Church people grow up knowing that certain Biblical truths cannot be disputed. For God’s saints, knowing that Jesus died for our sins, and that we will all die at some point are undeniable facts that cannot be denied. These and many other Bible Truths are precious to those whose God is the Biblical Lord of the universe and Whose eternal Law (Genesis to Revelation) is spiritually “written in stone.”

However, there are a number of “truths” that the vast majority of church people either are ignorant of, or know about but refuse to acknowledge for a variety of reasons, the two main ones being fear and pride. When I tell church people what God says in His Holy Bible smiles disappear, words stop coming forth and I soon find myself alone. I am not joking when I say that the best way to break up a Christian discussion about the Bible is to quote some of it. The fact that I am NEVER invited to church gatherings comes as no surprise. The last thing church people want to hear is God’s raw, unedited, unadulterated, uninterpreted, unchurchized, undenominalizationalized Word, which explains why the Apostle Paul called God’s Truth/Word the “sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:19) which, he tells us in Hebrews 4:12, is “sharper than any two-edged sword” that man can create. The truth of those statements becomes evident when people hear God’s “fine print” being quoted or read it for the first time. It immediately separates spiritual sheep from church goats. These “Truths behind the Truths” are not welcomed material in situations in which God’s supposed “truths” are the focus of attention.

As a result of the truths stated above, many life-long church people never heard many of God’s Truths and have never studied the Scriptures in search of them. Zeal for His Truths, or the lack thereof, is what separates spiritual sheep from church goats. Read The Church, the Gospel and the Goats. Key word–Goats.

In this series we will be dissecting one of the “fine print” Truths that Satan has successfully hidden from billions of salvation seekers in order to put a stumbling block between them and the Provider of salvation. As a result, much of God’s Word (the “fine print”) that makes His promises (“headlines”) come to pass remain unknown by all but a few true saints, just as Jesus warned would be the case in Matthew 7:13,14 and 22:14. Let us now delve into some of the Lord’s “fine print” which is necessary to bring His “Headlines” to life relative to REPENTANCE OF SINS. Without obedience to His “fine print” His “headlines” rarely come to fruition. Read Does God Bless Sinners? Key word–Sinners.

Church people are told from early on that God commands the offended to forgive the offender, that the Christian will be sinning if he does not forgive the offender. Is this actually what God said? His answer is “No.” Confusion arises when we read the Lord’s Prayer in which Christ tells His disciples (us) how to approach God relative to forgiveness of a sin one has committed against Himself or man. He instructs the disciples to ask God to forgive them of their sins against Him and other people IN THE SAME WAY that they forgave those who sinned against them (Lk. 2:4). This “headline” is known by all who profess the Lord as their Savior. However, there is more to it than the “headline” proclaims. Here is where God separates sheep from goats. Sheep follow the Apostle Paul’s example of studying, believing and obeying the “whole counsel (Word) of God.” Goats pick those passages that fit their narrative and ignore the rest.

God’s “fine print” relative to forgiveness is one of the most ignored subjects in the Holy Scriptures. Through the Holy Spirit I will now bring to light what Satan has kept hidden for centuries. Recall that the Prophet Daniel wrote that at the end of the age God would reveal the Truths that men had not been allowed to understand until the end grew near. At that time He would unseal Truths that Daniel had sealed (12:4). This ministry’s commission is to reveal some of those Truths, many of which were revealed to holy men of this age who have shared God’s revelations with those whom God has chosen to proclaim them in the final days of the world as we have known it. One of those truths concerns forgiveness of sins committed against God Himself and man.

When we graciously forgive someone who has sinned against us we in fact remove his guilt from him, leaving him free of guilt before us and before God, who then places the guilt upon Christ who paid the price for the offender’s sin. This is the right thing for a true Christian to do, IF ….. What few know is that there is a caveat (condition) that must be met by the offender before the saint can forgive him. The guilty party must openly and verbally repent to the one or ones whom he has offended. Without proven repentance there is to be no forgiveness and the sinner is made to bear his sin for the rest of his life, and beyond. This Truth is made plain in Luke 17:3 where Jesus tells His disciples that they are to forgive an offender IF HE REPENTS. In Matthew 18:21-35 Jesus proclaims the same message. Notice verses 32 and 33 where He uses a man’s “lord” to represent Himself and the Lord’s “servant” to represent a believer. Note that, in terms of forgiveness of sin, the servant’s relationship with his “lord” and with his fellow “servant” are the same. In summary, we are to forgive the guilty party only if he repents, leaving him free of guilt. If there is no repentance we are instructed to leave his guilt on him. Of late I have dealt with an offender by not only leaving his sin on him by not forgiving him, I also turned him over to Satan with instructions to attack his flesh. This has resulted in two hospital stays for the man who has not made his offence right with me. We were to meet but he sent his wife instead. I sent word to him that his physical problems have only begun if he does not make things right with me. DO NOT MESS WITH A CHILD OF GOD–A LESSON THIS REPROBATE IS SLOW TO LEARN. And the price will be much more than it would have been if he had done the right thing in the first place. His sicknesses (so far a heart attack and a relapse) will continue until he does the right thing.

