Does Paul Say We Should Punish Ourselves When We Sin?

Does the Apostle Paul say we should punish ourselves when we sin? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. Well, hi there and happy Friday. This is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. That's 1-833-843-2673. Our phone lines will be open for the next 25 minutes or so, so give us a call right now. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts. You can watch us live on YouTube and send us a message that way. And you can email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com.

Well, first up today, let's go to Dee in Bakersfield, California. Dee, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? My question is regarding organizations like the Masons, the Eastern Star, Job's Daughters, My Brother's Keepers. Is it true that these are satanic, that they kind of worship Satan? And if so, also, is there scripture that we can go to to kind of, you know, combat these kind of things? Yeah, Dee, well, I'm not familiar with some of the ones that you mentioned. I mean, these are sort of like some of them secret societies where people get together clubs that typically have, you know, a kind of creed that they will follow.

Sometimes it's based on morality. I know, I think the Masons, for example, you know, they, you know, confess a kind of belief in a general supreme being that kind of a thing. And can some of it be satanic?

Sure. I mean, I think one of the issues with organizations like this is sometimes there's things that happen that you just don't know about them. That sort of goes hand in hand with being a secret organization. But I wouldn't want to go all the way just because I really don't know all of the teachings of the Freemasons.

But here's what I will say. If you're looking for a community to join, a community where you're going to find fellowship, encouragement, where you're going to get good doctrine, sound doctrine, God gave us that. It's called the church. And I think one thing that I would caution people from is, you know, sometimes we can get really caught up in some organization or some club and that becomes our primary community, our primary quote unquote fellowship to the neglect of the local church. If you're a Christian, if you believe in Jesus Christ, you should be in the church, invested in the church, growing together with your brothers and sisters there in relationship and growing under the ministry of the word. And so I would just encourage people, you know, if they're interested in organizations like these, and I think for the Masons, for example, you know, you can't even join if you're a woman.

It's strictly for men. I would say, look, focus on growing together in the community that God has given us, the local church. That's key. That big eye from the triangles looking at you right now. Yeah, the eyes are on, you know, I remember Taco Bell did a commercial using the Masons. It was kind of scary. So I don't know a lot about them either, but I'm sure, you know, as you said, any secret society who knows what's really going on there, right?

Yeah. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, we would love to hear from you. It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Scott in O'Fallon, Illinois. Scott, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Hi, thanks for taking my call. So in light of so many very high profile Christian leaders, how does one, now my faith is not shaken when they fall, but how does one build their faith back after some, you know, the one that comes to mind is Ravi Zacharias, and I don't want to name names, but that's the reality, and how do we get back to having faith in our leaders in light of what goes on with so many of them, or too many of them these days? Yeah, I really appreciate that question, Scott, and these, you know, so you mentioned Ravi Zacharias, and there have been many high profile Christian leaders and even just pastors who have fallen into sin and engaged in behavior that disqualified them from the ministry, and of course with Ravi Zacharias, you know, it all came out after his death.

I know some of it was coming out earlier, and people weren't paying attention. Really just a tragic situation, but then the sort of whole thing blew up, and people's faith was shaken. I'm glad to hear that your faith wasn't shaken, but what happens is we can begin to project what we see there onto even our own, you know, pastor in the local church.

We can begin to have this suspicion. And so I would say, one, one of the things that these events remind us of are just the importance of having accountability structures within the local church and within organizations where you have people who are, you know, high profile, quote unquote, Christian teachers and leaders who are talking about the word of God. We need to have accountability. I think of what the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, you know, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall, and what we see here is a warning for all of us. But I also know, I mean, you see it, but I also know that there are so many faithful pastors and Bible teachers who are really seeking to honor the Lord and walk with the Lord faithfully and are held accountable by brothers in the Lord. And so I think we just don't want to project, you know, the pain that, you know, we see something like Ravi, we want to make sure that we're not projecting that onto our pastor per se, but that we're also being wise and saying, hey, are there accountability structures in place to protect Christian leaders and Bible teachers?

