The Conditions on God’s Gift
Salvation Comes With Conditions
John 15:10 IF ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love
Salvation is a gift from God that none of us can every merit or earn on our own. But this immutable truth about God does not supersede the rest of His instructions to us where we are taught the many things we must do or avoid doing to enter the kingdom of heaven. I wrote a post a while back titled Real Faith Means We “DO” Things to highlight the requirements given to us. But the purpose of this post is to bring light to the truth that our entrance into heaven and eternal life is indeed conditional. Salvation is not a one time event of saying a prayer. Jesus told us the road was difficult and the gate very narrow and that few shall find their way in. Jesus meant what He said.
Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. NKJV
While verses like Ephesians 2:8-9 are absolutely true, but they must be properly divided. The words of Paul about being saved by grace and it being a gift and not of ourselves lest anyone can boast is correct. All one has to do is properly divide the preceeding verses in Ephesians 2 and the false teaching on Eph 2:8-9 would be exposed for what it is. People saved by grace do not continue to practice sin. Look at how Paul framed the build up to the famous verse about “grace”. Paul said, you used to do these things, you formerly walked that way, you were (past tense) dead in sin, at one time you sinned. The whole letter to the church was reminding them of where they had come from and that they were not to be deceived by the enemy into entering back into sin and rebellion. Grace is not a license to sin.
Ephesians 2:1-5 As for you, you WERE dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air (Satan), the (evil) spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. If you are continuing to disobey God, that is practice sin, a spirit other than the Holy Spirit is at work IN you. How come we never hear about that from our teachers? It is like the passage does not even exist. We can sugar coat the gospel all we want but it is only the truth that sets us free from the power of sin in our lives.
None of us can every claim we deserve God’s mercy, as we all have sinned and fallen short of His glory. Yet grace has been twisted from what Paul meant (see my link to Grace at top of this page) and is now portrayed as a license to keep on sinning. In no way shape or form is Paul telling us that Jesus lied to us in the verses I am about to show you. False teachers and apostasy has overrun the modern day church system. It is indeed hard to find a true gospel message these days in a church.
The Scriptures are full of direct passages telling us what we must do and what we must not do to be His follower, His disciple, His Sheep, His Witnesses, His Children …. and ultimately enter His kingdom. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It is He who established His rules and conditions for His Kingdom. We must attain to those rules otherwise we will be shut out. Let’s look only at verses where the conditional statements were made. The key word in all these verses is IF.
John 8:51 “I tell you the truth, IF anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” The corollary to this is that IF we do not keep His word, we will indeed see death and not enter His kingdom. Why is this so hard for Christians to understand?
Matthew 5:29 IF your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell. Jesus tells us that IF we sin, we must get rid of it, otherwise we are hell bound. He said this in a number of different ways, chopping off your hand, cutting off your foot and in this passage by plucking out your eye. He did not mean this literally as He came to destroy the works of the devil; but as out there as these statements appear, Jesus wanted to get our attention and make sure there was no misunderstanding about sin and its consequences. The gift of life comes with terms and conditions from the creator. Repent or we too shall perish sayeth the Lord.
John 15:1-4 Parable of the Vine “remain in me, and I will remain in you. IF a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. IF anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers (dies); such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned” … IF you obey my commands, you will remain in my love.” This ties remaining in Jesus love to obeying his commands. Does Jesus save people that do not remain in his love? I think the branches being picked up and thrown into the fire settles that matter. It is not enough to simply be in the vine for a time, we must remain in the vine; we must endure to the end to be saved. Where did man come up with the ridiculous doctrine of Once Saved Always Saved and the heresy of Eternal Security? (click for drill down into this topic).
