The ancient prophets spoke and wrote to the ancient Israelites whom God called His “Chosen People.”  Later, following the establishment of the “Church of God” (not the denomination), the apostles spoke and wrote to the biological descendants of the ancient Israelites .  Some of these people, along with converted Gentiles (spiritual Israelites), today comprise the Church of God (Mat. 16:18; 20:28), also known as “the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16), that came into being on the Day of Pentecost 31 A.D.  The “latter days,” the “time of the end,” the “end times” began on that day. (Acts 2:16,17) over 2000 years ago.  The end of the “latter days,” generally known as the “church age,” is rapidly approaching as the time of Christ’s Second Advent draws near.  His coming will bring to a merciful end the sin, chaos and destruction caused by unregenerate man, many of whom will have done their damage while operating within what is called “the church.”  The physical destruction created by the unchurched, combined with the spiritual destruction caused by the churched, has given us what we are watching take place today within the nation that bills itself “One Nation Under God,” the same God in Whom that nation claims to “Trust.”  Having set the extremely low standard for the “Christian walk,” America has infected the other so-called “Christian nations” with her many heathen beliefs and practices, a number of which are listed in the Introduction to this website.  One belief which is not listed is the subject of this series.  Let us now look directly into that death-producing error.

The woman I referenced in the previous posting whom God killed for not believing His Word (about His Sabbath)  said concerning sin, “Don’t worry about sin; God will forgive you.”  That flippant, “just repent; all is well” statement perfectly characterizes the attitude professing Christendom holds relative to the breaking of God’s Law, which is God’s definition of sin as noted in First John 3:4.  The popular focus is not on getting sin out of one’s life, the focus is repentance.  Sin, we are told, is inevitable, therefore repentance is the key to church life.  The sin-repent, sin-repent system works as follows: Churchman sins, repents, receives forgiveness, sins, repents, receives forgiveness, etc., etc., until the moment of death at which time Jesus provides forgiveness of one’s final sins on the sinner’s way up to heaven where Saint Peter awaits at the pearly gate with the key to the new arrival’s mansion located on Gold Street.

In this system, Jesus, or Mary, makes the believer’s sins go away as soon as the sinner repents of them.  A minister I know said, “God can’t see (sin) through the blood” (of Jesus).”  Is this true?  Is forgiveness automatic upon repentance?  Did Jesus die a horrific death so that believers can sin and get away with it?  Let us allow the Lord, through His prophets and apostles, tell us His Truth about the matter.  Read The Message of the Cross.  Key word–Message.

A specific passage of Scripture exposes the above-mentioned lie for what it is–a cleaver deception concerning the sin-repentance ritual.  Let us make certain we know to whom and about whom God is speaking through His prophets and apostles.  In his letter to the church at Rome the Apostle Paul is writing to, “the called of Christ.”  Here Paul notes that the people in the congregation had been “called” by the Lord just as the apostles had been called by Him.  Paul describes these people as the “beloved of God” whom He calls “saints.”  These converted souls had received “grace and peace from God OUR Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1:5-7).  Paul made it clear that the Rome congregation was a segment of the one and only Church of God whose Head was Jesus Christ.

These called out, God-loved, grace and peace recipients seemingly were in tight with the Lord.  However, all that glitters is not gold, especially within the church.  Let us briefly turn to First Peter 4:16-19 for conformation of that Truth.  Here Peter is writing to the “elect,” “sanctified,” “blessed,” “begotten,” “kept,” “heirs” of God (1:1-5).  In chapter four Peter warns church people then and now that judgment is ongoing in the church as her members are expected to judge themselves relative to God’s Word as provided by the prophets and apostles (Eph. 2:20/2 Pet. 1:21).  Note that Peter tells the church that only the righteous within her will be saved.  The unrighteous need to REcommit their souls to the Lord in true repentance followed by true obedience.  Otherwise, the promises of God, including eternal life, are meaningless.  With that in mind, let us return to Romans 2:5.

Here Paul is chastising some in the church who were judging their fellow churchmates while committing the same sins (vss 1-4).  Obviously, much time was spent repenting.  Today such people call themselves “sinners saved by grace,” even though such people do not exist Biblically.  In verses five and six Paul makes a statement that has been ignored by the church masses for 1900 years.  Recall that he is addressing elect, sanctified, blessed, begotten, kept heirs of God in the church.  In verse five he addresses church sinners, telling them that because they continue in their sin-repent, sin-repent cycle, they “TREASURE UP their sins until the day of wrath and the righteous judgment of God Who will judge and punish every man according to his deeds.”  As Peter reminds us, only the righteous within the church will be saved, and they just barely.

These sinning church members had no doubt repented after each sin, “knowing” that each sin was forgiven as soon as the words passed through their lips.  Nothing has changed.  A Catholic girl, upon leaving mass, was heard to say: “Well, I’m good for another week.”  This means that she could and would sin at will for the next six days.  She would them pull a sin dump on Mary, thereby freeing her to repeat the process again, and again, and ad infinitum.  Mary, also known as “my Lady,” is not alone as the recipient of her worshipers’ sins.  Protestants dump their sins on their “lady” whose name is “grace.”  Now back to Romans 2:5.

Notice what Paul, writing under the power of the Holy Spirit, said about the sin-repent cycle the church refuses to give up.  The English word “treasure” is the Greek word thesaurizo meaning to store up, to gather, to collect, to lay up, to keep in store.  The Lord is saying through Paul that when church people engage in Satan’s sin-repent cycle their sins are not forgiven upon repentance because their “repentance” is fake.  Remember that Jesus knew the hearts (minds) of the people who followed Him.  Paul says church have “unrepentant hearts,” meaning that they have no intention of turning away from sin because they “know” their sin slates are wiped clean after each repentance session.  But, as Paul tells us, there is a problem.  Rather than being forgiven, as we are told, one’s sins are “gathered,” “stored up,” “collected” until Judgment Day when sinners–both churched and nonchurched– will pay for all of the sins they have accumulated over the years.  In verses eight and nine Paul warns church sinners that they will receive “tribulation and anguish” which will come upon “EVERY SOUL OF MAN WHO DOES EVIL” (VS 9).  God is telling us that EVERYONE WHO SINS WILL BE TREATED THE SAME, REGARDLESS OF HIS/HER RELIGIOSITY, CHURCHIVITY, REPENTANCE, ETC.  RECALL FIRST PETER:4:16-19.  

Jesus warns about the consequences for those who do not believe what was written by Paul and Peter.  In Matthew 7:22 He says about them: “Many will say to Me on that (judgment) day, ‘Lord, Lord, we have prophesied (preached) in Your name and in Your name have cast out devils, and in Your name have done many wonderful works.’  And then I will say to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me you who practice iniquity (Lawlessness).'”  These people will (like Judas) have called Him their Lord, will have preached the Gospel, cast out devils and done miracles in His name.  They will have “known” beyond a doubt that they were in good standing with Him because of all they had done in His name.

Yet Jesus said that their sins had separated them from Him (Isa. 59:2).  Read Deuteronomy 13:1-5 where we are told that preaching, performing miracles, etc. is not necessarily a sign that one is in good standing with God.  This is why we are commanded to “try (test) the spirits” of religious leaders to see if they are following God’s Word.  Remember, all that spiritually glitters is not gold. In fact, 99.99% of it is fool’s gold that Satan uses to lure salvation seekers into his Catholic/Protestant Church System.  Read Bait and Switch.  Key word–Bait.  L.J.