You Cannot Lose Your Salvation–Unless You’re Not Really Saved, Ezekiel 36:26-27

Today is Buddy and my 10th Anniversary. I picked him up from the Enumclaw County Fair from Silky Terrier Rescue. He was 3 years old at the time and had been abused. He found happiness and love in his new forever home with me.

When we give our lives to Jesus Christ, we also find our new forever home. However, many Christians believe that God gives them temporary life, in contrast to the most famous and often quoted scripture from the New Testament:

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have ETERNAL life.”–John 3:16

Once again, Jesus promised that He gives us ETERNAL life, not temporary life:

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give ETERNAL life to them, and they will NEVER perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, Who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”–John 10:27-29

The reason Christians believe that they can lose their salvation is because they do NOT understand what salvation is. If they are living by the law, rather than by faith, then falling short of God’s standards can cause them to lose their salvation. Yet the apostle James clearly taught that if you try to live by the law and break just one of God’s rules, you’re guilty of breaking all of God’s laws.

“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.”–James, 2:10

“For we walk by faith, not by sight,”–Apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians 5:7

If a person is right with God by attempting to follow God’s standards of conduct, then Christ’s death was unnecessary. People who believe they can lose their salvation are unconsciously declaring that Christ is not their intercessor with the Father, that Christ’s sacrificial death on the Cross was incomplete. “It is finished!” Jesus cried as He died, having suffered God’s wrath for the sins of humanity (John 19:30).

The problem is that modern day Christians often preach only “half a gospel”, as Pastor Bob Christopher of the ministry, Basic Gospel, likes to say. The supernatural element has been purged from Christianity by many branches of the church.

It becomes a religion of obedience rather than a supernatural walk of love by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The first half is that our sins are forgiven because of Christ’s sacrifice.

The second half is that we become new creations, given new life by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, one of the three persons of the Holy Trinity.

The Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel, prophesied about the new rebirth, speaking for the Lord (note, given not earned):

“Moreover, I will GIVE you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”–Ezekiel 36:26-27

Salvation is NOT just getting your sins forgiven. It’s being given a new heart that desires to obey God because of the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament practice of circumcision of the flesh to declare oneself a follower of God was a foreshadowing of the circumcision of the human heart. Circumcision, removal of the flesh, is PERMANENT: It cannot be undone. The Holy Spirit removes the dominion of the flesh, our slavery to sin, and gives us rebirth as new creations. We do not become reformed or cleaned up old creations:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away, behold, all things are new.”–Apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians 5:17

When you were unsaved, you were DEAD; now you have been given the LIFE of Christ through the Holy Spirit. You were dead in your trespasses and sins; now, as a believer who walks by faith in Christ Jesus, not according to the Law, you now have ETERNAL life. Which is given when you accepted Jesus as your Lord by faith.

“When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”–Apostle Paul, Colossians 2:13-14

The problem of humanity is not that we don’t obey God; we don’t obey God because we are spiritually dead. We sin, because we are sinners. The sin is a result of who we are: DEAD.

When we become a Christian, we are given a new birth and become spiritually alive.

So then, what about those who claim to be Christians and then walk away? The apostle John makes it clear why:

“They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”–1 John 2:19

Jesus said that the tares, false believers, would remain within the true church until the Day of Judgment, to protect the true believers from being swept away at the same time (Matthew 13:24-30).

I’ve heard the prior parable in Matthew 13:18-23 used as an illustration to prove that you can lose your salvation, missing the fact that the parable of the tares follows right after. In the parable of the sower, the condition of the soil determines whether the fruit of the Holy Spirit is evident or not. Only the good heart who “hears the word AND understands it” will bear fruit. The other so-called believers fell away because the soil of their heart wasn’t right.

So, are you truly born again? Does the Holy Spirit indwell you? Has your life been transformed? Is there evidence of a change of heart, a desire to follow Christ and obey Him?

Of are you just fooling yourself, trying your best to be good without the power of God working in your spirit?

If you have doubts, ask the Lord today to reveal His presence to you.

And if the answer is “yes,” then be assured that you have eternal–

not temporary life!

With God in Heaven.

Love from Dawn and Buddy

PS. Believers generally have two experiences when they become born again; some, like me, have an amazing supernatural experience when the Holy Spirit enters into their spirit. Others have a slow awareness of the presence of God’s Spirit in their inner being. God gives us what we need, how we need it. Don’t despair if you didn’t have a powerful experience when you gave your life to Christ. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal His presence to you.

