Kenneth Copeland — Honor Demands Judgment and Discipline

For if we would judge ourselves, we should not

be judged (1 Corinthians 11:31).

Honor demands that we judge ourselves. Many in

the Body of Christ are not doing this. Many Christians

are waiting for someone else to do the judging. They

live with the attitude, “When I get caught, I’ll repent!”

There comes a time when each of us needs to

judge himself. This scripture says if we will judge

ourselves, judgment will not come on us.

Gloria and I are married in the three basic worlds

of existence: spirit, soul and body. We are working at

and learning about our threefold marriage. She and

I are a solid front, especially before our children. Our

children have always known that if they come against

one of us, they will have to deal with both of us.

We have always stood firm before our children. If

I told them, “I’m going to spank you if you do that

one more time,” and they did it one more time, then

the spanking began. Gloria has always supported

my decisions and I have supported hers. We have

never lied to our children. It is dishonorable to lie to a

child—to tell him you are going to do something and

then not do it.

It is also dishonorable to spank a child for every

little thing he does wrong. Punishment should be

suited to the offense.

When I was growing up, a spanking was a major

event in our house, a serious incident. We would carry

on and on about it. It was a big deal. My father had to

travel in his work and when he came home and took

charge of the situation, it was a serious occasion. But

it was not done dishonorably. We would talk about

what I had done and why I was being punished. We

would sit down and discuss the wrongdoing and the

consequences, then I got what was coming.

Our son John came in one day and asked his mother,

“Mama, do they send five-year-old boys to jail?”

When your child asks a question like that, you

know immediately something is wrong. It turned

out that he had set the grass on fire. An entire vacant

lot was burned. Fire trucks and flashing lights were

everywhere. It scared the daylights out of him! He

was worried about what was going to happen

when I got home.

“Do we have to tell Daddy?” he wanted to know.

“Yes,” his mother assured him, “we have to tell

your daddy.”

I think he would rather have gone to jail.

When I got home Gloria said, “John has something

to tell you.” He came in and told me what he

had done. I guess he figured I was going to unload on

him right there, just bend him out of shape. Instead

we sat down and had a family discussion.

I said, “John, I was present one time when they

dragged two little charred bodies out of an old garage

and put them in body bags. That’s all those little boys’

daddy had left. I want you to know right now that I’m

not going to go through life without you. I’m not willing.

And you won’t ever forget this.”

We talked and talked and talked. Then I did

several things to reinforce the point I was trying to

make—that’s been over 20 years ago and he hasn’t

forgotten it yet!

The Bible does not say spare the rod and spoil the

child. This is the secular interpretation of Proverbs

13:24 which actually says, “He that spareth his rod

hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth

him betimes.”

The rod is not just a stick. It is any type of honorable

correction. The Bible also says, “Withhold not correction

from the child: for if thou beatest [spank, not

abuse] him with the rod, he shall not die” (Proverbs

23:13). It is an honorable thing to teach our children

and to discipline them according to the Word of God.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries