I am continuing this literature with the fifth (5) and last point, having written the first part up to point 4 titled Why The Splitting Of God’s Redemption Plan Into Two Phases Became Necessary. Please, follow me as I explore the fifth point.
5. What All Of This Means For Us Today
In rounding up this work, it is imperative to let the reader know that I have tried my utmost best to avoid being tedious, by trimming down the number of words I needed to use, in order to win their interest, while also at the same time doing justice to this literature by furnishing the reader with enough scriptural proof so that their conviction on the subject would be absolutely based on God’s Word alone. What I have eventually ended up with can best be described as an abridged version of what I would otherwise have written were this to be a fully detailed work.
But, be that as it may, I have kept until now what I would consider the most poignant aspect of the expose, and it has to do with the tragic twist which Satan has subtly introduced into some people’s perception of the redemption project of God. Since knowing that he cannot stop God from carrying out His redemption plan for mankind, Satan has inspired and commissioned an army of false prophets, preachers and teachers to craftfully distort the teaching on the subject of redemption in a way that will be misleading to mankind. Although Jesus Christ and His immediate disciples had earlier given the Church the warning of this impending evil, yet it is sad to admit that, in recent times, the success rate of this satanic campaign to propagate a misleading redemption gospel is alarming. However, and that happily, God has also promised His faithful children that Satan’s efforts would be defeated, nevertheless, and his loyalists judged and punished.
2 Thess. 2:9 – “This evil man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles.
2 Thess. 2:10 – He will use every kind of wicked deception to fool those who are on their way to destruction because they refuse to believe the truth that would save them.
2 Thess. 2:11 – So God will send great deception upon them, and they will believe all these lies.
2 Thess. 2:12 – Then they will be condemned for not believing the truth and for enjoying the evil they do.” NLT
God has faithfully played His own part in re-opening the way back to His Kingdom, through His redemption road map, to anyone who is willing to faithfully accept and follow it.
Our part now is to diligently study the Holy Scriptures in order to properly acquaint ourselves with the truth it offers with regards to the subject. This has become necessary because the message of God’s redemption through Jesus Christ has been deliberately compromised through some subtle means, which only a diligent study of the Holy Bible, and prayer for God’s guidance on the matter will help unravel.
I have no doubt that there are a lot of sincere people out there who have already accepted, or are really desirous of accepting God’s redemption through Jesus Christ, but unless they’re well guided by God’s Word, they might just be listening to the wrong preachers. To such persons I will recommend that they do the only sensible thing that the scriptures below suggest:
Isa. 8:20 “Tell them, ‘No, we’re going to study the Scriptures.’ People who try the other ways get nowhere — a dead end!” (MSG)
Acts 17:11 – “And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. _They searched the Scriptures day after day to check up on Paul and Silas, to see if they were really teaching the truth.”_ NLT
Below are some important guides to help the sincere seeker of God’s redemption to successfully navigate through the maze of satanic doctrines which is keeping a lot of people religiously active but, sadly, very far from being truly saved.
1. Avoid Treating Salvation As A Quick Fix Formula To Be Recited
God wants to be intimately connected with the sinner. No one becomes saved because they casually recited the “sinner’s prayer”, even as important as that may be. Every part of the process leading to the salvation of the sinner has its rightful place and time, and must be taken seriously. God respects our choices; no one should be pre-empted into making a decision to accept His redemption when they’re not convinced that they want to do it. The preacher may preach his sermon and make a plea for the sinner to repent and turn their lives over to Jesus Christ. However, that’s as far as they can possibly go: the Holy Spirit will have to finish it up by convicting the sinner of their sin, while also helping them to see their need for God’s forgiveness and salvation. If this happens (as it is bound to happen where the truth is sincerely and faithfully preached) the outpouring of grief and regret over their sins will be noticeable.
Acts 2:37 – “Peter’s words convicted them deeply, and they said to him and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?’
Acts 2:38 – Peter replied, ‘Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’.”
However, there have been some sad cases where people had been assured that they’d be blessed with finances, or good health, and so on, if only they’d repeat the sinner’s prayer. Well, that may be alright to do if their initial intention in approaching God’s altar was to ask for His forgiveness and accept His redemption; otherwise, using repentance as a leverage to get God’s blessing will not result in a genuine redemption of the soul. The next point below complements this truth.
2. Do Not Seek The Physical Blessing Above The Spiritual New Life
Forget about the much-hyped prosperity gospel as it does little or no good to anyone who wants to be truly redeemed. Do not get me wrong – God has a plan to prosper His children, but only after their redemption has been guaranteed. The proponents of the prosperity gospel will hardly dwell much on that fact because their speeches are focused more on acquiring wealth to live the best life money can afford now. However, a closer look at the gospel of Jesus Christ will show that such a view is not even contemplated in God’s plan for this first phase of His redemption project; it belongs to the second phase. But this does not mean that God will not take care of His children now before the consummation of the second phase, which is the restoration of redeemed mankind’s lost glory and prosperity in the new heaven and new earth; it just means that He will restrict that care to just their needs, not their wants. There’s a world of difference between the two, namely:
i. A person’s needs are those things that are essential for their daily survival and functioning. They’re the basic necessities of life — the continued deprivation of which could jeopardize a person’s existence. God’s Word focuses on just two of them, namely: food and clothing.
1 Tim. 6:8 – “So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content.”
In the Holy Bible God’s Word promises to meet those basic needs, (not our wants) if we give priority to seeking His Kingdom’s interest.
Matt. 6:31 – “So don’t worry about having enough food or drink or clothing.
