Here we present Pastor Sheldon Emry’s essay “Should Christians Love The Wicked?” where he shows how there is no scriptural basis for Christians to unconditionally “love their neighbors” — and to treat everyone regardless of who they are and what they believe as their “brothers.” Many critics of Christianity have rightfully pointed out that this …
How The Error Of Unconditional Love Of 'Thy Neighbor' Subverts Christianity - Christians for Truth Skip to main content Skip to header right navigation Skip to site footerChristians for TruthMenuHeader SearchSearch siteSubmit searchHome Categories All Posts Bible Studies and Christian History Core Topics Egalitarian Myth Entertainment Health COVID “Pandemic” History Hidden Hand Must Read Diversity Kills South Africa Fake Right Right Direction God’s “Chosen People” Faith Evangelical Zionism Judeo-Churchianity Resources Books Videos Memes/Pics About Donations SearchSearch siteSubmit search HomeCategories Sub Menu All Posts Bible Studies and Christian History Core Topics Egalitarian Myth Entertainment Health COVID “Pandemic” History Hidden Hand Must Read Diversity Kills South Africa Fake Right Right Direction God’s “Chosen People” Faith Evangelical Zionism Judeo-Churchianity Resources Sub Menu Books Videos Memes/Pics AboutDonationsHow The Error Of Unconditional Love Of ‘Thy Neighbor’ Subverts Christianity May 30, 2022 By CFT Team -- 66 Comments Here we present Pastor Sheldon Emry’s essay “Should Christians Love The Wicked?” where he shows how there is no scriptural basis for Christians to unconditionally “love their neighbors” — and to treat everyone regardless of who they are and what they believe as their “brothers.” Many critics of Christianity have rightfully pointed out that this so-called “commandment” to love thy enemies unconditionally — and to “turn the other cheek” –have indeed helped our enemies to subvert and destroy our Christian nations from within. Unfortunately, many of these critics choose to reject Christianity outright because of these false teachings — instead of actually investigating what the Bible does — and does not — say on these subjects. “Should Christians Love The Wicked?” We are being told by some churches — and by worldly publications — that Christians are to love everyone, especially those who are, “less fortunate than we are.” Quite often in the less fortunate bracket they include, not just the poor and handicapped, but the criminals and the degenerates, and even the enemies of the Christians. We are told that no matter what the person is or what he has done, we are to love him. Is that a Scriptural concept or are Christians being given unscriptural advice in this important matter? The most common answer to that question today would be, “Yes, Christians are supposed to love everybody.” If asked for the authority for that commandment, most would say “the Bible,” or they might say “Jesus Christ.” Some insist that not only are we Christians to love everyone, but that we are to help everyone — even those people or nations who have been killing our Christian brethren. To justify that, they will quote, “Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him.” (Romans 12:20) And for good measure they will throw in, “We are to love our neighbors as ourselves.” Is this a scriptural doctrine — that we are to love and forgive, and perhaps help the criminal, the degenerate, and even those who would destroy us? Or are we, Christians being misled by a wrong use or a wrong teaching of these Bible passages? Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is sometimes used to convince Christians that they must forgive wrong-doing under all circumstances: “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15) Without additional explanation, these verses seem to say that before Christians can have any grace and mercy from God, they must first forgive all other men all their sins. If that is not enough, then sometimes this verse is quoted to convince us that we must forgive more than once. “Take heed to yourselves: if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, ‘I repent,” thou shalt forgive him.” (Luke 17:3-4) If that is not enough times to be required to forgive, then they can quote, “Then came Peter to him and said, ‘Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I for- give him? Till seven times?’ Jesus saith unto him, ‘I say not unto thee until seven times: but until seventy times seven.’” (Matthew 18:21-22) The liberal church men and writers in secular publications say, “See, Christians are supposed to forgive everyone, over and over.” However, they miss the whole point of the command as to who it is the Christian is to forgive — and they completely ignore that forgiveness is required only when certain specific circumstances prevail. Let us examine those passages in more detail and find out just what Jesus taught. Is Everyone Your “Brother”? I think you will see it is quite different than the liberal churches and our secular propagandists say it is. The person to be forgiven is identified in Jesus’ own words, “If thy brother trespass against thee.” and then later He says, “Forgive him.” (Luke 17:3) The person who is the subject of Peter’s question is right in the question for all to see, “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?” (Matthew 18:21) Both Jesus and Peter were talking about other Christian brothers, not about non-Christians. The word ‘brother’ is used in the New Testament almost 100 times. And except for those cases where it is talking about physical brothers — sons of the same mother — it always means believers in Christ Jesus. Those ministers — and our enemies — who claim Jesus taught that Christians are to forgive non-believers their trespasses are teaching error. Except for those passages where near-blood kin are meant, the word brother and brethren, in the New Testament, always means followers of Jesus Christ. They have no application to non-Christians. In addition, these passages are not a blanket command to always and under any circumstances forgive even our Christian brother. There is something stated or implied in both passages which that brother must do — and that word is ‘Repent!’ Jesus said of His brother, “If he repent, forgive him,” and then He said that if the brother said seven times in a day, “I repent,” then the Christian was to forgive him seven times. Jesus taught no such nonsense, that if any- one trespasses against you, that you are to forgive him. He spoke only of fellow Christians, and forgiveness was commanded only if the wrong-doer repented of his trespass against you. Jesus does not use the word ‘repent’ in reply to Peter’s question; however, it is plainly implied in His teaching which preceded the question, and which obviously prompted it from Peter. “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.” (Matthew 18:15) This is an instruction to a wronged Christian, however it does make it plain the wrong-doer here is also a Christian brother. Then Jesus says, “But if he will not hear {thee, then} take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.” (Matthew 18:16) Since Jesus uses the phrase ‘his fault’ it is certain He means to say the other brother is in the wrong. Therefore when He uses the phrase “if he will not hear thee,” He obviously means if he will not admit his error and repent — even though Jesus does not use the word ‘repent.’ After you’ve gone to your Christian brother with one or two witnesses, and the result is not one of acknowledgement of wrongdoing and repentance, Jesus commands, “And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell {it} unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church,…” …then forgive him anyway because, after all, you are a Christian. Oh, oh, Jesus didn’t say that, did He? No! Jesus said if this Christian brother who has wronged you refuses to admit his error and repent, after the church has been told of it, then, “…let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.” (Matthew 18: 17) Isn’t that something? We are told by all and sundry that we Christians are to forgive everyone — and everything relating to sins and trespasses against us. Yet Jesus told us we are not even to forgive a Christian brother if he refuses to repent of his wrongdoing. Certainly we have no more responsibility to forgive and forget the sins of unrepentant non-Christians than we do the sins of unrepentant Christians. Paul uses a stronger word than ‘heathen’ in his letter to Titus — a word we seldom hear in modern Christendom: “A man that is an heretic after the first and sec- ond admonition, reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.” (Titus 3:10-11) And of course, this familiar passage, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14) In verse 15, unbelievers are called ‘infidels’ — another word one seldom hears nowadays, although our land is filled with them. We have touched on only a very few of the New Testament passages by which we are commanded to have no fellowship nor communion with the heretic, the unbeliever and the anti-Christian. In spite of that, it is commonly taught in many churches — and by many evangelists and, of course, by our enemies — that we Christians are not to speak against, nor to oppose, nor to avoid entanglement with unbelievers, but are instead to love them, forgive them when they trespass against Christians, and even help them in their nefarious works. Do you realize what this false doctrine of love everyone and forgive unrepentant sinners has done to us? It has made us tolerant of all sorts of evil and of evil-doers. Instead of acting like our Christian forefathers, who would not tolerate open and unrepentant sin and wickedness in the community, but who instead punished the evildoers, or drove unrepentant sinners from the community; so that they could not injure and destroy the Christians. We have been conditioned not to react to blatant sin. We put up with and tolerate and condone, and justify all kinds of sin and sinners in our neighborhoods, in our cities, in our states and our nation because we have been fooled into thinking that rooting out, and driving out wicked and evil people from the land is somehow not what Christians should do. “Why, we must love and forgive them, not hate and deport them” — and all sorts of other nonsense that comes from not understanding the true teachings of Jesus Christ. Our nation is being destroyed for lack of knowledge — for lack of knowledge of what true Christianity really is. Our Christian forefathers of past centuries obeyed the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. They loved the brethren — their Christian brethren — not the wicked non-Christians, and they stopped the anti-Christians and the unbelievers from defiling their land and their people. In the 1600’s, when the first Christians settled on this continent, they would not even allow non-Christians to live in their colonies. Men and women who committed evil acts against the people were punished — and if they did not repent and mend their wicked ways, they were driven out, exiled, banned from the Christian community (ecclesia), and told not to return. Even in this century, until less than 60 years ago, it was a common practice for the law authorities in a community to actually pick up criminals and known wrong-doers, escort them to the borders of the community, or city, and tell them to get out. I personally know this was done in many cities long after WWII. Were these authorities somehow evil for doing these things? No! They were protecting their children from evil, not fawning upon anti-christs, murderers, thieves, sodomites and rapists. These same forefathers of ours — citing God’s laws for the punishment of evildoers — executed murderers and rapists and punished those who would destroy the morals of their children. As recently as 30 years ago, it was common to hear of the arrest of someone for “corrupting the morals of a minor.” Who ever hears of such a charge today? Instead the drug pushers, the printers and distributors of pornography, the makers of filthy movies, sex-perverts and blasphemers have the run of our land. They corrupt the minds of millions of our children every year destroying their morals and then their lives all without punishments. If Christians really get upset and want to do something, along comes the clergy and propagandist, and smoothly reminds us that, after all, Christians must not judge. Christians must hate the sin, but love the sinner. And Christians must forgive, forgive and forgive. So the wicked prosper. Truth is fallen in the street — and wrong rules the land. We blame the criminals and the wicked for it, but who is really to blame? Is it not