Stephen Newdell
A compilation of articles to explain and encourage.
GRACE vs. THE LAW and the GAINSAYERS– Part One
Stewart Best
WHO ARE YOU, WHAT ARE YOU?
It has concerned me that folks out there in the Christian world are so confused concerning GRACE vs. THE LAW. But then again, it is obvious that even the simplicity of the Cross is also a great enigma among the Lord’s People. So, I thought it might a good idea, as the AGE OF GRACE IS NOW CLOSING DOWN, that this be better understood.
We could start by asking if a leopard can change his spots? One supposes that he could go to a paint shop and get sprayed with a beautiful white dye – but underneath he is still a leopard, and he still has spots. Humanities DNA is what it is, and although we may be developing ways TO ALTER IT, it is still FALLEN HUMAN DNA. We are still human. Our FALLEN NATURE is what it is, and no matter how much you attempt to alter it, it is still there.
There is no way to escape our fallen nature. It is what it is. Please understand this, it is of vital importance to this issue of THE LAW vs. GRACE and the issue of AUTHENTIC and TRUE SALVATION vs. FAKE SALVATION. Humanity is, even if we do not like it, FALLEN. The Bible makes that VERY CLEAR over and over again so NO ONE CAN MISS IT, they can ONLY DENY IT.
OK, so what? The entire point of GRACE is that humanity walks in total spiritual darkness and is a PRISONER OF HIS OWN NATURE. He is totally UNWORTHY to be rescued, and does not deserve any “DIVINE FAVOR” WHATSOEVER. Look up the meaning of GRACE. We are the leopard with spots. No matter how much we attempt to change OUR NATURE, by ANY MEANS, we are still a leopard and we still have spots.
ANY ATTEMPTS by us to ALTER THAT WHICH CANNOT BE ALTERED is total futility. It is total VANITY. No religion, no “good works” or “bad works,” no matter what we do, WE ARE TRAPPED, for we cannot by any means CHANGE OUR FALLEN DNA NATURE. Do you understand? It is imperative that you do.
We are what we are, and the Bible says we are FALLEN and as such, an ENEMY OF THE CREATOR. No one wants to accept that cold, hard fact. Humanity is a fallen creature in league with SATAN, the arch enemy of Jesus Christ. Yet Jesus Christ came down here, behind enemy lines, in an attempt to RESCUE those that would come to Him in the MANNER HE COMMANDED. There is a reason WHY He commanded us to “enter in”. It must have something to do with a CHANGE OF OUR DNA, our very NATURE.
But if we are to understand the TRUE NATURE of AUTHENTIC SALVATION, we MUST understand that NO WORKS, NO LAW KEEPING, NO RITUALS can save us. Humanity CANNOT, be ANY MEANS WHATSOEVER change its NATURE, HIS DNA. His spirit is still fallen. There is only ONE WAY to true and authentic salvation. ONLY ONE WAY. GRACE BROUGHT IT and the Christian Churches of today have utterly refused it, mocked it, and destroyed it, as they are about to find out when the Lord comes back to get His people and to separate the TRUE from the FALSE.
While millions of Christians are praying the rapture of the Church, they are in for a BIG SURPRISE, for they will find out they were GAINSAYERS, not BORN FROM ABOVE, for they refused the only way to be born again. Their leaders were liars, merchandisers, who traded in lost souls. They would not come to the light, and there is a big difference between having faith or belief in the LIGHT rather than COMING TO THE LIGHT.
John 3:19-21
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
If we could change our nature by “works” or “religions” or “philosophies” or any other method, such as “good thoughts,” “rituals,” “law keeping” and any other method you want to dream up, THEN JESUS CHRIST WAS A LIAR, and a LUNATIC, who died for NOTHING! Do you see? If we can, by ourselves, CHANGE OUR OWN NATURE, then we have no need of any redemption, any savior, any rescue.
