Acts 16:27-31, “And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”
I am continually disturbed that billions of religious people altar God's simple plan of salvation. Most pastors nowadays are guilty of embellishing the Gospel. To get to Heaven, they add the unbiblical requirement to turn away from your sinful bad habits, follow Jesus as the "Lord" of your life, water baptism, et cetera. God doesn't require these things to be saved, that is, born-again from above by the Holy Spirit of God. Very few religious people understand that they cannot enter into God's Kingdom without being born anew by the Holy Spirit.
So, how does a lost sinner get saved? It is very simple, you simply by faith receiving Christ's sacrifice on the cross as full payment for your sins, believing that He was buried but then miraculously and physically resurrected from the dead three days later. This is The Gospel, i.e., THE GOOD NEWS, by which all who BELIEVE IT are instantly, irrevocably and forever saved (1st Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 1:16).
Nowhere in the Old or New Testaments can you show me where it teaches that water baptism is necessary to be saved. Only a false prophet says otherwise! Paul said in 1st Corinthians 1:17, “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.” I once showed this Bible verse to a Church of Christ minister (their cult errantly teaches that you MUST be water baptized to get to Heaven), and he said that Paul's disciples did the baptizing instead. That is gross theological incompetence! He is guilty of embellishing the Scripture to fit his agenda.
The Apostle John penned the Epistle of John. This same beloved John wrote the Gospel of John, which according to John 20:31 is God's gospel tract, sowing sinful humanity how to get to Heaven. Now in the Epistle of 1st John, the disciple shows believers how to "know" that we are saved (1st John 5:13). Many Bible students misunderstand the Epistle of 1st John, errantly concluding that 1st John 3:8 teaches you are not saved if you still commit much sin. That is a misinterpretation of this passage. 1st John 3:24 tells us that the only evidence someone is saved is the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God. So, if you love your sinning and have no conviction from the Holy Spirit whatsoever, then you might not be saved. I can tell you assuredly that you are not saved if you do not have the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9). That is what the Epistle of 1st John is about, and that John is trying to get across to the reader.
Carefully notice in all of the Epistle of 1st John that not once does he mention any form of baptism. If, as the Church of Christ cult foolishly teaches, water baptism were required to get to Heaven, then John definitely would have mentioned the need to be water baptized, but he didn't. That plainly settles the matter! 1st John 5:4, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”
No one in the Old Testament was ever water baptized to be saved.
The thief on the cross didn't get baptized, yet Jesus promised they'd be together in Paradise that very same day because of the man's faith.
Unless you are foolish enough to believe that God allows different ways to enter into Heaven, then you must agree biblically that there is only one Gospel (Galatians 1:6-8).
Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.