Confusing People On Salvation.

[HISmanD]

Coincedence. Chance. Choice. Possibilities. Fate. Accidents. Fortune. Luck. Unpurposed. Unpredictable. Random. Unintentional. The Problem with these words is that they are used today to Define Bible Doctrines such as Sin, Salvation and Security in Christ (the latter being usually "temporary" ). For Insatnce:

1. Sin has now become Unintentional.

2. Salvation has now become Unpurposed.

3. Security has now become UnPredictable ( depends on your Lifestyle ).

Have you ever heard these Types of Statements in Church?:

1. Give your Heart to JESUS.

2. Receive JESUS into your Heart.

3. Accept JESUS as LORD and SAVIOR.

4. Realize you are Lost.

5. Repent of ALL your SIN so Christ can save you.

6. Make a Decision for CHRIST.

7. Pray this Prayer and GOD will save you.

These seven statements are heard so much that if anyone points out that they have no SCRIPTURE on SCRIPTURE Basis they are considered Heretics. Let us Analyze these in the LIGHT of the WORD of GOD shall we?

1. Give your Heart to Christ.

Whenever Scripture talks of the "heart" it is reffering to the thoughts or feelings of a person. For instance in Matt. 15:8, 1 Peter 1:22, Eph. 5:19. Many of these references refer to People that obviously know GOD. How then can anyone that is Hellbound give their Heart to GOD? The real question is "What would HE want with it?" " The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" However you can still deny the BOOK and do this. You will stand before HIM as HE declares "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast."

2. Recieve JESUS into your Heart.

During Christmas millions of People will have "Receive JESUS" into their hearts all day long. The Majority of these people are lost ( "few " in Matt. 7:14 is still there) but still have JESUS in there thoughts and feelings. Sound ridiculous? No more than ascribing Salvation to be under Man's Control. People use "receive JESUS" today as if they were plucking HIM out of Heaven as if HE was at their Beck and call! In fact it is just the opposite! Lost or Saved we are subject to HIM! Rom. 5:17 gives us the correct context of "receive." The context is of somebody being given something of and by the grace of GOD not being seized upon by a wicked heart.

3. Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior

Look at John 1:1, 3, Gen. 1:1, 2:4, . From just these alone you should be able to figure out that without your help HE already is your LORD. HE does not need our help to accept HIM as anything. 1 Tim. 4:10 tells us that GOD Himself made CHRIST the Saviour. The LORD GOD is not in Heaven blessing men with Salvation because of their faith or because they made HIM something HE will Forever be. Or even because HE knew that they would believe HIS WORD. HE saves men, not at random but according to Design, because HE chooses to.

4. Realize You are Lost.

Make no mistake about it mankind knows that their deeds are evil. This can be proven Biblically, Physically, Mentally, Historically and Spiritually. The same was true for me . I never needed to be told I was doing wrong. Here is something else that people wont admit: I enjoyed it! I knew I was wrong but I did not know it was against HIM that I was doing these things. I broke HIS Law and did not know it would send me to Hell. Moses in Heb. 11:25 did not want "to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." GOD Himself must set HIS affections on man because it does not matter what you realize if HE does not.

5. Repent of all Your Sin Before GOD will save you.

Again this saying is geared toward works for Salvation. If Sin, all Sin, any Sin was laid upon CHRIST and Judged in HIM how much is on us? If I had to repent of all my sins before GOD would save me I would not be "writing" this now because I would still be confessing and repenting and trying to remember. WORKS. Do something so GOD will have to or be able to do what HE wants. You are in control then.

6. Make a Decision for CHRIST.

How can Man choose anything for GOD or make any choices for HIM? The saying that "the Devil voted against you and CHRIST voted for you and now you have the deciding vote " is BIBLICALLY wrong. But ,lets make a decision for HIM. Here is how: "Realize Your Lost, Repent of all Your Sin, Give Your Heart to CHRIST, Accept HIM as YOUR Lord and Saviour and Receive Jesus into your Heart." TOO much of YOU and what YOU can do and NO GOD. Man's choices mean nothing to GOD. Look at Daniel 4:35. HE does according to HIS Will.

