By Walid Shoebat (Shoebat Exclusive)
Many comment to us saying that what we write about doesn’t matter since understanding salvation is the only matter that does.
Indeed, but many also fell away and rejected Jesus’ first coming for ignoring something as stupid as a donkey believing that Messiah’s entry into Jerusalem was to defeat the Roman armies coming triumphantly riding on a white horse. Had someone yelled “donkey” it would have probably saved many from hell.
The second coming will be a similar scenario and many will go to hell for missing simple, but very crucial issues. One issue is that so many are living in false sense of assurance of salvation. In fact Christ busts the myth of this false self-assurance in which He, when He comes, divides the Christian claimants in two camps; a camp that had a false assurance that they are ‘saved’ and another camp which are saved, yet they were known by their obedience. In Matthew 7 and Matthew 25 His second coming and His judgment is clear “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 7:21) and in Matthew 25, he judges between the folks who did something about the persecuted vs. the other camp who didn’t, yet in Matthew 7 He tells us the doomed to hell will call on Him saying, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” He will inform them that “I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness”.
Its easy to know that the ones who are always belittling law and focus on prophetic signs and staged false miracles focus on self while they ignore the suffering Israel of God and redeemed Israel are destined to everlasting hellfire.
Matthew 25 and Matthew 7 should be a hint-hint, that healing and prophetic signs and wonders ministries are mostly the worst investment in the heavenly stock market and focusing on Christ’s body, the Church calling on sinners to repent and join while caring for the flock is promised everlasting life.
To many who condemn us for writing this responding with scripture gymnastics, you can bicker all you want today saying that we are wrong, but you will take your bickering to hell and in heaven where the saved live, they will not be able to hear your weeping and gnashing of teeth. In heaven there is no comment line from hell expressing your frustration on how Jesus misunderstood scripture. Signs and wonders, focus on healings, laziness and a continual life of iniquity thinking “I’m saved” is definitely a highway to hell.
Most in such movements do not know the danger of what they consider to be simple issues. Within the Christian camp are folks who are bound to hell while they accuse others of going to hell. For example I find so many are damning the Catholics as “Harlot of Babylon” and the Orthodox Russians are accused of being “heretic” followers of the Russian Gog. After all these accusations, if wrong, were a result of simple problems of interpreting Scripture, which Christ will surely forgive, right?
But here, lets take a simple scenario, the issue of Islam being the religion of Antichrist or that Turkey will lead the Caliphate is of little importance to many. If so, why did God send us all these verses, which comprise quite the volume of Scripture showing Muslim nations being the greatest threat to the Church? Now that Russia has been healed and adheres to Orthodoxy and when lets say it has a war with Muslim Turkey, these anti-Orthodox and anti-Russia would prefer to believe that Gog’s doom has come and would take a neutral side or be indifferent to the suffering Orthodox at the hands of the Muslims and by that the so-called Christian who thought that the Left Behind series interpreted all he needs to know about the prophetic word, he ends up standing with the very person whom they claim to be against: Antichrist.
You would think that would be of no major deal to Christ?
Must Read: The Armies Of The Antichrist Are Near, And Russia Will Take The Victory (Part 1-6)
Its best to get squared away with bad biblical interpretation now then wait until later or be as simple as the old lady who goes to church, lights a candle at the foot of Jesus, asks a blessing and goes home would be a much better approach since she reads less of Left Behind series and knows by simple deduction that if a war broke out between Russia and Turkey she will say “O my” “Muslim vs. Christian” and will go to church and burn yet another candle praying for Russia’s victory. At times we are better off not reading too much prophecy mania books and search for the simple fruit, a church that is in disarray with a divorce epidemic is bad fruit since divorcing mimics false-Christians in which the woman did not honor her husband and the husband was not willing to care for the wife, even die for her as Christ died for the church.
