Christian Living

---

Must the Church Repent for Society's Decay?
By Patricia Backora, author of the book
Tough Love in Christ's Millennium
Which you can order online from: http://www.publishamerica.com

Dispensational errors often result in the misapplication of Scripture. Scriptures meant for ancient Israel have been transplanted to the Church. In I Corinthians 10:1-6 Paul speaks of the Jewish nation as being baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They drank of Christ, that spiritual Rock (typified by the water which gushed forth when Moses spoke to a literal rock in the wilderness). The Nation of Israel was to the Old Testament what the Church is to the New Testament. The whole of Israel was reckoned as God's congregation (Exodus 12:19; 16:9-10; 17:1). When the Nation of Israel wandered in the wilderness, they were referred to as a congregation. Time and again the Jews are admonished to mourn and weep in repentance for the sins of their society. Even though Daniel was an upright man (God calls him one in Ezekiel 14:14 and 20) he mourns and weeps in Daniel chapter 9 over the sins of the whole Jewish nation, of which he is a part. He doesn't weep over the sins of Babylon, the nation in which he is held captive, but instead focuses on God's own people, whom He had called out of Egypt.

Even when the Jews were scattered in heathen lands God saw them as one people whom He had chosen for Himself. In the New Testament, this is analogous to the Body of Christ being one people God has chosen and called out from among the heathen. We are the Temple of the Living God, and a special people unto Him (II Cor. 6:14-18; I Peter 2:9-10). We are to "come out from among them" (unbelieving society) and be separate. II Corinthians 6:14 plainly says: Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? We who believe are called "righteousness" and "light". In Matthew 5:14 Jesus says "Ye are the light of the world". We have the Light within us but Christ also CALLED us light! Philippians 2:15 also refers to believers as being lights which shine in this world. By contrast, unbelievers are darkness. While we must live upon this physical earth until Jesus comes, we are no longer part of a sinful, Christ-denying world system presided over by satan.

When sin or any other disorder affects one part of the Body, all the members suffer with it (I Cor. 12:26). People entered into the Nation of Israel through natural birth or through being circumcised. We who believe have entered into the Body of Christ the Church through spiritual birth and by spiritual circumcision, or the putting off of the sins of the flesh (Colossians 2:11). In ancient Israel the secular society and the congregation were one. Under the New Covenant, the secular society and the Congregation of true believers in Christ are separate. Israel was a theocracy presided over by God. The nations of this world are presently under the dominion of satan (II Cor. 4:4; Gal. 1:4; Eph. 6:12).

So what dispensational error am I focusing on? The religious lie that says that since we did not earn our salvation through our own human goodness, we are all on the same level with unbelievers and should repent of the sins of wicked society as if we'd committed them ourselves! Christians are often admonished that when their society is full of sin and perversion, it is they who are primarily responsible to mourn and weep in repentance over that sin, rather than the sinner. To the extent that believers have failed to be salt in the earth, they should mourn and repent. Although if Christians are few and far between in a given society, you shouldn't blame a few godly people for failing to keep their nation on the straight and narrow. You can't preserve a ton of rotting meat with a teaspoon of salt.

Politics is a touchy area, and a tainted one, but Christians must speak out in defense of righteousness. If perversions have been legalized in certain communities because Christians didn't bother to vote against them, they must repent for that negligence. If Christians persuaded a sinner by word or example to fall into sin or failed to warn him to turn from his wicked way, they share in his blame. But the true Christian does not visit prostitutes, rob ATM machines, push drugs and pornography, seduce women in a bar, corrupt children's morals, etc. He is not liable in the sight of God for those filthy sins which corrupt modern society, and he will not be held to account for them by God. So why should he repent of them? Lot was hardly an exemplary believer, but did he hold himself responsible for the wickedness of Sodom when the angel led him out by the hand to safety? Did Noah repent on behalf of those who perished outside the Ark? Did he feel guilty because he was inside and they were outside by their own choice? It is the enemy of God who commits terrible abominations and refuses to repent of them, not God's own faithful children. Every man shall be held accountable for his OWN sin.

Ezekiel 18: 1 The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying,

Verse 2 What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the Land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?****That is, it was formerly proclaimed that the children must suffer for the sins of the parents.

Verse 3 As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion anymore to use this proverb in Israel.

Verse 4 Behold, all souls are mine, as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

Verse 20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

To expect the Christian to repent of their sick society's sin is a grave dispensational error. To repent of a sin you must claim culpability for it and participation in it, either directly or indirectly. Say a mother asks which of her children stole a quarter out of her purse. It was really the youngest girl who committed the theft, but the oldest boy does not want a sister he loves to get spanked with the fly swatter. So he lies and says: "I took it, Mom." The little boy meant well, but in lying he committed a sin in misleading his mother. A lie is a lie regardless of the motivation for telling it. Now if the little boy said: "She took the quarter, but I'll take the whipping for sis so she won't have to," it would not be a lie, but an act of love.

We can't take the world's punishment for their sins. Christ already did. All we can do is urge sinners to accept God's free love gift of eternal life and plead with them to repent of their sins so they too can be born into the family of God. Once we have warned the wicked of the consequences for not accepting the Gospel, we cannot be held accountable by God even if they finally reject the Gospel and perish (Ezekiel 3:19).

What a sugar-coated error! Telling a Christian he is being unloving toward a lost world unless he repents of sins he hasn't personally committed is a doctrine of devils. That is tantamount to telling him he must take off he Robe of Righteousness Christ has clothed him in. It is wrong to accuse one made righteous through faith in Christ of self-righteousness just because he calls upon sinners to also put off their own sins and be clothed in Christ's perfect righteousness themselves. Time and again unbelievers throw back into the face of a witness for Christ that he is also an imperfect human, so what right does he have to preach at them? But how sad, to hear the same put-downs from fellow Christians who ought to be getting the log out of their own eye before they get the splinter out of yours!

