Luke 13:23-24, “Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.”
When asked a direct question by His disciples, the Lord gave a direct answer.
Many people will try to enter into Heaven's gates, but will be denied access.
They will be horrified, learning for the first time that salvation does not
come through morality, religion, philanthropy, humanism, philosophy or
education. Salvation is in fact a NEW BIRTH, which comes ONLY by faith alone
in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. John 1:12-13, “But as many as
received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
I hear woefully ignorant religious people on religious radio continually talking about “inviting Jesus into your life” to get to Heaven. My friend, that is NOT the Gospel. You can go to church, make Jesus “Lord,” get water baptized, partake of the Lord's Supper, keep all the sacraments (a term not even found in the Bible), trust Jesus, follow Jesus, praise Jesus, talk about Jesus, and live a morally upright life to the best of your human ability; BUT, if you have not been born-again, you're going straight to Hell to burn forever. I say that, not to be mean or unkind, but truthful.
It is scary what is being taught in so many churches today. John Calvin was a monster! Between 1541 to 1546, Calvin had at least 58 known people executed for opposing Infant Baptism and Limited Atonement. Victims were burned at the stake, beheaded and drowned. I mention John Calvin (1509-1564) because he is the father of the Lordship Salvation heresy in many churches today. This popular heresies teaches that a person cannot be saved unless they are willing to forsake deliberate sinful behavior. This is falsely understood to be the meaning of repentance for salvation. The Bible teaches something very different, that is, that repentance unto life is simply “a change of mind,” which according to Galatians 3:24-26 and Romans 3:19 is a person's acknowledgment that they are a guilty SINNER in the eyes of a holy God, and are thus compelled to BELIEVE the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved.
The Bible warns us that the highway to Hell is paved with good intentions. Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” The Bible repeats the same Scripture in Proverbs 16:25, word-for-word, and anytime God repeats something more than once, you had better take heed. The abyss of Hell is filled with people who were very sincere, and falsely thought they could merit Heaven by their own self-righteousness. Others were tricked by Satan, who gave them an attractive substitute for the new birth in Christ Jesus.
Our churches today
are filled with morally upright people, who are devoutly religious, give lots
of money to charities, and desire to do the right thing; but they have never
comprehended the Gospel. So many people foolishly think that religious
devotion and moral reform are sufficient to please God, but they are not.
Isaiah 64:6, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a
leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” You see
friend, you have no righteousness to offer God, and neither do I. We need
God's righteousness, which is
IMPUTED (transferred
from God's account to ours) by faith in the Gospel (i.e., the Good News of
Jesus Christ crucified on the cross for our sins, Who died, was buried, and
bodily resurrected from the dead three days later for our justification).
Jesus died on the cross as our sacrificial Lamb (John 1:29), and He raised up
as our heavenly High Priest (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 4:15-16).
We're Not All God's Children
Galatians 3:26, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” I was looking around in K-mart the other day and heard Elvis Presley singing the song, “HERE COMES SANTA CLAUS.” This devilish song was written and composed in 1947 by Cowboy singer, Gene Autry (1907-1998). I've been unable to find any solid evidence that Mr. Autry was born-again. At best, he grew up Baptist, shunned religion as an adult, but then in his later years purportedly joined the Church of Christ (a satanic cult that requires water baptism, public confession and forsaking sinful behavior to be saved). From what I've researched about him, I doubt Gene Autry's salvation. Hell is filled with decent, law-abiding, religious folks.
Albeit, here are some of the horrible lyrics, which are totally unbiblical, from Mr. Autry's song, in which he claims that “WE'RE ALL GOD'S CHILDREN,” which is a lie of the Devil. ONLY saved (meaning born-again) Christians are God's children (Galatians 3:26) . . .
