Elijah University         

 

How to Be Saved

By: Elijah

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    How many times I have seen people respond to the ‘invitation’ at the end of a sermon, go forward to receive the Lord, as one famous evangelist who went about the world with his great meetings bringing thousands and thousands ‘to the Lord’, but then after they all went forward to ‘receive the Christ’, the evangelist simply walked away and turned them over to the churches…the evangelist did not know what to do with them; they did not ‘save’ anyone, but made them just so much cannon fodder for the church world to teach them their lies and effectively kill their souls.  Because they walk about in robes, with pomp and circumstance, in these huge edifices, people flock to them.  I had one woman who studied with us for a while, who even contributed to us, confessed that on Sunday she went to her Catholic Church because of its size, and beauty.

    The effect is, that we have 2.2 billion Christians who do not know the first thing about God and are headed to destruction because they have not been taught the truth or how to find it.   But now, as the First Seal is about to be opened, they are going to be faced with finding the right way; until they hear me, they will be in harm’s way…but God is going to save a great number of people during this time.

Where to Begin

    Where to begin is the salient question, but here it is in Jesus’ words:

1In that hour came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?2And he called to him a little child, and set him in the midst of them, 3and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (Mt.18.1-4) 

    The operative word is ‘turn’; here is another place it is used:

14if my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Chron.7.14)

And Peter, speaking to the people after they had crucified Jesus, said:

19Repent ye therefore, and turn again*, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; 20and that he may send the Christ who has been appointed for you, even Jesus: 21whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things… (Acts 3.19ff)(*KJV says, ‘be converted’ as in Mt.18.3)

In these cases, the word(s) ‘turn’, or ‘turn again’ come from the Greek word epistrepho, which simply means to turn from your old ways…to turn away from…to alter your course, THEN he says,

‘…and become as little children…’ 

      Of course, he simply means to HUMBLE YOURSELF, and here is where people utterly fail…they cannot, or will not humble themselves to the Word of God, even Jesus’ words.  Their pride, mostly prevents them from getting anywhere, then the fact that they do not want to abide by the ‘rules’ the Scriptures lay down in abandoning their old life, to turn to a new life.  They do not think it is necessary to rend their heart in repentance or to receive what he says, but then they go about trying to get in other ways…by academics, except if that were true, our religious colleges and universities would be turning out men who knew God by the truck load; then by associates, as they feel that just being around good people will rub off onto them, as by osmosis.  Then some try doing good deeds, others by faithfully giving to some minister they admire, and some by afflicting themselves in a variety of ways…fasting, denying themselves, and so forth, in fact there is a Catholic shrine somewhere in South America with 1000 steps to reach it, so those on a pilgrimage will scatter glass chips on the steps for them to crawl over in order to afflict themselves, but there is only ONE way to be saved and to find peace, and that is to do exactly what Jesus and the apostles say.

      There are so many Scriptures for this but those who are serious about becoming born again…born of the Spirit, will lay EVERYTHING aside and obey the command.

      But this explains why so FEW ever make it, as Jesus said:

14For many are called, but few chosen. (Mt.22.14)

And,

13Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby. 14For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leads unto life, and few are they that find it. (Mt.7.13,14)               

    Too many seek an easy way, and most of the rest do not even know there is a way expressed by God whereby they must be saved.  I cannot be critical of all those in the church world because some will come out of it when they realize it is a dead end, yet some will come out but will doggedly hang on to personalities on TBN or radio, or on the Internet…but if they knew how to judge men for what they are worth, they would leave them all alone.

How to know who is right… 

      Many follow men because of the signs they do: every religion his its ‘miracles’ and wonders, but consider what Jesus said:

‘…21Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works? 23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Mt.7.21ff)

    But consider that Jesus gives them NO CREDIBILITY at all, but says they are workers of iniquity…and if you consider these so-called tent evangelists; I have a particular dislike for them.  They come into your town, set up their tents (or rent large auditoriums) then advertise they will have meetings for the next five days…and so the people come…and these are the same people that come to them every time they come to town.  The minister preaches and prophesies and lays hands on some; he whips them into a frenzy charging up and down the podium waving his Bible in the air and shouting, ‘just release your faith’; you’ve seen them, then he takes a collection every day robbing them, then leaves town…and leaving the people in their sins; there has been no change, and we KNOW these men are not of God, as the Jeremiah says:

13And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. 14In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies; and they strengthen the hands of evil-doers, so that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them become unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. 15Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem is ungodliness gone forth into all the land.

16Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they teach you vanity; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of Jehovah. 17They say continually unto them that despise me, Jehovah hath said, Ye shall have peace; and unto every one that walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil shall come upon you. 18For who hath stood in the council of Jehovah, that he should perceive and hear his word? who hath marked my word, and heard it? 19Behold, the tempest of Jehovah, even his wrath, is gone forth, yea, a whirling tempest: it shall burst upon the head of the wicked. 20The anger of Jehovah shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall understand it perfectly. 21I sent not these prophets, yet they ran: I spake not unto them, yet they prophesied. 22But if they had stood in my council, then had they caused my people to hear my words, and had turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. (Jer.23.13ff)     

      So, how can you know who is right and who is wrong…if working miracles, prophesying, and healing means nothing?  Well, let’s go back to Mt.7 and read it again:

‘…15Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. 16By their fruits ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 21Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works? 23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Mt.7.15-23)

Then, let’s go here and continue:

33Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit. 34Ye offspring of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36And I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 37For by thy words thou shall be justified, and by thy words thou shall be condemned.   (Mt.12.33ff)

It is what a man TEACHES that tells you who he is, not signs and wonders, not a great personality, not a million dollar income, not a huge edifice, not numbers, as Paul says again:

 

‘…12For we are not bold to number or compare ourselves with certain of them that commend themselves: but they themselves, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves with themselves, are without understanding. (2 Cor.10.12ff)

      Some fall away for monetary reasons, or family…but mostly it is their own will…their stubbornness, as God calls them, ‘stiff necks’, as Stephen’s defense to the high priest who had condemned him before the counsel of scribes and Pharisees:

51Ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit… (Acts 7.51 in context)

then they slew him.

      It is a condition of the heart; they simply will not open their hearts to the truth, for whatever reason, but as I say, pride is the number one killer.

What about You?

      Now, if you are convicted in your heart so that you know you need to repent and turn to God, what are you going to do?  Most ignore the conviction, and thus if they keep resisting God’s voice, they will ‘sear their heart as with a hot iron’, and make no mistake: it is God’s voice you are hearing…but as for searing your conscience, Paul says:

1But the Spirit saith expressly, that in later times some shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, 2through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron; (1 Tim.4.1,2) 

How many I have seen under conviction, yet refuse to take heed to their conscience, and thus they deliberately destroy themselves, or else they run off to a church or a teacher where they hope to find appeasement…

      The crowd that heard Peter were ‘pricked in their heart’, that in the Greek means ‘stabbed’, as the Holy Spirit convicted them so they asked what they should do:

37Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do? 38And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts.2.37,37)

Here he gives them the entire plan to be born of the Spirit: repent and be baptized IN THE NAME of Jesus Christ; since we know the ‘name’ of Jesus is the Word of God (Rev.19.13), and we know that when he says to be ‘baptized’ he was not talking about getting wet…but of the cleansing of the body, soul, and spirit, we have come upon the entire plan…the protocol to be saved…and when we say ‘saved’, we are talking about deliverance from evil and sin on a continuing basis.

      If these great evangelists had gotten their millions and millions saved over the past 50 years, why is the church in such a mess, and why indeed is the world in such a mess?!  They did not make disciples of Christ, but made Baptists, Catholics, Pentecostals, and Holiness…

      You say I should not blame the church for the condition of the world and our economy, well think about this: knowing God gives a person sound principles and as Peter says a sound mind, as Paul says:

‘…7For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Tim.1.7)  

If you have your heart right with God, you will be able to make sound judgments and correct decisions because God will give you a sound mind.  But if you take our leaders in Congress, in industry, in banking, in just about every corner of our society, and especially in the church world, you see them making stupid and absolutely asinine judgments.  

      Finally, the reason why Israel failed from the beginning is because when Moses brought them to Sinai where God spoke to them His Ten Commandments, they refused them because it convicted them, and they did not want to humble themselves.

End

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Addendum

Forward

      When I was in college, in my Creative Writing class, the instructor told us to write to a group, in other words, you cannot write to the world, so you must select a group we wanted to speak to…in this case, we are speaking to those who are new to this, and those who are still in the church world but know they need to find a better way.  Now I went over briefly (too briefly) how to discern who has the truth, and now I want to address the dangers you will face in the world, that is, not only from the church world, but from your own family.  So that is what this addendum is about.

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The Dangers New Believers Face

      Many will come to us who are still in the church world, as they look for something better, for someone that has the truth; I told you that a man’s worth is found in what he teaches, but the problem is, when you do not know the truth yourself, how can you discern anyone?  Well, the fact is, there are a few simple tests we can use at the very beginning which will prove those in question...which they must answer correctly.

The Need to study 

      When you come to me, the first thing I have you do is to get the Bibles and study materials I suggest; study is the only way you are going to get anywhere with God.  I will have you get an analytical concordance by which you will do word studies to determine the meaning of a word.

The Basic Truths

The first: Grace; go to my Bible Definitions web site and read the definition of ‘grace’; then ask that person you are wondering about how they define Grace.  DO NOT TELL THEM WHAT IT IS, but simply ask them to give you a Bible definition of Grace.  Usually, they will give a long description using various texts to prove their point, but if they do not define it simply as ‘the power of Christ’, you know they do not know what it is, and Grace is a BASIC.  It is vitally important, as Peter says:

13Wherefore girding up the loins of your mind, be sober and set your hope perfectly on the grace that is being brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14as children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in the time of your ignorance: (1 Pet.1.13,14 ASV)

The word ‘perfectly’ comes from the Greek teleios and is translated elsewhere to ‘bring to perfection’, and in other tenses, means to ‘finish’, ‘fulfill’, but the essence of what Peter says is that we set our hope on the grace that is being brought to us as we received understanding of the Word of God.

