Thursday, May 25, 2023

Eight Gospel Absurdities If A Born-Again Soul Ever Loses Salvation

John 10:26-29, “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.”

One of my favorite historical preachers is Dr. John R. Rice (1895-1980). I love Brother Rice, who was 31 years older than my hero of the Christian faith, Dr. Jack Hyles (1926-2001). God used these two dear great soulwinning men of God to lead millions of lost sinners to the saving knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Having said that, both of these preachers were flawed, just as I am flawed, and every other preacher who has ever lived was flawed. If you think there are any perfect preachers, I am worried about you dear friend. Only cults idolize imperfect men as being above error. Dr. John R. Rice didn't always choose his words wisely. For example: In his booklet titled, “Eight Gospel Absurdities,” on page 3 he uses the phrase “When one has truly repented of his sins.” You cannot find this phrase anywhere in the inspired King James Bible. Why use language and terms that the Bible does not? For that very reason I do not like theology. Theology uses a bunch of manmade terms and concepts in an attempt to dissect and explain God's Word. I prefer to let the Holy Bible speak for itself, rightly dividing the truth by “comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1st Corinthians 2:13b).

Only the inspired Word of God is without error or corruption, which is why I make such a big fuss in my preaching in defense of the inspiration of the King James Bible. If we do not have a perfectly inspired Bible today, that is without error and corruption, then we do not have the truth and God lied to us in Psalms 12:6-7, The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. What did God promise to preserve forever? It was His pure Words! Sadly, every modern Bible revisions butchers' this Bible passage to remove God's promise. Instead of His pure words, the modern revisions errantly say that God protects His saints. The reason why should be obvious, because wicked men today no longer believe that we have a perfectly inspired Bible today. They had to remove this promise of God to justify publishing hundreds of conflicting Bible versions.

Having said that, with a copy of Dr. Rice's booklet “Eight Gospel Absurdities” in front of me as a guide, I am going to write a compendium focusing on the major points, for your edification dear reader. Dr. Rice wrote this little booklet in defense of the great Bible doctrine of Eternal Security, which is in fact the same doctrine as Eternal Life. Please do not make the common mistake of separating these two great doctrines, for they are one and the same! That is to say, the man who has Eternal Life also has Eternal Security. They are effectively the same thing! If saved, always saved; or as most Christians like to say: ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED (OSAS). If you have Jesus as your personal Savior, then you have eternal life, because Jesus is Eternal Life the Bible says. 1st John 5:20, “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.”

Can a Child of God Lose His Salvation?

Helpful quotes from Dr. John R. Rice's booklet...
“Eight Gospel Absurdities”
If a Born-Again Soul Ever Loses Salvation

On pages 3, 4 and 5 Dr. Rice states:
Here are eight Gospel absurdities that would follow if a saved person should become lost or go to Hell. We entreat you to check them carefully, check up the Scriptures for yourself, and see how untrue to the Scripture is the doctrine that souls may be lost after they are saved, that born-again Christians, children of God, may lose salvation and go to Hell.
1. Then Salvation Would Be of Works and Not of Grace 
There is no doubt that many devout Christian people who believe that a child of God can become lost again mean to believe the Bible doctrine of salvation by grace. They will be shocked when I say that they are really teaching salvation by works and not of grace. But careful study will show that that is certainly true. If a saved person can be lost again, then it is because he failed in his works. If he does not become lost, then it is because of his good works. Thus all who are saved are really saved by their own works, if the Arminian doctrine is true.
...Those who oppose the plain Bible doctrine of eternal security by simple faith in Christ, that Christ keeps His own by grace when He saved them, very frankly admit that they believe all Christians are on probation, that they are not really saved yet in any real sense. And tens of thousands of such people regularly pray, “And save us at last in Heaven,” because they do not believe in any real and definite and secure salvation here and now, obtained by the marvellous grace of God. Actually, they believe in salvation by works, not in salvation by grace.
Can a saved person ever be lost? That depends on who does the saving. If God does the saving, then of course if God fails the salvation is lost. If God is faithful and does what He promises, then one who trusts in Him will not become lost. But if man does his own saving by his good works, then when man quits working he is lost. And if he does “hold out faithful,” if he does “endure to the end,” and if he does “go through with God,” then of course his salvation is by human works and not by God's unmerited grace.
SOURCE: Dr. John R. Rice, Eight Gospel Absurdities, pp. 3, 4 and 5; ©1946, Sword of the Lord Publishers
Another Gospel absurdity if eternal life can ever be lost is...
II. The Doctrine of the Blood Atonement and Substitutionary Death of Christ Would Be Untrue If a Saved Person Loses His Salvation
The Bible doctrine of the atonement is that the blood of Jesus Christ, shed when He was crucified, paid for the sins of the whole world. First Peter 1:19 tells us that we are redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” Paul in Acts 20:28 commanded the elders at Ephesus to take heed “to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” The church, according to the Scripture, is bought with the blood of Christ. And speaking about Christians who sin, I John 2, 1,2 says, “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
There we have a clear Bible doctrine: Jesus died, and with His blood He made propitiation for the sins of the whole world. Anyone who will accept that payment finds his sins all atoned for, all paid for. God does not mean that just the sins up until the time of salvation are paid for, but all of the sins which one commits. Christ died once and settled the sin question once and forever for those who believe. Hebrews 10:12-14 said about Jesus as our High Priest: 
“But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 
One offering of Christ paid for all the sins of the past, all the sins of the present, all the sins of the future. 
But this is not the teaching of those who believe that a saved person can be lost again. If a man is lost for lack of labor, lack of faithfulness after he is saved, then actually he goes to Hell to pay for his own sins. Surely it is clear that for a man to pay for his own sins is not the same as having them paid for by the Lord Jesus. If a Christian gets to Heaven only by living right, then he does not get there by the atoning blood of Christ. If he loses his salvation because of his sin, then of course he is not saved by the blood. If the blood cannot pay for sinners, it cannot pay for ANYBODY. 
The Bible doctrine of substitution is akin to the doctrine of blood atonement, By substitution we mean that Christ took the sinner's place. That is expressed in Isaiah 53:6:  
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Christ on the cross was treated like a common, guilty, Hell-deserving criminal. He died as the most wicked sinner in the world. Actually He died just as you and I ought to die. He took the punishment and suffering we deserve.
But the doctrine of substitution also teaches that as Christ was counted a sinner for our sakes, so we may be counted righteous for His sake. He took our sins; we take His righteousness. Since Christ died for us, we are already accounted to have died for our sins and to be freed from them. As He died, so are we counted to have died. As He now lives forever, so we are to live. It is one of the clearest doctrines of the Bible that Christ took the sinner's place in His death, and thereby atoned for all the sins of everyone who would believe in Him, and that now the believer in Christ is accounted righteous for Christ's sake. We have Christ's righteousness in the presence of God. 
But this could not be true if one who is saved can become lost again. If a sin of mine can come up against me to damn my soul forever after I have already trusted in the blood of Christ, then it is quite evident that the blood did not really settle all my sins, that Christ did not really and literally take my place, and that people are not saved by the atoning blood and the substitutionary death of Christ. If the blood paid for sin, then they are ALL paid for. If Christ took my place and died for all my sins, past, present and future, then since I have trusted in Him I cannot be condemned and go to Hell for these sins. You can see, then, that if my continued salvation depends upon my good life, it does not depend upon the blood shed by the Lord Jesus and by His substitutionary death.
SOURCE: Dr. John R. Rice, Eight Gospel Absurdities, pp. 6, 7; ©1946, Sword of the Lord Publishers
I would like to clarify something that Dr. Rice keeps mentioning. The word “atonement” is an Old Testament word. In fact, the same Hebrew word used for “atonement” in the Old Testament is used for the “pitch” that Noah used to cover and seal the ark (Genesis 6:4). The word “atonement” is only mentioned once in the New Testament in Romans 5:11, “And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. It is important to know that Jesus' blood does not merely cover our sins; but rather, His precious blood has forever washed our sins away (1st John 1:7). When the Bible says that we have received the atonement through Christ, it simply means that Christ's blood sacrifice was the ultimate payment, once and for all made, not merely with the blood of goats and bulls, but with the precious blood of the Lamb of God.

In the Old Testament, the yearly sacrifices made by the high priest could never wash away the sins of the people. The Bible is very clear on this in Hebrews 10:4, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” Every year the high priest would kill a male lamb without spot nor blemish (which symbolized the sinless Son of God), and then take that blood into the holy place to sprinkle on the mercy seat in the presence of God; but when Jesus entered by His own blood into the heavenly Tabernacle, to sprinkle His literal liquid blood upon the Mercy Seat, it was a one time event. Hebrews 9:12, “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” Jesus' blood once and for all washed away our sins, making an eternal and permanent atonement. It is beyond the scope of this blog, but this is why the Roman Catholic crucifix and Mass are unbiblical. Jesus is not still on the cross. In the Catholic Mass (aka, Eucharist) they actually believe that the participants are eating Jesus' body, an exclusive Catholic false doctrine called: Transubstantiation

Another Gospel absurdity if eternal life can ever be lost is...
III. If a Saved Person Can Lose Salvation, Then Saved Persons Are Not Justified, as the Bible Teaches.
The Bible speaks often of justification. In Romans 3:9-18 we learn that there are none good, and none do good; that all are sinners alike. But Romans 3:24-28 tells us of sinners:
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. 
According to this Bible teaching on justification, men are “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Justification is free; it does not cost anything. 
Because Christ died, we are told, God can save a sinner and still be just while He justifies one who trusts in Jesus (verse 26). This kind of justification forbids boasting. No one can depend on getting to Heaven by “holding out faithful” or by living a good life or by “going through with God.” And then verse 28 declares, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” People are saved and justified by faith, without doing the righteous things commanded in the Ten Commandments.
What does justification mean? It means not only that the sinner is forgiven, but more than that; it means that after the sinner is forgiven, he is restored to God's favor as if he were perfectly just, that is, as if he had never sinned. In other words, he is counted righteous  or just, and is made just in God's sight. So God looks on a sinner not only as a forgiven sinner, but rather as a man with no sin ever charged against him. A justified person in God's sight is as if he had never sinned when it comes to the matter of getting to Heaven and having salvation. This justification is clearly given to all those who believe in Christ. 
Remember, that the penitent publican prayed in the temple, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” then he, “went down to his house justified,” that is, counted no longer a sinner (Luke 18:13, 14). In Acts 13:38, 39 Paul and Barnabas preached,  
“Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.”
We see that one is justified from all things as soon as he puts his trust in Christ. 
...But if a saved person loses his salvation, it is clear that this whole doctrine of justification would be false. How could a man go to Hell who was perfectly just in God's sight? That is impossible! How could a man go to Hell without sin being imputed or charged up against him? That is impossible! So the doctrine that a saved person, one who is born again, a child of God, can fall away so far as to lose his salvation and be lost forever clearly contradicts the Bible doctrine of justification. Both cannot be true.
SOURCE: Dr. John R. Rice, Eight Gospel Absurdities, pp. 7, 8, 9 and 10; ©1946, Sword of the Lord Publishers
Another Gospel absurdity if eternal life can ever be lost is...
IV. If a Saved Person Ever Loses Salvation Then Christ's High-Priestly Intercessory Prayers Are of No Avail
The Bible teaches us that Christ is now our High Priest. Hebrews 10:21, 22 tells us:  
And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 
And Hebrews 9:24 says,
“For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:” 
These Scriptures make it clear that Christ's work for sinners was not done when He died. After we have put our trust in Christ, then Christ remains always at the right hand of God to take our part, to intercede for us, to represent us in Heaven. 
Romans 5:9, 10 says,
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 
You see, we are already justified by the blood of Christ. The death of Christ took care of all of our sins. And now we are kept, not by our own lives, but “by his life.” 
A Christian should hold fast to his profession. Even when Satan traps him and he falls into sin, he should not throw away his hope. Why? Hebrews 4:14-16,
Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” 
Jesus knows all our temptations. He is our High Priest, is now in the Heavens, taking our place. Oh, “let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”! 
...But if a saved person ever falls away and loses salvation and goes to Hell, then all the high-priestly prayers of Christ are of no avail; the prayer of Jesus in John, chapter 17, was not heard. It does no good that He ever lives to make intercession for us according to the will of God. It does no good that “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous—that is, I say, it does no good if a saved soul can be lost after he had been born again by faith in Christ. 
Do you not see that the Bible doctrine of the high-priestly work of Christ is interceding for His own clearly contradicts the foolish thought that a child of God can be lost again? The two doctrines cannot go together. 
SOURCE: Dr. John R. Rice, Eight Gospel Absurdities, pp. 10, 11, 12 and 13; ©1946, Sword of the Lord Publishers
Another Gospel absurdity if eternal life can ever be lost is...
V. If a Saved Person Can Be Lost Then God's Own Child Would Be in Hell
The Bible doctrine of salvation as a new birth is very definite and clear. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” and “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,” and again, “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again” (John 3:3, 5, 7). No one can ever be saved, said Jesus, without being born again. 
This new birth was discussed in John 1:12, 13 as follows: 
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.”
...Now if a born-again person goes to Hell, God's nature goes to Hell in him, and then we would have people really born of God, still God's children, still with God's nature, in Hell! How absurd and impossible that is! But if a born-again child of God can lose salvation and be lost forever, that would be what would happen; God's own children, with God's nature within them, God's seed in them that could not sin, would be in Hell! 
You see that the doctrine of the new birth and the teaching that a child of God can lose salvation cannot be reconciled. The two doctrines do not fit together. One or the other is false.
SOURCE: Dr. John R. Rice, Eight Gospel Absurdities, pp. 13 and 14; ©1946, Sword of the Lord Publishers
Another Gospel absurdity if eternal life can ever be lost is...
VI. If a Saved Person Can Ever Lose Salvation Then Many Promises of the Bible Do Not Mean What They Say or Are Untrue
The Bible has so many promises so definite and clear that if they mean what they say, and if they are true, they prove a child of God can never lose salvation. Will you study some of these promises carefully, and answer in your own heart whether or not they mean what they say, and then whether or not they are true? 
1. John 5:24:  
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” 
Here we are told that one who hears the Word of Christ and depends on or trusts in the Father who sent Jesus to save sinners, already has everlasting life “and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.” Notice we are not told that the believer in Christ will one day in Heaven have everlasting life. No, he has it already! The promise is as clear as can be that this one who has trusted in Christ shall never come into condemnation. He is already passed out of death into life. How could that be true if one loses his salvation? Anyone who had trusted in Christ and been born again, then, if he should be lost and go to Hell, would have a right to look God in the face and tell Him that His Word could not be trusted. Either God did not mean what He said or He did not keep His promises. 
2. John 10:27-29:  
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one.
Those who are really Christ's sheep hear His voice. He knows them and they follow Him. Christ's sheep do not follow Him perfectly, but there is something in the heart of every born again person that loves God and hates sin and wants to do right; something that follows Jesus. Now about these sheep Jesus says, “And I give unto them eternal life.” Christians do not buy life, they do not work for it, they are not on probation for it; Jesus simply, freely, gives His sheep eternal life! But is it life eternal that only lasts one year or ten years or ten minutes or until sin comes in? Certainly not! Eternal life lasts forever. 

