Monday, May 11, 2009

Truth

New American Standard Bible (©1995)"But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity and does according to all the abominations that a wicked man does, will he live? All his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered for his treachery which he has committed and his sin which he has committed; for them he will die."
Note that the Bible calls him a "righteous man"

As Christians, we have to be very vigilant as to what preachers we choose to listen to and we should ALWAYS confirm what is being taught with the word of God. Satan KNOWS God's word....and he WILL use it to bring confusion and deceive people! Some preachers will twist a verse to mean whatever it is that they WANT it to mean. They will be held accountable. What is really sad to me is to see good, godly people being lead astray, while they are believing that they are receiving truth. Satan is the deceiver.....would his tactics work (in a Christian) if we knew upfront what his plan was? NO! I just caution each of you to be careful. Always, ALWAYS (even if you KNOW a person or have sat under a minister for years!) to search the scriptures for YOURSELF to be sure that you are not being deceived! When you are reading the Bible I encourage you to read it for yourself....and ask God to show you the meaning of a verse rather than read a person's commentary on the scriptures. I recent read several QUOTES out of the John MacArthur study Bible that were false! If you are reading these quotes and trusting in this man's interpretation (or twisting of the scripture)....you are being deceived. Please....be very careful who you listen to! Click HERE to read some of them for yourself.


International Standard Version (©2008)"Now the Spirit says clearly that in the last times some people will abandon the faith by following deceitful spirits, the teachings of demons,"

If someone teaches that you can not walk away from God, that you can not"lose your salvation" by your own choice...then they are being lead by deceiving spirits. God gives us a FREE WILL.....WE chose to accept Christ....and we can choose to walk away! I believe that God is all knowing but I KNOW that he did not "predestine" some people to be saved..."For God so loved the WORLD (the entire world!) that He gave his only son......(John 3:16).
The two Scriptures that I have quoted PROVE that the "once saved, always saved" theory and the "predestination" theory are both heresy!! There are hundreds more that will do the same. Some people will argue that if you turn your back on God then you were never really saved to begin with. The scriptures that I quoted above ALSO disprove this theory. Salvation is not something you can be unsure of.....the Bible makes it VERY clear what we must do to be saved. So, are the people who hold to this theory calling God a liar? If GOD says you must believe in the virgin birth of Christ, believe that He lived a sinless life, believe that he died on the cross for our sins, believe that he rose from the grave-conquered death and hell, and you ask Him to live with in you........AND you believe all of this and live to serve God....WHO can tell you that you are not saved?? The only answer to that question is "someone who calls GOD a liar". Now, if you decide that you want to live for yourself and you chose to walk away from God....does that mean that you never believed or that you were never saved? Of course not! We are humans...NOT robots. God gives us free will!

My goal here is to just warn you that just because some one quotes you a scripture (myself included!) does not mean that they are final authority on a matter....people twist scriptures all the time! Search the Bible for yourself.....and be lead by GOD....not man.

I firmly believe that God is a loving and gracious God. There is no reason to live in fear....everyone makes mistakes!! Ask God's forgiveness and move on. MOVE ON...and continue your relationship with God. It is only when you do not MOVE ON (repent) and you continue to live in sin that you're in danger.
(NKJ version)
Verses to look up:
Hebrews 2:1-3 ("lest we drift away")
Hebrews 10: 38 (" if anyone draws back")
John 15:6 ("abide")
Galatians 5: 4,7 ("estranged from Christ" , "fallen from grace")