You know, something I thought of a long time ago really stuck with me. The entire original thought... Why are there so many different beliefs in Christianity? Since our God is one, He always gave out a singular instruction or direction, with no substitues, why would He allow so many different beliefs? And the answer is one that may shock some people and even offend some. He doesn't. There has always been one. There will only be one in the end. Our PERFECT God has always had a set up. It always went properly. It has always been in order. He has an order to His will, but over time, in man's selfishness and arrogant ways, we have molded Christianity into what we want it to be. To appease our flesh and make it suitable for others. This has never been an intent of God. We submit to Him, the maker, we are not makers ourselves. I've seen so many people's lives and thought to myself "Their way is too easy." I know you might think... "TOO EASY?! What?!" Yes. Too easy. It seems that they have skipped over the part in the Bible where we no longer have to abide in sin because Jesus made it possible to live in Him now. But back to the "one" thing. And I'll shrink this blog to the topic of salvation in Christian churches. God spoke to me a long time ago, and showed me that all of these different beliefs are not in His will. Why would God instruct one party to be saved a certain way and then another party a different way. God is not the author of confusion. An individual may find the road to salvation different than another, but the road is still the same. There is only one road to Christ, but there are highways, interstates, bypasses, shortcuts, dirt roads, etc. to hell. Hopefully, I can provoke you to think with this.
I was raised in a good 'ole southern Baptist church and was always taught about God, but never had an experience of my own. My father does not know God, but he raised me to think. Since I've been mature, I've never ventured off into something without knowing what it was about. That is definitely true when I decided to be saved. All my life I had the impression that I was 'okay' because I went to church and what-not. Again, when I became mature, I finally thought to myself. How in the world am I okay with God and I've had no change or anything close. I hadn't. My brother tried the whole Sinner's Prayer thing. That never worked for him. I've heard of my friends confessing Jesus Christ as their savior. They lived the same way as I did, so obviously that didn't work for them either. There had to be something real out there. And there was. I just didn't know it yet. I had always seen this guy, Joe that I knew from pre-school. He always wore pants and looked really geeky to me. I remember walking with my best friend Fu, and we passed by Joe. I asked Fu "What's wrong with him?" Like, why did he look that way? Fu said "Oh, he's Pentecostal..." I didn't know what that meant, so I just said okay and let that be that. And let me pause for a moment. This blog isn't about a particular faith's 'name', it's about the truth of God. My point from that story is that I had caught a glimpse of someone actually being different. That let me know that there was a way to live right, and I didn't have to live a lie or live like a hypocrite.
So anyway, like I said, I'd heard it all by my teenage years. Sinner's Prayer, confessing Jesus as your savior, accepting Him into your life, being baptized to show you're a Christian, speaking in tongues, and the one I never could understand... God won't send you to hell if you're just a good person. Keep in mind that I'm exploring all these different ways in my head over time until I come to the conclusion (from reading and studying and praying and asking God for understanding...) that I had found the one true doctrine for salvation of God. And it wasn't that hard. All anyone has to do is read the New Testament in order. ----->> Here is a revelation, I hope you catch it.>>> 1. The order of the books of the bible are like a timeline. The next book comes after the previous in years, according to a time frame. 2. The book's names say a LOT. 3. If you read the stories, you'll clearly see how the New Testament church was founded and the formula they used for salvation.
Keep in mind, that there is only ONE. The 4 gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John tell the story of Jesus' life from 4 different perspectives, each from each writer. They tell how Jesus was born, and what He did while He was here on Earth with us, including the miracles, his sermons, what He taught the disciples, His death, burial, and also His resurrection. What is important and what most miss is what He taught His disciples. His teachings to them prepared them to start the New Testament church (which we are, if you didn't know) and how to run it. The greatest commandment to them was of course the Great Commission. Now, what some people get confused is this. Everything Jesus told His disciples did not come to pass in the gospels. It wasn't meant to. The Great Commission did not come to pass in the gospels. Most people take Jesus' quote literal.
[Matthew 28:19-20- "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."]
The next book after John (the last of the 4 gospels, remember the timeline) is the book of Acts, also known as "The Acts." Now, I know I'm not silly, but don't you think the name of the book gives it away? The Encyclopedia Britannica even notes that the day of Pentecost in the book of Acts, chapter 2 "marks the beginning of the Christian church's mission to the world." All the things Jesus said concerning salvation (and even earlier prophets) came to pass in this time. This is the time when the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Ghost descended upon the people. Peter preached to the people on this day, and instructed them to "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" Wow. To me, that shot down every other way I had heard. Three steps: Repentence, Baptism, and receiving the Holy Ghost. Plain as day. Even after I was saved, I searched the different ways I had heard to see if I missed anything.
Baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit couldn't be right... Yes, Jesus was quoted as saying that, but Britannica also noted that that formula had not been used anywhere else in the Bible except in that passage. The Sinner's Prayer couldn't be right... I couldn't find that in the Bible either. Plus, Peter preached repentence and baptism for remission of sins, not prayer. I did find confessing Jesus. But in Romans, Paul spoke to Jews. And if you know what Jews believe, they do not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. So to confess him, would be another step for them. Plus, Romans is an epistle- a letter written to the church in Rome. Them being a church makes them saved, right? Right. And the whole accepting Christ into your life, I never understood that. I learned that Christ lives inside you when you receive the Holy Ghost.
I know you may not agree, but this is truth. I didn't even really go into detail. Some may not believe in baptism, but I will post a blog about the Sanctuary and go into detail about that. Some may just be stubborn and not believe this, simply for the fact that this teaching is of Pentecostal/Apostolic fundamentals. But like I said earlier, many people have shaped and molded their beliefs to fit them. This was done thousands of years ago by the Emporer Constantine at the Council of Nicea. You can also research this. Constantine wanted to change the formula for baptism from what the apostles had taught. Won't you do some in depth studying, pray and seek God. If it's God you're hearing from, He won't steer you wrong. I'm going to bed. Goodnight.
Labels: Apostolic, Baptist, C.O.G.I.C., Catholic, God, heaven, holy, Methodist, Non-denominational, one, Pentecostal, salvation, sin, truth