...Now if the Word of God is true, if Christ meant what He said, and if His words can be relied upon, then not a single sheep of His will ever be taken out of His hands by the Devil or sin. 

Someone says, “Well, Brother Rice, maybe he can take himself out of the hands of Christ and God.” No; Jesus plainly said, “Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” You cannot even pluck yourself out of the hand of Christ. And who ever heard of anyone who wanted to? I have known Christians to fall into terrible sin as Peter did, as Lot did, as David did,. But neither Peter, nor David, nor Lot, nor any weak and failing and sinning Christian I ever knew really wanted to be taken out of the hand of Christ and wanted his soul lost. That is a silly thought.  
So you see that if a saved person ever goes to Hell it proves the promises of Christ and God in the Bible do not mean what they say, or they are not true,
3. Romans 8:33-39:  
“33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 34. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36. As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Here God's Word plainly promises that God has justified His own elect and no one will be able to lay anything to their charge (verse 33). He says that no one can condemn a Christian since Christ has died for him and is even now living and at the right hand of God making intercession for us (verse 34). 

And then there is that marvellous promise of verses 39 and 39 that “neither death, nor life” [not anything living or dead]; that neither “angels, nor principalities, not powers [whether angels of God in Heaven or fallen angels and the principalities and powers of darkness], nor things present, nor things to come [not anything that now exists, not anything that ever will exist in the future], nor height, nor depth [not anything all the way up to Heaven, not anything all the way down to Hell], nor any other creature [not any other thing ever created], SHALL BE ABLE TO SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD, WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD”! 
That Scripture is clearly intended to give full assurance that nothing in all the universe of God—past, present or future—can separate one of God's own, His born-again ones, from His love. If that Scripture is true, if it means what it says, then no child of God can ever be lost. If that should happen it would prove that God's promises are not to be trusted, that the Bible is a lie. But that, we know, is not true. God forbid! 
...Do you know how absurd it is to think that a child of God can be lost, in view of the promises given? If a saved person ever loses his salvation these promises are untrue.
SOURCE: Dr. John R. Rice, Eight Gospel Absurdities, pp. 15, 16, 17 and 18; ©1946, Sword of the Lord Publishers
Another Gospel absurdity if eternal life can ever be lost is...
VII. If a Saved Person Can Ever Be Lost, Can Lose His Salvation After Great Bible Promises, Then Christianity Is No Better Than the False Religions of the World
If salvation is by man's work instead of God's grace, then that is exactly what all the false religions teach. 
If one is saved by living a good life, or partly saved by living a good life, instead of by the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, that is exactly what all the false religions teach. 
Our Catholic friends teach that salvation is through the church, observing the rites and following the rules of the church, doing good deeds. Remember that Catholics believe in the death of Christ. They believe that Jesus died, but they do not believe that His death settled salvation for believers. They put in works of righteousness for people to do in order to make sure of salvation. They believe that one who has been right with God may fall away and be lost. The modernists, wicked unbelievers in Christ and the Bible, say that “Salvation is by character.” Other people say that salvation is by blood, but actually they mean that it is not good for ten minutes unless you earn it, unless you live right, unless you hold out faithful. Actually they mean that a Christian is on probation and cannot be sure he is saved until he gets to Heaven! What is the difference between that doctrine that a child of God can be saved today and lost tomorrow, and the essential doctrines of Catholics or modernists? 
Search out the false religions of the world—the Mormon, the Mohammedan, or other heathen and pagan religions. They may believe in sacrifices, in certain rites and ceremonies; but they are all agreed on one thing—that is that whatever salvation there is to be obtained by living a good life, by one's own righteousness. Don't you see that to say that a child of God can be lost again is to say that his salvation depends upon his works and not upon the blood atonement, not upon the high priesthood of Christ? And to say that salvation depends in any wise upon a person's own righteousness and merits is to put Christianity in the class with all the heathen religions and all the false cults. 
Heathen religions and false cults do not have a Saviour whose blood has forever finished the matter of salvation when shed on Calvary, finished it for all who put their trust in Him. They do not have any salvation wrought by the finished work of Christ. 
Heathen religions and false cults do not know anything of justification—the doctrine that one's sins are all laid on Christ in such a fashion and His righteousness accredited to the sinner in such a way that the Christian cannot be charged with his sins to lose his soul. He can be chastened, he may lose his reward, but he cannot lose his soul. Heathen religions, modernism, Catholics, Mormons, and so-called Christian Scientists know nothing of this Bible doctrine of justification. 
Heathen religions know nothing of the thought of a High Priest in Heaven who is ever there interceding for us, praying for His own, guaranteeing our safety and security. 
These doctrines, I say, are unknown to heathen religions. But when you believe in salvation by human works, or on a salvation that is even partly deserved by human merit, then you put Christianity down on the same low plane with all the false religions. 
But how absurd, how impossible to count Christianity like these heathen and false religions! If a saved person can be lost, then the salvation of a Christian is just like the salvation of a heathen—depending upon his works. We know that that cannot be true.
SOURCE: Dr. John R. Rice, Eight Gospel Absurdities, pp. 18, 19 and 20; ©1946, Sword of the Lord Publishers
And finally dear reader, here is the last Gospel absurdity if eternal life can ever be lost is...
VIII. If One Saved Soul is Ever Lost, Then All Saved People Will Go to Hell Alike, Since All Are Sinners Alike
To the human eye there seems to be a great difference in Christian people. One seems to be most devout and spiritually-minded and pure in heart. Another seems to be very worldly and careless and unworthy. I say it seems that there is a vast difference. 
But actually there is no such difference as there seems to be. The trouble is that “man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). There is a difference in the outward appearance of Christians, but in the heart each one has the same two natures. The casual observer would think that Paul the apostle had no struggle over sin and temptation like other Christians do, but the seventh chapter of Romans tells us, “When I would do good, evil is present with me,” and again, “So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin” (verses 21 and 25). Paul would appear to be the best man in all the New Testament, excepting Jesus Christ, but he plainly says, by divine inspiration, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; OF WHOM I AM CHIEF” (1 Tim. 1:15). 
So then if Paul was still the chief of sinners, then he would have been lost after salvation if anybody was lost. 
It boils down to this. There cannot be any real salvation except on the basis of God's wonderful grace in saving sinners who do not deserve it, saving us on the basis that out faith is counted for righteousness, the basis that all of our sins are laid on Christ and paid for and forgiven forever. 
If Christ does not keep, wholly by grace, those who are His own born-again ones when they do not deserve salvation; if He does not keep Christians who sin and fail, then He does not keep anybody. 
...Now you can see why those who do not believe in the blessed security of born-again Christians use human arguments instead of the Scriptures. With good intentions they quote but misuse a few Scriptures, interpreting them contrary to the intended meaning of the Holy Spirit. 
...They say again and again that for the Christian “life is probation,” though such a term is not even mentioned in the Bible. 
They often say that no one can say that he is already saved for sure, or that we won't know until we get to Heaven. But the Bible repeatedly teaches that one now, present tense, has eternal life or everlasting life when he believes in Christ, that he shall not come into condemnation,  that he is already passed from death into life, that he shall never perish, that he is now the child of God, that he has now received the atonement, and so forth. 
No matter how good these arguments sound, the simple truth is that they are used because men cannot prove by the Bible that a child of God can fall away and forever be lost. Hence they try to prove it by human reasoning. Which will you take, brother, sister—human reasoning, or the Word of God? 
...I am not encouraging Christians to sin. The great love of a mother does not encourage her child to sin. Why should God's love encourage God's children to sin? God's love is more unchanging than a mother's love. A mother may punish her child and God punishes His child but He never breaks His promises and He never casts him out.
SOURCE: Dr. John R. Rice, Eight Gospel Absurdities, pp. 20, 21  and 22; ©1946, Sword of the Lord Publishers
That was so wonderful! I love and appreciate Dr. Rice's eloquent style of writing and biblical wisdom. Thank God for the great men of God who have gone before us—Dwight L. Moody, Alexander Marshall, Harry A. Ironside, John R. Rice, J. Frank Norris, Jack Hyles, Lee Roberson, Lester Roloff, Curtis Hutson and so many others who faithfully taught the Word of God and led countless souls to Christ with the Gospel of free grace. It is our job, my job, to pick up the mantle to preach THE TRUTH to this generation. By God's grace I will continue to do so. I typed out key portions of Dr. Rice's booklet, “Eight Gospel Absurdities,” for your edification. I encourage you to visit the Sword of the Lord's bookstore and purchase many of the affordable helpful booklets by Dr. Rice, Curtis Hutson and other Spirit-led soulwinning saints. They are worth more than gold!!!

