Is it possible to be saved from the “second death” in Hell through faith in Jesus, alone, yet NOT enter baptismal waters as commanded by Messiah?
Yes… but with a caveat; that is, water does not purify the soul from sin and Jesus’ blood atonement is more than sufficient to save by faith but why would anyone who truly loves Jesus and honors Him by faith as Messiah not obey His command to be baptized as He was?
If one is truly born again by the Spirit and the Holy Spirit indwells them and arbitrates their conscience in all moral discernment, daily; this, as they venture through life in daily sanctification, how can the redeemed conscience of the truly faithful be clear and honorable if they do NOT obey this most simple command?
I personally feel that if one professes they’re saved by faith in Jesus yet they “refuse” to enter baptismal waters as clearly commanded (Matthew 28:16-20), perhaps their faith is NOT legitimate?
Obedience to the Father, Son and Spirit is a hallmark sign of authentic faith and personal relationship. We don’t enter baptismal waters to be saved or to supplement the sufficiency of Jesus to save us by faith but we enter baptismal waters BECAUSE we ARE saved and our heart’s desire is to honor the will of our beloved Messiah and NOT grieve the Holy Spirit within us.
How can one walk in daily intimacy and joy and peace with our Lord and Savior yet not obey His will for our life? Is that even possible?
Why do Atheists possess greater FAITH and BELIEF than the Christian?
Atheist, you do “believe” that there is no Creator; therefore, you do “believe” absent natural and Scriptural evidence to the contrary. You can’t have it both ways; therefore, you “believe” and express incredible “faith” that all of Nature emanated from a naturalistic origin which is a much “greater” faith than that of the Christian who “believes” that Elohim (Genesis 1:1) is Creator yet you have NO evidence of a Naturalist Origin yet Elohim has expressed and articulated clearly the who, what, where, when, why, concerning the creation narrative and He has provided eschatology, fulfilled prophecy, that under girds His ownership of said creation narrative. Atheism is a “religion” of unbelief in a god or a creator and this “unbelief” is a “belief” in a naturalist origin of all things which is an expression of unfathomable “faith.” Atheism is kin to Secular Humanism-Darwinism where you worship and serve that which has been created rather than the Creator (Romans 1:18-32).
Does the Noahic Flood negate the reality of “free will?” The atheist says yes. What is the Truth?
The Noahic Flood manifest due the wickedness of the very seed that flows through your DNA as an atheist; both the Adamic and Noahic generations thwarted their ordination as progenitors of the Messiah (Genesis 3:15) by freely choosing compromise with the demonic, the sacrificing of their posterity to pagan gods, sexual defilement (Genesis 6:5; Romans 1:18-32); therefore, Elohim annihilated all but eight by water and began anew with Noah and his family, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (AKA Israel), Judah, Yeshua.
The true tragedy is…you do NOT understand that our entire creation is predicated upon WAR and we are in the midst of a most horrific WAR of cosmic proportions and you have been uniquely selected as a valid participant in that WAR and your sole purpose in this temporary life is to “choose” whom you will serve and act upon that free will choice. Elohim, our Creator, desires that you “choose” life in His Messiah who entered Time for the specific purpose of “destroying the work of Satan” (John 6:29; 1 Timothy 2:4; 1 John 3:8b).
Atheistic absurdity concerning a comparison/contrast INRE to the Noahic Flood, abortion, children and Elohim’s culpability…Truth?
Both the Adamic and Noahic generations thwarted their ordination as progenitors of the Messiah via their compromise with the demonic – paganism much like this present generation of atheists and secular humanists today; therefore, the genomic defilement of the Adamic-Noahic generations was destroyed by water and the very best of that seed through Noah was used to initiate a more palatable, conformative, reasonable, people group through Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, through which Messiah entered the Realm of Time; Messiah’s primary objective was to “destroy the works of Satan” at Golgotha (1 John 3:8b; Genesis 3:15) via a battle strategy known as the Gospel which was ordained “before Time began” (2 Timothy 1:8-10; Genesis 3:21).
