Did You Know There Are Grave Consequences When You Fail to Forgive?

To be sincere in our forgiveness of others we should not even remember the incident. Sometimes forgiveness can be conditional, we shall tell somebody we have forgiven them, but maybe later we will bring it up to use it against them. This is not real forgiveness. Only when we do not think about the experience have we really forgiven others.

When we forgive others, we should not feel that we are just doing somebody else a favor; through forgiving others we are helping ourselves immensely. By remembering the misdeeds of others we live in the critical and judgmental mind. However through forgiveness we learn to appreciate the good qualities of others. Through forgiveness we become aware of our extended reality. If someone does something wrong a good attitude to take is. “I could quite easily have committed that sin myself”. Even if we wouldn’t have done this action, forgiving makes us even more humble.

HEALTHY love relationships are not possible without forgiveness! You cannot have a loving and rewarding relationship with anyone else, much less yourself, if you continue to hold on to things that happened in the past. Regardless of the situation, making peace with past love partners, your parents, children, your boss or anyone who you think may have "done you wrong" is the only way to improve your chances of a "healthy" relationship with yourself or anyone else for that matter!

Some people can easily forgive a sin against them, especially if it was committed only once, or the person did not know he or she was committing whatever offended you. Obviously, people under the influence of medicine, alcohol or drugs do some stupid things. Either way, that person who committed that act must be confronted. That party deserves to be confronted and also deserves the opportunity to defend the accusation. If he or she confesses and genuinely apologizes for the mistake, it is your responsibility to forgive them. Too often, we refuse to speak to friends, family, love ones and colleagues because we heard something from someone else about them that hurt or offended you.

That person maybe has no idea what other people told you about them! Maybe what you heard was exaggerated or even made up to endear them to you, or even done on purpose to drive a wedge between you.

Therefore, it is your responsibility to confront that person about the accusation. Every person deserves to know what they are accused of. If they deny it, no forgiveness is required on your part because a person cannot forgive something someone else denies happened. Thereby that person has to live with his or her lies.

We have all known someone who would never admit when they were wrong? No matter how insurmountable the evidence is against them, they will not confess to making a mistake. A follower of God cannot have this kind of mentality! One cannot become a child of God if they won’t admit sin. The apostle John wrote, “If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). God will not forgive the person who does not admit his need for forgiveness. He or she will die in their sin!
 

 However, if they confess their sin to you, it must be forgiven. If they commit that sin again, and ask for forgiveness again, Jesus tells us we must forgive them up to seven times seventy. Obviously, if that sin is so egregious (adultery, murder, rape, etc), you are not obligated to forgive nor to reestablish your relationship, which requires long-term trust building action.

More importantly, above and beyond you setting yourself free from the hate, resentment, sorrow, angst, bitterness, pain, self-pity and ill-feelings you have towards the person that injured you, you have to remember what God has stated about forginess. Most Christians believe that God will forgive all sins, except for “Blasphemy.”:

The blasphemy of the Spirit today, which is the same as the unpardonable sin, is the state of continued unbelief. There is no pardon for a person who dies in unbelief. Continual rejection of the Holy Spirit’s promptings to trust in Jesus Christ is the unpardonable blasphemy against Him. Remember what is stated in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Further on in the same chapter is the verse “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him” (John 3:36). The only condition wherein someone would have no forgiveness is if he is not among the “whoever believes in Him,” for it is he who “rejects the Son.”

However (and an extremely important Bible fact that many people forget, or purposely overlook) is what we are about to read:

Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. “

Matthew 6:14 “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”

Matthew 18:35 "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart."

Mark 11:26 “But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. “

Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”

Most Christians believe there is only one sin that God cannot forgive, which is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Some even play the Luke 23:34 card:

"On the cross Jesus Christ uttered an immortal utterance:

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, Luke 23:34).”

But based on the previous group of scripture, we can see clearly where God cannot forgive if you don't forgive others for their sin, either!! If you choose not to forgive, it is a "knowable" act that you chose, therefore you cannot play the "forgive me (card) because I did know know what I was doing!"

Now you know what God has to say about forgiveness, and now you know what you should do! You have no excuse!

                                                                 ~~~~

To learn more about his books, “The End Times Passover” and “Why Christians Will Suffer Great Tribulations,” please click on Joe Ortiz

The Perils of Pop Prophecy Exposed by Tal Brooke

The hugely popular Left Behind series of books, TV specials and movies (most recently with Nicholas Cage), emphasizing “the pre-tribulation rapture” among other novel beliefs, constitute an ongoing propaganda campaign on behalf of Pop Prophecy, parading before the world a contrived, Marvel Comics level presentation of Christianity contrary to its long-standing beliefs. Click the following link for more information:The Perils of Pop Prophecy Exposed!

Tal Brooke (my close friend and colleague), is a renowned author, and is the President/Chairman of SCP (Spiritual Counterfeits Project), Inc. Click the link for or information about SCP Journal

Pseudo-Ephraem Taught Pretrib - Not! by Dave MacPherson

[Our wise and trusted friend, fellow author Dave MacPherson, again provides insights to the reality that the "Pre-Tribulation Rapture to Heaven" doctrine is a myth; yet theorists-pundits-wannabee Bible scholars continue promoting the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on main stream Christianity, even though it has been debunked over and over again. We feel privileged he has chosen our blog to post his findings].

