“If we saw that such would reform without reproof, we would gladly forbear the publishing of their faults. But when reproofs themselves prove so ineffectual, that they are more offended at the reproof than at the sin, and had rather that we should cease reproving than that themselves should cease sinning, I think it is time to sharpen the remedy.” - Richard Baxter
I desire to write in very plain terms of our dealings with family so that any of a sound mind can understand why we do what we do. NOTE: This was not written for our own edification and learning, but has been written as a response to the inquirers and accusers on matters of judgment. We do solemnly, to our hurt and self sacrifice, to the defamation of our closest kindred and friends, stand with Richard Baxter, and concur, there must be varying degrees of severity as the circumstance demands. There are varying degrees of severity in judgment which results in varying degrees of division, contention, and the peaceless sword. Why are there varying degrees? There are varying degrees of sinners! If there are varying degrees of sinners, then there must be varying degrees of judgment proportionate to their sinfulness. It is my hope that some of those who have misunderstood our behavior, slandered our motives, misrepresented the events, or oversimplified our intent into cultish insanity, would be reproved. Nevertheless, I cannot help but sit quietly under the shadow of the Sovereign who said, “He that hath ears to hear let him hear.”
First, let me emphasize this again: we do love our Lord Jesus Christ in a true biblical love because of His infinite grace toward us, and loving men through Him seems to be hatred by others; nevertheless, let it be understood, if anything threatens His glory, the good of the gospel, the good of ours or other’s souls, or any other cause of our precious and dear Savior, no matter how much we did love such and such a person in our former lives…God granting us continual grace, we cannot and will not compromise the will of God. Everything we once loved is so incomparable with the magnitude of our love for God that it is as if we “hate” it (Luke 14:26). Can I tell you that I am dead, and that Christ liveth in me? Oh, what a wonder! All of our past lives, reputations, accomplishments, and gains are now as dung to us (Php. 3). All things that contend with the good will of our God are hateful to us, and we can love a person’s soul with the utmost sincerity and yet hate everything from, or about them, except for the wooing and working Spirit in or upon them. As God takes pleasure in nothing outside of Christ, so His servants are taught the same “mind” (1 Cor. 2). Also, we hate our own lives and all other things that are evil. We do hate with a godly hatred, which is actual love for souls and the greater good of God and man. We do not use methods of modern church “tactics” to win sinners, but we trust that if we obey God and honor Him, then He will save them in His own good pleasure. Men don’t need a brainwashing but a heart-washing, even the “washing of regeneration” (Titus 3:5), and this only God can do.
I desire to address FIVE scenarios of familial judgment, why they are different in the severity of judgment necessary, and the consequences of judgment – peace, contention, division & warlike hurt. The five scenarios are listed below in a decreasing order of circumstantial peacefulness which is able to be attained based upon our experience and the logic that scriptural and spiritual laws demand.
There are three spiritual principles which we are governed by in all these circumstances, which change our behavior based upon the intensity of each familial situation. These are listed below:
The grounds and laws for spiritual fellowship have been addressed through the scriptures written in 1 Corinthians 5, 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1, Ephesians 5, and 1 John 1. For all those who truthfully confess the Name of Christ, we do desire and are obligated to keep these God-written Church rules. God is concerned about our fellowship with Him and one another (amongst those who profess the name of Christ). I will remind you that it is written, salvation is to be “called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Cor. 8:9). As a Christian, I must confess, I have lost everything for Christ (lawfully, spiritually, and in heart), and now I have gained Christ! Alleluia! Therefore when there is ANYTHING that threatens to discontinue fellowship with HIM it is hatefully avoided at any cost! Those things include sin from unregenerate sinners, otherwise called, “the unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph. 5:11). It is written, “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” By works of darkness, it is meant: those things which include damnable, unrepentant sin from Christians which merits excommunication from Christian fellowship (which is anything under the name of Christ, or anything where there is a mutual understanding that this is a religious practice which insinuates such a person is accepted and right with God) – such as eating (charity feasts or holy communion), intercession, singing, exhortation, accountability, witnessing, spiritual edification, and assemblies (1 Corinthians 5, 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1).
