What Happened?!

What Happened to America?

(note: anytime a quoted scripture is emphasized by bold, italic or underlined type, such emphasis is added by the author to draw attention to those words).

Born in 1946, becoming a teenager prior to 1960, I well remember a different America than the one I now live in. America was once strong; economically, productively, industrially, medically, morally and most of all spiritually. People corrected children, even if those children were not their own. God’s word was still honored in school classrooms and the average American not only had a keen sense of right and wrong according to scripture but wanted to do what was right. National pride was high concerning the character and integrity of the nation as a whole. Militarily we were the undisputed world power. Financially the American dollar was as strong as gold and just as desired in the world as gold itself; because our currency was based on and backed by gold itself.

Today, our economy is falling to new lows, as well as our job losses, our productivity, our industrial strength and our effective military power are all down in the world. Our currency, no longer backed by tangible gold has lost its true value and rises and falls as quickly as any third world country. The integrity and character of the average American has plummeted as well. The fundamentals of Christianity are being attacked by many of those people who continue to call themselves ‘Christians’. Conspiracies to undermine Christianity and democracy abound, not only in government by elected officials but by so-called ‘modern evangelicals’ as well. There have been a lot of laws lately that severely limit free speech, especially ‘Christian speech’. While Christianity has come under attack, Islam is on the rise in both numbers and political power. Those same laws and hindrances that are negatively affecting Christianity don’t seem to apply to Islam in this country. Political leaders and Supreme Court justices continue to re-write even our true history of the founding of the nation and try to deny our Christian beginnings and purpose. A purpose and a beginning that was to promote and spread Christianity to the world. By constantly re-defining the laws of the constitution to suit their purposes, the same laws that once protected Christianity are now re-interpreted in order to take those protections away. I ask you, “What or who has more power; the constitution of country… or those whose job it is to ‘interpret’ those constitutional laws and tell us what they mean?” The answer is obvious. Did you know that the early colonies/states had all passed laws that a person could not even hold public office unless he was a Christian? All of the founding fathers were devout Christians prior to their rise of stature on the national scene. (Although Ben Franklin, Thomas Paine and Tom Jefferson eventually fell away from their original beliefs and wrote and spoke accordingly).

Some years after His ascension, Jesus spoke to John, giving him a message to give to the churches of that day. It was not world governments that he rebuked. He did not address the inadequacies of mans kingdoms whether it was by kings or emperors. He didn’t address slavery. He wasn’t concerned with socialism, democracy, communism or any other form of human government. He was concerned with those that called themselves His; the church, and those are the ones He rebuked. After all, God’s people, even the countries they live in, are blessed or cursed not because of their governments, but in relationship to his people’s obedience to His word. A quick look at Deuteronomy 28 tells us that. To reinforce that understanding we have but to look at 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says; “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” God places a lot of importance in the obedience of His people! America began, even through the hardships, in an atmosphere of revival, and was blessed because of it. Our forefathers had Christian values that they lived by due to their commitment to the Lord and to His word. . They not only lived by values based on God’s word because they understood God’s precepts, they also understood the consequences of not living by them. They were blessed because of it, and brought the Lord’s blessing upon the country in which they lived.

The other day I was thinking about what America used to be, even the America that I was born into in 1946 and was raised in. It was such a different America! I had to ask; “What happened! How did it get this way!” Oh I know about some of the conspiracies of ecumenism, the new world order, a one-world church etc. I had been made aware of these things over 30 years ago and I have been paying attention and watching those prophecies come into being ever since. But ‘what’ is happening is not the same as ‘how’ these things came to be. What is happening is only a result of what took place in our society that allowed these things to come into being. So when I ask “What happened!” I’m referring to those things, foundational things, that led to the changes we see in America today. That led to the conspiracies we see taking place and are gaining much strength in today’s America. So I questioned ‘what happened’ and after some thought, I let it go. A few days later that question was fully out of my mind as my wife and I were vacationing in Yellowstone National Park, and while there, the Lord woke me up at 3:30 in the morning on June 2nd, 2009 and answered my question.

