We received the following mass e-mail (click HERE to skip to Victor’s reply):
PLEASE READ ALL THE WAY AND FORWARD TO THE PEOPLE YOU CARE ABOUT.
To those of you who are single or married, saved or not saved, this is for you. I am a 35-year-old African American or Black brother dying of Aids.
I would like to share my testimony with you.
I am an owner of a Mortgage Company in Atlanta , GA. I own a 2007 Jaguar and I also own a $350,000 beautiful home in Cobb County . I have a beautiful Lady who is deeply in love with me and a loving family. But most important, I love Jesus , this is just a wake up call to all single brothers and sisters who are professing to be Christians, but don’t want to be complete. Brothers, I had a beautiful young lady who loves the Lord and worships the ground I walk on. But I still wasn’t quite happy because sometimes I would see another sister with a Coca-Cola bottle shape and just wanted to hit it. Because I was using a condom, I thought that I wouldn’t catch any disease especially the killer ‘AIDS’ but guess what? I did. And the person I caught it from was a girl that I knew very well. But the condom came off and now I am dying of AIDS. Yes, I wore a condom and yes it did happen. God gives us time after time to straighten our lives up. I do know the Lord in his abandon pardon will forgive me of my sins. I’ve been saved now for 7 years. I found out 7 months ago that I had the virus, and now I have full-blown Aids. I really didn’t think that I was doing anything wrong, because I would tell the women who I would deal with about the woman I love. I thought that was good enough. But it wasn’t. I am a good man and also a God-fearing man; but I have a weakness for women… I really wasn’t out there like you may think I was, but every once in a while I would see something and I wanted to try. My girlfriend is a prayerful woman. I know now that she was intimate with me only because she loved me and she wanted to make me happy. Now I’ve given AIDS to the woman I love (the only one who has been faithful to me) because of my lust.
Brothers and sisters, what I am telling you is that God is tired of us hurting each other and using each other for self-gratification. God has given me my home, my dream car and a beautiful woman and I took it all for granted. I’ve been tithing for 7 years. I am the chairman of my Deacon Board. But when I told my Pastor I had AIDS, he could not believe it because of the way I would carry myself. Brothers, If you have a sister who loves the Lord and who loves you for who you are and not for what you look like and what you have, cherish and love her. Sisters. If you have a brother who loves the Lord, love and cherish him. My life has been altered. I’ve been with my lady since I was 20, and I’ve always used my young age as an excuse for not being loyal and not settling down with her. I was being a hypocrite thinking that I was missing something, and not realizing that I had a good woman who loved and adored me. I wish I had been a real man and I had appreciated the good woman God had sent by my side by not making excuses and dedicating my life to her. I would love to travel and marry this beautiful young Lady, but now I can’t. I’ve embarrassed my family, my church and my friends. But I was hardheaded and now I must suffer. God is cleaning up. Stop playing with God. He is revealing the secrets of us Christians. Brothers and sisters, we don’t have to have so many ‘friends,’ you know what we call them. The ones we sleep with, the ones we intend to sleep with but haven’t yet’ and the one we intend to ‘marry’ We don’t want anyone to know our business, but God has his way of revealing you to the world. The young people of today think so carnal and we say we have been transformed. We have been transformed from what we want to be transformed from. Let’s be real. God knows that the opposite sex attracts us, he also knows the desires we have for each other because he created us that way, but we do not have to have multiple partners.
If I could do it all over again, I would marry the woman I love and live happy forever. But now I can’t! But you can! Singles…I gotta tell you, it’s not worth it.
I urge you all Get rid of casual sex. This is really deep. After you’ve read this, think about yourself. Could this have been you? Some of you may not relate, but think about anything you are doing right now that is not of God. We are living in the last and final days, and pretending to be saved is not going to cut it. Professing that He is Lord, and yet worshipping the devil every chance you get will lead you to the same path I am walking on.. Get your mind out off the gutter and put it in the Word of God and you’ll have great success. Don’t and you’ll have great woe.. I love the LORD and thank Him for all that He does in my life; therefore, I’m passing this on, this is my testimony and sermon to you. Yes, I do love Jesus who has forgiven me of the repeated sins. That forgiveness does not cancel out the consequences, I have to suffer the consequences of my sins and that’s on me. Still, the Lord is my source of existence and Savior. He keeps me functioning each day and he has given me the strength and ability to share my story with you.