The Noahic Flood has no applicability to abortion and the children who perished in that Flood are secure in our Creator, forever, as they are divinely deemed innocent due their lack of maturity and understanding for where there is no law; that is, the absence of sufficient cognitive maturity to understand Elohim’s moral mandates, there is no sin (Romans 4:15; 5:13); furthermore, we see our Creator’s divine compassion toward mental/cognitive/moral immaturity in His dealings with the rebellious of Jacob’s children in their wilderness wanderings subsequent the Exodus from Egypt.
It is written,
26 And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 27 “How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. 28 Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: 29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, 30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected. 32 But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. 33 And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. Numbers 14 (ESV)
Do not allow the demonic among us as represented by atheists, secular humanists, to suggest the Noahic Flood and the death of children in that Flood are somehow applicable to the murder of abortion in today’s wicked and defiled generation.
“Choose this day whom you will serve.” Joshua 24:15 A “choice” that defines the purpose for the Creation Narrative and Elohim’s eschatological will and His purposes for Time and Eternity…
Joshua’s utterance via the Holy Spirit is central to all things concerning the Genesis Narrative and the purposes surrounding Day-6 (the human genome); futhermore, Joshua’s utterance is central to the presence of Satan in Eden; the Adamic compromise with evil; the declaration of war between Elohim and Satan in Genesis 3:15; the introduction of a divine battle strategy known as “The Gospel” in Genesis 3:21 which was ordained “before Time began” (2 Timothy 1:8-10); the demonic compromise of the Adamic and Noahic generations and their judgment unto death via water save eight (Genesis 6:5); the necessity for Noah; Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Sinai-Moses, Messiah; the defeat of Satan’s works by Messiah at Golgotha (1 John 3:8b); the introduction of the New Covenant established in Messiah’s blood (Luke 22:20) and represented by Christianity; the subsequent rise of Islam and Islam’s false deity “Allah” who is Satan masquerading as an angel of light via the Arabic moon god (2 Corinthians 11:14); worldwide hatred and loathing for Jacob’s children; the re-establishment of the Israeli State in 1948 subsequent Satan’s attempt to completely annihilate Jacob’s children via the Holocaust; the advent of the “nuclear age;” the “progressive” fall of the United States via demonic compromise politically-ethically-morally; the rise of an unholy alliance between Russia-China-Iran/Islam as foretold by the prophets; the relocation of Israel’s Capital from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and Jerusalem as the obsessive focus of Satan’s allies; the rise in Worldwide antisemitism; the current unrest in the Middle East emboldened by nuclear threats; the coming Tribulation period which is 3.5-years of unfathomable nuclear conflict involving the entire World but primarily focused upon and targeting Jerusalem, Israel; Messiah’s 2nd-Advent to Mount Olivet with victory over Israel’s enemies; the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom; the final battle between good and evil initiated at the culmination of Messiah’s Millennial Reign in conjunction with Satan’s freedom from bondage; the Judgment of Satan; the Judgment of unfaithful humanity; the destruction of the Heavens and the Earth by fire; the presence of a New Earth and a New Heaven and the Holy City, the New Jerusalem; resurrected faithful humanity serving a resurrected Jesus as Messiah and King, forever.
Whom will you serve? The only relevant question in life…
Our existence upon this temporary Earth is due a spiritual war initiated by Satan in the Kingdom of Elohim and this Earth, this temporary Universe, were created in direct response to that Kingdom War; this temporary Earth is nothing more than a temporary “battle ground” as Elohim removed the destruction of war from His Kingdom and placed same here to be dealt with partially constrained by Time and physics; this, apart from the Kingdom where nothing impure is permitted to exist (Revelation 21:27).
Humanity plays an integral eschatological role in this spiritual war that rages around us and through us daily and the most relevant decision a man or woman will make in their life is “whom will you serve?” – will you freely choose to serve Elohim by faith in the Son, Jesus our Messiah (John 3:16) or will you choose to serve Satan (John 8:44) in rejection of Elohim’s plea to “choose life” in His Son (Deuteronomy 30:19)?
If you choose Jesus by faith (John 3), you will be victorious as Jesus is King and the battle is His in victory, eternally (Revelation 5:5) – or – you can choose servitude to Satan in rebellion to Elohim’s will for your life (John 6:29; 1 Timothy 2:4) and reap the sorrows of defeat and shame in Hell (Revelation 20:10-15). The choice is yours to make; therefore, “Choose this day whom you will serve.”
Why will “science” never define the origin of matter, life?
