ONLY BELIEVE: For almost 2000 years man has been told that faith in Jesus Christ guaranteed immediate salvation, a heavenly home where streets were paved in gold, etc. One night my wife and I were in town walking around when we met a preacher friend who told me that he had just led two boys to the Lord a few minutes earlier. They had “gotten saved” by taking Jesus as their Savior after he had witnessed to them. I could not get away from him fast enough. Those two boys were now beyond saving. He had convinced them that they were now saved. All they needed to do was join some church and repent each time they sinned. I still feel a sense of anger when I hear of someone “getting saved” by completing a prescribed ritual. I have mentioned a couple of what I call “salvation whores” that come on television during the news hour and lead no telling how many ignorant souls to “salvation” with a ten-second prayer. One sixth of a minute earlier they were hell-bound reprobates. Then, after repeating a prayer formulated by their soul-winning mentors, they were heaven-bound saints who had been snatched out of Satan’s grip and given a ticket on God’s rapture rocket after a life of doing whatever they wanted to do. Their only responsibility was to repent–oh, I almost forgot–and tithe. Following their “salvation experience,” all prayer repeaters needed to do is to show up, ‘fess up, pay up and prepare to go up. What does Jesus have to say about this salvation system? Let’s find out.

In John 14:15 Jesus tells His God-chosen disciples: “IF you love me, KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS.” In first John 5:3 the apostle tells us: “This is the love of God, that we KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS.” We know from Luke 10:26 and Matthew 19:16-22 that He is referring to the Ten Commandments. The word “keep” is a military term meaning to surround, to protect. In the spiritual realm it means to “work”–to obey what one is keeping. Faith without works is dead faith which can save no one (Jam. 2:10,14,17,18,20,24,26). Faith without works of faith (obeying what one believes) proves a lack of love for the Biblical God. One can have faith in Jesus, attend church, read the Bible, etc., but unless on obeys God’s Word/Law/Truth one cannot be saved. The Apostle Paul speaks to this truth in Hebrews 10:36,39 where he writes: “AFTER (IF) YOU HAVE DONE THE WILL OF GOD, you will (in the future) receive the promise (salvation).” Man can be saved only by OBEYING HIM (Lk. 10:26/ Mat. 19:16-22). One must PROVE HIS FAITH IN AND LOVE FOR GOD BY OBEYING HIS WORD, not man’s interpretation of His Word.

To know that one must obey God’s Word and not do it is to “draw back to perdition (death)” (Heb. 10:36,38,39) and to “crucify Christ afresh” (Heb. 6:4-6), thereby condemning the soul. Read The Recrucifixion of Jesus Christ. Key word–Recrucifixion. In Hebrews 10:26-31 Paul writes that “If we continue to disobey Him after knowing the Truth, Christ’s sacrifice no longer cleanses our sins in that we “trample Him under foot, reject the blood that He shed for our sins and insult the Holy Spirit.”

Because you do not hear such words as these in your churches, God commands you to come out of Satan’s religious trap and touch not that unclean thing. Why? Because God has no relationship with Satan, nor does righteousness in any way commune with sin (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1. In Revelation 18 the Apostle John is writing to the future church which he described in the previous chapter (vss 1-5) as “Mystery Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” In chapter 18 verses 1-5 John refers to the woman (church system), warning those who call themselves by God’s name to “Come out of her, My people; do not be partakers of her sins so that you will not receive of her plagues. Her sins have reached to heaven and God has remembered her iniquities (Lawlessness–sins).” Read Second Corinthians 6:14-7:1 and Revelation 18:1-5. Everyone in that Babylonian religious system believes that he/she is right with God and needs only to stay the religious course. I know the feeling, for I was once one of them. Faith and God’s grace will not save the soul. That combination, plus obedience to the Law will result in salvation.

The Apostle Paul knew that his great faith, without love toward God, could not save him. He knew that he must prove his love by obeying His Law (Jn. 8:42; 14:15/ 1 Jn. 5:3/ 1 Cor. 13:1-3). Recall his saying that all salvation seekers “run the race” of church life, but only the one who runs according to the rules wins the race and receives the crown of victory–eternal life (1 Cor. 9:24). Let us run the race according to God’s rules. Let us be among the few who enter His strait gate and walk His narrow way that ends in the Kingdom of God (Mat. 7:13,14). Read Romans 5:21 and 6:22 where you will note that THE END RESULT OF A POST-CONVERSION LIFE OF HOLINESS AND RIGHTEOUSNESS IS ETERNAL LIFE. Only those who obey God “TO THE END SHALL (THEN) BE SAVED” (Mat. 10:22).

“Only believe” is a death message coined by Satan and spoken by his false prophets. Billions of salvation seekers are deceived into believing that salvation is based solely on man’s faith and God’s grace. Their brand of Christianity is all faith and no Law, which is a formula for failure. L.J.