1 Cor. 15:1-2 “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand. By this gospel you are saved IF you hold fast to the word I preached to you—otherwise you have believed in vain.” Paul did not teach another gospel. His teaching aligned perfectly with Jesus and the whole of Scripture. One of the most important parables taught by Jesus is the Parable of the Four Soils. The word of God falls on all types, but it is only one kind of soil where the Word takes root and endures the trials of life and the temptations of Satan. We must endure all the way to the end. Sadly, it has become the desire of many teachers to tickle the ears of their congregants which leads them to cherry-pick selective passages and present them in ways that contradict the very words of the Lord as recorded in the gospels. These pastors feel they need to do this, they run their churches like a business and instead of trusting God and seeking to please Him, they trust in their flesh and seek to please men. Do not be deceived my friends.
Jesus spoke about vain worship in Mark 7:7-8. He said the same thing Paul did here in 1 Cor. If we worship Him with our lips and not with our true heart, we are worshipping Him in vain, following the teachings of men and not God. Vain worship means nothing to Christ and is useless.
Mat 6:14-15 IF you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But IF you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. People recite this truth every time they say the Lord’s prayer but do not realize their own actions contradict the belief that they are forgiven when they are harboring unforgiveness and bitterness towards others. Oh how great the deception and delusion in our modern church!
John 14:15 IF you love me, you WILL obey what I command. He didn’t say you should, he said you Will. This means many people have not made Jesus Lord and Do Not Know Him despite praying a sinner’s prayer, going to church or calling themselves Christians. If anyone thinks they can get to heaven without loving God they are sadly mistaken.
Matthew 3:9-10 And do not think you can say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Okay, I added in a verse without an IF statement but this one to me is very powerful and a direct teaching from God about resting on our laurels and believing we have no striving to do on the difficult road to enter the small gate into heaven. Here John the Baptist is warning the Pharisees and Sadducees of their deception, their reliance on being descendants of Abraham for their salvation. Like numerous other places Jesus told them they would surely die if they do not produce good fruit. Satan is continuing to lie to us saying we truly shall NOT die if we keep on sinning. Who are we to believe, the father of all lies or Jesus?
Ezekiel 18:24 But IF a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked man does, will he live? None of the righteous things he has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and because of the sins he has committed, he will die. We are frequently taught the opposite of this verse that was the direct word of the Lord spoken via the Prophet Ezekiel. IF we do not walk in purity after we are cleansed and made pure by the imputed righteousness of Christ, our righteousness we once had will not be remembered on judgment day. We must endure to the end to be saved. This is the opposite of repentance, this is turning away from God and back to sin and the ways of the world. Those that preach we cannot lose our salvation do not speak the truth no matter how well meaning they may be.
Rom 11:17 IF some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. IF you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For IF God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.” Here Paul warns us the Gentiles not to be cocky or boastful and to fear God. Implicitly he is saying we must continue to obey Him or else we can be cut off just like the unbelieving Jews were that allowed us to be grafted into the kingdom in the first place.
James 5:19-20 “My brothers, IF anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. I cite this verse to ask the question of the Eternal Security proponents of why James would say this? If salvation cannot be lost, than this verse is in error and as we all know, the Bible is infallible. This verse speaks the truth that needs to begin to be screamed out from the pulpits as time is short. This is our duty, to save souls and living the lie about sin and going along with the apostate church is not going to do that. Nobody can snatch us out of His hand and nobody can cast us out, but we can surely walk or wander away from the truth (Jesus) by following temptations back into sin and the ways of the world.
Hebrews 3:14 For we share in Christ, IF indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. Pretty clear that our inheritance with Christ is conditional by holding firm, enduring to the end. Do not be deceived, we are in a race as Paul told us and we must not disqualify ourselves from the race, we must finish the race.
Hebrews 10:26-29 For IF we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of truth there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the Spirit of grace? This is one of the most fearful verses in the new Testament but I hope it gets all of our attention. There is no other way to the Father except thru Christ. If we don’t take the way He told us to take (following Him, obeying Him…) we are doomed to destruction. It is time for the church to wake up as time is getting very short.
2 Peter 20-22 IF they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them” The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Fearing God and obeying His commandments is our whole duty according to Solomon. Peter warns us here that if we fall back into sin and worldly living after escaping we are worse off than if we had never known the truth. Jesus spoke about the the Steward that did not endure and disobeyed when his master tarried in returning. That Steward was beaten with many stripes because he knew the truth and choose to disobey anyway. The parable of the Steward in Luke 12 is a powerful teaching on staying the course yet sadly never taught by the apostate church.
