A REASON AND PURPOSE FOR EVERYTHING (PART 12)
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Anyone, even a non-religious person, can live a morally unimpeachable lifestyle, for a virtuous lifestyle is not exclusive to Christianity. Morality is not the prime indicative sign of a true Christian, for it is only belief of God’s Gospel, and no other, which is the principle identifying characteristic of a truly saved person which sets him apart from all others. Everything else can be faked except quality, and the belief of the truth. Morality can be faked, but to savingly believe the Gospel of God cannot. Belief of the truth is the distinguishing sign of a born again Christian. The true God is identified ONLY BY TRUTH, and His people are identified only by their belief of that truth. The true God is ONLY revealed in HIS Gospel, and the true God’s people only believe in that Gospel. False gods are identified by half truths and other lies, as well as some truths which have been carefully selected and twisted so as to seemingly support the lies making them only appear as truth. False Christians are identified by their faith in such half truths and other lies. Only those who believe God’s Gospel, and thus forever reject every other gospel and false god as having any power to save, are true born again Christians. To accept, or show tolerance toward another gospel, is to accept and declare that there are legitimate ways to salvation other than God’s only Way. That there are other gods by whom one can be saved. That man’s ways are just as acceptable as God’s only Way. Therefore, exactly what the truth is—how God saves, which reveals who one is believing in—is vitally important, for if one does not have the truth, then one simply does not have the true God, FOR IT IS ONLY TRUTH THAT REVEALS HIM, and it is only the true God Who reveals that truth! It is only the Gospel of God which proclaims that truth. One Source – One God – One Way.
If one does not have the truth one cannot be trusting in God’s only Way of salvation. To truly trust in the true God is to not trust in any other. To truly, savingly believe the true God’s Gospel is to not believe in any other. Only a fool would believe that a man has the true God despite their not believing His true and only Gospel. How can one have the truth by believing error? How can one have the truth by believing in lies? How can one have the true God whilst not believing His Gospel? How can one have true God-given faith whilst believing a false gospel? How can one believe in the true God whilst adhering to teachings which identify another god? How can one’s sincerity, good intentions and convictions possibly ever change the lie one is believing into the truth? How can one be trusting in the true God when they believe a false god’s gospel? How can one have faith in God’s only Way of salvation while trusting in a false god’s way? Moreover, how can one’s sincerity, good intentions and convictions possibly ever change the false god one is believing into the true God? How can one’s morality, character, conduct and even religious lifestyle ever make 2 + 2 = 5 correct? The true God is only identified by His Truth as revealed in His Gospel, and the true Christian is only identified by his belief of that Gospel of truth: “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it (the Gospel) is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth…For therein is the Righteousness of God revealed…” (Rom. 1:16,17). The Righteousness of God is not revealed in a false gospel, therefore, all false gospels have absolutely no power to save. Those Jews and all others like them who are ignorant of the Righteousness of God as the only way to salvation, do not believe God’s Gospel, and, therefore, cannot have the true God, for His Righteousness is only revealed in His Gospel. The Righteousness of God is not revealed in any other gospel but His, and God’s Gospel does not have anyone else’s righteousness attached to it but the Righteousness of His Son. To trust in another gospel is to trust in anyone but the true God.
