The following is taken from Ray Comforts Blog. I would suggest people go there for some good readings!
"Do you go out of your way to share your faith with strangers? Perhaps you know that you should, but the thought terrifies you. Please don’t let that fear stop you. It’s been well said that experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want. Mistakes are good for us. They are bruises that remind us about pitfalls in the future. No doubt you had a few falls as a baby, but that didn’t stop you getting on your feet again and walking. You more than likely crawled, and then you walked. Without the crawling you probably would never have walked (I say "probably" because a couple of our kids had “walker-trainers” and never crawled).
So look on this blog as a crawling space. Crawl into it and make a comment. Then sit back and let the atheists “bruise” you. It may hurt at little, but all they will do is prepare you for walking. They will do you (and those you will talk to in the future) a huge favor. Atheists think of themselves as the king of the beasts. They have the ultimate delusions of grandeur. They open their mouths wide and roar at the heavens as though there is no God. (even some self-professing "christians" do the same thing. they promote their own version of who God is, but it is not the God of the Bible that they promote!)
But don’t be intimidated for a moment by their loud noise. Simply do what Daniel did when he was lowered into the lion’s den. Keep your trust in God and have the joy of seeing their mouths get stopped. They bellow and snarl against the Bible, the Church, hypocrisy, creationism, etc., but their mouths are always stopped by God’s Law. They can’t say a thing against “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not kill, You shall not lie.” Watch how they react to this post. They have no argument against the Law. That’s the power of their God-given conscience at work (see Romans 2:14).So never forget why God gave us His Law. It was given “that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God” (Romans 3:19). So use it when witnessing and watch what it does. "
I have personally seen how many people are offended by God's Law. They are offended by the very Word of God (since His Law was given by Himself!) They say His Law has no place for us today. Although, they reject the fact that Jesus used the Law, as did Paul, Peter, Timothy and the others! They say, "God loves you" and feel that is all a person needs to know to accept Christ as their Lord. They say, just say the sinner's prayer and you will be saved. But no where in the Bible does it tell us to lead someone in the sinners prayer. You won't find it in the Bible. What you will find, is men of God, using the Law to show people their sinfulness before a Holy God, so that it will shut the mouth of the self-righteous person. It is at that point, that we offer up the grace of God. They want to "skip" straight to the grace of God without allowing a person the chance, the opportunity, the real need to know just how sinful they are in God's eyes. They are guilty of creating false converts. For those of you who have been directed here by a grace-only site, please know that not a single person is innocent in what they do. We are all sinners. If you have told a lie at any time, you are a liar. If you have ever stolen anything, you are a thief, if you have ever looked at another person with lust, you are an adulterer. If God were to judge you based on the Ten Commandments, would you be innocent or guilty? You cannot justify yourself before God. You would be guilty!
Now, when a person realizes that they are guilty before God, they then need to know where they are headed. The answer is easy. HELL
All people are headed for hell. All people! there is not a single person who has not sinned (except for Jesus!). By being a lying, thief and an adulterer at heart, we have broken God's Commands. And His Word tells us that no liar, no thief and no adulterer will enter heaven. Are you gulity? The answer is yes! We are all guilty!
Many people have never been told that they are headed for hell. Many people are ONLY told that God loves them and if they say a prayer, they will go to heaven. They even tell them they can be SURE they are going to heaven if they just say the sinners prayer. That is NOT biblical and is not found anywhere in Holy Scripture!
Many churches fail to give you the whole gospel message. See, they do it because they do not want you to be offended. If you are offended by God's Word, you might not come back to church. And too many churches are more concerned with having huge numbers of members, and are not concerned about actually edifying the body of believers. Since we make church nothing more than a meeting place to bring unsaved people, the whole gospel message never gets preached. We keep worrying about whether a person will come back to church or not because of what we preach to them. Again, that is not to be found anywhere in Scripture. When the rich man walked away sad from Jesus, did He go chasing after him? NO!
