As we all know, it is the intention of Satan, the old accuser, to deny redemption to the redeemed by any means and thus throw them out of the state of grace. Unfortunately, he always finds people who make themselves available to him as tools in the congregation. For example, they then ask others in a very pious way to dig up sins from the past. They are said to be obstacles to the Spirit of God and the supernatural work of the Lord and thus to the flow of blessings. One specializes mainly in the area that belongs to the fall of man. Here, however, we must make a very clear distinction between the Spirit of God convicting us of a sermon through the Word, so that we lay down to the Lord what troubles us, or whether it is someone who demands of us a "confession of sins" in front of others. Even if this difference may not seem so big to everyone at the moment, it is actually sky-high. Only where the Spirit of God is at work will there be pleasing repentance and inner bowing before God, combined with reconciliation, forgiveness and purification, as David said: "I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord;' and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin…" [Psalm 32:5]

But where people make the demand under pious pretext – but always only with others – that they have to undergo a purification, perhaps even listing things and asking whether they have occurred, believers who have already experienced forgiveness are defiled anew, yes, irreconcilability and enmity are re-established. On what biblical grounds should a believer who has received assurance of salvation and praised the grace of God go back to his past after ten, twenty, or more years of following the Lord to get something out of it? This in itself is a repudiation of total and complete redemption and forgiveness. What does Scripture say? Scripture says, "… Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases…" [Psalm 103:3]

God laid the entire curse and all sin on the sacrificial lamb. The Redeemer was made sin for all redeemed, that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. He was nailed to the cursed tree so that we would be delivered from the curse and become the blessed of the Lord. Paul writes: "… Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." (Romans 4:25). Of justification, the man of God, William Branham, said that it means that man is restored before God to the state as if he had never sinned. Our Lord said to His own, "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." [John 15:3]

God speaks through the prophet Isaiah: "… though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." [Isaiah 1:18] According to the New Testament letters, we are dealing with an everlasting salvation. By the blood of the Lamb, every damage has been made well, every guilt forgiven, every sin has been blotted out. The certificate of debt is torn apart once and for all, as it is written: "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross." (Colossians 2:13-14).

In the statements of the letter to the Hebrews, this is summarised to us: "… By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all… For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, 'This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days', saith the Lord, 'I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them'; And 'their sins and iniquities will I remember no more'. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." (Hebrews 10:10 +14-18)

What good would it do a person if he were to rummage around in his life anew after ten, twenty, thirty years of being a believer? Paul says that it is shameful to even speak of what happened in secret. But it is precisely those who present themselves in such a holy way who indulge in their lust when others bring something out of their personal realm. The consequence of such confessions of sins, however, is that the "confessor" thereby withdraws from grace and forgiveness and returns to the old state. An irreparable irreconcilability and enmity is established because the work of redemption accomplished on the cross of Golgotha is set aside.

Paul was the teacher appointed by God who also gave the instructions as to how the work of the Spirit actually takes place in the church. In 1 Corinthians 14 he says: "If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth." This is the biblical work of the Holy Spirit in the church of the living God! No one is exposed, and certainly not the sins of the believers, who have long since been covered and forgiven by the blood of the Lamb, but the intention of the unbelievers, who, for example, come to a meeting with evil intentions, is revealed in a very concrete way. The person in question knows exactly that he and no one else is meant. He is specifically addressed, the secret thoughts of his heart are revealed, and so, as it is written, he falls on his face—not on his back—and confesses, "God is indeed at work in you."

However, wherever self-proclaimed prophets and prophetesses conduct their business, it is in fact always associated with personal prestige or advantages for them. By supposedly engaging in the spiritual realm, they derive earthly benefits. One seeks her out like they did back then with the witch of Endor, without knowing what is at stake. A gift of the Spirit does not attract people and does not bind to a person, but to God. Anyone who presents himself as spiritually gifted has already betrayed himself, because it is pretended that the gift belongs to man. In fact, however, all the gifts of the Spirit remain subject to the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Wherever the Holy Spirit operates gifts, attention is not focused on the bearer of the gift, but on the Lord, who works all things in all. God never wants us to look up to a man and even become dependent on him in the assumption: there God reveals everything. In such cases, the person concerned can no longer walk with God and make decisions out of personal conviction in the freedom of the spirit, but is directed by self-invented visions and prophecies that make the deception perfect.

From the Scriptures we also learn that it was not believers who had already been following the Lord for years, but new converts, who had come to faith in Christ, who confessed their previous deeds in public because they happened in public and all were more or less affected by them, who publicly burned their magic books (Acts 19). Not a single one has publicly confessed anything personal – not even unbelievers who have just experienced the conversion process. Those who had stolen went to the one they had harmed and made good there – not by confessing elsewhere, but by doing the deed on the spot. Wherever people have become guilty, they have made amends for the harm done to those affected. Everything else is settled by everyone with their own God.

