Are you a Mini Me? (Little accusers of the brethren)

Growing in Grace

I link all the verses, to help you all to easily check to see if what I say here is what the Scriptures say. Trust God and His Word not to lie or err.

Do you Fruit inspect much?  Or do you notice all the fruit inspectors on Facebook who are daily standing accusing the brethren? I am sure most will think they are not. But do you ever suggest certain ‘types’ probably aren’t saved? 

We all know those who say they believe and may behave abominably, or maybe not as well as we would wish. We may even be embarrassed or frustrated by their behavior if it is someone we know.  Maybe even disappointed with our own at times, if we are honest with ourselves.

But does that make you question their salvation?  

Or yours?

The only way we should judge our position is by what we have believed about the gospel. But if you want to judge your walk, it should be done by His Word, and hand in hand with Jesus helping you as you cooperate with Him. 1 John was written to help us keep intimate fellowship with the Father and other believers. So that our (believer’s) joy might remain full. To know whether or not we are walking in light or darkness, love or hate. So that we might continue in belief regarding eternal life (1 John 5:9-13) and this does not speak of not being positionally secure, but that His Word cements our assurance, because it’s by His Word our faith grows, and His Word is truth, the only thing to lean on, not feelings.

Lawkeepers

We have heard your wrongly applied proof texts (and load-ship idioms), to make others question whether or not they are His. And it’s not acceptable in His sight. If you are doing this, you are making a young one who believes in Him to stumble. Remember the millstone?

Depending on the translations these Load-ship teachers use, here are some short sound bites of the law-keepers. They are deceitfully or ignorantly handling Scripture as they go. Some who are Calvinists label believing as some sort of work or something to boast about (ridiculous — faith is not a work Rom 4:4-6). Paul Washer labels our ability to believe, idolatry. Belief is just that, a belief, not necessarily a ‘decision’ but belief in the truth. Here are some of his Washer-isms:

► The Idolatry of ‘decisionism’….

► Examine yourselves to see if you be in the faith…(wresting 2 Cor 13:5 from the proper context)

► We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone…*

► No fruits, no salvation…

► Whoever is born of God does not practice sin…(poieo is to ‘do’ or ‘commit’, not practice). Again, wrongly twisting 1 John 3:9.

► Many will cry Lord, Lord, but He’ll say ‘depart from me I never knew you’…(Once again, mangling Matt 7:13-25 which speaks of false prophets, who boast in their own works as their justification – Ps 94:4)

► He will spit lukewarm Christians out of His mouth. (what Washer means is they are goners, not true believers, not given eternal life). This is again, not understanding Scripture.

► They are not of us, because they went out from among us…(anyone who disagrees with Washer is an antichrist)

► Confess your sins and repent from them to be saved…(never a condition of the receipt of the free gift of eternal life, in fact, confessing your sin is a work of the law, a good thing, but can’t be added to justification/or being declared righteous –Num 5:6-7; Gal 2:16; Gal 3:11,24-25)

► The demons believe and tremble…(they, along with Calvinists and Catholics, seem to relish misusing this passage from James 2).

► No one can be saved who counts the cost and is unwilling to pay it (John MacArthur also loves saying this, along with Billy Graham). Counting the cost has to do with discipleship/a follower and has nothing to do with salvation from hell.

► You must surrender all to become saved (Good luck, not one of them has ‘surrendered all’, and they do not know what percentage would be acceptable).

*Frequently attributed to antisemite Priest Martin Luther, because it can be found in the doctrinal statement of the Lutherans, the ‘Epitome of the Formula of Concord’, but it was originally stated by the other murderous tyrant, John Calvin. These are historical facts, and not one-time deals as some would have others believe. These men were full of evil thoughts (Read “The Jews and their Lies” by Martin Luther. A book that Hitler loved, and one the Neo-nazi’s to this day sell by bundles). I still do not judge their salvation. The Lord knows what they initially believed, but many of their words and deeds were terrible.

For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.  Matt 15:19

All these phrases and more, we see incorrectly used by lordship teachers all over the world. They deceitfully handle Scripture, and they do not manifest the truth in every man’s conscience in the sight of God (2 Cor 4). Each Scripture when rightly divided, looked at in context, does not say what they imply or insist that it does.

Mini-Me’s

Who wrongly uses Scripture to tempt or accuse? The Enemy and Mini-me’s (Mini versions of the Accuser of the Brethren). Are you sure that is what you want to be like? Which side are you on?

• Are you an accuser of the bride of Christ?
• A judge of who is part of His body?
• Will you attack His flesh and blood possibly?

You may want to rethink your position.

What will Christ do to those nonbelievers who trouble His own? (See 2 Thess 1:6-10). Should believers be doing it?

If you have believed the true gospel (apart from works), wouldn’t it be better for you to be ready with an answer of the reason of the hope that is within you? Isn’t it a much better remedy to point people to Christ if they are not growing? Preach the gospel if you think they aren’t saved? (2 Tim 4:2; Rom 1:16-17). And friend, if you love Him, then Feed His sheep! (Jn 21:15-17)

What is the proper answer if you believe someone is a ‘false convert’? Is it to accuse them of such? Point your fingers at their behavior proving they are not saved? Fruit inspect like Paul Washer, John MacArthur et al.?

Or should you ask them about their gospel, what it is they have believed so you can help?

If you ever believed the right gospel, and you find that they have not understood the gospel, and have believed one with works (or missing some truth), then what is the answer for one you think may be unsaved???

