The Fallacy of Taking Four Verses

Out of Context with the Thousands of Others





For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,

so that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.









Fallacy 1 — Whoever believes in him shall not Perish, but have eternal life, John 3:16 — Taken out of context with adjacent verses.

This is the most popularly quoted verse in the Bible, BUT it is quoted out of context without the companion verses that qualify its meaning to be totally the opposite of how people interpret it when looked at alone. Many call this verse "an entire Bible in itself." Unfortunately they are wrong; they ignore the exclusions, the requirements, and qualifying conditions of salvation, all of which can be met by motivated, active belief.

Let's look further at all the verses (John 3:15-21) in context with this famous verse, which totally change the traditional, but erroneous, interpretation:

When you look at John 3:16 in context with its associated verses, its meaning is totally changed.



From the Word of the Lord within: "It is not enough to believe in Jesus; we must believe what He says and then act on it."

When you believe what Jesus speaks to you and then obey His commands, you are following Jesus. To follow Jesus is to obey what Jesus commands, which is doing the will of God while denying your will. Obediently doing His will is a cross to your will, which is taking up the cross, forgotten by and missing from Christianity today. Until you take up the cross, you are not His disciple; until you take up the cross, you are not worthy of Him. Salvation and eternal life only come to those who bear the inward cross of self-denial to crucify their selfish spirit and carnal mind.

The faith that the Apostles preached was not an outward faith, but an inward faith. The object of both faiths are the same, but the differences are crucial to realize the promises of God. The two faiths are:

George Fox wrote of this inward faith and focus necessary:

To hear him speak to you, you must silently listen, waiting for Him to speak. Think on the name of Jesus, then listen, watch, and wait. If you find your mind wandering, think on the name of Jesus and return to listening, watching, and waiting. Do not be discouraged if you don't hear for some time. Even your waiting is to your credit: Let your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, in proportion to our waiting and hoping on you. Psalms 33:22. When you hear, you must believe him to be the Son speaking to you, believe what he tells you to be true, and then obey whatever he commands. Do this repetitively with persistent dedication, and you will be delivered from even the desire to sin, which is to receive salvation.

From the Word of the Lord within:

He who believes has the witness in himself, ; and the witness is heard and obeyed, then to be eventually seen. When you take up the daily cross, to wait on God persistently and patiently, hearing and obeying His commands, you die a little each day, until Jesus Christ is revealed in your body. You see Jesus bring your salvation, which is to be delivered (freed) from all sin.



Believing is not salvation, as Paul emphasizes eleven times in addressing believers in the churches:

And Peter echoes the same message that salvation is not just believing or faith, rather salvation is the end of faith's obedient journey, and requires growth :

Jesus told five out of seven churches of believers in Revelation that they were lost, on the way to destruction. The Smyrna believers were about to enter tribulation, whom he encouraged. Only the church of Philadelphia was doing well because they had kept [obeyed] his word [from within their hearts] with patient endurance. Notice again! Jesus said that five out seven Christian churches of believers were on their way to Hell. Massive error had already taken hold 2000 years ago, until today the false church is pervasive with grace supposedly being a license to continue to sin, as long as you believe.

So when does believing result in salvation? Jesus told us himself: And this is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes on [depends on, trusts, and obeys] him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day, . So your belief must lead to you seeing Jesus, the face of God. When your belief results in you persistently waiting on God, in humble silence, to hear Him, and to obey Him — His words that you hear Him speak to you impart the life of God; until finally you are pure and you see the face of God in your heart: Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God, . And every man who has this hope in him, purifies himself even as He [Jesus] is pure, .

Salvation, purity, and deliverance from sin, occurs when you experience the grace of God (Christ) bring it to you, when Christ destroys the selfish spirit in you by the spirit in his mouth and by the brightness of his coming, when he crushes the head of Satan under your feet, . To believe is to obey; if you are not obedient, your belief is only the hypocrites' lip service. Obedience leads to receiving the Holy Spirit. Obedience leads to righteousness. Obedience leads to salvation.



Christendom's false instant salvation from an altar call and/or water baptism is a colossal lie to fool you.

Read the fine print of God's contract: the warnings of exclusion, the requirements, and qualifying conditions.

For more on what is grace, see True Grace vs. False Grace.

Faith is not instant, it is a process of work that yields sharing in the divine nature. As Peter instructs us: which exceedingly great and precious promises are given to us, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (To escape lust is to have no wants or desires.)

