Let No One Deceive You! (Part2)
No matter what you Believe about Salvation, Faith and the Grace of God, it’s extremely important that you KNOW what the church you are attending believes and teaches concerning these things. Having your sins forgiven by a Holy God and living a life Acceptable to Him that will be worthy of eternal life in heaven is not something you can afford to be Wrong about. The Basic Fundamental principles of Salvation and faith can easily become complicated in a haze of opinion and a sea of rhetoric. Consequently most people who go to church adopt their own set of beliefs and are not overly concerned about what their pastor is teaching.
Unraveling these things and digging down into the Truths of the Bible is going to require a lot of effort on your part. If you are attending church merely because it’s the thing to do or because you think it’s the way into heaven by believing in Jesus or for a myriad of other reasons, you are most likely satisfied and comfortable with your own beliefs and have no desire to look any further than ‘God loves you, We believe in Him and everything is fine.’ But if you are willing to STRIVE, as directed by Jesus, (Luke13:24) you may become one of the FEW He was talking about who really will inherit eternal life! (Matt7:13-14)
First of all understand that the overall consensus of opinion among present day Christian Denominations is that you ‘BELIEVE’ in Jesus and you are ‘SAVED’. Of course many of them may include some kind of Confession or Words you must repeat confirming your sincerity, and a ritualistic method described as the ‘Altar Call’. Not every church is the same however. Some require that you be Baptized in water before you are secure, others look for some outward sign (as speaking in tongues) for evidence that the Spirit of God is present within you.
However you will find NONE of them who follow the criteria in the Bible that you MUST STOP Sinning and Seek the Mercy of God in Broken Humility, BEFORE Pardon can be Granted. (Isa55:7, Joel2:12-13)
They will tell you that you Must ‘Want’ to Stop sinning, be ‘Willing’ to stop, have a ‘Desire’ to stop, but the Power to actually stop is NOT within you (according to them) Until Jesus comes into your heart and begins to change you so that you can stop. Therefore, according to what they believe, you are SAVED ‘In Your Sins’ and it’s God’s responsibility to Clean you up later as He sees fit to do so.
As though you could be committing adultery on your spouse and ask them to forgive you while you are STILL in the relationship with the other person! NO ONE could expect Mercy or restoration of the marriage without FIRST forsaking their adulterous affair and then BEGGING the forgiveness of the scorn spouse. It’s the Same with God, according to the Bible. BUT NOT According to most of the churches!
Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. Isa55:7
Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm. Joel2:13-13
Going in, it is Important that you understand and grasp this concept. If indeed you have come into the Church after having a Real encounter with God that has radically changed you from the inside out and you are now looking for a place to worship and fellowship with other believers, you will find much of what they teach very confusing and contradictory to the Bible. However if you are merely attending church for the reasons stated above (that it seems like the right thing to do) it’s a given that the ‘Saved in Sin’ Message will suit you just fine. Because you can guarantee that it will be non-challenging, and NEVER Confront the issue of improper behavior that could disqualify you from heaven.
As humans we tend to always take the path of least resistance. If someone is willing to cut us some slack in certain areas of our life we appreciate the effort and go with the flow. That’s what makes this Present day message so dangerous. It has a Powerful tendency to Silence the Conscience to Conviction. God placed the knowledge of right and wrong in each of us as a safety vale (so to speak) so that through conviction we can either ‘accuse or excuse’ ourselves from responsibility in a matter. (Rom2:14-15) But if this principle can be adverted by some psychological interpretation, you can DECEIVE yourself into believing a Lie.
The Bible is not difficult to understand for someone who has genuinely encountered God and been filled with the Holy Spirit. But it is ABSOLUTLY Impossible to understand by someone who has made a profession of faith in Jesus but remains under the control of sinful desires. Since almost EVERYTHING today in the church is designed to KEEP you in bondage to your sin (as will be shown in this Article) we can conclude that MOST of the people in this system are Christians in NAME only and therefore have little or no understanding of the Truths contained in Scripture.
From this premise we can begin to unravel the complicated Mess of Doctrine, opinion and rhetoric you are going to come across in the average church. Remember also, at the Great Judgment you are NOT going to Stand before some Pastor or golden throated Bible teacher, but CHRIST! Teachers and Pastors will use the Scriptures to say all kinds of things and try to prove their point. The Bible is a Book of Truths Systematically Placed together by the Divine Mind of God. You MUST learn to Connect these truths by comparing them with other truths and that requires the Spirit of Truth guiding you, not some man.
