Friday, January 17, 2014

The Blind Side of Discernment

THE BLIND SIDE
of
DISCERNMENT

One of the many, many things that is unsavory about politics is how each side can viciously attack the other when some scandal or shortcoming is exposed. And the sides just as viciously defend basically the same shortcomings or scandal when it occurs within their camp. It is predicable and hypocritical. The word “by-partisan” is a joke when it comes to politics. When examining the other side there is 20/20 vision, but when evaluation their own side the eyes go blind. This is how it has always been and it reveals the fallen heart of man as well as the vacuous nature of politics.

Within the evangelical community we have what is known as the discernment wing. There are thousands of blogs and newsletters and books and sermons which deal specifically with the slide to apostasy within the community of faith on many different levels. Although my blog deals with such things frequently I do not consider myself primarily a discerner. I am a pastor at heart. But I do speak out about the emergent church and the purpose driven model and false teachers from Joel Osteen to Rob Bell to Rick Warren and everywhere in between. But there are literally many thousands of men and women who consider themselves as discerners or a catch-all moniker a “watchman”.

Many of these men and women do a very good job of exposing error and falsehoods within the church. I have benefited from such information many times and I am sure others have as well. It is impossible to know all about everything as it pertains to false teachers and false teachings. These days many things come aboard very subtly and slowly infiltrate God’s truth until it has been changed. And many of these evil spirits look and sound very spiritual and sincere. We need discernment in these days of itching ears and false teachers.

But there is a blind side to all this discernment. You will be hard pressed to find discernment sites which openly rebuke and repent of things they themselves do or are in some way deficient. Where are the posts about how our prayer lives are an affront to Christ? Where are the discerning voices crying aloud about our lack of love? Where are the discernment posts that expose us for the hedonists we have become? I am not speaking about the liberal and the emergent and the mega church crowd. I am speaking about us. Yes, us.

Does discernment stop at the door that has our name inscribed upon it? Are we immune from an authentic and painful rebuke as it pertains to our own spiritual walk? Is discernment about error only for the Osteens and Warrens but we subtly give ourselves a clean bill of health just because we know the approved list of false teachers? Let us be frank. If we see clearly the sins of others but are measured and even blind to the depth of our own spiritual need then we have become politicians who are adept as castigating the other side but circle the wagons to defend our own orthodox camp.

And that kind of discernment, albeit true and beneficial in warning about wolves, is also detrimental to our own pursuit of Christlikeness. In fact, in many ways the evil one uses our own needed discernment against us. As we see spiritual apostasy, and as we are able to identify and reject Biblical error, there arises within us a sort of self righteous contentment and reinforcement. And feeding upon our discernment about others we lose the passion and pursuit of Christ which should be filled with personal humility and a steady diet of repentance. While we call Osteen and Warren and Driscoll to repentance we stand in great need of repentance ourselves.

This is serious issue because it is a clever deception and it also becomes a debilitating influence upon us all. To whom much is given much is also required. So we who by God’s grace have had our eyes opened to many things must never divert those same eyes from seeing and addressing our own spiritual errors. I do not speak primarily about doctrine although we have become very selective about our doctrines. But in general we have allowed ourselves great latitude about our own spiritual condition. We can copy and paste some exhortation from a dead man of God or some devotional from a Puritan and we enjoy it. But do we strive and labor to enter into that which we paste? While we rehearse the commitment exhibited by Wesley against the shallow nothingness of the modern preacher are we ourselves cut to the quick and go before the Lord in sincere repentance?

Oh that God would set us free from ourselves! Oh that our hearts would be pure before Him and not filled with all kinds of self affirming sin which shackles our walk before Him. Oh to be so filled with His Spirit that we could rebuke in His love without any hint of self righteousness. Oh that the Spirit could hold up a spiritual mirror that would reduce us to the abject servants we should be. Oh that we could experience the kind of humility which breaks us completely and remakes us in the mold of our Suffering Servant. Oh that God would set us free from ourselves. Yes, that man in the mirror has been my most relentless enemy and how many times dear God have I embraced him and not You? And have I not felt smug so often because I am not like those liberal doctrinal miscreants. And how many times when I do rebuke those who need rebuke do I delight in the affirming comments on my blog or FB page and I walk away feeling so good about myself? Oh if the truth were known would I not be deeply embarrassed before men and yet I am not embarrassed before You?

