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Condemnation -
Questions and Answers
MP3
It came to my attention the other day that this is
actually a misunderstood subject with some. The subject is a topic
of the Word of God and often comes up in spiritual conversations and
sometimes in the actions of firstfruits and others in the church.
My purpose here will be to express my understanding of condemnation from
the Word of God and my practical experience in the Church of God.
Bottom-line First
I like to give a number of bottom-line statements first, so one
has a flavor of my mind-set before we even get into the topic:
1] God condemns. Man cannot condemn humans.
2] No firstfruit can condemn another human on the planet.
3] No firstfruit can condemn another human to the lake of fire and/or
eternal death for ANY reason.
4] Any firstfruit can condemn an action, especially if that action is
condemned in the Bible.
5] Jesus did not come to this planet in human form to condemn the world.
6] No human, firstfruit or not, converted or not, can be condemned for
leaving and/or no longer attending a true church of God.
7] Unless a firstfruit has a special gift of discernment [and
I know of no one who has this gift], one cannot discern the
moral or spiritual status of another.
Definitions
For clarity I want to define some terms. Sometimes confusion
arises between two people when they each hold different or opposing
definitions and meanings for certain terms.
Firstfruit: One who is called.
One who has the Holy Spirit. One who is in the Salvation Process.
One who is in the Body of Christ.
Salvation Process:
A God-founded process wherein God leads a person to
Salvation--eternal life in the Kingdom of God.
Body of Christ:
The collective term for all individuals who are
firstfruits. The Body of Christ is not a physical church
organization.
Church Organization:
Made, founded, peopled and maintained by God through
Christ. God calls firstfruits to His chosen church organizations.
When I utter the phrase, "Body of Christ" I am not referring to a
physical church organization.
Questions and Answers
Note: These are all
questions, as if you were asking me, Chris Cumming, for the answers.
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Question |
Answer |
| 1 |
Are all who attend
the church of God first fruits? |
No.
Since we are an open-door, open-arms church, anyone may attend.
They may or may not be converted. See my church diagram
that shows many of the types of individuals attending the Church
of God. Click
here.
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| 2 |
I see many different
types of individuals in your
diagram. Can you tell who is who?
|
No,
I cannot. One would need a specific gift of
discernment to know. I have no such gift. |
| 3 |
What is "condemnation?" |
From the regular dictionary:
1. to express an unfavorable or adverse judgment on; indicate
strong disapproval of; censure.
2. to pronounce to be guilty; sentence to punishment: to condemn
a murderer to life imprisonment.
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| 4 |
How does the Bible
Dictionary define condemnation? |
CONDEMNATION
The Gk. word krima is translated "judgment" and (often wrongly)
"damnation." Condemnation signifies the declaring of an evildoer
to be guilty; the punishment inflicted (1
Cor 11:32,34); testimony by good example against
malefactors (Matthew 12:41-42). We use
the word with the lighter meaning of censure, disapproval,
blame, etc. As far as the justified believer is concerned, he
faces no condemnation or judgment (Romans 8:1).
The guilt of his sin has been removed (Rom
3:7), and he stands positionally "in Christ" and hence
accepted "in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:6).
(From The New Unger's Bible Dictionary)
CONDEMN, CONDEMNATION
To declare a person guilty and worthy of punishment. Condemn and
condemnation are judicial terms, the opposite of JUSTIFY and
JUSTIFICATION (Matt 12:37; Rom 5:16,18).
God alone is the judge of men; in His demand for righteousness,
sin leads invariably to condemnation and death.
(from Nelson's Illustrated Bible
Dictionary)
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| 5 |
What is "damnation?" |
From the regular dictionary:
1. the act of damning or the state of being damned.
2. a cause or occasion of being damned.
3. Theology. condemnation to eternal punishment as a consequence
of sin.
From the Bible Dictionary:
Oddly, after consulting a number of dictionaries I could find
only one that rang true and that was the five words and their
meanings in the
International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia.
To surmise, damnation is condemnation by Almighty God. It
is something that happens only between God and the individual.
Third parties are not involved.
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| 6 |
Can a firstfruit
bring damnation upon a fellow firstfruit?
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No,
he cannot. |
| 7 |
Can one be condemned
or damned by a firstfruit for leaving or no longer attending a
physical church of God?
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No,
he cannot. Based on question 2 above, third parties cannot
discern why someone left a physical organization. |
| 8 |
Does God condemn one
for leaving the Salvation Process and the Body of Christ?
|
Yes,
He does.
Luke 9:62
62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the
plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
Hebrews 10:38
Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back,
my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
2 Peter 2:20-22
20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world
through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they
are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is
worse with them than the beginning.
21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of
righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the
holy commandment delivered unto them.
22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb,
The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was
washed to her wallowing in the mire.
Hebrews 10:26-27
26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the
knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for
sins,
27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery
indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
Matthews 25:10-12
10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they
that were ready went in with him to the marriage:
and the door was shut.
11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord,
open to us.
12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you,
I know you not.
Hebrews 6:4-6
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and
have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the
Holy Ghost,
5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the
world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance;
seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put
him to an open shame.
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| 9 |
What does God
condemn them to? |
It would seem clear to me that
they will not be in the Kingdom of God. They will not have
eternal life.