In True Salvation the Mind of a person has been Renewed and taken on the Mind of Christ. (2Cor5:17, Eph4:20-24, 2Pet1:3-4) He is no long ‘Carnally’ Minded, but of a Spiritual Mind. His Focus in on thing above not on things of the earth. (Rom8:6, 13, Col3:1-3) Sin no longer has Dominion over him! (Rom6:14)
These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ. 1Cor2:13-16
If a person is professing Salvation in Jesus and remains addicted to their bad habits or any immoral behavior, they are only fooling themselves. You cannot be Born Again of the Spirit of God and be Dead to the Word of God and still in bondage to the lust of the flesh. It doesn’t matter what some Pastor says about these things, it ONLY Matters what the Bible has to say. You can ‘Believe’ in Jesus and not OBEY Him. You can ‘Trust’ in Him but not FOLLOW His example! But the Devils Believe. (James2:19) The Churches push the ‘Believe’ Message because it fills up the seats and keeps everyone happy. But they NEVER explain what it means to Believe or what will happen to you if you Disobey.
This is the reason that so many professing Christians are shallow and know little or nothing about the Bible. They either don’t care what it says or have bought into the ‘Believe’ Message and are convinced that will be enough to get them through. How can the Grace of God be anything but a COVER to them to off set their sinful desires and guarantee their free ticket to heaven. Consequently the Pastors play directly into their hands! Unanimously they refer to the Grace of God as the ‘Un-merited favor’ of God, given Freely and not of works. (Eph2:8-9)
Yet they NEVER Connect the Principle of this Grace with what the Scripture has to say about it. That is can Indeed be RECEIVED IN VAIN (to no purpose and without effect! 2Cor6:1) and it MUST be PRODUCING Godly behavior and Self Control in the person who Received it.
Here is the Bible Definition:
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, Titus2:11-12
Therefore how is anyone going to Tap into this Grace through the Exceeding Promises of God, without FIRST being RENEWED by the Spirit of God in New Birth? Impossible! And it follows that a person who has not experienced this Grace in reality will have no insight into the Word of God other than the common ‘Believe in Jesus’ Message so prevalent in the churches. That being the case with most professed Christians today it’s easy to see why they think the pastors and teachers are so intelligent and well versed in the Bible.
If a person comes into the system knowing next to nothing past ‘believe in Jesus’ with no desire to Dig any further into Truth, they are likely to accept almost anything said by the leadership. In time they will be comfortably settled in with the others, numbed to conviction and blind to truth.
We have established the difference between a Real and False professing Christian. On a firm foundation and departure from sin we will begin our discussion of Doctrine with the Chief of all False Teachings:
The Doctrine of Original Sin. This Doctrine, taught almost universally across every denomination, is the bases of the Gospel Message today and has been over the past 1600 years, since it originated in the 4th Century Roman Church under a man named Augustine. (the greatest false teacher of all time!)
Note: For a detailed explanation of the facts behind these teachings, see our articles: ‘The Myth of Original Sin’ and ‘You Should Rule over it’. The Purpose of this article is to show the Mechanics behind the doctrines, not discuss their origins.
As a novice you are going to naturally feel inferior to most Pastors and teachers when you come into the church system. They will appear leaned in the Scriptures, with quick answers to many of your questions. You will have no reason to doubt their sincerity or their knowledge, nor will be you be able to refute them by showing any counter text from the Bible. But their scope of understanding is limited to their Doctrinal Beliefs and that’s what you need to understand. Consequently much of the Bible is shrouded in Mystery to them and taken on Conjecture.
This is the reason the churches focus mostly on improving your life through a better family environment, doing your best in education, employment, or competitive sports. Church life is occupied with activities, dinners, fund raisers, retreats and numerous other events to entertain. All this is setup within the framework of ‘Believing’ in God and encouraging the people to ‘RECEIVE’ Jesus as their personal Savior. Once they become part of the System they are Spoon feed the ‘Doctrine’ and kept in the dark on the details. (But remember, almost everyone Believes they are Saved, lead by the Spirit, Blessed of God and that their Pastor is telling them the Truth about the Bible.)
Born a Sinner!
This Doctrine teaches that the first man Adam sinned and as a result everyone born into the human race after him is infected with a depraved nature incapable of choosing anything but sin in rebellion to God.
Therefore this is the Reason they Preach and
Teach, Come to God in your sins and be Saved in your sins.
Sin then is the foregone Conclusion from start to finish in the so-called
Christian life. You sin everyday in thought, word and deed and if you say you’re
not sinning, you’re lying, because everyone is sinning. This Doctrine renders
Real Repentance null and void. HOW can you Repent of something you have no
control over? How can to STOP doing something when you have no power to do so?
