Micah 7:18, "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy."
It is now 4:16 am on Thursday, January 15, 2026. I woke up at 3:58 am and couldn't sleep. I have been getting to bed early at 9 to 10 pm, which is the best way to get a good night's sleep. Pastor Lester Roloff (1914-1982) used to wisely say: “One hour of sleep before midnight is worth two hours after midnight.” So true! I feel refreshed.
By God's grace, I woke up today thinking about one of my favorite Scripture passages from Micah 7:18, "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy." I am so thankful that the living God of the universe and beyond is a good, loving, moral, ethical and forgiving God.
The Dangers Of Refusing To Forgive Others
The inspired Holy Bible repeatedly warns about the dangers of not forgiving others. James 2:13, “For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.” The good LORD hates when anyone refuses to forgive someone. The inspired Word of God is full of passages about the need to forgive others. ...
Matthew 18:21-22, “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”
In other words, unlimited forgiveness. But does God expect us to forgive people who have never sought for our forgiveness? Yes, absolutely! I love what Pastor Jack Hyles said in a sermon titled 'Forgiveness': “I decided years ago to forgive everybody before it is asked.” Yes Sir, I love that way of thinking and I did the same thing.
But do you have to like the person or go to them to reconcile when you forgive them? No, because you are the victim, the offended party. In many cases the perpetrator of the wrong will not apologize, reconcile or bother to even attempt to make thing right.
Since we are all guilty sinners (Romans 3:10-23), we have no right to condemn anyone. You and I (and everybody else) have been hurt and wronged by other sinners throughout life. We ought not condemn them, but rather to place their offenses into the Lord's hands for judgment in eternity. This is forgiveness. Remember, forgiveness is not for the person who did you wrong, it is for you, so that you can move on with the peace in your soul of knowing that God will duly deal with that wicked person. God will make all things right!
Matthew 7:1-5, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.”
I am the biggest sinner I know, and so are you if you're honest with yourself and God. I am the biggest sinner I know simply because I live with myself and know who I am. Who would better know our shortcomings, sins and weaknesses than we, other than God who created us?
The greater sinner is not the one who has done wrong, but the one who condemns another sinner. I am about to share a painful personal story with you, about a wicked pastor years ago who deeply hurt my family. I love the pastor with Christ's love and have prayed for him from time to time, but he is full of hatred and just plain unreasonable and mean. Our prayer is that God won't give him any rest until he make things right with his brother and sister in Christ whom he devastated 21 years ago. Sadly, he couldn't care less about his injurious behavior.
The Wicked Baptist Pastor In Chicago
For example: There is a wicked pastor on Chicago's northside who stole $10,000 from my family in 2004. That wicked man has never apologized or even tried to make reconciliation for his crimes against me and my family. I won't mention his name. I have never retaliated against that ungodly pastor with my website ministry. I have never mentioned his disgusting name or his wife. We gave the pastor and his wife a vehicle (a used Dodge van with an extended body) that cost us $4,800 in exchange for watching our three cats and one dog for 6 months when we moved from Chicago to Guam. We had just bought the van several months earlier because some wicked thieves (two black punks) stole our family's car. Due to quarantine laws our pets had to wait several months before being shipped to Guam.
The Baptist pastor in his living room had told me that he and his wife were planning to watch our pets for nothing (no money), but we are ethical and insisted to give them our family van. We also gave them about $1,000 in tools and household items that we didn't have room in the 20-foot storage container to take with us. They told us that the wife had grown up on a farm and was great with animals, so we felt at easy hearing that. Months later, they said that our dog (a small Shiatzu) bit their young child. The pastor claims that he gave away our dog away to a stranger on the street, but we think he killed her in anger. The pastor has a vicious hot temper, snapping at his wife continually. She coughed during his preaching and he rudely asked her if he could continue. What a monster!
The brutish (lacking good sense) pastor gave our family's three cats away to Animal Cruelty, which cost us another $3,500 to retrieve. The ungodly pastor had promised to destroy our license plates when we gave him the van, but he lied to us and didn't even remove the plates. Consequently, we had to pay two Chicago traffic citations for hundreds of dollars because the irresponsible pastor left the van blocking traffic. Woe unto that wicked pastor on Judgment Day when he answers to God! Woe unto that monster!
The wicked pastor, who had promised that he would watch out pets for “nothing,” then wickedly accused us of cheating him. He sent a thug letter from his thug lawyer, accusing us of giving him a van that only had a Blue Book value of $1,200. That van cost us $4,800 on our credit card, which money we still owed when we moved to Guam in 2004. That pastor is a lying fraudster, a religious punk and a dishonest person, for which sins he will be punished. What saith the Scripture? 1st Thessalonians 4:6-7, “That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.” This inspired Scripture passage is dear to me and my wife, fully trusting that God will punish that wicked thief, liar and dishonest pastor and his wife in Chicago.