Generally speaking, the generations of nineteen hundreds taught their children God’s word, but without enough explanation to make God’s word make sense to them. It was God’s word without teaching the blessings for obedience or the consequences of disobedience. They taught God’s word, but without understanding. Proverbs 4:7 advises us that “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding

Many parents thought that their teaching of God’s word was to be accepted simply on their authority as ‘parents’ and therefore no explanation was necessary. If a child asked them for explanation, a common response of the parent was ‘because I said so.’ People were told what was right and what was wrong; without understanding ‘why’ or what their level of commitment should be, or the true consequences of not adhering to them, such knowledge becomes just a set of restricting laws. People tired of thorough and sound teaching, had no time for the studying of God’s word, and had an attitude of ‘just get to the bottom line.’ I’ve noticed that in today’s world, when someone does ask a question concerning God’s word they usually want a less-than-one-minute or a one-sentence answer; such answers are never that simple. Without understanding foundational truths themselves, they in turn gave their children little understanding of God’s word. Today’s churches are even further abbreviated, reducing the beautiful truths of God’s word to simple ‘catch phrases’ and cliché’s instead of teaching the doctrines of the first Christians. Because in-depth understandings of bible doctrines are not taught by the church, parents simply tell their children to ‘just say no’ to what is wrong. It is no wonder that when they hear the rights and wrongs of the Christian faith, they throw them out the window. Teaching the moral ethics of Christianity, without the foundation of an inward knowledge of Christ, commitment to Him and a transformed heart, will result in failure. Only the born again experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit can transform. Romans 12:2 says; “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Scripture tells us to not be “conformed” (an act of the will) “but be ye transformed” (the act of changed thinking). You can be a subscriber to Christian values and not be a Christian. True Christian values are more than Christian ethics; values start with God’s word and valuing His word enough to commit yourself, your life, in obedience to Him. You cannot be a Christian otherwise.

The Lord reminded me of several things, in His answer to my question of “What happened to America.” One of them was this; They did not value what they had. Not enough to stand up for it, not enough to hold to what they had been given or to do what they had been commanded to do. People stopped giving their children (the next generation of leaders) and their children’s children a foundational understanding of God’s word. Instead they were taught bible stories and scripture memorization. This set the stage for later lack of Godly reasoning when their beliefs would be challenged; and soldiers that are ill-equipped do not stand against a well-armed enemy. Later when secular humanism invaded modern day philosophies and launched attacks on the public school system, the general public lacked enough commitment or voice to override the attacks. They had stopped valuing their faith, having little understanding of it. The Bible, a long held mainstay of education, wisdom, moral ethics and behavior was taken out of public education by law. Later, all things that even stood for Christianity, Christian symbols etc would likewise come under attack as well as Christian holidays and even limiting the right of the people to speak of Christian ethics. America had become a Christian nation only in the minds of those ignorant of the reality around them. I think back to the prophet Daniel when he was ordered not to pray to His God but only to the king (Daniel Chapter 6). He had two choices; obey an ungodly law, or be thrown to the lions. He chose the lions. When it came time to pray, he still prayed to his God; the God of Israel. In the New Testament, Jesus could have saved himself, but in obedience to the will of His Father, he chose the cross. The apostles were severely beaten and commanded not to teach of Jesus; they taught anyway. Many, many martyrs of the Christian faith who spoke Gods truths were told they could save themselves if they would just stop their opposition to the false doctrines of their day; but they continued to speak, thereby choosing death by fire, and sword, starvation or other tortures. Where was this kind of Christianity in America when Christians were ordered not to bring their bibles to school? Where was Christian fortitude and courage when laws were made to ban the mention of Christ at public functions? The guidelines of scripture, and the acts of Christian leaders are quite clear: when laws oppose the mandates of scripture… choose scripture. There should be no question. There should be no excuses. God’s not interested in excuses, He’s interested in whether or not they who claim to love Him will be obedient no matter what the cost. When the public school system denounced the authority of God and His word and began in earnest teaching humanistic ideologies and evolution, there was no mass exodus of Christians into home schools or church run schools. People continue to send their children to a public school system which teaches things in opposition to God’s word. People live in fear of speaking their beliefs openly. Speak them anyway! You could lose you job? Our Christian leaders lost their lives, yet they willingly did so! In the first century church, there were thousands upon thousands of followers of Christ who could have been spared cruel deaths by doing one simple thing; “just say Caesar is Lord”. They took their faith, their actions and the words of their mouths seriously and would not even say the words ‘Caesar is Lord’ to save their own lives. Men, women and children alike saw their loved ones killed and died themselves with one thing on their lips; “Jesus is Lord!” Their were times in history when all Christians had to do to save themselves was to declare the reigning ruler as king; again, all they would say is “we have no king but Jesus!’ even if it meant their lives. I marvel at how quickly and easily today’s ‘Christians’ speak God’s word yet have not the conviction to stand behind scripture when in comes to taking it seriously enough to actually live by it! When man’s laws are contrary to God’s laws the answer should be simple: obey God’s word. I’ll say again the Lords answer to my question: “What happened to America!”

