16 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.REFLECTIONSWritten by Sam DarmoIn the Middle-East we had a proverb that said “Those who are silent when they see evil are mute demons.”, which was their way of saying that ‘no good person should stand silent in the face of evil’. This passage wants to remind us of our loving responsibility towards each other and that is to pray for those among us because we pray according to God’s will (v14). We know that He hears us (v15) and therefore our prayers are effectual, in that it will save their life (v16). This should be both an encouragement to us to pray, and to not neglect our responsibility for praying for our struggling or immature brothers and sisters. We know that the visible Church is made up of true and false members (Matt 13:24-30). This loving command is to pray when we see a brother or sister sinning, but not to the point of actually denying who Christ is and what Christ has accomplished. We are called to humble ourselves before God for their salvation and to lift them up as they journey towards Christ and to see them mature in Christ. But at the same time, we are asked to NOT to pray for those who might be among us but who have denied all of the truths about Christ and have become the Anti-Christs John spoke of earlier (1 John 2:19, 2:22, 4:6). Pray with me that we as a community of believers will love each other by praying for each other in this way, and not to stay silent before God, when our brothers and sisters need us. In Jesus’ name we ask and receive all things. Amen. ABOUT THE AUTHORSam is an assistant minister with our Assyrian and Arabic Services and our Fairfield English Morning Service.