Not By Works

Hi theanointedwinner, yep I did get the, 'boy did you lose your mind', kind of look but by that time in new rejection was a part of believing, nobody likes rejection. I knew in my heart that my faith was something nobody could damage or take away from me and that lead me to trusting God more and having even more security in Him. Good questions thanks.

@TruthTalk
looking back, we'd wish we'd appreciate the day of our salvation more instead of wasting time wrestling with doubt, doubts that seem to come from an undefined cause.

The Holy Spirit will always be there to help you "grow and convict you of sin;" The devil causes "doubt and guilt."
The Holy Spirit is there to build you up in your faith; The devil is there to tear you down and shipwreck your faith.
When the Holy Spirit "convicts" us of sin" it is always to "built us up." there will never be feelings of guilt and doubt which only comes from the devil.

I pray God will build you up in The Faith as He always does.

God bless!

I have a lot to learn and a lot of confusion to clean out

It will as you mature physically and ESPECIALLY SPIRITUALLY. You will get better at Walking like CHRIST.

Here is the Secret. THE MORE YOU TRUST THE LORD WITH CONTROLLING YOUR LIFE, THE EASIER AND LESS DOUBT THERE WILL BE.

The Lord gave me THAT COMPLETE TRUST IN HIM, from the MOMENT I was Born Again. AND it grew Stronger from that day on. How else do you explain how a Nebraska Farm Boy, with NO BIBLE COLLEGE EDUCATION, became a Volunteer Protestant Prison Chaplain, in the end of the line Prison, in California. He was doing the Prison ministry through me, and opening all the doors, and I was just walking thru them.

your talking about federal prison

It takes years of study to weed through the error peddled by many who rarely study bro...keep swinging

Hi theanointedwinner, and thanks for your reply, I like the ideas that you express in your testimony which anyone can read just click hear: https://christianchat.com/testimoni...ods-help-no-gospel-tract-can-help-you.177711/

Your professor hit the nail right when he said, "the Holy Spirit somehow gave me the natural seriousness, and Professor indicated that "now you're taking it seriously", and that Father God is strongly drawing me closer to Jesus. Amen!, draw near to God and He will draw near to you, yes this is oh so true.

As decon, VCO and myself agree that when you are "rooted and grounded" in the faith your mind can become like a "Rock", and this requires of course reading the bible. "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God." Rom10:17, and receiving the engrafted, (past tense) word of God with 'Meekness' and 'Humility.' James1:21

The Race set before every believer is a marathon not a sprint and all must endure and enjoy. My favorite "Hero's" in modern day Christianity are Missionaries, Chaplains and Pastor/Teachers.

God bless!

Matthew 11:29

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

``learn of me``..... the divine influence of grace in the life of the believer.

We are a people that are in fellowship with Jesus, in Him is all love and truth!

Stay on the narrow path, Jesus and His grace, let Him convict you of your righteous standing in Him.

Hi theanointedwinner, here are a few words from the Apostle Paul on the subject of the fullness of Christ and being rooted and grounded in the Faith. Like I said before it is a delightful thing to see your faith growing so strong to many of us here, God bless!

The words of Apostle Paul: Spiritual Fullness in Christ
Colossians2:5-7
5) For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. 6) So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7) 'rooted and built up in him', strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
Charles Spurgeon: Commentary on Colossians 2:6

Quote:
"Though the shepherd cares for the lambs, and carries them in his arms, he doth not cease his care when they become sheep; but, so long as they shall need to be tended, so long will he watch over them. Hence it is that our apostle, though always quick of eye after newborn souls, and abundantly anxious to bring sinners to a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, is equally in a conflict of soul for the spiritual healthfulness of those who have been born again. Our text contains one of those loving-admonitions. It is addressed, not to the ungodly, not to those who are strangers to our Lord and Master, but to those who have “received Christ Jesus the Lord.” Longing for their spiritual good, and anxious that they shall be established in the faith, he admonishes them thus, “As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.”


We must not leave this part of the subject without adding that the believer has received Christ into his trust, and this he did at his spiritual birth. He received Christ into the arms of his faith. He took Jesus Christ to be, henceforth, the unbuttressed pillar of his confidence, the one rock of his salvation, his strong castle and high tower. And, in this sense, every soul that is saved has “received Christ Jesus the Lord.”

No, Pelican Bay State Prison, in California, which is the end of the line in California Department of Corrections. I did not have a lot of Bible Memorized, and HE gave me what to say to those inmates, and all I could do was to be in AWE, of what HE was doing. For several years, all I did was minister to the Inmates in the the Security Housing Unit, {THE HOLE}. Did I have any training? Yes, SORT OF, I had 500 or more of one hour TAPES that I had listened to on my Walkman Tape Recorder at work in the POST OFFICE, at least 4 times each; at work on the night shift at the Post Office, in Nebraska. Most of those TAPES were Dr. John MacArthur Jr., some were Dr. Chuck Swindoll, and a few were Dr. Charles Stanley, and Dr. Gil Rugh. But want is amazing, is the California Dept. of Corrections accepted me, and they wanted me you use the title of Volunteer Protestant Chaplain, WITH OUT ANY BIBLE COLLEGE. I literally was the first Volunteer inside that Level IV Prison, and I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT STARTING A PRISON MINISTRY, BUT I ALSO FULLY TRUSTED THAT JESUS CHRIST KNEW ALL ABOUT STARTING A PRISON MINISTRY. HE DID IT ALL, NOT ME.