There is a big difference in these two kinds of belief: 1) mental assent to Jesus being the Son vs. 2) to believe what he commands and advises — enough to obey Him. He commands us to seek with our highest priority in life the Kingdom of God and His righteousness — to be perfect — to turn the other cheek — to come to him, listen to him, and obey him — to deny yourself and pick up your cross daily and to repent or perish. The demons believe that Jesus is the Son of God, but they don't obey him from love. The Amplified Bible gives us further understanding: whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him. Faith comes by hearing the word, which is in your heart; faith is hearing Jesus (who is the Word of God) speak from within, and to believe it is the Lord speaking to you; this is to believe in Jesus. To believe is to obey. Obedience leads to salvation. Obedience leads to righteousness. Who has overcome the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

George Fox was often approached by people pleading that they were saved because they believed in Jesus.

Fox's response to them was: where is the evidence of your belief?

Jesus himself said: The evidence of belief of a true follower is to produce much fruit, .

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace ( ), patience ( ), kindness ( ), goodness, faith, gentleness ( ), and self-control ( ). Against these there is no law.

This involves ridding yourself of the sinful nature which includes: sexual immorality (including adultery and fornication), impurity, lust, idolatry (including covetousness), sorcery, hatred, arguments, jealousy, anger, ambition, divisiveness, factions, envy, drunkenness, revelry (partying), and the like.

Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh [the sinful nature] with its passions and desires [lusts and affections].

Every tree that does not bring forth good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.



Abraham is credited as being the father of all nations of believers, because righteousness was credited to him due to his faith. But what was the evidence of Abraham's faith? He obeyed God's voice. He believed enough to be obedient. You might be thinking: "if I heard God order me to do something like Abraham did, I would obey his voice too." But Abraham walked in the steps of faith; from the Word of the Lord within: "Abraham willingly exposed himself to God's commands." To expose ourselves to God's commands we must wait on God, silently listening for His commands to us; and then we must obey God's voice.

From the Word of the Lord within: "What is the evidence of your belief? — operational faith." It is the hypocrites' belief to believe without operational faith that seeks God's spoken commands and obeys the commands heard. We must believe enough to seek to listen for, hear, and obey God's voice.

"While you have light, believe in [depend on, trust and obey] the light, that you may become the children of light." Jesus spoke these thing and then departed to hide himself from them. . The Light (Christ) is given to every man who comes into the world, , so that through the Light, (Christ), all men might believe, ; and by abiding in the Light and obeying the Light (Christ), receive salvation to become a child of the light, a son of God. To believe in the light is to accept what it shows you by revelation as true and then to keep and obey its teachings; this is to believe in Jesus because Jesus is that light.



From the Word of the Lord within: "Heed the light that you may be children of the light."



Note the infinite difference between: believing that there is a light vs . heeding, (to notice, believe, and obey), what the light shows you.



Likewise there is an infinite difference between believing that Jesus is the Son of God vs . believing and obeying what you hear Jesus, the Son of God, speak or show to you.



And so we can see how a subtle change in interpretation created the infinite gulf of apostasy between the broad way of Christendom vs . the narrow way of true Christianity. But men rushed to embrace this doctrinal error, ignoring the many scriptures requiring them to take up the cross, forsaking all, losing your life, repent, be cleansed, be pure as He is pure, be holy as He is holy, be perfect as the Father is perfect, be righteous as Jesus was righteous, be merciful as He is merciful, walk in the same way as He walked, be in this present world as He was, and to be delivered from all sin; for they loved their life and did not want give up their selfish, evil ways of the flesh. Their itching ears were ready to believe the broad, easy way of doing nothing.



A true believer does truth, or practices truth — does what is right. (He is finished with sin, doing what is wrong.) A believer comes out into the light, (without fear) to show that his deeds (or works) have been: wrought in God; or divinely prompted, done with God's help, in dependence upon God.

Now ask yourself: How many works, or deeds, have I done that have been wrought, or prompted by God and with his help? How many works have I done that God has specifically told me to do, and then helped me to do them? — Not how many works have you done, hoping to please God. The first works for all are repentance — with God prompting or showing you what to repent from, and then through your sorrow, resolving to do better — repentance.



Paul : I declared.. that they should repent and turn to God, and do works consistent with repentance.

Jesus said, unless you repent, all of you will also perish. Repentance requires effort on your part.

