So tell me, what do you do with Romans 7 where the apostle Pauls talks about being a sinner and in verse 22 of how wretched of a man he was? How about the fact that he was told several times by God not to go to Jerusalem, but he went anyway and preached the gospel and people were saved? How about the apostle John in the book of Revelation? He was receiving the very word of God yet he fell down and worshipped and angel. How about Peter in the book of Galatians who was preaching false doctrine mixed with true doctrine and had to be openly rebuked by the apostle Paul, yet God used Peter's preaching to save many souls?

So what happened? did their sin cause them to be lost for that moment in time and they just did all this according to the flesh? I don't think so.

Joseph wrote:
It seems however much we try to instruct others about our misunderstood faith, nothing will work.

Three wise men wrote:
Did Spurgeon FOLLOW THE BIBLE?...

“Men who are morbidly anxious to possess a self-consistent creed,--A CREED WHICH WILL PUT TOGETHER AND FORM A SQUARE LIKE A CHINESE PUZZLE,--are very apt to narrow their souls. Those who will only believe what they can reconcile will necessarily disbelieve much of divine revelation. Those who receive by faith anything which they find in the Bible will receive two things, twenty things, ay, or twenty thousand things, though they cannot construct a theory which harmonises them all” (Spurgeon, “Faith,” Sword and Trowel, 1872).

They don't realize how spiritually bankrupt and blinded they are.

The romanists on here continuously post comments in order to stir up trouble because they're rome's information gatherers. They simply post a vague, or argumentive comment in regards to what they want to know, so rome can find out exactly what we believe, and then use what they learn in its ecumenical agenda. Rome then re-words their teachings to sound like what they've learned, so they can work to gather all the protestants back under their wing(and not only protestants but all world religions)They will never persuade genuine born again Christians no matter how hard they try, FOR JESUS SAYS THAT THE GATES OF HELL WILL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST US!! PRAISE HIS NAME, AMEN!!!

ErnieG wrote:
Here is another propoganda article by Christianity Today calling papists Christians. I emailed them and told them that is the lie of Satan because that is what he wants people to believe!!!

Why don't you Christians here do the do the same? After all, we are in this together, aren't we?

Lurker wrote:
Well stated, RK,
I note in one of Abigail's previous posts...

An assertion with no scriptural warrant.
Strive all we may ***to reckon the old man dead*** (and we must strive lest we be chastened Heb 12:6-8)) it is impossible in the mortal corruptible state to be immortal and incorruptible. This is a fact and to deny it is folly. The only claim to sinless perfection we can make in this life is the imputed perfection of our Lord and Savior by way of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
In reading Abigail's posts she implies Christians must strive to attain to sinless perfection and in so doing she denies the imputed righteousness of Christ and betrays herself as working to achieve perfection in the flesh. Instead of striving to continually reckon the old carnal nature dead (which is what we must do by grace) and looking to and resting on the righteousness and sinless perfection of Christ by faith; she works iniquity for whatever is not of faith is sin.
God bless, RK and Walt. I'll not be able to post further today.

Michael Hranek wrote:
No! You've gotten it wrong I don't see myself as an Arminian after God graciously dealt with me I didn't have to be an Arminian if I wasn't a Calvinist and since I cannot in good conscience follow after Calvinism I will simply accept that I am a Christian one whom God Himself has saved and caused to be born again of His Spirit to belong to Him forever.

WHAT SAITH THE SCRIPTURE?

On the topic of John Calvin, here we have someone who: practiced infant baptism, never gave a testimony of being born again, followed heretics like Augustine and based his work upon their teachings, killed Christians for not submitting to his beliefs-- I don't think its very wise choice to follow any of his teachings!!

GG wrote:
The 'Great Whore of Babyalon', according to Revelations, sits on the 'seven hills of Rome'. Unfortunately for the fanatic Fundi's, the Vatican is on the West bank of the Tiber, not the East bank, where the city of Rome and the seven hills are. Try again fella's!

GG wrote:
While we may or may not have a certain amount of trust in the Church that Jesus built upon the Rock called Peter, our faith is only in the Lord.

"For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.(Romans 10:3)"

"While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.(Hebrews 3:15)"

Abigail wrote:
____
KJV. Your words about genuine repentance and God sealing us with His Spirit, giving us power over sin are true. Genuine repentance is turning from sin—not remaining in sin or partially turning from sin. People make a confession of accepting Christ and continue living as they have always lived, doing as they have always done, so where is repentance? Were they so sinless without Christ that there was nothing to repent of? What gave you the idea that I have said we can live a righteous life without the Holy Spirit? The indwelling Holy Ghost is the power of God that gives us the ability to overcome sin. Modern churches avoid mortification and crucifixion of the flesh. They do not know nor do they care to know what true holiness is, nor do they recognize how exceedingly evil the world is. Instead of coming out of the world and being separate from the world, they want friendship with the world, walking hand in hand, claiming some sort of pseudo righteousness. There is no difference between the sinner and the "saint" except in their vocabulary. "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say

Joseph wrote:
Jon, you seem to act like the Bible is so clear that a 1st grader could understand it.

