The Inner Healing Movement has gained a popular global momentum over the last 30 years, however, many of their "ministries and doctrines" have questionable linkages to occultic and New Age philosophies and methodologies! One of the foundational areas that has been abused or misused is the “Forgiveness” doctrines, which are being used excessively, and in my opinion, unbiblically! Misapplication of this ministry of forgiveness has often brought a much greater bondage and confusion than was originally being experienced by the person who was seeking healing and release!
The following five areas are regularly "used" to "minister" to people who are suffering emotionally and relationally, with the promise that by "forgiving", all their hurts will be healed and their pain will be taken away! So these five need to be scripturally and accurately defined:
Matthew 6:12,14,15
Mark 11:25,26
Ephesians 4:32
The key conditional word is "as" ie: like, similar to.
We are to forgive as or like God forgives!
And God always does the following:
1. Convicts of Sin. (John 16:8)
2. Requires Acknowledgment and Confession. (Psalm 51:3; 1 John 1:9)
3. Demands Repentance. (Acts 2:28; 3:19)
4. Then Forgiveness is granted. (Luke 24:47)
As we see in this last Scripture, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the Gospel of Repentance & Forgiveness!! One doesn't work without the other!
God's Forgiveness is always conditional on repentance!!
How Does Jesus Forgive?
Colossians 3:13
Luke 23:34
Did Christ forgive those who crucified Him? Did He as He hung on the cross shout out..."I forgive you..". No, what He did do was ask Father to forgive them. The Father answered Christ's prayer on the Day of Pentecost when He convicted the same crowd, of having crucified the Messiah!
Acts 2:36-38
When they acknowledged their sin and repented, they received forgiveness.
Forgiveness and Unforgiveness!
We also need to understand that Unforgiveness as well as Forgiveness are both Scriptural realities.
Unforgiveness:
John 20:22,23
Matthew 18:17
Matthew 12:31,32
Learning when not to forgive is as important as when to forgive.
Forgiveness:
Luke 17:3,4
If he repent then forgive him!!
The word "if" sets a condition!!
If he doesn't repent then he is unforgiven.
These are the instructions of Jesus.
FORGIVENESS IS CONDITIONAL ON REPENTANCE.
Summary:
Unbiblical applications of Forgiveness will not produce the supernatural healing power of God to heal damaged and defiled hearts. God never establishes a Healing Doctrine which is sourced in Biblical error! The world-wide use of forgiveness of unrepentant sinners, by Inner Healers, to heal the broken-hearted, markedly lacks a Biblical basis!! And therefore, must be viewed as a deception, and “..a lying wonder..after the working of Satan..” (2 Thessalonians 2:9). Undoubtedly there has always been the release of supernatural power in the application of false Biblical doctrine! Satan is very willing to release his supernatural power to any who will misappropriate Biblical doctrine. For example we see this dramatically revealed with satan's offer of power to Jesus, in Luke 4:5-8. People experiencing some sort of supernatural release when attempting to forgive unrepentant sinners may well be experiencing the power of a lying sign and wonder!
By Pastor Allan Anderson MDiv, Phd.
The following five areas are regularly "used" to "minister" to people who are suffering emotionally and relationally, with the promise that by "forgiving", all their hurts will be healed and their pain will be taken away! So these five need to be scripturally and accurately defined:
- Forgiving God!
- Forgiving Ourselves!
- Forgiving the Dead, and vice/versa!
- Receiving Forgiveness from God for “secondary” sin!
- Forgiving Unrepentant Sinners!
- Forgiving God!
No matter what our human perception is, of who is to blame for our lot in life, God is not to blame! God cannot sin, does not sin against us, does not provoke us to sin, and, does not cause others to sin against us! To fall into the trap of this unscriptural advice of forgiving God, is to fall into a great error and therefore into deception. Many people and Christians may well get angry at God for allowing their lives to be what they are, and, they may well hate God (at times) for allowing suffering and pain into their lives. However to blame God, to attempt to attribute unrighteousness to God, and then, to subsequently attempt forgiving God for his sin against us, as a means of getting healed or the resolving of our hatred or anger, is unscriptural to the point of heresy and blasphemy!! Tragically also, if any relief is experienced through applying this error, then an explanation may well be, that people do feel better when projecting blame onto others even when it is projected onto God! Far from being actual healing, however, it will bring a much deeper relational dysfunctionality with God, and the anger and hatred at God will no doubt reappear again eventually. God's healing of the brokenhearted never involves the application of false doctrine! - Forgiving Ourselves!
