The Soberness and Responsibilites of Our Salvation

Reading through the New Testament this morning, I found myself in 2 Peter. Peter is warning us. He first addresses his letter to "those who have received faith that is as valuable as ours". After saying this, Peter warns us of our responsibilities as believers and tells us to "make your calling and election sure". The new testament clearly warns us we can fall from the faith. Meanwhile, the pulpits are filled with false teachers who are tickling the ears of those who are literally practicing sin in their lives.

I came home as a prodigal in 1990. Several years later, the Lord showed me that much of what God had written I did not believe, but I was believing what the teachers taught me the scriptures meant. I then set my heart on seeking God to help me as I went through the New Testament. I would do this many times, even to this day. I read slowly and constantly asked myself if I really believed what was written. I was shocked!! It changed my life and many false teachings I believed, were exposed. You cannot imagine how hard it is to truly do this. You will find yourself skipping over passages you know! It will be a war with the enemy and your own mind will even resist! 

2 Peter 1

1From:a Simeonb Peter, a servantc and apostle of Jesus, the Messiah.d

To: Those who have received faith that is as valuable as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus the Messiah.e

2May grace and peace be yours in abundance through full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord!

3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the full knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence. 4Through these he has given us his precious and wonderful promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, seeing that you have escaped the corruption that is in the world caused by evil desires.

5For this very reason, you must 

make every effort to supplement your faith with moral character, 

your moral character with knowledge, 

6your knowledge with self-control, 

your self-control with endurance, 

your endurance with godliness, 

7your godliness with brotherly kindness, 

and your brotherly kindness with love. 

8For if you possess these qualities, 

and if they continue to increase among you, 

they will keep you from being ineffective 

and unproductive in attaining a full knowledge of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah.f 

9For the person who lacks these qualities is blind and shortsighted, and has forgotten the cleansing that he has received from his past sins.

10So then, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election certain, 

for if you keep on doing this you will never fail. 11For in this way you will be generously granted entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Messiah.g

12Therefore, 

I intend to keep on reminding you about these things, 

even though you already know them 

and are firmly established in the truth that you now have. 

13Yet I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I am living in this bodily tent, 14because I know that the removal of my bodily tent will come soon, as indeed our Lord Jesus, the Messiah,h has shown me. 15And I will make every effort to see that you will always remember these things after I am gone.

The apostle Paul also addressed this issue of falling away. Two passages follow:

1 Timothy 4 ISV

1Now the Spirit says clearly that in the last times some people will abandon the faith by following deceitful spirits, the teachings of demons, 2and the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences have been burned by a hot iron. 3They will try to stop people from marrying and from eating certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4For everything God created is good, and nothing should be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5because it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

6If you continue to point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good servant of the Messiaha Jesus, nourished by the words of the faith and the healthy teaching that you have followed closely

Acts 20 ISV

25“Now I know that none of you among whom I traveled preaching about the kingdom will ever see my face again. 26I therefore declare to you today that I’m not responsible for the blood of any of you, 27because I never shrank from telling you the whole plan of God. 28Pay attention to yourselves and to the entire flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to be shepherds of God’sh church, which he acquired with his own blood. 

29I know that when I’m gone, savage wolves will come among you and not spare the flock. 30Indeed, some of your own men will arise and distort the truth in order to lure the disciples into following them. 31So be alert! Remember that for three years, night and day, I never stopped tearfully warning each of you.

32“I’m now entrusting you to God and to the message of his grace, which is able to build you up and secure for you an inheritance among all who are sanctified.

Brothers and sisters, Paul shows the seriousness of our responsibility in the following passage. He is not exaggerating. He is giving us a pattern. He was truly concerned, at the time of this writing, that he could become a castaway.  Personally, I take this very seriously. I will not be rebuked by the Lord, if I do. It is written!

1 Corinthians 9 ISV
24You know that in a race all the runners run but only one wins the prize, don’t you? You must run in such a way that you may be victorious. 25Everyone who enters an athletic contest practices self-control in everything. They do it to win a wreath that withers away, but we run to win a prize thatj never fades. 26That is the way I run, with a clear goal in mind. That is the way I fight, not like someone shadow boxing. 27No, I keep on disciplining my body, making it serve me so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not somehow be disqualified.

