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Below are a few chapters of the book "the washing"
. The following pages are for the mature Christian. This book deals
with
the confession of sin to Jesus and to the one offended. Many
other
things are often debated in our religious community, and some of these
are
discussed. The author feels this book should be read by all who claim
to
be totally forgiven. After reading this book, everyone should examine
their
own personal life, and make sure they have done all required of them by
our
Master. I must warn you before proceeding, this message is hard. But it
is
done in love for you. One thing that I have learned, is that all
unconfessed
sin is legal ground for Satan. I have spoken to men who deal with
deliverance of Christians from the grip of demons, there is only one
sure method of deliverance. They find the ground demons stand on, which
is a sin that has not been brought to the light. The sin is confessed
and renounced, and demons have no more rights, they have to
leave. What I say is disturbing, and like it or not, this is the truth.
Christians can give ground to demons, and they will take advantage of
every opportunity to secretly dwell in an unwashed house until they
have been cast out. It is very important to remember that a sin is
nothing to ignore. Many say that demonic possession is a thing of the
past,
and that it does not happen today. Well,--- Jesus believed in them.
Jesus
taught about them and gave power over them. Do we believe all of what
Jesus
taught? Or just the parts we want to believe? I am so glad you
came
to visit. Please read this, and bookmark, and come again. And please
email
. Mike
Bring forth therefore fruits meet for
repentance
Matthew 3:8.
Forward
I had a personal experience bringing into question if indeed a
person was forgiven of a sin against another person. Myself included,
the holy spirit was heavy on my heart. And then I heard a sermon that
inspired me to write this. The sermon started, "Never in the history of
the world, have there been
so many people proclaiming to be born again Christians, And never in
the
history of the world, ------have there been so few real Christians.
"This got me to thinking, what is wrong with us today? Has the salt
lost its saltiness? Have we been given a false sense of security?
Almost all of us want to hear, -only what we want to hear. We do not
want to hear that we have done wrong, and we do want to hear of the
easy road to heaven, which does not exist. Why?
Because Jesus said so. Many who read this book will be offended, many
will
do like the Pharisees, they will stop their ears and say "No! No! That
is
not what I want to hear. "But there will be some, who will understand,
and
find what I feel is one of the keys to the kingdom of heaven, the key
to
forgiveness.
Read this, and have your reference bible and exhaustive concordance
handy. You must have the King James' version bible also. God was very
meticulous in the words He chose to inspire. All the words in our
Bibles are the English translation from the Greek or Hebrew language.
This conversion was done
in 1611, by the order of king James of England. What we are reading is
the
interpretation of the words from men from the 16th century. The
translation
must be made known to you by the use of a good concordance, which gives
you
the meaning of the words into English. Sad to say, but with the new
versions
of the bible, there is no way to check the original word meanings. You
are
taking a human beings interpretations of a word. Many times the
interpreter
of the new versions did not feel a verse was necessary so he left it
out!
If God inspired it, we need to read it and understand. The new versions
are
easy to read, but the final authority with me is the King James
version.
Study the word, and see for yourself. Keep in mind that Jesus taught us
in
parables. When He thought it very important, He repeated himself
When
He spoke of binding sins here on earth, He used the phrase
"again I say unto you," just as to say "be sure you
understand
this." Matthew 18:18 was not a parable, but this was a direct
commandment.
He also said twice that God is spirit, and must be worshiped in truth.
He
left no room for error. Why did He talk in parables? Well, for one, it
was
prophesied by Isaiah, and He did talk in parables so that all
nations
then and now could understand his meaning. For the understanding of
all.
In the following article, I speak of the confession of sin and
its importance. Of course all sin has to be confessed, but the ones I
am talking about are the willful sins we have committed, and have
hidden, or refuse to
acknowledge. These are the ones that, if they remain
hidden, are
the sin's unto death.
Let us begin, and search our own soul.
The deceiver
Satan was once one of the three archangels, Lucifer (light bearer)
and
had power over one third of the angels in heaven. He filled himself
with
pride one day, (which God hates) and said Isaiah 14:14" I will be like
the
most high" and led a rebellion against God. [Note:, he said he wanted
to
be like God, not be God] He was cast out of heaven with all his angels,
which
we now call demons. ( The word "demon" is not mentioned in the Bible,
so
I will refer to demons as the King James version biblical word,
"devils")
He is now the lord of this earth and his devils are here, still
fighting,
but they are fighting God's plan of salvation for his people instead of
God.
If you would want to know what Satan is like, just look at God, he is
exactly
the opposite of God. God is truth, Satan is a lie, God loves a humble
person,
Satan loves a proud person. God wants you to be righteous. Satan
wants
you to be filthy. God wants us all to go to heaven. Satan wants
us
all to go to hell. God wants us to bring all our old sins to the light
so
we can be cleansed, Satan wants you to keep them secret, or ignore
them,
so you will remain filthy. God wants us to know the scripture, Satan
wants
us to be confused and misled. He is at work doing damage to the word of
God
every day.
