The “Don’t Judge” Delusion
“And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.”
These words were spoken to the Biblical Patriarch Abraham’s nephew Lot by the inhabitants of Sodom in Genesis 19:9. Lot had taken in two guests, who were actually angels in the form of men. The perverted men of Sodom wanted to violate these two men who had lodged in Lot’s house for the night. These words were told to Lot by the men of Sodom after Lot had reproved them for their wickedness (and in his terrified state had foolishly offered the Sodomites his daughters instead). The men of Sodom essentially told Lot “Stand back and stop judging us.” That sounds familiar. That is the cry of the homosexual community today. Beyond that, it is the cry of a world at war against God and looking for any excuse to justify its rebellion while simultaneously looking to discredit all reproof and opposition to its madness.
When a televangelist gets caught in a scandal the world yells “hypocrite, hypocrite.” If the person’s guilty as charged, then they are a hypocrite indeed. Consider though: How do people even define scandal? When a preacher is caught cheating on his wife with a prostitute, how could he even be a hypocrite unless the ones yelling “hypocrite” consents that adultery is absolutely wrong? So, if you know that an adulterous preacher is evil, what does that make you if there is adultery in your life? If you know a preacher who tells a lie, even just to save himself a few bucks is absolutely wrong (as he is), what does that make you if you lie to help yourself in even a small matter? We generally have an idea of how a Christian ought to be (and that is because true Christianity aligns with the Law of God which is written on the hearts of all people- since all of us are made in God’s image). And the fact that we know how a Christian in general ought to be condemns those who would call a preacher a hypocrite for doing the things which they do themselves.
The essence of Satanism is “Do as thou wilt.” The common expressions of “If it feels good, do it”, “Do whatever you want”, etc. are just different ways of saying “Do as thou wilt.” This describes the way of this world, as it is through the “Do as thou wilt” mentality that mankind follows Satan, whom Jesus calls the “prince of this world.” (John 14:31) The way of the world is to put fulfilling the desires of the body and of the mind ahead of fulfilling the Law of God (Ephesians 2:2-3). It is that way of life which we need Christ to save us from (and it is impossible to be delivered from that evil way except through Jesus Christ- Galatians 1:4-5, 1 John 5:1-5).
Everyone does make judgments about right and wrong. Nobody who is honest can say otherwise. Just agreeing or disagreeing with the statement “everyone does make judgments about right and wrong” requires a judgment. It is a statement that is logically unreasonable to disagree with. One’s own disagreement with it proves its validity. To be consistent a person who preaches “judge not” could never come to a definite conclusion about this statement or any statement.
Rebellious mankind, set on pursuing their own lusts, is like a crowd at a sporting event that is rabidly supporting the home team. They will agree with the controversial calls that are in their team’s favor- and some will happen to be right to the right call. And they will also boo the calls that go against their team- though some of these calls will in truth be the right calls. The fans’ sense of justice is strong- as long their own will isn’t rebuked by justice. Their own sense of right and wrong could be correct- unless the right call goes contrary to their own lusts. This is why those who are pursuing their lusts won’t seek God for the right calls. Their own lack of neutrality and unwillingness to align with the truth when it is revealed to be contrary to their own self-chosen way keep them from honestly seeking the judgments of the perfectly righteous Judge. Until we repent of going our own way and truly acknowledge from the depths of our heart the true God, the God of the Bible’s right to tell us how to live, there will be calls against us. Otherwise, we’d have no problem seeking the true God for the right calls and submitting to them at all. To truly repent and be saved we must lay down the attitude that says that we have the right to live our own way and rather submit our lives wholly to the Lord’s judgments given in His Word, the Bible.
This is why criminals in prison can look down on other criminals who have been found guilty of a crime that is of similar severity in the law’s eyes- while still feeling really good about themselves. This is also why two sinners who are both rebelling against God can tell that the other is wrong and be repulsed by the other’s sins while not being ashamed at all of their own sins. It also shows how two people committing the same sins (and thus see the same bad call as being to their mutual advantage) can justify and applaud each other over that which God condemns.
Though not everyone commits the same sins, those who are willfully committing any sin are breaking the entire Law of God by their disregard of the Lawgiver. In that sense, and in looking at its Biblical context, we can thereby understand the following passage. James 2:10-11: “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.”
