“Evil” involves knowing to do right but deliberately doing wrong. “Evil” is deliberate, calculated and personally determined. In the Biblical realm, “evil,” though written about extensively, can be summed up in one passage spoken by the Lord Jesus Himself. In Mark 7:6-9 we find Jesus responding to a group of Pharisees and scribes who are questioning Him about one of their religious rules which has nothing to do with spiritual holiness. He wastes no words. He calls them “hypocrites” who honor Him with their words but whose hearts (minds) are far from Him. He tells them that they indeed do worship Him, but that their false worship is all in vain because they teach the commandments of men and reject the doctrines of God. Sound familiar? He said to them what He says to the modern Laodicean church system today: “FULL WELL YOU REJECT THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD SO THAT YOU MAY OBEY YOUR OWN TRADITIONS.” By reading the introductory statement for this website one can see how far the Institutional Church has wandered away from God’s stated Truths and the extent to which she has embraced the TRADITIONS OF MEN. This series focuses on those traditions which God openly and clearly condemns in His Holy Bible. Let us now return to our examination of some of those traditions, many of which have been borrowed from heathen religions.

“Justification is granted on the basis of faith and grace alone, and is permanent.” Justification is the forgiveness of all of one’s PAST sins at the point of true conversion (reversal of life). It is true that it is strictly through God’s grace and man’s faith that He forgives and erases ALL OF THE CONVERT’S PAST SINS (Rom. 3:25). However, He tells us that such forgiveness is dependent on the convert’s future conduct (“walk”). Recall that, having forgiven a man and a prostitute of their PAST sins, Jesus COMMANDED them to “SIN NO MORE” (Jn. 5:14; 8:11). That was neither a suggestion nor an option–that was a COMMAND. Why? “For it is not they who hear the (Ten Commandment) Law who are (will remain) justified, but IT IS “THE DOERS (OBEYERS) OF THE LAW WHO SHALL BE (REMAIN) JUSTIFIED” in the future (Rom. 2:13). The message is clear, those whose past sins are forgiven at the point of true conversion will remain justified and in good stead with God only if they STOP SINNING. The process of totally ridding oneself of sin takes time and diligence. One must be vigilant against the wiles of Satan who “goes about like a lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Those who continue to sin after being justified “crucify Christ afresh” with each sin (Heb. 6:6).

Let us remember that everything written in the Holy Bible was written to, for and about God’s people (1 Cor. 10:11/ Eph. 2:20/ 2 Tim. 3:14-16). Gentiles (Heb.-heathen) are mentioned only when they come into contact with God’s people. With that in mind, let us turn to the first epistle of the Apostle John (2:1-8) where he tells us that the Holy Scriptures are given in order that God’s people “SIN NOT.” He goes on to say that we can honestly say that we know Christ IF WE KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS,” and that anyone who says he knows Him and does not keep them is “A LIAR, AND GOD’S TRUTH IS NOT IN HIM.” John reminds us that in order to keep the love of God perfected in us we must KEEP (OBEY) HIS WORD BY “WALKING (LIVING) AS HE (CHRIST) WALKED.” ONLY IN THIS WAY CAN WE KNOW THAT WE “KNOW HIM” AND ARE “IN HIM.” Only those “in Him” are truly converted and can qualify to receive salvation and be born again upon His return. Read Born Again and The Three Resurrections. Key words–Born and Three respectively.

In order to “sin not” it is necessary to know God’s definition of sin, which is found in First John 3:4-8: “Whosoever commits sin transgresses the Law, for SIN IS THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW. … He (Jesus) came to take away our (past) sins, and IN HIM IS NO SIN. WHOEVER ABIDES IN HIM SINS NOT, AND WHOEVER SINS HAS NOT SEEN HIM, NEITHER KNOWS HIM. … WHOEVER DOES RIGHTEOUSNESS IS RIGHTEOUS, EVEN AS HE IS RIGHTEOUS. WHOEVER SINS IS OF THE DEVIL ….” It cannot be stated more clearly than that.

I spent so much time and effort on this subject because it is the foundation upon which the entire Catholic/Protestant church bases its “I-sin-and-get-away-with-it” theology which will cause billions of people to be “left behind” when Jesus returns to the clouds above the earth and calls His Very Elect saints up to Him. Sadly, only a few will have qualified to join Him (Mat. 7:13,14; 22:14). Let us be among that tiny remnant who, in this lifetime, rejected the call of Satan to follow him into “the church” and answered Christ’s call to join Him in His church. Let us obey God’s command as voiced in Second Corinthians 6:14-7:1. Let us be always IN HIM so that we can reap the rewards promised those who “walk as He walked.”

“A Christian can interpret the Bible according to his/her religious needs.” This is the basis for the creation of the two-headed, multi-bodied religious monster that is the Catholic/Protestant Religious System which labels itself “the church.” However, we are to “KNOW THIS FIRST OF ALL, THAT THE SCRIPTURES ARE OF NO PRIVATE (PERSONAL) INTERPRETATION, for holy men of old spoke (and recorded what they spoke) as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:20). Under the direction of Satan, false prophets have created OTHER (PERVERTED) GOSPELS (Gal. 1:6,7), each with its own Jesus (2 Cor. 11:4), its own god, its own “truths,” its own path to salvation, etc. It is from this religious sewer that the multi-religion, anti-God, anti-Bible morass known as “the church” arose and, along with her fellow religions, now dominates the world’s religious scene. Of all the false religions that infect the whole of mankind, so-called “Christianity” is by far the most dangerous because it passes itself off as the religion of the Biblical God. Nothing could be further from the truth, as this website has proven time and time again by using the Words of the Biblical God as its “sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:17).

In Proverbs 14:12 we find the writer making the following statement: “There is a way that seems right to a man; but the end of that way is death” (Ps. 109:2). Note that the way of religious, though God-rejecting man is believed by him to be the “right” way to live in order to receive eternal “life.” The way he has chosen is contrary to God’s way–the only way leads to life. But the man has chosen to enter Satan’s “wide (easy) gate” and to walk his “broad (you want it-you got it) way” which leads one away from God’s “strait” (difficult) gate and along His “narrow” (My way or the highway) way that leads to eternal life (Mat. 7:13,14/ 22:14). Note that the man has chosen Satan’s way in spite of God’s Words to the contrary. The man obviously is knowledgeable about salvation because he is seeking it. This has happened and is continuing to happens to billions of salvation seekers as they listened to “Evil men and seducers who have waxed worse and worse” (2 Tim. 3:13). Those who seduce salvation seekers away from God’s Word are characterized by God as “EVIL.” In such men the “mystery of iniquity” (Lawlessness) has been working for many generations (2 Thes. 2:7). These men (and now women) do not know that they are deceived, as were those who deceived them. As noted early on, rejection of God’s Law is where the church’s fall from grace began. For this reason God commands His people to “come out of her; touch not that unclean thing.” As Paul noted, it is only then that God will become one’s God and one will become His child. L.J.