Satan is described in the bible as [Mt1:3] Tempter, 1 Thess 3:5,
Beelzebub,
Mt 12:24, the enemy Mt 13:39 Beilal,2 Cor.6:15, god of this world. 2
Cor.4:4
power of darkness. Lk. 22:53 prince of the power of the air, Eph.2:2
adversary,
deceiver, Rev.12:9, dragon 12:3 the ancient serpent, 20:2, father of
lies,
and murderer Jn 8:44, the accuser, Rev.12:10, Apollyon, 9:1 the evil
one.
He is at work every day accusing us before God. [Zec .3:1-4] He was
there
when God was going to make Joshua a high priest, accusing Joshua before
God
of his past sins, for he had a filthy garment. God rebuked Satan and
gave
Joshua a new garment, thereby telling Satan he had previously forgiven
Joshua's
sins. Beloved, if Satan did this to Joshua, and Job, he is doing the
same
thing to us every day. He is accusing us of all the unforgiven sins we
have.
He knows our sins just as well as God does. If we refuse to submit
ourselves
to God, and we have unforgiven sins, there may be a day when he rails
against
us and God will tell him our time of redemption is past, and he can
have
us. If we have unforgiven sin, we have given Satan legal authority to
torment
us. No one else did it. We did it ourselves. And no one else is
going
to take your sin to Jesus but you. One thing to think of here, if we
have
unforgiven sin, and if Satan is not tormenting you, why? Does he
already
have you in his
hand?
He is destined for hell, he knows what is ahead for him, and he
is
going to do all he can to get as many of God's people in hell with him.
Why
does he hate us so? Because he hates God, and we are a creation of God,
only
God creates, and Satan destroys. By destroying us he thinks he can get
back
at God. And too, he is pure evil, there is no good of any kind in
him.
He is very clever and does have some angelic powers. Of all the powers
he
has, deceit is the one power he uses against us the most. For God said
he
would deceive nations, and the very elect if it were possible. (That's
us!)
When Satan deceives us, how does he do this? I firmly believe he can
inject
thoughts into our heads. The old cartoon of the devil sitting on your
shoulder
whispering into you ear, is not to far from the truth.
The cleansing
I have heard a lot of people say they have a problem with their old
sins coming to mind, and this makes them feel bad and unworthy. Maybe
we should look at this a bit. Many would say that after they
become a Christian and their old sins come to mind, that this is
of Satan, trying to make them feel like a lost soul. Before one
becomes a Christian, this same person would be told, "Praise the Lord
brother, the Holy Spirit has you under conviction!" If a sin that needs
to be cleansed is coming to mind, do you think Satan would be casting
out Satan? Matthew 12:26 "And if
Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his
kingdom stand?"
A very good verse to look at on this matter is Matthew 12 :43, "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh
through dry places,
seeking rest, and findeth none. (44) Then he saith, I will return into
the
house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty,
swept
and garnished. (45) Then goeth he and taketh with him seven other
spirits
more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the
last
state of the man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto
this
wicked generation."
What Jesus is talking about in this parable is that a man may accept
the Lord and sweep his house. So as to say, stop sinning. And a man may
garnish his house, as calling himself a good Christian, doing good
works But what Jesus is saying, is that the right Satan has to possess
this house has never been taken from him. The house has not been
WASHED. All the man did was to sweep his house but he did not wash it
by the blood of Jesus. Only the washing of Jesus can take Satan's right
away, you can do nothing. How did the devils speak to Jesus? They spoke
as though they had a right to possess the person they were in. The
devil in the synagogue and the Gadarene demoniac both manifested and
spoke to Jesus and they said the same thing. "What have we to do with
you, Jesus?" They said this because they had a right to be there and
they thought Jesus had no right to bother them! But the Son Of God has
the right to everything and they were cast out even when their right of
possession had
not been revoked by the will of the man. How does Jesus tell us
to
do this? John 13:10 "He that is
washed
needeth not to save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye
are
clean, but not all." But not all, He was talking about the
heart
of Judas. Now for the Importance of the verse, John 13:8 " If I wash thee not, thou has no part with me!"
(Note: Jesus was talking to men who had already been baptized.) 1John
1:9 "If we confess our sin's, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sin's, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Do you see? If we confess our sin, He will not only forgive it, He will
wash it from our soul! If a man does not submit to Jesus and does not
have Jesus wash his house of secret, hidden sin, he has no part with
Jesus. And on judgment day, Jesus will look at this lukewarm Christian
and say, "depart from me, I never knew you, ye
workers of iniquity!"
Your sin remains with you until purged, a sin never ever goes away by
itself.
Just as the sin of Saul breaking the oath with the Gibeonites remained
with
Israel for one hundred twenty five years before judgment. The sin never
went
away by itself, sin has no statute of limitations. All sin must be
dealt
with by the hand of man, this sin had to be purged by David.