Remember, we cannot have fellowship with anyone who is not “in the light” (1 John 1:7). “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). We do make it our priority to maintain an atmosphere of “light” with all professing Christians, but if (God forbid) there ever be an occasion where regenerate Christians refuse to acknowledge the necessity for light and they are walking in some kind of darkness, and yet they still desire to have fellowship, this is an impossibility for us and for all those who seek to obey these principles. If such a thing was done it would be a denial of, and offense to, the living Christ, who is Light, who is the supernatural unity and power that wills, moves, speaks, and lives through all of us. This is a deed warned to be of such criminal weight that it endangers such ones to be expelled from the safety of the cleansing blood. With one darkened soul mingled about within, so comes the promised curse that others will fall with him. “One sinner destroyeth much good” (Eccl. 9:18). This must be avoided at all costs. For us, bound in Spirit, it is an impossibility; thus we avoid it as long as God gives us grace. We seek to persevere by the grounds of a biblical assurance, free from the mockery of sowing to the faithful curses warned of in scripture. “God is not mocked, whatsoever a man sows that will he also reap” (Gal. 6:7).
Could men like Joshua and his generation rightly forget the horrible execution of Achan, and all the other instances when thousands fell under God-sent plagues? Such plagues were sent because the doctrines of separation and holiness were transgressed! Could those men ever forget the sure curse of infection from Canaan after their self-participating in the public execution of Achan and his family, including the children, all killed by stones thrown by all Israel? They learned to hate loose-mindedness, a mentality which lacked carefulness and trembling, making room for the slightest slip into disobedience where biblical separation is breached. At times, such fierce wrath broke forth upon Israel that the plague could not be stayed without the immediate execution of the guilty persons. Israel was weeping as Phinehas ran such men through with a javelin: a highly regarded, reputable man and woman at the same time!
First, let me emphasize this again: we do love our Lord Jesus Christ in a true biblical love because of His infinite grace toward us, and loving men through Him seems to be hatred by others; nevertheless, let it be understood, if anything threatens His glory, the good of the gospel, the good of ours or other’s souls, or any other cause of our precious and dear Savior, no matter how much we did love such and such a person in our former lives…God granting us continual grace, we cannot and will not compromise the will of God. Everything we once loved is so incomparable with the magnitude of our love for God that it is as if we “hate” it (Luke 14:26). Can I tell you that I am dead, and that Christ liveth in me? Oh, what a wonder! All of our past lives, reputations, accomplishments, and gains are now as dung to us (Php. 3). All things that contend with the good will of our God are hateful to us, and we can love a person’s soul with the utmost sincerity and yet hate everything from, or about them, except for the wooing and working Spirit in or upon them. As God takes pleasure in nothing outside of Christ, so His servants are taught the same “mind” (1 Cor. 2). Also, we hate our own lives and all other things that are evil. We do hate with a godly hatred, which is actual love for souls and the greater good of God and man. We do not use methods of modern church “tactics” to win sinners, but we trust that if we obey God and honor Him, then He will save them in His own good pleasure. Men don’t need a brainwashing but a heart-washing, even the “washing of regeneration” (Titus 3:5), and this only God can do.
I desire to address FIVE scenarios of familial judgment, why they are different in the severity of judgment necessary, and the consequences of judgment – peace, contention, division & warlike hurt. The five scenarios are listed below in a decreasing order of circumstantial peacefulness which is able to be attained based upon our experience and the logic that scriptural and spiritual laws demand.
- 1) The 1st and most peaceful familial life - All persons in the family are regenerate & right with God.
- 2) 2nd Most peaceful – All persons in the family are regenerate but not all are right with God; however, the principles of fellowship, judgment, reproof, and repentance are understood and accepted by all persons to be the inevitable devotion and obligation for all professing Christians.
- 3) 3rd Most peaceful – All persons in the family are unregenerate, yet they are humbled, turned by God in a measure, and drawn toward Him, making such unregenerate men what we call “seeking sinners.”
- 4) 4th Most peaceful – All persons in the family are unregenerate and humbled to a lesser measure, and so they are not yet “seeking sinners”, but they have been tempered into listening sinners which are capable of a conversation with a river of words from a Christian in the Holy Ghost.
- 5) 5th Most peaceful (which is no peace at all) – All persons in the family are unregenerate and proud, ruthless, vengeful, and raging persecutors, consciously or unconsciously; they cannot help themselves, because they are dominated by the compulsion of emotional hate to invent evils and advance sin and Satan, to the damnation of men and the resistance of the loving Lord Jesus.
