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“Yet My people have forgotten Me; they burn incense to idols. They have stumbled in the way they should go; they no longer follow the old ways; they walk on unmarked paths” (Jeremiah 18:15 GNB).
I recently told a member of a common Christian church that he was in darkness. He could not understand how it was so. When I began to point out to him examples of his darkness, he was perplexed. He could not argue with me or with the Bible, realizing that what the Bible and I were saying and what he was living were in obvious conflict.
Many who think they are not in darkness have never known the True Light, and therefore do not know the difference. Church membership, no matter how dedicated or longstanding, does not avail with God, Who is Light. Believing some true doctrines does not cut it with Him either; the Pharisees are an example. Now the Bible says if one walks in darkness, he does not know where he is going (John 12:35). How many think they walk upright and steadfastly, when, truly, they are covered with bruises, often lying on the ground?
There are those who profess faith in Christ who earnestly believe that they are without sin, though they suffer terrible diseases and hardships. They therefore conclude that sin is not the problem or the issue. They readily identify with such as Job, the patient man who suffered greatly, though he “was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.” They give themselves to spiritual pride, presuming to be pious, courageous and full of exemplary faith. They soon become “authorities” on the subjects of suffering and healing in the Christian Biblical context, and perish in their pride and pagan, idolatrous practices, thinking this to be the purpose of their trials in Christ. They fail to consider and recognize that Job did not perish in his trial, but, instead, was, in the end, doubly honored and blessed by God, while these who use Job as an excuse perish in their maladies and tragedies. Remarkably, they also fail to recognize that, unlike themselves, the “perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil” was delivered of his calamity and greatly blessed, when finally confessing:
“In the past I knew only what others had told me, but now I have seen You with my own eyes. So I am ashamed of all I have said and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6 GNB).
Job was God’s classic example, a living allegory set forth by Heaven to demonstrate His will and ways to all who seek after and honor Him in all their ways. It is my purpose to make it very clear that God heals and delivers, blesses and prospers. Sin is invariably the root cause of disease and tragedy. The problem is that many who have been taught lies as truth, in the Name of Christ, have been deceived, and are practicing and teaching things which anger God and which destroy, even wonderfully. For those who suffer and do not know the difference between righteous and unrighteous sufferings, this series is for you. You may also read: God Heals Today, His Way.
(Let me make something clear. I am not scolding or rebuking the world, those who do not profess faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Better are they than those who do profess, yet are guilty of the sins listed herein. I address the sins of those who think to be faithful believers in Christ. Having said that, I can also promise, with confidence by my experience in the things of God and by the testimony of the Scriptures, that even those who do not profess Christian faith will find great benefit if taking advantage of the counsel of God found here.)
You say you believe in Jesus, that He paid for your sins, but your sins are destroying you. “What sins?” you ask, perhaps with indignity. I will tell you. There are many sins Christians commit everyday, thinking they are serving God and doing His will. See if you will believe me and be spared, or continue in your sins, and be destroyed in them. Do not be bigoted and dismissive; it will cost you dearly; be receptive, believe, obey, and you will be greatly, joyously blessed.
While there are many sins that people know are sins, the primary purpose of this paper is to point out those that Christians not only are not aware are sins, but even believe are things God-ordained, such as Sunday-keeping, denominational membership, and celebrating Christmas and Easter (Ishtar/Ashtoreth), things upon which is the great wrath of God and for which His people suffer and often die. Be sure your sins not only will but also do find you out.
Do You Keep Sunday as the Sabbath?
Christian, do you keep Sunday as your day of rest, substituted for the Sabbath of God? (No, I am not a “Seventh Day Adventist,” or so-called “Sabbatarian.”) Can you show me anywhere in the Bible where God changed the day of rest? Here is what James says about breaking the Law:
“For anyone who keeps all the law, but makes a slip in one point, is judged to have gone against it all” (James 2:10 BBE).