We have learned in this blog, featuring the appreciative Bible knowledge of John R. Rice, that eternal life cannot be forfeited for any reason. How could we ever lose that which was not ours to give in the first place? As Jonah pondered in the whale's belly in Jonah 2:9, “Salvation is of the LORD.” Salvation is not of man. We are saved by HIS RIGHTEOSUNESS. Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Philippians 3:9, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” I love that Bible verse! Dear friend, getting saved has nothing to do with your goodness, your performance or your eagerness to stop living in sin; it has everything to do with God's imputed (credited to you) righteousness, which is by faith alone in Jesus Christ. As Dr. Rice so eloquently stated earlier—“He took our sins; we take His righteousness.” Yes, that is a beautiful truth!

You will often run across the acronym on religious social media—“OSAS” (Once Saved, Always Saved). Now you'll know what it means. This is 100% biblical. I prefer to say, “If saved, always saved.” Many churchgoers who profess to be saved are not saved at all. You'd be shocked, as I was, how many faithful Baptists have never been born-again.

While attending the shameful Harvest Baptist Church on Guam in 2014 for a year, I witnessed to numerous church and staff members, and found that most of them were not saved. That is tragic and is the fault of their incompetent pastor, Marty Herron (an unsaved neo-evangelical who idolizes Calvinist heretic, Dr. John MacArthur).

One staff member, Jason, who is one of Harvest's school teachers, said that he thinks “more” is required than faith in the Gospel to be saved. Sadly, Jason also thinks that you must surrender control of your life over to Christ, turn away from your sinful ways, and make Jesus the “Lord” of your life to get to Heaven. Jason is woefully in error concerning the Scriptures! In fact, faith is the only righteousness thing that I can do! Salvation is not a reward for the righteous, it is a gift for the guilty!

Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith. Turning away from sinful ways would be a work. Faith puts all of the merit where it belongs, on the object of our faith, Jesus and His work. If to “repent” means to forsake our sinful ways TO BE SAVED, but Jesus already paid for our sins by dying on the cross, then what are we repenting from? The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU. If saved, always saved.

Sunday, May 21, 2023

God's Promise Of No Thieves In Heaven

Matthew 6:19-20, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:”

I bought a house in west Pensacola in December of 2022. So far I regret buying the home, because I have been robbed 3 times in just 3 months. The thief (or thieves) stole $1,500 from me so far. The most recent robbery was on May 5th, when a thief broke into my car and stole $200 worth of radios, all my audio cables, my King James Bible that I take to church on Sunday, my $600 Olympus TG-6 camera with the special case I ordered for it, $50 in cash, and the Gospels of John with $5 bills inside that I give to the poor and homeless.

Little do though punk thieves know that when they stole from me, they robbed the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 25:40-41, “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: I hate a thief!

I drove by a homeless man the other day, but didn't have the $5 or the Gospel of John to give to him, because some ungodly thief stole it from my car during the darkness of night. I have since installed 8 security cameras, but the 8 camera COBRA system from Harbor Freight is only 1920 x 1080 resolution, which cannot show the identity of a thief beyond 15 feet away. I need a 4K system (3840 x 2160), which costs about $1,500. I spent $400 for my present security camera system. The problem now is that my wires in the house are all BNC type of connectors, but the 4K systems all use RJ45 ethernet cables, which I do not have installed. The former home owner already had the BNC cables installed, which made it easy for me to replace the security system. The former owner didn't leave me a remote control for their DVR (Digital Video Recorder), so it is garbage to me. I am so frustrated.

Thieves are smart. I caught two young punks at 1 am and 3 am on my security cameras, who stopped to look at my security camera, to see if the red lights were on (showing it is active). They look to be in their late teens or early 20's, Hispanic. They were casing out my home to see if they can steal some more. Since I don't have a 4K camera yet, it is worthless to identify the potential thieves. I pray that God would help me catch the little bastard... lol. I also prayed that the thief who stole my Bible will read it and get saved.

