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Chris, I read your post “How to preach the gospel without converting a soul…”  I thought it was very good and worth sharing.  Thanks! 

As for obedience, I think the standard knee-jerk reaction against any teaching that says obedience is necessary for salvation is because people primarily think of salvation in terms of regeneration, conversion (faith & repentance) or justification.  Plus, they might not have any obedience and the thought scares them to death.  They read Romans 4:5 and say, “See, I don’t need any works to be saved”, not realizing that Paul is only speaking about the basis of being legally justified before God.  If you claim that obedience is necessary for salvation as a meritorious cause, then the knee-jerk criticism is valid.  We cannot attain the perfect righteousness that is necessary to be justified before God.  If we could, the work of Christ is meaningless.  However, salvation is more than regeneration, conversion and justification.  We are also sanctified.
 
"Faith alone justifies, but justifying faith is not alone. Good works though they are not the causes of salvation, yet they are the evidences. Faith must not be built upon works, but works must be built upon faith" - Thomas Watson

Although we are justified as being “right with God” by faith alone, our obedience justifies us in the sense that it proves our faith (James  2:24).  The same Paul, who wrote Romans 4:5 also wrote about the “obedience of faith”
(Romans 1:5, 16:26).  He said that he became an apostle to "bring about the obedience of faith".

2 Peter 1:3-11:
 
“According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.  And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.  For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.  Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”

We are born again by the work of the Spirit alone, making us able and willing to believe; justified by faith alone; and empowered by the Spirit to bear the fruit of the Spirit as evidence of our faith--all so that we may have entrance into the “everlasting kingdom of our Lord”.

1 Corinthans 5:10:

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

Great article.

The Gospel, God’s word, is like a fire. There is no substance on earth that can compare to the power of God’s word; the heavens and the Earth may pass way, but God’s word will yet remain. When we wield this power--through the Holy Spirit—it must be coupled with Faith.

Evangelism is one of the unique gifts within the Body of Christ which uses the power of the Gospel. When we go out to preach from the Bible, God’s inspired and holy word, we believe that this Gospel  “divides asunder the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Heb 4:12)

Therefore, Evangelism in of itself requires faith, believing the promises despite what we may see.  Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10) Without faith it is impossible to please God. By faith Abel pleased God by offering a more excellent sacrifice.  Noah, by faith, moved with fear and thus saved his house, condemned the world and became an heir of righteousness. Abraham by faith removed himself from his home, and dwelt in a strange land; by faith, he sought a city with foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Abraham’s wife Sara, by faith, bore a child despite being far too old, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. By faith, these never received the promises but saw them from a distance; these promises they believed and embraced, and confessed being strangers and pilgrims upon the Earth.

As Christians, and evangelists, we do walk as strangers on the earth, looking forward to the Kingdom of God and placing our hope in the promises of God’s word. Our lives should reflect that it is by faith that we have grace and peace with God, through our Lord and savior Jesus the Christ… our Messiah. When we go out to declare the gospel by preaching, our motives should be out of faith, knowing that our eyes can be deceived and also knowing that Faith is the evidence of things not seen. 

As one who has evangelized over the years, I have seen many brethren come out--for a period of time--then shrink back from the preaching of the Gospel. As is often the case, they expected to see droves of ‘converts’ appear; they believed the lie that unless one sees such numbers the methods are thereby ineffective and the ministry lacks ‘fruit’.  The fruit of preaching, however, is not measured by the number of converts but by faith and obedience. One may plant, another may water, but it is God who gives the increase. (1 Cr. 3:6 & 7) In this evangelism is similar to farming, in tilling and preparing the ground continually and sowing the seed; when the seed lands on good soil God brings the increase and more often than not it is someone else who harvests the fruit. By faith we go out regardless, preparing the ground and sowing the seeds, knowing that this is God’s beloved church; it is He who cares for the seed and oversees the flock, which He has redeemed.

