THE ORIGIN OF LENT
Numerous mother/child cult religions existed before the time of Christ. Back in time, Nimrod had a wife by the name of Semiramis and she supposedly conceived a son by a sunbeam. Her son’s name was Tammuz and she offered this son as a promised deliverer. When Tammuz grew up, a wild boar killed him. After forty days of his mother's crying, he arose from the dead. Lent was this forty-day period of weeping for Tammuz before the feast, which celebrated his resurrection in the spring. They worshiped Semiramis by offering a wafer to her and her title was the Queen of Heaven. The worship of Semiramis also involved priests, sacramental rites, burning of incense, dedication of virgins, and purgatory. This is the basis of the harlot’s worship and Roman Catholicism.
Jeremiah 44:17
17. "But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her,
Ezekiel 8:14
14. So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the Lord's house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.
Satan is the father of all mother/child cults:
In Babylon, it was Semiramis and her son, Tammuz.
In Egypt, it was Isis and her son, Osiris.
In Phoenicia, it was Ashtoreth and her son, Baal.
In Greece, it was Aphrodite and her son, Eros.
In Rome, it was Venus and her son, Cupid.
In India, it was Devaki and her son, Krishna.
In Roman Catholicism, it is the Queen of Heaven and her son.
When the Roman Empire finally became the dominate world empire, Julius Caesar had all the priestesses and priests of Semiramis move from Pergamos to Rome. When the worship of Semiramis arrived in Rome, the chief priest in Rome took the title Pontifex Maximum and it was imprinted on his miter. The title had to do with the worship of a god called Dagon the Fish-god. From then on, every emperor in Rome wore the title Pontifex Maximum. It had nothing to do with Christianity; it meant you were the chief priest of the worship of Semiramis. Do you know who wears that title today? The Pope! The Pope is not the direct successor of Peter; he is a servant of Satan, Dagon the Fish-god, and the Babylonian mystery religions. The chief priest of Dagon the Fish-god always wore a big hat with two tall peaks that looked like a big fish with its mouth open. All the Popes wear that same style hat even to this day.
Satan couldn’t destroy true Christianity with killings and persecutions so when Julius Caesar brought the Babylonian mystery religion to Rome, Satan started to merge the names and events of the Babylonian religion with the names and events associated with Christianity and this is the basis of Roman Catholicism. In 325 A.D., Constantine, the ruler of the Roman Empire, said, by proclamation, that all Roman citizens were to automatically become Christians and all non-conformists were to be punished. Satan hoped that by adding millions of non-Christians to the true Christians, he would water down and destroy Christ’s Church. As a way to make sure that all future people were included, he introduced infant baptism. True Christians were never a part of Catholicism back then and true Christians are not part of Catholicism today.
Whenever I compare the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church to what is actually said in the Bible, I always think of the classic line from the Marx Brothers’ movie called “Duck Soup” where Chico Marx, who was dressed up as Groucho Marx, said, “Who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?” The Roman Catholic Church pronounces a curse on anyone who says that they can know that they have eternal life but what does the Bible say?
I John 5:13
13. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life,
The dead in Purgatory (to purge) are punished to purge them from their sins and enduring punishment gains merit points which are then added to their account. When they earn enough merit points, (Satan’s balance scale concept, when the good stuff outweighs the bad), they will be released to proceed to Heaven. In order to have even more merit points added to their account, the Roman Catholic Church wants their loved ones to give money to a priest to say a mass in their honor. Of course, since they would never know if or when their loved ones got out of Purgatory, they would have to keep giving money year after year. The selling of indulgences as a way to escape the penalties of Penance and paying priests to say masses so that the dead can escape the punishment of Purgatory and enter Heaven are two of the biggest sources of income of the Roman Catholic Church.
Where does the Catholic Church get all of this abundance of merit points to pass out? Simple … from the Queen of Heaven and her son, of course. You see, the Roman Catholic Church says that the Queen of Heaven and her son were so righteous that they got into Heaven with all sorts of extra righteousness and merit points to spare. The Roman Church is then able to sell those excess merit points from those two people back to the billions and billions of people who didn’t have enough. Is it any wonder that the Roman Catholic Church pronounces the penalty of anathema (a curse) on anyone who does not believe in Purgatory or the Sacrament of Penance? It was just recently disclosed that Pope John Paul II continually flagellated himself with a belt and slept on the floor as acts of penance. Some people have been known to crawl on their bloody knees for miles or to wear a belt with nails in it under their clothes as acts of self-mortification. I have an old Catholic Bible that has the seal of the pope and in it they purposely mistranslated the last part of 2 Peter 3:9 to say, “come to do penance” as a way of trying to promote the un-Biblical practice of self-mortification instead of the correct word, repentance, which means to turn from sin. In their newer Bibles, they have quit mistranslating the text.
2 Peter 3:9
9. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
If you want to find out all of the weird stuff the Roman Catholic Church teaches, just go to a Roman Catholic bookstore and buy Ludwig Ott’s Catechisms #1, #2, and #3. These books contain all the official teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and have the Imprimatur (seal) of the Pope. You would be amazed at how much extra stuff, not found in the Bible that a Catholic has to believe under penalty of anathema from the Church of Rome. Remember, before you join any organization or sign any document, always be sure to read the fine print.
As strange as it may seem … a devout Catholic cannot not be a Christian but, an uncommitted Catholic might be a Christian. In order to be a devout Catholic, under the penalty of anathema, a Catholic has to commit himself to believe every weird thing the Roman Catholic Church teaches. However, an uncommitted Catholic would not have committed himself to study and know all the stuff he’s supposed to believe and may have just decided in his heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and prayed to Jesus to help his unbelief.
Mark 9:23
23. Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.''
24. Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!''
If he were sincere about wanting to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, God would help him leave that apostate religious system and find a church that just teaches the Jesus Christ of the Bible.
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Thursday, February 18, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
ROMAN CATHOLICISM IS A CULT
ROMAN CATHOLICISM IS A CULT
Despite their many differences, Islam, Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses, and Roman Catholicism have two things in common: All of them reject the Jesus of the Bible and all have Satan for their father. God pronounces a curse against all false teachers.
1 Corinthians 16:22
22. If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed.
Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk, priest, and Doctor of Theology, was a professor of sacred theology at the Catholic university in Wittenberg, Germany. From November 1515 to September 1516, he taught his students from Paul’s epistle to the Romans. Every day as he studied to prepare is lectures, he kept trying to understand the Pauline Doctrine of Justification. He wrote, "I greatly longed to understand Paul's Epistle to the Romans, and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, 'the righteousness of God', because I took it to mean that righteousness whereby God is righteous and deals righteously in punishing the unrighteous … Night and day I pondered until ... I grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby, through grace and sheer mercy, he justifies us by faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before 'the righteousness of God' had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressible sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gateway to heaven."
Romans 1:17
17. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
When God opened Martin Luther’s eyes, he understood these verses and was able to see the many errors of the Catholic Church.
Romans 3:28
28. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.
Romans 4:2
2. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something of which to boast, but not before God.
3. For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.''
4. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
5. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
As a priest and theology professor, he confronted the indulgence salesmen of the Catholic Church with his “95 Theses” in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could be purchased with money. His refusal to retract all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms meeting in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the emperor.
Martin Luther was correct when he proclaimed, “Sola Scriptura” (the Bible only). All false religions err when they add or detract from the Bible. In Roman Catholicism, “the Word of God” encompasses not only the Bible, but also the Apocrypha, the Magisterium (the Church’s authority to teach and interpret divine truth), the Pope’s ex-cathedra pronouncements, and an indefinite body of church tradition, some formalized in canon law and some not yet committed to writing. Whereas evangelical Protestants believe the Bible is the ultimate test of all truth, Roman Catholics believe the Church determines what is true and what is not. In effect, this makes the Church a higher authority than Scripture.
Creeds and doctrinal statements are certainly important. However, creeds, decisions of church councils, all doctrine, and even the church itself must be judged by Scripture … not vice versa. Scripture is to be accurately interpreted in its context by comparing it to Scripture … certainly not according to anyone’s personal whims. Scripture itself is thus the sole binding rule of faith and practice for all Christians. Protestant creeds and doctrinal statements simply express the churches’ collective understanding of the proper interpretation of Scripture. In no sense could the creeds and pronouncements of the churches ever constitute an authority equal to or higher than Scripture. Scripture always takes priority over the church in the rank of authority.
Roman Catholicism, on the other hand, teaches that the infallible touchstone of truth is the Church itself. The Church not only infallibly determines the proper interpretation of Scripture, but also supplements Scripture with additional traditions and teachings. That combination of Church tradition plus the Church’s interpretation of Scripture is what constitutes the binding rule of faith and practice for Catholics. The fact is, the Church sets itself above Holy Scripture in rank of authority.
Matthew 15:3
3. But He answered and said to them, "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?
Mark 7:7
7. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'
The Roman Catholic Church errs in its teaching on the most fundamental doctrines of sanctification and justification. According to Roman Catholicism, justification is a process in which God’s grace is poured forth into the sinner’s heart, making that person progressively more righteous. During this process, it is the sinner’s responsibility to preserve and increase that grace by various good works. The means by which justification is initially obtained is not faith, but the sacrament of baptism. Furthermore, justification is forfeited whenever the believer commits a mortal sin, such as hatred or adultery. In the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, then, works are necessary both to begin and to continue the process of justification.
The error in the Catholic Church’s position on justification may be summed up in four biblical arguments:
First, scripture presents justification as instantaneous, not gradual. Contrasting the proud Pharisee with the broken, repentant tax-gatherer who smote his breast and prayed humbly for divine mercy, Jesus said that the tax-gatherer “went down to his house justified” (Luke 18:14). His justification was instantaneous, complete before he performed any work, based solely on his repentant faith. Jesus also said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24). Eternal life is the present possession of all who believe … and, by definition, eternal life cannot be lost. The one who believes immediately passes from spiritual death to eternal life, because that person is instantaneously justified (see Rom. 5:1, 9; 8:1).
Second, justification means the sinner is declared righteous, not actually made righteous. This goes hand in hand with the fact that justification is instantaneous. There is no process to be performed … justification is purely a forensic reality, a declaration God makes about the sinner. Justification takes place in the court of God, not in the soul of the sinner. It is an objective fact, not a subjective phenomenon, and it changes the sinner’s status, not his nature. Justification is an immediate decree, a divine “not guilty” verdict on behalf of the believing sinner in which God declares him to be righteous in His sight.
Third, the Bible teaches that justification means righteousness is imputed, not infused. Righteousness is “reckoned,” or credited to the account of those who believe (Rom. 4:3–25). They stand justified before God not because of their own righteousness (Rom. 3:10), but because of a perfect righteousness outside themselves that is reckoned to them by faith (Phil. 3:9). Where does that perfect righteousness come from? It is God’s own righteousness (Rom 10:3), and it is the believer’s in the person of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:30). Christ’s own perfect righteousness is credited to the believer’s personal account (Rom. 5:17, 19), just as the full guilt of the believer’s sin was imputed to Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). The only merit God accepts for salvation is that of Jesus Christ; nothing man can ever do could earn God’s favor or add anything to the merit of Christ.
Fourth and finally, Scripture clearly teaches that man is justified by faith alone, not by faith plus works. According to the Apostle Paul, “If it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace” (Rom. 11:6). Elsewhere Paul testifies, “By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast” (Eph. 2:8–9, emphasis added; see Acts 16:31 and Rom. 4:3–6). In fact, it is clearly taught throughout Scripture that “a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law” (Rom. 3:28; see Gal. 2:16; Rom. 9:31–32; 10:3).
In contrast, Roman Catholicism places an undue stress on human works. Catholic doctrine denies that God “justifies the ungodly” (Rom. 4:5) without first making them godly. Good works therefore become the grounds for justification. As thousands of former Catholics will testify, Roman Catholic doctrine and liturgy obscure the essential truth that the believer is saved by grace through faith and not by his own works (Eph. 2:8-9). In a simple sense, Catholics genuinely believe they are saved by doing good, confessing sin, and observing ceremonies. Justification is also referred to as receiving Christ. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that all you have to do to receive Christ is to open your mouth and stick out your tongue to receive a wafer of bread.
Adding works to faith as the grounds of justification is precisely the teaching that Paul condemned as “a different gospel” (see 2 Cor. 11:4; Gal. 1:6). It nullifies the grace of God, for if meritorious righteousness can be earned through the sacraments, “then Christ died needlessly” (Gal. 2:21). Any system that mingles works with grace, then, is “a different gospel,” a distorted message that is anathematized (Gal. 1:9), not by a council of medieval bishops, but by the very Word of God that cannot be broken. In fact, it does not overstate the case to say that the Roman Catholic view on justification sets it apart as a wholly different religion than the true Christian faith, for it is antithetical to the simple gospel of grace.
Galatians 1:7
7. but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.
8. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
As long as the Roman Catholic Church continues to assert its own authority and bind its people to “another gospel,” it is the spiritual duty of all true Christians to oppose Roman Catholic doctrine with biblical truth and to call all Catholics to true salvation. Meanwhile, evangelicals must not capitulate to the pressures for artificial unity. They cannot allow the gospel to be obscured, and they cannot make friends with false religion, lest they become partakers in their evil deeds (2 John 11). The only basis of true fellowship is agreement in doctrinal principles. A Christian cannot share a podium with a Catholic. Their appearance together would only serve to confuse the ignorant.
Every believer is sanctified (set apart) unto God by justification at the time of salvation, is declared to be holy, and is therefore identified as a saint. This sanctification is called positional sanctification and is instantaneous. This should not be confused with progressive sanctification. This positional sanctification has to do with the believer's standing, not his present walk or condition (Acts 20:32; 1 Corinthians 1:2, 30; 6:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Hebrews 2:11; 3:1; 10:10, 14; 13:12; 1 Peter 1:2).
There is also, by the work of the Holy Spirit, a progressive sanctification by which the state of the believer is brought closer to the standing the believer positionally enjoys through justification. Through obedience to the Word of God and the empowering of the Holy Spirit, the believer is able to live a life of increasing holiness in conformity to the will of God, becoming more and more like our Lord Jesus Christ (John 17:17,19; Romans 6:1 22; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Thessalonians 4:3 4; 5:23). In this respect, every saved person is involved in a daily conflict-the new creation in Christ doing battle against the flesh-but adequate provision is made for victory through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The struggle nevertheless stays with the believer all through this earthly life and is never completely ended. All claims to the eradication of sin in this life are unscriptural. Eradication of sin is not possible, but the Holy Spirit does provide for victory over sin (Galatians 5:16 25; Ephesians 4:22 24; Philippians 3:12; Colossians 3:9 10; 1 Peter 1:14 16; 1 John 3:5 9).
As one of its primary teachings, The Catholic Church pronounces anathema on anyone who does not believe in the Doctrine of Transubstantiation. This doctrine is just too bizarre to be believed. Catholics must believe that, at every mass, a magic show takes place. All ordinary priests supposedly have the power to change ordinary bread and wine into the actual flesh and blood of Jesus Christ even though the bread and the wine still look and taste the same as before.