Herein is the Perfect excuse for the flesh to never reform. As long as someone believes and teaches that man is Born a sinner there will be no form of behavior serious enough to keep you out of the Kingdom. All the instructions and warnings in the Bible will carry little weight in convincing this person that they MUST reform their ways or never see the Kingdom of heaven. Under this teaching self improvement becomes a class, seminar or new book on the subject, NEVER a Mandate to Crucify the flesh with its passions and desires as Scripture directs. (Gal5:24)
Instead of Repenting and being Purified from the Wrong doing in your heart you must learn to Cope with your problems. If you are addicted Pornography, drugs, alcohol or sex, you muddle through it and WAIT for God to come in and Clean you up by changing your desires. In the meantime no one, including the Pastors, is going to condemn you your lack of improvement. After all, you are Born a sinner, morally inept and incapable of Stopping any of these things. The main thing is that you have RECEIVED Jesus and Confessed you are a sinner, the rest is up to God, not for anyone else to Judge.
For a Complete Biblical examination of this Doctrine and proof of its Pagan Origins, we Recommend our Previous Articles named above. Here we only wish to show the ramifications behind this False Belief and what it brings about in the church. Because they embrace this Doctrine so vigorously they can only Recommend that you improve your life style through Christ, nothing is Mandatory. In fact, your sin is no longer the issue, since you were born in it, and now God has provided a way around that problem in Jesus.
So By Necessity everything else they believe concerning Salvation and faith falls in line with the Original Sin teaching and turns the Bible on its head!
Directly underneath Original Sin is the dilemma of the Free Will of man.
In this you will find the churches much divided in their understanding, but since they almost unanimously agree that man is Born a Sinner, their differences over free will can easily co-exist from one to another without too much friction. WHY? (Remember the original premise?)
1) You are Born into Sin
2) You Come to God in Sin
3) You are Saved in Sin
Everything else falls within this Structure. Their Entire Gospel is Based on it! So does man have a free will to choose right and wrong, virtue or vice? Yes, But only by Degree. How so? According to the Doctrine what was effected by the fall of Adam? His Nature, correct, his ability to choose the Right Way. Therefore man’s free will is Limited to choosing between the lesser of two evils, without God’s help. Most Pastors and Bible teachers today (except some hardcore Calvinists) will attribute some degree of free to man. But they all fail to see the fallacy of their own reasoning that by limiting his ability to do the right thing they eradicate free will altogether!
Unless man can Independently Choose between right and wrong, without coercion he is nothing more than a pawn. If God has to Compel him to do the Right thing then it’s God making the Choice for him, NOT him acting from his own ability to do so. Therefore Obedience from the heart is out the window as directed in the Scriptures, (Rom6:15-16) That’s why their Gospel is based on ‘RECEIVING’ Not ‘REPENTING’,
‘Believing’ and not ‘Doing!’
If by Necessity you Come to God in your sins, (which is the mode of salvation they preach) then its His Job to deal with you afterward. Since you were incapable of Doing anything about the sin BEFORE it stands to reason you are also powerless to change Afterward without God doing it for you. So why wasn’t your free will restored to full and independent status when you Believed? Because you are STILL a sinner, ‘Saved by Grace!’ Their Doctrine teaches that God uses His Grace in some miraculous manner to Off Set your Depraved Nature Just enough for you to ‘Receive’ Jesus by Faith, BUT NOT ENOUGH for you to Stop sinning or DO anything He Commanded unless He does it for you.
You may not understand the theology behind all this at first, but everything they preach and teach is based on it. In the church everyone assumes that everyone else is sinning all the time in thought, word and deed. It is the accepted Standard among Professing Christians excused by the ‘no one is perfect’ mantra. From the pastor on down, everyone considers themselves the CHIEF of Sinners and the Wretched man of Romans Seven. If you come in as a novice for one of the various reasons we mentioned before, this probably will not be much of concern to you. In fact, it will fit nicely into your expectations.
However if you happen to be one of the Few who have encountered Christ in Real Repentance and Faith this ‘accepted standard’ will be VERY Disturbing to you indeed. Although you will not be able to answer all their objections, you will KNOW that something is Way out of Place when compared to the Bible. But remember also you are NOT impervious to their Deception! As a Babe in Christ you are VERY Vulnerable to false teaching and Winds of Doctrine. You could easily swerve into error and be put to sleep with everyone else.