“For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?”  2 Cr 2:15 & 16

Therefore, brethren, when you go out to preach the Gospel do not forget the Shield of Faith, knowing that the devil is a diabolical deceiver and a master archer; he fires the flaming arrows of Doubt and Hardship which, without faith, lead to bitterness and despair. However, God uses tribulations to produce in His faithful patience, character and hope.

As we preach the word of God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Gospel does not return void, but accomplishes that for which He sent it.

Steven

Fight of the Century: Government Socialism VS 'Christian' Capitalism

Over the last thirty years, under the guise of 'church growth', American christendom has created a network of empires; while much can be debated about their effectiveness, said empires have ignited some accepted social changes, such as home-schooling and various other Constitutional rights. However, the majority of the 'good deeds' are mostly rhetoric to gain revenue, which has caught the attention of an anti-Christ, socialistic government, which is hell-bent on destroying every moral fiber in God-given commands.

H.R. Bill 4682 & S.1 are two bills being currently considered in Congress that would change existing law to include churches, pastors, non-profits organizations, etc. into the definition of 'lobbyists' by creating a new category to fit them into called 'grassroots lobbyists'; such classification would result in government demands that each non-profit organization and church that attempts to influence public opinion in any way register with Congress, and give detailed initial and quarterly disclosures of their activities.

Frankly, The Church, our Brethren, are going to have to make up their minds: do they want to continue to live lavish lives of excess or take up their crosses and follow Christ. We will have to determine whether is it appropriate to hold a non-profit and continue to build our 'kingdoms' here on earth, or, will we invest instead in The Kingdom of God, which lasts for all Eternity. The bottom line here is that the general 'Christian' community, our Brethren, have disobeyed the commandment to have no other gods before Him, as well as the follow-up "Thou shalt not covet". If American christendom continues in its idolatry and covetousness, God will allow snares and captivity to fall upon us (as is already occurring) to the inevitable persecution of the saints.

- Steven 1/16/2007

Precursor To A Response

On January 3rd, 2007 I wrote a blog on Ray Comfort & Living Waters Ministry tracts, of which I sent a copy to Ray Comfort via his ministry's website, asking that it would be passed onto him; I gave an invitation for him to respond to the blog.

Liz Ebert, spokeswoman for Ray Comfort and Living Waters Ministry wrote me back, absolutely refusing to forward the letter to Ray Comfort. The following is her email in full: "Dear Steven, We greatly appreciate you taking the time to email us. My name is Liz and I am a member of Ray & Kirk's ministry team. Ray and Kirk do receive and answer emails; but they can't respond to all of them. They have entrusted me to do so. Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter. Please be aware that these are my comments and not necessarily theirs, though I am very familiar with their biblical position and stance concerning this ministry. Sorry, but we can't forward the letter you sent to Ray Comfort, but it there something I can help you with? Thank you again fro taking the time to write us, Liz - Living Waters Correspondent"

My response to Liz's email: " To Liz Ebert - Spokeswoman for Ray Comfort and Living Water Ministries, In your reply to my email, you indicated that your comments may not "necessarily" be 'their' comments. The original letter did not have your name on it, and as you stated you have no authority to answer; so... why, spokeswoman, do you speak on 'their' behalf and refuse to pass the letter on to Ray Comfort, to whom it (the letter) was written? Steven - InformationGospel   PS: Please note, all replies may be published to InformationGospel.net"

- Steven  1/15/2007

Why 'The Way of The Master' Is Not So Visible

Many years ago, I cut my preaching 'teeth' on the streets of San Francisco, with a ministry called SOS Ministries. Once or twice a year, the ministry would have a key note speaker by the name of Ray Comfort, (head of Living Waters Ministry and more recently The Way of the Master) whose ministry at that time was still pretty much unknown. Ray had a well-thought-out and unique way of witnessing to the lost; one of his main premises was the importance of showing the lost, however we preached, that they are indeed sinners according to the Commandments, and that there will be a Judgment someday.

Of all the speakers that ever showed up at SOS, I found Ray to be the most sincere and doctrinally sound; through good, Biblical hermeneutics, Ray instructed us how to go out and properly present the Gospel with the emphasis on sin and repentance. I recommend Ray's website as a resource for anyone who'd like to learn how to properly open-air preach, but I do not recommend some of his tracts.