Romans 12:19, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” I love that, vengeance is the LORD's! It is God's job to bring evildoers to justice, because we cannot.
I love God's promise to avenge all evil in Ecclesiastes 5:8, “If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.” As Americans, we have all seen blatant corruption in government (look at the massive fraud going on in California, Minnesota, New York and Ohio today), evildoers go Scott Free (none of the 9/11 perpetrators in the George W. Bush White House were even arrested), and violent perverting of justice (legalized abortion is first-degree premediated murder). Our great God promises to avenge all wrong doing, corruption and evil, even cruel spoken words intended to hurt the feelings of others (Matthew 12:26).
Now, I and my wife do not hate that wicked pastor and his wife in Chicago. They have dug their own graves, especially the belligerent proud husband. I sincerely believe that God will chastise that pastor in ways we simply cannot fathom. My wife said that she hopes God will force that pastor to suffer for the decades that he has caused us to suffer, because he refuses to apologize or make reconciliation. He owes us $10,000 plus damages for all our grief, financial losses and emotional pain. God sees everything (Hebrews 4:13).
If we had our way in the matter, that brutish pastor and his complicit wife would spend 20 years in prison (and not a day less), never eat their favorite food, drink nothing but water, rot in a 6' by 10' cell, and be required to reimburse us with considerable punitive damages. For the past 21 years we have had no choice but to cry out to God to be avenged of that ungodly “Christian” couple's crimes. This is our prayer to God because of the pastor's hardened wicked heart that refuses to repent. Proverbs 28:13, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” The lukewarm church in Laodicea thought they were prospering, but the LORD Himself in Revelation 3:17 called them naked, blind, miserable, poor and wretched. So also is that ungodly pastor and his wife in Chicago.
There is a certain minister that is much hated in America. He has been accused of raping a woman 40 years ago, but has never been held accountable for his wickedness and crimes. That Christian man has moved on, claiming God's forgiveness, while the alleged victim is angry and won't stop bringing up the matter publicly. She has sued him and the church she attended at the time of the alleged rape. Since so much time has passed, due to Statute of Limitation laws, there is nothing she can do. If it were Chicago, she could have him prosecuted due to there changed laws several years ago.
Now, is she wrong to refuse to let the rape go? Is she sinning by continually causing anger, tension and ill feelings everywhere she goes? I humbly think not. What else can she do? She is living in an emotional hell, suffering as a victim in pain. Yes, she could just place the matter into God's hands and try to forget about it for now, but that is something very few victims can do, if any ever have. To be honest, I am hardly ever reminded of what that wicked pastor in Chicago did to my family. But the pain is still there. The injustice is still there, like a painful wound covered over with an ugly scab, because he and his wife have never been held accountable for the evil things they maliciously did to us in carnal hatred.
So, there is a very big difference between crying out for justice as a hurting victim, versus condemning someone who has sinned. The former person has every right to be angry (e.g., the widow who wanted to be avenged by the judge in Luke 18:1-8) and call for justice, but the latter person does not (e.g., when the wicked men dragged a woman caught in the act of adultery to Jesus, but didn't bring the man). Luke 18:9, “And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others.”
God knows my heart, that I don't hate anyone. I could easily mention well over one hundred horrible offenses that wicked sinners have done to deeply hurt me and my family throughout my lifetime. Someone has said that life is all about people hurting people. Sadly, there is much truth to that claim. It is in our sinful nature to be selfish, self-centered, self-willed and not to care about others. By nature humans do not fear God (Romans 3:18).
I and my wife have found comfort and peace by resting in God's promise to avenge us of those who have hurt us (Romans 12:19). I assure you dear reader with all biblical authority that NO ONE ever gets away with anything (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; Matthew 12:36; Proverbs 24:12; Hebrews 4:13; 1st Thessalonians 4:6' Galatians 6:7; James 2:13).
Just as the faithful Lord delighteth in mercy, so do I. I decided to forgive that selfish pastor in Chicago a long time ago. I do not feel hatred toward him or his wife. I actually feel sorry for them, that they have carried this heavy burden for 21 years, if they are saved and have the Holy Spirit dwelling them. If you can sin and hurt others without any conviction from God's Holy Spirit, then you are not saved (Hebrews 12:6-8). Micah 7:18, "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy."
