e-Newsletter

Volume Two, Issue Five
12/98


Volume Two, Issue Five
"DECEPTION IN THE CHURCH" Newsletter
12/98

Dear All,

The feature article of this issue is another excellent paper by the
Pentecostal A/G pastor Jacob Prasch called "Judge Not?".

In our time, when the New Age core value of "tolerance" has successfully
inoculated many Christians and their churches, it is refreshing to be
reminded what we are to judge and what we are not to judge.

I am sending out this article because of the numerous e-mails I receive
weekly.  Many of them are from people who are very thankful for the
apologetics and exegesis available on the "Deception In The Church" web
site at:

Some of them are from people who are struggling but are truly searching
for answers.

Those who disagree, almost without exception, accuse me of being
"judgmental", quoting passages to me such as Matt. 7:1.

The following article contains much of my own defense on the subject of
judging.  My highest authority has always been Scripture.  I agree with
the Reformers who went back to "sola scriptrura" and "sola fide" in the
face of tradition and pronouncements by the magesterium being made equal
to the Word of God.  Through this lens perhaps it will become more clear
to you that my opinions are not what I use to judge but rather God's
Word.  My opinions do not matter nor do they carry any weight.  Only
God's Word stands forever.  I have never even thought of judging whether
someone will or will not go to heaven.  I pray for my friends and my
enemies that they all may come to a full knowledge of Jesus Christ.  Nor
have I called anyone "devils" like the leaders at Brownsville A/G and
many on TBN.  I am not judging "hupo-krites" (hypocritically) because I
am not doing nor am I advocating what they are doing and advocating.
You cannot judge hypocritically if you are not doing what someone else
is doing.  But I do judge in the ways the Word commands us to judge,
which Rev. Prasch does a good job of detailing.  As he puts it so well:
"It is not a right, it is not a priviledge, it is not something that is
advisable.  We are commanded" to discern and to decide.

I hope this study will help you to see through the "whitewashed walls"
constructed by the leaders of the Third Wave so they can attempt to hide
from being brought in line with the Word of God.  I am grateful to Rev.
Prasch for helping cut through this issue once again.  We owe him a debt
of gratitude.

If the HTML file does not appear follwing this introduction, you can
browse it on the web at:

html://www.netpci.com/~ssimpson/judgenot.html

In Christ,
DITC


       J u d g e  N o t ?
       BY JACOB PRASCH

            DO NOT SPEAK AGAINST ONE ANOTHER, brethren. He who speaks
       against a brother, or judges his brother, speaks against the law,
       and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of
       the law, but a judge of it (James 4:11).
            Do not speak against one another. Do not speak against your
       brethren. Do not judge your brother. Is that what it says? Look at
       verse 4 of the same chapter.
            You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the
       world is hostility to-ward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a
       friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God (James 4:4).
            You adulteresses!
            Do not judge your brother!
            >From the pen of the same apostle, in the distance of a few
       paragraphs, in almost the same breath that he is saying "do not
       judge," James calls worldly churches "adulteresses."

       SPIRITUAL ADULTERY
            James is probably the oldest book of the New Testament. We know
       from its Hebraic background, from the way it draws on synagogue
       leadership structure and the Scriptures, that it was obviously
       written to Jewish Christians.
            James is using the Hebrew concept of whoredom or harlotry.
       Whenever Israel went into idolatry, God calls it "adultery."
       Idolatry equals spiritual adultery.
            Israel was to be God's woman, in much the same way as the
       church is the bride of Christ. The church being unfaithful is like
       Israel being unfaithful. That idolatry is called "adultery." It is a
       very strong term in Hebrew, a very strong concept in the Jewish
       mind.

       BY THEIR FRUIT…
            Every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad
       fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree
       produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut
       down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their
       fruits (Matthew 7:17-20).
            Jesus said that you can judge someone by their fruit. In the
       same chapter, He says, Do not judge lest you be judged (Matthew
       7:1).
            First it is, "Judge not lest you be judged," yet He goes on to
       say, "You will know them by their fruits."  People involved with
       Toronto and Pensacola say, "You know Toronto/ Pensacola by its fruit
       and there is good fruit from it."
            Jesus never said that you would know a phenomena by its fruit.
       He said that you would know a person by their fruit.
            More than that, even judging a phenomenon by its fruit, you can
       see that it is not the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit
       is self-control, not drunkenness and lunacy.