This is yet another trendy "trick" or add-on, to get rid of guilt feelings. Because people haven't been adequately taught about repentance from sin(s), many try to feel better by trying to manipulate their feelings, by applying this inverted little formula. What it comes down to is that many have an inability to receive God's Forgiveness fully. Instead of saying "God has forgiven me because I have truly and fully repented of my sin(s)", so many are taught to say "I forgive myself"? There is no Scripture which refers to forgiving yourself! Instead of progressively working through one's sin(s) with God over a period of time, which will often mean processing with God, feelings of true guilt and remorse and accountability and responsibility (and sometimes restitution), people too often are taught to instantly process their sin(s) and that all subsequent bad feelings are lies of the devil who is trying to condemn them. Satan and one's own heart are indeed able to condemn us but the answer is not to avoid true conviction of sin and to also learn to discern what is false guilt.
However if people don't 'feel" instantly forgiven, being taught to "forgive ourselves" in the hope that we will "feel" better just diverts the issue away from the processing of true guilt and true forgiveness with God. Grieving over our sins with the Lord is a healthy progressive process, and although it sometimes needs real time to complete, it will nonetheless bring the needed depth of conviction and the wonderful release when one experiences the true and deep forgiveness of God. Everything else is a shallow instant formula which often leads to unprocessed feelings of guilt and shame remaining, no matter how many times you forgive yourself. - Forgiving the Dead and being Forgiven by the Dead!
The book “Healing the Family Tree" by Dr Kenneth McAll states that, “..The rite of the Eucharist involves double forgiveness; through Jesus Christ we not only forgive the dead but we ask them to forgive us..”!! Dr McAll's Eucharist or Communion Service, is actually a seance where he contacts the spirits of the dead, gives and receives forgiveness to and from them, then releases them from Hell or Purgatory, to go Heaven!! Many miracles are subsequently alleged to then take place in the living relatives who have suffered from severe mental illness!!
The reality is, that necromancing is strongly prohibited by God! In fact demons masqerading as the spirits of the dead, are deluding the participants into believing that this occultic witchcraft ritual of forgiveness is God at work!!?? God never contradicts Himself. Demonic forgiveness may well have supernatural power to release people from mental and emotional disorders but in the end the person is utterly deceived by a false reality and a false miracle! They then come into the bondage of this darkness. (eg: Revelation 16:14a - "..spirits of demons working miracles..") - Receiving Forgiveness From God for “Secondary” Sin!
Secondary sin is often confused for primary sin! We see in Ephesians 6:4, that children are sometimes caused to sin by the parents provocation! The parents provocation is the primary sin which has secondarily caused the children to sin. Both need to be accounted for and together both the parents and the children need to properly process sin, through confession, repentance and forgiveness with one another, each taking full responsibility for their sinful behaviours with each other.
Often a child grows up being very angry and/or hateful at those who have sinned against them. Especially Rape or Incest victims who also often become sexually promiscuous. Before we can begin to process these powerful emotions and secondary sins, we need to first rightly determine what is righteous and/or unrighteous anger, hatred, etc., and, what is primary and/or secondary sin.
1. Righteous anger and righteous hatred of evil are emotions which God also
experiences in His response to the sinful and the wicked?
eg: Psalm 5:5; 7:11
Numbers 32:13-15
Learning how to develop righteous processing of important emotions like
anger and hatred, and, learning how to discern the difference between these
and their unrighteous counterparts, is a very important part of counselling.
2. Then, in counselling, the accurate determination and establishing righteous
judgment of the original primary sin of the offender, is imperative before
dealing with the secondary sin of the victim. Both need to be fully dealt with.