If you find yourself growing lax about sin and no longer sensitive to the Holy Spirit or not overly concerned about what the pastor is saying or how the professing Christians around you are living, then you are falling prey to their delusion. Keep in mind, you are in a System that Doesn’t Preach Repentance according to the Bible because What they Believe WON’T Let Them! When you begin to THINK otherwise (that there is an element of truth to what they are saying!) it’s Past time for you to WAKE UP and face the facts. There is no Gray area here. The Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error Cannot Co-exit in your heart. You are either awake and Contending for the faith against these things or in some state of confusion wondering if they are Correct.
In the Scriptures the Principle behind Faith is ACTION. (James2:24, Rom6:17) The Action or Deeds do not Follow the Faith. The Faith is the DEED! (Rom4:19-22) Otherwise it is the Faith of Devils! (James2:19) However this Principle Requires that you can OBEY From your Heart and Follow Christ.
All through the Gospels Jesus Demanded this Obedience. He said Nothing about God Doing it for you, Bending your will so you could do it or Compelling you by force. Here are some Examples:
If you love Me, keep My commandments. John14:15
But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? Lk6:47
Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. Lk9:23
“Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Luke13:24
It follows then that God would not require man to Do something he was incapable of Doing. Yet present Day theology has this so twisted that man cannot do anything toward the outcome of his salvation but Trust that Jesus will do it for him! As a Result Real Redemption has become impossible. Faith is Passive and involves no Action or Deeds to back it up. Thus Repentance Proven by Deeds is also out the window. So when the Scripture says, ‘PROVE Your Repentance by your Deeds!” Acts26:20, it means nothing more than Confess and Trust in Jesus.
The Purging of Sin!
In the Bible the Purpose of the Atonement is to PURGE Sin from the Believer’s
heart and make it Pure. All the types and illustration reveal this Truth,
showing that the Blood of Christ is able to Purge the Conscience from Sin. Jesus
came to Destroy the works of the Devil, not Cover them up with a Cloak.
(Heb9:14, 1Jh3:8
But under the Born Sinner Doctrine the Atonement is nothing more then a Re-Positioning of Sin. Jesus took your place on the Cross and received your penalty. Now God can Transfer or ‘Impute’ Jesus Righteousness and Obedience to you and Pronounce you Saved or ‘Justified.’ This Super natural Substitution happens purely by faith and places you in Right Standing with God despite your on going Sinfulness. Given that you Cannot Obey because of your corrupted nature, Jesus Obeys for you. And His Perfect Righteousness is credited to you also settling the sin question once and for all.
Now you can understand why everyone in the church Believes they are Real Christians while they Continue to live in sin. It is what they have been taught by the Pastors and teachers! Salvation has nothing to do with Freeing you from the bondage of your corruption. The Promises in scripture are given merely to insure your blessings and minister to your needs. How could anyone under this system obtain these Promises and escape the corruption of lust in their hearts? They have NEVER become a Partaker of Grace in the first place! (2Pet1:3-9)
Justifying Grace CANNOT be Received while you remain in sin. Grace is NOT Given to a Divided heart still serving two masters, where Darkness abides and the spirit of error is in control. (Js1:8, Matt6:22-23, 1Jh4:1-2) God Does Not Dispense His Grace arbitrarily or as a License for immorality. If Future sins were forgiven in Salvation man would have NO NEED to Confess to anything after his initial conversion. (so why 1Jh1:7-9?) Why would Scripture WARN us that IF we sin willfully after Receiving a Knowledge of the Truth no sacrifice remains but a certain fearful expectation of Judgment! Heb10:26
The SAME Preachers who tell you to RECEIVE Jesus and be saved
forever, will swear up and down that the people spoken of in this Hebrews
passages RECEIVED Nothing and were not really saved! It stands to reason then
that NOTHING can Disqualify anyone from the Kingdom, even though Scripture
constantly affirms that certain behavior will INDEED do just that. (Gal5:19-21)
But the Fallacy has to be able to stand.
You were Born in Sin, You Come to God in Sin and are forgiven in Sin!
Therefore unless you could care less what anyone Believes about Salvation and Faith, NOT MUCH of what you hear in the church is going to make sense according to the Bible. Most of the time they will be explaining away the Conditions and warnings, but to the untrained ear it will sound like they are quoting scripture and making sense.
Following a false teacher and being duped by the spirit of error is common place in the System. These teachers have all the Appearance as Ministers of Righteousness, harmless lambs and are themselves Deceived by the Message they preach. Most of them are one hundred percent convinced they are leading people to God and that He is Granting them Pardon for their sins. (while they continue in them!) The RARE Exception is someone who comes in among them Awake, Aware, Contending for the faith and the Exposing the errors.