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If you are not born again, please consider that you don’t have life. You feel an inner emptiness that nothing can fill because only the Holy Spirit can complete your soul. Please ask Him to come into your life right now.

Dear Father, Please forgive my sins. I understand that it’s impossible to live up to your perfect standards of holiness, as Jesus said, “Therefore you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48). So Jesus had to suffer and die on the Cross to take the punishment I deserve. Please give me the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13) and make me a new creation, a person who desires to follow and love You. I don’t understand much right now, but I want you to be my Lord. Thank you, in Jesus’ name, amen.

If you were sincere, congratulations, you are now born again. Please ask God to lead you to a Bible believing church. If that’s not possible right now, there are three great ministries that I recommend, all of which have radio, video and podcasts available, whatever your preference:

http://www.InTouch.org, http://www.LTW.org and http://www.BasicGospel.net

God bless you. See you in heaven, if not here on earth.

Choosing Conformity Over Freedom, Samuel 8:5-22

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  Buster in his regal attire. Photo by Cassidy Anton

You may have noticed that the photo is not Buddy but his predecessor, Buster. Buddy looks like a traditional Silky terrier, only oversized. Buster looked like an Australian terrier with Yorkie fur, meaning that he had the larger size and bulk of the Aussie. Silky terriers were bred by crossing Australian terriers with Yorkies; it took a race between Australians and Americans to create the breed standard for the AKC in 1926. Since my dad complained that Buster ran the household, I thought it’d be funny to take a photo of him in a king’s outfit and give him a large-sized, framed copy for Christmas.

Before the nations of Israel and Judah were ruled by kings (and one queen), they were led by a series of judges, appointed and anointed by God. The twelve tribes had a fair amount of freedom. But because the prophet Samuel raised two rotten sons, the people demanded a king.

They wanted to be like all the other nations on earth.

Samuel felt rejected but God advised that the Israelites were rejecting Himself as their king and for Samuel not to take it personally.

God warned the people, through the prophet Samuel, that a king would take away some of their freedom and oppress them, tax them, take their children for servants, take a portion of their crops and herds, and force them into military service.

“Then you will cry out on that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day (1 Samuel 8:18).”

However, despite the warning that they’d lose much of their freedom and be oppressed by their new ruler:

“Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, ‘No, but there shall be a king over us, that we may be LIKE ALL THE NATIONS, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight out battles (1 Samuel 8:19-20, emphasis mine).”

The nation of Israel was enslaved to the Egyptians for 400 years before Moses and Joshua led them to the Promised Land, the land of Israel and Judah, a land bordering the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea. (In Egypt 430 years, enslaved for 400 after a Pharaoh arose who didn’t know Joseph, one of the 12 Hebrew patriarchs who helped rule Egypt.) The Lord Himself was their guide through the wilderness out of Egypt: He led them as a pillar of fire by night and a column of smoke during the day. After the 12 tribes settled in their new land, they were ruled by judges appointed by God.

Please not the above passage from verses 19-20: The people demanded that a human KING judge them and that a human KING go before them and fight their battles.

They did NOT say that they wanted God to judge them and to go before them and fight their battles.

Which is why God told Samuel: “For they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them (vs 7).”

Just like Adam and Eve rejected God’s authority and judgement, wanting to rule themselves and judge what is right and wrong, the Hebrews demanded that a man rule over them and judge right and wrong. Humanity has been consistently rejecting God’s authority from the first generation. And choosing to be in bondage to sin and to the rule of Satan.

Because there is no neutral ground: You’re either under God’s or Satan’s authority. You cannot sit on the fence: both sides are tugging on your legs! A very uncomfortable place to be!

When you accept that Jesus is the Messiah, God in Flesh (Matthew 1:23), is the true King of Kings and has the right to define right and wrong, then you are set free from the bondage of sin. We are all born into a kingdom of darkness and sorrow: God through Christ rescues us, plucks us out of Satan’s kingdom and gives us eternal life through the indwelling Holy Spirit of God.

“Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin…So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed (John 8:34-36).'”

Every day we have a choice: Follow in the path of freedom after the true King through whom everything was created (Colossians 1:16) or follow the world of humanity which is opposed to God, which keeps people in darkness, spiritual death and trapped in fleshly desires (Ephesians 2:1-5).