The Holy Spirit tells you that all we see and interact with relevant to our senses finds its origin in the unseen Spiritual Realm; in fact, the Holy Spirit tells us that Elohim the Father commissioned the Son, Jesus our Messiah (John 3:35), for cause and to take elements from the unseen Spiritual Realm and fashion those elements into matter that can be apprehended by a life form existing within the constraints of Time and physics (Hebrews 11:3; Genesis 1; John 1; Hebrews 1; Colossians 1); therefore, irrespective of mankind’s efforts to define the origin of matter, life, our complex genome, those efforts are in vain because the origin of what we see and interact with 24/7/365 emanates from the unseen Spiritual Realm, a Realm that is infinitely more complex than the Realm of Time as the Spiritual Realm does not easily interface with a life form constrained by Time and physics; furthermore, it is Jesus that holds all things physical and spiritual together, Jesus our Messiah is the Divine Nucleoli of everything physical and spiritual (Colossians 1:17). Origin of matter is therefore beyond the parameters of the scientific method but is understood by faith in Jesus and the tutorship of the indwelling Holy Spirit (1 John 2:27).
Atheist – Secular Humanist, why not simply employ “naturalism” and prove the absence of a Creator and let’s rid ourselves of “religion” and the much-despised Christianity and the Church?
Commonsense, void a crippling obsession with satiating one’s penis or vulva in aberrant pleasure, tells us that the supernatural Universe which encompasses us, permeates us, 24/7/365 possesses the divine earmarks of “design” and purpose – and – commonsense uninterrupted by the proclivities of self-righteousness, arrogance, hedonism, narcissism e.g., atheism/secular humanism tells us that this unfathomable “design” must be under girded by an omnipotent Designer who is most probably existing outside the constraints of Time and physics; therefore, commonsense tells us that if a Designer exists and the complexity of that design (the human genome for example) most likely emanates from a supernatural design that said Designer would be remiss if He, She, It, They, did not reveal them self, themselves, to those “created” and in conjunction with that revelation provide logical reasoning for having created the supernatural “creation” that engulfs us 24/7/365.
If one is honest and they perform a diligent search for that “Creator” there exists only ONE-SOURCE where a Creator has not only identified “Himself” but He has also thoroughly explained the who, what, where, when, why, concerning His creation; that source, the “Canon of Scripture.” In fact, our Creator has told the atheist, the secular humanist, the unbeliever, that He exists and that their denial of His existence is foolish (Psalms 14:1) because He has clearly revealed Himself through what He has made in nature and placed before our eyes (Romans 1:20), a supernatural creation which cannot be duplicated by created beings constrained by Time and physics; furthermore, our Creator has entered the Realm of Time and walked among us for 33.5-years in the form of a man named Messiah Jesus and He has clearly proclaimed that Elohim is One, our Creator, and that anyone seeking peace and intimacy with Him must enter that relationship through “faith” in the Son, Jesus our Messiah who died for them as Messiah Jesus defeated the works of Satan at Golgotha (John 3; 1 John 3:8b)…our Creator exists.
If the atheist is so sure that our Creator does NOT exist, why not bring forth a valid explanation, causation, reasoning, for what confronts us daily in nature using a naturalistic explanation so that we can rid ourselves of “religion” and the much-despised Christianity and the Church and pursue moral relativism void conscience with uninhibited pleasure?
If our Creator does not exist, why not prove His, Her, Its, absence to a believing-faithful segment of the World so that their desires and efforts to constrain their behavior via conformity to sustainable morality might be proven irrelevant and let’s all pursue moral relativism because “if it feels good, do it;” after all, tomorrow we die and nihilism is our deity and life really means nothing in summation of all things?
How are the Sinai Commandments honored in the New Covenant?
Jesus commanded that we love Elohim above all else and love our neighbor as our self…these are the fulfillment of all the codified commandments from Sinai forward, including Moses’ civil-ceremonial edicts (Matthew 22:36-40). Concerning “commandment keeping,” Jesus was speaking to an audience who was under the law covenant given Israel’s children (Galatians 4:4) but a radically New Covenant was being ushered in through the Gospel.
Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the New Covenant,
Jesus ushered in the New Covenant that was established in His own blood (Matthew 26:26-29; 1 Peter 1:18-19). The New Covenant is focused upon intimate relationship with Elohim through faith in the Son, Jesus our Messiah (John 3), and the “Law” that is relevant, applicable, in the New Covenant is NOT those which have been codified in stone and scratched upon parchment as given Israel’s children for sanctification-eschatological purposes but the relevant “Law” in the New Covenant is the Spiritual Law as written upon the human heart on Day-6 of creation (Romans 6:14; Romans 2:14-15; Romans 7:6). In the New Covenant, the redeemed in Jesus by faith receive the indwelling Holy Spirit as Guarantor of New Covenant promise (Ephesians 1:13-14; Ezekiel 36:27; John 14:16-17).
Honoring the Father in the New Covenant?
If one desires to honor the Father through obedience in the New Covenant, it is the indwelling Holy Spirit who employs the spiritual catalyst of a renewed conscience (2 Corinthians 5:17 – a new creation) mated with the Spiritual Law (written upon the human heart) and the Spirit forms a “new creation” within the redeemed as the Holy Spirit arbitrates moral decisions and moral discernment by making the human conscience divinely sensitive to the Father’s will in EVERY moral decision encountered during daily Christian sanctification and consequently the Spirit fulfills all Law through the redeemed via the production of divine “fruit” against which “there is no Law” (Galatians 5:16-23).
Spiritual Fruit v. Sinai and Moses,
It is the divine fruit produced by the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) through the redeemed in Jesus that fulfills the “Commandments” and actually honors the Father and this divine “fruit” substantiates and validates the redeemed as “disciples” of Jesus (John 15:8). Christians don’t seek obedience to Sinai or Moses in order to attain righteousness with the Father (Galatians 2:16; Romans 3:21) as that right standing with the Father has already manifest via the imputed-gifted righteousness of Jesus over the life of the one who believes Jesus is Messiah (2 Corinthians 5:21); therefore, Christians don’t seek codified Laws or the obedience to same for righteousness but Christians walk in imputed-gifted righteousness through faith and their behavior – obedience is the product of the divine work of the indwelling Holy Spirit, not self-righteousness in striving after letters that only condemn and curse (Romans 7:6; Romans 8:2; Galatians 3:10).
Purpose of Law?
Christians are to understand that the “Law” was given for the lawless, those who live in the desires of the flesh having no intention or desire to honor the Father or His divine will (1 Timothy 1:9); therefore, the Christian is not under Law but under grace (Romans 6:14); this, through the indwelling Holy Spirit given the redeemed in Jesus by faith (Romans 7:6; Ephesians 1:13-14).
Impotency of Codified Law?
The codified laws exemplified by Sinai and Moses’ civil/ceremonial edicts were but a mere fragment of the comprehensive Spiritual Law as written upon the human heart; therefore, these codified laws could never adequately address every moral decision encountered on a daily basis nor could they engender intimate covenant with the Elohim as the codified laws are weakened and nullified as an instrument of righteousness (a right standing with Elohim) due the Adamic sin-nature (Romans 5:12), a sin-nature that could never comply perfectly with codification; therefore, Sinai and Moses’ edicts are properly labeled “the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-4; James 2:10) as they only define sin, they only condemned and cursed (Galatians 3:10) but provided no form of atonement or hope (Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16); this, as the “letter kills but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:4-6); therefore, if you desire to honor the Father through obedience, this divine obedience that actually pleases the Father is ONLY possible through faith in Jesus as Messiah and a daily walk in Christian sanctification via the indwelling Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16). Codified Law is subject to obfuscation, justification, rationalization, by the sin-nature; not so with the Spiritual Law that is arbitrated by the indwelling Holy Spirit.
In closing,
Honoring the “Commandments” is ONLY possible through obedience to the Father’s will (John 6:29) and a daily walk in Christian sanctification meticulously guided by the indwelling Holy Spirit who is the Arbiter of the Spiritual Law and the redeemed human conscience (Galatians 5:16).
Religion, theologically speaking, is not based in faith…Religions like Islam, Judaism, Catholicism, are based in a works doctrine where the individual seeks a relationship with a particular deity via self-righteousness, efforts to conform to a set of rules or laws sufficiently in order to ingratiate themselves with said deity.