Salvation Verses the False-Grace Movement Which is Filling the Pulpits

Brothers and sisters, I do not know anything about the teacher on the following video, but he has done a wonderful job of teaching the true gospel and exposing the false-grace teachers, who are filling the pulpits.

I cannot encourage more, the importance of the understandings in the following video!!!!

Please watch it and share it. Countless believers will be found in hell. Jesus made this very clear when He spoke the following words in Matthew 7 KJV:

•  13Enter ye in at the strait gate: 
• for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, 
• and many there be which go in thereat: 
• 14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, 
• and few there be that find it.

Christian, If You Are Continuing In Sin, You Are Playing With Hell

The following video is so very, very important! So very many have been deceived by false teaching. Satan has filled the pulpits with false teachers and/or false teaching. Please humble yourself before the Lord Jesus Christ and read your bible slowly. Ask the Lord to help you. Approach the scriptures as a child. Believe what they say and do not discount verses with another verse. Let both stand until the Lord makes it clear.

Do not trust man! Stop sinning! If you sin, confess it and turn from it.

It is about your soul and where you will be forever.......

Jacob Prasch - Revelation 4: Seven fold Spirit of God

Praise God for Jacob Prasch. While the pulpits appear filled with false teachers, God has clearly given Jacob wisdom for our day and time.

What Are You Doing With Your Vapor of Life?

Friends, over the years I have had several verses which became critical in my understanding. One of the most important verses in the bible is found in James 4:1 KJV

• Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

One thing I found about "the vapor" is truly amazing. People do not stop and really think about it. If you say something to a Christian about "the vapor of life" they will respond  with statements such as, "man, it is going by fast", or "time is flying", etc.  We actually redefine what God said without realizing it!

God did not say time is going by fast. If you look at the verse again, you will see James who being inspired by the Holy Spirit, is saying "your life is a vapor". In other words "life span equals vapor span". Meanwhile we measure our lives by the sun and a clock, when actually we are living at this moment within a "vapor". Actually, the vapor cannot be measured. 

Lets say a vapor lasts about 3 seconds. God is not waiting for time to pass. He is outside of the time He created. From God's clear perspective, He tells us we live for 3 seconds. He is using a simple word to show us the truth about our life span.  

Suppose a person lives for 100 years, then dies and goes to heaven or hell forever. How long was the 100 years the person lived compared to eternity"?  A simple fraction explains this. 
100 divided by forever, is an eternal "0" zero. 

God created us and what we do in this "0" with the gospel of Jesus Christ determines our destiny forever. It is infinitely better to suffer for a hundred years and go to heaven, than to have the best this world has to offer and then go to hell. 

Friends, God has created us in a "0", yet that "0" determines our eternal destiny. What are you going to do about Jesus? He is the only way sin can be forgiven. He is the only one who gives eternal life to all who believe in him and obey him. 

We each surrender to Jesus, who is the only one who paid for sin, or we chose to join Satan and along with him be cast into the Lake of Fire,   

Are you going to turn to Jesus and follow Him in obedience? He tells us to count the cost! You must repent and obey Jesus. You will be ridiculed mocked and possibly lose your head to a guillotine. Or you can seek the pleasures of this world and reject Jesus. It will not be his fault. It will be your own. 

You can enjoy your vapor "0" in the way you choose, but you will reap forever from the choice you make. If  this seems silly, please remember, there is no present. Just try to find it. We are all moving at the speed of a vapor, either to heaven or hell and we are not guaranteed tomorrow. 

The Children of God Will Be Disciplined and Punished. Are You?

Brothers and sisters, I pray the following words and the scriptures will be a comfort to you. Many have had a father who was evil or had no father in their life. If that is your case, you must understand God the Father is nothing compared to earthly fathers. All natural fathers fail miserably and totally when compared to God the Father. Our heavenly Father constantly seeks the best for his children, who have come to him through faith in the shed blood of his Son, Jesus the Messiah.

Having said these things, if you are truly a believer, you are likely being disciplined (or punished if you are continuing in sin). All correction from the Father is designed to keep us from falling away and  keep us from sin or continuing in sin. The discipline of the Father is to move us to seek holiness. We are not robots and God will not force us to obey him. This is quite sobering and critical for our understanding.

When I as a prodigal came home to the Lord, I had been severely punished. I was in agony and mental anguish. The Lord was my only hope. He took me in and washed me clean. As a result, many years later, I covet the discipline of the Lord. The results of His discipline are truly wonderful. The result of serving Satan and his temporary pleasures, is heartache and pain, then destruction in hell.

