Before entering the final phase of this series of postings we need to address two deadly errors shared by the two billion plus patrons of the professing church: 1) Church people do not know God’s definition of sin. When confronted with it they reject it. 2) Church people believe that God’s Word on the subject is irrelevant in that they have their own definition of sin, and that even their definition is irrelevant because Jesus nullified their sins. Christian faith=believing what God said: “Faith comes from hearing the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17). With that in mind, let us allow Him to address these errors.

ANYTHING THAT IS NOT OF GOD IS OF SATAN. God’s way=righteousness; Satan’s way=sin. “The valley of decision” separates the two ways (Joel 3:14). The decision involves the choice of eternal life or eternal death. Just as God has absolutely nothing to do with Satan, righteousness has absolutely nothing to do with sin. Therefore, IN GOD’S FAMILY/CHURCH THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A SINNER SAVED BY GRACE–there are no “saved sinners.” One is either converted or one is a sinner Listen to the Words of the Lord on this issue as recorded in 1 Thessalonians 4:16. Here we are told that those found worthy to meet Jesus in the air upon His return will all be “in Christ” (1 Thes. 4:16). We are told in 1 John 1:5 that, “in Him there is no darkness (sin) at all”–if one has sin and is in Him, then there is sin in Him. A careful study of these two passages reveals that only those who are ‘IN HIM” will be taken into the kingdom following the first resurrection. Those “in Him” will have NO SIN (DARKNESS) IN THEIR LIVES. IN ORDER TO LIVE WITH HIM IN THE NEXT LIFE ONE MUST LIVE LIKE HIM IN THIS LIFE, meaning that one must “walk even as He walked” (1 Jn. 2:6), “overcome even as He overcame” (Rev. 3:21) and “purify himself even as He is pure” (1 Jn. 3:3) by the “washing of the water of the Word” (Eph. 5:26)–believing and obeying His Word. Now that we know that God commands righteousness, and that righteousness is the exact opposite of sin, the question that must be answered is: WHAT IS SIN? meaning God’s definition–the only one that counts. He tells us in 1 Jn. 3:4: “To transgress (break) the Law (10 Commandments) is sin, for SIN IS THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW.” The first two commandments cover every possible sin. The other eight explain them.

Do you have a desire to identify everything in your life that is not of God–your sins? If you have honestly and earnestly asked Him, in faith, to reveal them to you, He will do exactly what you ask–He will reveal your every sin, WHICH WILL SHOCK YOU. He will reveal the many things you do and fail to do each day that seem perfectly acceptable by church (Satan’s) standards. God warns about the devil’s influence on salvation-seekers in Proverbs 14:12: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end is the way of death.” Notice that the person will believe that he is doing what is right–God’s will–but will in fact be doing Satan’s will. Following knowledge of what sin actually is, if you will ask God to take away your desire to be involved in those sins, He will do it. For many years I participated in five activities all church people I knew participated in. When I asked Him to reveal sin in me, He condemned all those activities. Then, upon my request, He took all desire to do them away from me. Such activities are engaged in continually by all of professing Christendom without a thought. Remember, ANYTHING THAT IS NOT OF GOD IS OF SATAN. There is no middle ground. There is no mixing of “ways” in the lives of God’s saints. The church rejects this Truth, claiming to be “sinners saved by grace.” One famous false prophet articulated this lie by announcing to his television congregation that they were “… nothing more than a society of sinners.” The “sinner saved by grace” theory was first foisted on human beings in the Garden of Eden. Because of their relationship with God, Adam and Eve came to believe that they could disobey Him with impunity, that sin would have no effect on that relationship, that they could defy God and “not surely die”–THEY WOULD LIVE FOREVER. Sound familiar? It should, for that message is preached millions of times every Satan’s Sabbath throughout the world. The message from pulpit and podium revolves around repentance of sin IN one’s life. God’s message revolves around removal of sin FROM one’s life. The difference is a matter of life and death. Church people label as heresy the Lord’s command for righteousness, citing Satan’s miraculous transferal of Adam’s sin into their spiritual DNA. See Human Nature, Be Ye Therefore Perfect, The Few–The Difference and Sainthood–The Sanctified Life. To be continued. L.J.