Are you afraid to judge?

Ok, so you don't agree? Go to the Old Testament and take a gander at the Book of Leviticus and the rules. If you weren't being put to death, you were being put out of the encampment of Israel. Remember the story about Miriam grumbling against Moses and then was struck down with sores by God? Moses prayed for her, and then she was put out of the camp for seven days. This was done on God's instructions so that the twelve tribes of Israel would not go astray – these were known as the Levitical laws. Paul tells Timothy in his second letter, “ All Scripture is God-breathed, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, ” (2 Timothy 3:16)

So the law is good for instruction in righteousness. Again in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus hits us between the eyes: “ Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to destroy but to fulfill. ” (Matthew 5:17) If we're talking about righteousness, then we must deal with the false converts and the equally false idea of we're not supposed to judge. In Matthew 7:16-18 , the Lord issues a clear sign of how to tell a true convert from a false convert – “by their fruits”. We also know in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 the church will come under attack from internal threats – from “false apostles” swelling the ranks.

The fruits of the Spirit are “ But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control ” (Galatians 5:22-23). It's also scriptural to state false converts are also mentioned in such parables as the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46) and the wheat and the darnels (Matthew 13:25-30). There are two classifications, and we must be sensitive to what the Lord Jesus is telling us. He also makes it clear in both stories He will sort out the true and the false at His time; we are not to go around tearing up the darnels (false Christians) in case we uproot a true Christian.

So what is a Christian to do? Open your eyes and pray for discernment, then confront your brother or sister in Christ in a Biblical fashion according to Matthew 17. If you are wrong, then it's better to honestly clear the air and put the incident in question behind you. If you bring witnesses and the person still refuses to repent from the sin in question, then you can put them out. I would pray one more time and ask the Lord to confirm before you put the offender outside of the body in the event that person is a true Christian but bearing little or no fruit, versus bad fruit.

Often we hear, “judge not, lest ye be judged” from the secular world; they hope we will back down and slink away from our duty to judge sin, going so far to refer to God's laws as hate speech, homophobic, and bigoted. Until God surrenders His attributes of being perfect, just and judging sin, we as Christians have no other choice but to obey and protect God's law from the revisionist style of modern day “I'm ok, you're ok” nonsense.

Ephesians 5:11-12 should remind us of our stewardship of the bride of Christ: “ And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. ”

In regards to my false prophet friend I mentioned earlier? I called him one night and told him his witness stinks and his prophecies have never come to pass; we are still friends, but should he try and preach with all his personal foibles, he gets three warnings before I hang up the phone on him. I pray for him often, and I ask you as brothers and sisters in the faith to also pray for him to surrender his pet sins. Prayer for another is the most potent spanking we can give each other out of love.

“ And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)

Want more critical thinking? You can find articles by Suzanne Bald and other authors at Axis of Logic . Other quazen.com articles by this writer can be found here . If you enjoyed this article, consider digging it with others!