This point is so important to understand. Once grasped for what it really means, we can relax before the Lord, admit the real truth, and then, and ONLY THEN, can we begin to slowly understand WHY Jesus Christ COMMANDED US to “enter ye in” at the STRAIT GATE, and travel down this most mysterious pathway He called NARROW. It is, He said, the ONLY WAY, THE ONLY WAY, TO CHANGE OUR NATURE by the method of REBIRTH OF THE SPIRIT. He even told us that the vast majority of HIS PEOPLE would refuse it and “climb in some other way.”
These poor Christians, by the millions, would climb in some other way, refuse the straight and narrow, and their “Christian leaders” would lead them all to eternal ruin. The warnings are EVERYWHERE, on both Old and New Testaments.
What we have today is called TOTAL APOSTASY. The GREAT FALLING AWAY has been with us for some time, there is now NO TRUTH LEFT WHEN IT COMES TO TRUE SALVATION. It has vanished, and that is why Jesus Christ UTTERLY REJECTS MILLIONS OF CHRISTIANS AT THE END with a very terse “Get away from me, I NEVER CAME TO KNOW YOU EXPERIENTALLY”.
The “some other way” is the attempt to ENTER IN BY LAW-KEEPING, often called “legalisms” or “religious rituals” by doing this or doing that. Why is that? Because it does nothing to ALTER OUR FALLEN NATURE. Jesus called the leaders of the Sanhedrin “whitewashed sepulchers” and “full of dead men’s bones.” Now why in the world would Jesus so insult these LAW KEEPERS to the highest degree, keeping over hundreds of laws to justify themselves before the Lord? Why did Jesus pick on those poor folks?
He was giving us an example that ALL WORKS no matter what kind, no matter how dutifully or religiously kept, DOES NOT CHANGE THE FACT THAT MANKIND IS FULL OF DEAD MEN’S BONES, because mankind is FALLEN, totally unable by any means at all to CHANGE THEIR NATURE. Salvation is not based on ANY FORM OF RITUAL OR LAW KEEPING. It is instead based upon something humanity denies and refuses to face. Paul warned us. Jesus warned us. Peter warned us, and even the Old Testament warned us – and it seems now, to NO AVAIL.
Mankind, it seems, will do anything, anything at all, to AVOID THE CROSS OF CHRIST. ANYTHING AT ALL. As the Meatloaf song goes “I will do anything for LOVE, but I will NOT DO THAT”. So true. Humanity will invent any concept or method to avoid the OFFENSE OF THE CROSS. It is a refusal to admit our own NATURE. It is to be a mocker and GAINSAYER OF THE ONE WHO CAME TO RESCUE US. Modern Christians are GAINSAYERS. They are about to find it out the hard way, a horrible way. They will stand before the Lord REJECTED. They will protest and claim their good works, as to how they threw out demons, performed miracles, and did all sorts of “good works” and taught about Christ in the streets, churches, etc.
His reply to them is very chilling. No one, it seems, wants to face this reply to them, and what it REALLY MEANS for us as Christians. It is a dire warning. “I never came to know you experiencially.” Look it up, your very salvation depends upon it.
Jesus brought with Him a concept so strange, so different, so radical that mankind has been fighting over it for two-thousand plus years – and according to the Bible, the multitudes end up in RUIN, all because they refused to do as Jesus Christ commanded: “ENTER YE IN” and a final comment “WHY DO YOU CALL ME LORD, LORD AND NOT DO WHAT I SAY?”
Why did Jesus COMMAND you to PICK UP YOUR OWN PERSONAL CROSS?
Why did Jesus COMMAND you to DIE THE DEATH?
Why did Jesus say that a CORN OF WHEAT must fall into the ground an die, or it would remain ALONE?
Why did Jesus say YOU WILL BE BAPTIZED WITH THE SAME BAPTISM HE WOULD UNDERGO?
Why did Jesus COMMAND YOU to ENTER IN AT THE STRAIT GATE AND WALK THE NARROW WAY?
Why did Jesus WARN YOU to BUILD YOUR HOUSE UPON THE ROCK INSTEAD OF THE SAND?
Why did Jesus COMMAND YOU to SEEK, KNOCK, ASK, STRIVE AND LABOR TO FIND THE TRUTH?
Why does the Old Testament WARN YOU to seek after WISDOM and UNDERSTANDING WITH ALL THY GETTING?
