Category: Bible Applications

Samson is NOT a Biblical Parallel to Suicide Bombers!

A colleague approached me yesterday and said, “I have a good one for you.  What’s a Biblical parallel to suicide bombers?” He answered, “Samson.”

Intentionally committing suicide to kill those who are your enemies in recent decades has been almost exclusively associated with Islam.  Many are arguing that all forms of terroism have no role or place in true Islam, thus those who claim to be killing themselves to kill others in the name of Allah are not true Muslims.  I don’t want to address that topic, right now.  I did find a very good article post from Middle East Forum entitled, “The Religious Foundations of Suicide Bombers”, that I believe has done a very fine job of citing early Islamic theologians, the Qur’an, and the Hadiths to demonstrate why we are witnessing suicide attacks in the name of Allah.  I want to take the time to find all the citations and then write a post afterwards to show if I agree with the article after reading the citations. Without looking up all of the citations first hand, I think the Middle East Forum presents authoritative Islamic texts that Muslims can use to support terrorism and violent acts against non-Muslims. But that’s not the intent of this blog post.  I want to address the point that Samson is a Biblical example that parallels Islamic suicide bombers.  Is it justifiable to kill yourself if it is to kill those who are enemies of God?  If the Christian says no, how could we respond if someone raises the objection of Samson?

If you are unfamiliar with Samson’s life and death, it can be found in Judges 13-16.

Samson was the product of a miraculous conception.  (Judges 13:3)  His mother was told that he should be a Nazarite from birth!  (Judges 13:5)  A Nazarite vow entailed no drinking of alcohol or cutting of your hair from the time the vow was taken, hence, Samson never had his hair cut.  Samson is known for his superman strength.  Samson attributes his great strength to having been a Nazarite from birth.  (Judges 16:17)  Once his hair is cut, he loses his strength and is captured by the Philistines.  They gouged out his eyes!  (Judges 16:21)  The Philistines then gathered to offer a sacrifice to their god, Dagon.  They had Samson shackled and were entertained by his failure and misery.  Samson requested to be able to rest against the pillars that held up the roof of the courtyard.  3,000 Philistines were gathered, men, women, and children.  (Judges 16:27) Samson then said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.”  He then tore down the building by pushing on the two pillars that held up the roof.  Scripture says that he died there with them and that he killed more Philistines in his death than during his life.  (Judges 16:30)

Samson brings down the house, killing about 3,000 Philistines.
Samson brings down the house, killing about 3,000 Philistines.

This passage of Scripture can certainly be troubling.  It means that God empowered Samson to kill not only himself, but also women and children.  He wasn’t just killing the men who captured him and took his eyes. There are answers to this moral conflict that fit within the Biblical worldview that can ease the tension we sense over this horrible calamity, but outside of the Christian worldview they likely won’t satisfy, and even within the Christian worldview, we may not be satisfied.  There are also some very clear ways in which this event is far different from God giving his approval on such acts as suicide bombing!

1st – Samson was a judge over Israel, the people of God.  The position he had was appointed by God.  Justice needed to be served.  The false god and the temple of the Philistines should not prevail against the real God of the universe.  Samson prayed to the Lord and asked for vindication against the enemies of God, and he was willing to offer his own life in the process.  His death was not a self-righteous vindication either.  He was laying his life down for the good of God’s people, that they  might be spared from their enemies, even if it cost him his own life.

2nd – Samson’s strength always came from God.  He attributed it to his long hair and vow, but in his final prayer, he is acknowledging that his strength was from the Lord.  Scripture says that the Philistines were entertained by the spectacle of their enemy, Samson, captured and blinded.  How were they entertained, unless they were laughing and mocking him?  They likely were calling on him to save himself, to perform a great act of strength as he had done before, many times in his life.  Since he was a judge, a representative of God, the Philistines in the house of Dagon were thus mocking and challenging the one true God.  Foreshadowing and pointing to Jesus’ death, Samson gave his life to put an end to the enemies of God.  Jesus Christ, when he was mocked, delivered a death blow to sin, death, and the devil, and reconciled all of humanity back into a relight relationship with God through the shedding of his own blood. 