How perverse, to make a believer a scapegoat to hold him liable for the sins of the wicked. How cruel, to call a believer unloving, callous and unkind for calling himself righteous in Christ and refusing to accept the blame for the sins of the Sodom which surrounds him. That makes about as much sense as castigating a doctor for not loving his patient enough to infect himself with the same disease! We proclaim to sinners God's only remedy for sin: the Blood of Jesus. But when a patient refuses to take his prescribed medicine and resorts to his own remedies, we can't be blamed for the consequences suffered by the sinner!

My how satan loves religion! He specializes in scenting arsenic with rose water. If he can get misguided religious folks to peddle religious deception they end up doing half his dirty work for him. How satan claps his hands in glee whenever a Christian's "more mature" brother or sister persuades him that he is still a dirty sinner unworthy of God's grace and that it is sinful pride to say anything else of himself. And so religious breast-beaters make other Christians ashamed of the Garment of Christ's Salvation they wear, and get them to take it off. Crafty old satan has religious folks eating right out of his hand, as misguided saints confuse Christ's perfect righteousness imputed by faith with prideful self-righteousness. Once again they'll lament that they are dirty sinners unworthy of the least of God's kindnesses, and there is no difference between them and lost sinners. What a blatant denial of the plain teaching of Scripture on our position in Christ Jesus! What an insult to Christ's finished work for us on Calvary!

In Colossians 2:18 Paul instructs us not to let any man beguile us of our reward by engaging in religious practices which have an appearance of wisdom, such as the wrong kind of humilty. While it is important for us to examine ourselves to see if we are still walking in the faith and repent if we make mistakes, God will not tolerate self-condemnation on the part of Christians who are walking in fellowship with Him. It is written: There is therefore NO condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Romans 8:1). Christ is made unto us wisdom, RIGHTEOUSNESS, sanctification, and redemption (I Cor. 1:30). Not only do we have Jesus' righteousness imputed to us by faith, but by faith we ARE the righteousness of God in Christ (II Cor. 5:21). I didn't say those things, the Word of God did!

How can any "humble" Christian say that God does not draw a distinction between ourselves and unbelievers because all have sinned? We who have repented and put our faith in Christ do share in the humanity of sinners, but they do not share in the divine nature dwelling within us, because they refuse to receive Christ. So how can any well-meaning Christian say we are in the same boat with unbelievers? If we are, we're on a cruise ship to hell instead on in Christ, the Ark of our Salvation. It is dangerous to claim the blame for the sins of the Sodom which surrounds you, to deny that God has translated you into the Kingdom of His dear Son (Col. 1:13).

The devil often appears in gorgeous religious robes. For us to "repent" of sins someone else has committed is a lie, however beautiful and self-sacrificing that lie sounds to religious ears. Satan knows he stands no chance against us so long as our inward parts are protected by the Breastplate of the Righteousness of Christ, which fends off the fiery darts of the enemy (Ephesians 6:14). Assuming blame for the sins of society is a trick of satan to strip us of Christ's righteousness, and we must not fall for that lie, not even to appease religious folks who "admonish us to godly humility". Such people might grudgingly admit we have been clothed in Christ's Robe of righteousness, but they will tell you to wear that robe lightly and don't button it all the way up. Why? Because you were once a lost sinner yourself, so you don't deserve to wear it in the first place! But if you don't completely cover your heart with the Breastplate of Christ's Righteousness, the devil will sink a fiery missile into your chest before you know it!

The Gospel has been preached to sinners over and over and over again. But all most of them do is throw God's precious pearls back into His face or poke fun of the Gospel. Christians are often accused of having an escapist attitude where it concerns leaving this world at the time of the Rapture. Especially since it is held by many to be an unloving doctrine which excludes unrepentant sinners from participation in it. But Jesus exhorts us in Luke 21:36 to pray always that we may be accounted worthy to escape (not endure) all the terrible things which will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. By clear inference, some will be found to be unworthy, and we can't be held to blame for that.

If Christians must feel guilty for expecting to be taken out of this mess of a world before the Tribulation hits, then Noah should have felt just as guilty for obeying God and getting into the Ark before the rains came. Unless they have personally set a bad example in their daily lives, believers are not responsible for sinners' rejection of the Gospel. Why do Christians debate about the translation of the Church to heaven, which is the completion of our salvation process? They argue over this much more than they do over the beginning phases of salvation, which are justification and daily sanctification. I think that's because our glorification to immortality is the only phase of our salvation which absolutely does not involve any personal suffering. And so we should feel guilty that we will get to enjoy this glorious union with Christ in heaven while lost sinners suffer the Tribulation Period on earth. But the fact some think it's unfair to exclude sinners from the Rapture doesn't mean the catching away of the saints to meet Christ in the air is an unscriptural doctrine! I Thessalonians 4:13-18 promises that those who are in Christ will rise up to meet Him in the air (not on earth) at His appearing. The fact that many reject Christ and won't join us there is tragic, but to say that it is so does not mean we don't love the lost and pray for them. Many don't believe it's fair that God could send anybody to hell, either, but that doesn't make the doctrine of hell any less scriptural.

Does God draw a distinction between believers and non-believers?

Malachi 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another, and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon His name.

VERSE 17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

VERSE 18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

* * * *

[email protected] http://www.kingdomageministry.com

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE