FORGIVEN

FORGIVEN

I am sure we can all agree that one must be forgiven before Peter opens those pearly gates to let us in. I am not certain today’s preachers, evangelists, ministry CEO’s, or Sunday school teachers have a true biblical concept in this regard. Let’s take a look at some bible passages with regard to forgiveness.

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chron. 7:14

And so John came, baptizing in the wilderness region, and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Mk. 1:4

He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Lk. 3:3

And repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations. Lk. 24:47

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, Acts 3:19

Therefore, son of man, say to your people, ‘If someone who is righteous disobeys, that person’s former righteousness will count for nothing. And if someone who is wicked repents, that person’s former wickedness will not bring condemnation. The righteous person who sins will not be allowed to live even though they were formerly righteous.’ If I tell a righteous person that they will surely live, but then they trust in their righteousness and do evil, none of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered; they will die for the evil they have done.

And if I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ but they then turn away from their sin and do what is just and right—

if they give back what they took in pledge for a loan, return what they have stolen, follow the decrees that give life, and do no evil—that person will surely live; they will not die.

None of the sins that person has committed will be remembered against them. They have done what is just and right; they will surely live. Ez. 33:11-16

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth, but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 1 Jn. 1:5-7

No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Jer. 31:34

Let’s look at each of those scriptures, shall we?

The first one refers to the absolute need to ‘turn from our wicked ways’ for forgiveness to be granted. For God to even hear a prayer, the same condition applies!! So, every time a sinner asks Jesus to forgive him/her of their sins, God does NOT hear that ‘prayer.’ Jesus actually taught us how to pray, and it was to God, not to himself, so prayers to Jesus are meaningless. That ‘Jesus,’ all these members of Satan’s ‘Jesus Freaking’ cult fawn all over, does not exist any longer, because He ascended back to heaven, and became God once more.

That term, ‘turn from one’s wicked ways’ has a name: it’s repentance!! Ezekiel’s teaching on this same subject speaks repeatedly of turning from sins or wickedness. He calls that ‘repentance’ as well. He speaks of the difference between doing what is right & doing what is wrong as being the difference between righteousness and wickedness/sin.

The next three, from Mark, Luke and Acts, use the word ‘repentance’ which nobody can realistically argue that it simply means asking Jesus each night to forgive one of their sins. One has to believe that ‘sins being wiped out’ is the same as ‘forgiven.’

Ezekiel’s teaching on this, uses the words ‘repent,’ and ‘turn from their sin, and do what is right’ in the exact same tense. Any attempt to suggest that repentance does not mean stopping sinning is clearly rejected by God’s word. Ezekiel speaks of ‘doing no evil’ in place of righteousness. So a sinner cannot be righteous!! Sin is ‘doing what is wrong.’ Righteousness is ‘doing what is right.’ So righteousness cannot be given to anyone. It has to be earned.

Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? Rom. 6:16

"I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right." Acts. 10:34-35

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” Gen. 4:7

For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. Rom. 2:13

Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. Rom. 10:4 [remember what ‘believe’ means]

When the bible [NT] uses the word 'believe' it has been translated from a Greek word, ‘pisteuo,’ that means: believe, trust, have faith in, with the implication that actions based on that belief, trust & faith will follow. It never means a mental assent. It demands action/works/conduct

If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. 1 Jn. 2:29

Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.1 Jn. 3:7

John’s teaching on this matter is as clear as it could ever be. John uses the words. ‘purifies us from all sin’ instead of ‘forgives us.’ We clearly must accept that John meant forgiveness, right? But this passage makes today’s ‘gospel’ clearly unbiblical! John assures us that it’s only those who have repented [turned from their wicked ways] who have their sins purified by the blood of Jesus. The fact that one must move out of darkness, and into light, means nothing other than repenting [turning from all sin!! Sinners all live in darkness!! That is a very common theme all through the bible.

Jeremiah teaches us something that is of the greatest importance when it comes to salvation. He assures us that when one knows God, their sins will be forgiven, and never remembered any more!! Jeremiah has more very clear teaching about knowing God.

I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart. Jer. 24:7

“Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him.

He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the LORD. Jer. 22:15-16

“My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.” Jer. 4:22

The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols. Jer. 2:8

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.

And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But those who fail to develop in this way are short-sighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.