As of late the Way of the Master has become a kind of pop-culture phenomenon in most modern-Christendom circles (in fact, the only people we see going out on the streets these days, for the most part, are those whom have responded to the Way of the Master). My main beef with Ray's ministry is that some of his more popular tracts lack the substance of the simple Gospel, or are deceptive in nature. For example, recently, Ray's ministry has come out with a Million dollar bill tract (that sells more than a million a year) which has the message of the Gospel inscribed in the border; the message itself, however is in extremely small print, and most people whom receive them on the street don't even know what it is they have received. These tracts of his are, I think, relatively new as I don't remember Ray using this type of deceptive method when he was talking to us in San Francisco.

So the questions are: 1. When we go out to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, why are we not being bold? 2. Why do we need to use deceit in order to preach the Gospel?

We know that Paul (1 Th. 2:2) was bold to preach the Gospel even when it was controversial. Surely if we are going to go out and witness to the lost the tracts we pass out should be, if anything, bold in their message as well as what comes from our mouth should also be bold. Here are a few phrases taken from the Greek that Paul used to describe this boldness:

1. freely speaking of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; in other words, not hidden

2. to be confident; not hiding or shrinking back

3. showing assurance; knowing the message is true, thus not being ashamed

4. assume a bold bearing; everything that you do publicly is bold in the Gospel, whether in your appearance or your words, you are confident in Jesus Christ

Our methods, and the message in the tracts we pass out, should reflect this boldness, with the Gospel as a running theme throughout; people must be able to clearly see what it is you are saying and whom you represent. If these things are not clear, you are not properly presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ and thus could be construed as being deceptive or disgenuine.

As Christians, the thing we must not do is to say that we believe in Jesus Christ, we've been atoned of all our sin, saved from God's wrath and eternal damnation, that we've become sons and heirs with Christ, being given the right to spend eternity with God in His Kingdom, being commanded to preach this Gospel throughout the entire world... and yet be elusive with the Gospel or apprehensive and ashamed to really tell people about it.

This would be as if Jonah, after being given a message by God Himself to preach, being swallowed by a whale for three days and spit up on a beach, had instead gone to the Ninevites and handed out a bunch of coins with the message of God inscribed in tiny print on the edges, or trying to communicate to them by magic tricks. But no, Jonah heard the call to preach; though he didn't want to be the messenger of God, he went finally to Nineveh and was bold in both his speech and manner, crying out aloud that the city would be destroyed, unless the inhabitants repented.

How much more should we, today, be bold with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for: "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by [that] man whom he hath ordained; [whereof] he hath given assurance unto all [men], in that he hath raised him from the dead." Acts 17: 30 & 31

Steven  1/03/2007

PS: A copy of this blog was sent to Ray Comfort via Living Waters Ministry; we will post any responses we receive from them.

Dear Beloved brother Steven

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ

 I am very much glad in the Lord Jesus to write you, thank you very much for your kind prayers and encouragement towards our faith ministry. By the Grace of God and by your fervent prayers we are doing His faithfully and sincerely.

 I am going to requesting you please kindly pray for our poor community and us. Because we are effected heavy rains and floods. Since 4 days here continually heavy rains coming without stop and then we effected floods. I and our family and poor people now under the floodwater. Every thing under the water and destroyed nothing in our hands, only one dress under on our bodies. And some of our people are died. Most of the people are living on the roads where there is no water and nighttime sleeping bus and railway stations.

 
There is no food, shelter and etc., suffering very much for every need. Now rain is coming and the news says the rain continually come more than  24 hrs. Now for these 4 days thousands of people are became destitute and now for these 24 hrs coming of rain and thousands of thousands will became destitute and died.

 Nearly 20 lives have been lost and vast areas of crops inundated as "Ogni", the cyclonic storm, crossed the Andhra Pradesh coast, near Bapatla on Monday after hovering in the Bay of Bengal for two days.