In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord emphasizes that people who want to make an offering on the altar, if they become aware that something is wrong, must leave the offering and make it right with the person concerned, whatever it may be.

As already explained, the Holy Scriptures do not teach a kind of confessional, let alone a public confession, but that everyone puts things in order where he has fallen. In Matthew 18 Peter asked if it was enough to forgive up to seven times. The Lord answered, "… up to seventy times seven!" If we thus confess our shortcomings, "… He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

A general confession of sins is not only unbiblical, but also nonsensical because it serves no purpose at all. For example, if we have sinned against someone, and we confess it publicly without having spoken to the person concerned, then he knows nothing about it, and consequently neither the one against whom we have committed nor we who confess it have anything to gain from it. The so-called "pious absolution" goes back to the time of the Middle Ages and is a purely Catholic institution of indulgence. Only those who have sinned against us can we forgive. We owe neither forgiveness nor confession to another.

The word from James 5:14-16 is often taken out of context and used to call meetings with a special confession of sins. But this passage, like all the others, must be left in the context in which it is written. This is about a believer who belongs to the congregation who has become ill. He should not step up to the podium in the church and confess there, but before the elders whom he had called to him. They are to pray over him, after anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: " And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up…" Only then follow the words: "… and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." This is exactly where the next verse belongs; "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed…"

There are diseases that come upon a person as a result of a direct transgression of the Word. In order for him to regain healing, the Spirit of God—no other—will admonish the person concerned to confess the matter. Then God will answer the prayer of the elders, bestow healing and raise up the sick again. Every word of God must be considered with the utmost care and left in the context in which it is written. Only in this way will we escape the pious cunning of Satan, who always deals with the Word unlawfully, never leaving a single word as it is, but always takes it out of context. We have to pay attention to that. It remains what God's Word says: "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." [Romans 4:7-8] God cannot count and punish twice. Our guilt and sin have been laid on the Lamb of God. He was wounded, beaten, and martyred for our sins and diseases. Our punishment was laid upon Him that we might have peace, and by His wounds we have been healed. Amen.

As we all know, it is the intention of Satan, the old accuser, to deny redemption to the redeemed by any means and thus throw them out of the state of grace. Unfortunately, he always finds people who make themselves available to him as tools in the congregation. For example, they then ask others in a very pious way to dig up sins from the past. They are said to be obstacles to the Spirit of God and the supernatural work of the Lord and thus to the flow of blessings. One specializes mainly in the area that belongs to the fall of man. Here, however, we must make a very clear distinction between the Spirit of God convicting us of a sermon through the Word, so that we lay down to the Lord what troubles us, or whether it is someone who demands of us a "confession of sins" in front of others. Even if this difference may not seem so big to everyone at the moment, it is actually sky-high. Only where the Spirit of God is at work will there be pleasing repentance and inner bowing before God, combined with reconciliation, forgiveness and purification, as David said: "I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord;' and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin…" [Psalm 32:5]

But where people make the demand under pious pretext – but always only with others – that they have to undergo a purification, perhaps even listing things and asking whether they have occurred, believers who have already experienced forgiveness are defiled anew, yes, irreconcilability and enmity are re-established. On what biblical grounds should a believer who has received assurance of salvation and praised the grace of God go back to his past after ten, twenty, or more years of following the Lord to get something out of it? This in itself is a repudiation of total and complete redemption and forgiveness. What does Scripture say? Scripture says, "… Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases…" [Psalm 103:3]

God laid the entire curse and all sin on the sacrificial lamb. The Redeemer was made sin for all redeemed, that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. He was nailed to the cursed tree so that we would be delivered from the curse and become the blessed of the Lord. Paul writes: "… Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." (Romans 4:25). Of justification, the man of God, William Branham, said that it means that man is restored before God to the state as if he had never sinned. Our Lord said to His own, "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." [John 15:3]

God speaks through the prophet Isaiah: "… though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." [Isaiah 1:18] According to the New Testament letters, we are dealing with an everlasting salvation. By the blood of the Lamb, every damage has been made well, every guilt forgiven, every sin has been blotted out. The certificate of debt is torn apart once and for all, as it is written: "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross." (Colossians 2:13-14).

