Page 1 of 1

Question

Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 9:27 pm
by Tyrone Brown
What do you guys think about "Grace Is My Good Works". It's this guy on youtube who teaches that Jesus Christ is one's good works, and just about everything to a true believer. Gotta admit the videos he has posted are very convincing. I emailed him and asked him to give me his story on why he believes this. I also asked him what he thought about 1 John 2:6 where it states "He who saith he abideth in him ought himself so to walk, even as he walked. Here is his reply to me.

1. “He who saith he abideth in him ought himself so to walk, even as he walked”

---we are baptized into the death and life of Christ… So I bring before God the body of Christ as my sacrifice----and I have received the blood of Christ.. The Bible says “the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11)… So if we have received the blood of Christ---we have also received his life in the flesh… So I have the flesh of Christ, meaning I partake in HIS life in the flesh… So I am imputed, or given credit for the life of Christ… In this way, I walk even as Christ walked because we have the same exact life…. Whereas this life in the flesh that I am experiencing now is not my life, I count it as loss (as Jesus said, whoever tries to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life will save it).. I have lost my life in the flesh and received Christ’s life in the flesh as my own----so we have the same life… so I walk even as he walked. Does this make sense to you?



2. My “testimony” is that Jesus is my Good Works. That’s as short as it gets… but if you want to hear of my story in the flesh…



~I was very involved in “church” from an early age. I was in the worship band from age 14 and was touring with my worship band to different churches across the country… I was only playing music at that time becauase I loved music, I didn’t care about doing good works or anything like that

~at age of 18 I was sent to an “encounter” retreat where I was exposed to charismatic Christianity. At this retreat, they were casting out demons and teaching people to speak in tongues… I got “converted” and as part of the program, I had to throw all my non Christian music and movies into a huge bonfire… so after this retreat, I became really passionate about praying 2-4 hours a day, I would read bible everyday, I became a youth group preacher, I became involved in 4 other churches on top of my home church, I quit smoking and drinking, I quit masturbating, and I began to try and do many good works for God to earn a greater reward in heaven. It was easy for me and everyone respected me because I had “changed” so much in their eyes and I was spending so much time helping churches with my musical talents.. I was also invited to become a youth pastor at 2 different churches but had to say no because my fiancé didn’t want me to become a pastor…

~ So I got married at 24 and kept playing worship at churches but there began in inner battle within me about whether or not there was any eternal worth in everything I was doing for God… and also, I had picked up smoking at 23 and my wife kept telling me that because I was addicted to smoking, that was proof im not saved… so I was praying about it, asking God if I should quit smoking to please him… and it was during that low point in my life that I first encountered the true Jesus (not the false Jesus I believed in at the retreat which forced me to go and quit a bunch of things and to start working for God because that is all worthless to God).

~The true Jesus told me that HE is my righteousness and my good works. He told me that if I quit smoking for Him, I would also have to quit every other sin for the rest of my life and that is impossible… so instead, I should only trust in HIM and stop trying to please God by my efforts and changes… As it is written in 1 Peter 3:21 “(not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ” It was then I realized I didn’t need to try and put away the filth of my flesh for God but rather to come before God with a clean heart. Because you can’t have a clean heart while you’re trying to clean your flesh.. it’s one or the other.. either your flesh is dead and your heart is clean, or your heart is dirty and you’re trying to clean your flesh like the Pharisees who would white wash their tombs…
~anyways, from age of 25 until now, (I’m 29), I have remained steadfast in my faith that JESUS is my good works and I have none else. Over time God has been revealing many many scriptures to me that the pastors and churches have been perverting in order to deny that JESUS is our works….
So I have been saved for 4 years during which time I have never been convicted of sin again.. After all, how can I be convicted of sin if God forgave all my sins? God does not keep a record of wrongs and he has separated me from my sin as far as the east is from the west. And now I am perfect before God because JESUS is my righteousness and my good works so how can the Holy Spirit convict me of sin if I am perfect in Christ? Moreover, if JESUS is my works, how can I ever be guilty of sin again? JESUS is perfect and JESUS is my works so all my works are now perfect because Jesus is all my works… And as Jesus said in John 16, “I will send the Holy Spirit and He will convict the world of sin because they do not believe in me”…. So God revealed to me that people keep being convicted of sin because they don’t believe that JESUS is their good works and instead they want to remain in their own works, to remain in their sin….
Anyways, I live before God with an “all good conscience” as apostle Paul says. All I know is Christ crucified, He alone is my everything. JESUS is my good works, JESUS is my life, JESUS is my wisdom, Jesus is my humility, patience, love, meekness, JESUS is my riches and my tithe to God, JESUS is my first fruits and my eternal good fruit, Jesus is my bread of life and JESUS is my all things.