Over the last few centuries, the teachings regarding the worship of Mary have been evolving. The Catholic Church now teaches that all Catholics have to believe, under penalty of anathema, that Mary also had a virgin birth, lived a sinless life of perpetual virginity, didn’t deliver Jesus through the birth canal, and didn’t die but just bodily assumed into Heaven.
Contrary to Catholic teachings, Mary was not a perpetual virgin. It’s absolutely true that Mary, being a virgin, gave birth to Jesus but then Joseph and his wife, Mary, had a normal life and had four more sons and at least two more daughters.
Matthew 13:55
55. "Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers (Greek - adelphos - of the same womb) James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?
56. "And His sisters, are they not all with us?
None of His half-brothers or half-sisters believed in Jesus until they saw Him after His resurrection.
John 7:5
5. For even His brothers (Greek - adelphos - of the same womb) did not believe in Him.
Incidentally, one of Jesus’ half-brothers, James, wrote the epistle James and another half-brother, Judas, wrote the epistle Jude.
Galatians 1:19
19. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother (Greek - adelphos - of the same womb).
The Roman Catholic Church also says that Catholics must believe, under penalty of anathema, that they can pray to and worship Mary and that Mary is a “co-redeemer” and “co-mediatrix” with Christ.
1 Timothy 2:5
5. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
Catholics say that we have to pray to Mary because only a mother could get her son to answer our prayers. Jesus taught that we can come boldly to Him with our prayers.
Hebrews 4:15
15. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
16. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
I always ask Catholics if they ever get the feeling that Mary isn’t listening to their prayers. Only God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient and since Mary isn’t God, she is not omniscient. In fact, there is nothing in the Bible to indicate that people in Heaven have any knowledge or awareness of anything on earth. It is ridiculous to think that people who are in the presence of a sinless God would want to have their holy environment invaded with all the sins that are on the earth. All that aside, even if Mary wanted, she could only listen to one prayer at a time and could not possibly listen to the millions upon millions of prayers directed to her every day. In addition, since she doesn’t have supernatural hearing, for Mary to be able to hear those worshipers, they would have to shout loud enough to be heard all the way up to Heaven. Good luck with that!
Catholics also pray the rosary beads and they repeat the same prayers over and over and over and over again (vain repetitions). The rosary beads have five “Our Fathers” and fifty “Hail Marys” so Catholics say ten prayers to Mary for every one they pray to the Lord. Jesus taught His disciples that they could pray directly to the Father and they wouldn’t need to yell in order for God to hear them.
Matthew 6:5
5. "And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
6. "But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
7. "But when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
8. “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
9. In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10. Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
11. Give us this day our daily bread.
12. And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
13. And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Numerous mother/child cult religions existed before the time of Christ. Back in time, Nimrod had a wife by the name of Semiramis and she supposedly conceived a son by a sunbeam. Her son’s name was Tammuz and she offered this son as a promised deliverer. When Tammuz grew up, a wild boar killed him. After forty days of his mother's crying, he arose from the dead. Lent was this forty-day period of weeping for Tammuz before the feast, which celebrated his resurrection in the spring. They worshiped Semiramis by offering a wafer to her and her name was the Queen of Heaven. The worship of Semiramis also involved priests, sacramental rites, burning of incense, dedication of virgins, and purgatory. This is the basis of the harlot’s worship and Roman Catholicism.
Jeremiah 44:17
17. "But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her,
Ezekiel 8:14
14. So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the Lord's house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.
Satan is the father of all mother/child cults:
In Babylon, it was Semiramis and her son, Tammuz.
In Egypt, it was Isis and her son, Osiris.
In Phoenicia, it was Ashtoreth and her son, Baal.
In Greece, it was Aphrodite and her son, Eros.
In Rome, it was Venus and her son, Cupid.
In India, it was Devaki and her son, Krishna.
In Roman Catholicism, it is the Queen of Heaven and her son.
When the Roman Empire finally became the dominate world empire, Julius Caesar had all the priestesses and priests of Semiramis move from Pergamos to Rome. When the worship of Semiramis arrived in Rome, the chief priest in Rome took the title Pontifex Maximum and it was imprinted on his miter. The title had to do with the worship of a god called Dagon the Fish-god. From then on, every emperor in Rome wore the title Pontifex Maximum. It had nothing to do with Christianity; it meant you were the chief priest of the worship of Semiramis. Do you know who wears that title today? The Pope! The Pope is not the direct successor of Peter; he is a servant of Satan, Dagon the Fish-god, and the Babylonian mystery religions. The chief priest of Dagon the Fish-god always wore a big hat with two tall peaks that looked like a big fish with its mouth open. All the Popes wear that same style hat even to this day.
Satan couldn’t destroy true Christianity with killings and persecutions so when Julius Caesar brought the Babylonian mystery religion to Rome, Satan started to merge the names and events of the Babylonian religion with the names and events associated with Christianity and this is the basis of Roman Catholicism. In 325 A.D., Constantine, the ruler of the Roman Empire, said, by proclamation, that all Roman citizens were to automatically become Christians and all non-conformists were to be punished. Satan hoped that by adding millions of non-Christians to the true Christians, he would water down and destroy Christ’s Church. As a way to make sure that all future people were included, he introduced infant baptism. True Christians were never a part of Catholicism back then and true Christians are not part of Catholicism today.
Whenever I compare the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church to what is actually said in the Bible, I always think of the classic line from the Marx Brothers’ movie called “Duck Soup” where Chico Marx, who was dressed up as Groucho Marx, said, “Who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?” The Roman Catholic Church pronounces a curse on anyone who says that they can know that they have eternal life but what does the Bible say?
I John 5:13
13. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life,
The dead in Purgatory (to purge) are punished to purge them from their sins and enduring punishment gains merit points which are then added to their account. When they earn enough merit points, (Satan’s balance scale concept, when the good stuff outweighs the bad), they will be released to proceed to Heaven. In order to have even more merit points added to their account, the Roman Catholic Church wants their loved ones to give money to a priest to say a mass in their honor. Of course, since they would never know if or when their loved ones got out of Purgatory, they would have to keep giving money year after year. The selling of indulgences as a way to escape the penalties of Penance and paying priests to say masses so that the dead can escape the punishment of Purgatory and enter Heaven are two of the biggest sources of income of the Roman Catholic Church.
Where does the Catholic Church get all of this abundance of merit points to pass out? Simple … from the Queen of Heaven and her son, of course. You see, the Roman Catholic Church says that the Queen of Heaven and her son were so righteous that they got into Heaven with all sorts of extra righteousness and merit points to spare. The Roman Church is then able to sell those excess merit points from those two people back to the billions and billions of people who didn’t have enough. Is it any wonder that the Roman Catholic Church pronounces the penalty of anathema (a curse) on anyone who does not believe in Purgatory or the Sacrament of Penance? It was just recently disclosed that Pope John Paul II continually flagellated himself with a belt and slept on the floor as acts of penance. Some people have been known to crawl on their bloody knees for miles or to wear a belt with nails in it under their clothes as acts of self-mortification. I have an old Catholic Bible that has the seal of the pope and in it they purposely mistranslated the last part of 2 Peter 3:9 to say, “come to do penance” as a way of trying to promote the un-Biblical practice of self-mortification instead of the correct word, repentance, which means to turn from sin. In their newer Bibles, they have quit mistranslating the text.
2 Peter 3:9
9. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
If you want to find out all of the weird stuff the Roman Catholic Church teaches, just go to a Roman Catholic bookstore and buy Ludwig Ott’s Catechisms #1, #2, and #3. These books contain all the official teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and have the Imprimatur (seal) of the Pope. You would be amazed at how much extra stuff, not found in the Bible that a Catholic has to believe under penalty of anathema from the Church of Rome. Remember, before you join any organization or sign any document, always be sure to read the fine print.
As strange as it may seem … a devout Catholic cannot not be a Christian but, an uncommitted Catholic might be a Christian. In order to be a devout Catholic, under the penalty of anathema, a Catholic has to commit himself to believe every weird thing the Roman Catholic Church teaches. However, an uncommitted Catholic would not have committed himself to study and know all the stuff he’s supposed to believe and may have just decided in his heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and prayed to Jesus to help his unbelief.
Mark 9:23
23. Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.''
24. Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!''
If he were sincere about wanting to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, God would help him leave that apostate religious system and find a church that just teaches the Jesus Christ of the Bible.
Who is a saint? To be called a saint (Greek - hagios) simply means to be separated unto God. All believers are properly called saints and are equally justified. Though one saint may be more sanctified (more obedient to the will of God) than another, no saint is more justified (saved) than another. The weakest believer is as much justified and pardoned before the throne of God as is the strongest. The righteousness of Christ is as much imputed to one saint as it is to another.
In the Catholic Church, the Pope has to wait several hundred years before finally deciding if someone performed enough miracles to be called a saint. Contrary to the Pope, the Apostle Paul, in all his letters, greets ordinary saints/believers in every city.
I Corinthians 1:2
2. To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,
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Despite their many differences, Islam, Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses, and Roman Catholicism have two things in common: All of them reject the Jesus of the Bible and all have Satan for their father. God pronounces a curse against all false teachers.
1 Corinthians 16:22
22. If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed.
Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk, priest, and Doctor of Theology, was a professor of sacred theology at the Catholic university in Wittenberg, Germany. From November 1515 to September 1516, he taught his students from Paul’s epistle to the Romans. Every day as he studied to prepare is lectures, he kept trying to understand the Pauline Doctrine of Justification. He wrote, "I greatly longed to understand Paul's Epistle to the Romans, and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, 'the righteousness of God', because I took it to mean that righteousness whereby God is righteous and deals righteously in punishing the unrighteous … Night and day I pondered until ... I grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby, through grace and sheer mercy, he justifies us by faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before 'the righteousness of God' had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressible sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gateway to heaven."
Romans 1:17
17. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
When God opened Martin Luther’s eyes, he understood these verses and was able to see the many errors of the Catholic Church.
Romans 3:28
28. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.
Romans 4:2
2. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something of which to boast, but not before God.
3. For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.''
4. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
5. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
As a priest and theology professor, he confronted the indulgence salesmen of the Catholic Church with his “95 Theses” in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could be purchased with money. His refusal to retract all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms meeting in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the emperor.
Martin Luther was correct when he proclaimed, “Sola Scriptura” (the Bible only). All false religions err when they add or detract from the Bible. In Roman Catholicism, “the Word of God” encompasses not only the Bible, but also the Apocrypha, the Magisterium (the Church’s authority to teach and interpret divine truth), the Pope’s ex-cathedra pronouncements, and an indefinite body of church tradition, some formalized in canon law and some not yet committed to writing. Whereas evangelical Protestants believe the Bible is the ultimate test of all truth, Roman Catholics believe the Church determines what is true and what is not. In effect, this makes the Church a higher authority than Scripture.
Creeds and doctrinal statements are certainly important. However, creeds, decisions of church councils, all doctrine, and even the church itself must be judged by Scripture … not vice versa. Scripture is to be accurately interpreted in its context by comparing it to Scripture … certainly not according to anyone’s personal whims. Scripture itself is thus the sole binding rule of faith and practice for all Christians. Protestant creeds and doctrinal statements simply express the churches’ collective understanding of the proper interpretation of Scripture. In no sense could the creeds and pronouncements of the churches ever constitute an authority equal to or higher than Scripture. Scripture always takes priority over the church in the rank of authority.
Roman Catholicism, on the other hand, teaches that the infallible touchstone of truth is the Church itself. The Church not only infallibly determines the proper interpretation of Scripture, but also supplements Scripture with additional traditions and teachings. That combination of Church tradition plus the Church’s interpretation of Scripture is what constitutes the binding rule of faith and practice for Catholics. The fact is, the Church sets itself above Holy Scripture in rank of authority.
Matthew 15:3
3. But He answered and said to them, "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?
Mark 7:7
7. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'
The Roman Catholic Church errs in its teaching on the most fundamental doctrines of sanctification and justification. According to Roman Catholicism, justification is a process in which God’s grace is poured forth into the sinner’s heart, making that person progressively more righteous. During this process, it is the sinner’s responsibility to preserve and increase that grace by various good works. The means by which justification is initially obtained is not faith, but the sacrament of baptism. Furthermore, justification is forfeited whenever the believer commits a mortal sin, such as hatred or adultery. In the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, then, works are necessary both to begin and to continue the process of justification.
The error in the Catholic Church’s position on justification may be summed up in four biblical arguments:
First, scripture presents justification as instantaneous, not gradual. Contrasting the proud Pharisee with the broken, repentant tax-gatherer who smote his breast and prayed humbly for divine mercy, Jesus said that the tax-gatherer “went down to his house justified” (Luke 18:14). His justification was instantaneous, complete before he performed any work, based solely on his repentant faith. Jesus also said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24). Eternal life is the present possession of all who believe … and, by definition, eternal life cannot be lost. The one who believes immediately passes from spiritual death to eternal life, because that person is instantaneously justified (see Rom. 5:1, 9; 8:1).
Second, justification means the sinner is declared righteous, not actually made righteous. This goes hand in hand with the fact that justification is instantaneous. There is no process to be performed … justification is purely a forensic reality, a declaration God makes about the sinner. Justification takes place in the court of God, not in the soul of the sinner. It is an objective fact, not a subjective phenomenon, and it changes the sinner’s status, not his nature. Justification is an immediate decree, a divine “not guilty” verdict on behalf of the believing sinner in which God declares him to be righteous in His sight.
Third, the Bible teaches that justification means righteousness is imputed, not infused. Righteousness is “reckoned,” or credited to the account of those who believe (Rom. 4:3–25). They stand justified before God not because of their own righteousness (Rom. 3:10), but because of a perfect righteousness outside themselves that is reckoned to them by faith (Phil. 3:9). Where does that perfect righteousness come from? It is God’s own righteousness (Rom 10:3), and it is the believer’s in the person of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:30). Christ’s own perfect righteousness is credited to the believer’s personal account (Rom. 5:17, 19), just as the full guilt of the believer’s sin was imputed to Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). The only merit God accepts for salvation is that of Jesus Christ; nothing man can ever do could earn God’s favor or add anything to the merit of Christ.
Fourth and finally, Scripture clearly teaches that man is justified by faith alone, not by faith plus works. According to the Apostle Paul, “If it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace” (Rom. 11:6). Elsewhere Paul testifies, “By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast” (Eph. 2:8–9, emphasis added; see Acts 16:31 and Rom. 4:3–6). In fact, it is clearly taught throughout Scripture that “a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law” (Rom. 3:28; see Gal. 2:16; Rom. 9:31–32; 10:3).
In contrast, Roman Catholicism places an undue stress on human works. Catholic doctrine denies that God “justifies the ungodly” (Rom. 4:5) without first making them godly. Good works therefore become the grounds for justification. As thousands of former Catholics will testify, Roman Catholic doctrine and liturgy obscure the essential truth that the believer is saved by grace through faith and not by his own works (Eph. 2:8-9). In a simple sense, Catholics genuinely believe they are saved by doing good, confessing sin, and observing ceremonies. Justification is also referred to as receiving Christ. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that all you have to do to receive Christ is to open your mouth and stick out your tongue to receive a wafer of bread.