Second: What it means to be saved…this is another basic; the church world has it that once you confess Jesus Christ, you have all the promises; that is a lie; there is a great deal we must do to attain unto the promises, but what it means to be ‘saved’ is essential; if a preacher, teacher, priest does not even know what it means to be saved, the rest of his message is worthless. 

      The word ‘saved’ or ‘save’ comes from a little Greek word sozo (the verb); it is listed on my Bible Definitions page; it has a very precise meaning; it is translated to ‘save’, ‘heal’, ‘make whole’, ‘preserve’; while the church world gives it a much broader unsubstantiated meaning, that has no basis in fact.

      Of course, there are many more questions you could ask, but these two come up first; if the person you have questions about cannot answer these two basic truths, let them alone.  Problem is, of course, most of these big preachers you cannot even get close to them to ask such questions, but you can contact somebody representing them, and ask them the same questions.  Then there are those who teach a much more philosophical message, about ‘goodness’, ‘hope’, ‘helping others’, which are good in their own right, but will do you no good until you are get the basics down.  When you begin to study the Old Testament, you will find this definition again, that is, being saved means to be delivered.

Third: This is going to come as a shock to you, but your family may become your enemy, whether son, or daughter, or children, or mother, or father, and this will bring a host of problems especially to the younger.  Consider what Jesus said:

 34Think not that I came to send peace on the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law: 36and a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. 37He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38And he that doth not take his cross and follow after me, is not worthy of me. 39He that finds his life shall lose it; and he that loses his life for my sake shall find it. (Mt.10.34ff)

 

This may seem incredible to some, but turning to Jesus Christ with all your heart puts you at odds with the world, and in particular, with your own family. 

 

      What Jesus says in this text is essentially the Gospel which will be preached all over the world by this ministry, which put simply, is to put God before all things and to serve Him with all your being, body, soul, and spirit (see Mt.22.37).

 

Fourth: Being ‘born again’.  You have heard evangelical church folks use this expression, and you may be using it also, but the fact is, being born again requires a lot of study and obedience to the truth; there is a price to pay in changing your life from the way you have been going to the new life you will find in the truth, as here:

 

‘…13Wherefore girding up the loins of your mind, be sober and set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14as children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in the time of your ignorance: 15but like as he who called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living; 16because it is written, Ye shall be holy; for I am holy. 17And if ye call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear: 18knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; 19but with precious blood, as of a lamb without spot, even the blood of Christ: (1 Pet.1.13-19)

 

You must become conformed to the truth in all things, so again, it calls for a lot of study on your part.

 

Fifth: Separating yourself from the church world, even your religious friends; consider what Paul says:

14Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness? 15And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever? 16And what agreement hath a temple of God with idols? for we are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17Wherefore, Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,  And touch no unclean thing; And I will receive you, 18 And will be to you a Father,

    And ye shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2 Cor.6.14ff)

Come out!  Be separate from those who do not teach the truth.

      It is so easy to be caught up in their outward appearance…their robes and silk suits, their pomp, their edifices, their numbers, their wealth; everything according to their outward appearance looks good, but Jesus said of the Pharisees who looked so good and sounded so good,

13But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye shut the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye enter not in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering in to enter. 14Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, even while for a pretence ye make long prayers: therefore ye shall receive greater condemnation.

15Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is become so, ye make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves.

16Woe unto you, ye blind guides, that say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor. 17Ye fools and blind: for which is greater, the gold, or the temple that hath sanctified the gold?  25Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full from extortion and excess. 26Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside thereof may become clean also. (Mt.23.13ff)

Sixth: The final thing and the most important is, how can you know you have it right.  Folks go about troubled because they do not have the assurance they need to have confidence toward God…here is the text to consider:

19And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. 20For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. 22And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. (1 Jn.3.19-22)

What this is saying is that if your heart does not condemn you, then you can know you are in the truth…right where God wants you, but again the pitfall is that you must be brutally honest with yourself, or it is all for naught.  If you override your conscience or ignore it, you will not find that assurance.  Your conscience is very tender and will not instruct you unless you are willing to accept what it says, on the other hand, if you go against your conscience, you will have no doubt that you have done wrong, because the conviction will come and you cannot ignore it.

 

       If you cannot find this confidence there is something very wrong, because you do not have to know all things or be perfect; confidence comes when you are doing all you can do and doing it the best you know how.   This is your personal relationship with God; it is your guidepost and anchor.

 

These are excerpts of what Jesus said, but there are many more in the New Testament showing their hypocrisy, and the majority of it applies to the church world…they are all show, with no substance.

           

      Becoming a Christian is not easy, as the church world would have you believe; there is a particular protocol to become born again and to escape this world with all if its pitfalls.

 

 'I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.'

       Psm.84.10

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Email Here: Elijah@lionofgod.net

Mailing Address: Elijah, PO Box 9, Model CO, 81059

Main Site: Elijah the Prophet

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 Last edited: March 11, 2009