MULTIPLUS

Before I say anything about what I have to say, I know that I am unworthy to say anything to you and I am foolish above all fools, but I pray that you should study this part one very carefully. If you are of God then you will moan at this, but if you are your own, then you will curse me. I want to talk about the salvation call that Christ accepts in the context of the uncomfortable God who does things that are strange, arbitrary and quite unacceptable to man.

We have always wanted to qualify God by our preconceptions and opinions. We want to have a God who is nice, who we like and who responds to our prayer requests. But can we comprehend the Almighty God? About this the scripture says;

As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

10 As the rain and the snow
       come down from heaven,
       and do not return to it
       without watering the earth
       and making it bud and flourish,
       so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
       It will not return to me empty,
       but will accomplish what I desire
       and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

But to them that are humble God will grant the grace to understand the mystery of heaven;

3 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'

Many are the times that we brand and categorize all things that we don’t want or are contrary to our expectation as “Satanic” or Demonic”. But are they? When did you ever agree with this scripture?

When a trumpet sounds in a city,
       do not the people tremble?
       When disaster comes to a city,
       has not the LORD caused it?

I want to present to you the true God who works his will as He pleases and seeks the counsel of no one. When we study the scriptures below, we find a strange God in action in History.

1 Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, "Go and take a census of Israel and Judah."

1 Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. 2 So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, "Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan. Then report back to me so that I may know how many there are.”

We find that this is God taking the “enemy” position against His own people, not the Devil or Satan…

1 Samuel 16:14

14 Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil ^[a] spirit from the LORD tormented him”

These are the end times, and the church, like David and Israel has refused to listen to God. Therefore the scripture says:

9The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, 10and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

Because of the refusal to listen to the TRUTH, God Himself stands against the church and surrenders it to Satan as the scripture confirms this below.

11For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness”.

Now who is supporting the present delusion and confusion in the church-God or Satan? Who incited David-God or Satan? Be careful not to call the work of God Satan’s and Satan’s God’s:

“Woe to those who call evil good
       and good evil,
       who put darkness for light
       and light for darkness,
       who put bitter for sweet
       and sweet for bitter.”

6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—

Does your church teach the Gospel as it is or fables and tales in the name of Jesus? The Gospel that Jesus left had only two contents: the message of the Kingdom and the Message of the cross. Like an adult, the Gospel stands on two feet.

The church has lost the vision (Matt. 18:19-20), both territorially and doctrinally (Heb. 6:1-3). The consequences have been a glaring multiplicity and divisions (Eph. 4:9-11) since we cannot come to the unity of faith because the flesh and its passions has not died and perpetually we are warring with one another and God.

I want to share one aspect in which the church has fallen away, and God in His wisdom has let the church to drift away, having refused to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, so that those things that are shakable may be shaken:

25See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens."^[e] 27The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

The church had drifted in many ways and has refused to listen to the voice of God. Many people talk a lot about salvation, and they know so many things that the bible say on this subject, but I will not say a word on what it is for lack of time. I will simply ask; How did Jesus give salvation? And how Did Peter and Paul? Did Jesus, Peter and Paul teach the same thing? If so, why do we hear only Romans 10:9?

Again, I speak like a fool, if you permit me to say something. If the way Jesus, Peter and Paul offered salvation is different from ours, then we must re-examine our approach to ministry. Jesus always begun his salvation call with a message of repentance and this you can find in all the synoptic scriptures. I quote only one to illustrate my point:

17From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

Similarly when Peter begun to preach, the message was the same even for Stephen the martyr.

38Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call."

When the apostle Paul joined the ministry, the fashion did not change and He preached with passion the message of repentance unto Gentiles

30In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."

Does your church begin its salvation call with the message of repentance? Yet Jesus Peter and Paul did not just end there! They moved to the element of the cost before they returned to baptism.

Theologians have misguided the people on Baptism (baptismo-latin) for they limit it literally to mean immersion in much water as a public testimony- So what does it mean:
To baptize into Moses-1 Corinthians 10:1-4?
To baptize into Christ- Galatians 3:27?

Is Christ or Moses some liquid to be immersed into? But does baptism save? The apostle peter responds:

21and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge^[a] of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Therefore, being buried into such waters (Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12) has a profound meaning of communion, union, fellowship, participation and identification with Christ (Moses) both in person and doctrine. The surest way in which Christ could explain baptism therefore is the “eat my flesh” and “drink my blood” metaphor. Since whatever you eat or drink becomes part of you, this metaphor becomes a fitting analogy that explains the concept of baptism. Baptism is not just getting below the water, but the total joining of the two in soul, body and spirit.

