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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.) |
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