 the number or people who contributed to your e%istence. Eou have two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, si%teen great-great grandparents, ad infinitum. If you go bac/ ten generations, that"s a whopping grand total of :*7 ancestors you need to research to find out what trouble they got into so you can as/ God"s forgiveness for the specific sins they committedH hat"s assuming you"re counting yourself when you count bac/. !therwise, play it safe by going bac/ one more generation, which would ma/e for *,=7= sinners to dig up the dirt onH According to Generational Curse theology, ignorance about the distant past doesn"t protect you from satan"s wrath. If you"re li/e me and don"t /now 0ilch about anybody past your immediate grandparents, you"re in deep trouble Lcause you don"t /now which s/eleton in the closet caused that 0it on your chin. As much as the prophet Daniel loved God, he was an !ld Covenant saint who lived under the Aaw of 1oses, not a new creature in Christ li/e us 37 Cor.;,*:9 Gal..,*;4. @e are one spirit with Christ >imself 3I Cor..,*:4. @e are N! under the Aaw and its curse. @e have been redeemed from it 3Gal.<,*<4. Instead of a curse, we get the blessing of Abraham, who believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness 3verse ., *=4. Now, if God"s gonna pic/ out some sins of your ancestors to blame you for, then >e"s gonna have to yan/ you !D of Christ long enough to do that. >e won"t do that, and >e won"t let satan do that either 3$ohn *+,7B-784. In the boo/ of 60e/iel God clearly states that >e holds each individual responsible for hisMher sin, instead of blaming them for the sins of their relatives. 60e/iel *B, * he word of the Aord came unto me again, saying, Ierse 7 @hat mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the Aand of Israel, saying, he fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children5s teeth are set on edge)NNNN hat is, it was formerly proclaimed that the children must suffer for the sins of the parents. Ierse < As I live, saith the Aord God, ye shall not have occasion anymore to use this proverb in Israel.

Ierse = (ehold, all souls are mine, as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Ierse 7+ he soul that sinneth, it shall die. he son shall not bear the iniFuity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniFuity of the son, the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wic/edness of the wic/ed shall be upon him. Eet in 1att.7< $esus says that the men of >is generation will pay for innocent blood shed by their ancestors. At first glance, this seems to contradict with what God said before in 60e/iel. 1att.7<,<=, <= @herefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes, and some of them ye shall /ill and crucify9 and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city, <; >A D#!N E!D 1AE C!16 AAA >6 2IG> 6!DS (A!!D S>6D D#!N >6 6A2 >, C2!1 >6 (A!!D !C 2IG> 6!DS A(6A DN ! >6 (A!!D !C OAC>A2IAS S!N !C (A2AC>IAS, @>!1 E6 SA6@ (6 @66N >6 61#A6 AND >6 AA A2. <. I62IAE I SAE DN ! E!D, AAA >6S6 >INGS S>AAA C!16 D#!N >IS G6N62A I!N. Crom Abel all the way till the time of $esus. hat covers Fuite a few years, roughly =+++ of themH (ut didn"t God ?ust say >e doesn"t hold the children responsible for the sins of preceding generations) Eet $esus holds every single murder of God"s prophets in the history of ancient Israel against the wic/ed #harisees of >is generation because they would have done the same dirty deed themselves if they"d lived bac/ thenH $esus even scolded those rotten religious leaders for crimes they hadn"t even committed yet, and would commit against >is future churchH hey had the same corrupt heart their ancestors did. !ne /ey to understanding why $esus holds the men of his generation eFually culpable with their ancestors who /illed the prophets might lie in the fact they wouldn"t let >im redeem them from the Curse of the Aaw which D!6S warn that curses incurred by an apostate Israelite will be passed down to his descendants 3Deut.7B,=;-=.4H If an Israelite forsoo/ God and bro/e >is Aaw, this inherited GDIA (E ASS!CIA I!N would go down from generation to generation 36%.7+,;9 Deut.;,84. hose who re?ect God"s salvation can"t claim immunity from this inherited curse. (ut #aul promised believers in Christ that they were free from the Curse of the Aaw 3Gal.<,*<4.

