TRUST GOD & EJECT DOUBT
. . . dealing with ‘eternal sin’.

- Samson Gandhi

Doubting God’s Word. Satan has been effectively using the weapon of doubt ever since the days of man in the Garden of Eden. “You will not surely die . . .” - this was a lie from the father of lies. By speaking a lie, Satan planted a doubt in the mind of Eve (and also Adam who was right behind her at that time). Both of them gave in to that doubt and ate of that forbidden fruit. That was the onset of death. God’s word proved to be the truth and Satan’s words proved to be a lie. Like Adam and Eve many have given in to doubt and moved away from God each in his own way. And died. Satan succeeded in bringing about man’s original fall. Doubting God’s word brought about the fall of man.

Doubting God’s love. The second level at which Satan is using the same strategy of planting doubts in the gullible minds of men is to make them doubt God’s love. God wants all Adams and Eves to come back to Him in a loving relationship. He has gone to the extent of giving His only begotten Son. He loved them just as they are and yet Satan is keeping many at bay by making people doubt God’s love.

“If God loves people, why is there so much suffering?” “Why this killing and destruction?” Such are the posers of those who doubt God’s love. If in the case of Adam and Eve doubting God’s word had brought about the fall, in the case of millions who came after them, doubting God’s love keeps them a fallen people.

Doubting God’s forgiveness. Lucifer is not content with that. He wants to take as many as he can to where he will be for eternity - HELL. He is and has been targeting believers in Christ. If he can’t succeed in making them deny their faith, he certainly wants to make sure that they are robbed of their joy of Salvation. Satan uses the same trick of planting lies in their minds. This time around his trick is to doubt God’s forgiveness. When people are not sure of God’s forgiveness, there is an uneasy uncertainty. Doubting God’s forgiveness robs them of their happiness.

One of the worst effects of believing lies and doubting God’s forgiveness is going through life wondering and even believing that one has committed the unforgivable sin. At the counselling center that we run, we have seen several instances where fine believers and capable men and women have been tormented by this preoccupation that they may have somehow and somewhere committed the unforgivable sin. They feel they are on their way to hell. They are so depressed because they feel there is no way out for them.

They are not people who have lived a promiscuous life. On the contrary they grew up in God-fearing homes. All of them had a definite salvation experience. They not only believed in a dogma, but had a genuine encounter with Christ and are born again believers. They have the assurance of forgiveness of sins. Nevertheless somewhere along the line they are beset with the thought of having committed the eternal sin.

‘Unforgivable sin’ in the Bible. The Bible speaks about it at four places. Mark 3:28,29; Luke 12:10; Matthew 12:31,32 and I John 5:16. The recording in Mark 3:28 is lucid and direct. The teachers of the law reject Jesus by accusing Him of being possessed by Satan. Jesus doesn’t take offence at their remarks and says that even that can be forgiven but warns them that if they speak against the Holy Spirit they will be guilty of an eternal and an unforgivable sin.

None of us should judge another and say that any one has committed the eternal sin. Why, according to Paul in 1 Cor. 4:3ff we ought not to judge even ourselves before the appointed time. We have to leave the matter to God.

Yet, a simple study of the above scripture portions tells us that those who are guilty of sinning against the Holy Spirit:

Would have rejected Christ as Son of God.

Would have called the Spirit of God as Beelzebub - king of demons.

Would have no consciousness of sin.

Would have no fear of God.

Consequently they would not be beset with the thought of going to hell.

In all the three cases that we dealt with we did not come across any of these characteristics. On the contrary they were striving to please God. But a terrible, nagging feeling that they may have sinned was tormenting them.

A common thread that we noticed among these three friends who had this problem is that all of them came from a denominational and family background where there was lot of legalism. Lots of do’s and don’ts. They had to earn appreciation; they had to earn love; and live in the fear of forfeiting it at the slightest slip in their conduct. They tended to see God in a similar light.

With such an attitude toward their faith and their God they would have come across the unforgivable sin in the bible or they may have heard a message on it. That would have appealed to their law-conscious mind and readily brought themselves under it’s power. Not being sure, absolutely sure because of their law-seared soul, they would be soon overcome with doubt and uncertainty. There, Satan feeds their doubts and holds them in vice like a grip.

Little do they realise that they have neither thought, said or done anything to deserve such a harsh indictment. Asking these friends to go through the above check list and answer them honestly for themselves helped them to see the lie of Satan. Doubts they were entertaining became clear. It dawned on them that they were actually believing lies. And how this was giving rise to doubts about their salvation. And how they were allowing the Thief to come in and destroy their peace and happiness that Jesus promised them in John 10:10.

Secondly, sharing with them that some Christians do go through this problem will take away the ‘victim’ and ‘poor me’ mentality. When they know and believe that most make it out of such a situation, it takes away the fear and uncertainty.

Thirdly, when we had emphasised the unconditional love and redeeming nature of God, each one of them responded positively to this. When their legalism was replaced by God’s grace, they have nothing else to stand on except give in to Jesus Christ in absolute trust.

“Thou dost keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee,
because he trusts in thee. - Isaiah 26:3