Prakasam, Guntur and Krishna districts, which received heavy downpour are in for further battering on Tuesday. After crossing the coast, "Ogni" weakened, but still lay near Bapatla. There was a record rainfall of 35 cm, 28 cm and 27 cm respectively in Avanigadda, Repalle and Machilipatnam


Revenue officials launched a massive operation late on Monday deploying boats and power-launches to rescue 70 persons trapped in aquaculture farms at Sopirala, near China Ganjam in Prakasam district following sudden flooding of the area. All of them managed to reach the rooftop of a structure available there, said Preeti Sudan, Commissioner, Disaster Management.

 
Guntur district had the highest number of seven casualties. Rains affected normal life at several places, especially in Ongole where the Collector has declared a holiday for schools for the day. Vast residential areas and roads came under knee-deep waters in Ongole, Chirala, Guntur, Repalle, Tenali, Vijayawda, Visakhapatnam and Amalapuram.

 
Please kindly pray for us, at present we are in great needy condition. I hope that your kind heart would understand about it. Please kindly pray for us, we are praying for you and your kind services. Awaiting for your kind reply soon.

Yours in Christ

Katta.Edukondalu

Repalle

Dear Beloved Brother Steven

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

I am very much glad in the Lord Jesus to write you, thank you very much for your kind prayers and encouragement towards our poor ministry. By the grace of God and by your fervent prayers we are doing His work faithfully and sincerely.

I and my team brothers are regularly attending to the ministry and conducting cottage prayer meetings, tracts distribution, street Gospel meetings, Gospel Crusades, street Evangelism, personal Evangelism, child Evangelism and praying for the sick etc., our vision and burden is Gospel work and help the poor.

I would like to give you that our ministry news of September 2009. In many terrible conditions we went out many villages of Manthanavari palem and it’s surrounding 6 villages, Reddy palem and its surrounding 8 villages, Kagipalem and its surrounding 10 villages and Kothapalem and its surrounding 6 villages.

In fact we are faced some more problems whiling we are preaching the Word of God in rural remote villages. Actually it is not easy to preach the Gospel in rural villages, because the illiterate people suspect us and did not allow us to preach the Word of God. And at that same time rural villages’ people have much interest to hear the Word of God. If they are hear or not is there any problem at any thing we want need to preach the Gospel there.

The Lord’s work went well and we meet many people during the September month and preach Gospel to them personally and conducted 8 street Gospel meetings, 3550 tracts are distributed, 1441 kilometers traveled by bicycles, motor cycles and 126 kilometers walked and prayed for around 200 sick people who are suffering with different kind of diseases. Brothers and Sisters who are working in Follow Jesus Team doing the Lord’s work very hardly for the glory of Him.

In India: -

    * 330 million god’s are worshipped
    * Hindus 85%
    * Muslims 11%
    * Christians 3%
    * 50% of the people never heard the name of Jesus
    * 500,000 villages have no Gospel workers or the church
    * 55,000 people die each day eternally separated from Jesus Christ.

I hope that you are understood how many people are dieing each day without Jesus. Our primary call is to fulfill the Great Commission by sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with those who have never heard His name. It is our heartfelt ambition to preach the Gospel every part of India. I hope through your kind fervent prayers and encouragement that God will open doors to preach the Gospel every part of India. May the LORD bless India through you and let HIS glory shine to India through you, thank you very much for your kind prayers and encouragement.


And on 26th Saturday September 2009 three Hindu woman accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior and taken Baptism. This is great miracle that the God has done among the Hindus. I hope in the days to come many people know the real truth and accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior. And there is great need to construct churches in rural remote villages.

In our state of Andhra Pradesh in three districts of Krishna, Kurnool and Mahabubnagar are effected heavy rains and floods and also near to the effected floods. Thousands of people are became destitute living without food, water, shelter and etc., They were all crying very much to certain help and more than 50 people are died and many were living in flood water. Please kindly pray for them. You are able to see it online TV on www.sakshi.com


                                 MINISTRY NEWS OF SEPTEMBER 2009


                               1 – Sep – 09 Tuesday to 05 – Sep – 09 Saturday.


