Salvation Cannot be Bought

"The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts." -Haggai 2:8.

As churches today become more & more worldly, a terrible evil has infected them with regards to evangelism; which is a focus on giving gifts to those they are trying to win for Christ. While it's true that giving gifts MAY be appropriate depending on the needs of people, sometimes it becomes a type of bribery instead of real spiritual outreach, and even those who are of a covetous nature may simply learn to play the system.

In Proverbs 19:6B the Bible tells us that, “...every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts,” and herein lies the problem when it comes to evangelism; if you're offering a person the riches of mammon (material wealth or money) in order to preach to them, they may go along with it out of greed, even to the point of feigning salvation, in order to gain more favor from those giving them gifts.

In Matthew 16:26 Jesus said, "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Our Lord also said that no one can serve 2 masters, that it is impossible for us to serve both God and material riches; it must be either one or the other (Luke 16:13).

Simon the sorcerer had become a believer in Jesus, but when he saw the power the apostles had through the Holy Ghost, he was covetous, and offered them money, that he might also have such power, to which Peter responded in Acts 8:20&21;

"But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God."

This power of the apostles came from God, and was bestowed supernaturally of His own will, and in no way was controlled by men.

One time we passed by a Christian group that did drug rehabilitation; they were selling things, and taking donations. When I asked about their program, they testified of their help for addicts, but ONLY if they made a commitment to Jesus first. To me, that's a bribe, and such people might do or say anything to get the help that they need. It's GREAT to help people in such a terrible condition, but I don't agree with the method. I still gave them a dollar for their work, because these people do need help for their problems.

Another time I watched a video of a professed Christian, who was more of a practicing humanist in my opinion. In this video, he was helping a homeless man who desperately needed new clothes; he took the man to Wal*Mart, and bought him an entirely new outfit! It was incredibly thoughtful, and generous, yet in the hours spent with the man, he never testified of Jesus or the need of salvation, and even when others complimented him for his generous act, he never spoke of God's grace in his own life (2 Corinthians 1:3,4).

This is yet another danger for Christians in the giving of gifts; that they may end up only helping others in a material way, and not spiritually. You see, people love receiving gifts, but they don't so much care for the preaching of the gospel-it condemns them for their sin, and demands repentance. In John 7:7 Jesus said;

"The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil."

We all know that excessive gifts will spoil our children, but it works that way on adults, too. We've seen it a lot here, where people are so used to having things given to them, that they will make no allowance to provide for themselves, even though they could. This leads to a lot of deception by people to get what they want, and the Christians are expected to give them things without any real questioning. The original giving may have begun from genuine need a long time ago, but then people become spoiled through excessive gifts, and won't turn away from it.

In Deuteronomy 16:19, the Bible also warns us not to accept a gift in judgment, for a gift will blind even the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. Many times when we see a corrupt government official, it's because they've been taking gifts from rich donors. In our area of the U.S., a certain pharmaceutical company was given the contract for a covid detection kit, even though the device itself had never been tested. It turned out that this company was recommended by a politician that received large campaign contributions from them! That test really flopped!

If anyone at all has a giving nature in this world, Christians will be among them; we've been recipients of God's grace, and His own Holy Spirit dwells within us. But we need use of the sound mind the Lord has given us for discernment on the actions we should actually be taking, and not just throw money at the problems. Jesus and His disciples were generous, but they stayed away from material gifts outside of immediate food needs. That's the kind of example we need to follow, because unless those we're giving to find the way of salvation, any other kind of help is in vain. Oh,

that we might follow the example of Peter & John in the passage below...

"And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." -Acts 3:2-6.

I also have this message in a YouTube video at https://youtu.be/WUi6_lc87eo

Find the Real Unity Jesus Desires

 “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. .. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” -John 17:9, 20,21.

Sometimes Christians are in such a rush for unity, that they actually put this concept above obedience to the qualifications God's given us through His Word. It is only too common for pastors to treat their congregations as if they are all born again, and often declare it to be so; and then there is a press for UNITY that Jesus neither asks for or desires.

When we consider the unity Jesus prayed for in the High Priestly Prayer of John chapter 17, we must realize that the Lord was then alone with the eleven true disciples, and even Judas Iscariot was no longer among them. Jesus made it clear that He wasn't praying for the unsaved world, but for His true disciples, and also for those who would come to know Him because of them.