So we see that our heart must be clean and that Jesus said we could
have no dark parts, and that evil men hate the light for their deeds
must be made manifest to be washed. You can see that when the devil
came back to the house that he found it empty. The house was swept, but
not washed by the blood, Satan left voluntarily, he was not cast out.
All he did was to retreat, to deceive the man and make him think he was
different, and that all is well with his soul. But Satan had the right
to go back into him whenever he wanted. Had this house been searched
for all hidden sin, purged of all iniquity, and washed by the
blood of Jesus, it would have been full of the Holy Spirit, and Satan
could not have entered back in at his will. Satan would have had all
his dark rights made manifest to the light of Jesus And they would have
been washed by the Blood. When Jesus cast out Satan, he is gone for
good unless
the man gives him new ground (sin).
How does Satan want you to stand before God on judgment day? With a
clean, spotless robe? No, he wants you to stand before God with a
filthy robe and be condemned to hell with him! Why on earth would Satan
want to remind you of your old sins? If he did, Satan would be
putting you under conviction. Then he would be telling you to get
forgiveness for it. Thereby eliminating his work! Why would Satan have
you locked in a dungeon and then show you how
to get the key to escape? No, He is not the one doing this. God always
spoke
to the people in the old testament by the prophets. When Jesus came,
the
Holy Spirit descended from heaven and came to rest upon his shoulder.
He
said we would have the Holy Spirit with us always. That means that we
have
the spirit talking to us, not the prophets. The word conscience is not
mentioned
in the old testament, but it is in the new testament thirty two times.
Just
as the Holy Ghost is not mentioned once in the old testament, but is in
the
new, ninety times. Why? Because the Holy Ghost was not given to the
people
in the old testament, but it is now. So what is this small voice you
often
hear in your mind that tells you of sin's of your past? This is the
Holy
Spirit talking to you through your conscience! Romans 1:19. "Because
that
which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it
unto
them. (20) For the invisible things of him from the creation of the
world
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even
his
eternal power and Godhead; so they are without excuse." If you have
sin's that come to mind often, this is God's grace. This is the Holy
Spirit telling you to do something about it. Purge your conscience of
dead works!
The deceit
Remember the old story about the frog and boiling water? You can put
a frog in a pan of boiling water and he will jump out to safety. If you
put him in a pan of cold water, and slowly turn up the heat, you can
kill [or should I say abort him?] by boiling him alive. This is how
Satan is killing the church of today. Very slowly. We are the church,
if we felt ourselves being deceived, or in danger of hell, we would
immediately take actions to correct our mistakes. But no, the heat is
being turned up on us slowly until we are firmly trapped in his snare.
We think all is well, and nothing can go wrong. We hang all our faith
on one or two scriptures, we do not examine ourselves, we do not search
the scripture, we think our barns are full and we can set back and eat
drink and be merry. Brothers and sisters, 11 Corinthians 13:5 "Examine
yourselves, wether ye be in the faith, and prove your own selves." "Be
ye not deceived."
How bad can one deceive themselves? I once heard of a prostitute
that said she had not committed adultery because she had never kissed
any
of her johns. Now this is the worst of self deception. In Lev.20 If
you uncover your nakedness to another, or the nakedness of another,
this
is adultery. When God covered Adam and Eve with skins, exposure
of
the private parts of ones body to another is a sin. For this
woman
to say she had never sinned because she had not kissed her johns is the
utmost
deception. In her mind she could justify anything. Do not try to
justify
anything you have done. Your justification is meaningless. Read the
word
of God and you will find if it is sin or not. For God's word is what we
are
judged by.
Those deceived have their hearts so hardened, that they have no way of
knowing the truth. The spirit tries to come and talk to them and they
ignore God's spirit and then they develop a hard conscience. God
then gives them up for a reprobate mind. For he knows they will just
keep getting worse and there is no hope of turning them around. When
this happens, they become evil in the eyes of God. Then God gives them
over to Satan and Satan has them deceived
and in his hand to do his work. 11 Timothy 3:13 " But evil
men
and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."
For even they, the ones decieved, if they knew the terrors of hell that
awaited them, they too would turn and run the other way. But no, they
are just like sheep led to their slaughter.
In this next paragraph, to show how slowly Satan conditions society,
abortion is a prime example. We have many Godly politicians fighting
tooth and nail to bring this country back from the brink of certain
destruction. But they are overwhelmed by the wickedness of this nation,
pray for them, and pray that God will give them strength to fight the
fight and not faint.
Look at how Satan has deceived our country with the abortion issue. In
the early 1970's, our country did the unthinkable. We let abortion on
demand become
law. Our country as a whole, but by no means all of us, accepted
abortion in the first trimester, some politicians have been known to
say that voters have the memory span of monkeys, thirty days and they
get used to it and forget.
In a few years enough time had passed for the country to mellow, and
then
Satan used his people to make it law that abortion was legal up to and
including
the second trimester.