I’m very concerned about the movement in the United States toward globalism. The USA was one of the first nations founded on an idea, that all men are created equal and that the government is accountable to the people. That freedom to worship God, to speak and publish are sacred. That our rights come from God alone and, therefore, no government has the right to take our freedoms from us.

People have immigrated from all over the globe–some willingly and some not–who now enjoy unprecedented freedom in the USA. That’s not to say that other nations don’t have great ideas and cultural values that we can learn from or treasure, as I believe every person should love their country and fellow countrymen and try to make their nation the very best it can be.

But oppression is the norm for most people in the world historically and now. Many nations are not free for various reasons. And Marx hated Christianity: Communists and Socialists have historically tried to destroy or neuter the church–and the Jewish people. These systems teach that the government has the right to rule over people and rejects individualism: the government becomes their god and protector and provider.

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1).”

Let’s choose freedom over bondage: Christ is the only rightful King!

Love from Dawn and Buddy

***

True freedom comes from following Jesus. Yes, it seems odd that choosing to follow God Almighty sets you free, but His laws are for keeping us safe and happy. He gives us a broad field to run about it and only fences it in to keep us from the wolves who want to snatch and kill His sheep.

If you’re tired of living by your own rules, which have brought only disappointment and failure, please pray the following:

Dear Lord, I don’t know much about Christianity but I want to learn more about Jesus. He died for my sins to set me from from the bondage of the world, the enemy of my soul and my fleshly self-destructive desires. Please forgive my sins. I acknowledge that Jesus, God in the flesh (Matthew 1:23), was crucified and rose bodily from the grave to give me eternal life. And grant that the Holy Spirit enter my life to lead and guide me into all righteousness (Psalm 23:3). I want to follow you. Please teach me about your love for me and how to truly love others. Thank you in the name of Jesus, amen.

If you prayed that prayer, congratulations! You are now a Christian. Please attend a Bible-based church or Bible study where you can grow in the knowledge of God and His teachings.

If it’s not possible to attend a church at this time, please check out these three godly miniseries; they have been a big blessing in my life.

http://www.Intouch.org, http://www.LTW.org and/or http://www.BasicGospel.net

God bless you. May you experience His loving presence in your life.

The Church Doesn’t Always Flourish During Persecution, Acts 9:31

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Boxed In.

Buddy has many odd habits that might be the result of the three years of abuse he suffered before I adopted him. Some of it, of course, could be that he’s just a strange dog.

One example is that he will not take food directly from my hand (most times): He wants me to drop it on the ground. I used to be insulted at first: “What, do you think I’m trying to give you poison?” He’ll also won’t approach his dog food dish until I leave the area. In our prior home, he would circle the kitchen island to approach his dish. He seems very fearful that I will give him something to eat and then try to take it away from him. His prior owner was mean!

I’ve spent the second half of my Christian life revising some things from the first half. So many things are passed along the Christian community without questioning it. One of these that really exasperates me is the widespread belief that persecution is required for the Church to expand. It’s so entrenched that I’m made to feel like a heretic just for qestioning this belief or am met with blank stares of incomprehension. No one even gives any consideration to questioning it that I’ve spoken to.

Have we become a generation of Christian masochists and/or pessimists?

I didn’t come to Christ because because the government was persecuting Christians. I came to Christ because SATAN was persecuting ME!

Because of the religious freedom we could exercise before the coronovirus lockdowns, Christians in the dormitory where I once lived could freely share the Gospel with me and invite me to church where seeds were planted into my mind and heart. And because the Billy Graham organization was permitted to televise one of his crusades on a local, non cable television station, I was able to call the phone number on the screen and speak to a volunteer who led me in the prayer of salvation and into a relationship with Christ Jesus.

The first great evangelistic meeting was held in the open air by the apostle Peter, newly filled with the Holy Spirit. “And that day were added about three thousand souls…And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved (Acts 2:41, 47).”

Most believers point to the great time of persecution after the stoning of Stephen. But this time period forced Christians out of Jerusalem and into other cities, where they spread the gospel. It kept the Christian faith from remaining confined to one area. But after Saul met Jesus on the Damascus Road, he was converted and took on a new identity as the Apostle Paul. As a result of his conversion and subsequent discipleship/acceptance by Barnabas, the church experienced a new period of peace and continued to expand.