I have even had a hard-time convincing folks to accept that there might be a literal physical mark of God (perhaps a cross) on the foreheads of the Christians in opposition to the mark of Antichrist thinking that such mark they insist is a “spiritual mark”. Imagine now that during the time of Moses a group of Israelites would say “no” to marking their doorposts and lintels with the blood of the lamb, yet another shape of the cross, or that during Ezekiel’s time some refuse to put the mark of the “Taw”, which looked like a cross, that some insisted that the mark of God is in their heart, would God spare them? No.
Must Read: What Every Christian Needs To Know About The Mark Of The Beast And The Mark Of God
Just ask Cain if fruit sufficed. In fact, the story of Matthew 25 was etched in the beginning of the Bible ensuring that the one with the pleasing recipe was Abel’s and by that simple recipe he was “saved” and that the fruit and vegetables vegitarian diet by Cain did not please God and Cain therefore was not saved. God was not a vegitarian. He wanted us to also know that one day the Lamb of God will be sacrificed. Simple.
We argue over wine or grape juice and I ask; why not play it safe and follow God’s recipe: real wine, and that “bread” is also crucial, we must eat of His Body continually. I will do my best to be the virgin that was awake always ensuring that the oil fills my lamp.
So if the showdown begins and the war erupts, I will make sure me and my family go to the church that is marking the foreheads with the sign of God, be it ash-wednesday, I will do it, regardless of how many disagree and bicker with the denominational differences.
But as I see it, God is already dividing the camp between “we healed and prophesied in your name” and the other righeous camp of “we obeyed your commandments”, “your laws O Lord are just”.
It’s really so simple that an old lady would easily figure it out. One is better off learning from grand mothers rather than most of these modern theologians. It is no wonder why Jesus kept it kiss: Keep it Simple Stupid.
And today we see a difference between signs and wonders vs. movers and shakers who do the will of the Father.
The signs and wonders group always accuses the movers and shakers (the workers) of believing in works based salvation and are more into Scriptural gymnastics than anyone else. If one obeyed Christ following few verses are better off than the ones who spends a lifetime as scriptural gymnasts, yet they got all the instructions on obedience wrong. This is why I’d rather listen to an old lady who lights up a candle at the foot of the cross and has her life in order vs. the one who takes away all the crosses from the church, posts a globe instead and with a drum and guitar sits there for years doing scriptural gymnastics trying to heal the divorce epidemic in his church. The problem of divorce is simple, during the times they talked less on the issue, marriage was stronger and during the times they talked so much on the issue divorce was rampant. The reason is simple, the tree is rotten at its root, run for your life no matter how much you love the guitar.
Its like racism, during the times when they discussed it less, the problems were much less and today we discuss racism more than anything else even though we have the least amount of racism and we see the most riots over racism.
The way I apply wisdom is in reverse; in anything, there are always two groups, one who always thinks they have not done what is right, continually repents because they think they are not pleasing to God, these are more likely to enter heaven versus the other group who think they have it all figured out and assures themselves falsely they are good with God since they repeated a formula from a booklet and assured themselves that they will enter heaven not knowing that they won’t even make it. You can tell the ones who are less likely to make it from their quick angry responses to anything wise you try to tell them. These have such an absolute assurance and when you quote scripture they always say, “did God really say that?”
So when you tell them that scripture says, “He who endures to the end will be saved” (Matt. 24:13; cf. 25:31–46) they will tell you that this is not what the text really means. The Bible clearly even teaches that you can be completely “cut off” for disobedience:
“See then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off” (Rom. 11:22; see also Heb. 10:26–29, 2 Pet. 2:20–21).
The unsaved will re-interpret “cut off” to mean something else and the “provided that you continue” is not about continuing, but partying, singing and humming praise and worship while their brothers and sisters die in the furnaces and brick kilns of Pakistan. Evil is the type of thing that once you witness it and you are able to do something about it, yet do nothing, you become an accomplice to it.