Now, the country had gotten used to the murder of children who are only
six months old, and Satan has stuck again. Now it is legal to kill a
child
that is ready to be delivered. Often at delivery. If it is not enough
to
take a knife and kill the child by removing the brains from a
living
child while it is still attached to the umbilical cord, we now have
hospitals
aborting what they call "viability" children. Often two day's old. Many
of
the aborted children have their organs used for medical experiments,
and
this is becoming revenue for the medical profession. How low as a
society
can we get? What is next for us? Rome had abortion for their citizens,
up
to the age of 18 months. Is this next for our country? God forbid!
When I was a child, and a girl got pregnant, she either got married or
she was sent out of town to relatives and she lived with them until she
had her baby. And then she lived her life in shame. And she brought
shame upon her parents. Now it is commonplace to have an unwed mother.
Now when we see a pregnant unwed girl we think " Thank goodness she did
not abort it! "Can you
see how our thinking has been changed? We have gotten used to something
that
is a sin, and we have accepted it! We now choose the lesser of two
evils! But in the eyes of God, there is no choice. God said murder was
murder when Cain slew Able! And in God's eyes, just as it should be in
ours, it is still murder! Unless we voice ourselves, we are partakers. [Lev.5:
1] "wether he hath seen or known of it, and utter it not, then
he shall bear his iniquity" Ephesians 5:11 "And have no
fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove
them." Can you see how slowly Satan works? He is using us to
make a mockery out of God's laws, and I am sure God has already passed
judgment on our country, and it is only a matter of time till we fall
the way of the Roman, the Babylonian, the Persian, the Greek, and the
Egyptian empires. All turned to perversion, and all have fallen by the
hand of God. And great was the fall. The wrath of God is horrible, and
it is coming upon us.
Satan uses many forms of deception and he has all the time in our
life to fulfill his evil plan. He may take years to groom one to sin,
then take years to get one to forget it and convince one that all
is well. Once he has us convinced all is well, he has our soul! This is
why we are to "EXAMINE OUR SELF."
For some reason, I feel that I must inject this analogy here. I
recently
did some research on the holocaust on the internet and came across the
interrogation of a German prison guard by the Russians at the end of
WWII. This man was a guard at the prison camp of Treiblinka, Poland. He
told of all the Jews that came into the death camp aboard trains. Three
to four trains a day, and
anywhere from 3,500 to 4,000 people on each train. They had heard about
the
death camps and were sure they were coming to their death. Many would
panic
and try to run away when the trains would stop. So the German guards
made
the rail stop to appear as a train station. They had signs up, "The
Ukraine
will give you jobs." "Palestine awaits you. "They had a clock on the
"station"
front. They had a blackboard there on the wall to show departure and
arrival
times of the trains going to freedom. They had "cashier" windows where
Jews
would leave their valuables while they had their "bath." Even the
"bathhouses"
had flowers planted in front of them, of course, well attended. Only
when
the Jews where crammed into the "bathhouse" and the Germans started
throwing
their children and babies on top of the crowds of packed souls in the
gas
chamber, did they realize they had been given a false sense of security
and
they were going to die. Beloved, Satan is doing the same thing today to
God's
church, he is giving us all a false sense of security to keep us from
the
panic he knows that would erupt if we knew the truth of his plan.
Are
some of the "nothing can go wrong" sermons we hear today, nothing but
flowers
planted in front of our gas chamber? Satan has used the false prophets
of
today and many years past to convince us that all is well with our
soul,
he knows that his teachings are going to send countless millions to
hell.
We seem to have a problem with preachers today telling us all is well,
and
nothing can go wrong with our salvation. But God has a few words for
the
preachers that are slack, Malachi 2:7 "For the priest lips
should
keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is
the
messenger of the lord of host. (8) But ye are departed out of the way;
ye
have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant
of
Levi, saith the Lord of Host."(9) "Therefore have I also made you
contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not
kept my ways, but have been partial in
the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of
Host." This is not
a new problem. I have read a few sermons written by
ministers
in the early 1700's. They talked of the same deception going on then as
now. "Preachers preaching away the coming judgment!" Let us look at
some of the catchy sayings we hear quoted as though they come from the
scripture.
We are not under the law. We are saved by grace. Ah,
how
wonderful that sounds. How many times have we heard that statement?
This
sounds as though all old things like all the commandments and laws are
passed
away, and we can now sin with impunity and still be saved! But there is
a
problem here, for if we are no longer under the law, why did Jesus
teach
the law in the synagogue? If He was to do away with the law, why would
He
teach it? The only law Jesus changed, was the Sabbath and the
sacrifice.
He said the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. And then
why
does Romans 3:31 say this? "Do we then make void the law
through
faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." The law that many
say
we cannot follow is the laws of the pharisee's. They had so many
man-made
laws that no man could do anything without breaking one. The laws we do
follow
are the ones Jesus laid down for us and the ones God told Moses to
write.