The first week of this month we went out Manthanavari palem and its surrounding 6 villages. All of these villages are like 39 to 61 kilometers away from us. We are reached all of these villages by buses and bicycles, only around 242 kilometers we traveled by buses and bicycles and walked 22 kilometers.

We given the word of God through personal Evangelism to 43 men and women both are illiterates and 600 tracts distributed and prayed for 8 sick people both are men and women and some are very much cried for their diseases, but we encourage them .Really they were find real peace and joy.

Almost all in this week we visit collages, high schools, foot bal camps, hospitals. We have burden about young people to bring them into the LIGHT, many of the young people dieing without even knowledge of Jesus. When we are trying give the tracts and trying to tell the about Gospel, but they are very careless. Among these young people 450 tracts distributed and tried very much to gather them in a place and conduct small meeting, but we are unable to do that, although we will do it later. Please kindly pray for the youths to come to Jesus Christ.


                                 7 – Sep – 09 Monday to 11 – Sep – 09 Friday.


The second week of this month that we went out, we preached the Gospel in Reddy palem and it’s surrounding 8 villages. All of these villages are like 42 to 60 kilometers away from us. We are reached all of these villages by bicycles and motorcycles, around 302 kilometers we traveled and walked 29 kilometers.
 

We visited all of 8 villages surrounding Reddy palem and distributed tracts door to door to, personal to person and prayed 40 sick people who are suffering with different kind of diseases. And we meet many Hindu people who are regularly worshiped their many idols and tree gods. In fact they strongly rejected and trying to do some thing against us, but our God with us all the time. With megaphone in 6 villages the God’s message went well and every thing very good here. While we are preaching the Gospel with megaphone people have draw about it and hear what we are saying. The word of God gone in 6 villages with megaphone very powerfully. In fact we are all very much enjoyed that our God has used us here villages very powerfully.
 

900 tracts are distributed here villages and there is great need to preach the Gospel here villages more. I hope we visit those villages again very soon. And in 4 villages we are able to conduct 4 street Gospel meetings at 7 pm to 10:30pm. Every meeting 21 to 34 people are attended and we did not show any Jesus films, because lack of funds.

 
                             14 – Sep – 09 Monday to 18 – Sep – 09 Friday.


The third week of this month we went out and preach the Gospel in Kagipalem and its surrounding 10 villages among the Hindus and Muslims. All of these villages are like 97 to 103 kilometers away from us. By motorcycles and buses we reached these villages 487 kilometers traveled and 42 kilometers walked.

Kagipalem and surround ten villages visited and meet the many people who are even today did not hear the Jesus. Door to door, person to person we are distributed tracts some are taken it and read it and some are rejected. 1400 tracts are gone out in 11 villages and some are objection while distributing and conduct the street Gospel meeting.


Here villages in two places we are able to conduct two street Gospel meetings. We taught them some Bible stories and explain them very clearly about God’s love. They heard word of God very interesting and some asked doubts and we cleared all their doubts. The average attendance for two meetings 40 to 67 people approximately. They enjoyed the messages.

After street meeting over we prayed for sick people, they were all from poor communities who are living in great destitute condition. And God has touched some sick people, they are healed from their diseases. The people who are given trouble to the Gospel they are feel happy when we prayed for the sick people and they said any body come and give the encouragement to sick people.

They were all gone to their home with peace and joy. Praise to be God.

                               21 – Sep – 09 Monday to 25 – Sep – 09 Friday.

Fourth week of this month we went out and preach the Gospel Kothapalem and its surrounding 6 villages among fishermen and forest area people. All of these villages are like 23 to 37 kilometers away from us. By bicycles we reached these villages 410 kilometers traveled and 33 kilometers walked.

Here villages of Kothapalem and its surrounding 6 villages we visited every street in those villages and preach the Gospel and 650 tracts distributed. In two villages two street meetings conducted. We taught them some Bible stories and explain them very clearly about God’s love about the people. They heard word of God very interesting and some asked doubts and we cleared all their doubts. The average attendance for two meetings 70 to 82 people approximately. They enjoyed the messages.

