Hopefully, for them -- and all of us -- that day will never come, in the sense that we will never be recipients of His judgment against our sin, because Christ was already the recipient of God's wrath and judgment against our sin. I hope the guys that FG Minister talked about are in Christ. If I knew them, I would urge them to soberly examine themselves to see if Christ has been formed within them.It's daunting to think that we could consider ourselves Christians, that we could do Christian things, that we could even devote our lives to Christian ministry -- and still not have faith and confidence in Christ. That we could, on that Day, make our best case for involvement with Christ and hear the words, I never knew you.The Bible urges us to examine ourselves, not to check for a list of good works and make sure there aren't any bad works, but to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. To examine ourselves to see if we have truly put our faith and confidence in Christ. Even if we have, there will be days when we act wickedly, as someone who has not. And even if we haven't, there will be days when we act with charity or selflessness toward others. Our works aren't a test of our salvation. But over the long term of our lives, there should nevertheless be clear and obvious evidence of regeneration if Christ has truly been formed in us.I hope these guys have placed their faith and confidence in Christ. Maybe they have. Maybe they were deeply convicted of the sin they committed and repented before God and will forever be recipients of forgiveness and mercy concerning this matter. I hope so. And if not, I hope they become Christians, and turn from their dead works and place their faith in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins before that Day when God's wrath is revealed from Heaven. Dave,I so often think of the saying, if you make your living at religion, you are in danger of losing one or the other. The political man (not referring to any denomination here), when confronted with a different action (such as reporting potential child abuse), will seek to deflect responsibility to avoid one side or the other being displeased. Just as we see in the military or the government, so in the church, when the ax falls it is generally on the subordinates. Just a few years ago I was Senior Pastor of a local church that had an Hispanic congregation (they worshiped in Spanish) along with a Hispanic women pastor on staff. Her husband had sex with a 16 year old from the Hispanic congregation. For three weeks I did not see him at church (generally I was there when their service started), so I asked the pastor where her husband was. She and another member of the congregation met with me and told me what had happened and that he had left the state. I was not happy, but what made it worst was the pastor and told the State Overseer (who was Hispanic) when it happened and I was left in the dark. First, after I told her I would be calling the police and CPS, I called the leadership of the local church, and then I called the overseer and confronted him. Well, the police visited the church (during daycare hours, which is never good) and investigated the situation. I do not know the outcome of the case, other than the husband was in another state and the wife (pastor), along with the kids, moved there quickly. I found out latter she was placed as a pastor at one of our Hispanic churches in that state.I do not regret doing the right thing when it comes to child abuse, and I feel over the years I have in every case. However, I have little use for leadership that plays politics with the issue, and should they cover-up, fail to act or be accused, I will do the right thing and report them has well. Better to lose your living than your religion.
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