Tue, Sep 18th - 10:06AM

Everybody wants to hook up with Christians today. There is a great clamor, endless demands even, that Christians "loosen up" and fellowship with others, regardless that such persons do not believe AND follow the Bible, correctly understood and lived.

Unbelievers continue to argue with the Bible, they say (falsely) "surely we understand things better than the Bible due to modern understanding gained from science (so-called) and psychology etc". They want God's people, to join in with them and accept their unbelief.

Into this mix do appear the most insidious of unbelievers: Religious gurus, self appointed spiritual "elitist", mere natural men who are self appointed eccleciastic "experts"; so called "gods" of religious academia; so called rock stars of "theology"; false high priests of religious babble; so called risen "kings" and ascended "masters" above the congregations. They are clearly unbiblical busybodies; meddlers in God's business; modern day wizards and charmers; stumbling blocks and hindrances to those trying to enter into the kingdom of God. For they substitute their "education", rituals, and traditions over the word of God. They are fervent promoters of UNBELIEF and mercilessly brow beat, and beat down their "converts". Of those building up men's kingdom and not God's Jesus said:

27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

Matt 23:27-28 (KJV)

15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

Luke 16:15 (KJV)

Make no mistake saints (G40 hagios) these vile, evil, wicked, arrogant, proud, stubborn, greedy, power hungry unbelievers, who do always resist the Holy Ghost, are arguing with God. Neither they nor anyone else have absolutely NO chance of winning or changing God's mind or the minds of God's people, indwelt by the Triune God.

Dear friends of Jesus, if any among us has been conned into believing that a "special status" has been granted by the hands of men of religious academia apart from God's unchanging everlasting standard, make haste to repent of such folly, and come humbly believing and trusting God alone. Be sure brethren, the kingdom of men is coming to an end, even now the handwriting is on the wall.

25 And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.

Dan 5:25 (KJV)

love, serola

Wed, Sep 5th - 6:32AM

Holy brethren, I have posted on baptism awhile back but wanted to visit it again. I mentioned before how I had to repent to God for adding my own spin to the Gospel message. However, this is more common than one might think. Mainly, I believe, due to not understanding and/or not carefully reading the scriptures.

 A pastor of a large local church, often fondly makes references to his days spent in seminary. I have no problem with seminary as a personal preference, but as I have posted before, our preferences can never be made a rule if it contradicts God’s word. Unfortunately, going to a seminary has become the standard of approval, for whether a man can become a pastor, teach or serve in church leadership in some places. I am not advocating illiteracy or ignorance, certainly sound biblical knowledge is necessary for a pastor and indeed all Christians. However, according to scripture, it is not necessary to attend some seminary, to know and understand the Bible. God has set the task of learning the scriptures through the power of the Holy Spirit to the church as a whole, i.e. pastors, teachers, and the body in general.

The sole basis  that makes any teachings acceptable is that it agrees with scripture. Having a degree or any other title, does not exempt any teacher from God's ABSOLUTE standard.

The Bible has set the standard for all Christians both specifically and in general, for all time. Religious gurus have arisen, who have high-jacked God’s standard for church leadership/teaching etc., making it to be based on a degree of some sort from attendance at a religious school or seminary alone. I believe these are the New Pharisees, who love to be called “doctor”, and publicly lauded, by men.

 Some of these religious gurus having reached the so-called “pinnacle” of academia feel they have nothing further to learn of the scriptures. These self-appointed “experts” demand that their teachings be accepted based purely upon academic achievements.

 It  goes without saying this is not true of all men and women who attend seminary, who remain humble and true to scripture, desiring to truly know the Bible, and/or found entrance into the ministry hindered by the academic gurus, unless they attended certain seminaries. HOWEVER, WITHOUT BEING A CHRISTIAN, ONE REMAINS A NATURAL MAN WITHOUT THE ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND OR LIVE THE SCRIPTURES, NO MATTER HOW MANY SCHOOLS OR TEACHERS ONE HAS OR DEGREES ONE MAY OBTAIN:

14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Co. 2:14 kjv 

Now, beloveds, I am not putting this pastor down. This is a kind of pastor, who is full of compassion, caring, spends a lot of time helping the flock, and more interested in feeding the sheep than bleeding the sheep. That being said, his way of sharing the Gospel, was to invite people to come and “give their lives to Christ”. After this, such persons who “gave their lives to Christ” received water baptism with these words, as they were dipped into water:

“I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost: RECEIVE YE THE HOLY GHOST.

Yes, beloved, there are many more that believe through physically baptizing somebody in common water, by the hands of people, that the Holy Ghost will be given and the person "saved". This is putting the cart before the horse, for the person being wetted down with mere water in this way, has no right to water baptism, having never FIRST believed the Gospel. He or she just got wet. Certainly this is a rife and wrongful teaching of certain denominations and others. The Gospel is easy to understand, and we must speak it with words easy to understand.

⁹ So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air.

The Bible is clear, SPIRITUAL baptism by Jesus Christ, must come FIRST before water baptism. Only when a person believes in Jesus Christ, does our Lord forgive, and wash us in His SINLESS blood from all our sins, baptizing us with the Holy Ghost. Water baptism can never bring Salvation to anyone.