“They did not value what they had. Not enough to stand up for it, not enough to hold to what they had been given or to do what they had been commanded to do.”

Part 2

When a partial, or incomplete truth,
is taught as the whole truth…
it becomes a lie.

Today, due to the long lack of in-depth bible study and teaching, many of the original doctrines of the early church are being totally ignored (even though they are written in Scripture) and therefore unknown to the vast majority of those who profess to be Christians. What’s been happening in America, and in many nations where there was once a strong Christian influence has resulted in the reducing of biblicall doctrines that were based upon the full gospel, to catch phrases and cliché’s that only give partial truths.

When a partial, or incomplete truth, as taught as the whole truth… it becomes a lie.
Cherry pie has many ingredients to make it a cherry pie. One of the those ingredients is flour. If someone gave you flour, and told you it was a cherry pie, you wouldn’t believe it. Because you know what a cherry pie should look and taste like. But if you didn’t know what a cherry pie was, had never tasted it or saw a picture of it, you’d probably accept that single ingredient as the whole pie. In this case, flour is flour, and the flour of course is real and true; what makes it false is that it is not the whole pie. This leads me to the second part of the answer I was given to what happened to America;


“They were taught too much on a perverted understanding of ‘saved by grace’
instead of the reality that sin has consequences.”

The concept of ‘saved by grace’is based upon Ephesians 2:8. Like the flour in the pie, the scripture is true; but grace is only a ‘partial’ ingredient in the pie of salvation. Reducing the whole of the bible doctrine of salvation, to salvation being purely a matter of ‘saved by grace’ makes it a lie.

GRACE
(The misunderstanding of Ephesians 2:8)

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Many, many churches teach these passages of text…but the corruption of this verse is one of understanding, or should I say, misunderstanding. Their so called ‘plan of salvation’ stops right there, with grace. I’ve heard it time and time again; “Well, we’re all sinners, saved by grace…there’s nothing more to be done brother, Jesus paid it all, praise God…..just accept it.” Those that teach and preach that we are saved by grace and grace alone (with that being the end of story…) are who Jude wrote about in his New Testament letter. These are men who through their false teaching actually give license to sin by their acceptance of the “well, we’re all sinners after all…saved by grace” attitude, while at the same time failing to teach the consequences of sin within the ‘believer.’

In the epistle of St. Jude, he warns:

3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

In Genesis chapter 6 verse 8 it says that Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord. The whole world was found to be in sin…but Noah found grace in God’s sight. Grace, here, means ‘favor.’ Did grace save Noah? No. It was God’s grace that showed Noah the plan for his salvation from the coming wrath. It was God’s grace, the showing of God’s favor for Noah…that God told Noah to build the ark. Noah then, believed God (faith), which resulted in his putting that faith into action (works) by doing what God said to do! Grace, and faith resulting in taking the correct course of action (building the ark) saved Noah and his family. Noah still had to build the ark…amidst all the doubters. Noah, because of God’s grace, was given a way out. But it didn’t end there. Noah had to act upon that grace, Noah had to believe God (faith), build the ark and then get in it! Would grace alone have saved Noah? No. Would faith that God would do what he said he would do save Noah? No. Noah had to act upon that grace, act upon that faith, and build the ark. It was Noah’s obedience to that grace, that plan of salvation, that saved Noah. In the days of Sodom, Lot found grace also in the sight of the Lord ( Genesis chapter 19). Divine favor, for Lot, brought the plan of salvation to Lot…and told Lot to ‘get out of town!’ Did grace save Lot? No. That grace had to be acted upon. Grace, followed by a faith that resulted in obedience…saved Lot. His wife was under the same grace…the same faith, but without obedience she perished.