There are three spiritual principles which we are governed by in all these circumstances, which change our behavior based upon the intensity of each familial situation. These are listed below:
- The grounds or laws which establish and sustain “fellowship” amongst professing Christians.
- Understanding our capability to be evilly affected by the influence of sin and sinners who do or do not profess Christ.
- The commandments of God which promise the continuance of our souls in righteous perseverance through the demand of separation of any influence of the world which is to our backsliding destruction, whether it be family, friends, or any man by any medium of communication worldwide.
The grounds and laws for spiritual fellowship have been addressed through the scriptures written in 1 Corinthians 5, 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1, Ephesians 5, and 1 John 1. For all those who truthfully confess the Name of Christ, we do desire and are obligated to keep these God-written Church rules. God is concerned about our fellowship with Him and one another (amongst those who profess the name of Christ). I will remind you that it is written, salvation is to be “called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Cor. 8:9). As a Christian, I must confess, I have lost everything for Christ (lawfully, spiritually, and in heart), and now I have gained Christ! Alleluia! Therefore when there is ANYTHING that threatens to discontinue fellowship with HIM it is hatefully avoided at any cost! Those things include sin from unregenerate sinners, otherwise called, “the unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph. 5:11). It is written, “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” By works of darkness, it is meant: those things which include damnable, unrepentant sin from Christians which merits excommunication from Christian fellowship (which is anything under the name of Christ, or anything where there is a mutual understanding that this is a religious practice which insinuates such a person is accepted and right with God) – such as eating (charity feasts or holy communion), intercession, singing, exhortation, accountability, witnessing, spiritual edification, and assemblies (1 Corinthians 5, 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1).
Remember, we cannot have fellowship with anyone who is not “in the light” (1 John 1:7). “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). We do make it our priority to maintain an atmosphere of “light” with all professing Christians, but if (God forbid) there ever be an occasion where regenerate Christians refuse to acknowledge the necessity for light and they are walking in some kind of darkness, and yet they still desire to have fellowship, this is an impossibility for us and for all those who seek to obey these principles. If such a thing was done it would be a denial of, and offense to, the living Christ, who is Light, who is the supernatural unity and power that wills, moves, speaks, and lives through all of us. This is a deed warned to be of such criminal weight that it endangers such ones to be expelled from the safety of the cleansing blood. With one darkened soul mingled about within, so comes the promised curse that others will fall with him. “One sinner destroyeth much good” (Eccl. 9:18). This must be avoided at all costs. For us, bound in Spirit, it is an impossibility; thus we avoid it as long as God gives us grace. We seek to persevere by the grounds of a biblical assurance, free from the mockery of sowing to the faithful curses warned of in scripture. “God is not mocked, whatsoever a man sows that will he also reap” (Gal. 6:7).
Could men like Joshua and his generation rightly forget the horrible execution of Achan, and all the other instances when thousands fell under God-sent plagues? Such plagues were sent because the doctrines of separation and holiness were transgressed! Could those men ever forget the sure curse of infection from Canaan after their self-participating in the public execution of Achan and his family, including the children, all killed by stones thrown by all Israel? They learned to hate loose-mindedness, a mentality which lacked carefulness and trembling, making room for the slightest slip into disobedience where biblical separation is breached. At times, such fierce wrath broke forth upon Israel that the plague could not be stayed without the immediate execution of the guilty persons. Israel was weeping as Phinehas ran such men through with a javelin: a highly regarded, reputable man and woman at the same time!
“Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly” (Genesis 13:12-13).
We do fear the awful fate of Lot who pitched his tent toward Sodom, who later found himself lodging within Sodom, and had he stayed with Abraham he would not have been lingering after hearing the warnings spoken by God’s destroying angels who entered into Sodom that woeful eve. Had he immediately heard their command to flee, had he not been so deep in sleep that his conscience would have awakened sooner, his salvation would have been much less scarce (1 Peter 4:18). Instead, he lost all of his possessions, was nearly burned alive, lost his dear wife to hellfire, and was raped in a drunken dark night of soul by his two daughters who had learned the ways of sexual perversity in Sodom. Reader, we do not want to mock God. Lot should have feared and been humble, he should have known he would be affected by Sodom’s wickedness, and so we do the more earnestly take heed to such warnings of infection written in the NT. There are centuries of testimonies like this which make plain the cost men did pay for ignoring the contagion of a too-close relationship to sin or sinners, and so such persons unconsciously were snared over time.