None of these things are a WORK, or a LEGALISM. They are there because it is the ONLY WAY IN, THE ONLY WAY TO CHANGE YOUR NATURE, YOUR DNA. Refuse it and you will DIE IN YOUR SINS, WITH NO COVERING, AND NO ALTERNATIVE TO RUIN. It is true, even if you do not believe it.
Then I ask you this final question, for the end, it seems is only weeks or months away for HIS CHURCH. “It is NOT whether you THINK you know Jesus, the question is, DOES JESUS KNOW YOU? That is the most important question in all of LIFE. DOES JESUS KNOW YOU, and how do you know IF HE DOES?
Refuse NOT Him that speaks from heaven, lest you die in your sins. Do not find out the HARD WAY you are one of the LOST. Do not find out the HARD WAY that you were a Christian GAINSAYER. Open your eyes while GRACE is still here. ENTER IN with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength and yet the Lord MAY PARDON YOU for your blindness.
“Heavenly Father, I pray that you would open the eyes of the blind, that you would show them the ONE and ONLY TRUE WAY to salvation, and that they would commit themselves this VERY MINUTE to SEARCHING YOU OUT, no matter what the cost, no matter if unto death itself, for the DOORS OF GRACE are closing, and that they not be SHUT OUT, Amen”
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Newdell Answers:
For older guys like me, it’s a long minute of pathos to watch what was such a grand society turn into nothing but fond memories.
The USA is turning into a police state and a destroyed society because the society has turned away from God. They’ve thrown God out of the classroom, out of the pledge of allegiance to the flag, and in exchange some schools are doing field trips to Mosques. ‘To get the full flavor of the experience we’re all going to dress appropriately and then join in a prayer service, bowing to Mekkah and say the words that signify that Allah is god.’
This is the worst sort of whoredom and blasphemy imaginable, and we pay for it. Our taxes have been routinely siphoned off to pay for Non-Governmental Organizations like Planned Parenthood to promote abortion all over the world. (A non–governmental organization (NGO) is any non-profit, voluntary citizens’ group which is organized on a local, national or international level.)
This is nothing less than a return to the days of human sacrifice to the ancient Baal’s (gods of evil). It is Satan worship and demon worship at its darkest and most miserable. Lately I caught a science article that said there’s proof abortion is horribly painful to the fetus. What have we allowed?
We, citizens and tax payers, have voted in and permitted monsters to represent us, and pass law that permit the very evil that ultimately will destroy our society. The USA at this point doesn’t have any greater chance of survival than does a snowflake’s chance in Hell.
I’m sitting here just now reviewing this before I post it, and a pop-up news item comes up: “Citizens in CA may vote to legalize magic mushroom.” Who cares? I’ll explain here:
Psilocybin mushrooms, also known as psychedelic mushrooms, are a polyphyletic group of mushroomsthat contain the psychedelic compounds psilocybin, psilocin and baeocystin. Common colloquial terms include magic mushrooms and shrooms
The words “Witch Craft” in the bible refer to using herbs and mushrooms as drugs for recreation or to seek a devil worshiping experience. That is why their use is referred to by God as a “detestable practice.” And now California wants to make it legally acceptable. God IS punishing the US now for our national and nearly universal sins, and the punishments will grow worse!
The US is presently getting so much punishment The Trumpet Online Magazine calls it the Beginning of Sorrows for the US. As I write Hurricane Harvey is drowning Houston, Texas. All over the world the crop harvests have been at best fair and in many places terrible. God is punishing us for our sins, as He said he would.
We have exported pornography and the swinging lifestyle to every modern Westernized country, even to the big cities in 2nd and 3rd world nations across all of South East Asia (where I presently reside.)
Young kids are influenced by this evil on a daily basis. The Internet and Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest teach the entire world that the swinger’s lifestyle, gender confusion, protesting everything that was once understood as God’s Right Ways and Manners are all being cast aside.
In many of these nations we have school systems that follow a format similar to Parochial (Catholic) schools. The kids all wear uniforms, they dress properly, they learn to treat one another respectfully. What happens when they finish the school day?