These are the words of a Christian speaker, a true disciple of Jesus Christ, and not a Pharisee. He was not speaking to unconverted Jews but to Christians. And he was not speaking out of “ignorance of the times,” but by the Spirit of grace and truth, by Jesus Christ! His letter is included in the New Testament as instruction for believers and professors in Christ.
Read in our section, The Sabbath. Read The True Marks of a Cult and be surprised and instructed when you find that it applies to all formal, religious, nominal Christian organizations.
Are You Participating in the Poisoning of the Earth?
Christian, do you support the conventional food industry by consuming non-organic foods, which are laced with poisons and stripped of much nutrition by the prince of this world through his mercenary subjects, who are the rulers of darkness? Are you killing your own children in slow motion? Read Christian Physical Diet.
Christian farmer, do you use antibiotics, growth hormones and chemicals on your animals? Do you use pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and artificial fertilizers on your land, indiscriminately destroying all elements of the environment? Here is what God promises to such that do so:
“The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and to those that fear Your name, to the small and to the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth” (Revelation 11:18 EMTV).
Are you innocent, non-farmer? Are you supporting such practices, buying and eating that which the ungodly farmer produces, and remaining silent when he does so? Why do you think you and yours are dying of cancer and suffering so many other diseases and tragedies? You are disobeying God. Wittingly or otherwise, the consequences are there.
Do You Keep Pagan Holidays?
Do you celebrate Christmas and Easter? You are blaspheming, and poking your finger in His eye when you do so. (No, we are not JWs.) Read That Devilish Spirit of Christmas.
Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day, birthdays, and so many other pagan events, with which the world has no problem and even thinks to be pleasing to God? After all, is not Valentine’s Day all about “love”? Foolish children in darkness! You grope in and destroy yourselves in all these indulgences. Do you know who Cupid is? Do you know the origin of “Valentine’s Day” and the celebrating of birthdays? Do you realize you are spitting in God’s face when you do these things? Is it any wonder then that He does not hear your prayers?
Do you send your children on Hallowe’en, or open your door to children, treating them on that satanic night? Do you decorate your houses with jack-o-lanterns, witches, ghosts, goblins, ghouls and pirates? Salvation Army: You set up Hallowe’en displays in your Thrift Store and take merchandising opportunities in the name of Satan; and you call yourself a Christian organization? Shame on you! If you want to be as the world, better not to identify Jesus Christ with your devilry. Is it any wonder you fall under the wrath of God with the diseases He laid on the Egyptians and judgments of the world? He promised this to all those that believe:
“If you will listen carefully to the LORD your God and do what He considers right, if you pay attention to His commands and obey all His laws, I will never make you suffer any of the diseases I made the Egyptians suffer, because I am the LORD, Who heals you” (Exodus 15:26 GW).
The willful sinner who would justify him or herself replies, “God was talking about the plagues He visited on Egypt,” or, “They didn’t have Fibromyalgia, Parkinson’s disease or MS in those days; this is something else.” Did they not? It was once thought there were no such things as cancer, arthritis and heart disease either, but archaeologists found out differently. So God keeps you from giant hailstones and frogs, but lets you die of cancer instead. Does that make sense to you? Is He contradictory in His ways or are you? Calling yourself “Christian” and perishing in your sins, you contradict yourself and misrepresent Him. By supporting lies, you are also guilty of destruction and murder because you influence others to believe those lies when, instead, you could be delivering them with the truth.
Do You Observe the Shadow Feasts?
Do you keep the Levitical Feasts, thinking that you honor God by doing so? Truly, you dishonor Him. Firstly, you have no Levite to officiate and make the necessary sacrifices, according to the Law. Secondly, you do not have the Tabernacle of God at which he could make them, even if you could find a Levite to do it for you. Do you say that Yeshua, the Lamb of God, has already been sacrificed, and that His Body is the Tabernacle? Exactly the point; so why are you looking to the shadow rather than the Substance? Your religion is vain, Yahwist and exclusive Hebrew Name user (read The Name of God). You pretend to keep the Law, but do not keep it according to the Word of God, Who said this to Moses:
“And let them make a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell in their midst. According to all which I am going to reveal to you, the plan of the tabernacle, and the plan of all its vessels, even so you shall do” (Exodus 25:8-9 LITV).