And are they open to those structures? If they aren't, there's a real issue. I mean, that's a big red flag. And then, you know, for those who are immediately affected, you know, I think of people who are in a church where the pastor sins or commits adultery, I think the healing takes a long time. It's, you know, you kind of have to take a step back and you have to investigate, you know, how did we get to this place? Where did this individual fall short, give in to maybe temptation? Were there things that the church, you know, accountability-wise, structure-wise wasn't providing?

And so, you know, there's no easy answer here, but the healing takes time, brother. And I think you can still and ought to still be encouraged by the fact that there are many Christian leaders who are faithful and wanting to continue to serve the Lord with a clear conscience and are doing just that. Adriel, you and I were talking about this the other day, that as you just mentioned, if there is a Christian leader, especially somebody who has become very popular and has a large following, and they're not surrounding themselves by people who will hold them accountable, if they're just, you know, surrounded by yes-men who are sure whatever you want, not asking the hard questions, not holding them accountable for their behavior, that's when you're running into problems. And we've seen this repeatedly over the past couple of years.

Yeah. It is so important that we have structures of accountability. You know, when Peter talked about false teachers in 2 Peter, he said one of the things about them is that they despise authority. They don't want accountability. And so we as, you know, I think of myself as a pastor, you know, like we have to pursue accountability, openness, I think in healthy contexts, in ways that we're able to be honest, and that's not just true for pastors, it's true for everyone in the Christian life.

We have to have this. One of the biggest, there was some research that came out a while ago on just longevity in ministry, and one of the big findings was isolation kills. If you don't have a community where you can be honest and where you're able to be real, and there are real big problems that begin to stir, and so we need that. We need the accountability, we need honesty, and a lot of times when you have these high-profile pastors or Christian leaders falling into sin, there's just none of that.

And many times they don't want it, and that should be the first red flag. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. By the way, we should mention that some of the radio stations that air our program air it on a delayed basis. So if you want to actually call and talk to Pastor Adriel live in the studio with your question, you need to do it at this time.

1130 a.m. Pacific Time, which translates into 1230 in the Mountain Zone, 130 Central, or 230 Eastern. During that half-hour period, you can actually call into the studio. Otherwise, just leave a voicemail message, and hopefully we can use your voicemail on the air. Let's go to David in Sioux City, Iowa. David, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Hi. I was wondering. I know that when the rapture happens, we receive our glorified body, but I was just kind of curious. I believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. I know there's different opinions, but I was just wondering when the tribulation saints, when they pass, and when do they receive their glorified body? Because I know Jesus comes back at the end of the tribulation and the second coming with all the saints.

Yeah. This is a complex question, David, because as you noted, there are a number of different views on the end times. The question here is when do we receive that glorified body from the Lord? Well, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 50, I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

Now here, Paul is talking about the resurrection of the dead. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. And when the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting? So Paul seems to suggest there that this glorified body is something we receive at the second coming, at the last day. Now I think, my position is that this is all happening at the same time. So Christ comes, you have the second coming, you have the resurrection of the dead, and then entering into the eternal state.

Now there are others who have a different timeline. There are some people who say, you know, there's a sort of rapture first, where believers are taken up into heaven and they're transformed there, and then you have the second coming, if you will, later on after a period of great tribulation. The main thing to focus on though, David, is that one, with all the views, here's the key, we believe that Jesus Christ is coming back bodily, and we agree on the fact that we need to be prepared as Christians for the return of Christ. And we agree on the fact that when the Lord returns, what Paul says here in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, at that point, the second coming, at that point, we're going to be raised imperishable.

The whole context of 1 Corinthians 15 is really focusing on the resurrection of the dead. And if you want to go deeper, thinking about these sort of topics, especially related to the end times, let me just plug our Revelation Bible study that we've been offering to people. It's a wonderful resource to help you dig into the book of Revelation. In particular, thinking more about these questions, the question of the second coming, the question of the rapture, I think that this resource will be really helpful for you, David.

