Proverbs 4:5-6 Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. 6 Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.
Great post. Much truth here.
He has no power to steal salvation from anyone whom God saves. However, he can and does attack the faith of believers. God uses this to test their faith. This testing strengthens genuine faith. On the other hand, it reveals disingenuous faith.
None deserve this redemption and none are able to claim it because all are dead in their trespasses and sins. No, God must intervene into the lives of those He saves and by His grace. He regenerates them, enabling their faith to believe the truth. These repent and believe, receiving Christ as Lord and Savior.
In his defeat, Satan’s kingdom was overrun by God’s grace. He has no power to steal salvation from anyone whom God saves. However, he can and does attack the faith of believers. God uses this to test their faith. This testing strengthens genuine faith. On the other hand, it reveals disingenuous faith.
Restorationists teach that there will be a restoration of all things as they were before the fall; a perfect state. Virtually all Christians have thought that their approach to Christianity is the right one, but Restorationists believe that the true form or emphasis has been lost for a long time and they are being used by God to restore the original. They believe and teach that all they are contending with are wrong and they are right. The way Church has been done for the last 2000 years is wrong and God is leading them back to the correct way to worship and serve God. We must admit that the pull to this ‘message’ is very strong. Who doesn’t desire to serve God the way He wants and demands? Don’t we all deeply desire to worship God in Spirit and Truth?
In our day, there appears to be a mass exodus away from what we consider Orthodox, to pursue all sorts of new and exciting ‘doctrines’ that are all about pleasing and attracting men. Those who go after these things are forgetting God, His sovereignty, and the good work He has done for the Church. They no longer remember that genuine salvation is a gift from God that goes only to those who receive Jesus as Lord and Savior on His terms, not theirs. Genuine Christianity is not a religion of convenience that only considers the Savior when one is in trouble or need with Him totally out of mind the rest of the time. No, that is not what genuine Christians do.
Rainbow Trout 