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While looking for ideas for my next article, I came across this article by William Verch intended for republication on any website that wishes to use it. It is so good that I am reprinting it in its entirety, exactly as written by William Verch and copied from the website, “A Bunch of Articles.” I can also recommend his article How To Hear God Speak, which is one of the links at the end of this article.

I couldn’t decide whether this fit best in Apologetics or Faith and Practice, so it is listed in both categories. -Pastor Marv

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What is the difference between Christianity and every other religion?

Can you do it in 30 seconds or less?

Well, I would like for you to be able to do this.

Unfortunately, the answer is not good news. The answer is a truth that keeps so many from being willing to follow God. In fact, it is really distasteful.

But my job is not to please your ears. My job is to tell you the truth. And here it is:

The Answer

Except for Christianity, every other religion in the world is basically a set of instructions on how to be good enough for God. Christianity is the ONLY religion that says, “You can not be good enough for God.” It is the only religion with a Savior.

The world wants to believe that people are good, or that they can become good. The truth is that we are NOT good and that we can not become good. Period.

You simply can not EARN your way to God, and that is what all of the other religions of the world are desperately trying to teach you to do.

Scriptural Proof

And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. – Mark 10:18

Every one of them has turned aside; together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one. – Psalm 53:3

All have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one. – Romans 3:12

Everyday Proof

Ask yourself these questions:

1.) Have you ever sinned?

If you are not sure, you can check yourself against the 10 Commandments. (Exodus 20:3-17). The Bible say that this is the whole reason WHY we were given the 10 commandments.

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. Romans 3:20

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8

2.) Have you even known anyone who has not sinned?

In fact, even if someone does not accept God or the Bible, you can ask them if they have their own set of rules to judge what is right and what is wrong.

They will say “yes”, at which point you can ask them “Have you ALWAYS and COMPLETELY followed your OWN set of rules of right and wrong?” If they are truthful, they will say “no.”

Scripture backs up this truth too in Romans 2:14-15.

We are not good and we cannot become good. This is a hard truth, but it is true nonetheless. It is the core of Christianity.

How Does Obedience Fit?

I will take a full look at obedience in the future, but for now, just know that even many Christians get off track because they try to be “worthy” of the fact that Jesus died for them.

Do not get me wrong, obedience is important, but it is important only because of a love response to God. Obedience tells God that you love Him.

Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. – John 14:23-24

This is love for God: to obey his commands.- 1 John 5:3

Sum It All Up

We are not good and we can not become good enough (on our own) to get to God. However, God decided to make a way, because He is perfectly loving and perfectly just. He did this by sacrificing His Son, Jesus.

If confronted about your faith by someone of a different faith simply ask them:

“Who or what pays for your sins?”

Other religions have a strong sense of justice. Where, then, is justice regarding their own sin?

We MUST have a Savior. Muhammad did not die for your sins, neither did Buddha nor Confucius. Jesus Christ is the only Savior the world has ever known. Other religions are counting on the mercy of God, but this denies justice.

It is the most incredible love story that God wanted you so badly that He made the sacrifice of His Son, so that you could be good enough – perfect, in fact.

The more I recognize my own sins, the more extraordinary this love story becomes. Not only that God accepts me, but that He has actually chosen me to be adopted into His family as His very own child! Amazing, beautiful and humbling.

May you be blessed.

Author Resource:-> Do you know how to hear God? William Verch is the author of a Special Report entitled How To Hear God Speak

For a limited time, enjoy a complimentary copy at TheWayGodWorks.com. You will be pleased with this unique resource for helping you to be able to know Gods voice.

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What does God expect of us when we are born again? This question has been debated for centuries. On one side of the argument, there are those who say, “Nothing.” On the other side of the argument, some say, “Everything.” As is usually the case, both extremes are wrong – but both have an element of truth.

No, we are not trying to please everybody by giving a wishy-washy non-answer.

The Bible tells us that we are saved by grace, not works. Ephesians 2:8 tells us, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” A gift is GIVEN, not earned. Yet the Bible is also full of things that we are to do or not do if we are saved. How do we reconcile this seeming contradiction?

The answer is really quite simple. There is absolutely NOTHING that you or I can do that will merit salvation. In fact, the definition of grace (read Ephesians 2:8 again) is “the unmerited favor of God.” When we were in an unsaved condition (before being born again) we were slaves to sin. Paul tells us, in Romans 6:16, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” The Greek word translated as “servants” is, literally, “slaves.” So if we are in an unsaved condition, we are OWNED by sin – actually, by Satan himself! A slave does what his master tells him to do. So we sin, living very unrighteous lives.

But – praise God! – we were bought with a price. (1 Corinthians 7:23a “Ye are bought with a price.”) That price was the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Since we were bought by Him, we are His servants (slaves), and we do what our new Master tells us to do. So we do not sin, but live righteous lives.

Does God, then, expect us to be perfect? Well, yes. And we ARE perfect in that we are no longer slaves to sin, but to righteousness. When God looks at us (talking about those of us who are truly born again) He doesn’t see all the times we failed, all the times we did something contrary to what He told us we should do, but He sees us as blood-bought and blood-washed saints.