Are you doing things according to all that was revealed to Moses? No, you are not. You are therefore under a curse, even as it is written:
“For as many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things which are written in the book of the Law, to do them'” (Galatians 3:10 EMTV).
Read The Feast-Keeping that Is Sin.
Do You Follow the Doctrines of Devils?
Do you believe all sorts of doctrines of devils, so-called “foundational tenets of orthodox Christianity”? Did you know that, as you are what you eat physically, so you are what you believe (what you eat spiritually)? Read Diabolical Doctrines, and consider.
Are You a Hypocrite?
Do you scorn those who do not believe as you do? What makes you think you are so different before God? Do you look down your nose at Mormons, member of the Christian Reform church? Do you despise the Catholic, you Baptist? Are you better, smarter, or more spiritual? Read The True Marks of a Cult, and find that there is less difference than you thought.
Do You Worship Mammon?
Is your interest and conversation on money, money, money? I know a professing Christian who can never have a conversation with anyone, except to bring up how much money he makes, how much his house is worth, what kind of good deals he got, how much other wealthy men have or make, how much, how much, how much…. He is consumed with making money, saving money, and more money. But he is a “Christian,” and God is “gravy” to him. He thinks that because he professes faith by grace that he is free to be rich and concentrate on riches, as though it is his God-given blessing. Here is what Jesus has to say about that:
“You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can’t worship God and Money both” (Matthew 6:24 MSG).
“I’m not worshipping money!” he exclaims. No? Then why is financial wealth and gain what you invariably talk about, over and over again? I have heard your same stories several times…rarely about the Lord, always about money! Do you really believe that you can go and do as you please, just because you quit drinking and smoking, now that you are a “believer”? A hard time awaits you, professing-in-vain Christian. You are condemned in your covetous “grace.” Paul lumps you in with fornicators:
“For you know this, that no fornicator, or unclean person, or covetous one (who is an idolater), has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God” (Ephesians 5:5).
Are You Sectarian?
You have no problem with denominational affiliation? Do you support religious partisanship against the clear rebukes of Paul the apostle? Read:
“For while one says, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to each?” (1 Corinthians 3:4-5)
“I am Christian Reform,” or, “I am a Lutheran,” or, “We are Calvinistic,” or, “We are Mennonites,” or, “We are Hutterites,” or, “I am a Catholic, the biggest, oldest, original Church that Jesus Christ founded on Peter, the ‘Mother Church.'” Jesus Christ is not impressed, especially when you attribute to Him something that is not true.
You suppose the apostle Paul was a fanatical fool, an extremist? He was chosen of God to let the people know His thoughts, ways and will. If Paul was extremist, God is extremist. Take it up with Him.
Is Your Church Registered With the Government?
Do you bring tithes and offerings to your church? If so, do you get a receipt for them? If so, why does your church give you receipts? Does it do so, so that you can get income tax deductions? A church is only permitted to issue receipts for tax purposes because it is registered and licensed with the government to do so. Just what is a church and what is its purpose? Why does a church seek to give receipts for gifts to God? Is it not so that members of the church might be motivated to give more? Is it not true that if one church gives receipts for offerings, and another does not, yet both teach the same doctrines and do the same things, that some people would be persuaded to go to the church where they would receive tax breaks? Is not Mammon what this is all about?
Is not a church supposed to be the Body of Christ? Are not some of the purposes of the church to: one, learn of God; two, bear witness of the Lord; three, have fellowship with other believers; and four, to bring the good news, the gospel, to unbelievers? Why would true believers even think to register with a Gentile, unbelieving government to get monetary credit from it so that it can do all these things?