Some of them enter a school that closes the gates. Teachers admit to me “they escape” the school and schools have no money to pay for truant officers to bring them back to school. We find them at the Internet Café playing video games, mostly war games, some sex games, loudly cursing one another across the floor, as they wage mock battles on the video monitors.
I go out to the markets and local department store and the entire place looks like a baby factory. Every 3rd woman is pregnant. I go to the local vegetable stands at what you would call a “farmer’s market” and find beggars, sometimes a young girl with a baby in her arms, begging to survive. And there’s so much of this poverty and misery. Any older man can hire a single mother and move her and baby in under his roof. These young women wanted to try the exciting new swinging lifestyle and one day found out they’re pregnant. She said “the magic words” to her boyfriend, “Honey I’m pregnant” and like magic, Poof, he disappeared. The cycle of poverty continues. The society degrades, just as Satan would like it to do.
What happens when a child grows up without a real home and learns the laws of the street jungle instead of the manners and righteous behavior of God? Soon the child is age 14 and making a life of crime. 15-years later those kids have spawned yet another generation of career criminals and the society is ready to collapse.
Are you thinking what I’m saying is only happening in Japan, Philippines, Thailand? Does it sound the least bit like the United States?
My long minute of pathos about the state of the USA is tied to all we are considering here, and more, it extends to the debate about Grace and sincerity of one’s desire to be joined to God and enter God’s Family as a citizen of His Kingdom.
The debate between Grace and works continues and confuses. Works cannot save anyone.
The Salvation Prayer should contain a reference to the power of the sacrificial blood of Jesus the Christ, because if you don’t depend on his ultimate final sacrifice as the final sacrificial lamb of God you are back to trying to rescue yourself with works! That can never occur.
We must (as Mr. Best taught us) SINCERELY want to repent, change, go the other way, and then we should feel inspired by the Holy Spirit to do good works either to help others or to move ourselves away from sin into “pure thought” and then more pure and pious behavior. The problem we have is, people imagine by Grace they’re saved once and for all. A priest says, “God will forgive you. Now go and sin no more.” But, ….they go and sin again and again because they’re told they can be absolved of all sin with an offering and confession of sin. Every week they’re back. “Father forgive me for I have sinned.”
“What did you do, my son?”
“I’m still lusting after my girl-friend, and her two other girlfriends. I’m still eating magic mushrooms. I know I should not but I can’t stop myself.”
“God will forgive you my son. Now leave an offering. Pray the rosary daily. Go and sin no more.”
The person who accepts Christ but makes no changes, obviously isn’t a Christian. People who put on a show in church may have no real faith and will to change their ways. So they really never meant to change with their acceptance prayer, and they’ll finally meet Jesus and hear that they’re unwelcome. It’s all a bit confusing and terribly distressing.
God will look right through you on the day you meet Him face-to-face. People can say, “We did all of these works and cast out demons in your name!” and God will look at the real you and say, It was all a social show. You didn’t mean any of it. You lied to everyone for social reasons. But you can’t lie to me. I know you never sincerely wanted what I offer. Go now to outer darkness!
I exhort you to remember what I said, what C.S. Lewis said. If a man claims to be saved and makes no change, he obviously is not a Christian!
There are many who sincerely argue that a salvation prayer will be enough. With that few seconds of prayer you are saved.
Let’s remember the apostles. They left their families, their homes, their “careers” and gave the rest of their lives, even to their tragic death, for the salvation of men’s and women’s souls! They struggled, hungry, walking over hard scrabble desert roads, to go to strange towns and cities and preach this “good news.”
No one wanted to hear their good news. They were strangers who suddenly walked in, interrupted the day, and entertained the crowd with this message about their ONE god who truly is the ONLY True and Living God!
In Sumaria, Turkey, Greece and Rome such talk could get you beaten, jailed, even tortured and murdered. This was a bit more than a 15-second “Oh, please save me Lord” sort of prayer.
If they were willing to give their all for this “priceless pearl” and be beaten and fearful about their survival as a thank-you for their efforts, how much should We (you and I) be willing to give? We live the luxurious live with our morning showers, soap, food, refrigerator, stove, TV, computer…. And we expect that a few seconds of no sacrifice is enough? I fear this is wrong.