In Titus 2:11, the Apostle Paul writes:

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.”

Grace itself is not salvation…grace brings salvation.

Grace, brought God’s plan of salvation for all mankind, to man. In the verse we just read, it also says this grace appeared to all men, but are all men saved? No, of course not, but the plan is for all men.
Grace brought the plan. Grace… unmerited favor, meaning that man himself did nothing to deserve this plan of salvation from God. God’s grace is not given because of good works… lest any man should boast. It is purely the grace of God. Grace is a gift of God to undeserving man. Grace brought the plan, but grace is not the plan itself! Always, in the old and new testament, grace brings a way out of our sins, out of our shortcomings, but such grace must be followed on our part by faith, resulting in taking the proper action. Just like it did for Noah and Lot.

Were salvation a matter of grace alone…we could literally throw out the rest of the bible (which, doctrinally, most churches today do!!) There would be no need to overcome sin…as it says in Revelation 3:5;

“He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life.”

Did you catch that? These people Jesus was referring to were already in the book of life…yet they would be blotted out of that book if they didn’t overcome (sin). Did Jesus say, “Oh, well, you’re under grace now…come on into my heaven?” No.

In the verse below, we wouldn’t be required to bear fruit would we? Not if grace were the ‘end of the story’. Luke 13:9 says;

“And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.”

Cut down? Wait a minute. It’s already a branch then…did grace alone save this unfruitful branch? No. And why bother being salt of the earth, if grace was all inclusive?

Luke 14:34 says:

“Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? 35 It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

The following passages of text…are not written to the non-believers, but to the church. They speak of ‘staying the course’ of a Christian life, of not backsliding, but what they do not do is give license to sin…they do NOT say, “well, if you sin it’s okay, we’re all saved by grace.” Let me say here and now…that those same preachers that promote lasciviousness (license to sin) because of grace are also the first ones to point out their own brand of corruption of the verse found in Romans 3:23:

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”

But this verse refers to “all men”…it is prior to the salvation commitment and experience. It refers to those who claim not to need a saviour because they have not sinned. These so-called ministers of the gospel want to include all, both in and out of the body of Christ, sinner and Christian alike…as sinners (but we‘ve already covered the truth of Romans 3:23). Once again, this violates all scriptures pertaining to holiness, godliness, overcoming the world and all of the guidelines for living for God in a manner that is pleasing to Him.

Other verses pertaining to the impossibility of ‘grace alone’ being all that is necessary for salvation…or for that matter the whole concept that some churches have about ‘once a person is saved that they cannot lose their salvation”:

John 15:6 “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” (Clue; you cannot be ‘cast forth as a branch’ unless you were already a branch... Author).

Romans 11:21; “For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.”

Romans 11:22 “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.”

Romans 8:13 “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”(Note: Paul was writing to the church at Rome, and they were part of that church because they had become Spirit filled Christians…author).

1 Corinthians 15:2; “By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.”

Salvation…a life-long journey… If… If… If…

Galatians 6:9 “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

1 Thessalonians 3:8 “For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.”

Hebrews 3:14 “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end;”

Hebrews 10:38 “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him”.
The prophet Jeremiah was told to go and deliver a message from God to those who, like so many self-professing Christians in today’s world, thought that since “God was on their side” (or so they wanted to think) that they could live any way they desired to and that God would still be pleased with them. Jeremiah Chapter 7, verses 8-10 says:

“Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and wear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered (saved) to do all these abominations?”

How totally ridiculous…and yet the Apostle Paul faced the same thing! Look what he wrote to the roman believers, in his letter, chapter 6: 15-16;:

“What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” (In other words, NO!).

“Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”

And look at the last part, of the above sentence, “his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death”…it’s almost a re-statement of ‘the wages of sin is death”…and once again, it’s written to the CHURCH. The wages of sin, is death. It’s written to the believer. Paul is saying, “grace won’t cover you.”