As you read the following scriptures, I pray you will see the love of God, who desires that all people repent. (Acts 17:30 and 2 Peter 3:9). Take special note of our responsibilities. Warnings are foreign to most of today's preachers and Christians.

Hebrews 12 ISV

1Therefore, having so vast a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, and throwing off everything that hinders us and especially the sin that so easily entanglesa us, let us keep running with endurance the race set before us,2fixing our attention on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of the faith, who, in view ofb the joy set before him, endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

3Think about the one who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you may not become tired and give up.4In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding yourc blood. 5You have forgotten the encouragement that is addressed to you as sons:

“My son, do not think lightly of the Lord’sd discipline

or give up when you are corrected by him.

6For the Lorde disciplines the one he loves,

and he punishesf every son he accepts.”g

7What you endure disciplines you: God is treating you as sons. Is there a son whom his father does not discipline? 8Now if you are without any discipline, in which all sons share, then you are illegitimate and not God’sh sons. 9Furthermore, we had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them for it. We should submit even more to the Father of our spirits and live, shouldn’t we? 10For a short time they disciplined us as they thought best, but Godi does it for our good, so that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, for those who have been trained by it, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace.

12Therefore, strengthen your tired arms and your weak knees, 

13and straighten the paths of your life,j 

so that your lameness may not become worse, 

but instead may be healed.

14Pursue peace with everyone, 

as well as holiness, 

without which no one will see the Lord. 

15See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God 

and that no bitter root grows up and causes you trouble, 

or many of you will become defiled. 

16No one should be immoral or godless like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.17For you know that afterwards, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected because he could not find any opportunity to repent, even though he begged to repentk with tears.

It appears clearly that the churches in the West, as a whole, have become like the church in Laodicea. The very word "Laodicea" means "mans opinions". Opinions fill the pulpits while the Word of God goes ignored. Jesus gives a very serious warning to to all believers who are as that church in Revelation 3 ISV.

14“To the messengerh of the church in Laodicea, write:

‘The Amen, the witness who is faithful and true, the originator of God’s creation, says this:

15‘I know your actions, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. 16Since you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am going to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, “I am rich. I have become wealthy. I don’t need anything.” Yet you don’t realize that you are miserable, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. 18Therefore, I advise you to buy from me gold purified in fire so you may be rich, white clothes to wear so your shameful nakedness won’t show, and ointment to put on your eyes so you may see. 19I correct and discipline those whom I love, so be serious and repent! 20Look! I am standing at the door and knocking. If anyone listens to my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he will eati with me. 21To the one who conquers I will give a place to sit with me on my throne, just as I have conquered and have sat down with my Father on his throne.

22‘Let everyonej listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

Who Can You Trust With Your Soul??

Fellow Christian, this may come as a shock to you, but it is extremely dangerous to trust a teacher, unless you yourself know the New Testament scriptures. What price do you place on your soul? How can you trust your soul to anyone other than the Lord Jesus Christ’s words and the inspired teachings of his Apostles? Many would not trust their pet to someone they know as little as they know their pastor! Even if you know him, you would not bet your soul that he is not addicted to pornography or money. Our soul is more important than our pet.

Did Jesus or the Apostles tell you to find a teacher? Where? In Jesus' day the religious leaders (Pharisees) were the ones Jesus warned the people about. The people could not even afford to buy scrolls! In our day, we have multiple bibles in our homes and countless millions ignore them and go to a preacher for their doctrines. The religious teachers killed Jesus. Today, millions are being spiritually killed by teachers who are themselves deceived and deceiving the people! What is our soul worth?

Paul warned us through Timothy about the last days. We are told that in the last days people will seek out teachers to tickle their ears. 

2 Timothy 4 ISV

• 1In the presence of God and the Messiaha Jesus, who is going to judge those who are living and those who are dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly appeal to you 2to proclaim the message. Be ready to do thisb whether or not the time is convenient. Refute, warn, and encourage with the utmost patience when you teach. 

• 3For the time will come when people will not tolerate healthy doctrine, but with itching ears will surround themselves with teachers who cater to their people’s own desires. 4They will refuse to listen to the truth and will turn to myths. 5But you must be clear-headed about everything. Endure suffering. Do the work of an evangelist. Devote yourself completely to your ministry.

