Here is a link for my post here as to what I believe we place our faith in
Doug,
I will respond to your comments in your gospel post:
You said:
We are all sinners who cannot save ourselves.
Agreed.
You said:
Christ died for our sins; He was our substitute; He paid the full penalty and debt for our sin by his blood sacrifice.
I don't fully agree with this statement. Christ is
not our substitute. That is a false doctrine of the apostate church.
Christ is our
near-kinsman redeemer.
By Christ's death on the cross, Christ
purchased mankind's sin debt of death that we owe because of our sins. Now, all mankind owes the debt of death to Christ which He will be collecting at a time of His choosing from each of us. This death is symbolically said to happen in the Lake of Fire (a symbol for judgment).
The death that Christ will collect from us is the death of the child of the Devil. But since Christ's death on the cross earned Him the keys to death and hell, Christ has the power and legal authority to give us a new life
before He collects our debt of death. This full spiritual process is called conversion.
For the Elect, Christ will give the person their new birth BEFORE He begins His judgment upon the child of the Devil. Because of this order, the Elect person will not experience wrath during their time of judgment.
The verse below applies to the judgment of the balance of mankind in the final age:
Mat 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
In the final age for the balance of mankind, their judgment will begin PRIOR to Christ giving them their new birth. Because it does, they will suffer wrath for a time. But before anyone perishes, Christ will have
MERCY upon them. His mercy will come to them as the Early and Latter Rains of the Spirit. With the Spirit, each person will have the necessary
FAITH that will make Christ's pathway straight for Him to come and save them. After the new child of God is born, the child will be gathered to heaven (spiritually speaking). The child of the Devil will remain in the Lake of Fire to perish. The death of the child of the Devil will satisfy the debt that we owe Christ and it will also satisfy
JUSTICE.
Joel 2:1-27 presents the judgment of the physical Nation of Israel in the final age. Christ's army are the Elect. And like Mat 23:23 says, Christ will have mercy upon those being judged (v. 18) and will pour out the Early and Latter Rains upon them (v. 23) before they perish.
Here are the verses you mentioned that you said supports your statement:
2Cor 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
This verse is incorrectly translated. It should read as "made him to be an offering for sin". Christ was never made "sin". As an offering for sin, Christ purchased our sin debt and His blood justifies us before God the Father.
In Rom 3:24-26 that you mentioned, it says that Christ is the "propitiation" for our sins. Yes, that is true - but it does not mean that He was our substitute. It only means that Christ's sacrifice was acceptable to God. So when a person is "in Christ", His sacrifice will apply to them (it justifies them). In this way, Christ has given mankind "life". But a life that continues to sin is
not salvation. For that reason, Christ also came to give mankind a
more abundant life that is free from sin. To give us this life, Christ will collect our sin debt by destroying the one who sins. But before He does, He will make us into a new creation who will never sin again.
John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Christ accomplished giving mankind "life" at the cross. He did it under the Old Covenant. But since Christ came to give mankind a
more abundant life, Christ began a new covenant with mankind. Under the New Covenant of Grace through Faith, Christ will freely give mankind a life that is free from sin. To give us this more abundant life, Christ will convert us into the children of God who will never sin again. He does this by the spiritual process of conversion.
You said:
All we have to do is believe the gospel.
The gospel that is being taught in the churches is NOT the true Gospel. That gospel requires certain works from mankind. The true Gospel requires NO WORKS from mankind. Even the faith that a person needs is given to them by Christ. Christ truly does all the work of a person's salvation. For that reason, the salvation of all mankind is a certainty.
You said:
The moment you believe you have eternal life.
No, that is not true. The moment a person believes, they are justified before God as long as they remain faithful. But they are not
eternally saved. To be eternally saved, a person must be converted. Conversion requires
both the Early and Latter Rains, followed by judgment.
As I explained in my previous posts, after a person is given the Early Rain, they will have a "measure of faith" and have "life". But because they remain spiritually blind, they will become
unfaithful by following "another gospel" which mixes works with faith. Only after a person is converted will they remain faithful and be eternally saved.
Consider what Paul said here:
Gal 5:3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
One of the most common "works" of Paul's time was circumcision. But after the coming of the spirit of anti-Christ, the false Doctrine of Free Will entered the church. That doctrine teaches that a person's confession of faith and usually their "good works" come from themselves. The apostate church also uses that false doctrine to justify why unbelievers are worthy of hell and why they are not.
You said:
Trust the gospel of your salvation. Place your faith in Jesus Christ, in his blood, in his death and his resurrection.
That is true for the
true Christ and His Gospel. But after Paul's departing, Satan deceived the church. Satan is now masquerading as Christ and has replaced the true Gospel with his own false gospel.
2Cor 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
If you believe that you are too smart or educated to be deceived by Satan, you are mistaken.
Consider what Christ said:
Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Most of the teachings of Christ that present the pathway to salvation (there are many) include a time of falling away.
Christ also made this statement about the pathway to salvation:
Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, it is written, Man shall not live (salvation) by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Some of God's words include consuming Satan's leavened bread and falling away from faith. For that reason, the book of Revelation says that the Elect will "keep the sayings of the prophecy".
Rev 1:3 Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for THE TIME IS AT HAND.
Rev 22:7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
The sayings of the prophecy include becoming apostate; a man of sin.
Joe
