Sorry for Not Posting

That you for your patience for not posting. I did more heart searching for why this blog should exist or not. After the events surrounding the recent book of Rob Bell's book Love Wins. I revisited my first post and helped refuel the fire of warning the Biblical Church of dangerous teaching and trends that the church adopts.

There was a story of a man that was driving through the night on a small country road. It was raining hard and so the fella turned the radio on to hear the weather report. The news reporter stated that there was a man missing from Mental Institution near by. And he was considered dangerous because of his mental state. He drove for another 30 minutes and the rain was still pounding on the windshield. He had to slow down at times because of the poor visibility. Out of nowhere a man was seen down the road, waving his arms. The closer the car got to man, the driver started to hear the words, stop, stop, stop. The thought came to the driver, wow! This must be the guy that has escaped from the Mental Institution. Just look at his eyes! They have that crazy look in them.
So fear overtook the driver and he turned the car to the left and the man with his hands on the hood still was yelling, Stop, Stop, Stop! The driver was still full of fear about what this guy will do next. So he turned the car around and drove back to the village that he past awhile ago.
Next he saw a set of headlights coming toward him and with a flashing blue and red lights on the top of the car. It was the police. They stopped in front of the car and came to the drivers window. The driver said that he was so glad to see him. There was a crazy man down the road yelling for me to stop. The police said,
Crazy Man! I don't know anything about a crazy man. But it was a good thing that you did stop and turn around. The Bridge down the road that you were headed for was washed out by the river. That man whoever he was, saved you from falling from the bridge and into the river.

I understand the biblical mandate:


•Matt 7:15-20 Jesus says, "Beware of the FALSE PROPHETS, who come to you in SHEEP'S CLOTHING but INWARDLY ARE RAVENOUS WOLVES. You can identify them by their FRUIT, that is, by the way they ACT. Can you pick grapes from Thornbushes, or Figs from Thistles? (17) A GOOD TREE produces GOOD FRUIT, and a BAD TREE produces BAD FRUIT. A GOOD TREE can’t produce BAD FRUIT, and a BAD TREE can’t produce GOOD FRUIT. So every TREE that does not produce GOOD FRUIT is chopped down and thrown into the Fire. Yes, just as you can identify a TREE by its FRUIT, so you can IDENTIFY PEOPLE BY THEIR ACTIONS."


•Matt 24:4-5 Jesus told them, “Don’t let anyone Mislead you, for MANY will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive MANY."


•Matt 7:21-23 Jesus warns, "Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the WILL OF MY FATHER in Heaven will enter. On Judgment Day MANY will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We PROPHESIED IN YOUR NAME and Cast out demons in your Name and Performed many Miracles in your Name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who BREAK GOD'S LAWS."


•Matt 24:11 Jesus says, "MANY FALSE PROPHETS will appear and will deceive MANY people."


•Matt 24:23-26 Jesus says “Then if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah,’ or ‘There he is,’ don’t believe it. For FALSE MESSIAHS and FALSE PROPHETS will rise up and perform GREAT SIGNS AND WONDERS SO AS TO DECEIVE, IF POSSIBLE EVEN GOD'S CHOSEN ONES. See, I have warned you about this ahead of time. “So if someone tells you, ‘Look, the Messiah is out in the desert,’ don’t bother to go and look. Or, ‘Look, he is hiding here,’ don’t believe it!"


•Mark 13:22 Jesus warns, "FALSE CHRISTS & FALSE PROPHETS shall rise, and shall show SIGNS & WONDERS, IN ORDER TO LEAD ASTRAY, IF IT WERE POSSIBLE, EVEN THE ELECT. But take heed; behold, I have told you everything in advance."


•Rev 2:2 Jesus says, "I know ALL the things you DO. I have seen your Hard Work & your Patient Endurance. I know you DON'T TOLERATE EVIL PEOPLE. You have EXAMINED the CLAIMS of those who SAY they are APOSTLES but are NOT. You have DISCOVERED they are LIARS. You have Patiently Suffered for Me without Quitting...(6) You HATE THE EVIL DEEDS of the Nicolaitans, just as I do."
•Matt 16:4 Jesus says, "ONLY an EVIL, ADULTEROUS generation would demand a Miraculous Sign..."


•Acts 20:29-32 "I know that FALSE TEACHERS, like VICIOUS WOLVES, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the Flock. Even some men from your own group will rise up and DISTORT THE TRUTH in order to draw a following. Watch out! Remember the three years I was with you—my constant watch and care over you night and day, and my many tears for you. “And now I entrust you to God and the Message of his Grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself."


