The Enemies of God

Yesterday I was out on an exercise walk when I saw a neighbor that I have wanted to talk with about God. I know this man and his family are professing Christians. I knew they had been upset with many churches in the area, because most of the churches didn’t believe and teach that a person has to repent to be forgiven by God. I know there is no forgiveness by God unless we also repent from our sinful behavior. Since I knew we both had this in common, I wanted to talk with this man. As I was walking by his house, he was in the yard working, so I went over to him and we had a 2 – 3 hour discussion.

I found out that he had found a local Baptist church which did preach repentance and forgiveness. This discussion led into the topic of repentance eventually allowing a person to become entirely sanctified, where they no longer sin, because they no longer have any desire to sin. Since God has done this miracle in my life, I was trying to encourage him and his 23 year old son that entire sanctification was possible and that to enter God’s eternal kingdom a person must be entirely sanctified in this life time. Since they had a Calvinist background, they could not believe this. They indicated that no one could be entirely sanctified in this lifetime and that I was alone in this kind of thinking. I assured him that he was correct in the fact that most churches have taken on the Calvinist belief. Even the holiness churches have taken in the Calvinist view as part of their beliefs. I have realized that even when holiness churches preach holiness, the congregations take entire sanctification as a goal or option. A goal to go for, but believing it never can be reached in this lifetime.

This father and son believed John MacArthur commentary that Romans 7 was indicating that St. Paul was talking about himself in his current state at the time of the writing, when he was totally filled with the Holy Spirit (Born Again), but could not keep from sinning. They believe, as most churches do, that a person fully filled with the Holy Spirit is still a slave to sin and cannot help themselves from doing the evil they don’t want to do. They compare themselves to the Old Testament people, a time before the Holy Spirit filled the hearts of men. What fools they have become. Almost all have let the great power of the gospel become powerless. For they have let it become a lie. Did Christ come to pay the dept for sinners only have them keep sinning? They have turned His grace and the workings of the Holy Spirit into a mockery by saying God doesn’t chose to free us from all sin.

I asked if this father and son had been saved from any sin, where God has taken away even the desire to do that sin. They both answered yes and realized that God had totally freed them from one or more sinful behaviors. Then I asked them, what sin did they think God wanted them to keep? They didn’t have an answer. Then I asked them, why don’t they think that God would want to clean them of all sin like the Bible says? Their answer was amazing to me. They said that God didn’t want to take all their sin away from them, because God uses the consequences of sin to keep people coming back to Him. They also said, if a person ever did come to the point of not sinning anymore, then that person wouldn’t need God any longer. So they believe that God wants every person to keep some sinful nature so that we will always need Him - Even though it is sin which separates us all from God.

Christ says “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed - John 8:36 NIV”, but now the majority is saying we are never really free?

God’s Word says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. - 1 John 1:9 NIV.” Evidently this is no longer true for most churches.

God’s Word says we shall be made blameless through and through. “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through . May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. - 1 Thess 5:23-24 NIV” Evidently this is not believed to happen anymore in our time.

God’s Word says that no unclean/sinful thing can enter heaven and that the only ones to enter His eternal kingdom are the ones that have conquered all sin in their lives.

“Nothing impure will ever enter it (God’s eternal kingdom/city), nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. - Rev 21:27 NIV”

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes (overcomes sin), I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. - Rev 2:7 NIV”

“He who overcomes (overcomes sin) will inherit all this (inherit God’s eternal kingdom), and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars — their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. - Rev 21:7-8 NIV”

If we are to believe the Calvinist theology, then Jesus Christ died on the cross in vain. For if no one can become sanctified and holy through and through, then no one can enter heaven. If no one can overcome all sin by the power of God’s grace working through them, then no one can enter eternal life. If no can come to the point of living a blameless and pure life by becoming one with God’s Holy Spirit, then no one will ever be considered holy enough to see God. If anyone believes the lies within the Calvinist theology, they must also believe that God’s Word is not the infallible truth.

Just like in the Garden of Eden, the devil has once again succeeded by taking the truth and changing it just enough to sidetrack almost everybody into believing it for the truth. Since most churches have adopted these lies into their theology to some extent, it has turned most of our churches into the enemies of God.

Any church that teaches that a person doesn’t have to be fully sanctified and die to all of their sinful nature to enter God’s kingdom is God’s enemy. For they have turned the gospel of Jesus Christ into a lie.

Any church that teaches a person they can never be free from their sinful nature is God’s enemy. For they have turned the gospel of Jesus Christ into a lie and is perpetuating a “hopeless” message.

It is for this reason that God is building His wrath against this unbelieving world. God’s wrath will come soon and most all deserve it, because they have listened to the devil and made His Word into a lie.

Michael W Reid
reidmike@charter.net