Jesus told Satan in the wilderness that man could not live by bread
alone,
but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. When God gave
the
ten commandments to Moses on mount Siani, and then later in the book of
Leviticus,
these are the laws that were from the mouth of God. When we heard of
these
laws, we knew to follow them. When we violate Gods law, this is called
a
sin. They were sins then and after thousands of years, they are sins
now.
Nothing has changed. Jesus said not one jot or not one tittle would
pass
from the law until all be fulfilled! Since Jesus has not came to earth
to
take His people out of here, (the second coming) all is not fulfilled
yet
and the laws are still in effect. An easy way to look at this is,
whatever
came from the mouth of God, and the mouth of Jesus, is the law we are
to
live by. If a law came from Jesus, it is a commandment. Obey that.
.
Another misrepresented statement that we have all heard countless
times is "We are saved by grace." Many use this verse to brush
off
their sins and find justification when they seem to--so to say "fall to
temptation. "How nice it would be to be able to sin and then not have
to worry about it.( ROMANS 5:20) "Where sin abounds, grace
abounds more." Don't worry,
we are covered by grace, the more I sin, the more grace is given to me.
This
is not the case! If a man says that by grace the sinner is justified,
then
what about the parable that our savior spoke to us? He said by our
words we are justified, and by our words we are
condemned! (Matthew 12:37) Jesus said we are saved by faith,
obedience, compassion, and mercy. In every case that Jesus performed a
healing in the new testament, He always told the person "Your faith has made you whole." He
never used the word grace. This was
an act on the person's part. Even the Gadarenes demoniac showed his
faith when he ran to Jesus and worshiped him. Let us define this
word grace, look at Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore
come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find
grace to help in the time of need." Time of need? I thought we
needed grace twenty four hours a day! Grace
means Godly influence. When God said, "My grace is sufficient for
thee,"
He meant "my grace is the power and desire to do my will." The power to
overcome.
The strong's concordance defines grace as kindness and favor in
the
old testament. The Hebrew word there is "Chen, " this
means
favor [always unmerited], grace, pleasant, favored. Now, the new
testament
word is entirely different. The Greek word is " Charis.
" The definition given is as follows, -"espec.-the divine influence
upon
the heart, and its reflection in the life." We are to show mercy
and
grace [influence?] to those around us. What has happened, is that
society is using the old testament definition of a new testament word
which is entirely different. Even the new concordances have moved the
"espec" meaning to the end of the definition in small letters. Grace is
used in many ways today, ask a hundred men what grace means, and you
may well get a hundred different answers. But the main meaning, is Gods
influence. Jesus said He would send the "comforter "to us, the Holy
Spirit! Could this be grace? Divine influence on our hearts? We have
been told all our life what grace is, now, read Hebrew and Greek
translations of this word, and then read the word of God, putting the
definitions in place of the word grace and see if it fits. See for
yourself if you think you have been led off to the side just a little
bit. "Where sin
abounds, grace abounds more."i.e.: "Where sin abounds, divine influence
abounds
more?" Does this verse mean, where sin abounds, God shows you your sins
more?
Or more of his will and way to avoid sin? Read this next verse
carefully
for I feel this apostle defined the word grace.
Titus 2:11 "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to
all men,(12) "Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly
lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and Godly, in this present
world." Do you see ? Grace teaches! Grace is divine influence! And
too, in Luke 2:40-- the first time grace
is used in the new testament, talking of Jesus, " And the child
grew,
and waxed strong in the spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of
God
was upon him." Does this mean that Jesus, who was without sin, was
perfect,
was God in the flesh, needed mercy? Or does this mean He had the
influence
of God in his heart, waxing him stronger in the spirit, and wisdom.
Jesus
himself said in John 8:28 "but as my father taught me, I speak these
things"
And also in "Acts 4:33" And with great power gave the
apostles witness of the resurrection of lord Jesus: and great grace was
upon them
all." The Holy Ghost was upon these men at this time. These were
apostles', do you think they had need of great mercy? Or great
influence and power
upon them? Hebrews 13:9 "For it is a good thing that the
heart
be established with grace." How would you establish your heart
with unmerited
favor from God? Or would you establish your heart with God by the use
of
his wisdom and influence?
How many times does Jesus tell one that He has healed " Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."
( remember the house with the seven more devils more vicious than the
first?) He warns us time and time again about not expecting too much
mercy. Did Jesus ever use the word "grace?" How many warnings does
Jesus give about us "Watching?" Don't be caught off guard when your
name is called, or the master returns. And also read about the man who
went to the wedding feast and had no wedding garment, so who was this
guy? He was a phony Christian! Why do I say he
was a Christian? Because he was invited to the wedding and he accepted
the
invitation and went. Revelations 3:4
"Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their
garments;
and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy." 5 " He that
overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not
blot his name out
of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and
before
his angels." This is a very important verse, the last
talked
about here in verse 5, is one who had sinned, for he had a filthy
garment,
and he overcame and was given a new garment. The phony Christian
had
a filthy robe of righteousness, one that he had not cleaned and he was
cast
into hell. No, Jesus did not use the word grace, he said "faint not,
endure,
watch, look, be ready. I do not mean to cause controversy, but if
you
would, ponder this for a time, search the scriptures and make sure your
heart
has full understanding . Anything that is confusing to you, compare it
with
the Gospel, compare it to the red letters of Jesus sayings.