(Don’t expect this type of a person to be the popular teacher in the church or someone everyone looks up to. On the contrary this person will be distrusted and spoken ill of by the others because they don’t understand why he is stirring up so much trouble among them.)
For the most past Deception is commonplace in the churches and you should be aware of that Going in, BEFORE you expose yourself and your family to their Doctrines. If you are serious about finding True Salvation that ends in Genuine eternal life with God, you Cannot afford to ignore these issues. They spell the Difference Between Truth and Error. BOTH Paths Cannot Possibly Lead to the Same Place! MOST pastors and teachers have this entirely WRONG. Will you follow them or Enter through that Narrow Gate and Find Christ?
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Notes for Part 1:
What is Faith? (By Faith you are Saved! Eph2:8-9)
1) The Works of Faith! (John8:36)
2) The Steps of Faith! (Rom4:12)
3) The Obedience of Faith, (Heb11:6)
4) The Endurance of Faith! (Rom2:7)
The Principle of Faith:
1) Heart Purity by Obedience! (1Pet1:22)
2) Wholehearted Obedience! (Rom6:17)
3) Uphold & Establish Law! (Rom3:31)
4) WALK in Righteous Requirements of Law, (Rom8:1-4)
Abraham’s Faith! (Rom4:1-4)
1) He Did the WORKS of Faith!
2) WALKED in the STEPS of Faith
3) Obeyed God By Faith
4) Persevered by Faith!
Repentance: (2Cor7:10-11)
1) Produces godly sorrow for sin, Crisis of Conviction
2) A Clearing of Wrong Doing, the Sin STOPS!
3) Diligent Zeal to DO what is Right
4) Fear of God
5) Purity of Heart
The Principle of Repentance:
1) DEEDS that Prove repentance! (Acts26:21)
2) Restitution if necessary, (Lk:19-1-10)
3) Fleeing God’s Wrath, Seeking His Mercy! (Acts2:37-39, 3:19, Lk3:3)
Grace of God:
1) Free Gift of Mercy, (Eph2:8-9, Rom5:6-11)
2) Power of Godliness & Self Control! (Titus2:11-14)
3) Can Be Received in Vain, to No Purpose & Without Effect! (2Cor6:1)
4) Granted through Repentance and Faith! (Acts20:21)
Repentance Comes BEFORE Salvation. Conversion comes BEFORE Forgiveness. Repentance comes BEFORE Remission of sins! God Calls ALL MEN Everywhere to Repent! (Acts17:30-31) He Wishes all to Come to Repentance! (2Pet3:9, 1Tim2:3-4) If they Do not Repent, they will Perish in sin. (Lk13:3)
Salvation is Not Un-Conditional! You MUST CONTINUE in the Faith to be Saved! (Rom2:7, Heb3:14, Col1:23, 1John2:24, Rom11:22) Grace can be Forfeited, (Heb6:1-9, 10:26-31, Matt18:35, Gal5:4-6)
Future Sins are not Already forgiven. (Rom3:25) And Righteous is DOING the Right Thing! (!Jh3:7-10)
1) Initially you Believe. Come to God Believing that He is, Rom10
2) Convicted of Sin, you enter Process of Repentance
3) Your Conscience is Purged, Guilt Removed, Blood applied
4) Zeal, Diligence, Newness, Freedom and godly Fear
5) Purity and Obedience are the Result
HUGE Difference Between the Gospel Preached and the Gospel of the Bible.
Already Done:
1) Future sins forgiven!
2) Receive Package
3) Pronounced Righteous, Pure & Obedient
4) Saved Forever!
Yet to be Done:
1) Repent, Clearing, Purity
2) Enter Narrow Gate, Strive & Endure
3) Work out, Make Sure, Add to
4) Keep Pure, Abstain from sin, Crucify Flesh
WHERE Does Bible Say that Jesus Did any of these things in Advance for you?
What you Believe Coming into the faith at conversion will make all the difference in the world whether or not you will Obey God. If you are supposedly converted under a system where everything is Done for you in Advance, the Commands of the Bible will have little impact on your conduct.
However if you Come to Conversion believing that you are obligated to Obey God, Repent and Stop all Known sin, the Commands of the Bible will fully impact your conduct.
If you Believe that Obedience is Yet to be Done, and Not already Done in advance by Christ, the Gospel of the Bible will make PERFECT Sense to you! However if you Believe that Faith is Passive and Salvation Positional, NOTHING in Scripture will add up and you will Seek out the false teachers to tell you how it Doesn’t apply to you.