And, As many as I love, I chastise [rebuke, discipline]. Be zealous therefore, and repent.

Jesus further said, Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me.

Jesus said, If any man desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Jesus said, I have not found your works perfect before God. He wants perfect works, energized by faith.

Hear! Jesus said: Strive to enter in at the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter, and will not be able to.

The gospel of grace would have you believe that striving is unnecessary, yet Jesus ordered us to strive, (to exert much effort or energy).

Paul again: They profess that they know God; but they deny him by what they do, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.

Christendom's false instant salvation from an altar call and/or water baptism is a colossal lie to fool you.



I have waited for your salvation, O LORD.

Therefore I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.

Truly my soul silently waits upon God; from him comes my salvation.

And it will be said in that day, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation."

To wait, is to sit silently and listen: Blessed is the man who hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.



Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly.

And none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.

Christendom does not even believe purity is possible; they do not understand and therefore continue to sin [do wickedly].

Christendom denies the cross is necessary, and so Christendom is perishing for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing; and whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly [appetites, lusts], and whose glory is in their shame, and they think on earthly things.

Jesus told us our hearts are full of evil. Jesus told us we must become perfect. Jesus told us we must pick up our cross of self-denial daily to become perfect. Jesus told us we must stop sinning or we would be cast into Hell. Jesus told us we must lose our selfish life to find the life with God. Jesus told us that we must forsake all to become his disciple. Jesus told us we were blind until perfected by him. So do you believe in what Jesus said? Do you believe Jesus? If so, you will heed his warnings and strive to obey his commands. We are living in a condemned state, separated from the life and light of God. If we believe in Jesus and keep on believing in Jesus, we will take the necessary steps to be delivered from our captivity of bondage to sin, which is to be saved and which preserves our soul. If we don't believe in Jesus, we remain condemned.

Jesus made it simple, saying: "There is only one thing needed. Mary has chosen that good part,

which shall not be taken away from her" — to sit at the feet of Jesus and hear his word.

To hear his word is to listen to the word of God in your heart.



It is a cross to a man's will to sit silently, struggling to keep his mind from wandering; it is a cross to a man's will to obey what he is commanded and taught by the Holy Spirit; this is the cross of which you must deny yourself and pick it up every day to then follow Jesus. To follow is to obey. You cannot be his disciple unless you pick up your cross daily and follow his orders. Salvation is only received by those who follow the lamb wherever he goes — who obey completely the voice of the Lord, in whatever he commands. Do not be discouraged if you don't hear for some time. Even your waiting is to your credit: Let your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, in proportion to our waiting and hoping on you. . For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by ear, nor has the eye seen a God beside you, who acts for the one who waits for him.



Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.



Listen to and obey my voice, and I will be your God and you shall be my people;

and walk completely in the ways that I command you.



So you can see that hearing his voice and following him (obeying him) is critical to your future — critical to obtaining life: The words I speak to you are spirit and they are life-giving. The promises are: if you listen to and obey the Holy Spirit, he will teach you all things,.. he will guide you into all truth,.. he will tell you of things to come,.. and you will know all things.

Faith is a journey. It has a beginning and a finish. Faith starts by God revealing it to you. Listening to, and obeying Jesus, is Jesus being the author and finisher [perfecter] of your faith, When you hear him speak to you, Jesus authors your faith by laying the foundation of your faith on rock;

Jesus finishes your faith when you see him bring your salvation:

Your faith must stand in your experience of the power of God, not in words spoken by men or reading. The power of God is promised to deliver you [separate you] from your sins, which is salvation. You are saved through faith, and by faith your hearts are purified; but obviously in the beginning of faith, you are not purified, neither are you saved. Before purification and salvation, your faith must be tested in several trials, in which you must grievously suffer in order to be purified of sin. You must contend for the faith, grow in the faith, build up your faith, increase in faith, perfect what is lacking in your faith, fight the good fight of faith, until victory, when your faith is finished by the finisher; faith is a process and a journey, the end of which is to see Christ bring your salvation, to bring your eternal life.



For more understanding of eternal life and perish in John 3:16, see its footnote in the on-line Bible of this site.

Fallacy 2 — Not by Works, by Grace — There Is No work Necessary to Go to Heaven.



Look at the verses above and see how the false prophets take these next verses out of context and create a false salvation: For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not by yourselves. It is the gift of God. Not by works, lest any man should boast.



