Guilt by Association - Is It Biblical?

Hello and thank you for listening to the Testing the Spirits podcast.

The title of this episode is Guilt by Association.

Let me start out with the Bible verse, Proverbs 18 verse 13 says, He who answers a matter

before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him.

So I'm going to make a point.

But as soon as you hear me make the point, if you're typing 30 seconds into the podcast telling me how

wrong I am without even hearing me out, you know, that's foolish.

So at least hear what I have to say, because I'm going to make the argument that guilt by

association is actually biblical.

Now it's not always biblical.

You can't always do the guilt by association thing depending on the details.

But yes, depending on the details, sometimes you can.

So here's my argument why guilt by association is sometimes

valid.

Ephesians 511, for example, tells us to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but

rather to expose them.

So if you are having fellowship with darkness, if you are associating with darkness,

you are guilty because of your association, right?

That is guilt by association.

But that's not even the most powerful argument.

Let's look at the second epistle of John.

So if you have a Bible, you can follow along and I'll give you some national examples and some local

examples of people violating this apostolic instruction, if not commandment.

But here's what got me thinking about this.

I was watching a video from the channel Revealing Truth and Sean was dealing with the guys

from the Remnant Radio podcast, which I think Remnant Radio, they're sort of like

Dr. Michael Brown.

They are dangerous if for no other reason, and I think there are other reasons, but they are dangerous

if for no other reason than they defend heretics and they fellowship with false

teachers.

Now you might say, well, that's just guilt by association.

Well, again, hear me out from the book of Second John.

But Michael Brown, you know, he has defended Benny Hinn and Todd White.

Remnant Radio, they've platformed and defended Todd White and Heidi Baker.

And in that Revealing Truth video, the Remnant Radio guys were praising up

a demon slayer, Isaiah Saldivar, and they brought up this whole guilt by association thing.

And they pretty much said that, well, that's just guilt by association.

You can't do that.

And they use this term and many people will just use this term guilt by association.

Oh, as though you can just dismiss whatever this person said or whatever they're doing.

Well, that's okay because that's just guilt by association.

So that doesn't matter.

Well, yeah, it does matter because the Bible says so.

Let's read Second John verses 9 through 11.

The apostle says, whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ, he does not have

God.

He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house,

nor greet him for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.

So what is the apostle John saying?

Well, basically, if you receive the false teacher, certainly

if you defend them and promote them, even though you are not the false teacher, if you're

receiving them and defending them and certainly promoting them, and even the people in Second John weren't going

that far to promote them.

But if you promote the false teacher and receive them in and say, God bless you and all that, you are a

partaker of their evil deeds.

So, well, that's guilt by association.

Well, that's what the Bible says.

Okay.

So in this epistle, Second John, just like in John's first epistle, he is warning the

church about false teachers.

Remember what Jesus called them.

Jesus called them wolves in sheep's clothing.

The apostle Paul told the Ephesian elders that they would be in the church.

He told the Corinthians that they would even preach Jesus.

They were preaching Jesus, but it was a different Jesus.

They had the spirit, but it was a different spirit.

So long story short, they identify as Christians.

They might even preach from the Bible at times, but they distort false teachers, distort the true

message of Christ.

And clearly Benny Hinn and Todd White, they distort the true message of Christ.

Nobody's saying that everything they teach is false.

False teachers have to blend truth with error.

It might even be 90 truth or 95 truth, but it's that 5 of

heresy that is toxic.

It's like a glass of water.

It could be 99 % pure water, but one drop of cyanide.

Are you going to drink that water?

Absolutely not.

So that's what false teachers do.

They profess to be Christians and they blend truth and error, and that's why you

just need to mark and avoid them, have nothing to do with them.

But if you're having fellowship with them, if you're defending them and you're promoting them, even if you don't

necessarily even agree with the heresy, you still become a partaker of their evil deeds.

That's what John is saying.

So these false teachers, they are not bringing the true doctrine of Christ.

