Day: September 18, 2017

Are You Truly Born Again? Church Attendance And Good Works Do Not Save You

On By Geri UngureanIn Uncategorized1 Comment

The author of confusion and the father of lies, continues to work in the minds of people all over the world. The mind is the devil’s battlefield and playground.  He does not have to yell.  The thoughts which he puts into the minds of people – especially church going people – are subtle and believable and sometimes nothing more than a whisper.

Perhaps he whispers this:

“Certainly you have done many more good deeds than you have bad deeds.  God is looking for those who care greatly about their fellow man.  This is enough to get you into heaven. Don’t listen to those who would bring you down and call you a sinner. You are righteous in the eyes of God – He sees your good works.”  

This is the “Social Gospel.”

What is wrong with the above paragraph?  Sounds good, doesn’t it? It may sound good, but it does not come from the Word of God – the Bible. It comes from the devil himself. He knows that his time is short, and he is working to bring many people with him to hell.

Our Good works before we are saved

Have you read from the Word what God thinks of our good works before we are born again?

“You are indeed angry, for we have sinned—
In these ways we continue;
And we need to be saved.

 But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.
 And there is no one who calls on Your name,
Who stirs himself up to take hold of You;
For You have hidden Your face from us,
And have consumed us because of our iniquities”  (Isaiah 64:5b-7).

We can not work our way to heaven

Ephesians 2:8-9 says:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,  not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Are you a sinner?

When the original sin was committed in the Garden of Eden, and God sent Adam and Eve from the Garden; the sin nature fell upon us all.  Some say “Well, I wasn’t there in the Garden!”  But nevertheless, sin made its way into our flesh, and to this day we are born into sin.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Pride

I do believe that many are kept away from true Salvation because of pride. They don’t want to think of themselves as inherently bad people who need to be saved. So week after week, they attend their church services; some are active in many ministries and are at the front door of the church whenever it opens.

Why would God the Father send His only Begotten Son?

If we could save ourselves, why in the world would the Father send Jesus to die that horrific death upon the Cross? John the Baptist said of Him:

 “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”  (John 1:29).

The Ten Commandments

The Lord gave Moses the Ten Commandments to show His holiness, His Righteousness; His perfection.  But He also gave those Commandments to Moses to show us that we are not able to keep every Commandment. If we break one – we break them all.

The Old Testament was pointing the way to the Savior of the World, Jesus Christ. The OT is filled with prophecies about Jesus – many of which have been fulfilled to the letter. There are many to be fulfilled in the future.  From the beginning, God knew that we were helpless.  Why do you think that the Israelites were told to sacrifice a lamb on the altar for their sins?

But when Jesus came, He was the ultimate, perfect and final sacrifice for all of the sin in all of the world.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved”  (John 3:16-17).

The Most Important Question

God is asking you this day if you have repented of your sinful ways (agreed with God that you are a sinner)  and have you trusted His Son Jesus for paying your sin debt, that you could never pay?

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).   (Emphasis added)

It is not too late

You may have been attending the same church for many years. It is not too late to accept God’s free gift of Salvation right now!

“For He says:

“In an acceptable time I have heard you,
And in the day of salvation I have helped you.”

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

 If you feel that this article is speaking to your heart, then pray this prayer (or one just like it)  to tell God that you are sorry that you thought that you could make it into heaven with Jesus:

“Father God, I come to You now as a sinner in need of You. I agree with Your Word that we all have sinned and cannot save ourselves.  I ask that Jesus would come into my heart and make me righteous in Your eyes. I trust His death on the Cross and his Resurrection 3 days later as payment for my sin. Please make me the person You want me to be.  For it is in the name of Jesus that I pray. Amen.”

If you just prayed this prayer in sincerity, the angels in heaven are rejoicing!  Welcome to the family of God!

God may even use you in your church to go forward and tell the congregation what has happened to you!

Blessings in Yeshua

MARANATHA!

 

 

The Mystical New Age Roots Of “Jesus Calling” Revisited

On By Geri UngureanIn Jesus calling - new age, Uncategorized5 Comments

After receiving so many emails about my article on “women pastors” asking about the book referenced in the article; I decided to republish an article I wrote on “Jesus Calling” over two years ago.

The Mystical New Age Roots of “Jesus Calling”

We have been searching for a Bible based church. For a long time, my husband and I have been worshiping from home; watching pastors and preachers whom we have come to trust and love via Youtube. We do miss fellowship and we are aware that God wants us to be in fellowship with other believers.