So, dear brothers and sisters work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away.

Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:3-11

Did you notice that once you know God, you will know Jesus Christ as well? This is not surprising because Jesus, the man, ascended to heaven to once again become God.

John once again confirms this in kindergarten language.

We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.

Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.

But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus lived. 1 Jn. 2:3-6

There are lots more passages of scripture that confirm these passages I have given you. That is not surprising either, because there are ZERO contradictions in God’s inerrant word. I was teaching an ‘accountability class,’ for men who were members of a Baptist Church in California a few years back. In one ‘printed lesson’ I gave them, I assured them that Christians do not sin. That got some knickers in a twist, I can assure you. One man told me that scripture teaches us that we all sin, and I asked him to show me where that was, and he couldn’t. The next week’s class he was really excited to tell me he had found the passage that assures us at we all sin, as God’s kids. He turned to Romans chapter seven, of course. Please do not let Satan scam you into believing that was Paul’s testimony of his life in Christ. It was Paul putting himself in the sandals of a Jew, living under the Old Covenant. He was using hyperbole. In verse nine he says that he was alive when the Ten Commandments were given to Moses. You can either call him a liar, or believe that he was not speaking of his own life. His teaching in chapter six and eight makes it abundantly clear that he could not have been testifying to his own life in chapter seven. Thew rest of the bible clearly makes that abundantly clear as well.

I spent from 1992 to 2011 researching American Christianity’ across the USA. As a result of that, I wrote a book which explains why America is where she is today. Evil has been rampant for a long time, and is getting more so every year. During the Holiness Movement, righteousness was common among church goers because the preachers taught the truth about sin. But then the civil war caused thousands of Christian men to face the choice of killing the man in that different color uniform, or letting him kill, him. An immediate decision, without hesitation had to be made. I am so glad I was not ever in such a position. Paul tells us in Hebrews six that repentance can never be repeated. Verses four through six. So these Christians lost their salvation when they made that instant decision to stay alive physically rather than spiritually. After the war, many well-meaning church-goers wanted the church to become strong again, and they were duped by Satan into creating today’s ‘Jesus Freaking’ cult lies. Now, the preacher or counselor will tell you to say some words after him/her, then pronounce, “you are a child of God!” If you simply took a moment to think about that, you will know that such a thing is insane.

Paul told us that we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Phil 2:12. In the same message he referred to the obedience of the saints he was writing to. That confirms what the whole bible teaches us from Genesis to Revelation. “Obey Me and live, or don’t and don’t.” Gen. 2:17, 4:7, the whole story of the Israelites through the Old Testament, to where Jesus, Paul and John popped in to confirm the same salvation message.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Matt. 7:21

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. Heb. 10:36.

The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. 1 Jn. 2:17

I very strongly encourage you to get my book, and read it with an open mind and heart. Here is a five-star-review of a young lady who recently purchased the book and read it.

Other than the Bible, it’s one of the most life changing books I have ever read! I can about guarantee you’ve never read anything like this before.

Do you want to please God but don’t feel like you can?

Do you want to know God’s requirements for you life?

Have you been stuck in Romans 7 and think that’s your unfortunate lot as long as you live?

Is your Christianity mediocre at best?

Do you want to do right but aren’t sure it is possible?

And lastly, do you have a yearning for godly perfection??

Then this book is for you!!

I ordered this nearly 400 page book (it arrived right on time in excellent condition) and devoured its contents within 3-4 days. It was that good of a read! I am currently on my second time around reading, underlining, taking notes, and letting it penetrate my very soul.

Colin Stitt’s style of writing grabs your attention and doesn’t let go until you’ve finished the entire book. He is straightforward and doesn’t include any empty fillers or useless information.

When you are finished with this book, you will not have any question or doubt that God means what He says throughout the entirety of Scriptures. Yes, godly perfection is both possible and necessary! This is Good News! Please read, repent, and be transformed!

Amazon has ‘A Nation Broken’ ready to ship to you today. They make it difficult to find when one searches for it at times, but persevere, and click on the 2024 version.

May God open your eyes to truth so you can enjoy real life in Christ, where there is NO SIN.

Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.

But you know that he appeared so that he might take away your sins. And in him is no sin.

No one who lives in him sins. No one who sins has either seen him or known him. 1 Jn. 3:4-6