7. Pray this PRAYER and GOD will save you.

People all over the World trust a set of WORDS said in a Prayer and never Trust GOD at all. "I said a prayer and therefore I am saved!" Where is this in the BIBLE? Please dont say Rom. 10:13 is the Basis for that considering that the context of the Verse is referring to the People that already know HIM. Please look at it.

Matter of fact please do a search of the Bible and you will find that the first time that Phrase appears is in Genesis 4:26. In the Laws of Interpretation( Hermenuetics) you will find the Law of First Mention. The first mention of something defines how it is to be seen throughout the BIBLE. The Context of Gen. 4:26 is one of worship from people that could call upon HIM. I dont think these men were praying for Salvation.

Let us now see what Salvation truly is from the same BOOK that condemns these 7 "works" listed above. Acts 16:30 the BIBLE says "and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They did not tell the man do this or that or even to pray. Salvation is a PERSON. Not a Baptism, communion, confirmation, catechism, sinners prayer or decisionism. SALVATION is CHRIST JESUS. They answered him in verse 31. It says "And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,...." John 6:37 says "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me: and he that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." You do not come then are given to HIM you are given then you will come.

Man has not taken GOD out of the BIBLE. They have went above the throne of GOD with the Divinity of Man. You will see the same thing in Isaiah 14 with Lucifer saying the same thing. What the propogaters of Man's Divinity do not realize is that their end result will be the same as Lucifer's. Cast out to an eventual prepared place. Is your Salvation in A Person? True Salvation is the Person of the LORD Jesus Christ. Is your way HIS Way? Hebrew5:9 says "And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." Do you Believe in JUST HIM and not something you have done?

[nebula]

1. Give your Heart to Christ.

Whenever Scripture talks of the "heart" it is reffering to the thoughts or feelings of a person. For instance in Matt. 15:8, 1 Peter 1:22, Eph. 5:19. Many of these references refer to People that obviously know GOD. How then can anyone that is Hellbound give their Heart to GOD? The real question is "What would HE want with it?" " The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" However you can still deny the BOOK and do this. You will stand before HIM as HE declares "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast."

2. Recieve JESUS into your Heart.

During Christmas millions of People will have "Receive JESUS" into their hearts all day long. The Majority of these people are lost ( "few " in Matt. 7:14 is still there) but still have JESUS in there thoughts and feelings. Sound ridiculous? No more than ascribing Salvation to be under Man's Control. People use "receive JESUS" today as if they were plucking HIM out of Heaven as if HE was at their Beck and call! In fact it is just the opposite! Lost or Saved we are subject to HIM! Rom. 5:17 gives us the correct context of "receive." The context is of somebody being given something of and by the grace of GOD not being seized upon by a wicked heart.

I can appreciate what you are saying here.

As I mentioned in the other thread, the apostles answer to, "How can I be saved?" were:

Believe on the Lord Jesus

Repent (of your sins)

Be baptized in the name of Jesus

3. Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior

Look at John 1:1, 3, Gen. 1:1, 2:4, . From just these alone you should be able to figure out that without your help HE already is your LORD. HE does not need our help to accept HIM as anything. 1 Tim. 4:10 tells us that GOD Himself made CHRIST the Saviour. The LORD GOD is not in Heaven blessing men with Salvation because of their faith or because they made HIM something HE will Forever be. Or even because HE knew that they would believe HIS WORD. HE saves men, not at random but according to Design, because HE chooses to.

Well, I don't want to get into the Calvin-Armenian debate, but your words here are ultra-Calvinistic.

But anyway -

Romans 10:9 - that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved ;

Yes, Jesus is Lord whether we confess Him or not, but until we do we are rejecting Him as Lord. So at what point do you stop rejecting Him?

One must "accept" Him as Lord before one can "confess" Him as Lord, don't you think?

4. Realize You are Lost.

Make no mistake about it mankind knows that their deeds are evil.

HISmanD, please do us all a favor and spend some time hanging out with the "nonbelievers" in the Outer Court section of this board, especially in the forum designed for talking about morality.

And let me know when you actually find one of the "nonbeleivers" who makes any indication that he/she knows his/her deeds are evil.

Because all I have seen is how much they brag about being a good person.