       CONTRADICTIONS?
            Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous
       judgement (John 7:24).
            First Jesus says, "Judge not lest you be judged," but then He
       says, "Judge with right judgement."
            James appeared to contradict himself. Now Jesus seems to
       contradict himself. Jesus said, "Don't do it," then He tells you how
       to do it. James said, "Don't do it," straight after he did it.
            Therefore you are without excuse, every one of you who passes
       judgement, for in that you would judge another, you condemn
       yourself; for you who judge practice the same things (Romans 2:1).
            Therefore do not go on passing judgement before the time, but
       wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things
       that are hidden in darkness and disclose the motives of men's
       hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God (1
       Corinthians 4:5).
            But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do
       you regard your brother with contempt? For we shall all stand before
       the judgment seat of God (Ro-mans 14:10).
            For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit,
       have already judged him who has so committed this [the guy in
       question here was involved in an incestu-ous relationship with his
       father's wife ], as though I were present (1 Corinthians 5:3).
            Over and over, Paul says, "Don't judge." But then he passes
       judgment.
            Jesus says, "Don't judge," but then he says to do it and shows
       you how.
            James says, "Don't judge," but then he does it.
            Why the contradictions?

       GOD IS THE JUDGE
            If God says in the Bible that something is wrong, and we see
       someone or some church do that thing, we are not judging them, it is
       the Word of God that judges.
            The Hebrew name, "Jehoshaphat" means Jehovah has judged. That
       is not me or you judging. We are simply acknowledging, "This is what
       God says."
            James was not calling worldly churches "adulteresses." The Word
       of God says that, if we are attached to this world, we are an
       adulteress church.
            Paul was not saying that the man involved with his step-mother
       was immoral. Paul was saying that the Word of God says that person
       was immoral.
            If God says that something is plainly wrong, that is not you or
       me judging, that is God judging.
            That is what it means when it says, "Judge with right
       judgement." Judging with right judgement means judging with God's
       judgement, not with our own.
            There is a big problem here -- there are things that I would
       not do, but which are not necessarily wrong for someone else.

       PEOPLE'S OPINIONS
            I know of a case where some believers, after their wedding,
       went to a discotheque. (I would not go to a discotheque unless it
       was to give out tracts.) I did not feel a peace about going, but I
       am not going to make a big deal out of it, no matter what my own
       misgivings or feelings.
            I know of another case in Ireland where, at a Christian
       wedding, people danced. Other people became indignant and began
       yelling, "You're backsliders," and stormed out of the wedding,
       creating a big scene. It split a church. That is people judging.
            The word "Laodicea" has to do in the Greek with "people's
       opinions, people's judgements." We have no right to make a judgement
       of another person, but once God says something is right or wrong,
       that is not us judging.

       ANAKRINO -- TO DISCERN
            The Greek word for "judge" is krino.
            If you put the prefix "ana" in front of the word "krino," you
       get a variation on the idea of judging, which is "to discern."
            But he who is spiritual judges [anakrino] all things, yet he
       himself is judged [anakrino] by no man (1 Corinthians 2:15).
            God, in His Word, commands us to anakrino. It is not a right;
       it is not a privilege; it is not something that is advisable. We are
       commanded to do it. And if you do not discern, you lack wisdom.
            There is a reason why false teachers will not stand up publicly
       and debate someone like Hank Hangraaff or Dave Hunt.
            People who will stand up and say, "That is not Scriptural."
       "That is not right." "I discern that this is not of God," are
       practicing wisdom.
            The reason why Michael Brown backed out of his debate with me
       over Pensacola, and why Jim McConnell backed out of his debate with
       me over British Israelism is that they lack wisdom.
            Those who practice wisdom, cannot themselves be judged by
       anyone. Because they anakrino, they cannot be
       anakrino-ed. That is why those others are afraid of them.