I ask you: Can you see Jesus and His disciples registering themselves as a church with Pilate for tax breaks? Is not the very notion ludicrous and contemptible? Did the early church of Acts register with the government? Does Christ, the presumed Head of the church, obtain formal or any kind of permission from men so that He can bring them and their subjects salvation by His Body? Do we, as His representative Body on earth, do so, though He, the Head, did not? Did He not say, “As My Father has sent Me, so I send you,” and “As the world hates Me, so it will hate you”? Will you get, and do you need, legal rights to worship God and preach the Truth? Shall the Maker require the creature’s permission and support? Do you walk in the light, Christian? If you belong to an organization that is in darkness, you are also in darkness, not only in this matter, but in all; make no mistake. Jesus said this:
“Your eyes are the lamp for your body. When your eyes are good, you have all the light you need. But when your eyes are bad, everything is dark” (Luke 11:34 CEV).
Do You Have Religious Objects?
Do you have religious pictures and images in your home? Do you not know that these things automatically incur God’s wrath upon you and your household? Know it! Don’t tell me you do not worship them. You value them, do you not, in light of the fact that God told you not to have them? Ignore His commandment to your peril. Read Religious Images, Icons, and Likenesses.
Are You Worldly?
Are you in friendship with the world? Do you spend time, money and energy on sports, watching and attending games and performances? Do you gamble, no matter how much or how little? Do you live for yourself, seeking enjoyment or fulfillment in fishing, camping, picnics, parties, travel, condos, boats, yachts, art collections, etc.? Do you really believe you have entrance into Heaven with that kind of attitude and lifestyle? Think again! Satan has you by the scruff of your neck and carries you off to the fires, even as you live in pleasures. You, by your ways, give him legal rights to do so. God does not spare brats. So you think you are free of the Law of God? Think again, O free one:
“Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to destroy but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, Till the heaven and the earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall in any way pass from the Law until all is fulfilled. Therefore whoever shall relax one of these commandments, the least, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness shall exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:17-20).
Is righteousness with God obtained by the keeping of the Law? Not at all! I am saying that unless the fulfilled Law is evident in you, you do not have His righteousness.
Here is what John has to say:
“Children, don’t be fooled. Anyone who does right is good, just like Christ Himself. Anyone who keeps on sinning belongs to the devil. He has sinned from the beginning, but the Son of God came to destroy all that he has done. God’s children cannot keep on being sinful. His life-giving power lives in them and makes them His children, so that they cannot keep on sinning. You can tell God’s children from the devil’s children, because those who belong to the devil refuse to do right or to love each other” (1 John 3:7-10 CEV).
Do you really believe that living as does the world is what “taking up the cross” is all about? Have you ever heard of taking up the cross? Do you know what it means, Christian? If you call yourself a Christian, and are a Christian, you would know that taking up the cross is what you are called to do (like putting on your clothes everyday), costing your life in this world.
Do You Honor False Brethren?
Do you honor as brothers and sisters all those who name Christ, simply because they name Him? Are you not aware that you are just as guilty of calling, without just cause, “Christians” those who are not Christians, as those who accuse true Christians, without just cause, of not being Christians? Are you aware that you bring damnation to your souls in these things? Jesus Christ is not the Elder Brother of any unregenerate soul, whose heart is corrupt. By calling those living in sin, “Christian brethren,” you are attributing their lifestyle to Christ. You are, in effect, blaspheming.
Are You A Glutton?
How much do you eat, Christian? Are you obese? Are you a glutton? Have you not red that the drunkard will not enter Heaven? Are you not aware that God classifies gluttony along with drunkenness? Here it is:
“And they shall say to the elders of his city, this son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard” (Deuteronomy 21:20).
“But now I have written to you not to associate intimately, if any man called a brother and is either a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one not to eat” (1 Corinthians 5:11).