Santa Claus knows we're all Gods children
That makes everything right
So fill your hearts with Christmas cheer
'Cause Santa Claus comes tonight! [emphasis added]
One of the reasons why I doubt Gene Autry's salvation is the fact that he penned the lyrics to this song. In a million years, I would NEVER give false security to unbeliever's by telling them that “we're all God's children.” Galatians 3:26, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” If you don't have faith alone in Christ Jesus, you are NOT God's child. That means Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and followers of Judaism are all going to burn in Hell, because they all reject Jesus as the Messiah (1st John 2:22)!!! 1st John 2:22-23, “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.” All Christ-rejecters will spend eternity burning in the lake of Fire. Revelation 20:15, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
But what about those billions of religious people in the world today who DO believe in Jesus Christ? The apostle Paul warns us about ANOTHER JESUS, ANOTHER GOSPEL and ANOTHER SPIRIT. 2nd Corinthians 11:3, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.” Lordship Salvation is ANOTHER GOSPEL, not the plan of salvation taught in the Scripture. Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons have ANOTHER JESUS, denying his deity as almighty God.
Roman Catholics have ANOTHER GOSPEL, ANOTHER JESUS and ANOTHER SPIRIT. The Catholic Jesus is a wimp, who bows before his Mother as co-redeemer, Mary. Biblically, Mary is NOTHING except a filthy sinner, just like you and me, and everybody else!!! Only Jesus was born of a miraculous virgin birth, the ONLY begotten Son of God; Mary had an earthly father and was begotten of corrupt man. Mary was a godly young woman, but a sinner nonetheless. Mary died an earthly physical death, just like all sinners (Romans 6:23). Most religious people who believe in Jesus either have the wrong view of who Jesus really is, or adhere to a satanic spirit that is unbiblical, or a false plan of salvation that adds human effort to partial faith in Christ.
Seventh-day
Adventists (SDA) certainly have ANOTHER SPIRIT, denying the existence of the
eternal Lake of Fire. They revere Ellen G. White, who plainly denied Jesus'
deity in her writings, but today the SDA religion professes that Jesus is God.
Something is very wrong with the whole religion doctrinally. SDA was birthed
in 1844 from a failed prophecy concerning Christ's visible return. Miss White
claims to have received multiple VISIONS from God, appointing her as a prophet
to her people. This is weird stuff if you study it, totally strange doctrine
when compared to the inspired Word of God. SDA has ANOTHER SPIRIT, yet they
boldly claim to believe in Jesus and trust Him. Satan sure is deceitful and a
master con-artist. The Devil's greatest weapon is to con people into living
the Christian life without ever being born-again. SDA has painstakingly
aligned itself with Biblical Christianity, deceiving millions of victims with
ANOTHER GOSPEL that
resembles Lordship Salvation, who are all going to burn in the Hell which
they deny.
Most Religious People Have it Wrong Today
Sad to say, and this is so heartbreaking to me, 95% of what I am hearing taught on religious radio stations today is Lordship Salvation. I'm talking about Independent Baptist radio stations, who promote Moody Bible Institute's Calvinist radio programming. Even Pacific Garden Mission's famous radio program, UNSHACKLED, requires people to forsake sinful living to be saved. This is of the Devil. When confronted about their doctrinal heresy, supporters of Lordship Salvation (like Jack Chick) start arguing that repentance is necessary for salvation. I never said it wasn't, nor do I know any fundamental Baptists who believe it isn't necessary. If a person didn't repent, they'd NEVER come to Jesus Christ to be saved (John 3:20). The repentance unto salvation is “a change of mind” that brings a man to Christ for salvation, and not “a change of life” that qualifies him to come to Christ. There's a gigantic difference! The problem is woeful theological ignorance in our Bible collages and churches today, and a tendency to adhere to the teachings of man (e.g., The Westminster Confession) instead of God's Word. WHAT SAITH THE SCRIPTURE?
When I got saved at age 13, there was a drastic change in my heart and life. Whereas I had been sassing my mother, the indwelling Holy Spirit now silently said, “I don't want you talking to your mother like that.” I started reading my King James Bible. I started praying. I literally went from spiritual darkness to light. It was like s light switch being turned on in my life. Before the day I was saved, I have no recollection of anything concerning God or the things of God; but since that glorious day I have felt the presence of God's presence in me, which is the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9). I understand that this is the type of changes that Lordship Salvationists expect to see in true converts, but YOU CANNOT MANDATE THESE CHANGES FOR SALVATION, because to do so is a false Gospel.