Adding works to faith as the grounds of justification is precisely the teaching that Paul condemned as “a different gospel” (see 2 Cor. 11:4; Gal. 1:6). It nullifies the grace of God, for if meritorious righteousness can be earned through the sacraments, “then Christ died needlessly” (Gal. 2:21). Any system that mingles works with grace, then, is “a different gospel,” a distorted message that is anathematized (Gal. 1:9), not by a council of medieval bishops, but by the very Word of God that cannot be broken. In fact, it does not overstate the case to say that the Roman Catholic view on justification sets it apart as a wholly different religion than the true Christian faith, for it is antithetical to the simple gospel of grace.
Galatians 1:7
7. but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.
8. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
As long as the Roman Catholic Church continues to assert its own authority and bind its people to “another gospel,” it is the spiritual duty of all true Christians to oppose Roman Catholic doctrine with biblical truth and to call all Catholics to true salvation. Meanwhile, evangelicals must not capitulate to the pressures for artificial unity. They cannot allow the gospel to be obscured, and they cannot make friends with false religion, lest they become partakers in their evil deeds (2 John 11). The only basis of true fellowship is agreement in doctrinal principles. A Christian cannot share a podium with a Catholic. Their appearance together would only serve to confuse the ignorant.
Every believer is sanctified (set apart) unto God by justification at the time of salvation, is declared to be holy, and is therefore identified as a saint. This sanctification is called positional sanctification and is instantaneous. This should not be confused with progressive sanctification. This positional sanctification has to do with the believer's standing, not his present walk or condition (Acts 20:32; 1 Corinthians 1:2, 30; 6:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Hebrews 2:11; 3:1; 10:10, 14; 13:12; 1 Peter 1:2).
There is also, by the work of the Holy Spirit, a progressive sanctification by which the state of the believer is brought closer to the standing the believer positionally enjoys through justification. Through obedience to the Word of God and the empowering of the Holy Spirit, the believer is able to live a life of increasing holiness in conformity to the will of God, becoming more and more like our Lord Jesus Christ (John 17:17,19; Romans 6:1 22; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Thessalonians 4:3 4; 5:23). In this respect, every saved person is involved in a daily conflict-the new creation in Christ doing battle against the flesh-but adequate provision is made for victory through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The struggle nevertheless stays with the believer all through this earthly life and is never completely ended. All claims to the eradication of sin in this life are unscriptural. Eradication of sin is not possible, but the Holy Spirit does provide for victory over sin (Galatians 5:16 25; Ephesians 4:22 24; Philippians 3:12; Colossians 3:9 10; 1 Peter 1:14 16; 1 John 3:5 9).
As one of its primary teachings, The Catholic Church pronounces anathema on anyone who does not believe in the Doctrine of Transubstantiation. This doctrine is just too bizarre to be believed. Catholics must believe that, at every mass, a magic show takes place. All ordinary priests supposedly have the power to change ordinary bread and wine into the actual flesh and blood of Jesus Christ even though the bread and the wine still look and taste the same as before.
Over the last few centuries, the teachings regarding the worship of Mary have been evolving. The Catholic Church now teaches that all Catholics have to believe, under penalty of anathema, that Mary also had a virgin birth, lived a sinless life of perpetual virginity, didn’t deliver Jesus through the birth canal, and didn’t die but just bodily assumed into Heaven.
Contrary to Catholic teachings, Mary was not a perpetual virgin. It’s absolutely true that Mary, being a virgin, gave birth to Jesus but then Joseph and his wife, Mary, had a normal life and had four more sons and at least two more daughters.
Matthew 13:55
55. "Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers (Greek - adelphos - of the same womb) James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?
56. "And His sisters, are they not all with us?
None of His half-brothers or half-sisters believed in Jesus until they saw Him after His resurrection.
John 7:5
5. For even His brothers (Greek - adelphos - of the same womb) did not believe in Him.
Incidentally, one of Jesus’ half-brothers, James, wrote the epistle James and another half-brother, Judas, wrote the epistle Jude.
Galatians 1:19
19. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother (Greek - adelphos - of the same womb).
The Roman Catholic Church also says that Catholics must believe, under penalty of anathema, that they can pray to and worship Mary and that Mary is a “co-redeemer” and “co-mediatrix” with Christ.
1 Timothy 2:5
5. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
Catholics say that we have to pray to Mary because only a mother could get her son to answer our prayers. Jesus taught that we can come boldly to Him with our prayers.
Hebrews 4:15
15. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
16. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
I always ask Catholics if they ever get the feeling that Mary isn’t listening to their prayers. Only God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient and since Mary isn’t God, she is not omniscient. In fact, there is nothing in the Bible to indicate that people in Heaven have any knowledge or awareness of anything on earth. It is ridiculous to think that people who are in the presence of a sinless God would want to have their holy environment invaded with all the sins that are on the earth. All that aside, even if Mary wanted, she could only listen to one prayer at a time and could not possibly listen to the millions upon millions of prayers directed to her every day. In addition, since she doesn’t have supernatural hearing, for Mary to be able to hear those worshipers, they would have to shout loud enough to be heard all the way up to Heaven. Good luck with that!
Catholics also pray the rosary beads and they repeat the same prayers over and over and over and over again (vain repetitions). The rosary beads have five “Our Fathers” and fifty “Hail Marys” so Catholics say ten prayers to Mary for every one they pray to the Lord. Jesus taught His disciples that they could pray directly to the Father and they wouldn’t need to yell in order for God to hear them.
Matthew 6:5
5. "And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
6. "But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
7. "But when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
8. “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
9. In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10. Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
11. Give us this day our daily bread.
12. And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
13. And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Numerous mother/child cult religions existed before the time of Christ. Back in time, Nimrod had a wife by the name of Semiramis and she supposedly conceived a son by a sunbeam. Her son’s name was Tammuz and she offered this son as a promised deliverer. When Tammuz grew up, a wild boar killed him. After forty days of his mother's crying, he arose from the dead. Lent was this forty-day period of weeping for Tammuz before the feast, which celebrated his resurrection in the spring. They worshiped Semiramis by offering a wafer to her and her name was the Queen of Heaven. The worship of Semiramis also involved priests, sacramental rites, burning of incense, dedication of virgins, and purgatory. This is the basis of the harlot’s worship and Roman Catholicism.
Jeremiah 44:17
17. "But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her,
Ezekiel 8:14
14. So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the Lord's house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.
Satan is the father of all mother/child cults:
In Babylon, it was Semiramis and her son, Tammuz.
In Egypt, it was Isis and her son, Osiris.
In Phoenicia, it was Ashtoreth and her son, Baal.
In Greece, it was Aphrodite and her son, Eros.
In Rome, it was Venus and her son, Cupid.
In India, it was Devaki and her son, Krishna.
In Roman Catholicism, it is the Queen of Heaven and her son.
When the Roman Empire finally became the dominate world empire, Julius Caesar had all the priestesses and priests of Semiramis move from Pergamos to Rome. When the worship of Semiramis arrived in Rome, the chief priest in Rome took the title Pontifex Maximum and it was imprinted on his miter. The title had to do with the worship of a god called Dagon the Fish-god. From then on, every emperor in Rome wore the title Pontifex Maximum. It had nothing to do with Christianity; it meant you were the chief priest of the worship of Semiramis. Do you know who wears that title today? The Pope! The Pope is not the direct successor of Peter; he is a servant of Satan, Dagon the Fish-god, and the Babylonian mystery religions. The chief priest of Dagon the Fish-god always wore a big hat with two tall peaks that looked like a big fish with its mouth open. All the Popes wear that same style hat even to this day.
Satan couldn’t destroy true Christianity with killings and persecutions so when Julius Caesar brought the Babylonian mystery religion to Rome, Satan started to merge the names and events of the Babylonian religion with the names and events associated with Christianity and this is the basis of Roman Catholicism. In 325 A.D., Constantine, the ruler of the Roman Empire, said, by proclamation, that all Roman citizens were to automatically become Christians and all non-conformists were to be punished. Satan hoped that by adding millions of non-Christians to the true Christians, he would water down and destroy Christ’s Church. As a way to make sure that all future people were included, he introduced infant baptism. True Christians were never a part of Catholicism back then and true Christians are not part of Catholicism today.
Whenever I compare the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church to what is actually said in the Bible, I always think of the classic line from the Marx Brothers’ movie called “Duck Soup” where Chico Marx, who was dressed up as Groucho Marx, said, “Who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?” The Roman Catholic Church pronounces a curse on anyone who says that they can know that they have eternal life but what does the Bible say?
I John 5:13
13. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life,
The dead in Purgatory (to purge) are punished to purge them from their sins and enduring punishment gains merit points which are then added to their account. When they earn enough merit points, (Satan’s balance scale concept, when the good stuff outweighs the bad), they will be released to proceed to Heaven. In order to have even more merit points added to their account, the Roman Catholic Church wants their loved ones to give money to a priest to say a mass in their honor. Of course, since they would never know if or when their loved ones got out of Purgatory, they would have to keep giving money year after year. The selling of indulgences as a way to escape the penalties of Penance and paying priests to say masses so that the dead can escape the punishment of Purgatory and enter Heaven are two of the biggest sources of income of the Roman Catholic Church.
Where does the Catholic Church get all of this abundance of merit points to pass out? Simple … from the Queen of Heaven and her son, of course. You see, the Roman Catholic Church says that the Queen of Heaven and her son were so righteous that they got into Heaven with all sorts of extra righteousness and merit points to spare. The Roman Church is then able to sell those excess merit points from those two people back to the billions and billions of people who didn’t have enough. Is it any wonder that the Roman Catholic Church pronounces the penalty of anathema (a curse) on anyone who does not believe in Purgatory or the Sacrament of Penance? It was just recently disclosed that Pope John Paul II continually flagellated himself with a belt and slept on the floor as acts of penance. Some people have been known to crawl on their bloody knees for miles or to wear a belt with nails in it under their clothes as acts of self-mortification. I have an old Catholic Bible that has the seal of the pope and in it they purposely mistranslated the last part of 2 Peter 3:9 to say, “come to do penance” as a way of trying to promote the un-Biblical practice of self-mortification instead of the correct word, repentance, which means to turn from sin. In their newer Bibles, they have quit mistranslating the text.
2 Peter 3:9
9. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
If you want to find out all of the weird stuff the Roman Catholic Church teaches, just go to a Roman Catholic bookstore and buy Ludwig Ott’s Catechisms #1, #2, and #3. These books contain all the official teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and have the Imprimatur (seal) of the Pope. You would be amazed at how much extra stuff, not found in the Bible that a Catholic has to believe under penalty of anathema from the Church of Rome. Remember, before you join any organization or sign any document, always be sure to read the fine print.
As strange as it may seem … a devout Catholic cannot not be a Christian but, an uncommitted Catholic might be a Christian. In order to be a devout Catholic, under the penalty of anathema, a Catholic has to commit himself to believe every weird thing the Roman Catholic Church teaches. However, an uncommitted Catholic would not have committed himself to study and know all the stuff he’s supposed to believe and may have just decided in his heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and prayed to Jesus to help his unbelief.
Mark 9:23
23. Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.''
24. Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!''
If he were sincere about wanting to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, God would help him leave that apostate religious system and find a church that just teaches the Jesus Christ of the Bible.
Who is a saint? To be called a saint (Greek - hagios) simply means to be separated unto God. All believers are properly called saints and are equally justified. Though one saint may be more sanctified (more obedient to the will of God) than another, no saint is more justified (saved) than another. The weakest believer is as much justified and pardoned before the throne of God as is the strongest. The righteousness of Christ is as much imputed to one saint as it is to another.
In the Catholic Church, the Pope has to wait several hundred years before finally deciding if someone performed enough miracles to be called a saint. Contrary to the Pope, the Apostle Paul, in all his letters, greets ordinary saints/believers in every city.
I Corinthians 1:2
2. To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,
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HOW TO BE SAVED
HOW TO BE SAVED
Much modern evangelism is built on the heretical idea that anyone can and will respond to the gospel if it is presented in a clever enough way. That is not true. The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing and it always will be foolishness unless they are the ones being saved by God to whom it is the power of God. There's a massive theological error in the foundation of contemporary evangelism that misunderstands the whole issue. Christians cannot save anybody. The greatest orator in the world cannot save anybody … only God saves. All a Christian can do is to use the Bible to present the truth and the sinner will remember bits and pieces of those Bible verses. Every time the sinner hears a Bible verse, the truth will be locked away in his heart. If it is the will of God, someday, the Holy Spirit will use those bits and pieces to convict him of sin and lead him to salvation.
The Apostle Paul knew that it wasn’t his cleverness, good looks, style, or ability that converted people. It was just the simple gospel that touched the heart of the elect that brought about conversion.
1 Corinthians 2:1
1. And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.
2. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
3. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.
4. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5. that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Christians are not called to persuade people by clever innovative speech. We are to simply present the gospel and then stand aside and let a sovereign God open blind eyes as He sees fit. Believers, who are the elect of Christ, must always remember that the gospel is veiled to those who are perishing.
2 Corinthians 4:3
3. But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
4. whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
5. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord,
Paul is saying, if no one accepts Christ, it's not due to a defect in the preacher or the message, it's the problem of the hearer. In the parable of the sower, Jesus explained the various responses that people can have to the gospel. The success of the gospel has nothing to do with who the sower is, the technique of the sower, or the quality of the seed. The success of the gospel has everything to do with the condition and receptivity of the soil and only God is in charge of the soil.
Matthew 13:3
3. Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: "Behold, a sower went out to sow.
4. "And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.
5. "Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth.
6. "But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.
7. "And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.
8. "But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
9. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!''
10. And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?''
11. He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
12. "For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
13. "Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
14. "And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: `Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive;
15. for the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their heart and turn, so that I should heal them.'
16. "But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;
17. "for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
18. "Therefore hear the parable of the sower:
19. "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.
20. "But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
21. "yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
22. "Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
23. "But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.''
24. Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;
25. "but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
26. "But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.
27. "So the servants of the owner came and said to him, `Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?'
28. "He said to them, `An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, `Do you want us then to go and gather them up?'
29. "But he said, `No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.
30. `Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.'' ' ''
34. All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them,
35. that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: "I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.''
36. Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.''
37. He answered and said to them: "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
38. "The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.
39. "The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.
40. "Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.
41. "The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,
42. "and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Jesus didn’t come into this world to be a great moral leader, to protest for civil rights, to march in immigration rallies, or to free the slaves. Jesus came to rescue doomed sinners from an eternity in the fires of Hell. The Apostles were not to waste their time on social issues. If Christ transformed a slave, he was not to revolt but to be the best slave he could be and remain as a slave until his master set him free.
1Corinthians 7:20
20. Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called.
21. Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it.
22. For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave.
Both masters and slaves were being saved. Slaves were to be faithful to their masters and masters were to treat their slaves fairly.
1 Peter 2:18
18. Servants (Greek - oiketes - household slaves: higher in rank), be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh.
