Men have become prone to error since
the time that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruits till the present day, and
there have been series of corrective measures meted to every person that erred
in God’s commands or against established authority.
When Adam and Eve erred in God’s
commands, they were cursed but taken care of.
In Gen 3:16-19, the Bible
recorded the account below:
“To the
woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, and
he shall rule over you. Then to Adam He said, because you have heeded the voice
of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying,
'You shall not eat of it':
"Cursed
is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your
life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat
the herb of the field.In the sweat of
your face you shall eat bread. Till you return to the ground, for out of it you
were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return."NKJV
God
pronounced the punishment that they deserved on them, including the serpent
that beguiled them: yet, God made tunics of skin for Adam and his wife, and
clothed them.
The tunics
made for them were for the purpose of covering their nakedness, since they had
known that they were naked. This means that covering the shame of people in
repentance is needful, even though, the Bible did not ascertain that Adam and
Eve repented of their mistake.
The idea
seems to be different in today’s Christianity.
What do we
say of a man of God that went to call police to arrest a man, who (willingly)
surrendered his gun and said that he was tired of being a robber and wanted to
give his life to Christ?
Should such
not be celebrated that God had touched a lost soul and brought him into His
Kingdom without scratch. Unlike the restoration of Saul, who later became Paul,
on his way to Damascus to bring the disciples into captivity? Paul was blinded
before Ananias prayed for him to receive his sight.
This Paul,
whom was known by the disciples to have received authority from the High Priest
to arrest every one that professed to be Christian, was then saying that he had
converted to Christianity: The disciples were afraid to meet him, until they
got the evidence of his conversion.
They did not
even punish him, but were astonished that God could save such a person into His
Kingdom, (Acts 9:10-22).
Now, imagine
what would play out if any of the terrorist sects’ leaders (of the world)
approaches a church and says that he wants to give his life to Christ. Would
there not be sharp division in the body of Christ, over handing him to the
police or nurturing him in the Lord?
The truth is
that the church would be afraid, considering two things: The genuineness of his
conversion and the legal implications that may be involved. Here there is need
for the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the involvement of a legal
practitioner.
If the
second concern could deter the church from rescuing the man, who has been a
terrorist or evil doer, and he is handed to the police or any other law
enforcement agents – the battle might not be lost in totality, but it will be
on the verge of loss, because, the man would not have been fully regenerated
and there is the possibility of not wanting to hear anything from church’s
representatives – provided he is sentenced to prison.
This is not
to say that, the church could overrule the government decisions: there could be
a ‘wanted’ notification on the man who turned himself – in to the church, but
there must also be a legal procedure to alleviate his punishment, so that he
would be reoriented to live in the society, again.
It becomes
clear, therefore, that churches should have contingency plan in their
administrations: By this, they ought to have every form of professional
practitioners – with whom they could liaise with, to achieve a goal.
We are not
saying that the church should serve as hideout for those who may commit crime
intentionally, thinking that the church would deliver them from being punished
for their offence, but we are saying that there should be laid-down plans to
rehabilitate people, who are either robbers; commercial sex workers; or any
ungodly acts committers, who might turn theirselves – in to the church, with
the evidence of genuine repentance.
Afterall,
these kinds of people are the ones that Jesus died for.
They should
not be castigated or isolated when they are worshippers, members or workers in
the church… in fact, they should not be hindered from marrying within the
church – if need be.
The church,
being the express image of the Kingdom of God should brace up for the
rehabilitation of souls that God may touch to wilfully return into His Kingdom,
and those who might commit errors should be disciplined but not to the extent
that they would leave the church… everybody wants to have a sense of respect,
please, the church should give it – when meting out corrections to anyone.