GOD'S PLAN 1

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                                                  GOD'S PLAN OF SALVATION


     God's plan of salvation is not that hard to understand. Actually, when we try too hard to understand it with the mind, of our own rational thinking, we defeat ourselves. When the Holy Ghost convicts our heart, and we realize that we are condemned due to sin [sin is the breaking of God's Commandments [I John 3:4], we simply need to confess to the Maker that we have sinned, ask forgiveness for whatever it is we have done or failed to do, and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, allowing Him to cleanse us and enter our heart.
     We have inherited the sinful nature from our parents, who inherited it from their parents, and so on, all the way back to the first people, Adam and Eve. They were created in God's image, perfect, yet with a free will to choose either the good or the evil. So they did have the ability to sin, right from the start. God did not create mindless zombies.
     Once deceived by the serpent, they did sin, knowingly, and their relationship with God was severed. Because of that, God's blessing was taken away and they began to die, a little bit at a time. They were ashamed of their transgression, having conviction in their hearts and consciences, and showed remorse. God showed them mercy, covering up their nakedness, but also letting them know that they would one day die and go back to the dust, from which they were made.
     One main thing about humans that this demonstrates is that man is born with a conscience. It also illustrates the mercy of God.
     Up until the time of Moses, man had mostly just his conscience to rely on in order to keep him from doing wrong, sinning. Once Moses began to do a prophet's work, the moral commandments were given to God's people by him, to show them what sin is, and to help guide them in the right way. The problem with obtaining righteousness through the commandments was and is, that firstly, they were given to show mankind our sinfulness and our need for a Redeemer [
Romans 7:7, Galatians 2:16, 3:19,21,22-25], yet were never able to make us righteous before God. The Commandments are a guide in the right direction, a means toward an end, a map to obtain a right relationship with the Father. Trying to obtain righteousness by our own power is impossible in God's eyes and in reality. The Old Testament is pointing out the need for a Saviour, and pointing the way to the Saviour.
     Jesus Christ was born to redeem mankind, all who will accept Him. He died a ghastly death on the cross, which was the Roman standard for execution. He took on the suffering that all of us are destined to from birth, because we are sinful. He was totally free of committing any sin, yet allowed Himself to suffer in our place. It was as though He took the punishment for crimes He never committed. By living on earth as a human, He not only became our redeemer upon His resurrection, but while on earth was able to understand fully, how hard it is to maintain a right relationship with the Father of Lights. While in the grave for 3 days, He preached to the people who had died beforehand, all the way from Adam to Moses' time [which extended to the time of Christ], because they had never had the opportunity to hear the Gospel preached, the real message of God, the message that He was born to proclaim.
     Once Christ arose from the dead, He remained on earth for a short while, then ascended back to the Father. A few days later, He sent the Holy Ghost to indwell and guide all who will believe. Before that, the Holy Ghost indwelt a very, very few people throughout the ages. Beginning on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Ghost became available to all who will accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah.


     SPECIAL AND IMPORTANT NOTICE TO THE CHURCH CONCERNING TRYING THE SPIRITS. ON MISCELLANEOUS PAGE

     Churches in America are filled with people who attempt to withhold believers, or people trying to be believers,from obtaining salvation. That is only possible if the individual allows it so to be [Luke 12:4,5, III John 9-11, Matthew 23]. For the truth of this matter, go to 'Absolution by Man'.
     The presumption that man can give or deny absolution is rebellion against God and His precepts, aligning oneself with God and is a type of witchcraft [Luke 9:51-56, Matthew 20:20-23, Numbers 20:7-12, Deuteronomy 32:51 > I Samuel 15:23]. The idea of absolution or denial of absolution by man is also antiChrist. AntiChrist means not only against Christ, but instead of Christ.

There are several items of what I will term a sub thesis, so the reader will know where I stand. I am a sinner [born of a sinful nature, as is all mankind except Christ] being saved by the grace of Christ [Romans 3:9, 3:23, 5:12, 6:17, 7:17, Philippians 3:10-15, Leviticus 5:17, I Corinthians 9:27, 2:13-15, Romans 7:14-25, 6:1-18]. When any of us teach another person something, we are also teaching ourselves [Romans 2:21]. No matter how much we read or hear, it is only when the Holy Ghost reveals a thing to us that we really learn something from scripture [John 14:26, I John 2:27].

GOD'S PLAN I

THE PLAN OF SALVATION IN MY OWN WORDS: UNTIL WE REACH THE AGE OF ACCOUNTABILITY, OF WHICH THERE IS NO SET AGE [DEUTERONOMY 1:39], BUT IS PRESUMABLY AND LIKELY YOUNG IN AT LEAST MOST CASES, WE ARE NOT ACCOUNTABLE FOR SINS THAT WE DO. AFTER THE AGE OF ACCOUNTABILITY IS REACHED, WHICH COULD BE IN OLDER AGE, WE ARE GUILTY OF OUR SINS WHETHER WE ARE AWARE OF SPECIFIC ONES OR NOT [LEVITICUS 5:17, ROMANS 3:23]. SIN IS SIMPLY THE BREAKING OF THE MOSETICAL COMMANDMENTS, AND THERE ARE SEVERAL HUNDRED MORAL COMMANDMENTS, NOT JUST TEN.