The devil is behind an agenda for unity at all costs, because he needs this to rule the world, and to be worshipped by all mankind. The Bible warns us that our enemy will appear to be an angel of light, and even his ministers will seem to be ministers of righteousness.(2 Corinthians 11:13-15)

God gave Paul a number of strong warnings for the church, of which he said that “grievous wolves would come in amongst them, and that even from their own congregation leaders would arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples to follow them.(Acts 20:29,30)

We must not be yoked together with unbelief (2 Corinthians 6:14-17), and seek to put away from the body of Christ wicked persons (I Corinthians 5:13), and have no fellowship with them (2 Thessalonians 3:6,14).

But we must know that the devil delights in unity that serves him, and the Bible shows that in the last days there is a unity coming to this world that is NOT of God, and you can read about this anti-Christian religious world system in Revelation 13:1-8; those that will not be a part of this unity will be persecuted & killed.

There were even episodes of evil united directly against Jesus during His earthly ministry, one even coming from the people while He was in His hometown synagogue, when they sought to throw Him off a cliff in their rage, in Luke 4:28-30;

"And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he passing through the midst of them went his way."

And then again, there was also unity among the Jewish religious leadership when they decided to put Jesus to death in Mark 14:63&64;

"Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death."

Yet our beloved savior led not only by example, but also verbally warned against a type of unity that most would find desireable in Luke 6:26;

"Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets."

As with ANY practice that the Bible directs for Christians, the call for unity is conditional, and is plainly discouraged numerous times in the New Testament. Some other references for this are found in; I Corinthians 5; 2 Thessalonians 3:6,14; I Timothy 6:3-5; 2 Timothy 3:5; Titus 3:10.

True Christian unity by the example of practice can be found in the Bible only once, when we hear of its brief existence among the disciples in Acts 4:34&35;

"Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need."

The type of unity seen in these verses is wonderful, but very strange to us. In truth, this kind of Christian unity will never be seen again. Churches typically put up the "All Welcome" signs, and use no discretion for who they allow to become part of them. And even when sins begin to corrupt the body of professing believers, those responsible are almost never confronted or removed.

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." -Ephesians 5:11.

"Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear." -I Timothy 5:20.

The 19^th century saint George Mueller & his spiritual partner Henry Craik were pastors, and he once recorded that on a certain day they had appointments with 7 individuals who were applying to be church members among them; 5 were rejected! This simply would never happen today.

We as believers need to remember that we serve Christ (I Corinthians 7:23), and not the man-made businesses that churches have become. You may be pressured to conform, and some places may even shun you for choosing against their wishes. You need to remind yourself about the real nature of worship that God wants;

"Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." -Isaiah 66:1,2.

"Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father...But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." -John 4:21,23,24.

"Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet," -Acts 7:48.

"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" -I Corinthians 6:19.

The time is now upon us when a tough stand for Christ is required. The Lord told us that we would be hated (Mark 13:13), and even beaten in the synagogues (churches) for His sake (Mark 13:9), so how much do we really love God's only begotten Son? It is a time of testing for us.

Please be encouraged to take your own obedient stand for the Lord and don't be quick to yield to pressure from those pushing unity, but bring all your potential works into the light before God, seeking the approval only He can give.

"But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." -John 3:21.

"For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." -Galatians 1:10.

"Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." -I Corinthians 16:13.

Reconsidering the Pre-Trib Rapture

“Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.” -Ezekiel 3:17.

Ever since I first became a Christian, I would hear occasional talk about the Lord's return, and the “rapture” of the remaining church that was still upon the Earth. It never really interested me, and so I didn't look into it at all, and never wanted to; God had other plans for me, however.

The pre-trib rapture has clearly become the popular view, and I also accepted it, however that acceptance didn't come because of scripture study, but rather because it was the much broadcast view of other respected Christians.

Yet in the course of time, I did labor abundantly in “the Word of God & doctrine” (I Timothy 5:17); so that without ever intending to look into this topic, I came to see that the Bible clearly teaches a post-tribulation rapture, and there is a link in the description to my Rapture Correction Warning video. At best, the pre-trib rapture supposition would have to be called “a private interpretation” of prophecy, warned about in 2 Peter 1:20.

