A warning for Christians.

NOTICE: These are things I've learned in my time away from ATS, I'm sharing this not to debate, but for my fellow Christians who are still here, and others who are interested in becoming a Christian. Say what you want, I don't care, this is nothing but pure observation from my perspective.

Part I

If you are not already a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, know that eternal life is as simple as believing that Jesus, as the the only begotten Son of God, died on the cross in our place for ALL of our sins. There is no work to it, just simply believe and you are irrevocably saved from an eternity in the Lake of Fire.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
If you are already a believer in our Lord Jesus Christ, then the issue is not salvation, but fellowship with God and the filling of the Holy Spirit via the use of 1 John 1:9. Simply cite your know sins to God the Father and you will be cleansed of ALL unrighteousness so that the Holy Spirit may fill you and enlighten you to any truth that God may wish to communicate to you. If you refuse to consistently use this function of your individual priesthood in Christ (Rev 1:6), you might as well stop reading here, as you have already rejected God’s plan for your life in both time and eternity.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

Denominationalism has been a stumbling block to God’s children for far too long. Generations of drooling over the same tired theological commentaries and Sunday morning canned sermons, have rendered the Church dead in its works. Millions upon millions of Christians trade the truth for religion on a weekly basis simply because they continue choose spiritual milk over the spiritual meat that God has prepared for us. The problem is two fold; congregations do not demand progress from the elementary teachings about Christ, and therefore Church leaders do not offer such wisdom. Sadly, the consequence for such an attitude toward the Word is DEATH OF THE SOUL.

Hebrews 6:1 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity,… 7 For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; 8 but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.

Mark 8:34…, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 35“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?

Sadly, it is UNCOMMON knowledge within the Church that God created man as body, soul, and spirit. In fact, when God created Adam in Genesis 2:7 the Hebrew text plainly states that God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the “breath of lives”. This means that Adam was given both a soul formatted after the image of God (the Hebrew text states shadow of God), and a human spirit with which Adam had fellowship with God. When Adam ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he experienced dying death (Hebrew Gen 2:17 dying you shall die). This curse of dying death was pronounced on Adam’s body, soul, and spirit. By sinning, immediately, Adam’s spirit lost fellowship with God, his soul (composed of mind and heart—in greek, psuche and kardia) was flooded with the Knowledge of Good and Evil (divorcing his mentality from God), and his body began to age unto the point of eventual physical death. Therefore, complete salvation must be three fold to neutralize the curse of dying death: Regeneration of the Spirit, Washing of the Soul, and Resurrection of the Body.
Salvation must start with the regeneration of the Spirit. Jesus died on the cross as a payment to God for Adam’s Original Sin as well as ALL personal sins committed by ALL of the world. By placing our faith in Christ’s payment for our sins, our spirit can then be born again, once and for all (it can never die again)…but this is only the first step in the life long process of ultimate sanctification. Following spiritual regeneration, the soul must be washed in the Water of God’s Word. Consider the following passages:

John 3:3“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is BORN AGAIN (Greek says, born from above) he cannot SEE the kingdom of God.”

John 3:5“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is BORN OUT OF WATER and THE SPIRIT he cannot ENTER INTO the kingdom of God”

Read the above passages very carefully (remember to use 1 John 1:9), the point is very easy to overlook. In order to SEE the kingdom of God, you must be born again or born from above (spiritual regeneration by faith alone in Christ alone)…HOWEVER, in order to ENTER INTO the kingdom of God, you must be born out of WATER and SPIRIT. So what does it mean to be born out of water? This is NOT a direct reference to water baptism. Look at Ephesians 5:26-27.

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having CLEANSED HER BY THE WASHING OF THE WATER WITH THE WORD, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be HOLY AND BLAMELESS.

Ephesians 5:26-27 makes it abundantly clear that we must be washed with the Water of the Word to be made spotless, wrinkle free, Holy and blameless before Christ.

So how does this pertain to the soul?

Rev 6:9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the SOULS of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained…11 And there was given to each of them a white robe…Rev 7: “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Rev 22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the RIGHT TO THE TREE OF LIFE, and may ENTER BY THE GATES INTO THE CITY.

Rev 5: He who overcomes will thus be CLOTHED IN WHITE GARMENTS; and I will not erase his name from the BOOK OF LIFE, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.
From the verses cited above, we can clearly see that the quality of our spiritual garments directly reflects the mental status of our souls. White garments are washed in the Water of the Word of God aka the Blood of Christ (1 John 5:8). Soiled and torn garments reflect Evil dominating the soul.