•Rom 16:17-18 "WATCH OUT (MARK THEM) for people who cause Divisions and Upset People’s Faith by TEACHING THINGS CONTRARY to (TO THE DOCTRINE) what you have been taught. STAY AWAY from them. Such people are not serving Christ our Lord; they are serving their own Personal Interests. By SMOOTH TALK and GLOWING WORDS THEY DECEIVE INNOCENT PEOPLE."


•2 Peter 2:1-3 "But there were also FALSE PROPHETS in Israel, just as there will be FALSE TEACHERS among you. They will CLEVERLY TEACH DESTRUCTIVE HERESIES and even DENY THE MASTER (JESUS) who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. Many will follow their Evil Teaching and Shameful Immorality. And because of these Teachers, the way of Truth will be slandered. IN THEIR GREED THEY WILL MAKE UP CLEVER LIES TO GET A HOLD OF YOUR MONEY. But God condemned them long ago, and their Destruction will not be delayed."


•1 Tim 4:1 "Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the LAST TIMES some will turn away from the TRUE FAITH; they will follow DECEPTIVE SPIRITS AND TEACHINGS that come from DEMONS."


•2 Tim 4:3-4 "For the time will come (END TIMES) when they will NOT ENDURE SOUND DOCTRINE; but wanting to have their EARS TICKLED, they will accumulate for themselves TEACHERS IN ACCORDANCE TO THEIR OWN DESIRES, and will TURN AWAY THEIR EARS FROM THE TRUTH and will TURN ASIDE TO MYTHS."


•Titus 1:10-11 "For there are many REBELLIOUS PEOPLE WHO ENGAGE IN USELESS TALK AND DECEIVE OTHERS. This is especially true of those who insist on Circumcision for Salvation. THEY MUST BE SILENCED, because they are turning WHOLE FAMILIES AWAY FROM THE TRUTH by their FALSE TEACHERS. And they DO IT ONLY FOR MONEY."


•Gal 1:6-12 "I am shocked that you are TURNING AWAY SO SOON FROM GOD, who called you to himself through the loving Mercy of Christ. You are following a DIFFERENT WAY that PRETENDS TO BE THE GOOD NEWS but is NOT the Good News at all. You are being FOOLED by those who deliberately TWIST THE TRUTH CONCERNING CHRIST. LET GOD'S CURSE FALL ON ANYONE, INCLUDING US OR EVEN AN ANGEL FROM HEAVEN, WHO PREACHES A DIFFERENT KIND OF GOOD NEWS THAN THE ONE WE PREACHED TO YOU. I say again what we have said before: IF ANYONE PREACHES ANY OTHER GOOD NEWS THAN THE ONE YOU WELCOMED, LET THAT PERSON BE CURSED. Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant. Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the GOSPEL MESSAGE I Preach is NOT based on mere HUMAN REASONING. I received my message from No Human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by DIRECT REVELATION FROM JESUS CHRIST."


•2 Cor 11:13-15 "These people are FALSE APOSTLES. They are DECEITFUL WORKERS who DISGUISE THEMSELVES AS APOSTLES OF CHRIST. But I am not surprised! SATAN DISGUISES HIMSELF AS AN ANGEL OF LIGHT. So it is no wonder that his Servants also DISGUISE THEMSELVES AS SERVANTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. In the end they will get the Punishment their Wicked Deeds deserve."


•Phil 3:18-19 "For I have told you often before, and I say it again with Tears in my eyes, that there are MANY whose CONDUCT SHOWS they are really Enemies of the Cross of Christ. They are headed for DESTRUCTION. Their god is their Appetite, they Brag about shameful things, and they THINK ONLY ABOUT THIS LIFE HERE ON EARTH."


•Col 2:8 “BEWARE lest any man spoil you through PHILOSOPHY and VAIN DECEIT, after the TRADITION OF MEN, after the RUDIMENTS OF THE WORLD, and NOT after CHRIST.”


•Col 2:18 "Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on PIOUS SELF-DENIAL or the WORSHIP OF ANGELS, saying they have had VISIONS ABOUT THESE THINGS. Their sinful minds have made them proud.."


•2 John 1:10-11 "If anyone comes to your meeting and does NOT TEACH THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRIST, don’t invite that person into your home or give any kind of encouragement. Anyone who encourages such people becomes a PARTNER IN THEIR EVIL WORK."


