RE: One thing I’ve learned over the years is to not judge people’s salvation
I know that ultimately God is the one who judges one’s eternal destiny.
However, as church members, we MUST make some judgment too. Who do we support for ministry? Who is going to be the Pastor, Elder or Deacon, etc.
You can’t make decisions like these without “judging” ( for want of a better word ) whether or not a person is REALLY a born again Christian.
There has to be some criteria ( albeit not perfect ) by which we make such judgment, or we might as well not ordain anyone at all.
However, as church members, we MUST make some judgment too. Who do we support for ministry? Who is going to be the Pastor, Elder or Deacon, etc.
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Good comments.
Believers ARE told to judge “those who are in the Church”.
To those who might doubt/disagree with what SeekAndFind wrote: You can find this admonition in one of Paul’s letters to the Corinthians. (I am going to leave it to you to find the exact passage/s for yourself).
Jesus gave instructions to judge properly (not with hypocrisy) as well.
I agree completely, but he's not trying out for pastor. I'm sure he is basking in the glow of salvation and the Holy Spirit is strong in him right now. I can remember when I found out God loved me enough to die for me. I was trying to save the world for a couple of years, until I found out how little I knew about Scripture. I also found out many churches make teachers out of men that show up for a couple of Sunday's in a row. Deacons were often the Bankers son or the guy that owns the local Chevy Dealership. It took many years to figure out what was really going on.
West has money so I would imagine he will hold "church" for many that we wouldn't allow to darken the door of our church. Isn't that the problem we are having today? In my last church, we had dope heads, drunkards, and adulterers, that came to my Bible class. I even had a death row murderer that somehow got parole. It was sometimes scary and always full of disappointment. I treated them like friends and tried to show them that Jesus was the only way out of where they were at. You might invest a year or two in them only to find they went back to the world. But there were also some that kept going that did become deacons and teachers after a few years. We are supposed to be equipping our members to go out on their own.
I was a drunk fornicator along with several other adjectives and somehow I was trusted with the Word of God after 7-8 years. We all come from somewhere.