CA1IAE GDIA , not ?ust individual guilt, was widely punished bac/ in the ! . !ne e%ample is that when Achan sinned, his whole family got rounded up for e%ecution 3$oshua :,7=-7.4. !nly after they all got stoned to death did God"s anger against Israel subside. !ur redemption in Christ $esus, our death to the old self, and our new life in >im abolish all inherited guilt. $ust as faulty genetics can result in diseases being passed down to future generations, so sin can transmit terrible repercussions to a sinner"s descendants. 7 Cor.;,*:, herefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away9 behold, all things are become new. (ut ta/e care that you, as a Christian believer, @AAP in that spiritual reality of being dead to the old life and alive to the new. (eware of ta/ing pride in the wor/s of the devil. @hen you go around boasting about some famous @ild @est outlaw being in your family tree, you give tacit approval to what he did, even if you"ve never bro/en the law yourself. If you truly hated the deeds of your ungodly ancestors, you would refuse to even claim any connection with those sinners because you"re a new creature in Christ. Instead, you would confess that Christ >imself has redeemed you from all worthless ways inherited from your natural ancestors 3I #et.*,*B4. Generational Curse theology is oppressive enough for sanctified, bornagain believers, but almost as irritating is this notion that faithful, loving, God-fearing Christians are to blame for society"s sin. It reminds me of what happened after my si%th-grade teacher stepped outside the class for a minute. @hen she returned, the class was Gcutting upG, as they say down South. Aots of shouting and laughter. 6veryone was supposed to be Fuietly studying, but she heard the ruc/us out in the hallway. (ut once she reached the door, dead silence. he teacher hadn5t actually seen or heard any particular individual ya//ing or horsing around, all she heard was a noisy class. She /new that a few of us were as Fuiet as church mice and hadn5t said a word. (ut noise had been made and someone had to pay. o ?ustify her decision to hold everybody responsible, she said, G6ven if you didn5t do anything while I was out, you5ll have to stay after school with everybody else because you A##2!I6 of the ones who misbehaved.G hat5s imperfect human ?ustice. hat teacher, unli/e God, did not /now who approved of the wild behavior and who didn"t. (ut God /nows all human hearts. >e draws a clear distinction between those who love iniFuity and those who don5t. Abraham pleaded with God to spare the righteous and not hold them accountable for the sins of

Sodom in Genesis Chapter *B. 6ssentially his argument was, G@ill you destroy the righteous with the wic/ed) @ill you put the righteous on the same level as those who do not /now you, and deal with them the same way) Shall not the $udge of the whole earth do right)G God /new there was one lu/ewarm believer in Sodom who did not approve of the sins of Sodom, though he may not have done much preaching against them. Nowhere does Scripture say that Aot was a preacher of righteousness. Aot was no religious fanatic. Angels had to drag Aot out of Sodom by the hand. >e was barely past the city limits before his own daughters got him drun/ in order to seduce him. (ut #eter says of Aot in 7 #eter 7,:-B, And delivered ?ust Aot, ve%ed with the filthy conversation 3conduct4 of the wic/ed, 3Cor that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, ve%ed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds94 Ierse 8 he Aord /noweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the un?ust unto the day of ?udgment to be punished. ruly, the Aord /nows which people are his and who aren"t 37 im.7,*84. o e%pect the Christian to repent of their sic/ society5s sin is a grave dispensational error. o repent of a sin you must claim guilt for it and admit participation in it, either directly or indirectly. Say a mother as/s which of her children stole a Fuarter out of her purse. It was really the youngest girl who committed the theft, but her brother does not want a sister he loves to get span/ed with the fly swatter. So he lies and says, GI too/ it, 1om.G he /id meant well, but in lying he sinned by deliberately deceiving a loving mother who wants her children to tell the truth. (ut if he said, GShe too/ the Fuarter, but I5ll ta/e the punishment for sis so she won5t have to,G he would not be resorting to deceit to achieve a noble purpose. In Galatians .,7, we are called to bear the burdens of our wea/ brothers and sisters, but we are not called to ta/e upon ourselves the guilt and penalty of the sins of the world. Galatians .,; says, 6very man shall bear his own burden. @e can5t bear the sins of sinners. Christ did that >imself on Calvary, but this blessing must be accepted by faith All we can do is share the Good News of the Gospel with sinners and urge them to repent of their sins so they too can be born into the family of God. !nce we have clearly warned them of what lies in store for re?ecters of Christ, we cannot be held liable if they re?ect the Gospel and go on living li/e the devil 360e/iel <,*84.