So maybe stay on the line and we can get this in your hands. We'll send you one of those, David, and if you're interested in that particular study, it's fascinating, and you can find it by going to corechristianity.com forward slash revelation. It's our Revelation Bible study. By the way, we also want to tell you about a very wonderful new book that Adriel recently read, and he's highly recommending to folks to help them grow and to really get an understanding of how much God loves and values us. Yeah, it's Dane Ortlund's book, Gentle and Lowly. And I just want to just really quickly, Bill, read a short passage from this book.

This is really just a really encouraging book for the Christian life. He writes, in the one place in the Bible where the Son of God pulls back the veil and lets us peer way down into the core of who he is, we are not told that he is austere and demanding in heart. We are not told that he is exalted and dignified in heart. We are not even told that he is joyful and generous in heart. Letting Jesus set the terms, his surprising claim is that he is gentle and lowly in heart. He's commenting there on Matthew 11, 28 through 30.

And growing in our understanding of who Jesus is in the heart of Christ, I think is so important for us. And so get a hold of this resource, Gentle and Lowly. We're offering it for a limited time. All you have to do is make a donation of any amount at corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Again, corechristianity.com forward slash offers for that book, Gentle and Lowly.

You can also call us for that resource or any one of our resources at 833-843-2673, that number 833, the core. Well, let's go to a voicemail that we received from one of our listeners named Rosalyn. I'm trying to get discernment on 2 Corinthians 10 verses 5 and 6. The latter part of the verse talks about punishing all disobedience. I wanted to get clarification on that.

I'd appreciate your response. Rosalyn, let's check out the context a little bit here. So 2 Corinthians chapter 10, beginning in verse 3. For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. What does the apostle Paul mean there when he's talking about punishing disobedience?

Well, he's certainly not saying we need to punish ourselves when we sin, that kind of self-flagellation thing. He's highlighting the fact that he's coming and he's addressing false teaching that's creeping into the church. You picture Paul almost like Jesus. Remember when Jesus cleansed the temple and he's flipping over tables in the temple. He's purifying it because the worship had been corrupted. Well, Paul wants the church to be pure. And false teaching, heresy, especially false teaching about Jesus, the Son of God, that corrupts the purity of the church, the purity of the gospel. And Paul is ready to punish that how? Well, by casting it out and by preaching the truth. And I think the context of 2 Corinthians helps to confirm this. Actually, in the very next chapter, Paul warns the Corinthians, he says in chapter 11, verse 4, For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus, then the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. His concern here is that they buy into false teaching.

He doesn't want that. And I don't want that for the church today. And so we have to hold fast to the word of God. You know, there have been a number of theologians and pastors throughout the history of the church who have mentioned the idea of, you know, Bible teachers, ministers of the gospel really need to have two voices. One voice, the gentle voice for gathering the sheep in, but another voice, a stern voice for casting out the wolves, for scattering the wolves.

This is so important. Paul had those two voices. You know, he's gracious to the Corinthians, but when people are trying to corrupt the gospel or lead others astray, Paul says, I'm ready to punish that disobedience. Amen.

Good words. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Here's the number to call if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Carrie in Wichita, Kansas. Carrie, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi, I just have a question.

I don't even know if it fits in here, but I have a question. My son is paranoid schizophrenic, and he's been that way for 17 years now. And I'm just wondering, because I have prayed and prayed for God to heal his mind, and medication doesn't work, and I'm wondering if it's a demonic thing, because he talks to multiple voices and they're not nice, and I'm wondering if it's like a possession.

Hi, Carrie. Well, thank you for your question. This is such a complex issue, and Bill, I would love for you to chime in here, because I know you've done a lot of work with mental health and have wisdom in this area. But I think a lot of times, one concern that I have is that too often we just go there to the, this is a demonic thing, and we don't realize the importance of understanding mental health, so I don't know that I would go there necessarily.

I think that you pray, you love your son, you teach your son about the truth of God's word, you show patience. One resource I think that can be really helpful for you, Carrie, written actually by someone who I know. It's called Broken Pieces and the God Who Mends Them, Schizophrenia Through a Mother's Eyes, written by Simanetta Carr, Broken Pieces and the God Who Mends Them.