You can call me what you want GG, but if you,Joseph, Lance and whoever else placing their trust in a religious system, do not receive the second birth of the Spirit you will perish along with your gesu-ite religion.

I'm not being judgmental, I'm telling you what the written Word of God says. If our eyes meet on the day of judgment I'm free from your blood. If you don't like it take it up with God.

Joseph wrote:
1. After all, James tells us that "a man is justified by works and not by faith alone." Don't the two passages contradict each other if interpreted in your way? ...

2. I have another question for you Jon. What do you think a man must believe about salvation in order to be saved? Must he believe in sola fide? Must he believe in eternal security? Could someone be bearing all the fruits of the Spirit and be damned because he does not believe in eternal security?

Abigail wrote:
A person cannot sin while abiding in Christ because that would make Christ the author of sin. A person cannot be led of the Spirit and sin simultaneously because the Spirit leads and guides in all truth.

The presentation of the Gospel that I gave was as biblical as one can put it. If we don't recieve the righteousness of Christ how in the world will we be saved? We don't have any righteousness of ourselves, and we can do nothing to gain righteousness.(Romans 3)

God gives us the righteousness of Christ UPON OUR SAVING FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST. Saving faith involves genuine repentance and turning to God and trusting Him. God seals us with His Spirit, giving us power over sin, enabling us to start living in holiness. I agree, we are to live in obedience to the scriptures, but without the Holy Spirit of God being born in us we cannot live in obedience. If we claim to be born again, having the righteousness of Christ, and live continually in sin and disobedience, and if God does not chastise us severly for it, WE ARE NOT BORN AGAIN.

Your interpretations lead me to suspect that you believe the false doctrines of the Penecostal/Charismatic crowd. Salvation is a complete work of God, in that He gives it, and He keeps that which we have committed unto Him against that day(2Timothy 1:12)

Joseph wrote:
Thank you Jon, I am glad to hear a more orthodox explanation of the term than some people..

God gives you the power to overcome sin, and He begins to sanctify you. Sanctification is when God works in your life to continually turn you from sin and make you more holy. We are not fully sanctified until we reach eternity, and we do still sin, but we are not given to sin, or continue in a life of sin. Even though we fail and sin, our salvation is never lost. God saves and God keeps us.

And when we do sin, we simply go to God and confess it, we don't have to go through anyone to get to God, we can go directly to Him.

You see Joseph, there is a big difference in simply believing in Jesus and having saving faith in Jesus. (which is repentance and trust in Him)

Repentance means to turn from sin and turn to God. To trust in Jesus means to fully depend on His death on the cross to satisfy Gods wrath against you for your sin. The moment you place this saving faith in Jesus, the Bible says God will give you a new heart with His Spirit born within it. He'll make you a new person a new creature in Christ.

God will count you as righteous in His sight because of your faith in Christ. This is what it means to be justified by faith. It is just as if you never sinned. God will see you as if you never sinned, by your faith in Jesus Christ you will be counted as righteous. It is His free gift, you cannot earn it, you don't deserve it, but he offers it to you as a gift, all you have to do is reach out and take it by trusting Him.

God has made salvation a matter of the heart. You can't earn it, you can't merit for yourself any graces, you can't do anything to help you "make it". God promises that if believe "on" Jesus Christ you shall be saved.

Joseph, I'm talking about the literal birth of the Holy Spirit within you. We are born spiritually dead because of the sin nature we inherited from Adam. It is this sin nature that sets our destiny by default into hell fire. In order for us to see this more clearly God gave us His law(Ten Commandments) to show us our condition. Have you ever lied? This violates the commandment "Thou shalt not bear false witness" Have you ever looked with lust? Jesus says whoever looks with lust has committed adultery in their heart(Matthew 5:28)If you answered yes to these, by your own admission you are a lying, adulterer. This is how God sees you. His word says that all liars shall have their part in the lake of fire, and no adulterer shall enter the kingdom of God(Rev. 21:8; 1Cor 6:9) The soul that sinneth it shall die.. the wages of sin is death...(Ezek. 18:4; Romans 6:23) In order to be in the presence of God we must be righteous and without sin. So as you can see none of us are. We must recieve the righteousness of Christ. To recieve His righteousness we must repent and place our trust in Him. This is very different from just believing. The instant we repent and trust Him, God births His Spirit within us.

"“Men who are morbidly anxious to possess a self-consistent creed,--A CREED WHICH WILL PUT TOGETHER AND FORM A SQUARE LIKE A CHINESE PUZZLE,--are very apt to narrow their souls. Those who will only believe what they can reconcile will necessarily disbelieve much of divine revelation. Those who receive by faith anything which they find in the Bible will receive two things, twenty things, ay, or twenty thousand things, though they cannot construct a theory which harmonises them all” (Spurgeon, “Faith,” Sword and Trowel, 1872).

I'll say it again, no system of theology can explain the mysteries of God.