Okay, I have to say it again; grace, in itself, is not salvation, grace brought the plan of salvation. Titus 2:11 says;

“for the grace of God that bringeth salvation…”

That plan, first of all must be believed (faith), resulting in the fulfillment of that plan (salvation). Millions of people, are deceived by the doctrine of salvation based solely on ‘grace’. They have been lied to by a false doctrine and those that teach it. A false doctrine based upon a corruption of truth. They cling to the idea of ‘grace alone’ and go about their lives in blissful ignorance. But on the Day of Judgment, however, ‘grace’ alone won’t go very far…Jesus said, in Matthew 7:21-23;

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

The people in the above text that came to Jesus thought they had been following Him, but they had been deceived. They prayed to Him, and prayed in His name. They were ‘believers’, and cast out devils in His name.

They did many wonderful works in His name. They had put forth effort, prayer, and in doing many wonderful works probably spent a lot of money.

Jesus said MANY would come to Him on the Day of Judgment, and make these statements…and the statements would be true. Jesus didn’t call them liars and He didn’t deny the statements. (Gee, what about grace?). Jesus simply said he never knew them, commanded them to depart (guess where they went?) and called them workers of iniquity (sin).

Never forget what Paul wrote in Hebrews 5:9 that Jesus became “the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”

Again; when a partial, or incomplete truth is taught as the whole truth…it becomes a lie.

The corruption of understanding of Ephesians 2:8 is not the only example of a partial truth taught as a singular complete truth. Another example of error is what is taught to people seeking salvation or bible guidelines of how to be saved. How awful it is to teach, sincere seeking people, lies about the most serious of all questions a person could ask. Most of today’s churches tell would be inquisitors; “Accept the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” This is a lie, and I am more than slightly irritated every time I hear this misleading statement. I will give one thousand dollars cash to anyone who can show me that statement in God’s word. The tragedy of this statement is that, if someone believes it, they have a false sense of security and are just as unsaved as they ever were.
“Accept the Lord Jesus Christ and you’ll be saved” or “Accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior” are abbreviated summarizations of certain theological beliefs. It is man’s teaching, not God’s word and therefore God is not bound to it. In these statements,
there is nothing for the would-be seeker to do other than give a proclamation that you have ‘accepted Christ’. This is completely contrary to scripture, which says that it is not we who accept Christ…but it is we who have to be found acceptable to Him! Romans 12:1 says; “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
It is not that we accept Him, but it is we who must be found acceptable! This changes everything! Now there is something a seeker must actually do. He must make himself ‘acceptable’.

This is contrary to another unscriptural ‘churchy’ slogan; “come as you are”. This slogan is not from scripture, not even a paraphrase from scripture or based in any way on scripture; it is a slogan based upon a church hymn “O Lamb of God I Come.”

Most churches that teach the two fallacies of just come as you are and accept Christ and you’ll be saved often reassure their unfulfilled converts by giving them yet another scripture that is also a ‘partial ingredient’ in salvation’s plan that is taught as complete truth in itself. John 6:37; “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” Again, the scripture is true; just incomplete. It’s one ingredient but not the whole pie. The implication to the inquisitor, when this verse is given as a ‘whole truth’ without mentioning other pertaining verses is simply that if you come to him you’re accepted. These three single ingredients are often given together;
come to the Lord as you are, accept Him, and He won’t cast you away. Put together, they are a bit more powerful but they are still not the whole pie! When we come to the Lord for salvation, there is a defined way to come to Him. There is only one way to come to God; repenting. Jesus said in Luke 13:3; “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” This statement is a main ingredient in the pie of salvation. There is no mention of ‘just accept the Lord’ here, or ‘come as you are’! It defines ‘how’ a person is to ‘come to the Lord’. Repenting. This is also spoken by the Apostle Peter when onlookers both saw and heard the followers of Jesus receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost in Acts 2:38. The onlookers asked Peter what they should do and first thing Peter told them to do was to repent. Repentance is what John the Baptist taught as he preached make straight the path for the Lord. The preparation for receiving the Lord will always be repentance. Don’t ‘come as you are’ with a ‘this is how I am, take it or leave it attitude’!
Come repenting. Come not only confessing your sins but seeking forgiveness for them.
Repenting means to ‘turn away from’ so come ready not only to confess your sins and seek forgiveness but with an intense desire to turn away from them. A person coming to the Lord must intensely desire to stop living life for themselves and begin living in a way pleasing to God. 2 Corinthians 5:15 says; “And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” Most churches today don’t seem to teach that. They want to teach Jesus as their savior without teaching them what it means to receive Him as their ‘Lord’. To receive Him as your Lord means as the ‘one you obey.’ If Jesus is your Lord, then you are His servant. Jesus is ‘Lord and Savior;’ so if He is not your Lord then neither is He your Savior.

