If you never read the Bible, you probably would tend to think Christians are to always be tolerant with all people, circumstances, teachings, etc. However, when you open God’s word and get exposed to his pure truth, the light shines out. That even includes on the subject of an ungodly tolerance and its dangers!
Ungodly Tolerance With An Adulterous Man
Paul chastised the Corinthians for their misplaced tolerance towards a sexually immoral man in their congregation, who professed to be a Christian brother!
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? (1 Cor 5:1,2)
But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? (1 Cor 5:11,12)
All of the grace changers, from Calvinists to the Southern Baptists (with the sole exception of two teachers I’ve read) all say the 1 Cor. 5:1,2 man committing worse sins than pagans do was a saved man! That includes Dave Hunt. It is that dark of a day with so many teaching indirectly that there are Christian adulterers, etc., because of their eternal security doctrine!
Church discipline is what Paul recommended for both the adulterer himself (so that his spirit may be saved, verse 5) and for the whole Corinthian congregation because a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough (1 Cor. 5:6). To allow that openly sexually immoral man to be among the gathering of the saints would spread wickedness in their midst! Hence, their ungodly tolerance was properly addressed. SOULS were on the line and church discipline needed to be administered.
Ungodly Tolerance With A False Prophetess
Unfortunately, that problem at Corinth was not the only time an ungodly tolerance surfaced to the detriment of precious souls. Jesus noted the following in the church at Thyatira:
Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. (Rev 2:20)
In this case, their ungodly tolerance with a self-proclaim prophetess (whom Jesus called Jezebel) was stumbling God’s servants (Christians) into sexual immorality through her false teachings. To fall into sexual immorality is to get back on the road to hell again and to be in desperate need of repentance for salvation’s sake. That type of ungodly tolerance with a false teacher caused God’s servants to be misled. That is exactly what is happening all over the world via once saved always saved. It is being tolerated because it comes from TV, the radio, through the so-called pastor, Sunday school teacher, parishioners, etc. Consequently, sin is spreading and whole congregations have become adversely affected by that type of spiritual yeast and ruined!
As the Corinthians were to expel the wicked man from among them (1 Cor. 5:13), the people at Thyatira (especially the pastor/s) should have removed that influential woman and so-called prophetess from her teaching position, regardless who she was, how much money she had and/or how large her family might have been! She was a spiritual cancer which needed to be removed for the SAKE OF SOULS. To neglect church discipline under such circumstances is to help seal the eternal damnation of others, who might otherwise repent. We are to keep away from such people. If you have been guilty of these types of ungodly tolerance, change immediately! God can see your sin and SOULS are on the line!
