justbyfaith
Well-Known Member
I am in a situation right now where a brother held a grudge against me for the period of a whole year and then started the process of wanting to have me cast out of the church out of the blue; because he has the spirit of unforgiveness and because I tried to minister to him on the issue. Now he has unforgiveness towards me, because I gave him an angry look at one point when he was railing against his father (not mentioning any names here). I didn't side with him on the issue; because I had just previous to a year ago when it was all happening, repented of dishonoring my own father by my words. So my judgment of my own sin carried over into the situation of his own dishonouring of his father. He cornered me in the bathroom and told me to repent of judging him; and then took it to the elders. In all reality he skipped a step; because he should have gotten a mutual friend to witness my reaction to his confrontation instead of taking it to the church immediately. From what I gather, his intention was not to restore but to destroy; his intention was to have me cast out of the church. He considered that it is always a sin to judge; while I only judged him as a gut reaction while my tongue did not rise up against him in judgment. (I also apologized to him for having that reaction in my gut). I will not take up a reproach against my neighbor, Psalms 15, even in this thing I am hiding the name of the person from the general public. But my motivations for ministering to him on the issue was because I wanted him to live long on the earth and for it to be well with him; because I am speaking of the first commandment with a promise (Ephesians 6:1-3). He also told his wife and the eldership that, because my wife and I are on social security/disability, that I do not take care of my wife (and that therefore I am worse than an unbeliever...1 Timothy 5:8). Iow, he was trying to spread poison about my character and tarnish my name. He said that I do not even wake up until 12:00 in the afternoon; which I recalled later was a lie (in the moment I actually believed him because love believes all things and that is the way my mind works; sometimes I don't recall the facts until later when I am told a lie, even when I am fully aware of the facts) because most days I get up around 5:00am so that I can work the internet. I put my free time to good use, in that I operate as a watchman on these boards; my "job" is to labour in the word and in doctrine.The goal is always restoration my friend. Read Hosea and Gomer. She played the (repeated) whore and yet he took her back. He even went so far as to buy her back for the price of a slave, but she was not his slave but his wife. When a Brother offends you, you go to him alone and if he repents, that's the end of it. If he doesn't, you take 1 or 2 with you so that there are 2 or 3 witnesses to establish what has transpired. If he still doesn't repent, you then bring him before the local assembly and if he repents, then that's the end of it. If not, you cast him out. But throwing him out is after you have exhausted all means if restoration.
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