Why do I not speak with great eloquence about my own sin? Why can I hide behind my written doctrines and yet just Your Sermon on the Mount is a monumental indictment of my discipleship. Lord, I so often play the harlot in my heart. It is no secret to You and yet I am able to set it aside and speak to others? How often do my words about others hide the apathy I so often exhibit about following in Your steps? I do not wish to become immobilized by my sorrow or my confession about my own sins and shortcomings. But I do wish to be personally surrendered to all of You. I know I need more time with You and with a contrite heart to carefully walk the path upon which You walked. I abhor the self righteousness which crops up in my heart and which can so easily be covered by the sins of others. It is all to my shame.

And I reach out to all my brethren who do the work of God in the area of discernment. Let us, not just them, fall on our faces before our Wonderful Redeemer and cry out to Him in confession and repentance. Let us allow the Spirit to light a fire in our hearts which consumes our flesh and burns away all that displeases Him. Can we not pursue with abandon and great vigor a desire to be like Jesus? Is not that the greatest calling of all? And if we turn our discerning hearts toward ourselves will we not see that the little foxes have been given such license and we have played the fools? Look and see! The evil one has distracted us from our holy calling even while we were doing a service to the body of Christ.

I bow before the Risen Christ as a dead man yet filled with worship. But oh to be like Him! OH TO BE LIKE JESUS! When I worship Him and experience the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and as that same Spirit has given me such gracious glimpses of the Lamb of God, I wonder what it would be like to be like Him in thought, word, and deed. No wonder I am not asked about the hope which lies within me. No wonder my life does not yield such incandescence that those lost in darkness must either be drawn to Him or shield their eyes and turn away. So how is it I can walk in this world with the lost all around me seeing or feeling nothing? There should be a word more potent than repentance for ones such as I.

Release the hounds and uncover our nakedness! We have made holiness a doctrinal word and not a broken pursuit. We have defined love is ways which we have already met. We have presented grace in embarrassing words of men’s theological acumen. We have worshiped the Bible and rebelled against its teachings. We have talked about hell with dry eyes and a doctrinal hubris which must make the angels ashamed. We have patted each other on the back as if we have offered anything which actually cost us anything. We have created words like “orthodox” or “fundamental” or “Spirit-filled” in order to elevate ourselves in our own eyes. And we have taken the Lovely One who gave us everything we are or ever hope to be and we have made Him some doctrinal marionette who dances to our American lifestyle and approves our compromised hearts.

And we have taken lost sinners, made them repeat some words, and then openly lied to them. And ordained preachers stand relentlessly behind pulpits and spew damnable lies and caress the flesh of their listeners. We have mocked the Holy One and used His name to support our own agendas. We have built large and advanced buildings by leveraging debt through the same institutions we claim are not of God. And we have made the gatherings a place of fund raising and theatrics and announcements and a few precious minutes of worship and a few precious seconds of prayer. And men and women who have not spent one moment with God, and men and women who are practicing adultery, and men and women who have never known God feel right at home and blessed. What kind of unholy travesty are we attempting to hoodwink God with?

It all has become such a game. And this post is a self exhortation that makes me know that I cannot, I must not, you must not allow our uncovering of the false to satisfy our calling to the true. We should not sit down in the stagnation of orthodoxy and wait for Jesus to come. In fact, the church has been sitting and waiting for so long we need a revival just to be enlightened to all the things about which we have no knowledge because they have been lost to us. And prayer, its value – its practice – its sacrifice – its calling – its holiness – its power – its life changing essence, has all but been lost except for a few convenient scraps. Our wicked generation cannot bear to retreat from entertainment or work or the business of our earthly lives in order to seek His face without time restraints or a passion which captures the entirety of our minds.

I agree with and appreciate so much of the discernment that flows freely among those whose eyes have been opened. But just being against false teachings, and just being non-violent, and just being against nationalism, and just being pro-life, and just being for Biblical marriage, is not nearly enough. We are on a path which leads to Him. Read the Sermon on the Mount and see how many of the things I just mentioned are in there. Most are not. But there are a wealth of commands and exhortations and teachings which have all but been ignored but which were spoken by the One we claim as Lord.

It is time for repentance and a new and vigorous house cleaning among the “orthodox” community. And we who have Biblical systematic theologies must enlarge our coasts and see that to be a disciple of Jesus requires more than some written affirmations. It requires our lives.

