One of Satan’s most effective lies with which he lures unsuspecting souls into his religious holding company is the belief that: “A person is saved when he/she takes Jesus as his/her personal Savior.”  In this scenario one is not required to “run the race” of life or “walk the walk” of Christ as Apostles Paul (Heb. 12:1) and John (1 Jn.2:6) tell us, but rather, one need only arrive at a starting point (take Jesus as Savior) and announce his/her intention to run the race or walk the walk (join a church and believe its doctrines).  In Hebrews 12:1 Paul states that all salvation seekers must “run the race (live the life God has) set before us” in His Holy Bible where the race is laid out in detail.  In those Holy Scriptures He tells us in places like Romans 5:21 and 6:22 that the END RESULT OF RUNNING THAT RACE AND WALKING THAT WALK IS PERSONAL RIGHTEOUSNESS (5:51) AND HOLINESS (6:22) WHICH, IF MAINTAINED UNTO THE END, WILL RESULT IN  ETERNAL LIFE (Mat. 10:22).

Church doctrine is man’s perversion of God’s gospel (Gal. 1:6-9) pitched by Satan’s false prophets.  Church beliefs and customs are heathen in origin.  Believing and practicing them create unrighteousness and unholiness.  In Hebrews 1:2 Paul tells us that we must follow the example set by Jesus of Nazareth who ran the race/walked the walk we all must run/walk in order to receive what God has promised.  All who seek to receive those rewards must “walk even as He (Jesus) walked” (1 Jn. 2:6).  They must live lives of righteousness and holiness as did Jesus.  He is the example–the only example–we must emulate.  In Leviticus 11:45 God (Who would become Jesus of Nazareth) commands us to “Be holy FOR (BECAUSE) I am holy.”  BECAUSE HIS HOLINESS ENABLED HIM TO ACCOMPLISH HIS GOAL–TO BE MAN’S SAVIOR–OUR HOLINESS WILL ENABLE US TO ACCOMPLISH OUR GOAL–SALVATION.  AS GOD’S SERVANTS PROCLAIMED IN HIS HOLY SCRIPTURES, HOLINESS IS ACHIEVED ONLY BY OBEYING HIS WORD/LAW/GOSPEL/LIGHT.

JESUS LIVED A LIFE OF OBEDIENCE AND THEREBY PRODUCED THE HOLINESS NECESSARY TO MAKE HIM MAN’S MESSIAH.  HE DIED SO THAT GOD WOULD GIVE HIS HOLY SPIRIT TO ENABLE HIS DISCIPLES TO LIVE AS HE LIVED AND THEREBY PRODUCE HOLINESS NECESSARY TO RECEIVE SALVATION.  So-called “sinners saved by grace” reject this Bible Truth and thereby reject the salvation that God offers those who believe and obey it.

The common lie believed by the whole of professing Christendom revolves around the belief that one is saved upon making a mental commitment to accept Jesus as one’s Savior, completing a prescribed ritual and being baptized.  Water baptism, which is necessary, is called “John’s baptism” (Acts 19:3).  The act symbolizes the forgiveness (washing away) of all PAST sins (Rom. 3:25).  What the convert does after being converted, receiving the Holy Spirit and obeying God’s Word by the power of His Spirit constitutes the running of the race and the walking of the walk prescribed by the Lord in the Holy Bible.  Those who so run and walk until the end of life will, upon Christ’s return, receive eternal life.

Not so, proclaim Satan’s false prophets.  One makes a decision, completes a prescribed ritual, says the prescribed words and one is instantly saved, born again and rapture-ready.  Not one word of which is true.  If, that is, we can take God at His Word.  As I have pointed out in other series, churchman focuses on God’s “headlines” and reject His “fine print” in obedience to their false prophets.  When confronted by “the whole counsel of God” (His “fine print”–99% of His Word) false prophets explain it away using church doctrine, which is in reality Satan’s doctrine.

Another major problem with churchites is that they do not distinguish between conversion and salvation.  Conversion is an all-encompassing “reversal of life.”  The church’s version of the “salvation experience” leaves out conversion which Paul said must follow repentance (Acts 3:19).  As Jesus said, repentance and conversion involve believing His Gospel (Mk. 1:15), then turn to God by doing WORKS of obedience to His Gospel that prove their repentance (Acts 26:20).

In the church version, one simply changes one’s mind but stays his course of life.  Adam’s gift to them makes obedience to God impossible.  The only difference is that one can now sin with impunity because Jesus makes the sins go away by providing the “sinner saved by grace” with carte blanc sin coverage.  The premiums paid for such insurance consist of repentance following one’s inevitable sins.  This is Satan’s premier lie.