the Christians who have abdicated their duties to Jesus, to their country, and to their children? After all, it is Christians who are to be a light to the world, not the non-Christians. It is Christians who are to establish their society that it might be as a light set upon a hill, that all men might seek after it. It is Christians who are to be God’s witnesses to His righteous and immutable laws. Nowhere in the Holy Word of God does God charge the heathen and the infidel with establishing a righteous nation. Always, and forever, His Word is to the believer, the follower of Jesus Christ. Before we go on with what our relationship is to the wicked, I want to read a few passages in the New Testament where the word ‘brother’ is used. This is especially for new Christians who might still think that their ‘brother’ is their ‘fellow man,’ rather than their fellow Christian. There are scores of these passages in the New Testament. Jesus used “brethren” — the plural of “brother” — when He asked this question, “Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?” (Matthew 12:48) His answer was to point to His disciples and say, “Behold, my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.” (Matthew 12:49-50) The same is repeated in Mark 3:33-35. In Acts 9:17 and 22:13, we find that Saul — a persecutor of Christians — was called “Brother Saul” immediately upon his conversion. In Romans 14 the word ‘brother’ is used 4 times in reference to a fellow believer. In 1 Corinthians 1:1, Paul refers to a fellow Christian worker as “Sosthenes, our brother.” In 2 Corinthians 1:1, Paul writes of Timothy, “our brother” — Timothy was not Paul’s blood brother. Like Sosthenes, Timothy was a fellow believer in Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 2:13, Paul calls Titus, “my brother.” Again the word ‘brother’ means ‘fellow Christian.’ Paul writes of an unnamed person this way, “And we sent with him the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches.” (2 Corinthians 8: 18) There is no other identification of the man, except he was a brother. Why was he a brother? Because his praise was in the Gospel; he was a Christian believer. In verse 23, Paul uses the term ‘brethren.’ Like all other places in the New Testament it refers to fellow believers. ‘Brother’ and ‘brethren’ are used scores of times in the New Testament. Some we will read later when we discuss the commandment to love our brother. You should look up the word ‘brother’ in your Concordance and read the references. The word ‘brother’ is used for only two things – a real ‘blood brother’ or a fellow Christian. Never is it used in the New Testament to mean a non-Christian. Don’t let anyone fool you by telling you that non-Christians are brothers to Christians. The Bible does not teach that at all. Some may ask, “But Pastor Emry, aren’t we Christians com- manded to love our neighbor as ourselves.” The answer is, “Yes, we are” — however, who is our neighbor? Well, that is also made plain in the New Testament — we will find that just like everyone is not our brother, neither is everyone our neighbor — even if he does live next door to our house, or next door to our country. Is Anyone or Everyone Your Neighbor? The Holy Word of God tells Christians they are to love their neighbor as themselves. Jesus gave that as a command in Matthew 19:19 and Matthew 22:39 — and both Paul and James repeated it their epistles. But, does that command really mean Christians are to love those who fit the scriptural definition of ‘the wicked’? Are they to love unrepentant sinners who continually commit sin and wickedness? The answer is “No!” — Christians are commanded to do no such thing. In fact, the forgiveness was commanded only if the brother repented of his wrong-doing. Instead today, when Christian people speak out against sin and iniquity in the land, and suggest that the criminal should be punished, they are often told, “Oh you shouldn’t feel like that — you should forgive them. After all, if you are a Christian, you must love and forgive.” Then they will throw in something about loving our neighbors as ourselves, and the Christians are shamed into silence as if they were the wrong-doer instead of the criminal. What about loving our neighbor as ourselves? In Matthew 19 we’ll find out two things: — How do we fulfil the command to love our neighbor as ourselves? — Just who is our neighbor according to this scripture? “And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 19:16-19) Most Christians recognize the first five of those as the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and fifth commandments in that order; however, many think the last phrase — “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” — was an addition by Jesus. That is not so. It is from the original Ten Commandments in the Old Testament. Jesus gave much more emphasis on that command to love one’s neighbor, seeming to make it more important than the last six of the original Ten Commandments. “Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Mas- ter, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:35-40) To help us understand what Jesus meant by that, seeming to make only two commandments instead often, we need to refer back to the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:117. You will see that the Ten Commandments are of two different types. The first four define man’s relationship to God, and the last six define man’s relationship to man. The first four are: No.1. No other gods, No.2. No worship of graven images, No.3. Do not take the Lord’s name in vain, No.4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Those four have to do with the relationship between God and man, then the rest with the relationship between man and man. No.5. Honor thy father and they mother. No.6. Thou shalt not kill, (Jesus quoted, “Thou shalt do no murder,” which is more correct). No.7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. No.8. Thou shalt not steal. No.9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. No. 10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbors wife, nor his manservant nor his maidservant, nor his ox nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s. Now by reading those Ten Commandments, we can see that when Jesus gave only two commandmen… truncated (94,697 more characters in archive)