But instead of paying attention to God’s will, we sit and argue different positions on salvation as if arguing and debate are ministries, so we say that if one could not lose one’s salvation, its because one has never had salvation in the first place, or we argue another position that Christians should have self-assurance in their state of salvation as the most crucial issue at hand. All this instead of heeding to Christ’s simple command “obey my commandments” which entails understanding and obeying the moral law. Period. So many today cannot even differentiate between the moral law and the levitical law for the Jews, they strike every lawful issue we bring condemning it as “law” that does not “save” while ignoring that the unsaved practice hatred and disobedience to the law “depart from me you doers of iniquity (lawlessness)” is quite clear. Millions upon millions are listening to itching ears.
I find myself instead of arguing endless points, I’d rather make sure that I obey Christ the best I can. Spending a lifetime debating the “knowability” or the “loseability” of salvation is a waste of precious time. Imagine facing Christ saying “You were hungry and I debated the assurance of salvation. You were naked and I argued TULIP. You were in prison and I spoke in tongues”. Do you think that does it?
Even the verses of assurance are not exactly what the pastors with itching ears teach:
‘These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God (1 John 5:13).’”
The Bible says to “continue” till the end of our life. In Christianity there is no such thing as retirement. “Continue” is there for a reason, to continue, if you stop you will not make it to the finish line.
They say that self-assurance is important so that rather than living every moment in terror, they can have a calm, assured knowledge that they will, in fact, be saved, and that nothing will ever be able to change this fact. Yet, if only one could be certain of making it to heaven is Jesus Christ and while He knew that He will be with the Father in heaven, He seems to have wept and suffered more than any other.
I am not here to be living in comfort. John even makes it clear: “By this it may be seen who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not do right is not of God, nor he who does not love his brother” (1 John 3:10), “If any one says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20), “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).
Love is action not a romantic word that a weasel tells a lady while sipping a glass of wine hoping to lay with her when she gets tipsy. Love at times could even mean that Bob shoots the intruder who was breaking into his neighbor’s house versus the jerk who stood by when a girl was being molested and did nothing. Being indifferent to evil is just as guilty as being an active member to it; the church that was going to hell in Matthew 7 were no members of Antichrist, but were simply indifferent to evil, that when confronted they would probably say that Iraqi Christians or Copts are churches from an apostolic succession who were more inclined to believing in a theology that stems from the Harlot of Babylon in Rome. There are millions who trust Alexander Hislop’s book the Two Babylons and take it as if it is Bible regardless that no historian approves its accuracy. Others assure themselves that all non-Protestants are Mary worshippers deserving of hell.
Folks interpret so many things without looking at the historic understanding that when scripture says “And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). This is not a promise for all Christians, or even necessarily all in the church at Philippi, but it is a confidence that the Philippian Christians in general would make it. Paul was simply confident in them since he immediately writes, “It is right for me to feel thus about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel” (1:7).
But why God chose the Philippians was that they assisted Paul in his imprisonment showed their true metal, Paul wrote “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day” (2 Tim. 4:7-8).
Even Paul doubted: “I pummel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Cor. 9:27). Paul advised fervently, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12) This is not the language of self-confident assurance.
The Philippians followed Matthew 25 “for I was in prison and you visited me”. I was saddened when I spoke to a major pastor at a Calvary Chapel in California who agreed to help in the rescue of Christians in which his wife said that she “prayed about it and the Lord said not to be involved”. How could God prohibit Christians from being involved? One can tell that the more a Christian claims he/she has conversations with the Almighty, that odds are they are having conversations with someone else. I had another Calvary Chapel in Florida who said that God told him to invite me to speak, yet when my message was too much to handle, persecutions, beheadings and suffering, he cancelled the rest of the weekend’s seminar. When I asked him why he did this his response was swift, “God told me to cancel it” in which I countered, “how could God who invited me to speak be the same God who changes His mind?”
I have met with the most prominent and influential church leaders in the world, but I tell you the truth, most of these were amazing, not in a good sense, but that all the wealth they acquired was using and abusing the story of a man who rode a donkey.