Covenant People's Ministry

Many uneducated people like to quote Matthew 7:1;

"Judge not, that ye be not judged."

They like to pretend that Christ told us not to judge. These people appearently missed the 5 verses above this one.

7:2; For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
7:3; And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
7:4; Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
7:5; Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
7:6; Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

Taken *IN CONTEXT*, Christ told us not to judge other people if we ourselves are in transgression of the law. Lets pretend I'm married for the moment. If I'm cheating on my wife, where is it my place to tell a homosexual that he's going to hell for transgression of the law? But if I'm a righteous man and I serve YHVH according to His law, how can I be judged for transgression? I can't because there is no transgression for me to account for.

These "no judgers" who do nothing to expand the Kingdom or to spread YHVH's Word have but one fait, the grave. Do not listen to these false preachers, these scribes and pharisees. *JUDGE* for yourself and recognize their evil deeds by which you shall know them as evil men. (That's Matthew 7:15,16 - the same chapter that begins with "Judge not, that ye be not judged.")

Here Jesus warns against condemning the actions or motives of others. Only the Lord has the right to condemn since only He has full knowledge of a person's actions and motives (John 5:22; Romans 14:4,10). On the otherhand, He has commanded us to "judge righteous judgment" (John 7:24). We should be able to recognize false teachers and "from such turn away" (2 Timothy 3:5). Also, we should discern and rebuke these false brethren who are encouraging others to sin (Ephesians 5:7,11). In other words, we should be able to judge that which is wrong, in either doctrine or practice, and avoid those who are involved, but we must not condemn them...YHVH will do that!

Here Jesus warns against condemning the actions or motives of others.

I disagree. I believe we have to *judge* in the sense of the word to love our neighbor according to Leviticus 19:17,18. We are supposed to love our neighbors by confronting them with their sin and witnessing to them. In doing this, we are "condemning their actions" as you put it.

"Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am YHVH." Leviticus 19:17,18

I agree! We must condemn the actions that go against the laws of YHVH, However my point is to not make "unrighteous" judgments (Leviticus 19:15), but make "righteous" judgments" as commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ (John 7:24).

censored1962 wrote:I agree! We must condemn the actions that go against the laws of YHVH, However my point is to not make "unrighteous" judgments (Leviticus 19:15), but make "righteous" judgments" as commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ (John 7:24).

Ohhhh, indeed indeed.

Hello, there are makeshift ministries out there who devote a majority of their time attacking their own kinsfolk. That's not to say an "open letter" or public rebuke of a false prophet isn't sometimes necessary, but when we see so-called men of god writing long expositions against other Christians it's rather apparent that arrogance is somehow involved. Vanity is a trait of the snake and many ministers out there fancy themselves wiser than the very forefathers of our faith even teaching directly against what has been long-established doctrine.

Such is the case regarding this new "no-devil doctrine" that has needlessly divided a once-agreed Christian body of believers. It's quite ironic actually, some will spend countless hours attempting to dismiss evil spirits or "principalities" all the while trying to empower man's evil "flesh nature" by claiming man is his own tempter. As James teaches man is tempted through the flesh (James 1:14) they teach he's drawn aside by the flesh itself. Christ tells us to pray to Yahweh and Him alone; “Lead us not into temptation” (Matthew 6:13).

For example, the Bible clearly says that Jesus was tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1 & Luke 4:2) or by Satan (Mark 1:13) yet these false prophets will twist and manipulate others into believing Christ was tempted by His own flesh as if He was imperfect. They'd rather Christians believe Christ was talking to Himself during these trials as if they were needless. Christ's temptations took place after His water baptism and gift of the Holy Spirit, thus they teach against essential baptism because they have no place in the Kingdom (Matthew 23:13).