•2 Pet 2:18 "They Brag about themselves with Empty, Foolish Boasting. With an Appeal to twisted Sexual Desires, they lure back into Sin those who have barely escaped from a Lifestyle of DECEPTION."


•Amos 8:11 "Behold, the Days are coming," says the Lord God, "That I will send a Famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of HEARING THE WORDS OF THE LORD."


•1 Tim 6:8-10 "So if we have ENOUGH FOOD and CLOTHING, LET US BE CONTENT. But people who long to be RICH FALL INTO TEMPTATION and are TRAPPED BY MANY FOOLISH and HARMFUL DESIRES that plunge them into RUIN AND DESTRUCTION. For the LOVE OF MONEY is the ROOT of ALL KINDS OF EVIL. And some people, CRAVING MONEY, have WANDERED from the TRUE FAITH and pierced themselves with MANY SORROWS."


The hardest thing to show people that to correct or warn people is to show love for them. I pray that the above story of the man warning that the bridge was washed away. Would show that He did care enough to stop their car from great danger. Please understand this as I post very hard subjects in the future.

2 Timothy 3:16 (English Standard Version)
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness

Accountable to Jesus Christ

Noah316

In the Words of the Enemy

This video pretty well sums up who you face every day. After the video I inserted a chapter from John Pipers Book. When I Don't Desire God
http://http//www.desiringgod.org/Store/Books/481
It is important to have a balance when exposing the character and works of Satan. And John Piper does a good job in the following writing.

GIVE THE DEVIL HIS DUE, BUT NO MORE

If you ask about the devil’s role in your darkness, I answer: Give him his
due, but no more. He and his demons are always at work, not just sometimes.
There is nothing extraordinary about the fact of his harassment.
Paul considers it a normal part of Christian warfare to “take up the
shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of
the evil one” (Eph. 6:16).
16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;

Peter counsels us, “Be sober-minded; be watchful.
Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking
someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith” (1 Pet. 5:8-9).
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

All this is normal. But the quality of his harassment varies from mild temptation
to murder. Jesus calls him “a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44).
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

He has the power to inspire painful persecution and even kill
Christians (Rev. 2:10).
Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

But there are three great comforts in the face of Satan’s attacks.

One is that Satan cannot do anything apart from God’s sovereign permission
(Job 1:12; 2:6),
12 And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand." So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
6 And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life."

which is governed by God’s infinite wisdom and covenant love. Thus Satan’s servants become God’s sanctifying envoys
(2 Cor. 12:7-10).
7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.


So even if Satan has a hand in your darkness, he is not
free to do more than your loving Father permits, and God will turn it
for your good (Luke 22:31-32).
32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." 33 Peter said to him, "Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death."

Second, the decisive blow against Satan’s destructive power was
delivered by the death of Jesus for our sins (Col. 2:15
15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Heb. 2:14).
14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,

This means that Satan can harass us and even kill us, but he cannot destroy
us. Only unforgiven sin can damn the human soul. If Christ has covered
all our sin by his blood, and if God imputes to us the perfect righteousness
of Christ, then Satan has no grounds for any damning accusation,
and his case against us fails in the court of heaven. “Who shall bring any
charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn?
Christ Jesus is the one who died” (Rom. 8:33-34).
33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God,(D) who indeed is interceding for us.


THE DEVIL CANNOT ABIDE WITH THE LIGHT OF
CHERISHED TRUTH

Third, deliverance from Satan’s oppressing, darkening, and deceiving
work in the life of the Christian comes most often by the power of truth,
and only rarely by exorcism. I have seen demon-possession and have
been a part of one very dramatic exorcism. I don’t believe the person was
a Christian till after the deliverance. The complete takeover of the personality
by a demon is not something the Holy Spirit would allow in the
Christ-indwelt heart. But that distinction may not matter much to the
Christian who is being attacked and harassed from without on every
side. The battle can be fierce. What is called for usually is the ministry
of 2 Timothy 2:24-26.
24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone,
able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with
gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a
knowledge of the truth, and they may escape from the snare of the
devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
Gentle, loving, teaching of the truth is the process in which God himself
grants repentance and a knowledge of the truth, which results in an
escape from the captivity of the devil. The devil cannot abide truth and
light. He is by nature a liar and deceiver. He thrives in darkness.
Therefore, if, by God’s grace we can bring the full force of truth to shine
in the believer’s darkness, the devil will not survive the light. Good, solid
Bible teaching is a crucial part of deliverance from the darkening power
of the devil.

Last Mark of a Cult: Divide!

