Several hundred years ago there arose within professing Christendom a controversy over which Gospel (“good news”) was the Gospel that God commanded His messengers to preach and to instruct their congregations to obey relative to their thoughts, words and deeds–the conduct of their individual lives which is Biblically known as their “walk.”

One part (we’ll call it group #1) of the church proclaimed that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was the good news ABOUT THE PERSON OF JESUS.  Others (group #2) contended that Christ’s Gospel was His message concerning the coming KINGDOM OF GOD and how to enter it.  Group #1 asserted that one needed only to BELIEVE IN JESUS in order to receive salvation and rebirth IN THIS LIFE.  At the end of this life they would immediately be taken to HEAVEN where they would spend eternity.

Group #2 believed that Christ’s gospel consisted of His MESSAGE CONCERNING WHAT ONE MUST BELIEVE AND DO until death in order to qualify for salvation and rebirth that He would award OBEDIENT BELIEVERS upon His return to earth.   At that time He would establish the KINGDOM OF GOD IN JERUSALEM where His saints would live eternally with Him.

The first group based their salvation and eternal life on FAITH ALONE, “works”
having no part to play in their salvation.  The second group based their salvation and eternal life on a COMBINATION OF FAITH AND OBEDIENCE known Biblically as “works.”

To summarize: Group #1 believed that salvation and rebirth were awarded upon one’s profession of faith made available by God’s grace (unmerited favor).  Their faith guaranteed them eternal life regardless of how they “walked” over the remainder of their lives.  These people contended that Jesus knew that Adam’s descendants carried his sin gene which made sin an integral part of their nature.  Like a beating heart, they had no choice but to sin.  Because of this knowledge, Jesus had died to take upon Himself all of their past, present and future sins.  These people,  calling themselves “sinners saved by grace,” contended that the true Gospel was about what Christ accomplished on the cross.  They believed that their salvation was sealed upon their profession of faith in what He accomplished on the cross.

Group #2 believed that Christ died in order to provide the Holy Spirit which would empower them to obey God’s Word and thereby walk in holiness.  If they maintained their walk of holiness until death, which, if continued until He returned, would result in their salvation.  They believed that salvation must be earned by obedience to God’s Words.  This part of the salvation process, called “works,” is as necessary as faith.   They believed that salvation depended on a combination of faith (taking God at His Word) and works (obedience to His Word).  Failure to produce either one would disqualify one for salvation.

Obviously, the beliefs of group #1 were accepted by the vast majority of church people at that time and have been proclaimed as “Bible truth” ever since.  Their doctrines dominate the Institutional Church’s mindset to this day.  The few who comprised group #2 became outcasts and remain so to this day.  For example, in spite of the thousands of locals who have read my writings and heard me speak God’s Word, I am alone.  I am a one man church.  Not one person, including family members, stand with me in defense of God’s Truth.  Those in the first group number in the thousands locally.  I am neither surprised nor disappointed, for in His Holy Scriptures God prepared me for rejection and steeled me to embrace it.  I am reminded of the fact that, after all Jesus did for so many people, only 120 or so stayed with Him until the end.  This lets me know that I am in good company.

At this point I will delve into another aspect of the controversy.  I call this “the fix.”  Each of the two groups being discussed believe that upon His death Jesus instituted a “fix” that carries them forward and enables them to conduct their lives according to their respective belief system (Gospel).  The two “fixes” could not be less alike.  Group one’s fix is permanent and frees them to sin.  Group two’s fix requires them to cease from sinning and can be nullified if they return to sin following conversion.  In the next posting we will see what God says about the fixes.

But first I want to ask a question concerning Original Sin that involves the Lord Himself.  But first, a quick reminder.  The theory of “Original Sin” states that Adam’s sin is automatically implanted in each person’s spiritual dna at conception, and that one must sin in that sin is part of one’s nature, like height and eye color which cannot be changed.  The belief is that obedience to God (holiness/righteousness) is impossible due to Adam’s sin gene, therefore God does not require it for salvation.

But before we go further into the subject I want to present a brief history lesson concerning the source of theory of Original Sin for those who might not have studied the series by that name.  Key word–Original.  The theory was concocted by a Catholic priest named Augustine who needed a reason to baptize infants and small children.  What he came up with quickly became “Bible truth” throughout both the Catholic and Protestant church worlds for it enabled church members to do what they wanted to do–sin.  As a result the church continues to believe Augustine’s “truth” to this day.  Now let us delve into a deeper aspect of the subject at hand.

Truth: Nothing happens unless God makes it happen or allows it to happen.  Question: If God allowed Adam’s sin gene to be transferred to everyone who would ever be born, then His hatred toward human beings is well advertised.  If He loves man as He says, why did He allow such an unfair thing to happen to those who have done nothing to warrant it?  He was in control.  Why did He allow such an atrocity?

On the other hand, if manipulation of ones spiritual dna was the order of the day, why did He not inject a holiness gene into every human being when He created Adam?  Recall that God created Adam in his image and likeness.  He claims to be nothing but holiness and righteousness.  So why did He not place a holiness/righteousness gene in the spiritual dna of his most prized creation which would have prevented him from sinning just as Adam’s sin gene supposedly prevented his offspring (“creations”) from obeying God? If the Original Sin people are right, God has placed man at the mercy of Satan at conception in that sin is unavoidable. Again, Why? If Adam can make man a sinner at conception, why couldn’t God have made Adam incapable of sin upon his creation?  Does this not make sense?  Why did God allow Adam’s sin gene to make resisting Satan impossible for mankind?  Why did God not give them an advantage over Satan instead of allowing Satan to claim them upon conception.  This unfair, discriminatory, one-sided situation demands an answer from the One Who has the answer.

The answer to the above-stated questions is simple.  God did not nor does not allow Adam’s sin to affect anyone at any time during their lives without their agreement.  It is true that Adam brought sin into the world, but nowhere does God say that man automatically inherits his sin or must embrace it.  SIN IS A CHOICE–always has been and always will be.  There comes a point in our lives (the age of accountability) when we must choose God’s way or Satan’s way, just as did Adam and Eve.  We have all chosen Satan’s way.  BUT IT WAS OUR CHOICE, just as it was Adam and Eve’s choice.  Like Lucifer and his angels before them, we must choose whom we will serve and obey.

The vast majority of church people believe that Jesus died so that they, being sinners by nature, can (in fact must) do what is “natural” and get away with it.  The few believers who comprise God’s tiny church contend that Christ’s death provided the Holy Spirit which enables them to obey God and “resist the devil” as He commands them to do.

In the next posting I will present Biblical proof that one “truth” is wrong and the other Truth is right.  Will this information matter to the readers?  If my personal experience is any indication, the answer is “No.” Please break the pattern.  L.J.