I’m telling it like it is THIS REALLY is to help somebody. You know yourself, You know what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong. Do not let the world judge you coz it judges harshly and without mercy. Do the right thing man. I pray and trust you can take the courage I didn’t have and straighten up your life before it’s too late. I have Christ now for he is my source of joy and strength, I am nothing without him but with Him I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil 4:13
Be Positive – Be Progressive…Take the time to make a positive difference in yours & someone’s life.
God Bless
When you reach the end of your rope, Tie a knot, HANG ON and PRAY
Victor’s reply:
For those who have red and do circulate this story of a once wayward Christian minister, now HIV positive:
We declare to you that this story was not written by a true Christian, as pretended or presumed. We critique this not so much to expose the person, but to expose the fallacy of the story so that others can understand. We do it for teaching purposes to point out the signs of the unrighteous and the righteous, that people may discern between good and evil, between those who serve God and those who do not.
“Then you shall again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God, and him who does not serve Him” (Malachi 3:18 MKJV).
There are at least two possibilities for the origin of this story: one, the author is a deliberate liar and storyteller who sensationalizes and seeks attention, making it all up; or two, it is the story of a man who thinks he believes in Jesus Christ and who presumes to be a minister. The truth is that he does not believe, and he was never a true believer in Christ, much less a minister of God. If this was written by a person who tried somewhat honestly to tell his story, it is possible that he served in an official way as a minister, but as defined and appointed by men, not by God. If he sincerely thinks he was, or thinks he is, a believer, he is wrong.
Some may argue that he might have been a believer or man of God who fell away to sin and has repented. This is not true. By the fruit of his lips, as reflected in the story, the author is clearly a phony. He never knew the Lord, and he has no repentance now. If the person is real, the regret, if any, is for consequences, and not because he has any true remorse for the wrong itself. Having regret for consequences means absolutely nothing to God. One sees that sort of thing in the world all the time.
Here are the earmarks of falsehood in this story:
One, those who love the Lord will identify themselves:
“But people who do what is true come to the light so that the things they do for God may be clearly seen” (John 3:21 GW).
This fellow has not identified himself or made himself available. He hedges.
Two, if this man is repentant of his sins, why does he display a proud picture? With the sins he has confessed, bringing death and destruction to loved ones, how can he in all good conscience, in light of the subject matter, display himself this way? The man is plainly a phony. To say he “loves Jesus” is to lie.
Three, if his girlfriend had faith and love for God and was “a prayerful woman,” as he claims, God would not have permitted the tragedy that allegedly happened to her. Just what is prayer all about anyway, if not fellowship and harmony with God? By these foolish remarks, this rogue makes God out to be some ethereal, impersonal, removed, impotent, careless entity, leaving his children in ignorance of danger and permitting vile injustice even if they love and obey Him. That is not how God works.
Four, if she was a godly woman, she would not be sleeping with her boyfriend.
I have not mentioned this sooner because it is my conviction that an absence of official papers and ceremonies does not mean two people are not married in God’s sight; consider Isaac and Rebecca, for example – where were their license and ceremony? This is also true with some (not necessarily all) “common law” marriages. A legal license and ceremony, whether by a religious minister or a Justice of the Peace, does not make a marriage before God.
In this case, this couple saw themselves as “friends” and not as committed marriage partners. Their association seems to have been one of convenience and not of a God-formed union.
Five, that he should call her a girlfriend yet sleep with her also tells us he has nothing to do with the Lord except to vainly worship Him with his lips.
Six, if this fellow knew his girlfriend loved the Lord, he would not say that she worships other gods: “who loves the Lord and worships the ground I walk on.” If she worships the ground he walks on, she does not love the Lord.
Seven, if he worshipped the Lord, he would not permit her to worship him; and he would not boast or speak of it as something innocent or acceptable in God’s sight. The storyteller is full of himself.
