Sacrament of Confession

I suppose that I'm one of those guys who would have to be referred to as a fanatic. I have certain topics that seem to occupy a greater share of my mind and thinking. Why is that? Probably it is because they are topics about which I've had great revelation or breakthrough in my own life. And so I am passionate about those topics and spend a great deal of time studying them, understanding them, and usually explaining them. Confession is one of them.

I've been asked to define confession. I suspect it is because those asking the question seek to narrow the definition as much as possible, whilst they look for loopholes. Let's face it, humans are not predisposed to confession. If anything, we're predisposed to lying so that we can avoid confession. Adam and Eve did it. Two year old toddlers do it. It is our human nature.

But confession has been called a "sacrament." This means it is often viewed as an outwardly visible sign of an inner grace. I think that is rather an odd way to look at it. But the more I think about it, the more sense it makes. I'm becoming more and more convinced that it is the grace inside of us - from the Holy Spirit - that makes us willing and able to confess well.

I've been quoted in the past as encouraging people to pursue a "black belt in confession." But I'm beginning to understand that the choice to develop confession as a core competency is probably not a choice we can make on our own. Rather the Holy Spirit operating within us must enable us to choose it.

To confess is to agree with God, acknowledging that His definitions of right and wrong are accurate. It means agreeing with God that I am wrong to have done those things (that He defines as wrong) or to even have desired to do them. It also means affirming my intention of abandoning those things that I am confessing in order to follow God more faithfully.

Now repentance is different than confession. Repentance should include confession, but confession doesn't necessarily include repentance. What's the difference? Repentance includes the action I take to turn from my sin and the temptations that entice me to sin. For example, if I watched something on TV or looked at it on the Internet and then confessed it --- there would be no repentance unless I took tangible actions to avoid watching or looking at it again.

And you thought confession was simply admitting that you were wrong! No, your confession still isn't complete - even with repentance. James 5:16 tells us to, "Confess your sins to one another ..." When James wrote this, he was writing to mature believers, saints. So the mandate here is for mature Christ followers to confess their sins to one another.

My obligations in confession are not complete until I've confessed to God and to another human being. It seems that God knows the worst that there is to be known about me. But God wants another human being (besides me) to know the worst that there is to be known about me. Moreover, God wants that informed individual - who will have the dirt on me - to be a mature Christ follower as well.

So there is this sacrament - this outward sign of inner grace given to me by the Holy Spirit. It is the sacrament of confession. When I have it, I am able to accomplish at least three things:

1. Agree with God that what I do (or even want to do) is wrong, and admit that it is what I've done or want to do.
   
2. Take tangible action to turn from the wrong doing in question, including actions to protect myself from the temptation to do the wrong.
   
3. Make this dirt about me known to someone who is at least as spiritually mature as I am - who would be willing to pray for me in this area and hold me accountable in this area.

Now you can agree with me or not about this. But my guess is that whether you do or don't really isn't up to you. Rather it is the power of the Holy Spirit that will enable you in that regard.

Are you confessed up and prayed up? Is the Holy Spirit trying to lead you in this area? And if He is, how well are you following His leading?

More Confession

I have blogged before about confession. James 5:16 tells us to, "Confess your sins to one another and be healed." I've come to understand that as one of the key mandates from this God of conditions that we serve.

We confess our sins to God and He forgives them. But if we want His healing, well that requires something more - it requires that we confess them to one another.

I have to say that over the years this has seemed like maybe the best kept secrets of the Bible. It certainly seems to be one of the best kept secrets of Christianity!

We have self-professed Christians who go around pretending to each other that they don't sin. And yet, God asks us to do exactly the opposite. Go figure.

Proverbs 28:13 tells us that, "People who conceal their sins do not prosper ..." What do you think of that? It would seem that prosper and healing are two entirely differently things. I can find healing from my sin patterns. Or I can be prosperous.

Could it be possible for someone to be prosperous without healing? How about having healing without being prosperous? No, these two things sound like they are entirely different. But I suspect we are not to be deceived. While they may seem different, they are more closely linked than we think.

It is hard to learn from a mistake that you don't acknowledge. How exactly does one learn from mistakes (besides acknowledging them)? I think he (or she) would admit it, confess it to God, confess it to another, analyze it and then make adjustments to prevent it from happening again.

It would be those latter three things that require assistance from another human being. Of course I need someone to confess to.

But can I properly analyze my sin on my own? I doubt it. The Bible tells us clearly to "lean not on your own understanding." That would seem to be sage advice when analyzing one's own sin. No, I will need the wisdom of another to assist me.

And what about that making of adjustments? Resisting temptation. Eliminating temptation patterns in my life. How about evaluating my continued sin? Can I do that by myself? Probably not. It seems I would need the assistance of another to do that as well.