The references to this subject inevitably brings up the fact that both Jesus and Stephen, as they were dying, asked God to forgive those who were killing them. Why? Jesus explains–THEIR MURDERERS DID NOT KNOW WHAT THEY WERE DOING. They were operating in ignorance of Biblically-defined right and wrong. They did not know who Jesus and Stephen were relative to the Lord God. By the time the New Testament Church came on the scene the Jews had abandoned the Holy Scriptures in favor of the Talmud, a collection of the thoughts and writings of their spiritual leaders who created it while the Jews were in Babylonian captivity. I have read parts of that foul tome and can assure you that it has nothing to do with God’s Truth.

Christ’s and Stephen’s killers, who were operating on behalf of the Pharisees who were experts and leaders in the use of the Talmud. The Pharisees and their servants honestly believed that they were doing God a service by killing those they believed to be their god’s enemies (Lk. 23:34/ Acts 7:60). Recall Jesus telling the disciples that one day they would be killed by the same kind of people (super religious) and for the same reason (being God’s enemies)–Jn. 16:2. In a sense, Christ’s and Stephan’s murderers had an excuse for their actions. People who come against God’s saints today have no excuse. Modern day Pharisees (false prophets) and their servants (parishioners) have continuous access to His Truth. However, they choose to ignore it and to go with their version of the Bible. Their “truths” come from the hundreds of versions of “Church doctrine” which is as foreign to the Holy Bible as is the Talmud. Church doctrine is much more deadly because it is put forth as God’s Truth for the New Testament Church. The Old Testament has been relegated to the fiction file. The New Testament is used only as a loose framework from which to determine the true Truth.

Let us allow the Apostle Paul to tell us how far the Pharisees were from the Lord and His Word. Paul was a “Pharisee’s Pharisee”–a-dyed-in-the-wool religionist who identified himself as the most Pharisaical of all Pharisees of his day. He was the son of a Pharisee and a leader in all things spiritual whose zeal for what he believed to be the true God was unsurpassed. Notice what He said about his coming to the Lord. Referencing his pre-conversion past, he said: “I was alive once; but then the Law came and I died” (Rom. 7:9). Before that he was doing what he loved to do–punish those who did not obey his god.

Then he met Jesus and was introduced to God’s Law which defines sin. At that point he came under conviction and repented. Before his Damascus Road encounter with the risen Christ he had been “alive” in that he “knew” he was serving the true God by killing and imprisoning those blasphemous Christians who followed the teachings of some carpenter named Jesus from Nazareth who blasphemously claimed to be the Son of God. Paul’ goal was to kill them all because of their “sins.” But then ….

True repentance requires words and actions that prove one’s change of heart–“receipts” that show that one is truly sorry for what one has done. This is born out in First Chronicles 7:14,15 where the God of the Old Testament (Who became Jesus of Nazareth) is telling Israel then and the church today that WHEN HE has cursed those who are called by His name (sheep and goats) for their sins, IF THEY will humble themselves before Him, pray, seek His face and “TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS,” THEN (AND ONLY THEN) He would hear and answer their prayers. His forgiveness comes only after they provide some “receipts”–proof of conversion (obedience).

Note that God is today addressing those in “the church” who call themselves His people. This group has failed Him miserably. For her to have any influence with Him there must be true, confessed, heart-rending repentance of all sins. This must be accompanied by a “turn from their wicked ways”–a reversal of life’s walk from darkness to light, from sin to holiness, from service to Satan to service to God (1 Jn 1:9). The repentant must show true, observable “receipts” in order to get God’s attention. Jesus made this clear after forgiving the sins of the man at the pool known as Bethesda and a prostitute. After dealing with them, He commanded then to “SIN NO MORE” (Jn. 5:15; 8:11). Notice that He did not tell them to cut back on their sins, then to repent after each one. He is no “respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34 ). What He commands of one He commands of all, that is to “SIN NO MORE.” PERIOD. If words are one’s only demonstration of repentance. One’s false repentance causes him to store (treasure) up one’s sins until the Day of Judgment (Rom. 2:5).

The Lord knows the heart (mind). If one repents following each sin, knowing that he will sin again, then God sees this as having an “unrepentant heart,” in which case one’s past sins, having never been forgiven, have been accumulating since one’s false conversion. Justification (forgiveness of all past sins) is available ONLY IF ONE HAS DETERMINED TO NEVER SIN AGAIN FOLLOWING ONE’S JUSTIFICATION (Rom. 3:25). If one continues on a sin-repent/ sin-repent cycle one is mocking God. One is sowing the wind and will reap the whirlwind. This is the result of FALSE REPENTANCE AND FALSE CONVERSION, which explains why 99% of church prayers go unanswered. False repentance produces sin, which separates one from God (Isa. 59:2) which cause Him to turn one’s heaven into iron.

Let us get right with God, truly repent, place all our past sins on His Son, receive His forgiveness, hunger and thirst for his righteousness and holiness, then, having received them, walk in obedience to the Holy Scriptures until the end of our lies so as to receive salvation at the return of Christ (Rom.5:21; 6:22/ Mat. 10:22/1 Jn. 3:1-10). THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD. L.J.