James 5:2 Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten…6 You have condemned and have put to death the righteous.

Isaiah 64:6For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Part II

So far, we can see that failure to wash your soul in the Blood of Christ/Water of the Word will result in the Eternal Injury of Death of the Soul (Mark 8:36 loss of soul, Rev 2:11 injury by second death, Rev 3:5 blotting name from Book of Life). The death of the soul is not annihilation of the soul. Death never results in annihilation, but separation. Physical death is separation of soul and spirit from body, spiritual death is separation from God’s nature, death of soul is separation of your mentality from God. Revelation 22:14 bluntly states that a dirty/dead soul can not enter the New Jerusalem where the Bride of Christ will reside (Rev 21:9) therefore, it is safe to conclude that a member of the Body of Christ who fails to wash his/her soul will be excluded from the Bride of Christ and the Wedding Feast.

Matt 22:11 “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, 12 and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. 13 “Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Matt 24:48 “But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; 50 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, 51 and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matt 25:30“Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

When our Lord returns to establish His Millennial Kingdom, members of the Church who have washed their souls will rule with Him for 1,000 years…however, those wicked and lazy members of the Church who neglected to wash their souls will be spend 1,000 years in the Darkness Outside the Kingdom where they will spend the entire time Weeping and Gnashing their Teeth. This is in no way nearly as bad as the Abyss and Lake of Fire which are reserved for non-believers and fallen angels, but it is no way for any adopted child of God to spend his/her time while our Lord rules. It will be 1,000 years of utter shame.

How can you avoid this fate as a believer in Christ? Stay in fellowship with God by confessing your sins to God the Father as needed (1 John 1:9). Study the Word of God both under the Pastor which God leads you to (ask God who to study under), and individually. Apply the lessons that you learn to your daily life, taking up your cross daily. Pray continuously; talk to God the Father about what you learn (always use 1 John 1:9 before entering prayer) and your daily concerns, and always pray in Jesus’ name. Make it a habit to walk in the ways of the Spirit, always abiding in Christ. Avoid sinning as much as possible, especially sins of profound evil as listed in Ephesians 5. Sins become addictive and will damage your relationship with God. When you fall down, get back up (1 John 1:9) and keep going.

Ephesians 5:3 But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; 4 and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God
It should be noted that once a believer comes the understanding of this knowledge (salvation of the soul) of the kingdom and eternal rewards, and tastes the heavenly gifts, if you should fall away into apostasy, there is no repentance. Such a repentance would crucify Christ yet again, putting Him up for shame.

Hebrew 6:4 For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.
Remember the case of Moses; God told him first to strike the rock to bring fourth water to Israel. The rock represented Christ, and striking the rock represented His crucifixion. The second time, God told Moses to speak to the rock, but when Moses struck it for a second time out of anger, God refused to let him enter the Promised Land. We know that Moses will ultimately enter the kingdom of God since he was present at the Transfiguration of Christ, but the fact that Moses was prohibited from entering the Promised Land was a symbol for the fate of believers who turn their backs on Christ. In Moses’ case, striking the rock was likely a symbol which he did not understand, but to turn away from Christ in real life will result in death of the soul.

In summary, read 2 Timothy 2:11-13.

11 It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him. 12 If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us; 13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.

Why am I telling you this? Because the Lord has shown me how much we have to lose. Eternity is not as simple as spiritual regeneration. We have responsibilities to live up to in order to properly Glorify Christ for the Father’s Glory. If I where to withhold this vital information, I would by guilty of neglecting my brothers and sisters in Christ. I would want them to do the same for me.

Luke 12:42 “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? 43 “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 44 “Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 “But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; 46 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. 47 “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, 48 but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

For a wealth of information on these subjects, visit:
bibleone.net...

Jude 1:24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

a reply to: BELIEVERpriest

So no discussion allowed unless a christian.
Sounds like you are just preaching then a no no on ats.

a reply to: TheKnightofDoom

If you have questions, Ill do my best to answer them, but Ill leave the debating to other members. Feel free to comment on what every you want.