The fact is that we all have moral standards that we expect others to follow. However, people often excuse their own sins while condemning similar things in other people. What we expect of others we should insist on in ourselves. This is what Jesus warned about in His (commonly abused and misused) words in Matthew chapter 7:1-5: “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”
Jesus was not saying do not judge at all. It’s no wonder that Jesus, in preaching the righteous requirements of God’s Law, would give a warning therein against the human tendency to use truth to criticize others, while not judging and dealing with one’s own sins. Nevertheless, He spoke of how those who remove the beam from their own eye will see clearly enough to remove the speck from their brother’s. But now a person who confronts another about their sin is called a hypocrite whether they’ve removed the beam from their own eye or not. Ironically, people who are quick to call others who reprove them hypocrites are influenced by the very attitude that Jesus warned against here- being quick to notice another’s sin (the reprover’s alleged sin), while refusing to examine one’s self thoroughly and honestly. We should actually really want others to warn us if we are living in sin (and thus bringing the wrath of God upon ourselves). That is the loving thing to do.
Later in Matthew chapter 7, Jesus would warn about false prophets and show how we should recognize them (Matthew 7:13-20). This obviously requires judging. Jesus would even rebuke the multitudes for not judging rightly on another occasion. Luke 12:56-57: “Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time? Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?” It’s interesting that the ones Jesus called hypocrites here are the ones who were not judging what is right. In our era these are often portrayed as the good guys.
Tragically, multitudes in churches, contrary to Jesus’ words, are afraid to call one a false prophet whose life and/or message is contrary to the Word of God (or to acknowledge evil in their church in whatever form they might see it). Pathetic churchgoers sit and tolerate wickedness and blatant error in their fellowships saying “Oh, this doesn’t seem right, but I don’t want to judge.” Their silence and lack of action towards wickedness and deception equals their consent to it, even if they wish things were different. Sadly, many Christian homes are destroyed as parents sit in churches week after week where the Bible is watered down, explained away, where God’s standards aren’t held up, and where sin is tolerated and not reproved. Rather than opposing this and leaving if things don’t change, they come back again and again, while any holy walk with the Lord they may have had before declines. Similarly, many greatly harm their children by sending them to public school even when they know that they are learning ungodly things there and being exposed to ungodly examples there which they are evidently not wise and mature enough to not be significantly influenced by.
It’s not hard to see that the “judge not” mentality is an attack on true Christianity and an assault on common sense and decency in society. It paves the way for every type of sin and error to infiltrate any place where it is accepted. When the Bible is taken without compromise it is filled with things that many will label as judgmental. When the Bible is faithfully preached in a church meeting people will feel judged (see 1 Corinthians 14:24-25).
Many have Jesus and Satan mixed up. Satan essentially says, “Do as thou wilt” while Jesus says, “deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.” Who loves us and who hates us? The true God is wiser than we are. In His love He has put restrictions and limits upon us for our own good. Satan, who seeks to destroy us, knows this. (And it is noteworthy that the Church of Satan has supported gay marriage from its inception). When man does not receive the Bible’s verdicts and judgments about things, He is replacing heavenly wisdom (God’s wisdom) with something else and claiming to know better than God. We don’t want to be found doing that. That is essentially what Cain did. Abel’s righteous testimony exposed Cain’s wickedness and Cain reacted by killing Abel in a rage. Though many now would call Abel the “unloving, intolerant one who imposed his restrictive standards on his poor brother and drove him over the edge”, the Bible says that Abel was the one whose works were righteous, and that Cain was the unloving one whose works were evil.
Isaiah 5:20-24: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him! Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.”
It is really those who protest any of God’s commandments, thinking that they know better, who are among those who are actually “judgmental” in a blameworthy sense. God’s judgments in the Bible are royal decrees which are contrary to our natural desires. Being faithful to Him means embracing a cross where one denies their natural desires in order to glorify God as God and do what He says in order to faithfully worship Him. That also requires embracing a value system contrary to the world’s which means not being governed by the very things which humans tend to glory in, esteem, and/or hold onto as a means of some form of self-preservation. It is no mystery then that mankind would be susceptible to the “don’t judge” delusion, especially within a society which has pampered man’s carnality so greatly and thereby enhanced man’s craving for carnal gratification to the point where even things long regarded as common sense, decency, and evident personal responsibility have come under attack.