“And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death” (Judges 16:16)…
Samson was unwittingly stripped of God and grace for a long period of time. His hair was cut, his eyes gouged out, his wife lost, and calling forfeited, until the sovereign grace of God granted him repentance and the fulfillment of his calling just before he died. The unity of spiritual enemies who operate by two different natures will result in an intoxicating vexation, which, if it is left as it is to continue daily, the saint will be corrupted and liable for damnation.
“And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD” (2Ch 19:2).
Jehoshaphat also, he joined in a “yoke” which God forbad (2 Cor. 6:14) and was doomed to die because of it (1 Kings 22:32), and had he not called upon the Lord for special mercies to pardon the due recompense at hand for his union with God’s criminals, he would have perished with them. “And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of Israel. Therefore they compassed about him to fight: but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him; and God moved them to depart from him” (2 Chron. 18:31).
“The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands” (Ezra 9:1).
“And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice” (Ezr. 9:3-4).
“And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice” (Ezr. 9:3-4).
Our gracious Lord has overwhelmingly given us the heart of Ezra in these times of dangerous neglect of the doctrine of separation and “perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1). Astonishment, trembling, mournful sitting and speechless prostration are often seizing us concerning the NT transgressions by the regenerate worldwide. Whatever we have been through or attained by grace, wisdom, past experiences, esteem, influence, and our usage by God - these things do not substantiate the bold disregard that so many people have concerning the doctrine of holiness and the consequential infection which comes by its transgression. We do conclude that we are lesser than Solomon, and even he fell! “Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin” (Neh. 13:26). “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (1 Cor. 10:11).
“Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matt. 15:14).
“Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Lk. 12:1).
“Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Lk. 12:1).
Did not Jesus warn of the Pharisees’ hypocrisy, its danger, and the vitality of separation? Have we no NT instruction through the apostles which warns of “leaven” (1 Cor. 5)? All those who have eyes to see on this matter will remove themselves from the congregation of the dead and so reward to themselves the salvific, revelatory grace of the risen Lord Jesus who is able to save – but in HIS WAY. Thus was the blind man’s experience in John 9:1-38. Is this all that we have to be alarmed about? Reader, there is more!
“From such turn away.” – 2 Tim. 3:5
“From such withdraw thyself.” – 1 Tim. 6:5
“Have no company with him…” - 2 Thess. 3:14
“Receive him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed…” – 2 John 1:10.
“From such withdraw thyself.” – 1 Tim. 6:5
“Have no company with him…” - 2 Thess. 3:14
“Receive him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed…” – 2 John 1:10.
May the Lord ever forbid us to be, in the NT sense, “mingled among the heathen” so as to be damned, having “learned their works” (Psa. 106:35). But many of you will say the proud (1 Cor. 5:2) saying, “I will not learn their works.” You are deceived! The scripture says, “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Cor. 15:33). This verse represents the source of the near damnation of all of the Corinthians, who, after they were mingled amongst the worldly-wise false prophets, were made carnal and worldly-wise (which is to be wicked), so much so that they (many of them) forsook the apostle Paul as a reprobate. Who are your religious “companions” (Prov. 13:20)? It is time to take your religious “company” seriously and fulfill the command of NT judgment and accountability, establishing laws of fellowship and saving unity (1 Cor. 5:11). “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed” (Pro 13:20). This is the way of understanding that we are compelled to hold. On account of the transgression of these doctrines, scores of regenerate souls abide still in congregations that are dead, and consequentially, they are left fighting to keep their head above the drowning water while they ought to be walking on water, and further, they don’t know the reason for their powerless sinking in evil, therefore they remain in a dead congregation. They justify themselves, in ignorance, and many do not make it out alive because “GOD IS NOT MOCKED” (Gal. 6). “The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead” (Prov. 21:16). Such men faint for thirst while dwelling in this wilderness of a congregation, not knowing, but ever longing, for the real Church where judgment and purity sustain personal holiness and fruitfulness. As it is written, “Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous” (Psalm 1:5).
“Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ” (2 Cor. 2:14-17).