So in 2 John 9 -11, the disciple whom Jesus loved, John, he says that these false

teachers, they do not know God.

So when they come to you, do not receive them into your house.

Do not even give them a friendly greeting.

Because if you do that, you are now a partaker of their evil works.

So again, someone might say, well, that's not fair.

You're not agreeing with them about everything.

That's just guilt by association.

That's not fair.

Well, yeah, but you are guilty by your association with them.

That's what the Bible is saying.

So again, these people will dismiss all of this activity, these arguments of guilt by

association, and they use that to dismiss it.

What they're dismissing is the Bible, really.

If you look at it.

So this is an example that, and I could get into some things that are happening

right now, but I won't.

But let's just say the Apostle Peter.

What if the Apostle Peter spoke at a conference with the Judaizers?

Pretty sure Paul would have something to say about that.

The Bible tells us we are to practice separation.

So if somebody clearly does not have the true gospel, the true doctrine of Christ, just

be separate from them, right?

Biblical separation is a standard doctrine of Christianity.

But ever since the 1960s and 1970s, that doctrine has been

ignored, if not flat out denied.

And I've talked about this before at length.

For example, Billy Graham in the 1960s, 1970s, Billy Graham taught people,

certainly by his actions, he taught people that ecumenicalism was good and that

separation was bad.

And during the 1970s, biblical separation was labeled as legalism.

So that's why today you have TV shows like the chosen where they're fellowshipping with

Mormons and you have interfaith activity, right?

You have Baptist churches participating in interfaith worship services and all the rest.

You have that stuff happening.

It's becoming normal because hardly anyone practices biblical separation anymore.

That's just been a thing that's been thrown away again, ever since the 1960s, 1970s.

I remember a year or two ago, there was a concert happening in our area.

Most of the churches were promoting it.

And on stage, there were two heretics involved in the concert.

Their face was on the poster and they were trying to recruit people into supporting

universalism,.

LGBT.

They denied the scripture.

And I was at a pastor's meeting one time when someone brought up the concert and this pastor asked

the other pastors, he said, Hey, are you promoting this concert?

And I said, no.

And I explained why, because of these people and their heresy.

And this older pastor got very upset and he said, I'm so sick and tired of people practicing all

these degrees of separation and guilt by association.

I'm so sick of it.

He said, I'm like, Steve, there's no degree of separation.

The heretics are literally on stage.

There is no degree of separation.

There is no guilt by association in this case, because they're the ones right there.

And we're going to support this concert when they're the ones on stage.

I said, like, that doesn't even make sense.

But it's very frustrating.

Like I said, this type of activity, like anything goes, as long as somebody doesn't stand up

from a pulpit and say, I reject Jesus and I hate the Bible, as long as somebody doesn't just

flat out.

And sometimes I've heard people come out and I'll get into this later, I've actually heard people

do that.

And sometimes still pastors will defend them and it's just, it's insanity today

because there's no separation and people just reject these arguments

by saying, well, that's just guilt by association.

Okay.

So I did a whole video.

I'm not going to get into the degrees of separation.

I did a whole video explaining that.

So check it out on my channel.

Just type in degrees of separation.

It'll come up.

Maybe I'll link it in the description.

But to be clear, fellowshipping with darkness, defending,

platforming, and promoting false teachers, you can call it guilt by association all you want.

But the Bible says it's wrong.

Okay.

The Bible says it's wrong.

So going back to 2 John, what's the context of that epistle, 2 John?

We always have to consider the context and then the application.

So in those days, the false teachers tended to be itinerant preachers.

They were typically going from place to place, typically not connected to a local church.

So they would travel from town to town and they depended on hospitality.

So the only way they could really minister is if people would put them up for the night,

receive them into their house and feed them and maybe give them an offering as they go.

Now today, because times have changed, we have restaurants and hotels.

So false teachers don't need to go around and ask you to put them up for the night or.

To feed them.

Today they basically just want your money and that's all they need is your money.