Another misleading phrase is "your own personnel relationship with God" This to me gives the impression that God is different to each individual. I first heard this phrase in the 1970's, when the new age movement was making themselves known. They said everyone has their own god. What a statement of Satan! Think of a man walking down a dirt road on the other side of the earth, in a desert, hot, thirsty, no one within a hundred miles. He must repent of his sinful ways, confess his sin's, confess that Jesus Christ is lord, is baptized, follows his commandments, let his light shine, bear fruit, do good to those who hate him and despitefully use him, love his neighbor, live his life for Christ. Now think of a native in the Congo of Africa, hot, steamy, gnats flying all around his head, miserable living conditions. This man has to do the same thing as the man on the road in the desert. The rules those men have to go by, are the same ones, we have to go by. We all have the same God, JEHOVAH! There is only one! The rules for me apply to you and everyone else. There are no special rules for one person. They apply to all of us. In the prayer of Jesus, He said John 17:22 "that they may be one, even as we are one." He wants us all to be of one faith, one baptism , one mind, one God. Jehovah!
Another is, "work out your own salvation." True, you are the only one who can work out your salvation by following the word of God, but if used in the wrong context, this will give the impression, that salvation is different for everyone. The following was written by Paul while he was in prison, [Phil 2:12] the Philippines had no apostle to teach them, and Paul wrote them a letter and told them to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling until he got an apostle to them. He said he would send Timotheus, and if not, he would send Epaphroditus, to teach them. In the meantime, they were to do the best they could. Sin is sin. If God said lying is wrong, it is wrong for all, if stealing is wrong, it is wrong for all.
Arranged Gospel
If Satan taught us the gospel, how would he teach it? His voice
would
be smooth as honey, he would say everything you wanted to hear, he
would
never tell you anything that would make you apprehensive. He
would
reassure you that all is well with your soul. He would not tell the
whole
truth, for he is a liar, and the father of lies. He would change
the
meaning of scripture, and of course, his favorite tactic-- destruction
by
deception. How does he do this? Unsound doctrine! Doctrine made of man,
not
God. Just look around and count the number of different doctrines and
divisions
that are in the religious community today. We are the ones who are
required
to rightly divide the word. We are to search the scripture and know the
truth from false doctrine. 1 Corinthian 11:18 Paul warned of
divisions in the church, "For first of all, when ye come together
in the church, I hear
that there be divisions among you, and I partly believe it."
also
Jesus prayed to God, John 17:21 "That
they
may all be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they
may
also be one in us: that the world may believe that thou has sent me.
"Jesus also told us in St. Luke 11:35 "Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee
be not darkness." This is a dire warning, make sure you are
not following a false doctrine of man.
I once talked to a man who at one time had been into Satanism, he told
me, "You know, we studied the bible more than you Christians . You know
why we did?" He asked. I said "No, why?" He said "We had to know how to
twist the scripture!" Satan knows God's laws, and what it takes
to get a person to hell. By polluting the gospel he is making the death
of Jesus all for nothing.
This is exactly why Jesus told us to search the scripture. But one
thing
in common we have with the evil one, we too twist the scripture to fit
our
own needs and wants. No one never wants to hear that it is possible to
loose
their reward, but Jesus many times warned about going astray and
being
lost. To quote one scripture, such as "the Lord will never leave
you"
and then leave out the warnings that Jesus gave about the bridesmaid's
and
watching, and fainting not, and enduring. Is paramount to telling Jesus
that
you don't want to hear what He has to say. You have all you need to
convince
yourself that you are never able to be lost and you don't want to hear
anymore.
True, the Lord will never leave you, IF you remain God-fearing and do
not
willfully sin against him. But if you sin against his word, you sin
against
him, He never left you, you left him. Then He will turn his face from
you
until you come back to him. What did Paul say in Hebrews 10:26 ?
"For if we sin willfully after receiving the knowledge of truth, there
remaineth
no more sacrifice for you." Hard words? Yes, but they are to the
point.
How do we come back to Jesus? By following the laws He set forth for us
to
the letter.
What about a person that does not know the law of God? What if we
have a preacher on the radio or tv that gives a good sounding sermon,
that you know is scripturally wrong? Are you held accountably for not
knowing the
truth? For taking another persons word for it? Yes, you are
accountable!
You have the scripture. You have the law, it is up to you to know the
truth.
I once had a relative that came to visit from Philadelphia. He told me
that
if he did not make it to heaven, it was the priest fault, not his. This
man
belied this statement too. But if he went to hell because of someone
else
leading him down the wrong path, who is doing the burning? No friend,
almost
every house in the United States has a Bible in it, many more than one.
You
have the scripture right at your fingertips. You are without excuse.