       DIAKRINO -- TO DECIDE
            I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you
       one wise man who will be able to decide [diakrino] between his
       brethren? (1 Corinthians 6:5).
            Another prefix which changes the meaning of krino is "dia."
       Diakrino means to "render a decision."
            Is something right or wrong? Is someone's behavior right or
       wrong morally? Is it Scriptural or unscriptural? Is it of God, or is
       it of the flesh, or of the devil?
            The Holy Spirit speaking through Paul commands that we are to
       diakrino.
            We are not permitted to diakrino. We are not advised to
       diakrino. We are not privileged to diakrino. We are commanded to
       diakrino. It is not that judging is acceptable. Rather, to fail to
       judge is unacceptable.

       NOT ALLOWED TO GO TO THE SECULAR AUTHORITIES?
            About two months ago a woman and her husband contacted us, very
       distressed. They had a four year old girl who was the victim of
       semi-penetrated sex in a church. She was molested by a fourteen year
       old boy, who was supposedly a Christian and whose parents had been
       going to that same church for years.
           This little girl was devastated. She drew me a picture, and as
       soon as I saw the picture, I knew what it was.
            Now, I do not have much time for secular psychology. I believe
       in Biblical psychology, but I do believe in psychology. Biblical
       psychology is based in the book of Proverbs.
            If you want to know why human beings behave and act the way
       they do, and think the way they do, read Proverbs. That is the best
       book of sociology and psychology there is.
            I can agree with human psychology to the degree that it is
       based on Biblical psychology. Secular psychology is godless, and
       sees man as a two dimensional being. It concerns me that so many
       evangelicals have gotten into secular psychology and pop
       psychology.
            The little girl drew a picture of a house. Inside the house
       there were four windows and a door. Each face inside the house was
       female, there were no male faces.
            And she drew a picture of herself, outside. There was no
       pelvis. There was no pubic area.
            That, according to pediatric psychiatrists, is a very frequent
       characteristic of drawings by children who have been sexually
       abused.
            Children of that age will say things with pictures and drawings
       that they cannot express verbally. No men and she herself had no
       mid-section.
            Her parents told me, "We don't know what to do. We go to a
       Baptist church and the pastor can't advise us because this four-teen
       year old boy is a Christian, and, based on 1 Corinthians, we are not
       allowed to go to the secular authorities about another believer.
            So, according to his parents, we can't tell the police or the
       court what has happened. We are at our wit's end; we don't know what
       to do. Our daughter is traumatized."

       CIVIL LAW / CRIMINAL LAW
            1 Corinthians 6 refers to Roman law. (The systems of
       jurisprudence in Britain, Australia and America are based on the
       original model in Rome.) 1 Corinthians 6 is talking about civil law,
       not criminal law; it is talking about suing someone under civil law,
       about litigation, it is not talking about criminal law.
            It is 1 Corinthians 5 that talks about an immoral person.
            I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother [any
       so-called Christian] if he should be an immoral person, or covetous,
       or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler -- not
       even to eat with such a one.
            For what have I to do with judging [krino] outsiders? Do you
       not judge [krino] those who are within the church? (1 Cor-inthians
       5:11-12)
            We judge those who are within the church, who are guilty of
       immorality. Do not even associate with the person. Chapter 6 is not
       talking about criminal law. It is talking about civil law.
            That fourteen-year-old should have been dealt with under the
       criminal law. His identity would have been
       protected by the court because of his age.
            If something was not done for that kid at the age of fourteen,
       by the age of eighteen his life would have been destroyed. He would
       have been in an institution for pedophiles.
            But this fourteen-year-old had a chance. He should have been
       brought before the authorities for his own good, and also so that
       the little girl could have seen justice being done.
            If this kind of stuff is not dealt with by the church
       immediately, what is going to happen when these people get older?
             The victims are traumatized for their whole lives. It affects
       their sexuality when they grow up. And that church could not even
       give a Biblical answer!
            (It was probably a good thing it was a Baptist minister. He
       could not give a biblical answer, but if it had been a Pentecostal
       minister, he probably would have tried to cast demons out of the
       little girl!)
            I talked to my friend's wife, who is a Christian pediatric
       psychiatrist, and I showed the pictures to a Christian pediatric
       psychologist. They both agreed with the advice I gave the parents.
       And the parents referred the matter to the criminal authorities.
            But what were these other ones saying? "Do not judge." "You
       cannot go to the authorities about another Christian and you cannot
       judge another Christian."
            What were they doing? Giving people a license to sexually abuse
       little kids?
            This is what happens when the church goes away from God's
       Word.
            We are not allowed to diakrino, we are commanded to diakrino;
       but it has to do with more than just people.

