The Massive Evangelical Doctrinal Error.

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Being eighty-two years young, and somewhat conservative in my thinking, and having no desire whatever to be radical or an iconoclast, I do not title an essay “The Massive Evangelical Doctrinal Error” in order to be cute or sensational. If the current (12/17/2007) Newsweek is true, there are 100 million Protestant Christians in the United States—one-third of the population. And these Christians believe that their salvation does not depend on how they have behaved on the earth. This belief is so totally unscriptural that the title of our essay is found to be understated. Whew!

(12/17/2007) Please let me present the exact quote on page 33 of the current Newsweek. Mind you, this purportedly is the position held by 100 million American Protestant Christians. My limited experience (61 years) as a Christian suggests that what Newsweek has presented probably is a reasonably accurate assessment:

“Salvation comes when the individual develops a heartfelt faith in Jesus Christ. Salvation is not dependent on how one acted on Earth but rather on a relationship with Christ.” End of statement.

Such a doctrinal position indeed is massive error!

According to the Apostle Paul in several passages of the New Testament, if we behave on the earth according our sinful nature, we will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

I would not want to be placed in a position where I had to maintain that we could be saved and still not inherit the Kingdom of God. But I feel certain that there are ministers of the Gospel who would maintain that just because we did not inherit the Kingdom of God does not mean that we wouldn’t be saved.

In fact, one minister lately claimed that even though we were cut out of the Vine because we did not bear fruit, that still did not mean we would not be saved. This is how intent today’s ministry is to prove that no matter how we behave during our life, if we “accept Christ” we will be saved, meaning we will go to Heaven when we die and live in a mansion.

It is true that salvation depends on our relationship with Christ. The problem is, Evangelical believers interpret this to mean that if they believe in an orthodox (depending on their denomination) Statement of Faith, they have a saving relationship with Christ.

However, belief in orthodox doctrine is not a relationship. It is doctrinal belief.

What, then, is a true relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? A true relationship with the Lord Jesus can come only through our death with Him.

How do we die with Him?

We die with Christ as the Holy Spirit points out to us our wordiness, our physical lusts, and our self-will. The Spirit does not point out our entire sinful nature at once, but item by item. When we become aware of an item of worldliness, or lust, or self-will, we are to confess it as sin and, by the Lord’s help, turn away from it.

When we confess a sinful behaviour and turn away from it, the Lord removes it and in its place issues resurrection life. Thus the true discipleship is death and life, death and life, death and life.

This is the only saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

Will such a relationship change our behaviour on the earth? How could it not? Obviously, it will. Thus we are not saved by works; but true salvation always and inescapably results in the fruit of Christ’s moral behaviour while we are living on the earth.

The only certain proof that we are being saved is that our behaviour is being transformed. If God only forgave our sins but did not transform our behaviour, than a future Heaven would be impossible.

As far as our behaviour on the Earth is concerned, Second Corinthians 5:10 advises us that at the Judgment Seat of Christ we will receive what we have done in our body, whether good or bad. This means that how we behave on the Earth is an integral aspect of our salvation.

Let us say we make a profession of faith in orthodox doctrine. We “accept Christ,” as the saying goes. Then we continue to lie, fornicate, and break our vows. What will receive in the Day of Christ? A lying spirit. A spirit of lust. A spirit of treachery. This will be the nature of our resurrection.

Second Corinthians 5:10 is the unchanging word of God. It cannot be changed no matter how humanistic today’s Christian preaching becomes.

We indeed shall receive the good and the bad we have done. What we have sown we indeed shall reap. God cannot be mocked. Let God be true and every man a liar.

When we, after making a profession of faith in Christ, continue to live a sinful life (sin is correctly defined as disobedience to God’s will; thus what is sinful is not always the same but depends on the circumstances), we are not obeying Christ. Christ has commanded us to do good works so that when people see us they will glorify God.

Because these 100 million American Protestant Christians are waiting to go to Heaven to do good works, there is little moral testimony in our country. We are sliding downhill into moral depravity and utter corruption. I may be mistaken, but I think it is too late to avert the Divine judgment poised over (and already happening in) America. It may be true that the best we can do is save ourselves and those who hear us.

The doctrinal positions set forth in the current Newsweek may seem like a squabble among religious people and not to be taken too seriously by the secular position. The truth is, the Protestant Evangelical position is going to result in governmental, financial, social, educational, medical, military, and psychological corruption and destruction.

We of the Christian churches in America have failed our nation by ignoring the precepts written in the New Testament. We have chosen a lie so we may perpetuate our comfortable life style. We have chosen to listen today’s “palace prophets” who are showing us how we can keep our adamic life alive and cover it with various sorts of religious cosmetics. We have shunned the reproach of the cross!

But newness of resurrection life arises from the crucifixion of our old personality, and from nowhere else. Let each of us choose to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and patiently follow the Master. By doing so we will save ourselves and those who hear us throughout the age of moral and physical horrors that is approaching us so rapidly in America.

You can hear the morning sermon at morning. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

You can hear the evening sermon at evening. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

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