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire. –Revelation 20:15
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and
murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and
all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with
fire and brimstone: which is the second death. –Revelation
21:8
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| 10 |
Does God condemn
anyone who would leave a true physical church of God? |
Depends on the specific
circumstance of the individual. If he or she is, at the
same time, leaving the Body of Christ and the Salvation Process,
then Yes.
Fact is, not all people who leave the organization are
firstfruits and even firstfruits who leave for a time are not
necessarily leaving the Body of Christ, the Salvation Process or
otherwise falling away.
Conversely, not all who fall away leave the physical
organization. See the
diagram again.
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| 11 |
Are there cases in
which firstfruits have left the church for five, ten, twenty and
more years only to return later?
|
Yes,
there have been. I talk about this in my
Menu-driven,
Open-forum Bible Study ........here |
| 12 |
Are these
individuals fallen away and/or subject to condemnation or
damnation? |
No,
they are not. As stated, no firstfruit may condemn or
bring damnation to another. They cannot make judgments
about any individual who may have done this. There
is more than one reason why an individual would have done this.
For example, he may not have been called/converted at the time
he originally left and is now. His leaving could have
been, in essence a self-imposed disfellowshipping.
Generally speaking, the fallen away, once they leave the
physical organization do not return. It could happen, but
I would conclude it would be rare. In any case, we cannot
discern what is in anyone's heart in this regard.
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| 13 |
May a firstfruit
condemn or even damn a thing? |
Yes,
he can. Peter does this when speaking to heresy [see
below]. We can condemn sin or wrongful acts.
In the
Matthew 18 process, we initially call the action by another
against us as wrongful or something we condemn. The
Matthew 18 process is designed to ascertain if our feelings are
justified and to return harmony to the church and to our
relationship with our brother in the church.
We should and do condemn sin wherever we find it. Clearly
we are only looking for sin in ourselves.
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as
there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring
in damnable heresies, even denying
the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift
destruction. –2 Peter 2:1
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| 14 |
In regards to
someone leaving a physical organization, say the ICG, should we
refer to them as "former members of the ICG." |
No,
I would think not. Clearly in a personal conversation,
we might say something like this for clarity; to designate that
a specific person used to attend with us, but I would not use
the term in open company nor would I use the phrase in a
publication to be seen by many.
I do not believe we should show linkage between something of God
and anything negative. That is to say, if a person has
left attending with us and is now part of a group holding
beliefs openly contrary to God and His Word and/or if the
individual or the group he is now affiliated with is conducting
wrongful acts, I would not appreciate the linkage of our name
with his or his new group.
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| 15 |
Are all instances of
someone leaving the physical organization justified before God?
|
No,
not all are justified. See my Bible study on this point
here. Clearly one could be leaving the organization
based on hate, greed, envy, jealousy and/or falling away.
It could also be that he was never called to this organization,
is not called/converted or is invoking a type of
self-disfellowshipping for a time [just
to mention a few reasons]. Third-party
firstfruits have no way to know what the situation or reason is.
They, therefore cannot judge and have no justification to
condemn or damn.
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| 16 |
Did God send His Son
to the Earth to condemn the world? |
No,
God did not.
For God sent not his Son into the world to
condemn the world; but that the world through him might be
saved. –John 3:17
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| 17 |
What does God's Word
say about judging and condemning of others? |
Judge not, and ye shall not be
judged: condemn not, and ye
shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: –Luke
6:37
Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil
of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the
law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art
not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who
is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest
another? –James 4:11-12
But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at
nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment
seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord,
every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to
God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to
God. Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge
this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to
fall in his brother's way. I know, and am persuaded by the Lord
Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that
esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. But if
thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not
charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
Let not then your good be evil spoken of: –Romans
14:10-16
Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that
judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest
thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are
sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them
which commit such things. –Romans 2:1-2
Judge not, that ye be not judged. –Matthew
7:1
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| 18 |
Does God condemn
certain types of humans?
Is His condemnation and/or damnation to a second and eternal
death?
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Yes,
He does and Yes, it is.
These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an
abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands
that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked
imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false
witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among
brethren. –Proverbs 6:16-19
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second
death.–Rev 2:11
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection:
on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be
priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a
thousand years.–Revelation 20:6
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from
whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was
found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great,
stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book
was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged
out of those things which were written in the books, according
to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it;
and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and
they were judged every man according to their works. And death
and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second
death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life
was cast into the lake of fire.–Revelation
20:11-15
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and
murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and
all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with
fire and brimstone: which is the second death.–Revelation
21:8 |
Once again:
1] God condemns. Man cannot condemn humans.
2] No firstfruit can condemn another human on the planet.
3] No firstfruit can condemn another human to the lake of fire and/or
eternal death for ANY reason.
4] Any firstfruit can condemn an action, especially if that action is
condemned in the Bible.
5] Jesus did not come to this planet in human form to condemn the world.
6] No human, firstfruit or not, converted or not, can be condemned for
leaving and/or no longer attending a true church of God.
7] Unless a firstfruit has a special gift of discernment [and
I know of no one who has this gift], one cannot discern the
moral or spiritual status of another.
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