A false gospel is NOT the power of God unto salvation, for NO false gospel contains, and, therefore, has ever revealed the Righteousness of God. A false gospel is not the power of God unto salvation, therefore, no one believing in a false gospel can possibly be in a saved state. Say you believe in Jesus, say you love God, say you have repented, say you do good, say you hate evil and love good, say you choose God and reject the Devil, if a man does not believe the Gospel of God he is LOST! If you believe that which is not true you cannot believe in the God of truth. Error is inherently different to truth. Error is anti-truth. Error is the truth you have when you have no truth. Error is a lost man’s truth. Error is a spiritually dead man’s hope. A false gospel is inherently different from the true Gospel. It is anti-Gospel. A false gospel is all you have when you do not have the true Gospel. A false gospel is a lost man’s truth. A false gospel is where a spiritually dead man’s hope lies. Yes, people can have it so wrong, as to consider themselves Christian, believe themselves to be Christian, feel themselves as nothing but Christian, live a Christian lifestyle, surround themselves with others who claim to be Christian, etc., and yet not be a Christian at all. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov. 14:12 cf. Matt. 7:21-23). That is how wrong a man can be, despite being convinced he is right. Man can be so wrong as to be powerfully and sincerely convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is on the road to Heaven, and yet in reality be travelling the highway to Hell. Just because something seems right, or feels right or is something you have believed in for 20 years and become accustomed to, does not mean it is right no matter how convinced a person may be. If the Word of God does not support what you believe, you are not right! A particular way to Heaven, preached a billion times a day by a billion preachers, may seem to be right to a man, but THE ONLY CONCEIVABLE WAY IT CAN BE RIGHT IS IF IT IS THE TRUE AND ONLY WAY, GOD'S WAY! Familiarity brings with it a certain feeling of security, but there is no security in the real world, the world of God's reality, in believing something which is wrong. There is no amount of careless emotion-driven conviction which can turn a false gospel into God's True Gospel. There is only one way which IS right, and that is God’s Way—the Gospel Way—which leads to Life. A false gospel does not a true Christian make. God’s Gospel is God’s power to save, false gospels cannot save anyone. The true God has nothing to do with false gospels: He does not support them, nor does He save anyone by them. Just as Christ does not know, have any intimate association with those who believe false gospels, so too, He has no affiliation with any false gospel, for none of them represent Him, therefore, none of them are authored by Him. The lost, those who do not have right knowledge of God, therefore, do not believe the Gospel of God, “…pray unto a god that cannot save…because there is no light in them” (Isa. 45:20 & Isa. 8:20).
Only the Gospel of God reveals the true God. Any other gospel can only reveal another god, a false god that cannot save. No matter how close a gospel is to the true and only Gospel of God, it is not God’s Gospel if it is not God’s Gospel. Someone may look like you, sound like you, have the same car as you, but they are not you, never have been you and never will be you, for there is only one you as there is only one God Who has only one Gospel because He saves only one Way. Though a person may be married to someone who looks like your wife, or husband, this does not for one moment mean that they are married to your wife, or your husband. Though some false gospels may resemble God’s Gospel, they cannot be God’s Gospel if they are not identical to it. The apostle Paul stressed, that a gospel that differs in any way with God’s Gospel, shows that it cannot be God’s Gospel, and thus those who believe such a gospel cannot possibly be in a saved state, but only in an accursed one. Believing a false gospel, trusting in a false way to salvation, does not preclude anyone from calling the one they believe in, ‘God’ or ‘Jesus’, but it does exclude them from being among the saved who believe only in the true God. So many people have been and continue to be fooled into believing that simply because they call their god ‘Jesus’, this automatically means they have the true Jesus, that this somehow overrides whatever doctrine they believe about Him however wrong it may be. If one has the wrong answer, one is free to call it truth, but one can never be freed by truth if one’s trust is not exclusively in the truth. One is not believing in the truth if one has not been freed from everything that falsely calls itself truth. If one does not have the truth, one does not have God.
