In Romans 3:25 we are told that Jesus came to earth to serve as the propitiation for sins we have committed in the “PAST.” These sins must be truly repented of, not merely recognized and regretted.  Repentance of a sin must be followed by the removal of that sin from the penitent’s life. In Acts 2:28 we find the Apostle Peter telling the multitude gathered outside the upper room that they must, “Repent and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” In Mark 1:15 Jesus told the people that they must “… repent and believe (have faith in) the gospel.” But there is more to do if one is to inherit eternal life. God makes this clear through the Apostle James (2:14,18,20,24,26) who tells us that faith (belief in God’s Word) without WORKS (obedience to His Word) is dead. We live by our faith (Rom. 1:17). Therefore, if our faith is dead, we are dead. The Institutional Church rejects God’s Word and is therefore a spiritually dead institution.

In Luke 3:3 we are told that John went into the region around the Jordan River preaching A BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS.  The relationship of repentance, baptism and remission (forgiveness) of sins is highlighted several times in the New Testament.

Forgiveness of past sins is Biblically called “JUSTIFICATION,” which renders one RIGHTEOUS. Righteousness is defined as being without sin. One cannot be both righteous (justified) and a sinner. The Lord makes this clear in 2 Corinthians 6:14,15: “For what relationship does righteousness have with lawlessness? And what communion (togetherness) does light have with darkness? And what concord (union) does Christ have with Belial (Satan)?” One cannot be both a convert and a sinner. There is no such thing as a converted sinner. There are no “sinners saved by grace.” THERE ARE NO SAVED SINNERS. SIN AND LAWLESSNESS DO NOT ABIDE IN THE SAME VESSEL. ONE CANNOT SERVE TWO MASTERS (CHRIST AND BELIAL)–Matthew 6:24.

Sin is the “transgression of the Law” (1 Jn. 3:4). Righteousness is the absence of sin. Sin is the absence of righteousness. Righteousness is obedience to God’s Law (the Holy Scriptures summarized in the Ten Commandments). Sin is the transgression of God’s Law. ONE CANNOT OBEY GOD’S LAW WHILE BREAKING IT. God compares such “saved sinners” to vomit which He will spew out of His mouth (Rev. 3:16). In this passage Jesus was addressing today’s end-time (Laodicean) church whose parishioners “… say ‘I am rich and … have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked ….'” Why is this? How can a group that claims the Bible as God’s Word and themselves as His children be so far removed from Him? The answer can be summed up in one word: Ignorance. Ignorance of God’s Word is a Satan-induced stupor in which the church has existed for over 1700 years. This website and my YouTube site are dedicated to eliminating such ignorance for those who truly seek God.

When one’s sins are symbolically washed away during baptism one is at that point in time without sin–justified. However, being justified (righteous) does not equate to conversion. Salvation is the END RESULT of a converted life lived in a state of righteousness (obedience to God’s Law). A TRUE convert (saint)  lives (“walks”) in obedience to His Law. And “IF” (not when) one happens to sin (break His Law), Jesus serves as mediator between the repentant believer and God (1 Jn. 2:1). The church has never heard this Biblical Truth. The church has never heard God’s Truth, period. She has “nailed the Law to the cross” and therefore has no concept of God-defined sin. She has been fed a steady diet of self-pleasing sound-bytes, homilies and platitudes which Satan devised to keep church pews and coffers filled. And why not? A religion that allows its parishioners to sin and get away with it is hard to reject. Billions have found it impossible to reject. Who wants to hear God’s Word that contradicts Satan’s “it’s all good” theology? As God said, “few.”

It is essential that we understand the difference between John’s baptism and Christian baptism. John’s baptism involves the symbolic removal of PAST SINS–and nothing else. It does not involve the future in any way. Following baptism, true conversion is the necessary next step if one is to have any hope for salvation. Without conversion John’s baptism is somewhat like Old Testament animal sacrifice in that the effect is temporary and the act must be repeated on a regular basis.

Christian baptism not only removes one’s past sins, it leads to the CONVERSION of the believer which 1) places him on the path to eternal life and 2) provides him with Holy Spirit power to stay on that path. The power of the Holy Spirit is absolutely necessary, for Satan will do everything in his power to lure (not force) the believer off the Lord’s path. The devil cannot force a true convert to sin. God tells us this in Luke 10:19: “Behold, I give you power over all the power of the enemy.” Jesus of Nazareth was a man as we are. He used God’s power to resist Satan throughout His earthly “walk.” If we call ourselves by His name we must “walk as He walked” (1 Jn. 3:4).  Otherwise we are counterfeit Christians, as is the Counterfeit Church. The deceived do not know they are deceived, otherwise they would not be deceived. The church has been deceived by the master deceiver–her god, Satan. Few God seekers have heard what you are reading. Satan has sold salvation seekers a perverted version of the Truth and built a church system around that version. The Institutional Church is Satan’s golden calf whose doctrines and customs will supposedly lead its captives to heaven. At present, approximately 3.3 billion people, like their ancestors at Mt. Sinai, worship at the golden calf’s alter.

The devil’s most effective ploy is to provide God seekers with an alternate path to paradise. In place of God’s church Satan offers a two-headed religious monster known as Catholicism/Protestantism. Ignorance of the Holy Scriptures makes 99% of God seekers susceptible to his religious substitute. His false Christianity, like any effective counterfeit, appears to be true Christianity. Only those who know and believe God’s Word will recognize the difference between God’s way and Satan’s way. Few, God said in Matthew 7:13,14, will see the difference and enter His strait (difficult) gate and walk His narrow (strict) path to salvation. Many–the entirety of Catholicism/Protestantism–have blindly entered Satan’s wide (come as you are) gate and walked his broad (stay as you are) path to destruction. Satan’s way is most alluring in that one can continue to sin and get away with it. As he told Eve, “You shall not surely die” for partaking of the forbidden fruit.

To convince billions of God seekers to reject God’s Truth and accept his (Satan’s) truth requires a high degree of Truth-ignorance. Satan keeps the church ignorant of God’s Truth through his false prophets whose job it is to get people’s eyes off of God and onto himself. Themselves deceived, these “ministers of righteousness” believe that they and their followers are on the spiritual track that will take them to paradise. My job is to warn both parties of their deadly error. See the series titled Bait and Switch for more information on how Satan lures God seekers off God’s track and onto his. L.J.