We are called to go into all the world preaching the gospel to every creature. Not so our church can grow, because it is not about "our" church. We do it because we want to be faithful to His Word. He has commanded us and we listen and obey! It is all for His glory! If someone rejects God's Word, that is between them and God. What we do is give them God's Holy Word and have faith in Him and in His promise that His Word will not return void! We plant the seed!
So, as we get back to our problem. We are all headed for hell. How do we change that? We are told in Scripture to repent of our sins. If you have not repented of your sins, you will not go to heaven. Why? Because Scripture tells us that no liars, no thieves, no adulterers, no covetous person, etc will enter the kingdom of heaven. Remember the Scripture where Jesus says, they will say to me, Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons. And Jesus will say to them, Depart from me you worker of iniquity, I never knew you.
Do you want Jesus to tell you to Depart from Him because you are a worker of iniquity? The one's who are known by Jesus and by the Father are those who have obeyed His commands!
repentance is a gift that is given to those who are saved. If you have not repented, it is obvious that you have not received the spiritual gift and are not saved. (see my comments below for an explanation of this gift from God!) So, if you are still living in your sins, please see this as an eye-opener.
Yes, God loves you. In fact, He has provided a way for you ( a Hell-bound person) to go to heaven. What did He do? He sent His Son to die on the cross for your sins. That is how much He loves you. So please don't just spread your arms real wide and say Jesus loves you that much!! He loves you with His life! He sacrificed His life on the cross for you. He loves you so much more than a 5 foot wingspan! And it is because He died on the cross, that we MUST repent of our sins and be obedient to His Word.
It is not in keeping the ten commandments that you are saved. The Commandments do nothing more than just point a person to the foot of the cross. It is from there, that they bow down and humbly cry out to God, "I am a wretched sinner and I need You to save me." Having someone recite the sinners prayer does nothing to check their heart. It is when "they" cry out and it comes out from within their hearts that you can see that they truly understand the need for a Savior.
So bring it on all Atheist, all Mormons, all JW's and all "professing christians - who do not believe the Word of God to be completely true!" I am ready for you! God's Word is true and is sharper than any two edged sword!
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17 comments:
"Bring it On .... I am not sure that is an appropriate movie"
sounds more like a chick flick!
"They even tell them they can be SURE they are going to heaven if they just say the sinners prayer. That is NOT biblical and is not found anywhere in Holy Scripture!"
This is so right on.
I am struggling with confronting (maybe that’s not the best word) my pastor and talking about this very thing.
He preaches some of the most powerful sermons I have ever heard and then follows them up with some of the weakest ‘sinner’s prayers’ I have ever heard. I have always disliked the sinner’s prayer but I know that sometimes, if it has to be done, should be done a lot better than…….
“You have a God shaped hole in your heart that only Christ can fill. Jesus stands at the door of you heart and is knocking to come in. Open your heart and let Him come in. Say this little prayer with me; Jesus I know that I’m a sinner, please come into my life and change me. Help me live for you. I receive you. Thank you. If you just prayed that prayer the Bible say’s that you are saved.”
I hear this every Sunday and once in the morning service and once at the evening service. I secretly find myself hoping no one goes forward if they prayed that prayer. I’m praying that the Holy Spirit moves that person to repent and trust……not just say a cheesy prayer.
How do I approach him?
here is a suggestion...
If you have respect for this pastor, then talk to him man to man. Tell him how much you admire his preaching and how you feel it is very biblical. but you are bothered that the biblical aspect stops at the end of the sermon. Once he delves into the sinner's prayer, he has gone on to man-made salvation assurance. No pastor wants to feel like he is being critiqued, but at the same time, he needs to see the seriousness of his errors. If a person is only responding to the message and needs to copy what someone else says (or feels), then it is not truly coming from their heart. Which do you think God would apprecaite more? A prayer that is said because someone told them to say it, or a prayer of tears (without knowing exactly what words to say) from someone who realizes he is a sinner in need of His Grace? Before he tells someone they have been saved, he needs to make sure they understand what repentance is. Seriously, I would just have a sit-down with him and explain what is on your heart and why it is there. Do not fear talking to him. He is a man and nothing more. He will respect your biblical stance. Pray before you go to speak with him. I will pray for you too.
