But what restitution can be made by those who scatter the firebrands of false teaching, or the burning coals of lust, and set men's souls ablaze with the fire of hell? The guilt is beyond measure, and the damage is irreversible!

Even if God forgives such a person, what grief will haunt them, knowing they cannot undo the destruction they've wrought! One evil example can kindle a flame that years of reformed character cannot extinguish. To burn a man's food is bad enough—but how much worse to destroy his soul!

We must examine ourselves. How guilty have we been of this in the past? And even now, is there evil in us that could damage the souls of those around us—our family, our friends, our neighbors?

The fire of strife is a terrible evil when it breaks out in a Christian church. Where new believers were multiplying and God was being glorified, jealousy and envy come in to do the devil's work most effectively. Where the golden harvest was being gathered to reward the toil of the great Boaz, the fire of enmity sweeps through and leaves nothing but smoke and a heap of blackness. Woe to those who cause such offenses!

May they never come through us! For though we cannot make restitution, we will certainly be the chief sufferers if we are the chief offenders. Those who feed the flames deserve censure, yes—but the one who first kindles the fire bears the greatest blame.

Discord usually catches first among the thorns—it takes root among the hypocrites and false professors in the church, then spreads to the righteous, blown by the winds of hell, and no one knows where it will end.

O Lord and giver of peace, make us peacemakers! Never let us aid and abet the stirrers of strife, or even unintentionally cause the smallest division among your people.