Are You Unforgiving?
Do you harbor unforgiveness? Do you hate anyone? Are you bitter or resentful toward anyone, no matter if they have truly done you wrong or if you have only perceived them doing so? Here is what John has to say about it:
“If we claim to be in the light and hate someone, we are still in the dark. But if we love others, we are in the light, and we don’t cause problems for them. If we hate others, we are living and walking in the dark. We don’t know where we are going, because we can’t see in the dark” (1 John 2:9-11 CEV).
Is that person a Christian? Here is what Jesus says about it:
“And the King shall answer and say to them, Truly I say to you, Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you have done it to Me” (Matthew 25:40).
Do You Default On Your Agreements?
Do you make promises and commit yourself to certain obligations, then default on them when the one with whom you agreed has committed him or herself? I know a man who, without notice to his employer, did not show up for work, but instead left for a religious annual feast. He seemed to think that God would honor him for that. God does not honor such treachery, no matter how much one thinks to be pleasing Him. Can his neighbor, whom he is called upon to love as himself, rely on him? Undoubtedly not. Here is what the Lord has to say about such behavior:
“Who shall go up into the hill of Jehovah? Or who shall stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul to vanity, and has not sworn deceitfully” (Psalms 24:3-4).
“It’s useless to bring your offerings. I am disgusted with the smell of the incense you burn. I cannot stand your New Moon Festivals, your Sabbaths, and your religious gatherings; they are all corrupted by your sins. I hate your New Moon Festivals and holy days; they are a burden that I am tired of bearing. When you lift your hands in prayer, I will not look at you. No matter how much you pray, I will not listen, for your hands are covered with blood. Wash yourselves clean. Stop all this evil that I see you doing. Yes, stop doing evil and learn to do right. See that justice is done—help those who are oppressed, give orphans their rights, and defend widows” (Isaiah 1:13-17 GNB).
Are You Superstitious?
Do you indulge in fortune telling, in horoscopes, tealeaf reading, palmistry, Ouija boards, tarot cards, crystal balls, good luck charms, or superstitions of any kind? Do you believe in and hope for “luck”? You are condemned in that you do so. God is not pleased at all. “It’s all in fun,” you say. I am sure the Lord loves your fun in those things He has condemned, and against which He shed His blood. What fun!
Are You Vain and Immodest?
“Christian” woman! Do you go to the beach, to the swimming pool, or to your hot tub publicly wearing a bathing suit, or even a bikini? Do you really think that is pleasing to God? Would you show up in “church” or school or at work, or walk the streets or go shopping that way? I know a woman who, by religious practice, will not wear makeup, wears long hair and dresses, but who then dons a bathing suit in public. Is that not hypocrisy? Truly, it is a shame for men and women to be baring themselves to others, especially women. Do you wear tight slacks and low-cut blouses and dresses, and plaster your face with makeup, your fingers and toes with polish? Do you pierce your body and wear tattoos? Must you keep up with styles and fashions, the devices of preying merchandisers appealing to your pride and vanity?
How about operations? Are you going to the surgeon for larger breasts, a tummy tuck, a face-lift, or other vanities, endangering your physical wellbeing to please yourself? Is God pleased?
“Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades. The woman to be admired and praised is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-GOD” (Proverbs 31:30).
Are You a Masturbator?
Do you masturbate? Does your church teach or condone this as an alternative to being given over to the sin of fornication? Or do they not discuss it at all, leaving you to follow your own thoughts and inclinations? Be sure to know that indulging the lusts of the flesh is sowing in corruption, and you will reap the same. Rather than ruling over and keeping your body under, you are ruled by the carnal and physical appetites. To the world this is the way things are, not knowing any better or differently, but for the Christian it is a tragic loss. You have no idea of what you are losing or doing to yourself, those who name the Name of Christ and masturbate. Instead of entering into the victorious life of the Spirit, you consign yourself to spiritual death:
“But she who gives herself to pleasure is dead while she is living” (1 Timothy 5:6 BBE).
