God has shown us that in order to spend eternity with Him and His Messiah we must realize our sinful condition, repent, then live the rest of our lives according to Their instruction manual. A few of the Lord’s rules of engagement are as follows: we must walk as Jesus walked (1 Jn. 2:6), purify ourselves as He is pure (1 Jn. 3:3), by continually washing our minds by the water which is the Word (Eph. 5:26), be led by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:14) to live by every Word of God (Mat. 4:4), be “in” and “one with” the Godhead and obey the Truth (1 Pet. 1:22), which is the Holy Word (Jn. 17:17). These few commands make it clear that simply believing in Jesus Christ and being religious will not save the soul. Let us begin at the beginning to determine exactly what is required of the salvation seeker if he is to spend eternity with the Father and the Son.

Let us begin with a Truth known by all within professing Christendom. Upon coming to true repentance one’s PAST sins are forgiven en toto, rendering him justified–sinless, righteous. Having one’s PAST sins forgiven (Rom. 3:25), the question then arises: NOW WHAT? The typical answer is: “Join the church of your choice, obey its doctrines and repent of your sins.” The Biblical answer: Study, learn, believe and obey God’s Word. For a brief summary of the contrast between the church’s answer and God’s answer to “Now what?” see the Introduction to this website. Let us now return to the Day of Pentecost 31 A.D.

People from all over the world have come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Day of Pentecost. Suddenly, confusion fills the air as a group of people begin to speaking in dozens of languages–the languages of the people who have come from “every nation under the sun.” Thousands have run toward the source of the confusion where they find a group of people standing outside a building in which something strange had happened to them, causing them to begin speaking in languages they did not know. A man called Simon Peter is explaining that what had happened was the fulfillment of a prophecy given by the Old Testament prophet Joel–that a time would come when God would pour out His Holy Spirit on those who were seeking Him. Hearing this, thousands suddenly came under conviction. The question they asked should be the mantra of every God seeker: “What must we do to inherit eternal life?” To which Peter replied: “Repent and be converted that your (past) sins be blotted out ….” Notice that he did not tell those under conviction to repent of past sins then continue to repent following each subsequent sin. Once having repented, conversion was to take place within the heart of the repentant. Once free of all PAST sins, he was to STOP SINNING–the true meaning of “conversion.” To “convert” means to turn from living in obedience to Satan to living in obedience to God. Jesus’ Words to the prostitute whose sins He had forgiven set the standard for a true repentant’s future life: “Go and sin no more.” These were the same Words He spoke to the man at the Pool of Bethesda. To “sin no more” was not an option; it was a command. Jesus commands anyone desiring to spend eternity with Him to STOP SINNING.

I once heard a radio “minister of righteousness” talking about some church people who were doing something that was forbidden by God. The minister pronounced his church’s solution to the problem when he said: “They need to repent.” “No,” I shouted at the radio, “they need to STOP SINNING.” Had I said this in the preacher’s church I would have been labeled an ignorant fool. But in the eyes of God I was right, just as Jesus was right. This is life and death information. One either stops sinning or continues to serve the devil. In God’s church it is all or nothing, right or wrong, etc. Righteousness and sin do not mix. As God asked through the Apostle Paul: “What relationship does Christ have with Satan?” (2 Cor. 5:15-18). The answer is “none.”  So-called “sinners saved by grace” have been deceived into rejecting the Words that came from the One they claim has saved them. They have joined the unchurched world in rejecting God’s Word, thereby making themselves “one with” and “in” the God of the world (2 Cor. 4:4). Truly, Satan has deceived that world (Rev. 12:9) which includes the self-professed church world. Because of the devil’s total power over her, the modern church refuses to obey God’s command to “Come ye out of her (the false church–Catholicism/Protestantism) and be ye separate. Touch not that unclean thing, and (then) I will receive you, and (then) I will be your God and you will (then) be My sons and daughters.” One cannot be “in” and “one with” Father and Son and be in any way involved in Satan’s Counterfeit Church system. There must be a total and permanent separation from it. Just as God told the recently freed Israelites to have nothing to do with the heathen that would surround them, He commands His end time church to maintain a distance between themselves and the religious community. Why? Because when righteousness and evil mix, evil always wins. This is as true today as it was when Moses wrote Deuteronomy 7:2-6. Here he warned Israel that social intercourse with the heathen would cause them to intermarry with them, and that this would cause Israel to worship their gods. Which is exactly what Israel did. The New Covenant church has done exactly that, to the point that the only real difference between the churched and the unchurched is where they spend a couple of hours on Sunday morning. They read the same books, watch the same t.v. programs, worship the same money, movie stars, athletes, self, etc., go to the same places, talk the same talk, etc. God’s people are outsiders, strange and peculiar. They are the round peg and the world is the square hole. True saints do not fit in with the world around them. L.J.