If the past five postings have not convinced you that judging and correcting is a foundational principle of the Church of God, let me remind you that none other than the Apostle Paul, who received his gospel through revelation directly from Jesus Christ, judged men named Alexander, Hymaneus and Philetus who had turned away from the Word of God (1 Tim. 1:20; 2 Tim. 2:17). This was not an isolated incidence. In 1 Corinthians 5:3 Paul wrote to the Corinthians concerning an adulterer in the church: “For I verily though absent in body but with you in spirit, HAVE JUDGED HIM ALREADY …. In the name and power of our Lord Jesus Christ, (I command you to) DELIVER HIM UNTO SATAN FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF HIS FLESH ….” The purpose of such spiritual and physical punishment was to convince the sinner to repent and to return to the church and to God. The church was instructed to welcome him back if he did so. Then in verses 12 & 13 Paul added that they were to judge them that are within the church, noting that God judges those outside the church. Bear in mind that he was referring to God’s church then and now, not to those organizations that call themselves “the church” (Catholicism/Protestantism). They are part of the world that God Himself will judge. With this in mind, Paul commanded the Corinthians to put the sinner out of the church.

I find it ironic that the same people who claim that church people are not to judge each other have no trouble judging God’s divinely inspired Word and rejecting some 80% of it. Paul speaks of those who engage in this Satanic activity in Romans 3:1-4 where he declares that God will judge those hypocrites, whom He calls “liars,” because they do not believe the oracles (Words) of God.

As stated in a previous posting, internal church judgment, correction or punishment consists of applying the Lord’s Standard–His Holy Bible–to a situation. Church people are not the judges, they are simply the ones God uses to voice what He has already judged and to apply the appropriate sentence. Unbelief of God’s oracles prevents professing Christendom from doing this. Why? BECAUSE THE HOLY BIBLE IS  NO LONGER THE STANDARD OF RIGHT AND WRONG WITHIN PROFESSING CHRISTENDOM as this website has brought out time and again. This was recently brought to world attention when the current Catholic pope refused to declare that homosexuality was a sin, stating:  “Who am I to judge them?” Though slick, safe and worthy of a sound byte, it nevertheless revealed his lack of faith in the Word of God–the same Word that declares all such Satanic practices to be an abomination to the Lord. God has already judged them and has voiced His judgment in His Holy Word. The leader of world heathenism needs only to proclaim God’s judgment. Being either ignorant of God’s Word, spineless, or  both, he refused to voice God’s judgment.  L.J.