This verse is used to rationalize doing nothing. Not by works, by grace — is the rallying cry of those who hope nothing is required of them, more than saying they believe in Jesus. To be saved, is to be delivered from sin, to be freed from sin. Of course we cannot do this by our own efforts. Grace teaches us how live righteously, soberly, and godly in this present world and then purifies us. . But we must go to him, wait on him, listen to him, and then obey him to receive salvation brought by grace.



There is a huge difference between works of the law that are of no value and works of obedient faith to the commands of God. See the footnote to James 2:24 for understanding why works of obedient faith are necessary for your faith to not be dead, and why faith without obedient works is only the lip service of the hypocrites, whose hearts are still evil and far from God.



If you really believe, you will seek God, the whole purpose of life; you will seek his Kingdom, within you and around you, and his righteousness as your highest priority in life. In this seeking process, you will first hear from within your heart the living Word of God, Christ, instruct you and encourage you. Later the Light of God in every man, Christ, will expose the sins of your heart; and if you believe that He, who shows you your sin, is Christ; then loving Christ, you will acknowledge your sin and you will be sorry — you will repent. With sincere repentance, Christ will then remove the desire to sin from your heart, (a work prompted by God and performed in faith resulting in removal by grace). This repentance and resulting cleansing is the purification process, described in 1 John, (click to read). This is a repetitive process, until your heart has been cleansed of all sin, until you are purified. Thus he can now make you perfect in every good work to do his will, ; a forever cleansing and perfection with resulting union that is now available to all who go to him for change. This is the operation of true grace, which is not salvation — instead, grace brings salvation by teaching us to deny ungodliness and lusts in life, (repentance), how to live a godly life in this present world, and purifying us over time, — as described by Paul in Titus 2:11-14:

Your faith in Jesus and God's grace are to result in good works prompted by faith and energized by the grace of God.

In His messages to the seven churches, Jesus mentions to every church how their works are key.

He wants perfect works, energized by faith: "I have not found your works perfect before God." .



James said, faith without works is dead.

James further said, "You see then that a man is justified by works, and not only by faith."

Paul said, "continue to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."

Peter said: whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by him.

Paul again: I declared.. that they should repent and turn to God, and do works consistent with repentance.

Paul again: Charge those who are rich in this world not to be high minded,

nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy;

that they do good, to become rich in good works, to be generous, sharing with others.

Paul said: glory, honor, and peace, are to every man who works good.

Paul said: To those who by perseverance in good works, seek for glory, honor, and immortality, he will give eternal life.

After you are purified, made pure in heart, you will be prompted by God to do further works to his glory, according to his will. You will be directed to a virtuous life, and you will have a zeal for good works.



God's grace and salvation are provided to create a people dedicated to good works:

Now when the Light appears in final judgment, you will have no fear of evil works being exposed; instead you will come out into the Light, knowing that your deeds will be shown to have been wrought by, or produced by, or prompted and assisted by God.

For everyone who does evil deeds [sins] hates the light, and does not come to the light for fear his deeds will be exposed and reproved.

But, if you have not been purified in this life before you die, when the Light, Christ appears to judge you, you will shrink back in fear, knowing that you have practiced evil in your life, with fear of the consequences to shortly come — even if you think you are a Christian and call him Lord.



So until you have been changed by grace, listening to His words spoken to you, obeying them, and then watching His light, gently never upbraiding, show you the secrets of your heart, [until having done this] you will fear the light at judgment and will run from the light into darkness.

Fallacy 3 —Romans 10:9-10, has been twisted in error to read: "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved," to support an imaginary salvation.



The blind guides of Christendom, having totally misinterpreted this verse, teach that if you say out loud "Jesus is Lord" and believe he rose from the dead in Jerusalem, then you will be saved; from the Word of the Lord within: "They think to be saved by making a noise about being saved." That is like believing that a few magic words spoken by you totally cancel the Bible's many warnings of exclusion, the requirements, and the qualifying conditions of salvation.

Instead, Rom 10:9-10 correctly reads: "Since if you confess this: the words spoken in the mouth of yours belong to Jesus, and you believe in the heart of yours that the Father has raised Him from the dead; you will be saved. For with the heart man believes to righteousness, and with the mouth, man confesses to salvation.