For the last two Sundays we visited a Baptist church. This church ordains women as pastors. The head pastor is a man. We do not believe that the Word of God supports women being pastors.

Knowing that we will probably not find a church where we agree on every point, we know that some things are essential, while others are non-essential to salvation. I have often spoken of the slippery slope in many of my articles that leadership finds itself on when they stray from the Word. It is inevitable.

A baby was being dedicated on the first Sunday we visited the new church. A book was presented to the parents of the baby. The name of the book was “Jesus Calling.” I had read about this book, and knew that it was very controversial, but I had no idea how wrong this book was for any Christian to be reading.

I know that this article is going to upset many people who have come to love Jesus Calling. My job as a writer is to speak truth. I have no control over the readers’ reaction, but I must speak truth; and hopefully I will reach some Christians with the truth. I pray that this piece will help many to see that Jesus Calling is not a book that Jesus would have them read.

“Jesus Calling” is a New Age mystical book which Christians should completely avoid.

SOLA SCRIPTURA
From gotquestions.org

Question: “What is sola scriptura?”

Answer: The phrase sola scriptura is from the Latin: sola having the idea of “alone,” “ground,” “base,” and the word scriptura meaning “writings”—referring to the Scriptures. Sola scriptura means that Scripture alone is authoritative for the faith and practice of the Christian. The Bible is complete, authoritative, and true. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). [1]

It says in Timothy 3:16, that all Scripture is God-breathed. Just as He breathed life into Adam, He breathed the Words of the Bible – penned by men, but under His inspiration. It is so vitally important for the believer to read God’s Word. It is food for the soul. God speaks to us through His Word.

Have you ever read a verse of Scripture that you have read many times before, but suddenly the words just jumped off the page and into your heart? God was speaking to you through His Word, and helping you with whatever you were going through at that particular time.

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12)

Jesus Calling

The author of this book, Sarah Young, modeled her book after “God Calling” – a book written in the early 1930s. This book was written by two “listeners” who said that they would come into the presence of God and begin to write what they thought He was saying. It is a New Age practice called automatic writing. The New Age followers believe that they are channeling spirits who impart knowledge to them. We know that these so-called spirits are demons.

Isn’t it just like Satan to deceive the children of God? In “Jesus Calling”, Sarah Young also claims that she came into God’s presence and listened and then wrote what she felt He was saying to her. She writes as if Jesus Himself is speaking.

Doesn’t it make you wonder who was saying the things for Miss Young to write? I have skimmed through many of the writings in this book, and on the surface they seem innocuous. But I have wondered why so many millions of Christians would resort to reading this book, when we have the Word of God. Why do they need more? Who is whispering to them that they need more?

I see that Sarah Young now has a book out for children, and even a Jesus Calling bible!  This alarms me, and makes me wonder why so many Christians lack discernment. It is obvious to me that Satan is confusing and deceiving God’s children. But if these same people would read the Word of God, they would see that everything they need to know is right there in His Word!

Harper Collins publishes “Jesus Calling” books. Harper Collins also publishes the Satanic Bible. Coincidence? I think not.

Back to the church that my husband and I visited; we had the pastor come to our home to speak with us about some of our concerns. I had already told him about being alarmed that the church would present Jesus Callingto the parents of a baby being dedicated. When we began to speak with him about this, he shut us down by saying that his wife loves Jesus Calling and that all of these books bring her peace. So, the book is okay because his wife loves it? I was speechless.

I began to connect the dots. I thought to myself that this pastor believes that it is okay to ordain women as pastors, and he was influenced by his wife about the spiritual legitimacy of Jesus Calling. My mind traveled back to the Scriptures about the Garden of Eden. It was Eve who was deceived by Satan. Adam sinned willfully. I believe that he did this because of his love for Eve. He put her above God.

If this pastor believed the Word of God, and studied it as any pastor should, he would have seen the error of his ways. God would have spoken to him through His Word. But instead he did what he thought was right.

“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12).

Warren Smith on “Jesus Calling”

Warren Smith wrote a book entitled Another Jesus Calling. In this insightful book, Mr. Smith asks the question “Is this really our Savior speaking?” I would encourage any readers of this article, who are defensive about Sarah Young’s book, to purchase Another Jesus Calling. Warren Smith believes (as I do) that this is just part of the Emerging Church movement, where contemplative prayer and eastern mediation is encouraged.

Please pass this article on to anyone you know who is reading Jesus Calling. I pray that the Lord will bring many away from this counterfeit book and back into His book – the Bible.

Blessings in Yeshua

MARANATHA!