SALVATION……

Now that I've come to debunk (or rebuke or attack, if you prefer) every single religion thinkable... You must be thinking what is wrong with me, as a Christian to debunk religions outside my own is expected. But exposing Catholicism and Protestantism Christianity as well... Why? Because they are a False Religion like any other. Religion does not save...… Jesus does.

But is it really that simple? To accept Jesus into your heart and bingo you're saved... No, it's not. If you truly accept Jesus into your heart you will be changed... 2 Corinthians 5:17.

We can consider Lukewarm Christians as nonbelievers because they believe in Christ but they don't believe in what God preaches throughout entire Bible... Giving up things of the world. Anyone who doesn't submit themselves unto the entire Word of God is an unbeliever. We must believe that every word of the Holy Bible is God breathed, every word is true and every word is to be obeyed. That's the definition of a believer...

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."

The full definition of believing in Jesus is not just believing He died but believing and obeying every word He said as truth. Because if you believe it is true then your actions will express that it is truth. Matthew 7:21, James 2:19 and Revelation 3:16. Not all professing Christians are Christians and not all professing Christians will go to Heaven.

Let's do a step-by-step guide to Salvation...

1.) MUST ACCEPT JESUS AS LORD AND SAVIOR

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."

Mark 16:16 - "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."

Acts 2:21 - "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Isn't that great, just believing in The Lord saves you, but wait...

Matthew 7:21 - "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."

Now don't get angry now and say the Bible contradicts itself, it is not doing so. If you thought for one second that just saying you believe in Jesus saves you, you may have forgotten that even Satan believes in Jesus. James 2:19. Satan knows Jesus is real. So what is Matthew 7:21 talking about? It is alking about Lukewarm Christians...

Revelation 3:16 - "So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth!"

Just because someone says they are Christian, doesn't mean they are Christian... After all, the Catholic says they are Christian and the Protestant says they are Christian, but are they really? Do their lives line up with Scripture or contradict it? Does their doctrine contradict their Holy Book? This leads me to talk about Lukewarm Christians, who say they are Christian yet their lives and doctrine contradict The Holy Bible... Joel Osteen or the Pope could be good examples of a Lukewarm... A hypocrite... Also known as False Prophets... Matthew 7:15.

The main heretical doctrine of a Lukewarm Christian is... O.S.A.S. (Once Saved Always Saved) and also the "Thou shall not judge" doctrine which is Matthew 7 taken out of context. Let's start with debunking O.S.A.S. though...

Once Saved Always Saved...

This false doctrine teaches that once you accept Jesus into your heart and say that He is your Lord and Savior, all your sins are washed away, no matter what sin you do, you are forgiven because Jesus died on that cross. You can be sexually immoral, but just accept Jesus and you're saved. You can be a drunkard, but just accept Jesus and you're saved. In short, the teaching is... Jesus died for your sins, so that you can sin.

Yet this isn't what the Bible teaches... Yes, we all have sinned. Romans 3:23. And this is why we need Jesus' blood, to be thankful for it... So once we pray the Sinner's Prayer and accept Jesus into our hearts... Then what?

John 8:11 - "She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more."

Luke 13:3 - "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."

Wow... So even if I believe in Jesus, I can still go to Hell as it says in Matthew 7:21... To be saved you must accept Jesus as Savior and...

2.) REPENT

Matthew 9:12-13 - "But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

This is preached throughout the entire Bible, all of the Prophets of the Old Testament constantly rebuked Israel, telling the people to repent of their sins. What is repentance? To feel sorry and to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life... Meaning keeping God's Law. And this is how we love God which is the greatest commandment in Matthew 22:36-37.

How we love God, show our thankfulness, our gratitude for Him dying for us is by us keeping the commandments, because by keeping the commandments we keep our soul's healthy. Most every Father wants His children healthy. Just like a physical body, we also must keep our spiritual body healthy. We our God's children and He loves us, He wants us to be healthy because if we are not healthy... Satan steals us away from God and it pains God's heart to lose a child to hellfire. So we must love God...

John 14:15 - "If you love me, keep my commandments."

Matthew 19:17 - "He said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments."

The life a Christian is supposed to live is preached throughout the Bible, but I think Romans 6 teaches on it the most clearly. Read the entire chapter, but let's go into how Baptism plays a role in all this...

Romans 6:4 - "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."

There is a symbolism to your water baptism... You are a sinner, you confess that and repent, then you get baptized... Laying you back into the water, lowering your body like going down into grave to die, washing your sins and then bringing you back up out of the water to be living, Born Again.

John 3:3 - "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Your baptism in water is symbolic to your commitment to love and obey God. To serve Him, so you can be baptized in water, but if you continue to go on living a life of sin, if you are not dead to sin... Then your water baptism means nothing. You have to be baptized in water and Spirit. The Spirit to serve God has to be there.

Just like a marriage... The wedding band doesn't make the marriage strong, the commitment does with the power of love. Same thing applies... The water baptism doesn't make the relationship with God strong, the commitment does with the power of love, love comes from the Holy Spirit. (John 14:15, 1 John 4:8).

Mark 1:8 - "I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost."

So this is why we must be baptized in water and Spirit... The Spirit baptism making the commitment strong and the water baptism being the symbolism (the wedding ring) to go into the water grave, be cleansed and rise again a new creature in Christ. Born Again. Dying to your own will and being born to do God's will. Dying to sin. Denying temptation.

Matthew 16:24-25 - "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."

Now that we understand how to be Saved... Let me expose another False Doctrine of, "Thou shall not Judge"... This is often preached that Christians are not to be judgmental, but this is heavily taken out of context...