 
                          28 – Sep – 09 Monday to 30 – Sep – 09 Wednesday.


The last week of this month of May we visited five local villages. These villages are 4 to 19 kilometers away from us. We only visited our church members and their families, who are living in five different villages. We encourage them in the Word of God and prayed for their needs and problems.

Prayer Requests: -

   1. Please pray for the people who are living in great destitute condition affected by the heavy rains and floods in our sate really they need food, water and clothes.
   2. To construct churches in rural remote villages to develop the Lord’s work

Please kindly pray for us, we are praying for you and your kind services time to time. Awaiting for your kind reply soon.

Yours in His Services

Katta.Edukondalu

Pastor

Gossip, Lies & Hate



The Church, the Body of Christ, is made of several members whom have various gifts; some gifts are different from our own but are all useful for the Body. The hand cannot turn to the eye and say: ‘why can’t you be more like a hand?’... neither can the eye turn to the foot and say: ‘I wish to be a foot.’

The Body of Christ works best when Love and Patience are at work.  The thing which tears down the Body is a gossiping, backbiting, lying tongue. This is one of the reasons why Paul instructed Timothy to encourage the women of the church to keep busy and not to be idle.

“As for younger widows, do not put them on such a list. For when their sensual desires overcome their dedication to Christ, they want to marry. Thus they bring judgment on themselves, because they have broken their first pledge. Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to. So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander. Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan.” 1 Tim. 5:11-15

“The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” James 3:6

The tongue, like the rudder of a ship, steers the entire vessel and can be used for great damage to the Body of Christ. With just a small spark, one can burn down a huge forest. This fire is heated by the flesh and fanned by the Enemy, attempting to destroy all in its path. It divides good friends and causes strife and confusion among the Brethren.

Many times these gossips will cloak themselves in the mantle of friendship, only to take gathered information and spread everywhere evil surmising. Malicious gossip is sung in the town squares by drunkards. A gossip goes around revealing secrets which have been shared in confidence. The Bible likens gossip to tasty treats, which go down into a person’s innermost being.

These gossip-sparked quarrels and fires from Hell continue to burn as long as gossipers cease not their tale-bearing. Day and night they spread evil rumors and lies with total disregard for their family, friends, the Church or for the Lord, Himself.    

Gossips refuse to acknowledge God’s righteousness, His justice or His holiness; they refuse to obey His word. Gossip is found in the list of sins committed by those whom God has given over, along with envy, murder and hate:  “Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, fighting, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They are forever inventing new ways of sinning and are disobedient to their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, and are heartless and unforgiving. They are fully aware of God's death penalty for those who do these things, yet they go right ahead and do them anyway. And, worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.” Romans 1:29-32

In Proverbs, the Bible tells us that once a gossip is found out, never again can said person regain their good reputation. Gossip is associated with hate throughout the Scriptures, fuelled by bitterness and envy and evidenced with strife. Such vicious hatred only has one goal in mind: to inflict the maximum amount of damage and hurt one deeply. Those whom lay in gossip hate their brethren; they dwell so in the darkness and are blinded by the darkness and led by devilish spirits.

The righteous, however, abide in the light of God’s word and do not seek to stumble their brethren.

Many of the fruits of gossip are spelled out in the seven things the Lord hates, and finds detestable: “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.” Proverbs 6:16-19

Steven

Salvation: the Great Debate

Many ‘Christians’ wonder if they can ‘lose’ their salvation. This particular issue is among the most contested in Church history… and for good reason. For, salvation requires true belief, or Faith, which is something that the majority of Christians seem to struggle with the most.