Jeff Greathouse said,
"Yes, repentance is there but a spiritual gift, really ? he goes on to say...
another comment completely wrong ... what a surprise"
Now, this is the same person who challenged me by saying that Jesus never said we are to repent. As in Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Anyway, here you go Jeff, I pray that the blindness you have towards Scripture will be changed...
Repentance is a gift which God grants to us. Repentance is humbling. The enemy of Grace and Repentance is pride and God resists the proud. Repentance awakens us to our desperate need of grace and thus prepares us to receive Christ, with humbling gratitude. Repentance embraces Christ in faith. God has granted "repentance unto life" to both Jew and Gentiles (Acts 11:18).
Repentance and faith are like two sides of a coin. You can tell the difference between them but you cannot separate them. Faith in the proclamation that Jesus whom they crucified had been raised from the dead and made both Lord and Christ resulted in repentance -- a complete change. Their whole life turned around and headed in the opposite direction.
The conversion of Saul of Tarsus is an example of repentance. He persecuted Christians because he was convinced that Jesus was not the Messiah (Christ). He was a very devout Jew who thought he was doing the will of God by crushing this apostasy from Judaism by Jews who had become Christians.
When Saul met Jesus on the road to Damascus he suddenly knew he was dead wrong. He trusted in Jesus and repented. His life was so completely changed that he immediately risked his life to preach in the synagogues that Christ is the Son of God (Acts 9:20-25). Through the rest of the book of Acts we read of Saul (later called Paul) suffering brutal persecution because he preached Christ. This ex-Pharisee who had once despised Gentiles spent years in jail because he insisted that "Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel" (Eph. 3:6). He refused to tolerate the Hebrew Christian attempt to give second class membership in the body of Christ to Gentile believers. Paul was a repenter and he taught the churches to become repenters and accept the new equality of the Jews and Gentiles in Christ. This was a real change for Paul, the ex-Pharisee.
Repentance that radically changed lives was happening everywhere the gospel was preached in Acts. At Thessalonica the cry raised against Paul and his companions was, "These who have turned the world upside down have come here too" (Acts 17:6). The Thessalonian church experienced complete repentance in response to Paul’s preaching:
For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (1 Thes. 1:9-10).
So many were turning away form idolatry in Ephesus that the idol makers were afraid their business would be destroyed (Acts 19:21-29). Obviously the church in North America is not having this kind of life changing witness. Warren Wiersbe speaks to this issue in his book on The Integrity Crisis.
For nineteen centuries, the church has been telling the world to admit its sins, repent, and believe the gospel. Today, in the twilight of the twentieth century, the world is telling the church to face up to her sins, repent, and start being the true church of that gospel. We Christians boast that we are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, but perhaps the gospel of Christ is ashamed of us. For some reason, our ministry doesn’t match our message. Something is wrong with the church’s integrity.
The church has grown accustomed to hearing people question the message of the gospel, because that message is foolishness to the lost. But today the situation is embarrassingly reversed, for now the messenger is suspect. Both the ministry and the message of the church have lost credibility before a watching world, and the world seems to be enjoying the spectacle "Why should we listen to the church?" the critical world is asking. "By what authority do you Christians preach to us about sin and salvation? Set your own house in order and then we may want to listen to you."{2}
Where should we begin to set our household of faith in order and restore our integrity? We should begin by gathering together in the presence of Christ. Let’s humbly ask Him to take charge of us and change us. Ask Him to give us the gift of repentance unto the fullness of grace and power. Let’s humbly seek out the sins that have grieved the Spirit. Ask "What have we done to lose the power to witness which You gave Your church at the beginning?" Then read each of the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3 and ask the Lord, "What are you saying to us through each of these letters?"
If you humbly unite in prayer seeking the washing and cleansing Jesus is giving His church you will become repenters who are drawing nearer and nearer to God. One man said, "I repented before I knew what repentance was and I have repented many times since."