The context of these verses is to believe the word in your heart and when ordered, to obediently speak the word in your mouth, which is the word of faith the Apostles preached, ; and that is true faith, to hear the word of God (Christ) in your heart and obey what you have heard. . To confess Jesus to be your Lord, (if and when you are ordered to confess before men, ), is to speak what you are told to say;* because for him to be your Lord, you are totally controlled by Jesus' spoken words heard from within your heart; and when you were dead in your sins, you saw Jesus raised in your heart to be your ruling Lord and King, ordering your thoughts, words, and deeds. However, unless Jesus actually rules you, and he orders you to say "Jesus is Lord," saying that is of no value as many scriptures prove, (click to see).

To be saved from Hell when you die, you must experience salvation while still alive on earth, which means to be freed, cleansed, purified, delivered, purged from all sins, even the desire to sin. However, many of the millions of blind guides in Christianity, themselves still sinning and so slaves to sin, taking this verse entirely out of context, teach that if you say aloud "Jesus is Lord" and believe he rose from the dead in Jerusalem, then you will be saved from Hell. However, there are several scriptures that prove Jesus will reject those who call him Lord because they did not obey him or still sinned:

From the Word of the Lord within:

With beginning belief, you are obviously not saved, (saved meaning to be delivered from all sins); but if you persist in obedient faith to the end, making every effort, you will be saved.

Just believing is not salvation, as Paul eleven times emphasizes addressing believers in the churches:

And Peter echoes the same message that salvation is not just believing or faith, rather salvation is the end of faith's obedient journey, and requires growth :

Even Adolph Hitler was a believer; he said Jesus was his Lord and Savior. Surely you don't think he was saved? The thousands of Catholic priests who slowly tortured and brutally murdered 9,000,000 people for being witches during the Middle Ages were believers and said Jesus was Lord too. All were baptized, took communion, prayed frequently, confessed Jesus as Lord, read the scriptures, etc. But they had never crucified their selfish nature on the inward cross of self-denial, which destroys the sinful nature, even the lure of sin. So they rationalized their mass tortures and murders were not sin; their selfish beastly nature freely participated in the torture and execution of all those with a different opinion of religion. They still sinned. But their sins were on a massive scale; our sins are easier to overlook and excuse, being indifferent to our immorality, impurities, lusts, lying, rages, envies, jealousies, etc. You are the slaves of whom you obey; whether of sin that leads to death, or of obedience that leads to righteousness.

Lets look at several of the other verses that further directly conflict with the believing verses taken out of context:

Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven;

but [only] he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name?

And in your name cast out demons? And in your name done many wonderful works?

And then then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who work iniquity [sin, lawlessness, or wickedness].'

He [Jesus] became the author and source of eternal salvation to all those who heed and obey Him.

And this is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes on [depends on, trusts, and obeys] him, may have everlasting life.

(Unless you are purified, you will never see God. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

When he appears, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.

And every man who has this hope in him purifies himself, even as He [Jesus] is pure.

(like him is to be holy, pure, perfect — only those like him, will see Him.)



Without holiness, no one will see the Lord.

Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. (To live in him requires you to crucify your sinful nature on the cross.)

The acts of the sinful nature include: sexual immorality , impurity, lust,

idolatry , sorcery, hatred, arguments, jealousy, anger, ambition, divisiveness, factions, envy, drunkenness, revelry (partying), etc.

...those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

You can be sure, that no sexually immoral, or impure, or covetous person, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Let no man deceive you with vain words. For because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient.



Fallacy 4 — no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit — quoted out of context

Therefore I give you to understand, that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed;

and that no man can say that Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Spirit.



The false prophets tell you that anyone who says the words "Jesus is Lord" is controlled by the Holy Spirit.

But Jesus contradicts that interpretation, saying: Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do [practice, obey] what I tell you?

and: Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into he kingdom of heaven;

but [only] he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven... Depart from me you who iniquity [sin, lawlessness, or wickedness].



So, what is the true meaning of: no one can say Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Spirit?

It means, no one can say that Jesus is their Lord, controlling their words and deeds as Lord and Master, without the Holy Spirit.

Unless he controls your words and deeds, he is not your Lord. Unless you obey him, he is not your Lord.

If Jesus is your Lord, then you obey him; you seek his guidance, you seek his teachings, you seek his commands to you,

you come to him, you listen to him, and then you faithfully obey him.

Listen to and obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people.

And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.