No amount of sincerity and well-intentioned beliefs have ever changed error into truth. Sincerity cannot validate error. Faith in a false gospel, “…however sincere, does not oblige reality” to determine that gospel as God’s true and only Gospel. Sincerity and a false gospel have never saved anyone. Only sincerity and truth by way of grace through God-given faith in God’s true and only Gospel makes the difference. “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (Jn. 4:24). If one claims to believe in the Jesus or the God, of the Bible, but holds to wrong teachings about Him, then one is believing in a false gospel, a false jesus, a false god, one is worshipping an idol—the charlatan who is behind every false god and lie which the world has ever known: Satan. The Word of God states that Satan IS—not can, has or will be, but IS—transformed into an angel of light (see 2 Cor. 11:14). He does not appear as some horrific figure as portrayed by Hollywood horror, or in demonic paintings of the 15th and 16th centuries which are born in man’s imagination, but as a creature of peace and good will (see Gen. 3:1-5). “Fear is no longer Satan’s most effective tactic”, it is the derivation of false comfort, a false sense of all is well, from that which is unreal. The deadliest deception is not overt, but subtle. The deadliest deception is that which convinces people they are not deceived. Most people judge what they believe as true, not so much by what they believe, but by whom they believe. All one has to do is present oneself in an acceptable way, speak with a smile, be nice and affable convincing others that you are sincere and honest, and most people will accept you as you appear, and what you say as truth. Evil often comes as something which appears quite beautiful. Evil’s horror is quite often hidden within, hidden behind that which appears beautiful, hidden behind an outward smile which belies its inward expression, deadly intent and malicious heart. Satan’s objective is to deceive; to replace God’s truth with his lies thus presenting lies—distortions of the truth—as truth itself. Whilst presenting himself as the champion of mankind, Satan steers man in the wrong direction by religious ideas that are nothing but fabrication. Satan promises man everything, gives him nothing and then takes everything. He promised Eve everything, that she and her husband would be as gods no less, then gave them both nothing. Satan’s lie was predicated on the woman doing in order to gain, and this same satanic lie is the basis of all religion and of its empty promise that one will gain if only one will do. Adam and Eve lost everything because of their decision to follow the words of the father of lies. But worse still was their decision to neglect the Word of God, and, therefore, God Himself. They thought that by their own act they would be as gods. Rather than simply trusting the truth of God, they thought it wiser to act on the lies of Satan, and they lost everything. The biggest and deadliest lie is the false gospel. “But I fear, lest by any means, as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him” (2 Cor. 11:3,4). Believe God’s Gospel of grace, not Religion’s gospels of works. Satan is like error, “Error, indeed is never set forth in its naked deformity, lest, being thus exposed, it should at once be detected. But it is craftily decked out in an attractive dress, so as, by its outward form, to make it appear to the inexperienced more true than truth itself.”
That which distinguishes and separates the true God from all false gods is true doctrine: God’s only Gospel, which forever extinguishes the concept that any other ‘god’ can save, and that there is any other way to salvation. Like morality, character and conduct, feelings and experiences, which have replaced doctrine and become the new authority in this ecumenically minded world, can never confirm one way or another whether one has the true God, or not. Simply because a person has experienced something real, even life-changing, is no evidence that they have the true God. How can the true God be supporting a person with real experiences of Him, whose trust and hope are in a gospel which does not identify Him? How can anyone be saved, know and love the true God, without the faith given by God to believe only His Gospel? How can the Holy Spirit of truth possibly lead a person to false teachings, therefore a false god, and yet bless the person with a genuine experience involving the true God? People claiming to be Christian, but who hold to false teachings, trusting in their feelings and experiences to guide them, need to understand that those who follow religions which do not claim to be Christian at all, are experiencing the very same feelings and signs which they claim are confirmation that they have the truth. Many use their experiences as an argument that their particular religion has the truth, but their claims merely cancel each other out, for who can argue against experiences. How can the truth ever be pinned down by one’s experiences when those who believe contradictory teachings are having the same experiences? The same can be said of those who turn to longevity as the evidence that their religion is the true religion. “According to some estimates there are approximately 4,200 religions in the world.” Hinduism is considered the oldest religion, founded around the 15th-5th century B.C. Some say witchcraft or Wicca is the oldest, but whichever is the oldest religion this can have absolutely no bearing whatsoever on whether it is true. Believing the older the belief the truer the belief, is like saying that the oldest person is the wisest person. The length and breadth of man’s error knows no end. Neither character, conduct, longevity of belief or sincerity in believing is any dependable sign that one has the truth.
