by David J. Stewart | June 2015 | Updated October 2015
2nd Corinthians 4:4, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
My heart breaks as I hear people talking about their
philosophies on eternity. I hear many people rationalizing, with
a smile on their face, saying that they are confident they'll
make it to Heaven because of their sincerity, good outweighing
bad, and faith in God. Yet, none of those are the Gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. James 2:19 says that even the devils believe
in God. The Simple Gospel
According To The Bible.
Also, read, What Is The Gospel?, by Pastor Harry Ironside (1876-1951).
I watched a documentary today about the Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana, one of the toughest maximum security prisons in America. It is heartbreaking. The following video contains various testimonies from some of the Angola prisoners who found the Lord: “Don't Waste Your Life Sentence” One inmate said, “It's easy to get into trouble, but so hard to get out of!” That is very true!
In the first prison video above, famous Calvinist minister, John Piper, is featured preaching at the Angola State Penitentiary to the inmates. It is unfortunate that his message is NOT the Gospel, but a false plan of salvation that requires abandoning sinful habits to be saved. Those poor prisoners are being told a lie, which will lead them into the fires of Hell forever. The following heresy adds human effort to God's simple plan of salvation. ...
The Bible makes it plain, I believe, that people who persistently refuse the command of Jesus’ lordship have no warrant for believing that they are saved. Such people should not be comforted that they are saved simply because there was a time when they “believed” gospel facts or walked an aisle or signed a card or prayed a prayer. In fact, Jesus seems far more eager to explode the assurance of false “professions of faith” than he is to give assurance to people who are intent on living in sin. Where does he ever bolster the “eternal security” of a person unwilling to forsake sin?
I am not saying that only perfect people are saved. There are no perfect people on this earth. We sin every day and every good work we do is tainted with sinful remnants of corruption. I am saying that a person who goes on willfully rejecting the commands of Jesus for his life has no warrant for salvation.SOURCE: Letter to a Friend Concerning the So-Called "Lordship Salvation"
John Piper is a false prophet, just like heretics Paul Washer and John MacArthur (both staunch Calvinist ministers). John Calvin was a heretic, and those who follow his teachings are still hellbound in their sins without Christ. Biblical salvation is obtained only by the righteousness of God which is through faith in Christ Jesus (Romans 10:3-4; Philippians 3:9). This is called the Imputed Righteousness of God.
If our hope in life is in Cadillacs, drugs and money, then we're in big trouble. I like to watch documentaries about people's lives, hardships and situations, trying to put myself in their shoes so-to-speak, hurting with them (empathy). It helps keep my heart tender, reminding of the need to live for others. Hebrews 13:3, “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.” We are living in a very selfish generation (2nd Timothy 3:1-5). These are the end times of Biblical prophecy. Most people are living life on the fast-track, taking everything for granted. Most people in prison never thought they'd end up there; and, but by God's grace, you and I'd be there too. We are all guilty criminals in God's eyes!
Oh how people need to hear the Gospel. Instead, our churches today are filled with heresy. Most churches are teaching works salvation (aka, Lordship Salvation), while deceitfully still calling it “a gift.” Eternal life is indeed a gift, which means it simply needs to be received by faith. The deadly teaching in many evangelical churches today, that a person cannot be saved and continue living in deliberate sin, is a false plan of salvation. A gift is not conditional upon the manner of life that one chooses to live. Of course, this is not to say that God gives any of His children permission to continue in sin (Hebrews 12:6-8). God saves us UNTO good works, not BY good works (Ephesians 2:10). Romans 11:6 teaches that salvation is either by works or grace, but it cannot be both. Biblical salvation is only by God's grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). Titus 3:5 says salvation is “NOT BY WORKS,” but by according to God's mercy (i.e., those who believe the Gospel).
I hear Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) radio stations and singers saying that they're serving God, making a difference, changing lives, with their worldly religious music. Many of the apostates making these false claims—the CEO's and performers—are millionaires. They're not serving God, but their bellies. Luke 16:13, “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Check online for the salaries and net worth of popular singers and the people behind the CCM industry, and you'll be disgusted. The reason why Jesus said NO MAN can serve God and wealth is because the two are diametrically opposed to each other. There's just something about money that once you have it, IT HAS YOU!!! The love of money compels actors to debase themselves by stripping their clothes off in Hollywood, blaspheming and cursing the Lord's holy name in movie-after-movie, and to sell their souls to Satan. God hates Hollywood!