Even Adolph Hitler said Jesus his Lord and Savior, but that certainly did nothing for him.



Saying the words, "Jesus is Lord," is no indication of you being controlled by the Holy Spirit, or of your salvation.

Jesus said, “Well has Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written,

‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

The Holy Spirit is only given to those who obey the Lord.

To call God, "God" does not make him your God, whom you serve. To call Jesus, "Lord" does not make him you Lord and Master, whom you serve. You serve whom you obey: you are the slaves of whom you obey; whether of sin that leads to death, or of obedience that leads to righteousness. Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.



More on John 3:16, quoted out of context with the verses before it.

Examine the verse, just before the 'whoever believes' verse:

14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up. 15 So that whoever believes in [depends on, trusts, obeys] may have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world [all men] that he gave his only begotten Son [to all men], so that whoever believes in [depends on, trusts, obeys] him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world [every man] to condemn the world, but so that the world [every man] might be saved through him.

Verse 14 refers to the following scripture of the Israelites' journey through the wilderness, seeking the promise land; as below:

While journeying to the promise land, they grumbled, they sinned. So the Lord sent fiery serpents among them. The people asked Moses to pray for the Lord to take them away. But that is not what the Lord did. He told Moses to prepare a fiery serpent image and put it on a pole, so that everyone who was bitten could look at it, but not die. Understand, the serpents were not taken away; they were still being bitten as they walked through the wilderness, seeking the promise land, their physical salvation. They were bitten, but they didn't die; as long as they continued to look at the bronze serpent on the pole.

So, as we are seeking the promise land, (the Kingdom of Heaven that is within us and around us, as our first priority in life), we will continue to sin, until pure. Part of this journey is supernatural suffering. We are afflicted with fiery trials and tribulations. When these afflictions occur, our selfish sinful nature will even get angry and complain. Like the Israelites we will believe we have been unjustly punished with the water of affliction and the bread of adversity, which we loathe; so we will sin against God. We will be tempted to quit; to give up our journey. But if we keep our spiritual eye on the example of suffering by Jesus on the cross, and his payment made for our sins, we will travel on and not spiritually die in the desert. And while seeking, our journey through this spiritual desert is not only dry and famishing, but it includes suffering, for we must participate in His sufferings to arrive at the Kingdom of Heaven, the end of our journey. This is the cross of Christ, at which we must keep looking, to be aware of in our sufferings and ameliorate them. So, while sinning and suffering in the desert, if we believe Jesus, the Son of God, who died for us on the cross, we will not perish, but will go on to death of the fleshly self, union with God, and entrance in to the Kingdom of Heaven, with everlasting life as a Son of God.

Do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial that is to try you,..

but rejoice, since you are partakers of Christ's sufferings,

so that when his glory is revealed, you may be glad with exceeding joy.



Paul was strengthening the souls of the disciples,

and warning and exhorting them to stand firm in the faith;

saying that it is through many trials and tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.



For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for us,

leaving us an example, so that we should follow in his steps.





For if we are dead with him, we will also live with him.

If we suffer, we will also reign with him.



Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh,

arm yourselves with the same mind

because he who has suffered in the flesh is finished with sin,

so that you should not live the rest of your time in the flesh in the lusts of men,

but to the will of God.



Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh [the sinful nature]

with its passions and desires [lusts and affections].



Are you really in Christ?

Jesus told us that many people who are convinced they are Christians, who called him Lord, who even did miracles in his name, would be rejected by him at judgment — because they still practiced evil — they still sinned — and therefore were still slaves of sin. They were obviously not in his name, even though they said they were acting in his name. He was obviously not yet their Lord of thought, word, and deed — even though they called him Lord.

Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord,

have we not prophesied in your name? And in your name cast out demons?

And in your name done many wonderful works?’

And then I will declare to them,

‘I never knew you; depart from me, you who work iniquity [sin, lawlessness, or wickedness].’





Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness; for sin is lawlessness.



Jesus answered them,"Truly, Truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.



When you have been crucified, you have received the fruit of the Spirit with the measure of faith that frees, and Christ guides your every thought, word, and deed — then and only then, you are in Christ.