1 John 2:3-4 By this we know that we have come to know Him, IF we keep his commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him”, and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. Are you a liar who just plays church and acts religious at times or are you a true son or daughter of God? Those who are lead by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. The Spirit of God does not lead you into sin my friend as God tempts nobody. Knowing Christ (see link at top of page) is an absolute requirement to enter heaven, there is zero wiggle room on that point and the last thing you will want to hear on the last day is ”depart from Me, I never knew you“.
Matthew 19:16 And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but IF you wish to enter life, keep the commandments.” Again a very clear statement from Jesus on what we MUST DO to enter life. He said it right here, if we wish to to have eternal life, we must obey the commandments. I cannot fathom how the spirit of anti-christ has overtaken the churches, it is the enemy within and many professing Christians are now under the God Sent Delusion I just wrote about.
John 15:13-15 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends IF you DO whatever I command you. Jesus laid down His life for us and tells us that to gain eternal life we must lose our life for Him. What he meant was we must surrender to Him, deny ourselves and pick up our cross daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23). Enemies of God do not attain to salvation my brothers, they are destroyed in the judgment. Jesus tells us right here who His friends are. I wrote a post just on this topic Who Is God’s Friend?.
There are many more IF/THEN verses that come at the truth from a negative connotation. What I mean is verses that say ‘if you do this” you will die. Here is prime example from Revelation that speaks to the reality of Hell.
Revelation 14:9-11 “IF anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”
So we can clearly see the IF/THENconditions spelled out in the Scriptures. As my blog has made clear, the consistent perpetual themes of the Good News are very clear. Satan has killed, stolen or destroyed the lives and true faith of many that never came to true repentance and have been deceived by the spirit of anti-christ and the multitudes of false teachers in the world today. Paul warned this would happen in many Epistles but sadly over the years the warnings about deception, the clear teachings of Jesus, the requirements we must meet have been watered down. The grace of God has indeed been turned into a license to sin.
2 Cor 11:3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For IF someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or IF you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the on you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
Nothing I have said in here takes away from the fact that we are saved by faith. We are indeed saved by a true faith that is then followed by a demonstrated believing on the Lord Jesus. If you believe someone, you follow them, you look to them to guide you and you fully trust them. A true faith initiates our walk with God but to prove that faith is genuine, other acts must follow including our obedience to the One we say we believe in.
Romans 10:9 IF you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus AND believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. In this oft twisted passage of Paul, he tells us two things we must do to be saved. Most do part one but kid themselves about part 2. Most Christians just believe in their head, they are carnal Christians which are not real Christians but just look alike tares. Believing in your heart ratchets up the belief such that your very being and purpose is transformed to serve the very God that created the universe and everything in it, including you. Once that gets into your heart, you cannot help but be transformed. That was Paul’s message, this verse in Romans does not tell us we are saved by saying a prayer one time or even several times. It has a much deeper meaning as the rest of Scripture shows us.
I pray that my blogging will help me step out further in my faith and put it all on the line for Christ. We are not here to win popularity contests. In fact we are told to expect to be persecuted for preaching the truth. God is calling on His watchmen and His true disciples to speak the truth, to demonstrate His love and to save the souls of the lost.
To speak truth, we must speak accurately on the terms and conditions that God has revealed to us about his gift of eternal life.
sandra, you be blessed in Christ. I have enjoyed reading your posts. i truly pray for us all, to seek him with the whole heart. The love the lord has put in my heart for reading his word has truly opened my eyes. hours on end daily since may 30 2006. Now thats mercy and love, for all i ever did was sin, and then by Grace and that in Christ he shined his light into my darkned heart. And what he told me in darkness, that now i say so others willl come to his light. If you all knew what i was , before grace, and his continued grace, you would probably faint. Of whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much. Remember when Paul said this is a true saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom i am chief. If at that moment a window in time had been opened, and he had seen me… he may have said, oh………. who is that man. Then he probably would have said he was worst, probably, but i promise he would have at least looked.