Lk.14: 33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

And after we set out on that course perhaps we can discern others much better.

42 comments:

Cherie c. said...

A Cry For Deliverance

Heavenly Father, Save me entirely from sin. I know I am righteous through the righteousness of another, but I pant and pine for likeness to thyself; I am they child and should bear thy image. Enable me to recognize my death unto sin; when it tempts me may I be deaf unto its voice. Deliver me from the invasion as well as the dominion of sin. Grant me to walk as Christ walked, to live in the newness of his life, the life of love, the life of faith, the life of holiness. I abhor my body of death, its indolence, envy, meanness, pride. Forgive, and kill these vices, have mercy on my unbelief, on my corrupt and wandering heart. When thy blessings come I begin to idolize them, and set my affection on some beloved object - children, friends, wealth, honour; cleanse this spiritual adultery and give me chastity; close my heart to all but thee.

Sin is my greatest curse; let thy victory be apparent to my consciousness and displayed in my life. Help me to be always devoted, confident, obedient, resigned, childlike in my trust of thee; to love thee with soul, body, mind, strength; to love my fellow man as I love myself, to be saved from unregenerate temper, hard thoughts, slanderous words, meanness, unkind manners, to master my tongue and keep the door of my lips. Fill me with grace daily, that my life be a fountain of sweet water.

Anonymous

Outsider said...


'Poor in spirit" Who even knows what that means in this day & age. As the Holy Spirit opens it up you go deeper than humble and have to cry out like Rick & Cherie. You desire to cry out to others but can't seem to break thru that wall of "religion". Friends and family look at you like you 2 heads because you don't even go to some building on a prescribed day to listen to the hometown rock start. The people say their pastor is humble and teaches the bible but they are in the middle of a fund-raiser for the new church because they are outgrowing the one they are in. Adult Sunday school is a joke because there is no opportunity for any give and take. Good heavens you might run overtime and disrupt the main service. When you seek out other brothers & sisters to talk with about all of this they all seem to have an excuse so you seek someone on the internet and find others like yourself going thru the same things and thank God for the discovery. You see humble people and know that you aren't anywhere near there yet but there are others going thru the same things and are not afraid to admit it and once again praise God for bringing you there!! Many are called but few are chosen and it would seem if you desire to be one of the chosen it begins with "blessed are the poor in spirit". Thangs for the encouragement!!

Anonymous said...

Rick, to me this message read more like the prayer time you had earlier this morning. It fits directly into the message for EVANGELISM!

Everyone who reads these should recognize that we are in a time that calls for us to be in fervent prayer. Prayer that is asking God use me, send me, and Lord be my mouthpiece to speak to the lost and dying.

It has been coming back to mind, here lately, every time I see an article about what some other preacher is saying or some church is doing that I am not to be concerned about it. Because I have my mission to fulfill.

I have enough to be concerned about without being distracted from my duty to God.

Joel

Anonymous said...

John 21:22 Jesus said to him, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me."

If we believe that the Bible is true then we should follow it.

Joel

Anonymous said...


Being against false teachings, being non-violent, being against nationalism, being pro-life, and being for Biblical marriage honors God and is praiseworthy. Psalm 23 witnesses that Christians are already being lead by Christ. David stated He leads me in paths of righteousness, for His own name's sake. Christ is already doing this if someone is born again! I've read and studied the Sermon on the Mount and when I do I see how all of the things you just mentioned are in there.

Anonymous said...

To write that there is blind side to true discernment is nonsense. True discernment is a gift of God! There is no trace of anything blind in His gifts!

Anonymous said...

One example of blind discernment is "legalism".

I hear continually concerning hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts and other catastrophes that strike America are God's judgment on those that don't repent...

Funny, Jesus Christ did not come into this world to condemn it, but that the world would be saved because of what He did...

Why would He turn around and condemn the very world He came to save by giving His life as ransom?

The more we understand the Heart of God, Who He is and how deep His compassion and love is for His creation, the less thoughts we'll have of God judging creation, causing harm and terrible things to a people He came to earth to die for and to give His life for...we believe God does these things because we really don't comprehend how wide, how long, how high and how deep His love actually is...

Many times, Christians can walk in blindness and not know it because the very thing that needs correcting within them is feeding on the fables being preached from the pulpit...