Is a man held accountable for not knowing what is right? Hosea
4:6 "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."Lev
5:17
"though he wits it not, yet he is guilty and shall he bear his
iniquity."For we are commanded to search the scriptures.
John 5:39 "search the scriptures; for in
them yea think yea have eternal life: and they are they which
testify of me."
With the catholic church, confession is a must do and it should be in
the Christian church also. We all know that confession is a
commandment. It has been from the very beginning, up until about 1500
A.D.. This is when our "reformers
" thought they would do us a favor and do away with this very
unpleasant
"custom." Which is not a custom but a commandment. Big favor! When
Martin
Luther nailed the 95 theses on the door, he broke from the traditional
church.
He did see what the church had done. The problem was confession. The
Catholic
church back then reverted back to the old testament ways. A man had to
go
to the priest and confess, and his penance was money, land or other
riches.
They (the church) took one of the commandments and defiled it by using
it
to gain money from the poor. Martin Luther said that you still have to
confess
your sins, but that it could be done privately instead of to the
priest.
He should not have tried to downplay a commandment, he should
have
tried to fix the problem, rather than cause a new one. This is
paramount
to throwing the baby out with the bath water. But one thing is for
sure,
the word of God still stands, it has not, and will not change. The only
thing
that has changed with the word of God, are the people reading it.
Once saved, always saved
In the year 1500 there seems to have been an explosion of man-made
doctrines. Upon the scene came the philosophy of a Frenchman by
the name of John Calvin. "Once saved, always saved." He instituted his
philosophy in 1536 AD in Geneva Switzerland. John Calvin was
violently opposed to any doctrines other than his own, especially the
Anabaptists. There was a fellow countryman that held the belief
of the antitrinitarian. This Frenchman's name was
Michael Sureties. He requested a meeting with John Calvin to
discuss the differences of their doctrines. John Calvin invited
him to Geneva. Michael Sureties agreed and journeyed to Geneva
Switzerland. But, while praying at a church, he was arrested, and
tried for heresy. Michael Sureties was found guilty by the "once
saved, always saved" government of Geneva and burned at the stake. It
seems as though the "once saved always saved" doctrine lacked some of
the more important issues that Jesus taught, love, mercy, forgiveness.
What is the danger of this doctrine? This doctrine can lull a Christian
into a relaxed state and "Why should I worry" attitude of disobedience
to
Christ.
This doctrine is an offshoot of the doctrine called "universals", which
will be discussed briefly in the chapter on hell.
Everywhere you turn today this doctrine of eternal security is being
preached. Why is it so popular? It is pleasant to the ear and gives a
sense of security to millions of Christians, and the ministers enjoy
large congregations. They simply teach what the people want to hear.
This is unsound teaching. ( They shall heap to themselves teachers
having itching ears.) Did Jesus teach this? No, He did not!
He gave us warning after warning to not fail, to endure, to faint not,
keep the commandments, keep the faith. He did
not say you could never loose your salvation. On the contrary, He gave
warnings
about the loss of your reward. What warning did He give about any
doctrine
other than his? He said beware!
II Timothy 4:3 " For the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to
themselves teachers, having itching ears"; (4) "and shall turn away
their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."
Lets look at some of the parables Jesus taught. The parable about the
ten virgins going to the wedding feast is representative of the
Christian. Matthew 25:1. All were saved to start with, for they
were chosen and invited to the wedding feast. But five were foolish and
did not prepare themselves for the wedding and were not allowed into
the feast. They were then lost. They were castaways!
The best parable to look at is the one of the wicked servant, Matthew
18:23-35 . This man had a debt that could not be paid (just
as
we have) and he was forgiven of this debt. (He was saved) Then he went
out
and did wickedly in the sight of his Lord. He did not forgive his
brother
(he lost his salvation) and the entire debt was reinstated. (His
forgiveness
was rescinded. He was now lost and his pleading for forgiveness fell on
deaf
ears.)
The parable about the laborers in the vineyard. All had the same
reward,
but what would be the story of one who stopped his labor and went home?
Would he get the same reward? Of course not.
Matthew 13:4. The parable of the seed is sad to me, Jesus
tells of one who received the word with gladness, (they are saved) but
then the devil steals the word out of his heart. How could this be? How
would Satan steal the word from a person? Simple, just do what he did
to Eve, dont try to destroy the gosple, for that is impossible. Twist
it a little, just cast a little doubt, just preach false doctrine to
them. Tell a person that parts of the scripture mean something other
than what it says. Water it down.
The more radical "once saved always saved" people always refer to
one
in sin as a disobedient child of God. And they say that no father is
going
to send his child to hell, (and shall be turned into fables) and
that they are simply out of fellowship with God. That, to me is an
understatement. Satan is out of fellowship with God. Out of fellowship
with God means hell fire! Jesus said if we are to enter into life, we
are to keep the commandments. When asked how a person in sin can
be saved, the once saved always saved
people always give a mind befuddling answer like, "You were never saved
to
start with!" Here, I would like to give an example that they have no
answer
for. If ever there was a human saved, it was Paul the apostle! He spoke
face
to face with Jesus, and just as Jesus lay in the tomb dead for three
days,
Paul was struck blind and lay in a bed for three days.