Does this "true Jesus" match up with the scriptures? Is he just coming up with this stuff? In one of his videos he said the true meaning of Matthew 5:29-30 is that the left and right speak on the spirit and the flesh, and that the spirit must be separated from the flesh in order for the spirit to become a member of Christ. This statement I can agree with, but then again is that really what those verses mean? Is what he is stating God given understanding or just fleshly assumpstion? If you want to examine the video for yourselves, I'll post this link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhqL-coqBhY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In it, he talks about what he "true" sanctification is, and refutes the progressional type of sanctification which every other pastor teaches.

Re: Question

Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 9:14 am
by Paul Cohen
Hi Tyrone,

I watched the video you provided by Jacob from the YouTube channel called “Grace Is My Good Works.” I’m answering your letter and Jacob’s reply in the text below (yours in blue, Jacob’s in red, and mine in black):

I also asked him [Jacob] what he thought about 1 John 2:6 where it states ‘He who saith he abideth in him ought himself so to walk, even as he walked.’

Jacob’s answer to this Scripture (1 John 2:6):

---we are baptized into the death and life of Christ… So I bring before God the body of Christ as my sacrifice----and I have received the blood of Christ..

We are to bring the body of Christ before God as our sacrifice? Where does one find this in the Scriptures? On the contrary, the Word of God tells us this is something were NOT supposed to do:

“But the righteousness of faith says this: ‘Do not say in your heart... ‘Who shall descend into the deep?’; that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead” (Romans 10:6-7).

Jacob isn’t advocating the faith of Christ – he’s preaching black magic. The righteousness of faith says this: “‘The Word is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart;’ that is, the Word of Faith which we proclaim; Because if you confess the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved” (Romans 10:8-9).

You SHALL be saved. Jacob skips everything between believing and working out one’s salvation.

But aren’t we saved when we first believe, one may legitimately ask? Yes, in the sense that our salvation is sure in Heaven, but it still must be worked out on earth by faith:

“So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).

At repentance, we were saved, we are being saved as we work out our salvation in the fear of God, and we will be saved when we’ve endured to the end:

“And you will be hated by all for My Name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:22 ESV).

“The one who overcomes, this one will be clothed in white clothing. And I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels” (Revelation 3:5 MKJV).

(On overcoming to the end and its fruits of ultimate victory, see also Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26: 3:12, 21; 21:7.)

Does Jacob presume to have overcome when initially converted (saved) according to his definition, “So I have been saved for 4 years during which time I have never been convicted of sin again...”? If so, he would be wrong.

This is where Jacob errs. He assumes to have salvation when he doesn’t and thereby circumvents the way to obtain it. We don’t hear Jacob speaking of obeying and working out his salvation because he’s never experienced these things. He’s taken a shortcut to the wedding feast and is lacking the wedding garment, the righteousness of the saints. He mistakenly thinks God doesn’t see his filthiness because He sees Christ instead. That’s a big mistake, spiritually crippling and quenching.

We need to walk in the obedience of faith to have our salvation (and sanctification) made good. In this way Christ’s righteousness becomes ours, because we’re one with Him. This is how we are sanctified, being purged of the dead works of the flesh.

“Therefore if anyone purges himself from these, he shall be a vessel to honor, sanctified and useful to the Master, prepared for every good work” (2 Timothy 2:21).

