Love...
I read this entry http://www.salguod.net/weblog/archive/001156.shtml in a blog that I read, and I found it simply profound. Just when you think that you are alone in your convictions and thoughts, you find that you have unity with rare, but there are allies, as it were. Not that one isn’t an ally if you don’t see it my way, in fact, it is just the opposite. So, I ask myself, what is the solution to this issue. The great Christian Church is in deep, deep despair, and there doesn’t seem to be a solution. I think that this point in the history of the Christian movement was discussed by Christ and the Apostles, via the Holy Spirit in the written word.
Look here in Matthew 7:15 on… “15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them. 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”
I think of that chap in Denver, who was leading one of the most influential evangelical churches of the country, and he got caught with his pants down. His sin was ousted by his homosexual partner, concerning having an affair with him, and doing crystal meth together. This man, whom was supposed to be a religious, moral, and spiritual leader in the Christian faith and his sin, was out of control. It is no wonder that there are those who are completely frustrated with modern Christiandom, and seek other avenues of faith. But I think that this scripture in Matthew is pretty self explanatory. Good trees bear good fruit, and bad to bad. This leader is bearing bad fruit, period, so what will Jesus, or what does Jesus say? “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” Lawlessness is sin, evil, following Satan, and so forth.
The old expression you can’t judge a book by its cover couldn’t be truer, but yet sometimes the spine will also give it away; if that makes any sense? There are so many “Christians” out there, but yet, not many at all. Acclimating Christiandom is a far cry from being one. I know that there is an expression that religion can be a crutch, well, I agree with that. RELIGION is a crutch; but being a true Christian is extremely difficult at times. It is not burdensome, just sometimes a challenge. It’s funny what a person can go through and still remain the loving person that God calls for, and how quickly we can give in to our sinful natures. The difference from a Christian and a religious person, is that the Christian is all about the Cross of Christ. Every thing has to do with the sacrifice made on the cross, everything! When viewing anything in life, or in confrontation, or challenge, or even in ease and luxury, it is all about the cross of Christ. But the religious person will use blanket platitudes to justify their actions, and excuse themselves from dealing with reality. It is easy to avoid dealing with serious matters of the heart and mind when you can brush it off because it is of “the world”. It is also just as easy to excuse your sin with the old platitude, “Christians are not perfect, just forgiven”, or “Hate the sin, love the sinner” and so on.
The greatest challenge of the Christian is to act, think, and be responsible for ones own actions and heart. What I’m talking about is the most destructive forces in the world; sin! Sin is selfish, self destructive, ego centric, narcissistic, and most of all, self elevating towards choosing self over God. Sin is an act of rebellion. Sin has always come at a price. When Adam and Eve became aware of the knowledge of Good and Evil, what did God provide for them? Animal skins. Cain and Able? The blood sacrifice was greater than the vegetable offering; and it continues through out the bible, all the way to Jesus on the cross, a one time sacrifice for all mankind. Life is in the blood, the bible says, and the price of sin has always been blood. Sin likes to be marginalized. Sin likes to be forgotten, and over looked. Sin likes to hide in our hearts and souls, deep where nobody can see it. Sin likes to find the arrogant and the proud. It runs from the contrite and humble. It flees from the confessions of the subservient to God. It hates the light, and loves the dark.
It says in John 3:19-21, “19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
It is hard to deal with the sin in your life, but it can be done when you consider the cross in all things. The only way one can over come your sin is to come to the cross, and find motivation to always obey God. I think that one of the things that many “Christians” don’t like to hear, is the word “Obedience”. But yet, it is essential…
1 John 3:4-6, 21-24 “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.” “21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. 24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”
Obedience is essential Christianity, but what is it that we are to obey? It isn’t rocket science, it is simple. But it is more than JUST loving one another, it is also believing in the name of Jesus Christ. It would be “nice and cozy” to think that God’s universal message is just to simply love one another, but that is impossible with sin in the picture. There is a reason that we must believe in the name of Jesus Christ, and that is because it is only through him that we can be saved.
