Bloody Hands

Originally posted: November 2022

pastor with bloody hands

I often see on social media that God is not going to ask you about my sins. However, this is not entirely accurate. Let me explain why. When you have been called and ordained to preach the gospel. Then you automatically have souls that have been attached to your ministry. In other words, you have souls that you are responsible for. If you do not reach those souls and they die in their sins, then God will hold you accountable. If you do not believe me, then I can refer you to the Word.

Ezekiel 3:17-21

“Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.

Ezekiel 33:1-16

“Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live? Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth. When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it. Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.”

As soon as you have been commissioned by God to deliver a message, that is what you should do, regardless of whether the people turn from their sins or not. We can examine Jonah in the first three chapters of the book of Jonah. As we can see, Jonah received a word from the Lord. It was God's word that told Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh since their wickedness had come before him. Whatever his reasons may be, Jonah decided that he would flee the Lord's presence. He then proceeded to Joppa, where he found a ship toTarshish. There was a mighty tempest in the sea caused by a mighty wind that the Lord sent out into the sea. Each and every one of the men on this ship was terrified, and they cried out to their gods but Jonah was asleep. As the shipmaster approached him, he basically said, "What are you doing?" and told him to wake up and pray. As a result, lots were cast, and the lot fell on Jonah, so now they are asking Jonah a variety of questions. As Jonah continued to tell them where he came from and what God he served, the men became afraid and asked what they could do to calm the sea. They were forced to throw Jonah overboard. There was a fish waiting to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.

Jonah prayed while he was in the belly of the fish, repented and made a vow to the Lord. It was God who allowed the fish to spit Jonah out, and for the second time Jonah received a message from the Lord. Rise and go to Nineveh and preach the message that I have commanded you to preach. Upon receiving the word of the Lord, Jonah arose and travelled to Nineveh. This was the word that God had given Jonah to tell them, and yet 40 days will pass before Nineveh is overthrown. Thus, the people of Ninevah believed in God and declared a fast. Even down to the smallest animals, they fasted and repented. As we read in the Bible, God saw their good works and that they turned from their evil ways. He repented of the bad that he had said he would do to them, and he did not.

I understand Jonah's position, and I say that because this was years ago, when I was not even saved. I had a dream three or four times, I believe. In that dream, however, whenever God attempted to explain or show me something, I would run away. That last time God told me to stop running. Especially in the last year or so when God began to deal with me. He talked to me about starting a blog and a podcast, and I knew that it would not be popular. As I have mentioned before, this was a struggle for me. I came up with excuses like I did not know how to begin a blog or a podcast. In reality, I was concerned about what people would think of me. In other words, I did not want people to think that I had a vendetta against the church. Despite knowing it was likely to come off harsh, I did not want people to get the wrong impression. It is not that I have anything against the church. In fact, I am passionate when it comes to the people of God being misled and deceived. Because I have been there, I have been misled and deceived. God started opening up my understanding when I started to read his word, study and spend that time with him. It was then that I realized that I had no true knowledge of his word.

The question I had to answer was whether I would listen to man or God. Even though I struggled and tried to delay it, I ultimately had to obey God. I will not pretend that it is easy to have people fighting you. Especially on social media, where people are able to say whatever they are bold enough to say. The truth is, you can feel them. I do not know exactly how to explain it, but if you have been in that position, you will understand what I mean. You can feel them warring against you. This is particularly true when you are confronting sin. This is because people are at ease with what they are doing and do not like being told that what they are doing is wrong. As a result, you are characterized as judgmental and a number of other negative terms are applied to you. We are living in an itching ear generation and they want an easy Word. They want the blessings but they do not want to come out of their sinful lifestyle.

It is the responsibility of men and women of God who are called to such ministry, particularly as prophets, to share what God has given them. It is imperative to distinguish between someone who has the gift of prophecy and someone who walks in the office of a prophet. That is a topic for another day. A true prophet is not popular because they speak the heart of God and they give warnings of what is to come. One of their main duties is to act as Watchmen. God uses them to warn the people of their wickedness and to warn them that judgment and destruction are coming unless they repent. If you fail to do so and you mislead the people, God is going to hold you responsible.

It can be discouraging at times. Since I began speaking out and writing my blogs, I have been discouraged several times. In spite of this, God is seeking someone who is just as bold as those who speak out against us. Who is willing to speak what God instructs them to speak even when it seems as though the entire world is against them. This is what Jesus warned us about. The truth is, we know that we will be persecuted, we know that people will oppose what God says, and we know that they will not like us. Yet, as Paul said, we must count it all joy because our reward at the end is greater than anything this world could ever offer. As for me, I would prefer to please God over pleasing others. I would like to encourage those of you who are proclaiming the word of God today to continue doing so. There is no doubt that God is with you. He has seen your heart, he has seen your tears, and in the end, God has got you. I do not know about you, but I do not wish to have blood on my hands or to be responsible for anyone going to hell and God judging me for it. During this season, we do not wish to be found with blood on our hands.

Remember that God loves you and so do I with the love of Christ.