2 Timothy 2:25
25 in meekness correcting them that oppose themselves; if peradventure God may give them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth,
Acts 11:18
18 And when they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also hath God granted repentance unto life.
Acts 5:31
31 Him did God exalt with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins.
If it were by our own power it would be a "work" that would bring us to repentance. It is God who gives us the ability to repent of our sins. It is God who gives us a changed heart. Of course, this means nothing if you don't believe the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God!
Jeff -- continued from above...
2Ti 2:22-26
I. Paul here exhorts Timothy to beware of youthful lusts, v. 22. Though he was a holy good man, very much mortified to the world, yet Paul thought it necessary to caution him against youthful lusts: "Flee them, take all possible care and pains to keep thyself pure from them.’’ The lusts of the flesh are youthful lusts, which young people must carefully watch against, and the best must not be secure. He prescribes an excellent remedy against youthful lusts: Follow righteousness, faith, charity peace, etc. Observe, 1. Youthful lusts are very dangerous, for which reason even hopeful young people should be warned of them, for they war against the soul, 1 Pt. 2:11. 2. The exciting of our graces will be the extinguishing of our corruptions; the more we follow that which is good the faster and the further we shall flee from that which is evil. Righteousness, and faith, and love, will be excellent antidotes against youthful lusts. Holy love will cure impure lust.—Follow peace with those that call on the Lord. The keeping up of the communion of saints will take us off from all fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness. See the character of Christians: they are such as call on the Lord Jesus Christ, out of a pure heart. Observe, Christ is to be prayed to. It is the character of all Christians that they call upon him; but our prayers to God and Christ are not acceptable nor successful except they come out of a pure heart.
II. He cautions him against contention, and, to prevent this (v. 23), cautions him against foolish and unlearned questions, that tend to no benefit, strifes of words. Those who advanced them, and doted upon them, thought themselves wise and learned; but Paul calls them foolish and unlearned. The mischief of these is that they gender strifes, that they breed debates and quarrels among Christians and ministers. It is very remarkable how often, and with what seriousness, the apostle cautions Timothy against disputes in religion, which surely was not without some such design as this, to show that religion consists more in believing and practising what God requires than in subtle disputes.—The servant of the Lord must not strive, v. 24. Nothing worse becomes the servant of the Lord Jesus, who himself did not strive nor cry (Mt. 12:19), but was a pattern of meekness, and mildness, and gentleness to all, than strife and contention. The servant of the Lord must be gentle to all men, and thereby show that he is himself subject to the commanding power of that holy religion which he is employed in preaching and propagating.—Apt to teach. Those are unapt to teach who are apt to strive, and are fierce and froward. Ministers must be patient, bearing with evil, and in meekness instructing (v. 25) not only those who subject themselves, but those who oppose themselves. Observe, 1. Those who oppose themselves to the truth are to be instructed; for instruction is the scripture-method of dealing with the erroneous, which is more likely to convince them of their errors than fire and faggot: he does not bid us kill their bodies, under pretence of saving their souls. 2. Such as oppose themselves are to be instructed in meekness, for our Lord is meek and lowly (Mt. 11:29), and this agrees well with the character of the servant of the Lord (v. 24): He must not strive, but be gentle to all men, apt to teach, patient. This is the way to convey truth in its light and power, and to overcome evil with good, Rom. 12:21.