“Sanctify” means to be made holy, purified and consecrated to God. It’s His work, since we have no righteousness or faith of our own to make it happen. We walk in Christ’s righteousness and faith.

This is where the confusion comes in for Jacob, who promotes a gospel that has you saved/sanctified because you believe you are. His notion of sanctification keeps one from actually taking up the cross, walking in the light, and truly becoming sanctified and saved.

The Bible says “the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11)… So if we have received the blood of Christ---we have also received his life in the flesh… So I have the flesh of Christ, meaning I partake in HIS life in the flesh… So I am imputed, or given credit for the life of Christ… In this way, I walk even as Christ walked because we have the same exact life….

The operative word here is “if.” “IF” we have received the blood of Christ. One can’t assume they’ve received Christ’s blood, just because they’ve red about it in the Bible and profess to believe. We are commanded to eat His flesh and drink His blood in order to receive His blood and life. And how does one do that? Again, it’s a matter of faith and obedience. Jacob doesn’t speak of these things because they’re not part of his program. He assumes he has the blood by means of his doctrine. He has devised for himself a comfortable arrangement of entry into the Kingdom of God which does not avail.

The apostle Paul, on the other hand, tells us how to receive Christ’s blood. It’s the central focus of his Gospel:

“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel; not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. For the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those being lost, but to us being saved, it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:17-18).

Read The Cross - Only the Death Sentence Will Avail and How One Is Saved.

Whereas this life in the flesh that I am experiencing now is not my life, I count it as loss (as Jesus said, whoever tries to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life will save it).. I have lost my life in the flesh and received Christ’s life in the flesh as my own----so we have the same life… so I walk even as he walked.

This kind of reasoning isn’t faith. It’s much like the Buddhist pursuit of nirvana (“extinction”) through mental willpower, discipline, and emotional dissociation from the world (flesh). It’s a work of man’s willpower, of carnal faith founded in self-deception, not the will of God through Jesus Christ and His resurrection power.

“But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13 KJV).

The only way we can properly lose our lives is by His application of the cross coupled with our faith in taking it up. Jacob doesn’t talk in these terms because he hasn’t experienced the death of the cross or the resurrection life of Christ.

So I have been saved for 4 years during which time I have never been convicted of sin again.. After all, how can I be convicted of sin if God forgave all my sins? God does not keep a record of wrongs and he has separated me from my sin as far as the east is from the west. And now I am perfect before God because JESUS is my righteousness and my good works so how can the Holy Spirit convict me of sin if I am perfect in Christ?

The only reason Jacob hasn’t been convicted of sin since adopting his gospel is because he’s erected a firewall in his mind between himself and what he does. He has achieved “extinction.” Jacob no longer exists and his works are transformed because they’re being done by the Jesus of his imagination, even though his works are wrong. A neat magic trick, if ever there was one.

Jacob, you err; talk to us, if you care.

Moreover, if JESUS is my works, how can I ever be guilty of sin again? JESUS is perfect and JESUS is my works so all my works are now perfect because Jesus is all my works…

Again, the big “IF.” According to Jacob, the apostle John didn’t know what he was talking about when inspired by the Holy Spirit to write:

“My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).

I live before God with an “all good conscience” as apostle Paul says. All I know is Christ crucified, He alone is my everything. JESUS is my good works, JESUS is my life, JESUS is my wisdom, Jesus is my humility, patience, love, meekness, JESUS is my riches and my tithe to God, JESUS is my first fruits and my eternal good fruit, Jesus is my bread of life and JESUS is my all things.

One doesn’t know Christ crucified unless crucified with Him.

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Jacob is a liar. Not a deliberate one, but a liar by nature, as all men are, because he isn’t crucified with Christ; he has deceived himself. Now your questions are answered:

Does this "true Jesus" match up with the scriptures? Is he just coming up with this stuff?

You also ask:

In one of his videos he said the true meaning of Matthew 5:29-30 is that the left and right speak on the spirit and the flesh, and that the spirit must be separated from the flesh in order for the spirit to become a member of Christ. This statement I can agree with, but then again is that really what those verses mean? Is what he is stating God given understanding or just fleshly assumpstion?