However, what has regularly been administered is that the victim of primary sin
has to unconditionally forgive her unrepentant offender!! This produces false
and misdirected guilt, which causes the person to become over-burdened with
projected guilt of both the primary & secondary sins. - Forgiving Unrepentant Sinners!
This aspect is much used when "counsellors" have sought to assist in healing the pain suffered by innocent victims. Much harm has actually been done by those who minister, that forgiving unrepentant offenders, will bring healing of the offence suffered by the victim. What is demanded of the victims is that they should forgive the unrepentant offender, something that God Himself hasn't actually done!!!
The worst case scenario that I've come across was when a young lady, an extensive incest victim by her step-father, was told that if she didn't forgive this man she would go to Hell! This man had never repented and was then currently serving a prison sentence for his several rapes of his 13 year old step-daughter. This was "ministered" to her in an attempt to heal her anguish and recurrent nightmares and flashbacks. Because the "ministry team" at the School of Evangelism she was attending, was not having any improvement with her after a series of deliverances, they "attacked" her (problem) by demanding she unconditionally forgive this depraved unrepentant "man"! They said that if she couldn't or didn't, she would go to Hell because of her unforgiveness!!
God never forgives unrepentant sinners! Forgiveness is conditional !! There is no place in the Bible where God grants forgiveness for unrepentant sinners. God will always convict of sin, call for repentance, then grant forgiveness.
There are many other liberal heretical doctrines which go hand in hand with distorted Forgiveness doctrines, eg: Everyone has already been forgiven by God, there is no need for repentance from sin, there is no need for evangelism because everyone will go to Heaven, even Satan and demons will be forgiven,etc!!
Matthew 6:12,14,15
Mark 11:25,26
Ephesians 4:32
The key conditional word is "as" ie: like, similar to.
We are to forgive as or like God forgives!
And God always does the following:
1. Convicts of Sin. (John 16:8)
2. Requires Acknowledgment and Confession. (Psalm 51:3; 1 John 1:9)
3. Demands Repentance. (Acts 2:28; 3:19)
4. Then Forgiveness is granted. (Luke 24:47)
As we see in this last Scripture, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the Gospel of Repentance & Forgiveness!! One doesn't work without the other!
God's Forgiveness is always conditional on repentance!!
How Does Jesus Forgive?
Colossians 3:13
Luke 23:34
Did Christ forgive those who crucified Him? Did He as He hung on the cross shout out..."I forgive you..". No, what He did do was ask Father to forgive them. The Father answered Christ's prayer on the Day of Pentecost when He convicted the same crowd, of having crucified the Messiah!
Acts 2:36-38
When they acknowledged their sin and repented, they received forgiveness.
Forgiveness and Unforgiveness!
We also need to understand that Unforgiveness as well as Forgiveness are both Scriptural realities.
Unforgiveness:
John 20:22,23
Matthew 18:17
Matthew 12:31,32
Learning when not to forgive is as important as when to forgive.
Forgiveness:
Luke 17:3,4
If he repent then forgive him!!
The word "if" sets a condition!!
If he doesn't repent then he is unforgiven.
These are the instructions of Jesus.
FORGIVENESS IS CONDITIONAL ON REPENTANCE.
Summary:
Unbiblical applications of Forgiveness will not produce the supernatural healing power of God to heal damaged and defiled hearts. God never establishes a Healing Doctrine which is sourced in Biblical error! The world-wide use of forgiveness of unrepentant sinners, by Inner Healers, to heal the broken-hearted, markedly lacks a Biblical basis!! And therefore, must be viewed as a deception, and “..a lying wonder..after the working of Satan..” (2 Thessalonians 2:9). Undoubtedly there has always been the release of supernatural power in the application of false Biblical doctrine! Satan is very willing to release his supernatural power to any who will misappropriate Biblical doctrine. For example we see this dramatically revealed with satan's offer of power to Jesus, in Luke 4:5-8. People experiencing some sort of supernatural release when attempting to forgive unrepentant sinners may well be experiencing the power of a lying sign and wonder!
By Pastor Allan Anderson MDiv, Phd.