In John 17:4 and 19:30 the Savior of the World uttered two statements that have been misunderstood and misapplied by Satan’s messengers for almost 2000 years. This “wresting” (twisting–2 Pet. 3:16) of God’s holy Word by church leaders has caused the entire church world to not merely stray from God’s Truth (Word–Jn. 17:17), but to reject what God tells us is the purpose for Christ’s death. Jesus of Nazareth suffered and died in order to provide the opportunity for a truly repentant soul to receive JUSTIFICATION–the removal of all of one’s PAST sins (Rom. 3:25). Without justification, which RENDERS ONE RIGHTEOUS AND FILLS HIM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, no one can walk with the Lord throughout this life in that He does not commune with those who do not agree with Him, meaning sinners, including church sinners. As Amos 3:3 reminds us, “Two cannot walk together unless they are in agreement.” Jesus bled and died so that man could be freed from his PAST sins, be declared righteous and receive the Spirit of God which enables him to live WITHOUT SIN until his death. This qualifies him to receive eternal life upon the return of Jesus Christ to earth to establish the Kingdom of God.

Justification on the part of the Lord is due solely to His GRACE (Rom. 3:24–unearned favor). This free gift from Him includes the receiving of His Holy Spirit (His power–Lk. 1:35) which enables the justified one to reject Satan’s “fiery darts” (temptations–Eph. 6:16) throughout the remainder of his human life. This we must do in order to qualify for salvation. Jesus tells us in Revelation 3:21 that only those who “… overcome (Satan’s temptations to sin) AS I OVERCAME (them) ….” will join Him on His throne in paradise (the earthly Kingdom of God) for eternity. Read about this kingdom using the key word– Kingdom.

In order to walk with Jesus in agreement with Him we must first be cleansed of our PAST sins. Only then can we be one with Him and His Father. In First John 2:6 the apostle tells us that if we call ourselves Christ’s spiritual brethren we must “… WALK (LIVE) EVEN AS HE WALKED”” while on this earth. This is impossible without first being JUSTIFIED–having all of one’s PAST sins removed, WHICH WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY CHRIST’S DEATH.

Therein lies the error by which Satan has gained control over professing Christendom. His messengers–false prophets (Mat. 7:15; 24:11)–have rejected God’s Words and embraced Satan’s words ABOUT God’s Words. Their edited version of the Holy Bible is then presented to their congregations as “the Truth.” Being ignorant of God’s Truth, parishioners assume that what they are being taught is coming straight from God. These false “truths” comprise what is commonly known as “church doctrine.” With one word–“not” (Gen. 3:4)–the devil destroyed the Lord’s first congregation. He accomplished the task using a one-word LIE. He uses the same ploy to control the lives of the salvation-seeking masses to this day. As Jesus prophesied would happen in the last days of this world, salvation-seekers must choose which “gate” to use in order to enter “the church.” As predicted by the Lord, most people choose Satan’s wide (“come as you are”) gate and walk his broad (“stay as you are”) path which leads to spiritual death now and physical death later. Few, Jesus warned, would choose to enter by His strait (difficult) gate and walk His narrow (restrictive) path.

As Jesus foretold, the vast majority within professing Christendom have entered the church through Satan’s door and are walking his path. The church’s hirelings (ministers–Jn. 10:12,13) have convinced the religious masses that they (the masses) are serving the Biblical God and will be heaven-bound following their final breaths. Nothing could be further from the Truth, which IS God’s Word (Jn. 17:17), which the church rejects. This ministry was designed by the Lord to reveal this deadly truth to professing Christianity. This ministry is to the Institutional Catholic/Protestant Religious System which calls itself “the church.” The church is my mission field where I try to convince her members to believe God’s Word and to reject church doctrine. As Jesus warned in Matthew 7:13,14 and 22:14, though many are called to believe and obey His Word, few answer His call. In Revelation 3:14-22 we find Christ’s description of the modern-day (Laodicean Era) church. Read about church eras using the key word–Eras.

Relative to the spiritual condition of the end-time church, an explanation for Christ’s description of her found in Revelation 3:14-22 was issued by the Apostle Paul in Second Thessalonians 2:3. Here Paul is writing to people who believed that Christ’s return to earth was either eminent (54 A.D.) or had already taken place. He addressed their error by giving them information that directly affects the status of the church today. He noted that just before Christ’s return to earth there would come a massive, church-wide “falling away” from the Lord. The Greek word for this travesty is “apostasy.” Read about this deadly trend that we see happening today using the key word–Apostasy.. By doing so one will find that apostasy’s characteristics perfectly describe the church era in which we are now living.

