The Book - The Man Who Loved The Truth.
A time of judgment for counterfeit and unbelievers
Of course he is a God of love - he gave his only son to die on the cross for sinful mankind.(Jn 3:16 ) But, he is also a God of justice -a God of purpose - a God of Wrath - a God of Calamity - a God of Vengeance - a God of War and a Jealous God. These are just a few of his attributes. A full list can be found in any Bible concordance.
The trouble is, people are being led astray by false teachers. They are told that all they need to do is to pray for repentance, accept Jesus sacrifice,ask him into their life and they are saved.There are those attending these large gatherings who are invited en-mass to assemble at the front for this very purpose. After much excitement and ecstatic behaviour, they go away without any further instruction regarding this matter and continue with their normal lives.There is no real change in their personality. When all the glamour dies down they are exactly the same as they were before.
This is incomplete and certainly not the way to salvation.
It is perfectly true we do have to say, to God, that we are sorry for our past sinful lives. And declare that we accept the sacrifice of Jesus to take away our sins. And it is right to ask Jesus into our life for future guidance. This is a combined declaration of repentance and future intent. It can be stated with the utmost sincerity. But, if there is no change in character or behaviour. If the person concerned is exactly the same as before, then the process has failed. Words are easy to use. People say all kinds of things. To hear someone say they will do this or that means nothing until they do it. The problem is insufficient knowledge of scripture-- and I do mean accurate knowledge
There is no salvation in empty words. Faith without works is dead. ( Jas 2:17 )
Truth verses Error! The Bible is full of warnings against error. Yet in most of our modern day churches there is very little taught about the subject. In fact, the inventor, and king of error, is the devil, and there is very little taught abut him either. Mind you, this kind of scenario suits his purpose of deception. It is much easier to control and deceive people if they don't know you exist.
Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. One of the temptations was to do with Satan offering Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if he would bow down and worship him. Jesus replied; " Away from me Satan! It is written: ' Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'" ( Mat 4:8-10 ) Strangely enough, Jesus did not dispute the devil's claim to ownership of the world. He was very much in control then and he is very much in control now. However, his reign is only temporary and will end when our Lord returns in glory.
It is a well known fact, especially among Bible students, that Satan was the instigator of mankind's fall into sin and death. He also caused a rebellion in heaven resulting in a third of the angels following him. He is God's enemy number one.
Some will argue that God should have got rid of him at the beginning, instead of putting up with his evil aims all this time. So why has God allowed the devil to do so much harm? The answer to this question lies in the fact that God's supremacy was challenged. Satan was saying I can turn all mankind away from worshiping you! Now this was being witnessed by millions of angels. Because of this, God had to grant him a set period of time to prove him wrong, and show that every generation would have true believers. Please read the full chapters of the book of Job-both one and two.