Colossians 4:1
1. Masters, give your bondservants (Greek - doulos - regular slaves: lower in rank) what is just and fair, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.
The Apostle Paul wrote to a Christian, Philemon, about one of his slaves, Onesimus, who had stolen money, run away, and turned up in Rome where Paul, who was a prisoner, led him to Christ. Unlike the Catholic Church, which illegally hides slaves and illegal immigrants, Paul told Onesimus to return to his master, Philemon.
Philemon 1:10
10. I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains,
11. who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me.
12. I am sending him back. You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart,
13. whom I wished to keep with me, that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel.
14. But without your consent I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary.
15. For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever,
16. no longer as a slave but more than a slave—a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
17. If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me.
18. But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account.
Christianity has no interest in your social standing or outward circumstances here on earth. Whether a Christian is rich, poor, slave, or free … it doesn’t matter … none of that has any spiritual value in the Kingdom of God. Jesus said that His Kingdom was not of this world.
John 18:36
36. Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”
Christianity is not the venue to solve all of society’s social injustices. Christianity is not about starting a social or political revolution but a spiritual regeneration. Spiritually transformed people will change a society like a little leaven changes bread.
Romans 14:17
17. for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
In the New Testament, various words such as bondservant, servant, and slave are used to describe the Christian’s relationship to Jesus Christ. In almost all of these instances, the correct translation should have been slave since most were translated from the same Greek word “doulos” which means an ordinary, regular slave. Paul was a slave of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and he was proud of it.
Romans 1:1
1. Paul, a bondservant (Greek - doulos - regular slave: lower in rank) of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God
The Greeks relationship to their gods was as a friend. The idea of slavery was utterly distasteful to them. The Christian Church was given a task that looks like this: take the gospel message to people who are spiritually dead and blind. Preach the good news to people who cannot understand in whom the god of this world has blinded their minds lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine unto them, who are dead in trespasses and sins. And to help you with that impossible task, take a message which is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. Compounding that, the dominate metaphor for what you’re asking them to become is a slave and you have an almost impossible task … humanly. And that’s exactly what the gospel calls for. We are not asking people to let Jesus come into their lives so He can make them all they want to be. We’re asking them to become slaves. We are speaking to the dead and the blind about the foolishness of the cross and asking them to become slaves. What’s the difference between a servant and a slave? A servant worked for a wage and could go home. A slave was bought for a price, was owned, and could not quit. If he ran away, he would be arrested and executed. This was a hard sell in the ancient world. The only ones who ever responded to such an improbable message were God’s elect. Even today, slavery has not been eliminated. All believers are a slave to Christ and all sinners are a slave to sin. All slaves of Christ will be made sons of the living God.
John 8:34
34. Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
35. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.
36. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
Pastors such as the Reverend Martin Luther King, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and the Reverend Al Sharpton have been an embarrassment to God. God’s teachers should not be running all over the country protesting, being arrested, and thrown in jail. They should be at home tending to their church and preaching the gospel.
"There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs---partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs."
-- Booker T. Washington (1856 - 1915), American educator and author.
The only proper reason for a pastor to ever be arrested is if he were to continue to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ after he had been prohibited. Pastors should be home spending thirty to forty hours a week studying the Bible and distilling what they have learned into a one-hour sermon. The good news of Jesus Christ is a pastor’s only message. Unlike some of today's preachers, the Apostle Paul didn't waste his time preaching about worthless things.
1 Corinthians 2:2
2. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
If you cannot distinguish between a Sunday sermon and an article in your local newspaper, you’re in the wrong church. Some liberal preachers try to increase their church membership by preaching the prosperity gospel, “seeker friendly” gospel, “cotton candy” gospel, or “Sermonettes for Christianettes.” If you just think positive thoughts, you can get on the health, wealth, and happiness bandwagon. The ever-smiling Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, and Robert Schuller never preach about negatives such as sin or Hell. If they use Jesus at all, they just use Him as a jumping off point in their sermons. Instead of using the Bible, they might as well use a nursery rhyme such as “Mary Had a Little Lamb” to teach how being kind, caring, and compassionate can get you into Heaven.
Don’t think that becoming a Christian will be like winning a popularity contest.
John 15:18
18. “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.
19. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
20. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
21. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.
22. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.
23. He who hates Me hates My Father also.
24. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.
25. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’
Will becoming a Christian make you more healthy, wealthy, and happy? On the contrary, it might be the most divisive decision you will ever make. You might even be alienated from your own family. One evening, shortly after my salvation, most of my immediate family plus a few relatives sat around the kitchen table and told me I had made a big mistake. They tried to get me to turn from being a Bible-believing Christian.
Luke 12:51
51. Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division.
52. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three.
53. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
Matthew 10:34
34. "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.
35. "For I have come to `set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.'
36. "And `a man's foes will be those of his own household.'
37. "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
My father attended the Roman Catholic Church all of his life and lived his life according to Christian principles but he thought he had to pray to Mary and earn his way to Heaven. For many months, my father and I talked about the false teachings of the Catholic Church and sometime later, while my father was in the hospital awaiting surgery, he and I prayed together. Some months later, when my father died, I had the satisfaction of knowing that he was trusting in Christ and Christ alone for his salvation and not in Mary or the Roman Catholic Church. Some years later, my younger sister also left the Roman Catholic Church and said that she became a Bible-believing Christian.
The greatest disappointment of my life is that my ninety-one year-old mother says that, just like Jesus, she has lived a sinless life and therefore doesn’t need a savior.
Luke 15:7
7. "I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
Even Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, was a sinner and only a sinner needs a savior.
Luke 1:46
46. And Mary said: "My soul magnifies the Lord,
47. and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
My mother told me that when she was a child, her mother spanked her for standing on some railroad tracks when she had been expressly forbidden because a very fast train would occasionally pass through without warning. In my mother’s ninety-one years on earth, that may be the only time that she ever received a spanking but, in order to fully understand sin, we need to understand God’s definition of sin.
Sin (Greek - hamartia) is an archer’s term that means to miss the bulls-eye. There are action sins and attitude sins. You could diligently take aim at God’s bulls-eye and slightly miss just because you had the wrong attitude while doing the right thing. God’s standard is so high and His bulls-eye is so small that all have missed the bulls-eye at some point and all have sinned.
James 2:10
10. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
1 John 1:8
8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
From our first parents, Adam and Eve, we inherited two arms, two legs, and a sin nature. Ultimately, it isn’t a matter of whether or not we sinned, we were born in sin.
Psalm 51:5
5. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
It is not that my mother is at war with God; it is that God is at war with my mother.
Matthew 12:30
30. "He who is not with Me is against Me,
God is so angry with sinners that He will one day have all unredeemed sinners, including my dear mother, thrown into the furnace of fire that is reserved for Satan and his angels.
Matthew 13:41
41. "The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,
42. "and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
My mother attended the Methodist Church for a number of years so it is no mystery that she knows very little about the Bible. I gave her a Bible as a Christmas gift but she refused to accept it. I have tried to share the good news of Jesus Christ with her for years but, because of her hard-heartedness, my good, dear, and honorable mother has turned her back on Christ’s forgiveness. She has sentenced herself to spending an eternity in the fires of Hell. The prayer of my heart is that, even at this late hour, the Lord is not done dealing with her. I need some Christian friends and family members to step up and help me use every opportunity to make her understand that all have sinned.
Romans 3:23
23. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
If I were walking down the street and noticed that your house was on fire, should I continue to walk by without sounding the alarm? You would be angry with me if your house burned down and your wife and children were killed. Well, I have some bad news for you: If you’re a Christ rejecter, like my mother, your house is on fire! Don’t get angry with me for telling you the truth.
I attended the Roman Catholic Church when I was growing up but quit attending when I was in my early twenties. In 1974, when I was twenty-nine years old, my best friend, Mike Smith, and I helped the national football recruiter for the University of Nebraska, Rick Duval, on his recruiting trips to Southern California. Since I was familiar with the streets and could take a couple of days off work, I drove Rick to the various high schools and junior colleges to meet the coaches and players, watch game film, and meet the families.
We had plenty of time to talk as I drove around all day. Rick brought his Bible with him and occasionally he would ask me if I had ever heard of a certain saying and then he would read to me the Bible story from which it came. That was very informative. On this first trip, Rick was to be in Los Angeles for several days and in order to keep him from asking a lot of questions, I told him about my religious background. I said that I would be willing to go to church again if I could find a church that just taught what the Bible said and not some preacher’s opinion of current events.
I was hoping that he would say that there weren’t any such churches so I could get off the hook but to my astonishment, he said that the church he attended was just like that. His church in Lincoln, Nebraska was a nondenominational, evangelical church and there were thousands like it all over the country. Even though they were independent churches and not part of a large denomination, they all taught the same thing because they just taught what the Bible said. It’s just like using one tuning fork to tune a thousand pianos; it’s the same message wherever you go. One day, Rick had me stop at a shopping mall where we were able to find a Bible store and he cared enough to buy a Bible for me. That was the first Bible I ever read because, in the Catholic Church, you just needed a book to tell you when to stand up, kneel, and sit down.
I’m not one to let anybody lead me into anything. I’m pretty hard-headed. I like to do things on my own without any help. That Bible just sat on a shelf gathering dust for several years but the Lord kept making me meet Christian people and hearing Christians speak.
In 1979, I remember being at a Saturday night, fast-pitch softball double-header where a Christian team, Athletes in Action, was going to play. They were a new team in the Pacific Coast League and I was going to have to pitch against them in a few weeks so a few friends and I went to see what we were going to be up against. In the intermission period between the two games, they passed a microphone through the fence and their big, first-baseman, John, gave his testimony about how he received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Normally my friends and I would have been laughing and cracking jokes about someone out in the middle of a field, all by himself, talking about the Lord. My friends were laughing but I was not. It just wasn’t funny anymore. I took a step back for a second to soak in what I was seeing. I was offended at and felt embarrassed for my friends and the rest of the people in the grandstands who were laughing. The ballplayer was speaking truth to me and I listened to his every word. I will always remember that moment. I felt as though I needed to defend the Lord. I wondered to myself … what just happened to me?
In the future, whenever I would hear someone quote a bible verse, it was as if someone were grabbing me by the arm. I met a Christian family who gave me a small book entitled “More Than A Carpenter” and that really forced me do some deep thinking. I started reading my Bible to check on the Bible verses in that book. I studied and studied and finally came to the point where I said to myself that I have all the information I need to make a decision. I felt like, if I didn’t make a decision and just decided to wait on it, I may never have the chance or the Lord may never give me the chance to do this much studying again. I was thirty-three years old and I was at the point where I needed to say yes or no.
I was somewhat apprehensive. I didn’t know what was going to happen if I asked the Lord to take charge of my life. On the other hand, He certainly couldn’t do a worse job than the job I had been doing. Yes! Yes, I was a sinner who needed a Savior and I needed to get on my knees before the Lord and ask for His forgiveness. That evening, March 21, 1979, while I was alone in my apartment in Southern California, I embraced Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I placed my trust in an actual person and not in a religious system. While I was praying, I felt as though I had stepped through a doorway and into a new life. When I became a Christian, it was as if someone had gone into the store window of life and changed all the prices. Some things that used to be extremely valuable had been marked way down in price and some things that had been of little value were now priceless. I felt relaxed and at peace.
Philippians 4:7
7. and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
After not hearing from me for several years, Rick Duval was surprised when I called the next day. Since he was the one who got me started, I wanted him to be the first to know and he shared in my joy. I guess you could say that I was one of Rick Duval’s most important recruits.
In order to find my first church, Rick told me to open the Yellow Pages and read to him the names of some evangelical churches in my area. I circled a few names and tried the first one a few weeks later on Easter Sunday. That first church was a great church and I really enjoyed it. During the following week, I talked to a Christian friend, Bob Shepherd, who also pitched for Athletes in Action, and he told me about his church. The next Sunday, I met Bob at Grace Community Church in the San Fernando Valley with John MacArthur as the main pastor and I found a home. Thousands of other Christians and I believe that John MacArthur is the finest Bible teacher in the world today. His sermons, books, and CDs are translated into forty different languages and are heard all over the world.
Grace Community Church is one of the largest churches in Southern California with a membership of around 10,000 people but it feels like a small church because everyone is so friendly and helpful. When you are looking for a church, ask for a copy of their Doctrinal Statement so that you can see exactly what they teach and if that squares with what the Bible says. Go to http://www.gracechurch.org/about/ to read about Grace Community Church and the principles on which it was founded. Go to http://www.gty.org/ for free written, audio, and visual resources. I will be forever grateful for all of the materials and resources made available to help me study the Bible and learn more about the Lord Jesus Christ.
I was baptized at Grace Church shortly after I became a Christian. There is nothing magical about being baptized. Baptism is just an outward sign demonstrating to the world that an inward change of heart has already taken place. If someone says that they’re a Christian but they haven’t been baptized, I would doubt their salvation and they should doubt their own salvation too. Baptism is the first step in showing that you intend to follow Christ and if you won’t take that first step, something’s wrong! If someone is not willing to stand up as an adult, publically identify himself with Christ’s Church, and confess his faith in Jesus Christ, I suspect his so-called faith is just intellectual assent and not saving faith.
Of all the denominations, most Baptist churches faithfully teach all the truths of the Bible. Avoid any churches that constantly ask for money. Stay away from Assembly of God, Four-Square, Pentecostal, or Charismatic churches that teach about speaking in tongues, faith healing, and snake handling. Charismatics have bypassed their intellect and have given themselves over to their emotions. Because they let their emotions take control, Charismatics are notoriously poor Bible students, have a limited understanding of basic doctrinal truths, and are easily swindled by hucksters. Charismatic organizations such as the “700 Club” and its founder Pat Robertson, the “Trinity Broadcasting Network” (TBN) and its founders Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and Paul and Jan Crouch, preachers such as Benny Hinn, Jimmy Swaggart, Oral Roberts, Peter Popoff, Kenneth Copeland, TD Jakes, and others who make predictions, speak prophecies and heal people from low back pain are charlatans. Some years back, Peter Popoff was caught with a microphone in his ear and his wife was backstage feeding him the answers. In “the good old days” if a prophet made a prediction and it did not come true, the prophet was stoned until he died. Pat Robertson has said, "I have a relatively good track record. Sometimes I miss."
Deuteronomy 18:20
20. `But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.'
Fifty days after Jesus Christ rose from the dead, on Sunday, the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came to live within all believers just as Jesus had promised. The Apostles spoke to a very large crowd and even though they were Galileans and could only speak in their own language, the thousands of people who were there heard the Apostles speak in their own native language so that no interpreter was needed. This would be like me speaking in English, but a French person hearing me in French and a Spanish person hearing me in Spanish and a German person hearing me in German, all at the same time! This was the true gift of languages.
Acts 2:5
5. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.
6. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language.
7. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Look, are not all these who speak Galileans?
8. "And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?
9. "Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
10. "Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
11. "Cretans and Arabs we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.''