3rd – Samson’s death was far different from that of a suicide bomber.  Samson was captured, his eyes had been taken, he was shackled, and he was likely going to be put death.  The taking of his own life was clearly done through supernatural powers given by the Lord that he directly prayed to for help for vengeance against his enemies.  A suicide bomber on the other hand is not doing anything supernatural.  Bombs are not supernatural, thus cannot be confirmed to be approved by God.  Suicide bombers have not been captured, they have not been tortured, and they are not being held captive and mocked in an act of worship towards the god of their enemies. Suicide bombers are not God’s chosen representatives of his judgment amongst his people.

4th – From the Biblical worldview, all life comes from God and it is his to give or take.  All humans die as punishment for our sin (man, woman, or child).  When and how death shall come is a matter left to God.  When suicide bombers take their own lives and the lives of the innocent, it means that God has allowed the evil action to occur.  It does not mean that he ordains it to be good.  Samson’s sacrificial death brought glory to God and confirmed to all the remaining Philistines that the God of Israel is real and he is not to be mocked!  The death of the Philistines quite possibly led to others in their community to repent and be brought to saving faith in the one true Lord, turning from Dagon  The hope that we have from the Bible is that no matter what occurs, God will work through all situations for the good of his people who love him. (Romans 8:28)

Andy Wrasman7 Comments

“Haunted by the Dead” – The Walking Dead

walking deadI know that some Christians are highly opposed to watching any movie related to zombies, vampires, witches, ghosts, and demons.  I typically avoid these types of shows and movies as well.  Most of the time they seem to be filmed for shock value and have what I consider to be excessive and unnecessary sex, gore, and violence with little to none redeeming value.

However, I have found a lot that I enjoy about AMC’s The Walking Dead, which is based on the Image Comics series with the same name.

Here’s what I enjoy about the show – the moral dilemmas.

If one of us must die to save the rest, who should it be and why?

When is it appropriate to kill someone else?  If you know letting the person live will likely lead to many more deaths, murders in fact, murders within your own family, do you let the person go!  An entire episode dealt with essentially a debate about this topic with arguments from both sides.

The show raises questions about government authority. If our entire governmental system were to crash, who makes the laws, who enforces those laws, what laws from before still apply and which ones no longer do?

All of this is connected to the value of humanity.  The one character in the show who has consistently fought for the intrinsic value of all humans as being equal has been the Christian pastor, because he of course knows that we are all created in the image of God.  He again and again calls people to look to the good that God is working out through the zombie apocalypse.

As fictional as a zombie apocalypse might be, the scenarios come down to what we all face in our day to day lives on much smaller levels – provision and safety for our families – are we selfless or selfish – do we seek to love God and love our neighbor – or do we seek to save our own lives?

Spoiler [this paragraph break only] Once the Christian pastor is removed from the show, the group quickly begins to dissolve into us first, and kill everyone else mode.  Maybe rightfully so in the scenarios presented thus far, but there is no hesitation any longer!

Walking Dead2

And there are of course some really good quotes one can pull from the show.  Here’s one that stuck out to me:

“That’s the fear, right?  People who are living are haunted by the dead.  We are who we are; we do what we do, because they’re still here – in our heads, in the forests, the world is haunted now, and there’s no getting out of that.  Not until we’re dead.”

Isn’t this true for us, here, in this world, our very real world not overrun by zombies.  We are who we are and we do what we do because of those who went before us – the dead if you will.  Why do we sin?  Because Adam sinned and his sin has been passed on to all of us (Romans 5).  Why do I do the things I do, why am I the way I am?  Largely, it’s a result of my ancestors (the dead).  I am in very much the same way as my father and mother, and I’m sure they are very much who they are because of their father and mother, and it can keep going back down the line.  Genesis shows this from the very beginning – just look at the patterns that flowed from Cain to his descendents compared to those that flowed from Seth down to his.  The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree – if you will.

Also, aren’t we haunted by the dead?  It’s always in front of us, death.  Those who have died that we have known, are always in our heads, in our thoughts.  They remind us of our own mortality.