elling a Christian he is being unloving toward a lost world unless he ta/es the rap for sins he hasn5t personally committed is a doctrine of devils. It is wrong to accuse a Christian of self-righteousness ?ust because he calls upon sinners to also put off their own sins and accept Christ5s perfect righteousness themselves. ime and again unbelievers throw bac/ into the face of a longsuffering witness for Christ that he is also an imperfect human, so what right does he have to preach at them) 6ven people who actually AIP6 you will insinuate that you"re cra0y if you really ta/e the (ible seriously, and there must be something wrong with your attitude for tal/ing about negative things li/e sin. (ut how sad, to hear similar put-downs from fellow Christians who ought to be getting the log out of their own eye before they get the splinter out of yoursH >ow perverse, to ma/e a devout believer a scapegoat for the sins of the wic/ed. >ow cruel, to call a believer unloving, callous and un/ind because he says he is blameless and righteous in the midst of a perverse generation 3#hil.7,*;4. hat ma/es about as much sense as accusing a doctor of malpractice ?ust because he doesn"t infect himself with his patient"s diseaseH @e proclaim to sinners God5s only remedy for sin, the precious (lood of $esus. (ut when a patient refuses to ta/e his prescribed medicine and resorts to his own remedies, we can5t be held liable for the conseFuences suffered by the sinnerH In Acts *B,. #aul finally gives up on Gospel-hardened re?ecters of Christ. It reads, And when they !##!S6D >61S6AI6S, and blasphemed, he shoo/ his raiment, and said unto them, Eour blood be upon your own heads9 I am clean9 from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. And in Acts 7+,7. #aul says, I am pure from the blood of all men. Car from claiming a share in the guilt of these wic/ed sinners, #aul reaffirms his status as a righteous child of God. hat, despite the fact that #aul had fought against Christ and persecuted Christians before his own conversionH o a certain e%tent certain Christians A26 culpable for the hostility some sinners feel toward Christianity. Some Christians feel embarrassed about God"s wrath toward sin, and don"t want to appear ?udgmental. So they downplay the thorny issue of God"s wrath and >is hatred of, and ?udgment on, sin. oday, only soft soap&love' sells. Alleged Christianity has gotten so watered down, softened down, toned down and dumbed down that it"s too wimpy to turn the world upside down li/e the early Christians did 3Acts *:,.4.

