In the focal passage (1 Pet. 4:12-19) the Apostle Peter tells us to expect persecution, rejection, etc. from religious people because we serve the Lord according to His written Word and they do not.  We are to rejoice and not flinch when family, friends and acquaintences reject us for turning our backs on their religion, which was formerly our religion.  We are to “count it all joy” because we are being treated like the Jewish leaders and their followers did Jesus, and for the same reason–obedience to our heavenly Father.  Such trials, tests and temptations, Peter tells us, are on-going within God’s church as the means by which He separates true saints from false saints on the basis of their reaction to persecution.

Also noted in verse 19 is the fact that the suffering endured by the saints is according to THE WILL OF GOD, and that they are to “commit the keeping of their souls to Him by WELL-DOING”– OBEYING HIS WORD WHILE SUFFERING ACCORDING TO HIS WILL.   If anyone understood suffering for the Lord and why such suffering is necessary it was the Apostle Paul.  After commanding true God-seekers to separate themselves from the false church so that they can become the children of God (2 Cor. 6:14-18), he wrote: “Having these precious promises (to become God’s children), let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness (sins) of the flesh and spirit by PERFECTING HOLINESS IN THE FEAR OF GOD” ( 2 Corinthians 7:1).  Paul noted that God had placed in His church a variety of ministries “for the PERFECTING OF THE SAINTS … FOR THE EDIFYING OF THE BODY OF CHRIST  (Eph. 4:12).  Note that the body of Christ (God’s true church) needed to be perfected, “until we all come in the unity (oneness) of the (one) faith, and of the (same) knowledge of the Son of God,” which would eliminate denominations.  Those in God’s church must continue to grow in holiness until they reach “THE MEASURE OF THE STATURE OF THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST” (vs 13).  How anyone can read these passages and still believe that they can sin and get away with it is beyond my mental pay grade.  Yet, over two billion self-described Sinners Saved By Grace brag about being able to do exactly that.  Their Satan-produced pride causes them to believe that the wages of their sins is not death as God warns, but rather eternal life as the Serpent promised Adam and Eve.  Faith, SSBG maintain, is all one needs to be saved.  “Works” (well-doing) is the domain of legalists and others who have fallen from grace.  However, James tells us repeatedly that faith without works (obedience to God’s commands) is dead faith (2:14,17,18,20,24,26).  We live by our faith; SSBG have dead faith, therefore they are spiritually dead.

Today God tests His people just as He did His Son and all those who came after Him.  Their good works/well-doing consists of enduring tests, trials, tribulations and temptations while walking in holiness.  In this way God’s people work out their own salvation in the fear of Him, just as did Jesus of Nazareth, Whose prayers were heard by the Father because He feared Him (Heb. 7:5).  In Revelation 3:21 Jesus said that in order to sit with Him on His throne in God’s kingdom (receive salvation) one must, “… overcome (tests, temptations, etc.) even as I overcame and have sat down with My Father on His throne.”  In Hebrews 5:7 we find Paul saying that Jesus faced the same trials and temptations as any other man.  Here Paul writes that  Jesus “offered up prayers and supplications to His Father “with strong crying and tears.”  Why?  Because He was undergoing severe testing.  Due to such testing “He learned obedience by the things which he suffered” (vs 8).  As a man like all other men, He had to face whatever came His way.  He had no advantage.  His only source of strength was the Holy Spirit, which is our only source of strength.  As Christ’s brethren, we must learn to obey in the same way He learned to obey–by standing strong in the face of trials and temptations.  This is spiritual warfare on a personal level.  In order to spend eternity with Him we must, through the power of God’s Holy Spirit within us, “… overcome as I (Jesus) overcame.”  In this way we “work out our own salvation,” fearing that we might fail Him.  It was only through the power of God’s Spirit that Jesus could gain victory over the devil.  The same holds true for Christ’s brethren.  Only God’s “new creation,” the “new man” (2 Cor. 5:17/ Eph. 4:24) can receive the Holy Spirit.  The “new creation” is an obedient man, not one who believes he can sin and get away with it as Catholics and Protestants believe they are doing.  The new creation comes into being after the “old (sinning) man” has been put to death (Rom. 6:6): “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that hereafter we should not serve sin.”  “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey it, neither yield yourselves to unrighteousness to sin, but yield yourselves to God …. as instruments of righteousness to Him” (vss 12,13).  Note that the word “yield” denotes our choice.  In verse 11 Paul tells to “recon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin”–able to reject its siren call.  These passages tell us that WE CHOOSE THE MASTER WE WISH TO OBEY.  The death of the old man allows God to create the new man who then is filled with the Holy Spirit.  At this point “All (old) things (sins) have passed away, behold all things have been made new (holy)”–(2 Cor. 5:17).

Where does sinning (due to Adam’s sin) and getting away with it (due to Christ’s death) fit into this scenario?  The answer is “nowhere,” as the Apostle John tells us: “If you (the church) know that God is righteous, you know that EVERYONE WHO DOES (WORKS) RIGHTEOUSNESS IS BORN (BEGOTTEN) OF GOD”–CONVERTED (1 Jn. 2:29).  Spiritually,  the English word “born” in the Greek language (the language in which the New Testament was written) equates to the word “conceived,” which is the same as “begotten.”  Begettal is the first spiritual step  on the life-long journey that, if trod according to God’s Word, will end in salvation at the time of Christ’s Second Advent.  At the awarding of eternal life one is “born again”–changed from physical to spiritual bodily composition AS WAS JESUS OF NAZARETH.  Jesus was the first human to be born again.  This enabled Him, a man, to enter the kingdom of heaven where His Father awaited him.  His rebirth took place at the time of His resurrection from the dead.  See Born Again.  See the NOTICE section on the Introduction page of this website to learn how to view any series.

As you can see, most of what you (and I) have been taught in church is not merely wrong, but dead wrong.  This fact proves that Satan exercises total control over Catholicism/Protestantism.  As Jesus warned, Satan empowers his false prophets (pastors, Sunday school teachers, evangelists, missionaries) to deceive God-seekers into walking his easier, more self-serving and user-friendly path rather than the Lord’s narrow, restricted My-way-or-the-highway path.  Satan’s misdirection operation is made easier by keeping his people ignorant of God’s Word.  Adam and Eve heard God’s words directly from His mouth, then rejected them.  Their modern day descendants have His words at their fingertips but, as did their parents, reject them.  NEVER DOUBT SATAN’S POWER OVER THE CHURCH.

God’s powerful and oft repeated words ring clear: IF WE ARE NOT HATED, DESPISED AND REJECTED BY THE INSTITUTIONAL CHURCH FOR OUR OBEDIENCE TO HIM, WE ARE NOT HIS PEOPLE.  After many years of religiosity and ministry I had to learn that lesson.  Admittedly, it was a hard spiritual pill to swallow.  However, I knew that if I was to have any chance for salvation I had to face Biblical reality, admit my hypocrisy, reverse every aspect of my life (be converted) and walk God’s path by obeying Him.  I know that eternal life lies in my future ONLY IF I REMAIN ON THAT PATH UNTIL MY DEATH OR CHRIST’S RETURN.  God is no respecter of persons.  What was true for the prophets, Jesus, His apostles and the early church is true for God-seekers today.  We must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling by walking in the power of the Holy Spirit in the midst of a world filled with God and Christ despising sinners, approximately one-third of whom are members of “the church” (Lk. 10:16).  L.J.