God to the rescue–again. For several days I had been seeking divine guidance relative to the next subject I should write about. Two days passed. I began a posting and had to give it up for the lack of a spiritual “witness” that tells me when I am on the right track. Then last evening I was watching television when a well-known preacher came on with an ad that I had seen several times before. Normally, I simply look away and ignore the false gospel verbiage he and others of his ilk put forth. This time his message hit me hard as never before. It was like a knife to the heart. It was the same old “Repeat after me, take Jesus as your Savior and you’re saved. When you die you will go to heaven.” I knew God was speaking to me. This series is the result of His message. Me being me, I reminded Him of all the times I had written about this subject. He reminded me that Jeremiah had told Him the same thing. His words to me were the same as to Jeremiah: TEACH IT AGAIN. So here it is. God means business. I must be about His business.

Is anyone else telling church people the whole Truth about God’s will for those who would join Him in paradise? From everything I hear or read, church people are still being assured that they have instant and unconditional salvation. Following the completion of a prescribed ritual, the fix is in. From that moment on, no matter what they do, how they live, how much of God’s Truth they deny, reject, discard, replace, etc., all is well because they have carte blanche sin coverage. As I have shared in past postings, I came up with a little ditty that perfectly describes the mindset of professing Christendom. It goes like this: “Sin and grin, my friend, for in the end, you still win. Pie in the sky, sin till you die, for in the sweet bye and bye, you’ll still get to fly.” This is the unofficial mantra of that which calls itself “the church.”

This ministry exists for the sole purpose of reminding the Catholic/Protestant Religious System of her church-wide heresy relative to the requirements for attaining eternal life. I state emphatically that some 90% (and I am being generous) of Institutional Church beliefs and practices are either partially or totally wrong, anti-Bible, anti-God and anti-Christ.

The basic problem that has the Institutional Church in a religious strangle-hold is found in the meaning of the word “GRACE.” As indicated in the title of this series, grace is totally misunderstood and routinely misapplied by the church. In a recent series I pointed out Scripturally that the “gate” through which God’s sheep (true saints) enter His sheepfold (church) is through Jesus Christ, the “Good Shepherd.” As He pointed out in Matthew 7:13,14, FEW in the church (sheepfold) enter it through HIM. The vast majority enter “some other way” by “climbing over the wall” of the sheepfold as they follow in the spiritual footsteps of their “hirelings.” This process is explained in John 10:1-30 where Jesus describes the two opposing and conflicting groups of people found within his sheepfold (church).

As verse 10 explains, their hirelings have “scattered the sheep” by dividing them into hundreds of different mini-churches called denominations, faiths, congregations, etc., each of which has its own truth, its own god, its own christ, etc. Directed by Satan, each of the hirelings leads his/her group in his/her own religious direction by providing their followers with his/her own version of truth. They do this in spite of Christ’s statement that God’s Word, and only God’s Word, is Truth (Jn. 17:17). In spite of this, all in “the church” are declared saved, born again and rapture-ready. How is this possible? How can so many different churches, declaring so many different truths, operating under so many different names and going in so many different directions all be on THE ONE AND ONLY right track. The answer is: GRACE.

We are told that holiness, righteousness, godliness, etc. are impossible to achieve through obedience to the Lord because “No one can obey the Law.” Therefore, God’s written requirements for salvation cannot be met. So how is salvation received? Through the death of Jesus Christ Who turns church people’s sins into righteousness, their bad into good and their wrong into right. This religious magic trick is made possible by GRACE, or rather, man’s version of God’s gift.

This heresy is addressed and destroyed time and again by God’s true messengers in the Holy Scriptures. Perhaps the clearest statement was made in Jude 4 where the apostle warned the church that, “Certain men have crept in unnoticed … ungodly men who TURN THE GRACE OF OUR GOD INTO LICENTIOUSNESS (a license to sin), THEREBY DENYING THE ONLY LORD OUR GOD AND OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.” TO DENY THE MEMBERS OF THE GODHEAD IS TO DENY THEIR MESSAGE, ITS VALIDITY, ITS HONESTY AND ITS POWER TO SAVE THE ONE WHO BELIEVES AND OBEYS IT.