King Solomon wrote his wisdom about prosperity being tied to my confession in the Old Testament. James wrote his wisdom about healing being tied to my confession in the New Testament. (Do you think these guys collaborated bit on this?) There is a common theme here.

The older I get, the more I understand the wisdom, the precious value of confession. To be clear, confession can be intimidating. We want to be able to confess to someone that would be trustworthy. I need to confess to someone who won't hurt me, shame me or otherwise wound me. (After all, I'm already guilty!)

But James was writing to the saints when he said to "confess to one another." So we don't just confess to anyone. We confess to someone who is at least as spiritually mature as we are. That would be someone who sees us as Christ see us. It will be someone with the love of Jesus in them. It will be one who can model God's grace with us.

Romans 8:1 tells us that, "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." There is no condemnation from those who are in Christ Jesus either! So if I'm confessing to the right person, I will feel better. He will feel better. God will be in the middle of that conversation. His healing will result from that conversation.

Doesn't this just make you want to go out and get a "black belt in confession!"

Catholic Heresy

To my dear Catholic friends and loved ones --- please forgive me, but today's blog is about the insane level of deception in your faith. I mean the Catholics are more deluded than the Jews.

These are hard words for me to write, because I have some very dear friends who are both Catholic and Jewish. I pray for both groups of loved ones. I pray that they will stop being deceived by their own religions and religious traditions. I pray that they will see the truth.

It is easy for us to write off the false world religions like Islam, Hindu and others. But the Jewish faith and the Catholic faith seem so very close to Christianity. They seem so very close to the truth. We tend to think highly of them and regard them well. We shouldn't.

Today's Jews are denying that Jesus is who He said He is. That puts them on par with the Muslims --- they both seem to believe about the same thing about Christ. Quite frankly, that's an easier proposition for Christians to deal with.

But the Catholics take Jesus Christ and pervert Him in so many ways! I have blogged before about Catholic heresy. (I think the last time was when they cancelled or closed "limbo" for babies who haven't sinned but can't get into heaven because they haven't been baptized.) Today, we are faced with a comeback of the Catholic notion of "indulgences" regarding "absolution."

In Catholic terms, "indulgence" is the full or partial remission of the temporal punishment for sin which has already been forgiven. The indulgence is granted by the (Catholic) church after the sinner has confessed and received "absolution." This "absolution" is just forgiveness imparted to the sinner in the name of the Trinity (Father, Son & Holy Spirit) on behalf of the (Catholic) church. Absolution is usually not granted until after "penance" has been assigned by the priest receiving the confession of the sin. Penance is simply a penalty to be paid. It can range from repeating "Hail Mary" prayers to self punishment in physical forms to making restitution of parties injured by the confessed sin.

Did you catch all of that? Did you see all of the heresy in this? It is most noteworthy that not a single bit of this Catholic crap is Biblical. Let's break this apart a bit and examine why.

First of all, there is no such thing as "temporal punishment for sin which has already been forgiven." When our sin is forgiven by God, that is it. There is no punishment. Natural consequences will still belong to us each. God rarely intervenes to take those away from us. But there is no punishment. Jesus took the punishment for our sin, on our behalf, on the cross. When He did it, His closing remarks were, "It is finished." And it was! So no priest (or anyone else for that matter) has the power to take the punishment for our sins away from us. Even if they did, the only way they could would be to take the punishment on our behalf --- like Jesus did!

Second, forgiveness of sin (absolution) cannot be extended to a sinner in the name of the Trinity on behalf of the church. God never authorized any church to forgive sin. He instructed men (and women) to forgive each other. He said if we don't forgive each other then we will not ourselves be forgiven. But nowhere in any Bible does God delegate authority to forgive sin to the church or any other worldly body of mankind. The Catholic church is guilty of thinking more highly of itself than it ought to (a sin that the Bible warns against).

Third, penance is not Biblical, except in the context of making amends to those we may have wronged with our sin. God doesn't want our worship (of Him) if we have fractured relationships with each other. He specifically says that if we are coming to Him to worship and find that someone else has something against us, we should set aside our worship and go be reconciled with our brother (or sister) before returning to worship God. That is the entire definition of penance in God's book. It really does go no further than that.

The simple truth is that we are to confess our sins to God. When we do, He forgives them. End of story. We are also to confess our sins to "each other" (meaning a "saint" who is at least as spiritually mature as we are). When we do, He heals us from those sin patterns that control us. Forgiveness and healing. They are the only two consequences that God has in store for confessed sin.

The news reports are that the Catholic church is bringing back indulgences as a way to incent its members to confess their sin. Incentive or not - it is still heresy. Let us not be deceived by heresy, be it Catholic or otherwise.

And let us pray earnestly for our Catholic brothers and sisters who want to believe on Jesus Christ. They are unfortunately trapped in an ungodly religion that takes the Jesus who is and perverts Him to such an extent that He is unrecognizable --- and untrue.