I love mercy and forgiveness, but I also love justice and righteousness. Just because you choose to forgive someone doesn't in any way let them off the hook or excuse them from the consequences of their wickedness. I have seen prison wardens cry with tears of love and concern as they flipped the power switch for the Electric Chair to kill a convicted criminal. I have seen judges in a small town weep as they sentenced a lifelong neighbour to life in prison for their crimes. So, just because you forgive someone who has wronged you; someone who is full of sinful pride and has never attempted to make things right with you; that doesn't in any way excuse, dismiss or exonerate them from being held accountable by God in eternity. Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”
Dear reader, I hope you see the difference between judging righteous judgment as versus wrongly condemning other sinners. If you don't have a dog in the fight, leave it alone.
The World's Bible Only Has Two Words: “Judge Not”
There is probably not a more misunderstood, confusing and abused doctrine in the Holy Bible than that of judging others. John 7:24, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” Biblically we are commanded to JUDGE others as saints, but with righteous judgment, not with the flesh (merely going by what we see). 1st Samuel 16:7 teaches that man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks upon the heart. Thus, as God's children we ought to judge people through a filter of God's inspired Word, and not merely with our fleshly human opinion.
Also, Bible preachers are commanded to expose sin. 1st Timothy 5:20, “Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.” The heathen world would quickly accuse such a fundamentalist Bible preacher of being “judgmental,” calling him a “legalist.” But the truth is that such a preacher would be faithfully doing his duty as a man of God. Isaiah 58:1, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” Amen and amen! I fully agree with Pastor Lester Roloff, who said that the great need of this hour is PREACHING PREACHERS!
I am sick and tired of hearing corrupt neo-evangelicals attribute the open sinfulness and carnality in today's dead churches to “Easy Believism” (which they claim is a false gospel that encourages people to continue living in sin). Dear reader, the problem is not with the Gospel, it is with today's irresponsible cowardly pastors who refuse to cry aloud without compromise or apology against the sin and wickedness of our generation.
Those wicked pastors don't want to suffer reproach for Christ. They don't want to be out outside the gate with Jesus. That is why Pensacola Christian College (PCC) refuses to contend for the Christian faith (Jude 1:3). They are content to take in $175,000,000 each year, but upholding the truth doesn't matter to them. At PCC, the cult system always comes first, but individual people do not matter. I learned that firsthand in 2021-2022 at their pathetic prejudiced, carnal, theologically corrupt and grudge-holding Campus Church.
In June of 2024, popular Canadian singer Justin Timberlake was arrested for a DWI (Driving While Intoxicated). The next day at the same hotel restaurant singer Billy Joel was asked for his opinion about the matter. Billy Joel responded to Justin Timberlake's DWI arrest by saying, “Judge not lest ye be judged” (Matthew 7:1), emphasizing that people should not rush to judgment without knowing the full story. Interestingly, Billy Joel is a devout atheist. I find it utterly humorous and alarmingly hypocritical that a hard core atheist would cite God's Word.
I could write many more things, but my heart's intent is to encourage you dear reader to forgive others who have wronged you. It matters not if they have sought for your forgiveness, forgive them anyway, by placing them into God's omnipotent hands for judgment. You have God's promise of justice (Romans 12:19-21). I have been deeply hurt and mistreated by more people (including several pastors) than I can possibly remember (nor do I try to remember).
Just Forgive Everybody Before They Ask
I could spend days sharing lengthy stories with you concerning the wicked things that rotten sinners (both Christian and unsaved alike) have done to hurt me over the 58 years of my life on earth. Lord willing, by His wondrous grace and love, I'll turn 59 years old on March 5th, 2026. We live in a wicked fallen world of sin dear friend (Romans 5:12; 1st John 5:19). I'll leave you with Jesus' pertinent words from John 16:33, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
Proverbs 19:11, “The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.” I would love for nothing more than to express my heartfelt forgiveness to all of the horrible people who've hurt me in my lifetime, but they don't care. The co-workers who stole my work uniforms (which I had to pay for) must answer to God someday. The punk who walked up on my front porch a couple years ago and stole my package from Amazon, must be held accountable by God in eternity. So also will the punks who went into my car in 2023 and stole my Bible, radio, cables and other items be held accountable by God. They also stole my new $75 propane tank for my barbeque, which I have since chained up. Brats!
But I feel nothing but God's love for those who've hurt me, because they (not me) are the evildoers who must give account to God. I can live with that, knowing that I did the right thing. I admit that I have plenty enough to answer for someday to God, and I am not proud of some of the things I've said and done in my life. I thank God for saving a hell-deserving wretched sinner like me when I was 12 years ago in 1979, who am so unworthy of God's great love and forgiveness.
Micah 7:18, "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy."