This world is truly haunted!  Is it not?  At least, as it is now, in its fallen state due to sin!  And there is no escaping it.  Not until we die.  At which point there is an escape, but that escape only comes to those who have died in Jesus Christ our Lord.

CONTRADICT01

Andy Wrasman4 Comments

3 Types of Biblical Law Distinguished in Scripture in Response to Same Sex Love

I recently received the following comment on a Facebook post:

If we aren’t stoning women for being married when they are not virgins and we aren’t burning animals then why the hate on gays?

I actually receive variations of this question a lot!  I have found that the best reply is to share the three types of Law found in the Bible: Civil-political Law, Ceremonial Law, and Moral Law. 

Civil-political Laws found in the Bible are those that were given to ancient Israel under the theocracy of God.  The command to stone witches and men who lie with men as men lie with women, would fit into this category.  Since we no longer live under that government, it would be breaking the law of the government we are currently under if we were to drag out the palm readers from their shops and stone them to death, or to hurl rocks at the gay men on the floats at the gay pride rallies. 

Ceremonial Laws dealt with purity and ritual cleansing, the Jews being set apart from all other peoples on earth.  These involved dietary restrictions, circumcision, hygiene, specific dress, and of course animal and grain sacrifices and the many Jewish festivals.  These laws point to Christ, and in light of Christ and his fulfillment of these, we do not have to observe them any longer.  In certain situations it would be sinful for us to do so, such as with the animal sacrifices, that if we made would be a denial of the work of Christ’s sacrifice that was once for all.

Moral Laws are the laws that apply to all people throughout all time – laws of morality – what God desires of us to do and not to do.  All sexual sin, including homosexual activity, would fall into this category of sin found in the Bible, therefore, it would still be sinful for two men to have sexual relations as a man and a woman would have, just as it would be for a man and a woman to have sexual relations if they are not married to one another.  But, we don’t stone them anymore, just as we don’t stone the Wiccans or other fornicators!

[Check out my website: www.contradictmovement.org]

These arguments usually get a well received response, because the people hearing it are usually not Christians and this is all new information that they have never heard explained to them before.  In the case of this Facebook discussion, I received a unique reply because it was from a Christian who had heard who wasn’t foreign to this information:

“I feel like the Cival/Moral/Ceremonial distinction is pretty ad hoc. Rabbis recognize no such distinction in the law they are experts in.  Jesus made it pretty clear to the religious leaders of the time that the distinctions they imagines were in the text were in no way apparent. He then went on to make no such distinction between Moral/Cival/Ceremonial laws in the Torah, do you know who did? Other religious leaders, from a much later time, who had done much less study in the Hebrew bible than either the pharisees to whom Jesus was talking or the Talmudic rabbis upon whom modern Jewish scholarship is based. Is that supposed to be better? If it was really an obvious key to unlocking the OT why did it take until Augustine for anybody to figure it out?

Augustine who by the way was wrong about pretty much every other theological subject about which he spoke.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a better answer than any other answer I know of, and probably has some use in helping us to understand the OT. But that doesn’t change how unsatisfying ad hoc it is. We had a problem, scripture did not have an answer, so we made up this answer after the fact in order to make our problem go away. There is no reason to believe it is true except that it solves the problem and that’s what we think should truly happen…”

I really appreciate this question because it is asking for Scripture!  If there really are such distinctions of types of Law in the Bible, then Scripture should indicate it.

But based on the fact that Ceremonial Laws were fulfilled by Christ and no longer necessary to be observed, and in some cases would be sinful, and the fact that Jesus was pretty clear that his kingdom was not of this world so we wouldn’t be striving to set up a nation that follows the governmental laws of the Old Testament, I see no reason why Jewish Rabbis would be the experts in the Law on this matter as this Christian seems to propose.