This is what most Christians quote, Matthew 7:1 - "Judge not, that ye be not judged."

Now, let's read the entire thing...Matthew 7:1-5 - "1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam [is] in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."

To break it down to be understandable... Jesus is talking to the arrogant Pharisees who are sinners themselves, but pointing out other's sins and this is why Jesus says, "You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

So the context is that hypocrites cannot judge. For example, if you are an alcoholic and you tell your friend who is an alcoholic to stop drinking... You are a hypocrite. You have no right to judge when you yourself cannot see your own sin, as Jesus says in Verse 3.

First, you must remove the mote from your eye, see your sin and repent before you can judge, remove the mote from your friend's eye. So... If you are an alcoholic and you tell your alcoholic to stop drinking... This is unrighteous judgment. But if you have quit drinking, repented of this sin and out of concern are telling your friend to stop drinking... This is righteous judgement. You have the moral high ground, but you must judge without arrogance, for you were once a sinner yourself. We cannot become like the arrogant, hypocritical Pharisees.

Christians are to live a sinless life, to be repentant and have a hatred for sin. Proverbs 8:13, Proverbs 9:10. We must be righteous so we can judge as the Prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel did, as well as the Apostles judged. They judged by people's fruit...

Matthew 7:16-19 - "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither [can] a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire."

They did righteous judgement... Out of love for concern for people's physical and/or spiritual health...

John 7:24 - "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."

This leads me to my next point when it comes to saved by Grace versus Works... Let me mention that when the Prophets and Apostles were judging Israel, they were Evangelizing, which Christians today are also called to do...

Ezekiel 23:45 - "And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they [are] adulteresses, and blood [is] in their hands."

Righteous men shall judge...

We see in Ezekiel 3 and 33 that if we do not judge righteously and warn other's about their sin that we have their blood on our hands, this is figurative, meaning it is our fault they will go to Hell because we didn't tell them the Gospel, tell them about repentance, Jesus their Savior who offers the free gift to salvation.

Ezekiel 3:18-19 - "18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked [man] shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul."

Jesus is God and He has commanded us to preach the Gospel, if we don't we are in sin because we go against a commandment of God...

Matthew 10:7-9 - "And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses."

Acts 10:42 - "He commanded us to preach to the people and to warn them that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead."

As Christians we are not called to be part-time Lukewarms, we are called by God to be full-time servants of God, to help in saving other's souls... Sounds like too much work? You say that you don't need to work because you are saved by grace, your faith alone?

Ephesians 2:8 - "8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast."

Let's read on a little more...

Ephesians 2:10 - "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

Well, would you look at that... Workmanship, onto good works. So, yes, we are saved by God's grace, our faith in Him alone, but... If you have true faith you will love your God. John 14:15.

Even the Old Testament people were saved by FAITH. Hebrews 11.

Revelation 13:8 - "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

Matthew 5:13-16 - "13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

Salt irritates and preserves, Light exposes and gets rid of darkness. As Christians this is what we are called to do. People are irritated when you expose their darkness, their sin, but it is what must be done to make them realize they need Jesus, our Savior. So as Christians, we are commanded to spread the Word of God. We are to do good works as Verse 16 reads.

Evangelize, Fast, Pray, Bible Study, Feed the homeless, Volunteer, Make a difference in your community. These are good works and they need to and should fill up your week. To always be promoting the Gospel through our words and actions.

Of course you still have to do your regular work, for our housework, material and financial needs to be met as humans. But we must not get greedy and chase after money. Matthew 6:24-34, 1 Timothy 6:10, Mark 10:21-2, Hebrews 13:5.

We must only provide what is needed not wanted. 1 Timothy 5:8. The rest of our time is for God and bettering ourselves and this World. And your financial income work does not earn you salvation, the Bible is speaking of Godly works, God ordained works. Many Catholic sects, especially Opus Dei Catholics promote this False Doctrine of saved by your job if you offer it up to God. There is no Biblical basis for this doctrine.

Also to point out really quick the Seventh-Day Adventists cult, who tell us we cannot work on the Sabbath... We cannot do our job work or God's work which is heresy. Some will say you're in sin for earning money on the Sabbath... Heresy, you sometimes have to, to be able to provide food for your family. And evangelizing, doing God's work on Sabbath is fine... Jesus worked on the Sabbath... Matthew 12. Don't be a Pharisee.

We are not saved by Works, but are saved by Faith. Our Faith, if we have True Faith we will do Works out of love for God. If the Holy Spirit dwells in you, you will produce works naturally.

Providing for our family. 1 Timothy 5:8. Taking care of the home. Titus 2:5, 1 Timothy 2:15. And of course, spreading the Gospel through our words and actions, through good works. Matthew 10:7-9. This is our faith displayed. Evangelizing, Prayer, Bible Study, Fasting, Volunteering, etc. This type of faith, saves us.

James 2:26 - "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

The verses I want to underline here are...

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."

Revelation 3:16 - "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."

Matthew 7:21 - "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."

Don't be a Lukewarm Christian... Obey the greatest commandment, Love The Lord thy God. Matthew 22:36-37.

John 14:15 - "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

Do you love God? He died for you, after all. Don't let His sacrifice me in vain, repent of your sin and stop hurting your Savior's heart.

2 Peter 3:9 - "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

Ezekiel 33:11 - "Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?"

God sacrificed Himself, He died for you so that you can be saved, wiping clean all your sins. Why do you deny His help, His gift of eternal life, eternal happiness and peace? Why are you ungrateful to the One who died so that you may live? Don't be an ingrate. So I ask again...

Do you love your Savior, your God?

Hebrews 11:6 - "But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."