And you know, James 5 is a chapter that we often neglect because of the fact that it's
a chapter that's abused by the Roman Catholics.
And you know, sometimes there are scriptures in the Bible that false religions will twist
and abuse.
And then we sometimes make the mistake of just walking away from that scripture and
ignoring it.
Now, just because someone is misinterpreting and abusing and misusing a scripture, you
know what?
We still need to go to that scripture and find out what it really means and apply it
to our lives and not just throw it out.
You know, and for example, the concept of, you know, anointing with oil and praying for
the sick.
You know, the Pentecostals have abused that and turned it into a Las Vegas show that comes
to town, right?
And claim to be an apostle, but they're liars, and they claim to be able to do these miracles
that they can't really perform.
Let me tell you something.
We still should follow James 5, even though the Pentecostals have abused it.
And then the Roman Catholics have abused it with their last rites, you know, where they
anoint on the deathbed and the last rites and the false doctrine associated with that.
And then also the doctrine of confession has been abused by the Roman Catholic Church with
the confessional booth.
You know, where you go to the priest and you confess your sins to the priest through this
little anonymous, little grading or whatever bizarre thing.
And he tells you, "Okay, I forgive you.
You know, do these Hail Marys and these Our Fathers."
You know, that's a lie out of the pit of hell to think that we could go to some man who
we have not sinned against in any way, shape, or form, and that somehow he represents Christ.
He does not represent Christ.
There is one mediator between God and man, and it's not a guy who calls himself Father.
It is not a Catholic priest.
He is not the mediator between God and man.
Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and man.
And if I need to be forgiven by God, I'm going to pray to the Father in Jesus' name.
I'm not going to go to that guy.
I don't need him.
I don't need his help for anything, okay?
But with that being said, even though the confessional booth is a wicked heresy and
the confessional booth is totally unscriptural and wicked, but in James 5, the Bible does
tell us, let's read it in verse 14, "Is any sick among you, let him call for the elders
of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the
Lord."
And that is something that we should do.
I'm not saying, you know, oh, you have a cold, okay, let's come and pray over you, anoint
you.
But you know, when people are deathly, and I've done this before, when people are deathly
still, you know, this does come into play.
But he says, "Let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the
prayer of faith shall save the sick."
And again, not talking about he's going to go to heaven now, that's not what it's saying.
He's saying it's going to save him as in it's going to save his life from death because
he's on the point of death.
The prayer of faith shall save, the Lord shall raise him up, meaning he's going to come out
of the deathbed that he's on.
He's going to be back up and about.
And if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
But look, verse 15 ties in with verse 16.
It says, "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another that ye may be healed.
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
So this is the part that we ignore is verse 16.
Because we look at that and we say, "You don't confess your sins to a man.
Only confess your sins to God.
Don't confess to that priest."
That's true, but hold on.
The reason why the confessional booth doesn't fit in here is because it says, "Confess your
faults one to another."
It doesn't say one person is always confessing their faults to the other guy because he's
the representative of God on earth.
That's the false doctrine.
And hey, if you went into that confessional booth and ripped down the grading, tell them
what you did and then say, "Now, what'd you do, you pervert, you stinking Catholic pedophile
priest, whatever you are."
But I'm just saying, the point is, the Bible is teaching us to confess our faults one to
another.
And that shows that sometimes there is a time to confess your sins unto someone else, besides
God.
Does it not say that?
And it doesn't say, "Confess your sins to the pastor," like, "I'm the holy man of God
and I'm here to take your confessions after the service today."
It says, "Confess your faults one to another."
That's a two-way street.
That's an attitude that says, "You know what?
When I sin against someone and when I wrong someone, I should tell that person, I should
go to that person and tell them, 'Hey, I'm sorry, I've done wrong,' okay?
And not try to hide and cover our sins and to be a humble enough person to admit when
we've done wrong and to confess our faults one to another and to pray one for the other
that we will be healed, okay?
So this is a biblical doctrine of confession.
Confession to God, yes.
Confession to our brothers and sisters in Christ, yes, okay.
Confessional booth, no.