The last of this series is about how a group will divide themselves from all others and because of that will in the end separate themselves as God. Having the Last word. Now when reading this you may say that every church wants the last word. There is a healthily balance when to divide from other groups that set themselves as the "only" way instead of Jesus Christ alone as the only way.
Here is a message by A.W. Tozer to explain:

Divisions Are Not Always Bad
by A.W. Tozer

When to unite and when to divide, that is the question, and a right answer requires the wisdom of a Solomon.

Some settle the problem by rule of thumb: All union is good and all division bad. It's that easy. But obviously this effortless way of dealing with the matter ignores the lessons of history and overlooks some of the deep spiritual laws by which men live.

If good men were all for union and bad men for division, or vice versa, that would simplify things for us. Or if it could be shown that God always unites and the devil always divides it would be easy to find our way around in this confused and confusing world. But that is not how things are.

To divide what should be divided and unite what should be united is the part of wisdom. Unions of dissimilar elements is never good even where it is possible, nor is the arbitrary division of elements that are alike; and this is as certainly true of things moral and religious as of things political or scientific.

The First Divider

The first divider was God who at the creation divided the light from the darkness. This division set the direction for all God's dealings in nature and in grace. Light and darkness are incompatible; to try to have both in the same place at once is to try the impossible and end by havng neither the one nor the other, but dimness rather, and obscurity.

In the world of men there are at present scarcely any sharp outlines. The race is fallen. Sin has brought confusion. The wheat grows with the tares, the sheep and the goats coexist, the farms of the just and the unjust lie side by side in the landscape, the mission is next door to the saloon.

But things will not always be so. The hour is coming when the sheep with be divided from the goats and the tares separated from the wheat. God will again divide the light from the darkness and all things will run to their kind. Tares will go into the fire with tares and wheat into the garner with wheat. The dimness will lift like a fog and all outlines will appear. Hell will be seen to be hell all the way through, and heaven revealed as the one home of all who bear the nature of the one God.

For that time we with patience wait. In the meanwhile for each of us, and for the church wherever she appears in human society, the constantly recurring question must be: What shall we unite with and from what shall we separate? The question of coexistence does not enter here, but the question of union and fellowship does. The wheat grows in the same field with the tares, but shall the two cross-polinate? The sheep graze near the goats, but shall they seek to interbreed? The unjust and the just enjoy the same rain and sunshine, but shall they forget their deep moral differences and intermarry?

To these questions the popular answer is yes. Union for union's sake, and men shall be brothers be for a' that. Unity is so devoutly to be desired that no price is too high to pay for it and nothing is important enough to keep us apart. Truth is slain to provide a feast to celebrate the marriage of heaven and hell, and all to support a concept of unity which has no basis in the Word of God.

The Spirit-illuminated Church

The Spirit-illuminated church will have none of this. In a fallen world like ours unity is no treasure to be purchased at the price of compromise. Loyalty to God, faithfulness and truth and the preservation of a good conscience are jewels more precious than gold of Ophir or diamonds from the mine. For these jewels men have suffered the loss of property, imprisonment and even death; for them, even in recent times, behind the various curtains, followers of Christ have paid the last full measure of devotion and quietly died, unknown to and unsung by the great world, but known to God and dear to His Father heart.

In the day that shall declare the secrets of all souls these shall come forth to receive the deeds done in the body. Surely such as these are wiser philosophers than the religious camp followers of meaningless unity who have not the courage to stand against the vogues and who bleat for brotherhood only because it happens to be for the time popular.

Wise Sheep

"Divide and conquer" is the cynical slogan of Machiavellian political leaders, but Satan knows how to unite and conquer. To bring a nation to its knees the aspiring dictator must unite it. By repeated appeals to national pride or to the need to avenge some past or present wrong the demagogue succeeds in uniting the populace behind him. It is easy after that to take control of the military and to beat the legislature into submission. Then follows almost perfect unity indeed, but it is the unity of the stockyards and the concentration camp. We have seen this happen several times in this century, and the world will see it at least once more when the nations of the earth are united under Antichrist.

When confused sheep start over a cliff the individual sheep can save himself only be separating from the flock. Perfect unity at such a time can only mean total destruction for all. The wise sheep to save his own hide disaffiliates.

Power lies in the union of things similar and the division of things dissimilar. Maybe what we need in religious circles today is not more union but some wise and courageous division. Everyone desires peace but it could be that revival will follow the sword.