Paul also warned us that savage wolves would enter the churches and not spare the Christians. Satan has had almost 2,000, years to practice his deception!  

Acts 20 ISV

• 25“Now I know that none of you among whom I traveled preaching about the kingdom will ever see my face again. 26I therefore declare to you today that I’m not responsible for the blood of any of you, 27because I never shrank from telling you the whole plan of God. 28Pay attention to yourselves and to the entire flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to be shepherds of God’sh church, which he acquired with his own blood. 

• 29I know that when I’m gone, savage wolves will come among you and not spare the flock. 30Indeed, some of your own men will arise and distort the truth in order to lure the disciples into following them. 31So be alert! Remember that for three years, night and day, I never stopped tearfully warning each of you.

Paul also noted that the Bereans searched the Old Testament scriptures to see if what Paul said was true. We must know the scriptures or we are wide open for deception. 

Acts 17 ISV

• 10That night the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11These people were more receptive than those in Thessalonica. They were very willing to receive the message, and every day they carefully examined the Scriptures to see if those things were so.12Many of them believed, including a large number of prominent Greek women and men.

Revelation 21:6 ISV

• 6Then he told me, “It has happened! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give a drink from the spring of the water of life to the one who is thirsty. 7The person who conquers will inherit these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son. 

• 8But people who are cowardly, unfaithful, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars will find themselvesb in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

The teachers are busy making sure their pensions are protected. 300,000, Masons are in the Southern Baptist churches. The Word of Faith, money preachers, have their reward and unless they repent they will perish. Doctrines of demons are found in many churches. The entertainment preachers who keep the people laughing while they skip over the warnings, will mourn. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

Satan has filled the pulpits with hirelings, false teachers and wolves in sheep's clothing. There is a famine of hearing the Word. Relatively very few pastors are teaching the truth and warnings.

How can a teacher of a large church deceive you and tell the truth at the same time? He will simply ignore the warnings in the scriptures. They stay away from the subjects that trouble people: sin, repentance, holiness, sexual immorality, etc. Many will have blood on their hands and are in danger of going to the Lake of Fire. 

I am an encourager. I love to talk about the pleasant things of God, but I am compelled to warn this generation that they are being deceived. I do not like to warn, but I am compelled to warn.

Do not trust me. If you read the New Testament slowly, looking at each statement and then ask yourself if you believe what you just read, you will find you have been lied to by the ear tickling teachers. Do not do away with a scripture just because another scripture appears to disagree. Trust God with that. 

Please read what Paul told the Corinthians. Corinth was a wicked place as we are today.

Paul Contrasts Himself with False Apostles

1I wish you would tolerate a little of my foolishness. Yes, please tolerate me! 2I am jealous of you with God’s own jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to the Messiah.a 3However, I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by its tricks, so your minds may somehow be lured away from sincere and pureb devotion to the Messiah.c

4For if someone comes along and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached, or should you receive a different spirit from the one you received or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you are all too willing to listen. 5I do not think I’m inferior in any way to those “super-apostles.” 6Even though I may be untrained as an orator, I am not so in the field of knowledge. We have made this clear to all of you in every possible way.

7Did I commit a sin when I humbled myself by proclaiming to you the gospel of God free of charge, so that you could be exalted? 8I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. 9When I was with you and needed something, I did not bother any of you, because our brothers who came from Macedonia supplied everything I needed. I kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and I will continue to do so.

10As surely as the truth of the Messiahd is in me, my boasting will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.11Why? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do!

12But I will go on doing what I’m doing in order to deny an opportunity to those people who want an opportunity to be recognized as our equals in the work they are boasting about. 13Such people are false apostles, dishonest workers who are masquerading as apostles of the Messiah.e 14And no wonder, since Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15So it is not surprising if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their doomf will match their deeds!

Paul’s Sufferings as an Apostle

16I will say it again: No one should think that I am a fool. But if you do, then treat me like a fool so that I can also boast a little. 17When I talk as a confident boaster, I am not talking with the Lord’s authority but like a fool.18Since many people boast in a fleshly way, I will do it, too. 19You are wise, so you will gladly be tolerant of fools. 20You tolerate anyone who makes you his slaves, devours what you have, takes what is yours, orders you around, or slaps your face!