Christianity is the only “faith based” system in existence that teaches the truism that Human Kind is not capable of working or striving sufficiently to please Elohim (Genesis 1:1); this, due the Adamic sin-nature (Romans 5:12) but that Elohim, Himself, provides the Path to intimate relationship with Him through selfless love demonstrated by Messiah Jesus on a Roman Cross some 2000-years ago (John 3:16).
There are also demonically-rooted “religions” such as Atheism, Darwinism-Evolution and Secular Humanism which also display great “faith” in that they tout a rejection of any deity yet believe that all things present within the Realm of Time, all things present in nature, manifest from nothing which exploded…this is the greatest “faith” of all.
Sinai – Moses – Messiah Jesus – Obedience – Eternal Life: What is the Truth?
First of all,
Sinai was given specifically to Jacob’s children and those Gentiles who sought the protection of Israel’s theocracy; this, a law covenant initiated by Elohim through Moses as Elohim desperately sought to thwart a repeat of the demonic failures of the Adamic/Noahic generations who compromised with paganism to the point of necessitating human extinction save eight.
Elohim’s purpose concerning Sinai,
Elohim’s motive through Sinai and Moses was to thwart Israel’s compromise with the pagan gods of Baal and Molech and their compromise with the pagan tribes that inundated the areas Israel would traverse en route to the Promised Land, a Holy Land given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by Elohim via an unconditional covenant.
Sinai’s codified laws are but a mere fragment of the comprehensive Spiritual Law written upon the human heart, a Spiritual Law which transcends Time and judges the angels and judged to death the Adamic/Noahic/Sodom-Gomorrah generations.
Sinai, in no way, is sufficient for righteousness with Elohim nor does Sinai adequately address every moral decision confronted daily in this fallen World. Sinai is integral with a bygone covenant that provided a path to Messiah but was NEVER intended to be the destination (Hebrews 8:7; 2 Corinthians 3)
Sinai was given specifically to a sanctified group of people set-apart for Elohim’s eschatological imperatives; namely, the introduction of Messiah through Judah in order that Messiah would “destroy the works of the Devil” (1 John 3:8b) through a battle strategy known as “the Gospel” which was ordained “before Time began” (2 Timothy 1:8-10).
Sinai was an eschatological imperative of a bygone covenant that has faded away (2 Corinthians 3). Though the law covenant will find partial life in the Millennial Kingdom, its presence will be focused upon glorifying Elohim, not humanity. Sinai is beautiful in its characterization of our Creator’s holiness and His integrity but Sinai was given the Hebrew Tribes for a specific Time and specific eschatological purpose.
Sinai and the Gentile,
The Gentile was NEVER given Sinai or Moses or Torah or Days or Diets lest same sought inclusion in Israel’s law covenant and theocracy.
Sinai and the Christian,
Christians are therefore NOT obligated to Sinai-Moses-Torah-Days-Diets (Romans 6:14) but Christians serve a New Covenant of Grace predicated upon Faith, a radically New Covenant established in the sinless blood of Jesus at Golgotha (Matthew 26:28); a New Covenant where the comprehensive and infinitely superior Law of Conscience/the Spiritual Law (Hebrews 10; Romans 2:14-15; Jeremiah 31; Ezekiel 36) is written upon the human heart, that Spiritual Law is arbitrated by the indwelling Holy Spirit via an enlivened and sensitive conscience of the New Creation in Messiah (2 Corinthians 5:17) as the Holy Spirit produces divine “fruit” (Galatians 5:16-23) through the redeemed in Jesus, fruit that fulfills all law and actually honors the Father (John 15:8).
In closing,
Therefore, I choose to serve Elohim through Messiah’s Covenant established in His perfect and sinless blood and not a law covenant demanding righteousness from an Adamic sin-nature that could never adequately comply; a law covenant that pointed the Way to life but could never provide absolution from sin (Romans 8:1-4).
Honoring the Holy Spirit’s leadership through obedience that allows HIM to produce divine fruit through you (Galatians 5:16-23) is how one honors the Father in the New Covenant and validates their status as Messiah’s “disciple” (John 15:8). The New Covenant is NOT about self-righteous efforts to keeping letters but walking by the indwelling Holy Spirit in faith (Galatians 5:16).
"RickeyD" Holtsclaw 