Due to a combination of “Once saved, always saved” and “Jesus died so that I can sin and get away with it” doctrines the Counterfeit Church continues her repeated rebuke of God time after time, ad infinitum. Hear what the Lord says: “… if WE (Paul included) continue to sin after coming to the knowledge of the Truth (His Word-Jn. 17:17) we STORE UP (His) wrath against (until) the day of wrath (judgment) (Rom. 2:5). God does not forgive the sinner when sin is committed time and time again; He stores up the sins along with His wrath toward the sinner. Being super religious does not affect the process. When a “sinner saved by grace” continues to sin and repent, sin and repent, God knows that his repentance is not genuine, that he feels no need to free himself FROM sin by overcoming Satan “even” (just) as Jesus overcame Him (Rev. 3:21). He sees no need to use the “… power over all the power of the enemy” God has made available to him. Why should he overcome Satan? The blood of Jesus supposedly covers each sin as soon as he repents, or according to one preacher, even before the sin is committed. To obey His Word is to do His Work; to disobey His Word/Work is to deny His name (Rev. 3:8). But according to religious man, sin is nothing more than a necessary inconvenience. Again, what does God say?

Isaiah 55:7 reveals God’s attitude toward those who continue in the popular sin-repent, sin-repent mode: Only those who “FORSAKE THEIR SINS” will receive MERCY from Him.  And IF (not when) one should happen to sin, true repentance brings cleansing from the Lord (1 Jn. 2:1). But to then continue to sin makes one, in the eyes of God, like the dog that returns to its vomit and the sow to her mire (2 Pet. 2:22). The church denies this. Having the right to sin with impunity is one of the foundational tenants of the Institutional Church. One woman summed up the church’s attitude toward sin: “God doesn’t like sin, but He won’t do anything about it.” God says that the wages of church sin is death; the church says the wages of her sin is eternal life. Someone is deadly wrong. Once again, the church points the accusitive finger at the Lord.

But didn’t Jesus say that we are to forgive our brother 70 times 7 (490) times? some will ask. If one sins five times each day, the 490 acts of forgiveness would be completed in approximately 100 days. One false prophet told me he sinned hundreds of times each day. But he did not to give it a second thought in that he was “saved.” Even though we know that Jesus was speaking figuratively relative to the 70X7 admonition, honest Bible study makes the meaning clear–one must “forsake sin,” or as one wiser than I said, he/she must “QUIT SIN UTTERLY.” One must quit sin completely (overcome as Jesus overcame-Rev. 3:21) in order to receive eternal life from Jesus upon His return to earth to set up the Kingdom of God. But churchman maintains that salvation requires no effort on his part in that he is already saved, and that any effort on his part, such as being “active in church,” is icing on the salvation cake. However, God calls all such religiosity “filthy rags.”

In spite of God having given His absolute Best–His Holy Son–the Counterfeit Church contends that she need only give Him the leftovers of her time, energy, zeal, allegiance, etc. She can spend hours each day watching t.v., reading, recreating, etc., then give God the last few, tired minutes before sleep comes–her Savior is grateful for whatever dregs she is willing to give Him. He is satisfied with whatever scraps she sees fit to throw Him as long as she calls herself by His name, is active in church, etc. Is this attitude based on Bible Truth? The prodigal son and his father would say “no.” Because the church has separated herself from God by rejecting His Word, the parable is appropriate when characterizing her.

In Luke 15:11-32 we are told about a man who had a son who, though he lived with and worked for his father, rebelled against the elder’s control over his life. Eventually he left his father and went into a far country. When he eventually returned his father said, “… my son was DEAD, but is now alive; he was LOST but now is found.” Notice that the father (God) twice acknowledged that his son’s rejection of his control over him had rendered him spiritually DEAD, but that he was now ALIVE “AGAIN,” that though he HAD BEEN spiritually LOST due to his sins, he was NOW spiritually FOUND due to his true repentance and obedience to the father. Notice that the father did not go looking for his son. If the son had not returned on his own volition he would have remained DEAD and would have died in his LOST condition. Note also that he had never ceased to be the father’s son. But that would not have prevented him from dying in his lost condition had he not repented, returned and obeyed the father faithfully. It was not that the father could not have found his son; it was that the son had left voluntarily and had to return voluntarily. The father still ruled; giving him the dregs of his time, energy, etc. was not an option. The son was alive AGAIN only because he knew this and acted accordingly. The parable of the lost sheep is another passage that the church misapplies to her salvation situation.

The story unfolds in Luke 15:3-7. One of the Shepherd’s sheep has accidently WANDERED away. In this case the shepherd went looking for the lost sheep, and IF (not when) he found it he would rejoice. The sheep did not deliberately leave the shepherd as had the prodigal son. Like the prodigal, the church, having access to the Truth, has deliberately rejected the Truth, left the Shepherd and joined the pig farmer (Satan), whose food (truth) she consumes. It is only IF she realizes her deadly condition, repents and returns to the Shepherd that He will welcome her back–she will have come ALIVE FROM THE DEAD. Otherwise, she will die with her belly full of slop, face down in the mire of the devil’s church system.

Another misunderstood passage of Scripture involves the 10 virgins (Mat. 25:1-12). Notice that all 10 people in the parable are called “virgins” (members of the church)–all had lamps, oil and wicks, all had access to the oil supply, all were in the same place at the same time, all were waiting for the call from the Bridegroom, all heard the call, all started walking toward the marriage hall, all expected to be allowed in, all “knew” they would soon marry the Bridegroom. But because the foolish virgins had failed to overcome sin (ran out of oil) they were left behind while the wise (obedient) virgins continued on. Later the foolish “virgins” (still church members) arrived at the marriage hall but found the door locked. Having “prayed through,” “gotten right,” etc., they knocked on the door, “knowing” that they would be allowed inside. They were not. Having been led through the wide gate and along the broad way of professing Christendom, these people were not ready to meet the Lord. The five wise (strait gate-narrow way) virgins, having obeyed the Word of the Lord, had always been ready to meet the Lord. When He arrived they needed only to stay the course. Were the apostles exempt from the Lord’s strict commands? No.

In Matthew 5:20 Jesus is addressing His hand-picked “lights of the world” (Mat. 5:14), telling them that unless their righteousness was real and continuous they, His chosen messengers, would not enter the Kingdom of God. Bear in mind that these men were spending their days and nights with Him, listening to Him, watching Him, ministering with Him using the same Power that He used. Bear in mind also that His statement included John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” The apostles had to obey the Lord.  Is churchman better than the apostles? Churchman says “yes.”

In Matthew 5:29,30 Jesus is telling His disciples then and now to do whatever is necessary in order to get sin out of our lives and keep it out, that to fail to do so will result in our being rejected by Him. His words to us at judgment should we fail to do so: “… I never knew you, depart from Me ….” (Mat. 7:21-23).  To be continued.