“And if your right eye offends you, pluck it out and throw it from you. For it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be thrown into hell. And if your right hand offends you, cut it off and throw it from you. For it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be thrown into hell” (Matthew 5:29-30).

Jesus is talking about what Paul referred to as “keeping under his body” in order that he didn’t become a castaway:

1 Corinthians 9:24-27
(24) Do you not know that those running in a race all run, but one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain.
(25) And everyone who strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Then those truly that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.
(26) So then I run, not as if I were uncertain. And so I fight, not as one who beats the air.
(27) But I buffet my body, and lead it captive, lest proclaiming to others I myself might be rejected.

Jacob is wrong. The salvation of Christ reconciles the whole man with God, body, soul, and spirit. There is no schism or need to deny we are weak creatures of flesh and blood, but all things are in order because submitted to the One True Head of the Body. Jacob isn’t under the Head – he’s under delusion.

“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, so that all those who do not believe the truth, but delight in unrighteousness, might be condemned” (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 MKJV).

So, concerning his declaration, “Grace Is My Good Works,” no, grace is NOT a spiritual pilgrim’s good works. Grace is the enablement of the saint to perform good works – with grace, he has a duty to perform. Grace is the favor of God granted to the soul brought up from the dead by Jesus Christ’s Resurrection Power to do His will and live as He lives in the Resurrected Life.

“He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him” (John 14:21 MKJV).

While Jacob appears to be saying something similar, his aim is off and misses the mark entirely (the definition of sin - Greek, “hamartia,” missing the mark), though he appears to shoot generally in the right direction.

Jacob isn’t saying, “It is not I but Christ Who lives in me (Galatians 2:20)”; he is actually saying, “It is not Christ but I who live in Him.” His take sounds valid and good, even virtuous and God-glorifying, but then that’s exactly what the subtle serpent is all about. (Jacob, talk to us, if perhaps God might grant you correction, true faith and repentance.)

“But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, Who of God is made to us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).

“Therefore, beloved, knowing beforehand, beware lest being led away with the error of the lawless, you fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen” (2 Peter 3:17-18 MKJV).

Tyrone, please see to it that Jacob gets this correspondence.

Paul & Victor

Re: Question

Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 4:00 pm
by Tyrone Brown
Here are his responses :

"Tyrone, I read 30% of this filth. What do you want me to do? Waste my time responding to sons of the devil who want to do works for salvation? Show them my most recent video. Ask them to refute that one."
Here it is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5mTVpEcGhk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Tyrone,

Don’t let their many meaningless words mislead you. I could write a long essay too proving what they just said is damnable… But why complicate the issue? I speak plainly for your sake. So tell Paul and Victor this: (and lets see their response)

1. Salvation is by Grace through faith, not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9)

2. Those who do works for salvation are not saved (Romans 4:5, Matthew 7:21-23)

3. JESUS is SALVATION (Exodus 15:2, Psalms 27:1, 1 Corinthians 1:30) The very name “Yeshua” means Yahweh is Salvation

4. Those who do works for JESUS are doing works for SALVATION because JESUS is SALVATION

5. Those who do works for JESUS are therefore not saved.

Let’s see them refute ANY line included here."

I would be very careful talking to Paul and victor. My opinion, I evangelize everyday and lead many small groups. People like them will never accept Jesus as their good works. They are bound in their works. I don’t recommend having any dialogue with them because it will only cause doubts.

But that’s on you Tyrone. I debate people like this everyday, I’m already firm in the foundation God has set, that JESUS is my Good Works.

I wouldn’t recommend you dialogue with them. Honestly, they are very dangerous cult leaders.
"

Re: Question

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 9:03 am
by Marilyn Hafichuk
Jacob wants to keep his sins, so he's made up this foolish theology to suit his own wicked desires and defends it in his self-righteousness.

