Become Zealous for Christ
Transitioning from the Lukewarm Christian Phase to the Zealous Phase for Jesus Christ
Friends, blatant evidence abounds that we are in the end-times. The 70th year anniversary of Israel's independence is coming on May 14th 2018, a potential Peace Agreement is in the works for May 14th, the JCPOA has been dismantled, and Trump is acting as modern day Cyrus, we have wars and rumors of wars, nation rising against nation (Matthew 24), earthquakes and famine, these are the beginning of the birth pangs, but the end is not yet.
With people traveling to and fro, and information increasing, the gospel being preached around the world, and birth pangs increasing, and now being exactly one generation after Israel re-gained independence, strong evidence exists we are in the early stages of the end-times. In addition, leading prophets are receiving messages from God, and hundreds of rapture dreams are being given to the saints, and the prophets and saints are telling us that we are in the end times. (Sundar Selvaraj, Perry Stone, Mary K. Baxter, and hundreds more in YouTube rapture dreams).
This means it is time to search our hearts and verify that we are not only Born Again Christians, serving Jesus Christ as our God, but that we "know Jesus" (this part is for Judgement Day) and that we "Carry our Cross" (this part is for being Hot and not lukewarm).
One high-risk problem with todays Prosperity Gospel, is that churches are leading the multitudes astray, leading them to believe they are saved when they recite the sinners prayer and are now forever and permanently "Born Again". However that day is just the beginning of a Christians walk in faith. It sets the baby Christian up in the right State of God, meaning that if that person does not fall from grace (by backsliding and not repenting), they will go to heaven either shamefully (IE lukewarm), or with a large heavenly inheritance (IE Hot), or not at all depending on how seriously they took Jesus during their life.
From my years of studying this subject, I personally believe it is possible to lose your salvation. Either by blaspheming the Holy Spirit (IE teaching perverted gospel), or by backsliding and not repenting. One example of backsliding is a Born Again Christian falling into drug abuse, living days from pleasure to pleasure on a mushroom high and somehow justifying the behavior internally as OK behiavior, and never repenting. Or, as a pastor, stealing church funds, justifying the behavior, and not repenting. I believe these two cases will send this born again believer to hell.
But for the intents and purposes of this article I want to talk about the dangers of being lukewarm. A Lukewarm believer is one who was born again, goes to church every Sunday, but never really loses the worldliness. A true Zealous believer who 'picks up the cross daily' means this person will want to transform themselves to be more like Christ. This person will be Kingdom Minded, they will care less about wordly trends (IE sports, hairstyles, fashion, makeup, movies, music) and instead will have their heart set on inheriting the riches of heaven. They will withdraw from the pleasurable activities of this world, and desire only to meet Jesus as their Heavenly Father. If you are not thinking about God every day, you have allowed some other idol to weigh you down. This means you are lukewarm. As you will see below, a lukewarm Christian only has a 50-50 chance of being shamefully saved, and a 50-50 chance of going to Hell (for Eternity).
It's also important to understand what "knowing" Jesus is. Being Hot for Jesus allows you to inherit the kingdom of heavens richness, but it is also necessary to "Know" Jesus to pass through the test at Judgement Day. Knowing Jesus means you learned to love on this Earth, and that you are willing to treat your brethren as yourself. He said that as you gave a cup of cold water to a brother, as you clothed the naked and fed the hungry, you did it to him. Knowing Jesus is having compassion and mercy on the brethren in the broken state as you would for your own brother (or yourself). The concept here is that If you let the mustard seed of Christianity grow inside you, your reaction would be to help those in need, not only because you obey the commandments, but because you want to. On judgement day, Jesus will say to those "Depart from me, I never KNEW you" to those who are selfish and unmerciful, and therefore never Knew Jesus. Knowing Jesus is having a personal relationship with Jesus.
We have naive arguments about the apparent contradiction between Saved by Grace through Faith, or Saved by Faith + Works, since Jesus explains we are saved by his Grace, not of our own works which any should boast, yet James says Faith without works is dead. It is true that Jesus does the heavy lifting for us, if we believe in him we shall not perish and he is capable of justifying us to the Father, however Jesus wants obedient disciples. Ones who adhere to the commandments and let the mustard seed grow, are the ones who are likely to not fall from Grace. I believe the works Ephesians 2:8 speaks about is that no man can do enough "good works" to justify himself at the gates to enter heaven, as our works are as filthy rags. But the works James speaks of in James 2:14, I believe these works are obedience + repentance.
True repentance means you are trying to be a Christian once born again, not reciting a sinners prayer and living a worldly life without compassion and mercy. In that case it can be argued you were never saved, as your state is not even Christian. However, having a repentant heart, making the change and picking up your cross, these works mean your religion is not in vain, and I believe that is what James 2:14 is referring to.