Eight, he writes: “I do know the Lord in his abandon pardon will forgive me of my sins. I’ve been saved now for 7 years.”
“Abandon pardon”? Do I hear or read correctly? Only devils choose to believe and teach that God grants unconditional pardon to those who deliberately continue in sin (if that is what he means).
A saved man does not live in fornication. A man who is saved demonstrates that salvation by his fruits, not that one is saved by works, but as Paul and James teach, the fruits tell whether one is saved or not. This man is a fornicator and has the notion, or is trying to deceive others into thinking that people can love the Lord and fornicate at the same time, which is absurd, even blasphemous. Yet there are many millions of false Christians who think they can love the Lord and live in sin at the same time. There is nothing farther from the truth:
“He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him” (John 14:21 MKJV).
He contradicts himself by admitting that what he has done is sin and that it simply does not pay. So which is it? He is confused and serves to confuse all those who read his story.
“Minister HIV” goes on to reveal himself, “I really didn’t think that I was doing anything wrong, because I would tell the women who I would deal with about the woman I love.”
One who is saved has the Spirit of God. The writer says that “God gives us time after time to straighten our lives up.” Is he saying that the Spirit of God does not convict of sin? How can one think he is not doing anything wrong when God convicts? How does God convict? By leaving you thinking you really aren’t doing anything wrong, especially when fornicating, when the Bible urgently warns to “flee fornication”?
No, the Holy Spirit convicts of sin. Don’t be deceived: he or she that is in sin without conviction of sin is an unregenerate sinner and not a saint (a saint is simply one who believes and loves the Lord; he or she is a true born-again believer).
Six, he writes, “I am a good man and also a God-fearing man; but I have a weakness for women…” Liar! A good man, God-fearing? Didn’t Jesus say no man is good? Doesn’t the Bible speak of the abject depravity of mankind? Didn’t this fellow just confess to vile, lethal, selfish sins? He says he is sick, but he has no use for the Physician. Is the Savior not greater than man’s greatest weakness? This man makes excuses for his chosen depravity.
Job was described by God as perfect, upright, one who feared God and eschewed evil, yet by the time God was through with him, Job had to confess himself in a new reality, in another dimension other than the one of Law and self-righteousness. He said, in brokenness of spirit:
“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye has seen You. Therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6 MKJV).
The author of this story has no shame, though he “confesses” publicly and “warns against” his sin. He takes pride in his confession and warning. “Look at me and how noble I am that I should warn everyone!” There is not a stitch of humility or godly sorrow, much less abhorrence for himself and his ways, as was with Job, this in spite of his alleged HIV positive condition.
Seven, there are several kinds of love, and he confuses the sensual with the Heavenly; he speaks of the “eros” (lustful) or “phileo” (friendly) kind of love as “agape” (spiritual) love. If he knew the Lord, if he was saved as claimed, he would know the difference, but he does not.
He says, “I know now that she was intimate with me only because she loved me and she wanted to make me happy.” If she truly loved him (her “neighbor”) as herself, and loved God, she would not have slept with him. If she and her love for him ever existed, hers was an earthly, fleshly love and not a godly one.
Eight, he says, “Now I’ve given AIDS to the woman I love (the only one who has been faithful to me) because of my lust.” Again, there is “love” and there is “love.” If he truly loved her, he would not have done all this to her.
Nine, he writes, “Brothers and sisters, what I am telling you is that God is tired of us hurting each other and using each other for self-gratification.”
Really? “Tired of it”? Is he saying that God was putting up with this kind of lifestyle without too much concern before now? This guy is a liar even as he “preaches” righteousness. He makes sin to be somewhat lacking in gravity, even as he “warns.” Why? Because he has no true sense of sin and guilt for sin. He is a deceiver. As the Scripture declares:
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 MKJV
(13) For such ones are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
(14) Did not even Satan marvelously transform himself into an angel of light?
(15) Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.
Ten, he writes, “God is cleaning up. Stop playing with God. He is revealing the secrets of us Christians. Brothers and sisters, we don’t have to have so many ‘friends,’ you know what we call them. The ones we sleep with, the ones we intend to sleep with….”