Jesus told a man by the name of Ananias to go to him, but this
man questioned Jesus, telling Him that he had heard many stories about
Paul and how he killed the Christians. Jesus then told Ananias, Acts
9:15 "Go they way: for he is a chosen
vessel unto me." If Jesus said this by his own words, I
would venture to say Paul was saved! In Corinthians 9:27 Paul
wrote this, "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection:
lest by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should
become a castaway." Paul certainly did not believe this gospel of
once saved always saved.
Did Jesus say He would blot a persons name out of the book of life? Yes
He did! ? Revelations 3:5 " He that
overcometh, the same will be clothed in white raiment; and I will not
blot his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name
before my Father and before his angels." For one to
have his name in the book of life, one must have been saved, and then
for one to have his name blotted out, must
be lost, rejected, a castaway.
It is not possible, but if you could, put yourself into the position
that God would take on forgiving a person of sin. God is love, but God
is also jealous and vengeful. The most precious thing to God is our
true love and obedience to him. If He forgives us of a sin and we go
back and slap him in
the face again, He is not only deeply hurt, He knows we were not
serious to
start with, He is outraged at our actions. The rage of God is awesome
and
vengeful. For a human to quell the rage of God would be like a man
trying to stop a volcano from erupting with a cork. It is physically
impossible! But it can be done one way only, with love, fall on your
knees and be very sincere in your heart, and tell him you are sorry,
confess your sins and beg
him to forgive you. This is the only way! If we are not truly repentant
of
our sin, and He knows if we are, why should He forgive us again just to
mock
him? Have you ever forgiven someone of a crime or offense against
yourself? If this person belittles you or sins against you again, would
you not be bitter?
Would not everything this person has ever done to you come to your mind
as
if they were never forgiven? How many times must we forgive? We know of
at
least seventy times seven, but what is in the back of your mind after
the
first time? Doubt! God has no doubt, He knows! God forgiveness is not
to
be taken lightly. It is the most precious thing in the universe, and it
is
to be honored, and you are to love Him for his forgiveness. This is
what God
expects from us, our love of Him for his love for us. But, how much
mercy can you expect if your heart is not pure, and you sin again? What
if you show
no works of repentance? No tears, no real sorrow? Think about this.
Let me tell you of a man that I know of. This man went to church every
Sunday, and he left his wife of many years for another woman, much
younger. The elders of his church went and talked with him and he said,
"I have nothing to worry about, I was saved in 1949!" Now as I read the
bible, adulterer's fornicators, murderer's, liar's, thieves and hater's
of God will not enter into heaven. Luke 11:35 "Take heed that the light in you be not darkness."
When Jesus was baptized, He went into the wilderness and there, just as
we all are after our baptism, was tempted of the devil. He Himself, who
knew all the scriptures, He was the word, was being misquoted, by
Satan. Do we think Satan gave up on this tactic? No, he did not,
this is what he did to Eve in the garden of Eden. He quoted
scripture to her and then he did the same thing to Eve as he is doing
to the church today, he put doubt in the scripture, "Yea shall not
surely die," We know his devices, and we are to be on guard. We must be
on guard. If Satan cannot kill us outright, and he would love to, what
is the next best thing he can do? Deceive us and change the meaning of
the scripture to make us think we are saved, when in reality, many,
many, are going to hell thinking they are doing all that is required of
them. Paul said not all would be saved. Romans 11:14 " If by
any means I may provoke to emulation(imitation) them which are my
flesh, and might save some of them." and then again in 1
Corinthians 9:22 "To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain
the weak: I am made
all things to all men that I might by all means, save some." 1
Peter, 4:18
"And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly
and
sinner appear?" (Notice that the ungodly and sinner
appear together.) Matthew 22:14 " For
many are called, but few chosen." Why can't all be saved?
The reason is pride! Because
of our stiff neck's and hard hearts. We refuse to humble ourselves and
follow
the commandments given us. We have no fear of God. Many tend to think
of
God more of their servant, than their judge. People will not accept the
responsibility
and commandments of God, because we find them too uncomfortable to our
lifestyle.
It all boils down to one thing. For our comfort, we have gathered
around
us, unsound doctrine. Brothers, sisters, stop and take note of your
life.
Examine yourself. God's word will never change and it will never pass.
It
is the same today as when Moses carried the stone tablets down off of
the
mountain. Your life here is like a spark rising out of a fire. Like a
vapor,
here and gone before you know it. You only walk this way once, make
sure
you are on the right road. Examine yourself.
Email--------thewashing@yahoo.com
Thanks for reading
Remember the fig tree! Tell others what you have read and
learned!----Bear fruit brother and sister!! God bless you.
