Ryan Rufus, son of Rob Rufus, is a full-time pastor at City Church International and the founder of New Nature Ministries. Rufus, a South African-born Australian who has made his name traveling the globe to preach in many countries, told an audience in Hong Kong that asking God for forgiveness is a sin because God has already forgiven you.
According to Rufus, asking God for forgiveness is the “sin of unbelief.”
This false teaching is completely contrary to the Scriptures. 1 John 1 says:
8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
In this entire passage, John is including himself. Of course, we can only get saved once, and God never savingly forgives us again, but we can damage our intimacy with him along with our testimony by walking in persistent sin. If we say that we have not sinned we are wrong, and if we say we are now sinless we are equally wrong.
The 51st Psalm was written by a man “after God’s own heart.” And a constant waging of the Romans 7 war, and repentance for failure is the Christian Life.
Not that we’re crawling around on our hands and knees all the time, but we need to constantly recognize the difference between us and him, what it cost to fix that, and God’s commands for how to walk in light of that reality.
