Dear Adam,

I see your posts on YouTube at The Rapture site. I wish you every blessing.

It appears to me that you neither understand the human race or the Church.

Actually there are two groups of men in the world; you could call them 2 races. The first is born-again-Christians (the Church), the second is the non-born again, the Adamic men (LOL).

The Church of the born-again, consist of all person who trust the real Lord Jesus as Savior from the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2) to the Rapture, when the Church is taken up from the earth -- then it is back to Israel & the Gentiles (no Church on earth).

I speak of the universal Church, the Body & Bride of Christ. There is only one way to get into the Church: that is by the Baptism of the Holy Spirit which accompanies the new birth, which comes immediately to all who trust Christ as savior. 1 Corinthinans 12:12-13 speaks of this:

"For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit were we all baptized into One Body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit."

The Bible never uses "church" (ekklesia) for either a building or for a denomination. There are denominations that call themselves churches, but that use in unbiblical. There is no such thing as a Roman Catholic "Church," but they call themselves that.

Regardless of what denomination a man is in, if he trusts the real Christ as Savior, He has been supernaturally baptized into the Church, the Body of Christ. Some denominations have a lot of persons who trust Christ, others have few real believers with a lot of persons "playing church." There are many liberal denominations that have denied the faith. The Romanists have their pope, which is not in the Bible, worship idols & saints, and believe in salvation by good works. That is official, but there are probably some true believers among them, and such true believers are in the real Church, the Body of Christ.

In the Bible "church" is not always used for the Body of Christ, but it is also used for all the Christians in a region, like "The Church of Ephesus," or for a group of persons who habitually meet somewhere, like "The church of Philemon's house."

Now the second group of men is the non-born-again. That group includes religionists, idolaters, agnostics, atheists, deists, common Joe-6-packers, secularists, humanists, Islamists, liberal church members, crusaders, papists, Nazis, communists, moralists, etc.

It is self-evident that the Bible is the Word of God. Pick it up & read it & see if you cannot hear the voice of YHWH speaking to you; see if you cannot sense the conviction of the Holy Spirit. You have to do that for yourself.

You probably don't know who the Lord Jesus is. There is one God, but he has 3 ego's or persons: Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus is God-the-Son ("Before Abraham was born, I AM.") He added a human nature to his divine nature about 2000 yrs ago, becoming a man. He worked miracles & offered Himself to Israel as her messiah. He was rejected, delivered to Pilate & crucified, paying for our sins with His blood. He rose from the dead in the body that was entombed, but it was transformed. He ascended to Heaven. He will come back & rule with a rod of iron, not a wet noodle.

We all deserve death for our sins, as all have sinned. The wages of sin is death. Ultimately there is a second death, the Lake of Fire. Christ on the cross paid for our sins & suffered out Hell.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

God commends His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Salvation is offered as a free gift to whosoever will trust Him as Savior.

"For whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be saved." In context of Romans 10, that verse refers to the Lord Jesus. But it actually is a quote from Joel 2 in the Old Testament, where the word LORD is actually YHWH. Thus Christ is called YHWH (aka Yahweh, Jehovah) in the Bible.

Do you have faith the size of a mustard seed so that you could pray sincerely?:

"Lord Jesus, God-the-Son, please save me from my self & my sins, please give me your gift of eternal life & change me to a new creation. I now trust you as my Savior."

Just for trusting Christ, you freely get eternal life & "all things." Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ & you shall be saved."

The Gospel is that simple.

Do you have the vocal chords & the faith to call out now?

Best wishes,
Thunkful

you mean the Gospel is that simple. I read in 1 Peter 1:12 that it is something even the angles would like to understand. So all I have to do is believe. I have herd some people talking about repentance but after reading this it doesn't appear I have too. Wow, I'll take a God like that. You got 2 of 'em. I won't smoke pot in church but is it OK if I roll my joints. Man no repentance this is fantastic. Someone told me that psalm 5:5 says that God's hates all workers of iniquity.
That made me think repentance was Godly thing. I guess we don't need it today.

Ezekiel 13
22 Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:
23 Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD.

If we are wrong about the Gospel and deliver it without one of the key elements (repentance) we will be guilty of causing people to think they are saved when they are not. The righteous are sad-end by this and because of the resulting rampant sin amongst profession believers God gets mocked.


We can be wrong about a lot of things but if we are wrong about the Gospel we risk damnation.