I think you will find that just accepting and believing is not enough, by their fruits you will know them as Christians
Talk is talk, walking the talk, that's different, it's not enough just to believe, it's about living as Christ lived, at least trying to anyway

The rest, no issue

A massive wall of text on someone's subjective truth, atheists follow the word of Christ, they just left God out of the picture and let every man, woman and child preach the philosophy of love.. Are the still Christians? Or are the creeds of more importance? I believe you out to much of your words in your subjective truth and to little faith in the word of Christ

the point is the simplicity...cool...

a mere heartfelt wish.....and you have opened the door to eternity, folks.....1 more thing....you don't have to clean-up to seek Him.....talk to Him, He'll talk to you.....

a reply to: BELIEVERpriest

Friend, I used to be just like you.

I know exactly what its like and its not a pleasant world.

originally posted by: gladtobehere
a reply to: BELIEVERpriest

Friend, I used to be just like you.

I know exactly what its like and its not a pleasant world.

I know a formerly devout Christian that studied theology in college and read many religious texts from various religions, he is now agnostic "just in case". I don't think it matters what you believe as long as you seek a path of righteousness, that path may look different for many people. I find that seeking the inner light and listening to that inner voice that tries to hit the brakes in life is a wise decision.

I try, THE Lord God I try...

I still ponder, who is the God they speak of and who is the Lord God they speak of. It is almost as if he is two different entities that we got confused. God or Godhead is the creator and Lord God is the ruler, or so it seems.

My other quandary. This is quite disturbing to me when reading the Old Testament. "The man has now become like one of us." Keyword us. I find the mystery quite intruiging.

What I don't like about Christianity, the Flanders of religion, the pedos, and the over righteous. I don't like the pushers of religion, no matter which one they are pushing. Your inner light is important, many theologies do not teach it.

originally posted by: TheKnightofDoom
a reply to: BELIEVERpriest

So no discussion allowed unless a christian.
Sounds like you are just preaching then a no no on ats.

Absolutely! What is the opposite of a star? How can this preachy crap be reported?

a reply to: LauGhing0ne

 
atheists follow the word of Christ, they just left God out of the picture 

You can't leave God out of the picture and pretend you follow the words of Christ. I am not saying you should be a Christian, but don't fool yourself and think you can be a righteous Atheist.

Can you summarise your essay?

However, to answer your point concisely. Yes, you are right. However, you can be a purport to be a Christian and not "really" believe, or show commitment to that belief.

It's all pretty complex this type of thing.

There is a view that if you live a good life, holding human values (which are also Christian values) to heart, then you will probably get further than someone who goes to Church, but is a two faced, conniving moron.

I guess we'll never know, until we die that is! However, one thing that is a Christian value is tolerance and forbearing. Nothing is worse as an intolerant Christian, a hater of gays and other people. Same with all religions, mind.

a reply to: namelesss

Unfitting censorship of disdained beliefs is a huge offense.

Virtually every post on ATS is preaching about something.

And avatars are preaching constantly.

Supposedly your scroll button works. I encourage you to walk on by posts and topics you don't enjoy.

a reply to: TheKnightofDoom

While I admittedly found the reading of the OP to be breathtakingly detrimental to the welfare of my own mental health, I feel obliged to defend the author of this thread because despite implying the content of his post was directed at Christians, he did not prohibit non-Christians from challenging or participating in the thread.

a reply to: Metallicus

People do say God and Jesus are one and the same, one is a philosophy the other is a deity.

a reply to: BELIEVERpriest

So..... Let me see if i have this right, believe in jesus, or burn in hell. You could have just said that.

a reply to: BELIEVERpriest

Thank you for the OP.

The more I am reminded to daily seek my Salvation with fear and trembling the better.

Your thread put me on track for the rest of the day.

God Bless,

To believe would entail acting in like manner such as not judging others, murder, theft etc...

Otherwise even Evil believes he is real yet they are not saved.

1 John 3:6 So if we continue to live in him, we won't sin either. But those who keep on sinning have never known him or understood who he is.

people use the excuse "nobody's perfect, if I was I wouldn't sin"

Of course Adam and Eve as well as fallen types were created perfect, yet sinned, so being perfect doesn't help to that effect, therefore as the scripture states "sin no more"

Mat 7:23 and then I will acknowledge to them, that -- I never knew you, depart from me ye who are working lawlessness. (Those that ignore the commandments are lawless)

Just my ten cents

a reply to: Metallicus

You can't leave God out of the picture and pretend you follow the words of Christ.

Why not? Atheists can't being loving, generous and forgiving people? Wait, who is "Christ", Jesus of Nazareth or the magical entity that supposedly rose from the dead?

I am not saying you should be a Christian, but don't fool yourself and think you can be a righteous Atheist.

Why not? Define "righteous" please.