Our sin nature is adamantly opposed to Faith. We, whom are in Christ, heard the Word of God and believed. “So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17

It is the Word of God which strikes down into our very conscience, dividing asunder body and soul. Faith is a testimony of our belief in Christ, as Hebrews talks of as a great cloud of witnesses whom believed God and were justified by Faith:

“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of [them], and embraced [them], and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Hebrews 11:13

Likewise, when we hear the preaching of the Gospel, we first of all realize that those whom preach the Gospel do so by Faith and are sent by God in obedience. We believed their report of God, seeing God from a distance, being persuaded of the truth of the Gospel of Christ, of His death, burial and resurrection, of repentance and remission of sin and that those whom reject Christ will be eternally damned. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, we embrace these things that we heard from the Word of God and confess that we are strangers and pilgrims upon the earth.

In other words, we do not take stock in the things of this world, like the wicked servant whom buried his talent in the ground, but we look forward to living in a city with foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
 
What is at the root of this ‘great debate’ in Christendom is man’s issues with the sin of pride and the never-ending struggle with the flesh. As the Scriptures say: “… 'In the pride of your heart you say, "I am a god; I sit on the throne of a god in the heart of the seas." But you are a man and not a god, though you think you are as wise as a god.” Ezekiel 28:2

Our flesh, being exceedingly sinful and containing no good thing, continually wants to redeem itself and find excuses for sin. The temptation is to somehow compensate for our wicked deeds by some kind of religious or ‘moral’ act(s).

However, apart from Christ there is no atonement for sin. Therefore, many people struggle with the uncertainty of sin and go to their own wisdom to try to somehow rationalize it, atone for it, cure it, bury it or simply psycho-analyze it to death, which only produces more sin. Out of pride, they attempt to act as God… using their human ‘wisdom’ and human understanding.

So, this debate of ‘losing your salvation’ is far more aptly titled as: ‘Do I really believe in Christ, or do I believe in my flesh?’

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.” Eph. 2:8-9

“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit.” Hebrews 6:1-3

Paul (assuming that Paul is the author) begins the sixth chapter of Hebrews by reminding us to not to go back and doubt all we been assured of but to go on towards perfection, through the work of the Holy Spirit.  Such perfection is achieved by Faith, for we are justified by Faith.

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” Romans 5:1-2

For those whom follow Christ by Faith there is peace with God.

“For [it is] impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put [him] to an open shame.” Hebrews 6:4-6

As with most debates there is always a ‘sticky’ point. Understanding that we see through the glass dimly, and do not understand everything about God, save what He reveals to us in His word, in this verse Paul points out that said supposed believers whom were once enlightened, partakers of gifts and of the Spirit, tasted the Word and the powers, that if they deviate from the right path, or turn aside from the truth, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance.

The glaring question is: were these people Christians in the first place?

I would say no more than Judas Iscariot was a Christian; Judas was once enlightened, he had tasted of the Heavenly gifts, he was a partaker of the Holy Ghost and had tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come… and yet, he turned aside from the Truth and suffered eternal judgment.

“For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers [is] rejected, and [is] nigh unto cursing; whose end [is] to be burned.” Hebrews 6: 7-8

Jesus spoke a parable of the wheat and the tares, which grew up together; the field owner did not know the tares were present until the wheat brought forth good fruit… and the tares did not. The tares were sown by the devil but the owner of the field did not have them pulled out right away, lest the wheat be pulled up with them. (Matthew 13:24-30)

Jesus spoke of another parable, where a sower sowed seeds into his field; some fell onto the way side and were eaten by birds; some fell onto stony soil where there was not much earth and these grew up quickly but withered under the sun, for lack of a root; some fell among thorns which sprang up and choked them… but some seed fell on the good soil and it brought forth fruit, 30, 60 and 100 fold. (Matthew 13: 3-9)
Out of all four of these seeds which the sower threw, only one kind produced fruit… for it had good soil and grew roots, allowing it to endure persecution; because it was nestled in God’s word, through Faith, the birds could not pluck it away and it was not thrown among thorns where the cares of the world could choke it out.

A true believer will continually bear good fruit, despite being born in a corrupted world. A false believer will bear bad fruit, likened to thorns and thistles.

So, who is saved?

Those whom go on with Christ and obey His word by Faith.  “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” 1 John 5:3&4

Steven