This article is part of A.W. Tozer's book God Tells The Man Who Cares

Aiden Wilson Tozer was born in Pennsylvania, in 1897. In 1919 he began pastoring the Alliance Church in Nutter Fort, West Virginia. He also pastored churches in Morgantown, West Virginia; Toledo, Ohio, Indianapolis, Indiana; and in 1928 came to the Southside Alliance Church in Chicago. Here he ministered until November 1959, when he became pastor of the Avenue Road Church in Toronto. A sudden heart attack in 1963 ended his ministry.

The 4th Mark of a Cult

The 4th Mark of a Cult attacks Justification by Faith. Oh know, I said a big word! Their seems to be a movement in Churches to turn their backs on anything that sounds like doctrine and not relationship. Have you ever though that this is the reason why so many through the centuries have left the church to go to the cults is because of abandoning the study of theology. The organized study of God's Word. It amazes me that people go to school for so many careers, trades, high skilled jobs but when it comes to sit under a Pastor that shares Biblical Doctrine. They are tempted to stay home or think Theology is putting God in a "Box." But at the same time we don't even know we have already put him in a box. I am pleading with you to study the scriptures.
I am including John MacArthur's article on Justification by Faith http://http//www.gty.org/Resources/Print/articles/22 Adding to the finished Work of Salvation is such a dangerous theme that has entered so many churches that they may not even know it. Please take time to read and view the videos.
For Those Who have Ears.

Justification by Faith by John MacArthur


The Reformation doctrine of justification by faith is, and has always been, the number one target of the enemy's attack. It provides the foundation of the bridge that reconciles God and man--without that key doctrine, Christianity falls. But the doctrine that the Reformers so painstakingly clarified, even spilled blood over, has become so muddled today that many Protestants barely recognize it. Sadly, there are some who react against a clear presentation of justification, calling it nothing more than useless hair-splitting. The superficial interests of the seeker church have caused doctrinal issues to be downplayed and deemphasized--what "unchurched" person wants to come hear about theology? Under the influence of pragmatism, the seeker-sensitive movement has traded God-honoring doctrinal clarity and biblical purity for entertainment and motivational speeches. Social and political concerns have brought evangelicals and Catholics together in recent years to unite against the forces of secularism. Under the influence of ecumenism, it's difficult for either group to remember what it was that divided them in the first place. The pragmatists and ecumenicists are aided in their forgetfulness by new theological movements that redefine justification in more Catholic terms. Under the influence of liberalism and postmodernism, proponents of the New Perspective on Paul, the Emergent Church, and others have so confused and redefined the doctrine of justification that it has become shrouded in darkness once again. The Christian church today is in danger of returning to the Dark Ages. The seeker movement has Christianity turning in its Bibles; the ecumenical movement urges Christians to use worldly means to accomplish temporal ends; and current theological movements look through the lens of philosophy--Enlightenment rationalism and postmodern subjectivism--rather than Scripture. The departure from sola scriptura has led to the departure from sola fide--justification by faith alone.

Back to the Beginning


In the 1500s a fastidious monk, who by his own testimony "hated God," was studying Paul's epistle to the Romans. He couldn't get past the first half of Romans 1:17: "[In the gospel] is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith" (KJV). One simple, biblical truth changed that monk's life--and ignited the Protestant Reformation. It was the realization that God's righteousness could become the sinner's righteousness--and that could happen through the means of faith alone. Martin Luther found the truth in the same verse he had stumbled over, Romans 1:17: "Therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith" (KJV, emphasis added). Luther had always seen "the righteousness of God" as an attribute of the sovereign Lord by which He judged sinners--not an attribute sinners could ever possess. He described the breakthrough that put an end to the theological dark ages: I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that "the just shall live by his faith." Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before the "justice of God" had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gate to heaven. Justification by faith was the great truth that dawned on Luther and dramatically altered the church. Because Christians are justified by faith alone, their standing before God is not in any way related to personal merit. Good works and practical holiness do not provide the grounds for acceptance with God. God receives as righteous those who believe, not because of any good thing He sees in them--not even because of His own sanctifying work in their lives--but solely on the basis of Christ's righteousness, which is reckoned to their account. "To the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness" (Romans 4:5). That is justification.

Declared Righteous: What Actually Changes?