People from different religions the world over, including those which claim to be Christian, are putting their doctrinal differences aside and joining hands together in greater and greater numbers to form an ecumenical monster whose authority, and common denominator is not doctrine, the truth about God, nor God Himself, but one’s experiences and love for man’s phony gods. They are being told that doctrine does not matter, for they are all enjoying the same experiences, which to their confused, carnal, minds, is proof that they are being brought to them by the same true God. But how can this be when the doctrines these people believe are often diametrically opposed, and even contradict what the true God says of Himself? How can it be the same God behind these people’s experiences when some believe there is one God, and others believe there are millions of gods? How can those who believe they are Christians, who say Jesus Christ is God, possibly join hands in some bizarre pact with those who believe He is only a prophet? “…what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial…” (2 Cor. 6:14,15). Though it assuredly is one entity who is bringing the religions of the world together, it is not the God of truth behind it all, but rather the father of lies. God is not the author of confusion, but the Author and God of truth (see Deut. 32:4; Psa. 31:5; Isa. 65:16). Satan has many gospels, while God has only one Gospel. When the Word of God is marginalised by anything, including experiences, it is a sure sign that deception is taking place. PRECLUDE THE TRUTH, AND ERROR WILL MAKE SENSE. Whom do you think is behind the prevarication that doctrine, the Word of God, does not matter, the God of Truth, or the father of lies? The whole concept of forming a belief system based on one's experiences and allowing these experiences, rather than the Word of God alone, to dictate one’s interpretation of Scripture, is not new, though perhaps it has never been as prevalent than in our own day. For many the rule is no longer (if it ever was), ‘If it is Scriptural and conforms to the Bible's teachings I will believe it’, but rather, ‘If it works, if it feels good, if it yields positive results, if it corresponds with my experiences then I'll believe that it's of God’. Experiential 'proof' is being coveted and looked to as the 'rock', whilst the Word of God is given a cursory nod, an insignificant role, and at times completely neglected in light of experiences.
Feelings and experiences change with the wind, but, as with God, His truth remains as immovable and immutable as ever. To properly anchor one’s life is to anchor it to that which will not change. The true Christian is anchored to the true God and His Holy Word, and, therefore, will never be moved from God, or His truth. False teachings do not identify the true God, but are lies which are only indicative of false gods. Those who are led by the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth, are not guided by feelings and experiences, but by the Spirit of God working in conjunction with the Word of God. Feelings and experiences do not lead a man to the true God, for this is not the means God has chosen to bring His people into a saving knowledge of Him. There are those who accuse true Christians of restricting God when they say God only saves one way. The Scriptures, however, are replete in their declaration that God saves, nurtures and nourishes His people with His truth. Remember that the Jews who all had a zeal for God, and no doubt also had accompanying experiences and a sense of peace, were all lost, for their zeal, their sincerity, experiences, etc., were not according to the truth of God, and, therefore, could not have been emanating from God. God gives good gifts unto His children. God does not provide His people with experiences which will steer them away from His truth. The only way to know the true God is to be led by His Spirit into His Truth. Nothing else but truth will make a man free/saved. Writing to believers, the apostle Paul stated: “…God hath from the beginning chosen you (His people) to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and BELIEF OF THE TRUTH: Whereunto He called you by our Gospel…” (2 Thess. 2:13,14). “…when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth…” (Jn. 16:13). Feelings, experiences and lies about God can only ever lead people to, and confirm them in, that which is untrue, and, therefore, not of God. “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son” (2 Jn. 9). Those who do not abide in the doctrine of God neither teach or believe the true God’s Gospel, and, therefore, could not possibly be experiencing the true God in any way, shape or form.
In light of all this it is not difficult to see that believing untruths about God is not some minor infraction. Though believers in false gospels may well consider themselves to be Christian, believing untruths, a false gospel, immediately disqualifies any person, no matter how religious, how lovely, how nice, how gentle, how loving, how thoughtful, or how helpful they are, from rightly believing themselves to be Christian. Salvation is about God coming to a man, and is evidenced by that man’s belief of the Gospel of God. Experiences can never outweigh truth, and, therefore, can never have authority over truth. Experiences can never negate truth, but truth will always negate experiences as Godly ones which do not find their origin in the true and only God. The famous Russian novelist, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, once wrote: “It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes. It may even lie on the surface; but we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions—especially selfish ones”. Man will always eagerly seek out and readily acknowledge those experiences which will confirm him in what he believes. What natural man will not do, particularly in matters spiritual, is mount a serious, objective, challenge to what he believes and is experiencing. The human psyche, both individually and collectively, is at enmity against God. Man is not a neutral creature, but to the contrary one who is dead to God, and is by nature enmity against Him. “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:6,7). Man’s spiritual deadness reveals his eternal enmity against God. There can be no enmity against God without a man’s being dead in sins.