Reader, you must understand this! We, at the Church of Wells, have bound ourselves to the conviction that the Lord is not pleased with us unless we (by grace) do make manifest who HE is, or in other words, “the savour of His knowledge by us in every place.” We do believe that we must make known who He is in such a way that those who are saved come to know it and are edified thereby, and those who are lost come to know it and are miserably experiencing the sad woe of their dead estate. The unsaved men in every place should come to know their unsaved estate, or at least be bothered by the convicting power of the Spirit through the word and thus smell some smell of death while we are around. It is for their own good and it can be effectual for their salvation according to God’s sovereign will. We call this, as the scripture says, “THE TRIUMPH OF CHRIST,” and it is the purpose of our existence in this dark, hellbound, satanic world (2 Cor. 2:14). We cannot have fellowship with professing Christians in any way which inhibits this supreme purpose, though many deny its need, significance, and vitality. Shall we wonder why? Read again the passage above and understand the law of triumph that YOU need to abide by if you are a regenerate Christian – with your family, friends, parents, grandparents, children, cousins, uncles, aunts, etc. Don’t corrupt the word of God! Fear God whom you represent, and speak, not as men-pleasers but “in the sight of God.”
Now, please let me recite again the 5 scenarios of familial circumstance with the appropriation of these truths in mind; my additions are in italics.
1) The most peaceful familial life - All persons in the family are regenerate & right with God.
Those who are not right with God have unclear eyes (Matt. 7:1-5), are as the Corinthians forsaking Paul and receiving false prophets, are as dangerous as enemies against God (James 4:4, Heb. 10:27), are as leaven in the midst of the holy (1 Cor. 5), dangerous to the touch (2 Cor. 6:17-7:1), and blinded from discernment of good and evil as they ought to be able to discern it (Heb. 5:13-14).
2) 2nd Most peaceful – All persons in the family are regenerate but not all are right with God; however, the principles of fellowship, judgment, reproof, and repentance are understood and accepted by all persons to be the inevitable devotion and obligation for all professing Christians.
If these principles are accepted by the regenerate and backslidden individuals, then they will be humble (1 Cor. 5:2), willing to endure judgment if necessary (1 Cor. 5), desirous for the restoration available through the instrumentality of spiritual Christians (Gal. 6:1), and they will not trust in their own discernment of who is spiritual or not because they recognize the blindness which is characteristic of a backslidden state - and thus they are willing to hear and learn of their blind estate, even unto heart-wrenching humiliation before God and man (Heb. 5:13-14).
3) 3rd Most peaceful – All persons in the family are unregenerate, yet they are humbled, turned by God in a measure, and drawn toward Him, making such unregenerate men what we call “seeking sinners.”
Seeking sinners are those who perceive their lost estate and are not angry about it but thankful for it, recognizing that this is for their salvation by a loving God. They are willing to be lost if that is the truth of God’s word and now they have come to know they are lost. They are set to seek God until, haply, in His mercy, He saves them. Not all sinners are the volatile persecutors you see in the Pharisees. Some of them are more increasingly drawn by the mercy of God than others so as to have a more noble spirit to search the scriptures and seek God in sincerity (Acts 17:11). It can be said of these unregenerate sinners what was said in Mark 12:37, “the common people heard Him gladly.” Seeking sinners are “blind,” which is to say, they are in a position where they can be guided by one who sees, that their sin may be taken away (John 9:41). These people hold true Christian preachers in “honour” (2 Cor. 6:8), they believe them to be “true” (2 Cor. 6:8), they are “well known” by them because they observe their lives and doctrine with devotion (2Cor. 6:9), therefore they do give a “good report” of them to others (2 Cor. 6:8).
4) 4th Most peaceful – All persons in the family are unregenerate and humbled to a lesser measure, and so they are not yet “seeking sinners”, but they have been tempered into listening sinners which are capable of a conversation with a river of words from a Christian in the Holy Ghost.
It is written, “He that believed on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). For men to endure the striving, preaching Spirit of the Holy Ghost without violence, uncontrollable anger, and twitching aggravation unto blind, slanderous, fury, is absolutely a blessing of God in a measure. If God left all men to themselves, all would be as murderous and treacherous as the Scribes and Pharisees who continually sought out means to kill God incarnate. Such individuals who are not seeking sinners, but listening sinners - they are far from the kingdom of God and have not yet been thoroughly convinced of their lost estate. Yet, because they are such men who can have a conversation by a willingness to be silent - and so swallow their pride - with such persons in the family there can be a good continuance of communication by all mediums, and the danger of being infected by their evil behavior is greatly decreased. The peacefulness with these family members is magnificently different comparatively to those unregenerate family members who are neither seeking sinners nor temperate listeners. Such individuals who are temperate listeners, are usually not the religious who have been accustomed to the wine of false teachers throughout their years. They are those who are not so proud of their religious stature, or, not so confident that they are righteous and soundly standing in the truth of what the Bible teaches. Peace is maintained to a very large degree, comparatively to those who fit scenario #5.