Church doctrine has gotten so dumbed down that instead of attracting lost sinners, it insults their intelligence to the point they stay away to /eep from losing I.Q. points. Eears ago, you"d hear scriptural, reverent, intelligent hymns played in church. (ut they"re too &highbrow' for modern tastes. After a whole hour of deafening, repetitive, inane &praise music' reduces pew warmers to e%hausted passivity, the pastor yan/s one or two scripture references out of conte%t and spends the ne%t 7+ minutes preaching prosperity to gain access to that sea of purses and wallets out there. After people pay the ushers, dessert is served to sheep who have ?ust been served spiritual Spam. Angel feathers fly out of ventilation ducts. &Anointing oil' flows. As carnival music pumps out of the hon/ey ton/ organ, the preacher slam-dun/s his prayer line li/e bowling pins. >e stands there screaming about the horrors of an eternally burning hell which awaits sinners who don"t live and give the way &god' e%pects them to. All the while, the preacher who gripes about the unfaithfulness of God"s people never mentions the first or second wife he"s left behind and already forgotten. Instead, he airbrushes his sin by as/ing Christians to pray for God to bless his ministry with his current spouse, a sweet tart who sings about her love for a false Christ who loo/s the other way while they ma/e hay. Nothing turns off a potential convert li/e some hypocrite"s &Do as I say, not as I do' attitude. Churchgoers cheat other Christians in their business practices, then brag how they"re &the head and not the tail, above and not beneath'. Christian employers who pay substandard wages go on to oppose social welfare programs for poor fol/s who can"t survive on the crumbs underneath the rich man"s table. he very same Christians who oppose eFual access to decent housing, food stamps and health care swear they love the same $esus @ho fed the five thousand a free lunch and told the 2ich Eoung 2uler to sell all he possessed and give the proceeds to the poor. he same rich Christians who e%pect a poor widow with five /ids to wor/ two ?obs to pay her rent will dig deep to finance a new Sunday School building which is used only once or twice a wee/. @ealth-obsessed believers boast about about how they"ve got &the blessing of the Aord which ma/eth rich and addeth no sorrow with it', blissfully ignorant of the fact that there"s only one pie in this world, and for the Dpper Crust to have more, the rest of humanity has to live on less. 1eanwhile, lost sinners and bac/sliders notice churchgoers" hypocrisy and conclude that they don"t want any religion that ma/es other people hurt, and they want nothing to do with the Christ these hypocrites allegedly represent.

hose same preachers who yell the loudest about the moral decay of their nation are the biggest e%perts on sin because they have handson e%perience. $esus" position on divorce and remarriage is crystal clear 31att.*8,84. (ut one (ig >oliness-or->ell #reacher ditched his wife and four /ids bac/ in the :+"s to marry a younger woman in his congregation he"d already bedded. !ne hippie preacher who travels the world to save sinners for $esus deserted his first wife and their disabled son so he could start a new life with a more e%citing woman instead of being tied down to old responsibilities. A popular prophecy teacher got tired of wife number three so he traded her in for a fourth. Another big (ible basher got caught pic/ing up prostitutes in the red light district. After ma/ing a tearful repentance for the I cameras, he went bac/ out loo/ing for hoo/ers. 7 #et.7,77, Cor if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the /nowledge of the Aord and Saviour $esus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 7* Cor it had been better for them not to have /nown the way of righteousness, than, after they have /nown it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 77 (ut it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, he dog is turned to his own vomit again9 and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. Any sinner who hears about such sordid goings-on can only conclude that if there is a hell to go to, it can"t be all that bad, because these rascally preachers don"t seem too scared of it. If any sinner decides to stay lost and die without Christ because of the licentious lifestyle of apostate believers, then those vile hypocrites will share in the sinner"s guilt before Almighty God. 1att.*B,: @oe unto the world because of offencesH for it must needs be that offences come9 but woe to that man by whom the offence comethH Deceptive doctrines of demons lead many to hell. @e must e%amine all teachings in the light of sound early apostolic teaching, not the new heresies that are going out today to seduce Christians away from the truth. @e must hold fast to that which is good 3I hes. ;,7*4. In this age of unprecedented apostasy, many are running after false teachers who peddle candy-coated heresies, having itching ears, and turning away from solid (iblical truths. hey are falling away from sound