12. So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "Whatever could this mean?''
Before the birth of Christ, there were people in pagan religions who had given themselves over to speaking in an ecstatic, gibberish speech and engaging in wild sex orgies. Beginning around the early 1900s, in the Assembly of God churches, Satan reintroduced a perversion of the true gift of languages that they called the gift of tongues. This so-called special prayer language is not really a language at all but just a bunch of unintelligible sounds that the “holy rollers” made when they uncontrollably, flopped around on the floor in the Assembly of God and Pentecostal churches. The Charismatic movement has now invaded some of the major denominations including some Roman Catholic churches, Episcopal churches, Methodist churches, liberal Baptist churches, and others. The last Pope, John Paul II, even claimed to have spoken in tongues. The supposed all-knowing, main- stream news media always rushes to Rome to ask the Pope his opinion on matters pertaining to Christianity. The Pope is not a Christian. The Pope is the leader of the world’s largest cult and does not speak for Christians. Catholic priests, with all their robes and rituals, are the modern day version of the Jewish Pharisees.
I always have to laugh whenever I hear someone speak about Jesus Christ as if He were some namby-pamby type who was always going around hugging people. If you’re not a believer, you’re going to face a Jesus filled with wrath when He sits on His Great White Throne judging sinners and sending them to Hell.
Matthew 23:27
27. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
28. "Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,
30. "and say, `If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'
31. "Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
32. "Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt.
33. "Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?
34. "Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,
35. "that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth,
The word church (Greek - ekklesia - “ek” means “out” and “klesia” means “called”) is often misunderstood. Believers are the “called out ones” who are called to separate themselves and not participate in the deeds of a sinning world. The church is a body of believers and not a building or cathedral. You could sit in a garage your whole life and never turn into a car and likewise, you could sit in a cathedral your whole life and never turn into a Christian.
Anytime someone kisses the Pope’s ring, bows, or kneels, it is worship (Greek - proskuneo - to stoop to kiss). The Pope falsely accepts worship because only God can accept worship. The bronze statue of Peter in Saint Basilica’s Square in Rome has had half of his foot worn away by misguided Catholics who have kissed his foot for centuries. When he was alive, the Apostle Peter said that he was just a man and wouldn’t accept worship.
Acts 10:25
25. As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him.
26. But Peter lifted him up, saying, "Stand up; I myself am also a man.''
When the Apostle John tried to worship an angel, the angel prevented it.
Revelation 22:8
8. Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things.
9. Then he said to me, "See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.''
“Worship God.” For further proof that Jesus is God, God the Father told the angels to worship God the Son.
Hebrews 1:6
6. But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: "Let all the angels of God worship Him.''
Most people think they will have plenty of time to make their decision for Christ. You’re a fool if you think that you’re going to live to be 120 years old. You may die in a car accident one hour from now.
Luke 12:19
19. `And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.'' '
20. "But God said to him, `You fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?'
The problem isn’t that life is so short but that eternity is so long. Your years spent here on earth are but a blink of an eye compared to the forever you will spend in eternity.
James 4:13
13. Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit'';
14. whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
Jesus will be either your Savior or your Judge … it’s your decision.
Deuteronomy 30:19
19. "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life,
Isaiah 45:21
21. Tell and bring forth your case; yes, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from ancient time? Who has told it from that time? Have not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me.
Regardless of the sin, all sinners can be justified (saved, made right with God). Sinners are justified freely by His grace (unmerited favor) apart from the works of the law.
Romans 3:28
28. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.
Titus 3:5
5. not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us,
Do you think that God could never forgive you for the things that you have done? Even though you had a mountain of debt so high that it could never be repaid, Jesus paid your debt for you and all other sinners with His death on the cross. If you are willing to turn from your sin and ask for His forgiveness, He will give you the gift of eternal life.
Isaiah 1:18
18. "Come now, and let us reason together,'' says the Lord, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
God saved the worst blasphemer on the face of the earth who fought against Jesus Christ Himself and who persecuted and killed His beloved saints. If He can forgive him, He can forgive you. The Apostle Paul was that person and the reason Paul gave his testimony, as being the chief sinner, was that he might be set forth as an example to the whole world that if God could save the chief sinner, He can save all the lesser ones, too.
1 Timothy 1:15
15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
Only the sick need a physician and only a sinner needs a savior.
Mark 2:17
17. When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous (like you Pharisees), but sinners, to repentance.''
You, no doubt, have heard the parable of the prodigal son who asked for and received his inheritance even before his father died. The middle-eastern culture is a culture built around honor and shame and to do what the son did was such a shameful act that they held a funeral for him because to them he was dead. When he wasted all his inheritance and was about to have to eat pig slop, he finally came to his senses and said, “I will arise and go to my father.” This is true repentance because not only did he turn from his sin but he also turned toward his father. And as he was going to his father, his father had already seen him from a great way off and was already running toward him (middle eastern noble men in long robes do not run anywhere because they would have to lift their robe to keep from falling and to expose their legs would bring shame on them). His father hugged him, kissed him, and restored him to his position as a son. His father forgave him while he was still in his pig-smelling, filthy clothes before he could do anything to earn his redemption. This always brings tears to my eyes to see the graciousness of God. I am truly humbled to realize that when I turned to the Lord, He, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, ran to greet me. All of Heaven rejoices over one sinner who repents.
Luke 15:11
11. Then He said: "A certain man had two sons.
12. "And the younger of them said to his father, `Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.' So he divided to them his livelihood.
13. "And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted (Greek - diaskorpizo - to disperse, to scatter abroad) his possessions with prodigal (Greek - asotos - dissolutely, profligately, immoral, extremely wasteful, recklessly extravagant) living.
14. "But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.
15. "Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16. "And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
17. "But when he came to himself, he said, `How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18. `I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you,
19. and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.'' '
20. "And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
21. "And the son said to him, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
22. "But the father said to his servants, `Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.
23. `And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry;
24. `for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' And they began to be merry.
Even though the prodigal son still smelled like a pig, his Jewish father ran to him, hugged him, and kissed him on the neck. As the old song says … come to Jesus just as you are and He will do the rest.
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to thee for dress;
Helpless, look to thee for grace;
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee;
We have a choice. For all eternity, we can be clothed with Christ’s righteousness or our own righteousness. All our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. Incidentally, the “filthy rags” mentioned in the Bible are used menstrual cloths. This gives you a very graphic idea of how God views your own righteousness.
Isaiah 64:6
6. But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
If your righteousness has to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, who can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven?
Matthew 5:20
20. "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
The Pharisees were the ultra-religious people of their day. Paul was one of the elite 6,000 Pharisees who believed they could attain salvation by perfect adherence to the law of God.
James 2:10
10. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
The Apostle Paul was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. Paul claimed to have lived a perfect, sinless life. If anyone could have earned Heaven without Christ, it was Paul. He had always put all his confidence in his own human ability, his religion, his sincerity, his race, his tribe, his rank, and his self righteousness. Paul said he was perfect and blameless.
Philippians 3:4
4. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so:
5. circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
6. concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
After he met Christ, Paul said that all of his self-righteousness and religious achievements were similar to animal excrement.
Philippians 3:8
8. But indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish (Greek - skubalon - refuse, animal excrement), that I may gain Christ
9. and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
Christ’s bodily resurrection assures us that He lives to keep the believer saved, to intercede for him, and to present him faultless before God’s throne.
Hebrews 7:25
25. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them.
We must believe that Christ in His death and resurrection has done all we need to become saved. All God requires is that we believe and trust Him.
Romans 4:5
5. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
Only when an unsaved person places his trust in the finished work of Christ will he receive that life in Christ.
1 John 5:12
12. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
The unsaved person is not asked to confess his sins to get saved (he couldn't remember all of them anyway). Rather he is asked to recognize his sinful condition and accept Christ's payment for him. The unsaved person is forgiven and cleansed of his guilt because of his acceptance of Christ's death for him. Salvation is accepting the work of Christ on the cross, on our behalf, as a free gift.
Romans 3:24
24. being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
The good news of Jesus Christ is a simple message. The whole Bible can be summed up in one verse.
2 Corinthians 5:21
21. For He (God the Father) made Him (God the Son) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Jesus doesn’t just change sinners on the outside, He recreates them.
2 Corinthians 5:17
17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
The first step in becoming a new creation is to admit that you are a sinner.
Romans 3:10
10. As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one;
11. there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.
12. They have all gone out of the way; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.''
Romans 3:23
23. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23
23. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 John 1:8
8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
Isaiah 53:6
6. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
In an ultimate sense, man condemns himself to Hell … not for what he did do but for what he did not do! This is the greatest sin of all. Rejection of Jesus Christ’s sinless life, propitiatory death, and bodily resurrection is greater than the sin of murder or acts of perversion. Rejection of Jesus Christ is the greatest sin of all.
John 3:18
18. "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
If God did not spare His own Son, what makes you think that He will spare you?
Romans 8:32
32. He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,
You cannot fool God. The Lord knows what is in man’s heart.
Hebrews 4:12
12. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
13. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Repentance (Greek - metanoia - a complete change of perspective, a change of heart) is not only a turning from sin but also a turning toward the Lord. True repentance is a change of mind followed by a change of heart followed by a change of life. The Lord died for filthy rotten sinners like me even before I repented.
Romans 5:8
8. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
If you are born once, you will die twice. However, if you are born twice, you will only die once.
John 3:3
3. Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again (born in the spirit from above), he cannot see the kingdom of God.''
All you have to do is accept God’s gift … the gift of His Son.
John 3:16
16. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Even the faith that leads to salvation is a gift and cannot be earned. Grace is the unmerited favor and merciful kindness of God.
Ephesians 2:8
8. For by grace (unmerited favor) you have been saved through faith, and that (faith) not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9. not of works, lest anyone should boast.
The word confess (Greek - homologeo - say the same words, agree) means that you have to agree with God the Father and say that Jesus Christ is Lord. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Romans 10:9
9. that 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.
10. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.
11. For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.''
12. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
13. For "whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.''
There is no better time than right now to trust Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and be made right with God. You don’t need to have anyone with you. Just get down on your knees, admit you are a sinner, and ask for His forgiveness. In the quiet of your heart, just have an honest talk with the Lord. He is waiting for you now.
2 Corinthians 6:2
2. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Revelations 3:20
20. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
x
Much modern evangelism is built on the heretical idea that anyone can and will respond to the gospel if it is presented in a clever enough way. That is not true. The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing and it always will be foolishness unless they are the ones being saved by God to whom it is the power of God. There's a massive theological error in the foundation of contemporary evangelism that misunderstands the whole issue. Christians cannot save anybody. The greatest orator in the world cannot save anybody … only God saves. All a Christian can do is to use the Bible to present the truth and the sinner will remember bits and pieces of those Bible verses. Every time the sinner hears a Bible verse, the truth will be locked away in his heart. If it is the will of God, someday, the Holy Spirit will use those bits and pieces to convict him of sin and lead him to salvation.
The Apostle Paul knew that it wasn’t his cleverness, good looks, style, or ability that converted people. It was just the simple gospel that touched the heart of the elect that brought about conversion.
1 Corinthians 2:1
1. And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.
2. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
3. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.
4. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5. that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Christians are not called to persuade people by clever innovative speech. We are to simply present the gospel and then stand aside and let a sovereign God open blind eyes as He sees fit. Believers, who are the elect of Christ, must always remember that the gospel is veiled to those who are perishing.
2 Corinthians 4:3
3. But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
4. whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
5. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord,
Paul is saying, if no one accepts Christ, it's not due to a defect in the preacher or the message, it's the problem of the hearer. In the parable of the sower, Jesus explained the various responses that people can have to the gospel. The success of the gospel has nothing to do with who the sower is, the technique of the sower, or the quality of the seed. The success of the gospel has everything to do with the condition and receptivity of the soil and only God is in charge of the soil.
Matthew 13:3
3. Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: "Behold, a sower went out to sow.
4. "And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.
5. "Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth.
6. "But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.
7. "And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.
8. "But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
9. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!''
10. And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?''
11. He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
12. "For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
13. "Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
14. "And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: `Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive;
15. for the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their heart and turn, so that I should heal them.'
16. "But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;
17. "for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
18. "Therefore hear the parable of the sower:
19. "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.
20. "But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
21. "yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
22. "Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
23. "But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.''
24. Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;
25. "but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
26. "But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.
27. "So the servants of the owner came and said to him, `Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?'
28. "He said to them, `An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, `Do you want us then to go and gather them up?'
29. "But he said, `No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.
30. `Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.'' ' ''
34. All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them,
35. that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: "I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.''
36. Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.''
37. He answered and said to them: "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
38. "The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.
39. "The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.
40. "Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.
41. "The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,
42. "and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Jesus didn’t come into this world to be a great moral leader, to protest for civil rights, to march in immigration rallies, or to free the slaves. Jesus came to rescue doomed sinners from an eternity in the fires of Hell. The Apostles were not to waste their time on social issues. If Christ transformed a slave, he was not to revolt but to be the best slave he could be and remain as a slave until his master set him free.
1Corinthians 7:20
20. Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called.
21. Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it.
22. For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave.
Both masters and slaves were being saved. Slaves were to be faithful to their masters and masters were to treat their slaves fairly.
1 Peter 2:18
18. Servants (Greek - oiketes - household slaves: higher in rank), be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh.
Colossians 4:1
1. Masters, give your bondservants (Greek - doulos - regular slaves: lower in rank) what is just and fair, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.
The Apostle Paul wrote to a Christian, Philemon, about one of his slaves, Onesimus, who had stolen money, run away, and turned up in Rome where Paul, who was a prisoner, led him to Christ. Unlike the Catholic Church, which illegally hides slaves and illegal immigrants, Paul told Onesimus to return to his master, Philemon.
Philemon 1:10
10. I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains,
11. who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me.
12. I am sending him back. You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart,
13. whom I wished to keep with me, that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel.
14. But without your consent I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary.
15. For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever,
16. no longer as a slave but more than a slave—a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
17. If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me.
18. But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account.
Christianity has no interest in your social standing or outward circumstances here on earth. Whether a Christian is rich, poor, slave, or free … it doesn’t matter … none of that has any spiritual value in the Kingdom of God. Jesus said that His Kingdom was not of this world.
John 18:36
36. Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”
Christianity is not the venue to solve all of society’s social injustices. Christianity is not about starting a social or political revolution but a spiritual regeneration. Spiritually transformed people will change a society like a little leaven changes bread.
Romans 14:17
17. for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
In the New Testament, various words such as bondservant, servant, and slave are used to describe the Christian’s relationship to Jesus Christ. In almost all of these instances, the correct translation should have been slave since most were translated from the same Greek word “doulos” which means an ordinary, regular slave. Paul was a slave of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and he was proud of it.