5. Repent of all Your Sin Before GOD will save you.

Again this saying is geared toward works for Salvation. If Sin, all Sin, any Sin was laid upon CHRIST and Judged in HIM how much is on us? If I had to repent of all my sins before GOD would save me I would not be "writing" this now because I would still be confessing and repenting and trying to remember. WORKS. Do something so GOD will have to or be able to do what HE wants. You are in control then.

OK, "all" might be an extreme, but naming specific sins in your confession (the ones that come to mind) is always a good thing to do. I have heard testimonies of people who were delivered from addictions upon salvation when they confessed those things as sin before the Lord at the time.

6. Make a Decision for CHRIST.

How can Man choose anything for GOD or make any choices for HIM? The saying that "the Devil voted against you and CHRIST voted for you and now you have the deciding vote " is BIBLICALLY wrong. But ,lets make a decision for HIM. Here is how: "Realize Your Lost, Repent of all Your Sin, Give Your Heart to CHRIST, Accept HIM as YOUR Lord and Saviour and Receive Jesus into your Heart." TOO much of YOU and what YOU can do and NO GOD. Man's choices mean nothing to GOD. Look at Daniel 4:35. HE does according to HIS Will.

It looks to me like you are misinterpreting the expression. Think of the "for" as "towards" - you need to make a decision. Choose Jesus.

7. Pray this PRAYER and GOD will save you.

This one I can agree with - to a degree. The words don't matter as much as the heart of the person. We rely too much on the "4 laws".

[OneLight]

Salvation is from the heart, not the mind. When we seek forgiveness from the heart, He will forgive us. When it is from the head only, they are empty words. What needs to be explained to people is the difference between the two so they can take an inventory of themselves to see where the foundation of their desire to be forgiven comes. Everything that comes after salvation is God working in the person through the Holy Spirit, nothing we can take credit for.

[humbleseeker]

I dont know about all of them.

[Matthitjah]

Ro

[Guest Haroutuon]

Very nice words. we are a christian family living in south of Iraq (Basrah - City). I with my wife and two dauthers suffering so much because of the bad situation in our city as you know. I am reying hard to keep my family chrestianity. So please help us to go away from this country. Note that I am not asking for mony but for any way to imegrate out this country. Please, please, I am calling you in the name of Jesus.

GOD Bless you all

[OneLight]

Very nice words. we are a christian family living in south of Iraq (Basrah - City). I with my wife and two dauthers suffering so much because of the bad situation in our city as you know. I am reying hard to keep my family chrestianity. So please help us to go away from this country. Note that I am not asking for mony but for any way to imegrate out this country. Please, please, I am calling you in the name of Jesus.

GOD Bless you all

I have no idea what to tell you. I will keep you in prayer.

[Guest shiloh357]

Have you ever heard these Types of Statements in Church?:

1. Give your Heart to JESUS.

2. Receive JESUS into your Heart.

3. Accept JESUS as LORD and SAVIOR.

4. Realize you are Lost.

5. Repent of ALL your SIN so Christ can save you.

6. Make a Decision for CHRIST.

7. Pray this Prayer and GOD will save you.

These seven statements are heard so much that if anyone points out that they have no SCRIPTURE on SCRIPTURE Basis they are considered Heretics.

I think you are manufacturing confusion where none exists. None of those statemments violates Scripture. So they are not really wrong. They are simply expressions that we use and are a way of expressing how we apply the gospel. No sense in making something out of nothing.

[nebula]

Very nice words. we are a christian family living in south of Iraq (Basrah - City). I with my wife and two dauthers suffering so much because of the bad situation in our city as you know. I am reying hard to keep my family chrestianity. So please help us to go away from this country. Note that I am not asking for mony but for any way to imegrate out this country. Please, please, I am calling you in the name of Jesus.

GOD Bless you all

Prayers, brother

How about you post this in the Welcome forum where more people can see you?

Blessings!

[Guest HIS girl]

Very nice words. we are a christian family living in south of Iraq (Basrah - City). I with my wife and two dauthers suffering so much because of the bad situation in our city as you know. I am reying hard to keep my family chrestianity. So please help us to go away from this country. Note that I am not asking for mony but for any way to imegrate out this country. Please, please, I am calling you in the name of Jesus.

GOD Bless you all

I have no idea what to tell you. I will keep you in prayer.

Shall pray too.