1 Samuel 3:14 And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever.
This is about iniquity, Yahweh holding persons accountable for the problems they cause in the lives of others. It is not the same thing as sin or sins.
In bold face are the sins committed by Eli and his two sons. These days we see many rebellious sons but usually they are not in the ministry. And that is the key to the judgment of death on this pair – not that they were wicked, but that they used the holy things of Yahweh for evil, selfish purposes.
A Hard Life with Many Tears
22-25 By this time Eli was very old. He kept getting reports on how his sons were ripping off the people and sleeping with the women who helped out at the sanctuary. Eli took them to task: “What’s going on here? Why are you doing these things? I hear story after story of your corrupt and evil carrying on. Oh, my sons, this is not right! These are terrible reports I’m getting, stories spreading right and left among God’s people! If you sin against another person, there’s help—God’s help. But if you sin against God, who is around to help?”
25-26 But they were far gone in disobedience and refused to listen to a thing their father said. So God, who was fed up with them, decreed their death. But the boy Samuel was very much alive, growing up, blessed by God and popular with the people.
27-30 A holy man came to Eli and said: “This is God’s message: I revealed myself openly to your ancestors when they were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. Out of all the tribes of Israel, I chose your family to be my priests: to preside at the Altar, to burn incense, to wear the priestly robes in my presence. I put your ancestral family in charge of all the sacrificial offerings of Israel. So why do you now treat as mere loot these very sacrificial offerings that I commanded for my worship? Why do you treat your sons better than me, turning them loose to get fat on these offerings, and ignoring me? Therefore—this is God’s word, the God of Israel speaking—I once said that you and your ancestral family would be my priests indefinitely, but now—God’s word, remember!—there is no way this can continue.
I honor those who honor me;
those who scorn me I demean.
31-36 “Be well warned: It won’t be long before I wipe out both your family and your future family. No one in your family will make it to old age! You’ll see good things that I’m doing in Israel, but you’ll see it and weep, for no one in your family will live to enjoy it. I will leave one person to serve at my Altar, but it will be a hard life, with many tears. Everyone else in your family will die before their time. What happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be the proof: Both will die the same day.
Many preachers say Christians can’t go to hell
Maybe they have not read this passage. If you misuse the holy things of Yahweh in church or in public the curse of Eli is on you and your family. The New Testament repeat this warning in the book of Hebrews 6. Both Old and New Testament passages therefore verify that yes, it is possible to lose your salvation.
Yahweh judges poor parenting
Yahweh requires fathers to properly discipline their children, especially sons, as they are more likely to learn from fathers than mothers. Throughout the Old Testament the mothers and grandmothers of kings and leaders were identified not only by their fathers but also by their mothers and even grandmothers. Yahweh is demonstrating that individuals will receive judgment or praise from Yahweh for how they raise their children.
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 [c]if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; 8 but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
There are hosts of critics of TV preachers and others. I always advise them to keep their mouths shut about this. If these people are under the curse of Eli your being involved will do you no good, and not help them either. This curse also includes early death for the following generations, a warning to all those who serve the Lord in an official capacity.
Open criticism of Yahweh’s servants can get you in a heap of trouble as well. It can backfire so you must be disciplined, both you and your family, or stay away from ministry entirely. Yahweh is serious about this or we would not know about this.
If you have been victimized by religious people know this – Yahweh will avenge this in the end. It took years for the pedophilia in the Catholic Church to be addressed in the public square. Many ministers have hid their behavior, not the least being addiction to pornography – but it will all be exposed. Yahweh said, first His people and then those outside.
And it is happening.
#lostsalvation #judgmentonministers
See also Criticism of Beth Moore and False Prophets in the Church
If you want to be a Change Agent, let me recommend Life Centers Global which seeks to turn around fatherless boys.