THE PRESIDING JUDGE

So, someone asked me, why do church leaders find it very easy to discipline and suspend a member overtaken by a sin. Particularly when it has to do with the sin of fornication? Are not all sins equal before God?

I feel it depends on the personality of the individual involved. In my considered view, it is my opinion that when the person caught up in the sin is a regular church member, the church must be very careful dealing with that issue. Because, our actions or inaction might either draw that individual closer to God or further push the person away to the waiting arms of the devil. On the other hand, when the individual involved in the sin, say the sin of fornication or adultery is a minister, it is biblical for the leadership of the church  to take action and employ measures to address  that situation. This is so because, high standards are required from people in places of authority in the body of Christ. They are the beacon and search lights that others follow.

Why the sin of sexual immorality alone?

Are there sins that are greater than the other? when an elder lies, when the pastor corners Church fund or exaggerate the truth in the course of his teaching, are these not sins? and if yes, are they not means to receive the same recompense as the fellow that committed fornication? SOMEONE PLEASE ANSWER ME!

Whether we should discipline or not discipline an erring member, the important thing is that we do everything in love. Unfortunately, love has become a very scarce  commodity in our local assembly today. We have a crop of Christians who take great pleasure in the fall of others. There have never been a more selfish generation than the one we are living in today. A classical example is one that involved a youth President of a local assembly who got his fiancée pregnant and had to be suspended. His office was given to another. The incidence became a topic for jokes and caricature. Friends of the newly appointed President will often tease him with these words: "We'll pray you get your fiancée pregnant so that power will change hands too" lol! Granted, this might be a joke, but I tell you, it's in very bad taste. It is the highest level of insensitivity among brethren, and regrettably, that is what holds sway in our local assembles these days. We even plot other people's fall. Where then lies the love that took Jesus to the cross? I wonder!

We are often too excited to sit in judgment over fellow brethren but we refuse to realize that we lack the capacity,  the power and indeed a place of standing to sit and judge others. Bearing in mind our own history, our own stories and struggles. How about that addiction? that struggle with pornography? Dear pastor, how about that mistress?  Those immoral and unedifying conversations, that greed?  Often time we act as if we are the saints and everyone else are the sinners, but in reality, our own mess smell as hell. The problem with church folks today is that they are so busy covering themselves up and then try so hard with all the efforts in the world to put everyone else in the light. That is pure demonism. No wonder the church of Jesus is facing severe attack from all quarters. She has lost her seasoning.

I sound it very loud and clear that no human reserves the right to sit in judgment over me. I care less what name you are called or by what title you go by. There are two personalities that have the exclusive right to judge you. they are, YOURSELF and our Lord JESUS CHRIST.  Amazingly, during His earthly  Ministry, Jesus had opportunities to sit in judgment over some individuals but He declined. A classical example was the case of the woman caught in the very act of adultery. The lesson  to learn there was that even those clamoring that justice be meted out to her were not without sin. That was the reason they all scampered away like scared rabbits at the pronouncement of Jesus.

God does not see things our way

Jesus told us in the parable of the prodigal son, which is the story about a longing and loving father. recognizing that he had to let his ungrateful and selfish son go, the father waited anxiously for some sign of his son's return. He did not give up on him, not for a split second. You may want to ask, Perez, how did you know that the father did not give up on the 'bad guy son'? Check-out his reaction when he finally spotted the dude from a distance. The father rushed out to greet him, welcomed him home with a big bear-hug, clothed him with a robe, put  a ring on his finger and gave him shoes to wear. The father did not stop there, he killed a fatted calf  and threw  a great party for him.

Jesus said that the father is like God who embraces us in love, however prodigal we have been, and gladly makes us a part of His family, no matter how undeserving we are. It really does not matter what you have been through or what you are going through or even what people think of you. In fact, their opinion about you are not valid. What matters most is what God sees when He looks down from heaven. So strive to be the  best you can each day. It is your daily struggles, pursuit and desire to please God that He accounts for godliness and nothing more. Come to him just the way you are. Do not ever try to paint up pictures. He will accept you just the way you are and He will fix you!

And for you great Pastor/Minister/Prophet/Bishop/Apostle, etc... you have laboured to raise followers for yourself, folks who depend on you for dear life, individuals who have become your slaves and have chosen to revere and worship you instead of God. You have raised for yourself a generation of people I call FANATICAL-JUNKIES. Just watch it, for no one takes God's glory and goes  home safe and dry and above all, God is saying: "Don't strive to give them a form of godliness, for it is the work of my spirit".

                                                                                                                               

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