I was wicked. But that just shows how Good and merciful God is, truly desiring none to perish. But sadly many will, for they will not come to the light, lest their deeds be exposed.
The truth is the onlly reason one is condemned is because they will not come to Christ that they may have life, and life abundantely. The prosperty gospel of man is false. The true prosperity is of GOd in Christ. Stand firm in the faith, this world and many churches no longer do. Tis as the days of Noah, i speak truth, Tis as the days of NOah. And when did Christ say he would come……………? And like the days of Noah, so many have said in heart, my Lord delays his coming, as live and gather riches for the last days. Behold, what i say unto you Sandra, i say unto all of us………. He comes quickly. Be blessed.
Randall: Thank you for careing. I did not mean to mislead you. What I meant was that those who do not know, or refuse to know Jesus now, they are “dead” until they come to the truth. I know that the ones who were with Jesus at His first advent will come first, as they should. Then we who remain at His second advent will follow them. I sometimes don’t know how to put things in the proper wordage. Again, I am sorry if I misled you. Thank you for coming to my aid. God Bless you always, your sister in Christ—-Sandra
Amen Bill!!!! To God be all the glory for saving ones like us, especially one as vile as i.
Be blessed bill. God loves us. We love you too Bill. Be blessed In Christ, who is truly our only hope.
sandra may God bless you in all wisdom , understanding , knowlege, love., joy, peace, longsuffering the true riches in Christ.
Reread the first two paragraphs.
But i would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep that you sorrow not , even as others who have no hope.
Or in another place where he is talkng about many brethren that had seen Christ, and some now sleep. It is the natural death he speaks of. In this case of reference he speaks about loved ones already asleep, for them not to have sorrow as the world has sorrow. For in truth they are at rest in Christ. So the dead rising up is those that have physciallly died and now sleep in CHrist. Sandra we all love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Pete: Just to touch on the rapture. I like you believe that it will happen on the “last day”. The scripture that Tim is referring to are in 1Thess. ch.4:16-17, and indeed this is speaking of the rapture, and the dead in Christ will rise first. I may be wrong, and if I am I pray that the Holy Spirit will correct me. My thoughts on this is: The “dead in Christ” are the spiritually dead, who are riseing now, and coming to the truth. I believe that Jesus will decsend with a shout,on the “last day” just as Pete says, and at that time we who endured, and kept His commands, and remained faithful will be raptured, or caught up to meet the Lord in the air. I also believe that this day is soon, and when our King comes everything will happen very,very quickly, “in the blink of an eye”. Jesus has been waiting a long time to gaither His Bride, and He will not tarry much longer. He is seperating the wheat from the tares, and wakeing up His chosen people to the truth. My suggestion to anyone who needs answers is to watch the “doctrine of demons” series that Pete has on his youtube site, and listen to Bill Johnson’s “watchmanweekly” it is in the right column on this page. Bill has a really good series on the “Millenial reign”. Three time in Rev. ch.22 Jesus says “Behold, I come quickly”, and anytime Jesus says something three times it is something to pay attention to. Just as John says in Rev.22:20 Even so, come, Lord Jesus, this was after Jesus said “Surely, I come quickley”. I hope that this has helped in some small way. Thank you, Pete, and as always, God Bless—-your sister in Christ—-Sandra
Faith and unbelief
Luke 17-5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
. In the OT you had to murder some one to be guilty of murder. Jesus greatly magnified the Law, and placed it into one, it is much more encompassing now.. It is a much grander Law written in the tablets of the heart. The thought of murder, spiritual slander in the mind is to be cast out. We are to take captive every thought before the throne of God as Paul said (tri the spirits and see if they be of God).