The baptism that fills the convert with God’s Holy Spirit gives him/her power to overcome Satan’s temptations to sin, thereby enabling him/her to live in obedience to God.  True conversion involves a total reversal of life in which every aspect of one’s being–one’s thoughts, words, acts, etc.–all are prescribed by God through His indwelling Spirit.  All “old things are passed away, ALL things are made new.”  The Lord’s “new man” must replace the “old man” (Rom. 6:6/ 2 Cor. 5:17/ Col. 3:9).  We must become totally new creations.  “All things must be made new”–made like Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that empowered Him to obey God at all times in word, thought and deed.  Only those who emulate Him until the end of life will join Him in the Kingdom of God and sit with Him on His throne (Rev. 3:21).  Few, Jesus said, would choose to do so.  Few would BELIEVE HIS WORDS, search for and FIND His strait gate, ENTER it and WALK His narrow way leading to salvation.  Most salvation seekers, He warned, would choose Satan’s wide gate of traditional religion and walk his broad path that leads to destruction, all the while “knowing” that they are headed for heaven (Mat. 7:13,14).  How do they know they are on the right track?  Not from studying God’s “fine print” and obeying it, but by believing what their false prophets tell them.  See the Introduction to this website for some examples of the “truths” Satan’s fake ministers have enticed salvation seekers to believe and obey.

The effectiveness of those ministers is revealed by the fact that their followers “know” that one need only arrive at the starting line of “the race” by accepting Jesus as their Savior.  Then accept the prize awarded for having won the race.   According to their leaders, they need not “run the race God set before us” in the Scriptures.  That, they are told, is not only not necessary, it is impossible.  Knowing this, Jesus ran the race for them.  All they need to do is believe it and repent each time they obey Satan which, I was informed by an ordained minister, is a natural part of Christian life.  The fix is in; what they do following their “salvation experience” is irrelevant.  I have been assured by “saved” people that repentance of one’s inevitable (“Adam made me do it”) sins is all that is necessary to retain ones gift of eternal life which was awarded at the time of one’s “salvation experience.”  And Satan smiles.

What does God say about all of the above?  He tells us that upon true conversion one receives the “HOPE of (for) salvation” (1 Thes. 5:8/ Titus 1:2).  Paul asks those who claim to be saved, “Why do you hope for what you (supposedly) already have?” (Rom. 8:24,25).  Here he states that we are saved by holding onto our hope “until the end” (Heb. 3:6).  Jesus confirms this Truth in Matthew 10:22 where He tells us that those who endure (in holiness that brings on persecution) “until the end shall (then) be saved.”  In Romans 13:11 Paul tells the Christians in Rome: “NOW our salvation is NEARER than when we FIRST BELIEVED (in Jesus).”  If they already possessed salvation, why was it nearer than it once was?  Recall that salvation is the END RESULT OF A LIVING A LIFE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HOLINESS (Rom. 5:21; 6:22).

Salvation is not awarded in this life.  Read Hope and Salvation.  Key word–Hope. Salvation is a LIFE-LONG PROCESS in which we become God’s “chosen body,” a “peculiar people,” a “kingdom of priests,” a “royal priesthood,” a “holy nation,” a “spiritual house” who walk (live) in His “marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:5,9).  To receive salvation we must “come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).  This is the “walk” we must walk, the “race” we must run until we die or until He returns, whichever comes first.  The reward (eternal life) awaits us at the end of life’s race/walk, not at the time of our “salvation experience.”  God has laid out the path we must walk/run in the pages of His Holy Bible.  We must run/walk THE SCRIPTURALLY PRESCRIBED RACE in strict obedience to God’s race instructions, also known as His Law/commandments.  True converts have not merely stopped going in Satan’s direction, they have reversed course and are walking/running in the opposite direction.

The Lord tells us that salvation will be awarded at the end of this age when Jesus returns to gather to Himself His Very Elect saints.  In the meantime true converts are “heirs of salvation” (Heb. 1:14).  An heir does not yet have the inheritance.  An inheritor has received the inheritance.  In this life God’s saints are “joint-heirs with Jesus Christ” (Rom. 8:17) who, as “the nobleman” in the parable (Lk. 19:12), will inherit all things upon His return from a “far country” (heaven) where He now awaits the time to return to earth, gather His faithful servants, and, together with them, receive THEIR (His and their) promised reward–eternal life in an earthly paradise known as the Kingdom of God.  Upon His return to earth at the end of the age He and His Very Elect saints will inherit not only the earth, but the universe.  Read God’s Very Elect: Future Caretakers of the Universe.  Key word–Caretakers.

In the meantime true saints must wait for His return, at which time salvation (their inheritance) will be awarded them.  At that time those who have “run the race” and “walked the walk” will be resurrected, join Christ in the air, accompany Him to the Mount of Olives, walk with Him into Jerusalem and there help Him establish the Kingdom of God on Earth which they will rule for 1000 years.  Afterwards they will rule and reign over the entire universe–their inheritance.  This is the future of those who rise in the first resurrection.  Read The Three Resurrections.  Key word–Resurrections.

There is one, and only one way to inherit eternal life–obey His Word/Law/Gospel/light.  This can only be done through God’s Holy Spirit–His power living within the saint.  These are true “sons of God.”  He tells us: “They who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14) and joint-heirs with Christ.  L.J.