Let’s Start Judging

We can actually use a lot more judging:

The world – and too many worldly Christians – can get very judgmental when it comes to judging. They will judge people harshly if they think they are involved in judging! Never mind the glaring double standards and duplicity here – it happens all the time.

And I am constantly on the receiving end of this. I will get some faux Christians tearing into me, judging me, and hating on me, all the while telling me that we should never judge anyone, and instead we should just be loving. Go figure. Consistency and logic are not the strong suits of these folks.

That the world should get things so terribly wrong is to be expected; that folks claiming to be Christians should mess things up so badly is not. But such is the dumbed-down and biblically illiterate culture that we now live in. The world has done a great job of dragging so much of the church down to its level.

Indeed, we are witnessing a great reversal taking place in the West. We celebrate what is evil and hate what is good. So we see good people and good things being judged on a regular basis, while we see bad things and bad people being praised and celebrated.

Consider just one of the latest examples of this. For a change, the current Pope has got things right (yes, he has got a lot of things wrong sadly). But the Vatican has just come out and said that God cannot bless homosexual unions. Well yeah, that’s a no-brainer, biblically speaking.

The two-page statement – approved by Pope Francis – said that “God does not and cannot bless sin.” Of course that immediately got the left in a spin. CNN’s resident theologian-in-chief, Don Lemon made this sagacious response: “God is not about hindering people or even judging people.”

Leave it to a hyper-left homosexual at CNN to come out with total rubbish like that. He likely has never read a page of Scripture in his entire life. As Robert A. J. Gagnon said about this episode:

Odd, Lemon, who just got “engaged” to a man, regularly judges conservatives harshly (and especially Trump voters) but he thinks God is not “about judging people.” A tad inconsistent, eh? Only a cognitively-challenged person could truly think that immorality should not be judged (an obvious example for even Lemon: incest, even adult-consensual varieties where procreation is not a factor). Jesus judged repeatedly on sexual matters & otherwise, including matters involving polygamy and remarriage after divorce, at least without cause). The “judge not lest you be judged” remark is, in context, not a carte blanche rejection of all judgment but rather of judgment that majors in the minors and shows no concern for the offender’s fate. Lemon is no less ‘judgmental’ than most; he just excuses his own sin.

Yes, and I have written plenty of articles already on this idiotic notion held by too many people claiming to be Christians that we must never judge. They seem to read the Bible just as much as Lemon does. See these pieces for example: http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2008/10/08/thou-shalt-judge/

https://billmuehlenberg.com/2016/11/01/clear-thinking-judging/

Of course we are to judge. But we live in a world where black is white and wrong is right – all the more reason to judge! And it just so happens that I am reading through a particular book of the Bible that seems all rather relevant here. Yep, you guessed it: the book of Judges.

Talk about a whole lot of judging going on. The stuff you find in this book might make your hair curl – certainly if you have bought the world’s nonsense about not judging. Which explains why so many woke believers and lefty trendy Christians seem to never read the Old Testament – or really any Scripture: it runs against all their pagan ideas.

These biblically illiterate Christians will make plenty of pronouncements – judgments – while fully ignorant of what God’s Word actually says. Just like Lemon. And they will attack those who actually know what the Bible teaches. So let me look at just a few episodes from the book of Judges.

And a warning to woke churchians is in order here. They will likely get very upset indeed that I even mention these sorts of passages. But a quick bit of background. Those who actually do read the OT will know that the book of Judges has to do with evil rulers coming along and oppressing Israel.

So the people cry out to God for deliverance and God does just that – he sends deliverers, or judges, to save Israel and to judge the oppressors. And these are some pretty hardcore judges doing some pretty hardcore judging. Consider just two of them that I again read about this morning.

In Judges 3:12-30 we read about how the king of Moab oppressed Israel for eighteen years. Then God raised up the judge Ehud. He came to the king and presented a tribute to him. We then read this in verses 18-21:

And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. But he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he commanded, “Silence.” And all his attendants went out from his presence. And Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly.

Wow! But Don Lemon and progressive Christians would say this was so completely wrong, because God does not judge people! It doesn’t get any better in Judges 4. There we read about the prophetess Deborah who dealt with Sisera the pagan army commander. Check out what happens with another brave woman in verses 17-21:

But Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me; do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. And he said to her, “Stand at the opening of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’” But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died.

Wow again! But it gets even worse for all the woke folk when we read how Deborah, under inspiration from God, sings about these great acts of judgment and deliverance. The Song of Deborah and Barak is found in Judges 5. Here is what we read in verses 24-27:

Most blessed of women be Jael,
    the wife of Heber the Kenite,
    of tent-dwelling women most blessed.
He asked for water and she gave him milk;
    she brought him curds in a noble’s bowl.
She sent her hand to the tent peg
    and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet;
she struck Sisera;
    she crushed his head;
    she shattered and pierced his temple.
Between her feet
    he sank, he fell, he lay still;
between her feet
    he sank, he fell;
where he sank,
    there he fell—dead.

Hmm, once again this is enough to make a grown wokian cry. But this is all the stuff of inspired Scripture. I prefer to commend those that God commends. And condemn those that God condemns. But let me stop here and state another obvious truth.

At this point my critics, my enemies, and the lamestream media will be saying that I am urging us to all go around with tent pegs and use them whenever we come across some evil dudes. Um no. It should go without saying that I am NOT exhorting believers today to run around with swords and tent pegs. The weapons of our warfare today are spiritual as the Apostle Paul says.

But my point should be clear. Today far too many believers will get all bent out of shape about biblical passages such as this. And there are many more like them. And this is not just some Old Testament thing. Woke Christians should try reading the book of Revelation. There they would learn that Jesus himself is involved in some pretty hardcore judging of unbelievers and evil rulers.

God is a God of justice. When he judges evil rulers, that is a good thing. It is even something to celebrate, as Deborah reminds us. Yes, we also celebrate God’s mercy. We all deserve his just judgment, but because of the work of Christ, we can find mercy when we turn from sin and self.

But we can rejoice in a God who judges evil, and believers are also to make careful judgments and be morally discerning. God is a righteous judge (Psalm 7:11), and Jesus commands us to make righteous judgements (John 7:24). So let’s keep on judging.

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