Who will come to Church if it's told to them 'Christianity is a V
Ops , my bad! Sorry. I just quoted scriptures , the words of the Lord Christ Himself, which cannot be negated by anyone IMO.
The objective/ goal/ purpose was to underscore the importance of obeying the Lord and therefore it becomes exceedingly relevant to this thread of Ez believism. If you search the heart of the Lord , it points at OBEDIENCE and not faith alone. Faith without works is dead believed and taught James, the brother of Jesus. That's WHAT the Lord has put in my heart, mind, and soul. To pick up my cross, deny the flesh daily, and follow the master. that's WHAT I get from the message. And because its a very hard walk, easy beleivism proponents relied on random scriptures to establish the heresy That you are saved by faith alone. And therefore I put Christ's scriptures / words which are so full of a definitive call for obedience ( love, righteousness, truth, walking in the spirit and holiness, compassion, forgiveness, nonjudgment, charity etc.)----- a theme which smoothly flows uninterrupted from Genesis to Revelation. In fact in the book of revelation, where Christ is in all His power and glory, is not just asking for obedience, but WARNING about the backlash of sinfulness and non-obedience. He is going to hammer hard those who didnt elect to obey.
Let's reflect on some of his warnings :
Revelation 22:12
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"Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.
the reason I placed the Lord's parable of the ten virgins is that many "believers" will be left out where it's cold and dark and gnashing of the teeth. Matthew 25:1-13, the five virgins who were prepared for the bridegroom's arrival were rewarded, while the five who are not prepared are disowned. The parable has a clear eschatological theme: be prepared for the Day of Judgment.
Again and gain Christ warns in His ministry that he has no place in heaven for in-obedient/ sinful believers.
Here is another example -- Matthew 7: 21 --- where Jesus hands out an unveiled warning to believers who are NOT willing to sacrifice their will for God's SWEET perfect will. Believing is like getting married to Christ . And NOW starts the hard part, the marriage!---- DOING THE WILL OF GOD all our lives till the last breath. Even while we stumble and bumble and the Cross which we are carrying, crashes to the floor, we are supposed to pick it up again and again ( as Jesus did) as WE WALK to OUR Golgotha. yes, there WILL be crucifixion for us too. An emotional crucifixion as we face daily MOMENT BY MOMENT ferocious attacks (and temptations) from the three great enemies we have---- FLESH, WORLD , and the DEVIL [ the F -W-D]. They are like vicious wolves which gnaw at us all day. yet The Lord provided us with the Holy Spirit one who is greater than the one on earth -- the devil. And therefore it becomes imperative to walk in the Spirit. in the book of revelation Jesus is not the gentle Jesus we know. because He is now in raw power with a Double-edged sword proceeding from His mouth. he is in no mood to accept sinful lifestyle in the name of being saved through easy belief in the messiah. WHAT ARE YOUR WORKS! He will thunder when we reach there ( Revelation 2: 26)
It is from this book that I realized that easy believeism doctrine does not exist in the book of Christ. It was made up to make Christianity ( which is a very hard walk) become easy and acceptable to all. Just believe and get saved and now all your past present and future sins are covered! really? Really? What gospel is this? who masterminded this deception by AMPUTATING the second and absolutely VITAL component of the salvation doctrine preached by the Lord Jesus Christ?
( Matthew 28: 18-20)
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
James 1: 22 “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
Luke (9:23)And he said before everyone, “Whoever is willing to come after me, let him deny himself, let him take up his cross daily, and let him come after me.”
Matthew 12: 46-50
While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
48 He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
I believe Jesus is abundantly clear here that if we do NOT do the will of God , we have no relations with Jesus, no matter how hard we scream "I believe!"
Dear dear lovely brothers and sisters on Christ out Lord, I, raj, love you all. I mean that. If I share something, I wish to make sure its Biblically sound and supported by verses. With great difficulty and after 13 long years of being a Christian, I realized the clarion call of the Christ was to DO THE WILL OF GOD OVER OUR WILL
( Matthew 7:21)
Ez believism , as the doctrine of salvation, just does not exist. It was cleverly crafted to make Christianity an easy , attractive and enjoyable experience--- much like what Joel Osteen and company teach. Some Churches are guilty of teaching this message, like my erstwhile church did. Also, it gets hoards of people to the Lord. because all they have to do is BELIEVE and their sins forever are forgiven. Thus this man-made doctrine made it very easy to believe and get saved. Easy believers stopped fearing God ( which the beginning of wisdom). Many Ez believers continued a sinful lifestyle since their pastor had ASSURED them that all their sins was covered. [ast present and future. Ez believer also found no need to study Bible and practise love and compassion. Or even share the gospel. their salvation was a foregone conclusion. It was something even God couldn't take away from them! But that is not the message friends. It's a twisted message. And the words of Jesus point in that direction. If it were so easy Jesus wouldn't have been very strong on obedience-- DOING GOD'S WILL ------which Jesus ALWAYS did.
is precisely my point! This is the situation at this point of Jesus’s ministry, before His teaching to the 11 (Judas wasn’t there to hear the John 17 teaching).