Please open your Bible (God's Holy Word!) to 2 Timothy 2:25-26
In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And [that] they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
3. That which ministers must have in their eyes, in instructing those who oppose themselves, must be their recovery: If God, peradventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Observe, (1.) Repentance is God’s gift. (2.) It is a gift with a peradventure in the case of those who oppose themselves; and therefore, though we are not to despair of the grace of God, yet we must take heed of presuming upon it. To the acknowledging of the truth. (3.) The same God who gives us the discovery of the truth does by his grace bring us to the acknowledging of it, otherwise our hearts would continue in rebellion against it, for we are to confess with our mouths as well as to believe with our hearts, Rom. 10:9, 10. And thus sinners recover themselves out of the snare of the devil; see here, [1.] The misery of sinners: they are in the snare of the devil, and are led captive by him at his will, v. 26. They are slaves to the worst of task-masters; he is the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, Eph. 2:2. They are taken in a snare, and in the worst snare, because it is the devil’s; they are as fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare. Further, They are under Ham’s curse (a servant of servants shall he be, Gen. 9:25), they are slaves to him who is but a slave and vassal. [2.] The happiness of those who repent: they recover themselves out of this snare, as a bird out of the snare of the fowler; the snare is broken and they have escaped; and the greater the danger the greater the deliverance. When sinners repent, those who before were led captive by the devil at his will come to be led into the glorious liberty of the children of God, and have their wills melted into the will of the Lord Jesus. The good Lord recover us all out of the snare.
Jeff, repentance is a wonderful gift that comes from God, God is spirit and we must worship the Father in spirit and in Truth!
Let's look at the Word again...
"Those who are in opposition" primarily unblievers (captive to Satan, v.26), but also could include believers deceived by the "foolish and ignorant" (v 23) speculations of the false teachers; and, possibly the false teachers themselves.
"God...will grant them repentance" (Acts 11:18; 2 Cor 7:9-10) All true repentance is produced by God's Sovereign grace (eph 2:7), and without such grace human effort to change is futile (Jer 13:23).
"So that they may know the truth" When God, by grace, grants saving faith it includes the graning of repentance from sin. Neither is a human work.
Gift means Grace!
2 Cor 7:10
"For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death."
Godly sorrow refers to sorrow that is according to the will of God and produced by the Holy Spirit. True repentance cannot occur apart from such a genuine sorrow over one's sin. The word "leading" is supplied by the translators; Paul was saying that repentance belongs to the realm or sphere of salvation. Repentance is at the very heart of and proves one's salvation; unbelievers repent of their sin initially when they are saved, and then as believers, repent of their sins continually to keep the joy and blessing of their relationship to God.
Matt 3:8
"Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance"
repentance itself is not a work, but works are its inevitable fruit. Repentance and faith are inextricably linked in Scripture. Repentance means turning from one's sin, and faith is turning to God (1 Thess 1:9). They are like opposite sides of the same coin. That is why both are linked to conversion (Mark 1:15; Acts 3:19-21). Note that the works John demanded to see were "fruits" of repentance. But repentance itself is no more a "work" than faith is.
Jeff, I am praying for you as well as others. I would suggest you stop reading so many books and concentrate just on God's Holy Word. Reading a book written by two Quakers who are promoting universalism, is not healthy and it is completely contradictory to what the Bible teaches us. I would be bothered to think that you are teaching a universalist point of view to your youth in your church. Does you senior pastor know that you hold these beliefs? When you hold to the belief that ALL people will go to heaven, then you have just trampled the blood of Jesus under your feet. You have also given permission to your youth that they can sin all they want because they are going to heaven anyway, regardless of whether they repent or not. Without gaining the gift of repentance, without showing the fruits worthy of repentance, a person will not go to heaven! Period!
David from Sandy, UT
You said,
Brian,
The Bible contains references to a "hell", as we all know, but what exactly do those verses mean? I am interested to hear from your perspective why I should accept your interpretation that hell is a place where God sends his creatures to suffer eternal torture with no hope of relief. Specifically, how do would your prove such an interpretation scripturally and logically. Thanks.
I think I have answered your question in the post I posted today, Wednesday, April 2. It all comes down to believing the Word of God as found in the bible to be true!
some JWs came to my door tonight. if i didn't go to church after work, i would have been home when they came!! :*(
i want to do a Bible study with them!!!
(and bring it on was a horrid, terrible movie...)
was that the cheerleader movie?
I would love to witness to mormons, but they haven't been around here in a while!
yes it was. really dumb.
oh!!! last week i had to travel to another city to go to the ministry of foreign affairs...
there was a whole drove of mormon missionaries!!!!! men and women!
but i was already running late for the train to get back to work. (as i was sent all around the city from court to court) i really wanted to talk with them!!! :*(
but you know what, the last guy in the group (because i was polite not to push them out of the way so i could get through the doorway) didnt even hold the door open for me!!!!
he said hi and walked right on...
so, are american men becoming more like taiwanese men in where they don't hold the doors any longer for ladies?!?!
