● Take heed that no one
deceives you. For many will come in my name, saying, 'I
am the Christ,' and will deceive many. Ref: Matthew
24:4, 5.......click.
Lord Jesus clearly warns Christians that they need to be
careful to avoid becoming deceived. Many deceivers are
already on the scene and for centuries there have been
false teachers and false prophets saying that they are
Christian and that they are servants of Lord Jesus.
However, they preach and teach about a different Jesus
and not about the Lord Jesus whose words are in the Holy
Bible.....click.
When people receive and follow a doctrine of another
Jesus, they receive a different spirit and are thus
deceived by a deceiving spirit that preaches and teaches
falsehood while these false teachers and false
Christians say that they are part of the body of Christ.
The following mixture of incomplete and false doctrine
was taken from an article titled, "So, You're a New
Christian. Now What? Part 1 Salvation - How to Be
Absolutely Sure," by Steven J. Lawson, Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association.
S.J. Lawson: The Bible teaches that the assurance of
salvation rests securely upon four unshakable pillars:
Pillar #1 God Cannot Lie!
First, assurance is based on the absolute
trustworthiness of Scripture. Throughout the New
Testament, we read God's promises to save all who will
believe upon His Son. The Bible says, "Whoever will call
upon the name of the Lord will be saved." This is a
promise! All who have committed their lives to Jesus
Christ may have the firm confidence of salvation based
upon the infallibility of God's Word.
Jesus said, "The one who comes to Me I will certainly
not cast out." If you come to Jesus with genuine
repentance and faith, He promises that He will save you.
We can know Jesus has received us because, quite simply,
He said so! When the Bible speaks, God speaks. And what
God said, He will surely do. He will save all who call
upon Jesus Christ. You have His word on it.
T. Loftus: It is true that the Lord Jesus speaks total
truth and is the truth and does not lie; however, He did
allow King Ahab to be deceived by a deceiving spirit.
King Ahab rejected the truthful prophecy of Micaiah the
prophet of Lord Jesus, and Ahab then waged war against
another nation and was defeated and killed. Ref: 2
Chronicles 18.
Lord Jesus will also send strong delusion to truth-resistant
professing Christians so that they actually believe a
lying spirit or lying spirits and be led by them all the
way to hell fire for eternity. This will be their reward
for choosing Once Saved Always Saved (OSAS) teaching and
belief or other false teaching and for following or
teaching those false doctrines while not accepting the
truthful message given through loyal messengers of Lord
Jesus. Ref: 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12.
True Christians must persevere in their faith in Lord
Jesus' words and suffer on the earth as Lord Jesus'
honest servants surrounded by a world of unbelievers. If
Christians do not continue following Lord Jesus, He will
depart from them and not let them into
heaven.......Philippians 1:29, Matthew 7:22, 23.
S.J. Lawson: Pillar #2:
Jesus Paid It All
Second, assurance rests on the finished work of Jesus
Christ. When Jesus died on the cross, He bore our
iniquities, enduring God's wrath, and cried out, "It is
finished!" By this, He meant that the full atonement for
all our sins - past, present and future - has been made.
His work of redemption now completed, our entire sin
debt is paid in full.
Just as salvation comes from believing in Christ alone,
so does assurance. As we trust in Christ's perfect
sacrifice for our sins, the certainty of eternal life
floods our hearts. No matter how great your sin, God's
grace is greater still. The Bible says, "Come now, and
let us reason together...Though your sins are scarlet,
they will be as white as snow; though they are red like
crimson, they will be like wool." Isaiah 1:18.
T. Loftus: It is true that Lord Jesus provided atonement
for truly repentant people's sins so that their past and
present sins that they have actually sincerely repented
of would be forgiven. As for their future sins, here is
what Lord Jesus says:
For if we sin willfully after that we have received the
knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more
sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of
judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the
adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without
mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer
punishment suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who
hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted
the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an
unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of
grace? For we know him that hath said, 'Vengeance
belongeth unto me. I will recompense,' saith the Lord.
And again, 'The Lord shall judge his people.' It is a
fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God.......Hebrews 10:26-31.
Lord Jesus also says this about people's sins:
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and
the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not
sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in
us....1 John 1:8-10.