“So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase (Acts 9:31).”

If you ONLY accept that persecution alone grows the church, then the Middle East should be the center of Christianity for the world. The Muslims did allow religious freedom initially as they needed the current workforce and infrastructure of the nations they conquered till they’d consolidated their power. Although Christianity is experiencing a new revival in some Muslim nations (Algeria), it is occurring after more than a thousand years of oppression. In fact, God Himself is directly appearing to people in dreams and visions as they are not encountering the gospel through direct evangelism.

When I visited Aswan Egypt, the local church near our hotel had massive gates, appearing at least 15 feet high, to protect the Christians congregating for services, and guards at the gate, checking who was entering.

How any people died in their sin under the Communists because their churches were destroyed and believers were forbidden to meet? Some people did come to Christ because of the ministry of courageous people like the Wurmbrands* in Romania, but how many died in their sins or lived impoverished lives due to the lack of a Christian culture?

Nagasaki, according to the BBC news report, link below, was once a thriving Christian city of 500,000 believers. But in 1614 a nationwide ban on Christianity was enforced when the country went into isolation to rid itself of foreign influence. Christians were forced to leave or be killed; the faithful had to go underground.

“By the the end of the 19th Century, Japan decided to open its borders again. …In 1873, Japan’s long ban on Christianity was finally lifted – more than two centuries after it was first put in place.

When Japan opened up its borders again, around 20,000 Christians reappeared and came out of hiding,” said Mr Mullins. “…You’d gone from around 500,000 to 20,000 Christians.” https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50414472# Currently, only 1% of the Japanese population is Christian; 99% of the people are lost.

The BBC News.com also reported on May 3rd, 2019, that the number of Christians in Iraq has fallen from 1.5 million in 2003 to less than 120,000 due to the persecution by radicals in the 21st Century.

What I’m trying to convey is DON’T PUT GOD IN A BOX! He works in many different ways to bring people into a saving knowledge of Christ. If persecution will wake people up, that’s what He’ll do. If peace is needed for people to encounter the gospel, that’s what He’ll do. He’ll do whatever is necessary for a particular person to meet Him.

While we are still free in America to proclaim Christ, please continue to tell people about the love of God.

With Antifa now burning Bibles in the streets, you may one day lose your freedom to speak, if you do not speak out now.

And defend Christian culture and civilization.

Who knows how many people will perish eternally if you do not?

Love from Dawn and Buddy

*PS. The Wurmbrands did survive horrendous torture under the Communists to found the organization, The Voice Of The Martyrs, which assists Christians being persecuted throughout the world. They also provide a prayer calendar with 365 daily prayers for the persecuted church. http://www.VOM.org You can also read their story in the autobiography, “Tortured for Christ.”

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Feeling angry? According to author David J. Lieberman in “Never Get Angry Again,” anger can be addictive. But it is destructive to your mind and body.

You can start that journey to breaking the chains of anger in your life by recognizing that God loves you and wants to be your Father and friend. But until you want Him to also be your Lord and agree to live according to His principles, you will remain separated from Him.

You see, Adam and Eve didn’t want to follow God’s rules anymore and to decide right and wrong for themselves. As a result, they died spiritually and the Holy Spirit left the human race.

If you’d like to experience the freedom that God’s love can give you and the power of love working in your heart to free you from anger, please pray the below:

Dear Heavenly Father, There’s not much I understand about Jesus right now, but I’d like to get to know you. Please forgive my sin. I ask you to be my Lord. I want to follow Jesus, the Great Shepherd who died on the Cross to pay the penalty for my failings and rose bodily from the grave to give me eternal life. Jesus says that You will give the Holy Spirit to anyone who asks (Luke 11:13): Please grant me the Holy Spirit and teach me how to follow You. Please begin to free me of the emotions that are binding my heart and torturing my mind. Thank you for loving me and please teach me how much you really do care. In Jesus’ name, amen.

If you prayed that prayer, congratulations. You have eternal life. Please attend a Bible-based church or Bible study to grow in the knowledge of Jesus and Christian teaching.

If you cannot leave your home right now or attend a church, please check out these godly ministries. They are my favorites: http://www.InTouch.org, http://www.LTW.org or http://www.BasicGospel.net. Also, Kay Arthur’s Bible Study guide on Galatians and Ephesians was an enormous blessing to me as a new Christian and I highly recommend this study.

God bless.