       JUDGING PROPHECY
            And let two or three prophets speak, and let the others
       [diakrino] pass judgement (1 Corinthians 14:29).  We are commanded
       to judge prophecy.
            But the prophet who shall speak a word presumptuously in My
       name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he shall
       speak in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.
            And you may say in your heart, "How shall we know the word
       which the Lord has not spoken?"
            When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing
       does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord
       has not spoken.
            The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be
       afraid of him (Deuteronomy 18:20-22).
            Jeremiah 14 and Jeremiah 28 says the same thing. Jesus warned
       that there would be many false prophets in the last days.
            We do not stone them to death any more, but the sin is no less
       serious. They shall die if they do not repent.
            We are not under the law, but under grace; but their
       "ministries" should be stoned. 1 Corinthians 14:29 does not say that
       we are entitled to diakrino prophets or prophecies, rather we are
       commanded to judge prophets and prophecies.
            On this basis, Rodney Howard Browne is a false prophet. On this
       basis, John Wimber was a false prophet. On this basis, Rick Joyner
       is a false prophet. And on this basis, Paul Cain is a false
       prophet.
            Now, that is not my judgement. I cannot krino anybody. The
       things that God has said will krino. I have to anakrino. I have to
       discern. Is this of God or is this of man?
            No, it is not for me to judge. I have to diakrino, render a
       decision on whether it is morally right or wrong, by biblical
       standards.
            The founders of the Mormon cult and the Jehovah Witnesses were
       false prophets; they predicted things that failed to happen. The
       Roman Catholic nun, Lucia, from Fatima, in Portugal, is a false
       prophet; she predicted things that failed to happen. John Wimber and
       Paul Cain and Rick Joyner (as well as John Kilpatrick, Michael Brown
       and Gerald Coates) are false prophets; they predicted things that
       failed to happen.
            Do I have the right to say that? No, not the right, but the
       responsibility to say it, the command from my God in heaven to say
       it. That is not my judgment; it is what God says about these
       people.
            Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." If you fail
       to diakrino, you are failing to keep His commandments. If you fail
       to diakrino, you will let these same people go on giving people
       "words" from their own flesh or from Satan. People like that should
       be brought to account.

       JUDGE RIGHTEOUSLY
            Then I charged your judges at that time, saying, "Hear the
       cases between your fellow countrymen, and judge righteously between
       a man and his fellow countrymen, or the alien who is with him"
       (Deuteronomy 1:16).
            That was not advice; that was a command.
            Just look at what has happened to our secular society.
       Everybody is a "victim."
            It does not matter that he got blind drunk and he was driving
       at 90 miles an hour through a village and killed a little kid on a
       bicycle. He came from a broken home: he is a "victim." It does not
       matter.
            I tried to talk to a prostitute the other day. "I do this
       because my father hung himself." That was her argument. "I came from
       a bad situation." I said, "You just told me that your sister goes to
       university and she came from the same background, and she thinks
       that what you are doing is terrible. Isn't she a victim, too?"
       Nobody is responsible for their own actions any more in society. But
       how can we expect society to live up to God's standards, when the
       church will not live up to God's standards.
            I came from a bad situation. My father drank. I was a drug
       addict by the age of sixteen, and I have no doubt whatsoever that,
       if Jesus had not intervened in my life, I would be dead by now or a
       destroyed person of some kind.
            It is only because of Him that I went to university and got
       married and did the things I have been privileged to do.
            Left to myself, I would not have amounted to anything.
       Nonetheless, I am responsible for my own life and my own choices.