Cherie c. said...

To your entire comment Outsider, AMEN, and I am very grateful to God to meet you. It gets lonely sometimes.

I am praying that one day we can all meet before the Lord comes to take us home or we go home.

May God's peace, love, and strength keep you this day Outsider, and also to my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.

Perhaps someone will take me up on the idea to do a video (like go to meeting) fellowship. It would bring such great joy to fellowship in real time. No one around here to fellowship with. I do not travel much, but I would for fellowship. May God make it possible and keep us from despair when we are alone. Jesus calls us His friend. I am humbled and thankful because He really is all we have; forever.

your sister in Christ Jesus.

Cherie c. said...

The first time Jesus came was to save, but discernment or not, the next time He comes will be to judge. That is for certain.

Some discernment ministries I have visited are blind to their own shortcomings and it is a shock when they don't see the log in their own eyes. I could name a few, but I get blasted when I expose apostasy, so I will remain silent on that. Just know that our focus is the Gospel and a life following Jesus carrying our cross. Not an easy task, but as Jesus so wonderfully pointed out, anything is possible with God.

your sister in Christ Jesus

Anonymous said...

Thank You for affirming Pastor...

I can post what I said boldly because I was talking about myself...

I was caught up in "branhamism" for years...though I didn't go to the fellowships (because there were none around), I listened to the tapes religiously...

total legalism, total judgement against others, total exaltation of self while condemning others...

I really enjoy this blog...I really see a "heart voice" in your posts, one that desires to correct, not to condemn...

blessings

Anonymous said...

Yes, Jesus Christ did not come into this world to condemn it, but that the world would be saved because of what He did! Yet while that is completely true all unsaved, defiantly, rebellious people are under condemnation. No one who is unsaved is free in the Biblical use of the word free.
A wise person understands that God is Judge. He can't deny who He is and nor should we!

Anonymous said...

Do you remember Satan's role in Job's terrible siffering? Well, even during that terrible series of events God was sovereignly in charge. And God didn't relinquish His sovereign control of human events during WW1 or WW2. History is very mysterious!

Man's great error is that he is very reluctant and resistant to dig deep to understand how much God will let him suffer in order to rescue his soul.

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous -

That's why we are to share the power of God...

The power of God is not to condemn as Jesus didn't condemn...

The power of God is the gospel...

The gospel is not outlined in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, the gospel "IS" 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 -

1 Corinthians 15:1-4

Now I make known unto you brethren, the "gospel" which I preached unto you, which also ye received, wherein also ye stand,

by which also ye are saved, if ye hold fast the word which I preached unto you, except ye believed in vain.

For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received: that (1) Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

and that (2)He was buried; and that he hath been (3)raised on the third day according to the scriptures.

Yet, somehow (because our eyes are opened), we feel it necessary to become the "righteousness of God gestapo" concerning the lost...instead of sharing the gospel (that is the power of God to transform a person), we point fingers at the lost with righteous indignation blasting the lost with the letter of the law (that actually is for the Christian shaping and molding) and not those that are lost...

The lost do the things they do because they are blind, the bible is written to the believer for correction, reproof, instruction and doctrine...else, please explain the following -

1 Corinthians 2:14
Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged.

and

Romans 8:7
because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be.

We need to show the world the same "Grace" as God has shown...

He died for the world in their current condition... God intention is not for Christians to condemn those He died for...

One day, God will be judge again...at the end of the age...right now, we are in the dispensation of "Grace"...

The only "sin" the world will be condemned for is "Rejecting Christ"...

All "sin" has been taken care of at the "Cross"...

Anonymous said...

And -

If Apostle Paul were alive today, he'd tell us -

You who say don't steal, do you steal?...you who say do not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?

unbelievers "blaspheme" God because of the sin in the Church!

We need to stop being hearers of the word and telling people about the bible and start being doers of the word and living the bible...

We are under grace and the same grace God has shown us is the same grace we are to show the lost...

Leave the correction, instruction, reproof and doctrine to those that say the know Christ...that's who the bible is for...

The Cross is for the lost, instruction in sanctification comes after one goes through the Cross...

Anonymous said...

Almighty God teaches the blind and so must we!

Not only does God teach those who are blind but those He saves He gives sight.