But think how earthly loving one another is! There is no room for ethereal ethical emotional transcendences’ when it comes to being a Christian. No my friend, it is so much more. It is physically meeting each others needs, and sacrificing ourselves for the well being of one another. In stead of being selfish, it means that we mow our neighbors’ yard if we can and they can’t. It means getting up an extra hour early to give that co-worker, who hasn’t been blessed with a car, a ride to work. It means talking to that old guy in the corner of McDonalds during breakfast, just so he will have some company. It means buying groceries for your neighbor who is bed ridden. It means sending anonymous cash to somebody you know who, where just $20 could make a big difference, really needs it.
Through our faith in Christ, we must act on opportunities both revealed and created to be charitable. Love isn’t just being nice and caring, if fact, that is just an expression of empathy. Love comes in action. Love is being nice and caring, but not just the face value of being nice and caring, but the will behind and the follow through. Look at what James has to say…
James 2:8-19 “8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. 14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!”
Nothing could be truer when it comes to Christianity when they say that actions speak louder than words. I don’t think that what God has in mind for our lives as Christians is what modern popular Christiandom theory practices. Modern Christiandom focus’ on church growth, doctrinal differences, worship models, and philosophies and correct paradigms. I read something on the weekly publication of my church that made me sad. It was our annual bring your neighbor day, and on the inside cover of the little brochure thing stated what makes us different than all other churches. It listed: dedication to the restoration movement; not a denomination (which isn’t really true, just Google Alexander Campbell); mission work; belief in the bible teaching of One God expressed three ways; baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; Lord’s Supper on the first day of the week; autonomous congregation; biblical leadership of elders, deacons, preachers, and teachers; salvation by grace through faith received upon obedience to God’s Word, eternity of Heaven for the righteous and eternity in Hell for the sinner (which I think is biblically inaccurate, well, I know it is…); and that the bible is the inspired, infallible Word of God, the sole authority and guide in religion with the motto – Speak where the bible speaks, and be silent where the bible is silent. There were a few other mentions concerning teaching plain bible truth, not something culturally popular, to worship and live so that God would be glorified and edified, and not that man might be entertained or amused. Then, after four paragraphs of these statements, it says, “Again, thanks for being with us. Let us know how we may serve.”
It’s like, okay, here is us being really combative (although I agree with almost all of it), and love ya by the way. I mean, talking about missing the elephant in the room. Sure, it is good to have conviction, but this isn’t what Jesus had in mind when it came to representing himself. I’m sure of it! In lieu of this most excellent post of Salguod’s, I would even say that the thing in the church publication is divisive if anything. Are we so determined to be right that we completely miss the boat? It comes to a point as to where the institution becomes more important than the will of Christ. It’s the wagon pulling the horse, or the tail wagging the dog…
One cool thing is that every month, the church publishes its previous month’s budget, down to the last penny. That is really way cool. But the sad thing is that we maintain a 30 + thousand dollar balance, and give the average of $100.00 a month in benevolence. Granted, we receive benevolence from the church three or four times a year, mostly food, but there is almost NO outside the church giving. It saddens me deeply. I have approached the eldership on this issue, months ago, and to this day, there seems to be no difference. There are so many people in this area that need help, and yet they don’t get it. A couple of churches in the neighboring town have a daily lunch and dinner, but we do nothing. We have the facilities to do something like that, but we don’t. No free store, no free dinners, nothing. This is one of the reasons that I became disillusioned by my last church. They collected a weekly benevolence, but when we asked for help on a regular basis, we started being refused, simply because the couple of brothers “in charge” of that part of the ministry, thought that I should be working, and that is why we shouldn’t receive any more help. Regardless of how unbiblical that attitude is, it became unpractical for us, and we were more or less forced to move where the help was. Now, we are incredibly grateful for what the FcoC has done for us, and I completely believe that the elders have my best interest in mind, but what of our community? It is quite frustrating for me.
Our “unifier” as it were, or the “factor” that will heal modern Christiandom is the love of our neighbors, and the love that we have for each other. The example in James that talks of loving your neighbor, isn’t conversion, it isn’t correction of doctrine, it isn’t baptism, it isn’t church history, it isn’t conditional giving, it is meeting the needs of others, period. I’m not talking like the Salvation Army or the Red Cross, but I’m talking about a nation of selfless people. I’m talking about a brotherhood under the name of Christ that is unbreakable by opinions and differences.
