We really only need one example from Scripture to prove salvation is by faith in Christ. That example is the thief on the cross. He is a great example, he had no works of any kind only belief in Christ.
Luke 23:33-43 says:
"When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The
soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”
There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Friday, February 1, 2019
You Cannot Be Good Enough to Earn Heaven
It occurred to me this morning that so often at funerals and memorials people love to say, "he/she is in a better place now." Even those who are not Christians believe in the after life as a "better place" and all that die go there.
I am not sure why they believe in a better place when the only evidence that there is one is in the Bible along with the other place that is a monstrous place, hell.
So often people assume there is only a better place and not the place of torment that God says most people will end up.
Matthew 7:13-14 "13 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it."
Those who had no desire to love Christ in life will not enjoy His blessing of a home in heaven. Only those who have trusted Christ and desired to be cleansed by Him will be in heaven with Him, all other go to hell.
James 1:14-15 "…14 But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed. 15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. "
Proverbs 11:19
"Genuine righteousness leads to life, but the pursuit of evil brings death."
Being a good person does not save anyone. Even a good person who does not trust Christ will go to hell because God is clear that no one is good. All good deeds done by unsaved people have an element of personal glory in them, if even they do not realize it.
Romans 3:10 "10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one. 11 There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God."
Many people believe they are good people who have rejected Christ as their Lord. The prisons are full of people who believe they are basically good. One cannot do a crime unless one has sin. One cannot become enraged unless they are already an angry person.
The only way to become born again and free of the stain of sin is for the one who is a sinner to confess their sinfulness. They must trust Christ and His cleansing blood to cover their sin in order to be changed by Him.
Anyone who will not admit their sinfulness and desire to be changed by Christ, will not be saved from hell.
Revelation 21:8
"But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Matthew 25:41
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."
If you think you are a good person without Christ, worthy of a better place after this life, you are choosing to believe what you want that has no basis in the Bible. Your works will not save you, your words will not save you. Only trusting in Christ and desiring to be made into a new creation by Him will save you from the fires of hell.
Romans 2:6-8
"He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury."
It is common these day for people to pluck passages out of their context to avoid facing the truth in the ones they ignore. To say you believe in heaven but not hell, is to remove the passages about heaven from their context to leave out hell. If you say you believe the Bible then you must keep all its passages in context with each other and with the entire Bible.
Revelation 20:15
"And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
Is your name written in the book of life that God keeps? It is so very easy to find your name there, just confess your sinfulness and trust Christ to cleanse and save you. After we have done that you will begin to change. The things you loved before that were sinful you will begin to hate. The things you despised before that were righteous you will begin to love. You will hate what God hates and love what He loves.
Psalm 33:5 "…4 For the word of the LORD is upright, and all His work is trustworthy. 5 The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of His loving devotion. "
Psalm 37:28
"For the LORD loves justice and will not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off."
I am not sure why they believe in a better place when the only evidence that there is one is in the Bible along with the other place that is a monstrous place, hell.
So often people assume there is only a better place and not the place of torment that God says most people will end up.
Matthew 7:13-14 "13 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it."
Those who had no desire to love Christ in life will not enjoy His blessing of a home in heaven. Only those who have trusted Christ and desired to be cleansed by Him will be in heaven with Him, all other go to hell.
James 1:14-15 "…14 But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed. 15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. "
Proverbs 11:19
"Genuine righteousness leads to life, but the pursuit of evil brings death."
Being a good person does not save anyone. Even a good person who does not trust Christ will go to hell because God is clear that no one is good. All good deeds done by unsaved people have an element of personal glory in them, if even they do not realize it.
Romans 3:10 "10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one. 11 There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God."
Many people believe they are good people who have rejected Christ as their Lord. The prisons are full of people who believe they are basically good. One cannot do a crime unless one has sin. One cannot become enraged unless they are already an angry person.
The only way to become born again and free of the stain of sin is for the one who is a sinner to confess their sinfulness. They must trust Christ and His cleansing blood to cover their sin in order to be changed by Him.
Anyone who will not admit their sinfulness and desire to be changed by Christ, will not be saved from hell.
Revelation 21:8
"But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Matthew 25:41
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."
If you think you are a good person without Christ, worthy of a better place after this life, you are choosing to believe what you want that has no basis in the Bible. Your works will not save you, your words will not save you. Only trusting in Christ and desiring to be made into a new creation by Him will save you from the fires of hell.
Romans 2:6-8
"He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury."
It is common these day for people to pluck passages out of their context to avoid facing the truth in the ones they ignore. To say you believe in heaven but not hell, is to remove the passages about heaven from their context to leave out hell. If you say you believe the Bible then you must keep all its passages in context with each other and with the entire Bible.
Revelation 20:15
"And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
Is your name written in the book of life that God keeps? It is so very easy to find your name there, just confess your sinfulness and trust Christ to cleanse and save you. After we have done that you will begin to change. The things you loved before that were sinful you will begin to hate. The things you despised before that were righteous you will begin to love. You will hate what God hates and love what He loves.
