'If I bring a sword against a land, and its people choose a representative from among themselves to stand guard, and when he sees the coming danger, he blows the trumpet to warn everyone, then if anyone hears the trumpet but ignores the warning, and the sword comes and takes them away, their blood will be on their own head. Since they heard the horn but paid no heed, their destruction is their own responsibility; had they heeded the alarm, they would have saved their lives. However, if the sentry sees the sword coming and does not sound the horn, so that the people are not warned, and the sword takes any of their lives, that person is taken away in their sin, but I will hold the sentry accountable for their death.'

"Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of the land; so listen to the word I speak and give them warning from Me. If I say to the wicked, 'O wicked person, you will surely die,' and you do not speak out to deter them from their ways, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked to turn from their ways and they do not do so, they will die in their sin, but you will have delivered yourself."

"Son of man, say to your people: 'You say, "Our offenses and sins weigh heavily upon us, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we survive?"' Tell them: 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O people of the land?'

"Therefore, son of man, say to your countrymen: 'The righteousness of the righteous person will not save them when they disobey, and the wickedness of the wicked person will not cause them to fall when they turn from it. The righteous person, if they sin, will not be allowed to live because of their former righteousness.' If I tell the righteous person that they will surely live, but then they trust in their righteousness and commit injustice, none of the righteous things they have done will be remembered; they will die for the evil they have done. And if I say to the wicked person, 'You will surely die,' but they turn from their sin and do what is just and right—if they restore a pledge, return what they stole, and follow the decrees that give life, committing no evil—they will surely live; they will not die. None of the sins they committed will be remembered against them. They have done what is just and right; they will surely live."

"Yet your people say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' But it is their way that is unjust. If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, they will die for it. And if a wicked person turns away from their wickedness and does what is just and right, they will live by doing so. Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' I will judge each of you according to your own ways."

Universal Church of the Living God

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