● Commentary: If Christians continue to live in
deliberate and known sin and do not repent, they will be
judged as worse than unbelievers that never chose to
follow Lord Jesus. Such unrepentant sinners will suffer
eternal living pain and torment in hell, which they will
be fully conscious about because the spirits of all
people live forever, and both saved and unsaved will
rise from the dead before they spend their eternal
future in heaven or hell. Those who practice willful
sins will be utterly destroyed by Lord Jesus, who is the
head of all principalities and powers......Acts 3:23.
On the other hand, Christians that find out they have
sinned and repent of their sins will be forgiven if they
confess their sins to Lord Jesus and are truly sorry and
willing to then please Lord Jesus by obeying His New
Testament teaching, hence forsaking that sin.
The grace of Lord Jesus is surely great but that does
not mean that He will show mercy to unrepentant sinners.
Instead, He will destroy them. However, He will show His
mercy to people who do not teach, follow or promote OSAS
teaching or other false teaching but who love Him and
keep His commandments. Ref: Exodus 20:6 and Hebrews
5:9.
S.J. Lawson: Pillar
#3 The Great Convincer
Third, assurance comes through the inward witness of
the Holy Spirit. A divinely produced gift, assurance is
bestowed by God's Spirit to all true believers. It is
the Holy Spirit's ministry to convince our hearts of our
salvation. In actuality, no preacher, evangelist, parent
or friend can give us assurance. Neither can we work it
up within ourselves. Only the Holy Spirit Himself can
give us the absolute certainty of our eternal salvation.
The Bible says, "We know by this that He abides in us,
by the Spirit which He has given us." 1 John 3:24. "By
this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because
He has given us of His Spirit." 1 John 4:13. "The Spirit
Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are
children of God." Romans 8:16. This means, the Holy
Spirit who convicted, called and converted us also
convinces us that we belong to Christ. It is the
Spirit's inward witness that persuades us of the
genuineness of our salvation.
T. Loftus: Mr.
Lawson did not write the full Scripture of 1 John 3:24.
He left out the words. 'Now he who keeps His/Lord Jesus'
commandments abides in Him, and He in him.' That may not
bother some professing Christians who choose to make
themselves too busy and who rarely read and/or do the
Holy Bible. Lawson also tells says that holy spirit
convicts, calls and converts, while the Bible says
Father calls, the word/Jesus converts and holy spirit
convicts.
A deceiving spirit or deceiving spirits including
spirits of deceitful people convince false Christians
that they are already saved and that they no longer need
to do anything except go to church and pay their tithes
and come to the religious camps or con men conferences
from time to time. That is not the gospel of Lord Jesus.
No born again disciples of Lord Jesus are obliged to
spend more time than necessary with other Christians,
and they are not asked to pay tithes, but they may give
what they want to give to
a true Holy Spirit led ministry. With no unbiblical denominations,
cults or Christendom churches receiving any hard-earned
cash of working disciples of Lord Jesus. However, true
Christian disciples are required to redeem the time
because the days are evil, and the Devil and his
multitude of ministers are very, very busy deceiving the
nations......click.
Moreover, the Holy Spirit only 'abides', remains in true
disciples of Lord Jesus and not in every human on earth
that calls themselves, 'Christian.' Ref: Acts 5:32,
John 14:23. It is true that the Holy Spirit teaches
people and assures obedient saints about their eternal
salvation, but saints/true Christians must follow the
leading of the Holy Spirit by obeying Lord Jesus' New
Testament commandments. Saints must work out their own
salvation with fear and trembling and be diligent to
present themselves approved to Lord Jesus or else they
can forget about spending their eternity in heaven. The
un-repentant willful sinners that profess to be
Christians will spend their eternal futures in hell,
with all other sinners, traitors and apostates
inclusive.
Though some pretend Christians may think that we, being
true Christians are working our way to heaven, I will
point out that our job is to obey the leading of the
Holy Spirit and to do only the works that we are called
by Lord Jesus to do. Most importantly, we must do the
works of obedience, which is simply an essential labor of
love. We are saved by grace through faith, but we are
still taught to maintain good works. We prove our faith
in Lord Jesus by obeying Him, which glorifies Him before
the people around us. Ref: Leviticus 10:3, 1
Thessalonians 1:1-5, Titus 3:8, Titus 1:16.