I have never seen a perfect church. I’m not talking about sinless, no, I’m talking about dogmas, doctrines, practices, and paradigms. I think that because we are human, we don’t need to seek such a thing, but my point is that no one is better equipped than any other. All modern Christian churches, as far as I have observed, are equally inadequate, in the thinking that if you break one law, then you are as much as a law breaker as one who breaks ten laws. Granted, some churches are way out there, and many are harmful and damaging, but who is to say that those that seem to be less damaging aren’t in fact all the more damaging?
Now, where do I go from here? That is yet to be determined, but I’m open to suggestions. I think that going to church is important, but many times, attending the church I attend goes against my conscience and faith. BUT, I really don’t know of a church that wouldn’t do that. That is MY challenge…
Look here in Matthew 7:15 on… “15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them. 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”
I think of that chap in Denver, who was leading one of the most influential evangelical churches of the country, and he got caught with his pants down. His sin was ousted by his homosexual partner, concerning having an affair with him, and doing crystal meth together. This man, whom was supposed to be a religious, moral, and spiritual leader in the Christian faith and his sin, was out of control. It is no wonder that there are those who are completely frustrated with modern Christiandom, and seek other avenues of faith. But I think that this scripture in Matthew is pretty self explanatory. Good trees bear good fruit, and bad to bad. This leader is bearing bad fruit, period, so what will Jesus, or what does Jesus say? “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” Lawlessness is sin, evil, following Satan, and so forth.
The old expression you can’t judge a book by its cover couldn’t be truer, but yet sometimes the spine will also give it away; if that makes any sense? There are so many “Christians” out there, but yet, not many at all. Acclimating Christiandom is a far cry from being one. I know that there is an expression that religion can be a crutch, well, I agree with that. RELIGION is a crutch; but being a true Christian is extremely difficult at times. It is not burdensome, just sometimes a challenge. It’s funny what a person can go through and still remain the loving person that God calls for, and how quickly we can give in to our sinful natures. The difference from a Christian and a religious person, is that the Christian is all about the Cross of Christ. Every thing has to do with the sacrifice made on the cross, everything! When viewing anything in life, or in confrontation, or challenge, or even in ease and luxury, it is all about the cross of Christ. But the religious person will use blanket platitudes to justify their actions, and excuse themselves from dealing with reality. It is easy to avoid dealing with serious matters of the heart and mind when you can brush it off because it is of “the world”. It is also just as easy to excuse your sin with the old platitude, “Christians are not perfect, just forgiven”, or “Hate the sin, love the sinner” and so on.
The greatest challenge of the Christian is to act, think, and be responsible for ones own actions and heart. What I’m talking about is the most destructive forces in the world; sin! Sin is selfish, self destructive, ego centric, narcissistic, and most of all, self elevating towards choosing self over God. Sin is an act of rebellion. Sin has always come at a price. When Adam and Eve became aware of the knowledge of Good and Evil, what did God provide for them? Animal skins. Cain and Able? The blood sacrifice was greater than the vegetable offering; and it continues through out the bible, all the way to Jesus on the cross, a one time sacrifice for all mankind. Life is in the blood, the bible says, and the price of sin has always been blood. Sin likes to be marginalized. Sin likes to be forgotten, and over looked. Sin likes to hide in our hearts and souls, deep where nobody can see it. Sin likes to find the arrogant and the proud. It runs from the contrite and humble. It flees from the confessions of the subservient to God. It hates the light, and loves the dark.
It says in John 3:19-21, “19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
It is hard to deal with the sin in your life, but it can be done when you consider the cross in all things. The only way one can over come your sin is to come to the cross, and find motivation to always obey God. I think that one of the things that many “Christians” don’t like to hear, is the word “Obedience”. But yet, it is essential…
1 John 3:4-6, 21-24 “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.” “21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. 24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”
Obedience is essential Christianity, but what is it that we are to obey? It isn’t rocket science, it is simple. But it is more than JUST loving one another, it is also believing in the name of Jesus Christ. It would be “nice and cozy” to think that God’s universal message is just to simply love one another, but that is impossible with sin in the picture. There is a reason that we must believe in the name of Jesus Christ, and that is because it is only through him that we can be saved.