And the more such happens, the more strife and chaos will be bred. Problems will arise which would have never been problems if the “judge not” delusion had never gained a foothold. There are nudists who want the right to go out in public naked. They say, “I have a right to my body and I’m not hurting anyone, so who are you to tell me I can’t walk around naked?” They are fools. Misery and destruction are in their paths. God decreed that mankind be clothed after he fell into sin. His wisdom will always be vindicated when people think they know better. The people who cry “don’t judge” and try to do whatever they choose will also surely come into conflict with each other. Those who oppose restrictions and think all will be peaceful if everyone just lets everyone else do what they want are not consistent and would never let others take that philosophy which they lift up to its logical end- when that philosophy actually affects their own life. An example of that would be the “no human should be considered illegal” people. No one really believes that when the crime hits home. The people promoting gay marriage and saying two consenting adults should be able to marry probably aren’t going to take it well if some adult they are close to marries their (very own) mother or father, grandfather or grandmother, son or daughter, aunt or uncle, niece or nephew, a sibling, or even a cousin.
And of course, if LGBT people should be accepted because they are supposedly “born that way”, then would you not have to accept the pedophile who claims they are born that way (as many pedophiles claim)? American society is already at the point where transgender people are coming to elementary schools and doing lascivious dances for children. How bad can it get? Just ten years ago the LGBT advocates were saying they just wanted to be able to get married. Why should they be trusted now then? Barack Obama’s former top advisor David Axelrod admitted in 2015 that Obama was lying when he claimed to being opposed to gay marriage during his presidential campaigns (in 2008 altogether; and he publicly flip-flopped during the 2012 campaign). His plan the entire time was to flip-flop on the issue and see it legalized when doing so seemed convenient. And of course, that time came since America so rapidly increased its support of gay marriage right within the very years in which Obama was President. And now you have the mainstream media pushing new perversions constantly and corporations are being pressured to “be inclusive” and promote these as fast as they come along.
But hey, it’s not like there is any conspiratorial planning in these things, right? It’s not like there is a devil roaming the earth with servants in high places attempting to attack the authority of the true God and rid the world of the knowledge of His ways, right? And it’s not like the celebrities, and the people in the media, aren’t obligated to promote the LGBT “inclusivity” like their career depends on it, right? And isn’t the supreme commandment for man “thou shalt not judge”? (Of course those last four sentences were sarcasm if you couldn’t tell). When will people stand up to the LGBT promoters who will evidently lie without shame and will never stop pushing their corruption on the world to an ever-increasing extent?
It wasn’t Lot then who was wrong in reproving the men of Sodom; it was the men of Sodom who were wrong to cast aside God’s commandments through their own biased judgment. The Lord would bear witness of this later in Genesis 19 to make them a terrifying example to those who would cast His laws aside. We know by Ezekiel chapter 16 that Sodom had cast aside God’s ways long before it was destroyed, before what is known as “the sin of Sodom” was ever even prevalent in Sodom. We know by Ezekiel 16:49-50 that before sexual sin was even prevalent in Sodom, the Sodomites became proud, gluttonous, and lazy. They didn’t use their abundance and extra time to care for the poor and needy (as those walking in God’s ways would). They became exceedingly self-exalted and self-satisfied. Sound familiar? These are the conditions that easily lead to a society filled with sexual immorality and a multitude of other sinful indulgences. This helps explain why the United States and the western world have become the ‘anything goes” societies which they’ve become. Few people even live in line with God’s judgments regarding sexual morality. Even most straight people don’t. And this has also clouded society’s judgment on the LGBT stuff and weakened its resistance to it. And even if you didn’t count the LGBT stuff itself, it would be a shock to find an LGBT-type person who didn’t violate God’s laws about sexual morality in other ways.
The Bible is clear that evil societies exalt and protect the proud who work wickedness and tempt God. Romans 1:32: “Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” Those who are elderly now can testify (if they were to be honest) how they have seen a modern Sodom become exceedingly developed throughout their lifetime. It’s worth wondering when God will take drastic vengeance. Remember that Sodom was prosperous and affluent until the very day it was destroyed.
The prevalence of homosexuality and all the LGBT-stuff now is really a symptom of the excessive pride that is decaying America and the whole world. This goes beyond just the homosexuality issue. It’s possible to have the right view on that, and yet still not be surrendered to Jesus Christ’s Ultimate Authority in your life. Are you sided with the judgments in God’s Word with your whole heart? Are you wholeheartedly seeking to align with what His Word says consistently in the judgments which you make?
Aaron’s email is: [email protected]