So what John is talking about, receiving them into your home, we can take this

principle and we can apply it to the modern day.

So therefore, what would that look like today?

What would John say?

Don't do this today.

So this is my question trying to apply this.

How would you aid and abet a false teacher right now?

Don't give them money, obviously.

I don't think you should watch their programs on television.

That's how they get into people's houses today.

Don't watch them on TV.

Don't listen to them on the radio.

Don't buy their books.

And you certainly, obviously, certainly do not defend them online or

bring them on your podcast and have a friendly discussion with them and fellowship with them.

Because if you do, I absolutely think 2 John applies.

Oh, well that's just guilt by association.

It doesn't matter what you call it.

If you defend Benny Hinn, if you defend or invite Todd White on your

podcast and you're defending them, promoting them, again, that's violating, at the

very least, the spirit of 2 John 9 -11.

Or even someone like Ravi Zacharias several years ago, because John says do not bid

them God's speed.

Do not say God bless you, certainly.

Remember Ravi Zacharias years ago, he went to the Mormon temple and when he was done with his sermon at the

Mormon temple, he said, God bless you to the Mormon elders.

And then it turned out that Ravi Zacharias was involved in all sorts of stuff.

Well, you know, he was violating clear commandments of scripture out in the open and nobody seemed to mind.

Well, we should pay attention to these things because when people do things like that or when they fly

to the Vatican, okay, Dallas Jenkins, the Chosen, talking to you right now, Rick Warren, you know,

Kenneth Cope, all these people, when you fly to the Vatican and kiss the Pope's ring, I mean,

that's a clear violation of 2 John 9 -11.

So whether they're coming into your house or you're going to them, if you're fellowshipping with them, defending them, promoting them,

what you're doing, at the very least, you're lending, whatever credibility you might have, you're lending

them your credibility.

You're lending your credibility to apostates.

So here's what we all need to understand.

We teach people, not just by our words, we teach people, maybe even to a greater

degree, we teach others by our actions.

They see us do things, especially Christian leaders.

If the sheep see the shepherd do this and do that, they think it's okay.

So in that way, guilt by association can be, again, not always.

It depends on the details.

Don't assume that I think something that I never said, but depending on the details,

guilt by association absolutely can be biblical.

Again, Ephesians 5 -11, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but

rather expose them.

So if you have fellowship with false teachers, you are going against a clear command of scripture.

And the word for that is sin.

And I could give other verses, I could talk about the Old Testament, how the children of Israel were to

remain separate from the heathen, right?

Other verses come to mind, like 1 Corinthians 15 -33 says, do not be deceived.

Evil company corrupts good habits.

And if you can think of any verses yourself that might apply, if you're listening on YouTube, go ahead and list

some verses in the comment section.

But just one last thing.

If you have a question, you want clarification on something, don't assume that

I'm taking a position.

Don't assume that I'm teaching something that I'm not teaching.

Like, well, Pastor Mike thinks that you can only talk to or have dinner with

solid church members, or if somebody is doing this, like, if I didn't come out and say it, don't

assume too much.

Because sometimes I'll do a podcast and people assume I believe something that I don't believe.

Or if you didn't hear me say it, don't make too many assumptions.

So I made a basic point about those who are, you know, receiving, defending, platforming

false teachers.

Basically, these are people who should know better.

But when somebody shows us a clear passage of Scripture, we can't just dismiss it.

That's really my point.

So in conclusion, 2 John verses 10 and 11 says, if anyone comes to you

and does not bring the true doctrine of Christ, do not receive him into your house, but don't even greet him

for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.

So let me encourage you to practice biblical separation.

Stay away not only from false teachers, but also stay away from those, especially

the teachers who should know better, who aid and abet and platform and defend false teachers.

It will be good for your soul.

It will set a positive biblical example for others to follow, and God will

bless you for your faithfulness.

Amen?

Amen.

Thanks for listening, and until next time, may the Lord be with you.

Have a great day.