“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy [every evil, abusive, injurious speaking, or indignity against sacred things] will be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the [Holy] Spirit will not be forgiven.”
—Matthew 12:31 AMP
I believe it was a year before the Lord showed me that legalism was a problem in my life, I was plagued with the fear of the unpardonable sin. I had so many blasphemous thoughts bombarding my mind. What made them so scary to me was they were swear words against the Holy Spirit. But I could see that, oftentimes, dread and fear had something to do in causing the thoughts to reoccur―and that if I could only stop fearing the thoughts, they would probably vanish or at least, their power over me would be greatly diminished. However, each recurring thought would cause me to fear the unpardonable sin; after all, hadn’t Jesus said that whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven? It caused me much agony during that period.
There were times when everything in me would cry out: God has condemned you! He has rejected you! He has spoken woe on your life! It’s too late! You have committed the unpardonable sin! You are doomed!While on the other hand, I still had some hope and some ray of light that somehow, I had not committed the unpardonable sin. However faint it was, that hope helped me dare press toward God, in spite of my strong fears. I would take this Scripture: “Against hope believed in hope.”[1][2] God being against me for sure met the requirement of “against hope believed in hope.” I would remind myself that He is the hope to the hopeless, which meant that He would be the solution to rid me of all of my fears even if those fears concerned Him. In fact, the Bible says that God is able to deliver us from all of our fears, not just a few but all.[1][3]The thought of His nature, His great love for us, and that He is a savior at heart also helped disarm such fearful thoughts. Because God was to be my helper, I began seeking Him. I was in so much inner turmoil that I asked Him to deliver me from those thoughts and from my fears.
As a result, He gave me a dream one night. In the dream, the evangelist Jesse Duplantis was a pastor of a church. There was this lady who kept judging and criticizing him freely. I was aware that this lasted for a long period of time. She constantly found something to say against him and didn’t hesitate to openly share what she thought of him. Then she would come back the next week and the next week and the next week and do the same thing: Condemn the man. However, one day, she came, as was her custom, but instead of saying something against “Jesse,” she said something against “Pastor Jesse.” The moment she spoke against Pastor Jesse, she was gone. She was no more. There was no more sign of her. And that was the dream.
In the dream, as long as the woman criticized and spoke against the man himself, she was fine, but the moment she spoke against the office, the mantle, in other words, the moment she spoke against the anointing, she was no more. Now, I am not saying that if we ever used the word “PastorSo and So” and said something not too kindly, that we have committed the unpardonable sin. The reference to the word “Pastor” in the dream had spiritual significance in that it represented the anointing. This dream helped set me free from that irrational fear. I realized that involuntary blasphemous thoughts against the Holy Spirit crossing my mind (though they certainly felt voluntary at times as fear tricked me and got the better of me) didn’t really fit the description provided to me by God in the dream. Not only that, God showed me that committing the unpardonable sin doesn’t happen overnight. But if one will keep playing with fire, keep disobeying God by devouring others and by slandering God's anointed ones, then one has to be careful that he does not touch the anointing. It is preferable to leave all men and women alone, to leave them with God, and to pray for them with a sincere heart and a humble mind. The apostle Paul said in Romans 14:4 that to his own mastera servant will stand or fall. And he added that indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. Therefore, let’s be imitators of King David who had King Saul at his mercy and chose not to kill him, saying to himself, “Do not touch God’s anointed and do His prophets no harm.”[1][4]
Very importantly, I believe, the lady in the dream makes me think of the Pharisees of Jesus’ days. The Pharisees were religious, but they didn’t know God for they didn’t recognize and receive the very Son of God when He came to them in the flesh. Religious spirits are usually puffed up, and they generally love to put down and criticize people. Such are not the fruits of someone who has an intimate relationship with Christ. Jesus didn’t die to give us a religion. He died to give us salvation. The spirit of fear isn’t of God (2 Timothy 1:7). The child of God who loves God and lives in the reverential fear of the Lord doesn’t need to live in the fear committing the unpardonable sin. God is a God of the heart. Legalism, on the other hand, has no regards to the heart at all, but looks at the outward spiritual performance apart from the heart condition, intents or motives.
As I look back, I know that the fear of the unpardonable sin was all part of the devil’s evil scheme and was a lie. You have to realize how powerful a tool this sort of fear is to the devil in helping him defeat God’s people. If you begin to believe you have committed the unpardonable sin, you will become hopeless and begin to give up, to return to your sins or, even worse, be utterly ruined. It will lead you down the path of destruction very fast. The devil seeks to use those thoughts to bring us under condemnation. He knows that it will likely be especially hard for us not to fall under condemnation with such horrendous thoughts if we do not have a good understanding of the truth that for us who are in Christ, our right standing with God is in Christ and not in our own self-effort to keep ourselves godly. Even such horrendous thoughts don't have the right to bring us under condemnation. We must resist the devil in the faith and ask God to help us not to fall under condemnation. And why is that so? It is because we don't want those thoughts, they are not our heart, and our faith is in Christ. Remember that Christ is our righteousness (see 1 Cor. 1:30).
It is very important for us not to allow ourselves to fall under a load of condemnation. This is exactlywhere the devil wants us. He knows that only God can give us the victory. Say out loud: "There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ!" (see Romans 8:1.)
We have to be careful what we allow ourselves to believe; let us consider the end result of what we choose to believe. The enemy wants us to be hopeless. However, the Bible shows that God is the hope to the hopeless.[1][5] It is important for us to understand the whole counsel of the Word of God; yes, it is possible for someone to commit the unpardonable sin, but this truth need not contradict the other truths of the Word. We have also discussed that the child of God doesn’t need to live in the fear of committing the unpardonable sin. There is a difference between being religious and having an intimate relationship with Christ. Jesus said that He will in no wise reject those who come to Him.[1][6] This means that if you want Jesus, if you want to have a relationship with Him, if you want to serve Him and to live for Him, then you have not committed the unpardonable sin or you would not have such desires.
Be encouraged dear one. The spirit of fear isn’t of God. The Bible says that there is no fear in love. But perfect love casts out all fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.[1][7] Begin to believe in and draw close to the love of God and then share that love with others. Fear cannot dwell where love abides. Rest assured that there is hope! There is a way out.
[1]See Romans 7:15–23.
[2]Romans 4:18 KJV.
[3]See Psalm 34:4.
[4]See Psalm 105:15.
[5]See Isaiah 61:3.
[6]See John 6:37.
[7]See 1 John 4:18.