I recognize that these divisions are tough to piece together in Scripture, especially since the words Civil-Political Law, Ceremonial Law, and Moral Law are not used in Scripture.  Despite the absence of these categorical labels in Scripture, it doesn’t mean the teaching of these divisions isn’t present, because many accepted words in Christian Systematic Theology are not in Scripture, such as the Bible, the Trinity, and Sacraments.  The following is my best shot to put together Scriptural support for the three types of Law distinguished in the Bible:

Acts 15 – The first Church council distinguished Ceremonial Law!

The need for the distinction is established in verses 1 and 5:

Vs 1 – “But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved'”

Vs 5 – “But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.'”

James comes to the conclusion that circumcision isn’t necessary (vs. 19).  But he does command them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from meat that came from animals that had died by strangulation, and from blood.  The things that he commanded of them not to do were things that fell into the realm of weak and strong brother issues (except that of sexual immorality) which can be seen to be explained in Romans 14.  James essentially said, “Don’t be circumcised; you don’t have to observe that Law, but with these other ceremonial issues, please avoid them so as to not offend or cause problems with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who are Jewish and still find such practices to be unclean!” At which point, I’d point you to Romans 14 for more clarity.

Paul and James on observance of the WHOLE Law. 

In his letter to the Galatians Paul addresses circumcision and how it is unnecessary:

5:3 – If you accept circumcision, then you must keep the whole law.

5:4 – Are you justified by law, or by grace?

5:6 – Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith through love.

5:11 – If I still preach circumcision, why am I being persecuted?

Through this chapter we see that Paul is placing circumcision into a different type of law, because clearly Paul still taught the law, just not certain parts of the law to be observed any longer.  He still commanded us to seek holiness and do the things of Christ (the Moral Law).  A good way to establish what is Moral Law vs. Ceremonial Law would be to ask what laws would fall in line with loving God and loving your neighbor.  Ceremonial Laws pertain to keeping one’s self and community ritually clean, where as Moral Laws focus on one’s relationship with God and neighbors through love.  The Moral Laws would be the Laws that Paul still preached!  He didn’t preach the need for circumcision, dietary laws, or any of the Jewish sacrifices, festivals, or days of observance.  He concludes chapter 5 in his letter to the Galatians by listing the works of the flesh that we SHOULD abstain: “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (vs. 19).  The things that we SHOULD have present in our lives in accordance to the works of the Spirit of God are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”  Moral Law stuff – these things still apply to all people as things to do and pursue and things not do and pursue.

James takes a similar approach as Paul to the observance of the whole of the Law of God.  Whereas Paul says if you accept circumcision you are obligated to keep the whole Law, James flips it and says if you have kept the whole of the law, but have stumbled in just one part of it, you are guilty of breaking all of it, for you are a lawbreaker (James 2:10)

The Book of Hebrews Demonstrates the Unnecessary Observance of Ceremonial Law

When I was first asked, where are the distinctions of types of the law in Scripture, I thought – THE WHOLE BOOK OF HEBREWS!  But here is a sprinkling of verses from the Book of Hebrews to demonstrate the distinction:

7:27 – We have no need for the high priests of the order of Aaron or for their sacrifices.

8:5 – What should we make of the Ceremonial Laws? “They serve a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things.”

9:8-10 – “By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing (which is symbolic for the present age).  According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.”

10:1 The Law [referring to all the ceremonial laws mentioned throughout the preceding chapters] is but a shadow of the good things to come!

10:28-29 – Don’t put away the blood of Christ by keeping the ceremonial, sacrificial system of the Law of Moses.

Civil-Political Recognized in Scripture

Romans 13 – Paul provides instruction to submit to the governing authorities that were put in place by God, essentially to keep order in society by punishing the evildoer and rewarding the person of good works.  We must observe the laws of the land, essentially!  The theocracy of God that was established with certain laws for that nation in the Old Testament is no longer an established government, therefore we shouldn’t hold to them.

The Jews of Jesus’ day didn’t just go by those rules either.  This is evidenced by John 18:29-32.  The Jews wanted to kill Jesus, but they had to go to Pilate, because it was unlawful under Roman rule for them to execute anyone. This shows that the Jewish leaders were submitting to the law of the land, the law of Rome in this case.  This means the Civil-Political Laws of Israel in the Old Testament were essentially abolished at this point.  They were trying to observe them, but could only do so in as much as Rome allowed them to keep them.