The purpose of this message isn't to go over all the scriptural support for a post-trib return of Christ, but to persuade pre-trib believers to openly consider the LOGIC of believing in the post-trib, or at least taking it seriously, and the consequences of not preparing accordingly.

This can be a sensitive subject, and when I've shared about it, many get angry. We must remember that strictly speaking, our salvation doesn't rest upon what we believe the timing of the rapture to be. It is sad to say that this topic is often divisive; the pre-trib rapture has been greatly publicized, and people have become fiercely dedicated to it.

What I want to do with this message is warn Christians to prepare for the worst, and hope for the best. There is a real danger here, and the Bible echoes the same type of warning message;

“A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.” -Proverbs 22:3.

Please understand, that as a true Christian I sincerely want the Lord to come soon, and have no desire for extra years of suffering. The Bible, however, shows that we Christians will have to remain through the tribulation, when that “man of sin” will reign on Earth (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

But the warning I've promised you is simple enough, and very logical. If you & I are both born again Christians, then we are due either to die and go home to the Lord, or to be taken up in the rapture when Jesus returns.

If I believe in a post-tribulation rapture, and the Lord comes before the tribulation, I've had a joyful surprise! But if you believe the pre-tribulation rapture, and the Lord comes AFTER the tribulation, then you are in no way prepared for what lies ahead.

Yet here is when the trap is sprung, and the deceptive purpose of the pre-trib rapture comes to light; that the beast we've been warned about (Revelation 13:1-8) comes forth when we are expecting Jesus, and poses as the messiah for EVERY religion. Most Christians will be taken in by him. This is why we must build a strong foundation upon the Word of God to weather this storm.

“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.” -Matthew 7:24-27.

In the popular '”rapture” view of the church today I see 3 elements; first, that it could come at any time. Second, we can't know when this time will be. And third, it will happen before that final tribulation period, thought to be 7 years. I've found that Bible evidence contradicts these 3 elements, and I again urge you to watch my video to gain the Biblical basis.

The pre-trib rapture teaching fits well with the prosperity gospel, but it tends to put us into a spiritual sleep, and discourages the diligent watching Jesus told us to do. Ask the Lord to increase your faith, trust Him at His Word, and prepare.

“Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” -Mark 13:35-37.

“Behold, I have told you before.” -Matthew 24:25.

Here is a link to my YouTube video on this subject titled 2nd Thoughts About a Pre-Trib Rapture: https://youtu.be/rN18jKwCJ3s

Why Christians Don't Cut Off Their Hands & Feet

“For God hath not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” -2 Timothy 1:7. Bold type added to emphasize.

It is vital that we commit ourselves to studying God's Word for understanding, because a lot of damage can been done through undirected enthusiasm for Jesus Christ. Not everything in the Bible should be taken literally, though many things can be. We must learn to read the entire passage of scripture for understanding, but also taking it in the context of the entire Bible. Special care should be taken not to add to the Word or diminish it, and we often do this by presuming a passage means or implies something it doesn't plainly say.

“And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." -Luke 4:4.

"Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." -Proverbs 30:5,6.

One example of mishandling the actual words of God can even be found amongst the disciples in the book of John 21:20-23, where it is testified that some assumed Jesus was saying that John would not die, but this wasn't the case. Please read this short account for yourself.

But most believers are familiar with Jesus' words when He said that if a person's hand or foot is causing them to sin, it is better that they should cut it off; and not be cast into Hell with their body intact. While there is NO DOUBT that this is literally true, we don't take it as an instruction, and we don't see anyone actually doing it, do we? Frankly, it wouldn't be a common sense thing to do, and God does give His people the spirit of a sound mind, as our opening scripture tells us. Yet the passage referred to here is found 3X in the gospels; Matthew 5:29,30; 18:8,9; and Mark 9:43-48. For our purpose, we'll use the one from Matthew 5:29&30;

"And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."

The first reasons for not mutilating ourselves should be obvious; we need to take care of our bodies because we rely on them, and so do others. Cutting off body parts would be a poor witness, and no one would become a Christian! In addition to this, we'd become a burden to all those near to us, instead of a blessing. The Bible also provides other views CONTRARY to self-mutilation;

"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." -I Corinthians 3:16,17.