Likewise, the love of money compels CCM female singers to dress sexy and strip down in their music videos. Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) videos contain much sexually suggestive material, shaming the name of the Lord and evidencing that the Illuminati also control the religious music industry. Check out these (and this is just the tip of the iceberg) occult symbols on CCM album covers. The love of money compels CCM artists to remain silent about the evils of Roman Catholicism, letting their millions of fans die in their unbelief and burn in the Lake of Fire for all eternity without end. CCM singers are a bunch of phonies, spiritual frauds who masquerade as true Christians, not caring at all about separation from worldly unbelievers and false religions (2nd Corinthians 6:14-17). In James 4:4, the Bible says that to be a friend of (to assist) the world is to become God's enemy. James 4:4, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” You cannot make God cool and hip to the world.
One of the reasons why I speak my mind and heart with boldness as a Christian, not caring what anybody thinks, nor whom I offend (although that is never my intention), is because there is no money involved. I do what I do for the Lord, because I really believe that the Bible is God's holy Word, and I've staked my life and future in eternity on it. I'm concerned about your soul, and I'm going to tell you what I believe God wants me to tell you, not what I think will compel you to send me money. I'M NOT FOR SALE!!! Amen! I've never taken a penny for serving God, and never will. I don't pass out menus. I dish out whatever God has laid upon my heart to serve, and if you don't like the meal, you don't have to eat it. I'm here for you my friend, and I am your friend in the Lord.
There's nothing that I want from you, except for you to be born again (Romans 10:1), and then for Christ to be formed in you. Galatians 4:19, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.” And I would appreciate your prayers, even if just a minute each week. You are loved. All the time I spend, and the articles I write, and my prayers, are for YOU, whoever you may be! My desire is for God's unconditional love in me to be formed in you, so that you will likewise love OTHERS with God's unconditional love (which comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit). But first you must be born-again if you've never done so.
Every Christian believer needs to be aware that genuine Roman Catholics are not saved. They are still hellbound in their sins, because they add keeping the Seven Sacraments of the Catholic church to get to Heaven. Granted, Catholics DO believe that Jesus is the Christ, Who died on the cross for their sins, was buried, and bodily resurrected three days later. So why aren't Catholics saved if they believe the basic Gospel? It is because they add to the Gospel, which is ANOTHER GOSPEL (2nd Corinthians 11:3), corrupting God's plan of salvation. True Catholics will profess that they are trusting in faith and works to save them, which is impossible according to Romans 11:6. Biblically, we are saved by faith alone, without works. Genesis 15:6, “And he [Abraham] believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”
In Acts 15:1, a group of false prophets came to town, adding circumcision and keeping God's law to the plan of salvation, which was a false Gospel. Acts 15:1, “And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.” The apostle Peter rebuked this false plan of salvation is Acts 15:24, “Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment.” Likewise I warn you that Roman Catholics have troubled men's souls, subverting the naive and unlearned, teaching the traditions of men instead of the Gospel.
The Bible calls the true Gospel, “the simplicity that is in Christ” (2nd Corinthians 11:3). Men always make things complicated, but God made salvation extremely simple, so that even a small child can be saved. With all the satanic falsehoods in the world, not enough proclamation of the simple Gospel can be done. We need to proclaim the simplicity that is in Christ over-and-over, teaching the lost world that eternal life is a free gift from God, paid for by the sacrifice of His only begotten Son. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Salvation is a gift from God to anyone who wants is. You cannot earn it. You don't deserve it, nor do I.
Eternal life is free for the taking. You don't even have to ask God to have it, because God has already PROMISED in His Word to “SAVE THEM THAT BELIEVE” (1st Corinthians 1:21). Just BELIEVE and the work is done. John 6:28-29, “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” The only “work” which you can do to be saved is to completely rest in Jesus Christ. Hebrews 4:10-11, “For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” Repentance is the realization that I am as guilty a sinner as God declares me to be in His holy Word. If you realize your guilt of sin in God's holy eyes, simply BELIEVE the Gospel to be saved. It's that simple.
The world is a wicked place, and always has been (1st John 5:19). Very few people ever believe the Gospel, because there are so many other options available which Satan has provided, which are deceptions (as evidenced by our text verse above). People need to hear the Gospel repeatedly, because Satan continually bombards the unsaved with false alternatives; such as, the lies of evolution, worldly philosophies, false religions, atheism, false science and manmade traditions. If we don't proclaim the Gospel, who will? If not now, when? If not here, where? May we all purpose in our heart as Christians to proclaim the Gospel to as many people as we can, wherever we can, and while we still can. Time is running out. Psalms 90:12, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” END