I always hold the door open for women and anyone else who is near me!!
i believe you, but you know i could have sooo much fun with that comment :)
Be nice Nicole!! LOL
well, it is almost 3 am...so, um, okay i will be!! :)
we don't have work tomorrow or saturday. it is tomb sweeping day. people go to the ancestors gravesites to sweep.
then they offer up coke, cakes, and fruits to "feed" their ancestors.
then they burn ghost money, which is nothing more than yellow paper with a temple stamp on it, so that their ancestors will have money to spend in "heaven"
please pray for this nation and its people. it truly breaks my heart.
it just goes to show that when man creates a god to suit them, they will do most anything! My prayers are with you and with them!
Jeff G wrote...
However, you do have to understand the style of the writing, who and why it is being written and much more to understand what they were teaching, but you 'brush" by that.
It is exactly the reasoning of knowing who and why something is written that I believe the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God. It is consistent from beginning to end! Your argument is more in line with those who think the bible is filled with errors and cannot be trusted!
Jeff in this comment you sent me...
I am glad that you are curious. I think that you jump to many conclusions. Just because people read books and materials and maybe even quote from some of them means that we buy into all 100%.
But to clear some of your curiosity, the SP at the church that we left was the one that gave the book that you seem to be so concerned about.
It is not a matter of "jumping" to conclusions. When it is written in your very post and within your own comments that you agree with what is written, that is why I have such a great concern. Please do not take it as me being a mean person worthy of death because I bring it up. I am truly concerned for any person who shows signs of being blinded. What part of universalism do you agree with and what part do you disagree with? If all people go to heaven or some "level" of heaven, then Jesus dying on the cross was done in vain. I worry that some who read this will be the ones that Jesus spoke of when he said, Depart from me you worker of iniquity, I never knew you! Please don't be one of them! Believe in the bible (all of it!), believe that Jesus is God's Son. Believe the Word of God to be true. Believe it when it says to repent of your sins and to be obedient to His Word. Salvation is so much more than just saying the sinner's prayer and knowing that God loves you. It requires a complete change in our life. a 180 degree turning away from sin. If you don't see that kind of change in your life, then examine yourself to see that you are in fact, in the faith. I have never wanted you to turn away from here, I only want you to see what God requires of us in order to be saved. God bless
Jeff, what part of "repent of your sins", and "put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation", makes you think I am blinded? These are the things I preach about daily in person and on this blog!
I am anxious to hear your answer.
on the other hand...
I have concerns for people being blinded when they refuse to believe in repentance as a necessity for salvation.
I have concerns for people being blinded when they refuse to believe it is necessary to be obedient to His Word (a saved person is obedient and he is obedient out of his love for the Master!
I have concerns for people being blinded when they refuse to acknowledge that the Bible says not all will enter the kingdom of heaven.
You just love to jump to things, Jeff, here is what you wrote to me...
my friend. You said the folowing:
"repent of your sins", and "put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation", makes you think I am blinded?
I have never disagreed with this and I never said this is where you are blinded.
Actually Jeff, one of the very first comments you had sent me was to disagree with God's Law and the need to repent by saying that you felt all we had to do was to "love" people. That pretty much got things started when you were not willing to say it is necessary to repent of sins and you replaced it with love. There are many so called Christians who have been deceived into thinking all they have to do is "believe" in Jesus. Believe is an active word. It involves continually walking with Christ, continually repenting of sins, continually being obedient to His Word. And we can still love people the way God commands us to, but we do not neglect His other commands to us to repent and to be obedient to His Word!
I will answer you other questions but you have neglected to answer my other question I had posted for you.
in the book that is in question...
what part of universalism do you believe in? and what part do you not believe in? Do you believe that all people will go to heaven? or only few will go to heaven?
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