The beliefs of those who are spiritually inclined, yet carnally minded, have little or nothing to do with the logic of Biblical rationale. Their knowledge and awareness come only from a carnal mind which is simply not equipped to understand and accept the things of God. This is one reason why what a carnally minded person believes makes perfectly good sense to them, for they can only see darkness as light. Erroneous understanding will always support and perpetuate erroneous ideas, concepts and false gospels, but will never be supported by a right understanding of God’s Word. For those who function from within the world of error, the illusion of truth will always make more sense to them than actual truth. What natural man, trapped inside bubbles of error, believes the truth to be, and what God says the truth is, reveals the eternal conflict which exists between them due to man being at enmity against the true God, and the fact that “…the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they (the things of God) are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14 cf. Jn. 14:17). A carnal man has only a carnal discernment. Natural man is led by the spirit of error, hence his enmity against God. The saved man is led by the Spirit of truth, hence his natural aversion and enmity against false gospels. False beliefs which do nothing but lead people to false gods often come with experiences that pander to the flesh, the sinful nature of man, and his deep-seated desire for pleasure even in the name of God. Being wrong when it comes to God is not something to giggle over, it is not some innocent, inconsequential, ‘mistake’ or oversight which can be overridden by one’s zeal, sincerity and exhilarating experiences, but is of the utmost seriousness in nature, and a sure sign that the ‘god’ one is believing in is a false god, for that which is believed is synonymous only with idols, and not the true God at all. There is no alternate God, no alternate truth, only the idols and lies which occupy and monopolize the carnal thoughts of lost men. “For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens” (Psa. 96:5 cf. Psa. 97:7; 2 Cor. 6:16).
If one does not hold to the doctrines of the Gospel of grace that saves, one is believing a false gospel that can only deceive. False gospels that are claimed to be Christian, are seldom made up of only lies. Typically, they are statements which include many truths, but when truth is coupled with lies, even one lie, it ceases to be truth. For example, 2 + 2 = 4 is a true statement, however, if one adds anything, even the smallest fraction, to the number 4 such as 1/16th, etc., one no longer has a true statement, but a lie, even though the lie one is proposing contains the truth. Likewise, if any part of the answer is missing, it becomes an entirely different answer to the true one. 2 + 2 does not equal 4.000000001, nor does it equal 3.9999999999. The only true answer is 4, the only true God is God Almighty, and no other can save. A clock that is only one minute wrong is never right. Add any doctrine to the Gospel, which is not according to God’s truth, or remove any doctrine from God’s Gospel, and all that remains is a false gospel which does not define the true God and does not accurately specify His only Way of salvation. Any time you take away from grace, or add to it, you no longer have grace, but works. You no longer have the Gospel of God, but a gospel of man. Any trust in such a gospel is misguided and is of no value, hence, John’s words in 2 John 9, and the apostle Paul’s declaration in Galatians 1: “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son” (2 Jn. 9); “But though we, or an angel from Heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8,9). He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has God, he who does not abide within the confines of the Gospel has not God. Those who preach and believe in teachings which do not make up the Gospel of God cannot possibly be following the true God, but are rather in an accursed state: deceived and trusting in lies.