The Bible says that when someone steals from you, they are taking away some of your life. Proverbs 1:19, “So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. When you go to work, you are sacrificing part of your life (your time). You exchange that time for money (a paycheck). The things that you purchase with the money you earn, represents the time (part of your life) that you sacrificed for it. So when a dirty thief steals what you have earned, even if it is disability retirement money that you labored your whole life to qualify for, that thief is taking away your life!!! God will hold every thief accountable.

These past few months, the biggest comfort that I have had is just knowing that God promises in His Word to reward me with treasures that will be untouchable by thieves, moth or rust. There will be no thieves in Heaven, God promises it so! Matthew 6:19-20, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:” What a precious promise from our great and faithful Creator.

I believe that the thief, or thieves, who robbed me are young Hispanic men in their late teens or early 20's. I am fully convinced that if they live to be 50-years-old, someday decades from now they will begin to feel sorrow and regret for the evil deeds they have done. That is why when the wicked self-righteous Pharisees, in John chapter 8 who dragged the woman they allegedly caught IN THE VERY ACT of adultery before Jesus, He wrote something on the ground, and the Bible says they departed, from the eldest to the youngest. Why did the older people leave first? It is because as we grow older as human beings, we learn and discern more than we did in our ignorant youth. There's just something about growing up as an adult, that convicts us more as we grow older.

They even stole my King James Bible, which contained 2 years worth of sermon notes that I cannot replace. I lost all that dear truth! I thank God that they stole from me, and not me them. I fear God, but obviously the thief does not. One day that thief WILL FEAR GOD. Stealing is never a victimless crime! The person who has been robbed is very much a VICTIM!!!

I rejoice in my heart of hearts to know that God understands what it feels like to be robbed. In fact, that is the very reason why God mentioned laying up treasures in Heaven, where thieves cannot break thru and steal. Nearly everybody has been robbed at some time in life. You cannot do evil and get away with it (Ecclesiastes 12:14). 

I love something that Dr. Jack Hyles (1926-2001) wisely said:
“If you want to never do anything that is terribly wicked, then you never do anything that is slightly wicked.” —Pastor Jack Hyles, "Unjust In The Least.”
I hope the thieves don't come back. I am worried that they'll break into my house next, while I am away at church or buying groceries, and they'll take my ministry laptop. That would set me back for weeks, if not months. All I can do is purchase a better 4K security camera system, and hope I am fortunate enough not to be robbed a fourth time. I still feel sick that the thieves have stolen $1,500 of stuff so far, that I worked hard to earn. They have stolen from God my Savior, Maker and Lord. I pray for God to avenge me of the evildoers, and He promises to avenge me (Romans 12:19-21). If the thieves steal everything I own, they cannot touch my many rewards waiting for me in eternity. God is so good! Jesus is precious!!!

Friday, April 7, 2023

Invest Today For A Happier Tomorrow In Heaven

Matthew 6:19-21, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

I often am reminded of this awesome Scripture passage. Dear friend, this earthly life is as a vapour the Holy Bible says in James. I tell people that life is short, Hell is hot and eternity is a long time. I thank God with all my heart, mind and soul that I am a redeemed child of God. I thank God for the precious blood of Jesus that washed all my sins away when I got saved at age 13 in 1980. Oh, it is wonderful to be a Christian! ...

Oh, it is wonderful to be a Christian!

Jesus is precious!!! I do not claim to be a good Christian. I want to be, but I am just an imperfect redeemed child of God. THANK GOD FOR JESUS!!! I am so grateful that Christ died on the cross to pay for my sins, and that He was buried but bodily resurrected from the dead three days later (1st Corinthians 15:1-6). 

If you are a born again child of God, I encourage you to get busy serving God, if not doing so already. Jesus admonished us in our text passage from Matthew 6:19-20 about not wasting our efforts to lay up treasures here on earth, where thieves will break through and steal. If common criminals don't break into your home and steal your possessions; then white collar criminals (lawyers, politicians, financiers, realtors and judges) will steal whatever you have saved in your bank account, 401K retirement, savings, your home or other assets they can take. Sadly, we live in a predatory culture of greed in America!!!

About 25 years ago I was heavily invested into the Stock Market, between 1995 and 2000. In one year alone I made 130 options trades at Charles Schwab. Their company made over $5,000 that year from me just on commissions. I bought all of the books from Investor's Business Daily, which are fascinating in my humble opinion. An option allows you to control a lot of shares of stock with only a little amount of money. I liked options trading because if things went south, you couldn't lose more than the amount of money that you invested.

I followed Intel's stock daily. The stock did what's known as a “Dead Cat Bounce.” That is, Intel's stock had dropped ridiculously low, and I knew it wouldn't stay down just on market volatility, so I purchased quite a few long term call options (3 months out) on Intel's stock. The stock shot up and then split, doubling my call options. The stock ran up again, and split again. Literally, I turned a $10,000 investment into $140,000 in just one month! Those were the insane “.com times of Irrational Exuberance, which Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan correctly called them. I didn't know what I was doing really. I wasn't trying to get rich, I just hated my job with a passion. I hated working with ungodly sinners (adulterers, homosexuals, blasphemers, drug addicts, thieves, thugs and perverts). I hated my job!

I foolishly didn't sell my call options when I should have, because I got greedy, and they expired worthless. When investing, you learn about something called “Risk Threshold.” This is the amount of emotional stress you can handle, regarding how much risk you are willing to take on. Two big emotions come to play when you invest, which are fear and greed. Will you sell your position in the market too soon because of fear, and miss out on a big increase a week later in the stock. That happened to me. I had a large stock position in American Online, but the stock dropped from $37 to $35 and I panicked in fear and sold out. In the weeks to follow the stock ran up over $100, had a stock split, and then ran up again over $100. I would have made a ton of money had I just not sold my amount of stock shares. Fear worked on me. That is what I mean by “Risk Threshold.”

I used to wake up, having to go to work that night. I worked the ungodly graveyard shift for 7 years between 1993 and 2000. That was one of the worst decisions I ever made, to work midnights. Please don't ever choose to wok those hours if you have a choice. And if you are now working those hours, for the sake of your family please get off that shift. Working the graveyard shift is detrimental to any family man. It was 7 years of hellish torture.

Anyway, I used to wake up and check my stocks. If they were up in price I was happy and fell off to sleep. If they were losing price, I worried and couldn't sleep. Let me tell you, I wouldn't go through that again, even if I stood to gain millions of dollars. I mean that! Finally, in the year 2000, Bill Clinton was voted out of office and George W. Bush took his place. The Stock Market plunged with the change of U.S. Presidents, and never returned until 8 years later when Bush left office. Go figure! In 2000 I lost everything. When all was said and done, over the 5-years that I tried my hand at playing the Stock Market, I had lost $50,000 in cash. That was every penny of working 6 nights a week for 5 years, plus a whole lot more of working weeknights as well. From that day until now in 2023, I have never bought another stock. When the .com era ended, so did my interest in the Stock Market.

