Our beloved Apostle Paul wrote something about himself and his beliefs in one of his letters that is a dagger (death blow) to the heart of ALL incorrect doctrine concerning salvation (how one obtains eternal life). But here’s the shocking and mind-boggling irony of it all … the incorrect salvation doctrine is being formulated from words out of PAUL’S LETTERS! Do you understand? IT’S THE SAME MAN !!! In other words, like I spoke about last week – read blog here – people our misconstruing Paul’s words, twisting them around to mean something other than what he actually meant. How terrible. How tragic.So what did Paul write? Listen to him carefully: “I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I MYSELF SHOULD BE CASTAWAY” (I Corinthians 9:27). Oh, my! The English word “castaway” was translated from the Greek word “adokimos” meaning: failing the test, rejected. This was no doubt a throwback to the words Paul heard Jesus had spoken about the Day of Judgment, when the damned will hear: “DEPART (CASTAWAY) FROM ME, all ye workers of iniquity” (Luke 13:27). Can you imagine? Paul feared he could end up in hell!!! Did Paul believe (mentally acknowledge) Jesus died on the cross for his and all mankind’s sins? OF COURSE HE DID!!! He lived on Earth when Christ lived on Earth; he talked extensively with Christ’s disciples; he knew everything about Christ’s life and believed it was ALL true! So was that ever going to change in his mind? OF COURSE NOT!!! Furthermore, Paul spent his days preaching about Christ to others! And YET, he STILL feared he could end up in hell.
So what is it? What MUST a person REALLY DO to obtain eternal life? What did Paul HONESTLY believe (deep down inside his heart) about the subject? You who like to tilt your chin back and puff your chest out, who only know how to continually parrot a few trite words from Paul’s letters – taken horribly out of context! – “Saved by grace … not of works!” Really!!!??? So tell me again why you believe you’re going to heaven? Because you believe (mentally acknowledge) Jesus died on a cross for your sins? REALLY!!!??? And you got that understanding out of Paul’s letters? The one who mentally understood Jesus was the savior of the world better than you do, yet still feared he could end up in hell! You've been once saved always saved? REALLY!!!??? And you came to that understanding out of Paul's letters? Well, then you better go straighten him out on the meaning of his own words, because he still feared he could end up in hell! LOL So you don’t have to do ANYTHING (no works of love!) to obtain eternal life? REALLY!!!??? And you got that understanding from Paul’s words, too? The one who gave up his life to be an itinerant preacher, yet still feared he could end up in hell!
Do you see the irony? If you are one of the those whose salvation doctrine only consists of a few misinterpreted words out of Paul's letters like “Saved by grace … not of works!” … you are dreadfully mistaken! Without a doubt, you are confused about the truth of God’s Word concerning salvation (how one obtains eternal life). And yes, you are deceived about the Apostle Paul’s beliefs on the issue, too! It is your pride and sinful lusts (willful disobedience to God's 10 love commandments) that keep you holding onto these demonic lies. But I have been sent to warn you today, “Wise up! Soften your heart! And turn from your wicked (non-loving) ways before the last breath of air rattles out of your lungs."
Visit UBP Book Website HERE.
Shabbat Shalom,
Gabriel
Approximately 862 Weeks (Sabbaths) Remaining Till Christ's Return!
Hi Gabriel, this is your cousin Matt, I want to respectfully disagree with your above blog post.
ReplyDeleteThe saved by grace quote is from Ephesians 2:8 and 9 and the full text is "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is a gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast."(NIV) Paul then goes on to clarify what the life change that accompanies salvation means to a Christian in verse 10 when he says "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." In other words someone who has been saved by grace will want to do good works and those will naturally accompany salvation, but they are not a prerequisite to salvation. In I Corinthians 9:27, I don't think he was saying that he was afraid of going to hell, but was indicating that he would be disqualified from preaching the Gospel or from a further heavenly reward that would be in addition to salvation. The subject of the larger passage in I Corinthians is Christian Liberty, my King James Bible has a note that says "The point is that the believer must discipline himself to avert both being disqualified from Christian ministry, and forfeiting the rewards for such service."
I'm curious if you are espousing a works-based salvation, how much is enough? At what point do you cross the line and are saved? Wouldn't there have to be people that got really really close but didn't quite measure up. Is there some kind of formula that measures all the good things we have done against all of our sins and if we come out on the positive side of the formula we get in to heaven and if we don't we go to Hell? Is there a dial in Heaven for each of us that says heaven or hell and the dial bounces back and forth based on what the formula is looking like? Have you read the book Radical? This book is a challenging book to many American Christians but does not cross the line into heresy which I fear your beliefs have sadly done. The beliefs you espouse sound like Pelagianism, a common heresy that also includes the Mormon faith.
Thanks for your comment, Matt! And great to hear from you, cousin. : ))
DeleteI'm curious? Have you read the book I wrote? In its entirety? Here's the deal ... these short blogs are not meant to explain EVERYTHING about salvation (how obtaining eternal life works). These blogs are written to make people think logically about God's Holy Word, so that if they have been deceived by doctrines of demons told in the church world, they can slowly begin to right the "ship of Truth" in their spirit.