Galations 1:8,9
8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

I've herd it said that salvation is that simple even a caveman could do it.
the reality is salvation is that difficult only God could do it.

sorry for the initial satire but was just trying to show the results of promising sinners life and not mentioning the cost of being a follower of Jesus.

I know this generation doesn't want to here about self denial but please read Mark 8:34-

self denial is linked to repentance and obedience.
Take any 1 of these 3 away and you want have any of them.

You know, I like a lot of the things you post. I still wait for you to answer my questions about where you would go if you died today.


"You mean the Gospel is that simple. I read in 1 Peter 1:12 that it is something even the angles would like to understand. "

1 Pet is interesting. The context speaks of the GRACE that men receive. I take it that man was created to show the grace of God, undeserved favor, but angels to show God's holiness. Apparently there is no atonement for angel sins. One sin for an angel would mean the Lake of Fire forever, with no ransom. Apparently they are all individual creations, not a race that Christ could enter & die for as a whole. So, grace is something that would fascinate an angel.

"So all I have to do is believe."

I thought I had convinced u or that you already agreed. I spent a long time presenting you with many verses that teach that all you need do is trust Christ as Savior, believe in Him. (I don't mean mere factual belief, like "I believe THAT Jesus is the Son of God.") Did you read all my efforts to convince you?

"I have herd some people talking about repentance but after reading this it doesn't appear I have too."

Please accept that metanoia (repentence) is not SORROW for sin or GUILT. It is a change of mind. And repent is not the usual word for how to be saved, neither are there 2 different ways to be saved: 1) repent 2) believe. Repent means change mind, you change from non-belief to belief, from not trusting Christ to trusting Him. Now you would never trust Christ as Savior if you didn't want to be free from sin. To trust Him as Savior includes trusting Him to deliver you from being sinful: "Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall SAVE His people from their sin." Not just from its consequences, but from Sin itself.

"Wow, I'll take a God like that. You got 2 of 'em. I won't smoke pot in church but is it OK if I roll my joints."

LOL -- you mean you'll jump a pew? God's grace has never made me feel like sinning. It makes me not want to sin, for He has done so much for me in love; how cud I repay Him by doing things that cause Him grief? Sin grieves God, causes Him mental pain.

"psalm 5:5 says that God's hates all workers of iniquity." You won't stop doing iniquity just by abhoring it. Rom 7.

"If we are wrong about the Gospel and deliver it without one of the key elements (repentance) we will be guilty of causing people to think they are saved when they are not."

It is important that you don't make up your own concept of repentence, but believe & proclaim God' concept of repentence.
The Word of God says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, & you shall be saved." It is important that we proclaim what God says, not what appeals to our carnal religious desire for self-righteousness. I tell people that if they trust Christ as Savior, they WILL BE SAVED. You, I, & they must believe what God says, & not make up our own religion.

A chief thing to repent of is trusting in idols for salvation, like the idol of good works, our own self-righteousness.

God gets mocked by self-righteous Pharisee types who proclaim validation by relgious good works & being sorry over sin, instead of by trusting Christ to do some saving.

"We can be wrong about a lot of things but if we are wrong about the Gospel we risk damnation.

Galations 1:8,9
8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."

So right. Thus go ahead and read Galatians. It teaches the true gospel.

"I've herd it said that salvation is that simple even a caveman could do it.
the reality is salvation is that difficult only God could do it."

Now there you are; you are so right. We cannot do anything at all except trust in our Savior. Once we have trusted Him & been born again, then the Holy Spirit can work His fruit in our lives.

"sorry for the initial satire but was just trying to show the results of promising sinners life and not mentioning the cost of being a follower of Jesus."

Do not confuse anyone as to the gospel. Don't start telling people they will earn salvation by good works & paying a cost. Christ paid the cost; we cannot. Yes, once one receives the free gift of salvation, one out of gratitude will wish to be a disciple; discipleship does cost; it requires making oneself a living sacrifice.

"I know this generation doesn't want to here about self denial"

There are many, many self-righteous Pharisee types who want to think how holy they are and how they are making all these sacrifices & doing self-denial. This is religious flesh, religious pride. We must indeed deny self and affirm Christ. I deny that I can save myself. I affirm that Christ can. I take up the cross to follow Him. The cross is where "It is finished." Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. His cross is my cross. I was there. I was crucified with Him.

Tho I like a lot of what you post, I fear that you may not be saved; for you do not answer the questions I put to you:

1) If you died today where would you go?
2) What is your basis of confidence IF YOU HAVE IT.

BEST WISHES