       Evidence abounds that all of dispensationalism's crucial aspects (including the pretrib rapture) were taught by some of John Darby's (less than orthodox) contemporaries in the 1830s before Darby taught them. Since this explosive discovery there's been an unholy frenzy to find sources as early as possible in the Church Age which can be "shaded" enough to appear to be authentically pretrib in order to avoid the (well deserved) stigma that pretrib is a "recent theory."
       In the 1990s Canadian prophecy teacher Grant Jeffrey claimed to have found clear pretrib teaching in a 4th century Christian writer known as Pseudo-Ephraem (which I'll abbreviate as P-E). 
       If anyone wants to find out what P-E really taught, he or she can Google "Apocalypse of Pseudo-Ephraem (Wikipedia)" and click on "Rhoades Translation from a Latin text of Pseudo-Ephraem." This translation into English affected Grant Jeffrey, and his purposely muddied-up revisionism of P-E has captivated Thomas Ice and other pretrib merchandisers.

      In Section 2 P-E wrote: "We ought to understand thoroughly therefore, my brothers, what is imminent or overhanging." He revealed what was imminent in his next sentence which stated that "there is not other which remains, except the advent of the wicked one [Antichrist]."
      Nevertheless Jeffrey (constantly repeated by Ice) claimed that P-E taught "an imminent pretrib rapture"! (In the twinkling of an eye they fearlessly changed an imminent arrival of Antichrist into an imminent arrival of Christ!)
      Right after this, in Section 2, P-E wrote: "For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord..." This phrase ("taken to the Lord") is trumpeted by Ice etc. as a clear reference to a pretrib rapture.
      But Dr. Paul Alexander's book "The Byzantine Apocalyptic Tradition," which inspired Jeffrey to claim he had found evidence of pretrib before 1830, says that this phrase means "participate at least in some measure in beatitude." (Encyclopedias dealing with this aspect of Byzantine theology reveal that "beatitude" has to do with doing "acts of virtue" on earth - the opposite of being raptured off earth!)
      Ice etc. even falsely claim that Dr. Alexander concluded that P-E was pretrib. But Alexander's book (pp. 218-19) has two summaries of P-E's beliefs, each one showing that P-E looked for only one future coming of Christ which would FOLLOW the "tribulatio magna lasting three and a half years"!
      My book "The Rapture Plot" (1995) has an appendix analyzing P-E, and Dr. Robert Gundry's (1997) book "First the Antichrist" also demolishes Jeffrey's claim.
      The recent eyes-wide-open revisionism of pretrib history has even been asserting that "many" of the early Church Fathers taught pretrib - daring prevarications that the late Dr. Walvoord would have denounced since he was never able to find any "pretribulationist" before Darby! For some excellent details on the current revisionism mania, Google "Pseudo-Pseudo-Ephraem" and "Grant Jeffrey's Apocalypse Debacle" by Florida researcher Tim Warner.
      There's now more deception than what's found in my Google piece "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty." In fact, the sort of deceitfulness outlined above is now causing the SS Pretrib Rapture to list heavily to port - the port of no return!
      (PS - Many of my other pretrib history articles are found on Joe Ortiz's outstanding blogs including "The End Times Passover.")

     

 Dave MacPherson. What People are saying

What They Are Saying About ... THE RAPTURE PLOT!

Gary DeMar (President American Vision): "A majority of prophecy writers and speakers teach that the church will be raptured before a future tribulational period. But did you know that prior to about 1830 no such doctrine existed. No one in all of church history ever taught pretribulational rapture. Dave MacPherson does the work of a journalistic private investigator to uncover the truth....The Rapture Plot is the never-before-told true story of the plot - how plagiarism and subtle document changes created the 'mother of all revisionisms.' A fascinating piece of detective work." Robert H. Gundry (Professor Westmont College): "As usual MacPherson out hustles his opponents in research on primary sources. C. S. Lovett (President Personal Christianity): You don't read very much of Dave MacPherson's work before you realize he is a dedicated researcher. Because his work has been so honest and open his latest work The Rapture Plot has produced many red faces among some of the most recognized rapture writers of our time. When their work is compared to his it is embarrassing for them to see how shallow their research is." R. J. Rushdoony (President Chalcedon): "Dave MacPherson has been responsible for major change in the eschatology of evangelical churches by his devastating studies of some of the central aspects thereof. In The Rapture Plot MacPherson tells us of the strange tale of 'rapture' writings, revisions, cover-ups, alterations and confusions. No one has equaled MacPherson in his research on the 'pretrib rapture.' Attempts to discredit his work have failed...."

About the Author: Born 1932 of Scotch/English descent Dave MacPherson is a natural for British historical research. His calling was journalism. Receiving a BA in English in 1955 he spent 26 years as a newsman reporting and filming many notable events, persons, presidents and dignitaries.