The church’s falling away from the Lord began not long after her establishment in 31 A.D. Her apostasy began to manifest itself in earnest over the past several generations as mankind has grown ever more self-centered and less God-centered. During those decades Satan has been hard at work, knowing that his time is short. In order to reel in as many souls as possible, he is now generating a wave of religious REVIVAL. Read about his end-time revival phase now taking place within that which calls itself “the church.” Approximately two years ago the Lord told me that such a religious movement would soon be taking place and that I was to alert my readers to be ready for it so as not to be drawn into it. Read about the “revivals” we are witnessing today throughout America and other parts of the world using the key word–Revival. True believers know that this is Satan’s final attempt to draw people into and back into his counterfeit church system. His ministers are working hard to bring in new people and to pull back in those who have drifted away. As is the case in all things counterfeit, the fake is made to resemble the real. Because the modern day church has never heard God’s Truth, she rejects it in favor of Satan’s counterfeit truth. As Jesus warned, only a few will answer His call to righteousness, without which no one can be saved (1 Pet. 1:15,16; 4:18/1 Jn. 3:7,10) for only the righteous are of God.

At the present time a “revival wave” is moving across much of the world. The different factions of the church are coming together, believing that they are doing what the Biblical God wants done. There is much joy relative to the revival movement. However, Jesus warns us in Matthew 24:3,4 to beware of those who come bringing false truths. He warned that such salvation hucksters would “deceive many.” All That Glitters is not gold. “Fool’s gold” looks like real gold, just as zirconium looks like real diamond. To recognize the counterfeit one must know the real. Only by following God’s Bible study rules found in Isaiah 28:9-13 can one separate between the true and the false. Read the series relative to such recognition using Glitters as the key word.

What God teaches and what we must understand is that the vast majority of people in “the church” are not true saints. They are, nevertheless called God’s people in the Holy Scriptures. Read Who Are God’s People and “My People Called By My Name.” Key words–People and Called respectively. Having reminded readers of the spiritual disease afflicting professing Christianity today, we will now return to the subject of this series–WHAT DID JESUS FINISH BY SHEDDING HIS BLOOD AND DYING ON THAT CROSS? We will learn how a misunderstanding of the answer to that question has caused untold damage to the church Jesus founded almost 2000 years ago.

The underlying problem that has caused all of man’s spiritual, mental, physical and material problems is man himself. How did salvation seekers become God-rejectors? Jesus answered the question when He said, “Satan has deceived the whole world” (Rev. 12:9). This massive deception included the church world. The central theme underlying all of the devil’s many deceptions involves the meaning behind Christ’s final words: “IT IS FINISHED.” Satan has convinced Law-rejecting, self-directing churchman that Jesus was referring to SALVATION–that He (Jesus) had died so as to guarantee salvation to anyone who believed in Him.

Instead, by suffering and dying, Jesus made available to mankind the right to receive JUSTIFICATION–THE FORGIVENESS FOR AND REMOVAL OF ONE’S PAST SINS. However, justification is not available simply because someone believes in it and asks for it. God knows the heart. Justification is available to anyone who has set his heart (mind) on keeping sin out of his life once all of his past sins have been forgiven and removed. The Lord makes clear that only those who have been truly justified and have kept sin out of his lives thereafter will rise to meet Him in the air upon His return to earth. Only those who love Him enough to obey His Law (Jn. 8:31; 14:23; 15:10/ Mat. 19:17) will rise to meet Him in the air during that first resurrection. Read The Three Resurrections. Key word–Resurrections. Jesus made this perfectly clear when He told the prostitute and the man at Bathesda to “SIN NO MORE” (Jn. 8:11 and 5:14 respectively) after dealing with their spiritual and physical problems. Being Jews, they knew God’s definition of sin–THE TRANSGRESSION (BREAKING) OF HIS LAW (1 Jn. 3:4). He is no respecter of persons: what one must do in order to receive eternal life, all must do in order to receive eternal life. Taking Jesus as one’s Savior and completing a prescribed ritual saves no one. Neither does faith alone (Jam. 2:10,14,17,18,20,24,26). Unfortunately, this is not what the church’s salvation pimps tell their congregations every sun god day (Sunday).

First and foremost, the salvation seeker must realize that he is a sinner–has broken God’s Ten Commandment Law (1 Jn. 3:4), and that to break one of the commandments is to break the entire Law (Jam. 2:10), making one guilty of iniquity–Lawlessness. In Matthew 7:23 Jesus addresses those who reject His Law, telling them that at judgment He will say to them: “I never knew you; depart from Me you who practice iniquity.” No one can be forgiven of sins he/she does not confess and repent of having committed. Herein lies the basic problem–CHURCH PEOPLE DO NOT ACCEPT GOD’S DEFINITION OF SIN–THE BREAKING OF HIS LAW, WHICH INCLUDES COMMANDMENT NUMBER 4–HIS SABBATH COMMANDMENT. Read the series on God’s Sabbath. Key word–Sabbath. Then there are the other sins He warns us about in other places such as the celebration of Christmas and Easter, etc. Read about those church-wide sins using the key words–Christmas and Easter respectively. L.J.