The "True" Christian...

This afternoon, I was really craving a bagel as I do every year as Rosh Hashanah begins, however, we were all out of schmear...  For those of you visiting from outside of Philadelphia, that would be translated into "cream cheese spread."

Anyway, my wife, who loves me so much, offered to go to the store and pick up a tub o' cheese for me because I forgot to get it last night while I was at the store...  Thank God for help-mates...

Because we just recently moved into our new home, she wanted to make sure we'd be stocked up on the spread for awhile, so she stopped by our local Costco in order to make sure we'd have enough to last through the next millenium...  For those of you visiting from the mid-west, Costco is Sam's Club, except it doesn't smell like a tire center...

Back to the reason for this post - as my wife was pulling into the parking lot, with our two children in the car mind you, she was paying attention to the lane she was driving in, and not the automobile cutting through the parking spaces about to pull in front of her...  As the car came into her line of sight, she hit the brakes suddenly and forcefully...

Perhaps you can imagine what happened next, because it may have happened to you once...  Maybe you were that person zipping through the spaces causing people to slam on their brakes...  Well this young man was not at all happy with my wife's near collision...

He got out of his car and began yelling at her, calling her all sorts of foul words, telling her to get out of the car, that he would just wait for her, punching the car in order to emphasize his words so that she wouldn't underestimate his seriousness...

Well, my wife did what any woman with 2 young children in the car should have done, she simply drove away and went to the Albertson's down the block...  My initial reaction was that she should have called the police, or parked the car in the fire lane of the store, and went directly to the Store Manager to report the man's assault so that she might shop in peace...

As my flushed cheeks lost a bit of their pink she mentioned that the part that saddened her most was that he was wearing a cross necklace...

And that is where I am coming from when I refer to the difference between what the BIBLE declares to be a "True" Christian (follower of Christ) and a false convert (hypocrite).  Anyone who has been regenerated by God's grace and is truly Christian would hold their tongue in the case of a close call such as the one my wife experienced this afternoon...  Anyone who has denied themselves, taken up their cross to follow Jesus, would not stand in the middle of a parking lot screaming at a mother with her children with threats of violence... (Matthew 16:24-26)

Another victim of the modern gospel that told this man that you simply need to believe Jesus died for your sins, say a little prayer and you're on your way to heaven...  Wear this piece of jewelry and Jesus will recognize you when you enter heaven...  

Boy I hope I'm in the car if anything like this ever happens again - at least he'll get a gospel tract to take home with him, and perhaps he'll praise God's name because he wasn't involved in an automobile accident, rather than blaspheming it with his words and actions while wearing religious jewelry.

Is "Repentance" Necessary for Salvation?

It is true that numerous Bible verses speak of the promise of salvation with no mention of repentance. These verses merely say to "believe" on Jesus Christ and you shall be saved (Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9). However, the Bible makes it clear that God is holy and man is sinful, and that sin makes a separation between the two (Isaiah 59:1-2). Without repentance from sin, wicked men cannot have fellowship with a holy God. We are dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1) and until we forsake them through repentance, we cannot be made alive in Christ. The Scriptures speak of "repentance unto life" (Acts 11:18). We turn from sin to the Savior. This is why Paul preached "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21).

The first public word Jesus preached was "repent" (Matthew 4:17). John the Baptist began his ministry the same way (Matthew 3:2). Jesus told His hearers that without repentance, they would perish (Luke 13:3).

If belief is all that is necessary for salvation, then the logical conclusion is that one need never repent. However, the Bible tells us that a false convert "believes" and yet is not saved (Luke 8:13); he remains a "worker of iniquity." Look at the warning of Scripture: "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth" (1 John 1:6). The Scriptures also say, "He that covers his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesses and forsakes them [repentance] shall have mercy" (Proverbs 28:13). Jesus said that there was joy in heaven over one sinner who "repents" (Luke 15:10). If there is no repentance, there is no joy because there is no salvation.

When Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost, he commanded his hearers to repent "for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:38). Without repentance, there is no remission of sins; we are still under His wrath. Peter further said, "Repent . . . and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out" (Acts 3:19). We cannot be "converted" unless we repent. God Himself "commands all men everywhere [leaving no exceptions] to repent" (Acts 17:30). Peter said a similar thing at Pentecost: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you" (Acts 2:38).

If repentance wasn’t necessary for salvation, why then did Jesus command that repentance be preached to all nations (Luke 24:47)? With so many Scriptures speaking of the necessity of repentance for salvation, one can only suspect that those who preach salvation without repentance are strangers to repentance themselves, and thus strangers to true conversion.

Commentary re-printed from The Evidence Bible - All scripture references come from the New King James Version Bible unless otherwise noted.

Tomorrow Night...

This is just a taste of the new movie Fireproof, coming out September 26th.

Have you ever had a "conversation" like this with your spouse?

A "witness" encounter...

Earlier today, two Jehovah's Witnesses stopped me while standing in my driveway performing some yard work. We started a conversation, as cordially as we possibly could standing in the heat of a California midday sun.