Only those who want to keep their sins will fall for this blatant deception. Mat 15:14 Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

Re: Question

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 9:12 am
by Rachel Gerrard
"Works for Jesus?" Does he mean obedience? Doing the will of the Father? Or something else?

Re: Question

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 9:28 pm
by Victor Hafichuk
Rachel, you'll find he really doesn't know WHAT he means himself, but I can tell you, as we have, what his intention is, and that is what Marilyn spelled out. He wants to keep his sin, as do all those who follow his pernicious doctrine.

His theology is one of having your cake and eating it, too. God has set up light and darkness, good and evil, right and wrong, truth and error. They are not to be mixed or confused.

Jacob is destroyed; see his visage. He has contemned the blood of Christ, which wasn't shed to cover up but to forgive, and by His life we live as we walk by faith and obey Him, the fruits of salvation.

We don't preach work to be saved but we do preach that the new creature will love the Lord and keep His Commandments, just as He said. Obedience is the farthest thing from Jacob's mind. To him, the thought or mention of obedience to Christ is anathema. He would much rather do sacrifice by speaking out as he does. Which is a problem because while his position has the appearance of faith in and love for God, even revelation from God, the opposite is the reality. Jacob just wants the feel good state while reserving the right to continue doing all the things of the flesh without condemnation; that's the sum of it.

Isn't it better to cease

Re: Question

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2016 2:20 am
by Rachel Gerrard
Yes amen! And by speaking out like this, it attracts criticism which they then interpret as "persecution for Christ's sake".

Re: Question

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2016 9:24 am
by Victor Hafichuk
I don't know what happened to my last sentence.

Very true, Rachel; in Jacob's mind now, we're the legalistic Pharisees persecuting those like him who now have it together in Christ by "true" faith. As he sees it, he's "really" trusting Christ's finished work and here we are trusting in our obedience or what he would call "sacrifice" - works. His is one of those doctrines that is quite enticing to the flesh. They have the desirable and proudly borne "I get it!" syndrome while falling for a pleasing lie. It's really despicable.

Re: Question

Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2016 4:49 pm
by Victor Hafichuk
So Tyrone, what do you have to say? Are you expecting to bring us into a debate with this man and prove faith by doctrine, or do you have the faith to receive the Lord in spite of man's doctrine?

Even if Jacob did have true doctrine, which some of it is, albeit twisted, consider that the Pharisees also had true doctrine, yet were steadfastly opposed to the One Who stood in their midst and Whom they presumed to worship.

Re: Question

Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2016 11:17 pm
by Tyrone Brown
I think I posted this topic 1-2 weeks before either you or Paul approved it and in that time period I meditated on a lot of the writings on this site so I'll go with the latter. Honestly, I don't think Jacob came up with this doctrine on his own.... Notice that in his story where he said after he backslid he prayed to God about it, and then he encountered the "true" Jesus. Whoever he met is the prime cause as to why he believes and teaches this doctrine. In Gal. 1:8 Paul mentioned that an angel from heaven can also preach a different gospel, so could it be that he was deceived by an evil spirit posing as Jesus?

Re: Question

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2016 12:49 am
by Iain Star
I am new here and I was thinking while reading this thread that i may be in the wrong place - I am assured such people MUST BE - Mat 24:11 And many false prophets shall be roused, and shall be deceiving many".

I would imagine this incorporates people of less understanding as well.If I am to believe the whole Word then I need to adhere to all of it. If God declares that these type of false people MUST BE/WILL BE what should my stand be - perhaps this,
Mat 24:13 Yet he who endures to the consummation, he shall be saved."

In my mind and in my experience it does not help going against what must be - If I believe that God is "all in all" then these same so called false people are too part of God's great plan.

2Pe 2:1 Yet there came to be false prophets also among the people, as among you also there will be false teachers who will be smuggling in destructive sects, even disowning the Owner Who buys them, bringing on themselves swift destruction."
2Pe 2:2 And many will be following out their wantonness, because of whom the glory of the truth will be calumniated,
2Pe 2:3 and in greed, with suave words, they will traffic in you, whose judgment of old is not idling, and their destruction is not nodding."