But think how earthly loving one another is! There is no room for ethereal ethical emotional transcendences’ when it comes to being a Christian. No my friend, it is so much more. It is physically meeting each others needs, and sacrificing ourselves for the well being of one another. In stead of being selfish, it means that we mow our neighbors’ yard if we can and they can’t. It means getting up an extra hour early to give that co-worker, who hasn’t been blessed with a car, a ride to work. It means talking to that old guy in the corner of McDonalds during breakfast, just so he will have some company. It means buying groceries for your neighbor who is bed ridden. It means sending anonymous cash to somebody you know who, where just $20 could make a big difference, really needs it.
Through our faith in Christ, we must act on opportunities both revealed and created to be charitable. Love isn’t just being nice and caring, if fact, that is just an expression of empathy. Love comes in action. Love is being nice and caring, but not just the face value of being nice and caring, but the will behind and the follow through. Look at what James has to say…
James 2:8-19 “8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. 14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!”
Nothing could be truer when it comes to Christianity when they say that actions speak louder than words. I don’t think that what God has in mind for our lives as Christians is what modern popular Christiandom theory practices. Modern Christiandom focus’ on church growth, doctrinal differences, worship models, and philosophies and correct paradigms. I read something on the weekly publication of my church that made me sad. It was our annual bring your neighbor day, and on the inside cover of the little brochure thing stated what makes us different than all other churches. It listed: dedication to the restoration movement; not a denomination (which isn’t really true, just Google Alexander Campbell); mission work; belief in the bible teaching of One God expressed three ways; baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; Lord’s Supper on the first day of the week; autonomous congregation; biblical leadership of elders, deacons, preachers, and teachers; salvation by grace through faith received upon obedience to God’s Word, eternity of Heaven for the righteous and eternity in Hell for the sinner (which I think is biblically inaccurate, well, I know it is…); and that the bible is the inspired, infallible Word of God, the sole authority and guide in religion with the motto – Speak where the bible speaks, and be silent where the bible is silent. There were a few other mentions concerning teaching plain bible truth, not something culturally popular, to worship and live so that God would be glorified and edified, and not that man might be entertained or amused. Then, after four paragraphs of these statements, it says, “Again, thanks for being with us. Let us know how we may serve.”
It’s like, okay, here is us being really combative (although I agree with almost all of it), and love ya by the way. I mean, talking about missing the elephant in the room. Sure, it is good to have conviction, but this isn’t what Jesus had in mind when it came to representing himself. I’m sure of it! In lieu of this most excellent post of Salguod’s, I would even say that the thing in the church publication is divisive if anything. Are we so determined to be right that we completely miss the boat? It comes to a point as to where the institution becomes more important than the will of Christ. It’s the wagon pulling the horse, or the tail wagging the dog…
One cool thing is that every month, the church publishes its previous month’s budget, down to the last penny. That is really way cool. But the sad thing is that we maintain a 30 + thousand dollar balance, and give the average of $100.00 a month in benevolence. Granted, we receive benevolence from the church three or four times a year, mostly food, but there is almost NO outside the church giving. It saddens me deeply. I have approached the eldership on this issue, months ago, and to this day, there seems to be no difference. There are so many people in this area that need help, and yet they don’t get it. A couple of churches in the neighboring town have a daily lunch and dinner, but we do nothing. We have the facilities to do something like that, but we don’t. No free store, no free dinners, nothing. This is one of the reasons that I became disillusioned by my last church. They collected a weekly benevolence, but when we asked for help on a regular basis, we started being refused, simply because the couple of brothers “in charge” of that part of the ministry, thought that I should be working, and that is why we shouldn’t receive any more help. Regardless of how unbiblical that attitude is, it became unpractical for us, and we were more or less forced to move where the help was. Now, we are incredibly grateful for what the FcoC has done for us, and I completely believe that the elders have my best interest in mind, but what of our community? It is quite frustrating for me.
Our “unifier” as it were, or the “factor” that will heal modern Christiandom is the love of our neighbors, and the love that we have for each other. The example in James that talks of loving your neighbor, isn’t conversion, it isn’t correction of doctrine, it isn’t baptism, it isn’t church history, it isn’t conditional giving, it is meeting the needs of others, period. I’m not talking like the Salvation Army or the Red Cross, but I’m talking about a nation of selfless people. I’m talking about a brotherhood under the name of Christ that is unbreakable by opinions and differences.
