Felt a fearful sense of the story from Scripture quoted below being a “now” word for some men in ministry. By that I mean ministry of the ordained, church sanctioned and set apart type.  You have a “Revd.” before your name and  maybe even a few letters after it. I specifically felt this was for men in such a ministry rather than women and it was for right now, for this moment in time, maybe for this very hour of posting.

Before you either sneak or skip off into adultery read this story, especially the opening words. In the charismatic world, especially in the conference speaking scene, we live in days of easy restoration. The more famous the ministry, the more likely the church at large will be make light of a fall into adultery, calling it just about everything but sin, applauding  the return to ministry – usually within a few months, offering mercy where there has been no turning from sin, no repentance leading to the action of breaking  an adulterous relationship – conveniently forgetting that somewhere there is a rejected, sinned against wife and often hurting  and angry children as well for whom life will never be the same but will have added difficulties which may well hamper them  forevermore. Felt such grief about that tonight. That is the reality of adultery.

Anyway, here is the reading, the story. It may well save some of you from taking a wrong step which would mean that even allowing for mercy from God, there will be consequences. I hope that you might not be so far gone as to be unable to look beyond the selfishness of your intended and therefore premeditated and wilful l breaking of God’s commandment. We reap what we sow, and what we sow sadly affects others caught up in our selfishness and sin.

I offer this knowing that any one of us can fall. There is no judgement in my heart towards any other living person as far as I know. I am a sinner saved by grace capable of anything should I move out from the purposes of grace for me. I have in the past, on more than one occasion, sat talking with Christian leaders intending to commit sexual sin, but trying to hide that fact from me, as we talked. The fearful thing on each occasion was that I felt the Lord had nothing to say. Never think the Lord never shows your sins to someone else. He does when it so pleases Him. I found myself strangely silent and unable to talk in the midst of such awarenesses. The feeling of wilful deception being fed into a friendship is not a nice taste.

“But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord, and the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.” Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.” (2 Samuel 12:1-10)

God bless

Kenny