5) 5th Most peaceful (which is no peace at all) – All persons in the family are unregenerate and proud, ruthless, vengeful, and raging persecutors, consciously or unconsciously; they cannot help themselves, because they are dominated by the compulsion of emotional hate to invent evils and advance sin and Satan, to the damnation of men and the resistance of the loving Lord Jesus.
These individuals are passionate persecutors. They will not cease without making a large impact against the way of truth. They affect others by their preaching so as to make others bound under their evils, which leave them ill-affected to the truth. They slander (consciously or unconsciously), they hate in emotional hurt, jealousy, anger, and rage. They often scream, lose peaceful control, and so they meet the description of Nabal – “He is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him” (1 Sam. 25:17). Many parents become such persons after the conversion of their children. They will call every day to preach false doctrines, weep, plead, and do whatever they can do in their power to turn their children from the truth, whether their child is a seeking sinner or a converted Christian.
They will call the law enforcement with slanderous reports, they will rail with the word “cult,” they will think there is brainwashing at use, evil spirits involved, and more. They will call their pastors, send messengers, track their cell phones, haul them to psychiatric wards for an examination, and even kidnap their children by surprise attacks in coalition with police who are willing to break the law. They will track them down, stir up the neighborhood, start blogs, call pastors in other churches to create rallying pity and strength in numbers. They will pray, fast, and write. Oh! How hard it is to relate to such a dear family member like this. All of these things mentioned have happened to one or more individuals in our Church.
During the time that the child of such a parent is seeking the Lord for salvation, drastic measures are taken (by the child’s own will and decision) so that such a person is able to keep their mind on the Lord. The power of the parent’s corrupt speech can make their conversion impossible. After salvation, certain saints are weaker in conscience, faith, and steadfastness than others, and so, with each person and case the severity of separation is different. All decisions of severity in judgment surround the health of the individual Christian’s soul, that righteousness would be maintained at any cost, even if this dog (Php. 3) of a parent misunderstands everything. They are angry and dangerous men to the souls of saints! “Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul” (Prov. 22:24-25).
These parents are swine who are ready at any circumstance to outwit you, turn again, and then “rend you.” They must be dealt with accordingly! “Give not that which is holy unto dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you” (Matt. 7:6). If these parents were not so passionately bent on their child’s damnation, and had a willingness and peaceable nature to talk, things would be very different. Sadly, these individuals often lead astray most other family members and so many others: “they are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them” (1 John 4:5). So many are deceived because of this individual that there must be a contending against them, disrespect for their spiritual influence and authority, lest all the family and others are destroyed. These become men and women worthy to call out by name in public rebuke (2 Tim. 1:15, Tit. 1:13, 2 Tim. 4:14-15), infamy, and humiliation, “men whose mouths must be stopped” (Titus 1:11), men not to peaceably entertain in the Church for one hour (Gal. 2:5).
They are Ishmaels that must be “cast out” for the safety of God’s people (Gal. 4:30). There must be a measure of separation made, and because of the parents’ persistent zeal for perpetual talking and contact so as to evilly effect the child of God, such actions as ignoring them, refusal to speak, or such like things are necessary at times. We cannot engage in such perpetual contentions and folly to the subversion of our souls and the hindrance of our growth – “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him” (Prov. 26:4). “Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease” (Prov. 22:10). The uttermost severity is required for the continuance of personal and corporate holiness while at odds with such a one like this. Their sins are dangerous and snaring. Do you hear the voice of God today for such ones? “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Rev. 18:4).
Suffering is often hard to endure as a Christian. There are few means like suffering that are so used by Satan to shake a soul’s eyesight from the Living Lord. For this reason Paul forewarned, “No man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know. For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter [Satan] have tempted you, and our labour be in vain” (1 Thess. 3:3-5). We must not be ignorant of Satan’s devices. We must always encourage ourselves to “consider HIM”- Jesus Christ (Heb. 12:3-4).