John 14:15-18

Jesus Promises Another Helper
15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

John 16:5-11

The Work of the Holy Spirit
5 “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

John 6:28-29
28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”
29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

1 John 3:23-24
23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.
The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error
24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

VCO, about faith and trust

I don't believe that it's possible to overcome cowardice, and even if we can for a little bit, it's impossible to do that entirely.

I was just thinking that we have presented WAY MORE evidence than any one of us KNEW existed for SALVATION happens the moment we sincerely believe from the HEART, because of GOD's LOVE being poured into our HEARTS. Yet there are some that cannot except that TRUTH. Yes some have confused that Salvation and Sanctification are the same thing, when they CLEARLY are NOT; and some maybe it is their pride in there accomplishments hinder their acceptance of that TRUTH. Whatever the earthly reason that they CANNOT receive the TRUTH, their is way more to their blindness of that TRUTH, than most of us realize. I think the DEVIL and His Demons are involved in that CONFUSION.

Do you all remember how Satan tempted Jesus, by quoting Scripture.

Luke 4:3-12 (HCSB)
3 The Devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
4 But Jesus answered him, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone.”
5 So he took Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 The Devil said to Him, “I will give You their splendor and all this authority, because it has been given over to me, and I can give it to anyone I want.
7 If You, then, will worship me, all will be Yours.”
8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.”
9 So he took Him to Jerusalem, had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.
10 For it is written: He will give His angels orders concerning you, to protect you,
11 and they will support you with their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”
12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said: Do not test the Lord your God.”


I think while we are actively "contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all", as Jude 1:3, has stated; we are OVERLOOKING the serious NEED for Prayer to remove the evil spirits that have DECEIVED them, while they are listening to the TRUTH.


2 Timothy 3:13 (HCSB)
13 Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving and being deceived.


I have personally almost forgot a lesson HE TAUGHT ME YEARS AGO. Part of Spiritual warfare has always been not only to present the Truth to those who want to hear, but also to pray for that person not to be infuenced by false teaching while we present the TRUTH to him or her.

Ephesians 6:10-19 (ESV)
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel,


I have seen that kind of Prayer, work personally. A dear friend of my wife and I, Terrie was her name, was caught up in a false teacher Guru, who would smoke pot with his flock and then study the bible; so my wife and I decided to go to her apartment. It was a particular evil preacher that was teaching them that Jesus was a sinner. As we pulled up to her apartment, I told my wife we NEED to pray before we went into that Apartment. So I prayed something like this:

"Dear heavenly Father, I ask for your Help, while we present the Truth. Drive out all the unclean spirits, and evil influence from this place, and put your holy angels on the entrances, even if you have to send Michael to guard the entrances. Give us the words that you want us to proclaim, in Jesus name I pray."

I tried to explain it to her that JESUS was NOT a SINNER, as fervently as I have ever done to one person in my life. The reason I KNOW GOD ANSWERED THAT PRAYER, is how she kept going back and forth in her Bible, and stating: "I do not understand it, I cannot find one of my verses that proves that Jesus was a Sinner." She had no evil spirit in that room to guide her in the deception.

Were we successful with turning Terrie around? No, but she certainly heard the WORD OF GOD, and then decided to leave town a few weeks later, and we have never heard from her again.

I PRAY THAT SAME PRAY FOR THIS THREAD ALSO, May GOD Answer this prayer, like HE DID ONCE BEFORE. I am sorry that I did not Remember that TRUE story sooner.

Everyone, keep PRAYING FOR THIS THREAD, until JESUS, Our Bridegroom comes to Take Us Home.


1 Corinthians 1:30-31 (NRSV)
30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us
wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
31 in order that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

JESUS was NOT a SINNER @VCO <-- the idea that "Jesus was a sinner" is arguably the most unthinkable idea, and I can't believe how anyone would even ... wow

may we be thankful for God's gift of faith and sound-mindedness.

or else, who knows, deception knows no bottom

God, I did wonder if we can make the BDF a better place, in the sense that if it's possible to make a websites that's titled as "straight from the bible" but then again ... for our fight is not against flesh and blood, nor against people blinded by -isms, but against the principles of this fallen world

may our focused be restored to where it belongs. amen

The coward of the county did according to Kenny Rogers

Thr truth is that the deceiver has been deceiving from the beginning until now.

How would we know who were the ones that were deceived?

We know that Eve was deceived when she believed the deceiver and disobeyed God's command.

Who are the deceivers and who were deceived?

...At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
Matthew 24:10‭-‬14‭, ‬24

...For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
2 Corinthians 11:13‭-‬15

...And those that were deceived believed in the deceivers mentioned above and disobeyed God's commands because they were made to believe that they would not surely die, IOW, "always saved". But scriptures warn us not to be deceived;

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them.
Ephesians 5:6‭-‬7

...Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”..
Genesis 3:1‭-‬19