I believe that I am not a Baptist, or a Catholic., or even a
protestant. I do not claim to be an Armenian or a Calvinist or any other
thing except a follower of my Lord Jesus Christ. If you must put me in
a category, refer to me as a narrow minded fundamentalist. Fundamentals
are things that affect our salvation. Things that we must believe.
Things that will be believed if one has faith. I believe that all have
sinned and therefore all need a Savior. I believe that you must turn
from your sin in order to be forgiven. I believe in the virgin birth. I
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God. I believe that the
gate is small and the path is narrow. Not everyone goes to Heaven. Not
even most people go to Heaven. Very few people go to Heaven. When God
destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, only a few escaped His judgment. When God
sent a flood that covered the earth, most people drowned. Only a few
escaped His judgment. If those are indicators, and I believe that they
are, very few will continue to escape His judgment, because the vast
majority think they can get to Heaven on the wide road. I believe that
the gate is so narrow that you cannot drive a moving van through it. I
think it is so narrow that you cannot squeeze through it with a back
pack. I think that the gate is so narrow that you may have to lose
everything, leave it all behind, in order to obtain eternal life. I
believe that all the stuff left behind includes self. You die to self
when you enter the gate.
I believe that God gives us a choice as to whether or not we want to be
part of the bride of Christ. I do not feel that Christ would force
anyone to be His bride any more than I would force my wife to marry me.
I wanted her to love me, and Christ wants us to yield to Him out of
love, not because we were forced into it before we were born. I do not
believe that God appointed some to be lost and some to be saved before
the foundation of the world. If that were so, it would mean that God
created a few for salvation and the vast majority of the people to be
condemned to Hell without ever having the opportunity to turn from their
sins. I know my God better than that.
I do not believe that all are born saved and must reject Christ in order
to be lost. Luke says that Jesus came "To seek and save the lost".
They were lost before He was born of a virgin, before they ever heard
His Holy name, before they could possibly reject Him or His message. He
came to seek and to save them. All they had to do to be lost was remain
as they were.
I believe that once you go through the narrow gate (be born again) that
you travel the narrow path. I believe that you grow as you travel. I
believe that God, the Holy Spirit comes along side you to guide you. He
will lead you if you allow Him to, but He is a gentleman, He will not
force you to stay on the path.
As you walk with God, you will become more like Him. I believe He
reveals Himself to others as they are able to comprehend Him. I believe
that if He revealed all of Himself to me at once that I would explode.
I believe that as the Disciples lived and traveled with Jesus, they knew
Him a little better every day. I believe that the same thing applies to
us as we travel and live with Him. I believe that the path is not only
narrow, but that Satan has set traps along the length of it. I believe
that the farther we travel on the path, the more obvious the traps
become and the less likely we are to be caught in them. I believe that
when you reach the end of the path, you are saved. The day you die is
the day you reach the end of the path. In the meantime, I believe you
can deny Him and repent, as Peter did, or you can deny Him and be lost
,as Judas was. I believe that most temptation comes from love of the
things of this world. If we care nothing for the things of the world,
it is much harder for Satan or his angels to tempt us.
I believe that God not only expects obedience; I believe that He demands
it. I believe that obedience is a natural result of salvation. I
believe that you are saved by faith, but that faith entails much more
than intellectual assent that Jesus is the Christ. I believe that faith
is turning your life over to Christ, doing what He says to do, living as
He says to live, denying self. I believe that the ones who are saved by
faith are the ones who do His will. Talk is cheap.
I believe that when the Lord said,"Repent and be baptized", that he
meant for us to repent and be baptized. I do not feel that baptism
saves. It follows salvation. Yet I do not believe that those who
refuse to be baptized are saved,
as they are ignoring a direct command of God and that is deliberate sin.
There was a time when Jesus offered salvation to "whosoever will", but
there was also a time when He stamped the dust off His feet and moved
on. I believe that there is a time when the Holy Spirit stops striving
to win a lost person to Christ, and gives that person over to his or her
evil desires, never to trouble their conscience again.
I believe that the Bible says what it means and means what it says. I
believe that if what I read is understandable as read, there is no point
in looking for hidden meaning.
I know that I am a Gentile and that none of the Mosaic law was written
for me. At the same time, I know that the two laws that Jesus gave as
part of the new covenant contain all the law in the old covenant with
the exception of the ceremonial and sacrificial laws. Put another way,
I know that I am not to lie, or steal, or murder, or hate or covet or
commit adultery, but I am able to eat whatever I choose to eat, or
worship where I want to worship. I do not need a priest because I am a
priest. I do not need a sacrifice because Jesus was the perfect sacrifice
I believe that I am to obey those in authority over me as long as they
do not demand that I sin. I believe that when I do a job for another
person, that I must do it as though I am doing it for my Lord Jesus. I
believe that I must turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, and give
the shirt off my back. I believe that I must consider others to be more
important than I am or my humility is false. I believe that if a sinner
was important enough for Jesus to die for, then that sinner is important
enough for me to love and care for.
Those are the things that swirl through my mind. That is what I believe.
Terry
I just read the "continuation" from Terry. I am going to say something that I know no lasting consequence whatsoever. Seriously. Terry and I see a number of things differently. BUT, what do you want to bet that at the end of each day, we have lived our lives in almost exactly the same manner? What we believe, though quite different, juxtaposes our belief paradigms with the actual influence of the Living Christ and - strange as it might seem -- comes up with the same result. Two men (representing us all) thinking differently while being effected by the same Lord. Don't you suppose that Terry is being fitted to minister to some I would never be able to accommodate, and verse visa? We have two chruches here in Fresno; one is a 10,000 mildly pentecostal church (the largest in town) called People's Church. The other, also a pentecostal church as it turns out, called Cornerstone, has perhaps three thousands. People's is in the North end of town and its membership is middle class and up -- many many "well-to-dos." Cornerstone is located downtown and meets in a converted theater. One preaches "grace" and the other preaches rock and roll, get it right or else salvation. Each preacher loves the other. My point? I believe each congregation would not survive if they swapped stomping grounds. God has taken note of their strengths and weaknesses and has blessed their differeing assignments. Romans 8:28 is the working principle here.
I raised my children in the same way. The girls were sent to their rooms. At least one of the boys was told more than once, "......because, if you don't I will put another crack in your butt ....." two very different approaches with very much the same result.
John --------- thanks again Terry.
