Guilt by Association - Is It Biblical?

Hello, 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 gonna 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 gonna 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 5 11 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 and 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 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

Though you can just dismiss whatever this person said or whatever they're doing well

That's 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 2nd. 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 even the people in 2nd

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 killed by association

Well, that's what the Bible says okay, so in this epistle 2nd

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 gonna drink that water? Absolutely not so that's what false teachers do they 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 2nd

John 9 through 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.

You're not doing 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 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, I'm pretty sure Paul would have something to say about that. You know 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 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 You know 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 bias

Association I'm so sick of it. He said I'm like Steve there. 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 gonna 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 you know doesn't just flat out and sometimes

I've heard people come out and 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 2nd

John What's the context of that epistle 2nd 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

You know 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 You know 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 you know don't do this today, so how this is my question trying to apply this

How would you aid in a bet 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 Second John applies. Oh, well, that's just guilt by association

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

That's violating at the very least the spirit of second John 9 through 11

Or even someone like Ravi Zacharias Several years ago because John says do not you know bid them

God 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 blessed 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 Second John 9 through 11 so whether they're coming into your house

So 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 yes 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 511 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 1st

Corinthians 1533 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 like 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 know, you can only talk to or have dinner with you know

Solid church members or if somebody is doing this and 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 that's really my point So in conclusion 2nd 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 in a bet 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