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The Truth So Called Christians Will Not Accept
Most people who call themselves Christians are in reality not Christians at all no matter how dedicated they may be to their faith. The word of God is truth (Jesus speaking, John17:17) and stands as the one and only standard that is acceptable to the God of heavenand of men. It, not man, sets the standard for who is a Christian.As there is a political correctness in our land there is likewise a religious correctness thatone must adhere to unless he is willing to be branded a heretic, ostracized, ridiculed, and persecuted. Man has set his own standard as regards who is a Christian and who is notand it is religiously incorrect to dispute the accepted standard.A sort of political correctness in religion is nothing new. It existed in the days of Jesusand was something he had to fight against daily. As far as this world is concerned hefinally lost the battle as it put him on the cross. It is pretty certain the same (persecutionto the death) can be said of Paul and Peter.Paul said of that generation, "they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their ownrighteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God." (Rom. 10:2-3 NKJV)The same could be said of our own generation. The zeal is there but not the truth.What did God do with the generation of which Paul spoke? They were destroyed in 70A. D. when the Roman army took Jerusalem with massive loss of life. The Bible saysthat when Jesus drew near to Jerusalem, "He saw the city and wept over it, saying, 'If youhad known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace!But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on everyside, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leavein you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.'"(Luke 19:41-44 NKJV)So, the question arises, answered by the quote from Jesus above, does great zeal for Godovercome a lack of knowledge of God's will, is zeal greater than truth? To ask is toanswer.But, a point to be emphasized in addition to that is this. That generation was sure thatthey had God's will and were practicing it. In their mind there was absolutely no doubtabout that. Those who disputed them found themselves in trouble. It is the same in our day and I am about to find myself in trouble with my own generation who read this piece.While there are many so called Christian religious denominations in America hardly aone has a membership of people who are in fact Christians, not according to God's word.A Christian is a person who is in Christ, not one who thinks he is. Here is what God hassaid about the matter from his own word.
 
Salvation is found in Christ. Paul said he endured "all things for the sake of the elect,that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." (2Tim. 2:10 NKJV) A teacher might say to a Bible class "raise your hand if you believesalvation is found outside Christ." Would you raise your hand or would you accept whatPaul said about it? Paul said salvation is "in Christ."Well, how does one enter Christ? Paul says elsewhere, "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." (Gal. 3:26 NKJV) He does not say "as many of you who have believed in Christ have put on Christ" as many wish he had said. Do youtake Paul at his word? Do you believe one is baptized into Christ or will you argue withan apostle?Paul says the same thing elsewhere, "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?" (Rom. 6:3 NKJV) He did nothave a slip of the tongue. That was what he taught whether writing to the Galatians or Romans or whomever. He taught the same things wherever he went or to whomever hewrote.In 1 Cor. 12:13 he says, "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body … ".(NKJV) What body do you think Paul was talking about? The body of Christ, thechurch. Jesus is "head over all things to the church, which is His body." (Eph. 1:22-23 NKJV) Surely, no one thinks we are baptized into Christ's physical body. We are baptized intohis spiritual body. It is the spirit that will be saved. God is spirit. "Flesh and bloodcannot inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Cor. 15:50 NKJV) To be in Christ is to be in himin spirit. The church is a spiritual body."Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body." (Eph. 5:23 NKJV)Whose body? His. How do you get into that body? Paul says we are baptized into it.Can you sneak into it? Can you believe into it? Will your zeal put you into it? DoesGod's word on the subject make any difference?One is either in the body of which Jesus is the Savior or he is outside it. Again, there isno being in between. You are either in or you are out. You cannot join his spiritual body.Paul did not say go out and join God's spiritual body. He said to be baptized into it. No baptism then no being in the body of Christ. Case closed. You cannot join Christ's body,you are baptized into it.What does this mean then as far as what is considered to be religiously correct in thedenominational world? Does it not mean that what is considered to be religiously correctis in fact error? Yes, it does.Does it not mean that those teaching salvation by faith apart from baptism for theremission of sins (Acts 2:38), teaching that baptism is not essential to salvation, areactually teaching that it makes no difference whether one is in Christ or is outside him,
 
makes no difference whether one is a part of his body or not? Yes, it does.Denominational doctrine comforts those who have not been baptized just as long as they believe.What is wrong here, aside from a blatant contradiction of scripture and the establishmentof a religion unknown to the Bible, is a total misunderstanding of what faith as taught inthe New Testament is. Yes, most certainly the Bible teaches man is saved by faith in place after place but one must understand what biblical faith is and what it encompasses.Faith means you believe what the Bible says, for starters, about any and every subject of which it speaks.I have long said that the very thing those who teach that one is saved by faith alone needis "more faith". Faith in God's word, faith that he was able to say what he meant andmean what he said, faith that when Peter told the people at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost that baptism was "for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:38) that he was not lying,faith that he had not lost his senses, faith that he was not deluded, faith that he saidexactly what he meant to say, faith that he spoke by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, faiththat when Ananias told Saul "arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins" (Acts22:16 NKJV) he knew that Saul still had sins to be forgiven, that he was not cleansed of sin on the road to Damascus when Jesus appeared to him and faith was born. But, that isthe very thing faith only advocates cannot accept which basically means almost the entiredenominational world. There is no place in their pulpits for one who preaches what Peter or Ananias preached. Peter and Ananias would be kicked out of today's denominationalchurches. Now does all of this mean a man can just go out and be immersed without faith or repentance and be saved? Not at all. The Bible does not teach any such thing. Faith andrepentance are prerequisites to acceptable baptism. Baptism is not just something onedoes blindly without forethought and understanding, without knowledge. Without faithand repentance baptism is meaningless.Let us take it a step further. One cannot be taught wrong, believe what he was taught,and then go through what a denomination calls baptism and then say he was baptizedscripturally. He got wet but he was not baptized any more than a diver jumping off adiving board. One cannot accidentally obey God. Understanding, motivation, the heartare all involved in acceptable obedience. Paul said the Romans "obeyed from the heart"(Rom. 6:17 NKJV) which is the only way one can obey God.One cannot believe error, get wet, and be saved. Almost all denominational bodies withhardly an exception teach that baptism either symbolizes a salvation one already hasobtained before his baptism or else it is necessary not to enter the universal church but toenter the local congregation or denominational church. The idea is that you are alreadysaved but to become a member here we require baptism.So here you come to be baptized by one of these groups. If you accept their teaching youdisbelieve the Bible lacking faith in what it has taught? Can you be saved in that kind of 
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