If we do not do this then we allow iniquity to abound. Thus in this case of slander that persons heart has become a murderous heart and rebels against God. Same thing applies with covetous in fact all of these 17 acts of unrighteousness listed Galatians 5, in which mans heart holds in rebellion to God are sinful and are unloving acts of abomination towards his neighbour. Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The GWTJ in Matt. 25,31-46 addresses how God judges a mans heart. These are all manifested through the works of the flesh. ( Jesus said; it is what comes out of a man that defiles him). Our vial thoughts are made manifest into evil works of the flesh.
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
These are all sins of the heart which manifest into works of the flesh. The secret is having true faith in Jesus Christ, which is the supreme act above all things in pleasing God. True faith is loving God with all your heart, mind, and soul. The opposite of true faith is unbelief, which causes evil to dwell in the depths of a mans heart, thus he becomes lawless like his father Satan and will do the lusts of his father. John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Faith walks in the Spirit and unbelief walks in the flesh. A wicked heart is a heart of unbelief. Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Gn 21 Gen 21 I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth
All hearts are deceitfully wicked, there is none good, no not one. The only solution to this heart disease is spiritual open heart surgery. (Circumcision of the heart).Jesus the Master Surgeon heals and gives you a new heart of righteousness. All of mans attempts to do good are vanity, and are that of whited sepulchres, no matter how hard he tries to keep the 10 commandments in the flesh.
True faith will move spiritual mountains of unbelief and cast them into the sea.
Bill
The deceit of the rapture is not the rapture itself. Everyone will eventually see there is no rapture when things get real bad, and they are still here, and haven’t been ruptured. The real deceit behind it is the false doctrine of despensationalism and the 2 house twist. It was the foundation for the Judea-Christian lie. It is truly the cult that kidnapped Christianity and started the great falling away that has been progressing since 1880. (it is Cyrus Schofield poison)
The rapture doctrine is the real movement behind Zionism and the lie that the Jews in the flesh are the chosen people. It is a poisonous doctrine developed by the Jesuit priest Ribera 400 years ago. Then progressed by Lacunza, They shelved it for 2 centuries, and then brought it out in 1870 with their compromised used car salesman, John Darby. The word rapture is from Jerome’s Latin Vulgate “harpizio” more Catholicism. I could tell you much more about the under pinning of the rapture deceit if any need to hear it.
Bill
My point on saying that was so many are looking for the easy way into heaven. When the spiritual earthquakes come, the tribulation that comes to test all faith and separate wheat from chaff spoken of in Malchi and Hebrews 12, people will lose hope, unbelief will rise as people lose hope as they were falsely taught they would not endure great tribulation. Those who endure thru all of this, trusting in God all the way to the end, will be raptured on the LAST DAY if the Lord does not take them earlier and to die is gain. In the Revelation 16 spiritual judgments, men blaspheme God and do not repent as they were promised the easy believism way into the Kingdom. Peter said if scarcely the righteous can be saved what about the ungodly and the sinner?
Hebrews 12 – See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we NOT ESCAPE if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, 26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” 27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
ACTS 14:21-22 And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God
Tim, Yes that is the rapture and I DO BELIEVE in a rapture but see it on the LAST day per John 6 and my undertstanding of Revelation 7 and the whole of the spiritual judgments. The verses that speak to one being taken and one being left is speaking about the spiritual taking, sweeping away of the wicked. Luke 17:37 Where Lord, where are they taken the disciples ask. Where the vultures are gathered there the dead bodies will be gathered. It is like the days of Noah, the few righteous in the ARK (Jesus) and the wicked are swept away (the God sent delulision – flood of false words). So I see a rapture, just not a pretribulation rapture. The way to the kingdom is thru tribulation. We are spared wrath, which I see as spiritual judgment and destruction, not literal fire falling from heaven. So I agree with you brother that we will meet the Lord in the air on the last day and we will forever be with the Lord. If we somehow get taken out earlier then that is going to be a pleasant surprise.
I put the pretribulaton rapture in my list of false doctrines in video #6, Doctrine #33 on the YouTube channel. I have not yet posted this on this blog as I was waiting to finish the series. I don’t have a problem with someone beleiving that, it is not a salvation issue, but I believe it prepares them not for what lies ahead. it is going to get hot and persecution is going to come if we stand with Jesus.