How can one be following the true God if one believes in teachings which do not emanate from God; if one has not been given the faith to believe in His teachings alone? Believing in false teachings can hardly be looked upon as evidence that one is being led by God’s Holy Spirit of Truth. Can God say of one who believes in lies, in a false gospel, ‘He believes in Me’? “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the Witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son” (1 Jn. 5:10 cf. 1 Jn. 3:24). To believe in the Son of God is to believe exclusively in the record that GOD has given of His Son. To believe the Gospel of God is to believe in God’s Son, it is to believe the defining and distinguishing truth concerning God’s Son as witnessed by God and recorded in God’s Gospel, for it is to believe the witness, or testimony of God, and no other, concerning Who His Son is, and what His Son has done. God’s Gospel “…is a declaration by a Witness Who speaks with the Authority of One Who knows". To believe only in the Gospel of Christ, and to reject all others as having any power to save, is the essence, and evidence, of what it means to believe the record that God has given of His Son. Does God claim even one as His own who calls Him a liar by not believing God’s record of His Son? Of course not. Believing the Gospel is believing the record that God gave of His Son. Any other gospel, is not the record that God has given of His Son. False gospels, as with false gods, have NO power to save. Believing in God’s Gospel is the evidence of salvation. Rudderless experiences and subjective feelings which are viewed as evidence one has God are no sign of salvation. Those who do not believe God’s Gospel call the true God and His truth a lie, and will be duly dealt with by the One Whom they have rejected. “…the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with His mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 1:7,8). The distinguishing sign as to whether a man believes in the true God or not, is his believing God’s Testimony of His Son, and no one else’s. Those who do not believe the Gospel of God call Him a liar, and do not have His Witness—the Holy Spirit—in them. Those who do believe in the Gospel of God call every false god a liar, and every false gospel a sham. The true Christian does not believe in the lying testimonies about Jesus Christ, but only in the true record that GOD has given of His Son revealed only in His Gospel. Can God say of one who believes a false gospel, in doctrines which do not identify Him because they do not testify of Him, and consequently make God out to be a liar, ‘He believes in Me’? Of course He cannot and does not!
People naturally ask, ‘But how can I know the true God when there are so many religions and teachings out there, which not only disagree, but contradict each other? They can’t all be right, so how can I know which is the right one?’ To an outsider, one who has no knowledge or understanding of things spiritual, it does all seem to be a quite confused, and at times, dangerous mess which one would do well to steer clear of. Those who believe in lies about God have even gone to violent lengths to defend and protect their beliefs, while the true believer in the only Gospel of God peacefully, patiently and humbly continues to believe and witness the true Gospel. The most critical mistake anyone can make in their ‘search for God’, is to allow themselves to be positively or negatively influenced by the lifestyles and experiences of the people they encounter along the way. Joining a religious group of people who are so lovely and loving may be a pleasurable experience, but if that group does not believe and teach the Gospel of God, then all one has is a social club. To judge truth in a faulty, or incorrect manner is to literally play with fire. Allowing oneself to be convinced that this religion or that religion must be the true one simply by observing a religion’s followers and how lovely, gentle and softly spoken they are has led millions into the yawning mouth of Hell. The lovely, kind and considerate little old lady who lives down the street is not a Christian, no matter her lifestyle, genteel manner, sweet voice, or how loved and popular she may be, if she does not believe in the Gospel of Almighty God. “Lovely but lost”, is the best that can be said about nice people who trust in lies. The unchangeable Truth of God, is the only way, the only sure guide, the only sure sign that one has the true God. But how does one discern truth from error when it comes to the things of God? How does one recognise truth, when so many of religion’s scholars and professors who all seem equally knowledgeable and convincing in their differing teachings, are sincerely convinced that they have the truth?
The only standard of measurement by which one can reliably measure the truth is the Word of God. Throughout the centuries countless numbers of people, secular and even religious organizations, have tried to discredit the Bible and rid the world of it. No book has ever been attacked like God’s Book. “Many attempts to destroy the Bible have come from various groups such as governments (e.g. Roman emperor Diocletian in A.D. 303); the old Soviet Union; religions (e.g. Islam, Roman Catholicism), and infidels (e.g. Voltaire, Ingersoll, Rosseau).” One man wrote: “Mock on, mock on Voltaire, Rosseau! Mock on, mock on, ‘tis all in vain; You blow the dust against the wind, And the wind blows it back again.” “Even today the secular press, universities and some political groups attack the Bible. For centuries the Bible has been attacked by critics, antagonists, moralists and skeptics…” Today’s attempts at eradicating the Word of God do not so much involve the burning of Bibles, but the mass production of perverted versions of it, which directly change and also omit particularly crucial verses of Scripture. Archaeologists have mocked and laughed at some of the Bible’s prophecies only to be silenced upon their discovering evidence that proved conclusively, even to their unwilling minds, that the Bible’s prophecies were, are, and always have been true, right down to the very last detail, for they were inspired by the God Who is the Source behind every reason and purpose for all things. No prophecies found in any so-called holy scriptures of any religion, or in the writings of Nostradamus, or any other so-called prophet have a 100% record on each and every individual prophecy made, including every detail contained therein. Such ‘prophecies’ can be spoken by any man. Any individual can make a ‘prophecy’ and be right to some degree, even in some detail or two. God’s prophecies are all accurate right down to the very last, and finest of, details. Man’s prophecies are mere guesswork, predictions of what will happen in the future. God’s prophecies are a foretelling of the future, they are not guesswork or predictions, but advance notice of what will occur. God’s prophecies are extremely detailed, whilst the so-called prophecies of religion are as obscure and nebulous as the daily horoscopes which appear in newspapers. Many are keen to see these horoscope predictions come true in their lives, and so, view the events in their lives in a way to make them fit the predictions. God’s prophecies are not predictions, for this would suggest a God Who is not Sovereign King over all, Who can only guess better than any of us what exactly is to occur. God’s prophecies do not predict, but foretell what will occur. God foretells what He has foreordained. God foretells the future, for He has predetermined precisely what it will be. God’s prophecies simply report what has been ordained by God to occur, what will happen before it has happened. This is why there are no prophecies like the prophecies of Almighty God. The news media reports on what has occurred, God’s prophecies report on what will occur.