In John 8, Jesus demonstrates this principle, or recognition of Civil-Political Law when handling the stoning of a woman caught in adultery.  I must note however that this passage of the Bible isn’t in our earliest manuscript copies however.  In this passage, Jesus says, “He who is without sin cast the first stone.”  They could have been sinning by stoning the lady caught in adultery, because they weren’t also stoning the man, who apparently they let off the hook.  Or… maybe Jesus was recognizing Civil-Political Law, knowing that they would be breaking Roman Law by executing her. 

Jesus further demonstrates this principle of Roman Law being the Law of the Land and not the Civil-Political Laws of the Old Testament by responding to a question about paying taxes by saying, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s” (Luke 22:19-26).  

As to Civil-Political Law, we should submit to the Law of the Land as Paul exhorts in Romans 13, but we should not do so at the expense of God’s Moral Law.

Daniel and his amigos demonstrate this in the Book of Daniel.  They still kept the Ceremonial Laws, because Christ had not yet come, but they also kept the Moral Law, praying to God and not bowing to worship the Babylonian king.  They faced due penalty for it too, however, God spared them from that penalty through supernatural intervention.

Peter addresses how to handle Civil-Political Laws of the Land that go against God’s Moral Law by stating, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

Distinction in the Old Testament

So far, the distinctions of these laws have been drawn from the New Testament, which I think is the correct place to draw them since the Ceremonial Laws foreshadowed Christ and until his arrival and fulfillment, we wouldn’t have been able to fully understand their proper role.

But… I found looking at CARM’s website an article on these distinctions:“Leviticus18:22, 20:13, homosexuality, shellfish, mixed fabrics, and not being under Old Testament Law”

In the article, the author Matt Slick, notes that certain laws were given to “the Sons of Israel” whereas other laws were given to “the nations”.  And when you look at the laws given specifically to Israel, we see that they were Ceremonial Laws, and when they were given to all people, they were Moral Laws.  Check out the linked article above for more details.

[Check out a review of my book, Contradict – They Can’t All Be True]

There is plenty more that can be shared and written on how these types of the law are distinguished in Scripture, but this is a good start I believe.  What do you think?  What verses would you add?  Or do you think the verses I have shared don’t support a distinction in types of the Law?

Andy Wrasman5 Comments

Metallica – “ONE” (Not appropriate for Christians – WHAT?)

I’ve been taking a trip down memory  lane listening to music that I listened to from the mid 90s to early 00s. Mostly the songs that were released during that time frame, from bands like Staind, Flaw, Linkin Park, Rage Against the Machine, Stereomudd, Systematic, Saliva, Puddle of Mud, and Godsmack, of which most of these bands are no longer playing, or virtually irrelevant, just rehashing the same stuff without being as good as their first albums.  And these are far from my favorite bands, and I can’t praise all of their songs lyrically or musically.

Somehow, I landed on Metallica, listening to some of the songs off Death Magnetic, and I thought, how does this new CD sound compared to their pre-Black album days.  It seems like they were trying go back to their pre-Black album days on a lot of the songs, so I listened to the song “One” to hear the differences.  And I seem to think the Death Magnetic album is as good or better for them playing that style of Metallica music, but man, “One” is one amazing song.  I’m not sure exactly why, but it was always my favorite Metallica song, I think because of its progression from starting with melodic picking of single notes with a long running lead solo over it all until finally exploding into a fierce rhythm of power chords that actually fit the story of the song!  And maybe that’s it, I like that the song has a story to it and it makes me think a little, or a lot depending on the mood I’m in at the time.