To all such parents who read this, we love you dearly. Please change your behavior… Please. Oh, that we could just sit down and talk about the Bible (for those who refuse to talk about it)! Oh, that we could just calmly speak together about the scripture, gospel, heaven, and hell (this is to those who lose control and dominate all conversations with angry refusal to allow sensible speech and scriptural logic). Oh, Lord have mercy. I do not know one Christian in the Church of Wells, according to my knowledge, who has not wept in utter, devastating love over their parents.
Now, please let me recite again the 5 scenarios of familial circumstance with the appropriation of these truths in mind; my additions are in italics.
1) The most peaceful familial life - All persons in the family are regenerate & right with God.
Those who are not right with God have unclear eyes (Matt. 7:1-5), are as the Corinthians forsaking Paul and receiving false prophets, are as dangerous as enemies against God (James 4:4, Heb. 10:27), are as leaven in the midst of the holy (1 Cor. 5), dangerous to the touch (2 Cor. 6:17-7:1), and blinded from discernment of good and evil as they ought to be able to discern it (Heb. 5:13-14).
2) 2nd Most peaceful – All persons in the family are regenerate but not all are right with God; however, the principles of fellowship, judgment, reproof, and repentance are understood and accepted by all persons to be the inevitable devotion and obligation for all professing Christians.
If these principles are accepted by the regenerate and backslidden individuals, then they will be humble (1 Cor. 5:2), willing to endure judgment if necessary (1 Cor. 5), desirous for the restoration available through the instrumentality of spiritual Christians (Gal. 6:1), and they will not trust in their own discernment of who is spiritual or not because they recognize the blindness which is characteristic of a backslidden state - and thus they are willing to hear and learn of their blind estate, even unto heart-wrenching humiliation before God and man (Heb. 5:13-14).
3) 3rd Most peaceful – All persons in the family are unregenerate, yet they are humbled, turned by God in a measure, and drawn toward Him, making such unregenerate men what we call “seeking sinners.”
Seeking sinners are those who perceive their lost estate and are not angry about it but thankful for it, recognizing that this is for their salvation by a loving God. They are willing to be lost if that is the truth of God’s word and now they have come to know they are lost. They are set to seek God until, haply, in His mercy, He saves them. Not all sinners are the volatile persecutors you see in the Pharisees. Some of them are more increasingly drawn by the mercy of God than others so as to have a more noble spirit to search the scriptures and seek God in sincerity (Acts 17:11). It can be said of these unregenerate sinners what was said in Mark 12:37, “the common people heard Him gladly.” Seeking sinners are “blind,” which is to say, they are in a position where they can be guided by one who sees, that their sin may be taken away (John 9:41). These people hold true Christian preachers in “honour” (2 Cor. 6:8), they believe them to be “true” (2 Cor. 6:8), they are “well known” by them because they observe their lives and doctrine with devotion (2Cor. 6:9), therefore they do give a “good report” of them to others (2 Cor. 6:8).
4) 4th Most peaceful – All persons in the family are unregenerate and humbled to a lesser measure, and so they are not yet “seeking sinners”, but they have been tempered into listening sinners which are capable of a conversation with a river of words from a Christian in the Holy Ghost.
It is written, “He that believed on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). For men to endure the striving, preaching Spirit of the Holy Ghost without violence, uncontrollable anger, and twitching aggravation unto blind, slanderous, fury, is absolutely a blessing of God in a measure. If God left all men to themselves, all would be as murderous and treacherous as the Scribes and Pharisees who continually sought out means to kill God incarnate. Such individuals who are not seeking sinners, but listening sinners - they are far from the kingdom of God and have not yet been thoroughly convinced of their lost estate. Yet, because they are such men who can have a conversation by a willingness to be silent - and so swallow their pride - with such persons in the family there can be a good continuance of communication by all mediums, and the danger of being infected by their evil behavior is greatly decreased. The peacefulness with these family members is magnificently different comparatively to those unregenerate family members who are neither seeking sinners nor temperate listeners. Such individuals who are temperate listeners, are usually not the religious who have been accustomed to the wine of false teachers throughout their years. They are those who are not so proud of their religious stature, or, not so confident that they are righteous and soundly standing in the truth of what the Bible teaches. Peace is maintained to a very large degree, comparatively to those who fit scenario #5.