With that being said, let me say this ... I understand every argument (or doctrinal understanding) you have raised in your comment above, for remember, I too was raised in the church world. Thus, I KNOW how deep those doctrinal teachings run in the heart of church folk. In fact, it was THIS reason that God had me write the 400 page book, after first taking me back to the Old Testament stories and revealing to me the truth about salvation (how obtaining eternal life works).
So if you haven't read the entire book -- which I get the feeling you haven't! -- please do so if your curious and concerned about the doctrine I'm espousing. I cannot make you understand my position here in blogger with just a few words in a few paragraphs.
In Christ's love,
Gabriel
p.s. My mom will send you a book for free if you need one, just get the word to her through your mom. : )
I have your book and have read over half of it. I found it interesting, especially the 7 thousand year periods, but at the same time I found myself wondering whether you were trying to start a new religion. To be frank, I was reminded of the reading I have done on Joseph Smith when he spoke of his praying to God and asking which of the Christian denominations he should join and he said an angel of God, told him that none of them were right which started him on the path to starting the Mormon religion. Furthermore, I questioned the title of your book which states that there is undeniable Biblical proof the Jesus Christ will return to planet earth exactly 2,000 years after the year of his death. The 7,000 year master plan highlighted in the book is compelling but far from undeniable. Not all of the 1,000 year periods were spot on and the most recent milestone (year 5,000) was not even included in your book. Finally I was uncomfortable with the last paragraph of your book where it reads "Well, I wish I could get this book into the hands of every person living on the face of Earth - certainly, everyone with a Bible should have it as an adjunct - for the message contained in this book has the power to change a person's life (since it fully and irrefutably explains the Bible's true meaning and intent) and win them eternal life." Again to say something is irrefutable is a very high level of assurance and I just didn't find the evidence included in your book irrefutable. To imply that one cannot understand the Bible's true meaning and intent unless they read UBP seems, to put it lightly, a bit arrogant. You may not have realized this, but by using words like undeniable and irrefutable, you actually weaken your arguments. If it truly is undeniable, then you wouldn't have to sell it as undeniable. When reading the book, it feels a little like you are trying to do the Holy Spirit's job. Instead of laying out the facts as you understand them, many times you use all caps and multiple exclamation points to drive home your points. I would much rather have seen your arguments laid out logically and a little less of "Do you understand!!!" Please don't misunderstand me, I'm not trying to be critical. I just think if something is true it doesn't need to be sold like it's a Kirby vacuum cleaner.
DeleteThanks again, Matt, for your comments and concern. It's interesting, you've read only half the book and are trying to give your opinion about how "undeniable" or "irrefutable" the evidence is in the book. That's like a jury listening to only half the evidence in a trial and then casting their judgment. Do you see how irrational and unwise that is?
ReplyDeleteBut anyway, I'm glad you just did that, because that's the VERY THING I've been highlighting in these last few blogs concerning what people do with Paul's letters. They listen to him hear and there and ignore (don't want to read!) what he said over there, then they foolishly formulate their erroneous doctrines, completely misconstruing his message. Please don't do that with the message in my book! Hear a man out COMPLETELY and then cast your stones.
I'm sorry the book is offending you, Mark. That's disappointing. God bless and take care ~ Gabriel
Hi Gabriel,
DeletePlease don't misunderstand me. I'm not offended. I just had what I thought were valid questions about your book. If you are saying that those questions are answered in the last third of the book, then I will read the rest and reserve any questions until then. Maybe I'm being to narrow in what I consider undeniable, but I thought that most areas of faith are deniable, otherwise they wouldn't be a matter of faith. Just because I believe something to be true does not make it undeniable. I admit that I am skeptical of works-based theology, because of the issue I raised in my earlier comment. When do you cross the line to being good enough? There was only one perfect person. The rest of us have sinned and will continue to sin no matter how hard we try not to. If you are saying that man has the capacity to live perfect lives here on earth, then I have a real problem with that theology. But again, I can disagree without being offended.
I sincerely want to hear your answer to these questions. I'll make a deal with you. I'll read the rest of the book, if you answer the questions that I have on the book.
-Matt
Matt, you should read the rest of UBP and then you know what? Read it again, with an open heart and let go of any pride which is clearly present in your comments. I pray that the Lord may open your eyes this time and understand His truth just like he has mine and helped me BREAK OUT of man-made religion. But the choice is yours. If you continue to choose to harden your heart, you won't comprehend. And for the record, Gabriel's message (really God's), is totally logical when you look at the rest of scripture and even the NT! He is NOT making up a new religion but it is the same WAY that Jesus spoke of that was from "The beginning". Why do you ignore Jesus' words and hold fast to a few sentences from Paul? Why do you ignore the rest of the NT that has hundreds of references to the 10 Love Commandments (repentance)? Was not Jesus the original teacher and not Paul? Was he not "the Word of God" (10 Love Commandments) that became flesh according to the Gospel of John? It is so clear brother. Open your eyes and see!
ReplyDelete