And thinking of this song now, for me, mostly it just brings me back to a high school Sunday school class.  Our church had a student intern who was with us for just one year as he was preparing to be a Director of Christian Education (essentially a youth pastor in the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod).  One of his classes had us go through and write the lyrics to our favorite non-Christian song.  Not being one to usually sing to songs outside of church settings or memorize lyrics since I’m usually listening to the music and prefer it most when there is no singing but just axe-slaying being done, I could only come up with the lyrics to this one Metallica song, though it wasn’t my favorite song at the time.  So I wrote down, what I could remember of it:

Darkness
imprisoning me
All that I see
Absolute Horror
I cannot live
I cannot die
Trapped in myself
Body, my holding cell
Landmine has
Taken my sight
Taken my speech
Taken my hearing
Taken my arms
Taken my legs
Taken my soul
Leaving me with a life in hell!
Oh please God help me.
Help me.

This is the image of the "One" in the song, from the official video for the song, the man who lost his arms, legs, sight, speech, and hearing from war.
This is the image of the “One” in the song, from the official video for the song, the man who lost his arms, legs, sight, speech, and hearing from war.

We then had to go around the room, taking turns reading our lyrics.  After everyone read their lyrics, the intern leader would ask why we listen to it and proceed to tell us all the reasons what we are listening to is not God pleasing and we shouldn’t listen to it.  He then told us of a bunch of Christian bands we should listen to instead and explained that after none of us could produce a “good” song to listen to that wasn’t Christian we should only listen to Christian songs.

For my song, he had no clue what the song was about in its full lyrical story.  He wanted to know why it would be at all God pleasing to hear a song about a guy who has lost everything and is living in hell.  I told him how it was a song that magnified the horrors of war and that it should make us think twice before rushing for bloodshed, and it should make us think of those who have suffered tragically in war.  I told him that it was a song about a guy who lost all his limbs, hearing, sight, and speech from a landmine explosion in war.  I explained that it made me think more about what it means to have life, and it makes me thankful for what I do have from God and that at any moment it could be taken from me if God wills it.  And I added, that the guy in the song recognizes that he needs help, and that the only person who can help him is God!  So what’s so wrong with that?  He didn’t like my explanation of why I would listen to the song… but I forget what he said in reply. I just remember that the song was still rejected as completely inappropriate for  a Christian to listen to.

What do you think?  Should Christians only listen to Christian music?  Is it evil to listen to the music that I have been listening to this week?

I think there are some guiding principles one should take when listening to music like this, and mostly, it’s read Romans 14.  If it’s unclean for you, don’t make it unclean for everyone else.  And it it’s clean for you, but not for another brother or sister in Christ, then don’t subject them to the music, don’t flaunt it in front of them.  Maybe some would argue that I’m doing that with this post – what do you think?

As for the song “One”, I think what I draw from the song is good.  It makes me think of others who are suffering, physically, emotionally, and through isolation, and I think of how Jesus is the only one who can help them, help them in the way that they need, just as he was able to help the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4.  And how does Jesus reach them today?  Through his church, through his Word and through the sacraments.  Not sure how a guy who can’t hear, see, talk, or move will get God’s grace through those means, but I trust that God is not bound by any means!

Andy Wrasman2 Comments

You shall recognize them by their fruits – Judging fellow Christians.

“Every tree that does not bear fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” – Matthew 7:19-20

I have seen this passage used a lot lately for the purpose of spotting “false converts,” or people who claim to be Christian, but they really are not. The reason we can know they are not Christians according to these posts, articles, and videos is that they are not doing things that TRUE Christians would do, or they are doing the unthinkable actions that TRUE Christians would NEVER do. Such examples of these actions that a TRUE Christian would never perform are those of a husband beating his wife habitually, living in a state of adultery, or denying the existence of God.

The numbers from XXX Church for Christian involvement in pornography consumption don’t look good for men, or women, who claim to be Christians, and they look just as bad for the pastors in the Church – if not worse than for the laity. Does this mean that the bulk of Christians in America are false converts, or think they are saved when they are not, because many are hooked on pornography?

Do you know someone who lives with their fiancé, or girlfriend or boyfriend, who is likely having sexual intercourse or other sexual behavior with their live-in roommate of the opposite sex, and yet, they profess Jesus as their Lord and Savior? Do you know anyone who isn’t living with their significant other, but they are openly having sexual intercourse together, while confessing that Jesus is Lord and Savior? Or… what about this… how many Christian couples do you think are having sex outside of marriage, yet no one knows about it, but God?