5) 5th Most peaceful (which is no peace at all) – All persons in the family are unregenerate and proud, ruthless, vengeful, and raging persecutors, consciously or unconsciously; they cannot help themselves, because they are dominated by the compulsion of emotional hate to invent evils and advance sin and Satan, to the damnation of men and the resistance of the loving Lord Jesus.
These individuals are passionate persecutors. They will not cease without making a large impact against the way of truth. They affect others by their preaching so as to make others bound under their evils, which leave them ill-affected to the truth. They slander (consciously or unconsciously), they hate in emotional hurt, jealousy, anger, and rage. They often scream, lose peaceful control, and so they meet the description of Nabal – “He is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him” (1 Sam. 25:17). Many parents become such persons after the conversion of their children. They will call every day to preach false doctrines, weep, plead, and do whatever they can do in their power to turn their children from the truth, whether their child is a seeking sinner or a converted Christian.
They will call the law enforcement with slanderous reports, they will rail with the word “cult,” they will think there is brainwashing at use, evil spirits involved, and more. They will call their pastors, send messengers, track their cell phones, haul them to psychiatric wards for an examination, and even kidnap their children by surprise attacks in coalition with police who are willing to break the law. They will track them down, stir up the neighborhood, start blogs, call pastors in other churches to create rallying pity and strength in numbers. They will pray, fast, and write. Oh! How hard it is to relate to such a dear family member like this. All of these things mentioned have happened to one or more individuals in our Church.
During the time that the child of such a parent is seeking the Lord for salvation, drastic measures are taken (by the child’s own will and decision) so that such a person is able to keep their mind on the Lord. The power of the parent’s corrupt speech can make their conversion impossible. After salvation, certain saints are weaker in conscience, faith, and steadfastness than others, and so, with each person and case the severity of separation is different. All decisions of severity in judgment surround the health of the individual Christian’s soul, that righteousness would be maintained at any cost, even if this dog (Php. 3) of a parent misunderstands everything. They are angry and dangerous men to the souls of saints! “Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul” (Prov. 22:24-25).
These parents are swine who are ready at any circumstance to outwit you, turn again, and then “rend you.” They must be dealt with accordingly! “Give not that which is holy unto dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you” (Matt. 7:6). If these parents were not so passionately bent on their child’s damnation, and had a willingness and peaceable nature to talk, things would be very different. Sadly, these individuals often lead astray most other family members and so many others: “they are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them” (1 John 4:5). So many are deceived because of this individual that there must be a contending against them, disrespect for their spiritual influence and authority, lest all the family and others are destroyed. These become men and women worthy to call out by name in public rebuke (2 Tim. 1:15, Tit. 1:13, 2 Tim. 4:14-15), infamy, and humiliation, “men whose mouths must be stopped” (Titus 1:11), men not to peaceably entertain in the Church for one hour (Gal. 2:5).
They are Ishmaels that must be “cast out” for the safety of God’s people (Gal. 4:30). There must be a measure of separation made, and because of the parents’ persistent zeal for perpetual talking and contact so as to evilly effect the child of God, such actions as ignoring them, refusal to speak, or such like things are necessary at times. We cannot engage in such perpetual contentions and folly to the subversion of our souls and the hindrance of our growth – “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him” (Prov. 26:4). “Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease” (Prov. 22:10). The uttermost severity is required for the continuance of personal and corporate holiness while at odds with such a one like this. Their sins are dangerous and snaring. Do you hear the voice of God today for such ones? “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Rev. 18:4).
Suffering is often hard to endure as a Christian. There are few means like suffering that are so used by Satan to shake a soul’s eyesight from the Living Lord. For this reason Paul forewarned, “No man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know. For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter [Satan] have tempted you, and our labour be in vain” (1 Thess. 3:3-5). We must not be ignorant of Satan’s devices. We must always encourage ourselves to “consider HIM”- Jesus Christ (Heb. 12:3-4).
To all such parents who read this, we love you dearly. Please change your behavior… Please. Oh, that we could just sit down and talk about the Bible (for those who refuse to talk about it)! Oh, that we could just calmly speak together about the scripture, gospel, heaven, and hell (this is to those who lose control and dominate all conversations with angry refusal to allow sensible speech and scriptural logic). Oh, Lord have mercy. I do not know one Christian in the Church of Wells, according to my knowledge, who has not wept in utter, devastating love over their parents.