doctrine 37 im. =,<-=4. $ust because a doctrine seems charitable and heaven-scented doesn"t mean it"s (iblically sound. Some sna/es have beautiful patterns but they"re deceptively deadly, li/e the doctrine of universal salvation, which teaches that even the most hardened, vicious sinners will at some point in eternity finally be saved. Dniversal Salvation theology triviali0es the seriousness of sin before a >oly God. It dampens missionary 0eal for spreading the Gospel. @e can"t adopt someone else"s bad doctrine ?ust because we love them, anymore than we would want to catch their cancer to show our solidarity with them. @e must love $esus far more than we love other people and let >im have the last word on what we believe and practice. here are some debatable issues 3i.e. mi%ed bathing and women wearing shorts4. (ut many issues are core truths of the Gospel which you must N6I62 compromise on or it will wea/en your faith in Christ and >is atonement on your behalf. Ees, D6AI(62A 6AE rebellious believers D! share in the sinner"s guilt when their way of life leads unbelievers to re?ect the Gospel. (ut millions of other believers are doing their utmost to follow Christ and steer clear of lusts which drown their soul in perdition 3* im..,89 * #et.7,**4. (elievers must not swallow a false humility which denies the clear teachings of the @ord of God. he (ible plainly teaches us that we are clad in Christ"s own righteousness 36ph..,*=4. 6ach individual must accept Christ into his own heart by faith 36ph.<,*:4. $esus said that many would go down the broad way to destruction, and few would find the narrow way which leads to life 31att.:,*<-*=4. #eople try to widen this narrow lane into a broad boulevard which will accommodate all sorts of practices God hates. It is sheer folly to s/im over the warnings of God"s @ord, however unfair those warnings seem to the GGod-loves-everybody-thesame' crowd. It is neither unrighteous nor unloving to stand up for the truth once delivered unto the saints 3$ude <4. 1y, how satan loves religionH >e"ll allow a ton of truth as long as he can slip in a drip of deadly deception so Christians will swallow the bad with the good. If he can get misguided religious fol/s to peddle his latest heresies they ma/e his ?ob so much easierH >ow satan claps his hands in glee whenever a Christian5s Gmore matureG brother or sister persuades him that he is still a dirty rotten sinner unworthy of God5s grace and that it is sinful pride to confess anything else about himself. And so guilt-trippers ma/e other Christians so ashamed that they e%change Christ"s glorious Garment of 2ighteousness 3Isa..*,*+4 for a sad sac/ of false humility and self-condemnation.

he devil is delighted when (ible-believing 3and (ible-practicing4 saints are un?ustly branded as self-righteous. hat"s why preachers hesitate to preach on hell. hey"ve been taught that it is very unloving to offend anybody by mentioning the &h' word. hey"re made to feel li/e ?udgmental hypocrites if they do preach it, since they were once sinners themselves and God allegedly sees no difference between them and lost sinners. @hat a blatant denial of the plain teaching of Scripture on our position in Christ $esusH @hat an insult to Christ5s finished wor/ for us on CalvaryH In Colossians 7,*B #aul instructs us not to let any man beguile us of our reward by engaging in religious practices which have an appearance of wisdom, such as the wrong /ind of humility. @hile it is important for us to e%amine ourselves to see if we are still wal/ing in the faith and repent if we slip into sin, God will not tolerate selfcondemnation on the part of Christians who are wal/ing in close fellowship with >im. And >e won5t put up with Christians cutting each other down for believing that God has made them righteous by faith. It is written, here is therefore N! condemnation to them which are in Christ $esus, who wal/ not after the flesh, but after the Spirit 32omans B,*4. If you PN!@ you"re wal/ing in the Spirit, then you /now you stand before God blameless in Christ. Christ is made unto us wisdom, 2IG> 6!DSN6SS, sanctification, and redemption 3I Cor. *,<+4. Not only do we have $esus5 perfect righteousness imputed to us by faith, but by faith we A26 the righteousness of God in Christ 37 Cor. ;,7*4. hat"s what God"s @ord plainly says. @e are made one spirit with Christ through faith 3I Cor..,*:4. So if you say God ma/es no distinction between a blood-washed believer and an unrepentant porn peddler, you"re also saying that about $esus, and that is a grave errorH >ow can any GhumbleG Christian say that, because all have sinned, God has not separated us to be a special people unto >imself) @e who are ?ustified by faith do share in the common humanity of sinners, in that we eat, sleep, and carry out earthly tas/s. (ut unrepentant sinners do not share in the divine nature which is within us, because they do not have Christ dwelling in their hearts by faith. So how can any well-meaning Christian say we are in the same boat with unbelievers) If that were true, we5d all be on a cruise ship to hell instead of abiding in Christ, the Ar/ of our Salvation.