Psalm 33:5 "…4 For the word of the LORD is upright, and all His work is trustworthy. 5 The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of His loving devotion. "
Psalm 37:28
"For the LORD loves justice and will not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off."
Thursday, January 31, 2019
Narcissism: Second Timothy Three is Here
"Narcissism: Second Timothy Three is Here" by Gwendolyn Wehage, is now available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Narcissim-Second-Timothy-Three-Here/dp/164416096X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1548964455&sr=8-1&keywords=Gwendolyn+Wehage
And Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/narcissim-gwendolyn-wehage/1130417483?ean=9781644160961
And Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/narcissim-gwendolyn-wehage/1130417483?ean=9781644160961
My Book is Now Available
At Barnes and Noble, and soon on Amazon
Barnes and Noble:https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/narcissim-gwendolyn-wehage/1130417483?ean=9781644160961&fbclid=IwAR1ggXdDcYcb-99d7VBvJm901agdivEcF6rZo12Q5VxwcXbGKCOSmhK8Wyo
Barnes and Noble:https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/narcissim-gwendolyn-wehage/1130417483?ean=9781644160961&fbclid=IwAR1ggXdDcYcb-99d7VBvJm901agdivEcF6rZo12Q5VxwcXbGKCOSmhK8Wyo
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Were They Really Friends?
Confession and Forgiveness are Two Sides of the Same Coin
The reason so many people believe repentance is not necessary to be forgiven is because of the psychological teaching that says we should forgive someone who is not confessing their sin.
God never taught this, He does not forgive without confession or repentance (change of mind), nor does He expect us to do this.
A broken relationship to God is not mended unless there is confession and a desire to be cleansed. Neither is a relationship to others mended without confession of sin and a desire to never do it again.
1 John 1:9
"9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
God said "IF we confess", thats the phrase everyone wants to leave out. When one confesses then the offense can be forgotten. As long as the offense remains unconfessed the relationship remains broken.
Evil is empowered by lack of accountability, growing out of control for lack of consequences. We had to confess sinfulness to be born again and so should we continually be evaluating our actions to be cleansed as we walk through this life making mistakes.
Acting as though nothing happened to remain friendly is not a help to the sinner, its a hindrance. Perhaps people want to just "let things go" because they don't want anyone else requiring confession from them. Its all about self. We may want to just let things go because we want to have something to hold against someone at a later date.
Isaiah 26:10 "10 Though grace is shown to the wicked man, he does not learn righteousness. In the land of righteousness he acts unjustly and fails to see the majesty of the LORD."
When we have confessed something about our actions then God removes it, it is no longer counted against us. When someone comes to us to confess then we should be loving and accepting of their confession ready to forgive. From my own experience it is a relief and blessing to be forgiven, the debt no longer exists. The one who forgives ought to feel relief that the relationship has been reconciled. You see, everything is about the relationship reconciliation.
God wants His children to be reconciled and all ills mended and forgotten. In order for that to happen each party must obey God in the way God ordered things. Without one of these elements of confession and forgiveness, there is no reconciliation that is worth its salt. If the process does not happen correctly the offense can be brought up at a later time. However when we walk through the process in honesty, then the offended cannot ever bring it up again as anything against their friend.
Now, having said all that I feel a need to mention that once we have confessed and been forgiven we must believe God that it is over and never again allow false guilt from the devil to dominate us. From my own experience I know that the devil can keep bringing up passed confessed sin to torment us. And, sometimes he will cause us to fear that we still deserve punishment or that someone else will no longer love us.
Cast the devils thoughts from your mind. When we have confessed and we are forgiven then its over.
The devil doesn't want it to be over so he attempts to torture us day after day making us think we have no witness. Sometimes he will use people or even our own thoughts to keep us hurting over a passed forgiven sin. If there are "Christians" in our lives who want to pretend we are no different from before we were saved, then they must also be removed from our lies.
We all have a witness for Christ, no one is sinless and no sin is forever when it has been confessed and cleansed.
I actually had someone say to me many years ago, "what about the way you used to be?" This angry person hated that I had changed, that all my sins were forgiven and that I was a different person. Sadly this woman was a "Christian." I stated boldly and clearly I didn't care what happened before, what I am now is what matters."
This angry bitter woman liked it better when she could feel superior to me. The thought that I had been cleansed and forgiven was frustrating to her. Every sin that is confessed has no hold over us nor should any person who wants to throw up our past forgiven sins as an attack against us. The devil was using this woman to attack me in order to make me believe I was not a different person. The devil hates it when Christ cleanses!
The devil wants us to believe we should never speak the truths of the Bible because we have sinned. How utterly ridiculous is this!!!! All the apostles and everyone else too had sin they needed to confess to grow. Mary the mother of Jesus confessed her need for a Savior.