No one told me that I had to reform my ways, turn from sin, forsake the world, confess Christ before men, and surrender all to Christ or else God would not save me. I simply heard and received the Gospel message of Christ crucified on the cross for my sins, buried and resurrected the third day. That's all I knew! The changes came afterwards. But you know, I still got into a lot of trouble as a teenager. I still held onto certain pet sins, like listening to Rock music. I still had somewhat of a rebellious attitude in me. I needed to be chastised of the Lord, and in time He certainly did! Psalms 119:67 and 71, “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. ... It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” There's no such thing as a perfect Christian. The ungodly who condemn others who sin, are only heaping coals of fire upon themselves for Judgment Day (Matthew 7:1-5). James 4:12, “There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?”
You see, that's how the Christian life works. You get saved by simply receiving God's free gift of eternal life, by faith in the Gospel. And then as God's child, you grow in the milk of the Word of God (1st Peter 2:2), and when you can handle it, meat (Hebrews 6:1). Jesus lives the Christian life through us (Galatians 2:20), as we yield to the leading of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:25), which is the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9). If we go astray, God will chastise and scourge us (Hebrews 12:6-8). Certainly, there are many false professions of faith today. In fact, most professions of Christian faith are false according to Jesus' words in Luke 13:23-24 and Matthew 7:21-23. YE MUST BE BORN-AGAIN! (John 3:3).
Now don't miss what I'm about to say. It is the indwelling Holy Spirit, and not one's repentance unto salvation, that produces changes in a believer's life. Lordship Salvation requires a person to change their own life as a prerequisite to be saved. This is a demonic plan of salvation, which does not produce the new birth in Christ Jesus! Any plan of salvation that places the burden of sin upon the sinner instead of solely upon Jesus Christ is a false Gospel (Bad News, not Good News). Jesus changed my life when I got saved, I didn't have to change anything to get saved. What we all need to do is preach “the simplicity that is in Christ,” which is the death of Christ on the cross for our sins, His burial, and bodily resurrection three days later according to the Scriptures. This is the “Gospel” as defined in 1st Corinthians 15:1-4.
Nearly all religion follows the path of Cain, who tried to please God with works. Lordship Salvation requires works to be saved, telling a person that unless that intend to clean up their ways of sin, they can forget about being saved. This is what false prophet David Cloud teaches. I hate mentioning names, because I want to work with other professed Christians instead of expose them as heretics; yet, I do not believe David Cloud is saved, because he adds works to grace for salvation. How can he be? I do not believe John MacArthur is saved either, because he adds works to grace, teaching that a person must give all to be saved. That's not what the Bible teaches. The Gospel is delicate, simple, and easily corrupted. Any plan of salvation that requires a change of behavior, or willingness to change one's behavior, is a false plan of salvation which does not produce the second birth.
Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born again. The Devil loves to substitute religion, philosophy, morality, education, spirituality, occultism, psychology and humanism in place of the Gospel. Hundreds-of-millions of religious people believe in Jesus and falsely think they are going to Heaven, but they are not. Going through the motions is not salvation. You can attend churches, tithe, pray, do good works, and be as sincere as can be, yet go straight to Hell when you die. You must be born again!
Again, we need God's righteousness, which is IMPUTED (transferred from God's account to ours) by faith in the Gospel (i.e., the Good News of Jesus Christ crucified on the cross for our sins, Who died, was buried, and bodily resurrected from the dead three days later for our justification). Jesus died on the cross as our sacrificial Lamb (John 1:29), and He raised up as our heavenly High Priest (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 4:15-16). Only by childlike faith in the Gospel can a sinner be cleansed of their sins by Jesus' precious blood. Beware of the teachings of men that contradict God's Holy Word. Ye must be born again!
Psalms 62:6, “He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved.”
In A War For God (Pastor Danny Castle)