What I do know is that without a mix of being loved, corrected and rebuked sinners make scant progress in turning from their sin. Do you recall John the Baptist? He was gracious to hypocrites. What did he do? He lovingly corrected and rebuked them. Do you remember that Jesus cleansed the temple? That was love in action! We need more of that sort of true concern for holiness that Jesus had!

Anonymous said...

One day, God will be judge again...at the end of the age...right now, we are in the dispensation of "Grace"...

Yes, God is gracious but the Bible also teaches that He punishes. He is punishing people billions of them right now!

Anonymous said...


In Psalm 23 we read, the Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want.

The situation is different for the unsaved person. The risen Lord Jesus isn't their acknowledged Shepherd and they are in want. What are they in want of?

They are in want of wisdom, knowledge and understanding.

In life one of our greatest needs is an understanding of the Bible! Sinners musn't wait until they are saved to open a Bible. That would be lunacy.

Bible study is for sinners of all shapes and sizes too!

Rick Frueh said...

Most sinners will only read one Bible. US.

Anonymous said...

Let's focus on the words according to the Scriptures.
How does an unsaved person gain faith? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The Bible clearly teaches how important it is for both the unsaved and saved to hear the word of God!

Rick Frueh said...

Yes, but the unsaved person usually hears the gospel. He does not "study the Scriptures". He cannot know the Scriptures until the Holy Spirit inhabits him. Until then the Spirit reveals Christ and the gospel. There are many unsaved people who are well versed in the Bible.

Anonymous said...

Leave the correction, instruction, reproof and doctrine to those that say they know Christ...that's who the bible is for...

Wrong! God's gift, the Bible, is given for everyone to explore.

Rick Frueh said...

The epistles were written to believers. The unregenerate man cannot know the things of God. They are spiritually discerned. A man dead in his sins will see God's Word as foolishness. And if he embraces Biblical morality without Christ he is still dead. Bible study without the Spirit renders the Word of God as religious reading material.

Anonymous said...


Who says that the unsaved person does not "study the Scriptures"? When I was unsaved I studied the Bible and after some years God rewarded me, so that it became my favourite book to study. I still wasn't saved but God allowed me to sense that I was doing the right thing.


My breakthrough occured about three years before I was saved. I attended a Bible where I observed two people who prayed intimately to God. I decided there and then that I wanted to pray like they did and almost immediately I found as never before that I had a desire to pray Mathew 6: 9-13.
Three years later after much deep study of the Bible God intervened and saved me.
What a glorious God we have!

Anonymous said...

Correction; My breakthrough occured about three years before I was saved. I attended a Bible Study Class where I observed two people who prayed intimately to God.

Anonymous said...

The epistles are God's word! Who makes God's word grow? Who makes interest in His word grow long before someone is saved by God? I know that it is God. In Isaiah 55:11 we read, 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Anonymous said...

What you overlook is that when God draws a person to Christ He is teaching them and because He blesses them they become more receptive to His word.

Anonymous said...

John 3:17
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

The Bible teaches very clearly that all unsaved people are already condemned.
This teaching of God is for both the saved and the unsaved to take heed of!

Anonymous said...

I think of God looking down on the earth and thinking, "what can I do to help my creation...they're living in darkness, they're hurting, they're blinded by my adversary who has them in bondage...I weep for my creation, I have a plan, I'm going to become like one of them and redeem them by giving my life as a ransom to buy them back...even though they hate me, despise me and reject me, I'm going to die the most horrible death ever known to mankind and save them"...

Given this, how can I personally look upon the lost with any type of judgment?...how can I see myself as better than they?...how can I see the lost any different than my Father sees them?...it's because I don't know my Father in His fulness...

I'm saved and I love my Father dearly for what He's done for me, but do I know Him?...do I comprehend how wide, how long, how high and how deep His love actually is?...because if I do, I'll see the lost as He sees them, love the lost as He loves them and except the lost as He excepts them, just as they are...

The lost my friends do what they do because they don't know our Father...they are blinded by an adversary that wants to draw us into his game, a game of judgement and self-righteousness, with an attitude that somehow we're better than the lost because we excepted God's gift...that doesn't make one better, that makes one saved...

Remember, God loves the entire world and died for the entire world and did it by unconditional, unmerited and incomprehensible grace through love and asks we share the same with those He came and died for...

Anonymous said...