• Again — preach the gospel.

And then what is the answer if you believe someone is not growing in the faith?

• In short, preach the Word, point them to Christ!

Are works automatic for a believer?

Again, No!

If works were automatic, we would not need the epistles to instruct and admonish us. Nor would we need chastening from the Lord. Nor would we be instructed in church discipline for those who are rebellious.

Believers can be guilty of all sorts of heinous behavior unfortunately as we see in multiple Scriptures. We need to point those people to His Word, if they refuse to hear, then we discipline them within the church, but we are never told to tell them they are unsaved. Nor do we see examples of that in Scripture. The apostles never accused misbehaving believers of being unsaved.

Here is a list of some of those bad things believers/saved people can do.

Tom Stegall mentions this in his book, “Must Faith Endure for Salvation to be sure?”

“The Bible actually teaches that it is possible for one who is eternally saved by God’s grace to”…

1) Commit idolatry and apostasy (1 Kgs. 11:1-10)
2) Believe only for a while (Luke 8:13)
3) Not continue in the Word of Christ (Jn. 8:31)
4) Not abide in Christ (John 15:1-8)
5) Become disqualified in the race of the Christian life (1 Cor. 9:24-27)
6) Resist God’s chastening and correcting to the point of physical death (1 Cor. 11:30-32)
7) Stray from the faith (1 Timothy 1:5-6)
8) Shipwreck faith (1 Timothy 1:18-20)
9) Fall away from the faith (1 Timothy 4:1-3)
10) Deny the faith (1 Timothy 5:8)
11) Cast off initial faith and follow Satan (1 Timothy 5:12-15)
12) Stray from the faith by loving money (1 Timothy 6:9-10)
13) Stray from the faith by professing false doctrine (1 Timothy 6:20-21)
14) Deny Christ and be faithless (2 Timothy 2:11-13)
15) Have faith overthrown (2 Timothy 2:14-18)

We do need to cooperate to abide in the vine (Jn 15:4) AND abide in His Word (Jn 8:31-32), in order to be effective and to grow as students/disciples. We SHOULD maintain good works (Titus 3:8).

Caution: Don’t abide in the words of men, who use excellency of speech and wisdom of their own words to seduce you regarding the gospel (1 Cor 2:1-5) or who corrupt your minds from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Cor 11:3-4).

The church: Jesus loves the bride He gave Himself for, in spite of themselves. In our human eyes, we somehow think God is a respecter of persons based on how good they are (He is not!). We cannot finish in the flesh (Gal 3), that which He began in the Spirit. He gave Himself for us, and we need to submit to Him so that He will work in us while we are here. We are in a race (1 Cor 9:24-27; Heb 12:1).

The unsaved: God the Father loves the world until the moment they die having rejected His Son, then they will face the Judgment — His Wrath and eternal damnation. God takes no pleasure in even the death of the wicked. But He also has no pleasure in the one who is absent of faith (Heb 11:6).

I do NOT believe your salvation can be lost. If you teach otherwise, knowingly or otherwise, you preach another gospel that will not save — and you are following after the philosophies and doctrines of men.

Please, for your sake, and your loved ones — prayerfully consider the Scriptures against what you have been taught (Acts 17:11; 1 Thess 5:21).  See if those few verses that seem to suggest losing eternal life really mean that.  Gather up the Scriptures and determine to study with His approval in mind — asking questions and looking at context.

DO YOU BELIEVE YOU CAN LOSE ETERNAL LIFE?

Consequences Believers Face if we are disobedient

Here are some things we CAN lose other than eternal life. 

1)  Loss of Fellowship with God (1 John 1:3, 6,9) – this means intimate partaking, when we are in sin, it is us who is hiding from God. He has not forsaken us.

2)  Loss of Fellowship with others (1 John 1:3, 7) – when we hurt others and refuse to admit it, there is a chasm between us.

3)  Loss of Fullness of joy in our walk (1 John 1:4) – let’s face it. Sin hurts us and others when we do not admit it (homologeo – the word used in 1 Jn 1:9 for confess).

4)  Loss of potential Rewards at the judgment seat of Christ (1 Cor 3:10-16)

5)  Bring judgment upon ourselves (1 Cor 11:29)

6)  Loss of our physical life (1 Cor 5:5; Acts 5:1-11, 1 Cor 11:30)

7)  Loss of our health, be weak or sickly (1 Cor 11:30)

8)  Loss of our testimony or justification before men (James 2, Titus 3:8)

9)  Shaming the name of Christ for sins named among us (Eph 5:3).

10) Facing chastening (1 Cor 11:32; Heb 12:5-6)

11) Facing consequences for our actions (Gal 6:7-9)

12) Others facing things because of us, including loss of knowing Christ. (Gal 6:9)

13) Straying from the truth, being dishonorable – (2 Tim 2:18-20)

14) Being ashamed at His appearing – (1 John 2:28)

15) Loss of the joy of our salvation – (Ps 51:2)

Those are just some of the consequences the Word speaks of. So consider whether the word ‘saved‘, ‘salvation‘ or ‘deliverance‘ speaks to a physical saving from something, or a spiritual one.

Remember Mary chose the good part, the needed thing (Luke 10:38-42). We need to be wise and stay close to our Shepherd.

Want to grow in His grace? I recommend this sermon to you.

Daily Reminders that can Transform your life by Pastor Thomas Cucuzza

In Jesus Christ’s love to you all.