Before baptism, John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter and Paul and all other disciples in Acts of the Apostles preached repentance. Here again the same theologians err for they think that everyone who obeys their “altar calls” and takes a “step of faith” forward to “ask Jesus in their hearts” will be saved. No such a formula exists in the Bible. It’s the people who always asked the big question:

I speak like a fool, please bear with my ignorance. The fallacy here is that the theologians have lied to the people that God always gives repentance to any one who comes forward and asks. Do you really know what repentance means and what it entails? Did you know that true repentance is only possible by God’s grace (2 Cor: 7-10)? Did you know that repentance involves more than “I am sorry God?” Repentance involves stopping, sorrow, turning, restitution and turning away form darkness to the light. Can this happen instantaneously as we try to do it in our evangelism?

Are we confusing conversion with salvations? Above all did you know that repentance could be refused (Prov. 1:22-33; Isa. 65:1-16)? Please read how God dealt with the church (Acts 7:38) in the wilderness:

Moses: Num. 27:12-14, 14:11-24, Deut. 34:4
Saul: 1 Samuel 15:23-26
Esau: Gen. 27:34-38; Heb. 12:16-17

And how He is dealing with the church (Matt. 16:18) today? Or do you think that Judas (Matt. 27:3-7) and Ananias (Acts 5:1-11) did not seek opportunity for repentance?

Or do you forget that there is sin unto death and sin not unto death (1 John 5:16) or that there are sins, which are unpardonable (Matt. 12:32)?

After the call, and repentance granted, Jesus, Peter and Paul always bring in the concept of cost. Baptism which is an outward show of faith should follows only when one has soberly accepted the “terms and conditions” of salvation. The cost of discipleship is the cross:

Jesus: Luke 14:25-33, 9:23-27, Matt. 10:32-39, John 12:24-26, Mark 8:34-38, Luke 22:28-29, Matt. 10:17-28

Paul: 1 Cor. 15:30-31, 2 Cor. 11:23-28, 1 Cor 1:18-20, 2 Tim 2:12-13, Gal 2:20, Gal 5:24, Rom. 8:17, Heb. 11:35-38.

A Christian who has given up nothing and has lost nothing, has taken no cross and is following no Christ is no Christian!

When the word is believed, the message of the cross still produces only a little flock (Luke 12:32) for the rest are only. It is evident that the rest are tares (Matt. 13:36-41) and wolves (Matt. 7:15, Acts 20:29) and unproductive branches to be cut off (John 15:1-7).

You think I am mad to talk like this? Then watch this: lets turn our attention to the parable of the sower in Luke 8:5-10 and Matt. 13:4-8 and the interpretations given by the Lord Interpretation parallels Luke 8:11-15 and Matt. 13:19-23

LUKE 8	MATTHEWS 13	TYPE
11-12	19	Wayside Christians
13	20-21	Rocky Christians
14	22	Thorny Christians
15	23	Good soil Christians

The Good Soil Christians may also be rejected if they don’t work their salvation with fear and trembling. This is illustrated in the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthews 18:21-35

32"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

35"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

Finally, this truth is emphasized in Ezekiel 18:21-24

21 "But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die. 22 None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him. Because of the righteous things he has done, he will live. 23 Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?

24 "But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked man does, will he live? None of the righteous things he has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and because of the sins he has committed, he will die.

Today it is difficult to tell apart a Christian from the Gentiles because the price is lacking. We have a cheap Christianity fashioned for us by the theologians.

The scripture says that the church (Matt. 16:18) is not part of the world (John 17:14;16:33) and must be hated and rejected as they rejected the Christ (John 15:18) and the Holy Spirit (John 14:17). Such a people can only prosper as Christ prospered (Isaiah 53:10) according to the cross (3 John 1:2). The write of the Hebrews paints a fitting picture:

35Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37They were stoned^[a]; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground

But that is not the church we have today. We have a rich and academic church that had made compromise with the world. The condition today is not surprising for Paul verily wrote about it, just as many before him decried the apostasy and falling away (Isa. 24:5; 29:13; 60:2, Amos 8:11, 1 Tim 1:6, 2 Tim 1:15; 3:5; 4:4, 1 Cor. 11:18:19).

6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—

People have turned away from the right salvation call to fables and heresies and all over the world wrong teachings prosper in the “name of Jesus” and such have successfully built a Christendom without the cross.