One, often-repeated doctrine of the Counterfeit Church involves justification–that one receives and maintains it solely through faith. The Book of Romans is put forth as the centerpiece for the argument against having to do anything other than believe in order to be justified. To suggest that anything else is necessary is to risk “falling from grace” and being labeled a “legalist.” New believers are told that once they have completed the ritual known as the “salvation experience” they have done all that is necessary to receive and maintain justification for the remainder of their lives. My admonition to church people is to “… study to show thyself approved of God” (2 Tim. 2:15). God assumes that we know what to study (His Word). He also assumes that we know of whom we are seeking approval (Him). Those one must not consult and whose approval one must not seek while searching for God’s Truth are church people who have been indoctrinated in church doctrine and neither know nor believe the Word of God. Many a God-seeker has asked his/her pastor or Sunday School teacher about something a saint has told them, only to have their budding faith destroyed. I counsel the Truth-seeker to consult God’s Word or to ask someone who believes “… all the counsel of God” as written (Acts 20:27). Seek the approval of God, not man. If man approves of you, God will not and visa versa. See Persecution. As you will find in the posting by that name, it is the members of the Institutional Church that lead people astray and persecute those who refuse to follow them. These true believers find themselves rejected by those who have eradicated the Law and the commands of God to obey it.

If the Truth seeker searches God’s Word, particularly the Book of Romans, he will find that the words “justification,” “just,” justified” and “Justifier are mentioned 21 times in the epistle. He will also find that much, if not most of what he has been taught concerning the subject is not Biblical. What he will find is that the justification discussion revolves around the sub- ject of circumcision which is mentioned 15 times. There were some in the Rome church who believed that to become and remain justified one must be circumcised physically as under the sacrificial law. Paul told them that to be circumcised for spiritual reasons would be to “fall from grace” in that they were no longer under the law which required circumcision as well as animal sacrifice. God, speaking through Paul, reminded them that they had been justified (forgiven) by an act of grace (3:24) coupled with their faith (3:28). He then reminded them that they had been justified while they were still sinners (4:5) and had done nothing to earn forgiveness. This is the point at which the Institutional Church stops reading and pronounces a church doctrine–justification is awarded based on grace and faith only.

But the seeker of Truth will find that a deliberately avoided word plays a pivotal role in receiving and maintaining justifica- tion. The word is “PAST.” In 3:25 Paul writes: “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission (forgiveness) of sins that are of (from the) “PAST” ….” Note two things: 1) the meaning of justification–FORGIVENESS of all sins, and 2) the forgiven sins are all sins of the PAST. The removal of all past sin makes one RIGHTEOUS–righteousness being the absence of sin. It is at this point that Satan enters the salvation process and blocks the believer from entering into conversion, which CAN lead to salvation. It is here that he uses his bait and switch ruse to pull the seeker into the Counterfeit Church (Catholicism/Protestantism). Several factors are involved in this deception, a couple of which I will discuss here.

First, the God-seeker is misled concerning the sins of which he has been guilty in the past. Lying, cheating, etc. are indeed sins, but they are in reality examples of the CORE SIN as defined by God in 1 John 3:4: “To transgress the Law is sin; for sin is the transgression of the Law”–God’s 10 Commandments.  Sin IS (present tense) the breaking of the 10 Commandments. The new believer is told that the Law WAS “… nailed to the cross.” For that reason he is instructed to routinely break com- mandment #four–God’s Sabbath Law. This in spite of God’s warning that to break one of the commandments is to break the entire Law (Jam. 1:15-2:12). Breaking God’s Law makes one a “… worker of iniquity” (Gr.-Lawlessness). In Matthew 7:23 He reveals what He will say to Law-breakers on the Day of Judgment: “… I never knew you; depart from Me ye who work INIQUITY ….” The believer is never told this, but instead is told that the Sabbath Law was nailed to the cross. And being warned not to study the Bible in its entirety and not to listen to those who do, he never learns the truth about God’s Sabbath and therefore remains a breaker of His entire Law–he remains in his sins (1 Cor. 15:17)–unjustified.