The following is a crash course on how to differentiate true Christianity from the religions of the world, including false Christianity: The religions of the world, from Roman Catholicism and the various denominations of Protestantism to the smallest of cults, though widely differing in their teachings and practices, all have one thing in common: they all, in some way and to varying degrees, condition salvation upon what a man does. Such teaching does not find its source in the Word of God, for God’s Word clearly states that salvation is not by the works of men, but solely by the grace of God. Religionists say that salvation cannot come before a man does this or that. Even those Calvinist organizations which profess to defend the doctrines of grace promote the lie that salvation is possible by other means, even when believing other gospels, for they call ‘brethren’ those who believe that one must choose God, one must make a free-will decision for God before one can be saved. FLEE SUCH LIARS! Those tolerant of error, of false gospels, cannot be believers in truth, the Gospel of Almighty God. God is not error-tolerant when it comes to what His Gospel is, for if He was why would He give the gift of faith to His chosen people so that they would all believe one Gospel: HIS Gospel. Man cannot even believe the Gospel of God without God giving him the gift of faith necessary to believe it. Man’s natural faith is not rejuvenated so as to believe the Gospel, for the saved man is given a new faith just as he has been made a new creature in Christ. The saved man is the workmanship of God, and is given the faith which comes from God to believe in Him. Why would truth matter if believing error was admissible as evidence of one’s salvation? Any person or organization which teaches salvation based on personal character, conduct and conviction rather than on the grace and mercy of God, is one which promotes a false gospel that cannot save. Such teachings ignore Christ, Who He is and what He has done.
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True Biblical Christianity states that at no time is salvation conditioned in any way to any degree on any man, but solely upon the grace of God, for the race of man is dead in sins. God is the only Hope of anyone being saved, of dead men being made alive again, for what can a dead man do. There is no man saved by God, made alive by God, who was not first dead in sins. Anyone who denies this deadness can never Scripturally lay claim to being born again, for to be born again is to be made alive from the dead by God. All those who are born again—been made alive spiritually—were once spiritually dead. A born again, a Christian man, was once a spiritually dead man who has been given life by God according to His unmeritable grace and undeserved mercy. “And you hath He quickened (made alive) who were dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1); “But God…Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us…” (Eph. 2:4,5). The dead can do nothing to make themselves alive, therefore: “…by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8,9). This means that a man is saved solely by the grace of God. The grace of God is not only God doing, but God doing first, and not through, or subsequent to, anything a man does, must do or can do. Salvation is a gift from God, therefore, it cannot be that which religion says a man who is dead in his sins, must, or can, work toward in order to gain eternal life. SALVATION IS A GIFT, AND NOTHING CAN BE DONE, OR MUST BE DONE, BEFORE A GIFT IS GIVEN. Salvation being a gift from God shows that it does not come by an act of man. All that a man can do, all that a man who has been given a gift can do, is to live a life of love and gratitude toward the gift-giver, not in order to keep the gift, but to show his appreciation for the gift.
