I can not even begin to guess how many emails I have gotten over the last few months from someone saying to me, “Judge not lest ye be judged also.” That seems to be the only scripture the secular world seems to know. People who do not even respect God enough to go to church and worship Him think they know it all because they heard that there is a scripture that says, “Judge not!”
The question is: “Are Christians permitted to judge?” The answer is not only are Christians permitted to judge according to the Bible, but it also teaches it is our responsibility to judge. No one is above being judged. We are to make judgments everyday. We are to judge our elected officials as to whether or not they are doing the job that they were elected to do and if they are not then we vote them out of office. You are an irresponsible person if you do not make this judgment. As parents we are to judge what type of friends our children are hanging around because friends can be the biggest influence on children especially teenagers. The Bible says “Bad company corrupts good character.” If you do not make judgments on the friends your child is keeping company with then you are one lousy parent. If you are a teacher, it is your job to judge the student to see if he or she is performing up to standard. You would be one sorry teacher if you just passed a kid onto the next level if you didn’t take the time to judge and see if that child actually learned what he was supposed to learn. As an employer, you have to make a judgment on who to hire or fire, and who to promote or demote. You would be one lousy boss and would be helping to bring your company to ruin if you hired or promoted someone that wasn’t qualified for the job. I mean you wouldn’t hire a hooked-on-drugs junkie that dropped out of school in the 8th grade and that had been in and out of jail to come in a be your bank’s executive board director would you? You wouldn’t hire some waitress that dropped out of school in the 9th grade and had been waiting tables down at the Dew Drop Inn, to come be your chief surgeon at the hospital to perform brain surgery would you?
What if we didn’t judge the German Concentration Camp guards who carried out the extermination of six million Jews? What if we didn’t judge Ted Bundy when he was on a nationwide killing spree where he claimed to have raped and killed a hundred women? What would you do if society would have said, “Judge not” and let him go on living in society doing whatever he wanted to do?
Two of the biggest responsibilities we have as Christians is to judge influential leaders whether that be in politics or the pulpit.
Luke 12:48 says authority and accountability go hand in hand; the higher the office the higher the accountability. This was practiced in the Bible when you read Duet. 13 where it says the Israelites were commanded to test and to judge their leaders. 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 Paul says to test and judge all things and hold on to what is judged as good. People quote the “Judge not” scripture which is found in Matthew 7: 1-5. Jesus was counseling followers not to judge someone self-righteously, but then Jesus said in John 7:24 that we are to make a right judgment. There is a difference between self-righteous judgment and making a good clear right judgment. Why if it were not for judging, then how would we ever apply justice? Some punk robs a mom and pop general store, shoots the old couple to death and then goes on a killing spree and kills 7 more people before being arrested by the cops, and someone is going to have the nerve to say we should not judge him? Bullcrap! Thank God for our ability to make a right judgment so we can give this guy the electric chair ands make sure he never kills another human being again. Those of you who disagree and think he should be rehabilitated and turned loose again into society I bet would feel different about judging him if he had shot and killed your mother and father and raped and killed your children. Jesus commanded us to make a right judgment! Remember that God works through people.
Furthermore, in the church we are commanded by Jesus to judge false prophets, whose teachings and behavior lead people astray. Matthew 7:15-20. My gosh, imagine if we didn’t judge a guy like the Rev. Jim Jones of the People’s Temple who led a thousand people to Jonestown, Guyana and made them drink Kool-Aid with cyanide committing mass murder and suicide ? What if we didn’t judge some of those old perverted priests that were molesting altar boys? What if we didn’t judge Ted Haggard who was pasturing a 15,000 member church when it was revealed that he was having homosexual affairs with male prostitutes and just let him keep on pasturing the church? Anthony Venn-Brown used to be a pastor in a large denomination and in charge of Youth Alive working with young boys. He left his wife and kids for another man and is a perverted old creep that tells children “being gay is OK.” Anthony Venn-Brown is an active recruiter for the gay rights movement pushing the homosexual agenda on the little children. What if Australian Christians didn’t judge him? As a parent you need to make right judgments for the safety of your child. I mean was Jim Jones, or is Venn-Brown, or Ted Haggard the type of guy you want your children to be around? If you are a responsible parent not only you would never allow your children to be around these men, but you would never allow these men to preach to you from the pulpit.
Apostle Paul publicly rebuked Hymenaeus and Philetus saying their teachings spread like gangrene in 2 Timothy 2:17-18, and he got up in Peter’s face and rebuked him for hypocrisy in Galatians 2:11-14.
Use your head people! Common sense should prevail! Responsibility is making the right types of judgments! Many years ago doctors determined that the use of tobacco was harmful and causes cancer. The Surgeon General issued warnings that smoking could cause death. At the same token when a cancer is unleashed within the Christian community, we as Christians are required to warn the public. Failure to do so will result in the blood being upon our hands. Ezekiel 3:18
Rev. Johnny Lee Clary is an ordained elder minister in the Church Of God In Christ, the largest African American denomination in the USA. He is one of the leading advocates for racial unity in the United States and has appeared on countless television and radio shows such as The Billy Graham show, Fox News, Morris Cerullo, Oprah, Morton Downey Jr., Rolanda Watts, Geraldo, Sally Jesse Raphael, Jerry Springer, Ricki Lake, Queen Latifah, Montel Williams, Phil Donahue, A&E Investigative Reports, ABC World News Tonight, Bertrice Berry, The Today Show, A Current Affair, The 700 Club, and Kenneth Copeland's TV show. He has also been a regular guest on TBN's Praise The Lord show and has been featured in America's top newspapers and magazines, including a seven page feature story in Charisma magazine in Feb. 2010, April 1999, Moody Magazine, Guidepost Magazine (Sept. 1998), Kenneth Copeland's Believer's Voice of Victory magazine, as well as appearances on TV programs in Australia, England, Holland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, and Wales. He holds the record for the largest crowd ever at Hillsong Brisbane, Australia.