Also, I spoke with my manager and put in a schedule request to leave midnight shift and work afternoons instead. That was one of the best decisions I ever made. Once I started working afternoons, and sleeping at night as God intended, I got my life back! I felt like a million bucks! I never signed up for overtime again, not once. I abandoned the hope of becoming financially independent.

The crazy thing was that I had invested 8 years of my life to attend Hyles-Anderson College (1985-1993) to become a pastor. I graduates on the Dean's List in 1993. Truthfully, I just didn't know how to make it happen, that is, to become a pastor of a church. I learned that I am a follower and not a leader by nature. I began my website ministry in 2002, and have been investing in eternal rewards ever since, laying up treasures in the Kingdom of God. The $50,000 that I lost playing the Stock Market was worth losing, because it taught me the value of a dollar. A dollar saved is a dollar earned!!!

I learned the hard way between 1995 and 2000 that the school of Wall Street charges a high tuition. That is to say, I lost a lot of money learning some hard lessons. I do not recommend for anyone to play the Stock Market. Day Trading is nothing short of gambling in Las Vegas. If you want to invest, I recommend The S& P 500 (an unmanaged mutual fund of the 500 top U.S. corporations), which historically out performs ALL managed stock portfolios in the long run (and you can double your money every 8 years). It is much safer to invest your hard earned money in 500 companies instead of just one, like I did in Intel. And if you're a paranoid worrisome type of person, then you want to invest in a 45-years CD (certificate of deposit). Of course, you will receive less interest. As a general rule, the greater risk that you assume, the greater potential gains or losses.

There is even something called the “Futures Market,” which is absolutely fascinating. I bought all of Ken Roberts books. But with Futures contracts you can lose MUCH more than you initially invested, be sued in court to pay up, and a bunch of nasty bad things can happen to you. Futures contracts are for farmers, to protect their income if the crop fails. Futures were invented by speculators, as a means of guaranteeing farmers a certain amount of income annually, but if the crop is a bumper crop over expectations, then the speculator gets all that extra profit, since he took on all the risk.

If you are thinking of investing in the Stock Market, I kindly suggest before you do that you read a very intriguing book (if you can find a copy) by a man named Richard Ney, called: 'The Wall Street Jungle.' Richard Ney exposes the lie of Wall Street, documenting how insiders rip the public off, and cheat people out of their money. Yes, dear reader, the Stock Market is rigged to take away money from 90% of the public who invests. “The trend is your friend” they say on Wall Street. That is, you should never invest against moving averages (3-month and 6-month averages usually), unless you really know what you are doing, because 90% of all stocks follow their trends.

I have shared all of the preceding personal information with you dear reader, to say that in my humble opinion it was all in vain. There are some who have done very well in the Stock Market, and I am happy for them. However, the emotional trauma that I incurred daily as a result of my experiences with the Stick Market, left me broken and tired, dreading the whole ordeal. I would never go through that again. When it comes to the Stock Market, NO ONE wins all the time. It all boils down to getting good enough (if you think you can), so that you win more than you lose. That is the key, to win more than you lose. And don't forget that you have to pay Uncle Sam taxes on all that cheddar, if you strike it big, and the more you make, the more THEY TAKE!!!

It was all that loss, aggravation and lessons hard learned, that really opened my eyes to the awesome investment opportunity for believers concerning laying up treasures in Heaven. Dear friend, God doesn't make anyone pay taxes in Heaven! Heaven's Stock Market isn't rigged!!! Of course, there is no Stock Market in Heaven. Thank God!!! But even better, God is the one who will distributing rewards to those believers who serve Him here on earth now (1st Corinthians 3:8-9). God is so good!

There are umpteen ways to lay up treasures in Heaven. In fact, anything and everything that we do for the cause of Christ—helping the poor, serving in our local church voluntarily, praying and fasting, praying for each other, laboring for a ministry, banking cookies ladies for the church, giving money for the cause of Christ, et cetera, will be rewarded. What saith the Scripture? Mark 9:41, “For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.Wow! God is so ethical (doing the right thing), that He is going to reward even those saints who help other saints who are serving Jesus. So if you share my ministry on social media, God will reward you for that in eternity, because I am serving Jesus Christ. By sharing the sermons of faithful men of God, I am earning rewards in Heaven, because they served Christ.

I hope I am encouraging you dear friend to get busy doing something for Jesus Christ. Perhaps you are not learned enough in the Word of God to write articles, or contend for the faith, but you can at least share the writings, sermons and blogs of doctrinally sound preachers on social media.

But I must warn you, if you ignorantly promote the junk theology of infidels like John MacArthur, Ray Comfort, Paul Washer, Steve Pettit, Marty Herron, John Piper, Benny Hinn, Pat Robertson, Joel Osteen, Beth Moore, Joyce Meyer, Kirk Cameron, William Lane Craig, Chip Ingram, Rick Warren or other greedy religious con artists, then you won't receive anything from God. God will only reward you for promoting a free grace Gospel and the inspired King James Bible!

Saturday, April 1, 2023

When We See Jesus, We Shall Know As We Are Known

1st Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

I love this Bible passage. There's not a child of God throughout history who didn't wonder, have questions and desire to know more from God about why things are the way they are. I sure have a lot of questions for the Lord, respectfully. But the Bible teaches, if I understand this Scripture passage correctly, that we won't need to ask the Lord a bunch of questions, because we will know Jesus, just as we are known by Him. That is, we will be given by God a perfect (complete) knowledge of all things.

When God made Adam, He gave Adam knowledge. The Lord was curious the Bible says, to see what Adam would name all the animals. Wow! I think that is very interesting. And by the way, we still call animals today by those very same names which Adam named them. ...
Genesis 2:19, “And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.”
I humbly believe that when we see Jesus at the Rapture, and receive our immortal bodies, that He will give us a perfect knowledge. I don't think we are going to need to go ask Moses, Noah, David and the archangel Gabriel a million questions. Can you imagine? There would be lines a hundred miles long of saints with never-ending questions. Of course, this is only speculation on my part. We do not know for certain how all things will play out in eternity.

As a preacher with a website ministry, I receive many emails. I love helping people and corresponding with others, the more the better. In my ministry work I hear about many heart breaking stories. A lot of saints are discouraged nowadays because of the ungodly mess that our country is in. I found the following picture recently and I really like it, because it is so true...


So oftentimes in life things don't go as we planned. That has certainly been true in my lifetime. Life is what happens to us while we're making big plans! ...
1st Peter 1:6-9, “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”
The preceding passage of Scripture is astounding! The inspired Holy Bible teaches that our troubles, burdens and heartaches are worth more than gold. Wow! I just checked and today's gold price is: $1,969.46. The Bible says that our problems, trials and headaches in life are worth more than gold! But dear reader, how many believers think that way? How many of us as God's children value life's difficulties as being valuable? I admit that I usually don't think that way at first, until I process what has happened, and then I reflect Scripturally over the matter.