If they bring on themselves
swift destruction
is it our business ?

Joh 21:21 Peter, then, perceiving this one, is saying to Jesus, "Lord, yet what of this man?
Joh 21:22 Jesus is saying to him, "If I should be wanting him to be remaining till I am coming, what is it to you? You be following Me!
If I should be wanting him to be remaining till I am coming, what is it to you?

Re: Question

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2016 2:31 pm
by Paul Cohen
Iain, your logic is flawed because your thoughts aren’t God’s thoughts. Just because something contrary to God “must be,” doesn’t mean believers aren’t called on to expose and avoid that thing. For example, the apostle Paul writes:

“For there must also be heresies among you, that the approved ones may be revealed among you” (1 Corinthians 11:19 MKJV).

According to your thinking, we should simply accept heresies and shouldn’t alert others in order for them to avoid the corruption. Yours is a very foolish and wicked thought, totally contrary to God and the instruction He gives to overseers in His Assembly:

“Holding fast the faithful Word according to the doctrine, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convict the gainsayers. For there are indeed many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouth you must stop, who subvert whole houses, teaching things not right for the sake of ill gain” (Titus 1:9-11 MKJV).

You ask, alluding to 2 Peter 2:1, “If they [these false teachers] bring on themselves ‘swift destruction,’ is it our business?

It certainly is the business of those who believe and are given to feed and protect God’s flock. The next verse you quoted from Peter tells us so:

“And many will follow their [the false teacher’s] pernicious ways, and because of them the way of truth will be evil spoken of” (2 Peter 2:2 MKJV).

Shall we sit idly by while liars and scoundrels like the Jacob discussed in this post peddle their spiritual witchcraft in the public arena and we’re called upon to discern the matter? Didn’t Jesus, the Head of those who believe, come against the false of His day, even to the point of physical expulsion?

“And they came to Jerusalem. And when Jesus entered into the temple, He began to throw out those selling and buying in the temple, and He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those selling the doves… And He was teaching, saying to them, ‘Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of thieves!” (Mark 11:15-17 EMTV)

Just how do you think God prevails over the wickedness of this world, if not through those who walk in His faith?

“Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the strangers” (Hebrews 11:33-34 MKJV).

“Don’t you know that the saints will judge the world?” (1 Corinthians 6:2 WEB)

“For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith” (1 John 5:4 ESV).

But you promote laying back and doing nothing, which means you have nothing from Christ. Otherwise, you wouldn’t think that way.

You also wrongly apply the Lord’s words to Peter about the apostle John (quoted below) to what Peter wrote about false teachers (in the verses quoted above). Here’s the exchange between Peter and the Lord:

“Peter, seeing him [John], said to Jesus, ‘But Lord, what about this man?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me’” (John 21:21-22 EMTV).

There’s no connection whatsoever between these words and Peter’s warning to us about false teachers, in which Peter says nothing about not addressing their evil. In fact, doesn’t his warning about false teachers show us we aren’t to ignore the evil leaven but need to identity and warn others about it?

“And Jesus said to them, Take heed, and beware the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees” (Matthew 16:6 MKJV).

How can we take heed and beware of something if we don’t see or know what it is? This brings us to your next error, which is grouping “people of less understanding” with false teachers. Not all people of “less understanding” presume to teach others and some of these people are new believers who need teaching. Those who believe are ministered to when falsehood is exposed by God’s commission:

“Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment against all, and to convict all the ungodly among them about all their ungodly deeds which they have committed impiously, and about all the harsh words which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him’” (Jude 1:14-15 EMTV).

Believers don’t oppose the Lord’s coming in His saints, but anti-Christs do:

“By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the antichrist you heard is coming, and even now is already in the world” (1 John 4:2-3 MKJV).

You are believing wrong, Iain. You need to repent and to forsake your thinking in order to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and enter into His thinking.

Re: Question

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2016 2:41 pm
by Beryl Knipe
Amen, Paul. Thank you for sharing this post. Thank You, Father!