Good for Business
“Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you...by this gospel you are saved…Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures…he was buried…he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive…we will all be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised…For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality…then the saying that is written will come true: Death has been swallowed up in victory.” (1 Corinthians 15)
I was 12 and setting in the pew next to my friend Joy who was 11. The Pastor walked down the aisle and up to Joy and asked him if he wanted to be saved. I will never forget it. Joy said “not right now”. The pastor urged him again and again to come down front with him and give his life over to Jesus. He just kept gripping the back of the pew and saying “not today”. The Pastor didn’t say anything to me because the previous month I had walked down front and prayed with him the sinner’s prayer and was baptized (for the second of three times)…so I was OK in his view. The next week Joy was killed while riding his bike down 4th street.
What about Joy’s eternal condition? I get sad every time I remember the event…not for Joy, he is fine, but for his parents. No one in the Church knew the TRUTH, so none of them could comfort them that even though Joy did not “walk the aisle” he was still the recipient of the "free gift" of salvation. I suppose his parents died wondering whether their only son was saved.
That night, the only difference between me and Joy was that I had "walked the aisle" and been baptized by Christians who sincerely and genuinely believed that was the only way to get saved. God loves us both the same and the Bible tells us that Jesus is the “Savior of the World”. Joy nor I had anything to do with what Jesus did to save us. And one day Joy and all others will rejoice in his presence and live forever and ALL will have come to the knowledge that they have been ransomed and redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
"For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for ALL, to be testified in due time...” (1 Timothy 2:3-7)
You will not hear this in church. The Catholics make salvation a matter of good works PLUS the cross of Christ. Protestants make salvation dependent on our “free will choice” PLUS the cross of Christ. Muslims make salvation a matter of daily prayer and good works. They all deny the gospel as set forth plainly in the Bible…and I just cannot understand why…good for business I suppose.
The good news, however, is that God guaranteed the salvation of the sinner when Jesus died on the cross, was buried in the tomb, and God raised him from the dead.
“For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
I was 12 and setting in the pew next to my friend Joy who was 11. The Pastor walked down the aisle and up to Joy and asked him if he wanted to be saved. I will never forget it. Joy said “not right now”. The pastor urged him again and again to come down front with him and give his life over to Jesus. He just kept gripping the back of the pew and saying “not today”. The Pastor didn’t say anything to me because the previous month I had walked down front and prayed with him the sinner’s prayer and was baptized (for the second of three times)…so I was OK in his view. The next week Joy was killed while riding his bike down 4th street.
What about Joy’s eternal condition? I get sad every time I remember the event…not for Joy, he is fine, but for his parents. No one in the Church knew the TRUTH, so none of them could comfort them that even though Joy did not “walk the aisle” he was still the recipient of the "free gift" of salvation. I suppose his parents died wondering whether their only son was saved.
That night, the only difference between me and Joy was that I had "walked the aisle" and been baptized by Christians who sincerely and genuinely believed that was the only way to get saved. God loves us both the same and the Bible tells us that Jesus is the “Savior of the World”. Joy nor I had anything to do with what Jesus did to save us. And one day Joy and all others will rejoice in his presence and live forever and ALL will have come to the knowledge that they have been ransomed and redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
"For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for ALL, to be testified in due time...” (1 Timothy 2:3-7)
You will not hear this in church. The Catholics make salvation a matter of good works PLUS the cross of Christ. Protestants make salvation dependent on our “free will choice” PLUS the cross of Christ. Muslims make salvation a matter of daily prayer and good works. They all deny the gospel as set forth plainly in the Bible…and I just cannot understand why…good for business I suppose.
The good news, however, is that God guaranteed the salvation of the sinner when Jesus died on the cross, was buried in the tomb, and God raised him from the dead.
“For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)