Most churches teach that if you seek Him you will find Him as it says in Matthew 7:8; “For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened”. Once again the verse is true; but incomplete. Other verses define ‘how’ to seek Him in order to be successful in finding Him. “And ye shall seek me, and find me” says Jeremiah 29:13, “when ye shall search for me with all your heart”. Your whole heart; without reservation, without any portion of your life held back. Placing nothing in your life as having more importance. For “the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field” says Matthew 13:44; “the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and “and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field”.

Most churches teach “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” as it says in Acts 16:31 (“And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house”). But again (your getting used to this) a statement that, left alone, undefined and unexplained has become a perversion of it’s intended message. Some churches even teach this single verse not only as the whole of salvation but corrupt the understanding of the word ‘believe’ as well. Members are led to believe that a simple acknowledgement in the existence of Jesus Christ is sufficient for salvation. That it doesn’t matter what you believe ‘about’ Him just as long as you believe ‘in’ Him. This is not true. This single verse, as taught by some would make void all other biblical teaching. It would do away with things like repentance, faith, trust, commitment, obedience, water baptism, baptism of the Holy Spirit and all other bible doctrines. But Jesus Himself defined ‘how’ we were to believe in Him and it’s very simple: believe in Him according to scripture. John 7:38 – 39; “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified)”. Believing partial truths as is commonly taught is not ‘believing according to scripture’. And what happens when we finally turn from error of incomplete doctrines and actually believe according to scripture? “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”. This relates to the baptism of the Holy Spirit that those who believe according to scripture will receive. There are many ‘believers’ in the world who have believed, but have believed according erroneous doctrines of incomplete truths. Such beliefs profit nothing at all toward salvation just as partial ingredients of a cherry pie cannot result in a cherry pie. Believing according to scripture and therefore receiving the Holy Spirit exposes yet another truth (found in Mark 16:16) that needs defining to avoid a great error; “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned”. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved…many teach that if a person is baptized (water baptism) that they receive salvation. It’s not true, for if it were in any way true then man himself would have a major role in the salvation of others simply by baptizing them. But it’s not water baptism that saves, it the baptism of the Holy Spirit by which we are joined to the body of Christ. And this places salvation back into the hands of the Lord’s discretion… not mans. 1 Corinthians 12:13 says; “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit”.

After considering these and other incomplete truths, (lies), being taught by most churches around the world, the Lord gave me a one-sentence summarization of the whole problem, in His third statement;

“Churches have been teaching what people want to hear, instead of what they need to hear”.

The incomplete truths I’ve mentioned in this article have one thing in common; they mislead people into ‘an easy but false understanding of biblical salvation’. People will live up to what is expected of them, but they will also live down to whatever they think they can get by with. Belief of these incomplete truths will result in weak, uncommitted seekers who lack responsibility, accountability and dedication. They will lack the ability to overcome sin in their lives and not take God’s word seriously enough to live by it regardless of hardship. This is exactly what we see now, as we look at the majority of those professing to be Christians.

It’s not surprising that when Jesus came to John on the Island of Patmos He didn’t speak out against or warn the governments of the world or take sides in political ideologies. He came to rebuke and warn the church. And, typical of the masses of any group of people, nothing has changed. But now you, the reader of this article, have received and read a more defined understanding of the error of many partial truths being taught ‘as a whole’. My question to YOU is; what will you do with it?

June 2009
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