John explains who is in Christ: whoever keeps his word [obeys the Lord's commands spoken to him], truly the love of God is perfected in him; by this we know that we are in him. . If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us. . Notice, this is to be "in Christ" — to have the love of God perfected in you. Paul also explains who is in Christ: There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. . If you are walking after the impulses of the flesh, walking according to your own carnal mind, you are not in Christ Jesus. You cannot please God living according to the impulses of the flesh. . To walk through life according to your own mind is worse than worshipping idols because you have made yourself god. To walk according to your own mind is exactly what Satan promised Adam and Eve — they would be like God and know good and evil; they would be able to decide for themselves what was good and what was bad. Their first decision was that they were naked and that was bad. When you walk according to your own mind, you are making your own decisions, based on your selfish rationalizations — at best, you are capable of only making the least evil decision; without God's direction, you have no idea what to do that is his will and truly good. You cannot still be in the flesh, still sinning, walking after the flesh, and be in Christ; they are mutually exclusive conditions. To believe differently, supposes that Christ embraces sin within his bodily members, supposes that he would join in a marriage to a sinful person, to suppose that light fellowships with darkness, and righteousness with unrighteousness. However, those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh [the sinful nature] with its passions and desires [lusts and affections].

So many people in Christendom claim to be "in Christ" but have no idea that their claim is an abomination because to still be sinning and claim to be a part of Christ, is in effect saying that Christ is a part of sin! The non-believers, who see those "in Christ" people sinning and claiming to be a part of Christ, associate their hypocritical behavior with Jesus himself — they have become a stumbling block to others hearing the truth about Jesus and the hope of his true gospel. From the word of the Lord within: "By their evident display of sin, Christians cause my name to be blasphemed among the people."

To be in Christ is further explained by Paul. Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.. This is not to imagine yourself a new creature; this is to experience the death of the old and the birth of the new; death of the sinful nature is the old which must go. And death of the old is only through the cross of Christ, sharing in the suffering of Christ, sharing in the death of Christ, sharing in the burial of Christ, sharing in the resurrection of Christ — that is NEW — all else is presumption and imagination, or make-believe Christianity. From the word of the Lord within: "The new life is as radically different as a man who has lived underground his whole life, suddenly coming above ground to see the sun, the sky, the plants, the animals, the wind, the stars. If anyone is standing with a new heart, he is a new creature."

For more on suffering, as a necessary part of the Christian journey to salvation, click here. For the suffering of the cross is necessary to be purged of the works of the flesh..which are: sexual immorality (including adultery and fornication), impurity, lust, idolatry (including covetousness), sorcery, hatred, arguments, jealousy, anger, ambition, divisiveness, factions, envy, drunkenness, revelry (partying), and the like; which I warn you before; which I have also told you in times past, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. For of this you can be sure, that no sexually immoral, or impure, or covetous person, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words. For because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient.

Someone who truly believes, seeks, and repents to eventually becomes pure and produce the fruit of the spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness [or meekness or humility], and self-control.

Bring forth fruits proper for repentance.



By your producing much fruit,

my Father is honored and glorified,

and you show that you are truly my disciples [true followers].



If we really believe in Jesus, we will keep seeking him until we are pure. The cross of Christ is where we crucify our lusts and affections.



Every man who has this hope in him

purifies himself, even as he is pure.



And whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.





This web site is to destroy the false hope, created by taking a subset of scriptures such as John 3:16 alone, while ignoring the whole; and to show you the true hope. When you can grasp and believe this true hope, the power of God to change you is released. The name of Jesus, faith in the true gospel, and the cross of Christ are the power of God to make you an entirely new creature. Everything else is a make-believe Christianity, falsely based on presumption. Christendom has discarded the cross of Christ, thereby missing the promise of God. Taking a single verse, or even a subset of scriptures, while ignoring the whole of the scriptures, is a disastrous error — universal in Christendom; creating hypocrites — those who talk about being religious while walking in sin. This attempts to make the pearl of great price into a no cost sinner's prayer and getting wet. To save your soul, you must loose your fleshly life, for you cannot please God in the flesh.



For more information on the Light, see the Mystery of the Light.

For more information on producing fruit, see The Evidence of a True Follower, Producing Fruit.

For information on how to receive the convicting, changing power of God, see How to Benefit from the Changing Power of God.

To read about people who have become pure and under the control of God, see George Fox, William Penn, George Whitehead, James Parnell, Francis Howgill, Edward Burrough, William Dewsbury, Isaac Penington, and Margaret Fox.

This web site's purpose is to show how to become

free from sin

by benefiting from the changing power of God through the cross,

which leads to union with God in his Kingdom.