In this case it can be summarized as Jesus does all the work to carry us to, in, justify us and bring us into heaven and around the Father, but: We must live repentant lives to receive his Grace. We also must forgive others to be forgiven, and not hold grudges (Matthew 6:14).
One dreadful outcome is that modern Christian churches, who preach the prosperity gospel (IE they skip over Hell, they make you comfortable, they want you to keep coming back and tithing, they make a business out of the church), these churches lead Christians to believe they are fully saved - because they go to church!
This is far from the truth- being saved is: Knowing Jesus (not turning a blind eye to the unfortunate circumstances affecting half of the planet), and being Hot for Jesus (Rev 3:16 - if you are lukewarm I will spit you out of my mouth), this is picking up your cross - living a Holy life instead of a Wordly life, falling away from the world to be the "lamp on the hill", "the salt of the earth", the characteristic of the good servant, the good Samaritan, the compassionate, the generous, the kind, and the loving person.
- Some conclusions that I come to personally, after years of research:
- Your salvation is "sealed" if you : Believe in Jesus (John 3:16) in your heart, are born again (recited sinners prayer), Baptized in water, Know Jesus (merciful for the poor), and are Zealous for Jesus (await his coming, are obedient to his commandments). Ephesians 1:13 - In him you were sealed with the promised holy spirit
- You may go to hell as a born again Christian, if you backslide by committing sins and are non-repentant. (However since God loves you, he will chasten you - (Hebrews 12:6), but for those who quench the spirit, ignore the warnings, they are ultimately at risk of Hell Fire).
- You may go to hell as a pastor, if you steal church funds and do not repent.
- You will go to hell if you blaspheme the Holy Ghost (pervert the Gospel and teach it) - (Matthew 12:31)
- You will go to hell if you do not accept Jesus as your Lord - and believe Jesus is the Son of God (John 14:6)
- You will go to hell if you worship a God other than Jesus: such as Allah, Buddha, Satan, an Indian God, or any other God other than Jesus Christ
- You have a 50-50 chance of going to hell if you do not Know Jesus (IE you were selfish, turned a blind eye, and did not help the unfortunate) (Matthew 7:21, Depart from me I never knew you)
- You have a 50-50 chance of going to hell if you are lukewarm (I will spit you out Rev 3:16), if you focus on the prosperity gospel, but keep your worldliness, you have the world weighing you down and therefore you are not committed 100% to Christianity (Sundar Selvaraj: Told by God to preach: One not prepared will only be saved by my grace if at all, one who is lukewarm is not prepared).
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Signs that you are Zealous:
- You are Becoming Less worldy and more Godly
- You no longer care about trending TV shows or movies
- You dont care about sports or non-gospel music
- You are Kingdom Minded, your heart is set on Jesus return, and the environment he is creating for you in heaven
- You are ready to die for your faith, if it comes down to the question while you are held captive in a camp, and the interrogator asks "Are you ready to die for your faith"? You must be ready to die as a martyr for Jesus Christ.
The Lukewarm
Being lukewarm is like a man who went to sea without scuba gear and was thrown off, while his zealous friend was thrown off with scuba gear.
If the lukewarm man is saved at all from death, it is entirely by Gods Grace. In the same manner, being lukewarm is playing russian roulette with your soul.
If we are sealed in the blood of Christ, how does one lose their salvation?
- It is possible that a Lukewarm Christian may be saved, but this is entirely Gods decision (another way to put it is, 50% of the lukewarm may go to hell, the rest saved by the Grace of God)
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It is possible the Lukewarm may be "shamefully saved". This means they will go to heaven, but will not inherit the rewards of heaven.
They will be in a crowded public housing project, instead of a personal mansion. They might have less responsbilities, etc.
Saved by Works or saved by Faith:
Many argue that they do not need to do "anything" since they are saved by Faith, since our works are as dirty rags.
However as James says, Faith without works is dead, so then what is the conflict?
Its true that Jesus does the heavy lifting, he makes it possible to justify you in the presence of the Father, and I believe James works is our part of the responsibility we promise to in our covenant with God, when asking forgiveness of our sins and repenting when we become born again. Repent means to turn from our old ways, IE we stop living like a heathen. We no longer desire to go in the old worldly direction, instead we start picking up our cross daily by denying the flesh. We desire to keep Jesus' commandments (loving one another, not holding grudges, forgiving man), being willing to die for Jesus.
Then why does Romans 10:9 say If you confess with your mouth Jesus Is Lord, and believe in your heart that God Raised him from the dead you will be saved.
This means that the state of your heart went to the Saved state the moment you believed in him, however it is up to you to allow the mustard seed to grow in you so that your heart does not slip out of that state. Yes Ephesians says we are "sealed", however you are playing russian roulette with your soul to make the assumption "once saved is always saved", when shades-of-saved exist: going to hell for eternity, being shamefully saved in a community house in heaven, saved with no inheritance, inheriting the richness of heaven with all rewards, or being a ruler over many things for Jesus in the Millenial Kingdom.