Matt. 6:32 – Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things? Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs,
Matt. 6:33 – and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.” NLT
You’ll have noticed already that the emphasis above is on those two basic needs of mankind and, even at that, God still says we should not freak out when they seem to be lacking because He’d supply them to us.
Consider also Apostle Paul’s admonition to the Christians at Philippi below:
Phil. 4:19 – “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.” NLT
Notice also that the promise made is to supply our needs. However, in contrast, let us consider below what God’s Word says about wants.
ii. A person’s want is any thing they desire in order to improve the quality of their physical life, the deprivation of which can only cause some temporary inconveniences or disappointments, but certainly not a threat to their existence. While some of our wants are tolerable with God, however, man’s disposition towards acquiring them might not be. For instance, the excessive desire among mankind for riches, fame, beauty, fancy clothes, lavish vacations, luxurious lifestyle (the list goes on!) are just some of the wants the mind craves for. However, they’re not part of the basic needs of life; rather, they’re the desires which feed the lust and pride of the unregenerate mind of the unredeemed person; it is akin to that same spiritually unnecessary desire which the deceptive words of the devil diffused into the mind of Eve at Eden, which led to her corruption.
1 Tim. 6:9 “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.” (NIV)
The Holy Bible seriously warns against indulging those desires because they’re a distraction to the first phase of God’s redemption plan for mankind, which is mainly the restoration of mankind’s corrupted spirit back to a semblance of God’s image and likeness. God wants the redeemed Christian to be mainly focused on seeing the accomplishment of His work of grace in their life, while trusting in Him to take care of their needs. But if we follow the error of the prosperity gospel, by craving for the gold and glory of this present sinful world (which indeed God plans to give us, but in the future fully restored new world) then we’d still remain corrupted and be thrown off His plan for good. That’d be very, very sad!
Rom. 8:8 – “That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.”
If we truly love God’s plan of salvation for us, we’d follow it all through faithfully, not minding the sacrifices it requires.
1 John 2:15 – Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you.
1 John 2:16 – For the world offers only the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions. These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world.
1 John 2:17 – And this world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever.” NLT
Let’s put the view above into context: imagine that a house with people inside is on fire and a rescue effort is being launched; what do you think would be the rescuers’ first instinct?
To save the people, of course! Once they’d achieved that, then they could shift attention to the house itself. But would that move mean that the house is not important also? Of course not! It simply means that on the scale of preference, the occupants’ lives come first. In much the same way God wants us to be focused on the redemption of the soul over and above the gratification of the body as this is the priority in His scale of preference, with regards to His redemption project. If the soul is redeemed in this first phase of the project, it will eventually successfully transition into the second phase, in God’s new world, where all the deprivation it had earlier endured would be more than compensated for.
2 Cor. 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
2 Cor. 4:17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
2 Cor. 4:18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (NIV)
3. Do Not Compromise On Holiness
Heb. 12:14 – “Try to live in peace with everyone, and seek to live a clean and holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.” NLT
Holiness is the absence of corruption in the God-image and God-likeness in which God created mankind. We know, however, that earlier on from the beginning sin had brought corruption upon them. So to be holy, therefore, means to be transformed into God’s image and likeness once again.
Lev. 20:7 “Set yourselves apart for a holy life. Live a holy life, because I am GOD, your God.” (MSG)
You’re under probation: from the first day you turned your life over to Jesus Christ for redemption, until the day you leave this world (either by natural death or by the rapture of the church), heaven counts on you to work out, on your own part, God’s redemption plan for your own salvation. Your personal choices play a very important role here.
Phil. 2:12 “Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed [my suggestions], so now, not only [with the enthusiasm you would show] in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ).” (AMP)
Those who eventually transition into the next phase of God’s redemption plan (from this sinful and chaotic world) would be the ones whose lifetime on earth was carefully spent in alignment with God’s will, purpose and plan for them. Such a life would include the scrutiny of both your inward and outward, or public and secret life. It will affect your choice of friends, entertainment, adornment, career, etc. Simply put, living a holy life means living entirely for God’s glory, and not for your own pleasure.
Col. 3:17 “Let every detail in your lives — words, actions, whatever — be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.” (MSG)
In essence, whatever God’s Word does not approve of is not right to do for the person who wants to be holy.
Satan has raised preachers who strongly preach against the need for living a holy life, wrongly stressing that God’s grace, as a covering for man’s shortcomings, has taken care of that. At first that might sound right and reassuring, but wait! Does it agree with the scriptures of truth, by which we are made wise for the salvation of our soul? 2 Timothy 3:15. I do not believe that is the scriptural view of the workings of God’s grace. That’s almost the same thing as saying that because you have a laundry soap, or detergent, stored up in your house, your clothes would never get dirty anymore, no matter how careless you are wearing them. Grace is not an immunization against sin but, rather, a divine empowerment with the knowledge to not sin.
Titus 2:11 “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.
Titus 2:12 It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,” (NIV)
If Grace immunizes against sin, as some Preachers seem to make it look, then there’d be no more need to watch against being contaminated with the sins of this world, as we are being admonished throughout the Holy Scriptures. But no! Grace is not a safeguard against sin as vaccines are against diseases. Grace, instead, teaches you to stay holy after you have been washed clean from your sins.
1 John 5:18 “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.” (NKJV)
In conclusion, I want to say that the above three sub-points under this fifth final point, are not the exclusive things to watch out for against the wiles of Satan, but they’re some of the most important. If anyone starts off wrongly in the redemption road to salvation, chases around the temporal blessings they see, and lives an unholy, unprincipled loose life, they’d no doubt miss out on God’s road map to redemption.
With much prayer and sincere longings, the Holy Spirit will guide the genuine Seeker into more truths.
The End