Romans 1:1
1. Paul, a bondservant (Greek - doulos - regular slave: lower in rank) of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God
The Greeks relationship to their gods was as a friend. The idea of slavery was utterly distasteful to them. The Christian Church was given a task that looks like this: take the gospel message to people who are spiritually dead and blind. Preach the good news to people who cannot understand in whom the god of this world has blinded their minds lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine unto them, who are dead in trespasses and sins. And to help you with that impossible task, take a message which is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. Compounding that, the dominate metaphor for what you’re asking them to become is a slave and you have an almost impossible task … humanly. And that’s exactly what the gospel calls for. We are not asking people to let Jesus come into their lives so He can make them all they want to be. We’re asking them to become slaves. We are speaking to the dead and the blind about the foolishness of the cross and asking them to become slaves. What’s the difference between a servant and a slave? A servant worked for a wage and could go home. A slave was bought for a price, was owned, and could not quit. If he ran away, he would be arrested and executed. This was a hard sell in the ancient world. The only ones who ever responded to such an improbable message were God’s elect. Even today, slavery has not been eliminated. All believers are a slave to Christ and all sinners are a slave to sin. All slaves of Christ will be made sons of the living God.
John 8:34
34. Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
35. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.
36. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
Pastors such as the Reverend Martin Luther King, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and the Reverend Al Sharpton have been an embarrassment to God. God’s teachers should not be running all over the country protesting, being arrested, and thrown in jail. They should be at home tending to their church and preaching the gospel.
"There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs---partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs."
-- Booker T. Washington (1856 - 1915), American educator and author.
The only proper reason for a pastor to ever be arrested is if he were to continue to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ after he had been prohibited. Pastors should be home spending thirty to forty hours a week studying the Bible and distilling what they have learned into a one-hour sermon. The good news of Jesus Christ is a pastor’s only message. Unlike some of today's preachers, the Apostle Paul didn't waste his time preaching about worthless things.
1 Corinthians 2:2
2. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
If you cannot distinguish between a Sunday sermon and an article in your local newspaper, you’re in the wrong church. Some liberal preachers try to increase their church membership by preaching the prosperity gospel, “seeker friendly” gospel, “cotton candy” gospel, or “Sermonettes for Christianettes.” If you just think positive thoughts, you can get on the health, wealth, and happiness bandwagon. The ever-smiling Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, and Robert Schuller never preach about negatives such as sin or Hell. If they use Jesus at all, they just use Him as a jumping off point in their sermons. Instead of using the Bible, they might as well use a nursery rhyme such as “Mary Had a Little Lamb” to teach how being kind, caring, and compassionate can get you into Heaven.
Don’t think that becoming a Christian will be like winning a popularity contest.
John 15:18
18. “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.
19. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
20. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
21. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.
22. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.
23. He who hates Me hates My Father also.
24. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.
25. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’
Will becoming a Christian make you more healthy, wealthy, and happy? On the contrary, it might be the most divisive decision you will ever make. You might even be alienated from your own family. One evening, shortly after my salvation, most of my immediate family plus a few relatives sat around the kitchen table and told me I had made a big mistake. They tried to get me to turn from being a Bible-believing Christian.
Luke 12:51
51. Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division.
52. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three.
53. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
Matthew 10:34
34. "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.
35. "For I have come to `set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.'
36. "And `a man's foes will be those of his own household.'
37. "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
My father attended the Roman Catholic Church all of his life and lived his life according to Christian principles but he thought he had to pray to Mary and earn his way to Heaven. For many months, my father and I talked about the false teachings of the Catholic Church and sometime later, while my father was in the hospital awaiting surgery, he and I prayed together. Some months later, when my father died, I had the satisfaction of knowing that he was trusting in Christ and Christ alone for his salvation and not in Mary or the Roman Catholic Church. Some years later, my younger sister also left the Roman Catholic Church and said that she became a Bible-believing Christian.
The greatest disappointment of my life is that my ninety-one year-old mother says that, just like Jesus, she has lived a sinless life and therefore doesn’t need a savior.
Luke 15:7
7. "I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
Even Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, was a sinner and only a sinner needs a savior.
Luke 1:46
46. And Mary said: "My soul magnifies the Lord,
47. and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
My mother told me that when she was a child, her mother spanked her for standing on some railroad tracks when she had been expressly forbidden because a very fast train would occasionally pass through without warning. In my mother’s ninety-one years on earth, that may be the only time that she ever received a spanking but, in order to fully understand sin, we need to understand God’s definition of sin.
Sin (Greek - hamartia) is an archer’s term that means to miss the bulls-eye. There are action sins and attitude sins. You could diligently take aim at God’s bulls-eye and slightly miss just because you had the wrong attitude while doing the right thing. God’s standard is so high and His bulls-eye is so small that all have missed the bulls-eye at some point and all have sinned.
James 2:10
10. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
1 John 1:8
8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
From our first parents, Adam and Eve, we inherited two arms, two legs, and a sin nature. Ultimately, it isn’t a matter of whether or not we sinned, we were born in sin.
Psalm 51:5
5. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
It is not that my mother is at war with God; it is that God is at war with my mother.
Matthew 12:30
30. "He who is not with Me is against Me,
God is so angry with sinners that He will one day have all unredeemed sinners, including my dear mother, thrown into the furnace of fire that is reserved for Satan and his angels.
Matthew 13:41
41. "The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,
42. "and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
My mother attended the Methodist Church for a number of years so it is no mystery that she knows very little about the Bible. I gave her a Bible as a Christmas gift but she refused to accept it. I have tried to share the good news of Jesus Christ with her for years but, because of her hard-heartedness, my good, dear, and honorable mother has turned her back on Christ’s forgiveness. She has sentenced herself to spending an eternity in the fires of Hell. The prayer of my heart is that, even at this late hour, the Lord is not done dealing with her. I need some Christian friends and family members to step up and help me use every opportunity to make her understand that all have sinned.
Romans 3:23
23. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
If I were walking down the street and noticed that your house was on fire, should I continue to walk by without sounding the alarm? You would be angry with me if your house burned down and your wife and children were killed. Well, I have some bad news for you: If you’re a Christ rejecter, like my mother, your house is on fire! Don’t get angry with me for telling you the truth.
I attended the Roman Catholic Church when I was growing up but quit attending when I was in my early twenties. In 1974, when I was twenty-nine years old, my best friend, Mike Smith, and I helped the national football recruiter for the University of Nebraska, Rick Duval, on his recruiting trips to Southern California. Since I was familiar with the streets and could take a couple of days off work, I drove Rick to the various high schools and junior colleges to meet the coaches and players, watch game film, and meet the families.
We had plenty of time to talk as I drove around all day. Rick brought his Bible with him and occasionally he would ask me if I had ever heard of a certain saying and then he would read to me the Bible story from which it came. That was very informative. On this first trip, Rick was to be in Los Angeles for several days and in order to keep him from asking a lot of questions, I told him about my religious background. I said that I would be willing to go to church again if I could find a church that just taught what the Bible said and not some preacher’s opinion of current events.
I was hoping that he would say that there weren’t any such churches so I could get off the hook but to my astonishment, he said that the church he attended was just like that. His church in Lincoln, Nebraska was a nondenominational, evangelical church and there were thousands like it all over the country. Even though they were independent churches and not part of a large denomination, they all taught the same thing because they just taught what the Bible said. It’s just like using one tuning fork to tune a thousand pianos; it’s the same message wherever you go. One day, Rick had me stop at a shopping mall where we were able to find a Bible store and he cared enough to buy a Bible for me. That was the first Bible I ever read because, in the Catholic Church, you just needed a book to tell you when to stand up, kneel, and sit down.
I’m not one to let anybody lead me into anything. I’m pretty hard-headed. I like to do things on my own without any help. That Bible just sat on a shelf gathering dust for several years but the Lord kept making me meet Christian people and hearing Christians speak.
In 1979, I remember being at a Saturday night, fast-pitch softball double-header where a Christian team, Athletes in Action, was going to play. They were a new team in the Pacific Coast League and I was going to have to pitch against them in a few weeks so a few friends and I went to see what we were going to be up against. In the intermission period between the two games, they passed a microphone through the fence and their big, first-baseman, John, gave his testimony about how he received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Normally my friends and I would have been laughing and cracking jokes about someone out in the middle of a field, all by himself, talking about the Lord. My friends were laughing but I was not. It just wasn’t funny anymore. I took a step back for a second to soak in what I was seeing. I was offended at and felt embarrassed for my friends and the rest of the people in the grandstands who were laughing. The ballplayer was speaking truth to me and I listened to his every word. I will always remember that moment. I felt as though I needed to defend the Lord. I wondered to myself … what just happened to me?
In the future, whenever I would hear someone quote a bible verse, it was as if someone were grabbing me by the arm. I met a Christian family who gave me a small book entitled “More Than A Carpenter” and that really forced me do some deep thinking. I started reading my Bible to check on the Bible verses in that book. I studied and studied and finally came to the point where I said to myself that I have all the information I need to make a decision. I felt like, if I didn’t make a decision and just decided to wait on it, I may never have the chance or the Lord may never give me the chance to do this much studying again. I was thirty-three years old and I was at the point where I needed to say yes or no.
I was somewhat apprehensive. I didn’t know what was going to happen if I asked the Lord to take charge of my life. On the other hand, He certainly couldn’t do a worse job than the job I had been doing. Yes! Yes, I was a sinner who needed a Savior and I needed to get on my knees before the Lord and ask for His forgiveness. That evening, March 21, 1979, while I was alone in my apartment in Southern California, I embraced Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I placed my trust in an actual person and not in a religious system. While I was praying, I felt as though I had stepped through a doorway and into a new life. When I became a Christian, it was as if someone had gone into the store window of life and changed all the prices. Some things that used to be extremely valuable had been marked way down in price and some things that had been of little value were now priceless. I felt relaxed and at peace.
Philippians 4:7
7. and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
After not hearing from me for several years, Rick Duval was surprised when I called the next day. Since he was the one who got me started, I wanted him to be the first to know and he shared in my joy. I guess you could say that I was one of Rick Duval’s most important recruits.
In order to find my first church, Rick told me to open the Yellow Pages and read to him the names of some evangelical churches in my area. I circled a few names and tried the first one a few weeks later on Easter Sunday. That first church was a great church and I really enjoyed it. During the following week, I talked to a Christian friend, Bob Shepherd, who also pitched for Athletes in Action, and he told me about his church. The next Sunday, I met Bob at Grace Community Church in the San Fernando Valley with John MacArthur as the main pastor and I found a home. Thousands of other Christians and I believe that John MacArthur is the finest Bible teacher in the world today. His sermons, books, and CDs are translated into forty different languages and are heard all over the world.
Grace Community Church is one of the largest churches in Southern California with a membership of around 10,000 people but it feels like a small church because everyone is so friendly and helpful. When you are looking for a church, ask for a copy of their Doctrinal Statement so that you can see exactly what they teach and if that squares with what the Bible says. Go to http://www.gracechurch.org/about/ to read about Grace Community Church and the principles on which it was founded. Go to http://www.gty.org/ for free written, audio, and visual resources. I will be forever grateful for all of the materials and resources made available to help me study the Bible and learn more about the Lord Jesus Christ.
I was baptized at Grace Church shortly after I became a Christian. There is nothing magical about being baptized. Baptism is just an outward sign demonstrating to the world that an inward change of heart has already taken place. If someone says that they’re a Christian but they haven’t been baptized, I would doubt their salvation and they should doubt their own salvation too. Baptism is the first step in showing that you intend to follow Christ and if you won’t take that first step, something’s wrong! If someone is not willing to stand up as an adult, publically identify himself with Christ’s Church, and confess his faith in Jesus Christ, I suspect his so-called faith is just intellectual assent and not saving faith.
Of all the denominations, most Baptist churches faithfully teach all the truths of the Bible. Avoid any churches that constantly ask for money. Stay away from Assembly of God, Four-Square, Pentecostal, or Charismatic churches that teach about speaking in tongues, faith healing, and snake handling. Charismatics have bypassed their intellect and have given themselves over to their emotions. Because they let their emotions take control, Charismatics are notoriously poor Bible students, have a limited understanding of basic doctrinal truths, and are easily swindled by hucksters. Charismatic organizations such as the “700 Club” and its founder Pat Robertson, the “Trinity Broadcasting Network” (TBN) and its founders Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and Paul and Jan Crouch, preachers such as Benny Hinn, Jimmy Swaggart, Oral Roberts, Peter Popoff, Kenneth Copeland, TD Jakes, and others who make predictions, speak prophecies and heal people from low back pain are charlatans. Some years back, Peter Popoff was caught with a microphone in his ear and his wife was backstage feeding him the answers. In “the good old days” if a prophet made a prediction and it did not come true, the prophet was stoned until he died. Pat Robertson has said, "I have a relatively good track record. Sometimes I miss."
Deuteronomy 18:20
20. `But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.'
Fifty days after Jesus Christ rose from the dead, on Sunday, the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came to live within all believers just as Jesus had promised. The Apostles spoke to a very large crowd and even though they were Galileans and could only speak in their own language, the thousands of people who were there heard the Apostles speak in their own native language so that no interpreter was needed. This would be like me speaking in English, but a French person hearing me in French and a Spanish person hearing me in Spanish and a German person hearing me in German, all at the same time! This was the true gift of languages.
Acts 2:5
5. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.
6. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language.
7. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Look, are not all these who speak Galileans?
8. "And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?
9. "Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
10. "Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
11. "Cretans and Arabs we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.''
12. So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "Whatever could this mean?''
Before the birth of Christ, there were people in pagan religions who had given themselves over to speaking in an ecstatic, gibberish speech and engaging in wild sex orgies. Beginning around the early 1900s, in the Assembly of God churches, Satan reintroduced a perversion of the true gift of languages that they called the gift of tongues. This so-called special prayer language is not really a language at all but just a bunch of unintelligible sounds that the “holy rollers” made when they uncontrollably, flopped around on the floor in the Assembly of God and Pentecostal churches. The Charismatic movement has now invaded some of the major denominations including some Roman Catholic churches, Episcopal churches, Methodist churches, liberal Baptist churches, and others. The last Pope, John Paul II, even claimed to have spoken in tongues. The supposed all-knowing, main- stream news media always rushes to Rome to ask the Pope his opinion on matters pertaining to Christianity. The Pope is not a Christian. The Pope is the leader of the world’s largest cult and does not speak for Christians. Catholic priests, with all their robes and rituals, are the modern day version of the Jewish Pharisees.
I always have to laugh whenever I hear someone speak about Jesus Christ as if He were some namby-pamby type who was always going around hugging people. If you’re not a believer, you’re going to face a Jesus filled with wrath when He sits on His Great White Throne judging sinners and sending them to Hell.
Matthew 23:27
27. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
28. "Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,
30. "and say, `If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'
31. "Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
32. "Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt.
33. "Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?
34. "Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,
35. "that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth,
The word church (Greek - ekklesia - “ek” means “out” and “klesia” means “called”) is often misunderstood. Believers are the “called out ones” who are called to separate themselves and not participate in the deeds of a sinning world. The church is a body of believers and not a building or cathedral. You could sit in a garage your whole life and never turn into a car and likewise, you could sit in a cathedral your whole life and never turn into a Christian.
Anytime someone kisses the Pope’s ring, bows, or kneels, it is worship (Greek - proskuneo - to stoop to kiss). The Pope falsely accepts worship because only God can accept worship. The bronze statue of Peter in Saint Basilica’s Square in Rome has had half of his foot worn away by misguided Catholics who have kissed his foot for centuries. When he was alive, the Apostle Peter said that he was just a man and wouldn’t accept worship.
