I Did It. Now What?
This post is the follow-up to my last post, “Impending Judgment: The Days of Hophni & Phineas Are Returning!” I wanted to include this as the conclusion of that post, but it was already so long, I decided to make it the follow-up piece. I heard an older Periscope of Prophet Jonathan Ferguson talking about all these preachers who tell you “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds” - but don’t ever actually tell you what those weapons are! Well, in that same spirit, I don’t want to just tell you prophetically that judgment is coming, but I wanted to also provide you with the words of wisdom to either stay that judgment or at least deal with it after it’s come. We’re gonna take it line by line, precept by precept. So with that in mind, let’s go!
DISCLAIMER: I did my darnedest to write this for both the priests who’ve seduced the sheep into sexual sin as well as the sheep who’ve fallen into the sin with them.
1) REPENT.
First, of all repent for your sinful actions. Whomever you are in this scenario, just repent. Sin is sin to God. Don’t belittle your seducer or whitewash them or the act to make yourself feel better. You did it. Call a spade a spade. And if you have someone(s) to repent to, do so swiftly and genuinely. Make amends and take responsibility wherever it is necessary. And yes, this means end the relationship - for real! Go, and sin no more. God doesn’t condemn you and neither do I.
2) FORGIVE.
Whomever you are in this scenario, forgive anyone you feel has wronged you - leading up to this situation, causing this situation...just forgive. It doesn’t mean you have to continue to subject yourself to a godless situation, you just move forward in faith because unforgiveness will keep you chained to the past.
This step also includes forgiving yourself. Sometimes, as religious people, we can forgive everyone but ourselves. We can be our own worst enemy. We accept the condemnation from the enemy, and view ourselves through that lens. But guess what? THAT.DEVIL.IS.A.LIAR!!! If you are in Christ and you have repented in truth, then you are in right standing with God and the Accuser of the Brethren loses his right to condemn you.
3) REPORT.
If a minor was involved in this scenario (or if you yourself are the minor), then by law, it must be reported to the police. I personally know of a minister who got in trouble with the law because they did not report a sexually explicit situation involving a minor at the ministry. Saying “I’m the pastor and I’ll counsel them myself” ain’t gonna cut it when the authorities find out. Do things by the book. And if need be, research how to clean house if more of these predators and pedophiles are lurking in your ministry.
4) SIT.
If you are a minister who’s been caught in a sexual indiscretion or someone in your church has, SIT [THEM] DOWN. If they’re passing off their lifestyle choice as a “mistake” or a “struggle,” SIT THEM DOWN. If they are unrepentant, SIT THEM DOWN. If they are wreaking [sexual] havoc in your church, SIT THEM DOWN. If they are an adulterer or philanderer by nature, SIT THEM DOWN. If they...whatever - you get the idea, SIT THEM DOWN. It only has to be permanent if they remain unrepentant, or if the Lord tells you so. But if you don’t judge them with a righteous judgment, then God is going to judge YOU. No gift - be it pastoral, ministerial, musical, or vocal - is worth allowing God’s people (or those who would be His people) to be offended, and no talent is worth forfeiting the presence and approval of God in your ministry.
And by the way, if you are at a ministry that either doesn’t know what’s happened or will not sit you down, you are more than capable of sitting your own self down. Stay there or go somewhere else and get the inner healing and deliverance and renewal you need before trying to minister to someone else again.
5) TEST.
If you are or were sleeping with people, go somewhere discreet and get tested for STIs. If these men are lying about sleeping with [wo]men, lying about who they’ve been with, then can you really trust them to tell the truth about being clean? And even if they truly believe they’re clean, there might be something currently undetected that could come back to bite you, them, and everyone else y’all have slept with or will sleep with in the butt. “Knowing is better.”
6) LEAVE.
Just as you should leave the ungodly relationship, so you should also respectfully leave the church if one of the pastors there was targeting you or looking the other way when someone else did. Don’t blast it, don’t be messy. Just leave. God knows their number. He’s coming for them unless they repent.
7) DELIVERANCE.
This step is not necessarily for everyone. Not everyone is possessed or demonized in some way. If the act you partook of was done willfully, you should repent for your willful disobedience to God’s Word and practice self-discipline, whatever that looks like for you. But if the act you partook of was compulsive - you don’t know why you did it, and you literally cannot stop it - then you need deliverance. While sex is the easiest way to get a demon, it doesn’t mean that everyone who has some form of illicit sex - either with themself or with another individual - is automatically possessed. IT simply means you’re laying out a red carpet for those spirits, and shouldn’t be surprised if you caught an STD: Sexually Transmitted Demon.
Anything compulsive is demonic.
Also, if you have a mental stronghold that causes you to think certain types of illicit sexual behaviour outside of marriage are not bad, then you may not be demonized, but you DO have a demonic mental stronghold that needs to be torn down. You may consider those who believe these actions to be sinful to be religious or “holier than thou,” but that is a lie from the pit. You need to be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom. 12:1-2) and put on the mind of Christ (I Cor. 2:16). And if you don’t have spiritual parents who are travailing unto Christ be formed in you, you need that too (Gal. 4:19). You have been so graced as to not have a demonic spirit possess you, but you need to tear down that demonic fortress waiting for it before it happens.
Demons can be cast out, but strongholds must be torn down.
6) [WO]MAN-UP.
If you were big and bad enough to make a baby, then be big enough to care for the baby. (Obviously, that last line does not apply if you were raped.) Abortion - murder as well as modern-day Baal-worship - is never an option. It punishes the child in the womb for the sins of the parents. Just because the child’s conception was sinful doesn’t mean the child itself is. God loves and has a purpose for your child. And whether you choose to keep the child and raise him/her yourself, or give him/her up for adoption, do the best you can by your child. And men especially, raise your children!! Provide for your children!! You are worse than an unbeliever if you don’t (I Tim. 5:8). And if you’re legally (or in some other way) truly not able to be a hands-on dad, then at least pay your child support, and don’t make your child’s mother have to beg for it. This means be involved from conception at least until the child is 18 years old.
7) RESTORE.
According to II Corinthians 5:18, God has given us a ministry of reconciliation. I’ll never forget the story I heard a well-known minister tell about one of the staff pastors who committed adultery. He was removed from his position, but not from the church. After he repented in truth, the church rallied around him and his family, they were given pastoral counselling - which he submitted to! - and when the time came, he was restored. This CAN happen! We don’t have to chop up other believers in their faults and eat them for dinner. Even the young man who committed the horrific act of sleeping with his father’s wife in I Corinthians 5 was reconciled and restored to the fellowship.
“But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent—not to be too severe. This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man, so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.” (II Corinthians 2:5-11)
All too often, we forget that “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit,” (Rom. 8:1). We cannot continue to call someone by their sin, to hang it over their head. They did it. They repented. They’ve done their best to rectify the situation. Bless them and do what you can to reconcile with them and restore them in God. He’s forgiven them, you should too.
An important factor to remember is to keep people around you who are loving, yet truthful with you. The love of God comes with truth and power: the truth of His Word, and the power to transform you into His image. Without all three of those components, it’s not the love of God; it’s a counterfeit. Jesus didn’t tell the Woman caught in the act of adultery that she didn’t sin; He knew good and well that she had, and before the Cross, she deserved to die. However, he said _ powerful words to her instead: “Go and sin no more” (John 8:2-11). You also, go and do likewise.
God bless you.
