In the Garden of Eden the Serpent (Satan) successfully deceived the entire human race existing at that time.  Throughout history he has managed to maintain rulership over all but a tiny group of people whom God calls His “elect,” His “remnant,” his “little flock,” His “saints” (holy ones), His “peculiar treasures,” His “jewels.”  These scattered individuals, globally numbering only a few thousand at any given time, constitute His true church whose singularity of character, purpose, “walk,” leadership, etc. is described in Ephesians 4:4-6.  But as God’s prophets and apostles remind us, some of those who claim oneness with God are not on the same spiritual page with Him, though Satan has convinced them that they are.   God’s people are not surprised by this for Jesus warned that Satan will deceive even some of God’s elect (Mat. 24:24).  Only the truly “sanctified” (set aside for holy use) are spiritually one with their Maker.  These constitute His true “church” (called out ones) who have nothing to do with the world around them on the spiritual level.  The Apostle Peter echoed this Truth when he noted that everyone in the Lord’s true church are continually tested by that world, and that only the righteous would pass the tests and receive salvation (1 Pet. 4:16-19).  Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 10:22.  The Lord promises not to allow us to be tested or tempted beyond our ability to overcome whatever is coming at us.  He has given true converts the Holy Spirit which enables them to stand in the face of adversity and to walk in the holiness required for salvation.  In 1 Peter 1:1-13 the Lord, speaking through the apostle, reminds His elect that they are being “tried with fire” (vs 7), and that the end result of their victory while under the fire would be the “salvation of your (their) souls” (vs 9), which salvation awaited them in the future (vs 13).  In the meantime they were to work out (do what was necessary for) their future salvation with fear and trembling.  This would be done by making their lives reflect God’s Law, every Word of which we must live by (Mat. 4:4).  This is the same Law/Word by which every human that has ever lived will be judged (Jn. 12:44-50).  It is imperative that true God seekers study this passage, believe it and pattern their lives accordingly.  Only by taking to heart what is written in God’s Holy Bible can we obey His command to work out our salvation.  The Lord has condensed the entire Law (Genesis to Revelation) into the Ten Commandments–His “headline.”  The remainder of the Law is the “fine print” that explains those commandments.  Only through the power of the Holy Spirit can one hear God’s written “voice” and obey it.  Only those who are fully committed to obeying His Words can receive the Holy Spirit.  Very few are so committed.  Those who do not have the Holy Spirit lack the power to resist Satan who compels them to take the easy way out (obey him) during times of testing and temptation.  Being unable to resist, church people do one of two things.  They either accept the “fact” that sin is a natural part of the Christian walk due to Adam’s sin, or they call evil good and good evil (Isa. 5:20).  When the sin shoe fits their sinning foot, they simply change shoes.

Satan has deceived nearly the entirety of professing Christendom into rejecting God’s written “voice” that ties obedience to His Words to the receiving of eternal life.   As a result of near universal deception, billions of self-professed “sinners saved by grace” are walking lock-step with the devil along his broad, come-as-you-are, stay-as-you-are, sin-as-you-wish (just remember to repent) path that leads to destruction.  Jesus prophesied that only a few God seekers would walk with Him along His narrow do-as-I-command-you-to-do path leading to the Kingdom of God (Mat. 7:13,14).  See The Kingdom of God.

When the Almighty commanded His true saints to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, He did not mean people are allowed to accept and obey only those passages that they can “wrest” (2 Pet. 3:16)/ interpret in such a way that confirms their preconceived ideas.  God condemns all interpretation of His Word (2 Pet. 1:20).  Using numerous passages of Scripture, I have made it clear that God commands us to study His Word, learn His ways, then make certain that our way matches His way.  We are to fear Him, knowing that if our life’s walk does not reflect His prescribed walk, HE WILL REJECT US.  Let us now turn to some of those Spirit-spoken Truths, bearing in mind that they were spoken and written to those who call themselves God’s people.

In Matthew 15:9 Jesus said about those who claimed to be His followers but refused to obey His Words: “They do worship Me in vain who teach the commandments of men instead of My precepts.”  He was speaking directly to those who followed Him when He said: “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’ while refusing to do what I say” (Lk. 6:46)?  In Matthew 7:22,23 we find Him speaking about the Day of Judgment: “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and will tell me about all the wonderful things they have done in my name.  I will say to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me you workers of iniquity (Lawlessness).'”  Only those who profess to be God’s people will call Him “Lord, Lord.”  Only professing Christians will have done “many wonderful works in Your (His)  name.”  Only professing Christians are expected to obey God’s Law.  These are the multiplied billions of “sinners saved by grace” who, throughout their church lives, had sinned repeatedly, believing that they were protected by God’s grace.  The Apostle Jude (4) says that such people have turned God’s grace into a license to sin, thereby denying both God and His Son lordship over their lives.  The Apostle James says that such people live in a continuous state of self-deception (1:22).

Through the writings of His chosen messengers the Almighty identifies His true saints as those who “purify themselves” continually in order to remain as pure as Christ is pure (1 Jn. 3:3); who “do righteousness, even as He is righteous” (3:7); who abide in Him and therefore “do not sin,” noting that those who sin “have neither seen Him nor known Him” (3:6).  These are they who claim to “know Him” but refuse to “keep His commandments.”  He calls these false believers “liars in whom there is no Truth” (2:3), whose “father is the devil” (3:8).

Today some two and one-half billion cross-wearing, Bible-owning, Scripture-quoting, church-attending counterfeit Christians, upon hearing the afore-mentioned Scriptures read, would reject them.  They would then produce two rock-solid, undeniable “proofs” that they are right: church doctrine and human experience.  Truly, Satan has deceived the whole world, specifically the church world.  In Revelation 6:1,2 John is shown a vision of a rider on a white horse.  He is told that this rider (Satan) would go forth “conquering and to conquer.”  The conquering rider is Satan who has conquered the world.  Beyond a doubt Christianity is his most prized conquest.

Billions of God seekers have followed Satan along his false path which has been constructed by his false church system (Catholicism/Protestantism) under the direction of his false prophets.  Like Adam and Eve on their way to the forbidden tree, his followers “know” that they are on the right path as they file into his citadels of sin each sun god day where they hear heathen “truths” put forth as Bible facts.  See the Introduction to this website for a list of some of the heathen beliefs and customs believed and practiced by the Counterfeit (Catholic/Protestant) Church.

Those who refuse to study God’s Word and live according to its dictates work out their own salvation according to their group’s perverted version of the gospel, which the Apostle Paul warned about in Galatians 1:6-9.  They have, as he told the church at Corinth, accepted “another Jesus” (2 Cor. 11:4), a false Jesus whose hirelings scratch their itching ears (Jn. 10:12,13/2 Tim. 4:3) in order to keep the paychecks coming.  Hopefully you have noticed that I put forth only God’s Scriptural Truth, and that I ask only that the reader “search the Scriptures” in order to determine if I am being true to God’s Word.

“Study (His Word) to show yourself approved by God” (2 Tim. 2:15).  Then form your life around what is written therein.  (Note that Paul was writing to the Evangelist Timothy who wrote two of the Books of the New Testament).  In this way we, like Timothy, can work out our own salvation and join the Lord in His kingdom following His Second Advent.  L.J.