Confess Faults To Each Other, Not Sins
By David J. Stewart | August 2014
James 5:16, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
Words are the building blocks of sentences, which are the conveyors of
meaning. Words are extremely important, and how they are worded in a
sentence. The word “faults” in James 5:16 in our text Scripture is the Greek
word paraptōma which means, “a side slip (lapse or deviation), that is, (unintentional)
error or (willful) transgression.” We are commanded by God to confess
(admit) our unintentional errors or willful transgressions that we have done
to hurt somebody.
Clearly, this does not include personal sins that do not concern the personal we are confessing to. This is vastly different than confessing personal sins. Many modern Bible versions have corrupted this Scripture, including the satanic New International Version (NIV) which says to confess your sins to each other...
16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. [emphasis added]
I was recently listening to a religious radio station, operated by Independent Baptists, who teach that we ought to be accountable to each other and confess our sins to one another. This is unbiblical, if you have an accurate Bible. The show's radio host (a Baptist minister) is sincere, and means well, but he has been corrupted by the new Bible versions which teach to confess your sins to each other. This is a popular heresy that is creeping into many churches today, Roman Catholic in origin, which has been popularized by many apostate radio preachers such as Chip Ingram. Your sins are none of my business, nor are my sins any of your business. God is the only lawgiver and judge according to James 4:12, “There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?”
I've known people over the years, some co-workers and others who were complete strangers, confess the most horrible and despicable sins and crimes to me. I wouldn't even think to share with you some of the disgusting and rotten things that people have entrusted to me by telling me. In hindsight, I wish they had never told me, because they're not things that I need to know. It's called T.M.I. (too much information). It is uncouth, inappropriate and totally lacking in class to share what you did intimately in bed with your wife or girlfriend over the weekend. It's unbelievable how some people talk about such things in public as if it's no big deal. It is wickedness and a lack of decency.
Your sins are no bodies business except between you are
your God (Hebrews 4:13). God is the only Judge that you will have at the end
of your earthly life when you enter eternity (Ecclesiastes 12:14; Romans
14:10-12; Hebrews 9:27; Matthew 12:36; Romans 12:19; Proverbs 24:12). In
Psalms 51 we have David's prayer of confession to God for his sins of pride,
lust, adultery with Bath-Sheba, getting Uriah drunk to deceive him,
conspiracy and murder. Yet notice that David said in Psalms 51:4 that his
sin was against God, and GOD ALONE. Psalms 51:3-4, “For I acknowledge
my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against
thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight:
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou
judgest.”
Remember, Somebody Is Always Watching You
You also need to be aware that Amazon.com now sells tiny video cameras, even battery-operated that can be placed in private areas and record everything, including sound. Pocket-sized recorders, even USB thumb-drives, are readily available and capable of recording high-quality audio for several hours. Point being, protect yourself. Never say or do anything that you wouldn't want someone to record, because these days you just never know.
It really shouldn't matter though who is or isn't watching us, because God is ALWAYS watching us (Psalms 139:1-6). Proverbs 15:3, “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” Notice that God sees the bad... “AND THE GOOD.” I love that! We always hear that God sees the bad, but He also sees the good that we do when no one else is looking. God sees our secret labours. God sees our time spent alone in prayer. God will reward each Christian believer individually in eternity at The Judgment Seat Of Christ (1st Corinthians 3:8; 2nd Corinthians 5:9-11).
I choose to live in such a manner that I have
nothing to hide from anyone. I choose to live in such a way that if I died
today, I would not be ashamed in Heaven of anything found by those who
dispose of my personal belongings back here on earth. I want my life to be
honoring to the Lord. I am not perfect, but I desire by God's grace to be as
perfect one day as is my dear Savior.
Oh To Be Like Jesus!
I rejoice that God's ultimate goal and plan for my life is to conform me into the image of His dear Son, Jesus Christ. Romans 8:28-29, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Notice that God does not predestinate believers to salvation; but rather, for believers to be conformed into Christ's image. God never chooses who gets saved or not; but God knew before you were born whether or not you would one day get saved, and He has a plan for every believer's life accordingly (Romans 8:32).
1st John 2:1, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” I love this Bible verse. Jesus died on the cross for our sins as the Living Lamb of God. Christ absolutely needed to be bodily resurrected from the dead and ascend into Heaven, so that He could (as our High Priest) sprinkle His literal, liquid, precious, blood onto the mercy seat in the presence of the Father (Hebrews 9:12,22-24; 12:24). Jesus became our Intercessor (Romans 8:34), our Advocate (defense attorney). This is what 1st John 2:1 teaches. Jesus is seated on the right-hand of the Father interceding for us. When we sin, Jesus runs to our side as His children and intercedes on our behalf with the Father.
Hebrews 4:15-16, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Confess Only To Those Whom You Have Hurt Or
Wronged
Now if you've committed a wrong against someone, then you ought to go directly to them to seek restitution, reconciliation and forgiveness as the Bible teaches in Matthew 5:23-24. However, we ought never confess our sins to anyone but God, for it is no one's business. People will sometimes confess their dark secrets and horrible sins in an attempt to get you to open up and share your skeleton closets with them as well. This is unwise, don't do it! It's ok to let people know that you have feet made of clay, but NEVER show anybody your feet. You never know what people may do with personal information about you. Your dark secrets and sins may end up on some social networking website on the internet, or come back to haunt you 20-years later, or embarrass you when you run for some public office. Never tell anyone your past sins and any information that you wouldn't want the whole world to know.
The modern plethora of perverted Bible versions originated in the corrupt manuscripts of Westcott and Hort, two Catholic sympathizers in the late 19th century. The satanic Roman Catholic Church (RCC) has infiltrated many of our evangelical churches, who openly support Mr. Catholic sympathizer himself, Billy Graham (who's annual salary is $633,722[1]. Graham's last name should be changed to “Balaam,” the false prophet for hire (Jude 1:11), because he has done more to eliminate the Biblical bridge of separation between evangelical churches and Roman Catholics than anyone else (2nd Corinthians 6:14-17). The tragic consequence is a new perverted plan of salvation rooted in forsaking one's sinful lifestyle and cleaning up one's life of sin, known as Lordship Salvation. This doctrine of devils has crept into most churches today and is sending people to Hell, convincing them to live the Christian life without ever being born-again!!!
One of the major false teachings of the Roman Catholic prisonhouse of religion is to confess sins to man instead of God. The notion that we should confess our sins to each other to help us live right is unbiblical. It is satanic false religion and wickedness to confess sins to a Lutheran minister or Catholic priest, because they are saturated with sins themselves and cannot forgive anyone's sins, not even their own. Only God can forgive sin. Even the wicked Pharisees knew that (Mark 2:7). The unbelieving foolish Religious Pharisees failed to recognize Christ's
Hebrews 3:13, “But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” The word exhort in Hebrews 3:13 is the Greek word parakaleo and means “to call near, that is, invite, invoke.” It means to care about one another, so that if we see a fellow believer going astray or about to make a bad decision, we kindly and lovingly let them know that we care, are praying, and am concerned about them. A church ought to be a place where people can let their pain come out, and I should embrace you in that pain with God's unconditional love.