I published a piece here about FORGIVENESS and it’s excellent, so far as it goes. (Most of it was written in the 1800’s by the Anglican Bishop of Liverpool, with only my occasional edit to modernize the English.) The problem I have with this doctrinal teaching is that it creates the appearance (perhaps the illusion) that the prayer is sufficient and thereafter by grace we are saved. That’s where this debate rages.
(DELUSION: noun: delusion; plural noun: delusions: an idiosyncratic belief or impression that is firmly maintained despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality or rational argument, typically a symptom of mental disorder.)
It seems to be a universally taught delusion that one can make a prayer, make no effort to change one’s ways, live a life of horrendous hypocrisy, and be rescued anyway. Maybe that’s true but I think there are levels to which one rises in the Heavenly Kingdom. The lazy bum, drinker, whore monger, liar and thief might be rescued, but find himself at the lowest level of the kingdom with a long time of study and new experiences to work up to a better status and life style. I also wrote a piece about THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS.
To he who works here to make the most of his spiritual development much more will be given. But, to those who do little for spiritual development, I believe The Lord will give less, give a reprimand, and tell that person to enter in but make serious changes in his thinking with the help of the new teachers.
The scripture tells us there will be a New Jerusalem and a new world, restored after the terrible destruction. The world will be filled with God’s wisdom and people will say, Let’s go together to the Temple at New Jerusalem to worship God and learn more.
Obviously, if they all knew it all at once and needed to make no changes, this picture would not have been drawn for us. It’s not going to be a perfect world immediately. There will be leaders and teachers and judges and a lot of work will go into building a social foundation from the foundation we have in Christ starting today.
The difficult circumstances we’re going through nowadays is a time of testing and refining. God wants those who are going to really give their all to building the Christ/YHWH foundation for God’s New Order. Jesus is looking for those who will do the work of leadership, teaching and preaching, and helping others find the righteous way and reform their bad behavior. Then, when people say, Come with me. We’ll travel together to New Jerusalem to worship and learn; it won’t be just for a vacation. It will be for a serious effort to improve one’s thinking and behavior.
I sincerely pray that I may be chosen to be groomed to be one of those teachers. If I must pay for my past sins by sweeping the streets for a while, so be it. But eventually I want to teach. I’m doing work here right now as an effort to improve myself and help build a foundation for that new world to come. What about you? What are you doing or intending to do?
As Stewart Best pointed out in one of his many essays, The Lord God is looking for your SINCERITY. Are you going to stand before God and lie to him as others lie to one another and themselves? Can a President of the United States really be both a Christian and a high degree Free Mason paying homage to Satan? Can a man claim to be Christian on Sunday morning and go back to berating his wife and children through his drunken slurs that afternoon? Anyone of right mind can discern that such men need to make serious changes before they go before God and say, I’ve been a sinner but by the power of the word of Jesus, I beg you, please receive me.
God in the form of Jesus will look right through us and know the right from the wrong, the honest from the dishonest, and the Sincere from the insincere and then he will make a final judgment.
YES pray for salvation, then make your effort to change your ways, study more of Bible lessons, and actually READ that Bible, making notes in a note book to help yourself.
Works like giving offerings, or providing charity all alone without prayer and sincere faith in God cannot save you. Work – yes! Because you are inspired by The Holy Spirit to give even when it is not required. Give because you are inspired to benefit others and yourself in the future kingdom which is coming soon. Then you may be more confident that God will say that you have been a good servant and you’re welcome to stay. This is why I often say…
Works, (like changed behavior), will not save you. Faith in the Salvation Prayer and in the final terrible blood sacrifice made by God and Jesus will save you. But that’s not the end of the effort. That’s the BEGINNING. Faith without works is dead.
1 Corinthians 13 New International Version (NIV)
13 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
True enough, the greatest is Love. And if you love Jesus and The Lord God you will keep his commandments.
John 14 New International Version (NIV)
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you.
