Friends,
There is a teaching going around that says we must make amends for our sins even when it is quite impossible to do so without causing more grief, chaos, or sin. Two wrongs do not make a right. So, let’s see… –if a man has committed adultery, should he, once he’s confessed his sin to God and asked God to forgive him and give him a cleansed and renewed heart and life, search out all the families he’s wronged and… –and what? –Go to the unsuspecting husbands and ask them for forgiveness? Or let’s see, maybe he should offer a reimbursement to them for any money that was spent on therapists, medicines, or lawyers while the couples tried to salvage their marriages. Hmm?

And what about this? If someone gets divorced and a few years later meets someone else and they get married, should they, upon dedicating (or rededicating) their lives to God by determining to walk in holiness, feel they must divorce again so as to refrain from continuous adultery? And if so, should they try to go back to their previous spouses? What about any children that were conceived, born, and raised within the new families?

And what about this? Someone lives a life of crime (shoplifting, robbery, drug-dealing, murder, etc.), but becomes born again –a new creation. Should this person be told he must go back to the families he devastated and… –and what? Can he even begin to make amends? Can he bring the dead back? Should he go to the police station and turn himself in? –For which crime? –All of them?

Before we tolerate or promote such demands on new (or renewed) Christ-followers, we’d better make certain that we’d bow to the same demands ourselves if we were in their shoes. If we’d have trouble with it, we’d best teach mercy instead, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful.” (James 2:13a) Those who are careless with their condemnations (stemming supposedly from God) concerning particular sins, should actually memorize verse 10: “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” One point…, my dear pious chap.

God is a God of justice –which includes judgement, consequences, and punishments for sin– but He is also a God of love and mercy. And because His love is so extensive (Eph. 3:18,19), His mercy triumphs over judgement (James 2:13b) for everyone who cries out to Him in genuine contrition. Who are we to do anything less? If God forgives and forgets, it’s certainly not our job to demand “amends” that would merely cause the furtherance of more sin. Yes, if amends can righteously be made, so be it. But if not, by wisdom, righteousness, the Word, and the Spirit, is how we live the rest of our lives –not by man’s dictates.

“Making amends” can become endless as well as chaotic. It’s similar to those who teach that people must delve back into their past, renounce curses hovering around due to past sins, and then do the same with ancestral curses, digging up all sins committed and contemplating which curses could have attached themselves to which sins. Once again: All such nonsense is promoted by those who just flat-out do not believe in the Gospel, God’s Word, the power of God, Christ’s work on the cross, or the Spirit-filled life. While claiming all this and saying they are ministers of Christ, these people are simply unbelievers. They do not have simple, child-like faith, but instead think a bunch of hocus-pocus renunciations and deliverance stunts must be performed. No, we need only believe, repent, and follow Jesus. When we do this from the heart, we can be confident that we are cleansed, forgiven, and delivered from all evil and sin, provided we remain in Jesus and His words. (John 15:5-7 & 1 John 5:18)

Jesus teaches, “Sin no more”, not, “Jump through this hoop now.” If the hoop-jumping being demanded does not come from the whole counsel of God’s Word, then it’s a hoop created by man, even a doctrine of demons. (1 Tim. 4:1) Leave it. For false doctrines are a dime a dozen (they are everywhere), and all coming from either pawns of the devil or his actual servants pretending to be servants of righteousness. (2 Cor. 11:13-15)

What does God’s Word tell us? Well, Ps. 130:7 tells us to put our “hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with Him is full redemption.” Full redemption. Why? Because we put our hope in the One whose love is unfailing. Verses 3 & 4 say, “If You, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness; therefore You are feared.” Micah 7:18,19 is just one of the numerous confirmations of this, for it says, “Who is a God like You, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the sea.” This means that God takes away our sins, cleanses us, and buries the record of them deep under the sea.

For “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Ps. 103:10-12) He’s removed them –from us and from His sight. Our sins are gone, forgiven, forgotten. We are cleansed, made new, made pure. We are saved, redeemed, delivered. The only way to negate this wonderful position in Christ is to doubt and then pull the sin and guilt back again. In so doing, we will sin further, we will deny Christ’s power and salvation, and we will spiral into the arms of the evil one once again. May it not happen! May we trust completely in the love and mercy and tender-care of our God and walk victorious in His Truth.

For “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.” (Ps. 103:13) If God, who is perfectly holy, can stoop to forgive and wipe a slate clean… –well, then so must we for one another and stop letting pious judgements, instead of extended mercy, dictate how another is to take his stand in the Lord.

Therefore, “Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters… Who are you to judge someone else’s servant?” (Rom. 14:1,4a) If that person is the Lord’s servant, the Lord is able to teach him Himself. Indeed, “To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.” (v. 4b)

frosbel:


Therefore, “Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters… Who are you to judge someone else’s servant?” (Rom. 14:1,4a) If that person is the Lord’s servant, the Lord is able to teach him Himself. Indeed, “To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.” (v. 4b)

I think you should Practice what you preach, why do you guys call the people of God names , just because you don't agree with their convictions in the bible

Joagbaje:

I think you should Practice what you preach, why do call people of God names , just because you don't agree with their convictions in the bible

especially when their conviction is seriously flawed and they intend to spread that poison to God's sheep.

For me as a member of the BODY OF CHRIST ( not Christ embassy or whatever ) , I must speak the truth to protect the sheep.

And what makes you think you are the one who is right?.

^^


I have not come HERE to gather a following , GOD FORBID it be so,


I could be WRONG on some matters for sure, but the scripture is my standard NOT some random cooked up doctrine from Christ Embassy and the likes.


If the bible does not support it, then it must be CANNED !!!

So why don't you just stay on the bible ,instead of exhibiting fleshly insult. The truth of God is communicated in humility and not by strife. If believe you have truth, why not communicate it with the fruit of the spirit. That's what the bible teaches.

2 Timothy 2:24-25
24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;

On this ground I stand.