Only those who believe they are perfect and have never sinned would ever hold anyone's past forgiven sins against them. We have all had to confess and repent to be born again. And, we need continual cleansing as we seek holiness. God will bring to mind things we had forgotten or convict us quickly after a wrong attitude or action. That is the sign that we have the Holy Spirit and are seeking Christ for continual cleansing for the rest of our lives. Anyone who thinks they have arrived at perfection remains in their sin of pride.
Romans 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
2 Thessalonians 3:1-3 "1 Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may spread quickly and be held in honor, just as it was with you. 2 And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men; for not everyone holds to the faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one."
God never taught this, He does not forgive without confession or repentance (change of mind), nor does He expect us to do this.
A broken relationship to God is not mended unless there is confession and a desire to be cleansed. Neither is a relationship to others mended without confession of sin and a desire to never do it again.
1 John 1:9
"9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
God said "IF we confess", thats the phrase everyone wants to leave out. When one confesses then the offense can be forgotten. As long as the offense remains unconfessed the relationship remains broken.
Evil is empowered by lack of accountability, growing out of control for lack of consequences. We had to confess sinfulness to be born again and so should we continually be evaluating our actions to be cleansed as we walk through this life making mistakes.
Acting as though nothing happened to remain friendly is not a help to the sinner, its a hindrance. Perhaps people want to just "let things go" because they don't want anyone else requiring confession from them. Its all about self. We may want to just let things go because we want to have something to hold against someone at a later date.
Isaiah 26:10 "10 Though grace is shown to the wicked man, he does not learn righteousness. In the land of righteousness he acts unjustly and fails to see the majesty of the LORD."
When we have confessed something about our actions then God removes it, it is no longer counted against us. When someone comes to us to confess then we should be loving and accepting of their confession ready to forgive. From my own experience it is a relief and blessing to be forgiven, the debt no longer exists. The one who forgives ought to feel relief that the relationship has been reconciled. You see, everything is about the relationship reconciliation.
God wants His children to be reconciled and all ills mended and forgotten. In order for that to happen each party must obey God in the way God ordered things. Without one of these elements of confession and forgiveness, there is no reconciliation that is worth its salt. If the process does not happen correctly the offense can be brought up at a later time. However when we walk through the process in honesty, then the offended cannot ever bring it up again as anything against their friend.
Now, having said all that I feel a need to mention that once we have confessed and been forgiven we must believe God that it is over and never again allow false guilt from the devil to dominate us. From my own experience I know that the devil can keep bringing up passed confessed sin to torment us. And, sometimes he will cause us to fear that we still deserve punishment or that someone else will no longer love us.
Cast the devils thoughts from your mind. When we have confessed and we are forgiven then its over.
The devil doesn't want it to be over so he attempts to torture us day after day making us think we have no witness. Sometimes he will use people or even our own thoughts to keep us hurting over a passed forgiven sin. If there are "Christians" in our lives who want to pretend we are no different from before we were saved, then they must also be removed from our lies.
We all have a witness for Christ, no one is sinless and no sin is forever when it has been confessed and cleansed.
I actually had someone say to me many years ago, "what about the way you used to be?" This angry person hated that I had changed, that all my sins were forgiven and that I was a different person. Sadly this woman was a "Christian." I stated boldly and clearly I didn't care what happened before, what I am now is what matters."
This angry bitter woman liked it better when she could feel superior to me. The thought that I had been cleansed and forgiven was frustrating to her. Every sin that is confessed has no hold over us nor should any person who wants to throw up our past forgiven sins as an attack against us. The devil was using this woman to attack me in order to make me believe I was not a different person. The devil hates it when Christ cleanses!
The devil wants us to believe we should never speak the truths of the Bible because we have sinned. How utterly ridiculous is this!!!! All the apostles and everyone else too had sin they needed to confess to grow. Mary the mother of Jesus confessed her need for a Savior.
Only those who believe they are perfect and have never sinned would ever hold anyone's past forgiven sins against them. We have all had to confess and repent to be born again. And, we need continual cleansing as we seek holiness. God will bring to mind things we had forgotten or convict us quickly after a wrong attitude or action. That is the sign that we have the Holy Spirit and are seeking Christ for continual cleansing for the rest of our lives. Anyone who thinks they have arrived at perfection remains in their sin of pride.
Romans 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
2 Thessalonians 3:1-3 "1 Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may spread quickly and be held in honor, just as it was with you. 2 And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men; for not everyone holds to the faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one."
Do You Hear From the Holy Spirit?
Those who turn back were never born again in the first place. There are many pretenders in the church today, they have no desire for the word or Christ but are in the body.
1 John 2:19
"19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."
We cannot base our beliefs on experiences we have seen. We must depend on the Bible and the Holy Spirit to guide our thinking.
1 John 2:19
"19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."
We cannot base our beliefs on experiences we have seen. We must depend on the Bible and the Holy Spirit to guide our thinking.
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