Do You Think the Law Does Not Apply to You?
Am I preaching Law? Yes, I am. Am I justified doing so in Christ? Yes, I am. Do not tell me that the grace you claim grants you the license to be as the world, to do as you please, to sin. Jesus did say that He came to fulfill the Law, but He also did say that none of the Law would be done away. If He has fulfilled the Law in you personally, then it would show, would it not? Why is it not showing? Could it be that your experience or status with the Lord is a phony one? Could it be that you are really deceived, that your spiritual companions, mentors and leaders are leading you astray and that you are deceiving them? Why the divorce? Why the financial turmoil? Why the sickness and disease, the automobile accidents, the occupational damage to your life, the break-ins to your home, the lawlessness and rebellion and premature deaths of your children and loved ones, the adulteries, deceptions, losses, failures, defeats, and all the curses that follow you wherever you go? Are these things representative of the abundant life Jesus promised to His people? Perhaps it is something else? Here is what Jesus said:
“The thief comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come in order that you might have life—life in all its fullness” (John 10:10 GNB).
Understand that I am not preaching salvation by the Law. I am saying that if you practice all these worldly and evil things, it is either because you have never known the salvation by grace or you have contemned God’s mercy and forgiveness to you, despising identification with Him.
Are You Ashamed of the Lord? Do You Read the Bible?
Do you change the subject when someone starts to talk about the Lord? Do you blush or wince at the mention of the Name of Jesus, except when spoken in vain? Is your “faith” limited to the safety of attending a weekly church service, or listening to a sermon and dropping a ten-dollar bill into the collection? Are you content with telling sensational stories of others who have boasted of their alleged relationship with the Lord, avoiding personal confrontation about your own relationship with Him? Do you read the Bible with pleasure and interest, or with obligation, or do you read it at all?
(Now if I was a legalist, a proponent of righteousness by the Law, I might say to you, “Read your Bible!” That is legalism. But I am not saying that. I am saying that if you are not found reading your Bible, you have a problem in your relationship to God. That problem needs to be addressed. When it is, you will be reading the Bible. This paper is to alert you to sins.)
Are You Honest and Faithful?
Do you cheat on your taxes? Did not Jesus say, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s”? Do you render fair value for your products and services? Do you exaggerate values? Is it not written that “false balances are an abomination to the Lord”? Do you accurately and honestly represent those things pertaining to you? Are you faithful to your employer, your wife, your neighbors and others? Does not the Lord, by Paul, instruct workers to serve their employers “with fear,” as they would the Lord personally?
Do You Put Your Trust in Doctors?
Here is a common killer about which most professing Christians do not have a clue. Do you take your doctor’s word as law, as sure knowledge? Do you view your medical doctor as a sure authority? Do you have “great respect” for him and other doctors because they are doctors and because they are called, “Doctor”? If he says you need chemotherapy or radiation, do you believe him? If he prescribes drugs and medications, like antibiotics, Prozac, Statins, Celebrex, or Viagra, do you believe him? Did you know that most people are in idolatry of doctors? Why must doctors be called “doctor”? Do they have a special status before God that is superior to that of His brethren? So they have some education on pharmaceuticals, anatomy, physics, chemistry, physiology and the like. Does that make them superior in character and virtue?
Which is of greater value to God, a farmer with messy hands, who, in his occupation, believes and obeys God, or a doctor with stethoscope and clean white smock without faith, who dispenses artificial means of treating disease, though he has the greatest of “bedside manners”? He ought to be regarding the believing housewife with respect, in that she is a sister of Christ, but no, with a swelled ego, he eats up the awe and reverence the populace has for “doctors.”
Doctors, your day comes when the proud are brought down and the humble are raised up. Even now your average lifespan is shorter than that of the general populace by a considerable margin. You reap what you sow.