I think you should get a hold of that book, because it talks a lot about the complexity of these issues, and in particular from a mother's perspective, caring for a son who has schizophrenia. So I don't think that you should be concerned with or feel like, hey, this must be a demonic thing. No, as a result of the fall, sister, we live in this broken world, and our bodies are broken, and even our minds can be broken. And so we seek wisdom, we seek help, we seek the best that medical professionals have to offer. But even there, it's not perfect, and so we continue to pray with patience and to look to the Lord and to trust in Him.

And Bill, I don't know if you have anything to add there as well. You know, it can be confusing at times, Adriel, because sometimes schizophrenia in certain forms can look like demonic oppression, and we know that demonic oppression can occur. It can occur to people, and perhaps at times Satan takes a vulnerable person and then plays on that. However, what I would say to Carrie is, she mentioned the medication doesn't work. There are some new medications that have been developed in recent years, and if they've been going to the same psychiatrist or same doctor all along, it's possible that they need a second opinion.

They might want to find someone who maybe has a different perspective, wants to try a different med to help this young man. And of course, asking for her church's prayer local. She said she's been praying for him for years, and I know how frustrating that must be to feel like, man, my prayers are not being answered.

So I would say, you know, go the physician route first and maybe try another option, see if that's effective, and then just continue to pray and love your son. And again, we know this isn't easy. Yeah, and Carrie, just with regard to that part, you know, praying, knowing that Jesus, when He came to earth, bound the strong man. That is, He cast Satan out.

He has all power over the evil one. And I recognize that in this situation you feel absolutely powerless. But continue to go to the Lord and to trust in Him, and to trust that He loves you, that He loves your son, that He's able to work in and through these circumstances as you continue to draw near to Him. And so, sister, let's just pray for Carrie right now and ask for God's grace and God's strength for her. Heavenly Father, we pray for our dear sister Carrie. We pray for her son. We ask, Lord, that You would give her wisdom, that You would fill her with grace, Lord, and a sense of Your presence in this situation, Lord, a sense of Your love for her and for her son. We do pray for healing, Lord, for wisdom even for doctors, Lord, so that there could be progress with her son's condition. And we ask, Lord Jesus, that You would give her the confidence that by faith she is in You, and that the one who is in her is greater than the one who is in the world. As You say, gracious God, in Your word, that the evil one cannot touch us. Now, we know that that doesn't mean that we don't suffer oppression, but that He can't take us away from You and from Your hand, and that she is in Your hand, Lord. So would You please comfort her and be with her and bless her by the grace of Your Holy Spirit. We ask, gracious God, in Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We received an email from Angie who says this, Adriel, I'm a born-again Christian. I have in the past asked Mormon friends to pray for me or others that are on my heart. I don't believe LDS scriptures are from God or that he believes in the triune God, but my Mormon friend believes he is praying to God. Where do his prayers go?

Would they just be powerless? We know that God hears everything, right? And even for people who don't fully understand the truth of God's word, fully understand the gospel, God even hears them, even those sincere prayers.

Now, where do I get this idea? I think of Cornelius in the book of Acts, for example. He didn't really understand the gospel, but he was seeking the Lord, and his prayers rose up to God, and God actually sent someone to preach the gospel to him.

I also know that there are some people who are completely deluded. They're deceived, and they think they're praying to God, making offerings to God, but Paul says in 1 Corinthians, some people make offerings even to demons. When we reject the core truths of the Christian faith, when we embrace, as Paul mentioned in 2 Corinthians, a verse that I read just a little bit ago, 2 Corinthians 11, verses 4 and following, when we embrace another Jesus, a false Jesus, well, that's terrible. We're not actually praying to the true and to the living God, and so I think what you can do is talk about these things with your friend and say, look, here's the God of the Bible. Here's the God that you should pray to, and the God that you should pray to, revealed to us in Scripture, is different than the God of Mormonism. And as you have those conversations, you share the love and grace of Jesus with your friend. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.