Hi Beth. You wrote:
Question/Comments = Rev 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.——–what does this mean? is this saying that we have to overcome all sin or the carnality of humanity in order to “stay” in the book of life and go to heaven? we were discussing this and many different scriptures and opinions were presented . I think that yes we must be Holy , and i think its heart that is looked at by God. I do think as the scripture indicates that we can lose our right to be in the book of the living. that salvation can be lost. most of the group are “once saved always saved’ . i just cannot take on that idea. so please explain this to me. they are saying that we don’t go on merit but grace and as I know that receiving the new birth falls in this category , I do believe that we have a duty to holiness and our love should drive us to holiness. please enlighten us to this . Thank you so much
Beth
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Dear Beth.
Thank you for writing. This is an important issue and you should ask about it until you are rooted in the truth and are certain of what is right.
There have always been false teachers who confuse God’s people concerning God’s requirement of holiness. In Jeremiah 3:7-10, the false teachers taught that Jerusalem would never be destroyed because God’s temple was there. But God was telling them they would be safe only if they “amend your ways”. And in Malachi 2:17, the false teachers were ridiculing the notion that there is any judgment for disobedient children of God to fear.
In this covenant, false teachers are still at work, using the word “grace” and the name “Jesus” to persuaded people that how they live will not determine where they spend eternity. This is a deadly doctrine, as the two gospel tracts below will explain. Please let me know what you think of them and how it goes with your group.
http://www.goingtojesus.com/site/php/works.html
http://www.goingtojesus.com/site/php/whatissalvation.html
Pastor John
PS It sounds as if your group might be a mixture of people with the baptism of the Spirit and people without it. There is no hope whatsoever of unity in the light of Christ if that is the case. You all must be filled with the Spirit if you hope to walk together in the light. It would be better to gather with 2 or 3 humble souls who have God’s Spirit within them than with 2 or 3 hundred without it, or half of them filled.
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Thank you for your response to me. I wrote because of the ones in our Sunday school class that is of the false Christian up-bringing. I was invited to go to this class as i was walking one day and the girl said she thought the Sunday school teacher had the Holy Ghost like I was witnessing to her. Later on after i began to go , the girl also did receive the Holy Ghost. the other four do not have and they all have that Baptist teaching that saved is filled with “the spirit” and that “baptism of the spirit” is different and is an extra special gift that one doesn’t have to have but is nice ….Its enough to make one sick, yet I persevere to try to help them to see. Should I just abandon them and go to someplace that is all “filled”. I’ve had the Holy Ghost 42 years and i do agree with your tracts. I printed and handed them out but they are so stubborn !! Please pray that God will open the eyes of their heart. I also wanted to show your response to the class.
Beth
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Hello again, Beth.
Where did the little girl receive the holy Ghost? There where she is going? What is the name of that church? And how did you come to understand the truth about the new birth?
Also, I don’t know of any place that “is all filled”. It is all a confused mess out there. That is why God is calling for His children to come out of Christianity. God has been very good to us here, giving us an oasis in the midst of a spiritual wasteland. Some of the younger people here have never participated in the confusion that is Christianity; all they have ever known is the truth, and they can only imagine how it is for most of God’s people, such as yourself, struggling constantly with the spirit of antichrist. If you ever find a place where a man is teaching the truth to a congregation who loves it, please let me know. That would be a place worth traveling to see.
As to your question, whether to keep being a part of that madness or leave it, the wisest answer I can give you is to echo what your heavenly Father is saying to all His people, “Come out of her!” I suspect that being around it has already affected your heart more than you realize. I wish it was not that way, but I do not want to pretend, as so many children of God are doing, that that to partake of the deluding wine of “the great whore” is the our only alternative. The reality is, death would be better.
I pray that you will fall so much in love with the truth Jesus has shown you that you will not let any unclean thing touch it.
Pastor John
PS Please read this, concerning the antichrist.
http://www.goingtojesus.com/site/php/antichrist.html