I once had a seminary student explain Christ’s mission on earth in this way: JESUS KNEW THAT SALVATION SEEKERS HAVE NO CONTROL OVER SIN, THAT, BECAUSE OF ADAM’S BLUNDER, SIN BECAME PART OF MAN’S SPIRITUAL INHERITANCE. THEREFORE, JESUS DIED SO THAT MAN COULD DO WHAT WAS “NATURAL” WITHOUT SUFFERING THE CONSEQUENCES LIKE NON-CHRISTIANS WILL HAVE TO SUFFER. Earlier you read about the woman who told me that obeying God was, “Just too much trouble.” Then there was the young youth pastor who was fired because he made his young charges “feel guilty” because they were having sex parties. According to their parents, feeling guilt for disobeying God had no place in the church. Church officials agreed with them. These theological “truths” run rampant throughout professing Christendom.

These “truths” were explained to me in this way: Jesus became righteousness FOR (in place of) people in “the” church so that they would not need to. Therefore, they bore no responsibility for their rebellion against Him and His Father. They were free to do whatever they wanted, knowing that He (Jesus) was in heaven erasing their sins as quickly as they repented of them. Truly, modern Christianity is the most convenient religion known to man. To my knowledge, she is the only religion that gives its parishioners the right to accept or reject the will of its god. According to what every parishioner “knows,” the only responsibility one has is to repent. This “truth” takes “convenience” to a whole new level.

Now let me see if I have this straight. Jesus willingly divested Himself of ALL of His godly privileges and powers and left His heavenly paradise in order to come to earth and live like all other mortals (Phil. 2:5-8). Read Jesus of Nazareth. Key Word–Nazareth. During His 3 1/2 year ministry He harmed no one and did only good for those who came to Him regardless of their spiritual condition. In spite of this, He continually found Himself being hated, despised and in constant danger of being killed. Though innocent of no crime, He was tried and found guilty, beaten as no man had ever been beaten (Isa. 53:3-9), nailed to a cross, stabbed in the heart and left to die as people made fun of Him. Why? We are told that He suffered as He did SO THAT MAN COULD REBELL AGAINST HIM AND HIS FATHER AND GET AWAY WITH IT. Read Luke 10:16. We are assured that “sinners saved by grace” need only believe in Him in order to make salvation a present reality. Believers need only to take Him as their Savior. They do not need to make Him their Lord. Why? A Lord must be obeyed, which they cannot do. And even if they could and did obey Him, obedience would involve “works”–a dirty word in the minds of the faithful. All faith and no works is the way the system works. Therefore the second chapter of James and the third chapter of John’s first epistle are rejected within the collective church mind. Because of James’s emphasis on works to match one’s faith, Martin Luther called his epistle a “straw book,” meaning only good for starting fires. James had to be wrong about works because works involves “legalism,” meaning obedience to the “Law,” which would render First John 3:4 null and void. Obviously, no scorched earth effort will ever be found within “the church” which cannot agree on the direction the so-called “Christian Walk” should take. The instruction booklets for that “walk” (church doctrine) offers as many variations and goes in as many directions as there are denominations, faiths, cults, sects, etc., which number in the hundreds. Relative to being a Christian, the mind-set is: “I believe I am a Christian, therefore I am.” Each religious group has its own version of how to become a Christian.

This is the exact same mentality that “knows” that if I believe I am the opposite sex, then I am the opposite sex. The modern church mind-set dictates that if I believe I am saved, then I am saved. And if I believe I am going to heaven, I am heaven bound. The fact that neither of these “truths” is Biblical has no effect on “the truth.” The world and the worldly church share a common mental construct: “I BELIEVE, THEREFORE I AM.” The irony found in this situation is that people who “know” they can defy God and get away it ridicule people who “know” they are the opposite sex and are therefore the opposite sex. What is the difference between the two mind-sets? There is no difference in that they receive their “truth” from the same source–Satan, who owns and operates both groups.

The above expose’ explains why one must attack Satan with a scorched earth mentality in order to escape his deadly grasp. God said that if we resist the devil he will flee from us (Jam. 4:7). Like a cancer cell, if left within us he will destroy us spiritually. This is what has happened to professing Christendom and the world that follows her lead. The idea that one need only take Jesus as one’s Savior to make it “Bible Truth” is no different from believing that one is the opposite sex makes it “personal truth.” A scorched earth attack is necessary in order to remove all Satanic “truths” from the salvation seeker. For this to take place one must first obey God’s command found in Second Corinthians 6:14-7:1. One must get as far away from “the church” as possible and never again “touch that unclean thing.” Then one must study the Holy Scriptures, believe them and obey them. There is only one war mentality that can accomplish this: A RELENTLESS, HOLY SPIRIT-POWERED SCORCHED EARTH ATTACK ON EVERYTHING IN OUR LIVES THAT IS NOT OF GOD. There is no other option for those who would rise to meet Jesus in the air upon His return to earth. L.J.