If we are truly born again, the strongest desire of our innermost being is the desire to please God. Sometimes, though, we think we know better than He does…our own stubborn will pops up and we sin. Does that mean we are no longer born again, or even that we were not really born again in the first place? Not necessarily. But if a person has a consistant pattern of committing sin, knowing that what he is doing is displeasing to God, then probably that person was not really born again. And, if Hebrews 6:4-6 is still the Word of God, then it is possible for someone who really was born again to “fall away.”

(Hebrews 6:4-6 “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, (5) And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, (6) If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.”)

This passage is obviously talking about someone who was born again (only one who is born again can be made a partaker of the Holy Ghost), and is now on his way to hell (and thus needs to be renewed again unto repentance, which this passage says is impossible.) But – a person can’t LOSE salvation. In order to “fall away,” a person must THROW AWAY salvation, knowing full-well what he is doing, and with numerous very strong warnings from God, AFTER having been born again. To me, this means “once saved, almost always saved.” It is possible for a truly born-again person to fall away, but God makes it as difficult to do so as He can without violating our free will. In the end, it is our choice to serve God or not. I would go so far as to say that 97% of those people who apparently fall away were not really born again to start with, 2% end up not falling away (they “come back to the Lord” before taking that last spiritually-fatal step) and the remaining 1% are fools. Committing sin, even repeatedly, does not always mean that a person has backslidden (fallen away). It means that a person has taken his eyes off of Jesus, which can lead to backsliding if the person continues to supress the conviction that the Holy Spirit will place in his heart.

So…how much sin can we commit and not fall away? If that is your attitude – “how much can I get away with?” – then you are most likely not born again. (Or you are one of those fools…) Every one of us will sin. What is important is not that we can sin and still be saved, but rather, what we do about it when we realize that we have sinned. And we are told what to do in 1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

If you want to know how to be born again, or would like to print out an article to share with someone who needs to be born again, see the earlier blog post What must I do to be saved? All posts to this blog are copyright (c) by the author, but I give you permission to print that article in its entirety and use it in any way that will help to spread the Gospel message, as long as it is not used in a for-profit publication, blog, or other website, or otherwise used for financial gain. You may link to it with an atom or rss feed, or just use a hard link as is used in this article, even in a for-profit blog or website.

God bless you,
Pastor Marv

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Hi, all,

Let’s start out this category, “Faith and Practice,” with the most basic of all questions: What must I do to be saved?

Now, some who are reading this may be saying, “I didn’t know I was lost!” Well, according to the Bible, we ALL are lost until we accept salvation, which is a free gift from God. So let’s explore together how we can accept this free gift.

Why are we lost? Because we have all sinned, and sin separates us from God. Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And Romans 6:23a: “…The wages of sin is death…” Spiritual death is separation from God. There is absolutely nothing that we can do for ourselves that will make us righteous. (To be righteous means that we are right in God’s eyes.)

So how can we become righteous? Very simple – Jesus Christ has done the work for us! Jesus Christ has always been God, He is God now, and He will always be God. But He became a man in order to pay the penalty for our sins. That penalty is death. (Romans 3:23a in the previous paragraph.) Since He took our punishment for us, we can now be declared righteous in God’s eyes!

So the first step to being saved is to realize that you have sinned, and confess to God that you are a sinner.

You next need to ask God to forgive you for your sins. 1 John 1:9 tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

You must also repent of your sins. To repent of your sins means to turn away from them and go in a different direction – toward God and His righteousness. Acts 3:19a says, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out…”

So far, we have confessed our sins, asked God to forgive us of our sins, and repented of our sins. What more is there to be done?

Simply accept the free gift that God has made available to you! Invite Jesus Christ to be the Lord of your life. If you confess, ask forgiveness, and repent, and you believe in your heart that Jesus was raised from the dead, you are saved. Romans 10:9,10: “…If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

What should you do next?

Find a church that believes the Bible, teaches the Bible, preaches the Bible, and – most importantly – lives the Bible, and become part of the congregation. Now, you won’t find a church where everyone lives by what the Bible teaches, but if the pastor and other leaders in the church do, it’s probably a good church.

How do you know if a particular church really does all that?

By reading the Bible for yourself. So that means you need to get a Bible and spend some time each day reading it. When you read the Bible, ask God to help you understand what He is saying. A good place to start would be the Gospel of John, which is the 4th book of the New Testament.

My recommendation would be for you to get the New King James version. And also, since you are obviously computer literate (you are reading this on your computer screen unless a friend printed it out for you…) you might want to check out the best Bible study program available, e-Sword. It is free, just download it from the author’s website, no strings attached. Read my review of it and find the website location in a previous article I wrote. (Click on Pastor Marv Recommends and look at the very first article in the category.)

If you make a decision to accept God’s free gift of salvation, or if you have any questions about salvation, please let us know so we can pray for you and answer your questions. Use the contact link at the top of any article or at the bottom of the main blog page to email us, or leave a comment.

God bless you,
Pastor Marv

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