We must understand that the Holy Scriptures are God and Christ in written form. Jesus is the Scriptures in human form as God is the Scriptures in spirit form. God, Jesus and Their Word are ONE–inseparable and unchanging. You cannot have one without the other two. The Holy Spirit is the power that brings the Father and the Son’s Words to life in the lives of those who believe and obey them. Those who do not have those Words active in their lives neither believe nor obey Father and Son. Like Adam and Eve, they have embraced the Serpent’s version of Gospel Truth (Gal. 1:6-9). We know how that turned out.

Jesus of Nazareth was a human being like all other human beings–AND STILL IS. We are told that “THE MAN Jesus Christ now sits at the right hand of the Father (1 Tim. 2:5). In Hebrews 10:11,12 it is recorded that “This MAN (Jesus), after he had offered Himself as a sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.” While Saul of Tarsus lay on the ground staring into the brightest light he had ever seen, he asked the One Who had put him there, “Lord, who are you?” A voice answered: ‘I am JESUS OF NAZARETH, Whom you persecute'” (Acts 22:8). Note that, some 25 years after He had been crucified, still called Himself by His HUMAN NAME. Jesus was a man when on earth, is still a man and will always be a man. THOSE WHO OBEY HIM WILL ALSO BE MEN (AND WOMEN) EXACTLY AS HE IS AS WE RULE THE UNIVERSE WITH HIM FOREVER (Rom. 8:17). Like Him we will have been transformed in spirit beings, meaning that we will have been born again–changed from physical to spiritual bodily composition as Jesus Himself was upon His resurrection from the dead. Read Jesus of Nazareth: God, Man or God-man? The Resurrection of Jesus and God’s Very Elect: Future Caretakers of the Universe. Key words–God-man, Resurrection and Caretakers respectively.

The ultimate question relative to the previous paragraph is: ARE WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS CARRIED OUT BY HUMAN BEINGS IN STRICT OBEDIENCE TO THE WORD OF GOD NECESSARY FOR SALVATION? The Institutional Church says “No,” that faith, grace and church membership are all that are needed. But what does God say? Warning: If you do not want to know what the Almighty said relative to “WORKS” in the Holy Word, stop reading now because “Unto whom much is given, much is required” (Lk. 12:48). Also, “If one knows to do right and does not do it, to him it is sin” (Jam. 4:17). Sin separates us from God (Isa. 59:2), which prevents us from walking with Him in agreement (Amos 3:3). If we know the right and do not do it, if we are separated from God and do not live in agreement with His Word, we cannot qualify for salvation. No amount of religiosity and churchivity will change this rule.

Another warning is in order: IGNORNACE OF GOD’S WORD IS NO EXCUSE FOR NOT OBEYING HIS WORD. We know this because He said the following about those He calls “My people,” who call themselves by His name and own Bibles but refuse to obey what is written therein: “MY PEOPLE ARE DESTROYED FOR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE (Hos. 4:6). This is nothing less than spiritual suicide in that such people have His formula for salvation but refuse to apply it to their lives. They have His life-giving “food” but refuse to consume it.

Jesus came to earth to “confirm the promises God made to the (Israelite) fathers” (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob). Those same promises apply to those who become spiritual Israelites (His church–Gal. 6:16) by obeying Him (Rom. 15:8). Those promises are found in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. Study either one of those chapters in order to understand what God commands of salvation seekers, the promises He makes for obeying Him and the curses He promises for not obeying Him. Remember that the New Testament Church is built on the teachings of both the OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS and the New Testament apostles (Eph. 2:20). Remember also that the apostles taught the New Testament Church out of the Old Testament because the New Testament did not exist until after they were all dead except John. By that time the church had been in existence for approximately 60 years. L.J.