"So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." -Ephesians 5:28-30.

"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." -3 John 2.

Yet when we look at the passage from Matthew 5:29&30, Jesus calls the body parts members, and this well correlates to members of the body of Christ that are referred to later;

"For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many." -I Corinthians 12:12-14.

Now we begin to get a clearer picture, or at least another application of these passages. The Bible wouldn't advocate for anyone to literally cut off their limbs, but it could promote cutting off individuals from the BODY OF CHRIST, which is the true church. An entire chapter of the New Testament addresses one such hurtful situation, found in I Corinthians 5. Please read the complete chapter for yourself, it is only 13 verses, but it concludes with;

"Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person."

So we conclude that Jesus never meant for us literally to pluck out our eyes, or to cut off our hands and feet. We can conclude this from the sound mind God gave to us, as well as from a view of the entire Bible; in which we find examples of Jesus & the disciples healing, not inflicting hurt. And there is yet one more incident in the gospels that helps prove Jesus never literally meant us to physically hurt ourselves in our struggle against sin...

In John 5, Jesus mercifully heals an impotent man at the pool by the sheep market in Jerusalem;

"And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath." -John 5:5-9.

What had led to that man's pitiful state? When Jesus finds that man again later, the implication is clear-it had been caused by his sin;

"And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." -John 5:13,14.

Jesus HEALED the impotent man, despite the sin! I imagine that man wasn't sinning a great deal while he was lying at the pool, but the Lord didn't restrain him there to "help" him against sin; He had mercy, and gave him back health.

Infirmities aren't always caused by sin (John 9:1-3), but God meant for us to be healthy. I thank the Lord we can look forward to the day when infirmities will exist only in our memories.

"But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." -Isaiah 53:5.

"And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." -Revelation 22:1-3.

When we Wonder what God is Doing

 “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;” -2 Corinthians 4:8.

Every genuine Christian will eventually come to a time when life just doesn't make sense; a time when even after we've followed God as closely as we know how, things fall apart-and we end up questioning almost everything.

At times like these it's good to remember 2 things, the first being that God's ways are beyond our sight and understanding (Isaiah 55:8,9), and the second is that we are far from alone in such experiences; many have struggled in like situations.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” -Isaiah 55:8,9.

“(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)” -2 Corinthians 5:7.

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” -I Corinthians 10:13.

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.” -I Peter 5:8,9.

Moses had received God's promise of deliverance for Israel, yet after he had confronted Pharaoh, their burdens multiplied (Exodus 5). David had been anointed to be king, but even after defeating the feared Goliath, the present King Saul hunted him as an enemy (2 Samuel 19:1). And Job really didn't understand his suffering, for he was serving God faithfully and flawlessly, as the scripture records (Job 1:1).

But just think how Jesus' disciples must have felt when He was being arrested, beaten, and condemned; we have the full story laid out for us, but they were living it. Jesus had been trying to tell them ahead of time what would happen, but it was beyond them;

“For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.” -Mark 9:31,32.

Put yourself in the disciples' place for a few moments; it's true that Jesus told them of His coming suffering in advance, but how could He literally mean it? They had walked with the Son of God, the creator, for 3 and a half years; He healed the sick, cast out devils, raised the dead, calmed storms, and multiplied food-how could He be stopped, let alone treated so despitefully? And yes, He sometimes used parables that had hidden meanings, so how could they be sure of what was meant?

So to have their Messiah taken away in the fashion they saw it must have been devastating! Had they wasted the past few years of their lives? Those must have been a loooonnng 3 days and nights for them before the resurrection.

Brethren, all of this shows that we've got to hang in there. We must wait for God to help us;

“The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.” -Lamentations 3:24-26.

What is it, then, that we are waiting for? We may be waiting for the actual answer to the petition we've made, or for a sign of the direction we should take, or a better understanding of our circumstances. God will always give us the understanding that we need, but it might not be as much as we want. In the end, we have to trust Him in faith because of His character, and the promises He has made through the Bible. After all, if He gave us His only begotten Son to be the atonement for our sins, we know that He has our best interests in mind. Wait on the Lord, for He is faithful.

“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” -Romans 8:31,32.

“I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” -Psalm 27:13,14.