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| Not all who claim to be Christians actually are! There is a big difference between head knowledge and believing something in your heart. Even satan believes in Jesus and what He did on the cross! Will you be left behind at the rapture?
If you are performing for, paying for or obtaining God's favor by your works instead of through the finished work of the cross, you are an unbeliever, not a believer. Jesus purchased God's acceptance, forgiveness and favor in the Father's sight by His sacrifice on the cross. It is not "Jesus' blood plus your money, works, ability to carry burdens, etc." In trying to purchase with your money, performance and works what Jesus already purchased with His blood, you are proclaiming that Jesus' blood and sacrifice were not sufficient to meet the need and you are, therefore, an unbeliever, not a believer. Your good works must flow out of a loving, thankful heart for what God has done for you, not out of unbelief. If you obtain your love and acceptance from God based on your works, you will not be loving and accepting of others unless they perform as well. Likewise, if you freely receive God's love, forgiveness and acceptance based on the fact that Jesus purchased these things for you freely, then you will love and accept others freely as well. Freely you have received, freely you give. That is the heart of the believer and by their fruits you will know them. Jesus commanded us to try the fruit and to do so is not judging. Don't let your heart deceive you in this midnight hour! Jesus is seeking the lost sheep. Are you one of them? What kind of fruit are you displaying? Are you paying for, performing for or participating in religious rituals and practices to obtain for yourself what the blood of Jesus Christ purchased for you freely? Not sure? Can you give up your tithing, church attendance, performance or religious rituals and still feel loved and accepted by God or do you feel like you allowed your fire insurance to expire and impending danger awaits? |
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| The Tree of Life represented resources and food for everything we ever needed. Anything we ever needed could be obtained from the Tree of Life. Adam and Eve fell and experienced shame when they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Until they ate from that tree, they fellowshipped and walked with God without shame. Once they had eaten from that tree they knew the difference between good and evil. Knowing evil or wrong and that you had sinned, brings shame and Adam and Eve dealt with the shame of their disobedience to God by covering themselves. They defended themselves and Adam refused to take responsibility for his behavior by actually blaming God and Eve. Adam said to God, “It was that woman YOU gave me!” Having the knowledge of evil and your sin brings shame and separates you from God. There was another side to this same Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and that was the side with the fruit of the knowledge of good. Having the knowledge of good and what is right causes pride in us if we think we are performing well and are blind to our own sin. We disdain others and look down on the sinful and non performing with a smug self righteous hatred. We do this to feel good about ourselves. All fruit from this tree is evil and produces a religious, judgmental, holier than thou, legalistic, prideful person who cannot receive correction. They become wrathful and a spirit of murder is quite comfortable in religious settings or with the folks eating from the side of the tree only that has the fruit of the knowledge of good. These folks are quite capable of murder in the name of God, Allah or whatever religion they are practicing, even Christianity. They are not true Christians or believers. Doesn’t matter what denomination or church you find them in, they are there and they are not saved or born again, even if they do know their bible inside and out. They don’t get the whole point of the bible because they filter it through their grid of condemnation and right or wrong. They do not get the whole point of the bible and the ten commandments or the law, which was to drive them to Christ. The law and ten commandments were to show man that they could not keep them and that they needed a savior. There is no such thing as life, confession, repentance, etc from the legalistic unbeliever. A true believer sins, but they go and eat from the Tree of Life and receive their forgiveness, love and acceptance from God and get whatever it is they need from that tree to keep from remaining in that sin. They do not fall into condemnation when their sin is confronted. They have freely received. They are actually receiving God’s love, forgiveness, power and strength in their life and they are being cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. They realize they are going to screw up and they know where to go to receive life and be fed and it isn’t from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good. They don’t need to see themselves as “good” by justifying their behavior and rationalizing it away and looking down on others who are “evil” in order to feel good about themselves. They go and get cleansed and receive life and healing in the blood. Once that is real in you, condemnation has no place in you and confession and repentance is easy. There is no such thing as perfection. All believers will sin, but confessed sin is washed. Rationalized and justified sin is judged. What tree are you eating from? Are you a believer or unbeliever? Not everyone who says to me “Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven”. There are many who believe they are Christians who are deceived and will be turned away as Jesus announces to them, “Depart from me, I never knew you”! Real Christians have a regenerated heart that desires to be obedient to God out of love for Him. Not because they feel shame and rejection by God and go into the denial or performance mode. They love the Lord and care about what He wants, feels and wants them to do and they do it. They are thankful and grateful and seek Him and they do find and experience God in their lives. Are you experiencing God in your life and hearing from Him? Knowing the word of God and knowing the God of the word and two different things. Many who claim to be Christians do not care what God is saying to them or what He wants them to do. They have the “once saved always saved” deceptive theology and believe that whatever they do or do not do has no consequence and they are not obedient to any truth God is bringing into their lives. The Lord said that those who love Him, will keep His word and that only those who are doers of the word, not hearers only, are founded on the Rock when the storms come. It is only those who are actually walking in and doing what God has taught them to do that will be found standing when all else falls. If you realize how dependant you are on God and how weak you really are in and of yourself, and you love God, you obey Him. The fear of the Lord brings wisdom and wise choices. God’s way works. There is a way that seems right unto a man that leads to destruction. When God teaches you another way to do something, do it. It will work. Man’s pride keeps him doing things his own way according to his will because he doesn’t believe God’s truth and way work and he falls. True believers know their weakness and go to the Tree of Life for the power and strength they need. Grace is not a license to sin to a true believer. If you do not or cannot admit to or see your weakness’ and do not see your need for God and you go about in your own power and strength, you won’t be experiencing the God of the word, except in terms of judgment and failure. What do you have? Head knowledge or heart knowledge. What fruit are you bearing, whose image do you reflect and whose will are you doing? That doesn’t mean you won’t fall or sin. It just means that when you do, believers know where to go to make it right and it is not at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil where the “Religious” unbelievers eat. Their sin and weakness drive them to Christ, who is the Tree of Life. In Him is life and that LIFE is the light of man. Joanne Armstrong Latter Rain Ministry www.latter-rain.net |
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