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Grace is God doing first. Religion says a man must do something first to attract favour from God. This is nothing short of a denial of grace, of the very need of grace, for grace is God doing first. Salvation is subsequent to grace, not works. Works are subsequent to salvation “For we are His workmanship, created by Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). The new creature created in Christ is made to perform good works because he is God’s workmanship. The new creature is not subsequent to good works, or as a result of good works, but its creation is prior to any good works. A saved man is “not saved by, but created unto, good works”. Anything different to this is not grace. A ‘salvation’ which comes because of good works—anything performed by a man which in any way contributes to his gaining or maintaining salvation—is a myth created in the minds of lost men. The new creature in Christ is MADE SAVED by grace. The new creature does not owe its life to its own works, for before life in Christ no works could possibly have been done. The good works a Christian does are ordained for him to perform, and they can only be performed after one has been created—born again, made alive—in Christ. Ephesians 2:10 is an explanation of the previous two verses which talk of salvation being by grace not by works. “The connexion is ‘works are not antecedent, but the consequent, of your acceptance in Christ; FOR the true statement of the case is, that you were re-made, re-born, in order to work the will of God’”, not because you had worked the will of God. Grace is God doing what a man cannot do. Works cannot do what only grace can do, therefore, salvation is by grace and not works, salvation is by God and not man. “Know ye that the Lord He is God: IT IS HE THAT HATH MADE US, and not we ourselves…” (Psa. 100:3). “…as men, without whom nothing is made that was made; in Him we live, move, and have our being; and, as new creatures, we are His workmanship, created in Him, and by Him; regenerated by His Spirit and grace, and formed for Himself, His service and glory; and made great and honourable by Him, raised from a low to an high estate; from being beggars on the dunghill, to sit among princes; yea, made kings and priests unto God by him (see 1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 1:6; 5:10). We did not make ourselves, neither as creatures, nor as new creatures; as we have no hand in making either our souls or bodies, so neither in our regeneration, or in the work of God upon our hearts; that is solely the Lord's work.” Grace is God saving that which cannot do anything to save itself. Grace is the evidence that no act of man can save, or is required to save. If one has done something which obliges God to act, then it is no longer grace, it is no longer favour, but reward, and salvation is no longer a free gift, but a debt of gratitude owed by God to the sinner. The gift giver is under no obligation to give other than his love.
Religion is Satanic, in that it has everything in reverse. It has man first, and God a distant second. Religion also hinges salvation itself on what a man does to get it, and what a man needs to do to keep it. If salvation were something that man could procure, then surely he would have attained it by something he has done, surely then salvation would be by works, and not of grace. But the Word of God states that salvation is not at all by anything a man has done, before or during a man’s salvation, for it only comes, and, therefore, can only come by an act of God. God “…hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (2 Tim. 1:9). In other words, God saves His people NOT because of, therefore, after, anything they have done, but solely and only after, and because of, God’s purpose and grace. It is God’s will and grace that is the precursor to salvation, and not anything done by man. It is God’s grace which salvation waits upon, and not the works of men. No one can do anything to get, or attract, grace, for grace comes based on mercy not merit. Moreover, this was all settled even before the world began. Grace precedes any and every work. Works come because of grace—grace does not come because of works. To have done something which has prompted another to grant you a gift is an oxymoron. A gift is not a reward, nor is it a wage. A gift is not given after someone else has done something, but solely because of what the gift-giver wants to do. A gift is given based on the giver’s love, and no other’s. A gift is given voluntarily, a reward is an obligation. Scripture says that all of salvation is by grace, therefore, God is compelled to save only those He loves, and only because He loves them. Couple this with the fact that despite all of their religiosity all men are dead in their sins, dead to God, do not seek the true God, and can, therefore, never come to Him without Him and the grace by which He saves, and you are provided with irresistible evidence that unequivocally shows the utter hopelessness of man in coming to the true God. It is proof that the grace of God is a man’s only hope. Once you bring grace into the picture, you instantly exclude everything else, including anything a man can allegedly do, or must do, as playing any part in his salvation. “…if by grace, then is it no more of works…” (Rom. 11:6).
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