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Church of God followers do NOT believe
in simple FAITH in Jesus Christ to be
saved; on the contrary, they most
definitely demand that BAPTISM be added
for one to be saved. I spoke at
length recently with a Church of God
minister who earned his degree from the Dallas
Christian College. Dallas
Christian College DOESN'T make it clear
at all that they are indeed a Church
of Christ college. Why are
they deceptive about who they really
are? What are they afraid to tell
people? Click on their "Our
Mission" link and see if Church
of Christ is mentioned. It is NOT!
By all indications, many Christian
people would ignorantly think this was a
great college to attend, but it
certainly is NOT! It looks
innocent enough on the surface doesn't
it? That's the disguise they want
you to see. I went to visit their
website to read their statement of
faith; as I suspected, it was vague.
But as clever as the person tried to be
who devised this statement of faith, it
couldn't escape the discernment of a
spirit-filled believer, knowledgeable in
the Word of God. The following
quote is taken from their statement of
faith:
"…the
Church of the New Testament ought
everywhere to be restored with its
divine plan of admission: faith,
repentance, and baptism…"
Did
you read that? Did you see the
heresy? Is baptism necessary for
admission into the Church? No sir!
The very moment you trust Jesus Christ
as your personal Savior, asking Him to
forgive your sins and come into your
heart, you have been born-again and are
a member of the body of Christ.
Any fool who tells you that you have to
be baptized to become a member of the
church is LYING to you! Isn't it
something how misguided ministers will
force you to get baptized to join THEIR
church, but God accepts ANY repentant
sinner into heaven. You do NOT
have to be affiliated with any church,
religious group or denomination to go to
heaven -You just need Jesus! Jesus
Himself proclaimed in John 14:6 that He
was the ONLY way to the Father.
John 10:9 clearly declares that Jesus
Christ is the DOOR by which men and
women enter into heaven. John 6:40
teaches that the will of God is to
believe upon Christ.
As
I spoke with this sincerely misguided
minister, he explained the following
order to me as being necessary for
salvation:
-
HEAR
-
BELIEVE
-
REPENT
-
CONFESS
-
BAPTISM
(uh oh! This is damnable heresy!)
I
would agree with him up to the
confession part, but not baptism!
"Repentance"
is a turnaround (a change of mind about
sin and God), not necessarily the
departing from one's sins. You
DON'T have to give up your sins to be
saved, you need to give up your
unbelief. If we did have to
give up our sins to be saved, then NO
one could ever be saved because we are
all sinners. Howbeit, the
"godly sorrow" which brings
repentance should result
in a sincere desire to clean up our life
with God's help (2nd Corinthians 7:10).
"Confess"
simply means "to admit the same
thing as God." God says we
are sinners, and we must agree with that
to be saved. God says we deserve
to go to hell, and we must agree with
that to be saved. God says that He
sent His only begotten Son (Jesus
Christ) into the world to pay for our
sins, and we must agree with this to be
saved.
But
the baptism issue was an insurmountable
barrier in our conversation, a Pandora's
box. He was adamant that Baptism
was essential for a person to enter
heaven. This of course is a lie of
the devil, pure heresy! Though he
condemns the Catholic religion for their
teaching of "works" salvation
through the keeping of the Seven
Sacraments, he is utterly blinded to his
own foolish perceptions about baptism.
I flat out asked him what would happen
to a person who made it to step 4, but
didn't get baptized at step 5? He
honestly replied that he did NOT know!
He stressed the fact that he felt SAFER
by ADDING that extra step of baptism to
his faith. Unfortunately, that is
a sure road to hell-fire and
destruction.
"There
is a way which seemeth right unto a man,
but the end thereof are the ways of
death." -Proverb 14:12
Faith
in Christ ALONE equals salvation!
Faith
in Christ PLUS anything equals hell!
If
I said that I believed I could trust you
with my money, that would NOT be faith
(that would be optimism). If I
entrust you with my money and ask
someone to follow you (to keep an eye on
you), that is NOT faith either. If
I entrust you with my money and don't
take ANY precautions whatsoever, that is
100% faith. To add baptism to
faith is to add a "work" to
faith; consequently, it is NO faith at
all. You don't need much faith to
be saved, you need "just
enough" faith. You need JUST
ENOUGH faith to obey Romans 10:13 and
"call upon the name of the
Lord." If you have faith even
as small as a grain of mustard seed (a
VERY small seed indeed), that is all the
faith you need. The AMOUNT of
one's faith is not of importance for
salvation, what is important is that you
simply HAVE FAITH. Either you have
100% faith or you do not. The
Church of Christ minister I was speaking
with told me that he felt much safer by
adding that extra step of baptism to his
faith and repentance. How stupid!
How foolish! How woefully ignorant
is he of the Word of God. The
Apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians 1:17
declared…
"For
Christ sent me not to baptize, but to
preach the gospel…" -1st
Corinthians 1:17
According
to the Church of Christ minister, Paul
was sent by Christ to TEACH the gospel,
but not to actually do any of the
REQUIRED baptism to be saved. He
claims this was done to prevent division
in the church. True, Paul didn't
want to baptize any of them because of
their immature quarreling; however, this
had absolutely nothing to do with their
salvation. Some of the believers
in the Corinthian church were actually
fighting over who baptized them.