Yes, God is cleaning up. He is exposing those who deceive themselves, pretending they are Christians, and this boy’s road of exposure is not yet complete. “We don’t have to have so many [bed partners]”? Isn’t that a quaint way of putting it!
Eleven, he says, “I urge you all Get rid of casual sex. This is really deep.”
“Deep”? Deep to whom? As a professing believer loving God, he refers to the very basics of what is expected of new, carnal Christians, as Paul did of the Corinthians, and he calls it “really deep”? If a puddle of water on a paved road is deep, what is water in a well, lake, or ocean? Infinite? This man is so removed from the holiness of God and so ignorant of His Person and Character, while speaking in His Name, as to make angels want to puke.
Twelve, he says, “We are living in the last and final days, and pretending to be saved is not going to cut it.”
So which is it now? Is the cat out of the bag? Was he saved for seven years and living in sin, or was he pretending to be saved?
Thirteen, he goes on to describe those things of which he says God is “growing tired” as “professing that He is Lord, and yet worshipping the devil every chance you get….” He is right about worshipping the devil by those ways he “confesses” but these remarks continue to expose him for what he is, a phony. Which is the point of this paper – to help people see through the garbage parading as pious faith. He says, “Yes, I do love Jesus who has forgiven me of the repeated sins.” With proof, I say otherwise.
Here, however, is a truthful word from him. He says, “That forgiveness does not cancel out the consequences….” Indeed, forgiveness does not cancel consequences for sin, as many teach, and the more deliberate the sins, with knowledge of wrongdoing, the greater the consequences.
Fourteen, he says, “Do not let the world judge you coz it judges harshly and without mercy.”
I must say that when a sinner recognizes his or her sin for what it is, especially when it is as pernicious as the case alleged here, he will not care how the world judges him. He will have that sense of guilt and shame as to say, “I abhor myself! I deserve the worst, the very worst, therefore, let it be, whatever it is!”
Indeed, when King David was given a choice between falling into man’s hands and falling into God’s hands, he plainly declared that to fall into God’s was much preferable (2 Samuel 24:11-14). However, by the prophet Gad, God granted David that choice; David did not presume it. He was not advised to refuse or avoid justice if there was any coming, as this fellow seems to be advising. Who are sinners to decide for themselves what kind of judgment is coming to them? Is not God over men and all spirits, as with lions in the den with Daniel?
Fifteen, he rides off into the sunset, sounding a hero’s note, saying, “Be Positive – Be Progressive…Take the time to make a positive difference in yours & someone’s life.”
Did you know that to be a hero is to be antiChrist? Think about it.
If one turns from breaking the Law of God and worshipping the Devil, he is being progressive and taking the time to “make a positive difference in yours & someone’s life”? How much better can Satan put it, in order to subtly leave one with the impression that putting away sin is a matter of self-virtue and heroism, some sort of favorable option one takes time for to make a difference?
“Hey man,” he says, “you don’t have to FLEE fornication, you know what I mean. It’s just a good thing not to do! Be a man; buck up; take the time; be progressive.”
A true believer would declare the destructive behavior as a grave and urgent matter, one of life and death. There really is no godly conscience here or real conviction of sin that I can discern. I have learned that if something like that is hard to identify, beware – it most likely is not there as claimed.
When the Lord brought me to that place of conviction of inherent wrongness (not of specific sins but of nature), I knew I deserved nothing good and the utmost of bad. I believed I deserved to suffer even the erroneous pagan doctrine of intense, eternal torment. Thankfully, God has had mercy on me and brought me into rest with Him, from where I can “…see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God, and him who does not serve Him” (Malachi 3:18 MKJV).
Why are the readers of this story passing it around as though it has some kind of virtue, as though they do service to God and neighbor by circulating it? Those who publish and distribute this story are at the least unlearned and naïve, if not deceived and in the same darkness as the author of the story, whether the author is real or pretend. I say to all those who saw nothing wrong with the story, “REPENT.” You have little if any idea how serious a matter it is to be so blind. You are yet in your sins and judgment awaits you.
Read How One Is Saved.
Victor Hafichuk