Therefore I argue, if you LOVE him, you’ll do as he orders us to do. If you intend to be the subject of this monarch you must show NOW that you intend to respect his law and honor him as the ultimate leader, judge and teacher. We do that by keeping his commandments; that is, by doing as he orders us to do.
What does he order us to do?
Luke 10 from the NIV translation:
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Now it’s up to you to read the rest, but the answer we’re fishing for is, we should be helpful, kind and forgiving to everyone. That’s a very tall order. How long do you forgive and be charitable? In some cases I think the answer should be, until that person gets on his feet and shows a will to work for his living.
What if they refuse to work for a living? In that case you must finally say, I’ll forgive him/her but I’m going to stop being charitable because s/he doesn’t deserve my constant charity.
So, what did God order us to do? To avoid sin. Love, help, be kindly, do unto others as we wish they would do unto us. All of these are a result of Love toward our neighbors and the wider community. If you can do these things, and really care about other’s pains and needs you are sincerely doing God’s will. If you have begged for forgiveness and God’s Grace to receive you into the Heavenly Kingdom, and are doing all you can … To avoid sin. Love, help, be kindly, do unto others as we wish they would do unto us… I’m confident you’ll be saved.
You can see now, MY view is, a 15-second insincere prayer will not be sufficient for your salvation. You had better decide to do more. Let’s suppose you’re house bound by reason of injury or illness and you can do nothing more than sit here, study, and pray for the needs of others. That’s fine. That’s enough. You’re giving all you can give and it’s enough.
Even if a reader is a prisoner in a state penitentiary and all he can do now is study and pray, it’s enough. If he sincerely wants salvation from his former “self,” from the micro-culture of ghetto life and a broken family, to God’s Heavenly Kingdom, if he will sincerely continue to change his ways, study to understand more, and pray for the needs of others and himself, it’s enough. He will be saved.
Sure, I know what sin is about. I was the young man budding writer who thought he should look at everything, to see where the world was going. I found out. I saw things that made me feel filthy just looking. I am sorry for this. I’ve sinned. But, it perhaps equipped me to speak to you in your language, and speak to “where you’re coming from.”
The world has been a filthy, nasty place that pours its spiritual effluent even through your computer and TV into your living room and bedroom. It is detestable and abominable before God. It’s going to stop!
What will YOU do today “for Heaven’s sake?” What will you do today to help the world to stop being filthy and build a foundation for the new Kingdom to come? If all you can do now, if all you are qualified to do now is read, think, and pray, that’s fine. Do that! Continue doing that. One day you may be inspired to do more. For now, get a start with reading. Read what I write. Read what other’s write.
Prepare yourself to be more of what God wants you to be, and in these ways you can invest your time, effort and life toward your spiritual development so that you will be welcomed into God’s Kingdom.
We live in a time period when most people you know will ridicule this or tell you to go with them for a few more drinks and some lusty entertainment. It’s time to turn away from that. Tell them, “no thanks” and send them on their way. Your way is an up-hill climb. It is the hard spiritual development path to God’s Kingdom. Pray and then work like you mean what you’ve said. And remember prayer also includes your own conversations with God. So converse!
I SHOULD end there, but I am compelled to add, this is a difficult debate because you need the ENTIRE gospel message. Do you really care if you are or are not saved? Yes? Then you must see this video which exhorts us to TRUST the final sacrifice, the blood atonement of Jesus. Again, we are saved by faith, not in only a gospel to believe and call upon his name, but to believe and expect salvation because Jesus was sacrificed on the cross and his death, his blood lost, as would be the blood of a sacrificial lamb’s blood, covers our sins and does what we can never do by simply calling the name of Jesus or by any other sort of “works.”
We cannot be saved by any works. Not by prayer, by preaching, by teaching, by building, by donations of money, nor by doing for the poor and miserable. All of these things are noted by God and will bring you credit and benefit in the Heavenly Kingdom. But none of them can rescue/redeem/save you. Only the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross saves us.
If you care to hear a good message go to this video and watch it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCz0yDuOmx0&feature=push-u&attr_tag=dAG_T-1UZFh-YpyX-6 See it even if you must break it into 2 or 3 parts and see a piece each evening. Do see it. I think you’ll gain by doing so.
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