 Can a man dipping folks in water cause them to receive the Holy Ghost? Obviously the answer is a resounding NO. John the Baptist a man and forerunner of Christ couldn’t do it. But he testified of the God-Man from heaven who could, for he said of Lord Jesus Christ:

⁸ I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.

Mark 1:7-8 (KJV)

What has Jesus done for us?

⁴ John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; ⁵ And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. UNTO HIM WHO LOVED US AND WASHED US FROM OUR SINS IN HIS OWN BLOOD, ⁶ And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Rev 1:4-6 (KJV)

Why does forgiveness from God require the shedding of blood? This is no arbitrary decree on the part of a bloodthirsty God, as some have foolishly and falsely suggested. There is no greater symbol of life than blood; blood keeps us alive. Jesus shed his SINLESS blood — gave his life — for our sins so that we wouldn't have to experience spiritual death, eternal separation from God. Jesus is the source of life, not death. He gave his own life to pay our penalty for us so that we might live. After shedding his SINLESS blood for us, Christ rose from the grave and proclaimed victory over sin and death.

 While water baptism serves as ordinance of the church, to publicly announce our faith in Christ, AFTER we have believed on Him, it has NO power to save us for Only Jesus Christ ALONE can do that. Now is the time for those  who have miss put their faith in water, to come repenting and believing in Jesus Christ and having done so can rest assured that He will wash you in His own SINLESS blood, forgiving you of all sins, and baptize you with the HOLY GHOST. DO NOT ALLOW YOUR FAITH TO REST IN WATER, WHICH CAN NEVER SAVE US. OUR FAITH MUST REST IN THE SALVATION PURCHASED FOR US BY THE SINLESS BLOOD OF THE LAMB.

Love, serola                                     

Drink ye all of it; ²⁸ For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Matt 26:27-28 (KJV)

Mon, Sep 3rd - 4:15AM

Brothers and sisters, repeatedly godly teachers, and the brethren in general warn that we must not learn the Bible second handed. I know from personal experience how destructive it can be not to take time to carefully study God’s word for ourselves. I had some personal thoughts and beliefs that just did not square with scripture.

I will never forget the day a man approached me in a crowd trying to flirt with me. I earnestly said to him that he was trying to fill up his life with women and it would never work. I advised him to “give your life to Christ”. He was deeply moved, and greatly desired to have this Christ in his life. We parted, and some of the people who had overheard our brief conversation, began to praise God, loudly.

Unfortunately, I had done nothing of value to or for this man, or those over hearers. Having read but bits and pieces of the Bible, I thought, WRONGLFULLY, it did not matter what we told people about Christ, but simply that we tell them something about him, or just pass out tracts alone. Yes, brethren, I had been taught how to properly witness, but having never truly read the Bible for myself, other than bits and pieces, I thought too it was O.K to put my personal spin on it, or add my personal preferences to it. Once I learned the absolute truth, I went back to telling the Gospel message, and watched the power of God bring many sons and daughters into the kingdom.

After reading the scriptures for myself, saints (G40 hagios), I repented and laid aside all of my own personal thoughts/ preferences etc.  having learned that the path to Salvation is absolute, and never again told anybody to “give your life to Christ”. Salvation is not based on anything but the final, finished, and complete work of Christ, who shed His SINLESS blood, died on the cross,  for our sins and rose again, to save sinners, baptizing/sealing them with the Holy Ghost, making them children of the living God, having delivered them from the kingdom of darkness. 

Jesus is the culmination or end of Salvation, from start to finish, with good works or fruits of the Holy Spirit afterward produced in all lives by Him, in them who believe in and love  Him. The hallmark or sole evidence of the indwelling fruit of the Holy Spirit that Jesus produces in the lives of all His people is LOVE (agape).   (G26 Agape) love, i.e. affection or benevolence; specially (plural) a love-feast :- (feast of) charity ([-ably]), dear, love. The work or fruit of the Holy Spirit cannot be discounted nor eliminated. Only human works and works of the law are eliminated, but never the work that is not of men, but of God through the Holy Spirit. No fruit or work of the Holy Spirit= NO ROOT.

Remember what God has said beloved: CHRIST IS THE END OF SALVATION FOR ALL WHO BELIEVE. And again, Lord Jesus has said: IT IS FINISHED. Failure to understand Christ's message of finality has led to many denonminations, and misleading of  some people to think they are saved but are not. Failure to understand Christ's message has also led to needless suffering of many who have not grasped the finality of Christ's work, and who keep trying to add their own, in vain. Every Christian is owned by God, who produces the fruit or work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We are not our own, we have NO Right to live in any way other than the way that God commands. Now, we know there are evil perverse teachers, who preach a perverted lying gospel, ( which is no gospel at all), that once you are saved you can live  like an animal the rest of your life, and still call yourself saved. Such vile liars are accursed by God, and shall be turned into hell, unless they repent. Hear God, and turn away from those that blaspheme the scriptures, preaching a false gospel.

⁸ Charity (G26) never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

1 Cor 13:8 (KJV)

¹³ And now abideth faith, hope, charity, (G26) these three; but the greatest of these is charity. (G26)

1 Cor 13:13 (KJV)