The Institutional Church refutes God’s Word, stating that she is justified by grace and faith only. This is true initially. Upon confession of sin with faith in God one is justified (forgiven of PAST sins) by an act of His grace. But then what? Romans 6:1,2 tells us: “Can we continue in (to) sin ….” because our past sins have been forgiven by God’s grace? Paul’s response: “God forbid!” God forbids believers to continue to sin once having been justified by His grace. The churchite defies these Words of God by committing iniquity every Saturday.

According to the church, Jesus did away with the 10 Commandment Law on the cross. However, some 30 years later He had John write that sin IS (present tense) the breaking of that same Law (1 Jn. 3:4). In Romans 2:13 He goes on to say that the Law must be obeyed in order to retain justification: “For not the hearers of the Law are just(tified) before God, but the DOERS OF THE LAW SHALL BE (REMAIN) JUSTIFIED.” Note it: Having a Bible, quoting it, believing it, memorizing it, having the 10 Commandments hanging on one’s wall, hearing them recited, preaching, teaching, etc. will not place one in a position to be saved. One must obey all 10 Commandments in order to qualify for eternal life as Jesus told the rich ruler. When asked by the man what he must do in order to inherit eternal life, Jesus began to voice the 10 Commandments. The man assured Him that he had obeyed all of them his entire life. Noting that he had fulfilled that part of God’s requirements for salvation, Jesus told him that only ONE THING stood between him and salvation. This man believed Jesus and went away sad, assured by the Holy Spirit that he would not be saved. The Counterfeit Church does not believe Jesus and goes away glad, assured by Satan that she is already saved. The irony of this situation is beyond description.

The saint that is put forth as the example of justification by faith is Abraham, the “father of the faithful.” Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness (Rom. 4:1-3). By faith Abraham believed that God had forgiven his past sins, making him righteous. The same is true for the modern believer. But this is where Satan pulls the seeker off track by telling him that all his future sins (which, due to Adam, he has no choice but to commit), will vanish as quickly as he can confess and repent of them. Supposedly knowing that the believer must sin, Jesus simply makes the sins go away.

However, God commands the believer to walk in the footsteps of faithful Abraham (Rom. 4:12). Did Abraham believe God, receive justification, then continue to sin because he had been justified? Notice that Abraham, once justified, then OBEYED GOD. God told him to leave his country–he left. He told him to circumcise himself and all his men–he did. He told him to sacrifice Isaac–he would have if God had not stopped him. ONCE JUSTIFIED BY GRACE AND FAITH ABRAHAM OBEYED GOD, THEREBY MAINTAINING HIS JUSTIFICATION, as do we (Rom. 2:13). Abraham remained in his justified state only because he obeyed God. Those who obey God with faith in Him “… walk in the footsteps of faithful Abraham.” Notice two words: “WALK” (work/live) and “FAITHFUL” (believe). Both are necessary in order to receive eternal life. Faith without the faith-walk is dead faith.

Satan has deceived the church into believing that the “walk” of faith required for salvation takes place between the pew and the alter where one’s crown of life awaits. According to the church, all one needs to do is show up regularly and obey the doctrines formulated by that particular sect in order to go to heaven. Abraham, however, walked to a different Drummer. Only those who follow his example will sit with Christ on His throne in His Father’s kingdom (Rev. 3:21). The Counterfeit Church denies the Lord’s Words, maintaining that all one need do is believe in Jesus. Not obeying Him places the believer on a spiritual level with Satan, who also believes.

My commission from God is to expose the Institutional Church for what it is–counterfeit. Hundreds of millions of believers have been deceived into believing that each of their various religious organizations is “the church” commissioned by God to spread their respective versions of “the Truth.” Those with eyes to see and ears to hear God’s Truth will believe it and obey it when confronted with it. Few, God said, would be in that number.