Jesus is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. You see God knew what man needed even before He created us!


What an unsaved person needs is increased understanding. They need to show an increased interest in the Bible. It's God's will for them to study the Bible with patience and perseverance, for the Author of understanding longs to teach them out of His great book!

God bless you!

Anonymous said...

I was brought up Roman Catholic...I heard all about Adam & Eve, Noah, Jesus, the Apostles and so forth...

I went to catechism, sang songs, was confirmed, received holy communion, went to confession, and what ever else the church could throw at me...and

By the the time I reached 19 years of age I was ready to kill myself...the thoughts of suicide sounded really good because my life was in total ruin...

It wasn't until someone explained Jesus Christ to me (death, burial resurrection "The Gospel") that I was saved...

Knowledge from the bible is not understood until one is "born again"...

1 Corinthians 2:14
But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means

We don't know who God is calling, we share the gospel and let God do the rest...

The truths of God's word are for His children...and they are "profitable" for instruction, correction, reproof and doctrine...to mold us from the ungodly thing we were prior to salvation to the shape God invisions us to be after salvation, to shape us into imitators of Him...

Shannon said...

One can have all the good intentions by opening up and reading the Word of God but without His Spirit the words are just print on paper...meaningless.
As Isaiah 6:9-10 speaks of we have ears to hear and eyes to see only according to His will for us.

1 Cor 2:11b-14
So also, no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Anonymous said...

AMEN Shannon...

Rick Frueh said...

One can understand certain proverbs which make sense, or the facts of the gospel narratives, and many of the words. But without the spirit you can not know the spiritual meaning of it all. These words are not just marks on a paper. They are spirit and they must be taught by God's Spirit.
But sometimes an unbeliever picks up a Gideon Bible (for example) and reads some of the gospels and the Spirit enlightens his heart as to who Jesus is and that sinner is saved. But until that happens the words of the Bible have only human meanings.

Shannon said...

Does knowing who Jesus is save a sinner?
James 2:19
We can believe and know whatever we pick and choose to, but mere "knowing" does not save.
It is the Spirit who draws the sinner to salvation, as the sinner must come to the Light for his sin to be exposed.

Shannon said...


Who said we are any better than the unsaved? When a person is born into this world by a physical birth, Christ, the True Light is enlightening EVERY person being born into the world.

John 1:9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

Just as Anonymous posted:
Anonymous 4:36 PM
"John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

The Bible teaches very clearly that all unsaved people are already condemned.
This teaching of God is for both the saved and the unsaved to take heed of!"

John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

And why are those who are blinded by the god of this world?

2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Romans 1:18-21 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Shannon said...

Saul was an example of one who was an unsaved, yet, expertly well-versed Pharisee who studied the Word. He had good intentions, but good intentions do not save one.

Anonymous said...

When an unbeliever sets his mind, heart and soul to to take Bible study seriously God blesses him. If God didn't bless the sincere efforts of man to live more honorably He couldn't be the God of the Bible.
Let's not overlook the fact that Our heavenly Father draws sinners to Christ. This drawing process can last some considerable time and during this time He teaches the as yet unsaved person.

Let's recall that the Ethiopian Eunuch was studying from the book of Isaiah and God intervened on his behalf!
Let's encourage unbelievers to read the Bible, for this is God's will and honors His hallowed name.

Anonymous said...

Let's start at the beginning and let God do the rest Never underestimate what God can do in the life of an unsaved person who longs to learn from His treasured word.

Rick Frueh said...

Without faith it is impossible to please God. Those that are without Christ have the wrath of God abiding upon them. And all sincere efforts to live right are nothing more than the lineage of Cain.

Anonymous said...


Sincere efforts to learn from God will be rewarded whether we are saved or unsaved. I'm not saying someone who is unsaved will be rewarded with salvation. Their sincere efforts to honor God's name are not in vain.
Have faith in God to rescue the unsaved and not your own "limited" insights. Don't lose sight of the transforming power of God's love for sinners.

Anonymous said...


Are we followers of the thinking of the false god of the Koran or the true God of the Bible?

Are we claiming to be gracious but failing to show love to the unsaved by neglecting to encourage them to study His words?

Are you a willing laborer for Christ? A willing laborer for Christ brings God' s word to the unsaved. Anything less shows we don't understand what following Christ means.

Rick Frueh said...

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