When you see these brothers and sisters in Christ in visible sin, do you look at them and think, there is NO WAY that person is a true believer? Do you approach them and say, “How can you call yourself a Christian when you (blank), (blank), and (blank)?” Do you approach them and say, “You are not truly repentant. If you were, you wouldn’t do these things. Therefore you must stop what you are doing and ask Jesus to forgive you, and turn from sin, and NEVER do it again.” Do you look at them and say, “Well they think they have repented, think they believe, think they have surrendered their all to God, but they haven’t. They claim to know Christ, but they are so far from him in his actions. They are just pretending to be a Christian.”

Let me ask you? How many people do you know who profess Jesus as their Lord and Savior, yet they regularly, daily, commit adultery, lie, sin in their anger, hold some sort of hatred in your heart, steal, slander their neighbor, have idols in their lives, covet, and what have you?

Now let me turn it to you. Do you do these things, daily? Do you ever put anything or anyone above Christ in your life? Do you struggle with road rage? Do you get extremely angry and start cursing liberals when you watch FOX News? Do you struggle with pride? Do you say little white lies? Do you go a whole day, a single hour, without a sinful thought, action, or word? Don’t forget, sins are not just acts of commission, but also omission – not doing the things that you should. James 2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.”

This should really make us slow to judge someone who claims to be in Christ to be a person who is NOT in Christ. If we judge someone else to not be in Christ based on visible sin in their lives, then how are we different? If we have kept all of the Law of God but have stumbled in one aspect, we are guilty of breaking it ALL. So what then… would we not be saved? Scripture NEVER says, “Once you have committed X amount of sin, you are no longer a Christian, you are no longer saved.”

Yet, it says that we will recognize them by their fruits! So some in the Church tend to judge other believers and say that certain persons can’t be a TRUE Christian, because they have done (blank), (blank), or (blank). This is problematic because we must remember that we TOO have done (blank), (blank), or (blank), just maybe not to the same degree, but that still makes us breakers of God’s Law, which means we deserve his eternal wrath. This is also problematic because we cannot see into the person’s heart. Is the person resisting the sin? Is the person contrite? Is the person inwardly begging Christ to forgive them? Is the person crying out – Lord help I don’t want to do this, and he manages to abstain for a time, but fails once again to meet God’s standard or righteousness? That would be Paul’s dilemma in Romans 7:15-25. The person might be struggling in such away, which would be a sign that the Spirit is active and repentance is present! You don’t know it, and I don’t know it, unless we approach them in love with God’s Word and ask.

When we approach a fellow human being, who confesses Christ as his Lord and Savior, we should follow what Christ told us in Matthew 7, the chapter that tells us “thus we shall recognize them by their fruits.” In that chapter, Jesus tells us “first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Jesus then tells us, “Do not give dogs what is holy and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” In other words, don’t hypocritically judge other precious believers, who are holy and seen as valuable as pearls, by throwing them out of the Christian assembly to the dogs and swine of the world.

So before calling someone who you see to have visible sin a “false convert” or unbeliever, you must examine yourself first, and approach your fellow believer (who you might think is a non-believer due to his actions) in humility, admitting your own sin, confessing your own sin, and gently showing them the error of their ways. This would be part of the process of “iron sharpening iron” as Proverbs 27:17 mentions, or being a Watchman and warning the wicked of their evil ways (Ezekiel 3:18-19). If you approach a person in this manner and he then denies what he is doing is sinful, and you show him in Scripture where it is sinful, and he still denies it as being sinful, it’s time to approach him with another brother, and if he still denies you and the Word of God that you bring that reveals his actions to be sinful, you then bring that person to the whole assembly of the Church, and if the person still denies God’s Word at that point, then we can count the person as LOST, NOT SAVED. I am getting that process of a solo approach, tag-team approach, and then congregant approach from Matthew 18:15-20. That process is for if someone sins against you personally, but I think it can be applied to anyone committing an openly visible sin, because it is harming the witness and image of the Church, and it is hurting his relationship with God. I do believe a person can fall away from the faith, and that would occur when they have rejected the gift of faith and chosen instead to deny Christ and his work to embrace the sin that they love without having to deal with the struggle against that sin any longer.