They were making an issue of a
non-issue. Paul lays the
issue to rest by proclaiming that CHRIST
did NOT send him to baptize, but to
preach the gospel. It is our FAITH
in the gospel of Jesus that saves us,
NOT baptism.
I
could go on and on about why baptism is
NOT necessary for salvation. No
one in the Old Testament was ever
baptized. These people who claim
that the Old Testament is invalid are
idiots. Of course, the law which
was against us was indeed nailed to the
cross. Yes, the Jewish ceremonial
laws are gone. However, we are
still expected by God to obey the nine
commandments (NOT to be saved, but
because we are saved and love Jesus).
People in the Old Testament (old
contract) were saved the SAME way people
are saved today, BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH
IN CHRIST JESUS (Ephesians 2:8, 9).
There is NO other way to be saved!
It's Jesus or hell, turn or burn friend!
Don't
let some misguided individual trick you
into believing that baptism is essential
for salvation. The Church of
Christ minister claimed that since the
New Testament didn't actually begin
until Jesus died, that the thief on the
cross didn't have to be baptized.
He is trying to say that there are TWO
different plans of salvation (one for
the OT and one for the NT). He
believes that baptism was NOT required
for Old Testament saints, but IS
required for all New Testament saints.
This is ludicrous and preposterous!!!!
There is NO such teaching in the Bible.
There has always been ONE and only one
plan of salvation, and that is through
the precious shed blood of our Dear Lord
Jesus Christ! Do you want to be
saved? Then look upon Jesus ye
ends of the earth and be ye saved
(Isaiah 45:22).
I
asked the minister what would happen if
an astronaut placed his faith in Christ
while in outer space? Obviously he
couldn't get baptized in space!
His answer was another mere, "I
don't know." How pathetic!!!
How can a man go to a supposed Bible
college for four years and earn a degree
in theology, just to tell me that he
doesn't know how a person in outer space
could be saved! I'll tell you why!
Because the whole doctrine of baptismal
regeneration is flawed and makes no
Biblical sense. He might as well
become a Lutheran or a Catholic to
believe that garbage. Baptismal
regeneration is of the devil.
Jesus didn't baptize (John 4:2).
In the book of Romans, baptism is only
mentioned briefly in chapter six.
Paul NEVER makes any direct command to
be baptized! Yet, Paul expresses
in Romans 10:1 that it is his
"HEARTS DESIRE" for the people
to be saved. Paul wanted people to
be saved, that is why he went publicly
from house-to-house in Acts 20:20 to
witness to people. We soul-winners
call this the "Acts 20/20
vision." In other words, if
your consumed about winning souls to
Christ, then your seeing 20/20 as a
Christian. Most believers are
wearing blinders.
No
Rapture or Millennium?
The
Church of Christ minister also said he
DIDN'T believe in any type of rapture,
but that the Lord would simply return
and part the righteous from the wicked.
We are clearly taught in God's Word that
there will be a "departure" of
the saints from this world; hence, the
word rapture (which is not itself found
in the Bible). The words of the
Apostle Paul in 1st Thessalonians
4:13-18 are as clear as can be. In
the twinkling of an eye, the Lord WILL
return. Read it for yourself.
Why can't people just take the Bible at
face value? Why do they persist to
read in-between the lines? Why do
they seek for things that God has NOT
placed in the Bible? Luke 17:36 is
still in the King James Bible folks!
Matthew 24:41 is still in the Bible!
Two shall be, and one shall remain!
This foolish minister also said he
didn't believe there would be a
Millennial reign of Christ.
Revelation 20:1-6 speaks of the 1,000
year millennium. The purpose of
this article is NOT to get into depth of
these individual Bible doctrines, but
rather to expose the heretical teachings
of the Church of Christ. A study
of Biblical prophecy is beyond the scope
of this article. The Bible is very
clear concerning the departure of the
saints from this world (the rapture) and
of the Millennial reign of Christ from
Jerusalem over the earth. Satan
will be bound and imprisoned in the
bottomless pit for 1,000 years
(Revelation 20:3).
No
Eternal Security?
The
Church of Christ minister also said that
he believed a saved person COULD lose
their salvation if they got away from
fellowship with the Lord. I asked
him if all Church of Christ followers
believed the same doctrines he did and
he affirmed, YES. He laughed in my
face when I told him that the Bible was
clear that a saved person could NEVER
lose their salvation. I mean,
Jesus told Nicodemus to be "born
again," NOT born again and again
and again and again! Revelation
3:20 is an invitation for us to open the
door of our heart to allow the Lord
Jesus to come in (John 14:23).
Church of Christ folks evidently have a
problem with Christians who are less
than perfect. The minister was
perplexed when I told him that a
Christian could commit murder and still
be saved. He almost became angry.