Acts 10:25
25. As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him.
26. But Peter lifted him up, saying, "Stand up; I myself am also a man.''
When the Apostle John tried to worship an angel, the angel prevented it.
Revelation 22:8
8. Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things.
9. Then he said to me, "See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.''
“Worship God.” For further proof that Jesus is God, God the Father told the angels to worship God the Son.
Hebrews 1:6
6. But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: "Let all the angels of God worship Him.''
Most people think they will have plenty of time to make their decision for Christ. You’re a fool if you think that you’re going to live to be 120 years old. You may die in a car accident one hour from now.
Luke 12:19
19. `And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.'' '
20. "But God said to him, `You fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?'
The problem isn’t that life is so short but that eternity is so long. Your years spent here on earth are but a blink of an eye compared to the forever you will spend in eternity.
James 4:13
13. Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit'';
14. whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
Jesus will be either your Savior or your Judge … it’s your decision.
Deuteronomy 30:19
19. "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life,
Isaiah 45:21
21. Tell and bring forth your case; yes, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from ancient time? Who has told it from that time? Have not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me.
Regardless of the sin, all sinners can be justified (saved, made right with God). Sinners are justified freely by His grace (unmerited favor) apart from the works of the law.
Romans 3:28
28. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.
Titus 3:5
5. not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us,
Do you think that God could never forgive you for the things that you have done? Even though you had a mountain of debt so high that it could never be repaid, Jesus paid your debt for you and all other sinners with His death on the cross. If you are willing to turn from your sin and ask for His forgiveness, He will give you the gift of eternal life.
Isaiah 1:18
18. "Come now, and let us reason together,'' says the Lord, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
God saved the worst blasphemer on the face of the earth who fought against Jesus Christ Himself and who persecuted and killed His beloved saints. If He can forgive him, He can forgive you. The Apostle Paul was that person and the reason Paul gave his testimony, as being the chief sinner, was that he might be set forth as an example to the whole world that if God could save the chief sinner, He can save all the lesser ones, too.
1 Timothy 1:15
15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
Only the sick need a physician and only a sinner needs a savior.
Mark 2:17
17. When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous (like you Pharisees), but sinners, to repentance.''
You, no doubt, have heard the parable of the prodigal son who asked for and received his inheritance even before his father died. The middle-eastern culture is a culture built around honor and shame and to do what the son did was such a shameful act that they held a funeral for him because to them he was dead. When he wasted all his inheritance and was about to have to eat pig slop, he finally came to his senses and said, “I will arise and go to my father.” This is true repentance because not only did he turn from his sin but he also turned toward his father. And as he was going to his father, his father had already seen him from a great way off and was already running toward him (middle eastern noble men in long robes do not run anywhere because they would have to lift their robe to keep from falling and to expose their legs would bring shame on them). His father hugged him, kissed him, and restored him to his position as a son. His father forgave him while he was still in his pig-smelling, filthy clothes before he could do anything to earn his redemption. This always brings tears to my eyes to see the graciousness of God. I am truly humbled to realize that when I turned to the Lord, He, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, ran to greet me. All of Heaven rejoices over one sinner who repents.
Luke 15:11
11. Then He said: "A certain man had two sons.
12. "And the younger of them said to his father, `Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.' So he divided to them his livelihood.
13. "And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted (Greek - diaskorpizo - to disperse, to scatter abroad) his possessions with prodigal (Greek - asotos - dissolutely, profligately, immoral, extremely wasteful, recklessly extravagant) living.
14. "But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.
15. "Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16. "And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
17. "But when he came to himself, he said, `How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18. `I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you,
19. and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.'' '
20. "And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
21. "And the son said to him, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
22. "But the father said to his servants, `Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.
23. `And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry;
24. `for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' And they began to be merry.
Even though the prodigal son still smelled like a pig, his Jewish father ran to him, hugged him, and kissed him on the neck. As the old song says … come to Jesus just as you are and He will do the rest.
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to thee for dress;
Helpless, look to thee for grace;
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee;
We have a choice. For all eternity, we can be clothed with Christ’s righteousness or our own righteousness. All our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. Incidentally, the “filthy rags” mentioned in the Bible are used menstrual cloths. This gives you a very graphic idea of how God views your own righteousness.
Isaiah 64:6
6. But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
If your righteousness has to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, who can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven?
Matthew 5:20
20. "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
The Pharisees were the ultra-religious people of their day. Paul was one of the elite 6,000 Pharisees who believed they could attain salvation by perfect adherence to the law of God.
James 2:10
10. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
The Apostle Paul was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. Paul claimed to have lived a perfect, sinless life. If anyone could have earned Heaven without Christ, it was Paul. He had always put all his confidence in his own human ability, his religion, his sincerity, his race, his tribe, his rank, and his self righteousness. Paul said he was perfect and blameless.
Philippians 3:4
4. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so:
5. circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
6. concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
After he met Christ, Paul said that all of his self-righteousness and religious achievements were similar to animal excrement.
Philippians 3:8
8. But indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish (Greek - skubalon - refuse, animal excrement), that I may gain Christ
9. and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
Christ’s bodily resurrection assures us that He lives to keep the believer saved, to intercede for him, and to present him faultless before God’s throne.
Hebrews 7:25
25. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them.
We must believe that Christ in His death and resurrection has done all we need to become saved. All God requires is that we believe and trust Him.
Romans 4:5
5. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
Only when an unsaved person places his trust in the finished work of Christ will he receive that life in Christ.
1 John 5:12
12. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
The unsaved person is not asked to confess his sins to get saved (he couldn't remember all of them anyway). Rather he is asked to recognize his sinful condition and accept Christ's payment for him. The unsaved person is forgiven and cleansed of his guilt because of his acceptance of Christ's death for him. Salvation is accepting the work of Christ on the cross, on our behalf, as a free gift.
Romans 3:24
24. being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
The good news of Jesus Christ is a simple message. The whole Bible can be summed up in one verse.
2 Corinthians 5:21
21. For He (God the Father) made Him (God the Son) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Jesus doesn’t just change sinners on the outside, He recreates them.
2 Corinthians 5:17
17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
The first step in becoming a new creation is to admit that you are a sinner.
Romans 3:10
10. As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one;
11. there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.
12. They have all gone out of the way; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.''
Romans 3:23
23. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23
23. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 John 1:8
8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
Isaiah 53:6
6. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
In an ultimate sense, man condemns himself to Hell … not for what he did do but for what he did not do! This is the greatest sin of all. Rejection of Jesus Christ’s sinless life, propitiatory death, and bodily resurrection is greater than the sin of murder or acts of perversion. Rejection of Jesus Christ is the greatest sin of all.
John 3:18
18. "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
If God did not spare His own Son, what makes you think that He will spare you?
Romans 8:32
32. He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,
You cannot fool God. The Lord knows what is in man’s heart.
Hebrews 4:12
12. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
13. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Repentance (Greek - metanoia - a complete change of perspective, a change of heart) is not only a turning from sin but also a turning toward the Lord. True repentance is a change of mind followed by a change of heart followed by a change of life. The Lord died for filthy rotten sinners like me even before I repented.
Romans 5:8
8. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
If you are born once, you will die twice. However, if you are born twice, you will only die once.
John 3:3
3. Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again (born in the spirit from above), he cannot see the kingdom of God.''
All you have to do is accept God’s gift … the gift of His Son.
John 3:16
16. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Even the faith that leads to salvation is a gift and cannot be earned. Grace is the unmerited favor and merciful kindness of God.
Ephesians 2:8
8. For by grace (unmerited favor) you have been saved through faith, and that (faith) not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9. not of works, lest anyone should boast.
The word confess (Greek - homologeo - say the same words, agree) means that you have to agree with God the Father and say that Jesus Christ is Lord. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Romans 10:9
9. that 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.
10. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.
11. For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.''
12. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
13. For "whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.''
There is no better time than right now to trust Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and be made right with God. You don’t need to have anyone with you. Just get down on your knees, admit you are a sinner, and ask for His forgiveness. In the quiet of your heart, just have an honest talk with the Lord. He is waiting for you now.
2 Corinthians 6:2
2. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Revelations 3:20
20. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
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HIGHER POWER
HIGHER POWER
Studies show that almost everyone trusts in a higher power. Most people call themselves religious, spiritual, or persons of faith as if it were enough to just trust in something … anything. There are only two religions in the world. The Christianity of the Bible is the religion of divine accomplishment, which is salvation by grace and is based on what Christ accomplished on the cross. Every other religion on earth is the religion of human achievement, which is salvation by works where you assume that if you do fewer bad works and more good works, you'll earn favor with God. The people in this false religious system are known by many different names such as, Lutherans, Methodists, Episcopalians, Catholics, Christian Scientists, Mormons, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the Salvation Army. Nobody says, “Join our religion and go to Hell.” That’s the deception. Many people are going to be with the big crowd on the broad way but only a few will squeeze through the narrow gate.
Matthew 7:13
13. "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.
If you don’t choose to follow Jesus Christ through the narrow gate but choose to follow the many people on the broad way, any religion or no religion will get you to the same destination … Hell. Unlike today’s televangelists, when Jesus preached to the multitudes, many walked with Him no more.
John 6:66
66. From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.
His disciples were concerned that so few were being saved. Jesus wasn’t able to build a mega-church because it was too difficult to enter His church … the gate was too narrow. Anyone who wanted to enter Christ’s Church was going to have to strip down and, with much difficulty, squeeze through the gate with just their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and leave all their self-righteous baggage behind.
Luke 13:22
22. And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.
23. Then one said to Him, "Lord, are there few who are saved?'' And He said to them,
24. "Strive (Greek - agonizesthe - agonize, struggle, contend as with an adversary, labor fervently) to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
Don’t be self-deluded … don’t kid yourself. Studies indicate that three out of four people who claim to be Christians are not Christians. To be almost saved is to be totally lost.
2 Corinthians 13:5
5. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith.
Who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven?
Matthew 7:21
21. "Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22. "Many will say to Me in that day, `Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'
23. "And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
In order to attract new members, many of today’s liberal churches hire rock bands and superstars to entertain the crowd. When they get around to preaching, they present a superficial gospel, a gospel that doesn’t mention true repentance from sin, and then they proclaim that thousands walked down the aisle and were saved. Beware of “easybelieveism.” People need to know what is required of them before making a lifetime commitment to the Lord. Jesus said that we shouldn’t start something before we know what it will cost.
Luke 14:28
28. "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it
29. "lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all who see it begin to mock him,
30. "saying, `This man began to build and was not able to finish.'
Over the years, I’ve come to realize that most people haven’t given much thought as to what they believe or why they believe what they believe. That’s why most people try to stay away from discussions about where they will spend eternity.
Most people who call themselves Christians are phony-baloney “Christmas and Easter” type believers who would rather celebrate the coming of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny than the birthday and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Many people go to churches where the name of Jesus is barely mentioned. If they don’t want to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, why do they call themselves Christians? If they don’t want to learn what the Bible says about the Lord Jesus Christ, then why go to church at all?
Matthew 10:32
32. "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
33. "But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
Who is Jesus Christ? Is He the Lord, a liar, a lunatic, or a great moral teacher?
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he’s a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."
-- C.S. Lewis
Most people are comfortable with calling Jesus a great moral teacher but, according to the laws of logic, that is not an option. If Jesus lied about what He did or who He was, why would you want to believe any of His teachings? Why would you want to have anything to do with Him? Jesus left no doubt about whom He claimed to be. Jesus clearly stated that He was God: “I and My Father are one,” “No one comes to the Father except through Me,” “Before Abraham was, I AM.'' Jesus said His name was I AM which is the name that Jehovah/God the Father said was His name. Jesus was executed for blasphemy because He claimed to be God.
Exodus 3:13
13. Then Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, `The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, `What is His name?' what shall I say to them?''
14. And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM.'' And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, `I AM has sent me to you.' ''
By allowing Jesus to perform thousands of miracles such as walking on water, healing the sick, and raising the dead, God the Father was able to announce, verify, and authenticate that Jesus Christ is God the Son.
Acts 2:22
22. "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know
The strongest evidence attesting to the fact that Jesus is the Christ is the fulfillment of messianic prophesies that were written hundreds of years before His birth. At His first coming, Jesus fulfilled over 100 of the more than 300 Old Testament prophesies that were written concerning the Messiah. At His Second Coming, Jesus will fulfill the remaining 200. Just to name a few of the prophesies that He fulfilled, Jesus had to be:
1. From the seed of Abraham - Genesis 12:2, Genesis 22:18
2. From the son of Isaac - Genesis 22:12
3. From the son of Jacob - Numbers 24:17, Genesis 35:10
4. From the tribe of Judah - Genesis 49:10
5. From the family line of Jesse - Isaiah 11:1
6. From the House of David - Jeremiah 23:5
7. Born in Bethlehem - Micah 5:2
8. Born of a virgin - Isaiah 7:14
When faced with only three remaining options; Lord, liar, or lunatic, only a fool would call Jesus a liar or a lunatic because someone who lived as Jesus lived, taught as Jesus taught, and died as Jesus died could not have been a liar or a lunatic. Now here’s the problem! That only leaves one option … the Lord Jesus Christ is God in human flesh. If Jesus Christ is Lord, then you have only two options … you can accept Him or reject Him.
1 Kings 18:21
21. "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him.''
The lives and deaths of His disciples are a testament to the fact that Jesus is the Christ and that He rose from the dead.
***** Before the resurrection:
Jesus’ disciples did not fully understand that Jesus was God in human flesh even though they lived with Him day and night and watched as He performed thousands of miracles for three years. Every day, hundreds of people came to Jesus to be cured of diseases and healed of deformities. Jesus healed all of them with just a word or a touch. If someone were missing an arm, leg, or eye, they were instantaneously restored, healed, and made completely whole. On two separate occasions, Jesus fed over 9,000 people with just a handful of fish and bread. The same Jesus who created the heavens and the earth out of nothing is the same Jesus who created body parts and extra food out of thin air.
Mark 8:18
18. "Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?
19. "When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?'' They said to Him, "Twelve.''
20. "And when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?'' And they said, "Seven.''
21. So He said to them, "How is it you do not understand?''
Jesus told His disciples that He was going to be killed and rise again.
Matthew 20:17
17. Then Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them,
18. "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death,
19. "and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.''
His disciples didn’t really think that Jesus would be executed. Peter promised that he would never forsake Jesus.
Matthew 26:33
33. Peter answered and said to Him, "Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.''
34. Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.''
Matthew 26:73
73. And after a while those who stood by came to him and said to Peter, "Surely you also are one of them,
74. Then he began to curse and swear, saying, "I do not know the Man!'' And immediately a rooster crowed.
Matthew 26:56
56. "But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.'' Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.
John 20:9
9. For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.
***** After the resurrection:
The disciples changed from being a band of cowards to boldly preaching about Christ’s resurrection.
Acts 4:13
13. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.