       SALT AND LIGHT
            If the church will not uphold God's standards of
       responsibility, how can we expect our society to be any different?
            If we are not upholding His standards, how can we be salt and
       light to a society that has turned it's back on God?
            No wonder there is crime! The main reason for the moral and
       social decline of our society is not because of the unsaved people;
       it is because of the lukewarm church.

       KRISIS -- HEAVEN OR HELL
            There is a kind of judging that we are not called to do. The
       Greek word is krisis.
            For not even the father judges anyone, but He has given all
       judgement [krisis] to the Son (John 5:22).
            The ultimate determination of heaven and hell belongs to the
       Lord alone. We never krisis. We are forbidden to krisis.

       KRITES -- THE JUDGE OF ALL
            But you have come… to the general assembly and church of the
       first born who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge [
       krites ] of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect
       (Hebrews 12:23).
            God is the judge of all. Yes, there are people who are called
       to judge, but God is the ultimate Judge of us all.

       HUPO-KRITES -- PHARISEES
            If we are going to stand up and confront other people in the
       church about something being wrong, we had better make sure we are
       not guilty of the same thing, because that is another kind of
       judging we are forbidden to do.
            Here the prefix hupo is added to krites, giving us the English
       word "hypocrites."
            This is what Jesus meant when he said, Do not judge lest you be
       judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your
       standard of measure, it will be measured to you.
            And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye,
       but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
            Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me take the speck out
       of your eye," and behold, the log is in your own eye?
            You hypocrite [hupokrites],  first take the log out of your own
       eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your
       brother's eye (Matthew 7:1-5).
            We do not krites and we especially do not hupo-krites.

       KRITIKOS -- TO DISCERN
            For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any
       two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and
       spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge [kritikos] the
       thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).
            Cells called erythrocytes are stored in the red marrow of big
       bones, like the femur and the tibia. On the outside there is the
       bone and on the inside there is the marrow. But in between there is
       an area where, even with a microscope, it is very difficult to tell
       where the bone ends and where the marrow begins.
            The Bible says that the relationship between soul and spirit is
       like that. Take prophecy: Was that from someone's imagination, or
       was it God's Spirit speaking through their spirit? It is very
       difficult to tell the difference.
            Man is a three-dimensional being. You can separate a body from
       a soul; but you cannot easily tell where the soul ends and the
       spirit begins.
            When people say, "The Lord showed me this" and "God told me
       that," it is difficult to know if it is someone's imagination or
       God's Spirit speaking to their spirit. The mind is a good servant,
       but a dangerous master. Many people are caught up with things not
       overtly demonic, but they are prophesying from the futility of their
       own mind.
            We are called to kritikos -- to discern between the soulish and
       the spiritual. The Word of God enables us to separate the bone from
       the marrow, the spiritual from the purely soulish.

       SUMMARY
            Judge not? What does the Bible say?

       1. We never judge from our opinions.

       2. We are commanded to anakrino -- we always seek to discern: "Is
       this of God, or is it of the flesh, or of the devil?"

       3. We are commanded to diakrino -- to render a decision as to
       whether something is morally right or wrong.

       4. We do not krisis -- the Lord alone decides who goes to heaven and
       who goes to hell.

       5. We are sometimes appointed to krites -- but we are to remember
       that the Lord is the Judge of all, and we are to judge righteously.

       6. We never, ever, hupo-krites -- before we take a speck out of our
       brother's eye, we make sure we do not have the same speck in our own
       eye.

       7. We always kritikos -- we draw on the Word of God to discern
       between the things of the soul and the things of the spirit.
 

       MORIEL -- GOD IS MY TEACHER
       This paper may be freely copied and distributed.
       This paper was published by:
       Moriel USA P.O. Box 11536 Pittsburgh PA 15238 United States of
       America
       © Copyright Jacob Prasch 1998
       ISBN 1 876126 33 7

       (Names in bold were added by Sandy Simpson.)