The whole book was directly written to all the believers in Ephesus. It was not written to unbelievers, although the truths contained in the letter can be used to proclaim the gospel to unbelievers. Since it was written to believers, we can conclude that the teachings contained therein can be applied to believers from any region, since God is not a respecter of persons. Paul was not from Ephesus, but writes ‘us’ and ‘we’ showing that what he is saying is applicable to him and the believers in Ephesus, and thus believers from other regions too by implication.

I have read this article and followed the thread of comments. I have truly enjoyed reading everyone’s comments. You know, I have been in the ministry for 14 years now. I began in the Assemblies of GOD, was with the Church of GOD a while, independent Pentecostal churches and Word of Faith churches. Kenyon’s book “Two Kinds of Righteousness” was an eye opener for me when I first read it ten years ago. I saw that we too often preach things that we later contradict ourselves on.

I read the following comment above: “Actually the word confess there in the context is the greek word homologeo. Homo means same where you get homosexual. logeo means word. So, the word literally means same word. It means to agree with God. So, confession of sin is actually to agree with God about your sin that your sin has been judged at the cross and has been cleansed by the blood of Jesus.” I feel that the LORD dealt with me about this several years ago and the Holy Spirit illuminated this exact same truth to me through the Word of GOD. This is a good explanation of what John means when he speaks of confessing. How can we say in one breath that HE laid all of our sins, past, present and future on Jesus, then turn around and say that HE will hold those that we fail to “confess” against us? If we are a new creation, re-created in HIS likeness in righteousness and true holiness then there obviously can be no sin in us. HE did indeed take care of the old “sin problem” once and for all! To all of these other fine people who have left comments, I am not siding with, or against anyone, simply sharing my belief on this.

All in all, I enjoyed the entire article Cornel! I’d like to add that I have been involved with the healing ministry from the beginning. I was first introduced to the Gospel through the miracle ministry of Ernest Angley. Later I was ordained in ministry by an old miracle worker named H. Richard Hall who was a ministry associate of William Branham. They operated very similar. I have served as an associate evangelist and Elder of Dr. T.L. Lowery, who had a 10,000 seat Gospel tent under which tens of thousands of miracles took place. I am friends with W.V. Grant Jr., Joel Hitchcock and Joseph Martin, all who have powerful healing ministries. I know T.L. and LaDonna Osborn out in Tulsa. Combined, they have eye witnessed more miracles of healing than perhaps anyone. Curry Blake and I go back a few years as well. His teaching are revolutionary. I believe that what he is teaching will bring in the next great healing revival, if I may use this terminology without being misunderstood.

Cornel, of the many people that I have fellowshipped with that have been following Curry, you seem to have the right attitude toward those who perhaps do not see eye to eye with you. That’s the way Curry handles people privately that disagree with him. He is very patient with them until they either get the truth he is presenting, or else decide to agree to disagree. However, he can be rather blunt with those who just want to argue! lol Cornel, many blessings my good brother! Keep it up.

On John’s use of : “1Jo 3:9 KJV – Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” Your argument on the use of the word ‘cannot’ makes perfect sense. I asked that question an awful lot anytime I heard that message being preached.
However, that word translated phrase ‘he cannot’ in the greek is actually 2 words: ou dunatai. Which literally means:
ou – an absolute negative, ‘neither,not, nay …’
dunatai ( from dunamai) – to be able or possible.
With that information, John’s letter seems to actually say its not possible for one born of God to sin. Any ideas on this everyone? John even says in verse 6: ” Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. (KJV)”.
That seems pretty harsh and definite on his path.

Also, please take note of :
“1 John 2:12-13
I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.

13 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
(KJV)”

These were the same ‘little children ( saints) to whom he said to confess their sins ye he tells them that their sins are forgiven. Because they confessed? Nope, but because they have known the Father (i.e. they know his true nature). Remember in chapter 2 he said if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with that Father? He wanted them to be conscious of grace and the finished work of Jesus and understand that though they might sin, their eyes have to be kept on Jesus. He gives them the hard reality in chapter 3 when he makes it clear that there are only 2 sides: Those who know God and those who don’t.

On 1 John 1:9, notice WHY God forgives our sins: “…he is faithful and Just to forgive us…”. It’s not because we wept up a river and confessed cos frankly, we could have chosen to not sin but we did sin in light of his truth ( in reference to present and future sins). He forgives because He is faithful ( to His promise and covenant) and Just ( just in justifying the ungodly by faith in Jesus as Legally, Jesus paid for it).
So why confess? Its cos it gets us to the point where we can receive what He’s done.
(Note that repentance is necessary. i.e., basically setting or minds on God and fighting whatever stands as sin in out path. This is evident in the actual root of the word translated ‘confess’. I’ll be happy to clarify if anyone has questions).

For instance, all those going to hell are going not because Jesus didn’t pay for their sins, but because they never received it. In a like manner, this confession gets us to accepting what He has done.

The Lord showed me something sometime back which astounded me about Paul’s writings. Notice this:
Eph 4:20-24

20 You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21 Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
(NIV)

Paul was asking them to quit sin and put on the real them, their new nature. This theme is carried through majority of his writings. We don’t quit sin to make God love us, we quit sin because we are deceiving ourselves if we sin. Jesus fixed the sin problem ( Thank you Lord!!! ) by giving us a new spirit, created to be just like him. The Christian life is from the inside out and not the outside in; we have to understand that. We fight and quit our failing because that’s not who we are anymore, knowing that if we fail a million times, Jesus has paid for us a million times +1, always there to see us through and lift us up when we return to His grace. Just to further reinforce this, notice something interesting about how Paul viewed this truth:
“Eph 4:28
et him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
(KJV)”

Why should he stop stealing? Cos the law said so? Nope, cos he is filled with love and compassion towards the needy by virtue of the Love of God in him, and as thus, quit forcing himself to be a devil’s kid and do what his spirit is yearning to do, i.e. give from his own labour. Wow! I pray this hits you guys like it hit me! Careful study will indeed reveal a whole new purpose for living Holy, without the fear of there being some hidden sin God will bring to our account and cast us to hell over.

… man, i write alot, sorry guys . lol

PS: Technically, any sin you commit becomes a ‘past’ sin so….
PSS: On Hebrews 10, lets try to remember that the writer wrote a letter, not a book with chapters and verses . Read into chapter 11 and you might realize that his emphasis was on faith in Jesus. Even if not, [ i appeal to your personal experiences here]. Why do you repent of a sin and turn back to God when you fail? Is it because the bible said so specifically? Or is it because deep down within you, you are dying to please Him and hate the very fact that you fell short? Its the latter for most, because your new nature is by default: Righteousness of God. So, the person who sins willfully here ( Heb 10:26++ ) who should be afraid of the Judgment of God isn’t he who knew the truth and lied and with true sorrow in his heart, went to the Lord’s arms of embrace. It is he, who knowing full well that he has failed the Lord, chooses to keep in his sin and not care; that’s a recipe for disaster right there.
In all I have said, I stand to be corrected and am definitely open for discussion and clarification where necessary. That’s what believer’s do, we check each other with the word and spur each other on to Kingdom works!

In Love.
Stay blessed

Forgive to be forgiven was an Old Covenant law requirement. When Jesus taught this He hadn’t yet gone through the cross. After that everything changed.

Col 3:13 forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Under the New Covenant we forgive as we HAVE BEEN forgiven. We don’t forgive to be forgiven.

Cornel