Now let’s look at King David! Was he a false convert?

David was a man after God’s own heart. (1 Samuel 13:14) Yet… after doing so many great things for the Lord and in the Lord’s name and for the glory of God, David has a string of horrid sin, that involves adultery with the wife of a devoted man of God and one of David’s soldiers. The wife of this other man gets pregnant by David while her husband is out on the battlefield. To cover up the adultery, David has the husband killed on the battlefield. Then he takes the man’s wife as his own to cover up the adultery. (2 Samuel 11) David, a man after God’s own heart, actually did ALL of these things. Was he a “false convert”? Was he not saved because of these things? Was he not fully surrendered and committed to God? Was he not truly repentant? And since he wasn’t fully, truly, actually (blank), (blank), and (blank) was he not a TRUE believer? This is how these “false convert” warnings are initiated against people who confess to be Christians and based on these “false convert” warnings; David wouldn’t be a TRUE believer!

When David is called out by Nathan (2 Samuel 12), Nathan does it by telling David about a very sinful man in the land. Not knowing who this man is David says that man deserves to die! And Nathan tells David, that man is YOU. David then simply says, “I have sinned against the Lord”. And the reply from Nathan is, “The Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die.” I think David was always in faith through it ALL! Have you not covered up sin? Tried to hide it? Got called out for it, and initially denied it, before finally, confessed your sin? When we have faith in Christ, our sins are forgiven! We do not have to completely turn from our sins so that we NEVER sin again. We do not have to name every one of our sins and confess them to have them forgiven? It’s not even possible to name all of our sins, because we sin, when we aren’t even aware we are sinning! That really is how wretched we are.

Back to Matthew 7:20

When you are read Matthew 7:15-20, you’ll see that Jesus is talking about recognizing false prophets. He says that false prophets come to us in sheep’s clothing, but that inwardly they are like ravenous wolves. Can you judge the inside of a man? Outwardly, these false prophets would appear as if they were TRUE believers in their actions. That’s why they look like sheep. So what fruit would you need or even be able to judge to know that they are false prophets? That would be their words, their teachings. Do their teachings align with God’s Word? Do their teachings point to Christ as Lord and Savior? 2 Peter 2:1 tells us that this is exactly what false prophets do: they “will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them.”

When you look beyond Matthew 7:15-20, to the context of the entire Sermon on the Mount, you’ll clearly see that Jesus isn’t asking any of us to judge the salvation of anyone based on their external actions. He is calling out hypocrisy. He says, “Oh you don’t think you have committed adultery, you don’t think you have killed anyone? Guess what! You have – in your heart.” He actually throws all of the Jews who are trying to justify themselves by their “fruits” under the bus of the Law! He says, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20)

Please, don’t judge people as being TRUE Christians or not based on their external actions. God judges the heart. We can’t see into the heart. What we can do is have deep concern for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, especially when we see they are struggling with specific sins. Come alongside them. Share your own struggles with sin. Confess to one another. Pray for one another. Hold each other accountable. If the person denies his actions are sinful, and you show that person from God’s Word with the counsel of other believers present that it is sinful, then according to Matthew 18, it’s safe to consider them as LOST.

Recognize false prophets by their words and teachings. Don’t try to judge someone as Christian or not based on their external fruits, because we can’t see into the hearts of men to know the heart position behind the fruit we see to know if it is from faith or not. Do you know who the judge is of the fruit? God, the Father. Check out John 15. Jesus says that he is the vine, and that we are the branches. The good fruit we bear is because of him and being connected to him. He also says, “My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:1-2). So we aren’t the ones judging the fruit – God, the Father, is the one with that job. He cuts off and throws away the branches not bearing fruit. He prunes the branches that are bearing fruit, so they might bear more fruit.

Andy Wrasman3 Comments