S.J. Lawson: Pillar
#4 New Life in Christ
Fourth, assurance comes through the evidence of a
changed life. Ultimately, assurance is confirmed within
us as we see God conforming us into the image of Jesus
Christ. All who have been born again will see clear
evidence of a new life in Christ. While we will never be
perfect in this life, we will, nevertheless, experience
a changed life. It is this inward transformation that
provides strong confirmation of our salvation.
The book of First John details what are the vital signs
of our new life in Christ. The Apostle John writes, "We
know that we have to know Him, if we keep His
commandments." 1 John 2:3. In other words, we may be
certain that we know Christ as we see within us a
desired and willing obedience to God's Word. Likewise,
John writes, other vital signs will follow: Love for
other people, (! John 2:9-11), love for God (1 John
2:12-14), refusing the world (1 John 2:15-17),
understanding biblical truth (1 John 2:20-27), righteous
behaviour (1 John 3:4-6), opposition from the world (1
John 3:13) and answered prayer (1 John 3:22-24). As we
see this spiritual fruit produced in our lives, we may
be confident that Christ lives within us.........(sample
of article only).
T. Loftus: Again,
some of what Mr. Lawson wrote was true, but it is still
not Lord Jesus' full counsel/doctrine. True Christians
need to be found by Lord Jesus without spot, blemish or
any such thing. Christians may physically have plenty of
spots, freckles, pimples or blemishes, but we need to be
found with a clean heart free from un-repented known
sins. Lord Jesus wants the bride, the church, which
means His true followers to be perfect up to the
knowledge and understanding they have of Lord Jesus'
exclusive teaching.
By saying to people, 'No body is perfect you know!'
Or, 'You will not find a perfect church'
it is deceiving because it does not inform people about
the need of saints to be perfect in their Lord Jesus'
sight up to the understanding they have of His
teaching.....click.
Ananias and Sapphira experienced a 'changed life,'
as did the apostle Judas Iscariot for a time, but they
did not continue to follow Lord Jesus. They did not keep
themselves in His love because they disobeyed His
commandments. A good example is John 6:60-71.
We must test the spirits and also judge our own hearts
(by scripture) so that we ensure that we live a
life of truth by learning and obeying Lord Jesus'
complete and exclusive teaching, which is clearly not
the teaching of Baptists and Christendom, (Ecumenical
One World Church)......click.
● Mr. Lawson's message is void of a vital message of
warning. Christians need to be warned, and they need
to be chastened by Lord Jesus. We require rebuke and
correcting so that we do not go astray and be led off
with the error of wicked Christendom, which is the
church of Satan cleverly disguised as the church of God.
The doctrine of Christendom is still proven to be
apostate because it is false, incomplete or both. We
must test the spirits and also judge our own hearts.
I have learned from Pastor Paul Sheehan, a prophet in
Australia loyal to the Lord Jesus that when Jesus says
that many will come in His name and say, 'I am the
Christ,' and will deceive many, that He means they will
say, 'Jesus is the Christ.' In Matthew 24:5, it
does not read that many will come and say that 'they'
are the Christ, but the writing means that they will
say, 'Jesus is the Christ.'.......click.
The Roman Catholics, Baptists and many others say
that Jesus Christ is God, Jesus is Lord or that Jesus is
the Christ. And even Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons
say that Jesus is the Christ, though Jehovah Witnesses
do not believe He is God Almighty and the Lord of the
Mormons is Joseph Smith (deceased), and his
followers are dead to the truth of Lord Jesus. The truth
is that Lord Jesus is not the Lord of all these
religious peoples while they are following a teaching
that is contrary to His exclusive teaching. These
religious people also spread their false teaching abroad
and throughout nations, and it is spreading like cancer.
However such false teaching is clearly worse than cancer
because cancer can only kill a person's body and end
their temporary life on earth, but false and incomplete
teaching of demons and of Satan's so called
'Christian' church leads multitudes of people on the
road to eternal hell. Once people go to hell, they can
never escape. Do you care, aren't you supposed to be
your brothers keeper?......Genesis 4:9.
● Take heed. You take the responsibility of testing for
yourselves the things you have learned so that you do
not get deceived and end up in hell forever.
● Brother Thomas Loftus, unprofitable servant of Lord
Jesus.
March 2009
Jesus the Christ Ministries/China
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