Persecution purifies and strengthens the church. If the cost of believing in Christ were as high in America as it is in some parts of the world, it would separate the wheat from the chaff … all the pretenders would leave His church. Throughout all of history, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
Acts 5:17
17. Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him …
18. and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison.
27. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them,
28. saying, "Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine …
29. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than men.
40. and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
41. So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.
42. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.
Most of the early Apostles were tortured, flogged, and finally put to death just because they would not deny that Jesus is the Christ and that He rose from the dead. John the Baptist was the first to be beheaded. Peter requested to be executed upside down because he was not worthy to die as his Master.
1. Peter - Crucified upside down
2. Andrew - Crucified
3. Matthew - The sword
4. John - Exiled to an island
5. James, son of Alphaeus - Crucified
6. Philip - Crucified
7. Simon - Crucified
8. Thaddaeus - Killed by arrows
9. James, brother of Jesus - Stoned
10. Thomas - Spear thrust
11. Bartholomew - Crucified
12. James, son of Zebedee - The sword
The Apostle Paul was not in the original group of Apostles but in every city where he established a church there were people who were trying to kill him and finally he was beheaded.
Acts 9:29
29. And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him.
2 Corinthians 11:24
24. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.
25. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;
26. in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
27. in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness
Hebrews 11:36
36. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.
37. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword.
Who would die for a lie? Many people have died for a lie but they thought it was the truth. If the resurrection didn’t take place, the disciples knew it. Therefore, these Apostles not only died for a lie but they knew it was a lie. In all of recorded history, there never has been a group of people who died for a lie while knowing it was a lie. In order to keep from being whipped and killed, all they had to do was say that they lied, that Jesus Christ isn’t God, and that He didn’t really rise from the dead. Since they were killed, one by one, in separate places, no one would have known if one of them were to have taken the easy way out, turned against Jesus, and moved to a different part of the world to hide the fact that he denied the Lord. Only eyewitnesses of Christ’s resurrection would have been this brave.
2 Peter 1:16
16. For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
1 John 1:1
1. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life
2. the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us
3. that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
Acts 1:1
1. The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach.
2. until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen,
3. to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 15:3
3. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4. and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
5. and that He was seen by Cephas (Peter), then by the twelve.
6. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
7. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
John 20:30
30. And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book;
31. but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
Twenty-two of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament were written between 40 and 70 A.D. The Apostle John wrote the remaining five books between 80 and 95 A.D. Josephus was not a Christian but he was a Jewish historian who wrote around 90 A.D. and, even then, thousands of people were still alive who had seen and had knowledge of the life of Jesus. If anyone tried to make up a story or change the facts, there were still plenty of people who could make sure that the facts were accurately stated. This is from The Complete Works of Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, Antiquity Book 18, Chapter 3, and Paragraph 3:
3. Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.
Jesus has had a more lasting influence on the world than the three greatest philosophers of all antiquity. Socrates taught for 40 years. Plato taught for 50 years. Aristotle taught for 40 years. Jesus taught for less than three years, yet the influence of the three years of Jesus' ministry far outstrips the combined 130 years of these great men.
Jesus said that all Scripture must be fulfilled. In the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms (the Old Testament), there are over 300 prophecies that were written concerning Christ. Over 100 prophecies were literally fulfilled at His first coming. According to the laws of probability, the chances of 100 prophecies being fulfilled in just one person is one chance out of
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
people (that’s a 1 followed by 900 zeros). Mathematicians say that anytime you have more than 15 zeros, you have proven your case. At His Second Coming, Jesus Christ will literally fulfill the remaining 200 prophecies. Only a fool would bet against odds like that.
Matthew 5:17
17. "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
18. "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
Luke 24:44
44. Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.''
Jesus asked life’s most important question, “Who do you say that I am?” Everyone must answer this question for himself.
Matthew 16:15
15. He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?''
16. And Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.''
17. Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah (Peter), for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said that Peter’s answer was a revelation from God. In order to be saved, you will have to agree with God the Father and say that the Lord Jesus Christ is God in human flesh or you will die in your sins.
John 8:21
21. Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.”
24. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
You must be willing to give up your sins and follow Him or turn your back on the Lord and walk away like a dog returning to his own vomit.
2 Peter 2:21
21. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.
22. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: "A dog returns to his own vomit,'' and, "a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.''
x
Studies show that almost everyone trusts in a higher power. Most people call themselves religious, spiritual, or persons of faith as if it were enough to just trust in something … anything. There are only two religions in the world. The Christianity of the Bible is the religion of divine accomplishment, which is salvation by grace and is based on what Christ accomplished on the cross. Every other religion on earth is the religion of human achievement, which is salvation by works where you assume that if you do fewer bad works and more good works, you'll earn favor with God. The people in this false religious system are known by many different names such as, Lutherans, Methodists, Episcopalians, Catholics, Christian Scientists, Mormons, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the Salvation Army. Nobody says, “Join our religion and go to Hell.” That’s the deception. Many people are going to be with the big crowd on the broad way but only a few will squeeze through the narrow gate.
Matthew 7:13
13. "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.
If you don’t choose to follow Jesus Christ through the narrow gate but choose to follow the many people on the broad way, any religion or no religion will get you to the same destination … Hell. Unlike today’s televangelists, when Jesus preached to the multitudes, many walked with Him no more.
John 6:66
66. From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.
His disciples were concerned that so few were being saved. Jesus wasn’t able to build a mega-church because it was too difficult to enter His church … the gate was too narrow. Anyone who wanted to enter Christ’s Church was going to have to strip down and, with much difficulty, squeeze through the gate with just their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and leave all their self-righteous baggage behind.
Luke 13:22
22. And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.
23. Then one said to Him, "Lord, are there few who are saved?'' And He said to them,
24. "Strive (Greek - agonizesthe - agonize, struggle, contend as with an adversary, labor fervently) to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
Don’t be self-deluded … don’t kid yourself. Studies indicate that three out of four people who claim to be Christians are not Christians. To be almost saved is to be totally lost.
2 Corinthians 13:5
5. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith.
Who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven?
Matthew 7:21
21. "Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22. "Many will say to Me in that day, `Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'
23. "And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
In order to attract new members, many of today’s liberal churches hire rock bands and superstars to entertain the crowd. When they get around to preaching, they present a superficial gospel, a gospel that doesn’t mention true repentance from sin, and then they proclaim that thousands walked down the aisle and were saved. Beware of “easybelieveism.” People need to know what is required of them before making a lifetime commitment to the Lord. Jesus said that we shouldn’t start something before we know what it will cost.
Luke 14:28
28. "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it
29. "lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all who see it begin to mock him,
30. "saying, `This man began to build and was not able to finish.'
Over the years, I’ve come to realize that most people haven’t given much thought as to what they believe or why they believe what they believe. That’s why most people try to stay away from discussions about where they will spend eternity.
Most people who call themselves Christians are phony-baloney “Christmas and Easter” type believers who would rather celebrate the coming of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny than the birthday and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Many people go to churches where the name of Jesus is barely mentioned. If they don’t want to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, why do they call themselves Christians? If they don’t want to learn what the Bible says about the Lord Jesus Christ, then why go to church at all?
Matthew 10:32
32. "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
33. "But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
Who is Jesus Christ? Is He the Lord, a liar, a lunatic, or a great moral teacher?
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he’s a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."
-- C.S. Lewis
Most people are comfortable with calling Jesus a great moral teacher but, according to the laws of logic, that is not an option. If Jesus lied about what He did or who He was, why would you want to believe any of His teachings? Why would you want to have anything to do with Him? Jesus left no doubt about whom He claimed to be. Jesus clearly stated that He was God: “I and My Father are one,” “No one comes to the Father except through Me,” “Before Abraham was, I AM.'' Jesus said His name was I AM which is the name that Jehovah/God the Father said was His name. Jesus was executed for blasphemy because He claimed to be God.
Exodus 3:13
13. Then Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, `The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, `What is His name?' what shall I say to them?''
14. And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM.'' And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, `I AM has sent me to you.' ''
By allowing Jesus to perform thousands of miracles such as walking on water, healing the sick, and raising the dead, God the Father was able to announce, verify, and authenticate that Jesus Christ is God the Son.
Acts 2:22
22. "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know
The strongest evidence attesting to the fact that Jesus is the Christ is the fulfillment of messianic prophesies that were written hundreds of years before His birth. At His first coming, Jesus fulfilled over 100 of the more than 300 Old Testament prophesies that were written concerning the Messiah. At His Second Coming, Jesus will fulfill the remaining 200. Just to name a few of the prophesies that He fulfilled, Jesus had to be:
1. From the seed of Abraham - Genesis 12:2, Genesis 22:18
2. From the son of Isaac - Genesis 22:12
3. From the son of Jacob - Numbers 24:17, Genesis 35:10
4. From the tribe of Judah - Genesis 49:10
5. From the family line of Jesse - Isaiah 11:1
6. From the House of David - Jeremiah 23:5
7. Born in Bethlehem - Micah 5:2
8. Born of a virgin - Isaiah 7:14
When faced with only three remaining options; Lord, liar, or lunatic, only a fool would call Jesus a liar or a lunatic because someone who lived as Jesus lived, taught as Jesus taught, and died as Jesus died could not have been a liar or a lunatic. Now here’s the problem! That only leaves one option … the Lord Jesus Christ is God in human flesh. If Jesus Christ is Lord, then you have only two options … you can accept Him or reject Him.
1 Kings 18:21
21. "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him.''
The lives and deaths of His disciples are a testament to the fact that Jesus is the Christ and that He rose from the dead.
***** Before the resurrection:
Jesus’ disciples did not fully understand that Jesus was God in human flesh even though they lived with Him day and night and watched as He performed thousands of miracles for three years. Every day, hundreds of people came to Jesus to be cured of diseases and healed of deformities. Jesus healed all of them with just a word or a touch. If someone were missing an arm, leg, or eye, they were instantaneously restored, healed, and made completely whole. On two separate occasions, Jesus fed over 9,000 people with just a handful of fish and bread. The same Jesus who created the heavens and the earth out of nothing is the same Jesus who created body parts and extra food out of thin air.
Mark 8:18
18. "Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?
19. "When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?'' They said to Him, "Twelve.''
20. "And when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?'' And they said, "Seven.''
21. So He said to them, "How is it you do not understand?''
Jesus told His disciples that He was going to be killed and rise again.
Matthew 20:17
17. Then Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them,
18. "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death,
19. "and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.''
His disciples didn’t really think that Jesus would be executed. Peter promised that he would never forsake Jesus.
Matthew 26:33
33. Peter answered and said to Him, "Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.''
34. Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.''
Matthew 26:73
73. And after a while those who stood by came to him and said to Peter, "Surely you also are one of them,
74. Then he began to curse and swear, saying, "I do not know the Man!'' And immediately a rooster crowed.
Matthew 26:56
56. "But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.'' Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.
John 20:9
9. For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.
***** After the resurrection:
The disciples changed from being a band of cowards to boldly preaching about Christ’s resurrection.
Acts 4:13
13. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.
Persecution purifies and strengthens the church. If the cost of believing in Christ were as high in America as it is in some parts of the world, it would separate the wheat from the chaff … all the pretenders would leave His church. Throughout all of history, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
Acts 5:17
17. Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him …
18. and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison.
27. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them,
28. saying, "Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine …
29. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than men.
40. and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
41. So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.
42. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.
Most of the early Apostles were tortured, flogged, and finally put to death just because they would not deny that Jesus is the Christ and that He rose from the dead. John the Baptist was the first to be beheaded. Peter requested to be executed upside down because he was not worthy to die as his Master.
1. Peter - Crucified upside down
2. Andrew - Crucified
3. Matthew - The sword
4. John - Exiled to an island
5. James, son of Alphaeus - Crucified
6. Philip - Crucified
7. Simon - Crucified
8. Thaddaeus - Killed by arrows
9. James, brother of Jesus - Stoned
10. Thomas - Spear thrust
11. Bartholomew - Crucified
12. James, son of Zebedee - The sword
The Apostle Paul was not in the original group of Apostles but in every city where he established a church there were people who were trying to kill him and finally he was beheaded.
Acts 9:29
29. And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him.
2 Corinthians 11:24
24. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.
25. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;
26. in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
27. in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness
Hebrews 11:36
36. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.
37. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword.
Who would die for a lie? Many people have died for a lie but they thought it was the truth. If the resurrection didn’t take place, the disciples knew it. Therefore, these Apostles not only died for a lie but they knew it was a lie. In all of recorded history, there never has been a group of people who died for a lie while knowing it was a lie. In order to keep from being whipped and killed, all they had to do was say that they lied, that Jesus Christ isn’t God, and that He didn’t really rise from the dead. Since they were killed, one by one, in separate places, no one would have known if one of them were to have taken the easy way out, turned against Jesus, and moved to a different part of the world to hide the fact that he denied the Lord. Only eyewitnesses of Christ’s resurrection would have been this brave.
2 Peter 1:16
16. For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
1 John 1:1
1. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life
2. the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us
3. that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
Acts 1:1
1. The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach.
2. until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen,
3. to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 15:3
3. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4. and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
5. and that He was seen by Cephas (Peter), then by the twelve.
6. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
7. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
John 20:30
30. And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book;
31. but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
Twenty-two of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament were written between 40 and 70 A.D. The Apostle John wrote the remaining five books between 80 and 95 A.D. Josephus was not a Christian but he was a Jewish historian who wrote around 90 A.D. and, even then, thousands of people were still alive who had seen and had knowledge of the life of Jesus. If anyone tried to make up a story or change the facts, there were still plenty of people who could make sure that the facts were accurately stated. This is from The Complete Works of Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, Antiquity Book 18, Chapter 3, and Paragraph 3:
3. Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.
Jesus has had a more lasting influence on the world than the three greatest philosophers of all antiquity. Socrates taught for 40 years. Plato taught for 50 years. Aristotle taught for 40 years. Jesus taught for less than three years, yet the influence of the three years of Jesus' ministry far outstrips the combined 130 years of these great men.
Jesus said that all Scripture must be fulfilled. In the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms (the Old Testament), there are over 300 prophecies that were written concerning Christ. Over 100 prophecies were literally fulfilled at His first coming. According to the laws of probability, the chances of 100 prophecies being fulfilled in just one person is one chance out of
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
people (that’s a 1 followed by 900 zeros). Mathematicians say that anytime you have more than 15 zeros, you have proven your case. At His Second Coming, Jesus Christ will literally fulfill the remaining 200 prophecies. Only a fool would bet against odds like that.
Matthew 5:17
17. "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
18. "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
Luke 24:44
44. Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.''
Jesus asked life’s most important question, “Who do you say that I am?” Everyone must answer this question for himself.
Matthew 16:15
15. He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?''
16. And Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.''
17. Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah (Peter), for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said that Peter’s answer was a revelation from God. In order to be saved, you will have to agree with God the Father and say that the Lord Jesus Christ is God in human flesh or you will die in your sins.
John 8:21
21. Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.”
24. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
You must be willing to give up your sins and follow Him or turn your back on the Lord and walk away like a dog returning to his own vomit.
2 Peter 2:21
21. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.
22. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: "A dog returns to his own vomit,'' and, "a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.''
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