Pete. Ive read several instances in your writings about the Lords Soon return. He is coming very soon as I agree with you on that point based on Gods Word. However, I also hole to the fact that the Bible talks about the dead in Christ rising first and those who are alive and remain shall not precede these but that we shall all be caught in the air together ans we shall ever be with the lord. If that isn’t talking about the Rapture of the church…what is it referring to?
Love in Christ
Tim
Pete…For as many things on your poet which my spirit completely attests as truth, You made a which has to be your private opinion or private interpretation.
YOU SAID VERY EMPHATICALLY…
“Forget about the rapture, it is a false doctrine that promotes the lie about peace and safety”. Sir, for all the wonderful truth your blog relates I must with my whole heart disagree with this comment. The bible clearly talks about a great catching away of the saints. I believe its in Thess…. Commonly referred to the rapture. Pete. If you think this is a false doctrine, please, give us scripture and verse. You comment sounds like its your personal belief and as you know, we are commanded not to give our opinions concerning God Word.
Unless I am mistaken, the rapture of the saints ans the resurrection of the dead in Christ are in fact actual events that will take place, I believe simultaneously.
If the rapture or the catching away if false I want scripture and versae to prove it.
Thank you Pete.
Keeping ourselves pure and blameless until the coming of the Lord is the most important thing to do by a believer.
Lk. 21:36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to
escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able
to stand before the Son of Man.”
Jeff, My friend you are listening to deceivers. God is testing the faith of everyone, all that can be shaken is being shaken so that what cannot be shaken (a true faith in Christ) will remain. Everything else is going to be removed. Stand firm on the rock, forget about the rapture, it is a false doctrine that promotes the lie about peace and safety. The wicked are taken by deception that comes and steals their hearts and gets them to walk in their flesh, pursuing the lusts of the world and brings about a false security. God is faithful, you He will not take away your salvation, but you can choose by your own free will to follow after other gods (demons) that lead you away from a walk of holiness. Examine yourself and ask the Holy Spirit to show you what needs to be purified and trust in God and His grace to say NO to the temptations when they come. You must suffer to be free but your suffering is only for a little while.
The lying spirits will tell you God will not restore you or take you back. They are lying to you. God is faithful, if we seek Him with our whole heart, we will find Him again. The fact that you care and our fearful is a good sign, it means your heart is not hardened beyond the point of repentance which was the meaning of verses like Hebrews 6. But you must turn from transgression. You must enter back into CHRIST and His protection, you will not be able to stand up the our enemy and the heat of tribulation that is coming upon the whole world. God wishes for nobody to perish and that includes you my brother. You must choose to live for God. Gal 5:23 walk by the spirit and you WILL NOT carry out the desires of the flesh. Stand in the heat, cry out to Him in your weakness and He will give you strength to stand.
1 COR 10:13 there is no temptation you cannot endure. Phil 4:13 You can do all things thru Christ. 2 Thess 2:3 God is faithful, He will give you strength and power to overcome all the enemy
I will reach out to you privately.
Hi, I have been struggling with Salvation concerns, and being ready for the rapture as I know its a small number will be ready. I am/was a fairly mature Christian who stumbled into an old sinfrom my backslidden days, and it was wilful. I repented right away It somewhat compromised my witness and shortly after, an unrelated fluke of a thing happened and my life started to completely fall apart. Lost a good job of 20 years and my home.I then tried to deal with stress and circumstances very much in the flesh and I know God was unhappy with me. I am concerned about verses like Hebrews 6:4-8, and 10:26-39. Luke 12:45-47 Num 15:30 and others. I am hoping my salvation is not lost or not being ready for the rapture. Luke 12:45 especially bothers me because this is describes my situation. Very concerned about being a branch cut off-John 15:1 Also in the OT it says a person can be cut off from his people, and I feel pretty much that way now. I am not a blessing
to others anymore, but rather a burden.
There is no purpose in my
life now-
no chance now to be productive. If you are able to comment on this by email,. Thanks! Jeff