I have never seen a perfect church. I’m not talking about sinless, no, I’m talking about dogmas, doctrines, practices, and paradigms. I think that because we are human, we don’t need to seek such a thing, but my point is that no one is better equipped than any other. All modern Christian churches, as far as I have observed, are equally inadequate, in the thinking that if you break one law, then you are as much as a law breaker as one who breaks ten laws. Granted, some churches are way out there, and many are harmful and damaging, but who is to say that those that seem to be less damaging aren’t in fact all the more damaging?
Now, where do I go from here? That is yet to be determined, but I’m open to suggestions. I think that going to church is important, but many times, attending the church I attend goes against my conscience and faith. BUT, I really don’t know of a church that wouldn’t do that. That is MY challenge…
posted by P. Allan Frederick at 7:33 AM
4 Comments:
Hey, thanks for the linage. I am with you on this, we need to drop all the other stuff and just start loving people. Patrick Mead had an amazing post somewhat related to this yesterday here.
I'm sick of all the fighting over doctrine and methods, dividing the body of Christ into segments.
Oh, and in regards to the guy in Denver, have you read his apology? Pretty amazing. Hard to say if it's 'real' or not without knowing the guy, but boy it sounds sincere. I saw it on Mike Cope's blog, here.
I didn't realize how dividing my comments on this man were, until I considered what you wrote and his apology. It does seem like he is sincere, and I hope he is. I can only hope that it will lead to his salvation and God's edification.
I also like the point about hiding his sin in the darkness. It couldn't be truer that darkness leads us to the path most taken. I know that in this environment that I am in, sin confession can be rare, at least with me (that might say something about how much people trust me too), but I must maintain my own vigilance.
I only know the surface of that guys situation but I think be a bit less judgmental and more hopeful for the guy. There is no excuse for sin and apparently some one else brought it out but at least they took him out of leadership and he is contrite. That's more than I can say for my last church!
I agree wholeheartedly that religion can be a crux and probably most of the time is. I also believe that it is important to be alone to work out our own salvation and convictions with God personally. God does this for us in some ways we are all alone even in a church. Sometimes it's easier when you truly are all alone. Never thought I'd say that but I guess it was in me all along.
I appreciate the Denver Guy's contrition in the letter he wrote to the fellowship he was leading. It does seem as though he has taken responsibility for his actions. I don't know who's idea it was for him to take off into hiding, but I'm not sure this was a solution (biblically speaking) unless he was unwilling to repent. Only thinking out loud here, but what if this whole event will lead others to be done with the harmful evangilical credo, and on to a path of love and mercy. I say that only because many right wing "Christians", many of whom are in the Evangilical CHurch, have attitudes of hatred towards people not of this nation and not of Christian faith. BUT the point I was driving at is that this Guy was in one of THE most influential positions in the country in the Evangilical movment. Instead of leading them to political action to love every person, including the children of other countries as much as the embryo's of this country, and obviously other areas, he decides to have an affair and give into drug abuse. It is not the judgment of him as a man (his eternal future is on God's hands only, and is GOd's decision only), it is the judgment of him as on of the most influential social and relegious leaders of this country. Moreover, when we become Christians, our bodies, our will, our life goes over to Christ, completely. Perhaps, just perhaps this man wasn't even belonging to Christ in the first place. Only he and CHrist will know that for sure. I've done some stupid things, and some really sinful things since I have become a CHristian, all those year ago, much of which was harmful to others (as a leader in the church for so long), and thus far I have repented (amen). IF, and I mean IF I should ever be in a position that this guy was in, God forbid I allow my sin to completley sabotage, not only my life, but my family's and all that I lead.
The truth of the matter is that Satan is one tricky son of a gun, and he is the master of deceit. One thing us humans are good at, is lying to ourselves, and I think all Satan has to do is give that rudder just a little shove. Do I blame this guy for what he has done? Not anymore that GOd does. Do I forgive him? AT least as much as God wills me to do. (God forbid I should think I can do anything greater than GOd!) But the truth of the matter is that it is not for me to say. I just think that he is a good example of what a false prophet looks like!
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