In the statements of the letter to the Hebrews, this is summarised to us: "… By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all… For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, 'This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days', saith the Lord, 'I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them'; And 'their sins and iniquities will I remember no more'. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." (Hebrews 10:10 +14-18)

What good would it do a person if he were to rummage around in his life anew after ten, twenty, thirty years of being a believer? Paul says that it is shameful to even speak of what happened in secret. But it is precisely those who present themselves in such a holy way who indulge in their lust when others bring something out of their personal realm. The consequence of such confessions of sins, however, is that the "confessor" thereby withdraws from grace and forgiveness and returns to the old state. An irreparable irreconcilability and enmity is established because the work of redemption accomplished on the cross of Golgotha is set aside.

Paul was the teacher appointed by God who also gave the instructions as to how the work of the Spirit actually takes place in the church. In 1 Corinthians 14 he says: "If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth." This is the biblical work of the Holy Spirit in the church of the living God! No one is exposed, and certainly not the sins of the believers, who have long since been covered and forgiven by the blood of the Lamb, but the intention of the unbelievers, who, for example, come to a meeting with evil intentions, is revealed in a very concrete way. The person in question knows exactly that he and no one else is meant. He is specifically addressed, the secret thoughts of his heart are revealed, and so, as it is written, he falls on his face—not on his back—and confesses, "God is indeed at work in you."

However, wherever self-proclaimed prophets and prophetesses conduct their business, it is in fact always associated with personal prestige or advantages for them. By supposedly engaging in the spiritual realm, they derive earthly benefits. One seeks her out like they did back then with the witch of Endor, without knowing what is at stake. A gift of the Spirit does not attract people and does not bind to a person, but to God. Anyone who presents himself as spiritually gifted has already betrayed himself, because it is pretended that the gift belongs to man. In fact, however, all the gifts of the Spirit remain subject to the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Wherever the Holy Spirit operates gifts, attention is not focused on the bearer of the gift, but on the Lord, who works all things in all. God never wants us to look up to a man and even become dependent on him in the assumption: there God reveals everything. In such cases, the person concerned can no longer walk with God and make decisions out of personal conviction in the freedom of the spirit, but is directed by self-invented visions and prophecies that make the deception perfect.

From the Scriptures we also learn that it was not believers who had already been following the Lord for years, but new converts, who had come to faith in Christ, who confessed their previous deeds in public because they happened in public and all were more or less affected by them, who publicly burned their magic books (Acts 19). Not a single one has publicly confessed anything personal – not even unbelievers who have just experienced the conversion process. Those who had stolen went to the one they had harmed and made good there – not by confessing elsewhere, but by doing the deed on the spot. Wherever people have become guilty, they have made amends for the harm done to those affected. Everything else is settled by everyone with their own God.

In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord emphasizes that people who want to make an offering on the altar, if they become aware that something is wrong, must leave the offering and make it right with the person concerned, whatever it may be.

As already explained, the Holy Scriptures do not teach a kind of confessional, let alone a public confession, but that everyone puts things in order where he has fallen. In Matthew 18 Peter asked if it was enough to forgive up to seven times. The Lord answered, "… up to seventy times seven!" If we thus confess our shortcomings, "… He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

A general confession of sins is not only unbiblical, but also nonsensical because it serves no purpose at all. For example, if we have sinned against someone, and we confess it publicly without having spoken to the person concerned, then he knows nothing about it, and consequently neither the one against whom we have committed nor we who confess it have anything to gain from it. The so-called "pious absolution" goes back to the time of the Middle Ages and is a purely Catholic institution of indulgence. Only those who have sinned against us can we forgive. We owe neither forgiveness nor confession to another.

The word from James 5:14-16 is often taken out of context and used to call meetings with a special confession of sins. But this passage, like all the others, must be left in the context in which it is written. This is about a believer who belongs to the congregation who has become ill. He should not step up to the podium in the church and confess there, but before the elders whom he had called to him. They are to pray over him, after anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: " And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up…" Only then follow the words: "… and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." This is exactly where the next verse belongs; "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed…"

There are diseases that come upon a person as a result of a direct transgression of the Word. In order for him to regain healing, the Spirit of God—no other—will admonish the person concerned to confess the matter. Then God will answer the prayer of the elders, bestow healing and raise up the sick again. Every word of God must be considered with the utmost care and left in the context in which it is written. Only in this way will we escape the pious cunning of Satan, who always deals with the Word unlawfully, never leaving a single word as it is, but always takes it out of context. We have to pay attention to that. It remains what God's Word says: "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." [Romans 4:7-8] God cannot count and punish twice. Our guilt and sin have been laid on the Lamb of God. He was wounded, beaten, and martyred for our sins and diseases. Our punishment was laid upon Him that we might have peace, and by His wounds we have been healed. Amen.