As I grow older, I am learning to bring my thinking into alignment (agreement) with the Word of God sooner than later, which means that I can find peace of mind sooner than later. This is what Solomon means in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” I often don't understand why things are the way they are, and I'm sure you often feel the same way too. But dear friend, God does understand all things! Even though we cannot see our hand in front of our face sometimes, God knows exactly what will happen tomorrow. Trust the One who sees tomorrow!

I decided long ago that I am going to be like Job, who after losing everything he held near and dear in his life, exclaimed in Job 13:15, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. Job lost nearly everything! Interestingly, it was God and not Satan who began the wager. In Job chapter one we read that God challenged Job to a gentlemen's bet. ...
Job 1:6-12, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou?  Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?  thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand.  So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.”
I won't go into the full story, but just the highlights. God gave Satan permission to torment Job. We learn several important Scriptural lessons in this tremendous story:
  1. God has placed a protective hedge around every born again believer (Job 1:10)
  2. Satan can instigate evil thugs to murder people (Job 1:15)
  3. Satan can cause lightning to strike and cause fire (Job 1:16)
  4. Satan can instigate theft, crime and devastating financial loss (Job 1:17)
  5. Satan can control weather (he killed Job's 10 children with a tornado, Job 1:19)
  6. Satan can afflict a person's health (he smote Job with boils) if God permits (Job 2:7)
Dear friend, please don't ever place God on trial. I remember a true story a few decades ago. A young couple went off to Bible college. After about one year, the husband was suddenly killed in a horrible tragic car accident. That young man's wife became bitter against God. Her life was turned upside down, like the Poseidon ship. She quit church and told everyone she was now an atheist. Oh, listen dear reader, God loves you! I cannot tell you why things happen as they do. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good things happen to bad people? The truth is that we are all guilty sinners in God's sight. There Bible says that there are none righteous, no not one (Romans 3:10). We live in a fallen world because of sin, which began with Adam's sin in the Garden of Eden (Romans 5:12).

Everything that God does is right! I don't care what may come your way, you just decide once and for all right now that everything God does is right. I made that important decision many years ago. I refuse to question God. Please don't question God. The most dangerous question you will ever ask God is: “WHY?” We won't know the answers to these questions until we see Christ someday, and then we shall know Him, even as we are known. 1st Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” What a precious promise from God!

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Jesus Christ's Grace Is Sufficient

2nd Corinthians 12:9-10, “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

We have a wonderful PROMISE from God in the Bible that His grace will always be enough to match our burdens, hardships and suffering in life. As a Bible preacher with a social media ministry (since April of 2002), I have received tens of thousands of emails over the past 21 years. I love helping people. God knows that I am not a respecter of persons, I treat everyone the same. It matters not if you are a successful pastor, or a poor person living in Africa, I view everybody as someone for whom Jesus Christ died.

Our dear risen Savior told the Apostle Paul that His grace is all we need. Christ is all I need! The Lord wants us to know that His strength is perfected through our weakness. This is totally contrary to the heathen world's way of thinking. The theme song of the 1976 movie, Rocky: “Gonna Fly Now” contains the lyrics, “Getting strong now.” That's fine for Rocky, but in the spiritual realm we win by Jesus' strength through human weakness, not our human strength. The famous soulwinning preacher, Dwight Lyman Moody (1837-1899) said:
“God had no children too weak, but many too strong to make use of.” —Pastor Dwight Moody
2nd Corinthians 12:9-10, “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Pastor Moody rightly understood that it is not our human strength that accomplishes the work of God; but rather, Christ's strength which is attained through childlike faith in God. Matthew 17:20, “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Faith can move mountains! ...
“The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to him. By God’s help, I aim to be that man.” —Pastor Dwight Moody
Dear reader, you will never know that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have left. Unshakable faith comes from having our faith shaken. Faith is like film, it develops in the dark. 

The Charismatic lying health, wealth and prosperity movement has corrupted American's thinking. It is because of ungodly Charismatic false prophets like Pat Robertson and his 'The 700 Club' clown circus, that millions of Americans now foolishly associate financial prosperity with being right with God, but this is a deception of the Devil. ...
1st Timothy 6:5-12, “Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
BEWARE of Satan's Charismatics; namely, Benny Hinn, Peter Popoff, Pat Robertson, John Hagee, Jimmy Swaggart, Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), Kerney Thomas, Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), Paula White, Paul and Jan Crouch, Robert Tilton, Bill Hamon, Oral Roberts, Joyce Meyer, Joseph Prince, Beth Moore, Jim Bakker, Mike Murdock and countless other damnable false prophets (Matthew 7:13-15).

By the way, GodTube banned my Jesus-is-Savior.com ministry. What wicked apostasy! GodTube is okay with hellbound Lordship Salvation occultists like Ray Comfort, John Piper, Kirk Cameron and John MacArthur, but they rejected me as a Bible preacher because I am a truth-teller. SHAME on GodTube!!! The time of reckoning is soon coming for all humanity, when every human being will stand before God and be held accountable for every word (Matthew 12:36), every thought (Proverbs 24:12) and every deed (Ecclesiastes 12:14). If it weren't for God's mercy we'd all immediately plunge into the fires, torments and depths of Hell below. Lamentations 3:22, It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. We are all so blessed by God our Creator.

God's wondrous grace is sufficient for you and me dear reader. Someone has rightly said that G.R.A.C.E. can be expressed in acrostic form as GOD'S RICHES AT CHRIST'S EXPENSE. I like that. And also, G.O.S.S.I.P. can be acrostically expressed as: GOING OVER SOMEONE SINS IN PULIC. That is so true!

Some critic's of a free grace Gospel wrongly accuse us of preaching “Greasy Grace” or “Cheap Grace.” Dear friend, God's grace is not cheap, it is totally free. As we know, there are no free meals in life. That is, everything must be paid for by someone. Bleeding heart Democrats are often accused of giving away a bunch of freebies to the poor, but dear friend, none of those social giveaway programs are “free.” Someone has to pay for all that! Yes, you and I as taxpayers have to fund the Democrat's reckless philandering. Likewise, God's gift of forgiveness of sins and eternal life cost the broken body and shed blood of His only begotten Son.

And by the way, while I'm on the subject of the blood of Jesus, I'm sure you've heard some preachers use the phrase: “Jesus' spilt His blood on Calvary's cross.” No dear reader, to “spill” something implies that it was an accident. Jesus did not spill His blood, He knowingly and intentionally shed His blood on Calvary's cross, to pay down our massive debt of sins, because He loves us. Romans 5:8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Knowing how rotten and wicked you and I would be, Jesus gladly laid down His life to pay for our sins, so that we could live with Him in eternity.

Look what the Bible says in Hebrews 12:2, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus had JOY the Bible says, knowing what it meant by sacrificing Himself as a Lamb on the cross for everyone's sins. John 1:29, The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

We serve such a wonderful and faithful Savior, Lord and God.
Salvation = Jesus died on your behalf
Service = Holy Spirit works on your behalf
Keywords: on your behalf.
The flesh profits nothing
All by faith alone ❤️ amen
Literally, “My grace is sufficient for thee” (2nd Corinthians 12:9b), means that you and I can make it day-by-day through life. And that is a very important truth to learn friend—that we must take life in 24 hour segments, which is how God distributes it. Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever wondered why God made a day 24 hours long? There are 86,400 seconds in one day. There are 10,080 minutes in one week. Interestingly, the human heart on average beats once a second. Wow! Yes, our heart beats approximately 86,000 beats a day! Oh reader, have you thanked God with just one of those seconds today?