Any sort of a lie is a sin, even if it"s saying something false about yourself. It is dangerous for you, as a blood-washed believer, to claim the blame for the sins of the Sodom which surrounds you, or to deny that God has translated you into the Pingdom of >is dear Son 3Col. *,*<4. hat is a worse sin than #eter committed when he denied three times that he /new Christ. I Cor..,** says that we who had been sinners are now washed, sanctified and ?ustified by the Name of $esus and by the Spirit of God. @hen you call yourself unclean after Christ has cleansed you in >is (lood, you"re calling >im a liar. I will even go out on a limb and say that when you, as a consecrated Christian, profess to be as unholy as the enemies of God, you are renouncing the Gift of God, that righteousness which is of faith 32omans ;,*:9 Gal.<,.4. !nly C>2IS IN E!D the >ope of Glory 3Col.*,7:4 ma/es you acceptable in the sight of a >oly God. If you stop abiding in Christ 3$ohn *;4 through faith in >im alone, you fall from grace 3Gal.;,=4 and come bac/ under the condemnation of sin. It is then that you bring yourself bac/ under the bondage and the curse of the Aaw by not holding fast to the righteousness of Christ 3Gal.<,*<9 ;,*9 >eb.*+,784. hat"s e%actly what satan wants. If you fast, tithe, clean the church bathrooms, &ma/e a vow of faith' 3see 6ccl.;,;9 1att.;,<=4, pay e%tra offerings, or do any other wor/ to try to earn or /eep God"s favor, you"ve fallen from dependence on the grace of God bestowed solely through the merits of Christ"s atonement. Eou"ve fallen from grace bac/ into the bondage of law/eeping, same as some first-century Christian men did when they got physically circumcised. 3Gal.;,<4. If you"ve trusted Christ as Savior, stand your ground and proclaim that God AA26ADE counts you as righteous in >im 3Gal.;,*9 2om.;,79 #hil.<,84. Cor us to GrepentG of sins someone else has committed is a slippery slope false doctrine, however noble, humble and self-sacrificing it sounds. Satan /nows he stands no chance against us so long as our inward parts are protected by the (reastplate of the 2ighteousness of Christ, which fends off the fiery darts of the enemy 36phesians .,*=4. Getting us to claim the blame for the sins of society is a slic/ tric/ of satan, who A!I6S self-abasing religion which serves to strip us of Christ5s righteousness. @e must not fall for that lie, not even to appease sanctimonious religious fol/s who Gadmonish us to godly humilityG. Such people might grudgingly admit that $esus has covered us with the 2obe of 2ighteousness 3Isaiah .*,*+4. (ut they will tell you to wear that robe lightly and don5t button it all the way up. @hy) (ecause you were once a lost sinner yourself, so you don5t deserve to

wear it in the first placeH (ut if you don5t completely cover your heart with the body armor Christ has provided for you, the devil will sin/ a fiery missile into your chest before you /now itH $esus died for the sins (ut whoever receives become a child of God between believers and of the world, but not everyone will receive >im. >im by faith, to that one >e gives power to 3$ohn *,*74. Does God draw a clear distinction non-believers)

$esus, spea/ing to >is Cather in $ohn *:,8, I pray for them, I #2AE N! C!2 >6 @!2AD, but for them which thou hast given me9 for they are thine. 1alachi <,*. hen they that feared the A!2D spa/e often one to another, and the A!2D hear/ened, and heard it, and a boo/ of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the A!2D, and that thought upon >is name. I62S6 *: And they shall be mine, saith the A!2D of hosts, in that day when I ma/e up my ?ewels9 and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. I62S6 *B hen shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wic/ed, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. Do we have to go around shivering in terror because of Generational Curses and guilt allegedly inherited from our ancestors) Isa.;=,*=, IN 2IG> 6!DSN6SS S>AA >!D (6 6S A(AIS>6D, thou shalt be far from oppression9 for thou shalt not fear, and from terror9 for it shall not come near thee. If Isaiah, an !ld estament saint living under the Aaw, held this viewpoint, how much more should we, as believers under a better covenant, rest secure in our own Cather"s love and protection as >is dear children who have been made righteous in Christ $esusH