His problem is that he has a WRONG view
of salvation (which is why I believe he
is NOT really saved). The Church
of Christ has a wrong view of salvation!
The truth is that we DO NOTHING to earn
salvation! If we can't do any good
works to get saved, then why would doing
any bad works make us unsaved? I
like that statement so I'll say it
again…
If
we can't do any good works to get saved,
then why would doing any bad works make
us unsaved?
I
did nothing to get saved of my own
merit. All I did was place my
faith in the Lord's work of atonement.
It is Jesus Christ and what He did to
pay for my sins that gets me into
heaven, I had nothing to do with that.
Salvation is OF GOD, not man! So
then why in the world would anyone
conclude that a person has to maintain a
certain level of fellowship or
righteousness with God to keep one's
salvation? It is no less than a
WORKS religion! The Church of
Christ is ADDING works to simple faith
in Christ! They teach that you
MUST be baptized to be saved! They
teach that you MUST keep coming back to
the Lord (to get your salvation back)
every time you get away from the Lord.
Listen folks, there is NOTHING in the
Bible which teaches that we can fall
from grace as believers. When the
Bible speaks of "falling from
grace" it is simply talking about
unsaved people who have rejected Christ.
Jesus is the ONLY way to heaven!
If you reject Jesus, then you have
missed your ONLY buss ticket to heaven.
This is the only way to fall from God's
grace.
You
CANNOT lose your salvation!!! If
someone is not saved now, then they
never were to begin with. As a
perfect analogy, I cannot change the
relationship between my and my own
child. I could disown my child
(which I think is a horrible thing for
ANY parent to do), but they would still
be my child. Even if my child
killed someone, the relationship doesn't
change one bit -that is still my child
and I am still their parent. Such
is this case with God! No matter
what we do, we are God's children.
If you would like to KNOW your saved, Click
Here.
No
Tears in Heaven?
More
heresy! This Church of Christ
minister said there will be no tears in
heaven. Well, he is wrong!
Over and over we are warned in the Bible
to be careful how we live as believers
because we each shall give account to
God. We are commanded to defraud
not thy brother. There will be
tears in heaven for those believers who
lived for SELF and hurt other people
while upon the earth. The blood of
our loved ones will be upon our hands if
we have failed to witness to them.
We can't force them to accept the truth,
but we CAN love them and tell them the
good news of Jesus Christ. There
will be tears throughout the Millennium,
but all tears shall be wiped away at the
end, after the Great White Throne of
Judgment. All former things will
be passed away (Revelation 21:4).
Being a Christian DOESN'T give us a
license to sin. Though our sins
are under the blood and all is well
between us and God as far as our sin
debt, we must still make things right
with those we have wronged.
Salvation balances the scale of justice
between us and God, but the scales of
justice must also be balanced between us
and those we have victimized or hurt in
ant way (Romans 12:19). The
Judgment Seat of Christ is going to be a
JUDGMENT only for believers, it is not
going to be a joyous time for most
believers. There WILL be many
tears.
Heaven
is Not a Physical Place?
I
was really surprised when the Church of
Christ minister told me that he didn't
believe in heaven as a place. He
believed that heaven was only a
spiritual existence, NOT a literal
place. I asked him about the
streets of gold and the gates of pearl,
he didn't believe they were literal.
I asked him about the mansions which
Jesus spoke of in John 14:1-2, he denied
those also as being physical homes.
I don't know what he's been smoking, but
he sure needs to get with the program.
He has been blinded by a false religion,
sad but true.
In
conclusion, I firmly DOUBT anyone's
salvation who ADDS baptism to a
childlike faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ! I also sincerely doubt the
salvation of any person who feels they
have to live a certain way to keep their
salvation (which is a big lie).
The entire MINDSET is very different
when you believe you are not eternally
secure. Just as the Muslims have
no assurance of salvation, neither does
the Church of Christ. I KNOW I am
saved and NOTHING can take that from me.
I CANNOT lose my salvation. So do
I have a license to sin? Of course
not! I don't want to sin because I
still have to give account to God
someday and I already have enough to
answer for. I love God and want to
please Him, but I fear Him equally so.
I became a new creature when I was
born-again. I don't live right to
get saved, I live right because I am
saved and God's Holy Spirit lives in my
heart. My Bible says that I am
saved and sure! Your not just
being safe by adding baptism to faith,
your being stupid! I can say this
because we are clearly warned throughout
the Bible against adding anything to
faith. Baptism is useless to get
anyone saved. See Romans 11:6,
Titus 3:5, and Romans 4:2. The
bottom line is that Jesus Christ Himself
did not make an issue of baptism!
Read through the book of John and you'll
discover that Jesus is the door, the
way, the truth, the life, the
resurrection, the light, the Good
Shepherd…but not one mention is made
of baptism! Not one! The
Church of Christ is a false religion,
just as are the Lutherans and the
Seventh-Day Adventists! ONLY
through simple faith in the precious
blood of Jesus Christ can any person go
to heaven. It's Jesus or hell,
turn or burn! God loves you, and
so do I. I welcome any further
information or comments.
Kindest
regards, Dave Stewart
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