During my first year as a student at Hyles-Anderson College (HAC) in 1985-1986, I became discouraged one day. I opened my inspired King James Bible randomly to Hebrews 4:13-16, “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Oh how the Holy Spirit comforted my aching heart that day in 1986. Unto this day I still feel peace and joy in my soul when I read this Scripture passage. What a precious PROMISE from God!!!

As we just read in Hebrews 4:14, Jesus is our heavenly High Priest. Christ died on the cross as our sacrificial LAMB, but He raised up three days later as our HIGH PRIEST. Romans 8:34, “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” Jesus is in Heaven now, seated on the right-hand of the Father, interceding for every saint. ...
1st Timothy 2:3-6, “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”
I love this truth-packed passage of Scripture! The phrase in verse 4, “Who will have all men to be saved,” refutes the Calvinist heresy of Limited Atonement (the heresy that Christ only died for the saints, not all humanity). If God wants “all men” to be saved, then logically ALL MEN CAN BE SAVED!!! The “knowledge of the truth” is THE GOSPEL.

Since God is 100% holy, but humanity is 100% sinful, we cannot fellowship together. That is why the Godhead needed to become incarnate (i.e., become flesh), in the form of the only begotten Son of God. ...
John 1:1-3 and 14, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. ...And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
Jesus Christ is the Word of God incarnate. Dr. John R. Rice calls Jesus and the Holy Bible “twins.” Jesus is the Living Word, and the Holy Bible is the Written Word. John 6:63, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” This is a good verse to evidence that our beloved King James Bible today is still inspired, for if it is not then the words cannot be Spirit and life as Jesus said. The Bible is a Living Book!!! Napoleon understood this fact...
“The Bible is no mere book, but a Living Creature, with a power that conquers all who oppose it.” —Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)
I hope the truths I have shared with you in this blog are edifying friend. The Bible says that as humans we all share the same temptations (1st Corinthians 10:13) and same afflictions (1st Peter 5:8-9). More times than I can remember in life, I felt like I couldn't face another day. I felt like dying, dreading to face today, let alone tomorrow. Life has a way of knocking you to your knees, and it will keep you there if you let it. The world doesn't care about you. Nobody is coming to rescue you (and if someone does you should love them with all your lucky stars).

When I was at the lowest point in my life, nobody cared about me! Psalms:142:4, “I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.” Of the churches I attended, nobody befriended me at the Bayview Baptist Church on Guam, so I left; and the ungodly senior pastor at the Agana Heights Baptist Church on Guam mistreated me on purpose so that I would leave and never return, and so I did. I handed him my phone number and home address, but he never contacted me. And then I was forced out of the ungodly Harvest Baptist Church on Guam by their wicked senior pastor, Marty Herron. They all threw me under the bus and left me for dead! God will be their Judge!!!

Dear reader, I have been to the bottom of life. My former wife cruelly abandoned and divorced me in 2006. We've never as much as held hands since. I cannot put into words the inexplicable emotional pain of soul and overwhelming trauma that I endured during and after the divorce, and the hell on earth that ensued for the next several years. You wouldn't believe the things that I have suffered through, which I don't even want to talk or write about. I have been in painful loneliness all these many years since 2006, without a wife or girlfriend.

I lost my home in the divorce, and my retirement at work, and my pets and possessions. If you've never been the victim of betrayal from a divorce, you cannot possible even imagine what it feels like. If you have seen a friend or family member suffer through a divorce, you still haven't a clue. It's like seeing someone get hit by a speeding truck, versus you personally getting hit by a truck and then left on the road dying as roadkill.

And then when I moved from Guam to Pensacola in 2021, I poured out my broken and hurting heart with senior pastor Jeff Redlin at Pensacola Christian College's (PCC) Campus Church. To my shock and horror, Pastor Redlin belittled me as a divorced person, caring not that I told him I am very lonely, and he was insensitive and cruel when I mentioned that I hoped to find a wife. The problem is that Jeff Redlin (and all of PCC leadership) have never suffered through the inexplicable pain of betrayal, abandonment and divorce, so they couldn't care less. There is no sympathy or empathy in the PCC camp, only self-righteous religious hypocrites who fall all over each other with self praises and glorification. There is no love or compassion at PCC, only a cult system that always comes first, but individual people don't matter at all.

I felt like taking my own life in 2021 (after all the suffering that I've been through), because of Pastor Jeff Redlin's cruel hatred, insensitive rude remarks, woeful lack of consideration or love, and that he has literally banned me in writing from even attending Campus Church. It hurts much more when professed men of God, self-ordained pastors, crap on hurting people like Redlin has done to me again and again. I pray for God to avenge me of his hatred. If I had my way, Jeff Redlin would be stripped of everything near and dear to him, which misfortune has happened to me, and only then would he know and understand what I have been through. 

Instead, he is cocky, arrogant, filled with hubris and self-righteous hypocrisy, having no regard for his Christian brother in need. The PCC camp are pulling on the same rope as the Devil, by throwing divorced and hurting sinners under the bus, and leaving them there. I only shared these painful things in my life with you, so you can see that I need God's sufficient grace to keep my sanity day-by-day. If I didn't claim God's PROMISE of sufficient grace (the same free sufficient grace that saved me at age 13 in 1980), I wouldn't have made it this far.

If it were not for God's blessed indwelling Holy Spirit, and the grace He has bestowed upon me in my life and soul over the years, I would have taken my own life, or started drinking booze and become a drunk, or sought relief in others sinful vices. If it weren't for God's sufficient grace, I would have quit church and never donned the doorsteps of any church again, because of ungodly abusive religious leaders like Marty Herron, Jeff Redlin and Sean Quinlan (the shameful pastor of the Lighthouse Baptist Church on Guam who belittled me for exposing the Devil's bibles, and the Lordship Salvation preaching Calvinist Bob Jones University camp).

“The world will go to Hell unless somebody is authoritative!”
—Pastor Jack Hyles, “I Shall Not Be Moved

I heard Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) say in a sermon toward the end of his life, that as he grows older he runs to the inspired Holy Bible like a starving man. I couldn't agree more with Brother Hyles!!! Dear reader, Jesus Christ is the answer to ALL our problems!!! I challenge you to not just read the Bible, but LIVE IT! As you read, hear and study the Bible, ask God to give you the wisdom to see how you can apply the Scriptures to your life.

Without faith the Bible won't work for you or anybody else. Why is it that two men can read and study the same inspired King James Bible, but only one believes, while the other disbelieves. To him that believes no explanation is necessary, but to him that believes not no explanation is possible. Faith is the candle that lights our way in this dreary dark world of sin. Mark 11:22, “And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.”
 

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