BEFORE THE HOLY GHOST STARTS CONVICTING OUR HEARTS OF SIN [PROVERBS 1:23], SINCE WE HAVE NO HEARTFELT KNOWLEDGE OF BEING SINFUL [ROMANS 4:15, 5:13], IT IS LIKE DRIVING DOWN THE HIGHWAY, AND THERE ARE NO SPEED LIMIT SIGNS, THOUGH THE LAW HAS A SPECIFIED SPEED PER SECTION OF HIGHWAY WRITTEN IN THE BOOKS. WE MAY DRIVE 40, 50 OR 95, AND WE FEEL OKAY BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE ANYTHING THAT WE KNOW OF TO TELL US WE'RE DOING WRONG, ASIDE FROM OUR CONSCIENCE. BUT IF WE DON'T KNOW ANY DIFFERENT, THEN OUR CONSCIENCE PROBABLY JUST DOESN'T KNOW TO BOTHER US. SO ONE DAY WE'RE DRIVING ALONG, AT WHATEVER SPEED IT MAY BE, AND WE START SEEING SPEED LIMIT SIGNS POSTED. MAYBE AT FIRST IT DOESN'T BOTHER US, BECAUSE WE DON'T QUITE UNDERSTAND. AS TIME GOES ON, IT BEGINS TO BOTHER US, SO WE TRY TO DRIVE THE SPEED LIMIT, WHICH MAKES US FEEL BETTER, AT LEAST FOR AWHILE. BUT OUR PAST DRIVING HABITS START BOTHERING OUR CONSCIENCE NOW [ROMANS 5:13, ACTS 8:1,3], AND NO MATTER WHAT WE DO, WE CAN'T SHAKE THAT FEELING OF CONDEMNATION [COLOSSIANS 1:21]. SO MAYBE WE START DRIVING FAST ALL THE TIME, TRYING TO SHAKE THE CONDEMNATION. NOTHING WORKS, AND ONE DAY WE GET PULLED OVER BY A TRAFFIC COP [LIKE WHEN THE HOLY GHOST FINALLY JUST OVERWHELMS OUR CONSCIENCE-ACTS 9:1-6]. GOING TO COURT IS LIKE ANSWERING TO GOD FOR OUR SINS, WHILE STILL ALIVE, AND HAVING A CHANCE TO EXPLAIN. WE REALIZE THAT WE HAVE NO EXCUSE [ROMANS 5:12], SO WE SIMPLY SAY I'M SORRY FOR BREAKING THE LAW [SINNING], PLEASE HAVE MERCY ON ME. OUR LAWYER IS LIKE JESUS CHRIST, WHO INTERCEDES FOR US TO THE JUDGE [I TIMOTHY 2:5,6, HEBREWS 4:15, 5:2, 9, 10:16, 17, 12:24, ROMANS 10:9-13]. SO AFTER THE LAWYER [CHRIST] TALKS TO THE JUDGE [GOD], IF HE BELIEVES THAT WE ARE SINCERE, HE DISMISSES THE CASE FOR ALL PAST TRANSGRESSIONS [PSALM 103:12, 25:7, 79:8].

How do we get to God, or, how do we get right with God? The way to the Father of Lights and of the spirits [James 1:17, Hebrews 12:9] is through and by Jesus Christ [John 14:6, 3:3-8]. Jesus knew, and knows, that it is sometimes hard to believe that someone was sent by God from above [Hebrews 1:2, Colossians 1:16], even those who saw His miracles and heard His teaching first hand [Luke 24:41], and He encourages people to at least believe due to the works that He did and does [John 10:38]. Believing in Jesus Christ is something like when we hear about some event, be it some great happening, or even a tragedy. We don't really, truly believe it until we see the evidence, which makes it a heartfelt belief, a deep conviction. The 12 apostles went everywhere with Jesus while He was on earth, and had the power to preach, heal and exorcise bad spirits [Luke 9:1,2], yet they were still skeptical about Him after He was crucified and arose the third day after His death [Luke 24:6,7], when He first appeared to them. It took them awhile to realize and believe that it was actually the Lord [Luke 24:10, 11, 16, 36, 37, 41, 45, Mark 16:8,9,12-14].

We can and should prepare to be right with the Maker [Job 35:10] all through our life [II Timothy 3:15], which scripture is able to do, and there is one thing which is able to save us [Hebrews 2:15]: Believing from the heart and confessing with the mouth that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead [Romans 10:9]. It is at that moment, where ever we may be, that we are truly converted, or born again [Matthew 18:3, Acts 3:19, John 3:1-8, I Peter 1:23, 2:2, I john 5:1,4,18], when our soul is made anew.

The reason we need to be born again is because we are born with a sinful nature, sin being the transgression, or breaking, of God's Commandments [Romans 5:12-14, 19-21, 7:7-13]. Every human being has inherited the sinful nature from the parents, who inherited it from their parents, and so on, all the way back to Adam and Eve [Romans 3:23, Psalm 14:2,3, 53:2,3]. We have all sinned, all mankind, every human being except Jesus Christ [II Corinthians 5:21]. It is really evident that we are born with a sinful nature, that is, the ability to sin, because we don't have to be taught how to do wrong. We have to be taught how to do good. What do babies and kids do when they get mad? They kick and scream and lash out. Fortunately, there is what is called the age of accountability, which is no set age, but is the moment at which a human realizes they are a lost person and need to get right with the Maker, the moment in life when we realize that there is good and there is bad, sinfulness and righteousness. A person doesn't always understand that concept with the mind, but does with the heart. This involves 2 things in the main: When God deals with our heart [Proverbs 1:23], and; even though we are guilty of sin even without knowledge of it [Leviticus 5:17], it is not held to one's account when the person dies before reaching the age of accountability [Romans chapter 7, Matthew 18:10, and certain other scriptures].