2,000 YEARS AGO


"For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” Matthew 24:24. 


For more than 2,000 years Christians have been misled by Satan to believe that the way to salvation is through grace and not through work. And most Christians are taking this shortcut route to salvation because the road is broader and easier to travel compared to the much narrower, rockier, and harder road of work. The grace route is selling like pancakes, whereas the work route is hard to sell. Nobody wants to buy the work route. Everybody is taking the broad road. They can sing, they can play the guitar, play the drums, scream hallelujah, and so forth, and they believe that they are on their way to heaven. Let us see what Jesus says about God’s way to heaven. But first, let us check with the dictionary what the definition of grace is. In Christianity, grace is defined as a gift given to us by God as unmerited favor. In other words, we have to do nothing to earn God’s grace. Let us now see what Jesus says about the road to salvation. And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading [of it]?" So he answered and said, "`You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and `your neighbor as yourself.'" And Jesus said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live." And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live." Luke 10:25-28.

Luke 10:25-28 is merited favor, not unmerited favor. “Do this and you will live” is a merited favor, hence it is not grace based on our definition of grace. It is a reward for something that we do. Therefore, a reward for something that we do is work and not grace. What Jesus tells the lawyer to do is work that we all have to do but did not do. And we have not been doing this work since the time of reformation, since Martin Luther. “Do this and you will live” is a merited favor. We receive eternal life because we do what He tells us to do. When we receive something in exchange for work that we do, as Jesus had told the lawyer, that is merited favor and not grace. We have been following Martin Luther for ages. Every Christian church in the world has been following Martin Luther, and not Jesus. Grace has its own place, but it can never replace work. Please read The Triad of Salvation.

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading [of it]?" So he answered and said, "`You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and `your neighbor as yourself.'" And Jesus said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live." And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live." Luke 10:25-28.

Jesus promises that He will give us eternal life if we have met the conditions set forth in Luke 10:25-28. He promises that He will give us eternal life if we follow Him.

Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” John 10:27 Have we been following Jesus, or have we been following somebody else? If we have been following Jesus, then we are His sheep and He is our shepherd. 

I see that many Christians have been following Paul and they believe that they have been following Jesus. Others have been following the prophet Elijah and they believe that they have following Jesus. Some have been following Peter or the other disciples of Jesus, and they too believe that they are following Jesus. How can we follow so many different shepherds when Jesus is our only Shepherd.

The danger of following different shepherds other than Jesus, in my view, is that they can mislead us and prevent us from doing His will. "Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” Matthew 7:21


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