Are all doctors “bad”? Of course not! Generally speaking, however, the medical establishment and profession is a mercenary, proud, pompous, tyrannical one, dispensing death and destruction, sorrow and suffering in every direction, when it presumes to be doing the very opposite. The system is set up to lucratively treat symptoms instead of justly addressing the causes of disease. And you, Christian, when you ought to know better, are devoted to its power and influence, are you not? Of course, many of you are…and you perish.
Do You Put Your Trust in Men?
Do you vote, Christian? You are putting your trust in man and not Jesus Christ. Read in our section, “Thy Kingdom, Come”: God’s Political Perspective.
Conclusion
Jesus said:
“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. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord! Lord! Did we not prophesy in Your Name, and through Your Name throw out demons, and through Your Name do many wonderful works?” (Matthew 7:21-22)
It is often debated as to whether Jesus was speaking of “real Christians” or those who erroneously thought they were Christians. Does it matter? James said this:
“But someone will say, ‘One person has faith, another has actions.’ My answer is, ‘Show me how anyone can have faith without actions. I will show you my faith by my actions.’ Do you believe that there is only one God? Good! The demons also believe—and tremble with fear. You fool! Do you want to be shown that faith without actions is useless?” (James 2:18-20 GNB)
It would be better if the guilty party had never been a Christian:
“If people have escaped from the corrupting forces of the world through their knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and then are again caught and conquered by them, such people are in worse condition at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been much better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than to know it and then turn away from the sacred command that was given them. What happened to them shows that the proverbs are true: ‘A dog goes back to what it has vomited’ and ‘A pig that has been washed goes back to roll in the mud'” (2 Peter 2:20-22 GNB).
Let me ask you this: Do you think you are saved or predestined for salvation? Do you believe you can do as you please because, “once saved, always saved”? Just remember that Judas had these spiritual powers too, as did the 70 disciples who turned away from Jesus. In the end, does it matter if you once had a genuine experience with the Lord or not? Jesus said:
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock. And the rain came down, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house. And it did not fall, for it was founded on a rock. And everyone who hears these sayings of Mine and does not do them shall be compared to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain came down, and the floods came, and the wind blew and beat on that house. And it fell, and great was its fall” (Matthew 7:24-27).
Have you heard, Christian? Then all the more are you responsible. Will you do “His sayings” or are you “under grace and free of all obligations because His blood has paid the price”? Are you obeying or are you lying to yourself, perishing in your self-deception?
Whether real Christians or not, all will be known and judged by their fruits. To those who think to do as they please, Jesus will say, and even now is saying:
“I never knew you! Depart from Me, those working lawlessness!” (Matthew 7:23)
Mark also these words that Jesus spoke, and tremble, Christian, “son of the Kingdom”:
“And I say to you that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven. But the sons of the Kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:11-12).
Repent, Christian; you are sick and dying in your sins; you are taking upon yourself His Name in vain, and, as He declared, He will not hold you guiltless. Don’t bother rationalizing yourself into the grave, saying, “He is testing my faith,” or, “One cannot understand the ways of God,” or, “Things happen,” or, “Look at Job,” or, “Well, it’s the chemicals, or the occupation, or their fault, or the way it goes,” etc. God reigns supreme over all His creation as Lord and Savior. He says:
“Our LORD and our God, You are like the sun and also like a shield. You treat us with kindness and with honor, never denying any good thing to those who live right” (Psalms 84:11 CEV).
Call Him a liar by not repenting, and perish, or believe and obey Him, and experience His Sovereign power, love and will. It is your choice.
Called a legalist, a cult, arrogant, angry, judgmental, self-righteous, fanatical, extremist, hateful, divisive, proud, and a servant of Satan. But by whom? By those who love darkness more than light, and who prefer their sins to the will of God, and lawlessness (called “grace”) to the Law of God,
Victor Hafichuk