In its theological sense, justification is a forensic, or purely legal, term. It describes what God declares about the believer, not what He does to change the believer. In fact, justification effects no actual change whatsoever in the sinner's nature or character. Justification is a divine judicial edict. It changes our status only, but it carries ramifications that guarantee other changes will follow. Forensic decrees like this are fairly common in everyday life. When I was married, for example, Patricia and I stood before the minister (my father) and recited our vows. Near the end of the ceremony, my father declared, "By the authority vested in me by the state of California, I now pronounce you man and wife." Instantly we were legally husband and wife. Whereas seconds before we had been an engaged couple, now we were married. Nothing inside us actually changed when those words were spoken. But our status changed before God, the law, and our family and friends. The implications of that simple declaration have been lifelong and life-changing (for which I am grateful). But when my father spoke those words, it was a legal declaration only. Similarly, when a jury foreman reads the verdict, the defendant is no longer "the accused." Legally and officially he instantly becomes either guilty or innocent--depending on the verdict. Nothing in his actual nature changes, but if he is found not guilty he will walk out of court a free person in the eyes of the law, fully justified. In biblical terms, justification is a divine verdict of "not guilty--fully righteous." It is the reversal of God's attitude toward the sinner. Whereas He formerly condemned, He now vindicates. Although the sinner once lived under God's wrath, as a believer he or she is now under God's blessing. Justification is more than simple pardon; pardon alone would still leave the sinner without merit before God. So when God justifies He imputes divine righteousness to the sinner (Romans 4:22-25). Christ's own infinite merit thus becomes the ground on which the believer stands before God (Romans 5:19; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Philippians 3:9). So justification elevates the believer to a realm of full acceptance and divine privilege in Jesus Christ. Therefore, because of justification, believers not only are perfectly free from any charge of guilt (Romans 8:33) but also have the full merit of Christ reckoned to their personal account (Romans 5:17). Here are the forensic realities that flow out of justification: •We are adopted as sons and daughters (Romans 8:15) •We become fellow-heirs with Christ (v. 17) •We are united with Christ so that we become one with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17) •We are henceforth "in Christ" (Galatians 3:27) and He in us (Colossians 1:27)

How Justification and Sanctification Differ

Justification is distinct from sanctification because in justification God does not make the sinner righteous; He declares that person righteous (Romans 3:28; Galatians 2:16). Notice how justification and sanctification are distinct from one another: •Justification imputes Christ's righteousness to the sinner's account (Romans 4:11b); sanctification imparts righteousness to the sinner personally and practically (Romans 6:1-7; 8:11-14). •Justification takes place outside sinners and changes their standing (Romans 5:1-2, sanctification is internal and changes the believer's state (Romans 6:19). •Justification is an event, sanctification a process. Those two must be distinguished but can never be separated. God does not justify whom He does not sanctify, and He does not sanctify whom He does not justify. Both are essential elements of salvation. Why differentiate between them at all? If justification and sanctification are so closely related that you can't have one without the other, why bother to define them differently? That question was the central issue between Rome and the Reformers in the sixteenth century, and it remains the main front in renewed attacks against justification.

Justification in Roman Catholic Doctrine

Roman Catholicism blends its doctrines of sanctification and justification. Catholic theology views justification as an infusion of grace that makes the sinner righteous. In Catholic theology, then, the ground of justification is something made good within the sinner--not the imputed righteousness of Christ. The Council of Trent, Rome's response to the Reformation, pronounced anathema on anyone who says "that the [sinner] is justified by faith alone--if this means that nothing else is required by way of cooperation in the acquisition of the grace of justification." The Catholic council ruled "Justification ... is not remission of sins merely, but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward man, through the voluntary reception of the grace, and of the gifts, whereby man of unjust becomes just." So Catholic theology confuses the concepts of justification and sanctification and substitutes the righteousness of the believer for the righteousness of Christ.

What's the Big Deal?

The difference between Rome and the Reformers is no example of theological hair-splitting. The corruption of the doctrine of justification results in several other grievous theological errors. If sanctification is included in justification, the justification is a process, not an event. That makes justification progressive, not complete. Our standing before God is then based on subjective experience, not secured by an objective declaration. Justification can therefore be experienced and then lost. Assurance of salvation in this life becomes practically impossible because security can't be guaranteed. The ground of justification ultimately is the sinner's own continuing present virtue, not Christ's perfect righteousness and His atoning work. What's so important about the doctrine of justification by faith alone? It is the doctrine upon which the confessing church stands or falls. Without it there is no salvation, no sanctification, no glorification--nothing. You wouldn't know it to look at the state of Christianity today, but it really is that important.

Marks of a Cult: The Nature of God and His Work of Redemption

One of the Areas the Cults change from Biblical Christianity is the Nature of God and the Work of Redemption for Mankind.