While the other witnesses walked around our new neighborhood, we could hear the responses of our neighbors letting them know they weren't interested in the message, followed by the click of the door latches. On the first weekend in our new home, we were already showing ourselves to be a family at least willing to talk about the things of God... Boy, do I look forward to future conversations in this neighborhood!

I politely allowed them to make their introduction and explanation about why they were here. The woman, Sue, let me know that they were in the area, encouraging people to read the Bible, and their magazine - on the cover, read the words, "Are Better Times Just Ahead?" She asked me if I believed this...

My initial thought was, "well, not according to the Government, and the National Weather Service, and Wall Street, and just about every other special interest-type group you might be able to find out there... No, better times are not, in fact, just ahead..." However, I remembered my audience and gave my response some thought...

I replied, "It depends on how you look at things... If you see yourself as a person who is basically 'good' and has lived a life intent on being content, then no... Better Times, in the eternal sense are not just ahead at all... In fact, some very bad times are ahead."

Then I explained what I meant by that... I told her that anyone who does not see themselves the way the Bible describes us (wretched, deceitful, in need of God's mercy) is going to have a seriously rude awakening in the Day of Judgment that God has set aside. I asked her how she would feel if a doctor were to walk into the room with a fatal prognosis for her, only to tell her that everything was fine, and soon she wouldn't be feeling any pain at all...

Sue admitted that wouldn't be the way she would want to be treated by the doctor - and that's when I pointed out that telling people - my neighbors in particular - that 'better times are just ahead' without telling them of the alternative, or informing them of who will be effected or how it would happen, is not the proper way to share their faith...

Jehovah's Witnesses believe in a doctrine referred to as annihilation, which is just one of the unfortunate and heretical aspects of their faith. This doctrine basically states that the "second death" referred to several times throughout the Bible, but particularly in the Book of Revelation, is what Satan and all those who are not faithful Jehovah's Witnesses... They will simply cease to exist. Therefore, Hell is the grave described as "Sheol" in the Old Testament, and not a place of eternal punishment.

Sue and her friend assured me that they weren't interested in getting into theological arguments, but that they were only out to share the love of God with people. To which, I agreed that arguing with people would not do much good when they can see you coming in your Sunday best on a Saturday morning from all the way down the street. However, the Bible makes it clear that we should be sharing the WHOLE word of God, and not just part of it... (The BAD news as well as The Good News)

The Jehovah's Witness doctrine would have you believe, as many ignorant political and social leaders would, that mankind is the reason that the Earth is allegedly heating up... I wrote that sentence that way for the following reasons... ONE: There is no conclusive proof that the Earth, on the whole, is increasing in temperature - there is no way to measure that assertion, therefore, it is simply an opinion or a theory, not a fact... TWO: Weather patterns are cyclical, there is little rhyme or reason to them, with the exception of a handful of areas around the world. Therefore, the patterns, while seemingly predictable, are still random, and therefore, subject to change without notice... Hence, we have what many people believe to be "global warming."

One interesting fact to note here is this... Trends in temperatures have been showing an incremental rise since the beginning of the last century when there were basically a handful of cars - not millions and millions supposedly creating this worldwide calamity... I don't want to get too far down the rabbit trail, the weather topic is for a whole other post entirely... The point I wanted to make is this, that the Jehovah's Witness stance is that mankind / the world is being judged by God because of "those who are ruining the Earth." (The Watchtower - Aug. 1, 2008 - p. 7)

"This is no man-made catastrophe. Rather, it is God acting 'to bring to ruin those ruining the earth.' Revelation 11:18"

"Wicked people, whose selfish actions have brought the planet to the brink of ruin, 'will be cut off from the very earth.' But the blameless ones (faithful Jehovah's Witnesses) who serve God acceptably, 'will be left over in it.' Proverbs 2:21-22"

Did you get that??? In the first reference, they are quoting from the prophecies of the opening of the Seven Seals... Verse 18 is declaring the judgment from the midst of the Seventh Seal itself... What they've done here is taken a passage WAY out of it's originally intended context in order to try to make a claim that we humans are responsible for the state of the planet, and those who continue to abuse the earth will be "cut off." Which, in their version of judgment doesn't sound like all that big of a deal... One minute, you're littering to your heart's content, without a care in the world about your personal carbon footprint, the next minute you're dead, without any conscious understanding of what's just happened...

And in the second quotation, they are claiming a proverb as prophecy... Now, I'm ALL FOR the literal interpretation of the Bible - where it is necessary to do so... When someone, anyone, a church, a pastor, a bible-study leader suggests that we should begin to use a passage for an intention other than the one it was clearly written to be, I've just GOT to say something about it... The second chapter of Proverbs is addressing Wisdom in general, and the positive and negative effects of being wise vs. ignorant, gaining understanding vs. remaining well... ignorant... Living in righteousness vs. giving in to lawlessness... It is not a prophetic declaration against those who are not concerned with, or otherwise abuse good ol' earth...

ANYWAY... Sue's friend Cameron apologized and let me know that he didn't feel prepared enough to talk much further, and that he wanted to go and read up on his information and stop by next Saturday. I encouraged them to do so... I'll fill you in on how that goes, when it does...

If only...

...if only I had the guts to share this message with the Youth at my church...

Don't Waste Your Life - Part 1